Hey,
It's been a long time since I've even thought about the Compendium, mostly because life took priority over writing and talking about the Chrono series on the internet. Anyway, I've had a lot of free time on my hands lately, so I got around to watching Faust Wolf's playthrough of CE in its entirety again, and I loved it! I think I commented on it a while back in 2009, I wanted to give all of yo uwho worked on teh project another kudos and some commments on CE. Although I wish I could have gotten to play it myself, it was almost as enjoyable just watching it be played. I have some comments and feedback for everyone who worked on this:
The General Story & Character DevelopmentThe story was very well-done, and it was a joy to even watch someone else play while I paid attention to the story. The writing in general was fantastic, and I loved how you kept everything updated with npc comments as the game progressed. In the beginning, I wasn't so sure the King Zeal thing would work out, but it did - quite well! I'm also glad you decided to go with the reptite world arc instead of a cold war arc like you commented - it seems like it just fit better. The only element I really thought was weak was the Ocean Palace ruins in 11,995 BC. I realize it would have been tough to get around Zeal's entrance and Schala coming back without it, but the whole time FW was running through it I was thinking, "This all turned into the Black Omen and was sucked into Lavos' pocket dimension at the end of CT - how can it be back at the bottom of the sea when it was destroyed?"
As far as character development went, again I really liked how you did it. My favorite had to be Marle. By the end of the game, she had really grown up a lot.
Frog Glenn was really developed too, but I liked Marle's more. I did think it was pretty cool how through the game you showed Belthasar transitioning from being this brilliant man who was too naive for his own good to who he will be in Chrono Cross.
The Frozen FlameI really liked what you did with the Frozen Flame with regard to the arbiters, its role in history, and also clearing up some confusion Kato caused in Chrono Cross with his explanation of the Flame causing humans to "evolve." Your explanations were both smooth and VERY believable!
I really liked how you guys even went as far as to say that Schala was an arbiter, and that the Flame was in the Mammon Machine, and what caused the Ocean Palace disaster was Lavos trying to reclaim the Frozen Flame. Granted, part of the reason I liked that was because I remember being part of that whole discussion on the forums years ago, and it's really neat when you get to see stuff you talked about actually being implemented in a game.
Endings & Relation to CT:DSI'll talk about both of these together. While I think changing everything to 1005 AD really did help the story progress well like you said, and since it was actually here at the Compendium that it was suggested that maybe Dalton changed history and made Porre militant, it was good to put that part in, although I really don't think the extra temporal dungeon stuff and fighting the Dream Devourer in CT:DS should be considered canon in the Chrono series. So, as far as the ending explaining how Magus ended up fighting the Dream Devourer solo in CT:DS, I don't really think you needed to do that, although I did like how you did it. The ending itself, however, was simply amazing, both pre-credits and post-credits. I loved the lead-in to Chrono Cross as well. To think of it all as a "Grand Chess Game" between Belthasar and the Frozen Flame was really cool, and it gave a whole new insight into Chrono Cross as well. Having Crono and Marle in the Dreamtime with Gaspar was pretty neat, and having Crono watching Serge at the end and talking about how "that boy did a fine job" was something I really liked. Last, keeping with the multiple endings tradition was fantastic - loved it!
Other Random Things- Yes, Glenn + Braveheart = BROKEN!
- Gameplay and pace seemed well thought-out. Having breaks with mini-games and other fun stuff really seemed like it kept things flowing nicely.
- The whole time a romance was budding between Glenn and Ayla, I kept thinking, "Poor Lucca - if only she knew the Frog was the hunk she dreamed of! She should have made a move!"
- The scene with Crono standing over Marle's bones in Dinopolis seemed too short. It seemed like Crono went from barely mourning Marle's death to snapping and chopping up every reptite in sight.
On Square-Enix and the C&DIt's sad it happened, and I really feel for you all. I really believe that if CT:DS hadn't come out, you wouldn't have received the C&D. They were probably afraid that this game would steal away their business from CT:DS, and they probably felt like they were just protecting their IP. Problem is, they failed to realize a couple things: 1) Your game would have in all likelihood increased sales of CT:DS, and 2) The game was nearly good enough for them to just pick it up themselves and publish it on the DS. I mean, all the development work was done and everything! Any offer they would have made you guys to pick up CE would have been less than what it would have cost them to develop the game. It's a shame they couldn't have offered you an alternative like that - you know, one that would have actually made fans happy and would have made them more money.
Like others have mentioned across the net, Square-Enix isn't the Square of old that made amazing games. While I think part of it is that Sakaguchi's leaving them created a talent vacuum, it really seems to me that Square-Enix is just trying to become the Japanese Electronic Arts and be able to compete internationally as a publisher.
I didn't buy FFXIII or FFXIV, and I'm holding my breath before even thinking about buying FFvsXIII. Not to mention, I haven't bought any of their George Lucas style remakes of their past games. On the up-side, maybe they'll eventually learn that they can't churn out crap with a quality label on it while simultaneously refusing to make anything the customers actually want (while simultaneously C&D quality games being made by fans).
In the end, though, you guys should be proud of yourselves - you made a MASSIVE contribution to the CT community, and to be completely honest about it, I'd consider CT:CE canon before I would consider any kind of Chrono thing Square-Enix would try to put out in the future (which they probably won't). Fantastic job! Well done!
