Chrono series

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Chrono Cross Blue Challenge Part 11


HOME WORLD


Gaea's Navel, the home of the Green innate dragon, was impossible to reach by sea.  So it was time to play the Beeba Flute that Blue Team received during the Hydra quest much earlier in the game.  It was necessary to fight a weak Wingapede, then to return and get Ancient Fruit from a Beeba after a short battle to convince the flying bug to take Blue Team to the next area.


Gaea's Navel itself took a while to clear because of its gimmick.  Lynx and friends needed to kill many random enemies to attract the next boss Tyrano.  Prehysterics were annoying when they cast JurasicBeat and confused various party members.  At least this place was a good source of Denadorite.


Tyrano came with a fellow Red innate monster named Pterodact which looked exactly like Polly.  Fargo's fierce sword swings slashed for 166, and CannonBalls fired by his pirate crew pelted both enemies for 217-234.  The main concern was Tyrano's CrunchOut, which once tore into Marcy for 119.  Fargo wore the Red Plate specifically for this battle, which paid off when CrunchOut healed him for 174.  Elemental absorption did nothing against Tyrano or Pterodact's melee.  One IceBlast +2 froze Pterodact, but it seemed to snap out of it quickly with an 84 damage Flap.  Marcy concentrated on this minion for a while, and Lynx's medium attack made the tyrannosaurus extinct. Star Level 32 had this to offer:


Lynx:  +9 HP, +1 RES
Fargo:  +5 HP, +1 STR
Marcy:  +4 HP, +1 STR, +1 RES


Fargo put on the Mythril Mail again for the GreenDragon, though he might as well not have bothered.  The GreenDragon was stuck in an AI loop that tried to set up GreenField before casting Carnivore.  Since BlueTeam cast an IceBlast, or used techniques like CannonBalls, Invincible, or StringPhone when GreenField appeared, all GreenDragon could do after that was show off its BadBreath.  BadBreath was not as frightening as its Final Fantasy counterpart, and only inflicted minor status ailments.  The only other notable move GreenDragon tried was to HealPlus for 437 when the boss was low on HP.  Lynx's IceBlast +1 won the next dragon relic and Star Level 33:


Lynx:  +4 HP, +1 STR
Fargo:  +8 HP, +1 STR, RES, M.RES
Marcy:  +14 HP, +1 RES, +1 M.RES


Solving the puzzles and descending through the quicksand on Earth Dragon Isle led to well, the EarthDragon.  She was quite slow and usually stuck to melee, so Marcy had a chance to summon FrogPrince for 682 damage.  A weak melee from Fargo sent the EarthDragon crashing to the ground shortly afterwards.  GiddyBreath seemed to be the only other attack EarthDragon tried, and all it did was make Marcy dizzy in addition to minor damage.  Earlier in the battle, Fargo scored a 282 critical fierce when the Field Effect was fully Blue.  Star Level 34 was the reward for this battle:


Lynx:  +3 HP, +1 MAG
Fargo:  +8 HP, +1 STR, RES
Marcy:  +10 HP


I had postponed it as long as I could, but there was no choice but to fight the WaterDragon next.  IceBlasts were replaced with CurePluses when possible in the characters' Element Grids, since offensive magic would be useless.  WaterDragon usually attacked with her TsunamiBeam for 64-114 and the Flu ailment, or cast the trappable spell Deluge that hit for similar damage.  Unfortunately, I must have misread the AI routine in Shotgunnova's FAQ.  I expected it to cast Iceberg, so only 1 Deluge was captured before the end of the battle.  Blue Team stuck with melee combos that hit the boss in the low 100s range, with the exception of a 200 Lynx critical.  The rewards for victory were the level 8 BlueWhale summon and Star Level 35:


Lynx:  +2 HP, +1 STR, RES
Fargo:  +11 HP, +1 STR, RES, MAG
Marcy:  +3 HP, +1 STR


ANOTHER WORLD


Once all the other dragons had conceded their relics, it was time to fight the White innate Sky Dragon on Sky Dragon Isle.  She fought differently from the others, and liked to buff herself frequently.  NullState boosted M.DEF, and MagNegate nullified offensive spells altogether.  Magnify, which increased the power of all offensive spells, proved lethal when combined with HolyBreath that left Fargo and Marcy with 2 digit HP and smote Lynx to death. 


Although Lynx missed out on a Star Level, Marcy and Fargo were up to the task with CurePlus, CureAll, and their weapons.  One Fargo critical lashed out for 270s, and a Marcy critical bashed SkyDragon for damage in the 200s as well.  Even HolyHealing's 574 HP restoration only delayed the team for a few rounds.  Despite SkyDragon's occasional protection from Elements, Fargo snuck in an Invincible for 322 after his critical, and Marcy's IceBlast +3 capitalized on Magnify to chill SkyDragon for about 300.  Once SkyDragon was down, Marcy and Fargo received the following Star Level 36 bonuses:


Fargo:  +6 HP, +1 STR
Marcy:  +2 HP, +1 STR, AGI


Blue Team made sure to Pillage all 6 elemental plate armors from the dragons, which would be rewarded in the final dungeons.  Though attempting to Pillage uncommon Elements from enemies in Another World's El Nido Triangle and Home World's Water Dragon Isle were much less successful.  Maybe they're rare steals, and I just got unlucky?  (Keep in mind Pillage can only be used once per battle like all special techniques outside of a few exceptions, but at least it has a higher success rate than Final Fantasy thieves.)  Overall, this is a fairly easy variant without optimization.

 
Stats and Equipment Star Level 36
 

Lynx

HP:  486
ATK:  55
DEF:  49
MGC:  22
HIT%:  90
EVD%:  8
M.DEF:  29
STAMINA RECOVERY:  11
 
Weapon:  Stone Swallow
Armor:  Mythril Mail
Accessory1:  Dragoon’s Honor
Accessory2:  Star Fragment
Accessory3:  Stamina Ring
 

Fargo

HP:  412
ATK:  60
DEF:  53
MGC:  19
HIT%:  86
EVD%:  8
M.DEF:  24
STAMINA RECOVERY:  10
 


Weapon:  Stone Sword
Armor:  Mythril Mail
Accessory1:  Dragoon Gauntlet
Accessory2:  Silver Loupe
Accessory3:  Defender
 

Marcy

HP:  362
ATK:  57
DEF:  43
MGC:  23
HIT%:  92
EVD%:  19
M.DEF:  27
STAMINA RECOVERY:  11
 
Weapon:  Granite Glove
Armor:  Mythril Mail
Accessory1:  Antitoxinal Cap
Accessory2:  Moonglasses
Accessory3:  Dreamer’s Scarf

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Chrono Cross Blue Challenge BONUS:  Lynx vs. Criosphinx


Blue Team didn't need to complete Another World's Earth Dragon Isle to beat the game, but there was an optional boss there.  The Yellow innate Criosphinx challenged the party to answer a riddle by casting spells in an odd mix of Latin and antiquated English:  "Quid me vis?  I am the Criosphinx.  And thou hast trespassed on my domain!"


Fargo's "answer" was a 126 fierce attack, followed by Pillaging the boss's Denadorite.  Criosphinx's punishment was an Earthquake and ThundaStorm combo that pulverized Fargo and Marcy.  Lynx wore the Yellow Plate, so these spells healed him to max instead.


From here on out it was a slow solo battle.  Criosphinx's AI routine was as rigid as the GreenDragon's, but in a different way.  When the boss wasn't casting Earthquake or ThundaStorm, a series of 3 melee attacks was next in the sequence.  The 2nd melee strike usually only hit once, while the 1st was a 3 hit combo.  At first, Lynx tried to survive these with CurePlus.


Then I found out that Lynx could hold on if he defended after using all but 1 Stamina on a melee combo.  For all the intellectual pretensions, Criosphinx never figured out that Yellow magic was keeping Lynx alive.  To get a bit of extra damage, Lynx cast some IceBlasts on his Element Grid for 122 during the spellcasting part of the AI routine.  Fierce attacks dealt around 80 normally, and up to 132 or so with oddly frequent critical hits.  Criosphinx had 13,000 HP.  Just after I mentioned in the Final Fantasy thread that I would be bored with low offense FF1 variants, I took on a pointless optional boss in Chrono Cross while underleveled while effectively using one character.    


Lynx's post-battle stat reward was +2 HP instead of a proper Star Level.  The item drop, however, was the Sunglasses.  According to Chrono Compendium, this increases power for melee, consumable item healing, and offense Elements by 20-50%. 


Criosphinx was intrigued by Lynx's achievement:  "Impressive!  Ne'er thought I there'd be humans who could defeat the Criosphinx by force alone!  Thy way of life intrigues me!  To conquer all obstacles with brawn rather than by brain?"  Criosphinx was one to talk if the boss didn't realize Lynx was a CAT!  


Reading some of the FAQs after this pointless victory was amusing.  Shotgunnova recommends casting Diminish and Imbecile to weaken Criosphinx's spells, and possibly waiting until after clearing the final dungeon Terra Tower.  krystalkyr's FAQ dedicated to the Criosphinx fight suggests casting EagleEye to boost accuracy, TurnGreen to increase attack power, and equipping a Stone Helmet and the Mastermune, among other preparations.  (To be fair, krystalkyr does say they're optional.)


Lynx proved he didn't need those, except for the suggested Star Fragment to prevent the Sprain damage debuff that Earthquake could have caused.  He used the same weapon and accessories as before except for swapping out the Mythril Mail for the Yellow Plate.


(Soloing the fight with Fargo would have been truer to the variant, but I didn't expect the other two characters to die that early!  I don't think I've ever completed this battle before, so I mistakenly thought Lynx would gain a Star Level.)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Chrono Cross Blue Challenge Part 12


The next step Blue Team had to take was to revisit Guldove and defeat Orlha, the martial artist Blue innate who mistook the party for Porre soldiers.  Despite sharing a common element color, she was not as cooperative with the Field Effect as you'd think.  Orlha preferred to buff her offense with Strengthen and Genius and debuff Marcy's DEF with LoRes, Red, Black, and Yellow spells respectively.


Orlha's signature Blue attack was a Multipunch that pummeled Fargo for 68.  She could also cast Gravitonne on the group for up to 64, and an Iceberg late in the fight almost sank Blue Team with triple digit damage, minimum 147.  Fargo made sure to Pilfer Orlha's EVD% Kung-Fu Shoes, although they would be useless.  Marcy claimed victory with a 465 FrogPrince summon shortly after the Iceberg.


If I had properly prepared, someone would have equipped the Blue Plate armor, but I forgot this boss battle existed.    


HOME WORLD


Visiting both Guldove dragon temples won Lynx the Home World version of the Dragon Tear.  The Another World counterpart had broken into the Tear of Hate after the confrontation at Fort Dragonia. 


Dark Serge didn't intend for Lynx to regain his old body.  His potential 4 hit scythe melee combos could swipe for 50s-70s damage per blow.  Fargo was ready for Disc 1's final boss and wore the Black Plate.  Marcy's martial arts smacked Dark Serge for 102 with a fierce, followed by a Deluge +2 flood of 253 damage.  Her FrogPrince summon hopped around and blasted 727 power jets of water at the boss.  Fargo's fierce slashes cut into Dark Serge for 132.


Dark Serge used the Lynx techniques I abstained from casting in this playthrough.  FeralCats swarmed Lynx and Marcy for 162-198.  ForeverZero erased 240-300 HP, and a BlackHole KOd Lynx outright and left Marcy wounded with only 91 HP.  Dark Serge wasn't restricted to Black spells either, as he once cast Volcano for 140s-260s.  CurePlus and CureAll ensured BlueTeam's victory.  Many boss battles from Garai onward confirmed that Red Team could never have beaten the game, at least without RNG manipulation or something.  Marcy's weak slap humiliated Dark Serge and restored the real Serge.  Star Level 37 had these values:


Fargo:  +9 HP, +1 STR
Marcy:  +8 HP, +1 STR, AGI, MAG, M.RES




FROM HERE ON OUT, THE MAIN CHARACTER IS SERGE.


The Lynx portion is such a large part of the game that I forgot Serge only regains his original body just before the penultimate dungeon Chronopolis.  Characters that join during Lynx's quest should be considered more valuable because most of the tough bosses are in the midgame.


As soon as Serge returned, the Dragon Tear shattered into the Tear of Love.  Normally, the Tear of Love and Tear of Hate would be combined into the Chrono Cross to eliminate the Time Devourer, but that battle is basically a cutscene and does not fit the variant.  Blue Team's journey will end after clearing Terra Tower.


RANDOM ERRANDS IN BOTH WORLDS


Zappa, the blacksmith who's a pacifist in this playthrough, bought a hammer in Home World Marbule for 10,000 and gave it to his Another World self to unlock Rainbow Shell equipment.  Too bad they all required special materials that would take too long to get for a variant that's too easy to need them!


Another World Leena talked to her Home World grandmother to acquire her level 7 special move MaidenFaith.  When used, it increases Leena's melee attack, accuracy, and auto-revives her.  And Leena in this playthrough still has more STR than Serge even after missing out on the Lynx period mini-levels. (All characters outside of the combat party gain Star Levels as normal.)


Orlha joined Blue Team after Serge returned to Another World Guldove.  This was strictly a formality, because Fargo already fulfilled the "Blue innate melee fighter" niche.  Besides, there would probably be more stuff to Pillage later.  Leena's unique special moves and good stats gave her the 3rd slot on Blue Team.


Stats and Equipment Star Level 37
 
Serge

HP:  490
ATK:  55
DEF:  50
MGC:  21
HIT%:  88
EVD%:  8
M.DEF:  29
STAMINA RECOVERY:  11
 
Weapon:  Stone Swallow
Armor:  Mythril Mail
Accessory1:  Sunglasses
Accessory2:  Star Fragment
Accessory3:  Stamina Ring
 

Fargo

HP:  423
ATK:  62
DEF:  51
MGC:  19
HIT%:  86
EVD%:  8
M.DEF:  20
STAMINA RECOVERY:  10
 
Weapon:  Stone Sword
Armor:  Black Plate
Accessory1:  Dragoon Gauntlet
Accessory2:  Silver Loupe
Accessory3:  Defender
 

Leena

HP:  397
ATK:  54
DEF:  37
MGC:  29
HIT%:  91
EVD%:  11
M.DEF:  31
STAMINA RECOVERY:  13
 
Weapon:  Frypan Ag47
Armor:  Mythril Mail
Accessory1:  Sea Charm
Accessory2:  Stamina Belt
Accessory3:  Moonglasses


The +2 STAMINA RECOVERY Stamina Belt was a prize in the Dark Serge fight.  Of course it should go on the character who casts Elements most often.  The Sea Charm is there to prevent AntiBlue, and the purpose of Moonglasses should be obvious if you've followed either Red Team or Blue Team.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Chrono Cross Blue Challenge Part 13


ANOTHER WORLD


Disc 2 began in Home World in the body of water that used to be the Dead Sea.  But entering a Fate Distortion teleported Blue Team to Another World where they had to visit islands named after the 3 Greek Fates.  Going to the "present" time island last activated Vita Unus, a Red innate boss.


Vita Unus's melee could strike for up to 97 with multiple hits, though the real danger was its 170s-270s Inferno and a Volcano that killed Fargo later in the battle.  Leena was safe because her elemental plate matched her hair.  Fargo contributed to the team well enough, with a 330 critical fierce at one point, as well as Pillaging a Diva Dress.  Leena's FrogPrince summon dampened Vita Unus with 1123 damage.  AntiRed's attempt to block Red spells once Fargo died failed, because why would a tactical spell like that work in an RPG?  VitaUnus sometimes had other odd tricks, like casting GreenField for no apparent reason.  EagleEye's accuracy buff, Cure, and the starter spell Fireball were other Elements the boss had.


The reason Blue Team fought Vita Unus instead of another Vita was because it dropped the Blue Element Vigora after being defeated.  Vigora prevents the loss of Stamina for a few attacks, making it a good buff for Leena to cast on Fargo.  Star Level 38 went like this:


Serge:  +2 HP, +1 STR
Leena:  +10 HP, +1 STR, +1 MAG


I've had mini-levels that were better than this for Serge.    


PolisPolice guarded the Chronopolis entrance, and proved to be a surprisingly tough boss.  The White innate robot's MegatonFist pulverized Fargo for more than his max HP, and a Bazooka later in the battle did the same to Serge.  Leena survived thanks to the White Plate.  MaidenFaith boosted Leena's melee from 41 to 88, but for a very short duration.  MaidenHeart, the technique that restores a few used-up Elements, randomly restored itself when cast.  Leena's IceBlast +1 froze PolisPolice after a long battle, making her the lone recipient of Star Level 39:


Leena:  +8 HP, +1 STR


Once you know what to do, Chronopolis is a quick dungeon if you ignore irrelevant treasure chests.  There, the party found out that Gaea's Navel was the only natural island in El Nido, the rest being created by FATE and Chronopolis.  (This makes the "humans are destroying pristine nature" theme fail, when almost every location is artificial).  FATE used some circuitry from Chrono Trigger's Mother Brain, and Prometheus aka Robo was implanted as a kind of "rebellious" part in FATE.  El Nido was chosen because of its gravitational anomalies suitable for time travel, and FATE kept humans and the timeline safe by manipulating their thoughts with the save points.


Fighting a Combot to get the Card Key provided a good mini-level, such as STR, MAG, M.RES, and AGI for Serge.  See what I mean when I say some of the Star Levels are worse?


Due to a power outage 14 years ago after a storm when Wazuki and Miguel came to Chronopolis, only Serge's body was eligible to open the biometric scan door to Project Kid and the Frozen Flame.


FATE deleted Robo and challenged the party in her true form instead of Lynx or Dark Serge.  She was Black innate and ran on a "countdown" system similar to a boss in Super Mario RPG's final dungeon.  FATE's Countdown 5 was Diminish, which may have actually helped Blue Team because it reduced the damage of her spells too.  Countdown 4 was an 87-112 Gravitonne to the party, the first Countdown 3 killed Serge with a 417 power HeatRay, CountDown 2 was a FreeFall that could hurt Fargo for up to 245, Countdown 1 consisted of 2 GravityBlows for 70s each, and Countdown 0 was a DarkEnergy for 272.  When the Countdown restarted, FATE liked to swipe in melee.


Vigora gave Serge a short-lived combo before he died.  It was a shame to miss out on a Star Level and 143 damage fierces.  Leena was once again safe because of wearing the relevant elemental plate.  Fargo and Leena mostly alternated between melee and healing to preserve Element Grid levels and Stamina.  Though Fargo did unleash a 305 damage Invincible during the battle.  MaidenHeart restored itself, Vigora, and several CureAlls.  (But not all of them, or the one Deluge charge.)  One low point was Fargo missing about 6 weak attacks in a row after being afflicted with Darkness.  Leena's weak melee for about 17 damage destroyed Chronopolis's computer.


Fargo:  +4 HP, +1 RES, MAG
Leena:  +2 HP, +1 RES, MAG


Terra Tower rose from Sky Dragon Isle in an FMV, and the elemental dragons combined in another FMV to take their revenge on humanity now that FATE was no longer keeping them docile with the Frozen Flame.  Yes, up until the final dungeon, Serge was the dragons' dupe.  Oops!


Stats and Equipment Star Level 40
 

Serge

HP:  494
ATK:  57
DEF:  50
MGC:  22
HIT%:  88
EVD%:  9
M.DEF:  30
STAMINA RECOVERY:  11
 
Weapon:  Stone Swallow
Armor:  Mythril Mail
Accessory1:  Sunglasses
Accessory2:  Star Fragment
Accessory3:  Stamina Ring
 

Fargo

HP:  429
ATK:  62
DEF:  55
MGC:  21
HIT%:  86
EVD%:  8
M.DEF:  24
STAMINA RECOVERY:  10
 
Weapon:  Stone Sword
Armor:  Mythril Mail
Accessory1:  Dragoon Gauntlet
Accessory2:  Silver Loupe
Accessory3:  Defender
 

Leena

HP:  418
ATK:  56
DEF:  37
MGC:  32
HIT%:  91
EVD%:  11
M.DEF:  27
STAMINA RECOVERY:  13
 
Weapon:  Frypan Ag47
Armor:  Black Plate
Accessory1:  Sea Charm
Accessory2:  Stamina Belt
Accessory3:  Moonglasses

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Chrono Cross Blue Challenge Finale:  You Can Tell Where the Developers Ran Out of Time and Money



Before being able to fly to the final dungeon of Terra Tower, Serge first had to swap out the Blue party members.  The RoyalJelly in Another World's El Nido Triangle was impervious to melee attacks and could only be harmed by Red Elements.  Orcha came along for his Red affinity, and Starky was required to activate the necessary cutscene at the end.  RoyalJelly may have been the bane of color-restricted variants, but the boss was a pushover with casts of MagmaBurst, Volcano, and MysteryMenu for up to 450 damage.  RoyalJelly coughed up Star Level 41:


Serge:  +11 HP, +2 STR, +1 RES, +1 M.RES
Starky:  +8 HP, +1 STR, +1 AGI, +1 M.RES
Orcha:  +15 HP, +1 STR, +1 RES



Just before the RoyalJelly boss, Serge and company gained a few CureAlls from the enemies blocking the path.


Leena and Fargo returned to the active party once Starky took the anti-gravity unit out of his sunken flying saucer and attached it to Korcha's boat.  An FMV took Blue Team to Terra Tower at night, because Square loved wasting Disc 2 space on pretty graphics. 


All the bosses here were various elemental robots scolding humanity for its pollution and deforestation.  Even though the environment in the Chrono Cross world was in much better shape than Earth's, and most of the El Nido islands were created by humans anyway.    


They were mostly too similar to justify spending much time writing about.  Color-coded consumable healing such as Tablets, Capsules, and Nostrums were often used, in addition to Omega[Color], a single-target attack.  Leena equipped the corresponding color plate armor to make the battles possible.


Pyrotor overkilled Fargo with OmegaRed, Luxator massacred Fargo and Serge with OmegaWhite, and OmegaBlack and BlackHole eliminated Fargo and Serge in the Gravitor battle.  Even the Black Plate could not prevent HellSoul or HellBound's instant kill effect, so Leena was lucky to be the sole Gravitor survivor.


Against Aquator, Serge wore the Blue Plate since the other 2 had a slight Blue resistance.  IceBlast and OmegaBlues froze Blue Team occasionally, and it would have been a Game Over if all 3 were popsicles.  Aquator's prize was the BlueField Element that could force all 3 Field Effect tiles into being Blue.  An Element designed to make summoning easier would have been useful before the penultimate boss! 



The Dragon God was mistakenly called the TimeDevourer in battle, although Lavos was the true Time Devourer in the plot.  In order for the readers to realize how frustrating the final boss was for this variant, I'll need to explain.  The Dragon God has 15,000 HP, almost twice that of Smithy's final form in Super Mario RPG in a game where the party's damage output is usually similar or lower, once-per-battle summons aside. 


You need to go through 7 forms, each with their own innate color and AI routine.  "Bombing Run" is my name for an anonymous White innate attack that looks like the Dragon God is flying overhead and raining energy down on the party.  It can be absorbed with the White Plate as I learned, but does not affect Field Effect.  It can be used in various forms and doesn't seem to be easy to identify in Shotgunnova's FAQ.  Plus signs indicate that these moves are used consecutively without giving the party a turn to recover between them.  Patterns repeat.


White:  Melee

Yellow:  Uplift + Fireball + Bushwhacker, AquaBeam + GravityBlow + PhotonRay, Melee, ThundaStorm/OmegaYellow


Red:  MagmaBomb + AeroSaucer + IceLance, HellSoul + Meteorite, Melee, Volcano/OmegaRed, Melee

Green:  Tornado/OmegaGreen, Melee, AeroBlaster + IceBlast, Gravitonne + PhotonBeam, Melee

Blue:  Melee, Deluge/OmegaBlue, AquaBall + HellBound, MeteorShower, Melee

Black:  FreeFall, HolyLight, OmegaBlack/Genius + Imbecile + BlackHole, Melee

White 2:  Melee, UltraNova, Melee, WeakMinded + Purify + HolyLight, Melee


There's another, more succinct way to describe the Dragon God difficulty:


DEATH COUNT:  5

RUN AWAY FROM BOSS COUNT:  5


Unlike a conventional playthrough or even the Low Tier challenge, Blue Team could not cast Revive or Diminish to mitigate the damage and instant deaths.  This was especially a problem during the boss's Blue phase, which knew HellBound and would have absorbed any offensive spells if I had tried them.  Serge came close to winning on the first try before an UltraNova in the final phase overcame his CurePlus reserves.


It was clear that the correct elemental plate setup was the only hope.  If one character could limp to the final phase wearing the White Plate, victory was assured.  Provided they weren't murdered by HellSoul, HellBound, or BlackHole first.  Now I know how Sullla feels when he loses to Exdeath's Condemn spell in Final Fantasy 5.  Fargo put on the Green Plate after a few attempts where a Tornado sent him to Oz for more than his max HP during the Green phase.  Serge needed to wear the Black Plate to survive the Black Phase's spells, because otherwise they would pulverize him for over 800 damage.


Blue Team started the successful attempts by playing conservatively during the first White and Yellow phases, mostly attacking with melee and healing.  The only danger in the Yellow phase was ThundaStorm, which could be worked around by keeping the party's HP up and having Leena cast CureAll afterwards.  To avoid HellSoul, Leena summoned the dragons' own BlueWhale against the Red form, which combined with some token melee damage was enough to change to Green form. 


Later phases except for Blue involved casting Iceberg and IceBlast for extra damage.  Playing defensively wouldn't do any good against instant death.   HellBound made Fargo drop dead, which was the best possible result apart from it failing outright.  Serge and Leena could manage the rest of the final battle on their own.  Once they reached the White 2 phase, it was effectively over because all its spells healed Leena.  Some careful play was still required to avoid melee casualties.  Leena's frying pan clanged against the Dragon God and won Star Level 48, the last in Chrono Cross:


Serge:  +13 HP, +1 STR, RES, MAG, M.RES
Leena:  +5 HP, +1 STR, +1 RES, +1 M.RES


Final Stats and Equipment
 

Serge

HP:  555
ATK:  63
DEF:  52
MGC:  24
HIT%:  88
EVD%:  21
M.DEF:  29
STAMINA RECOVERY:  11
 
Weapon:  Stone Swallow
Armor:  Black Plate
Accessory1:  Sunglasses
Accessory2:  Kung-fu Shoes
Accessory3:  Stamina Ring
 

Fargo

HP:  485
ATK:  63
DEF:  57
MGC:  23
HIT%:  86
EVD%:  14
M.DEF:  23
STAMINA RECOVERY:  10
 
Weapon:  Stone Sword
Armor:  Green Plate
Accessory1:  Dragoon Gauntlet
Accessory2:  Silver Loupe
Accessory3:  Defender Plus
 


Leena

HP:  468
ATK:  63
DEF:  41
MGC:  36
HIT%:  91
EVD%:  12
M.DEF:  28
STAMINA RECOVERY:  13
 
Weapon:  Frypan Ag47
Armor:  White Plate
Accessory1:  Resistance Belt
Accessory2:  Stamina Belt
Accessory3:  Moonglasses


Blue Team had avenged the fallen Red Team at last.  Most of the difficulty came from the lack of Diminish and Revive.  The elemental plates were practically required for endgame bosses with these restrictions because the game was clearly balanced around debuffing their spells with Diminish.  The Blue spells themselves were simple yet effective, mostly water/ice magic and healing.  Its only store-bought buffs Nimble and Numble revolved around the minor EVD% stat, so they were only used to mess with Field Effect.  Too bad some of the more interesting tactics like Vigora's Stamina loss prevention and manipulating the terrain with BlueField came late. 


The variant had an inconsistent difficulty, mostly like a regular Chrono Cross playthrough.  Miguel and the Dragon God were the "roadblocks", and most of the other bosses were easy with Blue's plentiful healing.  If there's any moral to this story, it's "Don't ever play a variant that lacks both Diminish and the elemental plates".  (And one of the more masochistic players on Realms Beyond will probably try it just to prove me wrong.)