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<html>
<head>
<style>
body{
width: 30em;
}
.battle{
background-color: lightgray;
margin-left: 2em;
}
</style>
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.3.1.slim.min.js"
integrity="sha256-3edrmyuQ0w65f8gfBsqowzjJe2iM6n0nKciPUp8y+7E="
crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<script>
(function(){
$(".chapter h3").click(function(){$(this).parent().find(".narrative").toggle();});
})()
</script>
</head>
<body>
<h1>
Low-Level FAQ/Walkthrough by big_kake
</h1>
<div>
Version: 2.2
</div>
<div>
Updated: 08/19/12
</div>
<div>
Crono Trigger Perfect Low-level Game FAQ version 2.2 19/08/2012
</div>
<div>
Disclaimer: This is a not-for-profit and unaffiliated guide for Chrono Trigger
</div>
<div class="contents">
Table Of Contents:
<div>
<a href="#1">
About
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#2">
Introduction
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#3">
Hints & Tips, basic LLG strategy 101
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#4.1">
Exp Mechanics
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#4.2">
Battle Mechanics
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#5.1">
Stat Boosting Tabs Discussion
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#5.2">
Missable Tabs List Walkthrough:
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#6">
1000 A.D - Crono's Home
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#7">
600 AD - Cathedral
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#8">
1000 AD - Guardia Prison
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#9.1">
2300 AD - Bangor Dome
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#9.2">
2300 AD - Proto Dome
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#10">
End of Time & 1000 AD - Heckran Cave
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#11">
600 AD - Zenan Bridge & Denadoro Mtns
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#12">
65000000 BC - Reptite Lair
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#13">
600 AD - Magus' Castle
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#14">
65000000 CB - Tyrano Lair
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#15">
12000 BC - Magic Kingdom + Pendant Treasures
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#16">
600 & 1000 AD - Sunken Desert Side-Quest
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#17">
12000 BC - Mt Woe
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#18">
12000 BC - Ocean Palace
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#19">
12000 BC - Blackbird
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#20">
23000 BC - Death Peak
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#21">
600 & 1000 AD Rainbow Shell Side-Quest
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#22">
2300 AD - Sunstone Side-Quest
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#23">
2300 AD - Geno Done Side-Quest
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#23">
600 & 1000 AD - Northern Ruins Side-Quest
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#24">
600 AD - Ozzie's Fort Side-Quest
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#25">
1000 AD - Black Omen
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#27">
1999 AD - Lavos Preparation & The Final Battle
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#28">
Pink Nu
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#29">
Ocean Palace Lavos
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#30">
Low Levels - The Boring Theory
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#31">
Videos
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#32">
Author's Notes
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#33">
Credits
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#34">
Final Notes
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#34">
Version History
</a>
</div>
<div>
<a href="#36">
Contact Details
</a>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="chapter">
<h3 id="1">
About
</h3>
<div class="narrative">
This FAQ is not just my work. It has been a collection of many years of player's experiences and discoveries other than my own. And whilst much of the information in this FAQ is indeed my own original work, people who contributed to this FAQ will be credited.
It's been a long time since I have worked on this FAQ, and whilst I have been active in the community it has taken this long to bring myself to literally rewrite this FAQ. In fact it was only when I first played the iPhone version that I decided so, where this new format will be used in a dedicated FAQ for that platform.
Enjoy your playthrough, and best of luck on your challenge!
</div>
<div>
<div class="chapter">
<h3 id="2">
Introduction
</h3>
<div class="narrative">
A low-level game (LLG), as self-explanatory as it is, is a playthrough at very low levels. In fact this FAQ will detail currently the lowest reported levels possible in this game. As of now I am calling out to computer/macro programmers, see section >-30-<, to help me work on find even lower still paths for finishing this game, or even people who can give me advice on manipulating excel sufficiently. Many Thanks.
This guide will detail how to complete all areas and side quests, and even all the optional bosses.
<p>
As of now the lowest levels currently possible are:
<div>
Crono: 1
</div>
<div>
Marle: 4
</div>
<div>
Lucca: 15
</div>
<div>
Frog : 15
</div>
<div>
Robo : 16
</div>
<div>
Ayla : 20
</div>
<div>
Magus: 37
</div>
</p>
And this FAQ will explain how to achieve this.
As a rule for sake of maximizing the difficulty of this challenge and for certain sentiment. Magus should be excluded from any fighting party and Chrono included wherever possible.
It is recommended you play at least one regular playthrough of the game before attempting this. The reasons are because it takes about that long to become sufficiently adept with the mechanics and controls of the game, and also this FAQ will not go into detail with storyline elements unless necessary. To finish this FAQ you will inevitably need to become even more skilled at the game, factors such as timing, memory and precise movement are crucial to the challenge. Don't be intimidated however, this is far from the hardest low-level RPG challenge, after this you might want to try FF-XII or FF-III/VI, good luck with those, good luck!
</div>
<div>
<div class="chapter">
<h3 id="3">
Hints & Tips, basic LLG strategy 101
</h3>
<div class="narrative">
-Game Settings
Maximize the amount of time you have to press buttons and minimize time lose by scrolling the menu by setting the battle speed to 8 (slowest) and cursor to memory. Also, of course set your battle mode to Wait. We will need to play around with the battle speed later to manipulate some mechanics, but I will explicitly tell you when that's the case, keep these setting as default.
-Saving
This guide will not mention it as much, but save wherever possible. Save before entering new areas and after completing them. Keep multiple saves so that any late mistakes (not buying enough revives before 65 Million BC is a common mistake of mine) can be corrected.
-Avoiding encounters
All but one of Chrono Triggers encounters are not random, they all happen in preset locations with preset triggers and monsters, part of why Chrono Trigger is such an amazing game. As a result many of the encounters, including inescapable ones can be avoided by simply avoiding the trigger. All inescapable battles which can be avoided will be detailed in the FAQ, but many others can be avoided by simply not touching said monster or just not getting too close, take looping paths away from monsters you can see and you'll avoid 60% of encounters, just like that.
-Running from encounters
If the battle can be run from, you can do so just by holding the L&R, if using an emulator you can also set both these buttons to a single key for convenience sake
-Treasure Hunting
There is a LOT of treasure in Chrono Trigger, so much so that you will never really need to buy a single piece of equipment to win the game, and doing so anyway is probably a waste of money. Your ability to earn money from battles before the Wallet is limited to just those forced encounters and so scavenging as much as possible is essential to being successful in this game. You will need a huge number of Mid-Tonics &
Revives for Magus' fort and for Reptite Palace, and like it or not, you're going to have to pay for all of them!
-Referring to other FAQ's GameFAQ's is full of great FAQ's by other authors, and I would recommend using them for information if you ever become lost at any point. This FAQ will attempt to keep you on track as much as possible without you doing this, but there is no shame in doing so. Some particularly useful FAQ's include:
Tabs Location FAQ by vbvieira http://www.gamefaqs.com/snes/563538-chrono-
trigger/faqs/19651
Mechanics Guide by DragonKnight Zero & G*Paladin http://www.gamefaqs.com/snes/563538-chrono-trigger/faqs/14148
General Walkthrough by Phoenix http://www.gamefaqs.com/snes/563538-chrono-
trigger/faqs/17035
-Stat-Boosting Tabs
Tabs are as far as I am aware crucial to your ultimate success in this game. So far all battles including all sidequests except for all of the Black Omen and Lavos have been completed without any tabs. But as far as I am aware Lavos himself is impossible without at least boosting your character's speed or using Magus. More on this in section 5.1
</div>
<div>
<div class="chapter">
<h3 id="4.1">
Game Mechanics:
</h3>
<div class="narrative">
While I will not attempt to replicate DragonKnight Zero &
G*Paladin's brilliant FAQ, I will detail some of the most crucial mechanics for completing a LLG.
-Experience Mechanics Your characters join the party at predetermined levels, they are not influenced at all by the current party member's levels.
Crono: 1 Marle: 1 Lucca: 2 Frog : 5 Robo : 10 Ayla : 18 Magus: 37
On top of that the characters will also require the maximal exp reach the next level.
Experience is not divided across party members like most RPG's. That is, form your experience if an enemy earns 1000 experience and you have 2 party members alive the experience is divided and both characters would receive 500 each. This is not the case for Chrono Trigger, for if an enemy yields 1000 experience, then all characters alive will receive that much, regardless of how many are dead. So to minimize experience gain, only 1 character can be alive at the end of each battle.
Party members outside the party receive 75% of the experience those inside the party do. And experience 'spillover' is written off, hence it's impossible for a character to level up twice outside the main party. This is a crucial mechanic and will affect how experience is shuffled between party members to abuse this as much as possible. This means that if for example, Lucca requires just 5 exp to gain a level, and she is outside the main party and you fight a battle which yields 1000 exp. If you do the math she potentially should gain 750 experience, but will actually only gain the 5 exp for the next level. That's a whole 745 exp written off. Just like that.
Also, on a more subtle note, the game rounds down any experience gained and does not count fractions as far as I have tested. Hard to actually abuse but again calling help aforementioned.
</div>
<div>
<div class="chapter">
<h3 id="5.1">
Tabs Discussion
</h3>
<div class="narrative">
I have seen this topic debated with varying degrees of vigour, and almost always stemming from the question 'How come you're characters are hitting so much damage at such low levels?'. Part of the answer to this question comes down to the damage calculation mechanics, which you can refer to the game mechanics FAQ to understand. The other part is usually that we have boosted our characters with various boosting Tabs. For those purists out there though, I can confirm, this challenge is possible all the way up till the second and third forms of Lavos without the use of a single tab, and the use of such will only be pushed upon entering the Black Omen. So far I have had success completing the game by giving Robo just five Speed Tabs and nobody anything else. This FAQ will not show you exactly how to do it this way, but if you are determined you should be able to work it out on your own the hints I give along the way.
Now, very importantly, if you plan on tackling Ocean Palace Lavos (as I will expect given the massive interest seen in QHovrik's excellent LP on Something Awful), then you will need use, a lot, of tabs whether you like it or not, and hence I suggest you pick up at least all the Speed Tabs you possibly can, in order to be able to max our Crono, Marle, Robo & Ayla's Speed.
For the purposes of this guide, you will be Maxing out Marle & Ayla's speed at first chance and bringing Crono & Robo up to 15, the latter two because of major timing issues with the Lavos forms.
</div>
<div>
<div class="chapter">
<h3 id="5.2">
Missable Tabs list
</h3>
<div class="narrative">
I have pulled this list from the Tabs FAQ and left the ones directly relevant to a LLQ (missable ones which we can't get because we don't have charm yet, for example, I have left out. I suggest you check this list before you enter each new area, so you know where to look. For a complete tab list see the dedicated FAQ, which will include all the non-
missable tabs. You do NOT need to collect every single tab on the way, you can live without a couple of power, and without a single magic tab for that instance, so don't kill yourself trying to get 1500 points in the bike race, for instance.
The areas with missable tabs are few and far between, also cross check all the areas you enter with the original FAQ to save yourself time revisiting these areas later.
600 AD - Magus' Castle After Defeating Flea - 1 Magic Tab South East of the hole that Ozzie makes -
1 Magic Tab
12000 BC Enhasa's Water,Wind,Fire; Defeat the 6 Nus - 1 Speed and Magic Tab Kajar, northeast room - 1 Speed Tab Scratch the Nu at Zeal Castle - 1 Magic Tab
12000 BC South of the beast's nest - 1 Power Tab Beast's Nest, charm Mud Imp - 1 Speed Tab Mount of Woe, before the Giga Gaia - 1 Magic Tab Mount of Woe, charm Giga Gaia - 1 Speed Tab Ocean Palace, in the elevator, go down then up - 1 Magic Tab Ocean Palace, charm Golem Twins - 2 Magic Tabs Northeast of Blackbird, after getting everyone's equipment back - 1 Magic Tab
2300 AD Death Peak, right of the first tree - 1 Power Tab Geno Dome, behind the red laser - 1 Magic Tab Geno Dome, southeast of the long passage - 1 Power Tab Geno Dome, in the "switch" of the secret passage - 1 Magic Tab Geno Dome, near the last Poyozo Doll - 1 Speed Tab
600 AD 37. Sunken Desert, charm the Retinite's core - 1 Speed Tab 38. Defeat Retinite, then come back to the first room - 1 Power Tab
So with all this aside, and without further ado, on to the main challenge!
</div>
<div>
<div class="chapter">
<h3 id="6">
1000 A.D Crono's Home
</h3>
<div class="narrative">
Get everything from Crono's Mum & Mayors Manor. Also there is a Power Tab in Guardia Forest. After meeting Marle make sure you return the girls kitten, refuse to sell the pendant, don't eat the old man's lunch and wait for Marle. This will ensure you get 7 innocent votes and a handsome reward as a result. There is nothing else to do here, you can't fight anything either. So just continue to the teleporter and you'll be transported to 600 AD.
*********
600 A.D Truce Canyon *********
Here you'll face your first forced encounter.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Imp x 3 6 Exp
</div>
A straightforward fight, these are the only exp Crono will absorb this game and aren't enough to level him up.
encounters collect the Powerglove & Tonic then head into the Market, buy about 20 Tonics (more than enough for the next section) now head into Guardia Forest.
Besides the Power Tab here, there's also a bush here with a monster who will drop a shelter when you go up to it. Leaving and re-entering the forest will yield a shelter each time. So take this opportunity and farm about 15. While you could potentially sell these you really don't need to, there's enough money elsewhere. Just keep these for personal use. In future whenever you pass through this area, it's convenient to visit the bush for a free shelter :-).
Ransack the castle for all its treasure and after the subsequent storyline scenes you'll gain Lucca (Level 2). Time for the cathedral!
Give Lucca the Bandana and Crono the Power Glove.
<div class="chapter">
<h3 id="7">
Cathedral
</h3>
Enter, find the hairpin and you'll face a forced encounter
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Nagette x 4 32 Exp
</div>
These will likely require 1 or 2 Tonics, but have Crono & Lucca kill the 2 Nagettes closest to Lucca first then focus on the other 2, let Crono die and Lucca finishes this, healing as necessary. Their slow spell is annoying so don't cut it too close with Tonics. After Frog joins you save outside.
The cathedral has only one encounter that you can avoid but cannot run from, and that encounter is on the stairs with the red carpet, and it is only triggered if you try to run on the red carpet without touch-
encountering the diablos before it. So to be safe, encounter all monsters on the walkways and the diablos before (running from all of them) before trying to run up the red carpet. Get all the treasures except the ones in Magus' shrine and the Nagette Bromide including the Steel Sabre and Power Tab. The other treasures you can get later. The area after the stairs contains no inescapable encounters except the one in the organ room which is forced. Get all the treasures, optimize your equipment and heal your characters with slurp and you will face..
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Hench x3 + Diablos x2 53 Exp
</div>
Just attack and use Frog's slurp on himself to conserve resources, have Frog absorb this by having Crono and Lucca killed off near the end. Now proceed to Yakra, picking up everything on the way. Optimize your equipment Pick up the IronSword (Frog) play the organ and head straight towards Yakra (avoiding the monsters), heal with a shelter. Optimize your characters, learning frog with his original armour and accessory. Give Crono the Powerglove and Lucca the Bandana.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Yakra 50 Exp 920 Hp
</div>
Yakra, a very straightforward boss once you discipline yourself with healing yourself appropriately with Tonics/Slurps. In this case, heal only Chrono and Frog, as Yakra only does his counter attack when there are 3 characters alive. When Yakra gets low, say below 200 Hp, let Crono die off and Frog solo. Keep Frog above 70 Hp at all times and there is nothing to worry about. Frog will absorb this 50 exp.
After the following scenes you'll be back at the castle, but now you can go back to the Cathedral here and pick up all the items you missed out on before now that the place is void of monsters. The most important of which is the Speed Belt! Before you go back to 1000 A.D. Make sure you buy so you have 30 Tonics, this should be enough for the next few sections, there is nothing worse than running out of tonics when fighting the dragon tank!
</div>
<div>
<div class="chapter">
<h3 id="8">
1000 A.D - Guardia Prison
</h3>
<div class="narrative">
Head straight for Guardia Castle, there is nothing else to do here. When asked who initiated contact, admit that you did and deny being attracted by Marle's wealth. Once you are in jail you should have 6 ethers for you if everything went well, otherwise don't worry about it, save and heal and wait out the 3 days. Every encounter in this jail you cannot run from, but you can avoid all of them. After Lucca saves you grab the Bronzemail and head out, al. the fallen guards outside this room will have a mid-tonic for you when prompted, make sure you do so!
Speaking of Mid-Tonics, SAVE Fritz! Doing so will net you 10 Mid-Tonics later head up and around (do not take bottom corridor as this leads to inescapable encounters), go across bridge and head straight through to the next room which has 2 inescapable but avoidable shield monsters then go left into the next room, grab the shelter then head back into the room with the 2 monsters.
Now to avoid these 2 line yourself up right in between the two and run through, you will avoid this encounter, head left and head through the hold and eventually reach a room with a Lode Sword!! (Crono) and 1500 G, come back up now head right & upstairs. Pick up the 5 Mid Tonics off the guard and save, if your using an emulator save state too, now equip Crono with the Speed Belt or Power Glove and Lucca with the Speed Belt or Bandana - make sure Crono has his Lode Sword equipped.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Dragon Tank 40 Exp Head - 600 Hp Grinder - 208 HP Body - 266 Hp
</div>
Crono should be able to do 80 damage, Lucca 35, open out all out on the HEAD, now the battle begins.
The head is Capable of healing each part of the body 70 damage (sometimes faster than you can damage it), so that must go down first, the head and body can also attack, the head does a fire based attack & the body fires missiles - (which I found was usually Crono), so after initial blitz have Lucca focus on healing herself & Crono with tonics and Crono attacks head. Do NOT use Cyclone. AFTER the Tank released its energy (running you over..) have both Crono & Lucca heal themselves with a Tonic or two & continue attacking till head gone (40 or less Hp - not safe BTW). Do same with Grinder, keep Crono alive for the body. When the Head &
Grinder are gone the body will counterattack with a laser (30 damage), keep Crono on decent health until you're sure you've taken most of its 600 Hp, then let Crono die from its counter-attacks and finish things up with Lucca - who will absorb the Exp & Grow to level 3. Escape the castle, Collect Marle and escape to 2300 AD.
</div>
<div>
<div class="chapter">
<h3 id="9.1">
2300 A.D
</h3>
<div class="narrative">
You arrive in Bangor Done, in the room you arrive in is a sealed door, behind it is the Wallet, but.. We got another half of a game to play before we can go through this, so this means you still got lots of monsters to avoid etc.. hehe.
Head straight to Lab 16 and go through it, make sure you grab the Berserker, Lode Sword and Lode Bow along with all the other chests and running from every encounter (including the Mutants), there are no forced encounters here, don't worry!
Anyways, you CAN go to the Sewer Access, head right and grab the 600 G in the Chest (the fight is escapable), this isn't necessary but every bit of cash helps, return back to Arris Dome. You should be nearly empty on Tonics right now, go buy about 20-30, this will be plenty for now, save and then head downstairs. Head towards the food storage, stop before you reach the room before the storage (the one with the boss encounter).
Give Lucca the Iron Helm, Speed Belt & Madain Suit, Marle the best of whatever you got left (with the Bandana) and Crono the Bronze Mail &
Power Glove. Now run straight through the room and you'll encounter a Boss (if you wait in the room a bit you'll encounter an Inescapable battle.. Hence run through)
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Guardian & Bits x2 300 Exp Guardian - 1200 Hp Bits - 200 Hp
</div>
This is the first & last battle Marle does exactly the same damage as Crono, both of which do 40-43 damage each. If you attack the body while both bits are alive, they counter with Delta Attack on all 3, which will probably ruin you, attack the body with one bit alive and they'll use amplifire on the attacking character (45 Damage), amplifire is also used as a normal attack with only 1 bit is alive. To beat this boss, I took an all-out approach and attacked each bit with all 3 (and healing with first available character is health fell below 45) then blitzing the body. If you're playing on emulator save state after you kill both bits, have attacked the body as much as you can and has just revived both, because you need both Marle & Crono dead so Lucca can finish off the body, if not keep CAREFUL track of his Hp (use a piece of paper). Keep attacking and healing if Crono or Marle dies don't bother reviving them (if you have any revives at this point), if both die and your about 300 or more short of killing the body you should restart. Make sure Crono & Marle die then the Main Body is at about 100 Hp (preferably by attacking the body when there'
s only 1 bit left to deliberately activate the counter-attack) then finish off the remaining bit then the body off with Lucca, who will absorb the full 300 Exp.
Anyway after this battle, Lucca will level up twice to level 5, your current levels should be:
Crono: Level 1 Marle: Level 3 Lucca: level 5
Run through, after the scenes grab the Mid-Ether now go catch the rat, activate the console & head through, grab the Mid-Ether and watch Lavos Destroy the world. Head out and REST IN THE ENERTON, this will be your last chance to heal for free until you reach the end of time, save and head over to Lab 32. Grab the Mid Tonic & race Johnny & head to Proto Dome, SAVE OUTSIDE.
You'll enter another inescapable battle
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Buggers x3 54 Exp 100 Hp each
</div>
Take out the bugger closest to Lucca and weaken the two near Marle &
Crono, let Crono & Marle get killed (if you're on emulator press the turbo button) then finish up with Lucca who will gain another level. Now I recommend if your using normal game to save outside again then re-enter, if emulator save state.
Ahead of you are 4 inescapable but avoidable buggers, walk (don't run) towards and hug the wall in front of them (bottom end of the screen) and ‘
slide' across holding down and right, then up then right to get to the stairs then down and right to go down them. Do not dash at any point of this process, or the encounter will trigger.
Phew, now go up and meet one of your best characters ROBO!
Take Robo, Crono and Lucca with you, you will need to dodge this irritating encounter once again, and a few more timed after this too, but this encounter is cake compared with some we'll need to deal with later.
</div>
<div>
<div class="chapter">
<h3 id="9.2">
2400 AD - Factory
</h3>
<div class="narrative">
As you enter and when Robo activates the console you'll be thrown into another forced encounter.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Acid x1 33 Exp
</div>
You're going to have to wait for this Acid to hack through Robo's 200+
Hp, use Cure Beams/Auras on Marle to save on Tonics. Marle will absorb this, the experience from this battle is essentially written off by the next 2 forced encounters.
Now most of this factory is optional, and you're going to need to skip virtually all of it the part of the factory from the right elevator is littered with inescapable encounters. You can grab the Robin Bow from that room, but do not try for anything else. Now go through the left elevator and save your game. Run from the next encounter at the console and head downstairs, around and to the next console. Now, activating the console triggers a forced encounter with a random number of Acids and Alkalines with anywhere between 0-5 of each with a total of 5 monsters. Now after scrutinizing the experience gains by calculations, you can afford to have at most 3 Alkalines in this battle (Alkalines give 45 exp each, and Acids 33) without any effect on your final levels. If you encounter 4 or 5, you must reset and try again. It should not take too many attempts to accomplish this, and the previous version of this guide required you to exclusively encounter 5 acids only (!) which was a 1 in 32 shot!
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Acids & Alkalines 165 -201 exp
</div>
Pretty straightforward and they should have no problems killing off Crono and Marle. Robo will learn Laser Spin after this :-).
After this pick up the Titan Arm & Vest. Now you must leave the factory and switch Marle for Lucca, and make sure you save outside the dome as you will need to weave around the forced encounter with those 4 buggers, twice, again.
Now optimize Lucca with the best gear you have sans the weapon and give her the Speed Belt. Give Crono the best of what's left and very importantly the Berserker, de-equip Robo if you need in order to accomplish this. Now continue on to the switch, saving on the way. Lucca's best weapon so far is in the chest besides the panel where you must input the password, equip it right away and the password is X A B Y, the fight with the R-Series is tough.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
R-Series x6 480 Exp 150 Hp each
</div>
You probably remember having a heyday with Crono's Cyclone, Lucca's Fire Line and even their first dual tech Fire Whirl. This is not going to work for us though, our characters are just too weak to heal fast enough without dying if they manually attack. This is where the Berserker comes in. The berserker grants Crono Auto-Protect status, and effectively reduces the damage he takes as well as putting him in auto-pilot. Now this battle just comes down to healing constantly with Lucca and letting Crono hack away at the R- Series. After 3-4 are down stop healing Crono. You should be able to have Crono killed off with maybe 2 heavily damaged R-Series left, which Lucca can, barely, finish off herself. It may well take a few resets to get the timing right here, but you get it eventually. Lucca absorbs an obscene 480 exp, eurgh.
Eventually you'll find yourself at the end of time.
</div>
<div>
<div class="chapter">
<h3 id="10">
End of Time & 1000 AD - Medina
</h3>
<div class="narrative">
Meso Mail, Speed Tab, Magic Tab
Now speak to Gaspar, and learn to use magic, you can even have your characters learn their dual techs, although their usefulness is rather limited at this stage. You can heal for free here, now take this good opportunity to have Crono and Marle K.O'd, to make the next forced encounter much faster.
Now before you go straight to 1000 AD, take the 65000000 BC gate, exit Mystic Mountain and enter the Dactyl Nest. Run from every encounter as usual (there are none that cannot be run from) and here you can grab a Mid Ether but also more importantly an early Meso Mail! :-) Return to the gate and head down the gate to Medina Village.
When you arrive here you should head into the Elders House and grab the two tabs there table, this is useful, go upstairs and you can also grab a Magic Tab. Also raid the blue pyramid for an Ether.*** Head back out and speak to Melchior, from him buy until you have 99 Tonics (because they're that cheap) & 20 Mid Tonics (because they're not so cheap, but necessary). When you enter Heckran's cave, you'll be thrown into another forced encounter.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Hench x2 22 Exp
</div>
Wait for Crono & Marle to be killed, finish with Robo.
Items: 2x Ether, Mid Ether, Magicscarf
There are no more forced encounters in this cave, you can run from everything, so sack this place for what it's worth. At the save point swap Robo for Lucca to have a party of Crono, Marle & Lucca, heal with a Shelter.
Equip them:
Lucca: Best Helm, Meso Mail & Speed Belt Marle: 2nd Best Helm, Titan Vest & Magic Scarf Crono: Anything
With this setup both Marle and Lucca should have a modest 8 speed.
You're going to need to keep reasonable track of this bosses' HP here, as Lucca cannot 1 on 1 against Heckran for very long, yet she must be the lone Exp Absorber.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Heckran 250 Exp 2100 Hp
</div>
This fight is pretty tough, just remember that only Magic deals any damage.
Heckran starts out with the following attack pattern:
Bubble (40-45 damage) Bubble (40-45 damage) Cyclone (80 Damage to Marle, 95-100 To Lucca) Counter Attacking Phase (a few turns worth) Repeat
Only use Mid Tonics when you need to in order to conserve resources, just ensure that Marle Hp is always full, Lucca's is above 90 before Heckran uses Cyclone here, by having the most immediate character heal. Contraire to the last edition, there is no point in using Antipode here, as the 2 individual Fire and Ice spells do identical damage, do just damage Heckran with both Marle and Lucca with their magic spells. Chrono can help too while he's alive, but don't bother reviving him when he does die.
When he enters his Counter-Attack phase heal up to full HP with Tonics, don't bother with Ethers
Before long he'll enter a VERY deadly cycle
Cyclone (80 Damage to Marle, 95-100 To Lucca) Cyclone (80 Damage to Marle, 95-
100 To Lucca) Yes Indeed! Attack (75-77 to Marle 67-70 Lucca) Counter Attack Phase (a few turns worth) Repeat
You must play very defensively here, as Heckran is fast enough to get in 2 moves to your 1 here, and as you can calculate, not even Lucca with her early Meso Mail can survive 2 hits in a row. From full MP, both Marle and Lucca should be able to do barely enough damage to kill Heckran, literally finishing with the last spell, or at most 1 or 2 spells more than that. So you can use this as your rough guide to finishing the battle.
First exhaust Marle's remaining MP left with the following attack pattern:
"Brief Counter-Attack Break" Marle immediately uses Ice, Lucca waits with her turn ready. Cyclone 1 If it hits Marle, have Lucca immediately use a Mid-
Tonic on her, if it hits Lucca, immediately have her use a normal Tonic on herself. Cyclone 2 You should get Marle's turn now, cast Ice, if this Cyclone hit Lucca and had already hit her before as well, use a Mid-
Tonic, if not use a Normal Tonic. If it hits Marle Use a Mid-Tonic. Yes Indeed! If you manage it, you may just be able to squeeze a Fire in here "Go Ahead Try & Attack" Heal fully with Tonics and wait with turns available
After Marle runs out of MP, repeat the above attack pattern but with Marle and Lucca switching roles, their speed is identical so this should be straightforward. The only difference is Marle will not get an attack in, just have her heal with a Tonic. Heckran should fall on Lucca's last spell before running out of MP, a good time to finish this is just before he enters his counterattack phase, have Lucca ethered once before this (so she has 12 MP), have Marle die off and Lucca cast Fire just after the 'Yes Indeed!' attack, if this isn't enough to finish him then another Fire spell whilst he is in his counterattack phase should most certainly finish the job.
</div>
<div>
<div class="chapter">
<h3 id="11">
600 AD - Zenan Bridge + Denadoro Mt's
</h3>
<div class="narrative">
After the following scenes, grab the Taban Vest, which will not be of very much use but, meh. Also collect your 10 Mid-tonics off Fritz for saving him. the proceed to 600AD, healing at the EOT along the way.
At the market in 600 AD, get 10 Revives and buy as many Mid-Tonics as you can afford without selling anything off.
Head to Zenan Bridge, talk to the people there then head to the castle (collecting your free shelters too), collect your Jerky & Power Tab, head to the bridge again, save.
On this bridge are a Series of 3 forced encounters, enter Zenan bridge and talk to the Commander, then talk to him again for a Gold Helm.
Have in your party Robo, Marle & Crono
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Deceased x2 - 106 exp
</div>
Wait until Crono and Robo are knocked out after both attacking Ozzie once (healing Marle when necessary, now have Marle attack Ozzie for the 3rd time to break his spell and end the fight.
Marle absorbs all 106 Exp, which will not be enough to Level her up.
A/N: Thanks CyberSarkany for telling me this strategy.
Heal Robo with his Cure Beam.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Deceased x3 - 144 Exp
</div>
Same strategy as before, except Robo absorbs instead.
Leave the bridge, save and heal. Set up your characters accordingly.
Crono: Iron Helm, Titan Vest, Power Glove, Best Weap Marle: Iron Helm, Titan Vest, Best Weap Robo : Gold Helm, Meso mail, Speed Belt, Best Weap
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Zombor Top - 1000 Bottom - 800 350 Exp
</div>
This battle isn't very difficult at all, you will want to track the bottom half of Zombor's HP.
To begin:
Have Crono attack or use Cyclone (tracking the bottoms HP if you do so) Marle use Ice on top Robo use Rocket punch on top
The top should fall before it gets a chance to use its Doom, Doom, Doom attack (if it does don't bother reviving or healing, just keep attacking top with Robo (the other 2 should die), don't bother healing/reviving fallen characters, heal Robo with a Mid Ether if MP busted.
Blitz the bottom until it says 'Doom Doom Doom Doom', keeping track of its HP as you go along. Now Zombor tends to glitch here, which can be (grudgingly) solved by healing one of the characters with a Tonic. Doom Doom Doom always targets the player with most HP, which will usually be Robo, and will one hit K.O. him, so make sure another player is alive when it does so. It's attacks are very weak, dealing less than 30 Hp, do healing should be minimal. When Zombor gets close to dying (<240HP, or 3 hits from Robo), have the remaining characters die off whilst healing Robo and finish it off, absorbing all 350 Exp. No Problem.
Items: Mid Tonic, Shelter, Magic Scarf Now you have access to the bottom half of your continent of 600 AD, don't bother healing anyone except Robo, not even for MP. After the following scenes with Frog (ransacking the places as per usual, nothing here is inescapable).
Head into Cursed Woods, grab the Mid Tonic, Shelter and your 2nd Magic Scarf, talk to Frog then leave. Keep Robo in the party, put him at position 3 and enter Denadoro mountains.
Grab the 300G and continue up towards the ladder and you'll enter 2 forced battles.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Goblin 32 Exp
</div>
It's a pain to actually have your characters killed off, that's why we didn't heal from before, but you know the drill, Robo absorbs this, after which you'll be knocked into another forced battle.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Ogan 32 Exp
</div>
You'll probably need to heal here, but just keep attacking him for <20 damage with Robo, he's no problem. 1 screen up to the right (not up the ladder) is a weapon for Robo, grab this and leave the mountains and save your game again, now you can resume.
This area is a minefield of forced encounters, many are on invisible trigger squares for which paths to avoid them will be detailed here. It's a long way to the next save point, so my advice is not to rush this next section, you do NOT want to be avoiding all these encounters over and over again. Really.
Now head through, running from every encounter, grab the Revive and 500 G.
When you meet the Ogan (with the Wooden Hammer) that jumps out &
back repetitively, dodge him and run up the ladder, then the next ladder then there should be a turning to the right to reach the next screen.
On this screen there are no inescapable encounters, grab the Revive, Mid Ether, Gold Helm & Mid Tonic and head left onto your next screen.
This screen also has no inescapable encounters, just a rock throwing monster & a chest with a Mid Ether, head up and right onto your next screen.
Now, walking, hug the top wall until you meet the ladder to avoid an inescapable encounter with a Free Lancer & Ogan. Head up the ladder and, still walking, hug the right wall, grab the chest with 600 G, hug the wall on your left down then up to the next path then head up into your next screen.
You should be on a cliff-edge field, hug the outmost edge, as you can sometimes hit an inescapable encounter here. Thanks CyberSarkany for identifying this.
Here you should be near a waterfall, here fall down the left waterfall and grab the Silver Stud & Silver Erng, 2 of the best accessories in the game!
Head up to reach the next screen, then up again to reach the cliff again, hug the top side as before and head left onto the waterfall again. Now head left past the Free Lancer to grab the chest.
Now as you go down the ladder, hug the left wall, walking to avoid the inescapable battle with 2 Free Lancers, and to get to your next screen.
Hug the bottom wall to the bridge to avoid the inescapable battle with 3 Bellbirds, once on the bridge you may safely talk to the White Monkey repetitively for a Magic Tab, head down to your next screen.
Head down and hold off saving for just a second, grab the chest and bash A in the very bottom left of the screen for your second speed tab this game, now head through to the next screen to grab the Gold Suit, now come back to the Save Point and equip your characters:
Robo : Gold Helm, Meso Mail, Speed Belt Crono: Next Best Helm, Gold Suit, Silver Erng Marle: Doesn't Matter
Now you have my permission to save.
This next screen has a fairly tough to avoid forced encounter, while touching the Hetakes themselves are triggers, attempting to climb the ladder with the Freelancer above it is too close will have his knock you back down into that said battle. So my advice is to completely ignore the treasure chest here (it's just a Shelter) and simply run as fast as you can around and up the ladder. There is a good chance that the Freelancer will be far away enough to run over to the other side when you climb the ladder, effectively avoiding that forced encounter. I'm sure there is a more precise method to this but this blunt approach seems to work around 30% of the time, which is plenty enough!
A/N: Thanks to CyberSarkany for reminding me of the Gold Suit
Fortunately for you, that's the end of your encounter-dodging for this section, and now you will face Masa & Mune, best of luck!
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Masa Mune 400 Exp 1000 Hp each
</div>
Very straightforward, just attack the one with the purple collar, on the left, you shouldn't need to heal, if you need Crono and Marle to die just have them attack the other one to be K.O'd by their counter attack so that only Robo absorbs this.
Now for the big boss..
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Masa & Mune (fused) 500 Exp 3500 Hp
</div>
Masa & Mune's initial attack pattern is
Attack (33 - 36 Damage) Attack (33 - 36 Damage) Wind (65 - 70 Damage) Store Tornado Energy (with slash counterattack) Tornado (165 Damage) Repeat
Crono should be able to survive all of his attacks in this stage, just have him heal himself and Robo with Tonics, and when he begins storing tornado energy, have Crono use his Slash to negate it and restart the attack pattern. This should help you conserve resources and so a good chunk of his HP before he changes his attack pattern..
Attack (70 - 76 Damage) Attack (70 - 76 Damage) Store Tornado Energy Tornado (165 Damage)
You don't get any warning when he changes his attack pattern, but is easily judges in the doubling in his attack power, now Crono can't survive for anything, so just let him die, Robo will take things alone from here. Use the following move pattern:
Tornado (Robo has 100 Hp left) Robo immediately Rocket punch Masa & Mune Attacks Robo uses Mid Tonic Masa & Mune attacks Again Robo uses Rocket punch Masa & Mune stores energy Robo uses Cure Beams to heal Repeat.
Use a Mid Ether when needed, adhering to this protocol strictly simply makes this a case of how many Mid Tonics can you save. Masa & Mune will eventually fall and Robo will absorb all 500 Exp.
Now do not heal any of your characters except Robo, which you'll want to heal to max and also make sure he has at least 6 MP so he can cast 2 laser spins. Use an Ether if needed.
Continue with the necessary storyline and eventually you'll need to go to 65M BC for your dreamstone. But wait! If you remember, you will lose your gate key here with no way to get back to the previous eras to purchase what you need. So first you must make sure your inventory is stocked up like so:
Crono, Marle & Robo in party 20 Revives 20 Mid Tonics
Sell your old equipment to make ends meet if you must (the Lode Bows are a good place to begin), just make sure you have these.
Now we must take a little detour, all the way forth to 2300 AD. This is one of the main updates for this FAQ and this is one of the few opportunities that the EXP mechanics allow for this following sequence. Head to the Sewers, you want to grab the Rage Band just before Sir Crawlie, but before that you must fight a forced encounter near the entrance to the sewers. Have Robo Marle and Crono in your party.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
2x Nereides 44 Exp
</div>
Robo can absorb this, this experience is virtually all written off later, don't worry about it at all as it will not affect the party levels.
Now avoid the forced encounters by refraining from touching the 'sound' triggers (cheese, the can & trash can and the save point) and grab the Rage Band just before Sir Crawlie. Go no further and come back. Time to go to 65000000 BC.
</div>
<div>
<div class="chapter">
<h3 id="12">
65000000 BC - Reptite Lair
</h3>
<div class="narrative">
You fall straight into a forced battle.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Reptite x5 360 Exp
</div>
Yep, Chrono and Marle bite the dust and Robo uses a single laser spin to finish this off, and now with albeit some help from Ayla, you face your next forced encounter.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Reptite x 4 288 Exp
</div>
Same drill as before.
After the following scenes including meeting Ayla & the party you should have your precious gate Key stolen, now for your party of Crono Marle and Ayla to begin the forest maze. None of the encounters here are inescapable, so make sure you sack this place for everything, there are plenty of resources here to find. Now make sure Ayla's health is full and Crono and Marle are at 1 Hp to make the following forced encounters easier. Save outside before entering the Reptite Lair.
After entering the Reptite Lair, before long you'll enter a room with a few Evilweevils which you can't escape from if you encounter them, wait a few seconds and each Evilweevil will dig a hole, you must use one of these holes to reach downstairs, each hole forces you into a different set of inescapable encounters.
You should see 5 Holes spaced like this after a few seconds.
###1######
##########
2#########
####4#####
#########5 ##3#######
There will be some randomness to the positioning, and if you should meet the wrong set of monsters, try again
Hole 1 gives you Evilweevil x2 - 162 Exp and Megasaur x1 (830 Hp) - 147 Exp
No treasure - 309 Exp total
Hole 2 gives you Evilweevil x2 - 162 Exp and Megasaur x1 (830 Hp) - 147 Exp
No treasure - 309 Exp total
Hole 3 gives you Fly Trap + Evilweevil - 167 Exp and Fly Trap + Evilweevil - 167 Exp
There is a Mid Ether & Mid Tonic in the chests, total of 334 Exp.
Hole 4 gives you Evilweevil x2 - 162 Exp and Megasaur x1 (830 Hp) - 147 Exp
No treasure - 309 Exp total
Hole 5 gives you Evilweevil x2 - 162 Exp and Fly Trap + Evilweevil x2 - 248 Exp
There is a Ruby Vest in the chest, total of 410 Exp.
Just take any of hole 1,2 or 4... The treasures are not worth the Exp for 3 & 5.
In the next room there are tonnes of Reptites and also 2 chests behind 2 repites, one with a Rock Helm and the other with a Full Ether (both behind a Reptite), it can be pretty tough getting these chests without triggering an encounter, so you may want to skip these if you're having trouble. The previous save point is not far behind so I'll leave that choice to you, but the Full Ether does sell for very handsome G.
Run from the next few encounters, save & use a shelter at the save point. Now equip Crono with the Rock Helm, Meso Mail and Silver Stud, equip Ayla with the Bandana and the worst armours you have, after this battle Ayla will leave (for quite a while) taking what you equipped on her with her.
As you enter the next room you'll face Nizbel. You will need to keep precise track of his Hp. I'd recommend a jot pad, a calculator and massive abuse of the pause button.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Nizbel 500 Exp 4200 Hp
</div>
Basically fight him how you would in a normal game, except Nizbel's electrocution attack will kill Crono and hurt Ayla. Have Crono use Lightning and have Ayla attack non-stop, have Crono heal Ayla so she has at least 200 Hp before Nizbel's electrocution attack (Tonics/Mid Tonics). You'll need to revive Crono every time the electrocute attack kills him and have Crono cast lightning ASAP. With the Rock Helm & Meso Mail Crono should easily survive the Earthquake, although the normal attack will kill Crono - revive him again if this happens
Now, hopefully you have been keeping careful track of his Hp (definitely abuse pause to give yourself time to keep track of Hp), use Crono's attack to bring Nizbel's atk down to a reasonably low level (>50 Hp is great), now have Crono killed off by electrocute and Ayla finish off with her normal attacks, which will deal negligible damage without reviving Crono. Time this well as it's easy to waste excessive resources with this.
Now that you are finished with this section, after the following scenes you must prepare for Magus's castle. You can grab the Taban Helm while you are at it, but make sure you have at least the following:
80 Mid Tonics 20 Revives 15 Heals
If you have G to spare, max out on Mid-Tonics 1st before buying more revives. Trust me you're going to need them. And if you can't make the ends meet, then sell your old equipment, starting with your old weapons.
</div>
<div>
<div class="chapter">
<h3 id="13">
600 AD - Magus's Castle
</h3>
<div class="narrative">
Pick Frog up and have him learn his magic and Marle and Frog learn the Ice Water dual tech from Spekkio. Heal your team too. Now go to Magus's Lair and save, the castle was probably tough in your LLG, it's no less down here =-(.
After the following storyline and stepping on the false save point, you'll find your first forced encounter.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Hench x4 + Vamp x2 488 Exp
</div>
You should know what to do, Crono & Marle dies & Frog lives. However make sure you take out a few enemies before letting them die because the 6 enemies will easily overwhelm a lone Frog.
First head down the left passage head past the monsters and talk to the group of 5 people.. Which will knock you into yet another inescapable encounter.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Decendant x5 60 Exp
</div>
Same drill as the last fight, and most the others too.
Do not speak to Slash just yet, you will most certainly want to save and heal outside first, because this fight with Slash is very tough. Best of luck!
Before talking to Slash equip yourself as follows:
Frog : Rock Helm, Meso Mail, SilverErng Marle: Rock Helm, Ruby Vest, Ribbon Crono: Berserker
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Slash 500 exp 5200 Hp
</div>
Open the battle by just attacking with everyone (Use Slurp cut with Frog), Slash does little damage to your characters (he will however take out Crono in one hit), when Crono and Marle dies do not bother reviving them. When Frog exhausts his MP use a Mid Ether, you should have a decent stock of these (I had 20) which should comfortably last you for the remainder of the game. Keep Frog reasonably buffed with Hp and this first part should be simple.
A Fire 2 spell signals the transition to his 'equipped phase', and spamming Slash (75 dmg to frog) at your party. again don't bother reviving Crono and Marle and attack and healing with Mid-Tonics as necessary. Frog shouldn't have a problem keeping up with Slash 1 on 1 whilst dealing respectable damage himself. After about 8 hits watch Slash carefully, he's about to transition into his 3rd, much more deadly phase. You can tell when he has just transitioned when his body movements become very erratic (jumpy). When he does this, immediately heal with Mid Tonics. This is where the fight's difficulty increases tenfold.
In Slash's 3rd phase Slash will use Leap Slash (120-135 Damage), 'Yes Indeed!' attack (100-110 Damage), Regular Attack (60-70 Damage) Slash (75 Damage)
On top of that, Slash's speed has almost doubled, and is likely to double- turn Frog on occasion. Fortunately his attacks follow a set specific and predictable pattern:
Leap Slash Leap Slash 'Yes Indeed!' Attack Slash Leap Slash Normal Attack Slash Normal Attack
There is a relatively long time delay between the 2 consecutive leap slashes, and the end of the pattern with the Normal->Slash->Normal is where the damage mounts up slowest. Remember this as these are your 2 best opportunities to attack.
So as before concentrate on keeping Frog healed with Mid-Tonics, and only Mid- Tonics as the damage racks up just far too quickly. Now after the Normal- >Slash->Normal combo ensure Frog is at full health. After the first Leap Slash, immediately Slurp Cut Slash, and Frog will be fast enough to get another turn in to heal before the next Leap Slash. Furthermore after the 3rd Leap Slash you should be able to safely get another Slurp Cut in.
You will need to stay on the ball in this fight right till the very end, Slash does have a fourth phase which begins when Slash is at critical health (~<800), which is exactly the same as the third except he counter attacks every attack with 'Yes Indeed!'. Damage will most certainly rack up too quickly to safely attempt attacking between the 2 Leap Slashes, so limit your attacks to just the Normal->Slash->Normal combo and you should be, just about, fine.
After you win you gain probably the most useful weapon in the game, the Slasher! A brilliant weapon that gives Crono a +2 speed bonus for zip, coupled with a Speed Belt and you have a ** Speed capable Character. Not bad, at all. The Slasher also has decent attack strength although it pales in comparison to the Frog & Ayla.
Now head down the right corridor and talk to the children around the chest, run from this encounter and you must collect the Barrier from the chest. Your success on this challenge depends on you not forgetting this item!
Carry on down the right corridor and before you talk to ‘Flea' set up your characters as follows:
Crono: Berserker Frog : Ruby Vest, Rock Helm, Speed belt Marle: Magic Scarf
And optimize the rest of the equipment on Marle first then Crono.
**********
‘Flea'
0 exp **********
Crono attacks & gets Mp Busted (don't worry about having Marle or Crono KO‘
d), now the real flea appears.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
<div>Flea 500 Exp 4100 Hp</div>
Flea is REALLY weak compared to the other bosses you have encounters.. he doesn't do over 60 damage so my advice is just Slurp Cut & Mid-Tonic away, use a heal when blinded/poisoned and a Mid Ether when out of MP. On Crono & Marle's part, Crono attacks till he dies & Marle Ice's till she dies. Frog faces off against Flea alone eventually.. And eventually he will fall, leaving Frog to collect the 500 exp (and a level).
</div>
Collect the Magic Tab that's dropped and head back out of the lair. Save and heal outside before progressing further. You also need to check your itinery, you most likely used about 40 Mid-Tonics about now, you need at least 50 for the next section, go back and purchase some more if you need to.
Run through and run from every encounter. Grab the Mist Robe and, critically the Dark Mail. The next room contains lots of monsters.. All avoidable but inescapable. The only ‘triggers' in this room are being hit by a Green Rollie, just use the ladders to avoid these head through onto the next room.
Now you enter a room.. Where Ozzie will drop you through the floor if you step wrong. Now dropping down the said holes does indeed drop is into a forced encounter, but this is a necessary evil, as the room we are dropped in has a critical second barrier that we will need in order to defeat Magus. According to mathematic however, this doesn't affect our final levels, do not worry. So without further ado:
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
<div>Decendant x6 72 exp</div>
Crono & Marle dies - Frog lives and absorbs the 72 exp.
</div>
Ransack this room, and try and find the save point at least once and save in this room (there's a Tab here too along with the barrier), you have a very very tough couple rooms ahead of you in terms of dodging and surviving encounters. When you are at the save point, do not heal anyone, and only heal Frog with Tonics, we need the other 2 to die quickly. The battle with the 'save points' is escapable, don't worry.
After you have done all that head up and around to Ozzie then up to the next room. In this room are loads of inescapable but avoidable encounters.. And will take several tries on a SNES. In fact, I recommend you fight the battles in your first few attempts and just try and get a feel for this room, enter and exit it and keep trying and trying, fighting and winning the battles, once you are comfortable enough dodging these in a single run, reset your game and try for real.
There are 2 triggers
Touching (or nearly touching) an Outlaw
Touching a Grey Rollie.
I will guide you through the Outlaws 1 at a time, for the Rollies just avoid them by 1. Going to the ‘corners' at the end of the stairs
Like this #
#
#
#
####1 #
#
#
#
This is a 2d diagram looking at the side, stand at 1 and you should be fine.
Now for the first Outlaw, this outlaw is moving towards you, so run towards him hugging (hold Up & Left buttons) the top wall, as soon as you reach the stairs release the left button and run up (effectively ‘
squeezing' between the Outlaw & Stairs)
A Rollie should be coming down the stairs so go into the upper left corner of this box you dodged the outlaw in and wait for the Rollie to pass before continuing up (the outlaw can follow you once you pass him horizontally, strangely enough).
Here's a diagram
F~~~~~~~~~
#########~
#######O#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ EEEEEE ########~~~~~~~~~~
##################
EEEEEE = Entrance 0 = Outlaw ~ = Route to take. F = Finish point (to wait for Rollie to pass).
The next Outlaw is the save as the first, hug the top edge but when you reach the end of the stairs release the right button and you squeeze past the outlaw similarly to how you did the first one. Do that you'll avoid the 2nd Outlaw.
The Third Outlaw is easier he's walking towards you like the first was but not we have ladders underneath the bit he walks across, although the Outlaw might seem to be following Crono, he is actually following the 3rd person in your party (Marle) as she's following Frog who's Following Crono in the standard ‘walking trio'.
Now we can abuse this, walk into the ladder with Crono then walk up off the ladder but stand just above it. The Outlaw will inch his way towards Crono (go back onto the ladder when a Rollie goes past). When the Outlaw is uncomfortable close have Crono walk to the right, so far as that Marle who' s at the back of the Trio will also walk off the ladder. Walk to the right just far enough so Marle is the only person on the ladder, now the Outlaw will walk onto the ladder and down it to follow Marle.. You can now safely by- pass the Outlaw.
############O##F##C#####
M O = Outlaw F = frog C = Crono M = Marle.
The 4th and final Outlaw is the easiest to bypass, just hold UP to climb the stairs and you'll walk right past him, you don't even have to run.
After that give yourself a pat on the back.
In the next room are 2 inescapable encounters. Do *not* take any risks in these fights, you definitely don't want to be repeating the previous room over and over.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Outlaw x2 Groupie x2 462 Exp
</div>
Have everyone attack the Groupies and kill them first, then let Crono &
Marle die. Use Mid Tonics if necessary.. If you conserve you run the risk of dying.. Have Frog finish the Outlaws alone & will grow to level 13.
The second set of monsters you can actually escape from, some good news at last!
For the next battle give Frog the Ruby Vest and Silver Stud.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Juggler x4 512 Exp
</div>
Crono & Marle uses Magic on the Jugglers, Frog uses Slurp Cut on the one's who's defence mode is MAGIC (from Crono & Marle's magic). Crono & Marle will eventually get KO'd, in which case have Frog to the Magicing &
Attacking. Frog will absorb all the exp. The Ruby Vest halves the damage you take form their Fire attack, making them much more manageable. Frog absorbs all 512 exp.
Head up & grab a second Speed Belt, head up & run from every encounter, now you face Ozzie.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Ozzie 0 Exp
</div>
Attack the chains as normal.. don't worry this battle gives no exp so no worries about Crono & Marle not being killed off.
Grab a 2nd Mist Robe & a 3rd Magicscarf in this room, SAVE and use a Shelter. Now you must face Magus, first however you must know a bit about him to defeat him.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Magus 1500 Exp 6666 Hp
</div>
Set Up your Characters:
Crono: Slasher, Meso Mail, Speed Belt Frog : Masamune, Rock Helm, Dark Mail, Speed Belt Marle: Mist Robe, Magic Scarf
Optimize the remaining helmets on Crono 1st then Marle
Frog does not need the SilverErng because it makes no difference, Dark Matter is survivable with Barrier & 230 Hp and the Speed Belt really is necessary to get moves off fast enough.
Magus is probably the most technically challenging boss in a LLG, by a country mile. He combines the need for accurate timing, abundant healing and some luck.
Magus's Attack Patterns: Magus actually only has 2 attack patterns..
First phase >4500 Hp Alternates between these 2 attacks Geyser / Hp Down, 35-40 damage & Hp Down Status Normal Attack, 65-70 Damage
And Magus will counter every magical attack or every 2nd physical attack with one of these spells, and also change his weakness to it.
Shadow (150-160 Damage to Frog) Lightning 2 (110-120 Damage to Frog) Ice 2 ( 90-95 Damage to Frog) Fire 2 (110-120 Damage to Frog)
Frog should, hopefully, survive any 2 attacks from full health, except an unlucky Shadow Counter & Normal attack combo. Just pray that doesn't happen. Now the only magical damage you're really going to be able to deal here is with Frog's Water spell which after 1 normal attack from Frog's Masamune to lower Magus's defence, will deal 240. You're going to need some luck here in order not to exhaust yourself of Mid Tonics, hopefully up have an ample supply at this point. But before I speak more about strategy in this phase, you should be aware of his last phase.
Second phase <4500 Hp Magus risks casting a spell (1-2 damage to all) Dark Matter (305 damage to Frog)
In case you haven't yet done the math, 305 Hp is more Frog has at maximum Hp, even with the SilverErng equipped. He's already maximally set up for magic defence. But, we have those 2 barriers! Ah yes 2 items that will grace Frog with the ability to nullify 1/3 of the magical damage he receives for all of 60 battle seconds. 2 minutes, that's all Frog's got to survive the necessary Dark Matters in order to finish off that remaining 4500 Hp.
So in order to get past this battle have with you a few things.
Pen & Paper Calculator Your fastest fingers Your battle speed set to 1
The last point is probably the most important one, as raising the battle speed will allow more turns to be performed in a certain amount of battle time, it also means you get a bigger window for the Barrier to last, you need one barrier to protect you from 3 Dark Matters at this battle speed, and you'll need to time the use of the barrier very precisely to make this happen on the faster speeds. But this also, of course makes the necessary micromanagement that much tougher too.
So for a start to finish battle strategy, allow Marle and Crono to die off, they're completely useless at the beginning, and attack Magus to trigger his barrier change, if he changes to Water, good job, attack Magus once to lower his defence with Frog and then cast water, if he changes to something else, you will need to attack him twice in order for his barrier to chance again. All the while with keeping track of his Hp, and of course keeping track of your own Hp, Frog isn't going to last very long without healing, you'll have to play very defensively keeping on top of healing with Mid Tonics. Don't bother using anything less, you'll only waste time for yourself later.
Now most importantly, once Magus is one Magic hit away from going to his next phase, after attacking Magus once, revive Crono and Marle. You need all the turns you can get while Magus is in his second, lethal phase. Have Crono and Marle heal Frog to his maximum Hp and Mp and remove his Hp Down status, also you need to have hit Magus, to lower his Magic defence, of course. You will probably need to revive your characters a few times to accomplish this but it's necessary, now is probably a good time to use that Lapis. Once you have Frog at Full HP with his status cured, and Crono and Marle alive, with all their turns available, you are all set.
Cast the dual tech Ice Water to hit him hard into his second phase, now you must act quickly. Have Crono attack Magus, Marle cast Ice and Frog use Slurp Cut repeatedly. Do not even bother trying to use his normal attack, time is too far against us. Before Magus's 1st Darkmatter have Crono use a barrier on Frog. Crono is your fastest character and his turns the most dispensable. Dark Matter will do barely over 200, healable with a single Mid Tonic. But Frog simply doesn't have time for this. Have Frog revive Crono with his first available turn, and relentlessly attack with Slurp Cut. Use Crono to heal Frog and then attack Magus too. These small attacks of Crono's may seem insignificant, but they make all that much difference. Repeat this process after every Dark Matter, reviving Crono and attacking with Frog. Crono will need to use a second Barrier on Frog after Magus has used three Dark Matters (It can actually sometimes last 4 Dark Matters), wait for the existing barrier to wear out before using the next, keep a close eye on Frog. Also Crono will need to heal Frog's MP with a Mid Ether
After Magus's fifth Dark Matter do not revive Crono, as you should have done enough damage to finish things with Frog alone, have him heal himself and assault, you should have enough time to get in the remaining damage.
If you are really, really struggling to make the damage count, you can give Frog some Power Tabs to help make ends meet.
*Thanks Moogleboss for suggesting and testing the idea
Once you win, congrats, you just beat one of the hardest bosses in this challenge, victory is sweet!
Frog will absorb an obscene quantity of exp and we will be propelled to 65000000 BC.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
65000000 BC - Tyrano Lair
</div>
Your levels as of now should be:
Crono: Level 1 Marle: Level 4 Lucca: Level 14 Frog : level 14 Robo : level 15 Ayla : Level 19
</div>
<div>
<div class="chapter">
<h3 id="14">
65000000 BC - Tyrano Lair
</h3>
<div class="narrative">
You awaken in 65000000 BC, proceed through the following scenes until you attain the Dactyl, now don't go to the Tyrano Lair just yet. First thing of course is to save but to head back to 600 AD, we need supplies.
You need:
50 Mid Tonics 20 Revives 5 Ethers and Mid Ethers
Head into Tyrano Lair, there are no unavoidable inescapable encounters here, however avoiding these, especially on a SNES will be a doozey, it's as tedious as the room in Magus' lair and as tricky as Denadoro Mountains! But fortunately this is the last of the encounter-
dodging we need to do.
When you're in the Tyrano lair take the right passage, run from everything and release Kino. Follow Kino up & around and into the left skull.
Step on both switches & head through the left passage, hug the top wall outside, the Reptites are easy to avoid (just don't touch them) and up into the next room. This room will consist of lots of teleporters. Hug the left wall & move up until you reach a one square long ‘bridge'. Cross it and then hug the wall to your right & go straight up. Don't bother collecting the egg on the top wall, hug the top wall to the stairs and go down.
This next balcony is very tough, huge the top wall tightly and you'll avoid the random encounters here, stop hutting the top wall when you reach the door that's sealed. There is a path approximately ‘one square' above the bottom wall which is about ‘one square thick' then you can take which allow you to evade the random encounters.
Diagram of the balcony:
*S** XXXX TTTT #PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP###############P##
#################P###############P## #################P###############P##
#################PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP## ####################################
#### #### #### #### #G## ####
S = Starting position on screen P= Path to take XXXX = Grated door TTTT =
Target door G = Running Point (read on..)
Inside the next room is no save point, press the right switch only and head up and flick the switch in there, head out and follow the path you took. Now if you are on an emulator, save state, if on a SNES, go outside Tyrano's Lair and Save.
Now go to point G, line yourself so that just under half of Crono is in line of the front of the pillar and half is in front of the opening. Now start with Crono facing the door, hold B and dash towards it, as you each the door Crono should ‘bump off' the corner of the pillar and enter the next room. This door is programmed to be a forced encounter by any normal means, but running at the door this way triggers the screen transition at exactly the same time as the battle (you will see your characters run back to enter battle stance as the screen fades out). This will probably take several attempts, but it is definitely entirely possible without killing yourself over it, I have run at the door form the same save state at the same time in the same way and gotten different results, so there is a large degree of luck involved in this. May you only have the best of it! I have even completed this section on the iPhone version of Crono Trigger, where movement is substantially more laborious and less responsive, so I'm sure it's possible for anyone to achieve even on a SNES!
Now save in this room and prepare yourself for...
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Nizbel II 880 Exp 6500 Hp
</div>
To those of you who defeated Nizbel II with the original guide, please forgive me. What used to be one of the toughest, and by a country mile, the most annoying is all but trivialized by the Rage Band. The strategy is simple, just have the following checklist prepared:
Ayla: Fist, Rock Helm, Mist Robe, Rage Band, full 40 MP Crono: Slasher, Speed Belt Battle Speed: Fastest
All you must do is have Chrono cast 2 Lightings on Nizbel, which will bring his defence to its minimum, cast no more than that as that will trigger Nizbel's painful lightning counter. You should have ample time to do this at the start as you have 2 other party members to distract fire from Crono, reset if you fail first time.
After that it simply becomes a waiting game, have Ayla heal herself constantly with Kisses, and she will randomly counterattack 50% of the attacks coming her way for 225 damage, 440 if a critical hit. Have Marle and Crono do nothing but the 2 aforementioned lightings, they will die off quickly enough, and remain dead.
Now, because you are damaging via counter attacks instead of directly, Nizbel's (ANNOYING) defence boosting counter doesn't come into effect, and thus so long as you never directly attack him, it will remain at its lowest throughout the fight!
~25 Counterattacks later and the former pain in the ass will fall, good job!
Don't forget to save, this next section is very, very tricky to navigate without triggering any forced encounters. Now continue on through to the next room, which is the balcony depicted in the diagram below, make sure you are walking, and not running through this section.
Hug the bottom ledge until you are exactly halfway between the entry and central door (you can use the 5 bricks as a marker too, and go up on the third one) before going up and hugging the top ledge until you reach the middle of the big balcony. You can safely move to the bottom of the ledge without triggering anything Now on the next part hug the BOTTOM edge of the balcony until you're in line with the right half of the right pillar door, then you can safely go upwards & inside the room.
Again, as depicted with Magus's lair and balcony before Nizbel II, if on a SNES it is definitely a good idea to just practice this section a few times, fighting the battles and gaining the levels, just to feel exactly where the trigger spots are if you keep tripping them, then reset and try the balcony for real, the previous save point is very close in comparison to the previous section.
*S** XXXX TTTT #p#### ###### ###p##
#p#### ###### ###p##
#p#### ###### ###p##
#p########pppppppppp################p##
#p########p########p################p##
#p########p########p################p##
#pppppppppp########pppppppppppppppppp##
##### ###### #####
##### ####CC #####
P = Path to take XXXX = Grated Door TTTT = Target Door *S* = Start CC = Crono's start position
Once you enter the room step on the top-most switch, before you save make sure your party is fully healed and you have them equipped like so:
Crono: Slasher, Speed Belt Ayla: Ruby Vest, Speed Belt Marle: Silver Stud
And prioritize your remaining armours to Ayla 1st, Marle 2nd & Crono 3rd, now you can trip the left switch and save, we have 1 more tricky encounter to dodge now.
Retrace your steps to the Middle Door (previously grated), all but one of the tiles in a line towards the doorway trigger a forced encounter with a gigasaur, there is a *very* narrow path on the right hand side that avoids this and will let you through to the next room without any unnecessary exp. Align Crono so the left half of his body is in line with the right pillar, and the right half is in line with, of course, the wall. Walk through and you should avoid the encounter. This will likely require some trial and error and several resets, but the window is most definitely there.
Now you must fight Azala, if you required a large number of attempts to avoid those forced encounters, you definitely do not want to be taking too many risks in this right, but it's generally quite straightforward.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Azala & Black Tyrano 1800 Exp Azala - 2500 Hp Black Tyrano - 10500 Hp
</div>
Azala's Moves:
Rock Teleport: Almost kills, or barely kills Marle Sleep: Can cure with Kiss/Heal Telekenesis: ~70 Damage
Tyrano's Moves:
Single Target Flame: ~20 Damage to Ayla, 50 to Marle Countdown: Hp Down Status Chew: Absorbs 200 Hp from Ayla, 50 from Marle Charged Flame Attack: ~160 to Ayla, kills Marle
Don't be intimidated in the least by their moveset however, as they make their moves are generally very slow.
For the first half of the fight you want to concentrate on Azala, have Crono use Lightning on Azala (and he will die shortly) Ayla heals Marle &
Herself with Kisses/Mid Tonics and Marle concentrates on using Ice on Azala for 85 damage a hit. Use a Mid Ether on Marle when necessary.
Just make sure you always have Ayla's turn available to heal and you should be perfectly fine, you should only need to revive Marle 4-5 times if you are careful. When Tyrano's Countdown is over make sure Ayla has full health and she'll survive no problem (Tyrano's attack does 150 damage), revive Marle after and continue. The only thing to worry about is having Ayla put to sleep immediately after Tyrano's countdown, but this should not be a problem if you heal with reasonable liberality. Don't take any more risks then you have to, you don't want to keep repeating that forced encounter dodge earlier.
When Azala falls he'll use Break, Hp Down. Now you face Black Tyrano, and all of 10500 Hp, but do not worry, Tyrano is so slow with its actions that Ayla is always fast enough to get at least 1 turn in before Tyrano follows up a previous move. Use a Mid Tonic immediately after each Charged Flame and Bite attack and Ayla is in absolutely no damage of dying, just hack your way through each and every one of those 10500 Hp's with Ayla's attacks and he will fall, leaving Ayla with 1800 juicy Exp.
Ayla will absorb all 1800 Exp, after the following scenes you'll arrive in 12000 BC.
Congratulations! You have achieved your party's final levels!
Crono: Level 1 Next Level 14 Exp.
Marle: Level 4 Next Level 4 Exp.
Lucca: Level 15 Next Level 1450 Exp.
Frog : Level 15 Next Level 100 Exp.
Robo : Level 16 Next Level 290 Exp.
Ayla : Level 20 Next Level 581 Exp.
However this is not -quite- the end of your encounter-dodging antics, and also we have yet to collect Magus
</div>
<div>
<div class="chapter">
<h3 id="15">
12000 BC - The Wallet
</h3>
<div class="narrative">
Head through the gate and you'll reach 12000 BC. Go through this place till you reach Zeal Palace (don't do the Fire, Water & Wind books just yet.. We'
ll come back to these shortly enough). Tell the lady in the Castle with the plant for her to plant it, not burn it. This opens a very important side-
quest to us later on. Scratch the Nu's back on the bridge now head back to Kajar, enter the top-right room & scratch the Nu in there' s back for a Magic tab. More importantly however you can search the right- side of the bottom wall in the very same room for a Speed tab!
Now head back to Zeal palace and charge your pendant after a few scenes. Great! This now grants you access to tonnes of really useful items including the Wallet! However two Nu's block your path so you must head into the room above and experience the scenes there.
Sadly it's impossible to absorb the 1000 exp this next fight yields without level gain. It is optional however and losing will still continue the game. But that's not to stop you beating him up for fun no less!
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Golem 7000 Hp
</div>
Crono: Slasher, Speed Belt Marle: Speed Belt Ayla : Ceratopper, Mist Robe, Beserker
This has got to be one of the most ironic switches of tactics I have ever made, as the most well-accepted strategies for defeating the Golems avoid allowing the Golems to Copy Physics, due to its powerful physical attack that will wipe out any character in a single hit. But, it's exactly that, Golem can only attack a single character at a time in this form, and he alternates between this and Iron orb, which deals 50% of a target's current health. With this in hand, the strategy to defeat the Golem becomes ridiculously simple!
1. Have your Berserked Ayla your sole source of damage 2. Only use Crono and Marle's turns to use a revive fallen characters from Golem's physical attacks 3. If Ayla is killed/hit with Iron Orb, ensure you use a Mid-Tonic on her to make sure she survives Golem's final attack (which does 150 damage to Ayla)
That's really all there is to it, Crono and Marle can easily move fast enough to revive and heal faster than the Physical Attack strikes, it simply becomes a case of waiting for Ayla to automatically hack through Golem's 7000 Hp.
Sadly, we simply cannot afford to absorb this exp the fight, so you must replay and lose this fight on purpose when you do win.
Afterwards you will be booted back to 65000000 BC, and now with access to a plethora of awesome equipments courtesy of the Pendant! Ransack the Chrono Trigger world for what it's worth, the relevant treasures available are listed below:
2300 AD:
Arris Dome -
Hit Ring Gold Erng (!) Lumin Robe Elixir Power Tab
Banjor Dome -
Charm top Full Ether Wallet (!!)
Give the Wallet to Crono for now.
Trann Dome -
Magic Tab Full Ether Gold Stud (!)
1000 AD:
Guardia & Truce - Red, Blue, Black and White Mails Heckran's Cave - Dash Ring
Medina Village - By default you would choose the Safe Helm, and all the strategies discusses later are built with this in hand. But if you are trying a minimum-tabs run you will need the Swallow, for the Speed Bonus vs Lavos. You *should* be able to work the existing strategies by swapping the safe helm for the next best thing, and then using a shield except the Lavos Spawns. Expect an update in the next version covering those with the Swallow, as I have yet to play-test them.
600 AD:
Guardia & Truce - Red, Blue, Black and White Vests Guardia Forest - Speed Tab
The coloured mails & vests are along with the Wallet the most critically important items to gather, to get the coloured mails you need to touch each of the chests in 600 AD at Guardia Castle, Truce Inn and Mayor's Manor and decline to remove the items inside. Then you may open the same chests in 1000AD for the powered up Items before getting the originals in 600AD. Here now you have 2 copies of element absorbing armour for each element, and these alone improve our survivability tenfold for our upcoming battles!
There are other items besides the ones mentioned here, but these are the only relevant ones to the challenge at hand.
Now we are finally free to learn techs to our hearts' content! For now we only need Ayla's Charm ability, form a party of Crono, Robo and Ayla, there are 2 good places to gain the needed tech points. One is in the mountains in 65000000BC where the gate is, the Runners and Kilwalas there give 8 and 4 TP respectively per fight. Also there is the Nu in the hunting grounds, which gives 30 TP a pop. The first option I believe is a little faster, but the second option gets you all the tradables conveniently, which will be our source of money for equipment later.
A recommended equipment setup for Nu slaying would be something like:
Crono: Wallet Ayla: Berserker Robo: Dash Ring
Only train as far as getting Ayla charm, there are faster tech sources of tech points available later.
And you can upgrade your weapons for Crono and Robo quickly by trading said items.
Now if you opted to plant the seed in 12000 AD , we have the option of completing the Sunken Desert quest early! It's a very tough challenge at this stage and without the weapon upgrades, but definitely possible and infinitely rewarding! If you forgot to plant the seed, or just do not want to do this early then do not worry, we will come back to this later.
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<div>
<div class="chapter">
<h3 id="16">
600AD - Sunken Desert
</h3>
<div class="narrative">
You will need:
30 Mid Tonics 10 Revives 3-4 Lapis 1-2 Mid Ethers
This is a critical side quest to completing the challenge as it yields the much-needed Green Dream (more on that later). Form a party of Crono, Frog and Ayla, and equip them like so:
Completing quest before returning to 12000 AD:
Crono: Aeon Blade, Elemental Mail, Wallet Frog: Masamune, Elemental Mail, Dash Ring Ayla: Safe Helm, Elemental Mail, Gold Erng
Completing quest after attaining Crono:
Crono: Vedic Blade, Rainbow Helm, Ruby Armor, Wallet Frog: Bravesword, Safe Helm, Ruby Armor, Dash Ring Ayla: Rainbow Helm, Ruby Armor, Gold Erng
Proceed through as normal and heal your characters before Retinite.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Retinite Top - 5000 Hp Core - 1000 Hp Bottom - 4000 Hp
</div>
This is another one of those bosses where strategy guides make me wince with their suggestions, contraire to anything you may have read before DO NOT KILL THE CORE! If you do then perhaps the message it gives you will indicate your mistake:
"Runs away without the core"
If the core dies, Retinite basically goes insane and splashes attack after attack at you which is extremely difficult to manage with even with all the equipments from all the side quests, furthermore you'll need to use water each and every time you attack. Do. Not. Kill. The. Core!
Now if you leave the core alive, Retinite isn't so bad, the fact it's actually 2 bosses means the attacks it does so happen very rapidly, for this reason designate Crono's primary role as a healer, using Lapis' Mid Tonics and Mid Ethers when needed, and designate Frog the secondary healer. Crono will die a few times in this fight, and sometimes Frog too, revive them at the earliest opportunity.
Now, the core has 1000 Hp, and the top and bottom absorb for just over 200 a go, so 5 absorptions and the core is dead, and so are you. The core actually absorbs lightning, so you can effectively 'heal' the core for 700 Hp a go with Volt Bite, and if you are desperate, with Spire. Whenever the core is absorbed 3 times, make it your priority to heal it, because if it dies then you may as well reset.
Okay start by Charming a Speed Tab from the Core, have Frog use Water on the Bottom to soften it. Now go all out on the Bottom with, if you are completing this quest early, Ayla's Cat Attack and Frog's Slurp Cut. If you are completing this quest after gaining Crono then you have better options at your disposal, Triple Kick and Leap Slash, (and their Dual Tech, Drop Kick)
Once you chew down those 4000 Hp the fight becomes very easy, repeat the previous process for the top and it will not last very long at all.
Now head over to Fiona, drop off Robo, collect him in 1000 AD, go through the following scenes, and you'll come out the other side with our precious Green Dream!
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<div class="chapter">
<h3 id="17">
12000 BC - Mt Woe
</h3>
<div class="narrative">
Take your party into the Terra Cave, buy 30 Mid Tonics and 10 Revives and save downstairs. Now, we need to purchase a new weapon for Lucca at the shop here too, we will need it for Rubble-slaying later.
Now equip your party members :
Crono: Slasher & Wallet Robo : Gold Erng Ayla : Safe Helm, Dash Ring
I gave them my best helms & some element absorbing armour (they're still the best defensive armours available so far..)
When you head through downstairs you'll face 2 beasts, have Ayla Charm a Rainbow Helm form each of them while Crono uses Spincut, Frog Leap Slash then finally Ayla Rock Throwing (very effective). Don't be surprised if you die.. These beasts are tough in a LLG. Also in the bottom right corner in this room is a Power Tab.
Give the 2 Rainbow Helms to Frog & Crono these give very decent defence and a very fancy but yet nearly useless 50% Lightning resistance.
Now heal up with tonics (use an Ether on each character too) and head through to face 2 more beasts, Charm them if you wish but kill them either way.
Now heal everyone with Tonics, use Mid ethers on Ayla & Frog & an Ether on Crono, the next fight is pretty tough. Prepare your characters like so.
Crono: Slasher, Rbow Helm, Element Mail, Wallet Frog : Masamune, Rbow Helm, Element Mail, Dash ring Ayla : Safe Helm, Element Mail, Gold Erng
When you try to head further you'll face a boss fight.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Mud Imp Red Beast - 5000 Hp Blue Beast - 5000 Hp
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The Blue Imp holds a Mermaid Cap, and the Mud Imp hold a Speed Tab, both of which you REALLY want. Begin by Charming both off the 2 Beasts and having Crono and Frog heal. If Crono falls don't revive.
Now have Frog be the healer using Mid Tonics and Ayla just attack with Beast Tosses on the Red Beast. If Frog Falls asleep have Ayla heal Frog with a Kiss, if the other way round have Frog heal Ayla with Mid Tonics, if both asleep you may be pretty much screwed. Repeat the process and eventually the Red Beast will fall, repeat the process on the Blue Beast (who will now counterattack every move against him) then just wait out the Imp, who will run eventually. Use a Mid Ether is necessary.
Do NOT be surprised if you get killed in this fight. In total I used 17 Mid Tonics and 2 Mid Ethers on this fight.
Proceed up & through the mountain, when you see a rubble set up your characters as follows.
Crono: Wallet Frog : Berserker Ayla : Hit Ring
Button bash A and hope you make the kill. Rubbles earn a Massive 100 tech points and a decent 1000 G, later there is one Rubble that respawns.. This Rubble will be used to teach all your characters all your techs so you must pay attention.
On this mountain are several monsters which you can charm a LOT of useful items from, when you're not fighting rubbles equip Ayla with the Gold Stud, use Frog to heal in between fights or Marle/Robo is Frog runs out of MP (switch Ayla for Robo/Marle, heal, reswitch, heal) and use Mid Ethers on Ayla when she's out of MP. Keeping the Berserker on Frog is not a bad idea as the monsters here give decent Tech Points, Crono should hang onto the Wallet.
Here's the Charm List for the Mountain.
Buntan Imp's : Alloy Blade (Crono) Gargoyle : Big Hand (Robo) Stone Imp - Mid Ether Man Eater - Pearl Edge (Frog)
The respawning Rubble is on the second screen on the mountain, go past the Save Point and it's on your right on a ‘Mini Island' linked by a chain (which you can walk over). Now is your chance to really grind some tech points. The rubbles here give 100 Tech Points a go, although it's a fair distance to the previous screen in order to make it respawn. The evasion stat on the rubble is insane and even Ayla, who has lethal accuracy against every boss in the game struggles. For Rubble training you want to keep Ayla in your party at all times and either Robo, Frog or Lucca with your party, equip them as follows:
Crono: Wallet Spare Character: Hit Ring Ayla: Berserker
Crono's Accuracy is abysmal even with the hit ring, you want to begin training with Robo 1st, Frog 2nd and Lucca last (we purchased her weapon from the shop specifically for this task)
Now you don't actually have to teach your characters every single one of the techs they will need *now*, because they'll be earning plenty of Tech Points available in subsequent fights. Marle doesn't need any techs until the very end of the game, and there's a very convenient source for all her Tech Points at the black omen, so tech her nothing for now.
Here's the checklist of techs you need to learn here and now:
Crono - Confuse Marle - Nothing Robo - Uzzi Punch Frog - Leap Slash Lucca - Fire 2 Ayla - Dino Tail
It's pretty tedious, and soul-destroying process, you really do not want to spend any more time doing this then you have to, progressing through the story will net a decent number of TP, and push Robo and Ayla to their finals.
Eventually you will want the following Techs:
Crono - Confuse Marle - Life 2 Lucca - Fire 2 Frog - Water 2 Robo - Shock Ayla - Triple Kick
Head the rest of the way through the mountain with all your lovely techs learnt, charming the enemies here, don't hesitate to get more than one of each item because they sell for excellent G.
Just before you reach Giga Gaia you'll get a Time hat then you'll reach a chain bridge which will take you to Giga Gaia, on the bottom right of this screen is a Magic Tab, be sure to grab it and save.
Now you face probably the easiest boss ever, Giga Gaia.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Giga Gaia 10000 Hp
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All you need to do is set up your characters like so... Crono: Black Mail & Wallet Robo : Red Vest & Hit Ring Ayla : Red Mail & Gold Stud
With both hands Giga Gaia only does 2 attacks 2 Handed Attack : Double Fire Blaster 2 Handed Attack : Double Shadow Blaster
Both of these attacks do about the same damage but Giga Always uses them in the following sequence:
Shadow Fire Fire Repeat
He uses the fire one 2x as much as his Shadow.. Hence with your brilliant Fire- Absorbing gear you got earlier this battle is a piece of cake. Robo has some natural resistance to Shadow hence he gets away with using a Red Vest.
When the battle starts have Ayla Charm the main body for a Speed tab, have Robo Uzzi punch the main body until out of MP, have Crono start with a Spincut, then soon after wiped out by the Fire Blaster (don't revive him of course), have Ayla Triple Kick till out of MP, then just have Robo & Ayla attack until the Main Body dies (don't attack the arms).
This is one of the most annoyingly overlooked tactical exploits for one of the most troublesome bosses players have found, who needs Falcon Hit or Luminaire when you have the elemental mails!
After this easy battle Mt Woe will fall - hopefully you've got all the items and Tech Points you needed before then.
Now head up the Skyway to Enhasa, open the 3 Books here in correct order (Water - Wind - Fire), this will open a separate room where there are 6 Nu's which will yield 2 Tabs if you can win. Falcon Hit and Dino Tail are good techs to use here, but try to focus on 1 Nu as a time otherwise, and designate Crono as the healer here. Don't be surprised if you lose, keep at it!
Eventually you reach Zeal Castle, return to the chamber you faced Golem in, you'll face Dalton.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Dalton 4000 Hp
</div>
Let's put our hard earned techs to use! In particular, learn to love Beast Toss, it combines the damage from Robo's Uzzi Punch and Ayla's Rock Throw with a healthy multiplier bonus. The result is, as you can see, quite spectacular, 3 of them and Dalton is dead.
Now let me list the advantages of using Dual Techs
1. 100% accuracy, ignoring enemies evade on enemies they work on 2. Enemies that counterattack will only counter once, and usually against the character issuing the command 3. Damage Bonus 4. Elemental addition to physical attacks
The first advantage is what really makes Dalton cake here, as his high evasion is all for nawt. Dalton only attacks and counterattacks with Iron Orb, the only thing that can kill you is his death-counter, but then just make sure you have one character with above 200 Hp before the third and final beast toss and they will survive just fine
Now you proceed to Ocean Palace
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<div>
<div class="chapter">
<h3 id="18">
12000 BC Ocean Palace
</h3>
<div class="narrative">
The Elemental Mails again will be your best friend here. I suggest giving making a Party of Ayla, Frog & Crono. Give each of them a different Elemental Mail except Black Mail, give Crono the Wallet, Ayla the Gold Stud & Frog the Hit Ring. In here are several elemental ‘
Scouts' who's spells can be painful or not.
Here's the Charm List of the area.
Yellow Scouts - Lapis Red Scouts - Barrier Blue Scouts - Shield Mage - Barrier Barghest - Shield
We'll actually be needing a good number of barriers and shields for the rest of the game, and this is the best opportunity to charm them. You will need 20 Barriers and 20 Shields. If you are intending on taking on Ocean Palaces Lavos (in a New Game +) you need a total of 50 Shields, you can split that load between 3 run-throughs however, but it's a job that does need doing.
I don't suggest fighting to the finish on any of the scouts, I do suggest you keep switching your Elemental Mail's with respect to the scouts. Use Leap Slash & Rock throw as attacking techniques, with Mid Ethers for MP.
Collect every Chest, you should obtain the hidden Demon Hit which is not only now Frog's strongest weapon but gives him a huge 2x damage for magic enemies, keep this on Frog for now. You should also pick up a few very decent weapons for your other characters.
Now you will head down some stairs, run from every fight you see here. Eventually you'll meet Masa who will show you the cut-scene with Schala, head down the stairs after this. Now save & use a shelter, then set up your characters as follows..
Crono: Star Sword, MermaidCap, White Mail, Wallet Frog : Demon Hit, R'bow Helm, Blue Mail, Hit Ring Ayla : R'bow Helm, Red Mail, Gold Stud.
Now you'll reach the elevator.. Where you'll fight 3 consecutive & very tough fights.
First you'll Face 2 Blue scouts, 2 Yellow Scouts & a Mage. Which.. you can run from.
As you starts descending the elevator you'll face
3 Thrashers & Jinn/Barghest combo: Use a Rock Throw on each Thrasher to one-hit-kill & avoid the powerful counter, have Frog normally attack the Jinn/Barghest combo, heal everybody with Mid Tonics & Mid Ethers is necessary just before finishing this.
2 Thrashers, 2 Mages & a Yellow Scout: Quickly take out both Mages by using one Rock throw or Leap Slash on each, then take out the Thrashers using Ayla's Rock Throws while Frog normally attacks the Yellow Scout, Heal with Mid Tonics just before finishing off.
2 Red Scouts, 2 Yellow, 2 Blue: These scouts are lethal. Take out 2 Scouts of the same type. Use the Drop Kick Duel Tech (Frog & Ayla) to take each of them out in one hit, now you can reduce the pace and take out the other 4 normally. The reason why these need to be removed quickly is because with 3 Scouts of the same element alive they can use the Triple Tech Delta Attack. Which will lay waste to your feebly levelled party.
After this fight heal up with Mid Tonics & Give Mid Ethers to both Ayla & Frog. Now I do suggest giving the Black Mail & Vests to Frog & Ayla (I also Suggest giving Frog the Mermaid cap & Ayla a Rainbow Helm). Now you will need to flick 2 switches, each initiating a battle with a set of 3 different scouts which also can use Delta Attack, the Black Mail should save you from dying in one round, you can escape from these.
After the second fight swap Frog out for Lucca & set them up accordingly.
Crono: Wallet Lucca: Red Vest & Silver Stud Ayla : Safe Helm, Red Mail & Gold Stud
Soon you will face Golem Twins, which is another trivial battle.
<br /><br /><div class="battle">
Golem x2 7000 Hp each
</div>
Immediately open out this fight with Fire 2, this will make both Golems telecopy Fire magic. This means the only 2 attacks they can hit you with are Fire & Fire 2..and because of your fire absorbing gear these attacks won't hurt you one bit.
Now if you are having trouble getting in that first Fire 2, try shuffling Ayla's and Lucca's positions in the party list, which hopefully will stop Lucca being targeted at the start.