Don't worry, progress is still being made
I just played the Samuel mini-game. It works really well! Players will be surprised
So, here is the patch for the updated main ending.
* I put the ripping apart of the other dimensions in the Dreamtime rather than the DBT after all, because it would be too convoluted to have Crono and Marle access the DBT so easily when Magus has to resort to framing King Zeal and study magic. So, now, King Zeal tries a spell on Gaspar in the Dreamtime (in Chapter 19), and the destructive energy is diverted to other dimensions due to the special environment. In the expanded ending, which I haven't coded yet, Crono and Marle will go to the Dreamtime rather than the DBT. It makes sense that the DBT is really absolutely shut, and they reunite with Gaspar in the Dreamtime anyway so everything works smoothly.
* I replaced the Lavos Spawn sprite with a dark layer-3 Lavos for the Dream Devourer, to be more in line with CTDS (apparently his evolution into the Time Devourer involves him shrinking into a more agile being, in addition to bleaching Schala).
* Apart from Magus, the party members now don't know about the Dream Devourer's survival. King Zeal still calls Magus an idiot and the others amateurs to mock their inability to understand Schala's situation. Magus commands Crono to open the Gate but it's impossible and Agent 12 dismisses his vision of Schala as a figment from a discarded timeline. Belthasar still plans to find a way to bring Schala back somehow, so he leaves open the possibility of recontacting the heroes, even though he's not certain he'll find a solution. The characters appear more optimistic than him.
* In 1005, the meeting is now Porrean soldiers in the throneroom with Marle and the Chancellor. The soldiers declare the end of the monarchy due to Marle's inability to rule efficiently. In the mountain vista, Lucca (instead of a guard) mentions Vera of Regiorra and Choras.
* Belthasar opens a
working file Project Kid but is about to give up because there's hardly any solution possible if Schala was really erased from existence. The Frozen Flame materializes in front of him, much to his surprise, and he is challenged to play a grand game of "chess" with everyone (and I mean it, everyone in the universe) as their pawns. I tried to convey the idea that Belthasar is not possessed by the Frozen Flame but still overwhelmed by it, just like FATE is in CC (FATE became evil only after absorbing the human emotions of Lynx/Dark Serge, according to Ultimania).
* I left the "strong winds" sound out in the Magus/King Zeal scene, because it's too loud and it sounds buggy if I just lower it with a sound volume command.
Feedback is welcome. I tried my best to make the changed dialogues sound good, but it would be great if Zeality could revise or correct them, or even rewrite them if needed, before the release. Obviously this is totally unimportant compared to real life stuff, so we'll just see how things go.
I'll work on the expanded ending now (expanded Guardia mountain vista scene + Gaspar/Crono/Marle reunion scene).
