What was the start of all this?
When did the cogs of fate begin to turn?
Perhaps it is impossible to grasp that answer now,
from deep within the flow of time.
But for a certianty, back then
we loved so many yet hated so much
we hurt others and were hurt ourselves.
Yet even then we ran like the wind
whilst our laughter echoed
under cerulean skies....
CHRONO CROSS
Mega-Fantasic-
Ultimte-Super-Duper-
One-of-kind-Amazing-Wonderful
Adverb-Overused-Totally-Useful-
WINDOW FRAME GUIDE!
(1.0) (Aug25,2000)
by webrunner.
(also known as "please, dear god, don't send in confirmations!" edition)
PART I: Table of Contents.
-------------------------------------
Although it isn't really tabular...
I: Table of Contents
II: What's New?
III: Intro
IV: FAQ
V: The Guide, Untested, rumors
VI: Legal Mumbo-Jumbo (Not the Banjo-Kazooie kind)
VII: Wrap-Up
PART II: What's New
-------------------------------------
What's new with you?
August 25th, 2000: Got the other two frames. I think that's it...
August 23rd, 2000: Added some FAQ stuff, and clarifications, and I got tea for
three.
August 22nd, 2000: "Snakes and Orbs" exists! And Valencian Cloth info.
August 21st, 2000 (2): Added a "Rumors" section, along with confirming some.
August 21st, 2000: Added several 'untested' frames, and one tested frame.
August 19th, 2000: First version of the Guide
PART III: Introduction and junk.
-------------------------------------
Not much Junk really.
Welcome to the Window Frame Guide. Sure, there are a lot of guides
for CC out there, but none of them exist for the pure reason of one of
the most unique options in Chrono Cross: The Custom Window Frames. Wheras
in most games you can use whatever frame you want whenever, the frames in
CC have to be found... and that's what I'm here to help for.
PART IV: FAQ
-------------------------------------
What questions could you possibly have!?
Q. What is a Window Frame?
A. When you talk to someone or bring up the key items menu, notice that wood
motif? That's a Window Frame, particlarly "Arnian Wood".
Q. How many frames are there?
A. I'm not sure. I've found 12, plus the ones you start with. Apparently,
that's all there is, so that's... 15 is it not?
Q. Where can you find these frames?
A. Everywhere! You can find them in chests, by talking to people, or by
searching an area!
Q. Why did Square do this to us?!
A. To add replay value to Chrono Cross? Well, adding Replay Value to CC is
like adding water to the ocean, but what are you going to do?
Q. How do I use a new frame?
A. Under "Customize" move the "Window Frame" option to "Custom" and pick the
one you want.
Q. Do you keep them in New Game +?
A. You betCHA!
Q. You have one in "Untested" Which I have, and I'd like to confirm it.
A. Untested is ones I don't have yet, but i'll get those in New Game +, so
do NOT send in any confirmations or descriptions of ones already listed
here.
Q. So, where are they?
A. Glad you asked....
PART V: The Guide.
-------------------------------------
Here is the part you're probably interested in. If not, you're strange.
* denotes semi transparent background
Frame Name: "Arnian Wood"
Frame Discription: Old wood, tied together at the corners.
Background Discription: Dark wood panelling. *
Next Screen Icon: Spinning leaf.
Found: Start with it. It's the default frame!
Personal Rating: 8/10. So far, it's the best looking one I've found.
Comments: Arnian Wood, in Arni, makes sense.
Frame Name: "Simple Line"
Frame Discription: A curved white line
Background Discription: Black *
Next Screen Icon: White trinangle
Found: Start with it.
Personal Rating: 6/10. It's too plain, but it's not tacky or annoying.
Comments: You have to be able to start out with a normal one... But it's
a good frame for Old Schoolers... I don't see why anyone would take
this over Arnian Wood though
Frame Name: "Iron Plate"
Frame Discription: Metal edges, with rivets.
Background Discription: Metallic grey
Next Screen Icon: Embossed triangle.
Found: Start with it.
Personal Rating: 6/10. Pretty neat, but it's too curvy for metal, and the
icon animates wierdly..
Comments: Why is it CURVED? Seesh. I suppose it's one of the original ones
because it's so plain
Frame Name: "Shellfish"
Frame Discription: Fancy, umm, shell-like coral thingy. Hard to explain.
Background Discription: Overlapping dark brown things, very cool. *
Next Screen Icon: Flashy coral thing.
Found: Arni (Home) - Search the Element seller's cart.
Personal Rating: 5/10. The background is great, but the frame itself is too
tacky.
Location Sense: It's a fishing village, so it makes sense for this to exist in
Arni
Frame Name: "Porre's Furnace"
Frame Discription: Reddish coper metal- it's industrial!
Background Discription: Reddish rivits
Next Screen Icon: Molten fire in a triangular opening.
Found: Viper Manor (Another) - Search behind the Library's desk to find a
hidden ladder. Descend. Here you will find one of the coolest
revelations of the game, and a Beach Bum which will give you the frame
if you talk to him.
Personal Rating: 7/10. Pretty cool. But it's too big.
Comments: It would make more sense to get it from Zappa or Norris...
Frame Name: "Monster's Mouth"
Frame Discription: Green mouth with teeth.
Background Discription: Darkness
Next Screen Icon: A uvula (hangy ball)
Found: S.S. Zelbess (Home) - As a cat, go through the cat-door into the
kitchen, and talk to the cat there.
Personal Rating: 6/10. Well done, if you like the overall grosseness of it.
Comments: Well, cats have teeth, I suppose...
Frame Name: "Infared Vision"
Frame Discription: Red 'LCD screen' border.
Background Discription: LCD screen
Next Screen Icon: Flashing dot matrix triangle
Found: Fossil Valley (Home) - Behind the big skull.
Personal Rating: 7/10. Cool. It'd be my favorite if it wasn't red.
Comments: If the outside was grey, and the text became dot-matrixy, this would
rock much socks
Frame Name: "Our Favorite Martian"
Frame Discription: Red-trimmed 'space motif' in Starky-Style
Background Discription: Black
Next Screen Icon: Dancing Starky
Found: Sky Dragon's Lair (Home) - After getting Starky, talk to the one who is
always scared of the monster who patrolls the top. He'll give you the
frame.
Personal Rating: 7/10. Pretty cool, has a Dancing Starky and Everything!
Comments: The only Character-Specific one in the game, perhaps?
Frame Name: "Guldovian Stich"
Frame Discription: A red, purple, and green rug.
Background Description: Red and purple, and green stitching.
Next Screen Icon: Spinning thingy
Found: Guldove (Another) - Talk to Mel late in the game - not sure if getting
the grid early is required or not.
Personal Rating: 4/10. UGH. I tell ya, red+purple like this doesn't show up
well on a TV screen.
Comments: Earth to Guldove: Get better tapestry, whydonCHA?
Frame Name: "Quill and Papyrus"
Frame Description: It's a scroll- curled on the sides and with glyphs on the
top and bottom.
Background Description: Yellowed-papery
Next Screen icon: Quill
Found: Marbule (Home) - Talk to Toma twice after Marbule is 'reopened'
Personal Rating: 7.9/10. Wow, this is a neat frame. If it was
semitransparent like Arnian Wood, it'd be 9/10
Comments: I wonder where Toma got this? I assume he'd use it to write his
adventure logs.. but why would he write on something covered in
ancient glyphs?
Frame Name: "Skullduggery"
Frame Description: Small skulls, with what seems to be chains. The upper two
corners are large skulls, and the bottom right is a metal
ball.
Background Description: Black pattern
Next Screen icon: Laughing skull, with red eyes.
Found: Shadow Forest (Another) - ALRIGHT! You can stop emailing me now, you
just have to feed the farthest (red) octopus to the plant monster, and
talk to it.
Personal Rating: 6/10 - Pretty neat... a bit big though, and the
mini-skulls are a bit badly designed.
Comments: Why not in Fossil Valley or the Isle of the Dammned?
Frame Name: "Snakes & Orbs"
Frame Description: A sort of green/orange snakey motif, with orbs in the
corners and along the edges.
Background Description: A very neat tile design. *
Next Screen icon: Spinning orb.
Found: Gaia's Navel (Another) - Get another Ancient Fruit, call the Wingapede
in the same area as before, but in Another, and then look around the
Navel. In one place there is a platform you can climb to, and the only
thing there is a Prehisteric. Beat it, and you'll get the frame.
Personal Rating: 7/10. Not bad. Not my cup of tea, but it doesnt look bad.
Comments: I'm surprised there wasn't a dinosaur-themed one...
Frame Name: "Tea for Three"
Frame Description: Red-blue egyptian-type lines
Background Description: A Persian rug-type design (red and blue)
Next Screen icon: Oil lamp
Found: Termina (Another) - Behind the house with the girl and the hopscotch
person out front, talk to a hidden person and tell him you understand.
However, it appears you cannot get it after returning to Another after
being stuck in Home.
Personal Rating: 6/10 - the colors on the edges bleed too much.
Frame Name: "Tropical Paradise"
Frame Description: Vines and Flowers
Background Description: Red leaves *
Next Screen icon: spinning flower
Found: Guldove (Another) - Choose not to go on the mission to get the Hydra
Humour, and Macha gives it to you.
Personal Rating: 6/10 - Kinda tacky, but it's good at being what it is.
Frame Name: "Valencian Cloth"
Frame Description: A sort of tapestry, red.
Background Description: Blueish cloth
Next Screen icon: An animated version of the thing that makes up the frame.
Found: Go to Marbule (Another) with an all-demi-human party and talk to the one
who throws rocks at humans. This means you can't get it during the
second disk....
Personal Rating: 5/10 - another overly tacky clashy frame.
-----------UNTESTED-----------
The following frames haven't been tested by me. A new rating will be used for
these: "Confirmation level" - if i get like a billion emails on a single frame
then I can guess it's probably true. But don't email me with confirmations, please.
[none right now]
-----------RUMORS-----------
These ones have absoultely no proof for them...
"Rainbow Frame" - Same place you get the Shellfish frame, but in Another.
I got an email about it, and there is mention of a frame
In that exact part in Another Arni in a Japanese Faq- but
all that's there for me is a Rainbow Shell.
PART VI: Legal Mumbo-Jumbo
-------------------------------------
You can't have something like this without Legal Mumbo Jumbo.
Chrono Cross, it's characters, and it's frames are owned by Squaresoft and
Square and whatever.
In other words. Not me. It's their Copyright.
However, this guide is mine, so don't steal it, or I'll kick yer arse so hard
you'll kiss the moons!
This guide is available at GameFAQs and at
www.fuzzyfur.net/DSOS/adv/ChronoCrossFrameGuide.txt
It is maintained by Mark Shallow, the guy who also does Adventurers! a
webcomic about console RPGs, at www.fuzzyfur.net/DSOS/adv
PART V: Wrap-up
-------------------------------------
Only without Seran.
Thanks to Squaresoft for such an amazing game.
Thanks to YOU for reading my Guide.
Thanks to the following people (in no particular order) for submitting frames:
Tiamat-X - Skullduggery, Tea for Three
[email protected] - Tropical Paradise, Valencian Cloth, Quill and Papyrus,
Guldovian Stitch
Rachel Brown - Tropical Paradise
Matthew Gradley - Tea for Three
Emerelda Kasim/Some Guy - Tea for Three
Jack Watts - Skullduggery
Pip - Tea for Three, Skullduggery
[email protected] - Tea for Three, Guldovian Stitch
Ketheriel Grandvelt - Tea for Three
[email protected] - Tea for Three, Valencian Cloth
[email protected] - Guldovian Stitch
Raffaele Saccuci - Tea for Three
Brent Jones - Tea for Three (Told you a lot of people submitted this)
Reiginsei - Skullduggery
David - Quill and Papyrus, Snakes and Orbs
Ryan Kaulkins - Valencian Cloth
Patrick Chalnick - Valencian Cloth
Andy Harrington - Snakes & Orbs
Ultimos somitlU - Suggesting that I put the Newgame+ info in the FAQ
[email protected] - Only one Octopi needed...
Ronald Chan - Only one Octopi needed
Thanks to, umm, the planet Earth, for existing all this time.
Hope you enjoyed this guide...
If there's a frame I missed or a mistake, don't hesitate to email me at
[email protected] - And please, put "CHRONO CROSS FRAME" in the
subject line.
Do not (DO NOT) send in descriptions of the frames in the untested section
I'll put those up when I reach them on New Game Plus. However, if you know
how to get the frames that haven't been discovered how yet, I'd like to hear
it.
