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Elizabeth Sandifer

Elizabeth Sandifer created Eruditorum Press. She’s not really sure why she did that, and she apologizes for the inconvenience. She currently writes Last War in Albion, a history of the magical war between Alan Moore and Grant Morrison. She used to write TARDIS Eruditorum, a history of Britain told through the lens of a ropey sci-fi series. She also wrote Neoreaction a Basilisk, writes comics these days, and has ADHD so will probably just randomly write some other shit sooner or later. Support Elizabeth on Patreon.

9 Comments

  1. Camestros Felapton
    September 5, 2016 @ 11:02 am

    The depth of the side quests was tremendous – and the once you had progressed enough that you flit about between eras to get a thing from one place put it in the past so that in the future it will be ready and you’d have two of them…the time travel becomes not just different game worlds but something that has the joyful paradox of a time travel story.

    And that thing where you leave the robot to do a task (I can’t quite remember – plough a field or plant a forest?) and then pick him up again a 1000 years later. Genius.

    Reply

    • Froborr
      September 5, 2016 @ 7:18 pm

      It was plant a forest.

      And it was actually a bit more complicated–IIRC you had to tell someone in 12,000 BC that a plant given them by the Guru of Life is worth preserving even though the queen ordered it destroyed, and then a second time after the destruction of Zeal that it’s still worth the effort. That causes Fiona to have seeds in 600, then you have to fight the monster that created the desert, then leave Robo with her to plant the forest using those seeds, and pick him up 400 years later.

      Which leads to the scene where characters muse about the “Entity,” and there’s also a weak implication that it’s the source of the Seed you find in 2400 way back when you first go there.

      Reply

  2. hitmonkey
    September 6, 2016 @ 7:51 am

    So I’m actually playing through Chrono Trigger for the first time at the moment. Are there any major spoilers here?

    Reply

    • MattM
      September 6, 2016 @ 10:01 am

      Yeah, a pretty major spoiler in this article, read at your own risk!!

      Reply

      • hitmonkey
        September 7, 2016 @ 12:03 am

        Thanks, I’ll come back to this later.

        Reply

  3. Dadalama
    September 7, 2016 @ 4:32 pm

    Something I had read a long time ago about Chrono trigger you might find interesting, if unrelated to your analysis.

    http://thegamedesignforum.com/features/reverse_design_CT_1.html

    It’s a long read but it’s interesting. Basically reverse engineered game design. Trying to figure out the creative process from the finished product and little things we know about the development. There’s one for FF6, Super Mario World and Half life.

    Reply

    • Dadalama
      September 7, 2016 @ 4:33 pm

      *there’s ALSO one for Super Mario World, Final Fantasy 6 and Half Life.

      Reply

  4. Lovecraft in Brooklyn
    September 11, 2016 @ 4:05 am

    I beat Chrono Trigger last year (only got one ending), and I felt like I wouldn’t fully understand it until you wrote about it. It felt so Doctor Who – I hope you revisit the game, maybe provide alternate endings to the post.
    And CTY was such a strange experience…

    Reply

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