Endurance Run: Chrono Trigger - Part 13

I honestly wouldn't be too surprised if Ryan knew exactly where to go every single time and was just wandering around and pretending to get lost to troll the viewers.

I am so pleased they taught Bucca magic, but not because they had to but because now we won't have infinite comments whinging about it every episode. So thank you for that Patrick/Ryan. They were surprisingly on the ball this episode and things are progressing. I just hope they don't go too fast or they are in some serious trouble: Take some time to grind a bit guys!

Good, they now know to bring new party members to learn magic. Now I hope they recruit Bagus.

I know you're playing with a faq, Patrick; I can hear it in the confidence in your suggestions posed as questions!

Two things I hope they remember.

A: Lightning is your friend when fighting dinosaurs (most of the time).

B: Bring new recruits back to Spekkio as soon as you can to unlock their magic so all those tech points don't go to waste.

@Homelessbird: I actually have the suspicion that Patrick's been paying attention for longer than it seems, but he's trying not to do too much hand-holding -- until his patience wears thing enough, and then he does things like he did during the Masa & Mune fight and with Bucca at the End of Time. Essentially, "Okay, seriously Ryan, just do what I say."

People are doing a lot of bitching about him, and the conspiracy that he's working off of memories from eleven years ago but pretending not to are still rampant. But I don't see why that is the logical assumption to make.

It's as simple as this: Patrick is paying more attention than Ryan is. Patrick's short-term memory is far, far better than Ryan's, who can't even remember who has what techs from fight to fight (sometimes even turn to turn). His memory isn't perfect, and there are some things he misses as well, but by and large he's doing a better job of it than Ryan.

Patrick is the only reason they've made any progress at all over the last few episodes, because if it wasn't for him dropping occasional hints or combat strategies, Ryan would be taking twice as long to figure out what to do in a lot of cases. I really like Ryan, it's not like I have a vendetta against him -- he just seems incapable of paying attention while playing this game.

@DantronLesotho: I think he's posing confident suggestions as questions because he's too nice to just say "Damn it, Ryan, this is what you need to do, stop being so dense!" It's a more polite way to nudge Ryan in the right direction, without the side-effect of making Ryan feel stupid.

They will need god on their side for the next big boss. Have mercy on their souls.

@blackichigo: For the dinosaur? You just use lightning on him, that's literally the only trick...

Maybe I'm giving them too MUCH credit now...

@EchoEcho said:

@Homelessbird: I actually have the suspicion that Patrick's been paying attention for longer than it seems, but he's trying not to do too much hand-holding -- until his patience wears thing enough, and then he does things like he did during the Masa & Mune fight and with Bucca at the End of Time. Essentially, "Okay, seriously Ryan, just do what I say."

People are doing a lot of bitching about him, and the conspiracy that he's working off of memories from eleven years ago but pretending not to are still rampant. But I don't see why that is the logical assumption to make.

It's as simple as this: Patrick is paying more attention than Ryan is. Patrick's short-term memory is far, far better than Ryan's, who can't even remember who has what techs from fight to fight (sometimes even turn to turn). His memory isn't perfect, and there are some things he misses as well, but by and large he's doing a better job of it than Ryan.

Patrick is the only reason they've made any progress at all over the last few episodes, because if it wasn't for him dropping occasional hints or combat strategies, Ryan would be taking twice as long to figure out what to do in a lot of cases. I really like Ryan, it's not like I have a vendetta against him -- he just seems incapable of paying attention while playing this game.

@DantronLesotho: I think he's posing confident suggestions as questions because he's too nice to just say "Damn it, Ryan, this is what you need to do, stop being so dense!" It's a more polite way to nudge Ryan in the right direction, without the side-effect of making Ryan feel stupid.

Agreed, I can definitely hear it in Patrick's voice sometimes, even I'm like goddammit Ryan stop hammering on the a button and they just told you where to go. I hope they took Jeff's advice and aren't doing all 5 on monday and then expecting to remember whats going on once a week.

Hmm, so this endurance run has basically turned into Patrick "subtley" suggesting what he read in the comments from last episode ?

@Ares42 said:

Hmm, so this endurance run has basically turned into Patrick "subtley" suggesting what he read in the comments from last episode ?

This episode was recorded in early November, so no.

@Ares42 said:

Hmm, so this endurance run has basically turned into Patrick "subtley" suggesting what he read in the comments from last episode ?

From what I have been watching, it seems more like Patrick "subtly" suggesting the obvious that Ryan never bothers to do. Ryan doesn't seem to even read the dialogue telling him exactly what to do next.

@Shtinky: Wait, how do you know that?

@Shtinky: Yeah I'd like to know exactly how he knows that too. Because there is nothing to suggest that.

@EchoEcho said:

Patrick's short-term memory is far, far better than Ryan's, who can't even remember who has what techs from fight to fight (sometimes even turn to turn).

This statement is actually true of Jeff and Vinny too. This exact same problem used to happen on a fight to fight and even turn to turn level in the Persona 4 Endurance Run.

I feel that the best actual gamers on this site are Brad and Patrick probably because they are just much more serious individuals in general. Brad specifically will let himself get way into a game to the point he actually climbs over the learning curve and becomes really good at a game.

@MangyForestCat: My girlfriend gets so frustrated watching the P4 Endurance Run because of their inability to remember simple things. JRPGs are her one true love in video games, and she's played them religiously ever since she was a girl, so it's especially maddening for her. Chrono Trigger is quite possibly one of her favorite games, and she's beaten it at least a dozen times. For her own sanity, I haven't been making her watch this ER along with me, but have just been giving her occasional updates on their progress -- even that's enough to make her roll her eyes.

Jeff and Vinny at least eventually start to get their act together -- somewhat, anyway -- though it took months worth of episodes to happen. If Ryan keeps using Patrick as a crutch so that he doesn't need to pay attention or remember anything, though, then this ER could get pretty rough later on. CT is at least pretty forgiving as JRPGs go, which is good -- because God help us if Ryan had to try feeling his way through anything more complicated than this.

Oh, and as for the "recorded in early November" thing -- in the first or second episode, Patrick makes a comment about it "almost being Halloween," so that is where the prevailing theory that these episodes were prerecorded comes from. They haven't confirmed it one way or the other, though.

Byla giving Brono a handjob cracked me up.

argh they forgot those tabs they picked up!

As someone who has played this game a bunch of times, it is waaaaay too frustrating watching this. Think I'm gonna bow out and wait for the next one!

Omigodomigodomigod. I'm gonna go crazy. Ryan and Patrick are like two bad navigators in the same car.

Does Patrick really have to explain RPG 101 to Ryan, come on Ryan.

PS It bugs me when Ryan doesn't fight enemies

lol at all these comments bitching. I am enjoying this play through more than the first time.

Episode 14.

I feel like it's fairly obvious they looked up a FAQ between last episode and this one. They were still pretty bewildered at the end of the previous episode, then suddenly they start this one off by listing off a bunch of reasons they should go to the forest. Looking up a FAQ when they are mega lost is probably a good choice.

Heh. I'm currently playing the game and watching the ER both for the first time, and I was rather confused about what to do after getting masamune and that's what I pretty much just did. I'd actually been to the forest, even investigated that weird bush, guess I just didn't investigate it well enough.

Wandering around aimlessly, not sure what you need to do or where you need to go, has never been one of my favorite parts of games...

@pyromagnestir: Yeah, this game is maybe not great for an Endurance Run, since it doesn't really have any summary of what you should be doing or anything to point you in the right direction. I feel like you can do a better job of keeping track of your objective if you play it in 2-3 hour bursts. Though also Patrick & Ryan skipped over a lot of NPCs, and never visited the shops in Dorino or Porre (their armour is pretty terrible for long stretches of the game).

On the other hand, since they clearly had sessions where they sat down and cranked out like 5-6 thirty-minute episodes with short breaks in between, you'd think they would've remembered more often where they had been told to go. Also, I know you probably haven't gotten there yet, but in the later episodes (January 2012), they're surprised to learn they're considered criminals in present day Guardia Castle, because they recorded the bit with the trial back in like October 2011 (before the ER had actually been posted to the site yet).

I can't be too harsh on them, as the SNES translations is kind of terrible and rushed, and the DS translation is leagues better.