Let's Play Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes!

[Dracorion]

... Or, Let's Get in Trouble with Squeenix!

I kid, I kid.



What the hell is a Crimson Echoes?

I'll just let the developers fill you in:

Music: Primitive Mountain



JP: We just wanted to take a moment to tell you about the project. Once you make a savegame, you won't see this again.


JP: In fact, the characters and world you see belong to Square Enix!
ZeaLitY: We just gave them a new story as an interquel to Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross.
JP: Crimson Echoes was created by fans of the game in their spare time. It's not canon, nor should it be.
ZeaLitY: Though we did try to work with the canon of the other games in interesting ways!


ZeaLitY: We put a lot of work into it, but we weren't paid, and believe it or not, we have real lives.

I call bullshit. You monkeys clearly exist solely for my entertainment.

JP: If you're playing this, you should own the original game. If not, go buy it now!
JP: Well, that's all I got. Anything else, ZeaLitY?
ZeaLitY: Hey, just enjoy the game! And pick up Chrono Trigger DS to support the prospect of a new Chrono game!

I would, but I don't want Squeenix to break my heart again.

What's this I hear about a Cease and Desist letter?

On May 8, 2009 Crimson Echoes recieved a Cease and Desist letter from Square, along with all other game modification activity at the Chrono Compendium. The development team complied and ceased development on the game.

A 98% version of the game was leaked to the intarwebz, naturally, and that's what we're playing now. There's also a CE Memorial Youtube account that contains playthrough videos of the game by the development team, if you want to follow that.

So what do I need to know to follow this thread?

You should probably have played Chrono Trigger already.

Also, CE kind of assumes the characters completed all the sidequests from the original game.

I hear Crono talks in this game?

Yes, he talks. Get over it. There's not too much of it.

See, Crimson Echoes doesn't have one main character, like Chrono Trigger had Crono. The whole playable cast gets the spotlight.

Man, it's going to be so cool trucking around at level 99 decked out in full Rainbow equipment brutalizing everything, right?

Yeah... no. All the characters start out at low levels with basic gear and we don't get an explanation why. I guess the developers must've loved doing level 1 playthroughs of Chrono Trigger?

What's the deal with spoilers?

Well, if you don't want Chrono Trigger spoiled for you, you've come to the wrong thread. So all CT discussion is fine.

However, I'd like to ask everyone to keep any Chrono Cross spoilers regarding CT in spoiler or swap tags.

And this should go without saying, but if you've already played it or watched the playthrough videos, try to keep spoilers about this game to a minimum okay? And of course behind spoiler or swap tags.


Now, without further ado...







Episode 1: Crono versus the Ruined Childhoods
Episode 2: Crono versus the Chrono Trigger



Episode 3: Magus versus the Lost Levels
Episode 4: Magus versus the Legacy of Zeal



Episode Five: Lucca versus the Wonderful World of Tomorrow Part One: The Guru's Menace
Episode Five: Lucca versus the Wonderful World of Tomorrow Part Two: Dalton's Revenge
Episode Six: Marle versus the Little Military that Could
Episode Seven: Marle versus The Dangers of Gambling Addiction

[Dracorion]

Episode 1: Crono versus the Ruined ChildhoodsEpisode 1: Crono versus the Ruined Childhoods

After the development team sends us off, we get a short glimpse of this screen:



I think it's a stage selection screen leftover from the beta.

We're supposed to get the option to rename Crono, Lucca and Marle after this screen, but there's some kinda bug in this version. If you started the game with the greeting from the developers, you won't get the option to rename the characters. But if you start a new game from the load menu (which means you need to already have a CE savegame, so as to avoid the developer's greeting), then you do get the option to rename.

But I'm okay with not giving you guys the option to call Crono BUTTS or something.



And now we open to the prologue proper, with a shot of Crono and Marle standing in front of a fountain while another couple runs off to shag make out behind the trees.

Music: Far off Promise



The camera pans up to center the two lovebirds.

Tomorrow is the big meeting with Porre. Daddy's worried... I hope nothing bad happens!
Sad to think that we can save the world, and yet we can't change these people's minds...
Hey, don't worry too much. Things will settle down.

... What.

MY CHILDHOOD IS RUINED FOREVER!!!!


Marle says everything that needs to be said about the whole "Crono talks" thing. Minus the beatiful night, depending on what time it is for you.

Well, it's getting late. Don't sleep in tomorrow! I...



Awwwww.


And the date ends with Crono getting to first base. Let's face it, he did better than the rest of us ever have. Not bad for a fictional character.

Cut to black. We hear Nadia's bell ringing in the background.




But there's no "wake up, sleepyhead"!


Music: Morning Sunlight

Today's the big day!

Are you getting married?


Marle opens the blinds, letting light into the room. Crono just squirms around in bed. He'll get up when he wants to get up, bitch.


Daddy's got a meeting with some diplomats and we've gotta be there!

Oh right, meeting with Porre. No wedding, then.

Lucca's waiting too!
Get ready and c'mon!


And she walks downstairs, leaving Crono to get his lazy ass out of bed.



But first he closes the fucking blinds because he's his own man and he fucking wants to.


Having successfully rebelled against his bitch girlfriend, Crono procee- Oooh shiny thing.


You're going to be a great king, Crono.


Finally we head downstairs and get assaulted by Crono's mom.

Music: Peaceful Days

Mom: Marle already left for the castle. Go catch up with her!

She scoots off to do housework, but if we talk to her she says:

Mom: I swear, you kids are so busy these days! Have fun, Crono, and don't get in any trouble!


This is probably a meal we can wolf down!

Recieved Cake and Postcard.

Awwww.

Mom: This is a cake I made for Mrs. Elisa. There's a postcard for Bandeau's wife, too.
Mom: I didn't post these yet, so if you have the time, maybe you can deliver them yourself! You'd be even faster than the postal service, son!

Fine, mom. Jeez, Crono's dating royalty, which pretty much means you're set for life and yet you're still passive-aggressively nagging him to go out and get a job?

By the way, Bandeau and Mrs. Elisa are NPCs from the original game who did something or another, I don't really know. They weren't really relevant at all.

Whatever. It's off to the world map with us!


Music: Memories of Green

We stop by the Mayor's Manor, which some of you might remember was basically a beginner's room offering helpful tips in the first game. It still serves the same purpose in this game.

But we're seasoned CT players so really we're just coming here to move along with this delivery quest.



Gave Mrs. Elisa the cake!

Mrs. Elisa: You're such a caring young man Crono! Here! Take this!

She gives us 300G for our trouble.

Mrs. Elisa: ...but don't tell your mom!

We grab a Tonic from that chest. And I lied before, we're actually going to talk to a few NPCs, starting with a certain special little girl.


I don't even know what to say. Sure, all kids think time travel is cool, but actually learning about it should make their heads explode with all the intricacies.

Also, Crono, you're kind of standing uncomfortably close to the kid. Just sayin'.

I'm going to go ahead and present her explanations in full.



Time Traveller Immunity Theory:

















As you can see, the graphics during this presentation glitch out a bit.

TL;DR: Crono can travel back in time and kill his grandfather and he wouldn't disappear because of it. The grandfather paradox doesn't exist in the Chrono Trigger universe.

Readers: But Dracorion, the thing that kickstarted the whole game back in Chrono Trigger was Marle disappearing when her ancestor, Leene, almost died! That's classic grandfather paradox, right there.

Me: I don't know what to tell you, other than CT's writers made an oopsie.

Time Bastard Theory:













TL;DR: Remember the sidequest back in CT, where Lucca goes back in time and stops her mother's legs from being crushed?

Well, that resulted in a new timeline where Lucca grew up knowing her mother's legs were whole. She existed as far as the the people in the timeline are concerned. But then she was overriden by time traveller Lucca who saved her mother's legs from being crushed.

Basically, our Lucca killed the other Lucca.

Anyway, now that we're done with that, we head upstairs to harass an old man.


Old Man: What? You better be! If you're using SNES9x or an early version of ZSNES, the game will inevitably glitch at some point!
Old Man: Don't blame me! Go grab the latest version at http://www.zsnes.com. It's free.

What? I played through this game on SNES9x before and I don't remember glitching at any point. I'm playing it on SNES9x now!

Anyway, we grab 100G from the chest and head off, since all other NPCs in this dump just give out information we should already know.


The dialogue from all the other citizens in Truce basically boils down to "Man, Porre sucks" or boring useless NPC blabber. We can head up to Leene Square, where there's a couple of things of note. Firstly, the best NPC ever:


You are so cool.

There's also an item shop, as well as a little girl who sells lemonade for 20G, which heals our HP and MP completely. There's also an old man who sells Crono some "pickles" for 1G, which causes our hero to trip out for a few seconds before going back to normal.

In the right side of the square, where the Prehistoric Dance minigame used to be in Chrono Trigger, we find...


The Hero's Gallery! Recognizing the efforts of our band of intrepid heroes to save history and the world from a gigantic space hedgehog. You'll notice Magus isn't there. Either he was too shy to get his statue taken, or maybe he's dead in Crimson Echoes.

Moving on. On the left side of the square, we run into...


A Black Tyranno's head? Let's poke it.


Well that's-


Wait, what's it doing?


Oh, sweet!


Crono slashes at it for like two damage. I can tell this is going to turn out well.


It retaliates by roaring a black hole at Crono for 2000 damage, which you won't see because I suck at taking screenshots.


Well that went well. Arright let's start this sonnuvabitch over and avoid the Tyranno from no-



Except losing doesn't net us a game over. The Tyranno head disappears and Crono is left with 1 HP. He remains in his "dead" pose, but we can move around like normal.

Does this mean we can play through the whole game with a dead Crono?!


Haha yeah, no.

Back to the world map...


Yeah, 1005 AD now has a Cathedral. It's the boringest place ever and there won't ever be anything to do here. It's also got like four more screen than the Cathedral back in 600 AD.

Anyway, we can actually cross the Zenan Bridge. Fiona's Forest is now an area we can explore.




It's just a one screen forest with some encounters here and there and a couple of treasure chests. No biggie.


Oh, and a Magic Tab.


We run into these guys at the exit.

Guards: Well, that's our lines for the game. Maybe they should have called it, 'Mystical Ninja: Starring Fiona's Forest Guard NPCs 3, 9 and 14'.

As you have no doubt noticed, CE isn't afraid to go meta every now and then. For the record, I would play the shit out of that game.

I don't know if these guys are supposed to stop you from going into Porre, but if so then they are absolutely terrible at it. You can easily scoot under them and exit the forest.


Like so.

There's nothing interesting at Fiona's Shrine, but surely Porre must be interesting, right? Yeah, no. All the dialogue is about the army being jerks and the citizens whining about the army being jerks.

By the way, that building you can see in the lower left corner of that screenshot is a research facility, but we'll get kicked out immediately upon entering. We can also pick up a Power Tab at the Porre Army's barracks. So! What now?

Well, if we head back to Truce, we can take the ferry to Medina (the Mystic village).


Wait what?


The ferry is actually useful?!


MY CHILDHOOD IS RUINED FOREVER!!

Anyway, Medina is similarly uninteresting. We can find Toma XIII the adventurer and his assistant in the ruins in the forest to the right. You know, those ruins that had a couple of sealed chests back in the original game. He just talks about having money problems and a son called Toma XIV.

In the Elder's House, we can find Bandeau trying to strong-arm Medina's elder into letting Porre's merchants peddle their wares in town. The Elder refuses because he doesn't want to get involved in Zenan's mess aside from the ferry, and because the agreement states Medina would have to trade only with Porre. Good for him.

If we visit the house that had a gate hidden in the closet...


Yeah, the gates all disappeared at the end of Chrono Trigger, since Lavos was dealt with. And the Epoch isn't around, so presumably the heroes opted to crash it into Lavos' shell and skip that battle.



The rock he's talking about is the one you can see a couple of screenshots back, when the ferry arrives in Medina. As far as I know, it never becomes relevant.

Yeah, CE has a bunch of dropped quests. The cathedral and the rock are some of them.

If we stop by Medina Square and talk to some guy...


Sure!
Guy: Cool! Well, seeya around some time, Prince!

Wait what? Crono and Marle got married inbetween games? Then why is he still living with his mother, and why is she still nagging him to get a job?


There's also this guy here. I guess the developers didn't want to be too blatant by having him say "the price of freedom is vigilance".

Crono heads over to the cafe to finish that delivery quest...



Bandeau's nameless wife reveals that Crono's Mom actually has a name!

Gave Bandeau's wife the card!

Bandeau's wife: Take care of yourself. Things will get better... I'm sure.

And that's it for Medina. We can visit Melchior's hut nearby, but it's empty except for a note explaining that he's away on a trip.

But! We can take a ferry from Medina to Choras. You know, that other town from Chrono Trigger. The one that had the Hero's Grave.


To the left is the ticket office for the ferry and this is... what?


Huh.

Yeah, this is a museum dedicated to the original Toma (from 600 AD). There's nothing here except for a couple of NPCs. One of them tells us that Toma XIII only gets 5% of the proceeds from the museum before tax, because they're not trying to fund the Truce brewery.

He's basically taking a shot at Toma for being a drunk. Ha!

Choras also has a shooting gallery minigame, but we can't do anything because Crono can't wield guns! I wonder, do we know anyone who does?

Incidentally, I wonder how that place stays in business if they make customers bring their own guns, and there's literally only one person in the world who owns one.

There's also a Casino with three minigames, and I briefly succumb to gambling addiction.


There's no fancy graphics for cards. We basically just get text boxes telling us what card we drew and how much we're up to now. We can bet 100, 1000, 2000 and 4000G in this game, and winning means we get the same amount back. So basically winning doubles how much we bet.

There's also...


For 10G, we get to spin the figures above (which rotate between queen, chancellor, king and some other sprites). If we get three of a kind, we win 1000G. I abuse savestates to win Slots once, then play Blackjack three times, betting 1000, 2000 and 4000G each time.

By the time we leave the Casino, I've got 8000G in my pocket.

The lady next to the blackjack dealer gives us a free Wallet, an accessory that turns the experience we recieve at the end of a battle into G. We'll never use it because levels are important in this game.

To the left, we find the last minigame this place has to offer.



We can bet the same amounts as in the blackjack game, and as with blackjack, winning doubles our cash. When you start the game, the glowy dot you see there will start moving from left to right, and when it reaches the end it'll move down and start going right to left, and so on. It'll move less and less until it stops completely.

Color means picking the color of the square it'll end up in. Number means you have to pick how many moves the glowy dot will make before it stops.

... Yeah, I didn't really bother with this one.

Anyway, most of the NPCs in town talk about not getting involves in Zenan's mess, or about the Hero's Grave being turned into a museum and how totally awesome that is.


There's also an auction house in Choras, but our 8000G really isn't enough to properly take advantage of this place. We'll see what it has to offer later.



The Hero's Grave museum doesn't really live up to the hype everyone's giving it. The only things here are Cyrus' grave and a replica of the Masamune. As we progress through the game, we'll be able to bring some stuff to the museum so it can have actual exhibits.

And with that, we're done sightseeing the world. If we head back to Truce, we can pick up our reward for finishing Mom's deliveries.



The Nautishell is a nice armor upgrade compared to what we have now. But wait, I haven't shown off Crono's specs yet, have I?

Well, after running off to Porre to pick up equipment upgrades for Crono, as well as stocking up on more recovery items than we're likely to need at this point in the game, Crono's wallet is 4000G lighter but his mind is at ease.


Crono's stats and equipment. As you can see, killing a world-eating abomination from outer space didn't get him a lot of levels or high-end gear.

You might also notice that the CE team dumped Toriyama's character portraits in favor of their own. I believe this is supposed to represent that the characters are more grown up.

Anyway, we toss on the sword and helmet we bought in Porre as well as the armor mom gave us...


The sword raised Crono's weapon power by 2, and each piece of armor raised his defense by 5. So yeah, not bad.


Crono's techs. Even at level 1 with no experience under his belt, he already has three techs unlocked.

Let's go pick a fight, shall we?


We find this lone Roly in Fiona's Forest. It's going to be like taking candy from a baby.


OH GOD.

Music: Battle 1

Whatever, Crono still Cyclones two of them at the same time.



It takes about four Cyclones to kill one of these jerks, so they have around 80-90 HP.



They each hit Crono for 9-15 HP at a time, so it's kinda touch-and-go for a moment there. I end up having to use a Tonic to heal Crono.




Eventually there's only one left, though, and even though Crono's out of MP he still runs up to that sonnuvabitch and slashes it in the face.


Eventually...




Huzzah!


Crono agrees.


Or maybe he's constipated.




Welp, there's no escaping it now. We've been everywhere and we've seen everything worth seeing. Next time...

*Puts on sunglasses*

We go to a meeting.


YEEEAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!



Welp, that's a wrap folks. I apologize for not showing off the towns proper. There's actually a couple of interesting folk we can talk to, but this update was getting long enough as is.

You'll get a proper tour of the world soon enough, don't worry.

Next Update: Plot! Duplicity! Theft! EXPLOSIONS!!

[tacticslion]

I approve of this entirely!

[Kerensky287]

I agree! Keep it up, it looks pretty awesome.

I would like to say that I don't know if we need 20 screenshots per random encounter, especially if most of them are just Crono using the same attack animation over and over, but I understand that you were kind of trying to demonstrate the battle system here. You seem like you know what you're doing. I'll leave you to it.

[Dracorion]

Yeah, that's pretty much it. Although in retrospect, I probably could've shown off, you know, the battle menu. Ah well.

But, this is my first LP and I only have a thousand LPArchive and SA forums LPs and a handful of NPF LPs to tell me what the fuck I'm even doing.

No, seriously, pointers are appreciated.

[Dracorion]

Episode 2: Crono versus the Chrono TriggerEpisode 2: Crono versus the Chrono Trigger

Now that we've explored the world, learned how time travel works (it turns out Crono can fuck up the timeline as much as he pleases without any adverse effects to himself), and committed gambling fraud, it's time to meet with the emissaries from Porre and discuss... uh... I dunno what we need to talk to them about. Not peace, because Guardia isn't at war.

Music: Courage and Pride


Fuck you man, Crono's the Prince. He can make a mess and then make you clean it up if he so chooses.

Or he can hang you from the gallows and send your family to prison as an additional fuck you. So you better keep that tone in check.

Anyway, we can't go into the throne room (or the towers beyond it) because there's a guard blocking the way. Seems like they really want Crono to go to the meeting. But you know what?


Fuck that noise.


They didn't block the left passage, so like a proper RPG hero, Crono is going to dilly-dally as much as possible.


#2: I've been doing pushups. Yeow! What a burn...
#3: King Guardia doesn't brake(sic) for anyone! He's a rigid, rightful ruler.


... Okay, yeah, this is a weird dialogue choice. I mean, the whole line just sounds weird.

Not to mention, can anyone imagine the chancellor shirtless, drinking beer from a keg and chestbumping with the other frat guys?

Anyway, the last guard is just sleeping in the middle of an official meeting with his superior. So Crono leaves the guards to their business and heads all the way up the tower.


Damn. Now we can't waste even more time getting reacquainted with the place Crono was going to be executed in. On the plus side...


Yoink!

Anyway, we head back down to the main floor and to the right passage. Crono sees his bitch girlfriend and a nerdy girl waiting for him in front of some stairs.


... but he just ignores them and heads down the other set of stairs. Because he's such a lovable ass.


Sadly, there's nothing here but a locked door and a tantalizing glimpse of some treasure chests. Cocktease!


Well, there's no avoiding it now. Nothing left to do but advance the plot. Sigh...

There you are! The envoys are almost here. Right this way!

Crono, Lucca and Marle head downstairs and take their positions at the negotiating table, followed shortly by King Guardia XXXIII.


Ah, you're all here. Crono, I take it you understand the proceedings?
Loud and clear!


Marle is supposed to be doing an action pose here, but... I don't even know what the hell it looks like.


Okay, I gotta ask. What the hell is Lucca doing here? These are diplomatic negotiations. Marle's the princess, Crono's a prince, so it makes sense for them to be here. But Lucca's just a nerdy girl from Truce whose inventions either malfunction and teleport people into the past, malfunction and explode, or just explode.

Ho! It would be most unfortunate for the Porreans to act out of line, then.

King Guardia takes his position at the table and then...


Yeah, I don't have a sound clip of it, but the fanfare is just the drums that play right at the beginning of Ayla's theme looped twice.

Two soldiers come down the stairs.

Music: Underground Sewer


I can understand your armed escort, but why do you BOTH have full armor equipped? What are your names?

What're you talking about, King? They look like perfectly innocent, honest emissaries! Really, the suspicion in your tone strikes me as quite odd. We are clearly dealing with cultured gentlemen well versed in the art of diplomacy.

It is a... new policy to protect our emissaries. And my name is Ingrus.
And your guard? Cat got his tongue?
...! His voice is... raspy. Lost, that is. He is a drill sergeant, and shouts often.

See? Diplomacy.

Fine, fine. Let's move on. Take your positions, gentlemen.


The town of Porre seeks redress for three items. Firstly, we would like to annex a small, reasonable portion of Fiona's...

This surprises the king so much that he does a hilarious little hop backwards.


You can't be serious!
I haven't the foggiest idea what you're using all that fuel for, but you've already turned the outlying areas of Porre into barren grasslands. Why don't you research steam power with the rest of the world?
But the royal administration owns all the patents and machine shops...
That's not true! You guys have a research laboratory on the coast!


Seriously dude? The unattractive tomboy chick calls you on your bullshit and you back down?

We should just get Marle talking, then. She'll make his balls shrink so fast we could probably get out of this with Porre swearing eternal servitude to the kingdom.

Actually, these guys are master negotiators. This is clearly some sort of complicated ploy to make the Guardians complacent.


Now wait just a minute. Even I can't let this slide. How the hell did Porre find out that the Sun Stone is powerful? All it did in Chrono Trigger was make the mayor's house glow a bit. For all they should know it's just a glorified flashlight. It's not like they had any machines or technology to hook the Stone up to and see that it powered them up.

The records indicate it was stolen by agents acting in the name of royalty, and the mayor's family wishes to file claim of the original ownership.

Sounds entirely legitimate!


I'm sorry, but his widow asserts that it was forcibly taken.

And here's that masterful negotiation at play. They gave up easily on the first request because this is the one that matters.

Ugh, that's a lie! Daddy, do something!

Real mature, Marle.

Anyway, it's not like it'd be that big a deal for the guys if they gave up the Sun Stone. They already got all the rewards from it that they could, and thanks to TTI they'll remain in existence even if they change history and give the stone to Porre.

The problem is it's a baaaad idea to give these guys a source of power that let Zeal rule the world. I mean, these emissaries are obviously good people but generally speaking, Porreans are dicks.

Sigh... All right, we'll put it under review.


Oh man, look at how he talks. It's a good thing he's wearing that helmet, because I'm betting he has some crazy fucking hair under there.


If we're lucky, he'll have rocket fists too.

Hey, I thought...

Unfortunately, Ingrus is smart enough to realize the plan, whatever it is, has officially been shot to hell.

I'm sorry but can we... be excused for a moment?
Hmph! This does not reflect well on you, but go ahead.


And Ingrus and his escort head upstairs.

What was THAT about?
Hmm... something just isn't right with those two... I get this creepy vibe from 'em. How about you, Crono?


I maintain these are still upstanding gentlemen we are dealing with and it is preposterous and offensive to insinuate otherwise.

Well, I have a bad feeling about this.

I can't believe you just said that, King.

Yeah! I don't feel safe with them running around here, either. Crono, let's check it out!


Crono reluctantly comes along even though he still thinks the emissaries are good guys. Marle drags him along because she's a bitch.

Oh, dear...


Hahaha nice burn, there. This guy hasn't said anything all meeting. I choose to believe his job is just to take shots at everyone. Like...

Hey jerkface I liked you better as a silent protagonist!
Listen nerdy girl, there's this thing you should invent. It's called a razor. You use it to shave your hairy legs.
What's with being an actually decent guy in this game, King Guardia? Did someone forget you were a total dick in the first game?
Hey peepants! You like furlegs over there, right? You going to invite her to the back for some personal negotiation, or do you just need a change of trousers?
ME, TALK-GOOD?

Suddenly, the Chancellor walks into the room.


Did I... miss the meeting?

Son of a bitch, I think he really did throw that party. The chancellor was late because he was hungover.

Meanwhile, Ingrus and his escort are talking while Crono and company hide around the corner.


Doesn't matter now. We should get back before they get suspicious.
NEGATIVE. WE-WERE-GIVEN-THE-DIRECTIVE-TO-KILL-THE-NEGOTIATOR-IF-2-OUT-OF-3-CONDITIONS-WERE-NOT-MET.
What!? You can't be serious! We were only s'posed to ice the Chancellor! We can't murder King Guardia!

GASP! They were actually assassins?! No way! They seemed so nice and genuine!

Also, I think the fact that they're considering killing the King before Crono, Marle and Lucca is evidence of just how much street cred our heroes have. Dudes got rep.

On top of that, it was supposed to be discrete! You poison his drink, we get out, and no suspects are found!


Our heroes decide the emissaries have incriminated themselves quite enough by now.

Music: A Strange Happening

Ugh! C'mon, let's dust these three and get out of here!


Crono doesn't like that idea.



So he slices Ingrus up like a bitch.

Lucca pulls out her gun...


SITUATION... COMPROMISED. RETURNING-NOW.



And the guy takes off like a bunny on crack. Seriously, he's fast. Flash fast. These guys probably wouldn't have needed any tricks to poison the chancellor. This guy could slip the poison into his drink faster than anyone could blink.

Whoa! He's fast!
C'mon! We have to catch him!


As soon as the crew leaves, Ingrus gets up...


... And immediately goes back to playing dead when he sees some guards approach.


We cut to Crono, Lucca and Marle following the Porre envoy, already at the Zenan bridge.

By the way, if you want to know how fast they're going, comparatively, that's easy:

The Porre soldier is going fast like it was FFV Advance and he was holding down the run button while having the Thief's Dash ability. That's pretty fucking fast.

Meanwhile, Crono, Lucca and Marle are trucking along at a pace like they're walking.


Yeah, his speed's inhuman!

Lucca pulls out a round object from her pocket.


It's so fragile, I spent six months just putting the pieces together!


Suddenly, someone throws explosions at her from offscreen.


Or maybe it's the soldier's rocket fists. I'd like to think that.


He grabs the object from Lucca's hands and dashes off again!

...HEY!! Ugh, come on! We have to get that back, NOW!

Normally I would diss her, but I'm inclined to agree. Lucca's talking about it like it's a big deal, and the thing even had a sprite. It's got Important Object written all over it.


And off we go again...


The group finally manages to catch up with him at the Denadoro Mountains.



And Lucca shoots the soldier, causing him to drop the thingy.

Crono takes a moment to look at it quizzically.


I've been trying to make a Time Egg, you know, like the thing that revived you! This is a prototype. I hope it wasn't damaged.
Unreal. It's so small!


As if on cue, the egg starts throwing sparks.

Um... Lucca??!
Heh, it's just burning off some excess charge. I think... I should be able to take care of it in a few seconds.
Hurry, that Porre agent is getting away! And if that thing is really like the Chrono Trigger... this could be bad!!

The Time Egg sparks some more. I think it only does that when it senses an opportunity for irony.

Oh... Oh boy. We have to get out of here! This thing is crumbling apart!
It's WHAT?!!
Well, with some help from Melchior, I'm starting to understand Gate mechanics. But this one's damaged, and could go any second!
I have no idea how powerful it is! Eh heh...
GO!? As in explode?
It'll unleash a temporal vortex in the immediate vicinity. Like a big Gate! If it works, that is!

Yeah, seriously, Lucca. If you had just said explode like four text boxes ago you'd have plenty of time to get clear of the exploding Time Fuckery Device.

I don't think we have any choice! Let's get out of here!

The egg sparks some more...

It's starting to...


The egg decides now's the best time to go off, and starts bouncing around and exploding all over the place!


A gray Gate opens, sucking the heroes in.

Music: Chrono Trigger

At this point, the main theme kicks in. You gotta admit, even after sixteen years this song does the job of letting you know shit's about to get awesome.

And it officially marks the end of Crimson Echoes' prologue. Strap yourselves in, boys and girls. It's only going to get crazier from here.


Ooooohhhh shhiiiiittttttttt.


The screen fades to black, before taking us to...


Kino, cornered on a cliff by some Reptites and their pet dragon, while a wounded Ayla can only watch.

Kino!!
Ayla... Ayla go! Ayla leave Kino!

The monsters close in...


No, Ayla weak. If Ayla fight, Ayla die! Kino no want Ayla die... That why Kino die... Kino die warrior.
Go!
Kino...

And so Kino dies. After being a character in the original game that wasn't very well liked, Kino gets an acceptable ending here. Even if it's kinda sad and only going to get sadder.

The screen fades to black again...


And we see an amphibian fellow walking out of a cave.

Masamune... You helped realize my hopes and dreams...
... I can't just seal you back in that cave. You belong in the castle... Your true home, where you're needed most.


As he's leaving, a soldier approaches Glenn.

My Captain, the-


In YOUR endo!

See Crimson Echoes, I can do double entendres too!

Yeah, Frog/Glenn's accent was dropped for this game. It's because ZeaLitY wanted to stay true to the original japanese characterization. See, originally Glenn's speech was like an angry old man's, but otherwise normal. He wasn't even angry himself. ZeaLitY says he was a reliable friend and much more human.

Personally, though, I much prefer knight caricature Glenn. Though I guess that depends on how you interpret his backstory. Here's how I see it...

Fucking Frogs, how do they work?Before being turned into a frog, Glenn is a complete and utter pussy with little competence and a long list of insecurities. He idolizes Cyrus and tries to play the sidekick, but it's obvious that Cyrus is pulling all of the weight.

Glenn watches Cyrus obtain the Hero's Medal and charge into battle with the full support of Guardia behind him, finally seeing him struck down by Magus and having to endure a transformation. Frog is noticeably shaken, but he sees the possibility of redemption in trying to take Cyrus' place.

Thus begins an odyssey of leaping from rafters, throwing swords in people's faces, and generally acting like a caricature of a hero. He's certainly effective, but he's still largely insecure and hides behind the facade of what he imagines a hero (that is, Cyrus) to be. Notice that Frog doesn't speak in his affected and pseudo-archaic style before picking up the Hero Medal, and notice that it only takes one failure (failing to rescue Leene) to convince him that he doesn't deserve even an bit of the heroism he's spent ten years attempting to embody. It doesn't even matter that he ends up making things right.

So Frog plays up his personality but doesn't have balls to back it up. He relies on trinkets like the Medal to give him his sense of heroism, and his protection does nothing to stop an enemy base (the Cathedral in 600 AD) from being built ten feet from the castle and the queen from being kidnapped directly under his watch. He has nothing to base his heroism off of besides the pedestal on which he placed Cyrus, and so he thinks that a true hero must be like the knight captain of his dreams.

But then, when your party shows him how much he's valued, as Frog, not as the flawless knight we know he's not, his determination grows again. The party's efforts in bringing him the Medal and sword mimic Cyrus' sacrifices in doing the same, and Frog realizes that being Cyrus is less important than being Glenn. He's going to keep the silly accent, but after getting the sword back is when he started to simultaneously get serious and let his hair down. He didn't know what he was doing, had no real grounding, and held himself to impossible standards that he failed to meet, so he did embody the qualities of a little kid who's finally getting back at the bullies. And perhaps he still does all these things.

A buffoon, yes.

But also the type of warrior who'll cut a mountain in half.

Christ, that was a long rant. Where were we? Ah, right.

I apologize. Glenn, the King is ready to select the first leaders of the new order. He requests your presence at the castle.
I see. Well, let's get going!

Incidentally, I believe Glenn was supposed to be a human in this game. He appeared as a human in the demo the CE team released before getting C&Ded. I think the reason he isn't is because he didn't have a finished sprite sheet.


After another fade, we cut to the team appearing out of the gray Gate in the same room as... Robo?


They were probably about to ask you the same thing, dude.

Robo! Where are we?

See?

???: Ho, ho! This is most interesting!


A strange old man walks into the room.



We cut to some kinda room somewhere...



Nice title screen, guys.

Also, dammit, I want that treasure chest.


One last fade later, we come upon a pale man walking in the snow.


A monster comes close...


And turns tail as soon as it sees his ugly mug.


Ah, the black wind... That gale has not left my ears... since that...
Hmph. Howl all you wish.







And then he collapses.


But a hobo finds him! Poor Magus isn't having a very good day. First he freezes to death, and then a hobo steals his shoes, wallet and cape.


Or not.


BUTTZ comes with a default name I felt was quite appropriate.


And that's it for this update. Wordy, right? Next one will have more action, I promise.

Next time: Strong-arming! Recurring villains! Difficulty!

[Bard The 5th LW]

Hey Drac just posting to say that Im totally not reading your LP.

[Geminex]

Originally Posted by Bard The 5th LW

Hey Drac just posting to say that Im totally not reading your LP.

Me neither.

Though, looking at some of this writing, I'm not even sure if he's reading it.

[Fifthfiend]

Chrono talks

CALLING SQUARENIX LEGAL DEPARTMENT, CEASE AND DESIST THIS LP >( >( >( >( >(

[tacticslion]

Originally Posted by Fifthfiend

CALLING SQUARENIX LEGAL DEPARTMENT, CEASE AND DESIST THIS LP >( >( >( >( >(

Oh, that crazy Fifthfiend!

I care not for these other cads, I shall read this LP! Even IF you totally rename a character! (nice one)