Has anyone checked the exact prerequisites of certain endings?

[Fortranm]

I have seen different descriptions about prerequisites of The Magical Dreamers ending and variations of The True Hero ending on different websites. Has anyone used hacking tools to check the actual in game triggers for endings?

[OneWingedAngel]

Here's a translation of the "choose which ending" code from the Opassa Beach fieldscript file.  All endings refer to this page.

---------------------------------------------

IF(You completed Terra Tower all the way to Kid's final line on the boat) {
    IF(You beat the Time Devourer normally) {
        RUN the "Bad" ending
    }
    RUN the "Chrono Cross" ending
}

IF(You completed Chronopolis all the way to Harle bidding you "adieu") {
    RUN the "Return of the Downtrodden" ending
}

IF(Harle has permanently left your party) {
    IF(Dario has decided to rebuild Viper manor) {
        RUN "Career change" ending
    }
    RUN "Darkened Fate" ending
}

IF(You escaped from Viper manor after rescuing Riddel) {
    RUN "Onward Dragoons" ending

IF(Serge has body swapped into Lynx) {
    RUN "New Beginnings" ending
}

IF(You have decided whether or not to try to heal Kid) {
    IF(You took the Forest Route with Nikki) {
        IF(You chose to try to save Kid) {
            IF(Razzly is in your roster) {
                RUN "Magical Dreamers" ending
            }
        }
    RUN some version of "True Hero" ending
    }
}

IF(You spoke with Leena at the dock) {
    RUN "General Kid" ending
}

IF(You recruited Poshul in Home World) {
    RUN "General Kid" ending
}

Request change to disc 2
RUN "Programmer's" ending

-----------------------------------------------

It's not just that you can't cross dimensions to get the developer's ending-- you can't make *any* progress in the game, whether by talking to Leena or recruiting Poshul.

From reading the fieldscript, it looks like there might be *three* versions of the True Hero ending, not just the two listed on that page.  By my reading of the script, it looks like it's possible to cut to the final scene (with Solt, Peppor, and Pierre) after seeing Kid in Viper Manor (if you neither gave her the Hydra Humor nor recruited her with Doc), after Kid says "Bugger! How'd she know about that?", or after the Korcha/Macha scene.  The Korcha scene can be skipped if you *don't* get Korcha's boat by promising that Kid will marry him, but instead go directly to Opassa Beach and fight the TD.

Whoa, did I just find a 13th ending?

[ZeaLitY]

Damn, fantastic. It's comforting to have the exact parameters. And yeah, that's major. Will earmark to put on the CC endings page and point this out.

[OneWingedAngel]

I made a slight edit to the "rescue Riddel" condition above.  The relevant story trigger happens at the end of the escape, when a party member suggests going to Hermit's Hideaway, not right when you beat Hell's Cook.  I don't think there's a way to fight the TD in between those events, so it's sort of moot.

The one thing I haven't fully verified is the "Harle permanently leaves you" condition.  In the fieldscript dump, this is a check that SCENARIO_FLAG (game progress) is at least 176... but I can't find where this is set!  The scene where Harle leaves you (talking about it with Starky if he's on your roster, and just saying "au revoir" if not) happens when SCENARIO_FLAG is 172, and the end of this scene transitions to the world map.  However, the fieldscript does not indicate that SCENARIO_FLAG becomes 176 at the end of the scene, when Harle is removed.  In fact, the script doesn't explicitly say to transition to the world map-- there is no NEXT_ROOM reference for the world map anywhere in the script.  My only guess is that the unknown opcode FE 7D calls some unseen script that sets SCENARIO_FLAG and moves to the world map, but that seems weird.

EDIT: That scene is CD0-271 at 0x0C84.

Anyway, I'm new here, but I'm going to try to make more progress on deciphering fieldscript.  I haven't used utunnels' tools yet, only working with the posted fieldscript dump and the TT tools.  If utunnels' tools don't include source code for a fieldscript decompiler, I'll write one from scratch and add it to the TT tools.

I have no idea how you guys made initial progress on this-- starting from zero must have been maddening.  From here, I think the correct approach is to make a concordance / quasi-database of unknown opcodes, indicating which kinds of scripts they appear in (init, interact, etc) and before/after which other codes.

[ZeaLitY]

Hit me up for Wiki access. You'll be able to edit the Modification encyclopedia if you wish/want to keep track of the discoveries there. Would just need a desired username.

Yeah, believe me...we used to be in hell over that Chrono Cross ending enigma, after someone in 2000 on Gamefaqs reported it in that secrets FAQ. What gave it such a long, long life was the fact that Kid's behavior can be somewhat manipulated in the developer's ending, so we couldn't just conclusively ignore it. Getting the fieldscript for that ending was a godsend and put it to rest once and for all.

Still can't wait to see what/where Kid's little poem would've been called:

 [Water Dragon Isle, amazing dialogue in Debug Menu]
 
 [Kid?]
   So tell me now
   Even if it is a lie
   That angels unseen
   Watch over the works of men.

[Vehek]

utunnels' tools contain yaz0r's fieldscript decompiler. It works on the CD images, rather than extracted files.

I once made a modified version integrating some of utunnels' code to make the output compatible with his compiler. I later gave a binary to Danetta.
I haven't worked on Chrono Cross for a long time, so I don't have much else to add right now.