Part 7: Update Seven: Princess Escort Service

Update Seven: Princess Escort Service

Welcome back! Last time, on Chrono Trigger, we defeated Yakra, saved Queen Leene, and rescued Marle from the Void. Or something. Either way, we'll be getting the hell out of the Middle Ages today, so let's bounce.



We last left off about to enter Guardia Forest.



Marle is where she was before we rescued her; she'll gain that first Tech before long, and it's our second healing Tech. It should probably be first, since you get Marle before Frog,



Roundillo Riders are still over here, and we've gotten plenty stronger since last facing them.



Case in point; Chrono now deals twice their HP in damage. Marle and Lucca both have to have very good hits to equal out to what Chrono does.



This guy is still around and he still drops a Shelter.





It doesn't take long for Marle to learn Aura; she'll heal a pretty good chunk of HP with it, around 70 or so.



And we also get our first full-party heal. Chrono is involved with a lot of Double Techs, and they're all pretty handy. Chrono himself is pretty handy and great to have around.



It'll be a little while before she learns her second Tech, though.





Here's the new Double Tech in action; you can also see me choosing to Flamethrow that Green Imp.



It heals a nice amount of HP to everyone, about the same as Aura itself will do.



And here's the Flamethrower.







We head back to Truce Canyon, since it's where we came in at. and where we'll leave from.





There's not much new around here, or much interesting.



Except a new enemy!



Meet the Fiendillo, a palette-swap of the Roundillo.



Chrono can't one-shot him, as he has 99 HP.





Chrono should also be the only one hitting them, as they have a counter to physical attacks. They have no weaknesses, either, but they drop Ethers. It's not a bad idea to use magic on them, but I prefer to have Lucca and Marle kill off the Green Imp.



Chrono is more than tough enough to eat one counter, and it ends the battle faster to kill the Imp with the ladies.





What the hell is that? I'm pretty sure it wasn't there before.



Wait a second, that's the same kind of thing that appeared when the Telepod flipped its shit!









And Lucca pulls out a fairy wand. Okay.



She spins with a flourish



And now Lucca controls time!



I'd say. Not only did she invent a teleporter, she also discovered time travel. Well, technically, I guess Marle discovered it, but Lucca figured out how to open these things with a stick.



And she is lovin' this shit.



Fuck that, Lucca, you know how to manipulate time!



It's nice to see a princess who is willing to acknowledge her lack of skills; usually, they seem to think that the whole royalty thing is enough of a skill.



And even better, she sees and realizes the importance of intelligence.



I can understand Lucca's hesitance here; meeting the daughter of the king of your land is probably a big deal. She's probably been taught to treat them with respect, as they're royalty, and she's having trouble adapting to the idea that Marle is a person, and not just a title.



And now we have a proper name for our time portals; Gates.



I see no way that this can go wrong.



What is this principle, exactly? Granted, it moves matter between two points in space, so perhaps she's figured out how time isn't actually a different concept than age and what-not and that all spots in time are, in reality, just different points in space.



Or something, I don't know. I'm not a fucking scientist.





It did react to Marle's necklace, but why?



Sounds good to me, Marle; I'm trying to mentally correlate different spots in time with being actual physical points in space and it makes my head hurt.

Though, technically, we look into the past every time we see sunlight or look at the stars; the sun is far enough away that it takes light eight minutes to travel to Earth, so we're actually seeing light that is eight minutes old. Which means, I think, that if we stand in that sunlight--I'm going to stop now. My head is starting to hurt.



Or do you want to stay in the time where you have no identity, no official record of existing, no family and no friends?









It doesn't look the best (or good), but I finally managed to kerjigger a .gif enough to show off the Gate warp.



The Gate barfs us out back in the Telepod area of the Millennial Fair.



This shot here, with Chrono kneeling and Marle jumping, was literally a single frame in my video. One frame before or beyond, and they're in different positions. Shots like this, where it's probably not important to anyone but me, is why I take my shots from a video.



Were I a lesser man, the smiley would show up here somewhere.





So, being sent to a cold Void where you thought that's what it's like to die was fun for you? Gossip had it that you were kind of wild, but that's pretty far out there, Marle.



: I still need to do a little more snooping into why that Gate appeared.



And she's off to snoop.



"Goodbye, scientist lady who nearly got me wiped from existence!"





He is, so let's get going. We'll have you home in a jiffy.



We have enough cash to afford the Silver Sword from Melchior, but it's only a two point boost to offense. And you'll see soon enough why I don't buy it. If we talk to him, he still wants to buy Marle's pendant.





Getting Marle home is as simple as crossing Guardia Forest again, but we've got one stop to make before we do that.



Southwest of Chrono's house, and south of Truce, Lucca and her family live in this house. That waterfront property must have cost a fortune.





Yeah, this is a ton of snooping into Gate creation, Lucca.



And you hurry up and figure out those Gates.



There's a ton of machines and equipment lying around Lucca's house.





Oddly enough, the kitchen is completely normal. I expected a oven that cooked food by blasting it with sound waves and a fridge that cooled based on hydrogen technology. Maybe a dinner table that was actually a trans-dimensional solar echo.





This is Lucca's room, where I expected more than a junior chemist kit and an assload of books.



And a balcony to look out over the...Parlor room? Living room? What the hell would you call that room?





This woman here is Lara, Lucca's mother.



She's paralyzed from the waist down, so she's stuck in that chair.

And that shit sucks.



Taban loves his wife, though, and has brought her something with what they earned.



Some of you may read this line as dismissive and sarcastic, but I see it as a genuine show of gratitude from her, at this show of love from her husband.





That's Lucca's house, though. There'll be some more interesting stuff here later on, but for now, there's not much worth mentioning. Except Lara, who seems like a sweet lady.





Guardia Forest is virtually unchanged from 400 years ago. There are different monsters here, and no free Shelter.

(watch, I'm totally wrong about that, and someone in the thread will come point out how stupid I am)



The path to the right has these monsters, which look like big-ass mushrooms.



Which they are.





With 14 HP, anybody can kill them in one hit. Since you can come here, if I remember right, before going to the Fair, it makes sense that the monsters aren't able to completely smoke you.







They attack by jumping on you, for low damage, even at the beginning of the game.



Remember how there was treasure hidden here 400 years ago?



I guess somebody sowed a bag of Strength Tab seeds around here and now they grow wild.



That brings Chrono up to 18 Strength, literally six times as much as Marle.



This is kind of an odd enemy to find here; they're tough enough that a Level 1 Chrono would probably have a hell of a fight if he encountered it.





However, we don't fight the Fiendillo here; these Scarabs come out and scare it off.



With 12 HP and no attacks I can recall, they aren't very impressive. Just fodder enemies to help get you some exp and levels early on, if you so choose.



One nice thing about this game, is that it's pretty well balanced, so as long as you fight the enemies on the beaten path, you'll be strong enough to do what you need to do. And even if you don't, being underleveled isn't a huge deal, either. As long as you're clever with what Techs you use and how you use your people, you'll be just fine. Even without the "optimal" party; each character has their strengths and weaknesses, but they can each back each other up well enough that you'll almost always have what you need, no matter who you take.





Let me point out another example of great spritework, with a .gif.





You get close enough and it rings the bell to summon two Scarabs. The animation is fucking great, and the idea of one enemy being smart enough to summon more is fantastic to me.



With 45 HP, they're the toughest enemy in the forest, but if you're here as just Chrono, you'll not see them. You need at least two people in your party to encounter them.

Or so says the Bestiary on GameFAQs that I'm using to get enemy HP and stuff.





Chrono can still one-shot them, however. You should probably be sensing a theme with that.



Southwest of there is another group of mushrooms, while north is



More shrooms. They're the easiest enemy in the game, so load up the forest with them. You wouldn't want Chrono getting killed before you have a chance to advance the story.



In 600 AD, the area above was blocked off.



But at some point, it opened up.



A similar looking box (or perhaps the same one?) was blocking the path in the past.





There's nothing here, but remember this place.



That'll do it for this update.

Next time, on Chrono Trigger, the shit hits the fan. Stay tuned!