We're back!

So, the battle system. As I said last night, it's Final Fantasy/ATB-esq, but we're not standing on opposite ends of a screen. We're intermixed, usually, and the enemies can move around. Sadly, characters cannot, but we can be thrown about. "But what's the point of moving," you ask? Many techniques (skills) and magic are AoE. Some targeters are a circle around a single point, a line from character to target, or just everyone on screen. For a SNES game from 1995, this was revolutionary for the genre. To further add to the fun, each character has their specific magic qualities that I'll get into in a day or two for their own unique techniques. However, duel and triple techs exist to allow the characters to combine their moves into one super attack. And all the action takes place live on screen with no jump cut to a separate battle world. There are no random battles, and all fights happen as we try to traverse the dungeon as though a D&D game without the tabletop aspects of cover and whatnot. It's one of many things that Chrono Trigger excels at and does better than any other game before it!

But what did we do tonight? Not as much as last night because last night was excessive. Partly because of my (hopefully) flowery language and partly because day one plot dumps. But I digress.

Chrono was escorting Marle back to Guardia Castle! As we enter, soldiers yell and surround us as the Chancellor walks into the foyer. He declares that Chrono has kidnapped the Princess and must be put on trial. Word got around that Marle went missing, and now we have to suffer the effects of the Chancellor's decision from 400 years ago! The trial begins, which is a fairly well known part of CT. What makes it fun is that our actions during the Fair decide our fate (sorta). I gave clues as to what to do yesterday, but we can totally mess this whole thing up and lose the trial. But even if we win, the game goes on all the same, so it's only our reward that changes. In short, the Chancellor is the prosecutor, and our lawyer, Pierre, is our defense attorney. Each side will call in various people we interacted with at the Fair. If we ate the old man's lunch, he'd be here to yell at us. Similar to not helping the girl and her cat, trying to pawn off Marle's pendant, and hurrying her along when she got snacks. But I did everything I know to be the perfect little Mormon boy. Despite that, one juror still called me guilty!? I'll be honest, the trial is a lot more fun and exciting if you're evil. As it was, it was pretty short and boring. Definitely be guilty! But I won, so I should go free, right? Nope. Either way, the Chancellor will declare that running off with the Princess is a crime and give us three days of solitary confinement. Marle runs in to stop this farce, but her father demands she act like a Princess and follow the rules.

The Chancellor and two guards escort Chrono to the jail cell. Despite his first declaration, he'll tell the supervisor that Crono is to be executed in three days. The supervisor never heard this call, but Chance insists the paperwork got held up. We're taken to our cell, and another choice can be made. Do we sit for three days or break out now? Regardless, open the pink package your sympathizers brought up. I got a bunch of ethers. Once again, though, your choice only sorta matters. It is 1995, remember. If we wait, Lucca will break in to free us. But, if you want to be proactive, shake the bars of your cell a few times. A guard will enter to bust us up, but that gives us time to run past him and out. We'll have to fight the two guards and then several more along the way. Murder will prove our innocence!

Mobs in The Gael (as I'm going to call it) are mostly just guards and their boss, Omicrone. Unlike the real Omicron, Omicrone isn't tough and runs away. One of my favorite mobs in any game are down here, and that's the Blue Shield. They use the shield they're holding as cover, which works well. Wait for them to open up to attack, which will allow Chrono to deal max damage. They're not much, but they make you wait and think. Spamming "attack" isn't how you win in Chrono Trigger, nor is it convoluted strategies. It just works so well! The second (fourth?) floor allows access to the other jail cells you couldn't reach. Do go get them as one is a lode sword, a weapon that nearly doubles Chrono's attack at this point. Make sure you visit the torture chamber to free Fritz. He'll reward us at the shop later but keep climbing up for now.

As we reach the reception desk, the supervisor will run off in fear of not Goku! As he does, though, Lucca shows up. She came to save us, but we did it ourselves, and it reminds us of the other option we had in jail. Save the game and read the note the supervisor dropped before heading up one more set of stairs. It's a key to the upcoming boss fight. We'll walk across a bridge that starts to rumble. As we're about to reach the otherside, we'll see the Chancellor and his new toy, the Dragon Tank! It'll attack us, and we come to the second boss battle.

Dragon Tank has three targetable parts. I think you only need to take out the body, but where's the fun in that? Chrono can use Cyclone all battle if you want, and Lucca should shoot at the head. DT is immune to fire, so what else can she do? The head heals everything, so that needs to go! You may have to heal, and I popped a few Mid Tonics (200 HP). Dragon Tank can hit fast and hard will all three parts. You're gonna need to chug some pots at some point. It's got a massive single target move and another that strikes everyone. Go after the wheels next to make sure the Chancellor rues his actions before finishing off the body. Chrono will do one fancy sword thrust to finish it off, which'll cause the Tank to explode as Chance calls in his engineers. The three men are fine, but they have to hold on to each other to keep from falling. They form a nice replacement bridge, which is great for us. Follow the stairs down, and you can open this treasure chest. As we reach the foyer, the guards will try to stop us. Run past them until we get to the exit and even more guards. Marle shows up in her regal gown and demands that her friends be let go. The King and Chance, somehow. make their way into the scene to, once again, remind Marle that she should act like a Princess. Marle gets mad, telling her dad that just because she has a fancy title doesn't make her less human. She throws off her dress, takes Chrono (but not Lucca), and we all leave the castle.

We enter the forest and automatically run east instead of west for some reason. The guards and Chance give chase for this. We run into a clearing, but we find a Gate there! Marle wants us to go through it, but Lucca is less thrilled about the idea since we don't know where it goes. Sadly, Chance and co. show up, so we have no other option. Lucca activates her key, and we jump into the blue hole! We come out in a futuristic world of grey steel. We don't know when or where, but it's a highly advanced civilization. We're inside somewhere, so we head onto the world map.

Dust rushes through the air as our feet step onto a barren, lifeless, brown earth. There's not a hint of green to be seen as a large city lies in ruins to our north. Where ever we are, it isn't very happy. To the south is Tran Dome. We ask them where we are, but they don't get our references. I guess Guardia fell long before their time. In fact, the Gate is inside Bangor Dome. There is a merchant here that has much needed upgrades, though. But most of the disheveled populace tell us that life sucks. There is an enertron here that we can use to restore our HP and MP, "But you're still hungry..." One person thinks there's hope to the east, past Lab 16, but no one's ever made it through there before. Apparently, it contains mobs that can't be harmed by conventional means. Guards still stop us from leaving the forest back in 1000 AD, so we have to make our way through the Lab.

Most of the enemies are your typical affair. Avoid the rats, though. You can't fight them, but they will steal your tonics. I don't know if they can swipe anything else. On the second screen, though, everything gets a bit more strategic. Shadows exist there, and they seem to be sentient oil spills. Swords and arrows don't do much damage to them, but magic techniques will. Lucca's Fire Throw is the most obvious, but Chrono's Slash works well, too. Marle can heal, so she's always useful! Make sure to get the treasures in here since they're stronger weapons for Lucca and Marle. Another Lode Sword is here, too, if you missed the one in the Gael. There's also a berserker's ring, but I don't know if I'll be using that.

On the otherside of the Lab is Arris Dome. Inside are more people in rags. Two tell us about their husband/father, who went down in the depth of the Dome to find food but never came back. As we try to head down the ladder, a man named Doan will stop us. He'll warn us about the man who never came back, but Marle's spirit and Lucca's cockiness will spur us on to save these people from starving. We may be the only ones in this world capable of changing anything. Inside Arris Dome are bugs, beetles, and robot ninjas. They're not ninjas, but I always think they are when I look at them. The right is blocked, so we have to go the left way. We traverse the rafters and pass the rat statue until we get to the aforementioned mobs. Beyond them is a note warning us that anything that comes near the storage unit will be attacked. We enter the room behind the note, hear a warning clarion, and fight a boss!

Guardian is aided by two bits. We'll need to take out those two before we do anything else, or else our every attack will be met with a counter. The bits are pretty fragile, and their demise sends Guardian into a countdown phase. From 5 to 0, it'll do nothing but let us attack it. Once it reaches 0, it'll respawn the bits, and we'll repeat our actions. Guardian is immune to fire, but the bits aren't. Feel free to Fire Throw on the off chance they line up, but don't worry about it. Keep attacking, and you should finish this with only one respawn. We can now access the storage room, but I kinda wish we couldn't.

Inside is a mass of rotten and spoiled food. The refrigeration system failed long ago, so everything went bad. None of it is usable. In the back is the man we heard about before, but he too is dead. In his hand are a bunch of seeds. He also has a note that tells us the rat statue on the rafters isn't a statue, and it knows the passcode to the sealed area. Open the chest and leave this place. Chase after the rat, and it'll tell you to "hold L1 and R1 while pressing X at the panel." Do that at the blinking console, and we can learn the secret of this time period. Arris Dome has a computer filled with information. Lucca searches for "Gates" and, somehow, finds that our way out is on the otherside of the continent. Then Marle presses a button, and we witness the end of this planet. In the year 1999, The Day of Lavos happened. We see a satellite image of a red bug emerge from underneath the surface and showers the globe with hellfire. The video cuts out, but this was the day the planet died.

We're stunned for a moment due to the horror we saw, but Marle's eternal optimism kicks in. She wants to change the future just as Chrono and Lucca did to save her. Lucca is unsure we're capable of such an action, but I'm totally down! We're going to save the world from Lavos! Return to the top, and all the people will swarm us. They back off when they learn we don't have food, but Marle hands Doan the seeds the man died for. It'll be a long, hard road, but if they plant the seeds, they may survive. Doan and everyone are still sad they won't be eating well tonight, but they're also filled a new hope. We all remark on being "heal thy," and Doan hands us a Jetbike key. In Lab 32 is a car we can use to reach the Gate. It's a gift for the seeds.

Head there, and we'll meet "The Man," Johnny. Johnny is a robot who fancies himself the best racer around. If we want to get across Lab 32, we're gonna need to win a race. It's not a real race, per se, as it's more of a rubber band where we circle around each other for 800-1000 units of measurement. When you get close to the end, boost to stay ahead as slipstreams are very strong in the future. It's a little weird, but it's fine. It's not the worst minigame around... When you win, Johnny says he's always around for a rematch. We can walk through the Lab, but that takes a while. That being said... I know what' doing...
 
...tomorrow!

Probably not tomorrow, but who knows? I did work my way through the sewers. I was feeling weak for some reason, so I didn't activate any of the traps, which are a fun way to keep this place interesting. I did get the Rage Band, which lets the user have a 50% counter rate. I also took out Krawlie. Spam Fire Whirl and have Marle use Aura after the boss "thrashes ya." Surprisingly easy. On the otherside is an old man and a robot who calls out to someone named "Schala"?