This week, everybody freaked out (justifiably) about a port of a thirteen-year-old game. Since we can't manage to think about anything else, we thought we would all sit back together for some Chrono Trigger content today, and celebrate our independence from having to keep another system hooked up.
This animated scene was added to the last enhanced port of Chrono Trigger, made for the PlayStation. Square Enix doesn't seem to have a problem putting FMV on the DS, so we'll probably see it in the new version as well. Hopefully the other new feature from that version -- interminable loading times -- won't also be implemented.
Go back in time to five minutes ago so your popcorn will be ready right now!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
7-04-2008 @ 6:19PM
Roto13 said...
Goddamn Akira Toriyama character designs.
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7-04-2008 @ 7:01PM
aj said...
Well, at least it wasn't just a bunch of sweaty people standing around in the usual Toriyama milieu.
7-04-2008 @ 7:24PM
RDX said...
Agreed. Love the characters themselves, but seeing them all anime-fied makes them just look like more Toriyama crap.
7-04-2008 @ 7:33PM
Roto13 said...
It's not even the fact that it's anime styled that bothers me, really. It's the fact that everyone either looks like Goku or Bulma with a new hairstyle and clothes.
7-04-2008 @ 8:34PM
Alexisonfire said...
I don't find the character designs all that bad. Sure, the DBZ parallels are there, but I think it fits the game. I mean, if DBZ never existed (which is what I tend to convince myself into thinking), this would be perfect for the characters.
The thing that bugs me the most is that all the sound effects in the videos are recycled from DBZ.
7-04-2008 @ 9:09PM
Roto13 said...
If DBZ didn't exist then everyone would look like the hero and Jesica from Dragon Quest VIII. (And characters from every other Dragon Quest game as well.)
7-05-2008 @ 12:30AM
Alexisonfire said...
True. True. But I think comparing Chrono Trigger to a long established and successful RPG series would be a lot better than it being compared to an anime series that everyone thought was the "coolest ting evar" when they were nine.
7-05-2008 @ 1:16AM
aj said...
To be fair, even as a 9 year old I hated DBZ.
7-05-2008 @ 5:23AM
jimmygotsmack said...
What with the akira hate, but be fair, would you rather have everyone look like malnourished teenagers "cough" twewy "cough ", or emo band members "cough " FF7 and 8 "cough " not to mention that this game was made in 95, do you want everyone's sprite to be changed now?
You also never have any other animator get called out on this because they never had a series that went as big as dbz. For example, scry-ed, are you telling me you didn't notice how half the people looked like gundam seed characters? Hell, some of their clothes where even the same. Of course not, but everyone knows what dbz looks like, and will automatically think that before anything else.
Then again, crono hair.....
and then there is lucca bulma, come on, bluma changes her hair how many times in the series?(What child of the late 90s that had cartoon network didn't watch it, apparently some listed above.) Although they share the same interests, maybe he likes to identify characters who are tech heads with purple hair? Who knows, still prefer his over some other animators square has used over the years.
Heres another fun one Tifa ff7, Rinoa ff8...... Tifa + breast reduction = Rinoa
7-05-2008 @ 11:03AM
Roto13 said...
I love how all of the horrible character designs you mentioned were from Tetsuya Nomura. xD He's terrible. The worst thing to happen to Final Fantasy, really.
Anyway, the reason most other character designers don't get called out isn't because they haven't done anything as popular as DBZ. It's because most of the time it's not face-slappingly obvious that the same designer has worked on several projects.
I don't even know what "scry-ed" is.
7-05-2008 @ 2:29PM
jimmygotsmack said...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-CRY-ed
Its basically x-men, kids are being born with awesome powers, and there is an organization that is trying to stop and or exploit it. Only this time, the organization isn't run by red necks, but by cliche anime villians. Personally I think the red necks had personality.
I'm being harder on it then it actually deserves. Its actually a good series.
Point being, Gundam seed characters are in it.
Yes, Tetsuya Nomura is pretty horrible...
http://images.encyclopediadramatica.com/images/7/73/Nothing_alike_75.jpg
Why do they keep on using him? Look how he screwed up Brave fencer mushashi sequel.
I'm just saying, Crono looks like he could take on a tank. Which is awesome.
7-05-2008 @ 2:31PM
Roto13 said...
They keep using him for the same reason they keep using Akira Toriyama. Japanese people are weird.
7-05-2008 @ 2:53PM
Alexisonfire said...
Hey, I'm defending the art style. It is a heck of a lot better than FF7-esque design that later square games had. I find it perfect for the game. It's the unwanted connection that I dislike. It is so damn obvious to everyone that it looks like Dragon Ball Z that everyone associates it with it, like story and which age group it would appeal to. Which does not do CT justice.
But I agree that if DBZ had not been popular, hence my whole "DBZ did not exist" arguement, then most people wouldn't make the connection. Even if they looked exactly the same.
And to those who thought DBZ sucked when they were nine or younger, I applaud you. I unfortunately did not have that common sense back then.
7-04-2008 @ 6:26PM
pent said...
Incidentally there's a countdown timer on the site now. Is there a big event happening next Thursday?
http://www.square-enix.co.jp/ctds/
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7-04-2008 @ 6:34PM
Not Kyon said...
I actually kind of wish they won't use this as the opening like they did for the PSOne version and keep the original SNES one.
The SNES version just seems more.. epic, y'know?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d1h76ZWcuM
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7-04-2008 @ 8:49PM
SephFinale said...
The poster of that video needs to be swayed to the side of time travel.
7-05-2008 @ 12:58AM
TJF588 said...
Eh, I rather like how Lucca looks, and at least Robo doesn't look like a mecha-Namek like many of the robots do (though the constant use of lines standing in for ribbedtubes or what have you bothers me; At least Amano's are actually bands of color instead of just a chopped-up whole), and I think what really breaks it is C[h]rono's severely-sectioned hair. Overall, though, the character designs looks alright; Chrono Trigger feels like its own piece. Well, aside from that Android-looking guy behind Lucca (her dad?). Agree'd on the sound effects, though.
Here's hoping Frog's sword isn't the Masamune anymore! Srsly, what self-respecting Square game would dare give the title "Masamune" to a double-edged Euro-style sword?
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7-05-2008 @ 2:05AM
Red said...
They could go back to the Grandleon name as seen in Japan, I suppose.
But otherwise...think about poor Masa and Mune. Translated the way they are, it just wouldn't make sense for them to join together to form the Excalibur, would it? Y'gotta have a heart for them and their situation. Either their name doesn't make sense or the sword type doesn't make sense. They just can't win.
7-05-2008 @ 5:41AM
TJF588 said...
Mind, I haven't played through CT, so I don't know the ins and outs of anything in particular past the first time warp (unless you count some Let's Play reading).
As for the names... Well, Sword of Mana had "Granz", and FFII/KH have their Leons, so unless Excalibur is a different sword, I could see them having little difficulty modifying those characters. If not, Exca and Liber (yeash, "Libra", "Liber", when will the "i" work like it looks it should?) oughta work well enough.
7-05-2008 @ 9:32PM
Kefka said...
Yeah, I'm with everyone else who gets a bad taste in their mouth when seeing the same 2 or 3 character designs Akira Toriyama seems to be capable of repeated over and over.
FMVs of Chrono Trigger just remind me of the fact that he had a hand in it - something which the original sprites happily let me forget while playing :P
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