Just shows that there can NEVER be something as big or legendary as the forces that came together to make this piece of ART. Not only is it a video game this is art and part of all their souls . Hell if you get into the dev room you can even talk to some of them . There will never be something like this again . We will never have 3 legends make a difference like this ever again and it generally saddens me to me core . They worked so hard and poured everything that had into this game and this many years its not only still relevant but honored and held up on a pedestal.
It is an amazing rpg that had a combat system way ahead of it's time. There's also no fluff or padding in Chrono trigger at all. It never deviates from the central goal, become strong enough to defeat lavos. Every quest and character arc is shaped by the central goal. And as you said, the storytelling is perfection.
I have trouble choosing between CT's and FF6's stories, but in terms of gameplay, CT wins by a landslide. CT's battle system is much more interesting than FF6's - and being able to see the enemies on the field and avoid most battles if I wanted to makes the pacing of exploration much better. Not to mention it's harder to accidentally over-level in CT. I cannot understand why so many developers would still choose to use random battles in games made after CT.
I think that both are masters of their own element. FF6 tells a much more massive and in-depth story and does a wonderful job pacing the player through a long story, whereas CT does good precisely because of what was pointed out in the video.
yeah seriously.. this was too much like an advertisement. There are better ways to sell. Focus on the content and save the plugs for the beginning or end.
He may have failed to mention that he wrote a book about CT, but what YOU failed to remember is that he wrote a book about CT. You should check it out, and don't forget to check out his book about CT - you can look at it whilst checking out his book about CT.
I remember when I played Chrono Trigger in its entirety on a road trip with my family to Washington. It changed my life. I really should play it again sometime.
I have to admit, I've rarely thought of the asymmetrical timeline progression in CT, mostly because of how smooth and effortlessly it portrays events without smashing you over the head with them (and contributes to something I've talked about extensively; the pace of the game). You hit on easily the largest moment of it in the video (600 AD leaping forward, not just in time but in events and arguably theme... going from fighting a losing battle on the defensive to pushing an offensive to crack the enemy's main opposition), but when I started mentally replaying CT I realized it's through almost the entire game, even in the second arc (the Comedy of the Sages part). I think what I love most about this is the method by which it provides exposition; while not all of it is flawless, a huge amount of info is dumped on us in very short and neat order without slipping over into 'pausing for exposition' or 'as you know' problems. When we slip back to 65 million shortly after Magus' Lair comes to mind immediately, and how we can tell the dynamic of the war has fundamentally altered, what Ayla is trying to accomplish, and the implication that we are a part of both events. I could keep going but this is already way too long. Love your stuff as always, really glad I found you.
I think it's worth including the fact the Black Omen actually concludes /Magus'/ arc if you chose to get him. Because if you bring him to fight his mom, his theme will take over the final battle. It's his fight...if he's there.
Really well done. It’s mostly your passion for these stories that shines through and makes it so endearing. I hope you can make more videos like this in the future.
This was fascinating. I liked that the points made were applicable to much more than just Chrono Trigger. I watched the video because I liked Chrono Trigger, but I looked for other videos by this creator because I learned about story telling.
Excellent video. Really expands understanding of exactly why this game has such a characteristic feeling all it's own. I hope there's more of these types of videos, where you look at the structure and storytelling of more great games.
The structure of this game is so good because the core of the plot has its center during the underground sea palace part. The rest of the plot develops in a treelike way around that event. Then everything links together and call back to that event in some way. This is why this is the best rpg ever made, it is written at the highest possible levels, like a real piece of art. Add Toriyama's work to the rest and you see me cry, for I want the movie so much...
I see the story structure in a different way. There's a three act structure here. Everything up to the confrontation with Magus and the arrival of Lavos is the first act, where all the major characters and settings are introduced and a conventional villain and climactic battle are included to lead the player along on a very typical-feeling quest. The final arc in Prehistory showing Lavos's origin reveals that everything we were led to believe was a lie while serving as a denouement to this first act. This is partly why when we wake up in Antiquity, there's a sudden shift in tone and a drop in tension. We've entered a new act. The second act is all about Zeal and the origin of Lavos, which also serves as Magus's character arc. This is also the darkest part of the story where Crono dies. The final act starts when the gang sets off to revive Crono. The third act has less of an overarching structure though. As you pointed out it's more of a series of climaxes concluding each character's arcs. And even though they can be completed in any order, it feels like Fiona's Forest fits at the end of the other sub quests because of the group's conversation about the Entity.
8:00 I'm gonna point out that during the first future era segment, the party crossed a country on foot. Saying it took at most three days sounds a bit silly with that in mind.
The only ONLY caveat with this video that I have is you can cheat a little bit (and luck out a lot, since the enemies are far more powerful than where your levels are usually at) by starting and finishing Quest A of the Comedy (Fiona's forest) long before you go to the Ocean Palace. It breaks up your structure but also enhances the story quite a bit, coming to the revelation that the planet wants you to see all of this and altering the history of Lucca's mother, only for the game to sucker punch you by killing Crono in the Ocean Palace afterwards. It speaks to how elastic the story progression of the game can be, while not diminishing its storytelling at all.
I’ve played this game in bits and pieces since I was a little kid, but recently I finally sat down and started a serious playthrough, and my GOD I LOVE THIS GAME. It’s PERFECT. I’m gonna play FFVI afterwards but I can’t imagine it’s as good as the masterpiece that is Chrono Trigger.
@Kid the relevance of a reply doesn't change because some arbitrary amount of time has passed. "Richard Nixon is a bad president" will be true (or false) always; there isn't an expiration date on it
I swear I heard him say, multiple times in the video, that a link to the original book is available below. But all I see is a link for the new book and a link to become a Patreon. What am I missing???
Ehm, You do know that resurrecting Chrono is optional? I mean, it feels like the natural next step, but you can actually just let him stay dead and finish the game without him.
Chrono Trigger is the greatest RPG Square ever made. The characters are not only memorable, but extremely varied and different from one another; it keeps an anime, cartoony style while at the same time being able to maintain seriousness; the soundtrack is a beautiful masterpiece; the gameplay itself is fun and blends perfectly with the story, and benefits highly from the time travel mechanic - no other RPG had so much change and variety while still maintaining a consistent plot -; the character desins were made by no one other than Akira Toriyama; I could go on and on. What is quite telling is that I have never met a single person who has played CT and didn't love the heck out of it. Chrono Trigger's only flaw is the fact that it was a late release on the SNES. It still sold very, very well, but it got overshadowed by the upcoming generation and FFVII's huge success on Sony's more advanced console. This is why we get a FF7 remake but not a CT one. Though Square seriously needs to make a remake. And not an Octopath-esque remake or one like Secret of Mana; fuck that. I want a triple A, multi-million dollar remake like FF7 is getting with full 3D, reimaginis, gameplay changes, and so on. CT deserves it, if anything it is THE rpg that anyone can enjoy and that deserves to be remade.
I clicked on this randomly and have never seen any of your videos before but once you said "I wrote a book about Chrono Trigger" I instantly subscribed.
You should make more videos analyzing Chrono Trigger and other games, this channel would literally bloom with subscribers. I'm impressed by the content I also checked the website, great stuff!
The point you .made about us having no control over the events of the game even though we are time travellers goes a little bit more linear if you think about it. You meeting Marle and travelling through time was always part of the flow of time. It helps us deal with the paradoxes of time.
I think you conveniently missed something: Magus was KILLED in the normal timeline. Crono and the gang defeating Magus not only prevented his death, but inadvertently sent him back to 12,000 BC, where he later altered the course of time further disguised as the Prophet. In that sense, the player couldn't have had MORE of an impact on changing time in the first 13 quests. It is pretty significant, after all!
But he didn't alter time, because the things he did in Zeal ultimately led to it's destruction and sinking into the ocean. That was always the case so saving Magus didn't change that. It was what would be called Deterministic. It was meant to happen. We never heard that Magus died we only heard that he was a big presence in the middle ages and there are now groups that worship him.
Also key to remember that Magus wasn't defeated by the Hero Cyrus which is what was prophecized. The Frog tells the story of how Cyrus was killed by Magus.
I think if the party never interrupted Magus in 600 ad, Magus would've finished his preparation and killed Lavos. Magus was pissed that Crono's gang interfered and attacked him which weakened him so he wasn't ready for Lavos opening those time gates which sucked them all in.
What about Magus and his character arc. He's a character that is completely optional to obtain. Is it me, or does his story arc plays out and has its own climax regardless of getting him or not. The only difference is WHICH climax he gets. His arc is always in the background. If you fight him, his arc ends with him "paying for all his crimes" either by Frog alone (helping Frog's character arc too, allowing him to be human again) or the whole party. BUT, if you allow him to join you, his arc continues with "reedeming himself for past actions" as he helps the party save Crono and defeat Lavos.
Also, the Black Omen is Magus's character arc as well. If you bring him to fight Zeal, his theme overrides Zeal's normal theme, and it becomes a battle of son vs. mom.
He's completely optional like you said, with him in party or not doesn't change any climax timeline (just additional dialogue). But instead he played a huge role for Radical Dreamers and later CC (but he is not even there lol) Frog went back to human even if Magus is recruited so...nothing much change.
If you're doing a kickstarter, link to it every time you mention it. and put it in the details section too. You want audiences exposed to that, a lot. not an obnoxious amount, but it should be very natural to arrive at it from your videos. fantastic theories by the way. I find them interesting in the extreme.
I thought of something a bit off topic, but it is profound to me. Crono is a unique thought antagonist, I think they created him very literally to fill a role as the Chrono Trigger, tirggering the end of Lavos, a parasite. (Although without Lavos the adventure wouldn't happen and neither would that ice age, which would greatly alter history... But time paradoxes never matter in fiction) The Chrono Trigger is him, and I've realized I've idolized him pretty organically with reason but without noticing. I came from a single mom and had mostly girls and non humans as friends. But really, I think its great that Crono is the only male human out on an adventure with girls of my age and archetypes of my fantasy dreams, it all makes the experience more personal for me, and with all the not speaking and self sacrifice .. I even kinda look like him, as much as a human white guy can, red spikey messy hair, I use his color palate for many things in my life. The whole game blew me away and change my life, at 35 now I got the game at age 11 or 12 when it first came out, maybe my first real RPG. I was all in after that on RPG's , I played ff6 next and then every snes playstation saturn ps 2 3 4... lost count of how many, but I never felt such a powerful adventure as Chrono trigger. Honorable mentions are FF6 of course Tactics Ogre FFTactics Earthbound! Star Ocean 2 ya ya you know the list.
I just recently played chrono trigger I can't get this feeling off my chest that I wanna play another game like this do you know any more games like this master piece that gives this feeling and of course with such unique story.
Aye dude. Excellent insight. You really have some fine work here, and you even avoided the vast amount of spoiler content all while still covering the over arching concept nicely. You really put it all in perspective. Nicely done!
Luck-uhs o-o in 22 I have never even wondered a variation to the pronunciation of the characters names. Magus has always been Mah-guus and Lucca has always been Luu-kah xD (I lived in mexico for 6 years)
RUclips's recommendation algorithm's usually gives me copious doses of despair, but today it has found something near and dear to my heart. Wishing you the best of luck with your projects, and I'll be picking up digital copies of some of your Reverse Design books in support of your efforts.
For a clarification about the defeat of Magus. He was summoning Lavos when you crash his party during the game. I imagine in another timeline Magus fights Lavos, dies then the war just fades out as the Mystics lost their leader.
CT delivered a constant stream of awesome stuff and that made it very high in replay value. They didn't slow the game with switching screens for battle and they kept the story real tight and constant. Never a dull moment in that game ever!
I have a little contradiction about the periods that can actually do quest in. Magus is also involve in this scenario since that without him, Ozzie wouldn't have someone to frame as a demon lord, meaning that in the present time, that one town where the monsters co-exist never had magus at the town square
You missed one element in the first half, which is the trigger point for the second half. The party DOES have a significant contribution, and that is in preventing Schala from accidentally destroying the ocean palace through triggering Lavos. Instead Crono gets the brunt of the attack, and as such, Leene is allowed to finalize her connection to Lavos, and the Dark Omen is born, and Dalton escapes. The transitional period beginning with the interrupting of Magus, which also allows Magus to live, where he was instead killed in his act of revenge against Lavos without the party's intervention. That said, well handled, and a few things I hadn't thought of. Amazing to think this game came together as it did, despite the lack of communication between the different writers of each scenario.
The "time" you discuss.....it's variable based on how much a player grinds, and apparent time between events is padded by said grinding. Me, for instance, I always have lots of "down" time between events to the point I forget the plot sometimes. So for me there is a HUGE feeling of real time passing (if I spend ten hours in a location that you fight through in 30 minutes for example) when your timeless says there isn't. That changes the narrative feel of any story and we don't have the same results.
The idea that one starts this game and enters an area maybe thinking ‘oh games a fair’ while playing a game (meta)mans then go off on several quests that don’t actually matter…much like a game often appears, I like that.
Chrono Trigger is my favorite game of all time, and that’s saying something since I spend thousands of hours on Monster Hunter, the Mario franchise, Resident Evil franchise, and many other games. I love a lot of games, but the only one I truly adore is Chrono Trigger. I doubt anything will ever top that game.
I always LOVED "Quest 10". After two extremely climactic dungeons that reveal the true origin of Lavos, you're introduced to a wondrous magic kingdom in the sky. The plot appears to stall and you just get to explore for a while. When you arrive in Zeal Palace though, the palace music and Schala music create a deep sense of intrigue: Something very important is happening here...but just *what* is it???
***SPOILERS BEWARE*** Fantastic analysis of this timeless classic. After watching and reflecting on the story of CT I've come up with some food for thought: What became of the first "defeated" Magus that is being celebrated in 1000AD prior to Crono's intervention? Did that original incarnation Magus also get sent to 65,000,000BC like we experience in our play through? Does he then still get to 12,000BC and become Zeal's Prophet? Perhaps that first iteration of Magus was successful in stopping the Ocean Palace being raised into the Black Omen hence there's no Black Omen when we first start the game. Yet the 3 Gurus and Janus would still need to be sent to their respective times. Then as we start the game in medias res Crono and the gang's meddling causes the events unfold differently, thus enabling the transcendental Black Omen to be lifted from the ocene. Also Magus is the only character to have 2 versions of himself in the same time period. Thanks for the wonderful video, it reignited my theorycrafting and head cannon for this masterpiece of a rpg!
It is believed in that in the original timeline, Magus summoned Lavos to his castle and died, or Frog actually defeated him. The entity, which is supposed to be the planet itself, is guiding Crono through time gates to certain events and intervenes a few times in the plot. The time warp in Magus's castle is one of those Entity interventions, along with the banishing of the Gurus and Janus originally. The duplicate Melchior and Janus we see in Zeal, are pulled into a black portal by the entity to keep the timeline paradox straight. The Black Oman comes up because time plays differently this time around, instead of Queen Zeal dying in the ocean palace, she gained immortality, perhaps the presence of the prophet had something to do with it.
What I always wondered is, does Azala actually call Lavos down to earth, or did he just know it was going to happen, being a super smart psychic reptite?
Someone needs to give the more passionate journalists a platform in which they can be more passionate otherwise you will just have a bunch bland review sites. Where writers express the same things as their other time pressed colleagues. Unfortunately it is not just gaming websites that are affected by this it seems to me that the whole media industry is going for cheap and nasty over quality.
The Tragedy taught me exactly what was suggested here, that the playable characters do not have the capability to affect time away from its intended outcome. Lavos existing, however, is not an intended part of that outcome, so the Entity needs the player characters. However, it understands that they are not ready, so it sends them on a series of quests that teaches them their mere presence is not enough to alter the event. At the same time, they are gaining strength, which means the Tragedy is less about what they can do to affect time, but rather how time, better defined as the events they experience, affects the player characters. My view is that Crono in 2300 deciding to fight Lavos would not throw himself in front of Lavos like he did later. It took everything that happened before he would. The Entity knew it.
6 лет назад
Hey, I bought your book years ago! That was a great read. I'm glad to know you have more to say on Chrono.
Chrono Trigger is my favorite game and I’m so impressed with your research and creative projects. You sir have made me realize what made this game such a big part of my life. I’m excited for what you have planned for the future. SUBSCRIBED!
Nice explanation. I always thought CT did time travel remarkably well compared to most movies / other media (I never watched Lost). But I had the same nagging feeling you did when I first saw Zenan Bridge *instantly* get rebuilt and a whole military campaign elapse without any apparent change in the Gate transportation method ... I like the idea of CT as a tragicomedy, as well.
True story: I had never played Chrono Trigger until Spring/Summer 2016, when I finally beat the game. Afterward, I noticed I had a lot less desire to play other RPG’s, and soon realized that Chrono Trigger was so good that It almost broke my love for RPG’s..almost. It’s pretty hard to beat.
the effect of chrono in the sea palace: Sara gets absorbed into lavos, turning her into the time devourer, as she is now the one to send all of the characters to different times to save them.
It really is a master piece. I modelled a pen-and-paper RPG after the pacing and other mechanics of this game and my friends went ballistic with praise.... If they had just played this game like I kept trying to get them to, they would have known that I was nothing but a fraud LOL
I loved your books, and am in love with this video. You structure (heh) your points really well and perceive things that game designers transmit to us in a really subtle way. Just saw the Kickstarter and am sad that it didn't work. One month seems like a really short period for a kickstarter, anyway. If you do it again, I'll surely pledge something! Congratulations
First time I hear of this "mind fills blanks" theory of character arcs. They did get a lot of extra juice from those peak moments. 100 years from now, I wonder if we'll still be extracting in-universe fan theories, interpretations and art theories from the Chrono universe. It's been more than 20 years now.
I do typically love it when latter parts of rpgs give you a means of fast travel and open up the world for a series of optional quests before going to final boss, like the world of ruin and the 2nd half of chrono trigger, FF5 did it too with the merged world.
Amazing video. Glad i know the real reason i and so many others were so allured and engaged by this great rpg. Its short yet sweet. A thrilling ride were theres no time to grind or get bored but yet its all about time. Thanks again...
Hey everyone! I appreciate all the comments and the views. Just a quick heads up about pronunciations. I have been told at least a dozen times now. If anyone would like to enter into a nuanced conversation about the extreme violence done to Western words when they are transliterated into katakana, please respond to this comment! I speak Japanese and can read Greek so I've got plenty to say about Luke-ah and May-jus/Mag-us. Also taking comments about the variability of English pronunciation of proper nouns, especially as it regards vowel sounds. Vowel sounds in English are actually a fascinating subject, and no small amount of linguistic work has been done on tracking their many hundreds of variations. So, chime in on that right here!
You are correct! In Japanese, there is no "uh" sound, only an "oo" sound. However, the most common spelling of the Greek name from which it is derived is Luka (or Lukos, Lukas, Lukia, etct). Lucca is the italicized form, which English speakers have taken their admittedly quaint alternative pronunciation. I see nothing wrong with that pronunciation, and I'll explain why in some other responses to your comments below.
I do not pronounce Japanese proper names in their most authentic way when a well-known alternative exists in English. For example, nobody says Shigeru Miyamoto's name correctly. Nearly everyone says something like "shig-rr-u miyahmodo" when the precise pronunciation is "Shee gay roo Mee ya MOH to." Similarly, nobody even says the word Nintendo right! It's always Nin-ten-dough. It's actually closer to Neen-tayn-do. This is part of a long English tradition going all the way back to the great vowel shift. For instance, nobody cares to pronounce "Luis Hernandez" correctly. Some people might get the first name right, but often it's "Louis Hurrnanndez." The actual pronunciation is Loo-ees Air-nahn-dehz." I work with quite a few Hernandezes, and if they've grown up in the US, they will actually pronounce their names two ways depending on if they're speaking English or Spanish. Even the name "Ireland" is an act of violence which activists in that country have tried to undo, but which the general population there doesn't much care to correct. The variations in pronunciation of "Madeline" "Cicero" are accepted without question. Nobody asks "whoooooo?" when someone talks about Jesus, even though his name is authentically pronounced with a Y sound. So if I'm speaking Japanese, I'll switch over to pronouncing everything in the Japanese manner, including ghastly katakanizations of names like "Firaderufia" (Philadelphia). In that language, it makes sense. In ours, it doesn't seem especially necessary, as everyone clearly understands the alternative and can get it out of their mouths easier.
The original translator of All Quiet on the Western Front created that title from a German line which is much more mundane. (On the Western Front, Nothing New.) It was so evocative that it became a matter of public record. I feel that the Woolsey translation had the same impact, flawed as it might have been.
Having had a strong background in phonetics through my life, as a music student and now a second-year Japanese student and English teacher, I have noticed a very common vowel mistake Westerners make when saying the Japanese "e." Most people who are aware of the Japanese pronunciation would say it "mah-sah-moo-nay," but it's much closer to "mah-sah-moo-neh," with the last vowel resembling the e in "wet." I suspect this has something to do with how common "ei" is in Roumaji, like "sensei," and our Western eyes want to read that as "ay."
You could write a book (or perhaps a series of books) on the subject of linguistics in video games. It would, given the subject matter, be a very dry but fascinating work.
Hey i love your essay on Chrono Trigger, i had no idea when i clicked on the video, but its aeesome that youre actually doing an extended version of it
Wow, great stuff! Thank you for that excellent analysis. These are just some of the many reasons why Chrono Trigger is still the greatest RPG of all time, in my books. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I have to go play it again... for the hundredth time.
Great video! You made many good points here that I hadn't thought of before and I'm a big Chrono Trigger fan. Now, I will have to check out that show, Lost.
this was actually rather interesting. a much more thoughtful look at CT than I ever gave it. so a thumbs up from me even if the book ad saturation was over the top
miklosselkirk Promote whatever you want, sure. “I have a book about what I’m going to talk in this video”. To proceed and repeat the same thing is unnecessary and excessive, like shoving the damned book down our throats like I HAVE A BOOK YOU SHOULD TAKE A LOOK AT IT AND HELP ME MAKE SOME MORE
In retrospect a lot of Squaresoft RPG's do the "two games" thing in the sense that they are mostly on rails for the first 2/3rd's of the game then open a bit more towards the end. Most Final Fantasy games are designed that way at least the one's I played after FF7 were. I think Chrono Trigger does it the best though if for no other reason that it fits the theme of the games story perfectly like was mentioned in the video. That is portraying a history that you can't change that ends sadly. Then pulling a Jesus resurrection moment then letting you change it. It provides a real sense of happy satisfaction to get the best ending because of that.
It’s unclear to me why you say that all the events in the first half of the game would have happened regardless of player (or main character) intervention. My understanding of the game is exactly the opposite: they happened solely because of Crono’s actions. This was the writers’ way of introducing and playing with the paradox of time travel: the past was set in stone because Crono’s future was paradoxically inevitable. His future was the already decided past.
That's what every time travel story is about. "Are my actions predetermined or not?" CT let's you explore those possibilities by way of giving you multiple endings. Those endings weren't an accident, that's _how_ you tell a story like this. The whole thing about time travel is "What would happen if. "
I always thought all the time travelers in the game as fated for time travel. Crono and his team were always meant to view the events of the past. Magus was always meant to be thrust forward in time, then become the prophet, and the elders were always meant to be lost to various points in time.
Actually, the search party for queen Leene stopped when they found Marley, and frog probably had help with that. Since he was alone, he probably wouldn't be able to do it. (This is also true for one of the endings, but that's off-topic.) With frog failing his mission, whether he gives up or falls, no one would have been able to fight magus. Lavos would have been summoned early and destroyed the world.
"The Millenial Fair is hold to commemorate Magus' defeat, so Frog or Lavos should have defeated him in the past before Crono meddled with time". How about Magus' defeat only happened because Crono was going to travel back in time and do it himself?
Beautifully made sir. 👏🏼 My only problem is is you left out Magus. I know he’s an optional member but he had his sidequest too that resulted in two races living in harmony
The sidequests at the end of the game are my favorite part. This game seriously never gets old.
This game is over 20 years old and we can still always find something to talk about. Such a masterpiece.
NEY Industries I play it onces a year
@@NerdyNEET you are a lucky person . Well done
Just shows that there can NEVER be something as big or legendary as the forces that came together to make this piece of ART. Not only is it a video game this is art and part of all their souls . Hell if you get into the dev room you can even talk to some of them . There will never be something like this again . We will never have 3 legends make a difference like this ever again and it generally saddens me to me core . They worked so hard and poured everything that had into this game and this many years its not only still relevant but honored and held up on a pedestal.
It is an amazing rpg that had a combat system way ahead of it's time. There's also no fluff or padding in Chrono trigger at all. It never deviates from the central goal, become strong enough to defeat lavos. Every quest and character arc is shaped by the central goal. And as you said, the storytelling is perfection.
Excellent work! Love the conclusion you come to at the end. I think it's precisely the reason I prefer CT over FF6.
Choosing between FF6 and CT is like choosing between food or sleep, though... I don't know if I could do it.
Final Fantasy Tactics and Digital Devil Saga tho
Dark Pixel Gaming As somebody whose favorite game is FF6, you make an excellent point, as did this video.
I have trouble choosing between CT's and FF6's stories, but in terms of gameplay, CT wins by a landslide. CT's battle system is much more interesting than FF6's - and being able to see the enemies on the field and avoid most battles if I wanted to makes the pacing of exploration much better. Not to mention it's harder to accidentally over-level in CT. I cannot understand why so many developers would still choose to use random battles in games made after CT.
I think that both are masters of their own element. FF6 tells a much more massive and in-depth story and does a wonderful job pacing the player through a long story, whereas CT does good precisely because of what was pointed out in the video.
You forgot to mention you wrote a book about CT
yeah seriously.. this was too much like an advertisement. There are better ways to sell. Focus on the content and save the plugs for the beginning or end.
He wrote a book? I didn't know that.
Yea, disliked this vid because it's more an ad than actual content.
He may have failed to mention that he wrote a book about CT, but what YOU failed to remember is that he wrote a book about CT. You should check it out, and don't forget to check out his book about CT - you can look at it whilst checking out his book about CT.
gazm2k5 He wrote a book about what now?
I remember when I played Chrono Trigger in its entirety on a road trip with my family to Washington. It changed my life. I really should play it again sometime.
Did you see all 13 endings? Play it again.
I just finished the last one two weeks ago after purchasing it on Steam in March!
I have to admit, I've rarely thought of the asymmetrical timeline progression in CT, mostly because of how smooth and effortlessly it portrays events without smashing you over the head with them (and contributes to something I've talked about extensively; the pace of the game). You hit on easily the largest moment of it in the video (600 AD leaping forward, not just in time but in events and arguably theme... going from fighting a losing battle on the defensive to pushing an offensive to crack the enemy's main opposition), but when I started mentally replaying CT I realized it's through almost the entire game, even in the second arc (the Comedy of the Sages part). I think what I love most about this is the method by which it provides exposition; while not all of it is flawless, a huge amount of info is dumped on us in very short and neat order without slipping over into 'pausing for exposition' or 'as you know' problems. When we slip back to 65 million shortly after Magus' Lair comes to mind immediately, and how we can tell the dynamic of the war has fundamentally altered, what Ayla is trying to accomplish, and the implication that we are a part of both events. I could keep going but this is already way too long. Love your stuff as always, really glad I found you.
Epic
I think it's worth including the fact the Black Omen actually concludes /Magus'/ arc if you chose to get him. Because if you bring him to fight his mom, his theme will take over the final battle. It's his fight...if he's there.
Angelalex242 agreed. He HAS to be there
CT has one of the best progressions ever, especially with the replayability factor.
Really well done. It’s mostly your passion for these stories that shines through and makes it so endearing. I hope you can make more videos like this in the future.
This was fascinating. I liked that the points made were applicable to much more than just Chrono Trigger. I watched the video because I liked Chrono Trigger, but I looked for other videos by this creator because I learned about story telling.
Excellent video. Really expands understanding of exactly why this game has such a characteristic feeling all it's own. I hope there's more of these types of videos, where you look at the structure and storytelling of more great games.
The structure of this game is so good because the core of the plot has its center during the underground sea palace part. The rest of the plot develops in a treelike way around that event. Then everything links together and call back to that event in some way. This is why this is the best rpg ever made, it is written at the highest possible levels, like a real piece of art. Add Toriyama's work to the rest and you see me cry, for I want the movie so much...
I see the story structure in a different way. There's a three act structure here. Everything up to the confrontation with Magus and the arrival of Lavos is the first act, where all the major characters and settings are introduced and a conventional villain and climactic battle are included to lead the player along on a very typical-feeling quest. The final arc in Prehistory showing Lavos's origin reveals that everything we were led to believe was a lie while serving as a denouement to this first act. This is partly why when we wake up in Antiquity, there's a sudden shift in tone and a drop in tension. We've entered a new act.
The second act is all about Zeal and the origin of Lavos, which also serves as Magus's character arc. This is also the darkest part of the story where Crono dies.
The final act starts when the gang sets off to revive Crono. The third act has less of an overarching structure though. As you pointed out it's more of a series of climaxes concluding each character's arcs. And even though they can be completed in any order, it feels like Fiona's Forest fits at the end of the other sub quests because of the group's conversation about the Entity.
Bingo. No Jar Jar Abrams "Lost" bullshit here.
I'm thankful for this video you've made. Your passion is evident, and your work illuminates some interesting storytelling techniques.
Just ordered your book and looking forward to reading it!
8:00 I'm gonna point out that during the first future era segment, the party crossed a country on foot. Saying it took at most three days sounds a bit silly with that in mind.
The only ONLY caveat with this video that I have is you can cheat a little bit (and luck out a lot, since the enemies are far more powerful than where your levels are usually at) by starting and finishing Quest A of the Comedy (Fiona's forest) long before you go to the Ocean Palace. It breaks up your structure but also enhances the story quite a bit, coming to the revelation that the planet wants you to see all of this and altering the history of Lucca's mother, only for the game to sucker punch you by killing Crono in the Ocean Palace afterwards. It speaks to how elastic the story progression of the game can be, while not diminishing its storytelling at all.
I’ve played this game in bits and pieces since I was a little kid, but recently I finally sat down and started a serious playthrough, and my GOD I LOVE THIS GAME. It’s PERFECT. I’m gonna play FFVI afterwards but I can’t imagine it’s as good as the masterpiece that is Chrono Trigger.
Fantastic insight and research as always, Patrick. I'm glad your videos are getting a wider reach!
Lol... I wonder how often he mentions his book in real life.
Not as often as you'd think.
Mostly when I'm interviewing for a new job or making a kickstarter pitch, which is what this was.
I mean, have you ever wrote a book? He wrote 2 of them, I would bring that up even at funerals.
@Kid the relevance of a reply doesn't change because some arbitrary amount of time has passed. "Richard Nixon is a bad president" will be true (or false) always; there isn't an expiration date on it
I swear I heard him say, multiple times in the video, that a link to the original book is available below. But all I see is a link for the new book and a link to become a Patreon. What am I missing???
We live in a wonderful time when one can make money writing books about old video games through crowdfunding. Well done.
Ehm, You do know that resurrecting Chrono is optional? I mean, it feels like the natural next step, but you can actually just let him stay dead and finish the game without him.
Einar Everything after Going to the end of time is optional
Well he will be revived anyways. Because there will be an ending where the party (even Magus) will ask the sage of time about the Egg.
Years thread and yeah.... You actually can just finished the game as soon as you reached the end of time.
@@JlBUNROCK the game itself is optional
Everyone knows that are you kidding?
Chrono Trigger is the greatest RPG Square ever made. The characters are not only memorable, but extremely varied and different from one another; it keeps an anime, cartoony style while at the same time being able to maintain seriousness; the soundtrack is a beautiful masterpiece; the gameplay itself is fun and blends perfectly with the story, and benefits highly from the time travel mechanic - no other RPG had so much change and variety while still maintaining a consistent plot -; the character desins were made by no one other than Akira Toriyama; I could go on and on. What is quite telling is that I have never met a single person who has played CT and didn't love the heck out of it.
Chrono Trigger's only flaw is the fact that it was a late release on the SNES. It still sold very, very well, but it got overshadowed by the upcoming generation and FFVII's huge success on Sony's more advanced console. This is why we get a FF7 remake but not a CT one.
Though Square seriously needs to make a remake. And not an Octopath-esque remake or one like Secret of Mana; fuck that. I want a triple A, multi-million dollar remake like FF7 is getting with full 3D, reimaginis, gameplay changes, and so on. CT deserves it, if anything it is THE rpg that anyone can enjoy and that deserves to be remade.
I clicked on this randomly and have never seen any of your videos before but once you said "I wrote a book about Chrono Trigger" I instantly subscribed.
And then you started talking about my favorite show Lost...
You should make more videos analyzing Chrono Trigger and other games, this channel would literally bloom with subscribers. I'm impressed by the content I also checked the website, great stuff!
The point you .made about us having no control over the events of the game even though we are time travellers goes a little bit more linear if you think about it.
You meeting Marle and travelling through time was always part of the flow of time. It helps us deal with the paradoxes of time.
I think you conveniently missed something: Magus was KILLED in the normal timeline. Crono and the gang defeating Magus not only prevented his death, but inadvertently sent him back to 12,000 BC, where he later altered the course of time further disguised as the Prophet. In that sense, the player couldn't have had MORE of an impact on changing time in the first 13 quests. It is pretty significant, after all!
But he didn't alter time, because the things he did in Zeal ultimately led to it's destruction and sinking into the ocean. That was always the case so saving Magus didn't change that. It was what would be called Deterministic. It was meant to happen. We never heard that Magus died we only heard that he was a big presence in the middle ages and there are now groups that worship him.
Also key to remember that Magus wasn't defeated by the Hero Cyrus which is what was prophecized. The Frog tells the story of how Cyrus was killed by Magus.
I think if the party never interrupted Magus in 600 ad, Magus would've finished his preparation and killed Lavos. Magus was pissed that Crono's gang interfered and attacked him which weakened him so he wasn't ready for Lavos opening those time gates which sucked them all in.
Maybe he wasn't really ever dead
@@fmthebaron Magus definitely dies to Lavos or is sent to 12000BCE where he dies to Lavos. Either way he dies to Lavos regardless of his preparation.
What about Magus and his character arc. He's a character that is completely optional to obtain. Is it me, or does his story arc plays out and has its own climax regardless of getting him or not. The only difference is WHICH climax he gets. His arc is always in the background. If you fight him, his arc ends with him "paying for all his crimes" either by Frog alone (helping Frog's character arc too, allowing him to be human again) or the whole party. BUT, if you allow him to join you, his arc continues with "reedeming himself for past actions" as he helps the party save Crono and defeat Lavos.
His arc is the same as Crono's, in the ocean palace. Magus is supposed to be a "dark" Crono.
Those are possible resolutions, not climaxes.
Also, the Black Omen is Magus's character arc as well. If you bring him to fight Zeal, his theme overrides Zeal's normal theme, and it becomes a battle of son vs. mom.
Angelalex242 true there’s even special convo in the black omen scenes when magus is in the party he will say fairwell
He's completely optional like you said, with him in party or not doesn't change any climax timeline (just additional dialogue). But instead he played a huge role for Radical Dreamers and later CC (but he is not even there lol)
Frog went back to human even if Magus is recruited so...nothing much change.
If you're doing a kickstarter, link to it every time you mention it. and put it in the details section too. You want audiences exposed to that, a lot. not an obnoxious amount, but it should be very natural to arrive at it from your videos.
fantastic theories by the way. I find them interesting in the extreme.
I thought of something a bit off topic, but it is profound to me.
Crono is a unique thought antagonist, I think they created him very literally to fill a role as the Chrono Trigger, tirggering the end of Lavos, a parasite.
(Although without Lavos the adventure wouldn't happen and neither would that ice age, which would greatly alter history... But time paradoxes never matter in fiction)
The Chrono Trigger is him, and I've realized I've idolized him pretty organically with reason but without noticing.
I came from a single mom and had mostly girls and non humans as friends. But really, I think its great that Crono is the only male human out on an adventure with girls of my age and archetypes of my fantasy dreams, it all makes the experience more personal for me, and with all the not speaking and self sacrifice .. I even kinda look like him, as much as a human white guy can, red spikey messy hair, I use his color palate for many things in my life.
The whole game blew me away and change my life, at 35 now I got the game at age 11 or 12 when it first came out, maybe my first real RPG.
I was all in after that on RPG's , I played ff6 next and then every snes playstation saturn ps 2 3 4... lost count of how many, but I never felt such a powerful adventure as Chrono trigger.
Honorable mentions are
FF6 of course
Tactics Ogre
FFTactics
Earthbound!
Star Ocean 2
ya ya you know the list.
I just recently played chrono trigger I can't get this feeling off my chest that I wanna play another game like this do you know any more games like this master piece that gives this feeling and of course with such unique story.
Aye dude. Excellent insight. You really have some fine work here, and you even avoided the vast amount of spoiler content all while still covering the over arching concept nicely. You really put it all in perspective. Nicely done!
Well, it is my all time favorite RPG for a reason ^^
Easily the greatest game of the entire era. The music, the story, the replay value.
I’m 37 and still mildly obsessed with Chrono Trigger.
Very comprehensive, the points you bring up is evidence enough to show how much thought and care that actually went into the making of Chrono Trigger.
This is wonderfully done, but the narrator's inflections are maddening! Lucka? Masamyoone? At least he said Ayla like I imagined it
Luck-uhs o-o
in 22 I have never even wondered a variation to the pronunciation of the characters names. Magus has always been Mah-guus and Lucca has always been Luu-kah xD (I lived in mexico for 6 years)
Wow you can just tell the huge amount of passion that went into this video / project.
Nice work!
RUclips's recommendation algorithm's usually gives me copious doses of despair, but today it has found something near and dear to my heart. Wishing you the best of luck with your projects, and I'll be picking up digital copies of some of your Reverse Design books in support of your efforts.
For a clarification about the defeat of Magus. He was summoning Lavos when you crash his party during the game. I imagine in another timeline Magus fights Lavos, dies then the war just fades out as the Mystics lost their leader.
CT delivered a constant stream of awesome stuff and that made it very high in replay value. They didn't slow the game with switching screens for battle and they kept the story real tight and constant. Never a dull moment in that game ever!
I have a little contradiction about the periods that can actually do quest in. Magus is also involve in this scenario since that without him, Ozzie wouldn't have someone to frame as a demon lord, meaning that in the present time, that one town where the monsters co-exist never had magus at the town square
nice cayetano I if you go to medina during the sidequests (before completing magus sidequest) there will be a statue of ozzie instead of Magus
You missed one element in the first half, which is the trigger point for the second half. The party DOES have a significant contribution, and that is in preventing Schala from accidentally destroying the ocean palace through triggering Lavos. Instead Crono gets the brunt of the attack, and as such, Leene is allowed to finalize her connection to Lavos, and the Dark Omen is born, and Dalton escapes. The transitional period beginning with the interrupting of Magus, which also allows Magus to live, where he was instead killed in his act of revenge against Lavos without the party's intervention.
That said, well handled, and a few things I hadn't thought of. Amazing to think this game came together as it did, despite the lack of communication between the different writers of each scenario.
Bro this video is structural perfection, subbed.
The "time" you discuss.....it's variable based on how much a player grinds, and apparent time between events is padded by said grinding. Me, for instance, I always have lots of "down" time between events to the point I forget the plot sometimes. So for me there is a HUGE feeling of real time passing (if I spend ten hours in a location that you fight through in 30 minutes for example) when your timeless says there isn't. That changes the narrative feel of any story and we don't have the same results.
some good thoughts here but the self promotions are a bit tiring
ps: it's Luke-uh, not Luck-uh
And Masa-mou-nay, Not May-samyune
Its also A-la not I-la
I veto that....I've always pronounced it Mag us
Sorry in my country we require 2/3 vote to override a veto.
travis is wrong about ayla but all the other corrections here are right (Hicks' specifically, travis is also wrong about magus)
The idea that one starts this game and enters an area maybe thinking ‘oh games a fair’ while playing a game (meta)mans then go off on several quests that don’t actually matter…much like a game often appears, I like that.
Chrono Trigger is my favorite game of all time, and that’s saying something since I spend thousands of hours on Monster Hunter, the Mario franchise, Resident Evil franchise, and many other games. I love a lot of games, but the only one I truly adore is Chrono Trigger. I doubt anything will ever top that game.
I always LOVED "Quest 10". After two extremely climactic dungeons that reveal the true origin of Lavos, you're introduced to a wondrous magic kingdom in the sky. The plot appears to stall and you just get to explore for a while. When you arrive in Zeal Palace though, the palace music and Schala music create a deep sense of intrigue: Something very important is happening here...but just *what* is it???
A guy that does video game essays and refers to LOST? Subscribed.
Excellent video, we need more videos like this breaking down the game. Definitely going to look into your book!
I think the Entity is meant to be the game itself.
Gonna have to play this game again
***SPOILERS BEWARE***
Fantastic analysis of this timeless classic. After watching and reflecting on the story of CT I've come up with some food for thought:
What became of the first "defeated" Magus that is being celebrated in 1000AD prior to Crono's intervention? Did that original incarnation Magus also get sent to 65,000,000BC like we experience in our play through? Does he then still get to 12,000BC and become Zeal's Prophet? Perhaps that first iteration of Magus was successful in stopping the Ocean Palace being raised into the Black Omen hence there's no Black Omen when we first start the game. Yet the 3 Gurus and Janus would still need to be sent to their respective times. Then as we start the game in medias res Crono and the gang's meddling causes the events unfold differently, thus enabling the transcendental Black Omen to be lifted from the ocene.
Also Magus is the only character to have 2 versions of himself in the same time period.
Thanks for the wonderful video, it reignited my theorycrafting and head cannon for this masterpiece of a rpg!
Robo can have 2 versions of himself in 600 A.D. after accepting Fiona's offer to restore the forest.
It is believed in that in the original timeline, Magus summoned Lavos to his castle and died, or Frog actually defeated him. The entity, which is supposed to be the planet itself, is guiding Crono through time gates to certain events and intervenes a few times in the plot. The time warp in Magus's castle is one of those Entity interventions, along with the banishing of the Gurus and Janus originally. The duplicate Melchior and Janus we see in Zeal, are pulled into a black portal by the entity to keep the timeline paradox straight. The Black Oman comes up because time plays differently this time around, instead of Queen Zeal dying in the ocean palace, she gained immortality, perhaps the presence of the prophet had something to do with it.
Lucca too. In her side quest she shuts off the machine while a younger version of herself panics.
What I always wondered is, does Azala actually call Lavos down to earth, or did he just know it was going to happen, being a super smart psychic reptite?
I would quibble with your use of the adjective "timeless"... :P
I'm so happy that I found your channel! Instant subscribe, superb video-essay on probably the best videogame of all time.
Great work. I do not think those lazy journalists at the big review websites could half as good a job.
Someone needs to give the more passionate journalists a platform in which they can be more passionate otherwise you will just have a bunch bland review sites. Where writers express the same things as their other time pressed colleagues. Unfortunately it is not just gaming websites that are affected by this it seems to me that the whole media industry is going for cheap and nasty over quality.
The Tragedy taught me exactly what was suggested here, that the playable characters do not have the capability to affect time away from its intended outcome. Lavos existing, however, is not an intended part of that outcome, so the Entity needs the player characters. However, it understands that they are not ready, so it sends them on a series of quests that teaches them their mere presence is not enough to alter the event. At the same time, they are gaining strength, which means the Tragedy is less about what they can do to affect time, but rather how time, better defined as the events they experience, affects the player characters.
My view is that Crono in 2300 deciding to fight Lavos would not throw himself in front of Lavos like he did later. It took everything that happened before he would. The Entity knew it.
Hey, I bought your book years ago! That was a great read. I'm glad to know you have more to say on Chrono.
Only 439 subscribers? I'm glad I found your channel so early.
for real, this is some high level analysis
Chrono Trigger is my favorite game and I’m so impressed with your research and creative projects. You sir have made me realize what made this game such a big part of my life. I’m excited for what you have planned for the future. SUBSCRIBED!
This stuff is great! Someone should write a book about it.
Nice explanation. I always thought CT did time travel remarkably well compared to most movies / other media (I never watched Lost). But I had the same nagging feeling you did when I first saw Zenan Bridge *instantly* get rebuilt and a whole military campaign elapse without any apparent change in the Gate transportation method ... I like the idea of CT as a tragicomedy, as well.
True story: I had never played Chrono Trigger until Spring/Summer 2016, when I finally beat the game. Afterward, I noticed I had a lot less desire to play other RPG’s, and soon realized that Chrono Trigger was so good that It almost broke my love for RPG’s..almost. It’s pretty hard to beat.
I can listen to you talk about Chrono Trigger forever
the effect of chrono in the sea palace: Sara gets absorbed into lavos, turning her into the time devourer, as she is now the one to send all of the characters to different times to save them.
It really is a master piece. I modelled a pen-and-paper RPG after the pacing and other mechanics of this game and my friends went ballistic with praise.... If they had just played this game like I kept trying to get them to, they would have known that I was nothing but a fraud LOL
It should be noted that Once Upon a Time and Arrow uses Lost's plot structure as well.
This is genius writing, legit.
It leaves a couple plotholes that beg to be addressed, but they are far and few between in the game as a whole.
CT has no plot holes.
I loved your books, and am in love with this video. You structure (heh) your points really well and perceive things that game designers transmit to us in a really subtle way.
Just saw the Kickstarter and am sad that it didn't work. One month seems like a really short period for a kickstarter, anyway. If you do it again, I'll surely pledge something! Congratulations
Excellent work you did here. I will try to translate this video to brazilian portuguese. More people from all over the world need to see this.
Cool, thanks!
Also, there's a complete transcript in the closed captions.
First time I hear of this "mind fills blanks" theory of character arcs. They did get a lot of extra juice from those peak moments.
100 years from now, I wonder if we'll still be extracting in-universe fan theories, interpretations and art theories from the Chrono universe. It's been more than 20 years now.
I do typically love it when latter parts of rpgs give you a means of fast travel and open up the world for a series of optional quests before going to final boss, like the world of ruin and the 2nd half of chrono trigger, FF5 did it too with the merged world.
Amazing video. Glad i know the real reason i and so many others were so allured and engaged by this great rpg. Its short yet sweet. A thrilling ride were theres no time to grind or get bored but yet its all about time. Thanks again...
This was pretty cool. It'd be neat to see how Chrono Cross later plays into it and ties up the resolution of Princess Schala and Zeal.
Chrono Trigger is really exceptional. It is the GOATpiece of mankind achievement, only possible if you have a dream team.
My first RPG... and the one that ruined me for mainly all others since...
Zac Hawkins Yeah, you never found such perfection again, right?
Quinceps Still searching, yes. In the meantime, I'm gonna hook my SNES back up and give this another go (for about the twentieth time) 😁
Well... at least he pronounced Frog's name right...
Hey everyone! I appreciate all the comments and the views.
Just a quick heads up about pronunciations. I have been told at least a dozen times now. If anyone would like to enter into a nuanced conversation about the extreme violence done to Western words when they are transliterated into katakana, please respond to this comment! I speak Japanese and can read Greek so I've got plenty to say about Luke-ah and May-jus/Mag-us.
Also taking comments about the variability of English pronunciation of proper nouns, especially as it regards vowel sounds. Vowel sounds in English are actually a fascinating subject, and no small amount of linguistic work has been done on tracking their many hundreds of variations.
So, chime in on that right here!
You are correct! In Japanese, there is no "uh" sound, only an "oo" sound. However, the most common spelling of the Greek name from which it is derived is Luka (or Lukos, Lukas, Lukia, etct). Lucca is the italicized form, which English speakers have taken their admittedly quaint alternative pronunciation. I see nothing wrong with that pronunciation, and I'll explain why in some other responses to your comments below.
I do not pronounce Japanese proper names in their most authentic way when a well-known alternative exists in English. For example, nobody says Shigeru Miyamoto's name correctly. Nearly everyone says something like "shig-rr-u miyahmodo" when the precise pronunciation is "Shee gay roo Mee ya MOH to." Similarly, nobody even says the word Nintendo right! It's always Nin-ten-dough. It's actually closer to Neen-tayn-do.
This is part of a long English tradition going all the way back to the great vowel shift. For instance, nobody cares to pronounce "Luis Hernandez" correctly. Some people might get the first name right, but often it's "Louis Hurrnanndez." The actual pronunciation is Loo-ees Air-nahn-dehz." I work with quite a few Hernandezes, and if they've grown up in the US, they will actually pronounce their names two ways depending on if they're speaking English or Spanish.
Even the name "Ireland" is an act of violence which activists in that country have tried to undo, but which the general population there doesn't much care to correct. The variations in pronunciation of "Madeline" "Cicero" are accepted without question. Nobody asks "whoooooo?" when someone talks about Jesus, even though his name is authentically pronounced with a Y sound.
So if I'm speaking Japanese, I'll switch over to pronouncing everything in the Japanese manner, including ghastly katakanizations of names like "Firaderufia" (Philadelphia). In that language, it makes sense. In ours, it doesn't seem especially necessary, as everyone clearly understands the alternative and can get it out of their mouths easier.
The original translator of All Quiet on the Western Front created that title from a German line which is much more mundane. (On the Western Front, Nothing New.) It was so evocative that it became a matter of public record. I feel that the Woolsey translation had the same impact, flawed as it might have been.
Having had a strong background in phonetics through my life, as a music student and now a second-year Japanese student and English teacher, I have noticed a very common vowel mistake Westerners make when saying the Japanese "e." Most people who are aware of the Japanese pronunciation would say it "mah-sah-moo-nay," but it's much closer to "mah-sah-moo-neh," with the last vowel resembling the e in "wet." I suspect this has something to do with how common "ei" is in Roumaji, like "sensei," and our Western eyes want to read that as "ay."
You could write a book (or perhaps a series of books) on the subject of linguistics in video games. It would, given the subject matter, be a very dry but fascinating work.
I like how the Kingdom of Zeal Quest line is very ambigious just as the history of the kingdom is.
Hey i love your essay on Chrono Trigger, i had no idea when i clicked on the video, but its aeesome that youre actually doing an extended version of it
Wow, great stuff! Thank you for that excellent analysis. These are just some of the many reasons why Chrono Trigger is still the greatest RPG of all time, in my books. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I have to go play it again... for the hundredth time.
Great video! You made many good points here that I hadn't thought of before and I'm a big Chrono Trigger fan. Now, I will have to check out that show, Lost.
Brilliant video my friend.
this was actually rather interesting. a much more thoughtful look at CT than I ever gave it. so a thumbs up from me even if the book ad saturation was over the top
take a shot everytime he plug in his 5 years old book.
Sorry but I don’t feel like dying
Vezix Haikal much better to make a thing and never promote it right? Especially if it's on a very related topic
miklosselkirk Promote whatever you want, sure. “I have a book about what I’m going to talk in this video”. To proceed and repeat the same thing is unnecessary and excessive, like shoving the damned book down our throats like I HAVE A BOOK YOU SHOULD TAKE A LOOK AT IT AND HELP ME MAKE SOME MORE
Just about to type that
@@miklosselkirk The video must have worked because this volume is the best seller.
Such an enlightening video.
I think I read your book online, I loved it and hope to read more!
Awesome!! Want to read this book now!!
In retrospect a lot of Squaresoft RPG's do the "two games" thing in the sense that they are mostly on rails for the first 2/3rd's of the game then open a bit more towards the end. Most Final Fantasy games are designed that way at least the one's I played after FF7 were. I think Chrono Trigger does it the best though if for no other reason that it fits the theme of the games story perfectly like was mentioned in the video. That is portraying a history that you can't change that ends sadly. Then pulling a Jesus resurrection moment then letting you change it. It provides a real sense of happy satisfaction to get the best ending because of that.
Just ordered the book!
8:23 Things changed because Crono and his party affected the past and produced a different future. It's a second timeline.
It’s unclear to me why you say that all the events in the first half of the game would have happened regardless of player (or main character) intervention. My understanding of the game is exactly the opposite: they happened solely because of Crono’s actions. This was the writers’ way of introducing and playing with the paradox of time travel: the past was set in stone because Crono’s future was paradoxically inevitable. His future was the already decided past.
That's what every time travel story is about. "Are my actions predetermined or not?" CT let's you explore those possibilities by way of giving you multiple endings.
Those endings weren't an accident, that's _how_ you tell a story like this. The whole thing about time travel is "What would happen if. "
I always thought all the time travelers in the game as fated for time travel. Crono and his team were always meant to view the events of the past. Magus was always meant to be thrust forward in time, then become the prophet, and the elders were always meant to be lost to various points in time.
Actually, the search party for queen Leene stopped when they found Marley, and frog probably had help with that. Since he was alone, he probably wouldn't be able to do it. (This is also true for one of the endings, but that's off-topic.) With frog failing his mission, whether he gives up or falls, no one would have been able to fight magus. Lavos would have been summoned early and destroyed the world.
*marle
"The Millenial Fair is hold to commemorate Magus' defeat, so Frog or Lavos should have defeated him in the past before Crono meddled with time". How about Magus' defeat only happened because Crono was going to travel back in time and do it himself?
Very well done and thought out. Enjoyed the video, wish I had the money to contribute more
OMG you are a genius, such a dedicated research, very good work man this game deserve all
Great analysis. I will definitely be picking up your book.
His name is Glenn you savage. Always name him Glenn, name Nadia Marle, and name Magus Janus.
Beautifully made sir. 👏🏼
My only problem is is you left out Magus. I know he’s an optional member but he had his sidequest too that resulted in two races living in harmony
This video is a prototype for a much larger system.