Chrono Trigger Part #17 - Update Seventeen: Drifting Through The End

Part 17: Update Seventeen: Drifting Through The End

Update Seventeen: Drifting Through The End

Welcome back, folks! Last time, on Chrono Trigger, we finished out the Derelict Factory, destroyed the dicks that made up the R-Series (who were also Robo's brothers), and had to repair our bot friend again. Then we hit the Gate in Proto Dome; today, we'll be finding out just where that Gate took us, so let's bounce.

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

This...Looks like nothing we've seen before. And click on that music link above; it's pretty goddamned rockin'.

We drop in from above, as I guess that's how time travel works when we come here.

Excellent question, Robo. It looks like some sort of void, except for this area. Marle, does this look familiar to you?

And Jack the Ripper is chilling by the light pole.

When we go to talk to him, his snot bubble bursts. What a great way to start a conversation.

Quick, someone draw Chrono and crew dressed as a Wild West gang!

The...End of Time?

So, lemme get this right; if you travel with too many folks from different time periods, you wind up here? If we'd had four people from 1,000 AD we could have skipped this place entirely? Or when you say origins, do you mean where we're from? Like Robo is a robot, and the rest are human, so is that why we're here?

And there are others hopping around time like us?

Don't expect to meet a one of those goddamned people. I think the Old Man is bullshitting us.

And welcome to why we can only have three people in the party; if we travel with more than that, we're just pushed back here.

I'm sure you'll be fine, Marle. You've been to this sort of place before.

: But not to worry. For all its desolation, it is well connected. There are roads here to any time you could wish to visit. Should you so desire, you can call upon your friends at any time. But you can never travel in groups of more than three.

Basically, Robo. Hopefully the Old Man there likes Go Fish or Texas Hold 'Em.

Who indeed?

Robo is sticking around for now. But, don't worry, Marle will rejoin us before we leave.

I won't, Marle. Though, after the next dungeon, your fate is decided by the voters.

A reality of being in a playthrough that's being LP'd, Marle. You could very well be stuck here for the rest of the game. Or not; who knows how those crazy goons will vote?

And we can switch folks in and out rather easily, so I guess ya'll could easily vote mid-dungeon for a party switch. But not at the next dungeon. It's easier to take Marle.

Gates aren't our only form of time travel anymore; we've another method now, which doesn't look as cool.

I'm sure Robo has plenty of buttons; one of those has to have an "A" on it somewhere.

Oh, we will. I'm not stepping near that bucket for a long time. But I will show it eventually, just as I will that pillar of light behind the Old Man there.

This bucket here is a good bucket, being a full-heal and all. And there's a save point right there. This is kind of our hub now, which I'm cool with. But let's scoot on outta here and

Don't scare me like that!

You shrieked at me from ten feet away to tell me to look in the door behind you?

Fuckin' jerk...

...What the hell, Old Man. I'm not here to make you a delicious chicken dish.

Something that would be tasty with a secret blend of eleven herbs and spices, methinks.

Oh, yeah? So you saw me fight the cat robot.

Like a lily-livered, yellow-bellied son of a bitch.

...Touche, Spekkio.

I don't know what we've got, but I'm glad to have it.

A magic kingdom, eh?

Ah, hubris. How many downfalls has it caused?

Ma-Ti didn't get the shaft as hard as I had thought.

As mentioned, Chrono is Light, Lucca is Fire, and Marle is Water. I think I mentioned that, at least. Did I? Oh, well. It's been mentioned now.

Aww, Robo.

It's alright, buddy. You've got plenty of other cool stuff you can do.

But, despite not having a dedicated element, Robo isn't completely useless in that regard. He'll get some other elements, too. He's kind of our elemental jack of all trades, plus he has a lot of different Double Techs he's part of that deal elemental damage.

Robo is a really versatile party member, being able to heal, hit an element nobody else in the current party has, can deal great damage, and can team up for tons of other elements. Even though the thread has discussed there's no "wrong" party to take for really any situation, taking Robo along is rarely, if ever, a bad idea.

And we have to earn our magic. By walking in a circle.

Note: you can do this as many times as you want, but three is the minimum.

I want to use magic

I want to use magic

Rinse and repeat three times; I usually do four, just to be sure.

"You can do laps!"

Chrono is imbued with the power of Light.

Lucca gains the power of Fire.

And Robo

Looks so sad, it breaks my heart.

I took a video here, but didn't screencap the fight. If you want to see the video, click

here

. As for why I didn't screencap the fight, it's because it's not very interesting. It's nearly two minutes of magic being slung around, with some healing done and an Athenian Water being used. I'll go into detail about our new magic next update.

Here's the end of the fight.

If you didn't watch the video, I nearly got killed. Spekkio is tough.

And there's a reward for beating him, too.

Which is pretty rad, all told. Someone is going to get a +1 to Magic, and we can restore 50 MP. As we get stronger, Spekkio will gain different forms, and we'll gain different rewards for beating him. The final form reward is especially good.