[Classic] Manhogan Chrono Trigger: Apparently Shin Hasn't Played Chrono Trigger Either

Sup GFFers. So Rasputin introduced me to a website Insane Difficulty which focuses on repatching games to make them more challenging and balanced. Initially I was thinking about Manhoganing FFVI but I figured Chrono Trigger is more accessible and it's been a while since I've played it.



Released for SNES back in 1995, Chrono Trigger was a masterpiece of a game but hard, it was not. I could go through the list of changes, but I'll just toss them in the spoiler box below. You can also view it >here<

List of Game changes:

-Entire game made substantially more difficult. Usually not so much as to require substantial grind, though by endgame having max of certain defensive stats is necessary, but also reachable long before max level.
-Particular detail has been given to endgame bosses and enemies, often involving extensive changes of their battle scripts.
-Running from battles is no longer possible.
-From Death's Peak onward, enemies give substantially increased XP compared to the original game, in order to speed up the endgame leveling process.
-Dual and Triple tech power generally improved.
-Some rebalancing of endgame skills, especially: Luminaire, Flare, Dark Matter, Shock, and Dark Bomb, but others as well.
-General rebalance of characters, but staying within their given themes.
-Endgame equipment has been partially redesigned with new stats and effects in the interest of balance and providing more complex equipment setups.
-Once you have the winged Epoch, no one-time-fightable enemies from that point forward will have unique charmable items WITH THE EXCEPTION OF OZZIE'S FORT. This frees the player from having to include Ayla in a great many boss fights. Typically, the bosses now drop their charmable item instead, if it was something special.
-Special Uber Boss: Nu Spekkio is now 10x the force he was in the original game. Try him out if you're looking for a battle potentially even more epic than the final battle.
-Easter Egg: Lucca's Pico Magnum can be found somewhere in the game, but it's rather annoying to acquire. It's a good weapon for her when you get it, but mostly it's just a trophy.
-Lapis item now heals for 350 instead of 200
-Megalixirs can now only be used on the field

Also, apparently Shin hasn't played the game so let's rope that fucker into playing. I know some folks haven't finished the FFV Manhogan (you lazy bastards) but I'm ready for another round of Manhoganing. I've never played a patch off of Insane Difficulty so it would be my first time as well. I believe it patches to the SNES rom. I'm pretty excited about revisiting a familiar game but with game rebalances and other tweaks. Who's with me?



Oh what? What about my grad school? Fuck grad school. I'm gonna need to relax.

Download that good ish >here<

Most amazing jew boots

In. Also, I guess I'll get back to FF5 right now, now that I've fixed my 360 wireless receiver.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Aw damn, I would've loved to play ID's FFVI run... I've installed it and just started, but haven't done much other than escape Narshe at the beginning. That can be next I suppose?

I'd totally be down for this. Haven't played CT in ages.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Sousuke, we could definitely do FFVI next. The insane difficulty version of FFVI is pretty crazy - the list of changes. If you can hold off until like late October/November or so which is when I think I would run the Manhogan FFVI.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Hyde

-Running from battles is no longer possible.

Who the fuck even did this in the original.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Gamingforce Forums - ChocoJournal: Vaginal Assault's Journal

But this one is okay as well.

Originally Posted by Final Fantasy Phoneteen

Who the fuck even did this in the original.

Seriously. Fuck running in this game.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

OK, while more people get signed up I'll go ahead and start my data. Who knows? Maybe people seeing me play will get others interested. Ok...here goes.


Changing Chrono to Hyde. Word~


Alright, the start of a great adventure!


Gonna need a platonic female companion. Sup Seris. Totally friend-zoned you right there.


Give me my money, mom.

Alright, gonna go on the world map then save. And go into the forest to see how hard this new "Hard mode" is.


Omg...that was my first fight in the game.

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OK. It's 1am. I'm done for the night. ;_______________;

Originally Posted by Hyde

Maybe people seeing me play suffer will get others interested.

FELIPE NO

Alright, decided to play a bit more tonight. Instead of fighting with just Hyde, let's pick up Marle as well.


Head-on. Apply directly to the forehead.


Who shall we name Marle? Any redheads on the board...

...Alice...

Anyone else? I think Bernard Black dyed her hair red recently. Let's throw her into the mix. Ok, time for Chocodecide.



Let's roll the dice.










Before I go to the past though...

Fucking revenge on these mushrooms.



Sup Seris.



Dammit Alice.



First time time traveling. Aka Deni's shroom trip.



Let's pick up the powerglove!





Oh, I'll be back for you. Just you wait.



Seris joins the team!


And now off to the cathedral. Not before I learn fire whirl.



Who shall I pick as Frog's name? Let's throw OmagnusPrime, Plarom, and Qwakry into chocodecide.




Welcome to the party Qwarky!



Appropriate hand gesture.



Bam, it's official.


Ok, I'm done for tonight. Oh, also getting to this point I got 7 game over screens. So far the ID patch requires players to level up and use lots of healing potions. You need to enter most battles with full life. Also, I would advise not going into battle alone. Have at least one teammate. Also, dual techs are definitely powered up. Makes sense balance-wise because you are using two characters and giving up an additional move.

Phew, so far a fun reply. Can't wait to hit some of the other changes as the game progresses.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

you FOOL, unless his stats have been drastically altered in the game, you should be fighting gato over and over again until crono and marle get their second tech skill (level 5, 6?)

although it'd be hilarious if gato was set up to be extra hard. make those 15 silver points worth it.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Gato was really tough... My characters had around 100 HP and Gato's attack and counter-attack did around 36~45 damage. I didn't want to eat that dudes turkey lunch because of the trial and going all the way to Chrono's house to sleep was too much of a hassle between battles.

Right now the characters deal far less damage and have substantially less defense. On top of that enemies deal way more damage and attack more frequently. Luckily exp, money, tech points, item drops are reasonable so I haven't had issues leveling up. Leveling up definitely helps but not as much as acquiring new techs. Although HP increase is crucial. I'm forced to use my techs whenever I can so going to Inns is a must. Not frustratingly hard and I'm forced to prep characters before battles. I'm curious how the patch will manage elemental attacks.

Man, the music in CT is great. Can someone confirm that if I leave the treasure boxes in the castle at 600 AD, I can pick them up again in modern tomes and then go back in 600 AD and get duplicate treasure? I know with te Black Omen, you can do that.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I hate myself and have no real plans for at least the next two days so I figured I would give this a go. I haven't run an emulator in probably literally at least 10 years, what's an easy one that:

-Doesn't run like shit
-Supports 360 analog sticks

I had previously bookmarked a Retroarch thread that got made on GAF recently since apparently a lot of people are saying that's the new end-all emulator and it supports a lot of custom shit. I finally got it set up and picture quality wise it beats out the other emulators I tried below, but I get occasional audio static/distorations that I can't figure out, and I also can't get it to recognize my 360 analog sticks in-game (in settings it's fine).

I tried bsnes and I have no audio problems and it would take my stick settings fine, but it doesn't look nearly as good as retroarch and was having some slowdown issues. I tried zsnes (which was literally the only one out there when I was doing this back in like 1999) but it kinda looks like shit and I couldn't get it to recognize my analog sticks either, which to clarify I like using for field movement, especially since the 360 dpad sucks ass.

From the little I have played messing around the difficulty seems kinda hilarious. Gato only gives you one silver point now (wat) and the only reason he didn't wipe me on two occasions was because Marle was too far away for him to counter-attack, and this was after Crono was killed almost immediately. Good times. Going to grind for a bit to get the better gear down in Porre. If I can figure this bullshit out.

Edit: Hmmm, I may have gotten my audio issue fixed, switching to one of the five SNES cores I thought I had already tried (but apparently not) seems to have done it. Would still like to get the analog working but I can deal with that if need be. Retroarch is pretty clearly a fantastic option, but goddamn is it not user friendly at all. Apparently once you get all the crazy setup stuff done it's great for playing hooked up to TV's and whatnot, but fuck man.

Edit 2: Was mistaken on Gato, he gives you 15 silver points but only 10 xp and ONE Tech Point, so he's not worth it. Even after gaining a couple of levels and getting some better gear he is still god-tier, you're way better off just doing battles in the forest.

Edit 3: Played for about an hour, got to 600 AD and picked up Lucca before stopping for the night. I grinded to level 5 which gave me enough money to pick up the Steel Saber (800), Bronze Helm (200) and Bronze Mail (520?) in Porre for Crono. I had also already picked up the Bronze Helm and Karate Gi for Marle before remembering that'd be largely useless since you don't get her back for a while anyway. Getting Crono up to 5 and that gear seems to have really helped the initial hump, when you first get dumped in 600 AD and you just have Crono I breezed through all of those battles mostly one-shotting enemies.

I'm not sure how much time I can put into this on a daily basis, but I'll try to play at least a bit each day, I actually did start this because I felt bad for Hyde :lol. Also I just last week had gone back to the DS version to wrap up the endings and arena items and some other miscellaneous bullshit I hadn't done initially to get the 100% on the game, so this gives me a decent excuse to do a clean playthrough anyway. Time permitting I would probably be down for a FF6 one later, that's still my favorite game and I haven't played it in a few years, do you have the link for the difficulty patch you're talking about on that one?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Daravon: Thanks for joining the nonsense. No need to feel bad for me as I was due for a replay of Chrono Trigger. I feel worse because you just played the DS version. I figured, if anything, I've wanted to play a mod off of Insane Difficulty and provide GFF entertainment at the same time. That being said, I did expect more interest in Chrono Trigger but you are the second person to bring up FFVI. Kinda wish I went with that game now.

As I'm not too far into the game, I really wouldn't mind switching although I was still planning on playing FFVI insane difficulty afterwards.

Also, there are two mods for FFVI on Insane Difficulty although the one I am more interested is called "Brave New World." Here is the >>link<<.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

There's interest, no worries. Skills is moving, I haven't finished FF5 yet, etc. It'll happen.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Hyde

Can someone confirm that if I leave the treasure boxes in the castle at 600 AD, I can pick them up again in modern tomes and then go back in 600 AD and get duplicate treasure? I know with te Black Omen, you can do that.

Confirmed.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

It's been forever, but I thought that the Black Omen stayed static across all time periods?

Also the FF6 run should happen, we should just plan it for maybe towards the end of the year to let people wrap up other stuff first, and people might also have potential downtime at school/work/whatever.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Final Fantasy Phoneteen

Who the fuck even did this in the original.

i usually run from battles when i run out of hitpoints

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I've played this game right to the end, just another hit away from defeating the final, final boss and then I died. Then I never played again.

I'll give this a shot, since it does look pretty fun and more of a challenge. I've played their FFT Insane Difficulty and it is fun and incredibly difficult. I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish it, but we'll see how it goes.

Most amazing jew boots

Originally Posted by SailorDaravon

It's been forever, but I thought that the Black Omen stayed static across all time periods?

Nah if you beat it in a given time period it disappears in all future time periods as well, so if you want to go through it more than once you have to start at 1000 AD and work backwards.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Wrapped up the first trip to 600 AD, With everyone at level 7/8 Yakra was still a bitch and a half, lost Lucca near the end but just barely pulled it off. So far this is running a pretty fine line between being hard and just stupid grindy, we'll see how it continues to pan out.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Advice from folks on the forum is to hang onto all your gear - especially elemental gear. That being said, I tend not to sell stuff when I play RPGs anyways. I'd rather grind for money.

Thanks for the confirmation, Shade.

My understanding about the Black Omen is that you can beat it up to 4 times? Future, present, 600, and ice age. And each time you run through, you can pick up the same loot so if you beat it, do it in reverse chronological order.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

You can't go through the Black Omen in 2300; it's after the Day of Lavos.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Lol. Oops. I stand corrected.

How ya doing, buddy?

Also, I'm not sure the chests inside the Black Omen respawn each time you go through it. I also don't think the bosses do. However, you CAN fight Queen Zeal each time you go through it, which allows you the chance to steal enough prism dresses/helms that with this and the rainbow shell you have enough to outfit your whole party. I think you wind up one helmet short.

FELIPE NO

So, progressing with Chrono Trigger.


First boss of the game: Yakra. 3 game over screens. Not tremendously different than the regular version. Damage output is higher. X-strike is definitely the way to go as single techs and attacks are incredibly underpowered.



Qwarky hogging the glory and women like usual. :3



FORESHADOWING


Leveled up before heading back into the future. Amassed a good amount of cash. Otherwise felt good about my level and everything else.



This is the thanks I get for saving the princess? Kidnapping princesses like Bowser.






Hyde going to jail. Trial was so rigged. I was innocent! Wish I took some images but I ended up getting only one "Guilty." I forgot what I messed up. =\ Also, I would definitely recommend waiting for Lucca (Seris) to save you from jail because going alone is near impossible. I forgot you can pick up the Lode Sword here so don't bother buying it from Melchoir.



Second boss of the game: Dragon Tank. You gotta take out the head first as usual but a lot harder this time around. Wheels deal a shitload of damage as do the missiles. Took 5 tries...but finally got him. Pretty much exhausted all my healing items. Really tough without a healing spell. Tonics doing 50 HP doesn't cut it. Make sure you pick up all the mid-tonics in the jail. Also, the enemies here don't give you much exp (each soldier gives 10) so its imperative that you level up before the trial. So being prepared for this battle really means making sure you are the proper level even before entering the castle.



God, the chancellor is the worst. But he certainly got some serious ups.



Back in the day when my brother first played this game, he would literally walk over the chancellor back and forth a dozen or so times.

I stopped right outside Lab 16. About to get Robo soon.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

IIRC even if you do everything perfectly there's always one guilty, I could be wrong on that though. Also good call on waiting for Lucca to bail you out, I probably would have totally forgotten about that. I did remember the Lode Sword being in that dungeon though so I didn't buy it.

Jam it back in, in the dark.