Chrono Trigger 12th Birthday Mega-Update!

[ZeaLitY]

Chrono Trigger is 12 years old today, and we've got a huge update to boot. First let me direct you to our celebration special image release! Open a new window here. With that out of the way, get ready for the Compendium Dream Splash! It's an explosive creative event concerning Zeal. Participants can submit almost anything -- flash fiction, fan art, comics, maps, humorous write-ups -- as long as they concern Zeal. Hit the page here or click the banner!



Time for the regular news update. Firstly, Unofficial Chrono Trigger 2 updated their site here, albeit with an erroneous statement about Chrono Cross. For shame! Secondly, check out this Portuguese HazardEngine CT Project. It's a little doubtful whether it will be completed, since most of the talent is now working on the Portuguese Chrono Origin, an RPGMaker bridge between Trigger and Cross with a few screenshots already up on their site. Next, a few developers are hard at work on Project Frozen Flame, an effort to make Radical Dreamers playable through a simple executable file without a ROM or emulator. Radical R is working on it, so quality is assured!

So, how are you celebrating the birthday? Check out this poll and put down your way of enjoying Chrono Trigger's aging like a fine wine. Now it's time for a little forum news. Check out edmangoodrich's Lavos Presidential Campaign Design. Also, a GameFAQs forumer named BohepansThe2nd encountered a strange Chrono Cross glitch a few days ago. Read about it here, and see if you've experienced something similar.

I missed a few Chrono Trigger: Resurrection tracks by tssf when I added them two years ago; here they are - [ Opening Preview - Opening Preview (Shorter) - Corridors of Time (Midi) ] Also, we have a .rar file from tssf with a gbm and gbs file in them; can anyone identify it? Get it here.

Rounding it all out are a few pieces of fan art. SirGilmour - [ Crono Sketch ] Maggiekarp - [ Marle (alternate costume) - Chibi-Magus wallpaper - Marle and Magus - Marle and Magus ] Lastly, lucky seventh birthday to Chrono Cross on August 15! Check out Cross wallpaper here, including a new piece by Memories of Serge. Also, BONUS feature!

[Zakyrus]

Happy B-day CT! (like it can hear me  )

[Nickolz]

Secondly, check out this Portuguese HazardEngine CT Project. Forumers who can speak Portuguese, if you guys can help us understand what this is, it'd be appreciated.

ZOMG! O.O YOU FOUND IT!!!

I guess I can give some information about that, because actually I was one of the leaders on that project.

It started as a common fan project, with it's founder trying to gather interested people in orkut (orkut is a network similar to myspace, but with lots of brazilians everywhere you look). The aim was firstly to make a sequel to Chrono Trigger using RPG Maker 2003, but later we looked for better softwares. I believe our only (and greatest) problem was disorganization, since there were too many members in the project and we didn't have much experience.

We made some sketches for the story, most of which I wrote and organized myself. We prepared part of the maps and graphics we would use, as well as the project's website as you see. But we didn't really do much more than that. Some members gave up became quite busy, while others were too amateur or depended on the work of someone else to proceed. As time passed, even I decided to abandon the project. Most of us lost "burning passion", I guess. =/

I think there are still a few members trying to make, but I haven't heard much of them about it.

BUUUT, this story doesn't have such a sad ending. Since some of those members were really willing for a fan sequel, they started their own group, Origin Makers, and their own projects, including a Chrono fan game made in RPG Maker XP. It's called Chrono Origin (click to go to their site... in portuguese =/). There are some nice screenshots you should see, though.

From what they've told me, the game intends to be a link between CT and CC. If I'm not out of date, it will tell what happens after CT, focusing on what happened before. Something like "misteries and hidden secrets revealed", I guess.

If anyone wants to try it out, there is a demo version already. Click here to download. I've not played it yet (my PC is sooooo old), but I think it is pretty good, from what I've seen. Note that it's in portuguese too.

Oh! Almost forgot! Happy birthday, Chrono Trigger!

[ZeaLitY]

Okay, thanks a bunch; I'll add Origins to the article. Man, that was a hell of a lot easier than trying to get some Japanese translated, hah...

Looks pretty neat. I'll have to add these all to the Fan Projects page. Thanks again.

[LegacyCrono]

That's what I discovered about that HazardEngine project...

There is a video, but it's just a AMV made of PSX CT videos. There is no screenshots, but there's a page with a few pictures ("Imagens graficas"). Nothing about the game. One of these pictures (The most interessing, btw), doesn't show up.


They say they're using HazardEngine. The HazardEngine is Chrono Ideologies' engine, and will be used only by Kokoro Studios. That project simply can't use the HazardEngine. They claim 3D Flash Animator to be the so-called "HazardEngine", what makes no sense at all. I've tried searching by HazardEngine on Google. I've only found information about Kokoro's engine.


There is a download that should be a demo. Unfortunatelly, the file doesn't exist. Still, there is a "script demo" file. I've tried to download it, but I got a 0KB file. 


At the forums, I've found this:

ENGINE
Esse é o cargo de administração de Eventos, Mapas, enfim, tudo relacionado a construção do jogo no RPG MAKER 2003. Esse cargo é vangloriado com a administração do nosso amigo Ronan Lopes

The translation:
This is the position of Event, Map etc. administration, anyway, everything related to the construction of the game in RPG MAKER 2003. This position is marveled with our friend's administration, Ronan Lopes
Wait... RPG Maker 2003? What happened to the HazardEngine?


But WAIT, they say at their Orkut community:

irei removar o projeto... sinto que muitos teram que sair que so querem estar no CT2 pra leva fama... vai todo mundo que naum quer ajudar...

I'm going to restart the project... I'm sorry that many will need to leave, why they just want to stay with the CT2 [crew] to take fame... everyone that don't want to help will quit...
It seems the project is now called "Chrono Origin". It's being made with RPGMaker XP (Hmm... first, it was HazardEngine... then, RM2K3, and now it's RMXP). Here's a link:
http://www.freewebs.com/originmakers/chronoorigin.htm
There's a demo at the bottom of the page, but you need RMXP to play it. Looks poorly done, but... well...
The game starts when Gina (Crono's mom) get into the time portal. Here's the translation of the first paragraph (Kept grammar errors):

65 million years ago, a great being, like a red comet, fall at the planet. Since then he lives draining the planet's energy to survive. They call him "Lavos", with his fall, many things has changed in this planet. Going to year 1000 DC, a great warrior, called Crono, accidentaly discovers some time portals. In his time travels, with his new friends that he finds during the journey, Crono helps all the people he can at his way. Then he meets his first and mortal enemy at year 600DC, a impious darkness mage called Magus. The very hard battle, resumes into a hard victory, why Magus wished to summon Lavos and wake it from its slumber at the planet's inside. The story goes on and they get to a new time, where the society of this era were so evolved they tried to control Lavos' power. But the big mistake of this society was to trust all its evolution to Lavos. Soon, that power gets out of their control destroying all the kingdom of Zeal. After many fights, finally at year 1999 DC, Crono and his friends stands face to face against Lavos. After a frightful battle, Crono & others defeat Lavos and saves the planet from its end. Well, from there that starts Chrono Origin, from Crono and his different era friends' farewell, the Crono's cat get into the portal and Crono's mom rush before him. In this moment, Crono, Marle and Lucca goes after her... Now the end of a history, created new begginings.

Chrono Origin, doesn't encloses only the universe saw from Chrono Trigger. If you like Serge and other heroes at Chrono Cross, wait for interessing news in this game. The Chrono series is linked in many ways, and at Chrono Origin, many of them will happen and many new will be created. Characters, will be many on this game, and most of them, depending of your actions, you'll be able or not to met. Everything depends of your actions.

Well, let's see what this project is going to be. Doesn't look very good, but it's just my own personal opinion.
SEE YA!!!!! and HAPPY BIRTHDAY CT!!!!!

Edit: Hmm... I see...

[ZeaLitY]

Yikes, so the old one is abandoned after all. Well, guess I can still stick it under "Dead fan Projects". Thanks. Good detective work...I've been in that scenario before...

[V_Translanka]

Though I'm happy about the birthday...About CC, ZeaLitY...Do sales numbers equal popularity OR character development? Why were those two things thrown into it when clearly you're just sharing how well it did in the market? Also, I'm sure the numbers wouldn't change much either way, but does that CT number include sales of Chronicles? Though maybe only half of those should be counted, eh? Hahaha!

[ZeaLitY]

Because idiots claim that most of the cast lacks development. Sure, there are a lot of fluff characters, but they number less than half of all. On top of that, Chrono Trigger doesn't exactly feature deep character development for its entire cast of characters, either.

Popularity is a check against those idiots who claim that Cross "didn't satisfy most fans". Give me a break. If every original Chrono Trigger fan who bought Cross hated it in the United States (obviously not the case), they'd still be a minority compared to the total number who bought the game.

I'm glad at least someone finally responded to that picture. I guess the others didn't even see the link.

I don't give a damn if someone doesn't like Cross. But Chrono Trigger fanboys feel a need to spread misinformation about the game, like alleged plot holes or the other points I've addressed. UCT2's main page is plastered with one such retarded statement.

[V_Translanka]

Hmm, I suppose, I just hate it cause I feel lumped into that category of "Chrono Trigger fanboys" because I didn't expressly love Cross as much as Trigger because of points I feel ARE valid...*shrugs* Basically, I think we "fanboys" just wanted unique dialogue from the characters. That bothered me most, I think...It seemed like the accents were just there to try and cover that up, but in fact, it just drew attention to it. Not to mention some unique events (that aren't the most hidden aspect of the game aside from changing Kid's costume in the Developers' Room or whatever)...but this is a birthday thread, eh, let's not make it about what fanboys said what that didn't make any sense! >_>

[knuck]

http://cc.herograw.org/Zeality/WRONG.png
About that image, I'd like to let you know that Devil May Cry 2 blew, and it still sold more (about 20% more) than Devil May Cry 3, which was far better.
When a hyped game sucks, it's not the game itself that gets the poor sells, it's its' sequels.
But hey I don't hate Chrono Cross, I just do not consider it canon myself.

[ZeaLitY]

Hmm, I suppose, I just hate it cause I feel lumped into that category of "Chrono Trigger fanboys" because I didn't expressly love Cross as much as Trigger because of points I feel ARE valid...*shrugs* Basically, I think we "fanboys" just wanted unique dialogue from the characters. That bothered me most, I think...It seemed like the accents were just there to try and cover that up, but in fact, it just drew attention to it. Not to mention some unique events (that aren't the most hidden aspect of the game aside from changing Kid's costume in the Developers' Room or whatever)...but this is a birthday thread, eh, let's not make it about what fanboys said what that didn't make any sense! >_>

Fine; I'm not calling a lack of unique dialogue a baseless criticism at all. Just the idea that over half the characters werent developed...

[ZeaLitY]

http://cc.herograw.org/Zeality/WRONG.png
About that image, I'd like to let you know that Devil May Cry 2 blew, and it still sold more (about 20% more) than Devil May Cry 3, which was far better.
When a hyped game sucks, it's not the game itself that gets the poor sells, it's its' sequels.
But hey I don't hate Chrono Cross, I just do not consider it canon myself.

Devil May Cry 2's inferiority is reflected in the game's composite critic ranking. It's a matter of 72% versus 88% at Gamerankings. With Cross, it's a matter of 95% and 93%, with Cross scoring 93% on a user-ranked poll on Gamespot as well, with Trigger getting 97%. There may be a tiny different in consensus in each case, but it's not a matter of one game being sucky and inferior to the other.

[knuck]

Zeal I was talking about sales.

[LegacyCrono]

Actually, I saw that picture.
I don't think CC is unsuccessful. It was a great success. Many friends of mine played CC and loved it, although most of them never heard about CT or didn't understand a bit of the storyline (some because can't read English and other because it's much more complex than most of the games). I'll have to agree CC lacks of character development. Most of them has been simply "put" into the party with no apparent reason. Characters as Grobyc, Janice, Orcha or Pip just joins the party but doesn't represents a important role to the story. They could be ignored as playable characters and still wouldn't affect the events during the game.
At CT, the playable characters are important to the story. Crono is the main character. Lucca has built the telepod that, with the Pendant, sent Marle back to the past, starting all the fuzz. Frog helps the party twice, first when Crono and Lucca comes to rescue the Queen and later when he opens the mountain with Masamune. Robo helps the party to get to the time gate at the future. Ayla takes the party to Tyrano's Lair and, because of that, they find the time gate that takes them to the Kingdom of Zeal. Magus... heck, he's Magus. And he's a optional character, anyway...

SEE YA!!!!!

[Dirtie]

The RAR file you wanted identified contains the Chrono Trigger Resurrection trailer (the one that we've all seen already, so don't worry) in the outdated GBA movie player/M3 adapter video format (for use on GBA/NDS). The .gbm file is the video portion and the .gbs file is the audio portion. Played fine on my GBA movie player CF. Hope this helps