Hey y'all, I'm supposed to be asleep right now...but I just can't. I'm too wide awake. It could be the 36 sodas I had today, or it could be the fact that I'm just so dang excited that the petition project is finally about to launch! I talked to CuteLucca tonight and told her about the petition (asking her permission to use those graphics in the background)... I thought she was probably about to pee her pants, LOL... She said she was tearing the site apart trying to find out where to sign! I explained it to her and she said "OK, just keep me informed, alright?"

Not to mention that a friend of mine pointed out recently that many companies I have wanted to work for, I have ended up working for at some point. When I was 4, I wanted to work at McDonald's. So at 17, I worked there. When I was there, I heard about their distribution company, Martin-Brower, and heard that it was a great company, so I wanted to work there. Guess where I ended up later? Martin-Brower. And I've always preferred Coca-Cola over everything else and even have a couple anti-Dr. Pepper jokes. I've always thought it would be cool to work where they make all that stuff, and guess where else I've worked? Coca-Cola.

Point is...my friend also pointed out that there IS another company I've wanted to work for and haven't yet. Square-Enix. What would I do if *I* was directing the Chrono Trigger remake?

Hmm, let's see... Dream with me for a minute, ok? And then I want to hear your ideas.

First, if you know ANYTHING about me, you know I have an intense, highly visual imagination. While I may not always be able to express it, the images I imagine often are on par with the likes of JRR Tolkien, in terms of detail. So for me, I prefer the more realistic looks in games. (I loved FF8, if you hadn't already guessed.) In fact, CuteLucca and I had a discussion on this, since she prefers the cel-shaded anime look of Toriyama. Personally I only see Toriyama's style as being evident that he lacks the ability to draw anything better. I thought Marle looked great in her sprites for the SNES (she wasn't badly proportioned or overly-anime...she was human), and hot to boot. (Yes, I admit...I initially rented Chrono Trigger because I thought Marle was hot.) But in the PSX re-release, Toriyama made Marle look friggin' 5 years old!

But anyway, before I get flamed, I personally would rather see CuteLucca's versions of the CT characters running around onscreen. (I told her I'd kill to have her as character designer.)

So there you go. If I directed the CT Remake, CuteLucca would be the character designer. I'll post more later. Gotta go to work... Share your thoughts.

Hmmm... don't agree with your "lack of talent" critique of anime. They're different styles of art. That's like discrediting Picasso because his masterpieces weren't realistically proportioned. However, I share your desire for realistic-looking characters. But I think Final Fantasy 8 is adhering too close to reality for the needs of the characters in Chrono Trigger. In Final Fantasy 10 the graphics were better, but there was more creativity and thus room for less realistic characters, such as Frog and Robo.

Aside from the character designs, I'm really hoping for much more expanded environments. The environments were great on SNES, so the standards are high, but I'd love to see places like Zeal and the Dino Lair in 3-D. If they do the environments well, in terms of detail especially, I'll be happy.

Then there's the storyline. I thought there were a few things about CT's storyline that could have been expanded, the tension between Nadia and her father, for example. I would like to see a clearer transition from the Nadia who simply runs away from the castle to the fair to the Nadia who denounces her father completely. The love interest between Crono and Nadia also was less obvious, mainly (I've been told) because of cultural differences between the two main audiences, Japan and America. Now that Square is doing translations with cultural differences in mind, I think this can be done much better in the remake.

Basically, I'd be happy if Square just goes all out in all fields of the remake. I am of the opinion that Square isn't lazy when it makes games, so I think this is likely.

And Jake, just so you're not the only one, I'm also curious to see how hot Nadia's gonna look in 3-d. That's not the reason I bought the game way back when, but it was a plus to game play, I'll admit that.

I sorta got the whole love thing when she said that she knew Chrono would come for her. Plus I mean it's that whole thing about the girl falling in love with the guy that saves her life. I like the anime style most of the time. This here is an interesting style in the pic below I think anyways.....

http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/656/656603/dragon-ball-z-budokai-tenkaichi-20051006100646995.jpg

I think it has some realistic look to it, but still keeps the fantasy feel. Not quite what I envision for CT. But just to show what someone could do with the anime style to change it.

Interesting takes. Let's see, what else here...

I would maintain the battle system for the original CT, except in 3D of course, so the battles would take place in the field screen. (A little reminiscent of Quest 64, except maybe without free character movement as per the original CT.) I'd DEFINITELY use voices... I know some people hate voices in games, that they'd rather imagine the characters' voices themselves...but I strongly disagree. I think the voices can really help with character development. (Take Final Fantasy X for example: Yuna's shy demeanor wouldn't have been quite so obvious without a voice, when text is her only means of communication. But because of her voice, you knew she was extremely shy from the first time you saw her. You could hear it in the way her voice trembled, and that was very good usage.)

Oh, and this probably goes without saying, but I'd make the flying for the Epoch in 3D...make it more enjoyable, you know. I was a tiny bit disappointed that CT didn't make it like flying Flammie (Secret Of Mana) when you got on the Epoch.

And I'd have to shoot for at least one scene to give the player creepy chills (like maybe when the group watches the Lavos video in 2300 AD), and at least one scene to make the player cry...maybe when Crono revives, or when Crono dies... Or when Schala goes down in the Ocean Palace... Or... You know, just something that focuses so strongly on the characters' emotions, their thoughts, their facial expressions...the music with the scene, all drawn together to bring in some real emotion.

Hmm, maybe I just hit something there. I never really thought about it before, but one of the things that was so impressive about CT at the time was the multitude of expressions each character had. Even if their whole body didn't convey a feeling (like Crono's crazy "Surprised" sprite), each body part was carefully done right down to the blinking of the eyes to convey shock or disbelief. Marle closing her eyes for a moment and then you saw her shoulders heave up and down for a second before she went into discussing something serious... I think that helped give each character more personality and also was groundbreaking at the time. So in the remake, to maintain the same kind of feel in a more detailed environment, there would have to be a heavy emphasis on different animations for characters (especially their eyes and eyelids to show emotion), even carrying over some of the same habits that the characters developed in 2D CT. Such as Marle waving her arms around (remember when she told Lucca to "please call me Marle"?), Lucca's obnoxious laughing and the way she'd always hold up the Gate Key, etc.

And an even tinier detail on the side, I want to see more than just some typical stock "breathing" animation when characters are idling. I want to see their hair blow...like, I want to see a few individual strands of Schala's hair that might get blown out of place occasionally, etc.

Those are just my tiny little things that I would ask for if I was sitting at the Square Table () during the "how are we going to approach these aspects" discussion.

Maybe that post got some of y'all's imaginations going. Got more ideas to share?

Take a look at this.



It's an advertisement for the new 3-D remake of Romancing Saga. My dream of a Chrono Trigger remake would be something like this.

I personally don't care for DBZ, but that's mostly because of its popularity rather than anything else. I have no problem with the artwork: being an artist myself, I can appreciate a wide variety of visual styles. Besides, it was Toriyama's involvement in CT that helped make it popular in Japan, and if it hadn't been popular in Japan, it would've never made it to the U.S., and we wouldn't be making this petition right now.

I'm fairly surprised that up until now, you hadn't told CuteLucca we were using her work, Jake. If she'd said "You can't do that, take my work down and don't use it", it would've been a disaster.

Well, I'm a little surprised myself that I'd forgotten to tell her. In fact I may HAVE told her and neither of us remembered. I'll have to check my e-mail records. But yeah, also I knew she wouldn't say no anyway. Like any artist who's striving to make a living, she wants attention and recognition. As she and I discussed, with as much publicity as this petition will get, hopefully she'll get some more work out of it. And with her artwork being shoved into Square's faces, she may get some BIG work out of it.

I like the look of that Romancing Saga remake. Seems promising...

I don't mind the style for DBZ. I don't really particuluarly care for the show, I just wanted to show how they made a bit of the change with the direction of the artwork. I think a mixture of FF 7 and FF 8 would be good.

I never heard of Romancing Saga. Looks I wouldn't mind that style for CT. I don't think it's quite what I mean, but I would probably end up liking it. Maybe something like the Chrono Cross artwork is sorta what I mean.

The characters in Romancing Saga look too elaborate for my understanding of the Chrono Trigger characters. Other than that, I would be very happy with that art style for the CT remake.

Originally posted by MichaelVash7886

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I never heard of Romancing Saga.

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Well, that's probably because it was never released in the U.S. It was the first game in a RPG series for the SNES: a bunch of fans got together and made English translation patches available online for the games' ROMs. You should play them. Especially Romancing Saga 3, I loved that game. (It's like a cross between Seiken Densetsu 3's multiple character storylines, and Final Fantasy's battle system.)

Anyone remember the earliest phases of the petition? We originally also wanted a remake/release of Seiken Densetsu 3/Secret Of Mana 2 for a next-gen console. Anyway, we may not have to ask for that anyway, as Square has taken on a "revival of Mana" project, where they intend to revive the Mana series. This isn't just a one-game project but will apparently span several games and several platforms. Square has already done a full remake of Seiken Densetsu (Final Fantasy Adventure) and called it Sword Of Mana (available on GBA). The new multi-game project, called The World Of Mana, may also include a release of Seiken Densetsu 3, in my opinion.

Either way, take a gander at this trailer and don't imagine it as the trailer for the project, but think of it as the title screen to a remake of Secret Of Mana. Then, imagine what they would do for Chrono Trigger.

http://www.square-enix.co.jp/mana

There's a Secret of Mana DS in the works too.

Jake- Who drinks 36 sodas in one day?

Yes, Children Of Mana. Like I said earlier, The World Of Mana includes several games. Children Of Mana is just one of them. It's another offshoot from the Mana series. The one after that is actually titled Seiken Densetsu 4 so it qualifies as a direct sequel (finally).

36 sodas...is this a trick question?

Only if you allow yourself to be confused by it. Read your first post.

Oh yeah. I had a lotta caffeine, okay?!?!?!

Don't give yourself cardiac arrest, Jake. Too much caffeine can be bad for ya.

The good people of Square-Enix are probably gonna be amazed at how demanding we fans can be. First they gave the Final Fantasy VII fans Advent Children and Dirge of Cerebus. Then the fans demanded they revive the Mana series. Now here we come, demanding a remake of Chrono Trigger.

Exasperated Square Employee: I can't take it anymore!! *stabs self with ball-point pen*

Dragon Quest VIII just came out and has artwork from the artist that did the char in Chrono Trigger. (I can never spell his name.) And it is looking very good. Getting good reviews as well. I plan on picking it up tomorrow. What does everyone think of that style?

His name's Akira Toriyama.

And you already know what I think of him.

Actually, I don't recall anyone asking for the Mana series to be revived. It had been going steadily downhill as far as I knew, and I think that was something Square did on their own. But yes, your point stands...and the greatest example of demanding fans is of course the FF7 PS3 Tech Demo that, thanks to the fans, has now become an FF7 full fledged remake. Least, that's what I've been hearing. Can anyone confirm whether Square has decided on that?

You really gotta stop hating him just b/c of DBZ. That's kinda like Anti-Semitism to me. That's kinda like hating a team, because of a player. Or saying a player isn't any good b/c you don't like him.

I don't like A-Rod, but I can't say he's not any good.

I wouldn't hate his work so much if his characters didn't utterly resemble one another so strongly. As I've said elsewhere, that just lends ammunition to my "lack of variety" accusation against him. Let's face it, Crono IS Goku, but with a different hair color, different clothes, and a bandana. Or Goku is Crono, or something like that...

And shall I start in on Vegeta's face? Why, do my eyes deceive me, or is that Magus? (Or maybe Crono again, it's hard to tell. )

For my part -- and I know I'll get flames for this -- I think Chrono Trigger was a smash in spite of Toriyama. Sure, the art worked well in sprite form, but in few (if any) other places than the actual 2D sprites. This is why, again, I'd just as soon fire Toriyama and hire CuteLucca for character design -- a job I can assure you she'd be chomping at the bit to have.

See on some games I just prefer that type of cartoon style. And I think Chrono Trigger is one of those where it works, just not in anime cut scenes.