Part 30: Update Twenty Nine: Breaching The Keep

Update Twenty Nine: Breaching The Keep

Howdy, folks! Last time, on Chrono Trigger, Frog cut a fucking mountain in half and we made our way to Magus' Keep. Today, we'll be starting our journey in destroying Magus, so let's bounce.







Listen to that song I just posted. If you don't, you should stop reading right here; it's a great track and increases the atmosphere here tenfold. It's good enough that not only did I remember to upload it early and post it, but I'm telling you to listen!



Our little bat friend is still with us. Maybe her family is up in those trees there and she just got separated.





Frog speaks and the bats come out from their resting places.





And fly into the sky.



Congregating around the statue perched on Magus' Keep.



If you weren't aware we're about to do some serious shit, you are now.



Posting a version of this without anything in the way since it's pretty goddamned awesome. I have no idea why Magus adorned his castle with a statue of a winged manwolf, but I don't think I care. If you're able to do something like that, you're morally obligated to do it, and to hell with an explanation.








Let's head on in; the doors are nice enough to open themselves for us.





Oh, if you were wondering, I didn't forget the music for here. It's completely silent when you come in here.



There's two doors here, and we'll be going to the right first.



Children?



I suppose I can't get past you to grab it, can I?



Just, excuse me, trying to get past.



That's what I'm doing, yes, and the readers seem to like it when I grab treasure.



Oh, forget it. Keep your stupid treasure.



Little shits anyhow.



...What the hell are you doing here?



Off-screen, I ran back to Lucca's house and grabbed another Taban item, this one a helmet. It adds +10 to Magic Defense and is better than the Stone Helm.



There's Queen Leene, and her dialog box didn't fire here, so we'll see what she says in a bit.



I've got a nice little pile of these now.



Mom? You shouldn't be worried. Chrono's stopped home since then, y'know.





Well, I'm so glad I went past the creepy children, missing treasure in the process, saw Taban, the Queen and Chrono's Mom to encounter an empty fucking room.



And, finally, Queen Leene speaks to Frog. As he's running off and leaving the box for only a frame or two.

That's why I record video and take shots from that; you'll never know what split-second frame you'll need to snag.



Let's try the left path.





Regular folks are over on this side.





I hope he doesn't mind us taking that treasure. He was staring that box down pretty intently.



Two kids are here, too, and they both have this line.



I'm going to guess that candle holder has some sort of vulgar graffiti scribbled on it.





In the room beyond, there's nobody here, either. The chests hold a Mid-Ether and a Shelter.



We can't take that sword, though. Raise your arms, Chrono! Dammit, man!



Back in the main foyer (or whatever you call this part of the castle), a save point has appeared.



I guess since we can't progress, I'll save and end the update here.















BY THE GOATEE OF GASPAR



Ozzie! You come down here right now so I can kick your ass.



I...I don't think you want that. Our business with him is a sword in the face.



I thought we'd come in here, stab a wizard, and leave. Why can't life be simple!?



Goddammit, Ozzie, this trick didn't work on the bridge!



One hundred enemies, you say? One hundred? Enemies I can rip and tear into, shred their bones, and take their sweet, sweet exp and TP? Is that what you're telling me, Ozzie?



BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD



Your puny 180 HP can't stand up to that! They're also weak to Fire, and we brought our resident pyromageical maniac.





The Underlings have this attack, which inflicts Sap, as the name says. What Sap does is drain small amounts of health steadily; when your health is high, it's an annoyance, but if you're getting your ass kicked, Sap can fuck you over.



All in all, this battle isn't too tough, but it serves as a nice preview of what to expect in the castle. Enemy encounters here are going to be pretty big.





And the rewards are satisfying; Chrono and Frog are going to learn their next Techs soon, but Lucca is a bit far off from hers.



We still have our bat friend, too, if you hadn't noticed. We'll go left to begin with.



Hmm. We'll get to punch the daylights out of a god.



Dawg, you were already here.



Nothing special in this fight; we've seen Gaolers before and Lancers, too, both in the Prison Towers.





I'm not sure why we're fighting those enemies, of all the beasts here; you'd think they would have given us upgraded versions of them.



Eh, whatever. It's practically free exp and TP.



The skeletons all say this, or a variation, which is kind of horrifying.



I'd probably be pretty pissed off if I were a skeleton forced into servitude.





Yeah, buddy, you're one to talk.





All of the people in here, except for one, have this as their dialog.



The door is right back down that hall, and everything in the way has been massacred. You're free to go.



FUCK



Lucca handles the situation with extreme prejudice (also, Napalm). I like her style.



"I could agree with enjoying that smell in the morning."







In the original, Frog called him "Slush" which amuses me far more than it should have.



I've discussed it with friends, and we all came to the same conclusion; Akira Toriyama is a great artist, when he's designing non-human creatures. Slash, I think, has a cool design, despite his humanoid features. Chrono, Lucca and Marle are...Well, they're his usual people, but Frog, Robo, Johnny, Yakra--anything non-human looks much, much cooler.



But, right, we're going to fight this blue bastard.



Well, if we were skeletons, then probably?

If you want to see my ass beat by Slash, click here!



Slash, the master swordsman, declines to pull out his sword. His funeral, I s'pose.



That face.



Slash has 3,200 HP to whittle down, but no weaknesses or immunities.



I wish I knew how much Frog's critical rate was boosted by the Badge. More often than not, he's hitting the enemies with a critical.





In this attack, he pulls a character in close and proceeds to jab, lunge, and thrust the shit out of them. In Chrono's case, Slash tries to kill him through testicular manslaughter.



Slash is also pretty strong. If you're not careful, he will beat your fucking ass.





He also doesn't give much of a shit about your magic.



He's also got some pretty sweet looking attacks. A flaming Shoryuken is nothing to sneeze at.



And the Ruby Gun in action.



Absolutely piddly damage, but it looks cool.



The fight is over when he pulls out this move.



He has one last trick up his sleeve.



Not a very powerful one, granted, but he's still a dick for it.



That fight, though, was just a warm-up.



I told you to take the sword, Chrono! We could have avoided this!





Let me be frank; in this next fight, Slash fucking kicks my ass.



However, it does end in a very satisfying fashion.



You may be wondering why I didn't link to the boss music. It's because it's inferior to the regular music.

Oh, fine, here it is.



So, X-Strike deals a little over 500 damage to Slash. Picking up his sword has given him 2,000 more HP and a slew of annoying attacks. Lucca, being squishy, gets a Protect and Slash proceeds to never physically attack her.



Slash has Chrono's Windslash, which hits in a line and can hurt like a motherfucker.



Slash is also pretty goddamned fast, too, in addition to being strong and having a ton of health.



X-Strike is one of the best strategies for taking him down, as it's cheap, Frog and Chrono are fast enough to pull it off frequently, and it does a lot of damage.





He can also catch the entire party with his Windslash, since we don't spread out like in most boss fights.



But Chrono can counter that, and every little bit helps.





Slash still doesn't give a fuck about Napalm.



He also has Cleave; in fact, Slash and Chrono have a pretty similar moveset.



In addition to both of them using katanas and being speedy sons of bitches.



Though, this never comes up later. I'm not sure if there is an actual reason for Slash and Chrono to be similar, combat-wise. Maybe that's just how you fight with sweet-ass ninja swords in Chrono Trigger world.



Frog pulls occasional healing duty here with Slurp. I had 3 Mid-Potions coming into this fight (as I've never bought any), and Lucca tossed them all already. I've got a lot of regular Potions, but 50 HP is such a low amount.



I'm sure some of you noticed that we weren't using our fancy new Double Tech.



It's because Slash becomes immune to Water when he picks up his sword.





Like I said, he kicks my ass pretty handily. I wasn't prepared for this. I'd forgotten how damned tough Slash can be.



He also has this Frenzy attack, which also hurts like hell. There's not much Slash does that doesn't hurt.



Alright, let's cut to the end. Shit was really close to going all the way south here.



But we get our exp and 10 TP by the skin of our teeth.



You nearly made him proud, Slash.





With a loud shriek, Slash fades away.



Leaving behind his sword and a save point. Thank God.





A couple more points of attack, but the +2 Speed is really what shines here. Chrono is only two points away from maxing out Speed.



I use a Shelter here, save, and now we're going to do the right side.



We may as well, right?



Sure, it makes the update a little longer, but I don't think you folks mind. Do you?



And how are you all enjoying the LP so far? I hope you like it. I'm having a good time with it.



Alright, let's get this side done. It won't be as painful as the other side.



Finally! Yes, I want it!



...Aw, crap.



Yeah, these are the same Shadows from 2300 AD.



All conveniently grouped together for our fastest character to kill them all in one hit.



...What in the fuck is this shit!? This is an item that casts Shell on the entire party, cutting magic damage by a third.



I'll probably not use it, despite us about to go fight a magician and then go kill the scariest wizard of all time.



Taban's senility kicks in hard these days.



Hmm. Our bat friend only flies away when a fight's about to start.



Taban, you're fuckin' talking to her! We're not doing a Weekend At Magus' here, you fuck!





Oh. Taban exploded into a monster, who then barfed out a bunch of other monsters.



The Sorcerer there is weak to Fire and has 220 HP, and also absorbs any other element. They're pitifully weak to magic, too.



They can also heal the entire enemy party.



Not for a ton, granted, but that doesn't make it acceptable.



Frog finishes him off with some sweet-ass backflip maneuver.



And we get our wonderful prize.



Queen Leene! Surely, she won't try to kill us.



But she will pull her best Darkseed 2 impression.



Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're a monster, too.



Uh-huh.





Underlings are weak to Fire. Just how weak, you ask?







Let's drop Flea and move on.



Well, that certainly looks magical enough to be a super-magician general. And fitting the fiend thing Magus has going on, too.



Wait, Frog, you don't know? You recognized Slash, Ozzie, and Magus, but not Flea? Is she a new addition or a recluse, or what?

Click here to see the fight in motion!



Whatever. Let's dance.





Now that is a dick counter.



Oh, wait, never mind she's dead.



Wait, what the fuck? She's dead?







Gasp! No, not our bat friend who came in out of nowhere and most of you probably weren't paying attention to, even when I mentioned her!







For a genius, Lucca, you're an idiot.



Well, no, not with all the magic and being a Fiend general and



Her penis. Then again, that'd do it for most women, I think.



So, Flea is actually a guy, just dressed as a woman.



Flea is pretty strong, though, but with lower health than Slash.



Back to the task at hand, Flea taunts Frog about Cyrus being dead.



But he's pretty strong, so by your definition, he's actually really sexy!



Ugh. Nobody bring up Sexy Frog. I remember what happened when I said something about that concerning Yakra.



Now our real boss fight begins.





Flea brings us to a pretty goddamned cool looking location.





With 4,120 HP and better than normal defenses (on both accounts), Flea might take some time to take down. Liberal application of X-Strike is recommended, but I find a better combo later on.



This is Flea's regular attack.



Which isn't all that strong. She isn't much for physical attacks.



Her special attacks, though, all inflict one status effect or another, including the most common one.



With this one, Flea pulls a character into the air with a tornado, spinning them round and round and round.



And when they land, they're confused.



That's about as good of an X-Strike as you're going to see. Slash moves around too much to get a nice "X" on him, and most enemies don't position themselves for it. Flea, however, complied rather nicely here.



It also does pretty good damage.



Despite being confused, Lucca still shot Flea in the face.



Being confused seems to tank your Attack power, so it's just more of an annoyance than a real threat.



A Panacea will clear it up, as would Lucca being struck physically.



This one hits all party members and inflicts Poison.





It deals decent damage, and doesn't always inflict Poison.



Every now and again, Chrono will take about 10 HP's of damage, so Poison isn't a huge concern.





Flea, while not ignoring Water like Slash, still isn't too impressed by it.





Fire seems a little more effective.



And this might be her most dangerous attack.









She charms someone into attacking the entire party, which can hurt like a bastard. I'm not sure why Lucca took such a small amount of damage, compared to the others, but I'm thinking it's because this is actually a magic based attack, despite the animation. It looks like it should be that character attacking the others, but I think that's just for effect; if it had been Chrono actually attacking, Lucca would have been horribly fucked up.





Also, if Marle and Chrono were better at it, Aura Whirl could apparently blind stuff, too.



By the way, Fire Sword is pretty effective against Flea.



Not a ton more than X-Strike, but a nice improvement, which also leaves Frog available to Slurp or attack, adding to it.



This is how the fight ends, with some emergency flaming brain surgery.



We get another 10 TP, as well, but there's something better than that.









So, Lightning II will hit all enemies and is pretty powerful. Heal allows Frog to heal the entire party at once for a moderate amount (currently around 100 HP to each person), but it seems like I've gotten Lightning II rather early. The funny thing is, the only grinding I've done is to get the items to fully outfit everyone back in Prehistory. Maybe it was the two Nus I encountered at the Hunting Grounds...



If you're beautiful, then Chrono and crew must be goddamned fabulous.





Much like Slash, Flea explodes into white light.





Instead of a new weapon or something, she drops a Magic Capsule. I give it to Frog, to help increase his Healing power. He's the only one around with a magical source of it.





And here, we can go back in there and continue on.





Next time, we'll venture deeper into the Fiendlord's Keep.

Stay tuned!