Part 32: Update Thirty One: Felling The Fiendlord

Update Thirty One: Felling The Fiendlord

Welcome back, folks. Last time, on Chrono Trigger, we completed our trip through Magus' Keep and defeated Ozzie, his final general. Today, we'll be taking on the main mage himself, so let's bounce.



Once we enter this room, there's no going back. We're going to be facing the Fiendlord, for better or worse.



Pure blackness awaits us when we enter.



Apparently we've entered while the ritual is still going on; Ozzie's estimation that Magus had finished was off by a little bit, it seems.

For the anime version of this scene, click here!



As we move forward, these blue flames alight on either side of us.





It seems that when Lavos rises and kills everyone, he's simply collecting his due from Magus.







Thank goodness we arrived before Magus could complete his summoning. Maybe we can save the world.





Magus doesn't seem surprised to see us.



Oh, you'll see how he's been in just a minute, Magus.



Magus will soon be hoist by his own petard.







"Other than the two you brought with you, of course."



If that's not something you utter before being ready to kick their ass, I don't know what is.





Let's dance.



Magus' animations are fantastic, and you should really watch the video to see them.

To see this fight in video form, click here! It's definitely recommended viewing.



And instead of regular boss music, we get that song. Click that link or get the hell out of here. Easily one of the best songs in the game, and one of the best in gaming, period.



Alright, this is where the game stops pulling its punches. Slash and Flea were tough boss fights, yes, but Magus is our hardest challenge thus far.





He also has 6,666 HP to tear through, and insane physical defense. However, Frog should spend as much time as he can physically attacking Magus.



As it drops his Magic Defense, which is where we'll deal a good chunk of our damage from.



He's also got a ton of goddamned attacks.



In this one, several spirits fly past the party, dealing damage and inflicting Sap.



As you can see, it's not a lot of damage, but the Sap is where it can be dangerous. His other attacks hurt like all hell, and Sap could very well tick down the last vestiges of your HP.



Expect a few different action shots of Frog attacking Magus.



Here's the main gimmick of the fight; Magus normally absorbs all elements, but when he performs his barrier change, he'll use a spell of that element, and he'll be vulnerable to it.





For Shadow, he casts Shadowbomb on a single character. This is a bit of a mercy, as the other elemental attacks hit everyone.





Healing a single character is a lot easier than doing the whole party.



If you watch the video, you can see me accidentally throw a Mid-Potion at Lucca first.



Magus isn't limited to just magic, however.



He, about as often as I remember a music link, will smack a character physically. He uses a scythe to attack with, by the way. Have they established that he's evil?



Whacking him will make him change his barrier.



Care to guess what his lightning elemental spell is?



Bet you didn't guess Lightning II!



Not a ton of damage, but if you get careless, this can add up quickly.



Being vulnerable to Lightning, Chrono counters with his own second-level Light spell.





He switches his barrier to Fire, which works out well for me.



He uses Fire II, which blasts out this red ring to start with.



And then a series of explosions.



All in all, not too bad.





Before Lucca lights him up, I take the chance to lower his Magic Defense just a touch more.



And she then throws a napalm bomb at his crotch. I love Lucca.







He now switches to Water, where he uses Ice II.



Two gigantic ice blocks, one from each side of the screen, come in to crush the party.





And he pretty well immediately follows it up with Hell Geyser.



Which seems like as good a time as any to pull this out. A Lapis restores 200 HP to the entire party.



You can't actually see his scythe here, but I could accept Magus physically striking someone with a slash of magic energy.



I also have these; they cast Shell on a single party member, reducing the magic damage they take by a third. Frog and Chrono will get the two I have, since Lucca is pretty sturdy against magical assaults.





Water being effective means that we bust out the Swordstream.







And the fool busts out water again.



So we Swordstream his ass again.



Not as effective as last time, but we're taken down a good chunk of his HP.



Enough for him to enter his second phase.



Physical attacks are now fully effective, and the Masamune will no longer lower his Magic Defense.







His ultimate magic attack isn't an instant-kill, but it does deal a lot of goddamned damage.







Lucca blasts at him, too, even though he's not absorbing elements anymore. I'm still not very good at video games.



X-Strike is my preferred method of damage now, mostly because of the pretty X it makes here.





Oh, hell. This is it. Frog and Chrono have their barriers up, thankfully.





He summons a triangle full of stars.



A smaller triangle appears inside of it before bursting into painful Shadow damage.



Dark Matter is a scary attack, but nothing you can't recover from. Heal is pretty valuable here.



Did you think I was lying earlier when I said she throws these things into his crotch?





By the way, at this point in the fight, he'll be constantly charging up for Dark Matter. Just pile on the damage, keep your HP high, and you'll come out on top. When he starts this phase, you've got him on the ropes.



A Barrier Sphere won't last the entire fight, but the while it did last was still helpful.





Chrono countered that attack, which amuses me infinitely.



However, let's end this fight. Magus put up a good fight, but not good enough.





And our rewards are very nice; we get 3000g, too.



Fittingly, Frog gains a level from this fight.



And learns a new Tech.



He and Lucca pick up a Double Tech.



Frog and Chrono also learn their final Double Tech, which had a much cooler name in the SNES version; Spire. I won't rant and rave about it here, but rest assured, I'm doing it.





After we defeat him, the blue fires go out.





And...Something happens in the background.





I hope not, but I'll kill him too, if he rears his ugly head.



Frog and Chrono ready for another fight, while Lucca continues to (understandably) panic.





Wait, what?





If Magus only summoned Lavos...



That means Lavos has been here far longer than we ever imagined.







What the hell would a Gate be doing here?





Aw, crap.









The Gate appears, twisting our characters around the room as it grows larger and larger.









Everyone present is swept into the massive Gate.



And it closes, sending us to who knows where.







Oh, God, what now!?







...Just where the hell did that Gate send us?



And why is Marle acting like Chrono's Mom?



Marle, I think that's the point of being a princess; you've got a king to mooch off of. Enjoy it!



Much like Chrono's Mom, Marle walks away, assuming he'll get up.



Damn, she's on to him!



Very on to him.







...Oh, wait, it was just Chrono have a dream. About being married to Marle and her annoying his ass.



At least we're in a familiar time period.



With our favorite cave lady.



And she missed us, so she went to see if we were back at the mountain.



Ayla is fantastic, she really is.





That's right! If we were sent here, Magus must be around!



Before saying this, Ayla just glances over at Frog, staring at him.





In the SNES, Frog refers to Magus as the "blue haired one" and Ayla goes, "Blue hair more tasty?" which amuses me more than that.

There's been some discussion in the thread about why we who first played this with the SNES Woolsey prefer that over this new translation. It's not entirely nostalgia, even though I'm sure that factors heavily into it. The SNES translation was a little looser about its dialog and story, retaining the elements of it, but presenting it in a less serious manner. It's not that the new translation is bad, because it isn't; it just took a game we all were used to that had a goofy and funny script and made it more serious. It's a bit of a switch from what we knew and loved before.



Anywho, Magus isn't around here.



Frog puts the Masamune away.



And how can we get much more ancient than this?



Ayla's right, though. We're still kind of busted up from our fight from Magus.



Ayla takes off, giving us time to rest.





And rest we do.



As we prepare to leave, Kino rushes in with news.



And the war with the Reptites has reached its apex; it's either them or humanity.





A villager rushes in with news for Kino; if you'll recall, Kino is pretty much Chief when Ayla isn't around.



The northern woods is ablaze. It must be the Reptites.



Kino and the villager rush out.



Our party follows, but we'll see the damage next update.

Stay tuned!

Bonus Content

If we lose against Magus, there's a little scene afterward that's different from what usually happens after you die.









With our party defeated and the bodies still there, Magus returns to the ritual.





And the screen fades to black...