600 AD - Giant’s Claw
-The music here immediately reminds me of the Golbez music from FFIV, “Golbez, Clad in Dark.”
-A note from Toma. Three holes, and jumping in one puts you back at the beginning? Looks like this may be a puzzle dungeon.
-Next room contains a green throne surrounded by torches with green fire. That’s ominous.
Wonder whose throne it is. Honestly no idea. I could guess at someone I’ve met before, like a descendant of Azala’s or Ozzie’s private room, but I doubt it. I think it’s someone new.
-Aha! Frog says that this is the Tyrano Lair, pushed underground when Lavos crashed down. Maybe “descendant of Azala” hit the mark.
-Dinosaurs down, so swapped in Lucca for Frog to help stun the Gigasaurs.
-The dinosaurs use the hated “Chaos,” but unlike the Black Omen, I came prepared this time. Amulet and two Sight Caps.
-Two paths: left or right. I start left, but it’s a dead end. Looks like the place I exit from after going deeper in. Right it is.
-OH NO I OPENED A TRAP DOOR AND A KITTY FELL FROM THE CEILING AND KEPT FALLING
I love Chrono Trigger’s obsession with cats.
-Got “Blue Rock,” a triple-tech granting accessory. Black Rock didn’t seem to work, but maybe I just have to find the right combination of characters to activate it.
-Oh, right. I now remember that it’s lightning that stuns the dinos, not fire. Probably should’ve waited to get Crono back to come here.
-This place is really confusing.
-Thought about swapping out Ayla. I got her ultimate single tech, Triple Kick. But I don’t want to, just in case she has some story-interaction with this place. [Later edit: she didn’t. ]
-BIG dino! Seems… friendly?
-Never mind lol. It attacked. Rust Tyrano. Boss music.
-This fight is a pure DPS race it seems. The dino doesn’t do damage, just counts down from 5 slowly while we pour on our heaviest techs.
-Crap. Here it comes.
-Not too bad! Breathed fire for heavy but not overwhelming damage.
-lol and then it ate robo.
-victory! And the Rainbow Shell is just past it.
-But it’s super heavy. We need help to carry it out.
---
Around 600 AD
-I thought I’d have to run out of this place and make the trek over, but the camera just immediately flashes over to Guardia Castle.
-We ask the king to keep the shell safe until next century. Well. That was easy.
-I went back to Sandorino to talk to the dude who wanted the Rainbow Shell, but no dice. Maybe I can go to the future, get it from Guardia, and bring it back here?
---
1,000 AD – Guardia Castle
-A trial is in session.
-The King’s trial? Huh? Okay, two possibilities. First is that the Chancellor is attempting to usurp the king and try him unjustly. Second is that the king is feeling guilt over what Marle said, and attempting to put convict himself to relieve the guilt.
-I think it’s both. I’ll bet the Chancellor told Marle about her mother to prod Marle into saying what she did to the king, causing him to put himself on trial out of guilt.
-Lol nm. Apparently the king is on trial for selling off stuff from the royal treasury. Stuff like the Rainbow Shell perhaps?
-Neat! There’s a new wing in the castle. The treasury.
But it’s closed for the moment. Monster guards lie past where we’re allowed to go. The “Chancellor’s” monsters.
-The Chancellor’s guards are all around. Hovering. (Not literally.)
-Can’t see the trial. Not much to do for now. Have to remember to come back here later.
-Alright. I’ve been putting this off for a while. Part of it is nerves. But it’s time.
---
2,300 AD
-Black Omen is different. Couldn’t enter it. The Queen met me at the locked door, laughed at me that she already won and Lavos already consumed the world’s energy, and disapparated.
-Tried going up Death Peak. No luck. Got blown back down.
-Aha! Nu!Balthasar says he can help me with the last of his program’s power.
-A blue and white poyozo (Poyozo!Balthasar?) emerges.
-It’s not Poyozo!Balthasar. Those poyozos are three bot program things that launched themselves to Death Peak and will help me ascend.
-Nu!Balthasar asks me to shut the program off. I do, and now he’s sleeping “beyond the flow of time.” See you down the line, Balthasar.
---
Death Peak
-The first poyozo turned into a tree.
I’m supposed to hide behind trees when the wind blows and walk when the wind calms down. It’s tricky, but I think I got it after a few tries.
-The mountain is kind of beautiful.
-AAARGH LAVOS SPAWN
-Tough fight at first, but then I realized that it’s a two-part monster. If I attack the body, it retaliates hard. If I attack the head, it doesn’t. Attacked the head a bunch and killed it.
-Definitely feel like I’m missing something with this Blue Rock/Black Rock. It doesn’t enable the triple techs that it says it should.
-Another Lavos Spawn. But now that I know what to do, it’s just a normal monster. I even feel a little bit bad for it. Sure, this might eventually grow up to travel the cosmos and destroy other planets, but it’s not to blame. It’s just a li’l lavos baby. Cub? Kit? Pup?
-Next poyozo.
I have to traverse an icy cliff an am AWFUL at it lol. I fall. A lot. Keep having to start this part over.
-made it. After dodging an avalanche of Krakkers, I’m at the third and final poyozo. His advice is to “push the shell, climb the shell.” Dunno what that means yet.
-Now I get it. Killed another Lavos Spawn, but its shell stayed behind. Pushed the shell towards a cliff edge and used it as a stepstool to reach a higher peak.
-Summit of the mountain. The music goes away. My freak out level goes to 11.
-Lucca says a Tolkien-esque incantation as she holds the Chrono Trigger aloft. His pendant that Frog holds reacts with it somehow.
-The trigger floats aloft.
…and shatters. Oh no. lucca is distraught, falling to her knees, imploring Crono to make some kind of sign.
-oh jesus a shadow eclipses the sun and the music turns ominous
---
Moment of Crono’s Death
-??We’re back at the time when Crono died. Something Chrono Trigger-related definitely is happening. That moment is frozen.
-They take the Crono – or, the Clono, as I’ve taken to thinking about it – and pull the frozen Crono away from his sacrificial position.
-It seems like it might work. They withdraw.
---
Death Peak
-The screen fades to black. Something that looks like an old Lite Brite appears on the screen. Lights on a tree? The image of the frozen Crono descends upon it.
-He’s awake! He’s back!
Woohoo go team!
-This is beautiful. Everything fades, except for the foreground of Lucca hugging Crono against a tree.
-My favorite part about this? It isn’t a story of Crono’s nobility. It’s a story of his friends. It’s Lucca’s story, Lucca’s victory. Marle’s victory. And Ayla’s, and Frog’s, and Robo’s.
-This is especially joyous to me for Lucca. She so recently failed to save her mom from the tragedy despite being given a second chance to do so. She doesn’t fail this time. Redemption for Lucca.
-Very surprised that we didn’t get to see Lavos up on Death Peak. I thought he was up there, reproducing. We saw his spawn but not him. I wonder where he is.
---
End of Time
-Gaspar wants to join us? WILL HE JOIN AS A PARTY MEMBER?? (probably not)
-This feels like we’re approaching the game’s end. Gaspar gives us a speech about how this is all about our choices, our destiny, our options.
-It appears that he means that quite literally for approaching Lavos. We can fly to Lavos in the Epoch, we can go through the bucket in End of Time, we can even apparently reach him through the Black Omen. (No wonder I was so frustrated in that place. It was basically a final dungeon.)
-Some more stuff awaits though. Something about machinery in the future, something about the sunstone in the past. The Rainbow Shell in the middle ages.
And one of us is “close to someone who needs help.” Hm. Magus? Crono’s mom? Crono’s cat? Taban?
-That went by quickly. He basically gave us a task list of stuff we can do to empower ourselves before taking on Lavos:
1)Something in the future having to do with the beginning of machinery. (future)
2)A special stone that can shine its light on every generation. (pre-history)
3)Object that sparkles like a rainbow (Middle Ages)
4)Close to someone who needs help OH! That must be Marle’s father and the trial and Chancellor Jerkface. Or Chancellor Yakra VIII, if my theory is correct. (present)
JUST SAVED AND THIS SAVE FILE IS CALLED “THE FATED HOUR” OH SHIT HERE WE GO LET’S GO LET’S FUCKING GO
My guess is that each way of reaching Lavos gives me a slightly different difficulty level. The Black Omen is probably the toughest difficulty level. Not sure I’m up for that. Hm. I’ll sleep on it.
---
Next time: Starting to run off the final check-list in the run-up to Lavos. Heading first to the Middle Ages to try to check if there’s a new treasury wing in Castle Guardia that I can access, maybe give it to Sandorino, and then to 1,000 AD to help Marle’s dad.
