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I was playing Cross earlier and messing around and started thinking about team combination. Asides from the rare ones that have Dual and Triple Techs there's a lot of fun stuff you can do.
So just out of curiosity, how do you build your team in the game? Do you use plot important characters only, try to go for a balance, go for over powering, or do you do something unorthodox?
I try and avoid having more that one person with the same innate color except for annoying boss battles. But I'm always switching characters around because they are all so magnificent. The only character I avoid is Poshul, she just annoys me, plus Leena and Mojo are a lot cooler than her.
My favorite characters to use are Serge (The swallow is a really cool weapon), Harle (she is just so amazing) NeoFilo (use leech seed type attack!), Guile (magic wand of awesome), Kid/Mel/Fargo (klepto time) and Riddel (restoring elements is a big +)
I just took the characters I liked in Cross, and had fun using. Serge, Starky, and Grobryc were my choices.
Trigger, I just put together a party that went well together that was fun as well. My strongest team ended up as Crono, Robo, and Magus. Pump all your magic tabs into Robo, except a few for Crono, and give Robo 2 or 3 speed tabs.
After Mother Brain, he has average speed, and good magic defence, and a high Magic power. In addition, he already has high strength, MP, and defensive abilities. With the higher magic, he becomes a beast. He can attack with any element effectively, outside of water, and his heal beam will basically max your whole group out.
And even when out of MP, his attacks hit hard, and with his physical output is still crazy.
Essentailly, this is a group that can hurt any group of enemies for a massive amount of damage, especially ones weak to lightning or Darkness.
Its hard to remember everyone in Cross, haven't played the game in a few years. My fave party is the terribly broken party of Serge, Glenn, and Guile. Surprisingly, they actually make the final battle difficult as its kinda easy to accidentally kill the final boss before using the Chrono Cross.
I also love using Norris, Harle, Fargo, Kid, Karsch, Korcha's father, and a few others I can't even to begin to remember their names. I plan to play the game again once I get it back from a friend.
Trigger, I use Crono, Frog, and Magus. Very balanced and broken party. The Duel Techs between Frog and Crono really help when you need a single target to die now... I use a variety of teams though. Sometimes I like using Lucca instead of Magus or I will take Magus, Lucca, and Robo together so I have access to the most powerful Duel Tech and Triple Tech in the game. Marle and Ayla probably receive the least amount of love in my playthroughs.
The amusing thing was I tried to come up with a bad combo for Trigger and can't for the life of me come up with anything so terrible you couldn't win. The closest I can come up with is:
Crono, Lucca, Magus
Pro - High damage output, Luminaire, Flare, and Dark Matter are easily the three strongest single tech abilities in the game. Crono and Lucca also have insanely powerful Duel Techs...
Con- No healer means you will be burning through items. Lapis are rare and thus healing your whole party in a pinch becomes increasingly difficult.
Magus, Ayla, Marle
Pro - The strongest mage, brawler, and healer
Con - Marle can't heal everyone and has no healing Duel Tech with Ayla. Magus is a bit weak in the defense department, Ayla is weak in the Magic Defense department and Marle is pretty bad in both areas. You need good equipment to make this team work and Marle needs to spam haste while Magus spams MBarrier. Not exactly the most efficient team...
I forgot to mention my teams. In Trigger my favorite team is Crono, Frog, and Ayla. I really like their Triple Tech.
In Cross I just finished rescuing Riddle and am using Lynx, Fargo, and Marcy. Fargo to Pillage armor from the Dragons and I've never used Marcy before. But before the switch I was using Serge, Razzly, and Leena. Sometime I switched out Leena for Kid to Pilfer stuff. Have no idea what I'm going to do when they rejoin.
Robo, Ayla and Frog were my final boss power house but or the rest of the game i choose characters based on plot. So if i went somewhere I would meet Magus I took Frog, If i went somewhere related to the king i would take Marle
In Cross, it was Serge, Kid/Harle, and...whoever else. I definitely used Fargo when Kid wasn't in the party, though, since it's so important to have someone who can steal from bosses.
In Trigger, it's all about Chrono, Marle, and Ayla. Aura Whirl, Falcon Hit, Cube Toss, Final Kick, yes, yes, yes.
No aspect of Cross is more liable to diminish immersion in the game's atmosphere than the bloody character cast. :mad: I have traversed the plot four times, to my memory, and each time I have staunchly refused to take anyone but Guile as my third party member (if I cannot have Magus, I must take the next best alternative, else the simple act of traveling through the game's environments feels significantly "off" :\). The ascent to Viper Manor (the "Predicament" climb, in terms of the soundtrack) seems to work extremely well for Guile; perhaps it simply feels like a scene where Magus might conceivably belong, guiding the party on. *Shrug*
Upon Guile's unavailability, I simply find myself gravitating towards the characters I detest the least. Riddel, Steena, Karsh (go "Dragonrider" -- the song, not the attack :frust:), Radius, Harle, and perhaps one or two others suit this category, but to be honest, without any particular personalities worth noting (minus Harle's backstory), they are all treated quite the same -- as Element hoarders. If only Garai were playable -- 'twould be awe. :Eek:
Kid is a permanent fixture as long as she can be; as, obviously, is whatever incarnation of Serge one ends up working with. Have to love Lynx, though; his special attacks rule in every way -- ForeverZero in particular. :plotting: That said, FlyingArrow is nothing to scoff at, once Masa and Mune's merged form becomes available.
Never got around to trying out Glenn, but I fully intend to make a point of doing so. Frog may not have been a particularly profound character in Trigger, but there is a history in the Chrono series behind X Strike as being the first really stylish Dual Tech, and its Cross variation should at least be experienced for its classicality. ^_^
As for Chrono Trigger, I invariably step up to the final battle with my moderately effective "dream team": Magus (in lead position), Crono, and Frog. Sure, Robo is a much more effective combination with Crono once the high-end techniques are learned, but Crono and Frog have more dramatic thrust to offer the plot. Luckily, both Trigger and Cross are easy enough gameplay titles that one can manage the final battles with practically any combination. Triple techs be damned; it is not Trigger without Janus in the front.
Christ. :laugh: Cannot really say why, but that character has always irritated the hell out of me.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolf
I like Norris cause I can't find any decent Yellow Element characters that are good and don't annoy me.
You should also check out Glenn as he definetly is the parallel version of Frog in Cross just as Guile is the parallel version of Magus. When Glenn gets the Dual Einlanzers he is easily one of the strongest characters. You can effectively recreat the godly Crono/Frog/Magus team in Cross. ;)
Oh, come on. Among the caste of RPG characters who use trash cans as helmets, Zoah is unquestionably the most--Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno
. . . Yeah, you may be right on this one. :eep:
True. It is just painful that neither of them will have anything godly to say :cry: (Guile because he does not exist outside his character design, and Glenn because the original Glenn had nothing godly to say, either :p).Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolf
Lol! Zoah is not too terrible but really there are very few really good Yellow Element characters. Blue, Light, Dark, and Green were my top fave.Quote:
Originally Posted by Vice Nebulosa
True. It is just painful that neither of them will have anything godly to say :cry: (Guile because he does not exist outside his character design, and Glenn because the original Glenn had nothing godly to say, either :p).[/quote]Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolf
Frog was great, you need to give the guy a little love. :p Glenn is a surprisinly good character even before he gets his ultimate weapon. He's more naive than the man he's named after, probably more like how Frog was when he was still called Glenn.
Yea really, poor Yellow got shafted. I mean there's Norris, Zoah, and Leah. Unlike Blue who got everybody. There was a lot of people that I wanted to use, but they were Blue. But I ended up with Serge, Kid, and Orhla in my final team. Holy crap Orhla is mean. Her Sisterhoods did more damage to the Red Time Devorer than Kid's Hotshot did to the Blue form.