Part 29: Update Twenty Eight: Opening The Magic Cave
Update Twenty Eight: Opening The Magic CaveHowdy, folks! Last time, on Chrono Trigger, we delivered the repaired Masamune to Frog and learned a bit about his backstory, as well as picking him up some magic. Today, in an update shorter than usual, we're going to see the most badass cutscene in all of gaming and make our way to the Fiendlord's Keep, so let's bounce.
Lucca was the winner of the vote for who comes along, with over thirty votes. She'll be a solid choice here, I reckon.
Personally, I usually take Robo, but I'm not upset with this scenario.
It's important you remember to come back here and get Frog his magic. If you don't, he'll only have the two Techs he learned back at the Cathedral with no prospects of learning more.
With Frog and Lucca accompanying Chrono, we're covering three of the four available elements, in addition to having plenty of firepower (no pun intended), as well as a bit of healing. We've got a pretty good spread here.
Frog hasn't equipped the Masamune just yet; it's not the kind of sword you can just equip, y'know? You've gotta have some incredible shit accompanying said equipping.
He still has his sword from when we rescued the Queen.
But, wait until he equips the Masamune.
It'll be better.
Chrono and Frog pick up another Double Tech, this one using Frog's new Water spell and Chrono's Cleave. And it is awesome.
So, you might recall some NPCs mentioning that Magus' castle is to the east, on an island. At least, I think they mention it's on an island; I don't remember, but Magus' castle is on an island. And we've no boat.
You might also remember them talking about the Magic Cave and how they've seen fiends come pouring from the cave. One man even mentions that just being around this place would put a chill down your spine.
Naturally, this is how we're getting to the Keep.
But how do we open it?
Before we find out, we fade out.
And fade into a bunch of kids being a dick to another kid. This seems fairly accurate to me. Also, that song linked above plays until the next music link.
I'm not sure exactly what they're doing to this kid, but they seem to running around in circles, spinning him like a top. Before long, though, an older boy shows up.
Cyrus?
Even when he was young, Cyrus was still a hero.
Glenn here doesn't want to hurt anyone else, no matter how much they hurt him.
Cyrus' line in the SNES version was, "You're a marshmallow, Glenn."
Another fade and we come to a young man on a bridge.
Glenn comes walking up to Cyrus.
Glenn is supportive and not surprised.
But maybe you didn't expect this; Glenn isn't going with his friend to join the knights. We've seen them battle the Frog King together, and they were both wrecked by Magus. But Glenn wasn't a knight?
Glenn here is apparently quite skilled with a sword, as Cyrus is (going to be) a legendary knight.
With that line, they both look out over the water, silent, and we fade out...
...Back to this moment of Glenn's life.
Magus gives him a more fitting form.
In turning him into a bipedal frog.
As Frog lies there, the camera pans up.
Over the waterfall, the Hero's Badge falls and begins to drift downstream.
Right into Frog's hands.
Frog is ready to open this baby up.
And Chrono, instead of just handing him the sword, decides he has to help make this moment even more awesome.
He slams that fucker in the ground so Frog has to draw it like the goddamned hero he is.
Frog takes a moment to contemplate what's happening in his life, looking at the Masamune, realizing what a step this is going to be.
And he dives headfirst into that shit, since he's got a fucking Fiendlord to slay!
He's not doing this just for himself. He's doing this for his long-lost friend, who was slain by Magus before his time; he's carrying on a man's hopes of seeing one of the world's ultimate evils gone and to see peace spread across the land.
This next part has an anime cutscene with it and it is fucking awesome. Click here to see it!
Outside of anime land, Frog draws the Masamune from the ground, holding it high above his head.
A dome of blue energy surrounds him.
Err...A dome of blue energy surrounds a good bit of the cave.
Or most of the goddamned thing.
It coalesces into a beam of energy, reaching high into the sky.
FROG'S SWORD IS THE SWORD THAT PIERCES THE HEAVENS
Frog does a quick little flip, as he understands this is a dramatic moment.
Frog approaches the Magic Cave, Masamune in hand.
And cuts it the fuck open.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you open a fucking cave leading to the lair of the fucking Fiendlord.
Look at that motherfucker; he knows that was badass and is loving every second of it. He's so fucking
for Magus right now.
And he leads us into the Magic Cave.
You've actually gotta cross the cave to reach the Keep, but it's a short dungeon.
Frog's Attack has increased quite a bit; look at the Attack of the Masamune. For reference, Chrono's current sword only has an Attack of 40.
Chrono's extra ten points of Strength really make up the difference, though, but both Frog and him are physical wrecking machines.
These are the enemies we'll be facing here; Vampire Bats and Grimlings. I'm sure you can figure which is which. But that goddamned bat behind us is irritating me.
Vampire Bats have 120 HP, so either Frog or Chrono will kill them in one hit. Their Magic Defense is pretty low, too, and they can attack by draining either HP or MP, the sons of bitches.
Here's Water in action.
Grimlings have 110 HP with insane Defense, but average Magic Defense. They'll counter with a Bite if you don't kill them in one hit, and they can also normally bite you. Their biggest feature is that they're fast, much faster than our party.
No weaknesses, but they do not like being lit on fire.
Moving into the cave, we encounter another one of these locked boxes.
And more goddamned bats and another rat.
But Fire Whirl is pretty handy for these guys, especially if they're close enough to hit them all in one go.
When I said the Grimlings have insane Defense, I wasn't kidding. Also, that critical chance boost the Hero's Badge gives Frog when he's wielding the Masamune is pretty hefty; he's going to be hitting a ton of critical strikes.
Chrono hit one with a critical off of a counter and did around this same amount of damage. These guys don't give two shits about your physical capabilities.
However, summon a force of nature, and they give two shits and then some.
After killing that Grimling, a whole horde of them pop out and run off.
Get back here! You have exp and TP I want!
They stop around here and all attack you at once.
They also remain grouped up.
Not a ton of damage, but remember, a good bit of Fire Whirl's damage comes from physical attack.
And Fire Whirl is an older Double Tech, so it has lost a lot of its effectiveness from when we first got it.
After that fight, two Vampire Bats and a pair of Grimlings come out.
Nothing too interesting about this fight, except for Swordstream.
The Double Techs in this game all look really good and combine the character's skills in nice ways. Sometimes the animation isn't as fancy, like with Thunder Chomp, but there's also a lot of skills featuring unique and interesting animations, like this one, or Antipode.
The formula here is: (C¬Atk × 5.0) + (F¬Lv + F¬Mag × 6.2).
After the fight, Lucca learns Protect, which boosts Defense. It's...Well, it's certainly a spell that Lucca learns.
What the hell do you want me to say? It's Protect. I can't say much more beyond that.
Though, maybe this guy would have benefited from a dose of it.
So, when we enter Magus' place, if we see any court performers, they'll be a pain in the ass to kill.
Though, I am so curious about how that guy got here. Did he get up this morning, throw on his armor, and swim out to Magus' Keep, get his shit wrecked, and crawl out here? Why did he scrawl the note? Did he know someone was coming? Or was he just killing time as he bled to death?
That's the entirety of the Magic Cave, and we're now in front of Magus' Keep.
Which we'll enter next time.
Stay tuned!