Author Topic: Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes Plot Development  (Read 38254 times)

Hadriel

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Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes Plot Development
« Reply #315 on: July 23, 2005, 11:00:31 pm »
That depends on how exactly a Sun Stone works.  There was a thread on it a while back, before I got here.

Essentially, they were trying to determine whether the Sun Stone's power was solely drawn from solar energy or whether geothermal power also played a role.  Solar energy alone cannot provide enough power to do the kinds of things that Chronopolis does; besides, we already made up a reactor core sequence.

Claado Shou

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Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes Plot Development
« Reply #316 on: July 23, 2005, 11:30:38 pm »
Alright...ninja Sorin.  This was actually based off the original sprite that I had made for ZeaLitY several months ago, but forgot about until looking through my files.  Here yar.


Claado Shou

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Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes Plot Development
« Reply #317 on: July 23, 2005, 11:34:36 pm »
Quote from: Hadriel
That depends on how exactly a Sun Stone works.  There was a thread on it a while back, before I got here.

Essentially, they were trying to determine whether the Sun Stone's power was solely drawn from solar energy or whether geothermal power also played a role.  Solar energy alone cannot provide enough power to do the kinds of things that Chronopolis does; besides, we already made up a reactor core sequence.


A reactor core?  As in, the kind of nuclear reactors we use today?  Because I'm studying that stuff in school right now.  No kidding.  In less than a year I'm going to be on a submarine operating a Naval nuclear reactor.

And please, don't say that the reactor goes critical.  "Critical" is the ideal condition of the reactor, and they screw it up all the time because it sounds bad.

~.C.S.~

Shadow_Dragon

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Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes Plot Development
« Reply #318 on: July 24, 2005, 12:28:09 am »
I'm too lazy to quote anyone, so meh

Can someone please explain time-error/offset?
I don't see how time 'can't flow' in pocket dimensions; it's not like there's one frozen point in time in a pocket dimension... stuff still happens in pocket dimensions, even in Lavos' since it has to have time to open a gate

I forget how CT addresses Robo's emotions, but I think it should be at least mentioned.. My opinion to why he can have emotions is that he was programmed to learn from mistakes and compile information, and by doing so emotions developed

Claado, are you drawings just sketches? They look a bit too comical, but I can't explain why... maybe it's the proportions, the lack of shadow/depth, or the feet

Claado Shou

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Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes Plot Development
« Reply #319 on: July 24, 2005, 12:45:14 am »
Yeah, that's just my style of drawing I guess.  I dunno, I like the way it looks.  Not really amazing or anything, but it works.

teh Schala

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« Reply #320 on: July 24, 2005, 12:55:57 am »
OK, well let's say that you went to a pocket dimension such as the End Of Time, but with no time or time-error.  What would happen is that as your "characters" walk around the place, theoretically, you would see their image trailing in where they've been and where they're going, because they are in all of those locations at the same time, at one precise point in time.  Time-error essentially compensates for this, so that you can walk around in a pocket dimension...  Time-error is essentially another axis of time, if that makes any sense.  Just as the physical world has the X, Y, and Z axes, in the Chrono world, time has two axes: time, and time-error.

There are theories in the Chrono Trigger section on GameFAQs that go into what time-error is, but I'm at work so GameFAQs is blocked here.  Unfortunately I can't point you to anything that can explain it better than I.

Earlier I referenced Lavos' shell to demonstrate time-error.  I'll try and elaborate.  Lavos typically exists inside a pocket dimension that is unaffected by time...  This allows him the flexibility to essentially reach through time and make adjustments to the future before he "gets" there, sort of like a security system.  (The pocket dimension is thought to be the blue vortex surrounding him when you fight him.)

If the pocket dimension is unaffected by time, that means that Lavos may "exist" there at any one point in time without being there in another time.  Therefore, when he rises to the surface in 1999 AD and Crono and company step into his pocket dimension, they very well may be stepping back to 12000 BC because the pocket dimension is essentially similar to a Gate.  Lavos may not even exist in 1999...he is only sending a wormhole forward in time to project his image, and then he fires off his destruction rain, which hence travels through the wormhole and out into the world in 1999.

This considered, at any point when you see the pocket dimension, you really don't know what "time" you're in, because the pocket dimension is unaffected by time.  The only way Lavos and others can move, think, and generally do things that take time, is to use time-error or time-offset.  This allows for Crono to be holding his sword up at one moment, and then in Lavos' face at another ( :lol: ) without time ever being changed.

Consequently, if Lavos exists at only one point in true "time," then killing him at any time will erase him from all time that the pocket dimension could reach.

It is generally thought that Lavos had to disable his pocket dimension briefly just after attacking the Ocean Palace, and then re-enabled it almost immediately.  The pocket dimension can only extend from the moment it is created, and go forward in time, but not backward.  Hence, if he re-enables the pocket dimension after the Ocean Palace disaster and Crono & co kill him, they erase him from all time that the 2nd pocket dimension touched (which extends from the Ocean Palace Disaster and forward)...  This also means that if Lavos had chosen NOT to disable his pocket dimension after attacking the Ocean Palace, then when Crono & co kill him in 1999, he is erased from all time starting from the moment he touched the earth...  This not only averts the dark future, but also undoes the Ocean Palace disaster and causes it to have never happened...  And crazier still, it would also mean he never even existed in 12000 BC.  Therefore, Queen Zeal was never corrupted, and she remained a kind, gentle woman.  This is what I actually consider the true "ideal" timeline, but doing so requires killing Lavos at the Ocean Palace, when he is strongest (before the first pocket dimension is disabled).  That's basically what would happen if you do kill him then.  We can then surmise that the Zeal Kingdom probably floats for a long time afterward, if not forever, Queen Zeal dies a mortal, happily, and under the reign of Zeal, they probably focus their technology to find a way to end the Ice Age without Lavos' "assistance."

Did I just confuse you even more? :P

Shadow_Dragon

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Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes Plot Development
« Reply #321 on: July 24, 2005, 01:06:15 am »
Ugh, I'm like half asleep now; I'll read your explanation tomorrow, so don't feel like I'm ignoring you or anything
Just two things I want to say for now:
1. OMFG THANK YOU SO EHI$HFN MUCH FOR SAYING "better than I"
2. I kind of don't agree that w/o time error the characters would exist everywhere, but rather there wouldn't be anything... It's hard to explain logic for, but I feel like asking the area of a line, the volume of a square, and the --- of a cube.. I can't think of what it'd be of a cube, but it's like a horizontal line, with no vertical aspect, or a square, with no third-dimensional-aspect, or a cube, with no fourth-dimensional-aspect, or time

I'll try to understand more and comment on the rest of your post tomorrow

Hadriel

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« Reply #322 on: July 24, 2005, 01:46:56 am »
Quote from: Claado Shou
Quote from: Hadriel
That depends on how exactly a Sun Stone works.  There was a thread on it a while back, before I got here.

Essentially, they were trying to determine whether the Sun Stone's power was solely drawn from solar energy or whether geothermal power also played a role.  Solar energy alone cannot provide enough power to do the kinds of things that Chronopolis does; besides, we already made up a reactor core sequence.


A reactor core?  As in, the kind of nuclear reactors we use today?  Because I'm studying that stuff in school right now.  No kidding.  In less than a year I'm going to be on a submarine operating a Naval nuclear reactor.

And please, don't say that the reactor goes critical.  "Critical" is the ideal condition of the reactor, and they screw it up all the time because it sounds bad.

~.C.S.~


Not the kind of reactor we use today; most likely it's a matter/antimatter core.  The Epoch is known to be powered by an M/AM assembly, so it stands to reason that this technology also powers Chronopolis.

Are you at a military academy right now?  If so, you can help with keeping military sense and protocol intact in the parts of the plot that require it, such as Magus' dialogue in the first Vanguard scenario.  Also, if anyone's fairly well-versed in special forces tactics (note: "well-versed" is not equivalent to "obsessive Counter-Strike player") that expertise is needed for the assault on Truce.

I'm fairly good at strategizing in general, but I'm no warmaster, and I'm certainly not career military.  The only person I can readily contact in the military is my cousin in the Air Force, but he doesn't actually fly jets; he's a weatherman.  

Glenn and Janus' dialogue is especially important for that scenario; it has to bear more than a passing resemblance to actual military language and tactics, at least the ones of that time.  Glenn is career military, and Janus once led a genocidal war; that nets you a lot of experience.

Anyway, I really think it's time to work on the El Nido scenario.  I'll copy the rest of the existing plot into my copy of the Word version.

Claado Shou

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Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes Plot Development
« Reply #323 on: July 24, 2005, 08:18:58 am »
No, I'm not at an academy...I'm just studying to work on the systems we use with the reactor.  That's all.

Also, I can correct stupid mistakes with military dialogue, but anything tactics-related is beyond me.  Boot Camp wasn't about war, sorry.

~.C.S.~

Daniel Krispin

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Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes Plot Development
« Reply #324 on: July 24, 2005, 02:27:34 pm »
Quote from: Hadriel
Glenn and Janus' dialogue is especially important for that scenario; it has to bear more than a passing resemblance to actual military language and tactics, at least the ones of that time.  Glenn is career military, and Janus once led a genocidal war; that nets you a lot of experience.

Anyway, I really think it's time to work on the El Nido scenario.  I'll copy the rest of the existing plot into my copy of the Word version.


If it's Glenn speaking, make sure to use such words as 'van', 'salient', and 'sally', they're all older seeming words for things in battle - van is the front, salient is an area advanced past the others, I think, and sally is an attack or maybe counterattack. I'll have to look over Lord of the Rings and the Fall of Gondolin, though - Tolkien seems to have a very good sense of the older ideas of war. Personally, I'm not too bad at making battle-description seem old, though I'd be at a loss for more modern terms.

As far as tactics of middle-ages and prior combat go... usually they put the newer troops front-centre, with the older troops further back. The newer troops are more likely to panic and run, so to have them forced into battle with nowhere to go precludes this. Also, I think cavalry usually went on the flanks, and archers behind, though I cannot be fully sure. What sort of battle is this, exactly?

Hadriel

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« Reply #325 on: July 24, 2005, 03:45:25 pm »
The one at Dorino; it's urban warfare.  Glenn has only a relatively few units of Vanguard knights, who are basically supercommandoes, almost like Mandalorians or Spartan units (either the real ones or the Master Chief variety).  The Mystic armies have a large amount of insurgent units, who are essentially modern terrorists in terms of their tactics and mannerisms.

Hadriel

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« Reply #326 on: July 24, 2005, 11:00:12 pm »
OK, I fully developed all of the Breaking Point scenarios.  Here's a post of those:

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

The Breaking Point

The Frozen Flame demonstrates its supreme asstardery by flinging the heroes off to different time periods.  There are three groups here.  One is composed of Magus, Schala, and Glenn, and they’ve been sent off to a high technological future on the brink of destruction, and are fated to make a grave choice.  Another contains Lucca, Marle, and Robo, who get to witness the founding of Guardia firsthand, only to find out that the history textbooks lied to them (OMFGLOL!)  Poor Crono is all by his lonesome, and he witnesses the most terrifying thing of all.  And when I say it’s the most terrifying thing of all, I mean that Goatse is positively wonderful compared to that shit.  Except that it's only partially revealed here, but you get the idea.

Crono Nightmare #1

Crono goes first in the breaking point sequence.  He’s ended up in a nightmarish temporal flux that’s even harder to navigate than the editing program, if that’s possible.  He finds himself in the midst of a Porre assault on Truce, much more vicious than the last one.  He sees an alternate version of himself being captured, and rushes after him, fighting VERY DIFFICULT battles.  At the end of the sequence, he finds a version of William Ishito as the Headsman.  Ishito says a bunch of stuff about how he brought this on his country, and how it’s his fault that all those people are going to die.  He comments that Crono is the reason he’s in the state he is, and then gives him the guillotine.  Temporal flux happens, and the scenario shifts to Marle, Lucca, and Robo.

The Founding of Guardia

The aforementioned three land on a frozen tundra, seemingly in the middle of nowhere.  Immediately, Marle begins expressing turmoil over Crono's fate; Lucca is disturbed as well, and reveals that she still sort of likes the guy.  Girl talk ensues, and the party starts wandering, hoping to find some hint of civilization. Eventually they spot a large mass, which turns out to be a primitive army bearing the brunt of the cold. Before they approach, they notice another army riding up the valley behind them; it is flying the Guardian flag, so they venture over there. The army is dumbfounded and nearly kills the travelers due to the weird robot with them (Robo), but Marle's pendant is the same as the leader - Cedric the Executor, later to become King Guardia I. Marle attempts to catch up, but the approaching army - the primitive tribe of Porre - is ready to fight, with spears armed. A massive battle takes place; as it did historically, it turns in Porre's favor, so Cedric the Executor books it out of there with Marle. Lucca and Robo can't rejoin the main forces; to save the wounded Lucca, Robo lets himself go. He is utterly vicious, protecting Lucca at any cost; he kills a lot of Porre warriors.

Back in an encampment and rudimentary shed, Marle converses with Cedric Guardia about the future. He notes that the divine forces were not on his side at the battle today, but that he shall "bring" them to the next encounter. Marle and the player learn that the angel in Manoria Cathedral is Cedric's mother, claimed to be of divine descent. At night, Robo drags Lucca in, and promptly collapses. Lucca is well-awake, and in a fit of rage; she blames herself for not being strong enough to fight on her own, and is starting to split down the middle between rational thought and her emotions; she feels helpless, and reflects that science did not fail her, but rather her implementation of it.  Robo and Lucca have a discussion about the events that just passed; they foist moral responsibility for human actions on humans, even when taking Lavos into account.  They’ve seen the face of the devil…or the face of God, depending on how you look at it.  Eventually, they fall asleep.  In the morning, Lucca and Robo rejoin the main Guardian force and Marle as they ride out to the final battle with Porre.  This time, however, Cedric is pulling no punches; Guardia is carrying an Ark of the Covenant type box with them.  A custom sprite that resembles illustrations of the actual Ark of the Covenant will be created for this purpose.  They've goaded the Porre army into approaching their position in huge numbers; a secret attack from the side routs the army quickly. They stumble onto an encampment; Cedric orders the killing of everyone, including the women and children. Marle cannot stand this slaughter; Robo points out that changing things now might have an adverse effect in time, and Lucca notes that this could all be a fake timeline fabricated by the Frozen Flame.  Cedric reiterates to them that this is war, and that “the Porre savages” need to be sent a message.  Robo disagrees with Cedric’s implementation of military tactics, but before they have time to argue about it, Porre attacks again with a surprise retaliation.  Guardia currently occupies an inferior position, because of Cedric’s bloodlust.  This time, the Porrean leader is there personally; his name is Antaeus. He wields an artifact called the RivenCrimse; Lucca and Marle both recall that this battle, recorded in ancient lore, is the founding of Guardia, but this situation is much different than had read about.  Porre appears to be far stronger than they were previously, and each side has some magic-users at its disposal; the loss of these is later revealed to be part of the reason for Porre's Black Wind program.  Lucca reasons that in the original timeline, Guardia was intended to be a prime source of Lavos’ DNA acquisitions, but Crono, Marle, and Lucca resisted his whims and through their efforts transformed Guardia into a peaceful country rather than a conquering empire as Lavos wished.  Porre is the next best thing, but it’s still a mystery how they suddenly managed to acquire a ton of magic users.  This will end up playing into both the El Nido scenario and Sorin’s backstory, but for now Antaeus taunts Cedric the Executor, remarking that with the RivenCrimse, he just finished slaying a pack of Dorino filth escorting a Guardian chieftain. This sends Cedric into an all-out fury, but rather than fight, he decides to use his secret weapon; the Frozen Flame!  Marle cries out, and a light floods the battlefield. Robo is alarmed, however; while rumors have always been passed down that Guardia used an artifact to establish its kingdom, some of the energy emanating from the Flame registers in his Chronometer as originating from far in the the future of the Flame itself. Robo then remarks that Antaeus isn't being phased out of existence as he should be by the Flame. The Porre leader then appears in front of the party.  Instead of dying, though, he is possessed by the Flame.  Time itself freezes and the Flame then begins to speak through him, saying that this timeline is indeed real, how much he loves and hates them in his own sadistic way, and using the following pre-battle trash talk:

"A thousand fires have sparked within my mind! I see everything! I know all! And I know this: you must perish!"

…Jesus Christ, that line is fucking awesome.  After that, the Flame pumps several fucktons of energy into Antaeus, and the crew has to fight a boss battle with him.  Before he dies, Antaeus makes a comment about the “legend of El Nido” and how it holds the key to the ultimate magic.  This naturally is used to further the plot.  When the time warp subsides, Cedric is confident that his use of the Frozen Flame has defeated Porre.  He then declares to his armies (in a very Palpatine-like fashion) that he will found Guardia and that they will have peace.  The team gets the RivenCrimse, Antaeus’ scythe, out of the fight; it’s a good weapon for Magus once they reunite.  They then duck into the forest, away from the Guardian armies.  Lucca reasons that if this timeline is a current one, Belthasar will have noticed the temporal disturbance caused by the Flame and detected them there, and will send a Gate to a temporal coordinate only slightly ahead of them.  A few seconds later, a Gate appears, and they dive into it and return to Chronopolis.  Once there, they talk with Belthasar about what happened during the original timeline; they theorize that the Flame’s history with Guardia might hold some clue about how to defeat it.  They also ask Belthasar to do some research into the legend of El Nido that Antaeus mentioned.  However, that will have to wait a bit longer…

Crono Nightmare #2

The player doesn’t actually play during this one.  Instead, he/she bears witness to Crono getting assaulted by various team members and NPCs saying angsty goth shit about how Crono is a dick.  Then it cuts to a much less lame sequence with Glenn, Janus, and Schala.

The Vanguard Apocalypse

Magus, Glenn, and Schala awaken to find themselves trapped in a maximum-security prison.  A guard promptly comes in and starts questioning Magus, kicking the living shit out of him.  He’s angered, but powerless to do anything; apparently, the guards have injected him with a powerful sedative that shuts down the neural pathways to the parts of the brain that allow him to use magic.  Glenn and Schala are also tortured for a while.  After the guards leave them alone, Glenn and Janus reflect on what an odd and generally sad pair of individuals they are.  They joke away their entire history, mentioning Cyrus, Zeal, and all the other things they’ve lost.  Glenn reflects that hate is built not on circumstance but on selfishness; when they went to see Cyrus and free his spirit with the Masamune, Cyrus was not infuriated with vengeance against Janus, but rather empowered with love for his friends.  Glenn says that perhaps Cyrus knew what the former Magus had lost. Glenn was selfish in his hate, which might have gotten in the way of defeating the greater enemy, Lavos.  Janus says the same thing; he didn’t care what he destroyed just so long as he got back at the demon.  They even reflect on Lavos’ selfishness; he was the ultimate manipulator, and possibly still is, but Janus is no longer able to treat Glenn or any of the others with contempt.  This is partially because he recognizes their valor in combat and extreme courage; they were all willing to give their lives for an ideal they believed in.  While the Magus generally scoffs at the notion of “high-minded ideals” as Anakin Solo put it, Janus reflects that his entire life thus far has been lived in service of a secret ideal; that of the family and love.  Though he respects Glenn, he makes it clear that he did not abandon the ways of war for him or any of the other team members, but for Schala alone.  Glenn, on the other hand, embraced the ways of death in memory of Cyrus.  Truly, the two are not all that different; they openly wonder whether, if their places had been switched, events would have played out the same as they did before.  It isn’t a question of individuality, they decide, but of the nature of sentient beings to be attached to people or things.  Schala reflects on her attachment to life itself; she feels that she was never meant to live again, that Lavos should have taken her in the Ocean Palace.  Janus cannot take this, and summons up enough strength to smash his hand into the camera’s glass lens.  Cutting himself in several places with its shards, he bleeds the sedative out of his body, and slowly feels the power of magic returning to him.  When a group of guards comes to investigate, Magus uses Black Hole on them.  Schala winces at the loss of life, but Glenn reminds her that sometimes there isn’t any choice.  They agree that they have to get back to Belthasar in Chronopolis, but first they have to figure out where they are.  Upon making it to a computer terminal and letting Janus access it, they learn that they’re in 2102 A.D.  A strained geopolitical situation is the norm in this era; several world powers have built up nuclear arsenals, and another Cold War is currently in progress.  There are no Mystics in this time; human imperialism killed them all off many centuries ago; the implication is that one of the holy wars in the Middle Ages did it.  Janus notes that they are only 200 years before Belthasar’s time, and that he said the world’s unified government was what allowed him to build Chronopolis, but the governments of this time are nowhere close to unified.  After this, a mysterious yet familiar enemy steps in.  He congratulates them on escaping, even though he expected them to be able to do it.  He then steps out of the shadows and reveals himself as Serran.  He came here using his miniature and much more archaic-looking version of the Epoch.  He relates that while the Masamune was in his hands, he was approached by a dark warrior, whom the player knows could only have been Sorin.  Sorin communicated the will of the Frozen Flame – the will of Lavos, who Serran sees as an Almighty God – through the Dreamstone of the Masamune.  Glenn remarks that this must be the origin of the strange visions he’s been having periodically of a city vanishing in time; Sorin imparted his dreams to the Masamune when he held it, and the echo of the Frozen Flame’s will lingers on it.  Serran then reveals two crucial secrets.  Number one is his mission; he’s going to start a global nuclear apocalypse.  The survivors will be forced to band together, just as “the Master” wishes.  Number two is the origin of this group; it’s the Vanguard.  Now a far cry from an order of noble knights, it is a secret paramilitary organization devoted to creating a new world order; the Central Regime.  According to their beliefs, it’s for the good of humankind in general.  Janus remarks that such a maneuver would provide Belthasar with the necessary resource base to create Chronopolis, so technically they’re right.  However, it’s disturbingly similar to how he justified the first few times he killed someone; the thought that humanity would be better off in the end for him having done so, because of the removed influence of Lavos.  In the end, both the path through and the item obtained from Serran at the end of the scenario is a consequence of what the player picked way back in Scenario 8.  One of the scenarios even has the party aiding Serran, because it allows Chronopolis to be constructed.

Option 1: All Your Base Are Blown The Fuck Up

This option will result in the party attempting to self-destruct the base they’re in so as to stop the nuclear war.  It’s the surest option they’ve got, but the base is under a populated zone and thousands of people will die in the process, and the chances of them making it out are slim to none, and slim just passed out from a heroin overdose.  If the player elects this option, they will overload the reactor core and then have 10 minutes to escape the base.  If they don’t get out before then, the last saved game reloads.  At the end of the path, they’ve got to fight Serran one last time, but he’s a pushover.  They use the parts of the Epoch Serran stole to take a hike back to Chronopolis.  A cutscene of a city blowing up then occurs, and the scenario moves on to Crono Nightmare #3.  Picking the ‘fight the Mystics’ option in Scenario 8 will make the scenario take this path, and for your trouble you’ll be granted Lucca’s second most powerful weapon early.

Option 2: Aid the Vanguard

This option has the party actually aiding Serran and the Vanguard in their atrocity.  Thus history is relatively unchanged.  The party fights Serran out of anger at his obvious immorality and what they’ve just done.  Choosing to fight Porre in Scenario 8 will result in this situation; Serran drops Marle’s second most powerful bow early.

Option 3: I Was Born Lazy

This option has the party giving up on the conundrum, and a nuclear war unfolds.  Thus history is relatively unchanged.  Just as in the previous option, the party is angry at Serran and fights him for vengeance.  Choosing to declare neutrality in Scenario 8 will result in this situation; Serran drops a Safe Helm.

Option 4: Stop the Missile

This scenario, as in its counterpart, is the most difficult, but it is also the most rewarding.  However, it’s no less tragic.  This time, the team waits until the missile launches, and then steals Serran’s stripped-down Epoch to go after it.  Once Serran figures out what happens, he’s hot on their tail with a fleet of Vanguard jets backing him up.  There’s no question that anyone in the vicinity when the missile explodes is going to die.  It would be easy enough to pick the missile off with the Epoch’s laser cannons, but it was designed primarily to be a time travel machine and not a superiority fighter.  Its targeting systems aren’t up to snuff with what’s necessary to hit the missile, so Glenn volunteers to take a swan dive past it with the Masamune.  This will almost certainly kill all of them, but it’s a chance he’s willing to take.  However, Janus isn’t; he knocks Glenn out and casts Dark Matter on the warhead, which explodes it as Schala uses all the Epoch’s power to open a Gate and escape, thus presumably killing the Vanguard.  Serran, however, follows them into the Gate, intent on doing one last battle with Glenn.  He’s much harder this time than in the others, but upon defeating him, a secret compartment within his version of the Epoch opens; it contains a massive hunk of Rainbow Shell!  It’s big enough to allow you to make all the characters’ penultimate weapons at this time.  The party arrives back at Chronopolis, and thankfully nothing’s changed; Melchior promises to get right to work on weaponry of the highest quality for the team.  Lucca, Marle, and Robo are also there, and they express relief that three more team members are back; Crono is now the only one missing.  All thoughts turn to him, but he’s pretty preoccupied…

Crono Nightmare #3

This is it, folks, the big daddy of all nightmares and the end of the breaking point sequence.  ZeaLitY wanted to use the ruined world again, and all of us who worked on the plot agreed, so here it is in full force.  Crono lands in a strange amalgam of a world; it contains varying types of terrain.  Ghosts roam everywhere, portals open and close seemingly at random, and strange alien creatures populate the world, including many Lavos Spawns.  In essence, it’s a combination of Metroid Prime’s Phazon crater, Chrono Cross’ Isle of the Damned, and the architecture present in Hell in the Diablo universe.  This world quite literally is a living hell, and it’s Crono’s task to find a way out of it and back to Chronopolis.  There are many signs all over the place, and creatures akin to even more perverted versions of the bioengineered monsters Dyasavah was researching in Calasperan.  The signs all lead to a large semi-gothic temple, where acolytes are going to present their work to a Dark Lord.  The temple, despite its architecture, is home to highly advanced technology; it’s protected by extremely powerful sentinels and has several spires sticking out of it that appear to be gathering energy from the air.  From one of the windows in the Cathedral, one can see a massive crater that is spouting huge masses of fire and lava high into the sky.  There are several of what appears to be wrecked starships near the crater.  Crono descends downward into the perverted temple, which is replete with demonic symbolism and arcane magicks – among them are spells that open portals into various limbo dimensions.  Crono tries to run for one of these, but some acolytes show up and restrain him.  They bring him down a very long series of steps and force him to kneel before their lord…

Guess who’s back?  Yup.

Crono expresses incredulity at seeing Lavos again, and he certainly never expected to see him in the exalted state that he’s in.  Crono asks Lavos whether this place is Hell; Lavos says that it is, but not in the way Crono envisions it.  However, this doesn’t stop Crono’s courage.  He steals one of the acolytes’ weapons, knocks them all out, and proceeds to do protracted battle against Lavos.  If he hasn’t gotten it already, he gains the Luminaire technique.  Once part of Lavos’ body has been disabled, he remarks that Crono thinks in incredibly physical terms and that Lavos is far more than just a body.  He says that this is true of all the life he watched over, but none of them ever realized it; if anyone, he expected the one responsible for destroying him to figure it out.  But as it stands, Lavos has an uncountable number of acolytes and creatures willing to be remade in his image for his glory, and an uncountable number that already have been.  Even Crono is now a part of Lavos, the Dark Lord says, but Crono has other plans.  He smashes the door with Luminaire and runs into a portal, which removes him from this false timeline and takes him back to Chronopolis.  Once back there, a frenzied Crono relates his experiences and then collapses into Marle’s arms.  He is given time to recover, and the team vows to defeat Lavos, in whatever form he takes.

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Just a note: Picking another option besides number four will not preclude you from obtaining the ultimate weapons; it will simply delay your acquisition of them.  El Nido has plenty of Rainbow Shell to go around, and the party will be going there shortly.

Next comes the battle with the ancient king in the Valle Crimse.  Earlier, we had Crono get the Geistrand from him; now I suppose we could make it some invaluable accessory instead, and have the Geistrand be obtained in Calasperan before the breaking point.  The idea for the Geistrand is essentially the same as the phaseblade I suggested earlier, except Geistrand sounds orders of magnitude cooler.  It's essentially the perfect compromise between myth and technology.

teh Schala

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Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes Plot Development
« Reply #327 on: July 24, 2005, 11:44:16 pm »
WOW.  Just freaking WOW!

Dark Lord Lavos?  What would he look like?  Would we be seeing the humanoid Lavos-Core shape?  Or what?

Hadriel

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Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes Plot Development
« Reply #328 on: July 25, 2005, 12:03:42 am »
On Lavos' form in the Defiled World: I'd wanted to implement this idea a while ago, and this is a perfect place for it.  Remember the demon sculpture on the top of Magus' summoning altar in the original game?  Lavos' form here will basically amount to that brought to life.  It's a twisted form that reflects Lavos' sick desires; but again, that's only one of his many acolytes that is willing to host his soul.  But the fun doesn't end there.

teh Schala

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Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes Plot Development
« Reply #329 on: July 25, 2005, 12:55:06 am »
There's someone around here who is using (or WAS using) a sig of a REALLY awesome-looking "Dark Lavos" if he could possibly be any darker...  Know who I'm talking about?  I can't find it around here.  That's what I, for one, was picturing. :D  But your idea sounds awesome as well.  Can't wait to see it!

So Lavos has dialogue in this too?  Sweet...