Chrono Trigger Part #13 - Update Thirteen: Under The Dome

Part 13: Update Thirteen: Under The Dome

Update Thirteen: Under The Dome

Howdy, folks, and welcome back! Last time, on Chrono Trigger, we explored the Abandoned Sewers and found the Keeper's Dome along with Death Peak. There was nothing we could do at the mountain, and the Keeper's Dome held a mysterious man and his odd companion. Today, we'll be heading under Arris Dome to see if we can find the people living above it some food and ourselves a super computer to figure out just what happened here, how we can get back, and maybe where we are exactly, so let's bounce.

I would have done this update a couple of days ago, but I acquired a 3DS on Wednesday, and I've been absorbed with Link Between Worlds.

It's a really damned good game, too. If you have a 3DS and not LBW, you should definitely check into picking it up. Or into federal prison, for being a Communist.

We could try “password” but I don't think that'll work.

So we've no choice but to go explore to find the password.

This next area is visually uninteresting.

When actually playing, I know the layout here and how to get where we need to. Posting these shots, I'm fucking lost.

Man, people keep some weird statues around.

WARNING! ANYONE APPROACHING THE FOOD STOCKS IS SUBJECT TO ATTACK.

I guess this is our clue that there will be a boss fight down here. It's safe to assume that anyway, but it's cool when the game confirms it.

That area is mighty short, but with a fair few dead ends. And there's no treasure around, either.

Gee, I wonder what will happen here.

Oh, Jesus, we get our skulls crushed is what happens. And Marle...Slides in a weird way that probably violates physics or something.

Marle, is this really the time for questions!?

“He's some kid from bumblefuck; I'm the scientist!”

If we needed more evidence that Lucca is great, let me show you Exhibit A.

Two Pods float down from the ceiling when this fight kicks off, so we've another multi-part boss. For the video, click

here.

This guy has 1,200 HP, so let's get to smashing. It'll take a while to whittle that down. He's also immune to Fire, with no weaknesses.

...Uh, oops.

This is one of those bosses where if you don't take out his little minion parts, you'll fucking eat it every time you attack the main guy.

And being smacked for over a quarter of your health is not a pleasant experience.

Thankfully, the Pods don't have a ton of health. And this is another spot where the translation changed an enemy name and I'm not digging it; these were Bytes in the SNES version.

They have 200 HP, so it'll take a few hits to bring them down. If Chrono can hit a critical, one of the girls can finish them off with one more attack.

Since I haven't shown it before, with her new bow, Marle's bolts got a different animation.

They goddamn explode when they hit an enemy.

For the most part, this fight isn't too terribly difficult, as long as you're not triggering the triple counter.

As there aren't too many dangerous attacks to worry about, aside from that.

We also get a glimpse into an integral part of Chrono's personality in this fight; he does not like being hit with missiles.

With the Pods gone, the Guardian has nothing to do but this countdown.

When it completes...

The Pods revive and we have to rinse and repeat.

In addition to shooting missiles and a laser at you, when a Pod is around with the Guardian, they can do this attack.

It's hard to see, but the Pod is passing energy to the Guardian.

Which it channels into a fuck-off laser and blasts someone with.

Shit hurts, yo.

After whaling on it for long enough, you'll see this message, and the fight is over.

The Guardian fades from existence.

And the girls each gain a level!

This doesn't look good. That's their food.

You are standing about five feet from a dead guy, Marle. They don't tend to smell desirable.

That's odd. There's power everywhere else here, so the refrigeration should have stayed working. Unless something else broke on it. Which is probably what Lucca's saying.

Marle does her CSI: Guardia schtick again and checks on the dead guy.

I can't imagine he died out there and the Pods dragged him in here.

If you'll recall, there's a woman and child talking about how their husband/father came down here to look for food. It seems that he found it.

Marle, you're trying too hard to look like you're having a brainstorm. Dial it back before your ears start smoking.

Another Mid-Ether is cool.

“Please, delete my internet history. Not even the Enertron has made me healthy after what I've seen.”

The rat has moved from where we found it before, having moved closer to this entrance.

Fair point, Lucca, but I think it'll also run when it sees the three of us charging at it.

Ugh, I got some fourth wall on my shoes.

The rat will freak out and run off. He's pretty damned fast, too.

He's also gone. Were I better at that, you can catch him there, but I've never been able to do it. My brother can do it consistently, the jerk, but not me.

It's easier to catch him from here.

In this shot, it looks like he just power-grinded down the rail while we chased him.

And we don't have to fight him, either; just catch him and he gives up the goods.

Alright, Rattigan Johansen, spill it.

: Press and hold the L and R button and then press the A button to activate the switch, squeak. If you go and change the control scheme around later, you'll have to figure it out on your own, squeak!

You know what makes this part an unruly bitch? On my old DS, my R button worked about .000004% of the time, so when I got here, I had to gank someone else's DS for a minute to get through it. Or sacrifice a goat to the Dark Lord so my R button would respond.

Punch in the password and the path opens up. Fun fact: if you go back upstairs at this point, with the seed for the residents of Arris Dome, their dialog is the same as before you go down. You have to find the super computer to finish things off down here.

We've just entered and already, there's a new enemy. Two, really, but we have a chance to fight Rats now.

The Exterminator has a counter for when it detects movement, and the Rats with it can trigger that counter.

If it sees you moving, it'll fucking blow you away.

And Rats have 45 HP, so the Exterminator is doing its job. And it's neater than shit that the laser blast clears the fog away.

With 100 HP, they're a touch hardier than most things we've met up to this point, but they're not exactly dangerous.

However, their laser does hurt. This did 40 damage to Chrono.

If you're a little behind the curve on levels, this isn't a bad spot to grind up, since the Enertron is right up there and the exp rewards are decent enough.

Why do I always feel leery when a game gives me a bunch of MP restoration items?

Another new enemy is down here.

The Bugs are...Certainly enemies who are around for you to fight.

With 89 HP being their most outstanding feature.

They attack by shoulder-checking you. They also have a sonic wave that can put you to sleep, but I don't know if I've ever seen it hit.

Immediately through the door is this guy, who looks fairly intimidating.

Version 2.0 has 128 HP, no weaknesses.

But it does have machine guns built into it.

However, despite their battles being kind of uninteresting, they are totally

for reasons we'll see soon enough.

Another couple of Shadows are down here. That one on the bottom, you can actually interact with before triggering the fight.

It's, uh...Certainly something I made a .gif of.

North of those Shadows is another one of these fights, but something happened here I wanted to show off.

Just as our Techs can hit enemies in a line, some enemy attacks can, too. And some enemies have combos they can do with other enemies, like we can.

Really, it's kind of like the party and the enemies are working with the same battle system.

Also, I like the way the sprites color when hit with fire attacks. It just looks so cool.

There's another one of those Crested Doors down here, which we'll be coming back for later. Much later. For now, let's continue the plot.

If you say so; you're the scientist. Or gadgeteer or whatever.

Lucca, do you plan on fucking Googling it?

Because it doesn't work. I tried it.

Fun fact; this is exactly how I stand when writing an update.

Why is it that you search for a temporal distortion, you find it, and I just find some nerd shit?

Zoom...Enhance...Zoom...Enhance.

Hell, looks like we've got another section of Ruins to trek through. A long one, this time.

The word “proto” means something like first, or what came before, when used as a prefix. I'm sure you all knew that, but I wanted to use that smiley.

I certainly didn't. I want to return my Google; I think it's broken.

You put the supercomputer into sleep mode, Marle.

1999 AD? Just how far in the Future are we?

For a video of the upcoming scene, click

here.

This era doesn't look too different from the Present, except for the domes.

And I don't know exactly what they had a camera mounted on to get these shots, but something is causing interference with it.

And it causes shade to fall across the planet.

The screen is shaking here, static is popping in and out; something bad is coming.

If you didn't do it, click that music link right there. Seriously. We all know how bad I am about posting links (and how Counterfeit Saint has been saving my bacon on that), but I'm not forgetting this one.

Energy bolts fire out from the creature.

And begin to rain destruction across the planet.

Countless lives were lost that day.

At this point, the camera is either destroyed or the interference ruins what it could capture. It fades to black.

Marle, understandably, is not taking seeing that very well.

This is horrible.

It's already happened, Marle. What can we do against that?

...Excuse me, Marle? Did you not see that thing?

She wasn't cool with jumping into the Gate to get here, Marle; I doubt she'll be up for going to destroy the World-Ender. As much as I'd like to prevent this bad future from occurring...

Noble goal and all, Marle, but...How do we fight that?

What?

We can't control where we go, Lucca, nor do we know where that...Thing lives. But we just can't sit by, wasting this opportunity. The residents of the Dome deserve to live better than they are now.

...Goddammit, let's give it a shot.

If we go back to our time, then we have plenty of time to ready ourselves for Lavos.

And who knows, maybe someone in the Middle Ages knows about it.

That music link there is another one you should click; it plays as we go back through this section.

Fuck out of my way, robot, we've got a world to save!

You get out of my way, too!

The Bugs weren't quite as willing to shift aside for world-saving, so they got their world wrecked.

Aye, we've returned. We've got something for you all.

It isn't much, but it could very well save you all.

Marle, let's see if these guys want the seed we found, then we'll discuss the time travelling to save the world. I'm sure they're more interested in eating.

Case in point.

I'm sorry we couldn't find you more.

You can actually find out what it's like to have a full belly, Doan.

If all goes well, Doan, you and your ilk will never have to worry about starving. We're going to change things.

I guess it does kind of sound like bullshit if you didn't see the video or hear the epic tunes.

In the SNES translation, Marle tells Doan it's because they're healthy, and Doan reacts like she was speaking to him in Manchurian.

I hope it's food. I hope we didn't find you some rose or cactus seeds.

In another small glimpse of just how awful the Future here is, this child has no idea what a seed it. She probably has never seen a plant that didn't want to kill her.