Part 9: Chrono Trigger

So I'm going to do some random stuff and see what happens. At this point, your party can be anyone and everyone, with the only caveats being that Cecil must be in the party, and of course you're still limited to five people.



First off, I actually did this off-screen in the previous update before reloading and deciding to show it off here. So what's the deal with the Serpent Road?





Oh hey Evil Wall.

As far as I can tell it doesn't actually seem to Crush people for instant death anymore. It's merely strong physical attacks with gradual petrification counters to magic.



Cecil picks up Shell, so that's nice.



What?...
There's no other way!
Thank you for all you've done for us!







And that's how Palom and Porom leave the party. Note Cecil doesn't say anything else, and the Elder doesn't seem to give a shit about them this nice since his dialogue doesn't change.


Anyway this may be curable but I have no clue how so, uh, r.i.p. Palom and Porom!





Anyway, the Serpent Road is now available. We have to fight Trap Doors to enter each area, but otherwise, these certainly exist!

...I still don't know why I wouldn't just use an airship instead. Speaking of which!







...I think the hacker is a bit of a fan of British science fiction. Call it a hunch.





So now we have the Enterprise, and with it the Hovercraft Hook to access Eblan and Mythril Caves.



First thing, back to Damn Cyan and his damn Bushido taking forever to load.



Now that we have empty party slots because we convinced some children to get stoned, we can actually do something with Edward's weirdo behavior.



See for yourself, here she comes!



Welp, can't argue with that.



Edward! Don't go! Don't leave me alone!
But Cecil needs my help to stop Golbez from taking over the world... Don't you want me to help? Don't you want me to be brave and show my courage?
No! Don't go! I want you to stay here with me...







You were right, she's some kind of evil spirit possessing Anna! My song will trap her here while you take her out!
Right!





It's never explained who exactly this spirit is.



She hits hard, though, and can silence, charm, and stun you.





Also Hug, which heals a character to full but petrifies them.



Cecil and Edge just can't take the punishment faux-Anna gives. Kain is a tank in the back row, though, so he fares better.



Also, don't get too angry, but I actually used an Elixir! One less for the final boss, I know. To be fair, the majority of the damage Kain took was from a charmed Edge spamming black magic.



Anyway, the funny thing about Hug. If the character is immune to petrification (which Kain happens to be thanks to his Aegis Shield), the full heal still triggers despite the petrification being blocked.



Between that and the fact that faux-Anna can't actually do much damage to a nicely-geared back-row Kain, and Kain easily wins the battle of attrition.



Edward... Do not let Golbez have dominion over the Earth. You loved me. Now, give your love to all of your people.
I will, Anna... I promise!



yay Edward's back I guess.



Requiem is a holy-elemental harp that of course wrecks zombies. It's mainly a nice stop-gap for Edward between when he left the party and when you get his ultimate harps.

As we'll see later, Edward's actually a lot better now. He's definitely not his After Years "Heal everyone 4000HP in one round" self, but he's still pretty damn handy to have.



Anyway I figure I'd pick Rydia up next because, well, why not. She's my favorite character in the game and all.



This one is kinda weird and trippy and otherwise plays itself out.





It's a series of dream sequences, with Rydia soloing a couple of fights.



Even the stronger bombs do very little to Rydia. She aces this easily.

Rydia's also picked up several new summons from level adjustments. Piscodemon is the "Mage" optional summon from the original.





This fight is even more of a joke.





This is the Bombing of Mist, this time from Rydia's perspective.



We defeated the dragon so her mother is gone also!



He would want us to do away with her too!



Let's take her!!



We're not going to see Titan and the resulting landslide here.



Instead let's watch Rydia get pushed off a mountain.



And...Zeromus?



Golbez...?



It's more powerful than anything we've ever seen! Cecil, we have to stop him! I'm better now and I can help! Please let me come along!
This will be a very dangerous mission. Are you sure, Rydia?
I'm sure. Golbez must pay! Besides, I know I'll be safe with you... You've proven that... and...





Aww.



Anyway, Rydia's unchanged from before other than more levels and a nice large MP pool. But let's check out Edward real quick.



He's picked up a song to recover MP and a song that gives everyone Blink. Edward's songs take a long time to go off, but they're definitely worth the wait!







He also picked up Regen, which regularly heals everyone 100HP for the rest of the battle. It's frequent enough to be solid gradual healing and certainly makes random encounters less of a chore!





Our last destination for today is Eblan. We checked it out earlier, and people were freaking out about the cave to the west.



First floor is the same as the original, with no real exciting loot either.



The enemies are a tad different, though.



Which is fine, since Edge's bolt-elemental Murakumo and Ramuh tear through these guys easily.



Cecil's still picking up more White Magic.

Once we get to the second floor, things change...





It's like we're in some kind of giant robot! This must be where the monsters invading Eblan are coming from!
Let's investigate.



So yeah, we're in the freaking Giant of Babil now. Yeah, sure, why not.

The layout hasn't really changed, so it's just the dungeon over again, except with different loot.



There's two chests guarded with Last Arms. The first one holds a Defender, this time a holy-elemental Knight Sword for Paladin Cecil. Of course, it casts Protect as an item and boosts Vitality by a hefty 15.



The Yoichi Bow is the penultimate one and is very effective against Reptiles and Slimes. Shame Rosa's not in the party.



The other guarded chest is the Gungnir, the third-strongest spear. Its only interesting aspect is its effectiveness against robots, but to be fair that's pretty convenient for this dungeon.



No refight against the fiends here!





Oh hey, look who's not dead.



Lugae! I thought we finished you off in the tower!
Wee-hee-hee! You can't get rid of me! Soon my masterpiece will be ready to emergy and wreak havoc on the overworld! Behold! The Giant of Babil!
Not if we stop you right here and now!
Yikes!







This fight's pretty much unchanged from the original.



Defender has to go out, of course.



Thankfully the damage from Maser is manageable.





Also thankfully Kain ruins its day.





New spells for Rydia and Cecil.





And so we went.

Eblan's forces are decimated and Lugae is still out there. I'm sorry, Cecil, but I have to stay here. My people need their prince.
Of course. You've been a great help and I know Eblan will be safe in your hands!

And thus Edge leaves the party. At least he didn't have to kill himself.







Also we get the Chrono Trigger, no big deal, nothing special.



Only one way to find out. Thanks, Edge.



Next time, maybe I'll activate it and bring Crono back from the dead...? Also I still need to fill a slot and decide whether or not to keep Kain in favor of some other random ally, who even knows what the hell is going on anymore, I sure don't.