Summary: The Black Omen, 12,000 BC. Mutants, the Queen of Zeal, and Lavos.
12,000 BC – Black Omen
-Finished my preparations. Got some more Full Tonics/Mid Tonics/Shelters/Ethers and set my party of Frog, Crono, and Marle up. Here's what I'm going in with:
-Again, I don’t know what the difference is between bucket!Lavos versus Epoch!Lavos versus Black Omen!Lavos (if the Black Omen indeed leads to Lavos). I also don’t know whether the Black Omen in the Dark Ages plays differently from the Black Omen in the Middle Ages or the Present.
So I’m going with this because I started the dungeon in the Dark Ages and want to finish there.
-Got a triple tech from this group, Arc Impulse. An ice attack. [Later edit: Arc Impulse absolutely carried me through this session.]
-Note to self: stay calm. This place pissed me off royally last time. If it starts to really kick my ass hard this time, I can always just choose to take on Lavos directly via the Epoch. I get the sense this place is optional.
-The Goons still scare me.
I know that I’m now protected against Chaos, but the memories… yeesh.
-Going okay so far.
Beautiful color scheme on Crono’s sword, Rainbow.
-Hellevator time. Going down.
-…that was weird. There were no monsters on the Hellevator. Is that only sometimes or did it bug out?
-Linear dungeon so far, which is fine by me.
-Save point. (WHEW.) Boss coming up I suppose. I see two Nus just ahead on the screen.
-BLESS THIS GAME. The Nus are vendors.
They put vendors in the Black Omen. I love it.
-The other Nu isn’t a vendor. It asks if we want to wake up or stay. I’m pretty confused. Saved again; if “Wake up” means they port me out of this place, then I definitely want to reset.
-Yup! They launch me out of the dungeon. I reset.
-We meet again, Cybot. (The Gato look-alikes that spam chaos.) But guess who’s got two thumbs and protection against Chaos status? THIS GUY.
-This place is long. Reached another teleporter, and hoping for another save point soon.
-Another save. I’m so nervous as this place goes on about who the next boss is.
-…and that’s NOT who I was expecting.
Giga Mutant.
Not the most creative boss in the world coming on the heels of Mega Mutant, but ok.
-Very strong against physical attacks, but weak to magic. Glacier and Ice Sword are where it’s at.
-Victory! That wasn’t bad at all. I underestimated how much stronger our party got since the last time.
-Hellevator part 2. Going up this time.
-Another save point, followed by… TerraMutant.
-The top half is weak to magic, and the bottom half seems weak to pretty much nothing. However, the top half drains the bottom half’s hit points when it gets hurt, so my plan is to go HAM on the top half with Glacier and Lightning and let the top half take out the bottom half.
-TerraMutant down! What’s next, PetaMutant?
-Got a White Rock, another of those triple tech enablers that never seems to enable a triple tech.
-One of Lavos’s spawn just got warped in! I wonder if the strategy we used on Death Peak will work here.
-It does. We hit its head a bunch and it dies.
-The atmosphere here is so cool. Fighting against the worst that Zeal has to offer.
-Another save point.
12,000 BC – Black Omen
-Finished my preparations. Got some more Full Tonics/Mid Tonics/Shelters/Ethers and set my party of Frog, Crono, and Marle up. Here's what I'm going in with:
-Again, I don’t know what the difference is between bucket!Lavos versus Epoch!Lavos versus Black Omen!Lavos (if the Black Omen indeed leads to Lavos). I also don’t know whether the Black Omen in the Dark Ages plays differently from the Black Omen in the Middle Ages or the Present.
So I’m going with this because I started the dungeon in the Dark Ages and want to finish there.
-Got a triple tech from this group, Arc Impulse. An ice attack. [Later edit: Arc Impulse absolutely carried me through this session.]
-Note to self: stay calm. This place pissed me off royally last time. If it starts to really kick my ass hard this time, I can always just choose to take on Lavos directly via the Epoch. I get the sense this place is optional.
-The Goons still scare me.
I know that I’m now protected against Chaos, but the memories… yeesh.
-Going okay so far.
Beautiful color scheme on Crono’s sword, Rainbow.
-Hellevator time. Going down.
-…that was weird. There were no monsters on the Hellevator. Is that only sometimes or did it bug out?
-Linear dungeon so far, which is fine by me.
-Save point. (WHEW.) Boss coming up I suppose. I see two Nus just ahead on the screen.
-BLESS THIS GAME. The Nus are vendors.
They put vendors in the Black Omen. I love it.
-The other Nu isn’t a vendor. It asks if we want to wake up or stay. I’m pretty confused. Saved again; if “Wake up” means they port me out of this place, then I definitely want to reset.
-Yup! They launch me out of the dungeon. I reset.
-We meet again, Cybot. (The Gato look-alikes that spam chaos.) But guess who’s got two thumbs and protection against Chaos status? THIS GUY.
-This place is long. Reached another teleporter, and hoping for another save point soon.
-Another save. I’m so nervous as this place goes on about who the next boss is.
-…and that’s NOT who I was expecting.
Giga Mutant.
Not the most creative boss in the world coming on the heels of Mega Mutant, but ok.
-Very strong against physical attacks, but weak to magic. Glacier and Ice Sword are where it’s at.
-Victory! That wasn’t bad at all. I underestimated how much stronger our party got since the last time.
-Hellevator part 2. Going up this time.
-Another save point, followed by… TerraMutant.
-The top half is weak to magic, and the bottom half seems weak to pretty much nothing. However, the top half drains the bottom half’s hit points when it gets hurt, so my plan is to go HAM on the top half with Glacier and Lightning and let the top half take out the bottom half.
-TerraMutant down! What’s next, PetaMutant?
-Got a White Rock, another of those triple tech enablers that never seems to enable a triple tech.
-One of Lavos’s spawn just got warped in! I wonder if the strategy we used on Death Peak will work here.
-It does. We hit its head a bunch and it dies.
-The atmosphere here is so cool. Fighting against the worst that Zeal has to offer.
-Another save point.
-Hm. This is weird. In the next room, we see versions of Crono and Marle in suspension tubes.
-Make that “everyone.” Versions or images or copies of everyone hovering unconscious in nearby tubes. Are we about to fight a mirror match? [Later edit, and non-rhetorical question for y’all: I still don’t know what this was about. Any thoughts? What am I missing?]
-THE QUEEN! Of course, the queen would be a boss fight here. Makes sense.
“All the dreams that might have been. All the happiness, the sorrow that you have experienced. Gone forever!!! For you, there will be no tomorrow!!! The Dark Omen transcends time and space, waiting for Lavos to awaken.”
WAIT OK WAIT WHAT NOW
She must be referring to the “Entity” that Robo hypothesized.
“Come, dear friends! Perhaps I can persuade Lavos to share his dreams with you!”
This is WAY more intriguing than a simple death threat. Not just “Fools, Lavos shall consume your souls mwa-ha-ha!” She’s threatening for Lavos to share his dreams with us. What kind of nightmares is Lavos having? What kind of entity is this Dark Omen?
-But first, we have a battle to fight.
-Queen Zeal keeps dropping our health to 1, leaving Frog and Marle to heal up with the dual tech Double Cure.
-The music during this fight stays calm and ominous.
-We win, but just against this phase of her. She throws us INTO the Mammon Machine… with her, Lavos, and the Dark Omen.
---
In the Mammon Machine
-The screen fades to black. The sound effects in this game are top notch and hyper eerie.
-We’re on that dreamy/watery background now fighting against the Mammon Machine.
-It swapped attack and magic power it seems, which I don’t quite understand.
Currently spamming Arc Impulse, the ice-based triple tech.
-Victory. Maybe. But now the screen is black again and a creepy series of pink outlines is before me.
---
Atop the Black Omen
-We’re now on top of the ship/palace. The Queen reappears.
-She turns into three parts. Two hands and a face. The head is vulnerable to most attacks. The hands are definitely not. They retaliate with Life Shaver, whittling the attacker to 1 hp.
Death Star of David.
-Got her. Next phase incoming. This is a seriously nasty fight.
-She calls on Lavos to lend her his power…
-Crap. Here comes Lavos. He erupts out of the sea and the Black Omen sinks to meet him.
---
Lavos
-Weird moment where Lavos’s image gets overlayed on that dragon machine from when Crono escaped prison. A hint about how to approach Lavos, perhaps?
-We heal up. Two monsters are at Lavos’s side.
-He keeps swapping attack modes to prior bosses. Really interesting.
-Next version is weak to magic.
-Next attack mode is like the skeleton boss that Ozzie summoned on the bridge. Then to Masamune.
The music is quite beautiful. Not at all what I expected for the Lavos fight.
-Next is Azala’s dino.
Lightning to stun it iirc.
-Magus next. God, this is WILD! Unique and wild. It’s making me use and remember strategies from throughout the game. A brilliant way to tie the boss encounter to my past experiences and the game as a whole. I don’t quite understand what’s happening. It’s dreaming all of these attack modes? Something about dreams. Magus uses different barriers that I have to adapt to.
-Next up is Tyranno. Killed the little Azala stand-in on his shoulder, then onto his face when he started storing power.
-Next is Gaia Giga. I think I have to kill the hand stand-ins first.
-Lavos just let out a bellowing roar. No more “attack modes.” This may be the real Lavos.
-He rains destruction on us from above, his apocalypse move, but unlike when he used this attack to kill us in the original Ocean Palace, we didn’t die. We’ve grown. Healed up, kept pushing.
-THE HEAD EXPLODED!!! But… there’s more inside probably.
Lol, Marle: “Unbelievable! Will there ever be an end?” Very meta. I was thinking the same thing.
-We jump inside his shell.
-Make that “everyone.” Versions or images or copies of everyone hovering unconscious in nearby tubes. Are we about to fight a mirror match? [Later edit, and non-rhetorical question for y’all: I still don’t know what this was about. Any thoughts? What am I missing?]
-THE QUEEN! Of course, the queen would be a boss fight here. Makes sense.
“All the dreams that might have been. All the happiness, the sorrow that you have experienced. Gone forever!!! For you, there will be no tomorrow!!! The Dark Omen transcends time and space, waiting for Lavos to awaken.”
WAIT OK WAIT WHAT NOW
She must be referring to the “Entity” that Robo hypothesized.
“Come, dear friends! Perhaps I can persuade Lavos to share his dreams with you!”
This is WAY more intriguing than a simple death threat. Not just “Fools, Lavos shall consume your souls mwa-ha-ha!” She’s threatening for Lavos to share his dreams with us. What kind of nightmares is Lavos having? What kind of entity is this Dark Omen?
-But first, we have a battle to fight.
-Queen Zeal keeps dropping our health to 1, leaving Frog and Marle to heal up with the dual tech Double Cure.
-The music during this fight stays calm and ominous.
-We win, but just against this phase of her. She throws us INTO the Mammon Machine… with her, Lavos, and the Dark Omen.
---
In the Mammon Machine
-The screen fades to black. The sound effects in this game are top notch and hyper eerie.
-We’re on that dreamy/watery background now fighting against the Mammon Machine.
-It swapped attack and magic power it seems, which I don’t quite understand.
Currently spamming Arc Impulse, the ice-based triple tech.
-Victory. Maybe. But now the screen is black again and a creepy series of pink outlines is before me.
---
Atop the Black Omen
-We’re now on top of the ship/palace. The Queen reappears.
-She turns into three parts. Two hands and a face. The head is vulnerable to most attacks. The hands are definitely not. They retaliate with Life Shaver, whittling the attacker to 1 hp.
Death Star of David.
-Got her. Next phase incoming. This is a seriously nasty fight.
-She calls on Lavos to lend her his power…
-Crap. Here comes Lavos. He erupts out of the sea and the Black Omen sinks to meet him.
---
Lavos
-Weird moment where Lavos’s image gets overlayed on that dragon machine from when Crono escaped prison. A hint about how to approach Lavos, perhaps?
-We heal up. Two monsters are at Lavos’s side.
-He keeps swapping attack modes to prior bosses. Really interesting.
-Next version is weak to magic.
-Next attack mode is like the skeleton boss that Ozzie summoned on the bridge. Then to Masamune.
The music is quite beautiful. Not at all what I expected for the Lavos fight.
-Next is Azala’s dino.
Lightning to stun it iirc.
-Magus next. God, this is WILD! Unique and wild. It’s making me use and remember strategies from throughout the game. A brilliant way to tie the boss encounter to my past experiences and the game as a whole. I don’t quite understand what’s happening. It’s dreaming all of these attack modes? Something about dreams. Magus uses different barriers that I have to adapt to.
-Next up is Tyranno. Killed the little Azala stand-in on his shoulder, then onto his face when he started storing power.
-Next is Gaia Giga. I think I have to kill the hand stand-ins first.
-Lavos just let out a bellowing roar. No more “attack modes.” This may be the real Lavos.
-He rains destruction on us from above, his apocalypse move, but unlike when he used this attack to kill us in the original Ocean Palace, we didn’t die. We’ve grown. Healed up, kept pushing.
-THE HEAD EXPLODED!!! But… there’s more inside probably.
Lol, Marle: “Unbelievable! Will there ever be an end?” Very meta. I was thinking the same thing.
-We jump inside his shell.
---
Inside the Shell
-We’re literally in the belly of the beast.
-PRAISE THE SUN! There’s a save point.
-And a gate?
-It takes us back to the End of Time. Gaspar says, “That old woman can finally rest, now that the Black Omen is taken care of!” I’m not sure what this means, and can’t get back where I was, so I reset. Back inside Lavos.
-The sounds inside this cavern are horrifying.
-WHOA! That’s Lavos. The real Lavos. And he. Looks. PHENOMENAL.
-lol though his intimidation factor is somewhat undercut by using nipple lasers that he calls “doors of doom.”
-Triumphant, fast-paced music that gets my blood pumping.
-Two arms and a body/head. Going for his right arm first.
-Right arm down. Am I hearing remixed music from earlier in the game, or is it just me?
-Left arm down now, and the body starts shaking the ground and putting on a light show.
-It removed my defensive protections, so Chaos and Stop go through. We have to make sure to heal those up.
-OW. Shadow Doom Blaze hits hard as hell, knocking out Crono, but Marle’s Life2 gets him up and running.
-Using Arc Impulse, the triple tech, as often as I can squeeze in.
-DID I GET HIM??
-…what is that
It looks like a large, but not titanic, alien. Humanoid. Robot maybe?
-It collected the vitality of the creatures on this world. That’s why it was going through all those attack modes. It shepherded the Earth, allowed it to live and grow to provide vitality and life and power for itself. That’s SO fucked up.
[Later edit: (“Worm” spoilers) V abj frr jung lbh zrna nobhg pbzcnevat Mvba naq Ynibf.]
-Our party shouts it independence, that despite Lavos’ role in shaping and draining the planet, it won’t be bound to this galactic vampire any longer.
---
Lavos Core
-This is the final phase. I’d be shocked if it’s not. It has two orbs to its side floating by.
Gonna try taking those down first.
THIS MUSIC THOUGH
-Lavos Core continues the theme of tying the game’s full timeline together. He warps us through many different times and places as the fight goes on, which we see in the background. Epic af.
-The one on my right is strong against physical attacks. The one on my left, not so much.
-Keeps using a one-shot ability on Frog, “Crying Heavens/Hidden Blow.”
-Surviving. The bit on my right revives the one on my left, and the one on my left heals the others.
-Killed the body and the left bit… GRRR the right bit revived them! So priority is left bit, right bit, body.
-VICTORY HAHAHAHAHHA
-We flash quickly through all the various times that we warped through during the fight. From Magus’s lair to the Millenial Fair.
---
Next time: the end of Chrono Trigger.
Inside the Shell
-We’re literally in the belly of the beast.
-PRAISE THE SUN! There’s a save point.
-And a gate?
-It takes us back to the End of Time. Gaspar says, “That old woman can finally rest, now that the Black Omen is taken care of!” I’m not sure what this means, and can’t get back where I was, so I reset. Back inside Lavos.
-The sounds inside this cavern are horrifying.
-WHOA! That’s Lavos. The real Lavos. And he. Looks. PHENOMENAL.
-lol though his intimidation factor is somewhat undercut by using nipple lasers that he calls “doors of doom.”
-Triumphant, fast-paced music that gets my blood pumping.
-Two arms and a body/head. Going for his right arm first.
-Right arm down. Am I hearing remixed music from earlier in the game, or is it just me?
-Left arm down now, and the body starts shaking the ground and putting on a light show.
-It removed my defensive protections, so Chaos and Stop go through. We have to make sure to heal those up.
-OW. Shadow Doom Blaze hits hard as hell, knocking out Crono, but Marle’s Life2 gets him up and running.
-Using Arc Impulse, the triple tech, as often as I can squeeze in.
-DID I GET HIM??
-…what is that
It looks like a large, but not titanic, alien. Humanoid. Robot maybe?
-It collected the vitality of the creatures on this world. That’s why it was going through all those attack modes. It shepherded the Earth, allowed it to live and grow to provide vitality and life and power for itself. That’s SO fucked up.
[Later edit: (“Worm” spoilers) V abj frr jung lbh zrna nobhg pbzcnevat Mvba naq Ynibf.]
-Our party shouts it independence, that despite Lavos’ role in shaping and draining the planet, it won’t be bound to this galactic vampire any longer.
---
Lavos Core
-This is the final phase. I’d be shocked if it’s not. It has two orbs to its side floating by.
Gonna try taking those down first.
THIS MUSIC THOUGH
-Lavos Core continues the theme of tying the game’s full timeline together. He warps us through many different times and places as the fight goes on, which we see in the background. Epic af.
-The one on my right is strong against physical attacks. The one on my left, not so much.
-Keeps using a one-shot ability on Frog, “Crying Heavens/Hidden Blow.”
-Surviving. The bit on my right revives the one on my left, and the one on my left heals the others.
-Killed the body and the left bit… GRRR the right bit revived them! So priority is left bit, right bit, body.
-VICTORY HAHAHAHAHHA
-We flash quickly through all the various times that we warped through during the fight. From Magus’s lair to the Millenial Fair.
---
Next time: the end of Chrono Trigger.
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