Chrono Trigger Part #9 - Update Nine: Prison Break, Starring Chrono McSilent

Part 9: Update Nine: Prison Break, Starring Chrono McSilent

Update Nine: Prison Break, Starring Chrono McSilent

Welcome back! Last time, on Chrono Trigger, we got thrown in prison for what should have been a three day sentence in solitary. Apparently the Chancellor decided he needed blood to slake his thirst and fixed it so that we'll be executed. Today, we're going to avoid that fate, so let's bounce.

We have two options here, and we'll be taking the one that everyone takes their first time through, not realizing there's another option. I'll cover the other option when we get to it.

To launch this, we have to bang on our bars three times.

It'll annoy the piss out of the guard

Which will lead to him wanting to beat our faces in. All according to plan.

That's it, come to papa!

OH GOD THE PLAN HAS FALLEN APART

Remember kids, if you don't do what you're told, fat men in armor will hit you with swords.

Chrono gets to his feet and shakes his head, trying to ignore the bleeding wound in his midsection.

Oh, yeah, when they threw him in prison, they didn't take any of his stuff. They left him with his sword and plethora of items. He still has his other swords in the inventory.

Chrono proceeds to ruin this guard's day. Hell, we've still got all of our money; we probably could have passed a speech check and threw down some coin to get out of here.

Anywhere but here, suckass.

Royal Guards aren't very special; they've two attacks, one where they hit you, and another where they also hit you.

With 60 HP, Chrono can add these guys to his list of one-shot enemies.

With that done, I can see treasure in the cell next to ours, so let's snag that real quick.

...Or not. Let's just scoot on outta here.

Jesus Christ, what the hell are those?

Chrono is terrified of the...Whatever those are, so he flees down the nearest staircase.

We'll see this view a couple more times this update; it's still great looking. With that said, I am concerned about the lack of safety rails here.

And consider that last joke your OSHA-joke quota for this update.

This guard has no clue we're here.

Even when the gate he's guarding just opens up, he doesn't turn to look or anything.

And so, we'll take advantage of his ignorance.

The guys we sneak up on, they survive. Those who face us in direct combat? They're deader than yesterday's dinner.

I sincerely hope these aren't what amount to the Guardia fortune.

The other chests hold two Mid-Potions (restore 200 HP) and another Ether. Nothing jaw-dropping, but I won't turn down free stuff. Potions are starting to become a little outdated anyways.

When we go to leave, this big lug makes his way down the stairs.

If it's already common knowledge that we've escaped, why aren't there patrols out looking for us? Or did you just happen to notice and didn't tell anyone?

Now this son of a bitch is the toughest normal enemy we've faced. He's got 218 HP to his name.

And he joins the short list of enemies Chrono can't kill in one hit.

OH GOD NO

This is what it looks like when an enemy misses; Chrono kind of blocks the blow with his sword.

But two critical hits later, this fight is over.

DON'T RUN! I WANT TO SEE WHAT YOUR INSIDES LOOK LIKE!

Well, he got away. At least he had the decency to drop some exp before he fled.

Back to these little...Guys, or whatever.

Sentries kind of give me the heebie-jeebies, and I can't tell you why.

Maybe it has something to do with the shadowman holding up the shield.

When that shield is up, by the way, they're practically immune to physical damage.

And they'll counter attacks by throwing a rock at you. It doesn't do a ton of damage (this one did 9, if I remember right), but it's still a counter.

Sooner or later, they'll move their shields to the side and then you can attack them normally.

With that shield out of the way, physicals tear them to shreds. They only have 24 HP, so you can kill them while the shield is up, but you'll eat a lot of counters. Killing two of them that way would equal out to a lot of damage.

Oh, and they're also immune to all elements, so you have to wait for their shield to come up.

We head into this cell block and pop open the first cell.

I'm guessing that prisoner rights aren't a big concern for the Guardia Kingdom. Nor are reconstruction efforts; look at the big-ass hole in that other cell.

BY THE BEARD OF ODIN

When I posted that shot, Superstition by Stevie Wonder started playing.

I've got nothing beyond that, just thought it was interesting.

We're meeting all sorts of new enemies this update, aren't we?

This is the Lancer, and he has 67 HP. He's right on the cusp of Chrono being able to kill him in one hit with a regular physical. He's also undead, so he's weak to Fire and Lightning.

Other than that, he's slower than shit, so Chrono got to go twice before he went once and rekilled him before Lancy knew what hit him.

They really need to get a maintenance crew up here. Then again, with skeletons crawling around, maybe that's not a good idea.

Going back to where we fought the Sentries, we go up the right staircase.

Seriously, look at that background. It's just fantastic; in the thread, there's been some discussion of great looking SNES games and--

Well, ain't no rest for the wicked.

I forgot what I was talking about before.

Now you're concerned about guards seeing you, Chrono? They already know you're gone!

Welcome to the stealth sequence of Chrono Trigger.

The guards have the eyesight of a dead rat, so unless you're right up in their grill, they won't have any idea you're there.

Assume I did some jokes involving Otacon and the codec or something.

When the guard isn't paying attention, we sneak up on him.

To get the message they're unconscious, you have to examine them after you've hit them.

Examining them a second time will yield a Mid-Potion. In the original translation, they were called "Tonics" and that's what I keep wanting to refer to them as.

Don't worry, guard, nothing to see here. Just the boy doing his rounds of wall staring. Continue about your business.

I'm actually trying to get to the switch behind him, but I can't get past him. I don't remember this ever happening before.

But if we leave and come back, we can get in.

I'm wondering where their bodies got off to. Maybe they woke up already and just wandered off?

Well, I don't know what you did (or allegedly did) to get put in there, but sure, why not.

I see no way this can go wrong.

Yeah, you're tellin' me. I thought we'd been in a tight spot.

Well, I think we just got ourselves a discount at the local market. I'm sure Mom will be thrilled about that when getting groceries.

...Wait a minute, does Mom know we're in prison? We should probably go and see her as soon as we can. She'll probably want to know we haven't been executed on trumped up charges.

What in the fuck is wrong with this prison? There should not be this many dead people around!

Chrono is already wearing a suit of this, but it never hurts to have extras.

I could have sworn these two spring up and you can beat them back down, but I spent a couple of minutes fucking around this room (including leaving and coming back) and nothing came of it.

Back to sneaky-sneaky!

Actually, fuck all that.

Blowing this Popsicle stand!

Moving on...

You can squeeze past these guys if you do it right, but it's worth the experience to take a minute to fight them.

But before we do that, let's explore down here.

I'm starting to think that Guardia would benefit from a banking system. It'd be more efficient than keeping your treasure in empty prison cells.

Finally, a left-hand cell that opens!

...Hey, bud, you alright?

BY THE BEARD OF ZEUS

Gettin' the fuck away from that!

The FUCK out of my way!

On this floor, this is the most (and only) interesting thing.

As it allows us to get on the walls of the castle and Count Dracula on down.

That's how we reach this treasure. I think it's a nice thing that'd be easy to pass over your first time through (if you're not exploring like a maniac), and it leads to some good rewards.

And we can get back down next to our cell to grab these two chests.

We could have gotten this earlier, but there's a free one right here.

While still an Attack boost, which I don't often turn down, it's not as good as it would have been had we gotten it when it was first available.

Now, the animation for Chrono getting out of here is fucking sweet.

Seriously, tell me that isn't great. I dare you.

I will fight you if you disagree.

Now we Drac back on up the castle.

If you look, you can see I left two Sentries among the living.

Someone must survive to spread the tales.

Ah, here we go; back to familiar castle surroundings.

Here I am!

The Silver Sword is, shockingly, silver.

The Warden here recognizes who we are.

And he decides to get the fuck on outta this scene.

He slips up the stairs while Chrono watches.

Before long, he's back, though. Still looking surprised.

Holy crap, we gave him a heart attack and killed him.

Actually, when he runs up the stairs, you'll hear a bonk and then he reappears and Lucca shows up.

This is true, by the by. You can wait in your cell for the three days to pass, if you're so inclined, and when you're being led to your execution, Lucca will swing by to pull your fat out of the fire.