Chrono series

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Chrono Cross Low Tier Characters:  Fetch Quests and Event Flags


The next section was probably the worst part of Chrono Cross.  I had to board the S.S. Zelbess and talk to the Sage of Marbule in order to open the Dead Sea.  The problem was that there were so many event flags required to get to that point.  Yes, it was the “talk to everyone on the boat” RPG cliché.  The music was grating after a while, so I turned the volume down to keep my sanity.  Everyone praises Chrono Cross's soundtrack, but it has a few stinkers.  Fargo had rigged the casino games with a magnet, so I automatically lost at roulette, although it took a few tries to fail.  Sneff the stage magician turned the party into cats (redundant in Lynx’s case. . .) so I could run under the casino and deactivate the magnet.

 
Fargo then let me go through the rest of the ship.  I then talked to Irenes the mermaid and Nikki the musician, and they discussed their plans of holding a magical concert to save Marbule.  This had to wait until later in the game.  Sneff paid off his debts to Fargo and then joined the party.  Before leaving, said goodbye to (Home) Solt and Peppor, who were working as a slapstick comedy duo.  I probably shouldn’t have bothered recruiting him.


Sneff is terrible even by this variant’s standards.  He’s a Yellow innate with terrible magic stats, to the point where his RecoverAll is noticeably weaker.  His level 5 special swaps the digits in his HP stats, which is highly situational.  None of his stage magic abilities are included so far.

 
The Sage of Marbule was swabbing the deck, and challengd me to a fight.  I brought Van along to see what he could do.  Van turned out to be just a Green version of Mel (complete with boomerang) without the ability to steal.  Van’s gimmick was instead maxing out a random Element on the field.  On the first attempt, I turned Sprigg into TotalChaos and cast SealAll hoping I could win the fight without Elements.  That didn’t work so well.  On take 2, I picked Lagoonate and punched the Sage into submission.


The S.S. Zelbess offered an opportunity to recruit Janice, but first I had to win a monster tournament.  Another benefit you get by killing enemies with Sprigg is unlocking more monsters for the Grand Slam.  Unfortunately, you can't use the same monsters for multiple rounds.  I didn't have enough good monsters yet to win the tournament and recruit Janice, but I did get a Stamina Belt to recharge Sprigg's Stamina more quickly.


 
The Sage of Marbule gave the party a “Fiddler Crab”.  How this opened the Dead Sea, I wasn’t sure.  It wouldn’t be Chrono Cross without yet another fetch quest, as I found out when the inexplicably evil Masamune blocked the path.  Only the Einlanzer could break its curse and allow me to move on.  The Einlanzer was on the Island of the Damned.  It was a short maze similar to the Lost Woods from Zelda.  A unique Black innate enemy, the Wight Knight, was available for Sprigg to Doppelgang.  It would prove useful for the upcoming boss.
 

A few cutscenes revealed that Radius killed his friend Garai while possessed by the Masamune.  Garai’s ghost wanted vengeance, and was capable of achieving it.  It took many attempts to get past this battle.  I remember having to go through the whole dungeon at least twice, and several attempts involved running away from the boss when my party was at low health. 
 

Garai could use combo attacks with his sword, recovered Stamina very quickly, and used powerful White Elements such as Triplecut and Willbreaker.  Sneff wasn’t up to the task, so I replaced him with Funguy.  Funguy wasn’t too effective here, but he at least could heal better than Sneff!  A Wight Knight transformation was the winning tactic, along with quite a bit of luck.  Garai was very weak to Wight Knight’s physical attacks, and I barely held on after Funguy died.  After all that trouble, it was a good time to save and take a break.
 
        
Stats and Equipment
 
Lynx
 
HP:  159
STR:  19
ACC:  85
MAG:  14
RES:  15
AGI:  8
M.RES:  10
STAMINA RECOVERY:  10
ATK:  27
DEF:  23
MGC:  14
HIT%:  85
EVD%:  8
M.DEF:  15
 
Weapon:  Sea Swallow
Armor:  Iron Mail
 
Sprigg
 
HP:  234
STR:  20
ACC:  85
MAG:  15
RES:  21
AGI:  12
M.RES:  10
STAMINA RECOVERY:  12
ATK:  36
DEF:  36
MGC:  15
HIT%:  87
EVD%:  12
M.DEF:  20
 
Weapon:  Silver Staff
Armor:  Mythril Mail
Accessory1:  Gold Earring
Accessory2:  Stamina Belt
Accessory3:  Mythril Helmet
 
Funguy
 
HP:  266
STR:  22
ACC:  80
MAG:  13
RES:  20
AGI:  11
M.RES:  11
STAMINA RECOVERY:  11
ATK:  40
DEF:  31
MGC:  14
HIT%:  90
EVD%:  11
M.DEF:  19
 
Weapon:  Great Hammer
Armor:  Mythril Mail
Accessory1:  Forest Charm
Accessory2:  Sight Scope
Accessory3:  Dragoon’s Honor

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Chrono Cross Low Tier Characters:  Funguy and Sprigg vs. Miguel

The Dead Sea had plenty of Chrono Trigger-related exposition, featuring apparitions of Crono, Marle, and Lucca.  This place seemed to be where 2300 AD was discarded after the Chrono Trigger cast defeated Lavos in 1999.  The ghosts blamed Lynx for their problems, but Miguel appeared and told him they were illusions anyway.  Miguel knew a suspiciously high amount of information about Lavos for a character who wasn't in the previous game.  This scene is why many fans think he's secretly Crono.

Whatever the case, I'm sure you're wondering how I managed to beat Miguel with two low tier characters.  The answer is that Sprigg is far better than many players think.  Her Wight Knight transformation could take advantage of Miguel's Black weakness without casting spells.  Miguel's AI routine would have become more aggressive if I had used attack Elements on him.  I was fortunate that Miguel didn't cast AntiBlack on Funguy, because he was my designated Diminish user.  Miguel wasted several turns buffing and debuffing with StrongMinded and WeakMinded instead of attacking.  This gave me the time I needed to drain most of his HP.

At critical health, Miguel started casting spells like MeteorShower and HolyLight.  This knocked out the useless Lynx and Sprigg.  Funguy's HP and defenses were high enough to survive and revive Sprigg, who finished Miguel off with several Wight Knight sword slashes.  I couldn't believe I won on the first try!  Garai was much harder than this.

The computer known as FATE destroyed the Dead Sea to prevent its enemies from taking the Frozen Flame, but the Sky Dragon's deus ex machina powers flew the party to safety.  Now I could go back to Another World.

 

Stats and Equipment
 
Lynx
 
HP:  164
STR:  20
ACC:  85
MAG:  15
RES:  16
AGI:  8
M.RES:  11
STAMINA RECOVERY:  10
ATK:  28
DEF:  24
MGC:  15
HIT%:  85
EVD%:  8
M.DEF:  16
 
Weapon:  Sea Swallow
Armor:  Iron Mail
 

Funguy
 
HP:  287
STR:  22
ACC:  80
MAG:  14
RES:  22
AGI:  11
M.RES:  11
STAMINA RECOVERY:  11
ATK:  40
DEF:  33
MGC:  15
HIT%:  90
EVD%:  11
M.DEF:  19
 
Weapon:  Great Hammer
Armor:  Mythril Mail
Accessory1:  Forest Charm
Accessory2:  Sight Scope
Accessory3:  Dragoon’s Honor
 

Sprigg
 
HP:  247
STR:  22
ACC:  95
MAG:  18
RES:  23
AGI:  12
M.RES:  12
STAMINA RECOVERY:  12
ATK:  38
DEF:  37
MGC:  18
HIT%:  87
EVD%:  12
M.DEF:  24
 
Weapon:  Silver Staff
Armor:  Screwy Dress
Accessory1:  Gold Earring
Accessory2:  Stamina Belt
Accessory3:  Mythril Helmet

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Chrono Cross Low Tier Characters:  Mandatory Sewer Dungeon


When Lynx got back to Another World by clipping through the sand, he found out that Porre had conquered Viper Manor.  Riddel was a prisoner, so Karsh and Zoah offered to help break her out.  I would use neither character due to their high stats, but I picked Zoah BECAUSE HE TALKED IN CAPS LOCK. 


The Porre soldiers treated Lynx much as they did in Home World, but they wouldn't let him visit the prisoners.  After the Japanese RPG Standardization Act of 1997 passed, all new RPGs had to include sewer levels.  For Lynx and company, this meant turning valves and fighting battles in narrow corridors.  The boss of the area, Roachester, was harder for me than Miguel.  Yes, I'm being serious.


Roachester took several tries (via running away) before I settled on the Lagoonate morph.  Its bug-themed Blue attacks were so strong I needed to have an elemental resistance just to survive.  Even with the damage penalty, Lagoonate dealt enough damage with its physicals for me to win.


For reasons unknown to me, the Porre military thought it would be a good use of resources to make Orcha into a "Hell Chef" and attack the party.  Maybe it was meant to mess with Riddel's mind?  I had to beat this boss twice, but that was because I lost to a later encounter.  Orcha mainly used Red spells against me, but wasn't too hard with Diminish and the Wight Knight morph.  Wight Knight could deal over 200 damage with each fierce attack.  Sprigg's morphs and the Stamina system in general make me think direct attack Elements are overrated.


When Orcha came to his senses, he joined the party to atone.  He seemed to be a mediocre Red innate with a draining move that was inferior to NeoFio's version.  (Though the animation of throwing the enemy into a cooking pot Kirby style is funny.)


I switched out Funguy and replaced him with Orcha.  The next battle was against two Porre PVTs and one Porre SGT.  Both could be used with Doppelgang, so I made sure to finish them off with Sprigg.  They were White innates that used Red gun attacks for some reason.


Grobyc the backwards cyborg thought the party would be a fun challenge, so he attacked.  Grobyc was the reason I had to redo the Orcha fight.  His Black Elements like HairCutter dealt significant damage, and he had reasonably high HP too.  Sometimes he buffed himself, giving me a breather.  Orcha mainly healed and used support Elements, but Volcano dealt disappointing damage.  Sprigg's preferred form was Wight Knight for the Black resistance.  Orcha finished him off with a weak physical attack right before I was going to cast RecoverAll.


A Yellow robot named Guillot attacked the party multiple times.  Thanks to cutscene silliness, the party ran from a boss they could easily defeat.  Grobyc finished it off by dropping a chandelier.  Balthasar advised Team Lynx to jump out the window. 


During cutscenes in Viper Manor, Hermit's Hideaway, and the S.S. Invincible, many new characters joined:  Grobyc, Riddel, General Viper, Marcy, Karsh, and Fargo. 


To get to the Dead Sea again, Lynx needed to beat up the 6 elemental dragons.  Some were in Home World, while others were in Another World.  This is the part where the story completely stalled for a while.


I may bend the rules of the variant slightly to allow Fargo for the next few boss fights. Fargo is the only party member who can steal the elemental resistance plates from the dragons.  Mel isn't available.  Fargo is roughly middle tier in MKL's list (23rd out of 44).  I generally use characters who rank 24th and below.


 
Stats and Equipment
 
Lynx
 
HP:  169
STR:  21
ACC:  85
MAG:  15
RES:  16
AGI:  8
M.RES:  11
STAMINA RECOVERY:  10
ATK:  29
DEF:  24
MGC:  15
HIT%:  85
EVD%:  8
M.DEF:  16
 
Weapon:  Sea Swallow
Armor:  Iron Mail
 
Orcha
 
HP:  334
STR:  23
ACC:  85
MAG:  17
RES:  25
AGI:  4
M.RES:  11
STAMINA RECOVERY:  10
ATK:  39
DEF:  40
MGC:  17
HIT%:  87
EVD%:  4
M.DEF:  21
 
Weapon:  Frypan AG47
Armor:  Mythril Mail
Accessory1:  Flame Charm
Accessory2:  Mythril Helmet
Accessory3:  Stamina Ring
 
 
Sprigg
 
HP:  282
STR:  26
ACC:  85
MAG:  18
RES:  26
AGI:  12
M.RES:  14
STAMINA RECOVERY:  12
ATK:  46
DEF:  40
MGC:  18
HIT%:  88
EVD%:  12
M.DEF:  26
 
Weapon:  Stone Staff
Armor:  Screwy Dress
Accessory1:  Gold Earring
Accessory2:  Stamina Belt
Accessory3:  Mythril Helmet

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Chrono Cross Low Tier Characters:  Square Loves Elemental Dragons

The next subplot came from Final Fantasy 6 and would be reused later in Bravely Default.  I had to defeat the 6 elemental dragons to get through the new barrier to the Dead Sea and challenge FATE. 

All the dragons were scattered throughout both dimensions.  My first target was the Water Dragon in Home World.  I brought Fargo around despite his middle tier status because he was the only one available who could steal elemental immunity armor from each dragon.  

Along the way, I picked up the Sidesteppa transformation for Sprigg, and it was pretty much an upgrade to Lagoonate.  Even with the elemental resistance, Lagoonate could deal around 160 damage per fierce attack.  If you want a moment for the blooper reel, there was one attempt where I tried to use FrogPrince. . .only to heal the boss.  I guess elemental absorption only applies to spells in Chrono Cross?  That's yet another reason attack spells are often a waste of Stamina.  I'd pick a character with good physical attacks over a magician any time.  The usual Diminish tactic worked well for defense.


The Red Dragon in Another World Mt. Pyre was much tougher.  It started off in its weak small form that I saw before on the way to (Another) Fort Dragonia.  Then it transformed into its true form.  All of its fire breath attacks could deal significant damage even with Diminish protection.  Fargo died late in the fight, leaving Sprigg in Sidesteppa form to finish off the boss.


Earth Dragon Isle in Home World was a new dungeon for a change.  I had to plug the sand boils by pushing turtle-like monsters into them in order to get to the dragon.  The Earth Dragon was almost exclusively a physical fighter.  Fargo had to revive Sprigg before I realized what to do.  Wight Night had a level 8 PhysNegate that enabled Sprigg to dodge all of the Earth Dragon's combos for a few turns.  (PhysNegate doesn't work on physical Element techniques, by the way, just regular attack combos.  That gave me a hard time with Garai.)  Physical attack chains did the rest.  I didn't bother with offensive spells here.


No Stats and Equipment because this was a short session, and I'll post that after I beat all 6 dragons.  The good thing about this filler is that it gives me plenty of Star Levels!

Sprigg is my favorite character for gameplay.  She's versatile if you can get around her low HP.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Chrono Cross Low Tier Characters:  More Tedious Filler


Getting to the remaining 3 dragons required going through annoying filler missions.  Remember that concert Nikki wanted to hold?  Well, now was the time for me to follow up on that.  I had to bring the much cooler Another Fargo to talk to his wimpy Home World self to make him stop moping around.  Nikki’s concert was long and filled with pretentious fake “Ye Olde English” dialogue.  The line “That is terrible!  ‘Tis void of all emotion!”  was an apt description for this cutscene.  The opera scene from FF6 it was not!
 
While Nikki and the rest of the Magical Dreamers played repetitive music, I had to slay all the Lagoonates in Home World’s Marbule.  This took a while.  After that, the Black Dragon in Another World woke up.  The Black Dragon took several attempts via running away.  Even Wight Knight had trouble standing up to its gravity spells like Free Fall, combo attacks, and breath.  So I settled on the old reliable Sidesteppa transformation for Sprigg.  Fargo served as the healer once again.
 
Forget what I said about the S.S. Zelbess.  Gaea’s Navel was the worst part of the game.  To even get there, I had to gather fruit from Another World’s Hydra Marshes and finally defeat those Beebas in (Home) Hydra Marshes that Poshul and friends couldn’t beat.  Then I could summon a flying centipede and go to a grassy island.  Leah the Yellow innate cave-girl was there and temporarily joined the party.  I never used her because her stats were too good.  If you bring her to the ending, it turns out she’s Ayla’s mom.  Many of the plot twists are a stretch in Chrono Cross.
 
To get to the Green Dragon on Gaea’s Navel, I had to defeat lots of annoying random enemies that could poison or make party members berserk.  For a game with an environmental message, the party sure has to murder a lot of wildlife in order to advance.  Polly’s species was from this island too.  Killing the local fauna made a T-rex boss appear that was easily defeated.
 
The Green Dragon seemed to specialize in status ailments with its Bad Breath and Carnivore attacks.  It also loved turning the entire field Green at once.  This resulted in an interesting battle where I had to use Elements just to break up the field effect.  Diminish worked well again, as did Sidesteppa.
 
After all the other elemental dragons were defeated, the Sky Dragon came back to its island in Another World.  This White innate dragon fought a little differently from the others.  It sometimes buffed itself with MagNegate (nullifies magic damage) and used the field effect Magnify to enhance its Elements.  Magnify overrode Diminish, so I had to reapply that several times.  Sidesteppa was the go-to Sprigg transformation once again.  Its physical combos could hurt too.  Fargo revived Sidesteppa right before the end, and I was worried for a bit that the all-White field would result in a powerful attack from the dragon.  Fortunately, Sprigg came through like usual.
 
It’s funny that all this dragon buildup leads to FATE, a very easy boss if you have the right equipment.  Say goodbye to Fargo, because this is the end of the dragon story arc.  I’ll be using worse characters than him from here on out.
 
 
Stats and Equipment
 
Lynx
 
HP:  188
STR:  23
ACC:  85
MAG:  17
RES:  18
AGI:  8
M.RES:  11
STAMINA RECOVERY:  10
ATK:  31
DEF:  26
MGC:  17
HIT%:  85
EVD%:  8
M.DEF:  16
 
Weapon:  Sea Swallow
Armor:  Iron Mail
 
Fargo
 
HP:  443
STR:  37
ACC:  80
MAG:  20
RES:  37
AGI:  2
M.RES:  13
STAMINA RECOVERY:  11
ATK:  58
DEF:  48
MGC:  21
HIT%:  86
EVD%:  2
M.DEF:  22
 
Weapon:  Stone Sword
Armor:  Mythril Mail
Accessory1:  Stamina Ring
Accessory2:  Golden Tiara
Accessory3:  Dragoon’s Honor
 
Sprigg
 
HP:  338
STR:  34
ACC:  85
MAG:  21
RES:  29
AGI:  13
M.RES:  16
STAMINA RECOVERY:  12
ATK:  54
DEF:  43
MGC:  21
HIT%:  88
EVD%:  13
M.DEF:  28
 
Weapon:  Stone Staff
Armor:  Screwy Dress
Accessory1:  Gold Earring
Accessory2:  Stamina Belt
Accessory3:  Mythril Helmet

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Chrono Cross Low Tier Characters:  The Return of Poshul

Orlha protected (Another) Guldove from the Porre army, and then attacked Lynx before he could explain the situation.  I brought Zappa along just to test him out.  He seemed a bit like Funguy (i.e. axe wielding physical specialist), only Red innate and not quite as good.  I'm pretty sure I used Wight Knight for this boss, but Orlha was fairly forgettable other than hitting hard physically.

Dark Serge in (Home) Ft. Dragonia was another matter.  I had to run away or die quite a few times before settling on a winning strategy, and even that barely succeeded.  Sprigg's low HP was no longer sufficient to survive bosses' attacks, and she spent most of the fight dead.  Even Wight Knight's Black resistance couldn't save her.  Equipping Funguy with the Black Plate was the answer.  Dark Serge's Black spells such as FeralCats and BlackHole were now healing the mushroom man.  However, this did nothing to stop his physical combos, or his range of other Element colors such as Volcano and Carnivore.


I probably said Funguy was a Green innate earlier in this playthrough.  That was a mistake.  Chrono Cross is likely the only video game in history to recognize that fungi aren't plants, and in fact make up their own biological kingdom.  Therefore, Funguy is actually a Yellow innate.  This meant he could equip PhysNegate Elements to dodge some of Dark Serge's scythe combos.  That buff didn't last long per use, but it was enough.  Diminish helped too.  Filling up the level 6 slots with Nostrums allowed Funguy to heal 200 HP after a physical combo.

Funguy barely survived, and Serge's body was restored after a brief cutscene about how Reptites ruled the world before Lavos gave humans intelligence.  Now that Serge was back, all my old characters returned via the Tele-Porter.  Yes, we get to see Poshul again!    


Poshul was in fact required for a sidequest.  Much, much earlier, I used the Water Dragon's breath to allow vegetation to grow on the Hermit's Hideaway island.  Now, it was time for the payoff.  Poshul plucked a Turnip out of the ground, and he immediately joined the party.  Turnip happens to have a dual tech with his fellow Green superfluous plant NeoFio.  That's significant in a game with so few dual and triple techs.


If my memories of this game are correct, it's time for sidequests to get level 7 techniques.  That, and I need to get the Chrono Cross item to get the good ending.



Stats and Equipment


Serge

HP:  188
STR:  23
ACC:  85
MAG:  17
RES:  18
AGI:  8
M.RES:  11
STAMINA RECOVERY:  10
ATK:  31
DEF:  26
MGC:  17
HIT%:  85
EVD%:  8
M.DEF:  16

Weapon:  Sea Swallow
Armor:  Iron Mail


Poshul

HP:  419
STR:  38
ACC: 80
MAG:  16
RES:  28
AGI:  5
M.RES:  11
STAMINA RECOVERY:  9
ATK:  59
DEF:  37
MGC:  17
HIT%:  89
EVD%:  5
M.DEF:  15

Weapon:  Granite Glove
Armor:  Green Plate
Accessory1:  Sight Scope
Accessory2:  Dragoon's Honor
Accessory3:  Earth Charm


Pip

HP:  382
STR:  27
ACC:  85
MAG:  21
RES:  31
AGI:  20
M.RES:  14
STAMINA RECOVERY:  12
ATK:  37
DEF:  40
MGC:  21
HIT%:  88
EVD%:  20
M.DEF:  18

Weapon:  Granite Glove
Armor:  Black Plate
Accessory1:  Angel Charm
Accessory2:  Stamina Belt
Accessory3:  Star Fragment

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Chrono Cross Low Tier Characters: 


Warping to the Sea of Eden (i.e. Another World's Dead Sea) told me to switch to Disc 2.  Since I was playing this on a PS3 via a Playstation Network download, all I had to do was go into a menu to do that.

Going to the three islands named after the Greek Fates summoned a boss named Vita Tres.  Believe it or not, I died on the first attempt because a Volcano came out of nowhere while I didn't have Diminish up.  Oops!  I was more careful to use my favorite field debuff on Take 2.  NeoFio and Turnip worked well together, and used the amusing dual tech TossedSalad.  HealAll was better for this party than RecoverAll because they were both Green.  Besides the danger of high level spells, the boss used odd moves like GreenField, despite not being Green innate or using much Green magic.

Defeating Vita Tres unlocked Chronopolis, a laboratory created in a 2400 "good future" after the end of Chrono Trigger.  Various exposition computers and ghosts said El Nido's islands were artificial, that the save points were really mind control devices meant to keep El Nido residents from altering history on the mainland, etc.  It was all quite confusing.

PolisPolice was a boss that had that awful random encounter music.  I had to run away the first time because it pretty much one-shotted NeoFio with a White punching attack.  After equipping the White Plate, the fight became easy.


The end of the futuristic exposition dungeon had FATE.  Lynx as Dark Serge (how does he still have that body?) gave a long speech about Lucca's plan to sabotage FATE, and then deleted Prometheus (aka Robo).  The battle with FATE was long, but not hard at all.  I had equipped Turnip with the Black Plate beforehand.  All I had to do was whack at it with basic attacks, occasionally hit with Green spells like AeroBlaster and Turnip's signature moves, and sometimes heal when FATE used physical attacks instead of Black spells.  All of FATE's spells healed Turnip, so I didn't have to pay much attention.

On one RPG cliche list, the convention where the hero falls for the villain's plan for most of the game is called "Way To Go, Serge!".  There's a good reason for that.  As soon as Turnip killed FATE, all the elemental dragons merged and said it was time to exterminate humanity, since the computer was no longer keeping them bound.  Yes, you read that right.  For 90% of the game, Serge was duped by Reptites from an alternate universe.  Their city Terra Tower rose from what was once Sky Dragon Isle to become the final dungeon.

I made sure to pick up the Chrono Cross from the waterfall near (Another) Fossil Valley by using the Tears of Love and Hate on the pedestals before taking a much-needed break.


Stats and Equipment


Serge

HP:  215
STR:  23
ACC:  85
MAG:  18
RES:  18
AGI:  8
M.RES:  12
STAMINA RECOVERY:  10
ATK:  31
DEF:  26
MGC:  18
HIT%:  85
EVD%:  8
M.DEF:  17


Weapon:  Sea Swallow
Armor:  Iron Mail


Turnip

HP:  432
STR:  34
ACC:  85
MAG:  20
RES:  26
AGI:  2
M.RES:  17
STAMINA RECOVERY:  11
ATK:  55
DEF:  35
MGC:  21
HIT%:  90
EVD%:  2
M.DEF:  21


Weapon:  Stone Sword
Armor:  Black Plate
Accessory1:  Dragoon's Honor
Accessory2:  Forest Charm
Accessory3:  Stamina Belt


NeoFio

HP:  378
STR:  34
ACC:  90
MAG:  20
RES:  25
AGI:  18
M.RES:  12
STAMINA RECOVERY:  12
ATK:  55
DEF:  34
MGC:  21
HIT%:  93
EVD%:  18
M.DEF:  16

Weapon:  Granite Glove
Armor:  White Plate
Accessory1:  Stamina Ring
Accessory2:  Dragoon's Honor
Accessory3:  Gold Earring

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Chrono Cross Low Tier Characters:  Poshul and Mojo Save the Multiverse

Before going to the final dungeon, Team Serge had to complete more filler quests.  The Chrono Cross sent Serge into a time travel/flashback scenario inside Lucca's burning house.  This was a solo Serge section, so I had to equip the Red Plate, forge a Stone Swallow, and load him with White spells to survive.  Fortunately, the enemies were all Red innate random monsters from Mt. Pyre.


Starky salvaged parts from his spaceship in the El Nido Triangle in order to make Another World's boat able to fly.  I had to fight a gimmick boss to make that happen.  Royal Jelly was immune to everything but Red spells.  I think it was the only enemy that couldn't be defeated with physical hits.  My main low tier Red characters were Zappa and Orcha, so I brought them along.  The fight was easy when I used Inferno and their signature techniques.

Terra Tower was obviously programmed when the developers were running out of time.  There wasn't much music at all, the dungeon was a fairly linear climb to the top, and the party had to fight 6 generic elemental robot bosses.  At first, I brought Pierre and Pip, but Pip wasn't good enough.  I swapped in Poshul at a save point.  Poshul and Pierre mainly fought these bosses by equipping the appropriate elemental plate on one character, then attacking with physical moves.  When necessary, I healed and used Diminish or PhysNegate.

The blue robot near the end defeated me once because it could inflict freeze status, and I had no item to prevent that.


The Dragon God was a case of the developers thinking that boss fights should have tons of HP.  I used mostly the same tactics that I did before.  The Dragon God cast a variety of powerful Elements of every color.  It occasionally dropped the party into different arenas based on the different elemental dragons, and the order was meant to be a clue on how to get the good ending.  Pierre finished it off with a critical fierce attack for around 250 damage.

Although the Dragon God was effectively the final boss, the game still wasn't over.  Belthasar (notice the "e" in Chrono Cross's translation) gave a load of exposition, and then the ghosts of Crono, Lucca, and Marle dumped even more on me.  Lynx was Serge's amnesiac father twisted by FATE.  Schala fused with Lavos.  Belthasar planned the ENTIRE PLOT OF THE GAME.  Another World was the "real" universe, while Home World was "false".  (Even though both were mentioned in Chronopolis as having existed beforehand. . .)


Lavos had become the Time Devourer (not to be confused with the Dragon God mistakenly called the "Time Devourer" in the Terra Tower battle), and only Poshul, Serge, and Mojo could defeat it.  I brought Mojo because I wanted a pointless character that I hadn't used often.  Poshul was mandatory because she was so annoying.

The Time Devourer was a puzzle rather than a true boss fight.  To win, I had to cast Elements in the order Yellow, Red, Green, Blue, Black, and White, and then use the Chrono Cross to free Schala.  The problem was that the boss sometimes messed up the song by casting its own spells.  By looking at a guide, I found out that the Time Devourer's AI usually likes to cast the Element one step behind in the sequence.  So the key was to use Yellow, then Red, and wait for the boss to cast a Yellow spell.  After that, it was an easy victory.

Schala gave her nonsensical speech about "inseminating a planet" and the Circle of Life (without using that phrase).  I wanted to tell her to watch the Lion King and get over it, but I never got that opportunity.  Kid appeared in a live-action cutscene on the streets of what was probably Tokyo.  Then I was asked to save in case I wanted to make a New Game Plus file.  While the New Game Plus features are unique in this game, I want to play something else!

I'll make a postscript post before too long about my thoughts on the game, and handing out various awards like I did with Dragon Quest 5.
   

Final Stats and Equipment (as of the end of Terra Tower)
 
Serge
 
HP:  249
STR:  26
ACC:  85
MAG:  18
RES:  20
AGI:  8
M.RES:  14
STAMINA RECOVERY:  10
ATK:  46
DEF:  29
MGC:  18
HIT%:  88
EVD%:  8
M.DEF:  18
 
Weapon:  Stone Swallow
Armor:  Yellow Plate
 

Poshul
 
HP:  479
STR:  47
ACC:  80
MAG:  18
RES:  34
AGI:  5
M.RES:  15
STAMINA RECOVERY:  11
ATK:  67
DEF:  43
MGC:  18
HIT%:  88
EVD%:  5
M.DEF:  19
 
Weapon:  Granite Glove
Armor:  White Plate
Accessory1:  Stamina Belt
Accessory2:  Star Fragment
Accessory3:  Sight Scope
 
Pierre
 
HP:  490
STR:  41
ACC:  80
MAG:  16
RES:  37
AGI:  5
M.RES:  15
STAMINA RECOVERY:  12
ATK:  52
DEF:  48
MGC:  16
HIT%:  86
EVD%:  35
M.DEF:  21
 
Weapon:  Hero’s Blade (special)
Armor:  Black Plate
Accessory1:  Hero’s Medal (special)
Accessory2:  Hero’s Shield (special)
Accessory3:  Defender

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Chrono Cross:  Final Thoughts and Awards


Chrono Cross's plot is a mess, and makes even less sense if you have played Chrono Trigger.  For example, a player new to the series will probably think Porre is just a generic empire, but those who have played the previous game will wonder why the peaceful 1000 AD village turned evil and started conquering the world.  And Porre itself is more of a subplot that's never resolved. 

Major plot twists are revealed right before the end of the game, such as Lynx's true nature, the reason why you're fighting the final boss in the first place, etc.  Themes such as El Nido's humans gaining free will after the death of FATE are brushed aside.  Beloved characters from the previous game such as Crono, Lucca, Marle, and Robo are killed off, sometimes offscreen.  It's no wonder this game angered many fans of Chrono Trigger.

However, the game can be fun if you regard it as a Baten Kaitos prequel in disguise rather than a Chrono game.  Chrono Cross's combo + Element battle system reminds me a lot of using attacks to build up finishing moves in both Baten Kaitos games.  (Although the basic attacks are more similar to Baten Kaitos Origins than Eternal Wings.)  The art style is similar to Baten Kaitos, and songs like the one that plays in Lucca's burning house remind me of that series too.

It isn't just the story that lacks focus, but the characters too.  Many are pointless, and adding and removing Elements from everyone's grids reminded me of Final Fantasy 8's Junction system in a bad way.  The gameplay for most characters tends to be rather similar.  Most have 3 special attacks that are unlocked throughout the story, and are distinguished more by stats and Element affinity than fighting style. 

Sprigg's transformations make her stand out, but the rest feel homogeneous.  Maybe this was a trend at Square at the time?  Final Fantasy 7 and 8 had this problem to a certain extent   Having only 3 characters in battle means you won't use much of the cast, especially since Serge has a permanent slot.

Did I enjoy Chrono Cross?  Yes, but I was very happy when it was over.  I have a more relaxing PSX RPG in mind after this. . .


Awards


Golden Stereotype Award:  There are many contenders here, but Harle's French accent is the winner.  Harle's dialogue was very silly during some serious moments in the story.  It didn't offend me like Sancho's did in Dragon Quest 5, so no Platinum award this time.  (There is a Uranium Stereotype award, but very few games get that tacky.)


Worst Accent:  Poshul.  Poshul's lisp and "PO-SHU-SHU" shouts may not be the most stereotypical accent in Chrono Cross, but it's definitely the most annoying.  We must thank God every day that Poshul has no voice acting. . .



Gratuitous Symbolism Award:  Maybe the tacked-on mention of the Zoroastrian time god Zurvan in Schala's ending speech?  Zurvan is never explained in that part, and I only knew the reference because I studied Zoroastrianism for a college project many years ago.


Most Surprisingly Useful Character:  Pierre.  He's a joke character even within the game's story, but he dodged a surprising amount of attacks and made for a decent physical fighter.  His upgrade once he got all 3 Hero items only made him better.


Most Disappointing Character:  Sneff was the most useless overall, but I expected more from Pip due to his evolution gimmick.  Pip is our winner.


Most Dramatically Improved Character:  It was supposed to be Pierre, but the winner is actually Poshul.  Poshul had to flee from random encounters in (Another) Lizard Rock, but was effectively fighting some of the bosses solo later on.



Worst Section of the Game:  There was fierce competition for this one.  Gaea's Navel is the winner thanks to having to fight so many random encounters with Berserk and Poison abilities.  The S.S. Zelbess is a runner-up with its horrible repetitive music and awkward event flags.  Terra Tower was a tedious dungeon filled with generic bosses too.


Least Sympathetic Character Who's Supposed to be Sympathetic:  Belthasar.  He planned out the entire convoluted plot of the game, yet refuses to help you even though it would have ended quicker that way.  Remember when he didn't do anything to stop Marcy from attacking Serge at Viper Manor?  Why didn't he hand out the Time Egg to me sooner so I could kill the Time Devourer?  Maybe he wanted an excuse to blather about parallel dimensions for hours. . .  


Zeromus Award:  The Time Devourer.  You only find out about it a few minutes before the end of the game in long speeches by Belthasar and the three ghost kids.


Golbez Award:  Lynx.  Lynx is the main antagonist for much of the game, yet does very little after he swipes Serge's body.  He's not the final boss, and is actually the protector of humanity since he's part of FATE.  The part about Lynx being a transformed Wazuki isn't explained until right before the Time Devourer fight.


Silent Protagonist Who Should Talk:  Serge.  This isn't quite as personal a story as Dragon Quest 5, so it's not as obnoxious here.

Worst Music:  The random battle music.  It doesn't help that it's used for some bosses too.  I often turned down the volume while I played Chrono Cross just because of this theme.  Everyone praises the game's soundtrack, but you hear the worst tracks very often.



Best Equipment:  The elemental plates for sure.  They were essential to surviving the battles with FATE, the Terra Tower robots, the solo Serge section in Lucca's house, and the Dragon God.  Never kill the elemental dragons without swiping these armors with Fargo first.


Most Superfluous Character:  There are many in Chrono Cross, but the winner is Turnip.  Turnip is acquired late in the game by digging him up with Poshul, another joke character.  It was funny to fight FATE with Turnip, though.


And that's all.  I hope you've enjoyed this playthrough, even if it isn't all that much of a variant considering how similar the characters play in Chrono Cross.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Chrono Cross Challenge Considerations?


Don't know exactly which RPG I'm in the mood to replay right now, but Chrono Cross is a possibility.  To get around how similarly the characters play in a normal playthrough, the solution seems to be a Single Element Color challenge.  The other party members when applicable must have a common innate magic, and Serge/Lynx would be given spells of that particular element.  Unless it's a White or Black challenge which Serge would automatically fulfill.


Some conditions would have to be evaluated before starting the run.


ELEMENTAL PLATES:  This is the most important variable.  The only thief available during the elemental dragon boss fights is Fargo, who is a Blue innate.  Plates stolen from these dragons heal you if attacked by the corresponding element, and make certain bosses like Dario and FATE much easier.  Should Fargo be allowed temporarily for non-Blue challenges, or should elemental plates be unique to Blue runs?  Remember that Chrono Cross provides levels after boss fights, and random encounters grant modest stat gains with diminishing returns.  Grinding can't save you if something goes wrong during the challenge.


ROYALJELLY:  One mandatory boss can only be harmed with Red attacks, so any non-Red variant would have to allow these spells here.


CONSUMABLE HEALING OUTSIDE OF BATTLE:  These probably should be allowed for convenience's sake, but any combat healing would have to correspond to the element color.  (e.g. no Nostrum in a non-Black challenge)


END OF CHALLENGE:  The Dragon God at the top of Terra Tower should be considered the end of the playthrough because the Time Devourer "final battle" works like an interactive cutscene involving casting all the elements in a certain order.  (Similar to the final phase of Giygas in Earthbound where the only action to take is to Pray with Paula.)