Before doing anything else, I finished opening all of the sealed treasures. I started by activating them all in 600 AD, but I didn't open them. Opening them in this time period is wasteful because you can get upgraded items if you wait until 1000 AD. There are two in Porre, one in Truce, and another in the castle. You can open the one in the Tunnel east of Denodoro. Head to 1000, get them, and then pick up the ones in 600. It's a bit time consuming, but I like stuff! While we were in the castle of our time, we spoke to the Chancellor and King. It didn't go well, as Chance told Marle that the King killed the Queen, Aleza. He was too busy with other work to see his wife, so she died of a broken heart (and whatever it was that ailed her). Marle now blames her dad, so he kicks all of them out of the castle, declaring he has no daughter. After 1000 years, this is how the Guardia line ends... There are three seals in 2300; two near our first contact location and another behind the Guardian fight. I went here last because it's near the sewers, the gateway to Death Peak.
On the island with Death Peak were the strange old man and his Nu. When we enter the Keeper's Dome, the old man is gone. The Nu is there, but it's not doing too well. It gives us a hint that the man died, and this is all that's left. But we can finally open the door at the back of the room. On the otherside are glowing points of light that tell us who this old man was. It was Balthazar, the Guru of Reason. In case we didn't talk to anyone in the Zeal towns, he fills us in on what's going on. A strange event happened that sent him to the future. It probably has something to do with the Mammon Machine that uses Lavos as its fuel source to power Zeal. Lavos disappeared shortly in 600 AD because of what Magus did, but it reappeared in 1999, where Death Peak is, to destroy the world. Lavos' offspring are still siphoning what little life remains on the planet. At the very end, he thanks whoever opened the door and grants them his "Wings of Time." Behind another sealed door is a strange contraption. We don't know what it is, so we just leave and look for something else. The path is blocked by the Nu that reveals itself to be Balthazar. Bal transferred his consonance into this robotic Nu with limited memory. It was pushing in chairs, which connect to the machine. Balthanu reveals that this is a Time Machine! By using this, we can reach any point in time without needing to go through the End of Time! In an anime cutscene, Crono jumps into the pilot's chair, flips some switches, and we jet off! I went to the End of Time, where that old man is shocked that Balthazar completed his life's work. I wonder how they knew each other? Although, the man in brown seems to know a lot... But it's time to return to Antiquity! After one more pitstop!
The necklace can open the strange blue pyramid north of Medina Village that I didn't say anything about yet. Inside is a Nu that lets us choose from a helm or a sword for Crono. I want the sword, but the Safe Helm is end game gear, so I picked that up. It grants the user Protect status, decreasing physical attacks by a third.
Back in the year 12000, the Skyway is out. The only place to go is the Earthbound Village of Algetty. This is a village with the usual assortment of new gear, inns, and NPCs. They remind us that they're slaves for Zeal and have been building the Undersea Palace, a place to further harness Lavos' power. Schala occasionally comes here to hang out, which is nice of her. But there's more to this place than just a random cave. It's the way to the Mountain of Woe, the prison where one of the Gurus is being held. To get there, we need to go through the Beasts' Nest. It contains some mud beasts, which aren't hard, and one boss battle.
The imp that guards the exit heals his "allies," but we'll need to focus the beasts first. Our attacks don't do much damage to him, and the imp counters everything with one of two moves: a hit or a heal. Sometimes the beasts do an X-Strike, so take out the red one first with ice moves. I brought Ayla and Marle around, and their duel techs wreaked havoc on Ol' Red. Bluey was harder but not too bad. From here, the Mud Imp isn't a problem. Hope his sleep skills early on don't ruin you, and that's all you can do here. I also Twin Charmed everything they had, so my thieving ways are a go now! Behind them is a massive chain that holds a floating mountain in place. Why...? We climb it and come to the Mountain of Woe.
MoW is a place that I always have problems navigating. The screen has an annoying filter over it, so even though it's not long, it takes a while to get through. Every enemy has a new weapon to steal, and I did that. The mobs also have some nasty tricks up their sleeves. The imps are an exception and die easily. The gargoyles, though, can bring your HP to one, setting up an easy kill. The worst are the man eaters, whose only attack is causing confusion. None of them are hard to kill if you can make contact, though. There is one additional mob up here, rubble. There are only five of them, and they will lock you out of doing any tech skills. However, they don't attack back. Instead, they use their oddly high evasion to avoid damage until they run away. What they reward is phenomenal! 1000 EXP and 100 TPs! If, and I do mean, "if," you can kill them, the rewards are better than most bosses. Sadly, they don't respawn on death or retreat, so they're one-and-done. At the top of the mountain is a frozen block. As we approach it, it'll disappear! In its place is the warden, Giga Gaia!
I stole his Speed Tab. Focus on the hands first, as they're his only means of damage. They alternate between one of three magic types, so those sealed armors can give us some HP back if you have the right one on. They can also kill you, so take them out! Have Chrono and Ayla do Falcon Dive two or three times and then go after the defenseless head. After a while, the hands will be revived, but their HP is lower. An Ice 2 and another Falcon Dive took them out. I ended this battle before a third set appeared. Am I too strong? The block of ice poofs back in, only to melt and reveal that Melchior was inside it! We're shocked to see our friend from 1000 AD in 12000 BC, but he has no idea who we are. He says he's the Guru of Life, and the mountain begins to fall apart again. We get off it before the chain breaks, and the mountain lands in the ocean beneath.
The four of us meet up with the Algetty leader to discuss what's been happening since he was frozen. The Queen's gone mad and locked away Melchior for being disobedient. He didn't think Lavos should be farmed. Soon, Schala enters and confirms with Melchior. Janus thinks this place sucks, but that's not important. But, alas, she was followed. Dalton stalks in and says no one will be harming Queen Zeal. He beats up Melchior and Janus, takes Schala hostage, and demands that we show up at the Palace. The three Enlightened ones leave, with only Melchior staying back. He and the Elder ask us to save Schala, and we head out. The Guru gives us a red knife that is made out of the same material as the Mammon Machine, making it the only thing that can harm it.
The Skygates are operational again, so we can trek back to the top of the universe. Last time I was in Enhassa, the six Nu fight ruined me. With more AoE, though, I won easily. Cube Toss took out the bottom three in one round, and a few moves finished off the grouped two at the top. The only one left, top right, can only take our HP to 1, so he'll never finish the job. I stole his mop, a joke weapon for Crono, and got 90 Tech Points!
In the throne room at the Zeal Palace is an upset Dalton. He's mad that he's not in the Undersea Palace and on guard duty, so he takes his frustrations out of us. I don't know if we can "lose" this battle. I mean, we can, but his only attack halves our current HP. He counters with Iron Ball and attacks with the skill, too. I guess the trick is to keep your HP over 160 since he'll burp on us when we beat him up, which took out Marle. Dalton has a Power Meal, and I don't know what that does? What is "?"? Dalton is confused that he lost, so he teleports away. He leaves a Gate behind that takes us to the Undersea Palace. This dungeon is one of the longest in this generation, so we'll tackle that...
...tomorrow!
In a game filled with iconic scenes, there's a number of them coming up...
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