Part 2: Update Two: Fair Bouncing

Update Two: Fair Bouncing

Welcome back! Last time, on Chrono Trigger DS, we started the game, went to the Fair, and collided with a young lady. That pretty well sums it up, and this update, we'll actually explore the Fair in detail, so let's bounce.





Alright, so not much is different as far as names are concerned; Crono became Chrono and that's about it. I'm also going to try and remember music links. Some of you may recall how terrible I am about that.



The bulk of this update is going to be bopping around the Fair and seeing the various attractions is has to offer. You can also tell I did this kind of quick after restarting to rename Chrono, as I didn't change the window back.



Now, we could use this to make the $4,000 to buy Chrono the Silver Sword and double our attack, but fuck that. That'll take forever, and the game doesn't need that kind of abuse.



To the left of where we met Marle, we find an old guy, a lunch box (bag? Lunch thingy) and a kitty. All will be important in time.





We can eat his lunch for a full heal, but we're currently at full health, plus it's a dick move. If we really need healz, we can run back to Chrono's House. Hopefully Mom won't mind him heading upstairs with a girl he met ten minutes ago.



This is probably my favorite part of the Fair; it's an intro to combat, which serves to give us those delicious, delicious experience points.



Plus, we're fighting a giant cat robot.



Who can throw down with the best lyrical wordsmiths of our time.





The alternate thread title came about as I love Gato and wanted to have some sort of Gato-esque rhyme, but that's the best I could do. I've the rhyming capabilities of a deaf howler monkey.





Like I said, he serves as an intro to combat. Chrono, as previously mentioned, uses katanas as his weapon. He currently has a wooden one. There is normal battle music, by the by, but when you're facing Gato, you get this song.



Marle uses crossbows, and her starting weapon is a Bronze Bowgun.



Sprites are very reactive and show a ton in this game. Every enemy has an animation for when they're hit, as do our party members.



Gato (which is Spanish and Portuguese for "cat" ) has 76 HP and a counter for physical attacks.



A boxing glove pops out of his belly and punches the shit out of you whenever you attack him.



For our low amount of HP, this does a fair amount of damage. And we currently have no healing items. Sure, I could have bought some, but eh.



I was going to have a .gif of it here, but I'm having trouble kerjiggering it into working properly. As you can kind of see, the screen had just had a white flash go across it.



Marle critically hit Gato, which dealt double damage of what Chrono did. Criticals generally do that sort of thing. Also, as long as we're talking about damage, when it comes to their Attack Power, Chrono's is determined (partially) by his Strength stat. Marle's, since she's using a crossbow, is partially determined by her Accuracy stat. In fact, the accessory she has equipped adds +2 to her Accuracy, making her attacks do a little more damage.



Gato has two attacks, and only used one of them, as he wanted to be an asshole. His standard attack is to just punch you in the face for low damage. The other one is Gato's Song of Love, which also does damage.



Chrono and Marle are pretty close in terms of attack power, for now. Before long, Chrono will be one of our biggest damage dealers.



Gato drops 10 exp and 1 TP. Chrono needs 4 more to learn Cyclone, while Marle needs a total of 10 to learn Aura, which will heal an ally for a small amount of HP.



This is one of the quickest and easiest ways to earn Silver Points here in the Fair. Plus, you get to kick it with Gato.



And to get your Silver Points, Gato punches them into your guts.





To the right of where we met Marle, we find a tragedy.



Thankfully, we already know exactly where her kitty is. All we've got to do is "speak" with it.



And make our way back to the little girl. The cat has some pretty basic pathfinding AI, so you can get it jammed behind a piece of the environment and have to coax it out by running around it like a jackass.





Even though Keeshhound will deride me for being a softy, I love this shit.

On that note, before you even say it, Keesh, fuck you.



And, hell, the chicks dig it.







Yeah, that .gif works fucking perfectly, but when I'm trying to do one of badass critical animations...



And Chrono is a chug-master.







Bloated, now, probably.



Up here, we have my least favorite part of the Fair (more on that later), but I'm sure someone loves this part of it the best. And that I'll hear about it soon enough.





There's an indie concert going on in this part of the fair.





The rhythm is certainly something, yes. Mostly pretty fucking rockin'.







Dance moves include: Climb That Ladder





Draw The Sword and Marle's Making Me Uncomfortable



The LMAO



And The Sudden Realization That The Girl You Met Moments Ago Just Slapped Her Ass In Public



That covers the concert area. It's quite exciting.



Remember that NPC's comment about Melchior wanting to buy old accessories? If we go back and talk to him...



He wants Marle's Pendant, which we're not even going to try and swing.



We can also guess on the race, and if you get it right, you make 20 Silver Points.



This guy is usually pretty well on the money with who he thinks will win.



It costs nothing to play, except a bit of time, and the reward is kind of nice, if you're into collecting Silver Points.



It's too bad we can't compete, as we completely blow these guys away in foot-speed.





They make a lap around the square for their race.



I think your Alzheimer's is flaring up, you old bastard.



Apparently, in the first update, when I covered this screen, I completely forgot there was an east side of this area.



: You should be thankful things are so peaceful now.

Another reference to the war from way back when. I'm sure we'll never see this again.



This is the most piss-easy game in the Fair, and has the smallest reward.





Position yourself correctly, hit the A button, and you'll hit the bell. Ring the bell and--



Woo-hoo.



Since I want another level, before we visit the last spot, we fight Gato again and both our characters level up. Unlike in Earthbound, Super Mario RPG or Mother, but like in Final Fantasy IV, you don't see what stats improve upon leveling.



The Tent of Horrors is horseshit and I don't like it.

Hell, truth time: I don't like most of the Millennial Fair. It provides a good opening area for new players, to give you a feel of combat, and to give you a general idea of how NPCs are. It serves as a nice intro to the game's world, but when you've been through the game a few times, there's very little of interest here. Gato is the best part of it, and not just because you can use him to easily grind up a few levels and Silver Points. The rest of the Fair is interesting at the first go, but beyond that, you'll rush through this part to get to the rest of the game.



With that said, we only have enough Silver Points to do one of the attractions in the Tent of Horrors. Trust me, you're not missing much from not seeing the other two.



Though, you do come in here to find a disembodied head and pair of hands who lets out a chuckle like a clown with a touch of meth in his system.



It's either 10, 40, or 80. We have 36, so we'll spend 10.



What sort of horror will we experience for 10 Silver Points?



Mother of God, it's a soldier!







The guy on the right is Wedge, and the other is Piette. The first two are a reference to the Final Fantasy games, where somebody on the dev team loved Star Wars and named two throwaway characters after two members of Rogue Squadron. As for Piette, I've got nothing.



You know that game where street cons put a marble under one of three cups and rapidly move the cups around?



We're doing that here, but with dudes.



Truthfully, I was too busy laughing at MST3K to pay attention, so I guessed.



And we win a not-at-all-creepy doll for our troubles.



Since it'll actually be in Chrono's room, and I could use a heal (Gato's counter does good damage), let's go check it out.



: I'm Marle. Nice to meet you!

: Marle, you say? Have we met somewhere before? I could swear I recognize you. Perhaps it's just my imagination.



Oh, hey, Mom is cool with Chrono bringing a girl he met ten minutes ago up to his room.



As promised, there's the Poyozo doll. Mom also has a different bit of dialog for each new party member you get.



But, back at the Fair, we have to trip an event flag, so let's get to trippin'.



: They ought to be ready by now. They were setting up at the far end of the square.

: Oh, I want to see it! Come on, Chrono!



But first!



: Well, just between us, I heard that the King is tearing his hair out over his tomboy of a daughter! Just once, I'd like to meet her and see how wild she really is.



Before we can get to Lucca, Marle wants some candy.



While she's doing that, I think I'll go turn my Silver Points into cold hard cash.



Or not. Marle gets upset if you try and run off here.



But, wait patiently and she'll choose.





: Thanks for waiting!





We're behind the text box.



Taban here, despite looking like Frankenstein's Monster, is Lucca's father.



And in the year 1,000 AD, they invented a teleporter.





Well, from Wikipedia:



In short, kid, it means taking something from one spot to another.



Shithead.







I've got the feeling this isn't the first time Chrono has ended up as a guinea pig in testing one of their inventions.



: I was wondering when you'd show up! No one wants to try my Telepod. Would you be so kind?

Hey, wasn't that what Seth Brundle called his invention?





Being a silent protagonist, we don't get much of a choice.



I'm sure PETA's lawyers will be happy to get their hands on this information, Taban!





I want you to remember these two are, ostensibly, scientists. And this is a teleporter, which should be a very technical machine to run.



Yes, Taban is beating the shit out of it with a hammer. And Lucca pulled out a gun. I've nothing else to say here.



Maybe that's more technical than I thought, as we turn into sparklies and warp over to the other Telepod.



Yeah, if there'd been a fly in there with Chrono, all of you'd been shitting your pants right now.



Wait a goddamned minute, Taban!



You son of a bitch!



Oh, sure, now we know it's safe, everyone wants to try it! Never mind if Chrono would survive or not!





I didn't transcribe this line because those of you who haven't played before may not have believed me. And yes, Lucca is doubting Chrono's game.





Taban hams it up and gets into the show. I can respect that.



Even if he wasn't sure we were going to survive.



Oh, sure, worry about her, Taban! But your daughter's best friend? Fuck that guy, let him potentially be mangled in a teleporter!





Chrono, you really need to speak up about this.





They have the same lines as before, so scroll up if you forgot--Uh, Marle, what the hell's going on with you?







JESUS CHRIST





What in the world is that?





Oh, Marle is being eaten by the Warp. Well, nice knowing you.







"No questions about the disappearance of that girl! All part of the show, she's definitely not dead (or worse...)!"





Lucca, you were standing right fucking there. Your machine sent her off somewhere.





Sure, Taban, hop on up!



Chrono's Mom said something similar. And since we all know coincidences don't exist in RPGs, Marle must be somebody different than she says...But who?









I'd just like to point out that this right here is a good indication of what a bad motherfucker Chrono is. Girl he just met disappears in a mysterious machine, under circumstances that the two scientists don't even have a fucking clue of beginning how to describe?



He basically just shrugs his shoulders, grabs the pendant, hops on the machine and all but says, "I'll go find her."



Mom told him to be back before dinner, and I don't quite know if we're going to make it.





Pants-shitting trip into the Warp? Hell, just hold on tight!



: Boost the power output!



: More! I need more power!

: Roger!



Either that, or you've got what you need to bring the Creature back.





She's awfully goddamned calm about that. If I saw one of my friends flashing inverted colors, I don't think I'd have anything more coherent than terrified shrieking to say.







In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, baby...





Where in the hell are we?



Only one way to find out, I suppose.



Wherever it is, it's definitely not the friendliest place to be.





Our first proper enemies of the game! Blue Imps have 13 HP and that's about it. And the song playing prior will continue until you get into this fight. It's awesome that way.



Even without an extra level under his belt, Chrono will be one-shotting these guys.



Enemies die by fading into red sparks.



They attack by kicking you in the ass. They can also kick a rock at you, but that's a counter, and they'd have to survive to use it. They can use it normally, if I remember right, but it's not often.



2 exp a piece, 1 TP a piece.



And the 3 TP we get from this fight is enough to teach Chrono his first Tech!



We'll cover it in a second.







These Blue Imps are dropped off by the birds.



If you hadn't noticed, enemies will move around the battle area during combat; some attacks are influenced by enemy position. Cyclone is one of them, and it provides a good example of how it works.



Right now, we can only hit this Imp with it.



But if we give his buddy a second to comply and come into range...



Chrono can Whirl them both to death!



It deals good damage and kills them both.







Potions heal 50 HP, and are the basic healing item of the game. They won't see much use.



South of that chest is the best one in this area.



The Power Glove, in addition to being so bad, adds +2 to Strength. Chrono's Headband, his initial accessory, added +1 Speed, and a hit to it isn't that bad. Max Speed in this game is 16, so we're 3/4s of the way there already.



We're almost done with this area, by the by. I'm not sure what sort of pleasure the Roundillo gets being kicked around, but it looks like it's loving that shit.



Fortunately, all three enemies start in good position for Cycloning, so this fight ends before it even starts. With 24 HP, the Roundillo is a good bit tougher than the Blue Imp, but still nothing Chrono can't handle.



As it quickly learns.



Note: Until I get a better handle on how .gifs are going to want to behave in this LP, some of them may be not counted amongst my best work. I'm working on figuring what I need to do to get them looking better. Until then, this is what Cyclone looks like in action (sort of).



And that covers this area!



...Well, shit, I've no clue where we are. I guess this is as good a place as any to stop.

Next time, we'll figure out where the hell we are! Stay tuned!