Game - Chrono Trigger, Time Checkpoint V
Hours Played/Hours Total - 8-1/2 hrs / 23 hrs
Starting Point - 12,000 B.C. (The Dark Ages)
Current Goal - Figure out what the group should do next. Stop Lavos and save time!
What Happened - From here, I don't have a whole lot left to do, but there's still a small distance between here and the end of the game. Thus!... I shall get right to it.
Where I left off, the world had just been pretty totaled by the Ocean Palace rising from the sea. All that's left of society in the Dark Ages was the "last village." Upon entering, the Enlightened Ones have joined with the Earthbound Ones, but they seem to have also lost all of their powers as well. As I'm exploring, Dalton comes back around and stakes a claim as the new King of the world. He takes position of the Epoch as well and blows away the group with his power. (Because he still has power unlike the others.)
When the group finally comes to (Lucca, Robo, and Frog), everything we had on us is gone! (Weapons, armor, items, even the gold!) We're locked in a cell at the moment, but we can strangely go out a nearby window. Of course, that just reveals to us that we're on the Dark Ages airship, the Blackbird.
Now, without our stuff, we have no way to fight battles. If you bring Ayla along (I didn't), you're able to get out and fight people using her since she just uses her fists. Without Ayla though, I'm forced to sneak around the vents of the ship and try to locate my equipment. The vents are able to take you all over, but if you exit out in front of people, you'll be caught and thrown back in. I was pretty frustrated to realize how much different the scenario goes with Ayla around. Getting past that, I felt I was in quite a predicament here. I looked all over the vent area and never could figure out where to go.
Being that as it is, I finally looked up a guide. Turns out, there's an air duct in the far northwest corner of the vent area. Going down into it, the guard is asleep at his post, so you're able to recover the equipment here for your lead character (Lucca for me). With her fully equipped, I'm finally able to fight back! I will say that fighting solely with her is kinda dangerous though. She's got some of the lowest stats of the group (mostly her low stats from items rather than levels). I just used Fire 2 to kill most of the enemies. As I'm clearing out the Blackbird, I find the remaining chests with our items, money, and other member's equipment. With everything reclaimed, I figure it's time to finally get out of here.
The only exit out of this main area though leads out onto the wing of the Blackbird. I'm just wandering around there when BOSS BATTLE TIME! A Golem is summoned from nowhere. (Remember the giant golden annoying ones?) This time around, it's Golem Boss!... However, this battles quickly turns into a big joke. You can attack him all you want, and he seems to have no way of counterattacking or even regular attacking. He's afraid of heights and can't will himself to attack while standing out here on the wing like we are. I keep hitting him, and he eventually runs off. Hooray for easy victories!
Now we need to find out how we're getting off of this airship... The Epoch seems like the only way, but it seems that Dalton has had a few ideas for our time machine. As we're standing here, he's flying around in the Epoch! He had his crew adjust it some, so now it can fly and shoot lasers. He's firing at the group, and apparently the only solution is to leap off of the Blackbird and onto the Epoch. Dalton is in for a little... BOSS BATTLE TIME!
Dalton Plus turns out to be a pretty easy battle as well. He has a few attacks here and there, and he can throw out those stupid Iron Orbs (1/2 HP nonsense). He's got some pretty powerful magic behind him, but I seem to be more than prepared for it. As the battle is coming to a close, he attempts to summon the Golem Boss to deal with us. What he doesn't realize though, is that we previously defeated it. Instead of the Golem being summoned, Dalton is sucked into whatever zone he was summoning it from.
With Dalton gone, we're in control of the Epoch again!... But they seemed to have changed the controls for it. While trying to pilot it, the group accidentally shoots down the Blackbird. After a few more attempts, we finally manage to gain control of the Epoch, and it's now our official airship! (FINALLY) The group returns to the "Last Village" of the Dark Ages for a final meeting before we go. I look around a bit and buy a few items as well. The people around mention that someone was looking for us and went off to the North Cape. We head up there to see who it is (the group thinks it might be Crono), but as it turns out... It's Magnus.
Magnus reveals a few things to the group here. He tells us that he is Janus. Through a few small scenes, it's shown what happened to him as well as a few of the Gurus of Life. When the Mammoth Machine was activated at one point, it drew in several of the people around it. Melchior taken to the present time, Gaspar was dropped at the End of Time, and Belthasar was thrown into the future. Janus was left in the Middle Ages and found by Ozzie. He then grew up to become the evil being known as Magus.
He swore revenge on Lavos and was planning to summon it during the Middle Ages in order to destroy it.Then we came in and stopped him. This not only ruined his plans but opened the gate that brought him back into the Dark Ages. His knowledge of the future helped him get in with Queen Zeal (his mother) so he could attempt to stop Lavos. He realizes now that those who meddle with Lavos die, much like Crono. The group takes up arms at this point, and he asks us if we wish to fight him now. I'm given a choice here... and I say no. As we turn to leave, Magus decides to join the party. I guess he figures we're the best chance to get at Lavos. He also suggests that Gaspar might be able to help us in bringing back Crono.
We board the Epoch to leave this time period. Suddenly, the Ocean Palace rises from the ocean and takes its place in the sky! Not sure what to do about that... so I head to the End of Time instead. The man (Clearly, it's Gaspar at this point.) is sad to hear of Crono's parting and offers a song symbolizing our memories of Crono. The group asks if he knows a way to bring Crono back, and he seems to shrug it off and say no. As we turn to leave though, he calls us back and gives us THE CHRONO TRIGGER! (DUN DUN DUUUUUUN)
Gaspar says that the Chrono Trigger is a unique item that is capable of changing an event in time, but it depends entirely on the effort we put into it as well as the significance of the event itself. Gaspar suggests that we go and see the one who built the Epoch (Belthasar) to figure out how we can use it in this scenario. Off to the future to talk with... Belthasar's remains? (More or less) When we speak to him, he says that the person has to be of great importance to the stream of time in order to return. That... and we'll also need a clone of sorts to bring the person back.
Now this part, could be a pretty big stumper if you don't remember and/or didn't do something near the beginning of the game. At the Millennial Fair, you could play those special games with the silver points you racked up from the other games. One of the prizes you earned from the special games was a Crono doll, and as it turns out, he's the clone we need for our plan. I already won the Crono doll at the beginning, so the only thing I needed to do here was retrieve it from his house.
Now that I'm back in the future, I let Belthasar know that I have it. From here, our task just gets more dangerous. We have to climb the nearby Death Peak in order to use the Chrono Trigger on the clone. He uses one of his final programs to assist our journey. (It sends a few dolls up to the mountain.) With the final program being done, he asks that we shut down the creature housing his memories so that it may finally rest. Sad... OFF TO DEATH PEAK!
The first doll is right near the entrance of Death Peak and says we need to hide behind the trees to block the wind. Then the doll turns into a tree. As you try to run forward, there's a strong wind that comes and goes. If you are out when it blows strongly, it will throw you right off the mountain and back to the World Map. To cut this short? It's super annoying, and I was thrown off more times than I'd care to admit. When I finally made it past the wind section, I was face to face with monsters. Nothing too big to report here. More monsters. A new area. Now... a giant creature appears from nowhere and calls us out for a SORTA BOSS BATTLE TIME! (More of a heavy enemy than a true boss honestly.)
The creature we're fighting is a Lavos Spawn. It didn't turn out to be a true boss, but it does have some power one should be aware of. The biggest thing here is to NOT attack the body! It's got a small mouth/head at the end and a giant spine-y body. If you attack the body, it counters with these large needles that do a hefty amount of damage. (It killed Marle this way a few times.) It does the needles even if you don't necessarily attack the body, but not as often since the needles are mostly a counter here.
That gave me a pretty rough time, so I had to thoroughly heal after beating it. Just hope there aren't anymore soon... And then a few screens later, I'm fighting a second one. I already know the strategy at this point though, so I have a bit of an easier time here. With the second Lavos Spawn down, I've finally worked my way around to the second doll program thing. It says to be careful of the next spot because it's slick ground. Slick ground isn't so bad, but then the wind is also blowing strongly. You have to almost constantly move upwards while slowly crossing. If you aren't careful, you get blown down to the area below though (not off the mountain thankfully). I didn't have as many issues here as with the entrance, but it was still a challenge.
As I make it across, I find the third and final doll here. It says something about pushing a shell around and then crossing it... What? As I work through the path and various enemies here, I find myself fighting a THIRD Lavos Spawn! I've got the strategy down at this point of course, so it's pretty easy this third time. Upon its defeat though, something different happens. The mouth/head part is gone, but the rest of it remains... Thus, this is the shell I'm supposed to push around.
I'll admit it. I was kinda clueless where I was supposed to push it. I looked over the guide again and then felt a little stupid. There's like a ladder thing in the top-right corner of the area. You push the shell all the way into the corner, and then the group can climb it up to the top of Death Peak! It's finally time for us to use... THE CHRONO TRIGGER!
The initial impression is that it didn't work because nothing happens. But then... the sky is blotted out by a large black circle. The group is warped to the very moment where Lavos was about to blast and destroy Crono. Time is simply frozen at this spot, and the group replaces Crono with the doll. They're taken back to Death Peak... and Crono is alive again! He has a nice touching moment here with the group (particularly Marle since she's at the top of my party). With Crono's return, we head to the End of Time to figure out our next move.
Gaspar says we have three paths at this point. We can use the gateway located here to visit the Day of Lavos, fly the Epoch to go to the Day of Lavos, or we can visit the Black Omen located in the skies throughout the time periods (10,000 BC, 600 AD, 1000 AD but not 2300 AD). Although we could go and fight Lavos now, Gaspar also tells the group of several Side Quests that exist across time. I figure I need the better levels and items so... LET'S DO IT! He tells me of the following ones:
- In the Middle Ages, a woman's sheer determination brings a forest back to life...
- A fugitive in the Middle Ages, Ozzie, maintains an evil hideout...
- There's a task to be done in the Future, where machinery originated...
- And there's a very special stone that can shine its light on each generation, from the distant past to the far future...
- There's the ghost of a lofty knight, slain by Magus in the Middle Ages, who haunts the present...
- There's an object in the Middle Ages that sparkles like a rainbow...
- One of you is close to someone who needs help... Find this person... fast.
Now THAT is a list of Side Quests! Most of them seem to be in the Middle Ages curiously... but whatever! I figure to go in order that they were told me. So first up, we head to the Middle Ages to figure out how we can help that lady.
Back in the Middle Ages, there's a house called Fiona's Villa in the middle of a desert. Going in there, I speak with Fiona who is excited to see her husband return. They mention a cave in the middle of the desert where monsters are lurking. While they remain there, there's no way she can possible do her dream project. Thus, we volunteer for the task. The husband also notes that the creatures there seem to hate water, so I figure Frog and Marle are the dream team here. Off into the Sunken Desert!
After jumping into the cave, I'm left in a small area of shifting sands and random encounters. There's several chests located around, but exploring the area leads to almost constant enemy encounters. You can beat them pretty easy with water/ice magic since it "hardens the sand" and lowers their defense. Even with the weakened defense though, you have to be careful to not slip up. I was struggling after 5-6 battles against these guys. After clearing the top area out, I head downstairs to find the big boss man behind it all. (We all know there's a big bossman down here. Has to be!)
Upon entering the lower area, suddenly, the group spots a large skeleton-like creature burrowing around here. I hit up all the chests around first, and then charge in for... BOSS BATTLE TIME! It's the return of our old skeleton boss friend, Retinite! He's come back around for another taste, but he's brought along an additional body piece to change things up a bit. The top and bottom half still do a large variety of attacks here, but the middle portion seems to simply be there to heal up the other parts (by being drained of its own HP).
Now, my initial reaction here was that I didn't have much to worry about. You can cast ice/water on the individual parts to lower its defense. (Casting on the entire thing kinda cancels it out because the core absorbs the magic.) Things were going pretty well... Then it stopped going so well. About halfway through the battle, I lost control of it all. Retinite was getting what seemed like three attacks to two of my people's. Before too long, he killed a member, and then the next member. I was destroyed within just a few bad rounds. Wasn't very happy about that at all.
I figured that part of my problem was the team. Going all water was good and all, but it left out a lot of the power or other variety that could be used here. I swapped out Frog for Robo and give the area another shot. Fast forward past all the enemies and time to fight Retinite AGAIN! The biggest change here was the use of Robo's Uzzi Punch to deal large amounts of damage after softening him up with Marle's Ice magic. Once they drain the middle core, all that's left is the top and bottom piece which go down quite quickly with a little over a 1000 damage per Uzzi Punch. With all that done... WE WIN! The area is cleared of monsters, and we can return to Fiona.
Fiona wants to plant trees all around and restore the area. However, she's sad to say that she'll never be able to see the work done to completion. After stating this though, Robo volunteers to stay behind and help her plant everything. We leave him here and travel forward to 1000 AD! Upon our arrival, the area around here is a vast forest now with a shrine in the middle. It lies right where Fiona's House was and is a memorial to Fiona and Robo's work to regrow the forest. We enter inside and find the very beaten remains of Robo there. They reactivate him, and we end up camping out for the night nearby.
During this time, the group has a small discussion. Long story short, Robo believes that Lavos isn't behind the Time Gates. He believes there is a greater being, some sort of Entity, behind them. They discuss the idea of the "Flash of Life before Death" and believe that these Gates are the Entity's way of seeing and showing various things to us. Randomly, Marle asks the group if there were a certain point in their lives they would revisit. She directly asks Lucca who doesn't seem to want to give an answer at this time. Regardless, the group goes ahead and goes to sleep now.
A short time later, Lucca suddenly awakens from her sleep and wanders off into the forest. She stumbles upon a strange Red Gate. She goes inside and is taken to a point in time. I'm at Lucca's house now, but it seems to be the past. I go downstairs and see Lucca's mother cleaning things. Suddenly, her skirt gets caught in one of Taban's (Lucca's father) machines. It starts up and begins to pull her in. Young Lucca tries to do something, but it's up to current Lucca. A note upstairs said that the password is his wife's name (Lara), so you have to enter it in to the machine. They were quite clever with this part (as far as the SNES is concerned) because you enter in L A R A exactly. Of course, the PS1 controller isn't laid out like that, and the letter A is replaced with the Circle button. Thus it turns into L1 O R1 O. With the event said and done, it changes Lucca's life for the better!
When she comes back out of the Red Gate, Robo is waiting there for her. He tells her that she's a good person and gives her a small gift. He's been creating an object using amber in his core and created the "Green Dream." (It's a special accessory that revives a character once.) Now we head onward into the present! I figure I should go visit Lucca's house and see what's changed.
Before this point, Lucca's mom was sitting quietly in her room, but now she's up, walking about, and quite cheerful. Taban is here as well, and it seems he's created the ultimate armor for Lucca... The Taban Hat and Taban Suit! With these rewards reaped, it means that Side Quest 1 is officially over. Now it's time to get on to Side Quest 2: "A fugitive in the Middle Ages, Ozzie maintains an evil hideout"
Looks like we're heading back to the Middle Ages to deal with Ozzie. I take Magus and Frog along for the ride because they're Middle Age peeps. (Kinda sorta for Magus?) Upon entering Ozzie's little hideout, we immediately run into Ozzie. Magus and he have a few special lines here, but the bottom line regardless is that Ozzie feels that Magus betrayed the Mystics of this time. He runs off, and we chase after him, much like before but thankfully shorter.
First up worth mentioning is a fight against Flea again, but this time... he/she/it is Flea Plus! I'd say Boss Battle Time here, but it seems that improved Flea isn't really worth mentioning. I managed to beat Flea in a few attacks, and then they (Flea and Ozzie) run off. I chase a bit further and now it's Super Slash time!... for a brief time. He's even easier to beat than Flea Plus. The chase continues a few more rooms and then... It's time to fight all three at once! BOSS BATTLE TIME!
Unfortunately, they're pretty easy to fight here as well. The only cool part of this battle is that the trio makes use of what are basically Dual Techs and a Triple Tech "Delta Attack" to fight and counter us. Delta Attack was pretty strong, but there's nothing else really worth mentioning here. Slash went down pretty fast, Flea ran away, then Ozzie was just a few attacks from dead. He heads off once, but this time, we corner him at the end!
Of course, he throws himself inside of an impenetrable barrier like before. And again, like the last time, he's got a couple of switches behind him, but when you hit it this time... You're dropped below! MWAHAHA! Or so I would say, but you're only dropped to like two rooms before. When you come up again, the battle music starts... but the battle doesn't. A cat runs in and hits a different switch behind Ozzie which drops him down. Ozzie is gone for good this time.
From here, I'm just left with one final task for Side Quest 2. I head to the Present in order to examine the ruins nearby the village of Medina. A note worth saying here is that all the Mystics are friendly towards humans now with Ozzie out of the picture since 600 AD. Entering the Forest Ruins, the giant blue shield that's been on it disappears with the pendant. A Nu (one of the big blue guys) offers us one of two treasures as a gift from the Guru of Reason. We can have either a piece of armor (Safe Helm) or a weapon (Swallow sword for Crono). I make claim of the Safe Helm and Side Quest 2. Time to head for Side Quest 3.
"There's a task in the future where machinery originated." Finally! A Side Quest of the Future! (My favorite time period of my favorite character!) First thing first... We're looking for a Geno Dome to explore. It's one of the few places left here in the future I haven't been to. There's quite a bit of map outside of the main area, but it's also a lot of water so you have to keep looking around until you stumble upon it. It's kinda North/Northwest from the "Black Omen" in the center. It looks like a factory. Yes! That's the one. Now, let's head inside the factory and figure out what is up.
First off, you have to have Robo in the lead to get anywhere here. (Oooh! I like where it's going already~) Robo turns the machine on in front of the group, and he's greeted by it. It refers to him as Prometheus and asks us to come on in... However, it seems to dislike the humans around Robo, so I have a feeling it doesn't really want us here. The outer door is locked now, and we're forced to move forward.
We're taken on a conveyor belt and forced through a series of battles with (surprise surprise) a big pile of robot enemies. After clearing out all the robots, you're thrown in front of a door and enter into the rest of this facility. There's quite a bit to explore here, and... I really wasn't sure what to do. (I try not to use a guide all the time, but there are confusing little tidbits here and there. I've spent way too long trying to beat this has is, so I do have a guide at hand now.)
The puzzles around here are mostly just hitting switches and having to charge up Robo to activate specific terminals. Once you get past that, you have to find these two "Poyozo" dolls as well. Honestly, before I consulted the guide, I had already done most of the work around here, but I hadn't collected either doll beyond that. Once I had both of them, it was time to confront the computer controlling this place. It's name? Mother Brain. (I see what you did there.) However, as we're heading to fight it, we're stopped by a pink robot that looks a lot like Robo.
She also refers to Robo as Prometheus, and although it takes a moment, Robo calls her Atropos. She (a female I guess cause it's pink and all) says that Robo was sent to live with humans in order to study and learn about them. Now that he's done that, he shall rejoin the robots and destroy the human race like Mother Brain wants him to. Atropos steps forward to attack the humans (Crono and Lucca currently), but Robo stops her before she does anything. The group steps up to fight her, but Robo asks that he do it himself. BOSS BATTLE TIME! (Kinda... kinda depressing edition)
There really isn't much of a battle here. It's more of a small event where Robo has to fight and defeat Atropos. He clearly likes her and all. Atropos doesn't have much for special attacks and is just using all the ones that Robo learns until it reaches Area Bomb (for me at least... I didn't have Shock yet). Even her strongest attacks aren't much to mention. I did have to heal here and there, but otherwise it was a downhill slide to beat her. And upon her defeat, Atropos comes to and realizes that Mother Brain had reprogrammed her.
In her final moments here, she remember who she truly is. Robo is sad to see her go, and Lucca even dashes forward to try and save her. However, before passing on, she gives Robo her Ribbon and then... she's gone. (The Ribbon boosts Robo's speed by 3 and Magic Def by 10.) Looks like we've got more than enough reason to go after Mother Brain now! Let's go get it!
In the bottom of the facility is a large door that's locked, but it has two suspicious looking spots on both sides. I placed the dolls on both sides, and the door opens. Inside, we finally meet with this Mother Brain. It asks Robo again to leave the humans. It promises to reprogram him and erase his memories. Robo replies that he won't leave his friends nor will let them get hurt. He doesn't want to forget his time with all his friends either. Looks like it's... BOSS BATTLE TIME!
Mother Brain appears as a giant golden statue of a woman along with the three displays behind her as support. Like many battles, it's best to destroy the supports first here since they will consistently heal her for 1000 HP each, which is crazy cause she tops out at 4000 total. The best strategy is to destroy the three displays almost immediately with group attacks, but there is a catch. When the displays are destroyed, Mother Brain switches mode and starts slowly growing in power with each attack against her. Thus, you have to be pretty powerful and quick to beat her, or she will win with pure power. Unfortunately for this game, I seem to be pretty darn strong for the areas I'm going through. (Early 40s at this point if I'm remembering right.) A few high powered Techs later, and the Mother Brain is finished!
Among her remains are the ultimate and most powerful weapons for Robo, the Terra Arm and Crisis Arm. Robo proceeds to shut off the factory for good. With this all said and done, Side Quest 3 is officially finished! Now we just need to head to Side Quest 4: “And there’s a very special stone that can shine its light on each generation, from the distant past to the far future.”
I remember walking into a Sun Keep during the 65 million BC phase, but I know through the guide that place isn't the current goal. First off, I need to visit the Sun Palace that's located right here in 2300 AD. Let's just go inside and have us a go at the fancy boss called SON OF SUN! BOSS BATTLE TI- Holy crap, what was that nonsense? It blasts me down in just a few moments without any way of really fighting back
The Son of Sun is a giant red eyeball that conjures fire to attack. On top of that, it comes with a very special way of fighting it. Instead of your casual "attack until dead", you have to strike at one of the five flames surrounding him and HOPE you hit the right one. Strike the wrong flame, and it counters you while dealing very little to him (double digits small). On top of that, he's constantly throwing fire everywhere for fairly large damage. EVEN MORE! He casts roulette ever so often and changes which flame is the real one... Hurray for interesting and super hard boss!
This guy is pretty much impossible without fire resistant armor. I switched the party up to more accurately match what I needed here. I was going to use Lucca with her Taban Armor, Ayla with a Ruby Vest, but... I don't have a third piece of armor for Robo. Thankfully, I've got a pretty easy solution to this. If you go back to 65 million BC, the trader that lets you trade items for armor and weapons has upgraded to a final system. 10 of each item (Horns, Feathers, Fangs, and Petals) and you're given a Ruby Armor, which reduces fir damage by 80%!!! I had to farm up a few Horns for this, but I was able to afford one. I could have taken the time for more, but I didn't feel like wasting the time at this point. I give Ayla the Ruby Armor since she has the worst defense and leave Robo with the Ruby Vest.
Now... back to 2300 AD for BOSS BATTLE TIME! Let's Try Again Edition~ I'd like to say right now that even with the fire resistance, he still does quite a bit of damage. Lucca was taking the least here, but Robo's Ruby Vest was only reducing it so much. The strategy I went with here was just luck and rough times. Robo was constantly healing the group while the other two struck the flames. Of course, the whole thing is a guessing game, and you can't attack the main body directly. Besides the flamethrower counter, he also does a laser and giant Flare attack. All of those attacks do quite a bit to the group. Thankfully, he doesn't have a lot of HP, so after you get a large number of hits on the correct flame, it's down for the count. (Don't forget that it constantly changes.)
Upon defeat, the Son of Sun rolls up and away from the group. We follow after it, and it turns out to be the Sun Stone we are looking for. Unfortunately for us, it's completely drained of the energy inside. I've heard about the Sun Stone before earlier in the game. Although it's empty, it is possible to recharge it through the power of the sun. Unfortunately for us, it takes "Aeons" to charge it. However, we have a time machine! We head back to 65 million BC and placed the Moon Stone in the Sun Keep. Then we head back to 2300 AD for... There's nothing here. Robo figures that it was only taken recently though, so we head back to 1000 AD... and it's gone from there. I figure one more jump back just to be sure (although Robo suggests it was this time period). It's there in 600 AD, so that only leaves the present to search.
Flying around the Present shows one house in particular which appears to be shining! Heading inside, the man denies any knowledge of the Moon Stone, and it seems his family thinks pretty shitty about him. Not much I can do in this time, so I head back to 600 AD to check up on his ancestors. The house that was the Mayor's is now the Elder's house. There are a few people living here along with a few of the fancy Time Chests. (They can be unlocked with the pendant like those fancy doors.) The guide says to open it but not to take what is inside. Fair enough guide! As for the family here, there's a way to change things here that affects the future.
It's weird and kinda unconnected, but it involves 1000 AD. In that time period, this town has a store called the Snail Stop. A man there offers to sell you his fancy jerky, but it will cost you 9900 gp. You buy it up and then take it into 600 AD. The woman in the family offers to buy the jerky from you for 10,000 GP. You can take her generous offer, or you can give it to her for free. Giving it to her for free gives her a great sense of generosity. She promises to instill that generosity in all of her children. Fast-forward to 1000 AD, and the mayor has a complete change of personality. His family greatly loves him for who he is and for his generous attitude. He gives you the Moon Stone. On top of that, I'm able to check the Time Chests here for a Black Mail and White Mail (rather than Black Vest and White Vest they were in 600 AD).
I return the Moon Stone to the Sun Keep in 1000 AD and then head back to the future... one more time. In 2300 AD, the Moon Stone is fully charged into a Sun Stone again! ONLY TOOK 65 MILLION YEARS. Anyways, Lucca is amazed by the power contained inside, and we're immediately whisked away to her workshop back in the present. She uses the energy from the Sun Stone to make her ultimate weapon, the Wondershot. Her father, Taban, makes a pair of Sun Shades from the object as well. There's one more use for the Sun Stone, but I can't use it quite yet. It is coming though! For now... Side Quest #4 is over. Side Quest #5 is alive!
"There's the ghost of a lofty knight, slain by Magus in the Middle Ages, who haunts the present." Looks like we're heading back to 600 AD... AGAIN. So many problems existed in the Middle Ages it seems. We head to a place called Chorus to talk with the people there. I meet up with a man named Toma. He's from waaay earlier on in the game, around the time I came to the Middle Ages for the second time. He's been looking for an item called the Rainbow Shell since the and has finally found out where it is. He gives us "Toma's Pop" and says we should pour it on his grave someday after he dies. It's a weird saying, but let's go with it for now. (This is actually a piece for the next quest but guide said do it now.)
Turn from him now, going to speak with another man here. He talks about a job he wants to finish, but his tools have gone missing. We could go and look for them, but that's too much work. Instead, we travel forward to a similar man in 1000 AD, borrow his tools, and then lend them to this guy here in 600 AD. After receiving his tools, he goes back to his house and gathers up his men. (You have to follow him there.) They head up to the ruins north of here and get to work!... or so they would, but monsters are everywhere. They leave, and I get to clear the place out.
There's two areas to clear out of this Northern Ruins (what it is actually called). We clear out every single monster here (knights and skeletons), and then we head back to the builder's house. He wants us to pay up 2000 gp to fix it up. That's... great. Wants us to pay to fix up a place he was supposedly going to fix. I head back up after payment, and they've only fixed part of it because more monsters appeared. I head back through and check what has changed. All he did was fix a portion of floor on the bottom area. We follow it through, clear out more monsters, but there's something more down here. There's a grave here dedicated to Cyrus!
Turns out, his ghost is the one haunting the Present. He speaks with Frog (Glenn) and tells him that he's quite proud of him. There's a few more words exchanged here, but then Cyrus leaves this world for good now. The Masamune reacts to this moment as well. Masa and Mune separate and unleash their true power to upgrade the Masamune. Now that Frog has his ultimate weapon (technically already had it but powered up now), we can leave here and get the place fully fixed up.
Another 2000 gp, and the Northern Ruins are now the Hero's Grave. Their work this time opened up the path to several Time Chests. Like previously, you can either take the item now or just open the seal to take it later. I did accidentally take one thing... the Nova Armor. Even before being powered up, it's pretty dang powerful, but if you take it now, it doesn't reappear later. Oh well, I've done pretty well so far, so this is just a minor mess up. Jump to the Present, and I get the Valkyre for Marle! (Her ultimate weapon) With that obtained, this is another Side Quest wrapped up. Just two more, and this game is pretty much done. (The final Side Quest actually leads into the end.)
Side Quest #6... "There's an object in the Middle Ages that sparkles like a rainbow." Now we come back to Toma and his quest for the Rainbow Shell. It's clear now that he didn't succeed in his task, but what went wrong? If you head to 1000 AD and go just north of Chorus, there's a lone grave there belonging to him. We pour the soda he requested on his grave, and he appears to us. He reveals that he knows where the Rainbow Shell is. It's located in a nearby mountain called The Giant's Claw. We simply need to go there and explore the underground to find it.
I head back to 600 AD and enter the Giant's Claw. The inside of here ends up leading to a very familiar place... the Tyrano's Lair. Half of the cave here is littered with portions of the Tyrano's Lair. It seems that when it was sunk into the ground, part of it did survive. Anyways, the caves are filled with prehistoric creatures of all sorts, but it seems that Toma couldn't make it through here. He did leave a note near the entrance about jumping into a hole to reach the beginning. Just a small path through here, lots dinosaurs beaten, and when we reach the bottom, a large something is waiting for BOSS BATTLE TIME!
The Rust Tyrano is blocking our way to the Rainbow Shell. It looks and feels terrifying, but it's really not too hard of a battle. I figure with all the level gaining and new equipment... I'm kinda out of the game's general league now. I just lash out with all the powerful attacks I can. The big dino spends the first five rounds charging up for a big attack! And it doesn't really deliver. I finish off the rest of the dino and go past him for our reward, the Rainbow Shell! Unfortunately, it's too big for the group to move at this time, so it's suggested we head to the King of this time and ask for his help.
He offers to hold the Rainbow Shell for us underneath the castle. Jump back to the 1000 AD, and things have changed quite a bit. I bring Marle into the party and we head to Guardia Castle. The King seems to be on trial for some reason. When we enter the courtroom, the Chancellor is questioning the King about a mysterious royal heirloom that nobody knew of. (Rainbow Shell) However, the King knows nothing about the shell and is clearly being framed for all of this. The group heads downstairs to locate the Rainbow Shell.
We fight through a few monsters and find the Rainbow Shell just as it was 400 years ago. We take a piece off of it and head back top. Just as the King is being pronounced guilty... Marle jumps through the stain glass window from behind the court. (They had it blocked off, so we couldn't enter from the front.) With her evidence of the Rainbow Shell, the Chancellor reveals it was all a setup... but he's also not the real chancellor! It's Yakra XIII, and he's here to avenge his predecessor with a little BOSS BATTLE TIME!
I'm pretty much sweeping these bosses at this point in the game. Yakra likes to deal out a lot of status effects, but otherwise, he doesn't have a whole lot going for him. He's got a couple attacks, but most if it isn't too bad so long as you keep healed up. The only thing to truly watch for is his final attack that deals around 200 damage to the entire party. (Mostly to just avoid an accidental game over at this point.) With Yakra XIII defeated, the King is known to be truly innocent, and he has a touching moment with his daughter, Marle. (Remember? She's Princess Nadia.)
With that all wrapped up nicely, Melchior shows up and offers to create something from the Rainbow Shell. We follow him down to its storage place in the basement, and he offers to craft us one of two options. We can either get a Prism Dress or 3 Prism Helms. I choose the Dress here because I have more than enough helmets for the group. (That and the Dress is supposed to be better anyways.) With the Prism Dress made, he creates another little accessory for my use as well, the Spectrum Shades. Then he finishes off by combining the power of the Sun Stone with the Rainbow Shell to make Crono's ultimate weapon... the Rainbow.
Side Quest 6 is in the bag, and it's finally time to head for Side Quest 7! This final Side Quest actually leads right into the end of the game, so this is more or less the final dungeon coming up here. Anyways! "One of you is close to someone who needs help, find this person... fast." Now, this seems like another Side Quest, but as it turns out, it was a mistranslation of sorts. It was supposed to translate into asking your fellow teammates about problems during their time periods. That's... quite a misstep. Thus, it's time for us to head for the end via the BLACK OMEN!
I figure the Present is about the best time to go for it... Although it really doesn't matter when you take down the Black Omen since it seemingly exists across time. (Not available in 65 million BC cause doesn't exist nor the Future cause Queen Zeal is already with Lavos at this point.) For the initial break in team, I take Crono, Frog, and Ayla. We quickly defeat the Laser Guards outside of the front door and then bust inside! We're immediately greeted by Queen Zeal. She claims that we are too late and that Lavos will awaken in 999 years. As long as Lavos survives, she will have limitless power and time. Before leaving us, she summons a giant monster for... BOSS BATTLE TIME!
The name? MEGA MUTANT! The difficulty? Pretty easy for my team of mid-to-upper level 40 characters. That and all that dope awesome armor. Totally makes him a piece of cake. I just blast the heck out of the big monster with techs and then continue through the Black Omen. The trip through the Black Omen isn't a cake walk, but I wouldn't call it a marathon either. It's a large swirling path throughout this massive... palace? ship? space station? Call it whatever you want because it could honestly be any of those three or more.
After the Mega Mutant, there's quite a few heavy HP enemies beyond. They each have their own little thing going, but again, they really aren't worth mentioning here. After going through what I felt was quite a bit, I finally ended up in a suspiciously "final room" room. There were chests all about, a rest point, a save point, a shop where I could buy items and equipment. Clearly, I'm getting close to some sort of the end of this place. A few rooms later, and I'm meeting with an old friend who has powered up for BOSS BATTLE TIME!
By old friend, I meant to say it's the Mega Mutant, but now he's a Giga Mutant! That's cool and fancy and all, but now he's completely dead. Yeah, I'm basically just slaughtering all these bosses at this point. Some of the enemies put up a fight, but in general, nothing to really worry about. A couple rooms and an elevator later, I'm fighting the big Mutant guy for a third round. in BOSS BATTLE TIME! MUTANT GUY AGAIN!
He's powered up from Giga to TERRA MUTANT! Things are a bit different here, and he's not as much of a pushover this time. The bottom half was my greatest concern here. It was able to absorb magic attacks, and it counters with the Life Shaver (knocks HP down to 1) upon being physically struck. The top half was armed with regular strikes plus an HP draining ability that took from the bottom bit. All I really had to do was focus on the top and let it kill the bottom. I've mostly just been using Single and Dual Techs at this point in the game. It seems like most of the Triple Techs aren't worth the cost nor all three character's turns in one go. I defeat Terra Mutant and keep moving right along.
The Lavos Spawn made another appearance during my trek as well. It was more powerful than the previous instances on Death Peak, but I killed him pretty quickly regardless. Just a few more rooms of enemies, and it's finally time to face Queen Zeal! BOSS BATTLE TIME! QUEEN ZEAL TIME! She has a few special attacks here, but the most powerful one is Hallation. It drops everybody's HP to 1, so you have to hurry and heal up as to not be caught dead in a moment's notice. Beyond Hallation, she's a pretty simple boss. However, upon her failing, she throws us at the Mammon Machine for BOSS BATTLE TIME ROUND TWO! THE MAMMON MACHINE MARCHES IN!
This is another of those "careful how you go at it" moments. If you strike the Mammon Machine with magic attacks, it raises its attack. If you go with physical strikes, you end up raising its defense instead. There's really not a good win to this scenario, but I'd say magic is the way to go since you simply power its hits rather than making each further hit do less and less. No point making it STRONGER, and most of its attacks weren't even doing that much. When I cleared the Mammon Machine out, Queen Zeal comes back around for a final round... BOSS BATTLE TIME ROUND THREE! ULTIMATE ZEAL!
Queen Zeal has transformed into a large robot-style giant boss. It has two hands for attacking and a face for smashing. (You know... Andross style?) I'll admit that this battle goes pretty easy because I'm in the know of what to do here, but it's not like it is hard to figure out. If you strike her hands, she tends to counter pretty harshly. This means you have to take the extra hits from her hands' attacks, but you stop them from super power countering by simply striking the face. It wasn't the easiest battle ever by far, but it wasn't really anything to worry about either.
At this point, I can't really remember the crew I had here... I think I was using my Final Team of Crono, Lucca, and Robo. (My favorite group of characters) Powerful single strikes are definitely the way to go since hurting either hand leads to a world of hurt. With the face defeated, Zeal falls for the final time, but she isn't about to go down THAT easy. Upon her loss, she calls to Lavos and raises him from the planet for our final confrontation.
Going to warn you now... Lavos is multiple battles here. (The number adds up to a total of ELEVEN!) The first nine battles are blasts from the past as Lavos simply mimics a selection of bosses from throughout the game. I'm not going to go into detail about every single battle, but I will list out the different bosses he mimics.
- Dragon Tank
- Guardian with Security Bits
- Heckran
- Zombor
- MasaMune
- Nizbel
- Magus
- Azala and Black Tyrano
- Giga Gaia
Now, that may look like a pretty daunting task ahead of me, but there's a flaw here. The bosses are perfectly mimicked in every way. Unfortunately, this includes the stats of each and every one. So... I'm going at the Dragon Tank and manage to beat it in a single hit with a powerful group attack. (I believe I did Crono's Luminaire and blew everything up in a single attack.)
After the first six bosses (you get a pause inbetween to heal and change members if you want), I finally met someone who was a worthy opponent!... Is what I say, but really, it's just annoying. Magus is just like he was back then, so physical attacks do very little, but he also absorbs any magic attacks you throw at him unless you use the correct element. I kept with my Final Trio for most of this, but I swapped in Frog for this match because of the Masamune's effect on Magus. Azala and Black Tyrano had quite a bit of health, but they weren't much of a concern either.
Honestly? The only one I was concerned about was Giga Gaia. He gave me so many issues earlier in the game. Fought him several times before I finally beat him then, but the difference between then and now is my massive stat change. Most of the attacks from before don't seem to hurt nearly as bad. With that in mind, I blast away the Giga Gaia and finally being the process of... FINAL BOSS BATTLE TIME! ROUND ONE - LAVOS EXTERIOR!
The exterior is technically a boss battle, but he's also weaker than he was at the Ocean Palace. That's supposedly the hardest incarnation of Lavos since he is meant to be completely unbeatable at the Ocean Palace. (However, beating him at that point nets you one of the stranger endings of the game.) Back to the situation at hand, we tromp through Lavos's exterior pretty quickly and then find that we have to explore inside and destroy the core. Defeating the exterior gives you a chance to both save, heal, and leave this point in time if you wish. Of course, I've been prepared since before the Black Omen, so I simply heal and save before moving forward. Up next...
FINAL BOSS BATTLE TIME! ROUND TWO - TRUE LAVOS! With us being at the core of this monstrosity, we're finally give a challenge as he comes up with a pair of arms and a powerful torso. Every single part has a pretty strong attack, so there's really not any suggestions to give. It is best to eliminate the arms here though since they will heal him otherwise. Seeing as I don't have too many notes here, I'd like to mention the story bits that happened right before charging in...
Basically, Lavos crash landed on the planet and started absorbing it from the inside. That we knew, but further realizations here show that he's been absorbing and CONTROLLING everything on this planet. His core contains all of the DNA of everything that ever is or was in existence. The group went so far as to suggest and realize that Lavos has been controlling everything here since he dropped down in 65 million BC! It's crazy stuff man... Back to the boss at hand.
All I can suggest is keeping your HP in tip top shape and making use of all the fancy items you've been hoarding up to this point. Recent Side Quests have stocked me up on the awesome "Megaelixer" which I made quite a few uses of. (I think I had 8 total... maybe 9.) A good selection of group and area attacks are best as to kill off True Lavos's arms. He also throws out some status effects, so hopefully you be prepared for that as well. Most of my crew had status blocking equipment... except for Lucca. She missed out somehow, but regardless, I wasn't too hindered by her... ability to be status'd.
I have to heal more frequently than I'd think and even revive a character or two, but when it's all said and done... True Lavos is dead! However, via classic RPG form, that True Lavos (or however you refer to him) isn't the FINAL FORM! Instead, we're treated to a true final boss with... FINAL BOSS BATTLE TIME! FINAL ROUND - LAVOS CORE! The Lavos Core comes in with Two Bits to assist it. The Core deals out most of the damage here with massive and fancy special attacks. The Left Bit is able to heal the Core and can absorb any magical based attacks thrown at it. Have to stick with physical on this part. The Right Bit, interestingly enough, has the most HP of the three here. It's main power seems to be the ability to revive the other two. (Certainly throws this part for a loop... The "bit" being the main part and all.)
Destroying the Core and Left Bit are easy, but they're also easily revived. This leaves focusing on the Right Bit while the other two are away. However, the Right Bit can willingly raise and lower its defense at random points. Thus, it's possible to get stuck while trying to beat it and then it raises the two dead parts. It's a pretty rough battle, and I did lose a person here and there. Made great use of those Megaelixers though and lots of powerful yet Single Techs. It's almost silly how much better Single and Dual Techs seem to be compared to the Triple Techs. (Or maybe I just don't have great experience?) With a lot of damage, healing, and a close call here and there, I finally put Lavos out of commission... ENDING TIME!
Now, if I haven't already mentioned it a few times, Chrono Trigger has multiple endings. However, the multiple endings involve beating the game at earlier points rather than all the way at the end like I did. There are various examples of where you can stop and beat the game and get a unique ending, but I'm not going to list them. There's 13 Endings total (as of the DS version), but everything before that contained 12 endings. For my ending? I got the main one called "Beyond Time."
Crono wakes up to find himself back home. He's then taken in front of the King of the Present. Things almost look grim, but then... more people show up. There's the King of 600 AD, Doan from the future, and Kino from 65 million BC. They reveal here that they're all actually ancestors or descendants of Marle. They all thank Crono and crew for what they have done...Now it's time to party though! The group heads down to the Millennial Fair for a final parade to celebrate life and such. There's some fun interactions here as well. Lucca's mom is here and trying to get Taban to stop drinking and dance. Melchior mentions that weapons aren't much business anymore, but he doesn't seem to care. Crono's mom comments that despite saving the world, he hasn't much helped her take care of the cat. There's a few bits here and there, and then we head up to Lucca's machine... for final goodbyes.
The Time Gate is going to close forever, and everybody is returning to their own time period. Ayla and Kino head back to 65 million BC. Frog escorts the King back to the Middle Ages. Magus heads out to try and locate Schala. Then it came time for Robo to leave... and he definitely had the saddest leaving of anybody. (He's my favorite and also Lucca was sad to see him go.) With everybody finally stepped through the gate, it seems that the adventure is coming to a finale... Then Crono's mom shows up and chases a cat through the Gate! Oh boy, looks like we're going to have to chase after her. The group runs off and jumps into the Epoch for... /end credits.
And oh my goodness... I've finally made it to the end! There's a bit more to be seen during the ending credits, but you'll have to look into that yourself. (Or hit up Youtube cause yeah.) Words almost can't express my time with this game. It's been thoroughly enjoyed on many levels. I regret not playing it sooner. However, I also took about ten times too long to beat it (not in-game time, out of game time). Not going to apologize for that because life, work, and I've apologized enough.
Expect a great review post to come quite soon, and let's just say... great things are in the future! (Also changes, expect those too.) Thanks for sticking with me and reading whatever nonsense I type up on here. AND THUS ENDS ANOTHER RECURRING FANTASY OBJECTIVE!
Ending Point - End of the Game.
Current Party -
- Crono - Level 51
- Lucca - Level 49
- Robo - Level 49
Other Party -
- Marle - Level 48
- Frog - Level 48
- Ayla - Level 48
- Magus - Level 48
Goals Accomplished - Defeated Dalton. Recovered the upgraded Epoch. Got Magus to join the team. Rescued Chrono. Completed the game's Side Quests. Defeated Lavos and saved all of time!
Next Goals - Figure out the next game to play and then... go from there!
~May the Crystals Guide Me~
