Monday, May 9, 2016

Chrono Trigger – Part 29: Ozzfest

Summary: The perfect cure for my frustration in the Black Omen. Fiona’s Villa and Ozzie’s Fortress.



Middle Ages – Sunken Cave

-There are two things I want to check out in the Middle Ages before heading to the future for Death Peak. First is the desert cave by Fiona’s Villa. Second is the Rainbow Shell. That task to find the Rainbow Shell on one of the islands. I can fly now, so a bit of exploration.

-The graphics in the sunken cave are really cool, if a bit dizzying.




Like walking through quicksand.

-Frog’s water attack weakens enemy defense, opening them up to physical attacks.

-One big room in here with lots of treasure chests around the area. The monsters give huge quantities of tech points and experience, and I’m walking in cake compared with the Black Omen. It’s not that they’re easy – they’re not! They hit pretty hard and have solid attacks, and need to be weakened with water. But it’s not like each encounter is a boss fight.

-YIKES! I went down one level, and there’s something UNDERNEATH THE SAND.



It’s scary to me in the way that being chased by the shadow of the Midgar Zolom in FFVII is scary.

I keep seeing it pop up every once in a while. Normally, I’m all about the boss fights, but I feel like I’m supposed to evade this particular monster, not seek it out. Again – drawing on my experience with the Midgar Zolom for comparison.

-Hm. Maybe not. I got all the treasure chests in the room and can’t go back where I was. Ugh. Time to buckle up and fight it. Remember, Coldrun: if you die, you can get back here. It’s okay. The path to get here is NOT the Black Omen. I can do this. Chill.

Here we go.

-Boss music. The monster is like the skeletal dude that Ozzie summoned on the bridge. First thing to check: does he have two parts?



No. Three parts. Legs, torso, and eyeball at the center. Gonna try to water up all the parts to reduce defense and take out the eyeball first.

-Killed the eye, and the message said that he runs away when core is down. That means the legs are next priority.

-Each time I hit him, his defense power goes back up. I should pepper in water attacks.

-Long-ish fight. Legs are down. Now just gotta deal with the Retinite torso. Slow and steady.



-Come on… The Retinite’s torso seems to hit much faster alone than with the other parts.

-YES!! Victory. Phew. 100 tech points, and some new techs. Uzzi Punch (which I saw back in Black Omen, a massive single target Robo tech) and Beast Toss, which I didn’t see.

-After the fight, Ayla (I think) says she thinks killing this monster should stop the forest from turning into desert, which should help Fiona. Hey! Maybe this means that because we did what we did, Fiona didn’t die. Gotta remember to check out this place in 1,000 AD. Maybe it’s different.

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Fiona’s Villa

-Fiona acknowledges that killing the beast may allow the land to rejuvenate. Eventually.

-HAHAHA THIS IS SO FUCKING COOL

Robo stays behind to help convert the desert to forest.



We see him on the overworld map, plowing away and planting seeds. I’ll pick him up in the present, his work complete. But… oh wow, what if we get him back in 1,000 AD, then return to 600 AD? Will he see himself planting?

-Marle replaces Robo.

-Now to find that island with the Rainbow Shell and maybe even Magus’s lieutenants.

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Ozzie’s Fort

-Found it. It’s the island that’ll eventually be where Medina Village grows. Of course.

-Ozzie greets us, but freaks out when he sees it’s, y’know, US. We keep beating the poor guy and he keeps running away.

-HELL YES IT’S FLEA YOU SURVIVED



-Cube Toss just flat-out obliterates Flea. Sorry, “Flea Plus” as he’s called now. Quick fight. He doesn’t die, just runs away.

-Ozzie has a pulley fetish, I swear. Not judging, but he sure does like his pullies and levers.

-hahahahahaha I’m crying



He summoned two enemies to appear from below on a conveyor belt, the fight music started up, and the enemies slid off the conveyor belt down into the abyss below while we just watch.



The fight music did the equivalent of a sad trombone, slowing down as the enemies fell while we just watch. XD XD XD

-Next room. Time for Slash.

-Another quick fight. Two-shot him with Cube Toss for over 2,000 damage (seriously, bless Cube Toss) and Leap Slash from Frog. He runs. I have a feeling that the next fight will be all three of them at once.



-Yup! All three at once. They claim to each have unique items that make them awesome. Ozzie Vest, Slasher 2, and Flea Pants.

Oh my god. I see you, game. Ozzfest. Flea’s stuffed animal pants from Red Hot Chili Peppers. Slash… well, I’m not sure what “Slasher 2” is a reference to. [Non-rhetorical question for y’all: any Guns ‘n’ Roses fans able to help me out on this one?]

-The three of them do a pretty hard-hitting Triple Tech (now I know how that feels to be on the receiving end of one of those techs) that does pretty solid single-target damage.

-Flea down. (Sorry, no hard feelings, you’re still the best!) A couple of Cube Tosses. Next up will be Ozzie. Cause it’s about time.

-I like Slash’s attacking style. His movement reminds me a lot of Kiros from FFVIII.

-Did tons of damage to Ozzie and won the fight. Slash disappeared, interestingly enough, not Ozzie.

-BLESS. Got “Sight Cap” from a treasure chest in the room. It prevents Chaos. This’ll be phenomenally useful when I go back to Black Omen.

-Finally cornered Ozzie alone, and he actually wins some sympathy by saying that he must win on behalf of his Mystics. He… he actually cares about his people. First Azala, now Ozzie. Well done, Chrono Trigger. I’m an absolute sucker for villains who aren’t total self-serving mustache-twirlers.

-Ozzie ice-blocked himself like last time. And like last time, there are three panels behind him. We hit one.

-LOLOL HE USED THAT AGAINST US. The panel we hit opened up a trap door beneath our feet. Frigging Ozzie, never change.

-oh god. This keeps getting better. I thought the trap door would send us to some pit filled with spikes and enemies, but no. It sends us to literally the last room. We just walk back up the stairs and there’s ozzie again. Boss time for real.

-…I can’t take this anymore. My sides hurt. The fight music started, then a kitten meowed, and the fight music stopped.




-I cant see through thte tears of laughter at this point. A kitten just strolled into the room, meowed, jumped onto a different switch behind Ozzie that opened a trap door beneath him, and the kitten left. Wtfffff

-Not sure what else to do now. Can’t follow Ozzie, and he may be dead given the splat I heard after he hit bottom. Gonna explore the place a bit more.

-Found a secret passageway with a DoomSickle, Gloom Helm, and Gloom Cape. I can’t equip any of those. Guessing they’re for the Magus that I DON’T have.

-Explored the rest of the castle pretty thoroughly, pushing on every wall and object I could think of, but didn’t find anything else. I guess I’m done. Can’t help but feeling I’m missing something, some final token of defeating Ozzie or some final thing.

Perhaps not. I’ll head back to the town and castle to see if I get any accolades or reward for beating them.

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Choras

-Found on an island in the southeastern corner of the map.

-Humans live here.



-So eerie to see people just take the Black Omen as a matter of course in their lives.

-Someone’s tools have been stolen.

-Toma’s here! He has a lead on the Rainbow Shell, but doesn’t tell us more.

-That’s morbid. He gives us “Toma’s Pop,” some sort of drink (likely about as non-alcoholic as Ayla’s soup), and asks us to pour some on his grave if he dies. Maybe that’s how we’ll get the Rainbow Shell.

-10 years ago, a beast was seen bringing something to the Northern Ruins. Way ahead of you, bud. By like 400 years. Me and the Nu have already held palaver.

-Just noticed that the Northern Ruins is now a full-on castle, not just a blue tent.

-How did this human town turn into the monster-filled Medina Village anyway? Maybe that changes now that we’ve taken down the lieutenants.

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Northern Ruins

-Spooky atmosphere.

-First two enemies are Sentries. Their attacks halve our health, and they follow-it up with flat HP drain. Weak only to ice it seems. Maybe fire, but Lucca’s not in group. Nasty. Is this Black Omen 2.0?

-Not that bad. So far.



The Marle/Ayla dual tech, Ice Toss, one-shots them.

-Something weird is going on here. There are two wings to the place to explore. Each wing has a door with a huge hole in front of it that I can’t cross. What’s the deal?

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Around the Middle Ages

-Toma’s no longer in the café. He went to find the Rainbow Shell. Maybe now we go back to Choras and find him?

-I was mistaken it seems. The blue tent is still there. Now I remember the blue tent with the Nu is the Forest Ruins. The Northern Ruins is something different.

-Nothing new in Guardia Castle. The dialogue is the same as when Team Crono just beat Magus.

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Next time: to 1,000 AD to collect Robo and see the fruits of his labors.