I. The StoryThe Earth...
A great blue sphere marred with the scars of humanity, wounds from wars fought needlessly from era to era, dynasty to dynasty.
The Earth.
Mankind has long stared into the stars and wondered... Why are we here? What purpose do we serve? Are we a coincidence of evolution, or does fate have a greater role to play?
I had long believed that the answers to all of these questions lay locked in science, waiting to be discovered.
I have since learned that there is bliss in ignorance.
Our world was violated by a Killer in its youth. The Killer invaded the sanctity of its heart, and began to feed. We, humans, were sculpted by this Killer. The Killer tended to us as a farmer would his cattle; giving us civilization and enlightenment. It guided our art, our sciences, our societies-everything. And then, once we had grown ripe, we were harvested.
Completely spent, the world fell into ruin, rotting. Perhaps this was fate.
But there were those who chose to fight against fate, to try to build a new future. A future free of the killer, Lavos.
They traveled across time, gathering strength from all who they encountered. They were young, but their hearts were pure-they toppled the Killer, birthing a new future. However, in bringing to be a new future, they unknowingly destroyed their own.
The monster was not finished, however... It returned, with all the rage of the cosmos at its wings. Waging war on the very fabric of time that had conspired to destroy it, the monster threatened to bring our world to the brink of extinction once more.
But once again, fate brought together a party of defenders. They stepped forward to finish the fight. To end it, eternally.
In defeating the monster, one was spared a dark fate. Another, was not.
And now, one final time, fate will pull the Earth to the brink of its own existence. And a chosen few will step forward to represent humanity, and the world.
Safe and sound in his bed, a boy dreams of the future. But his dreams are becoming darkened by a growing shadow, a voice that beckons to him from a place he can't remember. Who are the shades that dance before his mind? What fate is he destined for?
In the glittering metropolises of the future, the people cry for salvation. The answer lies in the hands of a deceiver. His ambitions could bring either the end to a nightmare, or the beginning of a new and terrible dream...
A memory searches for its lost owner on a forgotten breeze. It flits between this world and the next, never remembering its name, but always recalling its sorrow. It stands now at the door of eternity, it's fate tied with the Earth's.
These are the ripples of fate in motion. Let them take us to a world of serenity.Story Synopsis:
~~~~ A.D. 1000 ~~~~
~~~~Nadia's Bell~~~~
May our prayers for peace
~ ring on for eternity...
It has been nearly one thousand years since the Heroes of Time left on their epic journey to save the past, present, and future from the entity known only as Lavos. And though they believed that their lives would go on happily in the new era of peace they had heralded with their journey, they soon found that they were wrong. War erupted five short years later, and the fates of the heroes were thrown to the winds. How could their futures be taken so violently? Had they truly saved the world?
A new set of heroes stepped forward in the ashes of their fates, discovering that Lavos had a plan sculpted for vengeance--a plan to devour all time. The heroes traveled across dimensions, eventually vanquishing the dread monster known as the Time Devourer. They went their separate ways after that, the dimensions set right, their memories wiped clean of their journey. But in the instant before their separation, they united under one hope--that the nightmare was over. That their world could finally rest.
But could it rest? What of the evil within men, the very evil planted by Lavos?
~~~~~
Xavier Ashtear had never considered himself special. Unpopular throughout his childhood at school, Xavier was often getting into fights and was constantly teased and ridiculed for his tendency to slip off into daydreams. The two bright spots in his life were his best friend, Matison, and his growing fame as a highly talented artist.
Little did he know that fate had something else in mind for him. Flung through time after a disaster at Guardia's 2000th anniversary celebration, Xavier soon discovered that history was gravely in error, and that the future was in horrible jeopardy. With his friends at his side, Xavier swore to solve the mysteries of the past to unlock the secrets to saving the future. But what begins as a quest simply for an answer soon evolves into much more... And Xavier begins to learn that time is a very delicate thing... And that sometimes, the answer is not as simple as it seemed...
~
Chrono Crisis is our answer to what may or may not have happened after Chrono Cross. Using various sources across the net, we are trying to keep the story as close to canon as possible, while still allowing ourselves to create and expand upon the Chrono universe. This is meant to be a final chapter--a culmination of the events portrayed in the games that we love. We're not claiming to be "the" sequel to Chrono Cross, but we fondly like to think that we may at least be able to provide some tentative answers to the larger questions in the series. This is a game purely for fans, by fans, and we will do our best to uphold the amazing story of the series.
II. CharactersXavier Ashtear
Name Meaning: New House
Age: 18
Sex: Male
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Home: Truce Dome
Magical Element: Light (Holy; White)
Occupation: Student/Painter for the royal family
Overview:
Xavier is a rebellious youth with a kind heart and a strong sense of justice. While he lacks his mother's mechanical prowess, he is an incredibly capable painter, and has been painting actively for the royal family for years. In fact, he has had a crush on the princess, Celia, for several years.
Xavier often slips off into daydreams, and as a result is thought of as sort of quiet and eccentric by his peers. Xavier is a bit of a smart aleck, and is fairly disliked at school. He isn't the best student, but since beginning classes at Arris Academy, he has shown immense dedication towards his mother's class. Xavier is also a bit of an athlete--he enjoys playing in virtual reality battle simulators, and often spends time he's not painting or hanging out with his best friend Matison practicing his dual-sword style. He often stays up late painting and playing video games, making him late for school.
Xavier's abilities are all grouped around offensive attacks. His dual-sword style sacrifices a bit in the defense department, but Xavier is more concerned on hitting the enemy as many times as possible in as hard as he can. As such, many of his techs are focused on multiple heavy attacks. He meshes well with most of his companions, giving him access to an abundance of dual and triple techs.
Matison Embree
Age: 18
Sex: Female
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Purple
Home: Truce Dome
Magical Element: Earth
Occupation: Student
Weapon: Gloves
Overview:
Xavier's best friend and the female heart-throb of Arris Academy, Matison is easily loveable and the center of a lot of attention. Her popularity is only stunted by the fact that she continues to keep Xavier in her close company. Matison is often the voice of reason in Xavier's life. When he tries to sneak out of school to hit the arcade, it's Matison who calmly reminds him of his grades. She seems to care for Xavier deeply, and though she is a breathtaking beauty, Xavier doesn't seem to notice (probably due to his crush on Princess Celia). Matison seems to have some other secrets she's keeping from Xavier. She has a beautiful voice, but whenever he comes near her, she seems unable to sing. She also tends to go away on long trips with her mother, but never comes back with pictures...
Celia Guardia
Name Meaning: Celia (Blind)
Age: 19
Sex: Female
Hair: Blond
Eyes: Green
Home: Guardia Castle
Occupation: Princess
Magical Element: Wind
Weapon: Fans
Overview:
The beautiful gem of Guardia Castle, and destined to someday be its queen. Celia is a refined and gentle soul, who has quietly admired Xavier from afar for years. Celia is highly educated, and is the pride and joy of her mother, who hoped she would grow into a fine lady. However, despite her wispy appearance, Celia is extremely agile and able bodied. Behind her kind exterior lies a free spirit, longing for adventure. Always trusting her intuition, Celia follows her heart and goes where the wind takes her. Little does she know that her upcoming journey will exceed even her wildest dreams.
Miss Vanessa Ashtear
Name Meaning: Vanessa (Butterfly)
Age: 44
Hair: Purple
Eyes: Blue
Sex: Female
Home: Truce Dome
Occupation: Teacher at Arris Academy
Overview:
Xavier's mother and a fine educator, Miss Vanessa strongly upholds the Ashtear name. Although she's as good with machines as her ancestor, over the years her family lost it's once proud reputation for being scientific geniuses to the mighty Rubaire family. Vanessa hopes to rebuild the Ashtear legacy, and has invented a variety of things to try and improve life in Guardia. Her latest invention, a grand computer network, is supposedly going to change the world. However, no one has seen it work yet...
Concept Art:
Aurora Anrui
Name Meaning: Aurora (Goddess of the Dawn)
Age: 18
Hair: Red
Eyes: Blue
Sex: Female
Home: Truce
Occupation: Royal guard wannabe
Overview: Aurora is a fiery character, completely driven by emotion. She had an incredibly happy childhood, and was never raised to understand the pain of war. She wants to become a member of the Royal Guard to follow in her father???s footsteps. Aurora???s actually really book smart, but she ignores this aspect of herself to focus on her training.
Concept Art:
III. ScreenshotsXavier's Room
IV. FeaturesNot really a feature, but Chrono Crisis is being developed in RPG Maker XP.
Finalized menu
When you "mouse" over one of the icons, the part at the top that says "please select a function" changes to show what function you're overn (IE: Item, tech, ect).
The design is based on a computer interface invented by Vanessa Ashtear. This network is implanted into all the main characters through various devices, specifically contacts, an earring, and a chip on his brainstem for Xavier. This allows him to directly connect to the network at any given time giving him access to all it's features, which include using items (that are transported directly to him through transportation technology), using Tech Points to learn new techs, check his and other party members status, switch party members, adjust options on the menu, check his emails (and look at a dictionary of all people met, places visited, etc), and save progress.
Finalized Equipment part of the menu
Tech Grid
Battle System Mock up
How it will workWhat we've decided so far is that we will keep the combo system from Cross, and more closely match it with the flexibility of the dual/triple techs from Trigger. The system is based on exhaustion, so you can attack until all of those little squares go away. Certain characters have more stamina than others--and remember, more strength doesn't nessessarily result in more energy.
What about techs?Here's where we expand. Cross is critisized for having sort of a watered down version of the Xenogears battle system. We're going to bring back an element from that system that was very fun--command input techs. In short, techs in Crisis will NOT cost MP. They're free--they just cost exhaustion, and of course, your own skill to input them correctly. Magic will be handled in a seperate menu that is not shown in these mockups (it'll appear between Fight and Item). You can access your tech list to see the combos you need by hitting "X" (or whichever button we denote as X.
I'm still hoping we CAN get controllers to work with this, as it'll make this much easier for everyone involved.)
Another idea I'm playing with is simply having you select the tech you want from the "X" menu, and then it prompts you for the commands. A little less action based.
Duals and Triples?Another place where Cross was sort of "meh". Crisis will have at least as many, if not more dual and triple techniques than Chrono Trigger. This, I promise. How will they work?
During your tech, there will be a point where you are prompted to push the action key (enter, or "A"), if another character has enough stamina to join in. Since the higher level techs take a LOT of stamina, there may be turns you have to rest with the other characters in order to save up enough to act as one force. In the case of a triple, you'll be prompted to hit the command button twice. The action will freeze, and you can put in the commands for the other characters. If successful, a combo will be launched.
Magic techs will work the same way they did in Trigger--through menu hopping. They will also cost MP.
After each battle, you're awarded EXP (for your levels, of course!) and TP (EXP for your techs). Techs are innately learned, and not equipped (so no element grids). Unlike Trigger, you can pick and choose where you allocate your TP. Techs can be leveled up to do more damage, and TP are also required to learn techs. To learn a new tech, you must not only have enough TP to unlock it, but the required levels in prerequisite techs, if indicated.
Benefits of leveling up TechsIn addition to doing more damage, having a greater chance of inflicting a status ailment, or healing more damage (depending on the tech), some techs can also give you bonuses. A character is naturally attuned towards certain strengths (For example, Xavier is more attuned to physical attacks, while Celia is more attuned to magical attacks). By learning techs and spells, bonuses are added to your character's core stats--attack, defense, speed, magic, and magic defense.
That's it for now... If you have any comments or concerns, post them here and I'll address them. Remember--these are just the sparks of ideas, so we don't have demos or anything.
If you have any ideas that you think would be cool to add, go ahead and point those out too. XDD
My wonderful spriter Lena Andreia made the battle mockup and menu designs, and as soon as everything's finalized, our programmer will begin making them for real, so bring on your ideas!
V. The TeamChains Of Fate - Project Leader and Developer
Lena Andreia (Celera) - Spriter/system designer
Validus - Co Artist / Tile Artist
RoeTaKa - Composer
Old Demo I only have an old demo for now: (Very very old)
http://games.whahay.net/ChronoCrisisDemo.lzhTo play you'll need RPG Maker 2003's RTP.
If interested, you can check out our official forum, here:
http://s14.invisionfree.com/ChronoCrisis/index.php