Part 19: Update Eighteen: Heckran's Cave of Mystical Wonders (SSLP)
Update Eighteen: Heckran's Cave of Mystical Wonders (SSLP)Howdy folks! Last time, on Chrono Trigger, we went to the End of Time, learned magic, and then we came back to 1,000 AD. And there was a bonus update where we went into a Fuckyouanddie Bucket as well as starting the Arena of the Ages, but let's forget that for now, since we've other stuff to do, so let's bounce.
This is the village of Medina, where we time warped into some imp's wardrobe.
Maybe the Elder knows a way back to Truce. Or something about Lavos, since I'm pretty sure this is what we came back to the Present for.
Oh, right, this is a village of Fiends (monsters).
If you watch this guy, he literally just crabwalks back and forth across the wall. He ain't doin' shit.
And you've got a crappy little village to show for it. Definitely something to be proud of.
Why don't you exterminate the human race now?
Upstairs is this Imp, who gives us a hint about the next area. Not that you'd really need it, as I'm sure most people could figure out you needed magic for the next dungeon, seeing as how you just got it.
I'm pretty sure he's too busy bitching about the Fiendlord fucking off on his life's work to come and find you.
I have two of these now, and I end up giving them to Lucca. She has the highest Magic of the party, which will come in handy in the next dungeon. Though, I don't give them to her until just before the boss.
Medina isn't a very large village, but there's a lot of interesting stuff around here.
Including creepy chanting. I'm trying to find the audio track for it and not succeeding. Oh, here it is.
If you'll think back, we found a statue like that in the Cathedral in 600 AD.
It seems that their faith in the Fiendlord never died.
And it seems that this jerk had something to do with Lavos.
In that he gave Lavos life. What kind of bad mamma-jamma is this guy if he's giving a world-killer life?
Not much we can do about it now, but a nap might help us figure something out.
At least, I seem to puzzle things out when I've slept on them.
Tons of experience and getting stronger? Because we'll do that.
Now, we can turn back and not, but...C'mon, buddy.
I hope you don't mind if your sheets get splattered in your blood.
Marle's Ice spell in action. Henches are weak to all elements, so it really hates this. And those Diablos don't like being lit on Fire.
As shown.
Marle and Lucca learn their first Double Tech, and you'll see it in action later on.
Also, getting his ass beat makes this Hench much more agreeable to letting us stay. Oh, shit, they're not Henches; that's the SNES name. They're Underlings here.
Hell no, you're a dick. Let's bounce, ladies.
Maybe they have some interesting stuff for us to buy. I hope so. I like buying stuff.
This guy being here is interesting; we first met a Gaoler in the prison, so...Guardia employs monsters. Good to know.
I'm sure you know what happens if we plead with him.
That's right; we make these guys look like chumps.
I'll have a .gif of Lightning later, but know that if you don't sell to Chrono, you receive the wrath of Thor.
And if you smack him, he smacks back.
Hey, if you can't run with the big dogs, you best stay on the porch.
...Holy shit, man.
I want this, but it'd take me forever to grind up $65,000.
The Radiant Plate is likewise fantastic. And expensive.
...Son of a bitch. We forced him into selling, but didn't consider he could jack up the prices. And we can't kick his ass again to force him to lower the prices.
Jerkass monster, not selling me good stuff at good prices.
Should have just beaten him to death and stolen his stuff.
It works in Skyrim, dammit, it should work here.
But fuck him, I'll make my own shop with great stuff, and have blackjack and hookers and—Melchior lives here?
Well, had no idea you lived here, but it's good to see you.
And I like new weapons.
How convenient for the dungeon we're about to go through.
Marle gets a new vest, but Lucca doesn't. You'll see why next update.
And if saving those lives involves taking lives, what then?
How convenient that he tells us where to go to get where we wanted to be. I like your style, Melchior.
That Diablos wanted us to take a hike through here, as we would die or something. Even though we killed him earlier, let's give his ghost the finger and bulldoze this cave.
A pair of
And Billy gets his grill lit up. The other one was beaten to death with a sword.
Since we talked to Spekkio and learned magic, the rest of the Techs have been unlocked for people to learn. Chrono's is useful not because it's guaranteed double damage (equal to what a critical does), but because it opens up some of the best Double Techs in the game.
Marle will learn an actual healing spell, instead of relying on her personality to make people not-die.
And Lucca is going to go Vietnam on some fools' asses.
The Heckran Cave is an introduction to magic use. In the areas leading up to this, physicals were pretty well the way to go; you didn't have much choice beyond that, except for a few enemies here and there. In here, if you're not using your magic, you're going to have a hell of a time.
I have a shot of them climbing down the ladder, but I didn't think it needed to be included. Unless you really want to see it, then I'll PM it to you.
There's plenty of MP restoring items in here. I think I've said it before, but Chrono Trigger is fairly generous with this sort of thing. Hell, it's fairly generous with most stuff.
Hey, it kind of looks like an Uncharted treasure. I wonder if we could se--
BY THE MUSTACHE OF MELCHIOR
Oh, now it's barfing squids at us.
And it starts with this attack, which sucks for this area.
As it steals some MP from one of your characters. Precious, precious MP.
A burst of lightning will teach you the error of your ways!
The girls are far better at magic than Chrono, but this still sufficient to kill the Djinn Bottle, who only has 97 HP. It has another attack where it can drain HP, too.
And the Cave Stalkers can light you on fire, which seems like it would hurt like the dickens.
Which it kind of does.
However, they only have 80 HP, and even with their ability to use fire, they're not immune to it or anything.
And here, you can see one of the rare times this status effect will pop up; this is Blind, which makes your accuracy tank. I don't know why they have this ability, since it's not like you'll be using physicals here, but y'know, they can do it.
However, the Wrath of Thor does not give a shit if you can't see or not.
You might think we could hop onto this waterfall and slide down it, but we can't, as there is a lack of barrels around.
Going down into this area, these guys spin into existence.
These are Rhino Wheevils, and they have 88 HP.
And I use Antipode Bomb on them. It starts with Marle throwing an Ice spell at them.
Which goes on like the regular animation.
And then Lucca just blows them the fuck up.
Antipode Bomb is a Shadow elemental attack, and the word antipode means “the direct opposite of something else” and seems to be usually used when referring to locations opposite of each other on Earth. Or maybe not; are there any geologists out there reading this that use that word?
Heading south from the Wheevil fight takes us to this room, which also has the best treasure of the cave.
It's guarded by a new enemy, the Boundillo.
They have 50 HP and don't like magic, either.
They're pretty slow, so you won't see them act often.
Let's go snag our prize.
FUCK BATS
At 108 HP, these guys have the highest health of the regular enemies in here. They're also not very different from the bats we encountered in the Cathedral.
This thing is like the Power Glove we found in the Middle Ages, but for Magic.
Lucca loses her Guardian Bangle to throw this thing on. She has the best Magic stat of the group, and this is just making things even better. If you were wondering, Marle has the Speed Belt equipped, while Chrono is still wearing the Rage Band.
Back in this room, we head west to continue on.
I never had to use any of the MP restoring items here, but I have a nice stock of them now.
You also meet some more of these guys over here.
On a first playthrough, this dungeon is really nice to help you learn the value of your magic and get used to spending your MP to kill enemies. On repeat playthroughs, it loses some of its charm.
But the cave isn't very long; in fact, we're nearly done with it.
Even with its short length, there's still a good enemy variety here.
If you'd skipped Spekkio and not learned magic, you could still get through here. Wind Slash and Flamethrower could take you through, but I don't know why you'd skip magic. Unless you were doing a speedrun.
Chrono countered this guy after being hit (it's the same attack the Roundillo has), so you get to see his new sword in action.
And the incredible defense these guys boast.
And Marle gaining a level!
More Cave Bats up here.
They were promptly lit on fire, frozen, and electrocuted.
Another Djinn Bottle is here, and you all know the outcome.
...Son of a bitch, we'll have to come back here. But it'll be waaaaaaaaaaay later. And don't talk about it in the thread; that's not an invitation.
Now we can get down into the water in this room.
If you're running with the flow of water, you go super quick. If you're running against the flow, you go slow. It's a neat little touch.
We come to this save point, where we drop a Shelter. I don't think I saved, though. I'm not worried about the boss.
And here's the boss! I guess Fiends don't have much else going for them, other than wanting to kill all humans. If you'd like to see a video of the fight,
click me!
Didn't I see a giant-sized version of you in a Godzilla movie?
This is the Heckran, which the cave is named after. Your magic is going to be abused here, too, so don't expect to finally be able to use your physicals.
He has 2,100 HP to burn through, so this fight takes a little while. And since I forgot to mention it until now, Lightning has a damage formula of Chrono's (Level+Magic) * 5.
Ice is Marle's (Level+Magic) * 4.5. I guess her higher Magic eliminates the need for the multiplier to be higher.
Not that it did a ton more damage than Lightning. Maybe it's their attempt to keep the characters somewhat even.
Heckran's magic is Water based, as shown with the basic Water spell.
Ouch, that kind of hurts.
The formula for Fire's damage is the same as the formula for Ice. That Magic Scarf is already paying off, even if it's only another 30 damage.
This is Heckran's second attack, and it's a doozy.
Seriously, holy shit, that's a lot of damage.
Heckran can be a tough fight if you're not careful, as his attacks all do a bunch of damage, but if you pay attention to your health, you should be alright. His only group attack launches in a specific circumstance which we'll see in a second, but other than that, he'll only attack a single person.
Antipode Bomb does damage about equal to what Fire and Ice do individually, and the formula for that is (Marle Level + Marle Magic + Lucca Level + Lucca Magic) * 4.6.
And this is the circumstance is where his full-party attack can come out. In addition to being a magic-only gimmick boss, he's also a counter-gimmick boss.
This is a great moment to heal your party up, top up MP reserves, maybe read a bit of a book.
But what happens if we hit him?
A second level spell!?
glubglubglub
Yowch, that hurts.
If you queue up a bunch of attacks, you can get your ass wiped out by Water II!, which is not an optimal way to fight this guy.
When you defeat him, you get a nice chunk of exp.
And a bunch of TP.
Huh, I wonder where we'll go next. Not that we didn't have a clue before.
GRAAAAAAAAAAGH yourself, ya damn monster.
And he has a neato-torpedo death animation.
We'll probably have to kill him and any servants he has around. Just to be sure; you never know what Fiendlords are teaching their underlings.
“If we used our only method of transportation to the Middle Ages...”
And we go all the way through this cave, through the shortcut Melchior told us about, to find a wading pool at the end of it.
Well, may as well take a dip. I guess we've earned it.
Whoa, holy crap!
There would have been a .gif here of that, but it's a bit large and I couldn't get it to size without destroying any semblance of it looking good. Just imagine those three being flung out of the vortex and landing next to Lucca's House.
That does it for this update. Next time, we'll pop in to see Taban and head back to 600 AD, so stay tuned!
BONUS MATERIAL
Want to see Yapping Eevee and I do fairly uninspired commentary over the Heckran fight? Then click here!