Are the gates relative?

[Deezer509]

I began reading the Principles of Time Travel article and my brain started to bleed, so I stopped.  I have a quick question about the relativity of gates, though I'm not entirely sure how to word it.  Do the gates go to a set point in time?  Do the gates have a certain "length" in terms of time?  None of the above?

The gate at the Millenial Fair connects 1000 AD and 600 AD.  So does the gate just bring you 400 years forward or backward?  This might make sense.  Marle goes back in time and is discovered by soldiers in the mountains, let's say it's August 8th at 12:00.  Crono goes back in time, and it is clearly not August 8th at 12:00.  Marle has had enough time to get back to the castle, and everyone in town is aware.  So in this situation, it would seem that the gate doesn't bring you to a specific point in time.

However, on the way back, you always arrive on the last day of the Millenial Fair.  Is this point in time fixed?  If the temporal destination of gate if fixed, it would mean that the gates are a one-way trip.  Otherwise, they would only exist for an instant, and you would only be able to access them for that instant.  If they were one-way, you could possibly enter a gate at any time and always end up in the same spot.

This can't be true in most cases, as far as I know, as I already said.  Time theory makes my head spin, and it takes quite a lot of mental RAM for me to even comprehend it.  What do people think about the gates?  Fixed?  Relative?  Does the entity control the properties of the gates every time they're entered?  Is it just a gameplay issue that should be overlooked?

[Thought]

Well, this is getting into what we call "Time Error." Think of it this way: in the real world there are 3 physical dimensions (length, width, depth) and 1 temporal dimension (time) but in the Chronoverse there are 2 temporal dimensions (time and Time Error).

Time orders normal events. Something that happened in 600AD occured before 1000AD because that event comes first on the timeline.

Time Error orders not-normal events. Crono appearing in 600AD occurred after Crono disappeared in 1000AD because that event comes after the other on the Time Error Timeline. Essentially, Time Error in the player's perspective.

So a gate will always open up onto a specific point in time, plus Time Error. That is, the gate in Leene square, on December 30th, 8am, 1000AD, always opens to Truce Canyon, on August 12th, 10:30pm, 600AD (I am making the dates and times up for illustrative purposes). However, that is the specific point in time that the gates open to; to get the actual destination, we have to factor in Time Error.

Let us say, for the sake of illustration, that Time Error is 3 days exactly. Thus, from Leene Square, one would step out into Truce Canyon on August 15th, 10:30pm, 600AD. From Truce canyon, one would step out into Leene Square on January 2nd, 1001AD.

A human is normally only effected by normal time, but as soon as a human time travels, then Time Error gets applied to them. Thus, the 400 years between 600AD and 1000AD have a Time Error value of 0, but Crono's travels to 600AD and back have a Time Error value of somewhere around a day or so (we aren't given the specifics). So for the time that passes for him in 600AD still is passing for him in 1000AD as well (or effectively so).

Presumably, as long as the gates last long enough, if Crono spent 1 year in 600AD (well, 601AD by the time he's done) before he returns, he will return a year later in 1000AD (well, 1001AD by the time he actually steps out of the game).

[Deezer509]

Hm.  It all makes sense now.  Haha, you make it sound so simple.  I appreciate it.

[warmgun]

I always thought of gates being defined by one, and only one, property:  the difference in time it sends you to.  One may be -400 years or +1 million years.  So I think you're right in saying they're all relative.  This is why I think time has to flow at the End of Time, because the gates there still record your time spent talking to Gasper, fighting Spekkio, etc.


As for the whole business with the Millenial Fair, I'd say the Square staff were too lazy to program new dialog for the people

[rushingwind]

Ah...Time Error has always given me a headache.  But if I may, I'd like to take this opportunity to ask a question.

I understand the basic premise of the passage of time due to Time Error, but how would this affect the experiences of multiple groups of time travelers?  For example, if someone from 1050AD were to find the same gate in Lenne's Square in 1050AD, and since the gate still points to that absolute moment in time plus Time Error, wouldn't it still lead him to Truce Canyon, on August 12th, 10:30pm, 600AD? (Especially if he had never time traveled before, and thus never had Time Error apply to him previously?)  Wouldn't he possibly run into Crono? 

To me, its seems that if Crono were to hop into this gate in 1050AD, he'd end up in 650AD because of Time Error.  But the new time traveler, having never time traveled before and never having Time Error apply previously, would end up in 600AD.  Right?

Perhaps I'm simply missing the point, I don't know.  Sorry if I sound like an idiot.

[Thought]

That is actually a good question. Time Error doesn't really take that into account.

[rushingwind]

It's the one thing that's always given me a headache about when considering Time Error.  I tend to believe that if the gate ends up at a specific date, place, and time, if a new time traveler (without any time error previously applied) hopped in they would end up in 600AD, and could potentially run into "older" time travelers who've been time hopping for a while.

But I don't know.  I could be wrong.

[Eske]

Ah...Time Error has always given me a headache.  But if I may, I'd like to take this opportunity to ask a question.

I understand the basic premise of the passage of time due to Time Error, but how would this affect the experiences of multiple groups of time travelers?  For example, if someone from 1050AD were to find the same gate in Lenne's Square in 1050AD, and since the gate still points to that absolute moment in time plus Time Error, wouldn't it still lead him to Truce Canyon, on August 12th, 10:30pm, 600AD? (Especially if he had never time traveled before, and thus never had Time Error apply to him previously?)  Wouldn't he possibly run into Crono? 

To me, its seems that if Crono were to hop into this gate in 1050AD, he'd end up in 650AD because of Time Error.  But the new time traveler, having never time traveled before and never having Time Error apply previously, would end up in 600AD.  Right?

Perhaps I'm simply missing the point, I don't know.  Sorry if I sound like an idiot.

From what I've seen, the gates represent traveling a static duration in time directly related where you are on the timeline as opposed to a static point in time. 
So if the gate in Leene Square takes you back 400 years, then it will always do so. 1000AD Dec 30 8am goes back to 600AD Dec 30 8am (as an example).  Then you, the time traveler stay in 600AD and smoke a cigarette for 5 minutes then go back.  Its now 1000AD Dec 30 8:05am.    The old timeline where you weren't smoking that cig in 600AD is now in the DBT and in the new 1000AD your epic smoke break is a part of recorded history (even if no one knows about it). But to you (because of TTI), you won't recall your history book mentioning it.

Time Error isn't really needed to explain this.  But Time Error handles the "why didn't Crono see the bright future in 2300AD?" issue really well.