Talk:Interviews

A Chronic Obsession

When you look at the details behind the game's creation, it's astounding that Chrono Trigger even happened; combining star talent from rival (pre-merger) RPG developers Square and Enix, this 1995 RPG practically defines the phrase "lightning in a bottle." But for American gamers of the mid-90s, the reputation of Chrono hardly preceded the game itself. Only the hardest of hardcore knew the reputation of Final Fantasy's Hironobu Sakaguchi and Dragon Quest's Yuji Horii -- and we were still a few years from Akira Toriyama becoming a household name via Dragon Ball Z's move to basic cable and immediate stranglehold over millions of American adolescents.

As years passed and RPGs became more mainstream, gamers began to recognize Chrono Trigger not only as exemplar of Japanese RPGs, but as the perfect game with which to introduce newcomers to this often misunderstood genre. With Chrono's popularity in the States eventually approaching the enthusiasm that met the game's Japanese debut, Trigger saw a sole sequel: 2000's Chrono Cross. And while this Chrono follow-up ditched most of the key talent that made the first game such an event, it featured a few folks who had become big names in the interim: writer Masato Kato and composer Yasunori Mitsuda, who had both made a big splash with the controversial Xenogears. In the vein of their last project, Chrono Cross was certainly polarizing; it dropped the quaint, adventurous, and happy-go-lucky plot of Trigger for something much deeper, philosophical, and -- some would say -- nearly incomprehensible.

In this atmosphere of abject mystery and unanswered (or perhaps unanswerable) questions, The Chrono Compendium emerged in an attempt to suss out the many plot threads running through the pan-dimensional worlds of Chrono Trigger and Cross. Started in mid-2003, before the age of comprehensive game wikis, the Compendium began as a discussion forum, but soon transformed into an encyclopedia or sorts, thanks to the efforts of a handful of devoted Chrono fanatics. Along with acting as a reference guide to all things Chrono, at one point the Compendium also hosted "Kajar Laboratories," a group devoted to hacking, retranslating, and creating new scenarios using the original content of Chrono Trigger through the art of ROM hacking.

"ZeaLitY," one of the Compendium's biggest contributors, cites Masato Kato's multi-layered Trigger and Cross storylines as one of the biggest reasons his site is still able to generate discussion and content from a series that hasn't seen a sequel in ten years. "These games had tons of memorable characters and plots that covered different eras and dimensions. There were glimpses of ancient and future civilizations, mysterious phenomena, and other hanging plot threads that cultivated the imagination of fans," he says, adding, "Each time someone plays these games and finds a mystery, they search for an answer, and usually get embroiled in the wealth of narratives and enigmas the series offers."

As with Reid Young and his EarthBound cult, Chrono fans have accepted the fact that it's very unlikely they'll see another entry in their beloved series. Outside of Chrono Trigger's 2008 DS port, and Square teasing gamers by trademarking the title "Chrono Break" in 2001, the intractable politics involved in gathering the franchise's different developers from their respective studios make the possibility of another Chrono game very unlikely. But, according to ZeaLitY, acceptance is the first major step in building a community around an ostensibly dead series: "There has to be some kind of recognition that the franchise is dead. It's counter-productive to have an attitude of endlessly holding [on]. Recognizing that the franchise is dead allows one to look for new things to talk about or uncover."

And, while volunteers are important for continuing the interest in a dead franchise like Chrono, ZeaLitY states that strong leadership and a centralized focus are both important assets in the continued success of The Chrono Compendium. "Many other communities aren't so unified. These days, franchise Wikias are performing that centralization role," says ZeaLitY, "but Wikia has some limits. Namely, Wikia is still bound by copyright control, so [wikis] can't host as many things (like official art or remixes) as fan sites can (which many companies choose to overlook, since fan sites are free advertising and support for their franchises)."

The Compendium may have some freedom from the restrictions of intellectual property, but that doesn't mean they're completely immune to litigation; in 2009, Kajar Laboratory's ambitious "Crimson Echoes" project caught the eye of Square-Enix, and the sending of a cease and desist letter quickly put an end the two-year project. This wasn't just some fly-by-night hack, though; from the beginning, the team planned on making Echoes a true sequel to Trigger in an attempt to bring the community's combined knowledge together for the sake of making an authentic experience. According to ZeaLitY, "Crimson Echoes took full advantage of the Chrono Compendium's encyclopedia and analysis to create a watertight plot that brought together old characters and introduced some new (with a familiar feel). We poured hours of our lives into this to make it approximate professional quality." Today, all traces of Crimson Echoes have been wiped from the face of The Compendium, but the project's web site still exists for those curious to know just how much work went into this unreleased fan sequel.

Staring down the twin barrels of a dead franchise and opposition from Square-Enix itself, it's almost astounding that The Compendium still carries the same amount of enthusiasm it did years ago. But, even upon starting a new career outside of fandom -- hence the nickname-only basis -- ZeaLitY still considers The Chrono Compendium a labor of love that's not likely to disappear anytime soon. "We've got something unique, here," says ZeaLitY, "and any time invested in maintaining it is worthwhile."