Support NeoGAF

[Dreavus]

Does anyone have any advice for dealing with the boss that splits in two in the Lavos Beckons? My party keeps getting wiped out, I seem to spend every turn raising, just to have each one killed again.

I read a FAQ on GameFAQ that says it's easy since all it does is drop the iron spheres that half your life, but it also has a projectile balls attack that is the problem. :-?

They attack you with whatever you attacked them with last; I think the spheres and projectile balls are from physical attacks. I'm pretty sure their water techs suck, so just make sure to hit them with Ice water/Ice II each time they are about to attack. Or, if you have any of those elemental vests or plate, that should help too since you can just attack them with whatever element your armor will absorb.

I equipped the dark plates I had won from the creature arena on everyone, and spammed laser spin. Took a while, but they were healing me every time they attacked.

EDIT: what he said!

 

[John Dunbar]

i bought this yesterday but haven't had time to play it yet. i don't like rpgs, so i expect to hate it, but i'm just such a sad person i play famous games just to be able to say i did.

 

[SabinFigaro]

It pains me to say that the additional content found in Lost Sanctum is bullshit. What kind of fetch-questing crap is this? It's like a soulless Chrono Trigger for the express purpose of including extra content.

 

[baphometbones]

Hmmm. My party is Crono, Robo & Ayla - time for a re-think!

This may be obvious, but you do know you can switch out your party at save points right?

Of course, that's meaningless if you haven't leveled up Lucca enough to have those spells to begin with.

 

[BitchTits]

Yay. I did it with spamming Lucca's Hypnotize

I hadn't been switching out party members before only when the game requires you to do so.

 

[Nuclear Muffin]

I guess I need to grind...because

Spoiler

Lavos keeps killing me in one hit (the final one, after climbing into his shell).

I'm around level 37, where should I grind?

At no point in the game do you ever need to grind. You do however need to do the sidequests if you want to stand a chance against Lavos.

 

[Little Green Yoda]

This may be obvious, but you do know you can switch out your party at save points right?

Of course, that's meaningless if you haven't leveled up Lucca enough to have those spells to begin with.

Can't you switch out party members at any time except for during battles and certain plotlines?

I could've sworn I spammed physical attacks to beat the Twin Golems but everyone on The FAQs recommend against it lol. I'm pretty sure I burned quite a few healing items though.

 

[jaundicejuice]

It's been a long time since I last dug my SNES out of storage and hooked it back up to my TV to replay Chroono Trigger so this has been a pretty enjoyable experience to revisit on the DS. I had the Playstation version back in the day but never got to far because the loading in the game, even from the game to the menu, drove me nuts. It's kind of cool that the anime cutscenes are there but if I replay this again I think I'd just shut them off. It seems weirdly redundant to watch the anime cutscene and then see the exact same thing play out again in game.

I'm kind of shocked at how much I love all of the music in this game, just all of it, this is easily one of my favorite soundtracks out of any game I think I've played to date. The gameplay and the sprite work has aged so shockingly well. What I find that I love is that this game is so short, I'm nearing the twenty hour mark and am already at the end game. It's almost a shock given how almost every console rpg has ballooned up to anywhere from 60 to 90 hours on average over the years. Chrono Trigger is such a lean game, there's so little fat or filler to it.

It's been so much fun just blasting through this game again.

 

[Forkball]

Lavos was incredibly easy for me. Granted I did all the sidequests including Lost Sanctum, but still.

Hardest moments in the game:

That skeleton boss in the desert
LARA
Twin golems

 

[Yagharek]

Started playing this for the first time ever (yay PAL delays) today, and sunk about 3 hours into it already. The music is really good, even by todays standards (taking the 1990s cart limitations into account) and thus the tunes are really nice. Reminds me of FFIX and oglops.

Im currently up to the second (third?) section in some kind of wasteland. Not too far into it in any case. I assume the statute of limitations has expired on mentioning what time periods you go to? In any case, its my first time in

Spoiler

the future

. Battle system is really straight forward, eminently playable and more accessible even than FF7.

I think this will be living in my ds the next few months.

 

[Aru]

Twin golems

This.

I just beat the "solo" golem and it was hard.

Spoiler

Thank god that I was supposed to die to continue the game

In the SNES version I was stucked against the twin golems with no way to leave the dungeon nor grind.

I will not make the same mistake twice.
I'll save before entering the dungeon, in case I'm not powerful enough.

 

[Aru]

Finally, I beat the twin golems on my own
The guardian of the big floating mountain was also tough,

Spoiler

I had to get Chrono's final skill to beat him (and the twin golems).

For the twin golems, I thought it was impossible at first. I tried 4 times and then, when I was almost going to die after launching Chrono's ultimate technique, I saw they were only doing the same magic every turn (and Chrono is resistant to lightning). So my 2 partners were dead, I launched the technique every turn (and a mega potion to heal me, I almost died !). After 6 or 7 turns, when I ran out of MP, I won

The rest of the game is new to me, except for one of the endings (obtained by destroying Lavos in 1999, IIRC).

Can I get all the endings without restarting the game ?

 

[Mejilan]

No. You need to play via a NG+ in order to get every single ending.

 

[Red Scarlet]

Twin Golems were hard until I saw that they would mimic the element of what I would use, and I noticed I had red armor and Ruby Armor to reduce fire damage. So I just used Lucca/Fire-based attacks and they've never been a problem since (including the single one you're supposed to lose against).

 

[jaundicejuice]

Wow, I never knew you could get

Spoiler

Schala

to join your party in a New Game+ and saw a little blurb about it in a bullet point list of secrets in a FAQ. Kind acool that a game I've played and replayed over the years still has more secrets to reveal.

 

[Mejilan]

You can't. That's bullshit.

 

[jaundicejuice]

Really? That's disappointing.

 

[Mejilan]

Really. Not in any version of the game, is that character recruit-able. Chrono Trigger's General Leo.

 

[Bluth54]

Twin Golems were hard until I saw that they would mimic the element of what I would use, and I noticed I had red armor and Ruby Armor to reduce fire damage. So I just used Lucca/Fire-based attacks and they've never been a problem since (including the single one you're supposed to lose against).

The way I beat them was with the sleep spell. It actually works on them, so I would just attack one of them and put it right back to sleep.

 

[ajfoucault]

If only Square-Enix sided with just one band... like they did on the 5th generation (when they sided with Sony and its PlayStation)... I could just buy one console... but now, they force us to own a PSP (Crisis Core, FF Tactics, Dissidia... ) a Nintendo DS (Final Fantasy III, Chrono Trigger), a PS3 (Final Fantasy XIII) and an Xbox 360 (Star Ocean 4...) U__U

 

[Mejilan]

Thank you for that relevant and insightful post. Also, you CAN get SO4 and FFXIII on the same console...

 

[Red Scarlet]

The way I beat them was with the sleep spell. It actually works on them, so I would just attack one of them and put it right back to sleep.

I'll give that a try next time. I don't think I've ever used the sleep spell in this game.

If only Square-Enix sided with just one band... like they did on the 5th generation (when they sided with Sony and its PlayStation)... I could just buy one console... but now, they force us to own a PSP (Crisis Core, FF Tactics, Dissidia... ) a Nintendo DS (Final Fantasy III, Chrono Trigger), a PS3 (Final Fantasy XIII) and an Xbox 360 (Star Ocean 4...) U__U

Okay.

 

[jaundicejuice]

Hey, maybe the kid is just sore that he has to mow some more lawns than usual.

 

[Segata Sanshiro]

If only Square-Enix sided with just one band... like they did on the 5th generation (when they sided with Sony and its PlayStation)... I could just buy one console... but now, they force us to own a PSP (Crisis Core, FF Tactics, Dissidia... ) a Nintendo DS (Final Fantasy III, Chrono Trigger), a PS3 (Final Fantasy XIII) and an Xbox 360 (Star Ocean 4...) U__U

If FFXIII is the only reason you feel you need a PS3, you can probably scratch that one off your list.

 

[jaundicejuice]

What was the deal with the end cinematic?

Spoiler

Lucca just stumbles across a baby that popped out of a time gate, grabs it and walks off.

 

[B.K.]

What was the deal with the end cinematic?

Spoiler

Lucca just stumbles across a baby that popped out of a time gate, grabs it and walks off.

Someone didn't play Chrono Cross.

Spoiler

That was Kid. Lucca found her and raised her, until she was killed by Lynx.

 

[Wii Will Rock U]

Someone didn't play Chrono Cross.

Spoiler

That was Kid. Lucca found her and raised her, until she was killed by Lynx.

Bingo.

I was just beaten in providing the answer.

 

[Mejilan]

What was the deal with the end cinematic?

Spoiler

Lucca just stumbles across a baby that popped out of a time gate, grabs it and walks off.

If you follow the Chrono Cross links,

Spoiler

Lucca eventually converts her home into an orphanage. That child is Kid, one of the more important characters in Chrono Cross, and that pendant is the Astral Amulet, which Kid eventually gives to Serge, the main hero of Chrono Cross. Kid, by the way, is supposed to be a clone of Schala, or some such.

Kid's primary motivation for the early parts of Chrono Cross is to seek vengeance against Lynx for Lucca's murder.

I wouldn't ask too many questions, as you'll start getting into the "OMG-CC-fucking-ruins-CT" territory. Of course, it's also pretty easy to shrug away, since both CT and CC discuss the concept of alternate futures. For me, CC is merely one of many potential futures. I'm more inclined to go with some of the happy-go-lucky futures depicted in many of CT's endings, rather than accept that the CC chain-of-events as the only possible future.

 

[jaundicejuice]

I have played Chrono Cross, it was just a long ass time ago. I remember the bit about

Spoiler

Lucca starting an orphange but not baby Kid popping out of thin air

.

Thanks Mej, that's kind of a confusing answer though, I apparently need to replay Cross.

 

[Mejilan]

Well, I'm not that far into CC myself. I'm currently playing it on the PSP. So I'm not too sure exactly how (or if) that Lucca/Kid connection is fully explained. I don't blame you for being confused though. The narrative and story delivery in Chrono Cross is very, very crudely implemented. At least, so far. CT's narrative was much tighter and more palatable. Even on the SNES, but especially with this new translation.

For all I know, CT's ending anime sequence is the first time that event is depicted exactly. But still, there's no doubt about the identity of that baby (or her pendant) in that anime scene.

If you continue playing through the extra content in CT DS,

Spoiler

you'll find even more CT/CC ties, such as that whole Dalton/Porre/Guardia nonsense, and the Magus/Schala+Lavos/Time Devourer super-nonsense!

 

[Asherdude]

I just picked this up last week. And I have never played it before. Back in the 16-bit days, I was a stubborn Sega fanboy. I wouldn't look at anything Nintendo. Sad, I know. But thanks to my past short sightedness, I'm getting to play Chrono Trigger for the first time! Sweet!

 

[Mejilan]

I just picked this up last week. And I have never played it before. Back in the 16-bit days, I was a stubborn Sega fanboy. I wouldn't look at anything Nintendo. Sad, I know. But thanks to my past short sightedness, I'm getting to play Chrono Trigger for the first time! Sweet!

Back in the SNES/Genny days, I had a buddy like you. Well, more a neighbor than anything else. Ahhh, I remember how he gloated the day he finally managed to get Lunar 2 for his Sega CD (As far as Sega went, I only had a SMS and Genesis, I never bought into the SCD and 32X rubbish). I remember when he booted it up, and casted a mega-healing spell with Ronfar, I think it was. He floats up into the air, glows, and casts his spell, before dropping back down to the earth. All very crudely done, with very poor sprite-animation*.

I invited him over, popped in Chrono Trigger, and showed him Crono's Luminaire animation. Anyone who's seen in it knows how awesome the float/levitation animation is when Luminaire is unleash.

The crushed look on his face was delicious.

* Disclaimer: I love Lunar and its sequel. Fanatastic RPGs, on the whole. But when it comes to battle special effects... not too strong. Especially the SCD version.

 

[jaundicejuice]

It's been a long time since I last played Chrono Cross but I recall the connection to Trigger is pretty thin. I still loved that game, especially the soundtrack, Scars of Time is probably one of my favorite pieces of gaming music.

It would be sweet if this port of Trigger sold well and Cross received similar treatment as a PSP port. It would be great to have the series revived because of the success of both ports.

 

[Mejilan]

"Thin" doesn't begin to describe it. I'm about 30 hours into the game now, the farthest I've ever been in my 4 or 5 fresh attempts to complete it, thus far. It basically looks, feels, and plays like nothing even remotely resembling Chrono Trigger. Even the setting is completely foreign, except for the occasional Porre/Guardia name-drop. But since, apparently, you never really leave the El Nido Archipelago for the Zenan continent, even that feels like little more than a desperate grab for the familiar.

I'm actually planning on whipping up a new Chrono Cross thread once I'm done with my playthrough, so I think I'll hold off on posting any more about CC in this thread.

 

[Aru]

No. You need to play via a NG+ in order to get every single ending.

What ? Really ?
Then, what's the difference of beating Lavos in each possible way ?

Spoiler

I counted:
- Beat Lavos in year -65 000 000 (on the ship)
- Beat Lavos in year -12 000 (on the ship)
- Beat Lavos in year 600 (on the ship)
- Beat Lavos in year 1000 (on the ship)
- Beat Lavos in year 1999 (via the Ibis)
- Beat Lavos in year 1999 (via the portal)
- Beat Lavos in year 2300 (on the ship)
- Beat Lavos without resurrecting Chrono
- Lose against Lavos in year 1999

 

[Red Scarlet]

It's "point in the story", not "1 per time period".

 

[kiryogi]

For me, CC is merely one of many potential futures. I'm more inclined to go with some of the happy-go-lucky futures depicted in many of CT's endings, rather than accept that the CC chain-of-events as the only possible future.

Sure it's a happy ending on that end, but that never resolved the very thing Cross did.

Spoiler

Poor Schala's fate.

 

[Aru]

It's "point in the story", not "1 per time period".

Really ?
Then the choice of the time period is just bullshit ?

 

[Red Scarlet]

You can get X ending from whatever time period mostly, it depends on how far in the game you are to get the ending. What way you get to the boss doesn't matter when there are multiple ways to fight him, it just depends on what you've done in the game so far when you go to fight him again.

 

[Aru]

You can get X ending from whatever time period mostly, it depends on how far in the game you are to get the ending. What way you get to the boss doesn't matter when there are multiple ways to fight him, it just depends on what you've done in the game so far when you go to fight him again.

Okay.
Will I keep my stats when I start a NG+ ?
Because I think it'd be tough to beat Lavos with a lower level :lol (I tried to go to year 1999 and I was beaten in 1 turn :/)

 

[Mejilan]

You'll keep just about everything when you start a NG+. Levels, stats, items, equipment (minus story-related key items and special equipment such as the Hero's Badge, Masamune, etc.) I think your Techs might reset too, but I could be wrong on that note. I haven't NG+'ed in over a decade.

Yeah, when (time period) you fight Lavos isn't as important so much as when (in the story) you fight him. Notice how during key events the game's "chapter" heading (as shows up on the save screen) changes? Many of those new chapter headings represent a new ending/variant. You can get many of the endings in that initial run-through, once you have access to the End of Time bucket and/or Epoch. And if you're actually strong enough to beat the last boss.

But some of the endings are only available by fighting Lavos before you have access to the Epoch or the End of Time bucket. For those, special portals to Lavos are added to the game, but only if you're in a NG+ run-through. For example, if you start a NG+, you might notice an odd blue sparkle next to Lucca's teleporters in the Millennial Fair. Investigate that sparkle and you'll open up a special portal that'll take you straight to Lavos. You can potentially fight Lavos within the first few minutes of a NG+.

 

[Aru]

You'll keep just about everything when you start a NG+. Levels, stats, items, equipment (minus story-related key items and special equipment such as the Hero's Badge, Masamune, etc.) I think your Techs might reset too, but I could be wrong on that note. I haven't NG+'ed in over a decade.

Yeah, when (time period) you fight Lavos isn't as important so much as when (in the story) you fight him. Notice how during key events the game's "chapter" heading (as shows up on the save screen) changes? Many of those new chapter headings represent a new ending/variant. You can get many of the endings in that initial run-through, once you have access to the End of Time bucket and/or Epoch. And if you're actually strong enough to beat the last boss.

But some of the endings are only available by fighting Lavos before you have access to the Epoch or the End of Time bucket. For those, special portals to Lavos are added to the game, but only if you're in a NG+ run-through. For example, if you start a NG+, you might notice an odd blue sparkle next to Lucca's teleporters in the Millennial Fair. Investigate that sparkle and you'll open up a special portal that'll take you straight to Lavos. You can potentially fight Lavos within the first few minutes of a NG+.

Okay, thanks
It's a bit strange, they changed the name of some characters in the french version of the game.
Melchior = Bosch (is this some kind of ad for the brand of the same name ? :lol)
Epoch = Ibis
Slash = Soja (WTF ???)
Flea = Mayo (ahem...)
And the third general's name is Vinnie (can't remember his name in the US SNES version)

Has anyone seen the new ending that was made for the DS version ? The one that actually explains the link between CT and CC ? How is it (spoiler free please) ?

 

[Mejilan]

Ozzie.

And ending #13 added to the DS version of the game is a bit of a travesty. It has more to do with Chrono Cross than Chrono Trigger, in most respects. In my eyes, it falls under the "Chrono Cross as a possible future" side of the equation, with a very pathetic attempt at explaining why Magus was left as a loose end in CC (despite being in Radical Dreamers and obviously having been intended to be in CC). I don't consider it as providing any real closure to CT.

Instead of reinforcing the already tenuous ties between CC and CT, it just makes things seem even more forced and silly.

 

[Taurus]

I just can't believe the amount of awesomeness this game contains.

-No annoying random battles. Basically at all.
-Non-fighting party members level up too.
-No grinding needed.
-Multiple endings.
-Several other small things I can't remember right now.

I can't believe how advanced this game is. It's like I'm playing a game from the future, which actually comes from the past. What a brilliant, brilliant game. <3

 

[Aru]

I just can't believe the amount of awesomeness this game contains.

-No annoying random battles. Basically at all.
-Non-fighting party members level up too.
-No grinding needed.
-Multiple endings.
-Several other small things I can't remember right now.

I can't believe how advanced this game is. It's like I'm playing a game from the future, which actually comes from the past. What a brilliant, brilliant game. <3

Not so sure about that. Most of the game doesn't need grinding, but the bosses from the -12000 era and onwards are pretty tough to beat. It must be possible without grinding, but I couldn't beat the guardian of the floating mountain without Chrono's last skill and a few more levels (up to level 37 I believe).

 

[SabinFigaro]

I've always found that I learned Luminaire by the time I face Giga Gaia. Afterall, there are tons of Rubble on the way for a reason. While CT allows you to actively avoid many battles, it certainly doesn't mean you should. By fighting most of the battles along the way, I've never been in an instance where I was under-leveled. I think this specific design was more for subsequent playthroughs, where fighting weaker creatures is irrelevant.

 

[Swordian]

What ? Really ?
Then, what's the difference of beating Lavos in each possible way ?

Spoiler

I counted:
- Beat Lavos in year -65 000 000 (on the ship)
- Beat Lavos in year -12 000 (on the ship)
- Beat Lavos in year 600 (on the ship)
- Beat Lavos in year 1000 (on the ship)
- Beat Lavos in year 1999 (via the Ibis)
- Beat Lavos in year 1999 (via the portal)
- Beat Lavos in year 2300 (on the ship)
- Beat Lavos without resurrecting Chrono
- Lose against Lavos in year 1999

You can't fight Lavos in 65,000,000 BC. The Black Omen only appears in 12,000 BC and all the times after that. You also can't enter the Black Omen in 2300 AD.

Here is the list of ending conditions: Clicky

Most of these are only possible in NG+ because you need the special warp to Lavos that becomes available at the Millennial Fair and you need to be a high enough level to win.

 

[Red Scarlet]

I completely forgot I got this when it came out. May as well go through.

 

[Mejilan]

Not so sure about that. Most of the game doesn't need grinding, but the bosses from the -12000 era and onwards are pretty tough to beat. It must be possible without grinding, but I couldn't beat the guardian of the floating mountain without Chrono's last skill and a few more levels (up to level 37 I believe).

CT is probably one of the most grind-less RPGs ever. Proper application of equipment and tech strategies can easily make up for lower levels. On that note, the max level in this game is 99 or 100 (I forget), but you can easily beat the game at 1/3 of that. Lower if you're REALLY good.

 

[Red Scarlet]

Giga Gaia is pretty easy with Falcon Slash and/or the Ice Throw abils, at least that's why I typically used.

What's this arena thing about? How's it work/is it any decent for anything?