Chrono Trigger Part #11 - Update Eleven: Gettin' Some Dome

Part 11: Update Eleven: Gettin' Some Dome

Update Eleven: Gettin' Some Dome

Welcome back, folks! Last time, we broke out of prison, defeated the Guardian superweapon the Dragon Tank, and then Marle, Lucca and Chrono, to escape the Chancellor and whatever fate he had planned for them, hopped through a Time Gate in Guardia Forest. Today, we'll be taking a look around where we ended up, so let's bounce.

A new era means we don't know where we are, exactly, as indicated by the box in the lower left.

Lucca's estimate that things seem pretty advanced here looks kind of correct.

As does the buildings being called "domes." That's a very futuristic thing to do.

Hey, wasn't Chrono in jail with that guy? And had him turn to a skeleton before his eyes?

Well, hello to you, too, dead-guy-lookalike.

He's not bullshitting. He's got some nice upgrades for sale.

And we've got plenty of money to spend. The last item on his list here are Shelters, but I don't buy any consumable items.

Lucca gets a new gun, though.

And everyone swaps up an armor level. We're sitting pretty well off with stats like these, and that trend will continue for quite a while, if not for the rest of the game. Chrono Trigger doesn't have a ton of difficulty to it, but there are a couple of parts that will make you want to shriek.

Site 16? Sounds like we know where to go after this.

There's apparently ghosts haunting the ruins. Thankfully, we have the skills necessary to ice those ghouls.

Hmm. We're somewhere where nobody has heard of the village Chrono and Lucca come from.

Now that you mention it, I could go for a burger.

They also seem unaware of the reigning family back in the Present.

Read: full-heal spot.

We can rest in it for free, and everyone piles in.

This place isn't too tough, but if you took the time to do a bit of grinding, this can be handy if you don't feel like using up your Shelters.

Just as advertised, you're still hungry after using it.

And that does it for Trann Dome, so let's scoot and skedaddle.

North of the Dome where we landed (which is Bangor Dome) lie the ruins of Site 16.

That rat up there is a bastard, and I hate him. It's not an encounter on the map, so he's always there. If you get touched by them, they'll gank a Potion from your inventory, and there's no way to get it back.

There are a fair few encounters here, and these guys form a part of a lot of them.

They also fart out these little squids, who are pains in the ass (if not dangerous ones.)

Ruin Stalkers have 130 HP and are weak to Light; guess who forgot that last part?

They also attack by trying to hump the nose off your face.

It does pitiful damage, but if the Stalker has taken any damage, it'll recover health equal to what damage the character took.

Floral Horrors have 75 HP, and being plants, are weak to Fire. They can heal the enemy party for a little over 60 HP, poison characters, or charge into them.

I'm barely aware of the fact they do anything in battle, as they're always my first targets for elimination.

I was thinking the Stalkers were weak to Fire.

Man, I was waaaaaaaay off.

Still, you can beat them to death easily enough. I like saving Chrono's MP for Fire/Aura Whirl if I need it, and he's generally strong enough that using Techs isn't needed.

There are still a couple of new enemies to meet here, and we'll start with these guys.

These are Craters (being healed by the Floral Horror), and they have 80 HP. Being mini-volcanoes, they attack by spitting lava rocks at your party members. Oddly enough, they're not immune to Fire; they take regular damage from it.

I love it when an enemy heals its comrades when the battle has just started.

My preferred method of dealing with Craters; they're usually bunched up fairly tight, so Chrono can just tear 'em to shreds. He's only hitting the two flashing, by the way; for whatever reason, the other wasn't in the attack range for Cyclone.

I could have used Fire Whirl; that just occurred to me. And both would have died.

Moving on.

Before you can grab that chest, you have to wipe out some more enemies.

If you hadn't bought one or found it in the castle, this should be where you get the Silver Sword.

Look at that smug little bastard.

EAT A DICK, RATBITCH

Deftly avoiding that rat, I pick up a new weapon for Marle.

It's a welcome upgrade, doubling and then some Marle's Attack.

Just beyond that is another encounter. I gained a couple of levels here, but I probably won't be showing off all the levels I gain. If you saw what stats went up and stuff, I would.

North of that lies a herd of Craters. Or whatever you call a bunch of these guys. A bushel, maybe?

Whatever you call it, it's gone now.

And that does it for this area. And, yes, this fucker nabbed another Potion from me.

These guys are new enemies, but we'll cover them in a second. I didn't trigger the encounter spot when I first ran through.

We'll also get this fellow in a second.

For there's an Ether down here; a lot of enemies here are more easily dealt with using Techs, so they're sure to give you plenty of ways to restore MP. A lot of these fights have been dropping Ethers.

Coming too close to him wakes the Mutant, who is the strongest enemy around here.

And not just because they dropkick you in the face to attack.

This is more damage than what anything else is dealing around here.

That's not even a third of his health; these sons of bitches have 300 HP, more than most of the Dragon Tank.

In addition to inspiring some disturbing comics, this attack also drains health.

Not really enough to worry about, but health drainage is still an irritant to me.

Lucca gets her revenge by killing him, with blowing the back of his head out. These guys are weak to Shadow element attacks, but we've currently no access to that element.

This was where I had to step to start this fight.

SWEET WINGED SWINE

Shadows are kind of dicks, if you don't know their gimmick. Physicals will miss them completely, so if you're just mashing A to make it through, you'll never win this fight.

Elemental magic (or Techs, or whatever you want to call it) is the way to go here.

They're not weak to any of the elements, but since they have a whole 1 HP, they'll die regardless.

East of where we got the Ether out of the chest, there's some more of these guys. I'm sure they have attacks, but I haven't seen them in a long, long time.

This area is lousy with Shadows.

But, hey, whatever. It's an excuse to show off how cool Wind Slash looks.

There's the exit to the Site 16 ruins.

You just have to crush this guy to make it through.

Ta-da! We're through the ruins.

I think we'll explore that location further east in the next update; there's something there I want.

Before I forget to mention it, inside these Domes, there's an ever-present fog. It kind of looks like an emulator error, but this is in the game itself.

This places looks abandoned, but it isn't. You can see part of a person at the top of the screen.

I guess in this time period, nobody taught children not to speak to strangers.

The ruins to the west; be careful if you go there, there are dickhole rats looking to steal your Potions.

"And they were only robbed twice!"

"Twice? That rat takes everything I have when I go through!"

"Yeah, fuckin' everything."

Other than having a bucket of HP, they're not that tough.

After that little exchange, we're free to walk around the Dome and talk with people.

I wonder if we'll have to deal with those berserk robots at any point in the future.

: We haven't seen him since.

We actually don't have to go here to advance the plot at this point in time, but I think we'll swing down there anyway.

Seriously, this guy has inspired me to go and destroy everything living in that sewer.

Well, technically, we did.

What if we tell him "No"?

If you're stuck, this is the hint that will help you figure out where to go. Not that you should have had trouble with it.

We'll get those doors later, and we do none of these things to open them.

"That mountain is just fucking up to something, and I'll figure it out, by God!"

Even though we haven't officially learned it yet, let me tell you, we're in the goddamned Future. Those of you reading blind, are you surprised to learn this? Seriously, it's not like it's a big secret.

As if we needed more motivation to go down there, we find out these people will basically die if someone doesn't get down there and get the stores of food.