Let's Sperg Chrono Trigger - Hey Goku, let's go time travelling!

[AngeloTheWizard]

Quest 3: "The Soul of a great knight, slain by Magus in the middle ages..."

As if you couldn't guess, it's referring to Cyrus. The place we need to go is south of Ozzie's fort, on the southeastern island in the middle ages.

Land near the town and make a future quest easier for yourself by visiting the tavern and talking to Toma. He gives you his favorite drink and asks that if he eats it, pour one out on his grave for him. Then...head to 1,000 AD. It turns out you actually need to go to the future for this one (well, future ish).

There's talk of ghost sightings in the Northern Ruins, so head there and confront this ghost. Nothing you do damages him. Ginyu eventually figures out that the ghost is in fact Cyrus, and after a few more rounds, the party is ejected from the battle. With the ruins in utter shambles, it falls to us to repair it. A Carpenter in 600 AD could do it, but he lacks tools. Where could we get some carpentry tools?

Head to the inn and there will be a carpenter chugging mug after mug of ale. He says you can borrow his tools if you talk to his wife. Head to the only residence in the village and she'll hand them right over. Now return to the middle ages and give the tools to the carpenter in 600 AD. Head to the same residence you got the tools from, just 400 years earlier, and talk to him. He'll summon his crew and get to work.

Now, you need to help clear the Northern Ruins. Unlike most places, enemies will stay dead when you kill them. When you clear out a floor, return to the Carpenter and ask him to continue. Some fees will need to be paid.

If you head downstairs, you'll find the Grave of Cyrus. With Ginyu in your party, they have a touching reunion. Cyrus says that he knows all will be made right by Ginyu's hand, and then he fades away. As he does, the Masamune changes...

Masa and Mune emerge from the blade and tell Ginyu that his emotional baggage, his doubts and fears, weighed him down and prevented him from unlocking the true power of the Masamune-strength of will. Now, with his past put to rest, Ginyu can use the full power of the blade!

Since we're here, there's some sealed chests we can open-or attempt to open. The ones here operate like the earlier ones we could upgrade, if you touch them and don't open them, they'll upgrade in 1,000 AD. So go ahead and do that since there's no enemies to deal with once you repair the place fully.

Also while you're in 1,000 AD, the same village has Toma's grave nearby. Might as well go pour one out.

And with that, he tells us where the Shell is. However, we have to go back to 600 AD to get it. That all said, Ginyu's sidequest is done. Happy days!

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

Alright, we need to do some other things before we head off and get the Rainbow Shell. Head to Porre in the present (south of the now built Fiona's Shrine) and enter the Snail Shop. Talk to the owner and buy the Spiced Jerky for 9,900 G, then return to the past and give the Jerky to the wife of Porre's Elder in 600 AD-FOR FREE. Give it for free. Do not charge her. This is just the first step, once you do that, head to 2,300 AD and make sure you have as many fire absorbing armors as possible.

Head south of the Keeper's Dome to a small island with a cave on it. This is the Sun Temple, a surviving relic of Zeal. When you approach a blinky light on the ground, the Son of Sun pops out and attacks.

The battle is weird. One of the fireballs is your major target, as when you hit the right fireball, you do damage to the core. He shuffles his fireballs on occasion, and whenever you hit the wrong fireball, he counters with powerful fire attacks. So if you have the Red Plate and Red Vest, this battle will be a piece of cake since his counters for missing and his big AoE flare attacks can't even harm two of your dudes. His lasers still hurt, but that's why you bring a healer.

You did bring a healer, right?

Attack each fireball in a clockwise pattern and pay attention. When his core takes damage, pound away at that ball until he roulette spins, then find the fireball again (he shuffles them too quick to keep track). Keep it up, and he'll be an easy fight.

There is a slight trick you can pull using Goku's Cyclone but I would only recommend if you feel like taking a lot of Flares. When he Spins, use Cyclone on the Core. This will trigger a Flare counter and also cause all four wrong fireballs to counter on Goku, but the right fireball will NOT counter. The one on the right of the Son starts the circle of counters and they go clockwise from there, allowing you to easily see which one gets skipped.

Once you beat him, he runs off. Follow him and he turns into the Sun Stone.

Err...Moon Stone? Ginyu (since he was in my party) wondered how long it would take the sun to rekindle it. Time to return to 65 Million BC, then!

There's a Sun Shrine in the upper right corner of the map. Go there and put the Moon Stone there. Then head back to 1,000 AD. If you gave the woman the Spiced Jerky for free, the Porre Elder of the present has changed from a greedy cunt to a kind and generous man-and it turns out, he acquired the Sun Stone from a traveler, which he gives us for no charge. If you sold the woman jerky, you won't get it and he'll deny having it. Return the stone to the shrine, then head back to 2,300 AD.

If you have Bulma in the party when you retrieve the Sun Stone in 2,300 AD (no boss fight needed), you'll automatically warp to her house, otherwise you need to go there. She creates the Wondershot, her ultimate gun, which does variant amounts of damage from 1 to maximum. Leaving damage up to randomness is not something I like doing, FF12's Axes and Hammers are about the only exception, but hey, we have it! And we get a neat pair of Sunglasses that boost the damage of whoever wears them! And we still have the Sun Stone, which we need to make Chrono's Ultimate Weapon, the Rainbow! But we need the other half, the Rainbow Shell, and that is next time.

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

Luckily, I'm not dead yet. School and work started back up again for me so it's been a little crazy for me, but we have a rainbow shell to acquire. Let's do it.

Head back to 600 AD and head to the island northwest of Choras (that's the town just south of the Hero's Grave). The cave on the island is called the Giant's Claw, and as we enter...the Tyrano Lair music starts up.

Oh hey, that's Azala's throne. So...we actually ARE in the Tyranno Lair!

Like before, most of the dinosaur monsters get reduced defense when hit with lightning. UNLIKE before, they still move around and attack.

Navigating the Claw is a pain. We're going from the top down, but a lot of the balcony areas are replaced with caves. We need to use the pit traps from before to get back down to the bottom. If you screw up, you have to climb back to the top. And yes, it is annoying.

Keep your eyes open for blinky lights. There are strength capsules scattered all over the claw, so look for those tell-tale glimmers while you run around.

One of the chests contains the Blue Gemstone, an accessory that allows Bulma, Mosco, and Magus to combine for Omega Flare. While powerful, it requires you to have that team, have one of them with the Gem equipped, and all of them to combine at once. It also requires Bulma having her final tech, Flare, which you are not likely to have if you shelved her in favor of other fighters.

Your eventual destination is the prison cell that had Kino in it. You'll find a save point outside it, and I highly recommend you use it, as the next boss is...a doozy. May want to make sure you have all those lovely fire absorbing armors on.

The boss in this case is the Rust Tyranno, and boy is this stretching disbelief. You're telling me a monster of that size survived UNDERGROUND, with no easily accessible source of food, for millions of years, through a meteor strike that killed bigger than him, an ice age, and the fact that this island is cut off from all the other places in the world. Well, whatever, having a big fucking monster around is a cool boss, it's the Monster Hunter argument of "It's cool, bitch!"

The Tyranno has a lot of his old tricks. He roars as he counts down, so the same trick of having counter accessories on to get free hits in works. You may also want some status protection, as his roar seems to cause a Sap effect of constant HP drain. His big attack is a fire breath move, so your plates will be helpful. Ayla can charm a Red Plate off of him, sadly there is no way to equip it mid-fight. The only attack he has you need to worry about is his "Chomp" where he grabs a party member, chews them up, and deals a ton of damage while restoring his own. As long as you keep people's HP up, it won't be a worry.

He is, however, a fucking marathon of a boss. He has 25,000 HP and there are no magic tricks to make it easier, all you can do is smack away and hope he goes down before your DS's Battery does.

No shit, Ginyu? Oh, I'm being mean. We can't lift it out, and neither could Toma, but we can pay a visit to King Guardia, who totally owes us one, and he'll send his men to collect it. In fact, we automatically go there as we head back out.

Now head to 1,000 AD, and put Nadia in the party, and attempt to talk to the King. It's worth noting that there's a small subplot that's been developing and the first part of it happened while I was grabbing the Sealed Chests: The Chancellor is doing his damnedest to turn Nadia against her father, saying that the King was too busy with work to be with his dying wife. This translates into Nadia having a not-so-pleasant chat with daddy, and then accusing him of killing her mother. However, you will only get that scene if you talk to him before finding the Shell, otherwise...

Oh, you mean that fucking Kangaroo Court?

It really is a Kangaroo Court if the king can be put on trial for not showing off an heirloom. Nadia and party busts in, but are powerless to stop what is happening. Hell, so is the King, for that matter. Why the fuck can't he say "I'm the fucking king, go fuck yourself?" Well, because if we didn't, we wouldn't get a glorious shot later on. Also, the Chancellor accuses the King of selling the Shell, which would be a rather serious scandal...if the Rainbow Shell had more of a purpose than "showing off during the Fair".

The King is well aware that the Chancellor is doing his damnedest to frame him, and the Chancellor flat out taunts Nadia by saying that she should bring the shell before the court. Why, I do believe he just handed us our victory...

And here, the secret is revealed when we reach the basement. Those snakes are the exact enemies from the Cathedral in 600 AD, you remember, the FIRST DUNGEON we ever did? So it turns out the Chancellor is...well, it's a descendant of Yakra.

Blow through the enemies, they are exactly as weak as they were before.

Not only do we find the shell, but also a note from Nadia's mother. With all the problems between Nadia and the King, well, this is a pretty well timed note...of course, since Nadia was coming down here to save her father from the trial anyway, this is less what Nadia needs to forgive her father and more adding to her resolve to kick ass. Speaking of kicking ass...she grabs a shard of the Rainbow Shell, and we take off to go stop the trial with our real evidence.

We can't get through the courtroom's front door, because the soldiers are dicks. So what does Nadia do?

JUMP THROUGH A STAINED GLASS WINDOW! Nadia reveals that the Shell is still in the castle, proving the Chancellor a fraud. So he decides to do it the hard way, and transforms into Yakra XIII!

Yakra XIII is pretty much the same as the first one, with some upgraded attacks and the ability to inflict confuse which, by this point, is totally countered by your nice hats-assuming you did Fiona's sidequest first and bought all those sweet hats. Ayla can charm a Megalixir and a White Plate from him, too. The only thing to worry about is his needle barrage which hits for a good chunk of damage, but you have tons of healing so...he's basically a joke, as long as you have some solid armor to tank his blows and protection from Confuse.

He ends the fight with one last needle barrage, so make sure to keep your HP up, and you'll win the fight.

King Guardia and Nadia have a tearful reunion once Yakra XIII is down, and the King reveals that despite the Chancellor's talk, he was there for the Queen's last words. Though they grew apart, likely due to the Chancellor's machinations, they are reunited once more.

Melchior appears as well, and offers to make some armor after the King grants Nadia permission to leave the castle. First head back to the Courtroom and grab the key that Yakra XIII dropped. There's a chest in the tower leading up to the courtroom that's locked, use the key to open it and free the real damn Chancellor.

Melchior offers to make 1 Prism Dress from the Shell, or 3 Helms. We can steal 3 dresses from Queen Zeal in the Black Omen, so grab the Helms. Once you have the helms (or the dress if you really want it), talk to him again. With the Sun Stone in hand, he makes a new weapon for Chrono:

Say hello to Goku's ultimate weapon. He also makes Prism Spectacles but who cares? ULTIMATE WEAPON! Not only does it have the best attack in the game, even better then the powered up Masamune, it has a 70% critical rate. BAD. ASS.

We're not quite done yet, though. There is a task to be done in the future, in the birthplace of machines...and the Vortexes in some of the ages haven't been explored either!

 

[DatBepisTho]

Can you imagine playing this game, on the SNeS, as an impressionable young sped on the tailend of 1998 and getting the "But...the future refused to change."

Good New Year's memories, mang.

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

Well, I just got my Switch in and while I would love to drop everything and sink into Breath of the Wild for the next year, we have some things to finish.

If you check the future, there's one big island we haven't gone to yet. Head to it, it's in the southeast. Enter the Geno Dome and put Mosco in the party.

Err...I mean, Prometheus? Friend Computer opens the door for us, but this just feels strange.

We're thrown into some fights because Friend Computer wants to test our capabilities. This includes attacking Mosco as well, it seems. The enemies aren't too tough, but more and more come out at once with every battle, and the last couple are better settled with the "fuck you" technique known as Goku's Luminaire.

The room beyond is a bit of a maze, filled with big bad robots, some which block stuff you might like to grab and don't give you a chance to fight them. Navigating it is tough but once you kill all the monsters you need to kill, you'll find a computer that tells you how the stuff works. You'll need to "energize" to open the doors you need to open, which is part of why you need Mosco.

Well, let's be honest, all of Geno Dome is a maze, constructed so that you get ranted at by Friend Computer. I won't give you a step by step walkthrough, just know that some parts are actually really frustrating, like the damn conveyor belt. I'll give you a freebie on that one: Head to the second floor using an elevator, then enter the door next to the elevator on the second floor. Head through the corridor and you'll head back down to the first floor, where you can freely manipulate the conveyor belt, changing its direction allows you to open doors you couldn't before.

Friend Computer reveals that Lavos's Children will return to the stars and that humanity is obsolete, they must die so the planet can heal and the robots will establish a new world order. This is somewhat insane.

Somewhat more insane is a room that is discovered, something that can't be shown in still images, where a person is fed in through a conveyor belt and churned into...something that shines like the hidden capsules we've been finding.

So what you're saying is, STRENGTH CAPSULES ARE PEOPLE!

Our objective is to grab two doll figurines, and bring them to the second floor to open up Friend Computer's chambers. Once we have both, Prometheus meets a familiar face...

Atropos (another Greek name, this one being one of the Fates and her name means "inevitable") reveals that Prometheus's purpose was to study humans as a species. Atropos has been modified to eliminate humans more efficiently, and Mosco remarks that she is not the same. She wants to kill the human party members while Mosco doesn't want us hurting her, this launches a solo boss fight between Mosco and Atropos. It isn't hard, just punch her stupid. She uses a lot of the same techs Mosco has, making it more of a mirror match, but Atropos's attacks don't hit as hard as Mosco's does because of the Health Damage Asymmetry.

After her defeat, Atropos reveals that she backed up her memory when the mysterious "Mother" overwrote her old programs. She is damaged and is breaking apart, and even if Bulma is here, there's no fixing her. She gives Mosco her ribbon, which is not an accessory, it is instead a flat out +3 Speed and +10 Magic Defense for Mosco forever, removing his weakness of being slow as fuck.

The Mother is, by the way, known as "Mother Brain", and is the mainframe of this facility. Since we don't have Samus around despite being on a Nintendo system, it's up to us to kick her ass.

The Mother Brain says she will delete Mosco's memories and restore his logic, so that they can exterminate humans together. Mosco, as he has already spent 400 years SAVING humanity (or at least, the natural world), has a response.

Mosco is forever a gentleman of a robot. He says his memories are too valuable to be deallocated and so are his friends. He also says he wants to see the future that the humans he's sided with would bring about. Mother Brain predictably flips her shit.

The three displays in the room will heal Mother Brain, so smash them. She will use powerful attacks as the displays are smashed, but she only has 5,000 HP, and you've dealt with far more enduring enemies. Charm a Blue Plate off her if you wish, and Elixirs from the Displays, but aside from that, just kill her. She will attempt to use status affecting attacks as well, but if you have your Prism Helms, these attacks translate into "deal 1 damage". Oops.

After the fight, we acquire the best weapons in the game for Mosco. The Teraton arm has the best base attack, while the Crisis arm gets stronger depending on the final digit of Mosco's HP-in the original, it was supposed to get better as he got lower in health, but a programming glitch made it just as useful at 999 HP as it was at 9 HP. The DS version keeps the bug, and offers a better translation. So go Teraton if you just want to hurt things consistently, go for Crisis if you like a little chaos.

Mosco ends the exploration by saying that all operations are permanently offline, and no machines here will ever be reactivated...including Atropos, the robot he quite obviously loves. He is stoic about it, but you can tell he's one Bioware cutscene from "Does this unit have a soul?"

With the sidequests now all completed, it is time to access the vortexes, and after them, the Black Omen...

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

The Lost Sanctum, which is what the vortexes lead to, is actually a series of optional quests added to the DS version, so we're going to go and do them.

Quest 1/2: Clear the forest!

Related to the picture above, the party must clear the Millennia Wood, located at the far end of the deserted Lost Sanctum in Prehistory. Once that's done, return to the actual sanctum to meet a bunch of Reptites that praise you as a hero and give the party a Dragon's Tear, which increases the critical hit rate of the wear by 20. Hey Goku! Catch!

Head to the Middle Ages and clear the same wood for the people that know you as the heroes of legend, and you'll also get a Megalixir and open up the next set of quests.

Quest 3: Golden Hammer!

You can start this quest in Prehistory, but need to complete the second half of Clear the Forest! to finish it.

We need some golden sand, and another Reptite tells us that there's some in the swamp to the south so we can pour it onto the sapling we found at the end of the Wood. Head to the swamp, get the sand, return to the wood and pour the sand onto the tree, then head to 600 AD and head to where the tree is. You'll find an Ogun wielding a golden hammer made from the tree you were growing, who has as much HP as Mother Brain and no healing backup. His gimmick is like the Jesters from Magus's Castle, has some sort of guard, physical or magical, and swaps it. Kill him quick, return to Prehistory, and hand it over for 100,000 G, the most useless reward for all of these sidequests.

Quest 4(a): The Prismastone!

With the directions given, the mountain is easy to find. The boss comes at the beginning, and is a Nu. The Nu Guardian uses a ton of high level techs as counters, and no one thing can really stop him. That said, his counters are of the same element as your magic, and since he is highly resistant to physical, throw an appropriate plate on your team and hit him hard to get free healing. Alternatively, hit him with your best double/triple techs, and rely on your Vigilant Hats to ignore his status effect counters for physical hits. Once the Guardian is dead, climb the mountain and get the Prismastone. Give it to this Reptite for 2 each of Strength, Speed, and Magic Capsules.

Quest 4(b): The Saintstone!

In order to get two, we need to do some time fuckery. Enshrine the Prismastone (the stone this guy refers to) in the sanctuary, then jump ahead. The elder demands that you have a Reptmark to enter the sanctuary in 600 AD, which is found in the woods where we cleared out monsters/got the golden hammer. Once you have it, enter the sanctuary, grab the Prismastone, return to Prehistory and put the "future" stone next to its exact double in the past, casually cause all manner of time paradoxes to get the Saintstone and bring it to this guy for a Dragon Arm for Mosco.

Remember what I said about the Teraton arm being Mosco's most powerful weapon consistently? Nope. Turns out the Dragon Arm makes me a liar.

Quest 5: Befriending the Nu Master!

Head to the Middle Ages and talk to the Reptite where Golden Hammer guy was. He tells you someone new has appeared at Emerald Mountain.

When in fact, it's the Nu Guardian who spent all that time training and is now the Nu Master. He waits for us at the summit, but the ladder doesn't work in this time period. We have to gather vines, but we can't use the vines gathered in the South shore (no longer a swamp) here. We go back to Prehistory, make the ladder, return to Middle Ages, ascend the mountain, and fight the Nu Master who no longer does all that stuff as counters, but instead drops them as regular techs. Do the old trick of using your best Physical double tech combos, as he absorbs shadow and eventually absorbs all elements when his power grows. You should win again. The party tells him that Strength is not everything, and he decides to go to the Reptite Village and become friends with people. This earns us some sweet Nova Armor.

Quest 6: The Bridge Builder!

Some Reptite in the Middle ages wants to build a big bridge. Yay? Anyway, he needs lumber, steel, and a good hammer. While you're in Prehistory fixing the ladder, you can get good wood (Godwood, in fact) from a Reptite that hangs out in the woods, and borrow the Golden Hammer. Then head to the middle ages and grab a Steel Ingot from the end of the winding passage at the end of the Southern Glade. Return to the builder to get a Haste Helm as a reward and to unlock the next quest.

Quest 7: Building the Bridge!

Leave the Sanctum and return, then speak to the builder's neighbor. Head up to the peak where you fought the Nu Master, and the Master will tell you where the builder is. He's hanging for dear life from a cliff. Save him, then ask the Nu Master to help the builder. The Nu Master will need some food, talk to the guy who wanted you to help the Master for a Hearty Lunch. The Master is thankful, but also wants a "sweet yellow fruit" (a Banana) from long ago. Go back to Prehistory and fight some purple slime monsters to get a Banana, then return and give it to the Master, and the bridge will be built. However, we have other quests to do.

Also if it seems like I'm speeding through these quests...I am. The Lost Sanctum SUCKS. The areas we have to traverse are loaded with unavoidable enemies, and since we have to go back and forth in them and they constantly respawn, we keep getting stopped by shitty enemies. Now that we've fixed the bridge, we'll be going somewhere else for a while, thank god.

Also if you find some lumicite from a Wonder Rock (best obtained by Charming), give it to a blacksmith in the Middle Ages village. He makes a sweet item: The Elemental Aegis, which only Bulma can wear but it nullifies ALL elemental damage. Hell yes.

Quest 8: The Dark Cavern!

This one requires some initiative of our own. We have to go to the cave at the end of the winding passage in Prehistory. Once you do, head to the peak of the mountain and put the Saintstone there. For some reason, you still have it despite seemingly giving it to the guy you showed it to. Go back to the Middle Ages and grab the now empowered Waystone, then return to Prehistory and find your way through the cave. We find a fortress, and overhear some snakes planning to attack the village. We head back and warn them, and they give us the Judgement Scythe to help us along.

(Also there is someone in the village you need to talk to once you have the Waystone or else the party will completely refuse to even think of using the goddamn stone to light the place up)

Quest 9: Defend the Village!

Now this is more like it. No more mountain scaling, just you and a shit load of enemies in a dungeon. Ahhh...you may want Magus. The Twin Headed Snakes we'll be fighting are evasive, but bad against magic. Keep Goku and Ayla though, you will need the Falcon Strike for the boss.

When you return to the passage, the invaders have already made it to the entrance. Fight your way back to the Primeval Fortress, a place similar in design to the Tyranno Lair, oddly...fight your way through the fortress until you find the boss. It is slightly mazelike, but the deadends and loops are quick to reveal themselves to you.

These guys are a bit of a pain. They can rez each other when they die, so you need to kill them at the same time, hence the use of the Falcon Strike. Have Magus hit whoever takes less damage from the Strike, and they should go down at roughly the same time. They do hit with powerful magic attacks while draining your MP, so if needed, have Magus throw out healing items too.

Once they're down, you automatically return to the village, and receive the Valor Crest for your heroism. All well and good, but we're not fully done yet...

(Note: Only Ayla can use the Crest, and it's damn good as it increases crit rate and counter rate. If you don't mind having to charm a few times to get items, I recommend it over the Alluring Top)

Quest 10: Tower of the Ancients!

So where the fuck does that goddamn bridge go?

Head up and talk to the bridge builder. The bridge will be done now, and you get what the reward for quest 7 is after warping back to the village: Saurian Leathers. It's some very good, any party member armor.

A tower, eh? Sounds like our kind of mission.

Head up to the tower and slaughter your way through the ghosts. This mission is very similar to the Fortress, but the "ghosts" respond quite well to being hit a lot, as in they die.

At the top, we find the source of the ghosts, the Bladesman and the Master at Arms. There's no trick to this fight, no need to kill them both at the same time, etc, just kill the Bladesman first because he's weaker in terms of HP, then barrage the Master at Arms with everything you have until he dies. He counters hits with hits of his own, and he has some pretty powerful magic. Just watch your HP and beat him down.

The part decides to take a look at the Heavenly Idols, which the Elder said were up here and watched down on the village below to keep them safe. Turns out the Idols are...us. Or at least, whichever three you had that saved the village from the Archaeosaurs (Quest 9).

Returning to the village, we are granted the final reward, the Champion's Badge. It's for Ginyu, and it is literally an upgraded Hero's Badge, upping his crit rate and halfing his MP costs, making him full on Magic Knight.

And with all this business in the Lost Sanctum concluded, we can go on to the Black Omen, and soon, Lavos...

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

Oh by the way: There's a rusted blade in the Tower of the Ancients that can be given to a Reptite in 65 million BC for a Icewyrm sword for Chrono. Completely useless, as we have the Rainbow, included here only for completion's sake.

 

[Black Waltz]

are you going to fight the dream devourer at the end

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

are you going to fight the dream devourer at the end

It requires doing a second run, but between it and the other vortexes that pop up, plus the alt endings, there's enough stuff to go for a round two. So yeah, it seems possible to beat it with a decent enough team.

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

Should thou approach the Black Omen in 2,300 AD, Queen Zeal laughs at you. You then fight the six laser guards surrounding the entrance, and you are unable to enter the Omen. Therefore, we must enter before the Day of Lavos. Easy enough.

It's worth noting that bosses, including the six Laser Guards, do not respawn no matter where in time you go. The lone exception is Queen Zeal who is always there, and the reason we can steal three Prismatic Dresses.

The Black Omen is a boss rush dungeon, so get ready to kick some major ass!

Zeal taunts us, and no matter where in time we go, she tells us when Lavos will emerge.

Battle 1: Mega Mutant. This guy isn't too tough if you have gear that prevents status ailments. Kill off his top part before you kill his bottom part (yes he has two parts) because the top is more dangerous. If you aren't immune to Chaos, this battle will be a lot harder, as he likes to use a bunch of status effects like Poison, Blind, and Chaos aka Confuse. Just beat him down, and you'll get to move on.

There are other enemies in between, but except for a return of Shield enemies, it's nothing that can't be solved with whackin' 'em with a sword (and the shield enemies are solved by waiting for them to move the shield, then whackin' 'em). Just keep your health up as they do hit somewhat hard.

The next boss isn't for a while, and feel free to charm stuff for some good things, you have enough Ethers at this point to sustain a thief run. Even if you haven't bought a single one, like I haven't, unless you've been chugging them down like a basic bitch chugging pumpkin spice lattes, you have plenty.

Halfway to the next boss you reach a place with a save point, a ton of loot, a Nu that offers to warp you out (he's on the right) and a Nu that offers a shop with tons of high end healing items. Stock up, then proceed.

The Giga Mutant is a pain, and he's Battle 2. He's immune (well, practically immune) to physical attacks, so magic is your only way to go. Magus, along with Nadia and Bulma if you've leveled them, is a good way to go. Ginyu is also pretty good for this. Once again you need status immunity. He also has a Life Shaver attack which will drop an ally to 1 HP, so be quick on the heals. His top half counters any magical attack with an MP Drain, but it shouldn't be too tough to throw some Ethers around to counter the MP Drain.

After another room of easily killed generic enemies (one of them is a Blubbler Hulk which looks like a Heckran but can be killed with physical attacks instead of magic, fair warning), we find the Tera Mutant. He's a bit tricky, but it's possible to get past him by exploiting a little thing he does: He drains 1000 HP from his bottom half to heal his upper half. His bottom half absorbs magic, but his top half is weak to the stuff. Nuke the top half with everything you have and let the Bottom absorb a little, if the top dies, so does the bottom.

After the battle, you can get a White Gemstone in the chest on the left. It enables an all female triple tech if equipped, the Poyozo Dance.

We'll face off against an Elder Lavos Spawn, and they're copies of the ones from Death Peak just stronger. Go back and read what I said about them and apply the same tricks here. They have a Safe Helm in the Shell and a Haste Helm in the Head if you feel like charming, but if you have the Prism Helms you are already a million times better equipped.

Finally we face off against Queen Zeal. It's a brutal, three stage boss fight. Get ready! In form 1, she can drain MP and use a weak fireball style attack...oh, and she uses HALL-FUCKING-GODDAMN-ATION, or just Hallation if you prefer, but you're going to invent some new swear words as the attack drops EVERYONE to 1 HP. Except her, of course. You may want to use your "gets better as you lose health" abilities here, and then be ready with a Lapis or some sort of healing so you don't all instantly die. She starts off the fight with Hallation, by the way. Good times! Cut through her bullshit and she'll try to drop you into the Mammon Machine, initiating Stage 2.

Zeal drops a Megalixir on death (and has a couple up for Charming if you like), and then drops us into the machine. This is actually a breather, especially if you have Ginyu with the powered up Masamune. Every time you hit it physically, the machine will increase its defense, and if you use magic, it will increase attack. Hitting it with the Masamune reduces the power of its charged attack, and heals Ginyu. So, brutalize it physically while it's altering energy, then when it "lies still" after using the charged attack, heal up and hit it with Magic as it'll still have all its defense buffs. After some effort, it'll go down, and the Queen will fuse entirely with the machine, initiating Stage 3.

Axiom Verge, is that you?

If Magus is in your party, his fight music will override the actual Boss Fight music.

Now, the hands will use some lasers, but attacking them is the WORST THING YOU CAN DO. The Right Hand will respond to anything by using Life Shaver, while the Left will use MP Buster which knocks your MP to 0. Unfortunately, the Left Hand has the Prism Dress, so if you want it, well...you don't exactly need magic for this fight so as long as you get it on the first Charm, you're good. I'm told the DS version swapped the Charm rewards, so if you're on the DS, the Right Hand has the Prism Dress, in which case be ready to heal Ayla quickly.

The face will use powerful magic techs, and goddamn motherfucking Hallation. As long as you're quick to heal after Hallation, you should be fine, especially with all the Prism Helms you are hopefully sporting. The hands will suck if they fire off a laser right after Hallation, but since you can't attack them without getting royally fucked, well...you get the idea. Apply Elixir/Megalixir liberally to prevent total murder, and eventually, she will die. The Water and Shadow Techs hit the party, requiring a Heal from Ginyu or some full party restore, while Heaven's Gate only hits one and is the weakest of her attacks. Also, the Queen has her own magic pool it seems, as she uses MP Buster as well to drain our MP and continue her attacks.

Once you defeat Zeal, she...oh crap. She summons Lavos. So I guess it's a four stage boss fight!

You get a chance to heal up, and I suggest you do so.

The first part of Lavos, as he is multistage himself, is a boss rush of old bosses. The order is: Dragon Tank, Guardian, Heckran, Zombor, Masamune, Nizbel, Magus, Azula/Black Tyranno, and Giga Gaia. The same strategies as the original fights work, and they'll go by very fast, as they have the same HP as they did before.

After all the bosses, he will drop the boss rush and you must fight him normally. Strap on status protection so you can ignore his chaos, and then it becomes a regular old race. Heal up when he hits you and beat the shit out of him, and eventually, you'll open the path to the real final boss. Inside Lavos's Shell, yes, you can go inside him, is a save point and a portal back to the end of time. If you take it, you do not have to repeat the boss rush, you simply go inside. Awesome.

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

Welp, no reason to fucking stop now!

Inside the Shell, we find...Perfect Cell? Err, the actual heart of Lavos! Like many boss fights, this is a multi part one, in fact, it's probably a lot like the Giga Gaia fight. You need to break the hands so that his body not only has less defense but so that he stops hurting you as badly. Unlike Giga Gaia, his face can still do damage. Use your best AoE techs, just unload on the poor bastard.

It's worth noting, the Protective Seal attack will void your Status Immunity from gear, so don't count on it saving you! Additionally, Obstacle and Shadow Slay have a chance of causing Chaos or Poison regardless of gear, so if Ayla doesn't get Chaos'd, use her to remove status effects. Consider using Haste Helms, as Haste + Maxed Speed = Tons of actions.

The Right Arm has 8,000 HP, and the Left Arm has 12,000. The body has 20,000 and you need to kill the arms first, so get ready for a slug fest. His defense won't go down until he uses Obstacle/Dark Will (depending on version), so wait for that, recover from the Chaos, and proceed to smash.

Huh. It really was Perfect Cell. After the fight, "Lavos" transforms into one more final monster. We have one last battle before we can call Lavos dead and gone.

Lavos produces a couple of bits as we begin the fight, so, what's the trick?

The trick is that the "body" isn't Lavos. We have to kill the bit on the Right to kill him. The problem is that it's got 30k HP and is being constantly healed and protected by the bit on the Left. All your attacks do 1 damage to it until the left bit is killed. Which, thankfully, the Left bit has only 2000 HP, but the Right Bit will rez the Left Bit (and the body, for that matter). So what do you do?

Kill the Left bit, smash the right as much as you can, heal from the Body's incredibly powerful magic attacks. Crying Heavens can, depending on Magic Defense, do more damage than you can have as HP, so pray he doesn't use it. He will also Time Warp to the eras we visited to get new super attacks, the worst of them being the Hunting Range in Prehistory that deals up to 900 Physical Damage to the entire party if he uses Grand Stone. Slug it out and stay alive as best you can, and eventually, you will win.

Once you kill him, you get thrown through a temporal vortex, until finally a voice calls out for Goku to wake up, just like the beginning of the game...

Only it isn't dear sweet mum waking us up. Apparently Goku had a stay of execution, and it's been withdrawn! Oh no! But wait, didn't we fix everything?

As I am a big fan of Gordon Ramsay, I can tell when someone is about to pull a reversal of expectations on me. Nadia tries to convince them that Goku's done nothing, and starts to explain why they were gone-but the King himself cuts her off with "Save the Future?"

Kings from long ago, and elders from far in the future come together to congratulate Goku for what he has done. Bulma reveals that it was all her doing, a little event arranged to clear Goku's name. The Moonlight Parade takes place in Leene Square, as our heroes are honored. You even get to run around Leene Square one last time! Head up to where the teleporter was for the grand finale!

Our allies are gathered, and we say farewell one last time before the Gate closes for good. However, once the tearful departure is complete, Goku's mother runs into the gate chasing after the cat. Whoops! Well, at least we still have the Epoch! The adventure continues!

The King arrives to place Nadia's Bell where Leene's Bell was, but gets stuck trying to put it up. Taban arrives to shoot fireworks from the Sun Stone, and the end credits roll as fireworks explode in the sky and we fly through time once more.

Of course...this isn't really the end, is it? Between New Game + content, and alternate endings for beating Lavos at a dozen different points, we have plenty more to do.

So my Kiwis, I have a confession to make: I've been cranking these Let's Plays out, and I'm getting really exhausted of it all. So, while I will play Chrono Trigger more and get to the New Game + exclusive stuff, I will also be taking a break because I want to play through Final Fantasy V on my own time. But meet me again next time, where I'll be playing a tale of those born with the gift of magic, a tale of knights and knaves and suplexed trains.

Til next time, gentle Kiwis.

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

Hell, wouldn't you know, just like FF4, there's a finale where people get married!

 

[WEEDle]

Godspeed good sir and thank you for helping me relive nostalgic memories of one of my favorite JRPGs of the era!

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

Some new game plus updates:

This game is crying out for a "skip scene" buton.

Doing nothing at the fair and avoiding all the stuff that makes you look guilty in the trial results in a 2-5 split in your favor, so you don't even have to bother with the cat. Talk to the princess, talk to the girl sitting on the fountain to open up Lucca's demonstration, and you can be fighting Lavos solo inside 5 minutes. We won't go there yet.

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

Told you we weren't done. If you wait until the execution, you're taken to the execution room after time's up. You're asked if you have any last words (haaaaa, that's funny for a silent protagonist!), and then Lucca shows up, tells the guards they're in the way, and then shoots them all with exploding bullets.

FUCKING METAL.

It's supposedly a knock out gun but I choose to believe Lucca is that much of a badass. By the way, for the second run I've shifted to using the default names, Bulma from the LP itself is Lucca. You have to run the dungeon but you start in the execution room, cutting out the lower floors, useful for speeding through.