Official Side Quest Thread

[ZeaLitY]

We're nearing wrapping up the main plot, so next we'll have to do sidequests before finally being able to plan specific locations, maps, and tilesets. But before I do real discussion, I just want to write something down:

The ultimate boss, yeah...I had a thought that when describing it, one of the Gurus could relate the story of Queen Zeal, prior to the marriage, ascending a harsh mountain to tame this magnificent, magical and lethal monstrosity (where did it come from?). Queen Zeal would be characterized as passionate, fierce, beautiful...it would be told that with her own power, she subdued the monster and nearly died. And that perhaps it was this that made King Zeal definitely want to take her as his wife. But where might it come from? It's too easy to say "oops Zeal was makin' an experimental boss like Giga Gaia lol with SUPER MAGIC™!!!!!!!", so I'm trying to think of something.

For the origin, I was thinking...perhaps this was a remnant of huge, fearsome creatures dwelling on the surface that added as extra incentive for humans to stay underground mostly. It perhaps had accidentally found a tremendous source of planetary elemental power, like something Zeal was tapping, and simply multiplied in power and strength until finally Queen Zeal volunteered to destroy it.

But ideas are welcome.

~

Training the Knights idea:

We could have a humorous segment where Glenn tests the braver of several knights lined up. A huge monster appears growling and marching towards them; they all run away. Suddenly, it reverts back to a pink Nu and we see

SPEKKIO: ?
   Did I lay it on 'em a little too thick?

~

Also, so that Johnny doesn't look like a total mobster in the new future, we can reason that being part of the illegal performance trade gives him access to bleeding edge speed enhancements.

[Chrono'99]

Perhaps the ultimate Dark Ages boss could be an ancient God of the Mystics... I mean "God", but not really deity. More something like a natural living being, so powerful and terrifying that the shy and primitive Mystics decided to worship it to try to appease it. It wouldn't really be supernatural or elementally-evolved, just a rare, big species fitted to live in the cold wilderness.

There would actually have been a few others of its species on Earth, but the one that Queen Zeal subdued was the only relevant one for the community (there's only one Terra Cave in 12,000 BC, the other lands seem to be totally inhabited by humans). In 11,998 BC, the one encountered would not necessarily be Queen Zeal's. In any case, it'd kind of be the last one remaining after the Lavos flood.

Maybe the remaining Mystics taken as slaves by Dalton could explain that stuff after Dalton's death.

[TheOutlaw]

Well i do remember being told in the original CT that other people had fallen through time gates.
So maybe we could make the Uber boss, a Prehistoric monster, that fell through and time gate to Zeal, where it was magically enhanced for the purpose of experimentation. Gaining the abilities to speak, talk and use magic. It eventually became powerful enough to kill the scientists and escape, the records were well hidden. However after the fall of Zeal the monster had become trapped in layers of earth, where it burrowed and festered to survive. and after the Ice age, was able to surface(had a hard time breaking through frozen tundra) In this new warm climate the being creates the mystics(or bestows magic upon them), and hence becomes their primary deity. And for some reason the monster does eventually seek isolation from others. Which leads to our heroes encountering the being in the dark ages(or any other time period afterwards) (possibly make a version for each time period that is harder than the other?

The monster would have some reason to battle the heroes, maybe out of boredom. Maybe out of hate for humans for evolving him that way. Or maybe because he wanted to continue to be isolated, but the heroes ran into him.

P.S. it could still be a beast subdued by queen Zeal

[nightmare975]

Well i do remember being told in the original CT that other people had fallen through time gates.

Hmmm, why did Gasper say that? No one else seems to appear in the End of Time when you're there.

But you have a good idea.

[ZeaLitY]

I'm working on http://www.chronocompendium.com/CrimsonEchoes/Sidequests.html

Gosh, it is HARD to do side quests while worrying about changing time...

~

In all this work, we've forgotten about the ultimate weapons. The original idea was that Melchior would learn how to use spatial gates to core out the Rainbow Shell and extract the purest substance possible. We can involve Yaluk...perhaps Melchior would need her knowledge and analysis of Rainbow Shell material to pull off the forging of weapons. I don't know what we could do here, though. Part of me wants to have her do it ONLY in return for some kind of promise...and then somehow link her to Chrono Cross's Dragonians...but I'm just not sure. Any creative ideas?

~

I'm having difficulty thinking of something for the origin / fate of Nus. We already have Crono talking with the Entity, so explaining the Nu as creatures with an unusual sensitivity to the planet's health / dreams couldn't really match that. On the other hand, if we revived our ultimate weapon quest...the Nu could play a part. Perhaps they could give Ayla a Fist blessed by the planet, along with a broom for Crono (we'd have to give it some amazing effect like random damage from 1-999 points).

~

Ultimate Boss

Long ago, the harsh winds made for huge, evolved animals related to the Mystics with magical power. They were top of the line predators and existed on land, sea, and air. The Mystics regarded them as sacred. Zeal often used them for tests of magical skill; in her younger days, Queen Zeal successfully subdued one to prove her potency as a royal heir. With the abatement of the storm, the monsters went into a rage and began dying out. The last one, over a hundred years old, has been able to access Zeal ruins too treacherous for human reach on land and on sea, absorbing much power. Destined to die with the rest as the land warms up, it nonetheless roams the northern, surfaced lands, killing anything in its path. The party hear about it and Melchior notes that its hardened hide is probably so enriched with magic that it could effectively be used as armor. If the party succeed, they find the hide cannot be made into armor at all. Nonetheless, Melchior can turn enough of it into a trinket with amazing powers. Maybe this works? I'd like to do something more...but it's hard to set up a plot and have them beat it when doing so might possibly disrupt time. Ideas needed.

~

Belthasar can note that the Mystical Knights grew tired of governing Medina and left, though they did succeed in stopping Medina from venerating Porre. The party become curious about Kasmir and the Mystical Knights, and discover them in Serran's old fort, where anachronistic monsters are present. The Knights exclaim that with Magus's old summoning spells, they've learned how to conjure up monsters -- and Belthasar explains that they're somehow routing them through the End of Time. The Mystical Knights boast of blowing Kasmir away with their newfound power. However, he shows up at that instant and notes that the Knights are ridiculously gullible for believing his playing dead. He's watched htem perform the ritual, and has summoned a few monsters of his own. The Mystical Knights are rushed by his minions, while the party deal with Kasmir. After things end, the party help the Knights legislate the government of Medina before the three decide to journey to the far reaches of time to explore new skills of combat. Magus bids them farewell.

~

Glenn notes that even with the Vanguard gone, he's still a little concerned and would like to pass his skills down to a new generation. At the castle, he finds a bunch of young men and Tata. He talks about protecting the world and begins their training. They spar somewhat (two soldiers and Tata); Glenn helps Tata. Switch to the San Dorino Inn, where two men are arguing. Tata tries to break it up, and Glenn congratulates him. Switch to the shop. Tata walks in with his new armor and clothes on, causing nearby girls to swoon. Tata exclaims that he has the look down and is on the way to becoming a true hero. However, at the training exercise, Tata flees with the other two when Spekkio comes down in the form of a monster. Glenn goes to Tata and has a chat with him at his house, asking if Tata truly wants to become a hero. Tata exclaims that he does, and Glenn motivates him by telling him that he has to have unlimited courage and determination. The next day, Tata and the soldiers beat a monster. Spekkio laughs that this wasn't as grand as he expected, and asks Glenn to show them what true combative power. Glenn then has to beat him one on one. If he loses, he says "aah...sorry, feeling a little sick today. Let me rest up." If he finally wins, Tata will note that the Pierre family will one day spawn a long line of heroes, even enough to rival the Viper Clan of Porre.

~

Should the Guardia heirlooms be made available earlier, since they can do the ultimate weapons quest and Glenn will end up using the Masamune anyhow?

~

Proto-052C, what should we do with him? Perhaps he'd be causing trouble again, so the party would look for him on the mainland. But...we've already gone over ethics...I'm lost for ideas.

[nightmare975]

Technecally, we shouldn't have to worry about messing with time too much. What we do in Crimson Echoes should begin to cause the events of Chrono Cross.

That being said, what if we made the Zeal monster so powerful, that he makes a portion of the Icelands into a tropical paradise for mystics (or reptiles)? You end up walking in circles through four prehistoric maps and then after completing the objectives around the island, you fight the creature at the center of the island. Afterwards your characters wonder what will happen to the island, and Belthasar says that the island was going to sink into the ocean in a couple of decades anyway. Though when you get back, he should comment on the fact that the island, Gaia's Navel is still there.

Hey, it could help explain Gaia's Navel!

[ZeaLitY]

From the other thread:

Aside from a possible Dreamer's Wing sidequest, we don't have something for a second return to 12001 B.C. Well, if we do something unrelated, the sidequest in that era can end with the party discovering the three Gurus meeting to discuss the prospect of Lavos and other issues. It'd be amazing; we'd see the Gurus before anything Chrono-related even began to happen (before the Entity even effected the Ocean Palace Incident). It would also let them discuss the prospect of Lavos's power going out of control.

[ZeaLitY]

From the other thread:

Since the Chronopolis outrage is squashed, then yeah, there's not much to do here. But with him, it'd be easy to have the party bump into him right after acquiring the repair part from Johnny. Proto could notice their unique fashion and generally greet them in a friendly manner, making for some small talk. The party could then sort of talk about how the old Proto has been lost to the changes in time...just like the old Johnny. It'd be sort of a reflective sad moment.

[Daniel Krispin]

From the other thread:

Aside from a possible Dreamer's Wing sidequest, we don't have something for a second return to 12001 B.C. Well, if we do something unrelated, the sidequest in that era can end with the party discovering the three Gurus meeting to discuss the prospect of Lavos and other issues. It'd be amazing; we'd see the Gurus before anything Chrono-related even began to happen (before the Entity even effected the Ocean Palace Incident). It would also let them discuss the prospect of Lavos's power going out of control.

That would be a good place to showcase an intellectual / philosophical dialogue, eh? A sort of three-way contest between these learned men, discussing different aspects of the potential of Lavos, each from his own different character. Personally, I see Belthesar as the more innovative, the forward-looking and the dreamer about new things. Scientific advancement and knowledge is the greatest good. He's not a mad scientist or anything, but reason and it's pursuit is foremost. He's probably talk in favour of considering Lavos. Melchior seems more conservative and less risky - he'd rather not go forward if there is potential for harm. His concern is more for life and its preservation. His focus is also more on the spiritual, and thus is more of a philosopher - he'd probably consider the ethical points of harnessing Lavos, and make comments as to the fall of the proud, and what not. Generally, I can see Belthesar's and Melchior's views and them having many dissentions on how to proceed. Gaspar... well, for some reason, I see Melchior as the youngest, and Belthesar as the middle one. Gaspar seems old and reserved - listening rather than talking. The wisest of them all. He'd probably mediate the views and, listening, would say the cleverest things. Belthesar and Melchior, I think, are more zealous to do things - Gaspar would sit in the shadows and think, and only come out when he knows exactly what to do to accomplish what he wants to have done. He would probably also be the least proud, and the least self-important of the three. Belthesar would probably laud all his clever plans - the Blackbird, the Time Crash, whatever. Melchior, he's content to be a good smith in 1000AD. But Gaspar... when they ask if he's Gaspar, he kind of scratches his head, saying 'yeah, that's what they called me.' He's not one to ever let his high status or power go to his head. All told, I think he'd be most dangerous of them all.

Heh. I'm not thinking very well lately. In better times, I could have given a better analysis of this. But generally, that's how I think of their characters.

[ZeaLitY]

Looks like the hard part will be writing Gaspar's lines, then. It's difficult for me to consider temporal ethics because I...don't quite have the answer.

[Daniel Krispin]

Looks like the hard part will be writing Gaspar's lines, then. It's difficult for me to consider temporal ethics because I...don't quite have the answer.

Make them up, then. Or, better yet, I think you have your answer right there. It's difficult to consider because you don't have the answer. Maybe that should be Gaspar's stance, too. The other two are bickering about pros and cons of things, and Gaspar is standing there asking for moderation and caution because, really, he doesn't have the answer. He's wise enough to know what he doesn't know, and hasn't any need for posturing. In fact, you could have him be a bit of a Socrates... he could merely ask the others the tough questions. The 'well, what about this?' and 'how well do you REALLY know that, Belthasar?' sort of things, but when asked himself, just shrug and say 'I haven't an answer myself. I just know it's important.' That sort of thing. Honestly, if anybody can write Gaspar, it's you.

[ZeaLitY]

Be sure to comment!

Very well. This will be interesting.

Let's get the ball rolling. We need to field some more ideas. Before we get to business, all participants please read what's up at http://www.chronocompendium.com/CrimsonEchoes/Sidequests.html .

We should probably take things from a character's point of view:

64999998 B.C. Agent and Data Cube

Character Focus: Unknown, Ayla?

We wanted to involve Yaluk here. I may have the answer. The girl may have been abducted to a very tough part of the terrain with many hills, holes, and trees. Navigating this would normally take a very long time, but perhaps Yaluk and the Reptites know the area. Yaluk in fact does, but wants a trade in exchange for helping them. My idea is that Yaluk hands them a strange device; she explains that like the datacube they seek to recover, it's a small storage devices containing the history of the Reptite timeline. Yaluk asks the party to make sure Belthasar works to decipher the language and then present their history to the world so that even if it is their fate to die, they at least have some existence. This is a bit of an emotional moment...Ayla admires how Yaluk is fighting to keep her world alive, even if only in the minds of humans. They take the device and rescue the datacube, and everything else happens according to what's on the sidequest page.

64999998 B.C. Rainbow Shell

But should we rather keep that Yaluk thing for a trade for information about the Rainbow Shell? It all depends. We could really do something interesting with this...perhaps Yaluk only allows the Rainbow information if you do try to make Belthasar decode the DragDex. Robo could find something shocking...but I don't know what. We need input here.

11998 B.C. Ultimate Beast

Character Focus: Unknown

Who can we give some character development to here? Is there anything we can do to make this...more interesting? Crono focus, maybe?

11998 B.C. Zeal Quest

Character Focus: Magus?

In line with Magus's becoming Magil -- in effect losing the absolute negative attitude and becoming more of this interesting, "beautiful person" (as Serge calls him), I'm thinking he might have a reason to go to Zeal one last time. I also want to involve the Dreamer's Wing. But of course, Magus gets an awful lot of development everywhere else, so maybe we can add another underused character like Robo. In fact, that would work well with the dreams if we could avoid rehashing Data's TNG stuff. So perhaps Magus leaves for Zeal suddenly, and the party (with Robo for some reason) pursue him. They look for a while but cannot find him. Exhausted from prior adventuring, they decide to take a nap, hoping he'll turn up. We get to see the dreams of those who take a nap, with Robo last -- he doesn't get to dream, but rather reflects. We cut to Magus staring on a cliff, silently thinking. We perhaps hear him think a couple things in line with deciding to live avidly for once, and noting that life perhaps doesn't have to be an eternal nightmare...and behind him come Janus and Schala. Janus is alarmed, wondering who this frightening man is. We see some very juicy, interesting dialogue before Magus decides to test Janus and Schala, making for an interesting battle (though motivating Schala to fight might be hard). Magus encourages them and tells them to return to Zeal Palace. He then enters Enhasa and goes to sleep himself. We see his dream.

Robo then wakes up while the others are sleeping and heads out to a balcony on Enhasa, where the three Gurus are talking. We hear the scene DK and I described above. Two of the Gurus leave and Robo comes out to see Melchior, who assumes he is one of Dalton's golems or some other creature (though is pleasantly surprised at Robo's intelligence and make). They discuss dreams, with Melchior noting the importance of being able to sink into another realm devoid of meaning or importance to real life. Robo gets the idea for a dream circuit, and the two wish each other well. In the morning, Magus rejoins the party.

1 A.D. Beat the Coliseum

Character Focus: Unknown

Since this one can be completed well before the official sidequest chapter, I'm not sure what to do here. Perhaps we can make the final relic for the Museum quest appear here. I had this crazy idea about a kingdom in between Zeal's fall as Guardia's rise; it united the tribes, but eventually collapsed (perhaps it used the Flame, making that statement in Cross about civilizations true). The prize could be an ancient manuscript documenting it and some armor. The manuscript would be ripe for the museum, as it'd give the historians information about something they'd never known of previously.

1 A.D. The Subjugation

Character Focus: Unknown Marle?

We've always talked about how Choras used to be its own kingdom. I had an idea. Now that Cedric the Executor has wiped Antaeus off the map, he has one last thing to do to consolidate his power -- he wants to meet with all the tribes and officially declare his sovereignty. Guardia historians made this look like a pleasant event, but the party in 1 A.D. only hear of this "subjugation," where Cedric will declare himself king and definitely seize control of the other tribes.

But this is where my idea ends. The leader of Choras, perhaps named Cambyses (father of Cyrus the Great in Persian history), would be in attendance, and perhaps Cedric would have those who disagreed with him killed. Without messing up time, I was thinking that maybe Marle, who'd be in attendance, would outright try to stop Cedric from killing someone like Cambyses. This would drastically alter history by ensuring that Choras, weakened from their leader's assassination and falling into ruin sometime before 590 A.D., would still be a strong island nation. But this would have to be a linear sidequest, since the party couldn't time travel again until they corrected things. The Epoch could be stolen, but thats a bit of a tired cliché at this point...I think the interesting part would come from Marle realizing that she has to murder someone in cold blood to pick up the slack for Cedric.

602 A.D. Defeat Kasmir

Character Focus: Mystical Knights

602 A.D. Train the Knights

Character Focus: Glenn

Anything we can do to make this a bit more interesting, rather than a story about Glenn following Tata around? Perhaps a conflict happens somewhere?

1002 A.D. Valle Crimse

Character Focus: Crono

This is directly related to the master weapon / armor quest, which won't be decided until we finalize the weapon / armor lists...which I think was done. I need to check out the ROM and just take the weapon names from there. At any rate, I'm worried this might be a bland one. There's the discovery of the ancient monastery and the guy who wields the Geistrand, which could be interesting if we used that idea, but I'm worried about rehashing old honor / knight themes. We could make it a little critical, though. Perhaps the old knight would ask about life outside, and if women still cook while men fight -- in effect showing his age and a little backwards thinking via sexism. After talking with the party he says that even if the armor he gives Crono isn't used to defend Guardia, he's sure something good will come of it. But before I ask how Crono might be developed here, so we want to stick with this scenario? Is it too bland, or could it work? My idea was to have a bit of a custom, autumn-themed tileset.

1002 A.D. Museum

Character Focus: Unknown

We can come back to this one by picking random points in the story and leaving special items for the player to pick up (like...that animal hide from 64999998 B.C. might have some use later on if Glenn takes it to the museum).

2302 A.D. Ultimate Weapons

As Crono collects stuff, Melchior realizes that he might be able to enhance several items with his new technique for extracting and molding core Rainbow Shell material. But we'll come back to this one. It can involve several trips to the different eras.

~

Questions in summary:

1. Any other way Ayla could get some screen time for the datacube effort?
2. If we use the DragDex idea, can we do something with it in 2302 A.D. and involving Robo? What about the Rainbow Shell?
3. What can we do to make the ultimate beast quest interesting? Character focus?
4. Zeal quest: sound good?
5. Character focus for Coliseum?
6. 1 A.D. -- ideas and suggestions? Throw in some legends? Marle?
7. Train the Knights -- something to make it more interesting?
8. 1002 A.D. -- thoughts?
9. Lastly, is there somewhere we can involve Gaea's Navel? That did strike me as sort of interesting.

We'll pick up the museum and ultimate weapons later.

[nightmare975]

1. Any other way Ayla could get some screen time for the datacube effort?

As I've said before, I think Ayla should be dropped. She appears too late and makes too much of a Chrono Cross joining. A reptile could make some great character development.

2. If we use the DragDex idea, can we do something with it in 2302 A.D. and involving Robo? What about the Rainbow Shell?

The DragDex could talk about advanced robot AI that Robo and Belthasar use to upgrade the Mother Brain.

3. What can we do to make the ultimate beast quest interesting? Character focus?

I've talked of a reason before.

4. Zeal quest: sound good?

May be too much talking for a sidequest, not a lot of action.

5. Character focus for Coliseum?

What if someone at the end wanted to challenge Chrono or Glenn to a fight to the death? Someone, who if they killed, would alter the timeline, and you have to decide to fight or reject.

6. 1 A.D. -- ideas and suggestions? Throw in some legends? Marle?

I like the idea of Choras being a major power, but I think we should make it the begining of the Mystic War instead. The leader of Choras is killed by the leader of the Mystics, which we could call Magus, and Cedric and his army march off to fight. Throw in the slaying of the first Magus and we could have something really cool. (Magus was just Janus' rank, right?)

7. Train the Knights -- something to make it more interesting?

Make Tata compete against someone who claims to be the son of Cyrus. Glenn would have to choose which on to be his apprentance.

8. 1002 A.D. -- thoughts?

We talk a lot about that stone near Medina, but don't do anything about it. Ghost of Ozzie perhaps?

9. Lastly, is there somewhere we can involve Gaea's Navel? That did strike me as sort of interesting.

I wrote about how the monster of 11,998 tried to create a utopia that turned out to be Gaia's Navel.

We'll pick up the museum and ultimate weapons later.

[Daniel Krispin]

Hey, ZeaLitY, on the subject of that dialogue between the Three...

[ZeaLitY]

Hah, it's got you thinking, doesn't it? Me too. I actually can't wait to get done with planning and find some inventive way to get started before Temporal Flux 2.X even debuts. Working towards my other quest quickens my activity in all my other desires, and I'm craving the creation of this game and all the miraculous stuff we've been planning.