On November 14 2011 18:15 UniversalSnip wrote: brings to mind Umberto Eco giving a glowing review of the Harry Potter series (sketchy translation careful)
they have achieved continual success because the author - and I'm not sure if she educated herself highly with this intention, or simply has prodigious instincts - was able to stage some truly archetypal narrative situations.
You seem to have forgotten that just because elements like friendship power or the misfit protagonist are common to essentially bad games like the last several iterations of Final Fantasy doesn't mean they're what's fucking things up. How many awful fantasy novels were built with the same components that made up Harry Potter? Take your criticism to the next level bro, and recognize that you can build a great game out of all these things you say you hate. Set a beautiful diamond badly and you've got an ugly ring.
Dude.
I watch My Little Pony.
Trust me. It's not the Friendship Power or misfit protagonists I have a problem with.
If it was, why would I love Chrono Trigger?
Final Fantasy past number seven are all pretty much that, and they are almost universally prime examples of the systematic assassination of subtlety, character development, literary quality, storytelling, and common sense. The stories are awful, the plot is ridiculous, and the main characters are bumbling schoolgirls and whiny, socially inept and temporally challenged morons...
I then made the point that Chrono Trigger's story is good, and completely awesome in places, and said that I genuinely like these characters. Which makes me ask... did you even read my post at all?
Edit: In other news, Dropbox just complained about excessive traffic on the music.
Well, that sucks.
Edit 2: Oh well, I wanted to upgrade my account anyway. Fixed.
On November 14 2011 18:15 UniversalSnip wrote: brings to mind Umberto Eco giving a glowing review of the Harry Potter series (sketchy translation careful)
they have achieved continual success because the author - and I'm not sure if she educated herself highly with this intention, or simply has prodigious instincts - was able to stage some truly archetypal narrative situations.
You seem to have forgotten that just because elements like friendship power or the misfit protagonist are common to essentially bad games like the last several iterations of Final Fantasy doesn't mean they're what's fucking things up. How many awful fantasy novels were built with the same components that made up Harry Potter? Take your criticism to the next level bro, and recognize that you can build a great game out of all these things you say you hate. Set a beautiful diamond badly and you've got an ugly ring.
Dude.
I watch My Little Pony.
Trust me. It's not the Friendship Power or misfit protagonists I have a problem with.
Final Fantasy past number seven are all pretty much that, and they are almost universally prime examples of the systematic assassination of subtlety, character development, literary quality, storytelling, and common sense. The stories are awful, the plot is ridiculous, and the main characters are bumbling schoolgirls and whiny, socially inept and temporally challenged morons...
So... did you read my post at all?
I might ask the same question of you. I mean, the whole theme of your review is how inexplicably good this game is despite these things. I guess that's not what you actually think, it's just a literary pose, so I won't argue with you anymore.
On November 14 2011 17:35 ZaplinG wrote: ever play chrono cross?
Alas, no! Which is strange, I guess, but I just never got around to. It seems to be alternately loved or hated by fans of CT, though. What did you think of it?
On November 14 2011 17:50 MrHoon wrote: up to this day, there has never been a game music more memorable to me than the 500 ad overworld song
I've met some people who disliked Chrono Trigger, but I have yet met one man or woman who claimed Chrono Trigger had bad music.
Same here. The soundtrack is just that phenomenal!
On November 14 2011 18:36 UniversalSnip wrote: I might ask the same question of you. I mean, the whole theme of your review is how inexplicably good this game is despite these things. I guess that's not what you actually think, it's just a literary pose, so I won't argue with you anymore.
If you think that, then I failed in my writing and I should work on that. My point was that the game is really good despite incidentally having elements that are typically a solid indication of it being crap. Moreover, logic failure is always a good way to take me out of the game, read:
"Without the nostalgia goggles, Chrono Trigger is a Japanese RPG about teenagers saving the world. They pose their way through danger, acquire magic powers from a Furby, bring hope to the people of a dying future through sheer unbridled optimism, and battle an eldritch abomination. Oh, and the main character is a mute."
and
"Still, in the case of Chrono Trigger, it's not about horrible characterization, never-ending ineptitude, or characters being obviously superfluous to the story. It's just that at no point in the game does the Old Man at the End of Time go, "You know what? This is getting a little too rough for you kids. Maybe we should find some ancient cyborg ninjas to battle the endless minions of evil. I mean, this is the fate of the entire world we're talking about, right? Hell, the mental stress alone must be overwhelming!""
That was the point. And then I made the point that, while I logically have a problem with this, it didn't detract from the experience for me, be it because of nostalgia or because the characters are simply entertaining (which I claimed, going against your argument that I think these elements are always horrible).
The tirade against Final Fantasy was because of the horrible characterization, endless logic failures, and all the other stuff I complained about in my retrospective.
If you took something else from it, sufficient to attack me out of an erroneous belief that I think these elements are always terrible (they aren't, but it heavily depends on the genre), then you either misread or I was unclear.
Thanks for the comments and compliments, everyone. I'm really glad you liked my little retrospective. This obviously wasn't a review, but rather a writing exercise, spotlighting one of my favourite gaming experiences without going into too much detail. Hopefully it was worth the read despite its length. =)
CHRONO FUCKING TRIGGER <3 YES. YES YES. you got it! I wanted to do a CT blog because I haven't seen one yet, wow man I am proud of this and read word to word. FUCK YEAH. THE MUSIC man THE MUSIC so good that they performed an orchestral version of the theme song!
ultra long blog, though reminded me of my time with the game, it was a really fun and i grinded it to death after beating it 4-5 times (not endings but complete runthroughs)
On November 14 2011 16:22 Myrmidon wrote: Real talk, the music is pretty good and fits well, the sprites and overall graphics presentation still hold up well, the dungeon/map layout and scenario planning is not bad, it doesn't have random encounters, and the ATB battle system with dual/triple techs is fun (though too easy).
The plot is what it is, and like most games of the era, it didn't try to take itself too seriously and generate really-super-long cutscenes with painful dialogue and/or voice acting. That's a plus for sure.
100% agreed with this post, the difficulty was too easy even skimping on levels but the battle system was simple, plot was great and entertaining and had lots of awesome endings, and great music too
it's too bad that square-enix just churns out whatever crap they have for final fantasies, i feel like they try to draw off of gimmicky cut scenes, fashion, voice acting, and what not which dont make a great game at all.
yea ive had a love affair with chrono trigger for the majority of my life. and Ive ratned about it on multiple occasions with my friends and most of them go back and play it on rom and are lik wtf? game so short and not much going on. I stepped back and realized that they were right. but i still fucking loved the game unconditionally. its just so amazing for me and I have no idea why.
oh and the OST has to be one of the best in all of video game history. when I hear it I literally play through the game in my head. people make fun of it for being remixed so much on ocremix.org, but there is a reason why. when you are handed the best sample material ever, you just keep using it.
chrono trigger fans I know I cry a little inside everytime I hear this song and I hope you do too.
it was a really fun and i grinded it to death after beating it 4-5 times (not endings but complete runthroughs)
it makes me sad to think about all the times ive played through this game. pretty much since i first played it 12 years ago, Ive played it at least every 2 years and on multiple occasions multiple times through for probably around 20-25 times total. most of the time I am inspired by hearing the music to replay it again >_< seriously the music is just that good for me.
On November 14 2011 21:02 Aelonius wrote: People like you are the reason I come to TL. <3
On November 14 2011 18:15 UniversalSnip wrote: brings to mind Umberto Eco giving a glowing review of the Harry Potter series (sketchy translation careful)
they have achieved continual success because the author - and I'm not sure if she educated herself highly with this intention, or simply has prodigious instincts - was able to stage some truly archetypal narrative situations.
You seem to have forgotten that just because elements like friendship power or the misfit protagonist are common to essentially bad games like the last several iterations of Final Fantasy doesn't mean they're what's fucking things up. How many awful fantasy novels were built with the same components that made up Harry Potter? Take your criticism to the next level bro, and recognize that you can build a great game out of all these things you say you hate. Set a beautiful diamond badly and you've got an ugly ring.
Dude.
I watch My Little Pony.
Trust me. It's not the Friendship Power or misfit protagonists I have a problem with.
If it was, why would I love Chrono Trigger?
Final Fantasy past number seven are all pretty much that, and they are almost universally prime examples of the systematic assassination of subtlety, character development, literary quality, storytelling, and common sense. The stories are awful, the plot is ridiculous, and the main characters are bumbling schoolgirls and whiny, socially inept and temporally challenged morons...
So... did you read my post at all?
I might ask the same question of you. I mean, the whole theme of your review is how inexplicably good this game is despite these things. I guess that's not what you actually think, it's just a literary pose, so I won't argue with you anymore.
I also came away with this impression and had my confusion alleviated highly by reading the comments.
I got a copy of chrono trigger from Mr. Vargas, my grade 9 cooking teacher. My friend and I blitzed the game, playing 27 hours straight. I ended up fighting the end boss, and winning, while vastly underpowered. I then returned the game and never played it again. Something tells me that I should get this game and give it the time it deserves this christmas vacation.
Great blog. I think there is much to be said about how nostalgia romanticizes our view of things we liked in the past, but the reason we were so moved by them is because in the context of that era in gaming, Chrono Trigger was this incredibly high-end experience. It had older producers of games, newer guys, it was a huge collaborative effort unlike the routine programmings of Final Fantasies and Dragon Quests at the time for Japanese developers. It was a tremendous undertaking to create. The replay value was incredible, still is, most people can say they played through it again still enjoying it. I had 87 rainbow swords on my original save for Christ's sake.
This is how I view art, by it's limitations. People judge games now from the past, is a bit like putting on a different pair of goggles, and it isn't very fair.
It's like people that don't like Chiptunes music, they don't understand the beauty lies in the limitations the artist had to struggle with to make his vision fit the medium.
Thanks for spoiler warning. 2/5 for that, otherwise great read. Sadly I have had CT spoiled and will not be able to play it for 5 years when I forget this.
I fucking love this game. Its so classic and great. Not many people i talk to know of it but the ones that do, can swear is a game that stays with you for a bit. I remember beating that game like 3-4 times back in my middle and high school days. Damn frog and girl is pretty nasty also.
I remember when my friend of 3/4 years older was playing it at his house when Super Famicon was the thing of the day; i had no clue what it was about, but I knew I had to play. When I did, loved it!!
EPT
