Hey all,
I'm sure there are countless threads on this, but I'm interested in hearing how others envision the next hypothetical Chrono game. Feel free to consider it as a new game on current gen platforms, or a ROM hack a la Crimson Echoes.
I've come up with two concepts, one of which should be familiar to some of you.
1.) Nu and Kilwala's Great Adventure
The first would be a more light-hearted sidequel to Chrono Trigger a la Rosencrantz and Guildersten Are Dead, which follows a group of time travelers hopping around time at the same time as Crono and company (and are thus the 'visitors' mentioned at the End of Time).
The idea was that the nu and kilwala from the OVA have their own adventure, constantly one step in front of, behind, or alongside the Chrono Trigger crew, often accidentally helping them and pushing the plot along.
Mauron, Kodokami, and I had discussed this to some degree a few years back, and even put some sprites together as a potential ROM-hack. The option wasn't to continue the Chrono series, but rather create a fairly low-level ROM-hack where new maps and resource creation would be a minimal lift. Most maps, enemy placements, and all that could simply be reused with no edits outside of event changes.
2. Chrono Phase
My second idea was an untitled sequel/interquel in that it follows events in the ideal timeline AFTER Chrono Cross' ending, but impacts the Chrono Trigger crew greatly and highlights their struggles with counter-time. I wanted it to be a "best of" kind of game, that takes some from Chrono Trigger, some from Chrono Cross, and adds in some new.
I also intended this to be a natural evolution in the time travel theme of the Chrono series. Chrono Trigger revolved around changing a single timeline. Chrono Cross revolved around two parallel universes, and this game revolved around revisiting previously erased timelines and adding another layer of time travel on already existing time travel.
The story starts in a new time era, but quickly revisits old eras and old friends. It also deals heavily with the unrealized plot points of Counter-Time and the Assassin of Time (from Chrono Cross). While exploring multiple mysterious attempts to make adjustments to the timeline, the party is forced to deal with other time travelers and the threat of Lavos' enmity.
Counter-time is explained as the ability to revisit timelines previously erased and discarded to the Darkness Beyond Time, allowing for story events in both previous Chrono Trigger timelines and Chrono Cross. Through this the party is confronted by the moral quandaries that time travel presents. They also are able to fall back to some of the Chrono Cross friends by revisiting the Chrono Cross timeline(s).
Events explore the following eras: post-65 million BC, 3 million BC, post-12000BC, post-600AD, post-1000AD, 1200AD, and post-2300AD. I say post to indicate that is is X amount of years after the events of Chrono Trigger. There are multiple events that also cover discarded timelines, but those are focalized events without worldmaps.
Playable characters included newcomer and protagonist Phase, Toma XXXIX, newcomer Ada from 2400AD (an agent of Balthasar and human avatar of FATE AI), Marle, Crono, Robo, and Schala. There were also two characters from Radical Dreamers/Chrono Cross.
A better understanding of the story is...
The idea is that Project Kid was successful in that it saved Schala from the Time Devourer, and the ideal timeline is created. After being freed, Schala travels to 2300AD and stops Balthasar and Project Kid, altering history (as it no longer serves a purpose -- her existence as the Time Devourer in the Darkness Beyond Time was outside of space-time). She warns Balthasar about the Assassin of Time and explains to him that the only way to save the universe from this metaphysical threat is to stop Project Kid, stopping El Nido from ever being created. She is then overcome with despair at having erased those millions of lives, and locks herself into a self-created pocket dimension in which she gives herself the a false perfect life, one that she can live in a dream El Nido with a dream Serge.
Thus, in this timeline, the events of Chrono Cross did occur, but were entirely undone... but Schala was still saved since the Darkness Beyond Time is beyond space-time and can't be affected by time travel; whatever happens there, happens. Still following?
The story actually follows a newcomer, Phase, a young archaeologist in 1200AD studying Guardia long after its fall. While exploring the ruins of Guardia Castle with a descendant of Toma, they find Marle's pendant (who is finally confirmed to be Doreen) and get caught up with Robo and Balthasar in this (yet another) version of 2300AD of the ideal timeline. Balthesar, having been stopped from creating Project Kid, has now established the Time Research Institute to help monitor space-time and keep it safe from farther incursions. Even in this new timeline, Lucca and Robo have joined Balthesar, and they've successfully tapped and enslaved the Frozen Flame to assist them. They monitor space-time "ripples" (changes in history) using their newest invention, the Chronoscope.
Throughout the story, there are sinister warnings against this Assassin of Time, and eventually the party is forced to retrieve Schala from her self-imposed exile in a false reality to understand what they're up against. She refuses to leave, preferring a false reality of her own making, but she explains in a turn of events what the Assassin of Time actually is.
She reveals that Lavos was a unique entity from beyond space and time, foregoing any sort of Lavos origin story in favor of it being a Cthulthu-esque monster from beyond imagination. It existed in a pocket dimension, manipulating and consuming both the planet and it's life in order to harvest and integrate genetic material to make itself stronger (as hinted at in Chrono Trigger). However, it was able to exist in a pocket dimension and thus see its own demise, and it set a plan in motion to save itself: it used the remains of Crono obliterated in the Ocean Palace disaster and instilled it with its own consciousnesses, creating a false human being. The plan was that this human (who wouldn't know that it was, in essence, Lavos-turned-human) - would live a human life, understand the strength/willpower of humanity, and then be reabsorbed by Lavos, giving itself the human experiences and thus those human strengths/values/willpower that can't be quantified by simple genetics. The only way this could work was if the Lavos-turned-human didn't realize what s/he was.
The imagery was a direct correlation to Jesus, in that Jesus was supposedly god-made-man. Phase, the hero, would in turn be Lavos-turned-human with religious allegory.
Phase, the protagonist, is this being, and ultimately rejects the call of Lavos and his eventually destiny as the Assassin of Time. He is devastated to learn that he is destined to become a part of Lavos and falls to despair, knowing that he will, in turn, help Lavos succeed.
Schala (who is also suffering from the knowledge that she was part of the Time Devourer and destroyed multiple timelines and millions of erased lives) and Phase bond and come to terms with their destines. Schala joins the party and they steel themselves for the future and take on the big bad. Another person, who I won't name, steps up to willfully become the Assassin of
Time and becomes the big bad for the last 1/4 of the game.
An individual does travel back to 3 million BC, revealing that all of the timeline incursions thus far were intentional. Phase is able to reject his calling to Lavos, so this individual decides to turn coat and become one with Lavos, becoming a flawed Assassin of Time. The heroes end up defeating this individual and everyone goes home.
The game ends with a coda showcasing Balthesar using the Chronoscope to realize that all this time travel is having negative effects on the structure of space-time, and he resolves to use his resources to present further changes to the timeline, for good or for bad.
Obviously there's too much to go into for one post, but that's the gist of it. I had some other ideas I was trying to incorporate:
1.) This idea that Serge really was another version of the Assassin of Time. His whole existence and contact with the Frozen Flame was actually fulfilling his prophecy as the Assassin of Time. Had Schala not erased El Nido (and Serge) from history, he would have eventually succumbed to his fate. She attempts to change the timeline multiple times to prevent this (since she is in love with Serge), but gives up, says eff it, and scraps the entire timeline in which El Nido exists. This is what causes her to fall into depression and isolate herself into a false reality.
2.) This idea that the Porre Republic (founded by Dalton and responsible for the Fall of Guardia) was propped up by Dalton, who was essentially immortal due to his contact with the Frozen Flame at the Ocean Palace Disaster event. The events in 1200AD ultimately take up a fairly large chunk of the story; it is like the 600AD of Chrono Trigger in regards to plot development and twists.
3.) The fall of Guardia is explored, with Crono and Marle (who are from post-1000AD, pre-1005AD) learn of this event and struggled with whether or not they should prevent it. We also learn how Dalton is able to manage this -- he holds an artifact from Zeal, the Forge. Whereas Gaspar has the Time Egg, Belthesar has the Epoch, Melchior had the Forge, which was lost when Zeal fell to the ocean. The Forge has quasi-life granting qualities and is intentionally left vague in description, although it allows for the manipulation and creation of life. Masa, Mune, and Doreen both fear and worship it, and Dalton is revealed to have used the Forge to corrupt the Masamune and overthrow Guardia. The question is, do Crono and Marle actually do anything when they learn of this?
3.) A later incomplete rewrite added a potential foil for Balthesar, his son Rouen, who exists in the new ideal timeline. He was an anti-hero character, akin to Magus, who had originally been used by a future version of our 2300AD Balthesar. His original role was to clean up various timeline incursions from post-Chrono Cross Schala and her attempts to manipulate history so that the Assassin of Time is never created. Rouen, meanwhile, has full control over counter-time and can travel to and fro multiple timelines at will, and his nefarious deeds are revealed to be his attempts to avoid a time loop paradox due to Balthasar's timeline tamperings. It's only at this point that we realize Balthasar hasn't actually had a son yet, and we learn that Rouen is from decades into the future. My attempt here was to better utilize the concept of counter-time.
