I remember this being more annoying than it was. All you had to do was bring one ameba sprout to the eye monster, via color-coordinated aromas (yes, colored aromas). I was a dumb ten-year-old.
So I do that, which leads me to meet a comrade of Karsh, Noah, WHO TALKS IN ALL CAPS, accompanied by Peppor and Solt. They poorly introduce us to summons, fail, and tell each other that the field grid wasn't the correct color, which is needed before a summon can be used. We're so far away from the first summon of the game being used, so this is a terrible time to show us the concept. Regardless, it's another simple fight, causing Noah to allow us past and enter Viper Manor. Unfortunately, I couldn’t switch out Leena with Nikki, so the poor boy will never find what he sought in the manor. We come to the bottom of a well, where we hang around until nightfall.
When the two moons raise (where there two moons in CT?), we make our way up and into the manor. As we go to the front door, we find it’s not only well guarded; but locked. The guards we can kill, but a lock is all powerful. Exploring the grounds, we come upon a dragon stable. They use dragons instead of horses in this world, you see. The hostler has been waiting for new groundskeepers to show up, and, as we were in Fossil Valley, are totally qualified to help here. Feeding the dragons is a requirement, but if you feed a certain amount, you gain an additional reward. I fed 40 dragons and got a Recover All element. There were a few more rewards, but I opted not to do them due to laziness. The hostler gives us the manor key, and into the house, we go.
We suck at infiltration. The manor is filled with traps, and we activate the first one we find. It drops the team into a prison cell. Fortunately, the guards are easily rilled up when Kid calls them “dog balls” and we're let out of our cage to get beaten up by the overconfident guards. They’re standard, so we beat them up/kill them, steal their clothes, and continue to sneak through the house incognito. We find a lot of things I hope to return too later, and we re-re-re meet with Glenn. He sucks at traps like we do, so he writes the code for the trap door on the wall. We then explore more until we fall into another trap. Serge is very bad at this...
We found an armory filled with misc stuff and a shiny bobble on the wall. When you pull on the bobble, we flip through a wall, and into another cell. We’re let out by a scientist named Luccia, who has a German accent (the Wikia says it’s Transylvanian). She lets us out, only to fight one of her experiments: two Neo-Bulbs. It’s an easy boss fight. So easy I was shocked I got a boss star for it. As we leave, we open the cage on another experiment, Pip, and continue on our way We explore some more, find two Devas of the Dragoons, and a sleeping woman dressed as a french harlequin. There’s not much here, so we solve the puzzle we failed at and head left to a tower. We cross a sky bridge where the two moons are a beautiful backdrop. In the tower, we meet a small child named Marcy and an old man who didn’t give his name. The girl is a bloodthirsty member of the Devas, so she chooses to fight us. Holy Macaroni is she strong! The short story is, she knocked out Serge, so he missed his boss fight stat increases. She nearly took out Leena as well, but we were able to fend her off. After the fight, we inform the man about Serge's history and why we're in the manor. He tells us that we really are in another timeline, one where Serge died. Each timeline carried on, as that's what life does. He also says that sometimes, things happen, and opposing timelines can somehow connect at a point he calls, “Aneguls Errare - Where Angels Lose Their Way”.
The old man tells us how to reach the upper floors, where Viper is. Before we head up there, the sleeping harlequin shows up. She says her name is, aptly, Harle. She flirts with Serge, calls Kid a dog, and heads off to where the winds take her.
We take the elevator up and walk calmly into Viper’s Office. There’s nothing of note, so Kid asks the aether if we should ask Viper directly, only for the man himself to enter from the fake bookcase behind his desk. They banter for a bit before Kid asks about a Frozen Flame, and a new character arrives. A large cat man named Lynx walks in behind Viper. Assumably, the same Lynx from the flashback. He and Kid know each other, so a fight breaks out. It’s more lengthy than anything. Maybe Marcy taught me about healing, but while this was still a challenge, I found it manageable. I did steal a Magic Ring from him, so I guess I’ll be giving Another Leena a ring before my own. After the fight, it’s revealed we just fought a shadow Lynx. The real one appears, along with more shadows. Before we’re all killed, Glenn’s friend from the memorial, Riddle, shows up. She’s Viper’s daughter and a perfect hostage to levee our escape.
Kid, who just revealed she’s a famous thief, brings her knife to Riddle’s neck. We all begin to back out of the room. Karsh shows up to block our escape, so we walk out to the balcony instead. As we reach the edge, Viper offers us freedom if we let his daughter go. Kid declines and gets a knife thrown at her by Lynx. Kid throws the hostage out of the way and takes the attack head-on. She then drops off the balcony and into the water below.
Serge follows suit, but before he can, Lynx tells him something ominous about time and destruction. He then calls him the "Chrono Trigger" and asks Serge to join him. Serge shakes his head and cannonballs into the water. Leena goes as well.
I can’t believe I brought my girlfriend to this!
We’re saved by Korcha, a boy we met in Termina (and way we reach the manor in Guile's path), who brings us to his home in Goldove. Serge wakes up last, even after Leena. As Kid gives him grief for it, she passes out. We go down to the doctor and learn she’s been poisoned. The doctor says there’s no chance of saving her since the antidote, Hydra Humor, is extinct. The doctor, Doc, goes off to have a crisis with the bartender, Ohla. Harle then shows up, again, to flirt and say Kid’s dead, before bugging off.
It is here we have a choice to make. Do we save Kid, or say we don’t know? Spoiler, I said I didn’t know. Korcha gets upset and takes the Astral Amulet Kid gave us the acene before. They really try to guilt you for saying no, which makes sense, but I want a character you can only get with this route. After we meet the Priestess of Goldove, Koecha’s mom, Macha, joins the team, takes the boat, and ferries the party back to Termina. There I team up with the sole reason I decided not to save Kid, Glenn. It is here that I called it a day.
So, two things: firstly, dying in a boss fight sucks. Characters really only gain stats after defeating a boss. With Serge missing the Marcy rewards, he lost out on several points of HP and other stats. You get small ups, occasionally, in random fights, but it's the bosses that give the tangible stuff. I'm not sure how I feel about this. Is the main character permanently behind now?
Secondly, I don’t like not saving Kid. It just feels wrong, but Glenn feels pivotal to the story. He’s related to several characters, involved in several side quests, shares the same real name as Frog, and is just a cool guy. I feel like letting Kid find another way should lead to some bad results or party members. Instead, I skip a dungeon and gain Glenn and Macha. Why do I feel rewarded? Am I gonna do a second play of CC? Thinkin’ ‘bout it!
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