Zeal is based off of Austrailia?

[yujinishuge]

Well at least you see something in common.

BTW I speak standard American English.

[Stormsend]

You're all missing the larger point. Clearly Atlantis = Australia.

[mav]

Well, most of us knew that already, but I think the author of this thread was talking about the accents alone--I mean, what does the accent of someone from Atlantis sound like anyway? CT didn't have the accent generator, thankfully, so we really don't have any indication of who had what accent.

[ZealKnight]

Well actually, wasn't Atlantis theorized to be located near Australia for a while in 1999? Something about the climate being right. Still unlikely but maybe the translator saw that and thought it was a good idea. Although my memory seems like too perfect puzzle piece for this situation.

[mav]

That's quite interesting. I suppose it's possible, and if not, it's one helluva coincidence, but Kid's accent isn't necessarily an indication of the accents used in Zeal, if I'm not mistaken. I believe she didn't have the accent when you see Kid as a child, it's likely something she picked up--a ruse to make herself seem a bit more brutish when she walked with the likes of other thieves.

[FouCapitan]

A lot of you need to learn what ebonics are.

Basically it's typing a word as it's pronounced to emphasize how an accented speech would be heard.

For example, typing in my own speech ebonics.

"I have no idea what yer talkin' about."

Very light, most words pronounced in standard English, but I say 'you're' as 'yer' and don't emphasize the 'g' in 'talking'.  Now going into a deeper accent from that, ebonics in a deep south accent.

"Ah have no idea what'cher talkin' 'bout."

Say it as it's written phonetically, and you have the rough outline of an accent.


Mark Twain was one of the first popular writers to utilize this writing mechanic, in books like "Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Finn", and it's been a mainstay in literature since then.

I will say, however, that the accent generator was a terribly lazy thing for Square to have done back in that day.  Sure it saves a lot of script space, not having to have lines for over 40 characters in every single instance they're available, but it also deadens character depth, and eliminates damn near every unique line available.  How many of us play different games over and over again just to see how a different party reacts to any give situation?  Here there's no change except in a few certain scenarios, just different accents.

Also, adding umlauts over every vowel or 'CHA to the end of every sentance isn't an accent.  It's just stupid.

[mav]

Ebonics? As in what's currently characterized as the African-American vernacular? It can be seen as an accent, and it's definitely not Standard English, I'll give you that. What you said reminds me of what I was saying earlier: what the accent generator in Cross attempted to do was apply an accent to the text, based entirely on phonetic sounds. Mark Twain pulled real vernacular into "Huck Finn" amazingly--if you look at Jim it's almost impossible to read and understand what he's saying, but if you sound out the phonetics, it's damn impressive--and I think the Cross writers wanted that same feel. By adding accents to the game, the characters were given very definitive and somewhat realistic feel...even if some of them were horrible stereotypical and poorly done at times.

The CHA accents were ridiculous though...I don't know if they were goin' for that Minnesotan accent or what...it was just weird. But, as annoying as it was, I do think it added some decent character to the people and gave them a rather unique culture.

[utunnels]

The CHA accents were ridiculous though...I don't know if they were goin' for that Minnesotan accent or what...it was just weird. But, as annoying as it was, I do think it added some decent character to the people and gave them a rather unique culture.

Perhaps that's just because his name...just like goblins in RD add a "gobu" at the end of each sentence.
Or vice versa, their name came from their accent.

[FouCapitan]

**snipsnip**vernacular?**snipsnip**

That's the word I was looking for.  Thank you.  Ebonics was the only term I remembered from studying that.  (Way back in grade school.)

[Schala Zeal]

Zeal is actually based off of commonly shared mythology between Aztecs, Japanese, etc. They talk of an advanced civilization (presumably technologically advanced... or in a way better than our current civilization) that was lost during the ice age, presumably from the ice melting and it sinking beneath the ocean. The Japanese version of the myth said it was a floating civilization, and hence, Chrono Trigger is Japanese-made. Though, if it flew, but was lost, it was lost due to massive condensation in the clouds. Clouds gather water, and after the ice age, they gathered so much water, it rained heavily and this civilization plummeted to earth because of the heavy rainfall.

This is just my theory though. As it is, explorers have discovered highly advanced ancient ruins off the coast of Japan, which could be a possible link. Also, remember that humanity has only explored 10% of the entire oceans on the planet. We know our own moon better than we do our oceans. Not to mention the Bermuda triangle could hold a possible key. My idea is possibly if there was such a civilization, it probably crashed there and left an effect on the body of water there. Everything that enters the triangle never returns. Even planes from WWII were discovered to have sunk to the ocean floor there.

[mav]

Perhaps that's just because his name...just like goblins in RD add a "gobu" at the end of each sentence.
Or vice versa, their name came from their accent.

Good point--most of the characters from Guldove had their names end in cha: Korcha, Macha, Orcha, Belcha, etc. Then again, Mel, who is also from Guldove, uses CHA from time-to-time. I still think the way they speak is a cultural/environmental thing, but their names could just be an offshoot of the way they talk. Mel, for instance, is adopted but still uses the regional dialect, as that's where she grew up, but she doesn't have cha in her name (Melcha...what the fuck).

That's the word I was looking for.  Thank you.  Ebonics was the only term I remembered from studying that.  (Way back in grade school.)

Hah, glad I could help.

And that's one helluva theory Schala, I'm more interested in your thoughts on those civilizations and Bermuda Triangle), but I wouldn't doubt for a second that Zeal is based off a multitude of the ancient mythology, in reference to advanced civilizations. Many many aspects are probably borrowed from the Japanese interpretation of an advanced civilization, but I'm sure that with careful examination we could find parallels between Zeal and many rumored civilizations.

[Schala Zeal]

I simply say if Zeal was real, but Lavos was not, it would still fall due to the end of the ice age... If not, could you imagine Nazi Germany wielding magic? Egh...not good.

[ZealKnight]

I simply say if Zeal was real, but Lavos was not, it would still fall due to the end of the ice age... If not, could you imagine Nazi Germany wielding magic? Egh...not good.

I don't understand. If Lavos wasn't and lets assume humans defeated the reptites then they would be using the sun stone. How exactly would they fall? And what does Hitler have to do with this?

[mav]

I'm not exactly sure what Nazis have to do with any of this, maybe no "great" society will last forever? But I think Schala was hinting that Zeal was doomed to fall: although Lavos may have caused it, Zeal wouldn't have prospered through eternity--it would have ended regardless of what circumstance occurred, time simply made it end sooner than it may have.

[utunnels]

Offtopic:

Yeah, speaking Atlantis and Nazis...it reminds me of this page: http://www.thesecretofbluewater.com/note12-i.htm#naz