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Submit Your Final Thoughts On Chrono Trigger For The Deepest Dive (Patreon)

Published:
2020-02-10 17:46:46
Edited:
2021-10-13 12:34:54
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

The time has come, we're at the End of Time, you're out of time! Now's your chance to leave a comment with your specific thoughts on Chrono Trigger's third and final section, from the Kingdom of Zeal up through the multiple endings. As always, the more specific your comment is the higher likelihood we'll read it on the final installment of The Deepest Dive airing this Wednesday. Let's talk about your favorite moment, weapon, animation, song, line of dialogue, get specific. We'll be collecting comments up through early Tuesday morning Central time.

Our deepest thanks to everybody that played Chrono Trigger along with us, this has been a wonderful adventure and one of my favorite game club discussions of all time. If you are a little bit behind and want to leave a comment on anything we missed in our other discussions, go for it! We'll see you on Wednesday, February 12th for the final discussion on YouTube and in the exclusive audio feed for $5 supporters on Patreon. THANK YOU!Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81demaNRxJgPart 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XY1h9peZN4

Comments

mtolen85 .

So there is a fan theory that I think Ben will find super interesting. Lavos is a giant space monster that crash landed millions of years ago, slowly absorbing the life force of the planet, and eventually destroy it in the process. The theory is that Lavos is not the only being of it's race, so there are other of these creatures in the cosmos. What other game features an alien being that crash lands on to an unsuspecting planet, that will one day destroy it? Spoiler Final Fantasy 7. The idea is that Jenova and Lavos are the same alien race that landed on two different planets. Both are essentially cosmic horrors, with warped humanoid forms that act as parasites to the planets they land on.

Tactical Dreamer

I am very thankful that the game requips your gear automatically when you get it out of the chests in the Blackbird section. It drives me nuts when games unequip my gear for some story event and then force me to sift back through it and figure out what I had on each character, so I'm happy that wasn't the case here.

mtolen85 .

So there are 5 triple techs that can be done without Chrono. They require finding special gemstones and equipping them, so they in general are not especially worth using but it is a nice little bonus to find.

Grizzled Gaming

How great was it that the Epoch seats exactly 3 people?

Grizzled Gaming

In the Blackbird’s ventilation shaft there is a kind of out of the way area in the top right corner. It’s tucked away like there could be a secret there, but I found nothing. I feel like I overlooked something, did you guys happen to find anything?

Grizzled Gaming

How much of the additional sidequests did each of you do before fighting Lavos? Additionally, did anyone get to Lavos via the Black Omen? Assuming you all did varying amounts of sidequests, I’d love to hear you guys compare how hard the Lavos fight was for you.

Knobby Buckles (Dave)

So I bought the Steam version this time after only playing only the SNES version previously. All in all, it's not nearly as bad as folks made it out to be. I don't love the weird font in the "high definition" option, but I think they must have fixed all of the other issues that plagued the initial release. The Steam version also includes some bonus content that I had never played before, specifically the Lost Sanctum. The existence of the Lost Sanctum is cool - some Reptites survive the fall of Lavos by basically hanging out underground on an otherwise uninhabited island. However, the actual quests are... really not good. The whole section is a series of annoying fetch quests with a lot of hunting in random locations for various MacGuffins, then bringing them to various NPCs. However, there are a few VERY SPECIFIC things that I found notable, some good and some bad: 1. There are staggeringly few changes in the environments over the many, many, many years! In fact, the Sturdy Vines quest requires you to hang a new ladder in prehistory, then travel SIXTY-FIVE MILLION SIX HUNDRED YEARS in the future to find that a ladder made of "sturdy vines" is still right where you left it! That seems... unlikely? 2. The Bridge Builder quest is particularly annoying with the fetching, and the re-used assets for the bridge are laughable. The bridge is the exact bridge from the prisonbreak from Guardia Castle in 1000 A.D.! 3. The reptites are remarkably aware of how little they offer the heroes in return for them beating up the monsters and saving them. It adds to the overall theme of the story that the team is like, "you're our friends, and that's what friends do." Even though the plot is about a group of heroes fighting to save the world, they're really fighting to save each other. 4. Putting the prismastone on the altar, traveling to the future and taking it, then returning to the past to put the SAME prismastone next to itself is a fun little subversion of the usual fetch quest. I didn't mind that one, and I also enjoyed the little dialogue with one of the reptites where the party explains that they time traveled and the reptite is like, "yeah, I don't understand, but whatever." Now that I've wrapped that nonsense up, time to go through the Black Omen and actually beat the game again!

Tactical Dreamer

I appreciate that the guru at the End of Time points you towards all the endgame quests (except for Lost Sanctim which was added in later versions). It made it very easy to find them and track them without the need for an in game menu, although that would have worked just as well. The only side quests that were really bad were the ones that he didnt point you to in the Inner Sanctum. That whole area is such a huge slog.

Jonah Abraham

The Deepest Dive on Chrono Trigger inspired me to go play its spiritual successor, Chrono Cross, as well! Then I realized...it is virtually impossible to play Chrono Cross on any modern system (including steam and iOs), short of emulation. You’d either need an original PlayStation, a PS3 with the game downloaded, or a Vita! This sucks! I really hope they remaster Chrono Cross for modern systems in the near future.

Bob Buel

Lucca finds a baby!? What happened there! And with it only included in the added in anime cutscenes, it makes me think there isn't a real explanation given in game. Maybe this has a connection to Chrono Cross, but I've never played it.

Paweł Prędki

I believe I completed all the side quests so I had all the party members after defeating Lavos. In the ending I got, there were short cutscenes for each character. Everyone exchanged their goodbyes and said a few words. Except for Magus. He just covered himself with his cape, turned around, and disappeared. On the one side, typical Magus, on the other side, what was that about? Didn't he complete his mission? Why is he still being mean to everyone? Thanks for encouraging me to play this game. I had more fun than with a lot of newer titles recently. Keep up the good work! Paweł

ddark

When Dalton steals the Epoch, familiar CT music starts playing and he says “No, no, no” and changes the song. Does this imply that at least some of the music we’ve been hearing has been coming out of the Epoch’s speakers? This made me laugh and I thought it was great

ddark

Calling all Chrono Trigger experts! I ran into some confusion about New Game+ and how to get it playing the SNES version. First, I finished all the character side quests because I read that was necessary. Then I fought Lavos by taking the bucket at the End of Time and credits rolled and when I restarted the game, no option for NG+. Then I tried ramming the Epoch into Lavos at 1999AD and credits rolled, still no NG+. Finally, I went to the Black Omen and worked my way through it. This was considerably harder and longer then the other 2 routes I took. But I made it through and after credits, I restarted and that beautiful New Game+ option appeared and I started a new file and a new save. I would love to hear any input on what does or doesn’t work for this. I was a Chrono Trigger first timer and this worked for me! Thank you all

ddark

I’m impressed with the little SNES noises when Lavos is shrieking right before Crono dies. And also the sounds soon after the falling debris and the tidal wave. And did I mention that Crono dies?!

Jose Gabriel

Really loved playing through the game. What did you guys think of Lavos’ character design? I didn’t really strike fear in me in. It made wish I had bigger feet so I could step on him.

Tactical Dreamer

How much did you guys mix up your party in the last chunk of the game? Once characters finished learning their last skills I started rotating then out and it surprisingly didnt take all that long to get all the skills on every character while doing side quests. Once I got all the skills I decided to go back to my original team of Chrono, Frog, and Marle though, so I guess it was kind of pointless to change it up.

Jared Natsis

I love that this game is bold enough to straight up kill Crono. Your self-imprint silent protagonist DIES. The character that you are meant to identify with, who is little more than a projection for the player for the first 75% of the game, DIES. Even though Crono isn't much of a character on his own, I feel like his death is one of the more impactful RPG deaths that I can think of. So much of this game is subversive of traditional RPG tropes, it makes me think that they used the textbook self-imprint Silent Protagonist on purpose purely to use the concept against you. Crono's death animation is pretty gnarly, too. Most high-quality 16-bit disintegration I can think of. I love this game.

Jared Natsis

Worth noting that Chrono Trigger is the game that coined the now-ubiquitous term "New Game Plus." And NG+ is how to access the different Easter-egg Endings of CT. Basically, you can trigger different endings depending on when in the game you access the bucket at the End of TIme. If you beat the game at its toughest point (when you first encounter Lavos in Zeal), you unlock the Developer Ending, when you get to walk around and talk to the developers of the game in sprite form. Fun fact: if you start a NG+ file and go to the Right telepod instead of the Left telepod at Lucca's sideshow, you get sent directly to Lavos with just Crono by himself. As a result, the NG+ speedrun world record is 6 minutes and 20 seconds.

Jared Natsis

Apologies if this is a duplicate comment, but I think it failed to post the first time. My single favorite scene in Chrono Trigger is the conversation at the campsite after to restore Fiona’s forest. It’s one of the only times in the game (maybe THE only time?) that you get the scripted interactions of more than three characters at a time. Your whole party, Magus included if you have him, has specific lines of dialogue and they all interact. It makes the whole group feel more alive and interactive. But the biggest part of this conversation is the idea of The Entity. During the course of the game, you’re essentially led to infer that Lavos is creating the time gates. After all, every time period you are able to visit has some crucial connection to Lavos. Prehistory is when he arrives. Antiquity is when he is harnessed. Medieval is when he’s summoned by Magus. The Present is where Melchior landed. 1999 is the Day of Lavos. The future is where Balthasar landed. The End of Time is where Gaspar landed. One could say it’s a little too convenient that these time periods line up so well with the events of Lavos...unless something or someone wants you to see these specific times. Early in the game, when you encounter your first Gate with Lucca, she suggests that “Something ELSE might be making them.” The party looks down, and Marle says “I don’t want to think about that right now. Let’s get going!” But at the campsite, the conversation gets real. The Entity is brought up, interestingly enough, by Robo--the robot character is the one that introduces some concept of theology into the narrative. He postulates that maybe there is some Entity that wanted Crono and company to see these events--or maybe it was just the entity reflecting on its own history, and Crono’s group got wrapped up in it. In one of the endings, Lucca says that she feels like The Entity is at rest. Marle agrees. Maybe the entity is a deity. Maybe it’s the earth itself. Maybe it’s the player. Either way, the fact that the game is bold enough to ask some of these questions and leave them unanswered is remarkable. Usually JRPG’s are about killing God; Chrono Trigger is a lot more agnostic than that, and it pays dividends. Sorry for the long comment, but this section and this aspect of the game has only gotten more and more fascinating to me over the years and many playthroughs!!

Uncle Longfellow

A few specific things I found to be pretty funny: - When Dalton has the Epoch upgraded i love that he breaks the fourth wall to request a music change to something more evil-sounding since the primary fanfare sounds a little too uplifting for his tastes. - After defeating Lavos, at the victory celebration, Crono's mom says she's happy he saved the world or whatever, but really wishes he'd spend more time at home to take care of his cat. One other observation I have that some may disagree with, is that I like that Lavos ultimately ends up being a humanoid creature basically piloting a gigantic monster from the inside. As terrifying as an incomprehensible monster instinctually devouring worlds is, I think that an intelligent, thinking space alien living on the inside is even worse. Fighting a mountain-sized beast to save the world is epic in it's own right, but being able to look lavos in the eye and stand face to face with him, knowing that failure means the death of billions added a lot more weight to the final encounter for me. Had a blast with this game club guys, would love to do Chrono Cross sometime in the future!

Tactical Dreamer

I played the final battle with headphones on and thought it was really cool that the left characters skills mostly come through the left headphone and the right characters mostly through the right headphone. Maybe this is common in turn based RPGs and I just don't use headphones enough, but I thought it was really cool.

AnotherRobot

If you were to take the place of Crono, would you have the courage to battle to the end? If not, at what point in the game would you have given up? I want to think I would have at least gone to help Marle in 600AD, but I feel like my FOMO for epic adventures would drive me towards the end.

Tactical Dreamer

A few more small thoughts - The game speeding you through your first atb guage for each character every battle to get the action started faster is a very smart little touch. Might be in other atb games, but I dont remember it. - When you go trade out the Chrono Doll for the the real Chrono, the scene has the same 2 party members you had at that time on the game as opposed to some stock cutscene image with set members, it's a nice little touch. - The DS cover art appears to have Marle and Chrono using the Fire Sword dual tech which is weird because Marle has no fire techs. - Chrono Cross Deepest Dive when?

Taylor Owens

I think both Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger are great games. But a big part of the reason I like Chrono Trigger more is that it worked really well within its technical limitations, while FFVI was a game that dreamed beyond them. Which is why I think Chrono Trigger has aged better. It’s streamlined where FF VI is sprawling. FF VI’s characters are full of complexities and nuances but in 2020 I find it really hard to relate with those little sprites. In the 90’s we were more used to our imaginations doing much of the work. Chrono Trigger’s characters aren’t complex, they don’t ask a lot out of the player, they’re just super charming. That’s easy to have fun with in 2020.

Chase Klein

OK - here comes a really long list of things i enjoyed on this playthru 1- enhasa totally gives me the opium den from inception vibes, all these people sleeping and comings to crazy conclusions 2 - 'you discovered Nu's scratching spot' - and it never comes up again in the story, nice little add there 3 - i like the through line that the dreamstone was needed to repair the masamune, which was also the same stone needed to create the mammon machine, which is also what turned the ruby knife into the masamune. felt really well thought out 4 - the golem's final death move is to mimic dalton, which is burping up noxious gas that is mildly damaging. What's that guy eating? 5 - small little thing - the sprite work on the locked warp gate - after the 'prophet' makes schala bind it - really nice effect for the time 6 - after Lavos buries itself in the ground in prehistory - this also has a cascading effect, there used to be 'happy water' that would fully heal your team, but its all gone after lavos makes an appearance. 7 - the epoch = delorean, right? 8 - A nice visual touch is that the weapon sprites change along with the weapons, for example in the beginning crono's wooden sword has a sort of brownish hue to it, later you get a red sword, and the zamato is purplish. also the effect change too, like lucca's megablaster shoots rockets from time to time, but the wonder shot has large energy ball when it crits. I just really like this attention to detail. 9 - why is mt. woe's save points blue instead of green? 10- giga gaia is one of the coolest looking bosses in the game, but you cant unsee what that torso looks like once you notice it. 11 - the sound track in the ocean palace is pretty rocking, its prob the most prog rock it get in the whole game. 12 - does that Nu just jump to its death before you enter the mammon machine room in the ocean palace? 13 - Crono's death scene is rad - both in the game and in the low quality video, the way his face just fades out with the flash... 14 - so after the ocean palace the enlightened and earthbound are just hanging out as equals? the earthbound sure got over being basically slaves real fast 15 - I'm sure its already been mentioned but since Ayla doesn't use weapons, its a nice touch that she can carry your team in the stealth blackbird mission 16 - when dalton takes over his henchmen are called 'daltonites' - silly 17 - the music queue when dalton turns on the epoch going from the 'chrono trigger main theme' to 'a shot of panic' is a really nice queue 18 - i like that you actually have to hit a button that takes down the black bird while fumbling with the controls once you take over the epoch 19 - when you return to the village common's the kid there appears to be running around with Janus's cat - the one with the purple fur 20 - Gaspar playing the music box song for Crono was cool, but kinda give me a '... so anyway, heres wonder wall' vibe 21 - Answer to Kyle 's question from last time - yes ayla's only weapons are her fist, they actually get stronger too as their crit rate increases 22 - all of the guru of lifes contructs are cute little animals, like the Nu, and the little sheep dolls, he even mentions how cute they are. 23 -Magus not having any dual or triple techs (with out accessories) is annoying but on brand for the character 24 - the team fight with ozzie, flea, and slash was pretty comical, as ozzie was being used as the stepping stone, or the fall guy to set up all the the team combo's 25 - Apparently carpentry tools don't change much in 400 years? the carpenter just picks of tools from 400 years in the future and has no questions about them. 26 - I like the sprites for Robo while he's toiling for Fiona - he got one where he's wearing a hat thing and throwing seeds, one where he's a scarecrow, and one where hes a tractor. 27 - it seems like a missed opportunity to give Frog the frog squasher as his final tech instead of 'Nirvana Strike' or something. I mean why would a expert swordsman have a frog summon instead of a cool sword attack 28 - so in the SNES version the final physical attack for Crono is 'Confuse' which is misleading because its a 4 hit attack and not just inflicting the 'confuse' status effect on the enemy. The DS version cleared up this 'confusion' but just calling it Frenzy' 29 - once you enter Lavos you'll hear its heart beat, and is you take the portal out, the screen will flash in time with it 30 - I like the full on ginyu force poses before the final fight 31 - the misdirection of the final boss fight is pretty good, its actually the right bit that the final boss, not the menacing guy in the middle 32 - Doan (the old man from the future) just kinda peaces out while Lucca and Robo are having a heartfelt good bye. 33 - prob common knowledge, but if you chose to fight and defeat magus in a one on one with frog, then frog's curse is lifted at the end and hes hooded figure with green clothing 34 - the ending is mode7 AF!!!!!

mtolen85 .

So one aspect that I find super interesting is the fates of those who actual interact with Lavos. Yes the Kingdom that worshiped him got destroyed but I'm talking those that physically interacted with it. Balthazar, the Guru of Reason, is sent to the future where he slowly loses his mind. Gaspar, the Guru of Time, is sent to a place where time has ceased to matter. Melchior, the Guru of Life, is sent to the present, where he makes a living creating weapons. Janus, a weird but innocent boy, ends up in the Middle ages where he becomes the most notorious villain on the planet. The Queen is basically possessed by Lavos and loses her kingdom. And Schala is basically lost to time and space. Though the DS version does give some answers, it is covered more in Chrono Cross. It is like this sort of Lavos robs each of these characters of the thing that is most important to them. It just adds another layer to a being that we never get clear motivations on. Or it could be just dramatic irony. It also happen to rob the hero of his life, which really is the only thing we know about him. Luckily that one doesn't have to stick.

Taylor Owens

The first time I stepped into the Kingdom of Zeal I was blown away. This far into the game I thought I had seen all the timelines, so to discover a new one, especially one as weird and mysterious as this one, was magical. Also it has the best music.

mtolen85 .

So I want to thank you guys for doing this game club. For me this game is so burned into my brain its hard to separate what is nostalgia and what is timeless. But seeing/ hearing people fall in love that have either never played or haven't played in years reinforces how incredible this game is. I personally would love to see them give the series some love, but the fact that it still holds up 25 years later speaks volumes.

Bob Buel

So if you went for the Sun Stone in a side quest, you were treated to a boss fight with the "Son of the Sun," an excellent name but a pretty bad boss; arguably the worst boss fight in the game. Essentially this fight had one core that you needed to kill but couldn't attack directly. It had 5 flames circling it and one of those five could be attacked to do damage to the core. The problem is that which of these 5 is the "correct one" is totally random. Also, it shuffles to re-randomize after every correct attack and counter attacks you with every incorrect attack. On top of that, the damage to the core is a fixed amount regardless how much you damage you deal to the correct flame on the outside, making this boss fight extended to an annoying degree. No skill here, no way to discern which flame is correct, no gaming the system, no battle strategy, no enemy weakness, nothing - just feels out of place in an otherwise exceptional RPG.

Dystopiapro

Hello fellow MinnMaxers! I've been waiting for this last section to jump into the discussion as I've been playing through the game again on a New Game+ of my original SNES game save, this seeming like the best time to jump in and finally see my way through all of the various endings of the game. I must say it was a pretty fun to see how this story ends based on when and where you defeat Lavos. I don't want to spoil all the endings but a few of my favorite moments from some of them are... 1. The ending in which with Lavos defeated Frog goes back to Magus' castle to fight him one on one, the final scene from this one is great. 2. The ending which Tata, the young boy who found the Hero's Medal, makes his way through Magus' castle to challenge Magus himself only to be greated by a laughing Crono and crew. 3. And my favorite of all of them, the ending in which you defeat Lavos while Crono is dead, which everyone should see for themselves. Had a lot of fun with this replay, and I'm pretty good at that Lavos fight now.

Bob Buel

So I decided to go through Black Omen to reach Lavos. I loved it, and felt like it really gave a climactic last dungeon before the battle with Queen Zeal and Lavos. But what stuck with me was in the hallway before Queen Zeal had multiple tubes filled with floating catatonic members of your own party. Some genuine creepy stuff. Everyone but Magus are in the tubes and theres little to no explanation of what they are. Perhaps just an illusion magic to try to psych out our heroes or perhaps they are clones that Queen Zeal is still working on. Or maybe this is her own collection of doppel-dolls, mint in box. But whatever they are dies with her, as does the Black Omen itself.

Shawn Mills

I was freaked out to encounter several baby Lavos on Death's Peak in the future. Does this imply that Lavos somehow impregnated itself? Are these smaller Lavos eventually going to grow into full size Lavos and land on other planets? Who would win in a baby Yoda vs. baby Lavos fight? I also found it strange that the group never voices any objection to Magus joining them and no one in the world reacts to Magus suddenly traveling with you other than Ozzie for his side quest. Anyway, I really enjoyed replaying this game and beating it for the first time, thanks for making this deepest dive.

Andrew vala

So a lot stuff went down during the Guru on Mt. Woe chapter: 1. I was happily leveling up tech points for Crono, Frog, and Ayla on Mt. Woe and was not expecting the Giga Gaia boss fight when I moved into the last screen. I’m still not sure what the deal was, but this boss wrecked my party with quick attacks that I could not get ahead off. However, thanks to those helpful treasure chest tips from last discussion, I had scoured time and space for the sealed chests and equipped Ayla with armor that just happened to absorb one of the boss’ magic attacks. This meant Crono and Frog were doomed to eat dirt while Ayla was essentially immortal. With Ayla’s Cat Attack I could deal 560 damage to the boss while the right hand healed it for 250 hp every few turns. The fight took about a half hour and felt like both the cheasiest and hardest fight in the game. Thank you to the MinnMax community for helping me beat this boss in the most unseemly way possible. 2. Mt. Woe isn’t bad, but once you beat the boss, this floating island is off the chain. 3. Dalton is an interesting comedic villain, but when you stop to think about it, some of that comedy is messed up. For example, after the Mt. Woe boss fight, the party regroups with the Earthbounders and Melchior when Dalton saunters in, hurls a fireball at Melchior, knocks Schala to the ground, and backhands a child across the freaking room. Meanwhile, Crono and party casually watch all this from the side of the room. 4. After Dalton abducts Shala and Janus from the Earthbound village, Melchior says, “My pardons… you risk your life for us time and time again, and I do not even know your names.” He then hands Crono the ruby knife to destroy the terrifying power of the Mammoth Machine. One, I’m pretty sure this is the first time Melchior meets the party, so I’m not sure what he’s referencing that we risked our lives to save him and two, he still doesn’t bother to ask us our names. Thanks, for the knife, bud. Maybe this is why the Queen banished you to Mt. Woe. After you acquire the upgraded Epoch, you can travel to the End of Time and talk to Gaspar. He’ll play a melancholy, music box tune in honor of Crono (the same song that plays during the beginning of the animated attract screen). This is a nice, quiet moment to reflect on the impact of Crono’s loss. If you attempt to fight Spekkio after this song starts, the tune persists throughout the fight. I was fully expecting video game logic to step in and let a battle theme stomp all over this reflective moment. It gave me the sense that the party members were still going about the tasks of saving the world, but still struggling internally with the loss of their friend. At the end of Robo’s sidequest, there’s a room off to the left just before the boss fight with a conveyor belt. If you inspect it, you’ll find out it’s a “human processing conveyor belt.” I sat there confused and horrified as a lump of rags was conveyed in from the left. As this lump of rags slid behind a wall in the center of the room I realized it was one of the dejected humans from the domes. The game let out a horrific shriek. A second later, a glowing item was conveyed out from where the human had entered. It reminded me of the human canning assembly line in Xenogears. I felt sick realizing what had happened, but I also kinda wanted grab that treasure. How weird is it that the Reptite castle is lit up by torches made from dinosaur leg bones? What’s up with that? This is like walking through a skyscraper with some femurs and size 13’s holding up tiki torches. During Marle’s sidequest and the King’s trial, the party races into the dungeons to find the rainbow shell. On the way there is a guard passed out on the ground. If you stop and talk to him, he says, “Urgh… A rat bit my toe.” Employee of the year. Woof, the Dark Omen dungeon is a slog of enemy encounters. I just barely had enough items to get through to the final boss. I tend to hoard items in RPG’s, and almost never user healing items or mega-elixirs. I did not have that problem in this game. I use hi-pots, elixirs, shelters like I was running out of inventory space. Is it just me, or is there a lot of similarity between Lavos being an interstellar parasite that eats a planet’s resources and leaves and Jenovah from FFVII?

Andrew vala

Ayla can only use her fists and weapons during the entire game, but in every animated cutscene she's wielding a club.

Nick Novotny

Right before you take on Lavos at the end of the game, your characters all pull their weapons out, and deliver one last line before going into battle. I thought this was a really epic moment, with Marle saying she is doing it for "Doan and the others too!", while Frog pulled out his sword and says ""Musamune, do not fail me now!". There was some weight to these lines after their long journey, specially with doing their side missions, but then there's Chrono.......he pulls his sword out and says nothing. Talk about a buzz kill! I loved the game, but wish we had a little more motivation on what he was fighting for himself (besides the end of the world), which we got from so many of the other characters. Did Chrono need more of a payoff? Did this moment stick out for anyone else?

Joseph Betz

Hey Ben and the CLCs, I’m still working on the final side-quests but I’ve really enjoyed my time with the game! One of the aspects that I appreciated the most was the game’s humor and how well it held up. So many moments of the game have made me audibly chuckle, a lot of which are hidden away in dialogue and secret interactions. One of these moments was when I spoke to a wandering Nu walking around the Kingdom of Zeal. Upon speaking to him, he complains of his itchy back and asks for help scratching it. After this interaction, the triumphant “Item Acquired!” music plays and I got all excited thinking he had given me some sort of rare weapon/item for helping him out. However, the text box says, “You have discovered Nu’s favorite scratching spot!” I couldn’t help but let out a laugh. Like with this example, Chrono Trigger’s humor is so well done because of the way it catches the player off guard by using the stereotypical mechanics of JRPGs to make jokes. On another note, I accidentally went through the final dungeon (Black Omen) before doing any of the side-quests or rescuing Crono. This made my time in the dungeon incredibly difficult since I was under-leveled and without my main party member. The waves of enemies I encountered felt like a slog and each battle seemed to threaten a “Game Over” every time. A lot of the enemies in the final dungeon felt to be very tedious and had frustrating abilities. Enemy techs that halved party members’ health, siphoned away precious MP, and that one enemy that “Omnilocked” my techs and items causing me to just mash the attack button, were especially annoying. Any of you guys struggle as much as I did in the final dungeon or were especially frustrated by any particular enemies? Thanks for all the great content and discussions, looking forward to the next Deepest Dive!

mtolen85 .

So when you fight Ozzie, Slash and Flea the second time, they make a big deal about the items that will make them unbeatable. This is actually a hint for how to get some more super powered items. If you equip Ayla with the Alluring top accessory, and bring Marle to do their twin charm you can actually get all three items. Flea's Bustier in particular has a staggering amount of magic defense

MickManga

Chrono Trigger has so many small moments that help it stand out so much among other RPGs. Like leaving Robo in 600 AD to help regrow a forest. And every time you return to 600 AD, you'll see a little Robo on the over world map. It's little touches like make it so special. Not to mention the event with Lucca that results from that is both heartbreaking and heartwarming all depending how you handle that moment.

Travis Manick

-What are your thoughts on a character's usefulness in the party vs your enjoyment of them as a character or their lore? My favorite trio is Frog, Crono, and Magus. But at the same time, it feels kind of weird forcing Magus and Frog to be brothers-in-arms. Along those same lines, Marle is the obvious choice for a main healer in combat, but I didn't care for her as a character very much. -What is the crest on the sealed chests and doors supposed to be? It kind of looks like a dragon face, or maybe Lavos' second form. They were created during the Antiquity, so is there some reference there? -The Chrono Trigger "Any%" category has a first-place time of 2h 25m 38s. It employs some glitches and exploits to skip bosses, manipulate RNG, and greatly boost stats while also bypassing the Lavos Shell. You can watch it here: https://www.speedrun.com/ct/run/z03nvjez -Can we talk about what the titular "Chrono Trigger" actually is? The Time Egg is used to revive a fallen Crono, but this is completely optional (although I wonder how many would pass up the chance). While it is a great story moment, it's also kind of strange that it is entirely optional.

Whiskeyjack

Hello MinnMax sirs, I’m curious to know about the decisions you made during your playthrough : -Did you kill or spare Magus? -In which era did you defeat lavos ? -Did you save Crono? If you didn’t you’re a monster :) -Favorite party? Mine is Crono, Ayla and Marle. Crono and Ayla’s dual techs deal insane damage while Marle can provide great support and offensive spells. Thanks for doing this Deepest Dive. It was great revisiting my favorite game of all time once again.

mtolen85 .

The one thing that I keep seeing is people talking about when they revive Crono. There seems to be some confusion as to how that actually happened. What that Chrono trigger did was actually teleport them to the few moments right before Crono's death. There they could physically replace him with the perfect replica doll, making Lavos blast that instead of Chrono.

James Martin

I think the tiny details that the game throws in, but doesn't blatantly call out with dialogue or text are fantastic. The coolest example of this in the 3rd act I though was when (SPOILERS!) you're walking through the village commons with Magus and the cat follows him. If you remember back when he was younger and you talk to him he says not to bother talking to the cat because it only likes him - of course at the time you didn't realize it was Magus, but now that you do they just sneak that moment in, if he's in your party. Fun little details like that are awesome and sometimes make you go 'hmm, why did that happen", and then if you think hard it reveals itself.

Shuffleguy

Didn’t finish the whole game at this point, but some topics of interest: In Kajar: The moon stone could be restored to a glorious Sun Stone if left to bask in the sun’s warm light. But such would require aeons. None of us will ever witness that gorgeous glow again…. Think again buddy! When the whole team + Magus are at the point of defeat in the Ocean Palace, Frog shouts that Magus can’t die on the hands of Lavos. Even on the brink of death, his own revenge story is still the primary reason to fight. THEY ACTUALLY FELL FOR THE “What’s that behind you trick” of Dalton.

Patrick Polk

(I tried posting this a while ago and it disappeared. If it was deliberately deleted for some reason, I apologize for re-posting and will not do so again.) Greetings and thanks again for leading this discussion of Chrono Trigger. Here are my thoughts on the final section of the game: 1. But wait, why is his name Crono, without an H? Is it a MinnMax-style branding, and he always tells people “Hi, I’m Crono, no H”? 2. A nice little touch that I noticed for the first time is that the boxes in the side towers of Guardia Castle rearrange over time, which exposes different treasure chests and lets you get some very powerful items if you visit at the right time in the plot. 3. Obviously one of the biggest things to discuss about the end of the game is Crono, no H dying and going on the mission to bring him back. But I was reading the Boss Fight Book about Chrono Trigger by Michael P. Williams, and it informed me that originally the story planner, Masato Kato, wanted Chrono to die permanently, and have the party only temporarily borrow Chrono from the Millennial Fair but ultimately return him to his fate to die. What a different game that would have been! 4. Ayla is incredibly powerful for the last third of the game for several reasons. She is so good she’s broken in the Blackbird, when your party loses its equipment and she can still attack. Also her Charm ability lets you steal so many awesome items, including some of the most powerful weapons, armor, and accessories in the game, as well as infinite Megalixirs and Capsules to upgrade your party members. 5. I see other people have commented on this, but I also thought Dalton asking for more menacing music was very funny. 6. I last played through this game about 15 years ago, and never played the DS version before, and so I accidentally started the endgame as soon as I recruited Magus. I went straight to the Black Omen--completely forgetting it was the endgame. I thought it was either just a side quest, or it was one of those new dungeons I had heard were made for the DS version. That means I finished the game with no Crono no H, no eponymous Chrono Trigger, no Rainbow Shell, no Sun Stone. I had never tried to beat the game without Crono in my party and it was very fun and challenging. 7. When you go inside Lavos’s shell at the end of the game, if Magus is in your party he says “There’s no turning back now.” But like two feet from him there is a time gate that takes you to the End of Time, so it’s actually quite easy to turn back. 8. I also love how Spekkio reacts when you visit him with Magus in your party. He says “Wowza! You hauled in a marlin here, kids!” 9. There has rightly been a lot of discussion of the music in this game. Have you heard the officially-sanctioned-by-Square-and-Yasunori-Mitsuda smooth jazz version of the soundtrack called The Brink of Time? I highly recommend you check it out if you haven’t. https://youtu.be/If_nAMXaXmY This track really picks up at about the 1:09 mark. Thanks again!

Conor

Hello y’all, been wanting to play this game for a long time. I was too young when it came out but used to watch my brother play it as a kid so it was nice getting to experience it fresh with others. It was nostalgic and fresh all at the same time. I think my takeaway from playing Chrono Trigger is that it feels like a game that was a culmination of a lot of the best stuff from the SNES and had many ideas that were ahead of its time. I loved it and can understand how some people think it’s the best game ever. I think the main thing for me is that the game feels ahead of its time in how it marries the story and cinematic aspects with the gameplay. The cutscenes and action/battle sequences not diverging from the normal gameplay view adds an immersive aspect and helped the pace and pushed you forward. There is also a liveness to many little details like NPCs that are staples in almost every game now such as Lucca’s dad walking into her mom’s room and delivering dialogue then walking out, you can’t interact with this but that made the world feel alive. I can’t imagine too many games doing stuff like this before 1995, that is NPCs walking around talking to each other just because. Other stuff like the race at the fair, the chef/knight scene, seeing the enemy sprites you will fight on the screen you will fight them on, all of it makes it feel like a real world and it helps you to suspend disbelief. The characters are great too. I can’t say enough about the party members, they are in the God-tier for all time JRPG parties and the sprite art and graphics can’t be understated, this is a beautiful game.

mtolen85 .

I think this is the biggest take away, is that the level of polish on this game is so incredible. It doesn't attempt anything super experimental but what it does is so well executed that it really stands out from other games of the era.

Jeorin

Hope this isn't coming in too late. I had no time last night to post. 1. The Mammon machine is a reference to the Christian Bible. Mammon is used to represent greed in the Bible, but I believe it is a literal word for money. 2. Crono's Luminaire spell is one of the most satisfying attacks in a video game. The sound and visuals for it really nail the idea of raw power. 3. Anyone catch the weird 4th wall breaks after the fall of Zeal? Dalton first breaks the 4th wall by referencing the in game music. A short time later when you get the Epoch, your party breaks the 4th wall by referencing the controller directly. 4. Robo and Magus both have younger versions of themselves present in the same time period. Magus, of course, during the Zeal sequence as 'the prophet', and Robo during the side quest to grow the forest in 600AD. 5. On the Black Omen entry area you can see the Epoch flying beneath you if you hang out for a little while. 6. What are the tubes with all the characters near the end of the Black Omen? Are those clones or what? Creepy... 7. Why does Taban have a meat grinder in his living room when he has a small child!?

Jeorin

Wanted to also state that the sidequest where you revive the forest is one of the most memorable moments in gaming. Lucca has a very personal moment, and her and Robo connect emotionally after. Robo has one of the most significant lines in the game. He states that the gates may be akin to someone seeing their life flash before their eyes as they die, insinuating that the planet is making the gates as it dies to Lavos. This is touched on again near the end of the game, when either Robo or Lucca talks about the entity being at peace as a reason behind the gates fading.

Jeorin

A comment on Lavos himself. The heartbeat effect inside Lavos speeds up as you approach the core. Very intense. The first form of Lavos has literal nipple lasers. Weird. The music for the final form is incredible. On a good sound system you can hear the core synth element oscillate between the left and right speakers. Creates a strange almost 3D audio effect.

Drew Waranis

This is prolly the most specific (and old man) comment I can make: Potions are not tonics and it isn't Chrono Trigger without tonics!