After watching Daredevil on Netflix, I thought of how many blind heroes there are, that I know of? So far, that's three, but here is a list of them!
Morgan
Suikoden I
A blind gladiator who appears in the first Suikoden game.
He is first met at a temple, where he meditates. He notes to the player, that he was born blind. This is however false, it's not until the prequel, Suikoden V, that we find out that he was an enslaved gladiator in the country of Falena. He was so powerful, that he won every match. In order to go against the odds, his eyes were forcefully removed. Despite this, he would still win with the use of honing his inner being, and was shipped off to another country. Morgan was able to escape due to a storm, and washed up in the country of Toran (Where Suikoden I takes place).
Toph is an Earthbending Master. (Which is the ability to manipulate the earth, such as making giant earth pillows pop out of the ground.. etc)
Toph was born blind, and the daughter of high status parents. She was able to learn "Earth Bending", by animals known as Badger Moles. She's able to "see" through the vibrations in the earth.
Toph is a great fighter, and earth bender. She also learns how to "Metal Bend", and eventually teaches others how to do so as well.
Matt Murdoch, or "Daredevil", is a lawyer by day and a vigilante by night.
When he was 9, he saved a man from getting hit by a vehicle, unfortunately, the vehicle had dangerous chemicals on board, causing Matt to lose his eyesight.
Eventually, he was trained to fight by a blind man named Stick.
After college, Matt became a lawyer. But at night, he becomes the vigilante hero "Daredevil".
Due to losing his eyesight, he has heightened senses, and uses them to his advantage. He uses an array of martial arts, and a stave to fight his enemies.
Esmeralda, a narcissistic woman living in an inn, in the town of Antei. She joins the hero once you retrieve an opal for her.
She is the most useless character in the game, she does have a pretty dress though...
When creating a Suikoden story with my friends, my friend gave the idea of a crazy version of Esmeralda. That was when my own Esmeralda was born, I liked her so much, that I started to brand her off as a separate person.
Then, there is Esmeralda from the anime "Saint October". She is probably my favorite fictional Esmeralda, that is not my own character, she's just so strange and funny! A villain that was hired to fight the good guys; she's a total wacko who loves to say "Chi Chi Chi" instead of actually laughing. She also has a thing for the one priest guy, which can be really funny at times.
I know that the name field was pointless, but to be fair, the dragon Esmerelda's name is spelled differently!
Interesting Facts
1. Most characters with the name Esmeralda are associated with the colors Pink, Purple or Green.
2. Upon looking for other characters named Esmeralda, many anime characters named Esmeralda all have Blonde hair. Check this out & and this.
3. Esmeralda's seem to be very prim, proper, royalty or narcissistic, and weird.
4. Some tend to be performers, like Dancers or Circus Performers.
Now kids, remember this, because I'll be sending out a 1000 question quiz, about characters named Esmeralda, so don't forget! Make sure to study! 😜
These two girls have a few similarities, the most interesting part is that the games they are in, came out six months apart from each other! This also means there was no intention, to duplicate one of the characters.
I noticed they had a few similarities due to someone bringing it to my attention.
1. Both girls are conveniently named Norma.
2. They both have brown hair up to their neck, in a bowl shape fashion.
3. They are both eccentric, happy go lucky characters.
4. They're both good magicians.
5. They both have wand type weapons, Norma Beatty having a straw wand that shoots bubbles, and Norma having a Bo-staff.
6. They're both wearing a skirt (Although this could be a rather generic one.)
7. They both conveniently have a hair-piece, on the left of their head.
I love Boomerangs! They are my favorite weapon of all time in games, and shows. I've been in love with them ever since Millie from the second Suikoden game! I've always thought they were cool. You throw the boomerang, so you never get close to your enemies, and then it comes back so you never have to refill your weapon either. Of course there are many flaws, like it would never work in real life because it would hit the target and fall. But, I do theorize that if the boomerang is either going faster, or is stronger than the object to hit, it can actually knock the target down. As an example, if you threw a boomerang, at a "wanky" little tree branch (about 2 inches thick), the boomerang would be going fast enough, and strong enough to fling into the tree branch, probably bend the branch, or even break it, and continue to fly. now, if you did this to a tree, it would just "boop", the tree and fall. What I really like is, Sango from the anime Inuyasha, does something similar. She uses a giant boomerang, that's probably 6 feet tall, and every time she uses it on a giant monster, it's used in a way that makes sense. She doesn't hit the enemy directly, but to the side of the enemy, where it would still have enough speed and power to come back. (Like in the anime, one time, she throws it at a giant serpent, or snake monster [I don't remember what it was], and it only attacked the very outside of the creature, somewhat bruising, it, if you will. Because it's so big, and heavy, I believe she easily knocks down human sized foes rather quickly.)
Millie
In the show The Arrow, Captain Boomerang appears, and he actually has many boomerangs under his coat, he uses them like sharp knives, and some of them come back in certain circumstances. I think this was the most realistic way to bring Boomerangs as an actual weapon, in the modern day. I like that people are starting to give them a realistic aspect to them. I've always been fascinated by them and I wish they would be used more in video games, and other media. One of my favorite anime, Shangri La, has Kuniko Hojo. She uses a giant metal boomerang, and it's strong enough to cut through a tank turret! Kuniko uses her metal boots to kick the boomerang, in order to stop it. (If she grabbed it with her hand, it would probably tear her arm off. The metal on her boots, would probably soak the damage, so it would stop the boomerang) Shangri-La is one of my favorite anime, but not only because Kuniko has an awesome weapon, but also because it's an awesome anime!
Although in real life Boomerangs are not used as weapons, but actually for sport, or an item to scare away birds and other animals, usually in the means of hunting. The aborigines actually used a weapon called the "Throwing Stick", which was used to attack prey, and this weapon inspired the boomerang. They've never had a throwing stick in a game before, from my knowledge. Which would be very interesting!
I think it's funny, because my three favorite game series, Suikoden ,Chrono Cross and Kya Dark Lineage. All of my favorite characters, or one of my favorite characters have a boomerang. I always thought it was funny that my three favorite series always had a character with a boomerang.
Faylen
As mentioned earlier, my favorite Suikoden II character is Millie,and uses boomerang as her weapon. She was the one that introduced me to the wild world of boomerangs as a weapon! Check out one of my earlier posts, which is also one of the most viewed on the blog, that I made about her! "Who is Suikoden's Millie?" Then you also have Faylen, another character from the Suikoden franchise, that appears inSuikoden V. Who has a big metal boomerang. The interesting thing about Faylen, is that she has a metal glove on her right hand, which adds the realistic element, of her having to catch it, without cutting her whole hand/arm off. (Similar to Kuniko's boots). There is also the addition of Sialeeds, and Sharmista, in Suikoden V Whom have Chakrams, a circular weapon that is thrown. In many games such as Suikoden, or Tales of the Abyss, characters that have chakrams, have the capability of having the chakram come back to them, like a boomerang. Interestingly enough, Suikoden V allows characters to use skills to buff themselves in battle. Sharmista, and Sialeeds have a "Long Throw" ability (Which is the rare chance to attack all enemies because of it's boomerang like qualities, similar attacks can be seen in Chrono Cross, and Final Fantasy 13), Faylen does not have this. (I theorize it's because she has a Treasure Hunt ability, that cannot be removed, since she's a bandit character.) In it's spiritual successor, Suikoden Tierkreis, various characters can use a boomerang as their weapon, including the main character. Unlike the original Suikoden games, where the characters keep their weapon and upgrade it by going to a blacksmith. Tierkreis has the characters swap out weapons for stronger upgrades, the Chakram, is one of the upgrades. The character Taj, starts with one. A few of the Boomerang upgrades look similarly to previous installment's weapons, there is one that looks like Millie's, Faylen's, and Sialeeds/Sharmista. The rest are all original, and one even looks like a Ninja Shuriken, which has been used as a normal long range weapon by Sasuke, in Suikoden II. (For images of the Boomerangs in Suikoden Tierkreis, check out the Weapon gallery on the wiki!)
In Chrono Cross, there is Van, a painter who wields a boomerang. His first special ability, has him throwing all of his boomerangs at the enemies. (Van is one of my two favorite characters in CC, and not only does he have a Boomerang, but he is also a painter! I thought it was funny because I also like art.). There is another character, Mel who I like too and uses a boomerang.
Funny thing I noticed as I'm editing this post, Millie, Faylen, and Van, are all the same age, they are 14. Suikoden V takes place much earlier (9 years earlier) than the second game, so technically, Faylen & Millie are different ages. But in their games, they are both 14. at that moment in time. When I first played Suikoden II, and Chrono Cross, I was about 10 years old. I also related to them due to being a similar age to them at the time.
Kya Dark Lineage, the main character Kya, uses a boomerang like weapon to defeat monsters. She uses the Boomy, which she conveniently also uses as a hair clip when not in use (In the picture, it's the yellow item she has in her hand.). She can also use it as a close range weapon, similar to a knife. However, she can only use it against small creatures, larger enemies she cannot hurt them with it (She can however hit them with it, and if far away, if there is another enemy nearby, they'll fight each other, it can be rather funny!).
So, now you know why I love boomerangs so much! Plus some extra info! I even have a book I purchased called how to make a boomerang, apparently there's a way to make a boomerang out of a rectangle type stick!! What!!! I bought it like three years ago, I haven't made any boomerangs yet. (I'm very lazy.....)
As of late I've been replaying Suikoden IV, and I would like to post the advantages of having the character Rita in your party!
Rita is a spunky young girl, who appears in Suikoden IV, and Suikoden Tactics. She's a side character that you can recruit early on in both games. She'll join the party if you play, and beat her in one of her games. Suikoden IV involves the player playing against her in "Rita-Pon", a game like Mahjong, except with characters from the game as symbols. In Tactics, you have to get your characters element over more spaces than her, in a splatoon like fashion. Since Suikoden Tactics came out in 2005, Rita thought of Splatoon first ya'll!
In the series, she takes place of the Trickster category. Tricksters are normally young, energetic girls, who use hammers, or long range weapons (Knives and crossbows). Usually, they have a knack for engineering/building things. Rita isn't necessarily a builder type, but her creativity when it comes to making new games, can be similar to "creating". Her outfit is very reminiscent to the other trickster characters as well. Other tricksters have striped clothing themes, and a focal point item, for Rita, it's the orbs on her outfit. (Earlier, and Later installments have Bells, and Buttons. Unironically, another trickster's name is Belle, and she has bells.)
Rita is an early character, who has great magic stats, and a powerful weapon for a magician type of character.
Rita is actually a mix between a mage character, and a fighter character, but she's not strong enough to be a Jack of all trades type that has an equal amount of stats all around. Basically, she is weaker than the hero character when it comes to HP, and Strength, but she has better magic power than him, and she's stronger physically than other characters who are complete mage characters. Which makes her a bit of the best of both worlds. Since she's one of the first recruit-able characters in both games, it's good to have her in the party with her high magic stats. She'll gain magic faster than the other early characters, although eventually she does slow down around level 40 and everyone else catches up with her.
The really interesting thing about Rita is, although she is more of a mage character, her weapon is actually much stronger than other mage type characters, and can deal much more damage than most mage types.
Basically, Rita has good magic power, and her weapon is strong, but her "physical" strength and hp are not as good. She's basically an equal opportunity character, but just a little bit under the line of jack of all trades type.
When Rita appears in Suikoden Tactics, they change her into a "Fighter" type character, which means she cannot use regular magic (Due to it being a tactics game, the mechanics are a bit different than a normal Suikoden games). This also happens to the character Wendel, which is very bizarre considering Rita and Wendel are great magic users in Suikoden IV. They literally have better magic stats in Tactics, than the rest of the magician characters! But they cannot use magic, I think the reason they did this, was because of their weapons not being "Mage type" weapons, and being more powerful, so they toned the characters down. (Wendel uses claws as her weapon) Maybe they didn't want the characters to be OP, even though there is one character you can get, that has a fighter type weapon, that can use magic. (Obviously, it's a different story, but still.)
Overall, Rita is a quirky, and unique character, who walks like Tommy Pickles from the Rugrats, and is a nice mix between a mage, and fighter character. Who may or may not be, and ancestor to the trickster Meg, from Suikoden I & II. (Considering Suikoden IV takes place 150 years before the first game, and they hint this with other characters in Suikoden V.)
I've been slacking on blog posts lately, I have some ideas, but I've been extremely lazy lately!!!
I have however been playing lot's of Suikoden IV! Which also brings me to the idea I came up with a few years ago!
For those who are not familiar, Suikoden is an RPG series where you recruit 108 characters (Known as the stars of destiny) to help fight an opposing force. In the first Suikoden, there are exactly five female characters who all have throwing knives as their weapon. In Suikoden, you can give characters elemental magic that varies from Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, and Lightning. These are known as runes, which are magical orbs that imbue it's magical powers onto the person. (Which can be removed, or added, by a person known as a "Rune Master")
I went and gave each character a different element, and by doing this, I realized that they became "magical girls". Magical girls, for those who don't know, is a trope seen in anime like Sailor Moon, or Saint October. Where it's a group of 5 characters, who all have different colored outfits, and usually different elemental abilities (That also match their attire). Below are the characters, and what element I gave to each character. I usually give characters elements based off of the colors they wear!
I mix around magic with Meg, I either give her Water, or Lightning. But once you recruit all 5 of the characters, I stick with lightning on her. Meg is the least magical character of the girls, and giving her water, and/or lightning, is better for her than Wind, or Earth because of their spell types. (Fire would also work for her too) Early level spells for Wind and Earth include defense, and sleep spells. Using healing (water), or attack spells (lightning/fire) are more useful for a character who isn't the best (or worst) with magic, such as Meg.
Meg re-appears in the second game, where they give characters affinities to certain magic. Coincidentally, she's only good with Lightning, and Wind magic in the second.
Tengaar, being the last recruit, I gave her wind. Although, in the second Suikoden, she's good with Earth, Wind and Fire (Which perfectly fits her outfit colors!).
(Meg, and Tengaar re-appear in the second game as playable characters. Cleo, Eileen, and Sarah do not, but they all make cameo appearances in the hero of the first games home-town. )
Together they make the five ladies the Elemental Maidens of Destiny!
I almost forgot!
Last but not least is, Glo-Rya!
The secret elemental maiden of destiny! She's so secret, she's not even in the game! In fact, she's my sassy co-worker! (I just wanted to put this in here for fun)
The one, the only, Glo-Rya!
This is just a fun little post I made.
Unfortunately, the other Suikodens don't have enough knife throwers in their games to do this! I'm still experimenting with this idea, and may come up with different ideas for the Suikoden games in the future. I may even incorporate a similar scenario in my own stories.
Ever since I got an Iphone, I started playing some IOS & Android games. Although there are lot's of simple, and "crappy" ones. If you look hard enough, you can find some interesting ISO games that actually have more to it than just simple gameplay, and having to use real money to buy everything!
(I'm looking at you ZYNGA with your Ayakashi Ghost Guild scheme!!! I'm onto you!!!)
This is a part of a series. Cool IOS Games Part... • Part 1 • Part 2 •
Unrelated Image by me.
So far (In alphabetical order) I've played...
I'm also going to give a score, A-F, A being the best, and F is the worst.
Ayakashi: Ghost Guild - A card game that is very hard to play because you need to pay with real money to get good characters, but it has nice artwork and can be fun. Until everyone (Other Players) steals your sealstones, which you use to summon new characters. It's fun at first, but it gets frustrating after a while! (I would rate it higher if it wasn't so frustrating with buying stuff to win.) My Rating:C-
Adventure Bar - I didn't play this game that much yet, but you do have to buy it for like 3.99. But if you've ever played a cooking mini game in one of the Suikoden games, you will love this game. The whole theme is to fight monsters to get ingredients to cook. (I didn't get far into it, so I'm not giving it a rating) My Rating: N/A
Band of Monsters - A fun Monster collecting RPG by Kemco, it brings all of the nostalgia from the old RPG games on the ISO. It's like Pokemon meets old school rpg's, and although it's very simple, it's just very fun and cute and has nice music! You really don't need to buy anything for the game, just if you want some special things. My Rating: A+
Boomerang Blast - The makers of Ty the Tasmanian Tiger made a cute minigame that is similar to a minigame in Kya Dark Lineage, where you take the boomerang and hit the moving targets as they go by. (It's a fun game, I just wish there was more to it!) My Rating:B
Brave Frontier - A very fun game by Gumi, it has a Suikoden vibe to it. Characters are thrown into the world of summoners who are out to defeat the fallen gods; you go around worlds gaining new characters to summon. Like Suikoden there is a 6 character party system, there are plenty of interesting characters to collect.
You can pay for things to help you summon more characters, but Gumi is very generous! I do want to purchase one of their packs just because I love the game so much! My Rating: A
Chain Chronicle - Another more recent game by Gumi, with an even bigger Suikoden vibe to it. Characters go across the land finding new allies to help fight against the Black Army, you can even go on character quests to get to know the characters better, there are plenty of interesting characters... from masked assassins to clumsy witches... there are even characters that fit the Trickster and Narcissist roles of the Suikoden games. My Rating: A
Crusaders Quest - An RPG game about rescuing the goddess of nature, with the help of the next Goddess of nature in training!
The interesting thing is that Crusaders Quest has a character similar to the Power Rangers, as does Band of Monsters. (As I re-edit this post in 2019, I don't remember the game well, and am not going to give it a score) My Rating: N/A
Pancho's
are these mushroom like monsters, but are known as Bread Fairy monsters. They are the first monster you can capture
in the KEMCO Mobile phone RPG "Band of Monsters".
They're
pretty strong and there are other versions of them as well, such as a pancho that is strong against fire magic, or one that heals. The strongest monster in the game is in fact a variation of
Pancho!
They even appear in another Kemco game as well.
Chrono
Crono, Serge
The
mascots for the Chrono games, Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, would
most likely be the main characters. Crono and Serge, plus the other main
characters, Kid, Lucca and Marle.
You
can't forget the mascot to one of the most popular RPG's of all time!
The Moogle! A cute furry little creature, sometimes they are even
playable characters.
This
creature right here is named "Stuff", he is the creature mascot of the
game. He allows other characters to communicate with Kya telepathically
when she is not with them.
There
are also these little critters known as Micken, they come in all sorts
of colors, but their main color is red, the other colors are rare finds
that you can capture and put into a zoo.
As terrible as this sounds, Mickens are very bouncy and Kya can use them to jump on, in order to get to a higher area!
These little creatures don't do much except eat grass.
The Rabite from the Mana series, Secret of Mana, Legend of Mana, Dawn of Mana, Heroes of Mana etc... A Popular Rabbit monster and usually an early enemy in all of the games.
Pokemon
Pikachu
The popular anime, and video game character, Pikachu has been the mascot for the series since the beginning of the anime.
Although Ash's original starter Pokemon was a bad mouthing Clefairy in the original manga.
The Holly Boy is another monster that either appears in every game, or has a variation. Generally a weak monster, and always appears in the beginning of the game.
In Suikoden IV, the holly boy that appears is actually a form of seaweed that the heroes encounter while on board of a ship.
Other variations include Papa Holly and holly Fairies.
Characters (Suikoden)
Character wise, the three returning characters who have appeared in every main title Suikoden could be the mascots of the series.
Jeane, a rune mistress. Her Charm rune, allows for enemies to block damage, that she would receive from another enemy attack. The ability varies per games she is in. It can also allow allies to block damage for her, or even have enemies attack their friends instead.
Viki, a strange girl who can teleport through time, and space. She allows the hero to teleport to places they've already visited. She has a special ability in battle, which allows her to teleport allies, and enemies to other places in battle. As well as teleport random items, to fall on enemies heads.
The Chrono series has two games, and one text based visual novel.
Chrono Trigger, was the first game that came out in 1993. Radical Dreamers: The Unstealable Jewel, was the visual novel that only came out in Japan. Last but not least is Chrono Cross, which came out in 1999, and is personally my favorite, but also my introduction into the series.
If the animation looks familiar, the same creator of Dragon Ball did the animation, and character art for Chrono Trigger!
The main character, and silent protagonist. He wields a sword, and has an affinity for lightning/holy magic. Lucca: A mad scientist, and one of Crono's best friends. She uses a gun/mallet as her weapon, and uses fire magic. She's the engineer of the group, and sometimes can help with mechanical issues that may arise.
Robo: A giant robot, whom Lucca takes a fascination from. Due to being a robot, robo has no magic abilities. Marle: A princess, whos weapon is a crossbow, and is good with water magic. Frog: Previously a knight, who was turned into a frog. His real name is Glenn, and they introduce a Glenn in the second game as somewhat of a nod to Frog. Like Marle, he also uses water magic.
Ayla: A cavewoman from 65,000,000 BC, we meet her mother in Chrono Cross. Due to being born before magic was found, she has no magic capabilities. Secret Character: Is the 7th, and final character to join the party. He starts off as a villain, who later joins Crono and his team. His weapon is a scythe, and he uses dark magic.
Story:
The game starts with the hero Crono meeting up with his friend Lucca, at a festival in a nearby town. Upon arrival, he bumps into a mysterious blonde girl named Marle. The two tour the town, until they find Lucca, and her new invention, a teleportation machine! Marle decides to give the machine a try, and instead of teleporting to another teleporting pod, she disappears without a trace! Marle was wearing an amulet, that when it was used in the pod, it instead sent her to a different time period.
The pendant stayed in their time, in which Crono goes after Marle! Lucca later joins up.
Crono, Marle and Lucca find themselves in 600 AD, medieval times. (Crono and the gang are from 1000 AD.)
Pierre from Chrono Cross
Battles:
Unlike many RPGs, including it's sequel, Chrono Cross. Battles in Chrono Trigger appear on screen, in real time.
Characters are also able to do combo attacks with other characters, Lucca for example, can turn Crono's sword into fire, and deal a fire attack on enemies in the surrounding area.
Magic:
They eventually meet Frog in this era of the past, and find out about magic. Each character has a specific affinity to a certain element, and can use spells based on that element. Crono is Light and can use Light and lightning based spells, Lucca is Fire, Marle is Ice, Frog is Water, Magus is Shadow and Robo and Ayla cannot use magic due to Robo being a robot, and Ayla was born before the times of magic. Robo does have attacks that are Shadow, Fire and Lightning based. Based on Ayla's attacks, if she were a magical being, she would probably have Earth. As one of her attacks is "Boulder Toss". Earth magic does not exist in Chrono Trigger, but it does in Chrono Cross. In fact, Ayla's mother appears in Cross, and her element is yellow. Which is lightning/earth.
Magic varies between games. In Chrono Trigger, characters can use real magic they obtain as they level up. While in Chrono Cross, the characters use a fake magic, that can be purchased at shops.
There's a little bit of an error, as one of the covers for Chrono Trigger shows Marle using fire magic, when she cannot actually use fire, only Lucca can.
Bio:
Crono, and his friends go on a journey through time, they find out that there is an alien being known as Lavos. Lavos has been in their world since the very beginning, around Ayla's time period. Lavos is sucking the life force out of the planet, and on 1999 the planet will die out, and cause the world to go to waste. Crono and his friends get to go into the future, to see what happens to the world. Crono, and friends decide to stop Lavos, and save the world.
My favorite time period is when Crono and the gang go to 65,000,000,000 BC. It's mostly a volcanic island, with some really nice music, and scenery!
Radical Dreamers
Radical Dreamers is a text based game created three years after Chrono Trigger, and was never released in English.
It stars Serge, Kid, and Magil, who are after the ancient artifact known as the Frozen Flame, which is a fragment of Lavos.
Chrono Cross is largely based off of Radical Dreamers, Serge and Kid are main characters, while the main enemy Lynx, is also the enemy in Cross as well. Magil, is not in Cross, however, the character Guile is possibly based off of him.
Many of the songs in Radical Dreamers are re-used in Chrono Cross.
Bio:
Chrono Cross takes place 20 years after the events of Chrono Trigger, it stars Serge a 17 year old boy from the village of Arni. On his way to Opassa beach, he gets teleported to another dimension. In this world, he died ten years ago, when he was 7. He bumps into a strange girl named Kid, who is off to Viper Manor to go and steal a magical item known as the Frozen Flame! Kid is chasing after an anthropomorphic panther man named Lynx, who is also after the Frozen Flame. Serge decides to accompany her, in search of the Frozen Flame.
The beginning of the game entails a dream that Serge has, it involves Serge, Kid, and randomly one of the other 45 playable characters. Going to Fort Dragonia, to defeat Lynx. This is a really interesting feature, as you get to see all of the colorful characters that are in the game, right from the beginning.
Harleequin (Harle for short), a leading character in Chrono Cross.
There are a total of 45 playable characters in the game, not all can be recruited in one sitting. Some can only join if certain needs are met.
There are three separate characters to recruit, on your way to a place called Viper Manor. Once you recruit one, you can't get the other two, unless you start a new save!
The same can be said for a storyline later on, when trying to save a character. If you find a way to save them, three specific characters can join, and if you don't try to save them, three others will join you instead.
If you've completed the game, and have saves with all the characters, there is a way in the end of the game to automatically have all 45 characters!
The funny thing is that there were supposed to be more than 60 characters, as well as a "journey to the west" scenario. Unfortunately this was scrapped, but you can find out about it by searching up unused characters in Chrono Cross, if you're interested!
Battle:
Despite the fact that the game has 45 playable characters, Chrono Cross sticks with Chrono Trigger's 3 character party.
Battles are different from Trigger, as the battles are not time based, and the screen fades to enter a new "Battle" area, like in most rpg's..
The interesting thing about Cross is that every character has 3 levels of regular attacks.
The higher the level, the stronger, while the lower is weaker. Level 1 is the weakest while level three is the strongest, but the higher the attack the easier for enemies to dodge! So, you have a better chance of hitting an enemy with a level 1 attack, than a level 3 attack.
Each level of attack has a different animation too, which is really interesting. On level 1, Serge will stab an opponent with his weapon, while a level three attack he does a spin slash attack and each level has two animations. The interesting thing with levels is that some characters can actually attack all enemies with their level 3 attack, but it has a better chance of missing. Characters with Boomerangs, and magic staffs can attack all enemies with their level 3 attack, this only includes 5 characters in total, with there being 3 staff users and 2 boomerang users. Staff users actually shoot magic orbs at enemies on their 3rd level, while boomerang users do a strong throw to hit all enemies.
The amount of normal attacks you can do is based on the characters stamina points, usually you can only use the third level attack twice and maybe one 1 level attack per round. Weaker attacks use less stamina, while stronger attacks use more stamina, so you could do many more level 1 attacks than level 3 in one turn.
The level attacks also allow the character to use magic, if the character uses a level 1 attack, they unlock their level 1 magic spells, while level 3 would unlock level three spells, and if they do a level three attack again, it would unlock level 6 spells.
Skelly from Chrono Cross
Magic:Elements
Unlike Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross has a different set of magic. Elements are purchasable items that allow characters to use a magic spell once per battle. If a character has one fireball spell equipped, they can use it once. If they equip 3 of them, they can use it up to three times. Elements recharge after battle, which is a nice battle mechanic that hasn't been used in a game before.
Chrono Trigger is the opposite, where a character has a natural ability to use magic, which used magic power, instead of recharging after battle.
Elements allow for the player to choose who can use what kind of spell, which I think is also better, since I hate it when characters can only use certain set spells (like Chrono Trigger). I like it when you can give whatever you want to a character, be it magic, or weapons. While most elements are items you can buy at shops, some are consumable, and rare ones are usually only found while treasure hunting.
There are 6 elemental affinities in Chrono Cross, White, Black, Red, Blue, Green and Yellow. White is Light magic, Black is Dark, Red is Fire, Blue is Water, Green is Wind and Poison, and Yellow is Earth and Lightning.
Each character has an elemental affinity, Serge is White, while Kid is Red. Certain elements can be more powerful against others, and characters who have that affinity, will have more stronger attacks with those spells. A Red element spell would be more powerful when Kid uses it, rather than when Serge uses it.
Each element has an opposite, and when the opposite element is used, it damages the character more than it would another element.
Red innate characters are weaker to blue innate spells than a green innate character would be, while blue innate characters are weaker to red innate spells.
Red < > Blue
Yellow < > Green
White < > Black
Each character gets 3 special elements that are attributed to their personality, and fighting style, they get more as bosses are defeated. Everyone gets their first two special attack elements at the same boss battles, but some characters you have to do something in particular to get their last attack. For example, the character Poshul must speak to the character Leena, in Serge's original world, in order to get her final element called Unleashed.
Some elements can also only be used by characters with that elemental affinity, a blue innate character can't use special elements that can only be used by fire innates, those elements all have stars next to them and usually have certain circumstances to obtain and use. Really powerful elements such as "Frog Prince", which only blue innates can use, must actually be captured with an element that traps other powerful elements.
Elements are equipped to an element grid on the character, the grids have levels. There are 8 levels, each characters first special element attack is on the third level of the grid, their second special attack is on 5 and their third special element attack is on the 7th level. Every character's element grid is different, their element slots all appear at different times.
In order to attach elements to characters, they have an element grid. There is a certain amount of slots that characters can unlock, and the grid also has levels. Level 1 slot on the grid, is the weakest, while level 8 is the strongest. Elements themselves do better, average or worse when on certain levels. A fireball Element is a level 1 spell, and will do good on any level, but if it's put on a level higher than level one, the power of it increases and it becomes Fireball +1, +2, +3 etc..
Some Elements can't even be equipped to lower levels on the grids, while others can also suffer if they are put on a lower class, a negative sign will appear and the spell will be weaker than normal.
Elements also replace use-able items, instead of having a potion in the party bag, you equip items like "Tablet" to a characters element grid in order for the character to use the item. (Tablets, Capsule, and Nostrum, are all consumable elements.)
Elements are more complicated than normal magic in Chrono Trigger, but they're much more customizable. You can give any character almost whatever element you want to give them.
Mojo, a living VooDoo Doll.
Characters - Chrono Cross has a total of 45 playable characters! From talking dogs, to skeleton clowns, Voodoo Dolls that spread love, Dancers and Artists with boomerangs! Chrono Cross has a creative cast of playable characters that join Serge on his adventure to uncover the secrets of the world, and it's two alternate realities!
My two favorite characters are Poshul, a talking pink dog, and Van, a painter whose weapon is a boomerang.
Poshul
Van
Visuals
The imagery in Chrono Cross is just as amazing as Chrono Trigger, and maybe even better.
The creators made a blend of 2D sprites and 3D and they did it right, the backgrounds to places are just stunning! I definitely recommend checking out some of the official artwork!
65,000,000 BC (Chrono Trigger)
Opassa Beach (Chrono Cross)
The world Map, is smaller than most games. But you are traveling through two dimensions where the same place will have different settings, there are about 4 towns in total, double it and you have 8 places where you can buy stuff.
Towns being Arni, Serge's home place, Guldove, Termina and Marbule, the town of demi humans. The other places are dungeons, and tropical get-a-ways.
When I was little, I was always so disappointed that you never get to go to this little island that is south from Arni village. I always thought you would get the fairy character Razzly there, I thought you'd find her in the woods or something. I also thought something similar for another place "Fossil Valley", where you meet the character Skelly, for the first time. For some reason, I thought there was a separate path behind Skelly, to go to another town. I don't know why I thought this, but I kind of wish it existed!
So that is my detailed review on the Chrono series, I've played both Trigger and Cross and they're both great games! Although, it may be obvious that I prefer Cross. It was my first game out of the series, and I just loved everything about it. Suikoden was my first RPG, and to me Chrono Cross had many similarities, and I think that's a big reason why I loved Cross so much.
Did you know?
Magus from Chrono Trigger, Magil from Radical Dreamers, and Guile from Chrono Cross. Were all supposed to be the same character in disguise! Guile, is in fact not Magus.
