Jeremy Parish and the Retronauts Fail (Again)

[Geiger]

I'm going to have to part with the majority here and call this post very unprofessional.  The same message could have been conveyed without the petty bickering and childish insults.

This sort of behavior keeps more people away than draws them in.  More than a couple of of other ROM hackers I have spoken to flat refuse to be involved with this community.  Every time I see something like this, I wonder if I should be involved.  I'm not exactly proud to be associated with a site where the front page is flipping the bird.

Grow up.

[White Rider]

I agree.  The post needs to be tamed so as maintain higher moral ground.

[lockgar]

I'm going to have to part with the majority here and call this post very unprofessional.  The same message could have been conveyed without the petty bickering and childish insults.

This sort of behavior keeps more people away than draws them in.  More than a couple of of other ROM hackers I have spoken to flat refuse to be involved with this community.  Every time I see something like this, I wonder if I should be involved.  I'm not exactly proud to be associated with a site where the front page is flipping the bird.

Grow up.

Same here, I actually came by to see what you this site thought about the re release of Chrono Trigger on DS. Apparently, from what I understand, several people, including the people running the site, absolutely hate it....

I will listen to the 1up pod cast when I can, from what I understand, they seem to have not liked how cross pretty much ruined triggers ending(s), but, I will say that to the several video gaming site, many people feel the same way.
Regrettably, I never got around to actually finishing Cross, "kept putting it off, until eventually I forgot what I was doing."

From my experience here, many people here hated how Chrono Trigger was upbeat, and happy, while loved Cross for being depressing and angsty "like final fantasy".

Also, whats a Dead  trigger? :p I have a feeling I know what you mean, but just to make sure.

[FaustWolf]

lockgar, the Compendium has absolutely embraced the release of CT:DS. In fact, ZeaLitY's previous news post started with the words:

Support the prospect of a new Chrono game and BUY CT DS!

Plus, several members of the community have devoted enormous effort to capturing Youtube videos of the new content to show it off so the world understands that there is, indeed, meaningful content added to the game. Not to mention an entire new forum has been created for analysis, translation, and collection of materials to be archived. CT:DS has revitalized this site like nothing else in recent memory.

[ZeaLitY]

It's unprofessional for Parish to not bother reading the Retranslation page, assume we're like RPGOne, and say I should die in a fire, even if it's in lolspeak jest. I was aware that this post would have such a tone, and I'm too sick of playing damage control or seeing new fans turned away from the series because they heard Cross sucks to care.

Still, I can understand how the middle finger might be too obscene, so I've replaced WRONG.PNG with a version featuring Conway Twitty.

As for those ROM hackers, how can they be so offended by the community's zeal that it stops them from participating? Are they so emotionally soft-shelled that I've somehow indirectly offended them? Part of the reason I've loved the Chrono Trigger ROM hacking scene is that it seems to be free from ego and emotion; it's devoted towards real results. JP and the CE team don't release preview pics every 5 days to trump up our egos; you don't overly promote Temporal Flux as the greatest thing since sliced bread; the Retranslation project didn't demand donations or whine about real life constantly; JLukas, Vehek, justin3009, Shinrin, and the other silently work on mini-patches and help out, etc. and this has always been to our credit. If these other ROM hackers are so emotionally dainty as to be mortally offended by nothing, then perhaps they're better disassociated from the constructive atmosphere of Kajar Laboratories. God knows I'd rather not have the Chrono modification scene be a collection of people demanding Paypal donations and complaining about real life for 5 years before scrapping their projects and disappearing. If that's the rule of ROM hacking communities in general, thank god we're the exception.

Edit: Since the gauntlet's down here:

Stay classy, Zeality.

Is it "classy" to outright ignore my simple e-mail from 2006 asking if you're still interested in translating things, which was complete with a disclaimer that we're completely understanding if you don't have enough free time and appreciative of the few things you had already translated?

[Schala Zeal]

Jeremy Parish meets Jack Thompson.

[nightmare975]

See, the problem is, we've tried to tell people that Chrono Cross was a good game in a reasonable manner, but that was countered with bullshit, so now we have that picture to get our message around.

Oh and Lockgar, no offense, but research some more before you post. That CT DS statement was just uncalled for, and total bullshit as well. I don't think I've seen anyone else on here that hates CT DS.

[ZeaLitY]

The people who enjoy CT DS have no impetus to go shouting in the streets about it, but of course the few people who hate the fact that it's linked to Chrono Cross are going to complain. It's the equivalent of Richard Nixon's "silent majority."

[FaustWolf]

For the record, I think the Conway Twitty switch was an impeccable choice.

[ZeaLitY]

Yeah, sorry if the rest of the administration is somehow being dirtied by this. The insult to our passion probably hit me harder.

[Arc Impulse]

Edit: Since the gauntlet's down here:

Stay classy, Zeality.

Is it "classy" to outright ignore my simple e-mail from 2006 asking if you're still interested in translating things, which was complete with a disclaimer that we're completely understanding if you don't have enough free time and appreciative of the few things you had already translated?

To be honest, I don't remember receiving an email like that -- if it was 2006, I was in Japan and spent several months not knowing my ISP email address had been canceled back home, so it's possible it never got to me at all.  But it's also possible I just forgot to reply, so that's my bad.

Nevertheless, to be perfectly frank with you, I probably would have told you no.  I've been lurking at the Compendium for a lot of years, and over that time I've only had the opportunity to watch your behavior with regard to the site and with regard to the Chrono series become increasingly unprofessional.  As Geiger pointed out earlier, such a hostile atmosphere inevitably drives people away.  You shoot yourself in the foot with this stuff.

Edit: And I might add, Parish's behavior, 1up's behavior, whoever else's bad behavior is not an excuse.  By posting things like this you don't disprove anything -- all you do is feed into their preconceived image of you and give more weight to their insults when they do things like call you "insane".  You are helping make people believe them.

[ZeaLitY]

"No" would have been fine. But to say that it's all becoming increasingly unprofessional—how? This forum bans hardly anyone. Is it because the administration takes part in religious debates in General Discussion? Is it because I criticize inane criticisms of Chrono Cross? This website is brutally effective. Things ultimately get done. I'm somehow not allowed to flame 1UP because all of this? I know that other administrators like to sit back and rest in a cult of personality or make people do work for them, but that's not my style. My own direct intervention and activity is responsible for a lot of things here, and that means I'm always going to have an upfront and personal perspective.

[lockgar]

See, the problem is, we've tried to tell people that Chrono Cross was a good game in a reasonable manner, but that was countered with bullshit, so now we have that picture to get our message around.

Oh and Lockgar, no offense, but research some more before you post. That CT DS statement was just uncalled for, and total bullshit as well. I don't think I've seen anyone else on here that hates CT DS.

Hey hey hey, I'm just saying,  I was coming to this site to see what the Chrono community "this place being the only place I know of that talks about chrono games specifically" since I just got it in the mail, and the first thing I see is a picture that said fuck you Chrono trigger fan boys flipping the bird. I did also see the "Chrono Trigger DS Buy it here!" at the top right, but my first impression was, "hmm, apparently they don't like Chrono trigger?"

The message could have been a little clearer.

[BROJ]

@Arc Impulse: How would you apply the term "professional" to a community like this anyway? As far as I can tell,  a "professional" means 'someone who has been formally trained in a specific trade and gets paid for preforming said trade'. By that logic, we are the antithesis, amateurs─'one who has not been formally trained in a specific trade and preforms said trade for exclusively the love of it.' On the other hand, if you meant to say 'detached and impartial', how does that help strengthen a community?

[Geiger]

It's unprofessional for Parish...

This isn't about Parish.  I don't care what he said about you or this site or the game series.  If you have a personal issue, you should resolve it privately.

This is about the perception of this site as being worth more than a brief glance accompanied by a roll of the eyes.  A well thought out and professional response would be a lot more likely to convince someone of your point about the series.  Foaming at the mouth about someone's poorly thought out critique is only going to reinforce the notion that this site is "insane".

Chrono Cross is a great game, and one of the few I still own for the Playstation.  But suggesting it is without fault is disingenuous at best.  And there is one specific point I want to call you out on.  Only Square really knows if the game was a financial success, but comparing RPG sales before and after the Final Fantasy VII boom is simply not a valid tactic.  Its worth noting that compared to their Final Fantasy contemporaries (for sales abroad), Chrono Trigger achieves a 34% parity against Final Fantasy VI (their best selling on the SNES) while Chrono Cross achieves a 29% parity against Final Fantasy IX (their worst selling on the PSX).

As for those ROM hackers, how can they be so offended by the community's zeal that it stops them from participating? Are they so emotionally soft-shelled that I've somehow indirectly offended them?

It has nothing to do with zeal or indirect offenses.  How often do you feel compelled to join people exhibiting what you consider to be foolish behavior?