Big things are happening here at the Rumble Pack. In addition to Resident Evil 5 and Skate 2 impressions, the guys talk to former 1up FM star and current Rebel FM star Nick Suttner. They pick his brain on everything from gaming in print to his future podcasting plans, and he even lays down a new “gauntlet” for Tony. Does Mr. Divito have what it takes to become a Made Man?
Archive for January, 2009
Collaborative Blog #1: Chrono Trigger
“It all began ages ago, when man’s ancestor picked up a shard of a strange
red rock… Its power, which was beyond human comprehension, cultivated
dreams… In turn, love and hate were born… Only time will see how it all
ends.”
-Belthasar
For all of the endless praise and message board worship lavished upon Chrono Trigger, the initial setup is fairly simple, at least initially. You have an intrepid young group (including a mute hero and a tomboy princess), a brooding villain, and a mysterious force that could destroy the world. However, for a game that employs so many role-playing archetypes, it still has its own unique charm over a decade after its 1995 release. In the following series of essays, the five of us discuss why Chrono Trigger has remained such a highly sought-after classic. Is it the Toriyama artwork? The lively battle system? The time travel gimmick? Perhaps the charm lies beyond these details.
You may be asking yourself why we chose to base our first Rumble Pack feature on this particular game instead of the many other classics in Square’s SNES oeuvre. Where was this essay collection two months ago when the DS update was released? Well, for one of us, this is his first time playing through Chrono Trigger, and we felt it was important to remind readers what it was like to play the game with fresh eyes. Besides, this is one of those few games that has been universally embraced by the hardcore gaming community, so think of this as getting to know us better through a common gaming touchstone.
Click on illustrations to be taken to corresponding essay:
Never in a Pickle
There’s a lot to love about JRPGs. Diverse worlds to explore, the essential feeling of empowerment over time, and debatably, a stronger focus on characterizations and narrative. However, when Japanese bigwigs like Square Enix President Yoichi Wada bemoan stagnant Eastern development, this particular genre receives much of the blame. After all, the core mechanics of the JRPG haven’t changed much in the 23 years since the original Dragon Quest put it on the map.
As I simultaneously play through DQ IV and last year’s Lost Odyssey, I find it striking how similar the game play and pacing are between the two titles. Ditto for most of the other turn-based throwbacks, like Blue Dragon and Sonic Chronicles. To be fair, the Persona series and others have shown that there’s still some life in the subgenre. Going back through my catalog of PS2 RPGs however, I find that they’re usually just chores to play. Too often, I still find myself grinding away at oversized farm animals and “playing for the story,” which in the end usually limps along to some anticlimactic conclusion anyway. Even recent successes occasionally fall into the same obvious traps – all of them, except Chrono Trigger.
Not Yet a Chronic Abuser…
Chrono Trigger. Chances are that if you’re reading this blog, you’re quite familiar with it. In fact, even if you haven’t played it, you’d know that to even describe it means to delve into the most glowing pool of praise that video game criticism, be it either professional or pure internet trolling, has ever seen.
To put it briefly, Chrono Trigger was one of the late, great SNES RPGs. It represents one of the strongest collaborations of Japanese game-design talent ever seen, and was released at the height of the install base of one of the most popular game consoles to ever grace either side of the pacific. Is it any wonder why, with all of that talent, (Hori, Toriyama, Mitsuda, Uematsu and Sakaguchi) we have what is regarded as one of the best, nostalgia-soaked RPGs ever made?
I don’t think so.
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Triggered Memories: A History of Pointless Minutia
- Team up for devastating double and even triple attacks!
- Artwork by fan favorite Akira Toriyama!
- Unleash the power of the Epoch to travel to the end of time… and back!
- Over 60 hours of mind-blowing gameplay!
- Multiple endings mean the story never ends!
Since the rise of the RPG in the western world, marketing divisions of software companies have forever been parading out similar claims formatted as bulleted lists on the back of game boxes. One game will supposedly keep you enchanted for hundreds of hours while another will blow your mind with a new exciting spin on the classic turn-based battle system. It wouldn’t take any seasoned gamer long to figure out what game the “back of the box” blurbs above are describing. However, there’s something different about Chrono Trigger: a game that holds a special place in the heart of almost everyone who has played it. What sets it above its contemporaries? What makes it so memorable that it barely takes more than two notes of the introductory music (or a literal swing of a clock’s pendulum) to send you back to a place where a 15″ color TV and grubby gray Super Nintendo controller were the truest definition of happiness?
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Episode 78: My Condolences to Your High Score
This week, Tom pays tribute to the (Sneak) King, Justin feebly scribbles some praise for Crayon Physics Deluxe, Tony bitches about his broken PSP, and Nick informs the group about the domestic release of cameo-rich X-Edge. All that, and tales of a magic forklift and the conclusion to an epic Pac-Man C.E. rivalry.
Resuscitation
Much like the thousands of zombies we’ve been slaughtering in Left 4 Dead the past month, my blog just keeps coming back from the dead.* During the weeks that followed my end-of-semester deadlines, I was so preoccupied with catching up with friends, playing games, and slowly whittling down my Netflix queue (500+ films? How is that possible!?) that I completely neglected my writing. Well, that’s not entirely true. I have written a number of blog entries that I never bothered to publish, often because I just didn’t think anyone would care to read about my fabulous paper grading adventures and snow shoveling prowess.
“E-Sak”-ed
However, after Electronic Gaming Monthly‘s demise and the mass gutting of 1up.com, I held off on the punditry because I wanted to have a bit more perspective on the matter. After all, I had been subscribing to EGM since middle school – I believe the issue with the Soul Reaver cover story was my first. As an industry institution, the magazine’s editorial staff convinced me to buy a Dreamcast and subsequently abandon my schoolyard loyalty to all things Nintendo, and while I’m certainly open to other sectors of journalism, the Ziff Davis publications were also what initially inspired me to consider this career track in the first place. I think any posts immediately following that traumatic day would have amounted to little more than insults aimed at UGO execs and “print is dead” rants.
Didn’t take guff from nobody
However, following 1up site director Sam Kennedy’s lengthy explanatory essay, I’m no longer sure where to direct my contempt. The UGO higher-ups seemingly don’t appreciate the incredible contributions that 1up guys like James Mielke and Shane Bettenhausen made over the years, but the beloved site was apparently heading in the same direction even without corporate intervention (I have no reason to question this information given Sam’s integrity over the years). Regardless, it’s just depressing that the only magazine with the chutzpah to reference Kenji Eno on the cover is no longer in print. I’ll still be visiting 1up on a daily basis, if only for the slick new Retronauts blog and one of the few grading rubrics that makes sense, but I hope that those who lost their jobs find work quickly.
Episode 77: It’s All Downhill from Here
The gang’s all here to mourn the passing of an industry giant (a site, not a person). Other topics of discussion include Skate 2, Chrono Trigger DS, and presidential zombie tobogganing. Dig in for a full serving of the pack.
Keeping the Faith (or at least trying to)
The New Year always brings about talk of change. Some may hate that concept, others welcome it, and still more believe that it means absolutely nothing. I personally wanted to make 2009 a year of amazing changes, so two weeks ago I sat down to write out a few goals for myself. Among the more common desires of “wanting to hit the gym more” and “seeing my loved ones more often” were a few more lofty. Chief among them: make strides to get a job that I’m really interested in. As you might have guessed, in my case, that means breaking into the game industry.
I just finished reading Chris Kohler (of wired.com’s GameLife blog)’s book, Power Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life. In it, he details not only the importance of the Japanese video game industry, but gives a peek into the events that shaped his personal life, from his first gaming memories up through his one-on-one interview with Shigeru Miyamoto. In the end, he shares his realization that video games can be a bridge across the cultural divide, a door that, once opened, can lead to a deeply held sense of respect for another country. For me, Kohler’s story is both biographical and fictional – it represents everything that led me to the land of the rising sun as well as everything I still want to accomplish. It’s inspiring to say the least.
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