Part 3: Link to the Past

So immediately after being thrust out of the mysterious portal, Crono's forced to contend with these guys. Definitely a different breed from the beetles and mushrooms and giant singing robot cats we've dealt with until now.



They're still fodder for Crono, though.



There's no music here, wherever we are.



There's another encounter that pops up here, but no biggie.



No.

This gives +2 Power. Can't hurt at this point, honestly.



The last encounter is optional and would essentially involve us being a jerk and ruining these guys' good time. So instead leave and see if we can find Marle.

Longing of the Wind



Huh... This looks familiar, yet very different. Maybe let's start with the town.



So all that townfolk chatter about stuff from 400 years ago? Oddly relevant now. It seems Crono (and hopefully Marle) has jumped back 400 years. Crono surprisingly takes this with stride, though I guess after being the first human being to experience teleportation, time travel is nothing to him.



As you may remember, 600AD had some strife involving a powerful wizard. That doesn't really concern us right now though, our main objective is to find Marle and then, uh...

Look, let's just find Marle and hope everything works itself out.





I lost it when the Queen disappeared. I just couldn't keep working on the bell. But now it's back to business as usual!



Banta is an anagram of Taban, Lucca's father.







Shop inventories in this game follow the rule of "We sell every character's weapons no matter how nonsensical it may seem for the situation". Good enough for me.



The inn has a good chunk of information and exposition.





No:

Lovely... We NEED more ignorant strangers around here...

Yes:



What a lovely guy.



Really, 600AD is filled with some very rude people. I guess it took until the 800's for manners to be invented.



She must be glad to be home!

There was an uproar recently about the queen being abducted or whatever, but it seems they found her just before we got here, and in the same mountains Crono came from, no less.



After this conversation, some random straggler pops in.



After buying him a round...



Sake in the original, Cider here because Nintendo.



Thanks! It's about the missing Queen. She disappeared while visiting that cathedral to the west, and...



I was sure there was something fishy about that cathedral...

Huh... So she disappeared near the western cathedral, yet reappeared in the mountains on the other side of the continent.

You've probably deduced things by now, not that there's really many options to exhaust here.





We all thought Magus had grabbed her. Thank goodness she's safe!



We also can't explore the Porre area in this era.



Those weird chests are still scattered all over, and we still can't open them.





I'm sure this would've led to the bridge still being out in the modern area had they not bothered to keep it intact instead. But it looks like now they'll be fixing it anyway.



Let's take a break and admire the view.

Pretty much everything in Chrono Trigger gets love, but one underrated aspect are its backgrounds. The dark mountains or clouds or whatever painting a dark and gloomy picture, yet there's enough light to give hope for a better future around the corner, one where we get to play Chrono Trigger (or rather, I play it and you guys watch).



Let's go to church.

Manoria Cathedral



The sisters here are friendly, yet seem...odd.

We want nothing but world peace... Or a piece of the world, tee, hee...

You might like to stick around for the organ recital. It's a real killer!

People wouldn't know what to do with themselves in a truly peaceful world! My, what delicious, er... I mean, delightful looking humans!



See what I mean? Maybe they should go outside a bit more.



Otherwise, there's nothing worth investigating here, so we're left checking out the castle. First, the forest.

Secret of the Forest



The forest has the exact same layout, though the colors lean more brown than green. The Beetles and Hetakes are replaced with Imps and Polies.



I like the slowdown spin Crono has post-Cyclone, so I decided to show it off half-speed. Just one of those things you only really notice when going through game video with a fine-toothed comb.





Otherwise, this forest has a couple "gotcha" moments to keep you on your guard and make you a bit more suspicious about everything. You can find a power tab here, but the other shining object just leads to a battle with Roly Riders.



This guy drops a Shelter and respawns every time you revisit the forest, but another shaking bush triggers an encounter.



Blue Eaglets exist and do things.



Thanks!



Nowhere to go now but Guardia Castle.

Courage and Pride



Check out that hair! Where're you from, son? Are you one of Magus's troopers?
Hardly! This kid never would have made the cut! Show us your stamp collection, son!
Har, har! Now beat it, shrimp!







Finally, someone who isn't immediately a jerk to Crono.



But there's something odd about him!



You refuse to obey my orders?!
Forgive me, my lady! Please enter, Sir!





This time, Crono gets free reign of exploring the castle.





First off, the soldiers are of course concerned about the ongoing war against Magus.



Of course, there's all sorts of nasty creatures over on this continent, too.





No:

You don't know of Sir Cyrus?! From which land do you come? Or are you simply a fool?

Yes:

If HE were here, this whole mess with the Queen would never have happened.



He and a friend left on a journey 10 years ago. No one has heard from them since.

Cyrus still looms heavily over this kingdom even a decade later.



So you're the one who helped the Queen. Talk to the maid if you need to rest.



On the other side is the dining hall and kitchen.



What's the scale here, though? 4, 5, 2, what?





A happy ending.



Crono can also eat. He'll do that after he bothers people doing their jobs.





Wait! Maybe you'd know! What's this "Eyes Cream" stuff that Queen Leene wants so badly?

Urgh...

Apparently it's a crepe that Marle asks for in the Japanese version, but I don't know what pun if any that represents there.



Upon nearing the exit, the Knight Captain and his guard appear.



Oh, Captain! I'm sorry...
We're fighting a war out there! Can't you even keep us fed?



Hey, I don't have time for this. Just feed my men, okay?





Uh, yikes.







So basically they're two solid guys trying to do their best, yet since they're brothers they always get on each others' nerves. Alright, then.



And considering how much everyone won't shut up about how great Cyrus is, the Knight Captain's in a very difficult spot in particular.





It's hard to imagine this guy as a pacifist.



This is all stupid let's eat some freaking food.

https://mp4.mega64.net/ct/03/115.mp4

Now I want to see how they prepare this dish.



Guardia is a long line, indeed.





OK.



But can you tell me what happened? Leene's acting rather odd. And she seems to have lost her coral pin, which is something she guarded with her life...



King Guardia XXI is a pretty swell and chill guy. He just gets overshadowed by, well, every other character in this era.

Also apparently Crono saved Leene's life...somehow. Look, it got us in here, let's just roll with it, OK?





Also the King and Queen sleep on opposite ends of the tower for whatever reason.



Both towers are pretty high, with a few treasures here and there, including another sealed chest.





The Chancellor is also acting fishy.



Heard a spell turned him into a frog. Do you believe that? I think he's a spy!

I... What!?



The Chancellor's a decent man. Why, he goes to the cathedral everyday.

That's a lot of fishy stuff that seems to revolve around that cathedral.



Armor upgrade for Crono.

Let's check on the Queen. Something ain't right here.





In fact, she looks even younger now than on her wedding day...







Certainly, your Highness.





Uhhhhhhh





It's me! But everyone calls me, Leene!

Yep. When Marle popped out of the time portal, everyone assumed she was Leene, and as Marle usually does in an odd situation, she just kinda rolled with it.

Far Off Promise



We barely know each other, but somehow, I knew you'd come for me...



Yeah, the bond between Crono and Marle is a little slapdash and a tad unrealistic at first, but it's a jRPG so somebody's gotta hook up (plus it works out later).

SILENCE





W, what's happening?! It feels like...I'm being torn apart!

https://mp4.mega64.net/ct/03/154.mp4

Well...that probably wasn't good.



Yeah, there's the whole "not actually the queen" and "completely disappearing from existance" things that seem a bit off.

Just as I thought! She claims she's not Leene! There's something...different about her.





Of course not! Crono's a perfect gentlemen.



Don't worry, I'll show off the other answer with the later Jerk Crono Path.



You and me both.

Anyway, Marle's gone now, so...now what?

Courage and Pride





Oh, hey Lucca. Wait...Lucca?



I knew I recognized her!



I'll bet they mistook that girl for her ancestor... You see, she's a member of the royal family in OUR time!





Wait... the Princess Nadia?

In Japanese it's Marledia, though it'd change based on what you chose to name Marle.





Queen Leene has been kidnapped. As I recall, someone was supposed to have saved her. But history has been changed!



Marle looks so much like Leene, that they probably called off their search when she appeared here. But if the real Queen is killed...



...Marle will simply disappear. There might still be time! If we can save Leene, history as we know it should remain unchanged!



Hurry! We have to find the real Queen!



At this point, Lucca joins the party.

Lucca is the gun user, and she has the same damage formula as Marle, meaning she's one of the weaker attackers, though she also has that 20% crit rate. In close range, she attacks with her hammer.

The SightScope shows an enemy's HP. It's alright, but there's so many better accessories out there.

Battle 1



Let's show off Lucca in battle. I don't have an animation for her hammer attack yet, maybe next update though.



The Roly Rider has quite the interesting attack animation.





These guys give good TP, so Lucca quickly picks up Flame Toss, unlocking her first Double Tech with Crono, Fire Whirl (Flame Toss + Cyclone).



Flame Toss does (LVL + MAG) * 2.4 + RND damage to all enemies in a straight line between Lucca and the target. That means the target matters, since if Lucca targets the enemy closest to her, she may miss out hurting enemies further out!

Shockingly enough, Flame Toss is fire-elemental. There's only four elements in this game, Fire, Ice, Lightning/Heaven, and Shadow.



Flame Whirl essentially adds the damage from Cyclone and Flame Toss together, so it's not different from using them independently, except Cyclone will generally hit a lot of more enemies with its AoE effect than Flame Toss will, so it's still handy to use.



We could just search some more, but everything points to the cathedral being suspicious, so next time we'll investigate and hopefully find and save the real Queen Leene!