Frog's speech

[mav]

Woolsey is the effing king! Where else would you have gotten as colorful a descriptor as "Spoony Bard?"

And there it is.

Frog's speech and lines like "Spoony Bard" gave those games their quirks. In an environment as serious as Chrono, you need someone who just says wacky things. Yoda fills this void in the Star Wars universe (brilliant comparison Shee) and look how beloved he is. Sure a serious and stern frog makes more sense for a hefty story, but a frog with his own quirks makes a game that much more enjoyable. Though we don't need a million quirky characters--you hear that Chrono Cross?!

I think it helps that I was five or six when I first played CT...

[GenesisOne]

"Spoony Bard"?  Sounds more like the name of a tavern (for you role-playing geeks out there).
  
Bartender:  Ahoy, there! Welcome to the Spoony Bard, where:

a) ye enter sober as a priest and leave with yer pants on your 'ead!
b) the air be ripe with ale and the floors be splattered with urine of the ages!
c) ye can indulge in the spoilin' of yer kidneys and liver!
d) the happy hour actually lasts an hour!

Take your pick; there's no wrong answer!

[V_Translanka]

Yeah, but the bad thing about that Star Wars analogy is that no one translated Yoda into speaking like that, that's just how he spoke originally. Frog is beloved for the creators making him who he is more than a quirky translator's choice of speech pattern.

[mav]

True, but does the fact that the speech pattern was "translated" that way make it any less appealing? It doesn't, for me at least. That argument comes down to whether you prefer a properly translated script, an adapted script, or a localized script, or etc, etc.

[V_Translanka]

A character's speech pattern is a choice made by the creator. So I think how its presented, as opposed to that, makes it less appealing. But anyway, I still wouldn't really like it...I never understood exactly what about Magus' Frog spell made him suddenly speak like a tard.

[ONSLAUGHT]

"OH no! I'm turning into a frog!"
*transformation complete*
"What hast thou donest to mine body?!!!!"

I didn't wonder that at first but after the DS version then replaying the SNES version, yeah, it DOES make you think, what was in that spell? ...

[ZombieBucky]

i always imagined that magus tossed that in there for comedy, given that his choice in a frog form is pretty hilarious in itself. he should make it totally laughable.
part of the nostalgia i get from playing chrono trigger is from reading 'lower thine guard and thou art letting the enemy in' (or whatever it is) line. i havent played the ds version because my ds is in the repair shop, but i kind of lost that feeling when i played the retranslation. so i prefer the snes version.

[Crono666]

I like the way Frog talks in the DS verison more.
In the Super NES verison it seemed kind of silly that Frog talked in Shakespearean English, since he talked in normal English before he was transformed.

[Mr Bekkler]

I can't remember where I saw this, it was either a fan game or a fan fic or a comic or something, but definitely non-canon explanation of Frog's Shakespearean speech that I really liked.

What if it's easier for him to speak in the archaic dialect? His mouth (among other things) was severely warped during the transformation, and pronunciation of the English (or any human) language requires a specific setup, so to speak. Perhaps the more formal pattern displayed more positive results as far as other people being able to understand him.

And if not, maybe that's what Woosley was thinking.

Anyhow, I remember when I was like 8-9 and thought it was cool then, kind of made him feel more like a Middle Ages knight. My friend Joe (with whom I played a bunch of RPGs "back in the day") and I would voice-act while playing, and doing Frog's voice was the most fun of all! If not for Woosley, things would have been very different. That's for sure.

[Idkbutlike2]

Woolsey is the effing king! Where else would you have gotten as colorful a descriptor as "Spoony Bard?"

Well actually, "Spoony Bard" is NOT a Ted Woolsey term. The guy was hired by Square Enix right after Final Fantasy IV (or II, as it was initially released). His first full translation project was Final Fantasy Legend III, which came out in 1993. Oh, and I like the DS script better, because not only did they make his Shakespearean English slightly less outward, but they matched up the rest of the NPCs from 600 A.D to speak with the same mannerism.

[Dapifer]

Frog just doesn't feel like Frog without it IMHO. It may be just rabid fanboy nostalgia, because he's perhaps my favorite character in Chrono Trigger(tied with Robo), but I didn't liked the way he spoke in Crimson Echoes. I totally understand their choice of giving him the dashy hero attitude, as I understand this was the original intent by the creators(I could be wrong), but it just didn't felt like the Frog I loved.

Don't own a DS so haven't played CT DS, again... it may be the nostalgia talking, but I like Frog with the Old Speech far better.

[Lennis]

I greatly prefer Glenn's Shakespearean pattern of speech.  It gives him a distinctive feature other than his amphibian appearance.

Personally, I felt Glenn's more conventional speech pattern in Crimson Echoes did the character a disservice.  Since Crono had a speaking role in the game, having Glenn speak the same way made no sense.

I plan to address the question of speech in 600 G.D. (Guardian Date) in a fan-fic I've been working on.  Most of the common people in Guardia, or at least in North Zenan, speak in a fashion similar to the tavern speech Genesis mentioned:

a) ye enter sober as a priest and leave with yer pants on your 'ead!
b) the air be ripe with ale and the floors be splattered with urine of the ages!
c) ye can indulge in the spoilin' of yer kidneys and liver!
d) the happy hour actually lasts an hour!

Wheras the nobility or high-born speak in Shakespearian English (or Old Guardanian, as I call it).  Knights can come from high or low, but once they enter the King's service, they are expected to speak in the formal dialect.  I suspect Woosley made everyone else from the middle ages speak normally out of fear that a Shakespearian populace would have turned off most gamers.  He was probably right.

[V_Translanka]

I thought it was fairly well known that Frog's funky Woosleyized speech was, in fact, NOT truly Shakespearean...or that even if it is some form of it, he still flubs it up a lot...

Preferences aside, I still strongly believe that such choices should be the creator's decision above all.

[Katie Skyye]

I liked his SNES-speak better, even with...some crazy grammatical errors. My take on the situation was, "Why doesn't every one else talk like this? If they're gonna go stereotypical Middle-Ages with Frog, they should do it with everyone else..."

Well, they did, to an extent, in DS, but they toned Frog down.

Part of this is that I'm a sucker for 'Shakespearean English;' it just sounds cool. The SNES is kind of botched, but it's good enough for me.

part of the nostalgia i get from playing chrono trigger is from reading 'lower thine guard and thou'rt letting the enemy in' (or whatever it is) line.

Agreed. First he saves Lucca, and then he's all chivalrous about it... <3

Frog: Here, I've saved you. Be more careful in the future. Oh by the way, I'm coming with you!

[Lennis]

Agreed. First he saves Lucca, and then he's all chivalrous about it... <3

Frog: Here, I've saved you. Be more careful in the future. Oh by the way, I'm coming with you!

Is that the actual line from the DS version?    I've never played it, being a proud owner of the original cart and PS1 versions.  What a lack of personality and depth!    Why would they change it into something worse?  I mean, that line is so bad it's going to give me nightmares tonight!