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Reality, Real-World Connections, and the Supernatural / Meaning behind the name Janus

« on: January 28, 2011, 12:53:32 am »

Alright, so we know that Magus' true name was different in the Japanese version, but I was surprised that the name origin part of his character profile doesn't offer anything on the English name of Janus. While I cannot say his name was chosen by the localization team on purpose or if this is just a very amusing coincidence, it is pretty amusing seeing how well the name fits the character or at least the themes of the game itself. "Janus" is the name of a Greek god that governed over doors, gates, beginnings and endings, in some sources, even time. The god is thought to have two faces staring in opposite directions, one staring into the past and the other looking towards the future.

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/j/janus.html

I thought that most CT fans knew about this link so I'm curious to know if it was removed for some reason. Forgive me if I missed the debate and I'm trudging up old news. 

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Characters, Plot, and Themes / Re: Why kill off everyone we knew in CT?

« on: January 27, 2011, 12:35:17 am »

Perhaps the simplest reason for killing off everyone we knew in CT (while not definitely killing a single one) is simply to explain why they aren't worked into the story, and it puts more emphasis on the current party. If Crono & Co was around, really, would there have been anything for Serge to do?

This was always my thought. I usually find that direct sequels don't work out so well for stories, cause often the original cast has already achieved everything they needed in terms of plot, emotional growth, and goals. Creating a sequel story that has a new threat just as menacing as the original is kind of hard to swallow if you ask me and tends to cheapen the experience of the original. But... if you were to make a direct sequel about a new cast of characters you get the benefit of still using the resources from the original story while also creating new complications that don't directly clash with previous events.

If CC did one thing right as a sequel, it was the fact it made the idea of a Chrono sequel appealing. The original CT was a pretty complete package beyond a few loose ends that fans could have easily come to their own conclusions about (The Entity, Schala, and the fate of 2300 A.D.) but CC turned this all upside down and now has fans clamoring for a Chrono title that would fill up all the loose ends. Before CC, I couldn't think of an interesting story that would involve Chrono, Marle, and Lucca but CC establishes a scenario that makes the prospect of them returning that much more meaningful.

There is also the fact that there was really no way that CC could live up to CT. CT was kind of a once in a lifetime kind of game and making a sequel to it that would actually make all the CT fans happy is pretty unrealistic. I feel Kato and Tanaka had the right idea of scrapping all but the fundamentals of CT and building something new with it. Even if they had tried to make a more true sequel, their was a pretty good chance it wouldn't have survived through the hype it would have had. Kato might as well have built the story he wanted to make instead of trying to pander to unrealistic expectations. That's why I feel CC is successful, it works as a sequel because it relies so heavily on the events of the previous game to make sense but it is so radically different that it is difficult to really compare it to CT.

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Lavos, the Planet, and other Entities / Re: A natural evolution of Lavos...

« on: January 26, 2011, 11:52:04 pm »

*Casts Life 2*

I know this topic is old but I wanted to bring in a new theory. The idea that Lavos is not a virus but rather an organism that has evolved to it's natural end. Basically, Lavos has grown to the end of its genetic potential and has reached an evolutionary dead end. Thus, Lavos travels to other worlds and uses it's powers to absorb the DNA of other species and uses their DNA to transform itself into a new evolutionary stage for itself.

To put it in perspective, say humanity has somehow for the sake of argument reached an evolutionary dead end. We cannot get any smarter nor physically more resilient and adaptable. In order to continue to evolve we have to artificially do so through genetic engineering. We would possible work on taking the traits we see as dominant, and beneficial from other organisms around us, and see if we could not engineer ourselves into a new species. One that exhibit the traits of other species without having to place ourselves into billions of years of conditioning, and without fear of losing any beneficial traits we may have had in our previous forms. 

This is of course, simply speculation.