Okay, my computers and Internet connection keep breaking down in unexpected ways. They seem to be okay for now, so I'm going to post this here while I can, in case I suddenly go AWOL again. This is a revised version of the end of the plot outline; I came up with it during my offline times. I know this project has gone virtually dead, but even if the "game" is dead, I still have faith in the "plot"... It seems futile, but I don't know... maybe later, eventually, this could be turned into a fanfic; be released as is; be resurrected when we have more motivation and a more stable TF; or be converted into an RPGMaker game? Anyway, the outline:
It's the same as the current outline up until Chapter 20 (the Frozen Flame nightmares). Dalton becomes a sidequest again; I couldn't fit him in the main story.
Chapter 21The party returns to Chronopolis and finds everyone dead except Atropos and FATE. Atropos explains that King Zeal just appeared, went on a rampage and kidnapped Belthasar and Melchior. The party, wondering what King Zeal is up to, assumes that he will probably look for Gaspar as well. The full party (7 characters) travel to the End of Time.
At the End of Time, Spekkio appears and asks for a battle, just to entertain himself. He also requires Crono's presence (this is a convenience for the plot in the next scene). After the battle, Spekkio states that King Zeal didn't come here, and that Gaspar traveled to the far past a while ago anyway. The party (3 characters including Crono) uses the Gate left by Gaspar: it leads to the
Dreamtime--basically an indefinite era in the far past, when biological life didn't exist yet but weird spiritual phenomena were present in the forms of "Entity emanations" occasionally bursting here and there on the barren surface.
The party makes its way across the barren land fighting curious spirit creatures (perhaps reminiscent of the Terra Tower ghosts). However, they remark that their magic Techs have somehow all disappeared! Nevertheless, they reach Gaspar near a small crack, observing some of these strange emanations bursting. Suddenly, King Zeal appears from nowhere and attacks Gaspar. Crono rushes and saves Gaspar, but is hit by one of the emanation and faints. King Zeal explains that physical life forms can't release their full power here due to the era's strange properties (perhaps Gaspar explains it's a sort of sanctuary or something), so King Zeal resorts to teleport without Gaspar to 11998 B.C., where he took Belthasar and Melchior. The party explains the whole situation to Gaspar, who then reveals that it was most probably Belthasar who revived King Zeal, as he already wanted to do that way back before the events of the Ocean Palace in CT.
Chapter 22 - Let us Part in Zealous RegretThe party returns to the End of Time (they regain their magic Techs too) and the inactive characters tend to the unconscious Crono while the active party and Gaspar go to 11998 B.C. At Sargon's house, King Zeal leaves the Sun Stone and instructions to Sargon and other people for the re-creation of the kingdom of Zeal. He explains he will then leave do "something else" (the Time Devourer is calling him to the DBT). King Zeal intended to gather the 3 Gurus here so they could watch the scene and be amazed by his glory (or something)--before dying by his hand. The villagers seem happy about King Zeal's plan and don't care much about the Gurus, and even the few dubious persons are comforted by the fact that King Zeal will leave, i.e. they'll have all the good stuff (Sun Stone, etc.) and not the worse ones (no king, no dictatorship). King Zeal even tries to convince Belthasar, knowing that Belthasar still partly yearns for the kingdom of Zeal (the reason he built the Epoch in CT was explicitely to return to his era, according to the Japanese version). But Gaspar lambasts him like in the previous plot outline, etc.
To get rid of the party, King Zeal summons the CrimseSun, a pumped up version of the Sun Stone "Son of Sun", before leaving to North Cape. After defeating the creature, the party hurries to North Cape since it's more urging. King Zeal says some stuff (but doesn't explicitely mention the Devourer of Time yet), before being flung straight upward into a huge distortion leading to the Darkness Beyond Time. The distortion remains as a vertical and gigantic black rift in spacetime hovering above North Cape. A weird composite tower seems to occupy its surface: this is the Spire of Telos (name borrowed from the first plot draft). This location will serve as both the "ancient flying fortress" of the game (like the Black Omen and Terra Tower in the previous games) and the final dungeon that we came up with in the previous plot outline (this will be the place with the discarded scraps of timelines, while the actual DBT, at the end of the dungeon, will be a totally empty and smaller place like it is in CC).
But anyway... the party can't access it yet due to a gravitational barrier (plus they need the Epoch to fly there), so they head back to Sargon's place where the Gurus remained to talk with the villagers. Glenn does his speech like in the previous plot outline. Some people agree with him, some don't. Sargon tries to activate the Sun Stone but, curiously, fails. A voice is then heard saying he (the voice) sealed the Sun Stone's power. To the party's (and player's) surprise, the person appears to be Crono! He comes in with the inactive characters and speaks, saying something to further Glenn's previous speech (but let's keep it short please...). The full party and the Gurus then return to Chronopolis, leaving the people with a useless Sun Stone (it's a Moon Stone then! curious thematical reference to CC).
Chapter 23 - Dreaming Across TimeBack in Chronopolis, Gaspar explains that Crono was apparently infused with a small part (or copy) of the Entity's consciousness when he touched the emanation in the Dreamtime. As a result, he is still himself but not totally; he shows traits of the Entity without being
the Entity (thus why his textboxes are visible, and how he managed to seal the Sun Stone). Gaspar comments that this is probably not permanent, but he is unsure of all the effects this will leave on Crono's mind and body. Basically, this plot point is a small gift to people who wanted Crono to speak in this game; as well as a device to explain why he can't prevent the Fall of Guardia caused by time-traveling King Zeal (he'll be exhausted).
Anyway, Crono and Gaspar comment that something huge is probably happening in the DBT, but that they should still take the time to repair things in the timeline to gain more power--i.e. this is the sidequest chapter.
Chapter 23 - Where Dreams go to DieHaving finished sidequests (or not), the party enters the Spire of Telos with an Epoch powered up by Belthasar. Throughout the place, emanations explain Lavos's history and the "Arbiter of Time"'s role. The discarded scraps of timeline visited include:
- the bad 602 A.D. with the 3 Vanguard leaders;
- the Reptite world with the 3 Xamoltans and the Vision Serpent;
- the future of the Reptite world, with the discarded Lucca and Robo from Chapter 8;
- the ruined 2300 A.D. of CT with Johnny and the discarded Mother Brain;
- a glimpse of the new Zeal kingdom that was prevented in Chapter 22, with Sargon and Mystics living a happy life.
The final area is a strange place composed of reddish, spiky rocks. At the end of the path, the party falls into an empty area (the DBT as seen in CC), from which they look back and realize that the spiky place they were walking on was Lavos/the Time Devourer itself (he's gigantic, much bigger than in CC). King Zeal is in front of the TD's "face", and reveals its wish of destroying the universe and his impending merging with it. The party notes that they can feel the presence of previous Arbiters within the TD, including Schala (who's visible on the shell) in addition to... Cedric the Executor! Anyway, King Zeal comments that he (Zeal) is strongwilled enough to resist the merging for a short amount of time, just the amount he needs to kill the party by his own hand. He is defeated in a climactic final battle, after which the Frozen Flame explodes and the Devourer of Time begins to shatter and crumble. The party escapes the DBT, except Magus, who stays with Schala even though she's stuck on the TD's shell.
Cutscenes depict Ayla, Glenn, Lucca and Robo returning to their eras, and Marle tending to an exhausted Crono (whose textboxes are not seen anymore) in Guardia Castle. Everybody thinks it's over. However, a cutscene then shows Belthasar in an empty, bleak Chronopolis, pondering alone in the night. The Frozen Flame suddenly materializes in front of him in a perfectly reversed way of how it exploded in the DBT (to imply that it was just a teleportation, that it faked its death). The voice of the Flame explains that the Devourer of Time was damaged, but still exists. It then challenges Belthasar to a grand "game" between the TD and him to decide of the fate of the entire universe itself (CC!). Belthasar slowly approaches the Flame as the screen fades to black...
THE END.
After the credits, a final cutscene between Magus and King Zeal occurs like in the previous plot outline.
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Thoughts, comments, etc. are welcome, but yeah, it's sad that it's a dead project...
