Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes

Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes was the largest ROM hack for Chrono Trigger ever created. Development began in 2005, with serious event coding transpiring in 2007 and 2008. The plot followed the original cast of Chrono Trigger, featuring other familiar faces and new innovations. Produced with Temporal Flux, the project employed the talent of countless Compendiumites and advancements in ROM hacking capabilities. Crimson Echoes was also the official Chrono Compendium fan project, meaning all resources were engaged toward its completion. Beta testing occurred in February through April 2009. Weeks before its release, the project received a cease & desist order in May 2009. This page serves as an archive of related material.

Art[edit]

Kajar Laboratories encouraged fans to submit their own art and banners for use in promoting the game.

Ramsus made the above, used on the teaser site. Click here to download an SVG of the Death Peak background.

A cave scene drawing by Ramsus.

A Lucca drawing by Ramsus.

An sketch of Glenn facing goblins near a river.

A drawing of King Zeal by Chrono'99.

A very early doodle of King Zeal by ZeaLitY.

A tribute to Cedric Guardia from tushantin.

A King Zeal vs. Crono wallpaper from tushantin.

Kasmir, by tushantin.

Chickenlump, who mapped the beautiful Singing Mountain with Agent 12, made this retouched scene in tribute.

Team Icons

ZeaLitY proposed the team behind Crimson Echoes be called "Peach Mountain Shoguns" (in addition to Kajar Laboratories) as a nod to Mystical Ninja: Starring Goemon, an incredibly surreal game in the Ganbare Goemon series with flashy villains who used the same name. The three shoguns would include ZeaLitY, Agent 12, and Chrono'99, who were the leaders and directors of the project. Ramsus made some art for use on Youtube and the CE website.

Someone also contributed the Japanese mon below:

To give you an idea of the logo we were stealing, here's a screenshot from the game:

Check out a video showing the creation of the logo up there: click here.

Banners

Chrono'99 made the above banner, with image and Frozen Flame removed after the cease & desist in symbolism.

The above are by mav.

By OverlordMikey.

Logos

The above are by Chrono'99.

Also by Chrono'99.

Wallpapers

Chrono'99 did the above (one's 1440x900, and the other is 1024x768).

Also by Chrono'99.

This is the original version of Chrono'99's work up there, created for Christmas Break 2006.

This is by Zephira.

The above are by animelover12345.

By mav.

Beta Material[edit]

The team kept track of a lot of beta material over the four-year development of Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes. This page showcases beta images and sprites with commentary, with anything predating FaustWolf's video run deemed "beta" content.

This is a screenshot of ZeaLitY's development folder intended for his interview feature. You can see CE.xls, the spreadsheet he wrote the script in, and several copies of the ROM and savestates for debugging.

Filler Text

As Agent 12 coded the game, he left filler text in places for later scripting. Some of the text is unexpectedly hilarious:

ZeaLitY: I couldn't help but burst out laughing when I came across this guy. I loved it so much that I kept his reaction in the final dialogue.

Technical Notes

Technical notes were sometimes left in the dialogue by accident, or by the coders having some fun.

Debug Room

The beginning of the game loads a debug room with NPCs representing each chapter. Talk to an NPC, and you can go to that chapter; NPCs on the end of the rows allow you to go to a second and third debug room for further chapters or special scenes.

Locations

Mapping to satisfaction can be lengthy work; maps were at different points of completion throughout the project's development.

Above is a screenshot of Zeal at night before the starry background was added.

Work-in-progress version of Chickenlump's edits to Singing Mountain.

Blank tiles in some tilesets would sometimes be edited to create new tiles. If these blank tiles were used elsewhere, problems could arise, like this junk that appears in the place of transparent tiles after a tile edit.

An early version of Dalton's Zeal dungeon.

The above is the first finished edit by Chickenlump to the Chronopolis map.

The above is the first version of the Beast's Nest first and final area by ZeaLitY.

And this is the first middle section draft.

The above is a test location using the Blackbird tileset for residential purposes.

This is the first version of Sargon's house.

This was a manual attempt at recreating Singing Mountain's final area from the Chrono Trigger Prerelease.

The team palette-swapped Chronopolis to see if it could more closely resemble its appearance in Chrono Cross.

This was a test at making a house with the fair tileset.

The original 11,995 B.C. tileset.

This is an alternate palette for the Lucca and Robo Reptite timeline chapter's robot dome.

Work was being done on creating a Dinopolis sprite and location for the overworld.

Agent 12 made this for a scrapped sidequest as an homage to classic Zelda dungeons.

Agent 12's Dinopolis designs.

The Crono, Magus, and Glenn Reptite chapter was at one time planned to have an overworld. This was a very rough design.

Rough versions of the Marle Reptite overworld and 2305 A.D. overworld respectively.

Before & After[edit]

Agent 12 made a few before & after comparisons of locations for the planned Crimson Echoes beta feature.

Dorino Fields — "Wow.....I dont remember if I planned on this being the final product, but that's just gross. I think when I was making it, I was going to have a HUGE battle going on so i needed tons of empty space...then i realized you can really only have so many sprites on the screen before things fall apart. Of course, Chrono'99 proved me wrong with his 1 AD battlefield (a few years later, heh)."

Mystic Tunnels — "What can I say....I hate....hate......hate......hate the cave tileset....whoever cleaned this up must have ridiculous patience!"

Chronopolis — "Again, this isn't the first, first Chronopolis; the first Chronopolis i made was not nearly this good looking. However, check out all the missing stuff. No Mother Brain, no Melchior room, no inn.....you also can't see from this pic but there's also no save point and no entrance room either. Oh, I should have taken a pic of before/after elevators...99 (I assume it was him) did some smart stuff with the conveyer belts."

Dinopolis — "What can I say....Probably 99's best maps. Amazing....the Chrono Cross reference of six Elements on the floor, and somehow making a habitable looking place out of that tileset (look at the "table" and "chairs" in this)....just amazing."

1 A.D. — "*Laughs*"

Prehistory — "I like how from this picture you can see that we really listened to the fans by making the path to Singing Mountain more obvious. I'm sure people still won't be able to find it, but hey, we tried. Also, no lava is definitely better. Oh yeah; the Reptite Lair just sorta dissapeared, eh?

Reptite Contest — "Again....amazing work with the tilesets by Chrono'99 here. Why in the world did I think it'd be a good idea to use those trees? It would cause me a ton of grief when I eventually got sane and switched to prehistoric foliage."

Reptite Future — "Oh hey guys, I have a genius idea; let's put Chronopolis OW AND the future Reptite OW on one map. *sigh* That's why the future Reptite OW is so squished on the left."

Huacan Factory — "While Chrono'99 didn't change MUCH with this, the details really make a difference (as you can see). Plus..man, just changing the palette makes it a million times better right there."

Other Things

Above, an accidental animation omission results in Ayla seeming to fly out of the room cross-legged.

This is an explanation of using the Epoch naming screen in a riddle.

Unused Sprites

Many sprites done by Chrono'99 and Darkken were planned for use in the game. Some of these were programmed in the 98% beta and are presented here for your enjoyment.

Cedric Guardia the Executor's ark for the Frozen Flame, modeled after the Ark of the Covenant from Indiana JOnes.

A new Hench design.

A Neo'N'Bulb intended for use in the Porre laboratory (In Chrono Cross, Luccia crafts them in her laboratory at Viper Manor).

A make-over for Ozzie to approximate his appearance in Chrono Cross.

A Reptite child.

The Chrono Break was at one time planned to be part of the plot, corrupting an entire era with its power.

This was William Ishito's (Norris's brother) early planned sprite.

]

And this is his later sprite.

Queen Zeal was at one time planned to be port of the plot (the idea was scrapped early on).

This was an alternate Vanguard soldier design.

This is a hexapod robot intended to guard the Vanguard missile base in Chapter 12.

This is Dalton without an eye-patch, intended for use in 12,001 B.C. The ROM hack Prophet's Guile featured a complete set of sprites for Dalton this way.

This is a Porre flag, which would have been hung in certain Porre locations and Guardia Castle after the fall.

Porre PVTs and Porre SGTs were planned for inclusion to match Chrono Cross.

Flying cars were going to appear in the sky of 2305 A.D. for atmospheric effect.

Unused design for Terra Tower in the Reptite timeline.

Sorin, the Porre cyborg's sprites.

Another Xamoltan design.

More Xamoltan designs.

The Lion Tank was originally the broken Dragon Tank, recovered from Guardia by Porre.

These are prototype Glenn face icons. The first is by Chrono'99; the second is by Vargose.

Other Porre designs.

This was a small dome covered with greenery for Reptite timeline use.

Alternate coloration of King Zeal's final form shell.

These work-in-progress portraits by Darkken showcase beta Robo and Ayla faces.

CE Memorial[edit]

FaustWolf spearheaded a Youtube Let's Play (featuring all new music; see music section below) that you can find here.

The Youtube series originally had annotations, which Youtube deactivated sitewide as a feature in the years after. Trig rescued them as .srt files; grab the archive here.

Comic[edit]

A Japanese fan made the following comic.

Feedback[edit]

News of the project and cease & desist order spread across several websites. IF ONE OF THESE LINKS IS BROKEN, LET US KNOW AND WE'LL REPLACE IT WITH A WAYBACK MACHINE LINK!

Newspapers

The Guardian

Online Portals

Aggregators

Digg (dead link, not archived)
Reddit

Gaming News

Japanese Sites

Forums and Other Sites

Petitions

Save Crimson Echoes

Graphics[edit]

Character Portraits

Sprites

The Dragon Tooth artifact, instrumental in King Zeal's creation of the Reptite timeline, and used in Chronopolis's reactor after recovery.

The Frozen Flame, and a "crimson echo" in its own right.

Kasmir, leader of the Mystics in the timeline without the Masamune.

THE MAN himself, King Zeal!

King Zeal's final forms. The middle image is his idle stance, and the opened Lavos eye represents spell-casting.

Ayla's child, Noah.

The Epoch II, converted to a single-seater "Neo Epoch" in Chrono Cross. Chrono'99 did an awesome job with this one; the designs completely match.

Lebniz, the boss of Singing Mountain.

The Dragon God, boss of the Lucca and Robo chapter.

95%-complete human Glenn sprite-sheet.

Interviews[edit]

The team began preparing interviews for the release, but they were left unfinished after the cease & desist order.

Project Chronology

The rocky development history of Crimson Echoes is presented here down to the exact day of certain events.

2004-11-24 - Geiger releases Temporal Flux, and ZeaLitY conceives Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes in a discussion with Chickenlump.
2004-12-27 - ZeaLitY creates the Crimson Echoes thread to draft the plot; it will be moved to a private forum in a few months.
2005 - Plot discussion continues without much real progress in coding the game.
2005-05-05 - Agent 12 joins the team to code the Chrono Trigger Coliseum.
2005-09-01 - ZeaLitY hands off the reins of the project to focus on the Chrono Compendium encyclopedia.
2005-09-15 - The first demo is released, featuring 1002 A.D. with new dialogue and not much else.
2005-10-25 - Agent 12 releases the Chrono Trigger Coliseum as a separate patch.
2005 Q4 - Development halts due to laziness and paranoia surrounding random corruption of the ROM; the second, lengthy plot draft is finished.
2006-04-07 - Development resumes and item names are finalized.
2006-05-19 - The second demo is released, showcasing the first four chapters.
2006-10-05 - Chrono'99 begins working on the fourth draft of the plot, which will be tweaked several times.
2006 Q4 - Chrono'99 and Agent 12 withdraw from active development due to real life obligations; ZeaLitY suspends development due to random corruption issues.
2007-01-04 - ZeaLitY proposes Chrono Trigger: Prophet's Guile as a way to warm up the development team and release a proof-of-concept ROM hack.
2007 Q1-Q2 - Progress on Crimson Echoes and Prophet's Guile stalls.
2007-05-14 - Agent 12 returns to work on the game.
2007-07-07 - Agent 12 departs to prepare for the new semester.
2007-10-14 - Chrono'99 returns and polishes events up to chapter seven before leaving due to real life obligations.
2008-01-07 - Agent 12 returns and begins coding in earnest.
2008-01-28 - Chrono Trigger: Prophet's Guile is released.
2008-04-27 - Agent 12 finishes coding the game's event skeleton, and ZeaLitY resumes writing dialogue.
2008-11-25 - Chrono Trigger DS is released, requiring a few changes to the plot that end up splendidly enhancing the game.
2008-11-27 - Chrono'99 returns to polish a few chapters.
2009-02-06 - ZeaLitY finishes mainline dialogue, records plot fixes by creating plot draft 4B, and begins a playthrough.
2009-02-14 - Beta testing begins as the game continues final development.

Agent 12 Interview[edit]

See Agent 12 Radio Interview.

2006 Interviews[edit]

FROM THE PAST: Chrono'99's Feelings on the Project, 2006-10-16

How do you feel about Crimson Echoes so far?

It's very promising. Plot and gameplay concepts are getting more and more polished as the project moves forward. I believe one of the best thing about this project is that's it's truly the work of a whole community. We can all participate, and I don't think anyone could decently claim a particular part of the project to be his and his alone. As a consequence, the results can only be serious and solid, since we don't have the risk of ending with something "biased" by a unique and too dominant point of view. Actually, Crimson Echoes might be a little like Wikipedia... but with no vandalism.

What do you hope to accomplish or see completed in the future?

I think we're getting to the point where most of our ideas have successfully concretized in the game coding: all the objectives are feasible. Personally, I will continue being the project's official "janitor", cleaning up stuff everywhere I can. There's just one thing that we can't do: replace Ayla with Schala, because of the Tech animations... We have come to accept this fact though, as the plot is written with her as an NPC.

FROM THE PAST: Vehek's Feelings on the Project, 2006-10-21

It's amazing! It shows off a lot of rom hacking tricks and capabilites. It's one of the few true total rom hacks of Chrono Trigger.

I remember seeing the original Crimson Echoes thread, back when it was first starting and was at only two forum pages. So much of the in-between storyline was changed since then, mostly because those parts were considered impossible to hack in. But even what they considered impossible, playable Glenn, is (at this time) becoming possible with information on sprite assembly.

I'm hoping to see many things accomplished in the future. Fully understood tech animations and tech mechanics hacking, more information on enemy AI, and others.

FROM THE PAST: ZeaLitY's Feelings on the Project, 2006-10-14

I'm anxiously hopeful for Crimson Echoes now. Having been there since the beginning, I've seen the countless let-downs and mistakes we've made over two years of development. Most of it would not have happened had we taken a more realistic approach to ROM hacking and a harder stance on development dedication. But that's all for the history file. At the moment, I'm bubbling with excitement. I'm about to commit serious hours to the project to basically finish the entire infrastructure. Afterwards, Agent 12 or Chrono'99 can waltz in and code things over the new locations with ease. Of course, I'll have to come in and do the dialogue, but that's really the fun part. Two years of development means we've refined and shaped a solid plot and serious character development. I hope we'll be taking the heroes on a ride that won't disappoint fans. At the very least, the multitude of ROM hacking innovations completed so far are sure to blow people away. The day this is released will mark the beginning of an exciting era in Chrono Series fandom.

I hope to get several maps done and write decent dialogue. Interestingly, doing Magus is easy; I've given much thought to his style and can write him without much difficulty. The other characters pose a challenge. I'm having fun with Glenn, but giving Marle and Lucca different personalities is hard容specially considering their behavior in the Japanese version. Ted Woolsey made them both a little more extravagant and exclamatory in speech, and it helped set them apart from the generic heroine persona. As for Ayla and Robo, those are fun輸yla always has strong-will and a fresh approach to life, while Robo keeps cool with analytical, insightful observations on what's going on. As for King Zeal, he's just a blast. There's going to be some exciting dialogue between Magus and him; I can't wait to get cracking. It'll take some work, but the payoff will be huge.

ZeaLitY Release Interview[edit]

Hey, this is ZeaLitY. I had the bulk of writing and some directorial duties for Crimson Echoes; I also created the project and, as you'll find out, tried to kill it in 2007 since things were looking grim. I'm going to share some of my memories of the project (with brutal candor and intensity, of course), as well as some of my favorite parts of the game and its development. Let's get it started!

1. So, how'd all this get started?

The night of Temporal Flux's release in late 2004, I discussed the idea of a fan game ROM hack with Chickenlump, one of the first prolific Chrono Trigger ROM hackers. My idea was to adapt Chrono Cross for the Chrono Trigger ROM, but that would be extremely difficult, even today. We settled on a sequel to Chrono Trigger called Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes, featuring the original cast and world. We figured it'd be the natural choice for the first full ROM hack, since there'd be minimal editing of the game's characters and art assets. I posted a thread about it, and with Compendium forum members, wrote seventeen chapters of a rollicking but vapid plot. Things started getting crazy right away.

2. Getting crazy?

This happens to most people who create fan projects. That initial period of "Hey, we could do this! And then..." is purely rewarding, creative brainstorming that makes the parties involved feel like they can do anything. Immediately, we planned to have Frog become human Glenn, and to feature playable Schala. Schala would use a weapon borrowed from the Compendium collaborative fanfic, Project ZEAL; it'd be a dagger in which gems like the tech rocks from Chrono Trigger could be emplaced for different elemental effects. Here is the list of gems we devised for her:

DreamStone
Sun Charm
Diamond Pin
Hope Jewel
Star of Zeal
Will of Fire
Living Zeal
Death Wish
Peace Charm

Really original names, right? We also planned for Robo to having something like this called a "Servo Module", sort of like Mega Man's Buster. We wanted rudimentary vehicles to be in service in the world of 1002 A.D.; Crono and the group were going to ride to Guardia Castle in one at the beginning of the game. We also had ideas for new Mode 7 scenes, despite the fact that none of us knew how (nor currently know) how to edit Mode 7. The plot people (including myself) were not ROM hackers, and so we went insane with impossible ideas. The plot also sort of sucked, and the draft wasn't broken down into specific events that event coders and mappers could use to work on the game. In summary, Crimson Echoes started out like almost all other amateur fan games.

3. Before we move on, what became of playable Glenn and Schala?

Schala was axed early on thanks to the numerous impossibilities of adding her in back then. We would have had to change a bunch of techs, somehow code that gem-dagger system from scratch, and so on. Schala ultimately wasn't that bad of a loss; she would have replaced Ayla, who's a great all-around character and gets some fantastic scenes in the finished game. The loss is probably going to disappoint the "Schala is a transdimensional perfect goddess" fan club, though. As for human Glenn, a handful of separate ROM hackers were going to tackle that in 2006. One of them suddenly departed in the midst of working on sprite assembly, and then the others just sort of let it die. Human Glenn may show up as a patch that can be added to any Chrono Trigger ROM in the coming months.

4. "Let it die?" There weren't volunteers for this sort of thing?

If you want to visualize the development history of Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes, imagine a shack out in the middle of a dead desert. No one's been around there for years, but occasionally, a tinkerer or two will go to work beneath the lonely, desert moon, then disappear silently. This tinkerer was, at different times, me, Chrono'99, or Agent 12; Agent 12 ultimately took up residence in the metaphorical shack and completed the game's event coding. When we started out in 2005, we were almost completely dependent on Geiger, JLukas, and Chickenlump, as no one was experienced in event coding and worse, no one cared to learn. It's really not that hard; I'd even say it's sort of easy! But yes, throughout CE's history, the entire forum was usually a wasteland consisting of one person posting steady updates for a while before disappearing. It's almost a joke how confident we all were in 2005, considering nothing was getting done.

5. But you released the first demo in 2005.

The first demo is a joke in itself. When development began in late 2004, it felt like changing a bunch of NPC lines in "1002 A.D." was real progress. We did silly things without any regard to the plot, like adding the new cathedral and Vanguard to the overworld, because it felt productive and amazing to have these new locations and events around. This left the first demo a glorified fetch quest. Fans were still happy to see that work was being done, but my, the demo didn't even have a dungeon or any pretense of battles. Our troubles were just beginning.

6. Describe that early stage of development more.

I was already getting a sense mid-2005 of how gargantuan the demands of working on this project would become, and handed off directorial duties to t3h Schala and Exodus. We were still far from reality at this point; Claado Shou was even composing MP3 tracks that we would have no way of implementing (although these days, MIDIs can be converted and inserted). After they took the reins, I disappeared into the background as a few members finished up the plot. Chrono'99 experimented with changing the Blackbird tileset, while Chickenlump silently worked on two maps of his own, Chronopolis and Singing Mountain. His work was immediately impressive! And we all felt honored that one of the "big three" Chrono Trigger ROM hackers was directly involved with the project. As time wore on, the new directors faded away; t3h Schala left to make the Chrono Trigger remake petition, and other project members probably lost interest.

7. You've said that Singing Mountain is your favorite map in the entire game.

Oh, yes. Singing Mountain is magnificent. The colors of the blue water and clouds, red rocks, and prehistoric grass mesh so vibrantly well. The design was also impeccable, integrating caves, cliffs, and beautiful waterfalls. The entire aesthetic of the area does great justice to the Singing Mountain theme, evoking this feeling of exploring a sacred, verdant mountain of pure, flowing water on a day of gentle clouds and rain. When I first played it in 2005, I became misty-eyed. Chickenlump worked everything down to the last perfect detail, including those wonderful puddles that dot the landscape. When we had to make the summit, I tried to crown the area with a cliff overlooking more of that endless rain and water; it would be the new home of the Chrono Trigger Kilwala. We originally had the caves use the Prerelease's lava tileset, but the palette patch was lost during one of the ROM switches in development. We kept the blue, Heckran Cave aesthetic for the inside areas, as it works so well with the rainy mountain look. The summit became the residence of one of the reflective Xamoltan, and Agent 12 also made the summit the site of Ayla's ending scene. Truly, being in Singing Mountain is a magical experience, and I'll never stop heaping praise and thanks upon Chickenlump for his help.

8. Agent 12 arrived after the first demo, correct?

Yes; he would become the savior of the project. When I wrote about adding a coliseum to the game in the first Crimson Echoes planning thread, I guessed that it would never be coded because of the inevitable complexity of the events. Agent 12 stunned everyone when he pulled it off; though I wasn't director at this point, I still hoped that the other directors would realize just how much merit Agent 12 had brought to the table.

Now that Crimson Echoes is finished, you can thank him. Agent 12 is the true driving force behind that project, and the only member to never give up tirelessly seeing it through. Without him, Crimson Echoes would be like every other Chrono game project; abandoned and left to rot for want of passion and hard work. Although Chrono'99 and I contributed absolutely huge pieces of the game with polishing and dialogue, none of it would have happened or been needed had Agent 12 not spent months coding the game according to the fourth plot draft, often posting patch builds in a deserted forum without any encouragement or help. He was really in the springtime of youth, past the point of getting any recognition or glory, even. As he worked all those months, people would still post on the outside about other ROM hackers and fan project leaders, unaware that Agent 12 had become the ROM hacking specialist to rule them all.

9. But he wasn't the only specialist.

Right; I'd give that title to Chrono'99, too. He's Guru of Reason at the Chrono Compendium because it's fluent in every part of the community -- nalysis, discussion, and modification -- and that extends to ROM hacking. When Agent 12 would complete a skeleton chapter, it'd play well and be robustly functional, with placeholder NPC and PC dialogue (some of which was pretty original and gladly kept). My dialogue would usually be inserted at this point. But the map, events, and feel of the game would all be very bare-bones and, to be totally accurate, ugly.

Enter Chrono'99. When he would finish with a chapter, the maps would be polished to the point of innovation. Chrono'99 is a genius of using existing Chrono Trigger location art in novel ways, like creating Cedric's ship from Zenan Bridge, or most strikingly, creating an outdoor Porre encampment with buildings by using the 600 A.D. house tileset in unforeseen ways. The talent is infectious; once you see his use of location art, you can look at the game's tilesets and think creatively. The Porre encampment inspired my creation of the Guardia Castle walls in 1005 A.D. with the same tileset, for example. Chrono'99 would also polish events on par with the Dream Team standard. Remember the scuffle between Magus and Melchior at Mt. Woe in Chrono Trigger: Prophet's Guile? That was Chrono'99, as were the Ocean Palace maps under construction in that game. The level of detail he can apply is staggering, right down to working in the Dragonian emblem from Chrono Cross into the floor of Dinopolis. He's got the magic touch.

We of course need to thank FaustWolf and utunnels, too. FaustWolf's powers of organization are godlike and utunnels contributed ROM hacking tricks no one even thought possible. But the list could go on and on.

10. But before they hit their stride, development was rocky. What was your attitude in 2006-2007?

If I had a nemesis, it was random corruption. For some inexplicable reason, after I'd edit the ROM a few times, something would have randomly corrupted, leaving a ruined map or blanked events. Worst of all, I could never reproduce the issue. In 2006 and 2007, I tried twice to import all the locations, maps, etc. to a fresh ROM, believing the random corruption to be a culprit of the CE ROM's troubled history. These efforts failed thanks to their complexity, and the fact that the first version of Temporal Flux to support importing and exporting was a little buggy (I think regarding the importing of text), which required us to wait for a new version. Ultimately, the future stewards of the project would steamroll over the issue with the original ROM and use the auto-backup feature to steam ahead, simply correcting any corruption that popped up (and it still does, time to time).

The real damage was to my morale. The sheer size of Crimson Echoes and the work it demanded were daunting; I knew that to try and keep the project going myself would be to sacrifice most of my free time to it. I might have done it, but each time something randomly corrupted, I would be heartbroken, fearing that the game might ultimately be never playable if every single edit (including corrective edits) might randomly corrupt something. I tried to distance myself from the project. It was a total efficacy killer...No matter how many projects or achievements I could wrap up at the Chrono Compendium, Crimson Echoes always sat unfinished, a failure I felt responsible for as the creator of the project. It got so bad that in late 2007, I just called the entire thing canceled and removed it from the site's priorities. Chrono'99 returned and got things moving again, and eventually Agent 12 would finish his hard semester and start his neverending push to completion. But I was seriously ready to kill the project back then.

11. Let's get into specifics. How was writing for each of the playable characters?

I don't claim to be a dialogue writer, nor do I have any sincere ambition to sharpen my writing skills for at least a year or two. But I do have, for better or worse, the most Chrono-packed brain of possibly anyone alive except Masato Kato, and that includes the nuances of the characters.

Crono - I enjoyed writing for Crono. Once I played through the game's early finished skeleton, I realized just how much Crono had improved as a character thanks to his having dialogue. I feel that especially in this age, silent protagonists are titanically-wasted opportunities for characterization and drama. I tried to write Crono as most people think of him: adventurous; spirited; everyone's best, reliable friend. He's not boorish, but he does trust his gut and act with courage.
Marle - Marle goes through a lot in this game, and it was particularly interesting to have her become the leader of the vocal opposition against Belthasar's methods. It was fun letting her experience more dramatic moments than were given to her in Chrono Trigger, and I feel like she's grown a lot.
Lucca - Lucca and Robo are sort of the B-characters in the game, since Crono and Marle are at the forefront of the 1005 A.D. conflict, and Chronopolis is at the forefront of 2305 A.D. This doesn't leave much character-oriented drama for the two to endure. I tried to keep Lucca close to her depiction in Chrono Trigger.
Robo - It felt nice to write Robo's lines. I kept them logical and contractionless, borrowing a page from the Japanese version of Chrono Trigger. A great moment for him comes when he confronts FATE about her purpose. It's an optional scene, but there are all sorts of optional scenes and goodies in the game like this.
Frog - Most American fans who get exposed to the Japanese characterization of Frog fall in love with him. He's an all-around dependable guy with a sort of hardness about him, despite his sometimes humorous disposition. That's the Frog you see here, and he's suffered a little more thanks to the entire Kasmir timeline issue. It was nice having him taunt Magus.
Magus - Magus was easy to emulate, but difficult to expand upon. Originally, I wanted Magus to slowly become Magil, the refined "beautiful person" of Radical Dreamers whose personality is also reflected in Guile of Chrono Cross. But Chrono Trigger DS dictated that it's the same old black-bleeding Magus at the end of Crimson Echoes, so this opportunity for growth was passed over. He does warm up a bit, though.
Ayla - Ayla is fun. She's the voice of the springtime of youth. Her intellect is sharp as a piece of Dreamstone, and her life's vivaciousness cannot be contained. Take her with you when you enter the Darkness Beyond Time for a wonderful scene. She's the only character to confront the Frozen Flame and overcome its mental challenge in Chapter 18.
Belthasar - Writing Belthasar is always interesting, because he embodies the spirit of Zeal with a dash of megalomania. Despite getting verbally reprimanded by Gaspar in Crimson Echoes, he has the last word with Chrono Cross.

I can identify two personal failures immediately:

Magus reuniting with Schala was difficult. Honestly, who can guess what they'd say? There are mountains of bad fanfiction about this. We had to have something, so they currently share a few stilted words before the party is asked to leave.
I may be good at emulating the original Chrono team, but that isn't necessarily all good. Characters should experience growth and development, even verbally, but this team is really straight out of "Chrono Trigger 2". I guess it won't make anyone angry about changes or bad characterization, at least.

12. Now tell us about the villain, King Zeal.

King Zeal was going to be the villain from the beginning, even in 2004. Just as Magus's time in Zeal was ripe, low-hanging fruit for Chrono Trigger: Prophet's Guile, King Zeal was too juicy and accessible to be passed up. To be honest, he didn't have much character or soul for most of the game's development and planning; he was merely a tool of Lavos. As I began writing dialogue in 2008, I became aware of an emerging theme that worked perfectly for him. I also got a better sense of him as a character, and if I succeeded, he'll seem by the end of the game a very ambitious, strong-minded, and dangerously intelligent monarch. It was especially fun writing the last few scenes involving his exchanges with the party. I have a real habit of sympathizing with villains and anti-villains, and I've hopefully made King Zeal's dream an ethical gray area that players just might identify with.

13. What would you say the themes of the game are?

The primary theme surrounds the origin and evolution of Lavos as it pertains to dreaming and desire, and the reconciliation of humanity with Lavos through the Arbiters of the Frozen Flame. Lavos was using evolution as a tool to search for the "end", and the disruption of this process with his defeat in Chrono Trigger led him to become the vengeful Dream Devourer. Chrono'99 can enunciate this better! It's pretty heavily represented in the final dungeon's Frozen Flame scenes. Dreaming is also heavily represented, as it is in every Chrono game. You're a "Chrono Trigger" if you unleash your dreams upon the world, et cetera.

One of the themes I wrote through the dialogue and events was the limits of temporal activism. Thanks to the Epoch and Chronopolis, the team of the game could potentially change the course of humanity at will. Gaspar chides Belthasar for creating Chronopolis, feeling that so much power shouldn't be in the hands of one person. The Chrono team have to confront their own temporal protectionism as they acknowledge the erasure of the survivors of the Day of Lavos in the ruined future's timeline, as well as the erasure of an entire timeline of Reptites. But above all else, what evokes this best is King Zeal's desire to recreate Zeal. The gut reaction to this idea is "of course he shouldn't be allowed to recreate Zeal! It's not right." But then you have to ask why. Why is it better to maintain the timeline as it is, with humanity living thousands of years in renewed darkness, disease, death, and war before achieving a meager existence like that of 605 A.D.? Why is it right to delay the apex of humanity's achievement another several thousand years, and lose forever the glory of the enlightened kingdom?

At this point, people usually say, "Zeal had too much hubris. They wanted immortality and power, and they paid for it." But why; why was it wrong? Zeal, for all its prejudices and shortcomings, was the highest dream of humanity, where the secrets of the universe were studied and the frontiers of dreams explored. The Kingdom of Zeal wasn't lost because they committed some kind of sin in daring to dream; it was lost simply because they didn't take enough precautions in activating the Mammon Machine. Erudition does not preclude foolishness; the people of Zeal merely made a mistake. If they had safeguarded Zeal a little more or perhaps spent more time studying Lavos, they may have found a way to avoid waking Lavos up, or even a way to tame the parasite. Even the future of 2305 A.D. is a far cry from the absolute glory and beauty of Zeal. Why resurrect Zeal? Why not? I tried to award this argumentative victory to King Zeal at the end of the game. Perhaps if he had been allowed to take control of the Dream Devourer as he wished, he could have avoided the need for Chrono Cross altogether and done something truly amazing with that power. We'll never know, because the team had to play it safe. Was it right to play it safe in that moment? What would a true Enlightened One have done?

14. How do you feel Crimson Echoes might have been different?

The central foundation of Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes is Chrono Trigger. It's Chrono Trigger 2, right down to the reuse of Trigger's locations, characters, and even magic techs. The approach is sort of, "Crono goes to sleep the night of Leene Square. Five years pass. Wake up, Crono! There's a new adventure!" The placement of Crimson Echoes as an interquel between Trigger and Cross is also responsible for this.

If we were making a different game with new characters and a timeframe following the events of Chrono Cross (or separate from expected canon completely), it definitely wouldn't start in Crono's house, or even the usual time periods. There'd be new overworlds to explore and dramatic triggers, and Lavos would definitely not be the main villain. Tilesets, monster, and character graphics would be changed, and it'd probably feel more like a usual new RPG (start out, take out the first dungeon, learn a bit more about the villain, and so on). In light of this, I was scared for a while in 2007 that Crimson Echoes would be received terribly since it almost completely rehashes Chrono Trigger's assets and conventions. That's just the nature of the beast, I guess, and it's ultimately not too bad. Some people have been craving for a new adventure with Crono and his friends, and now they've got one.

15. On the lighthearted side, what are your favorite funniest moments?

Definitely the cake-stealing when you first go to 605 A.D. to find Glenn. It was so random! There's also the joke in Fiona's Forest about Mystical Ninja: Starring Guards #3, #51, and so on, borrowed straight from Oedo Town in Mystical Ninja: Starring Goemon. And then, seeing King Guardia XXI in the San Dorino bar in 605 A.D. after the timeline's corrected...That was my idea, and it's wonderfully surreal; I can imagine players thinking "W, what the hell...? Is that King Guardia?"

16. Any words you'd like to share with the modification community?

I used to believe that projects like this, given an excellent system, could be finished with enough volunteers. Perhaps they still can, but Crimson Echoes has taught me the importance of a project champion. Agent 12 did much more than simply coding the game. He maintained custody of the ROM, restored backups, coordinated all the contributions, and generally took ownership of the project. In retrospect, that's how it was with the Compendium; I had to bite the bullet and finally write the encyclopedia and take metaphorical ownership of the entire site. I suppose we were a little aware of this early on, since I recall trying to avoid being the project leader because of duties and commitment involved. To get something this size done, you're going to need an absolutely perfect system of taking volunteer work according to a consummate plan, or a diehard leader in the springtime of youth.

Other than that, it's just sort of depressing how scattered the community still is. We've got fifty million endless personal projects all over the place, whereas if everyone worked on one hack at a time, fans would always have something new to check out. Crimson Echoes, for all its popularity, could barely even get a reliable mapper; a big chunk of final development was polishing maps (which could have been done at any time before). My experiences in running the Chrono Compendium have taught me before that most game fans aren't serious enough to finish projects or don't have the time due to real life commitments, but knowing Crimson Echoes might have been a tiny bit better makes it disappointing on a deeper level. We've at least made good progress in setting up the Compendium fan project page and Aegis system to ensure that projects with merit get more encouragement.

Too many fan project leaders fall into mindless attention grabs, feeling a need to update about every little thing they do just to get praise and time in the spotlight. Unsurprisingly, these projects are also the ones that usually fail the hardest because the people involved barely code any of the actual game or project (which can't be appreciated until release), instead preferring to throw sprites and custom graphics around. Time has shown again and again that where fan modification is concerned (for pretty much every game genre out there), the programmer / coder is the almighty. Beautiful sprites without a functioning game are useless, as are beautiful songs and beautiful plot ideas. But even something with uninspired design and a lack of polish will still be played if it's coded and finished. The habitual attention grabs also dilute the project's soft power. If you blow all your game's secrets and features from the get-go, what kind of mystique or hype can you generate? It then damages the entire community's reputation. After the 15th project that seemed to start strong with custom sprites but failed, fans stop caring. I'm relieved that Crimson Echoes was always a more secretive project.

We're always hearing about how ROM hacking is in decline. Well, of course! Like most modding communities, everyone's off doing their own project, most of which never get completed. The ROM hacking community needs more big-name, highly visible projects to attract interest. It is criminal how little Super Mario 64 hacking is going on right now. I was among the people who desperately wanted Super Mario 64 2 back in the days of the Nintendo 64, and I'd die to play an all new adventure. Given the ROM hacking community's talent and the number of personnel, it's possible, but not when everyone's doing what they will and constantly embroiling one another in drama over ridiculous spats.

17. But are you finished with modification?

Yeah, I'd say I'm done. I've given the Chrono series more than a pound of flesh. If I help fan projects out, it'll be in a limited role, and probably for something that only I can provide.

18. So let's end on a positive note. How do you feel now that it's done?

Exasperatedly happy. Towards the end, the most fun part of developing was speaking with Agent 12 over Gmail chat as we worked on the ROM or planned future events. And towards the end, we'd keep getting sidetracked with plans about the release, nostalgic and humorous memories about the project's history, and an unending sense of achievement and joy over the game's coming release. There have been many Chrono fan game projects, but this is truly the first one to make it. It may have taken four and a half years, but it's done, and it's a success. I almost can't believe it. Preparing was hell, since Chrono Trigger DS created so much work for the site. Still, we made it! It's sort of a crowning culmination of the Chrono Compendium and the Chrono community at large. So many people have come and gone, having given up on the project, and so many more have probably given up on the idea of a Chrono fan game completely. But we've done it.

...We've done it...

That wraps it up for me. As you can see, the development wasn't "smooth sailing", to borrow one of Masato Kato's terms. I'm just absolutely thrilled that it's all come to fruition and has been released as a finished product. I'm extremely moved! And my sincerest thanks go out to Agent 12, Chrono'99, the others who helped, and everyone who plays. We've earned a serious vacation.

Chrono series fans are some of the most hardcore around, for better or worse. It takes that kind of alacrity to do something like this, and to keep a fan base and community going strong years after the last new entry in the series. Thanks to all the Chrono fans who continue ot indulge the high points of the series and carry the theme of courageous dreaming in their hearts. Thanks to Masato Kato, too, for giving us that theme in the first place. Go become your own "Chrono Trigger" now; dare to dream!

Agent 12 Radio Interview[edit]

See Agent 12 Radio Interview.

Unfinished Feature[edit]

Unfinished Features

What follows is the table of contents for the original planned release feature. The links don't work; as you can see, almost all of the featurettes were left unfinished.

Table of Contents

Interviews

Interview with Agent 12, Director and Lead Programmer
Chrono'99 Interview, Co-Director, Mapper, and Writer
ZeaLitY Interview, Creator, Co-Director, and Dialogue Writer
The Rest of the Team
Fan Q&A

Anatomy of...

An Event
A Map
An Enemy's AI
A Graphic Hack

Extras

Behind the Scenes
Director Commentary

ASCII Art[edit]

Finally, ZeaLitY had this ASCII art ready for the readme file:

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			   MAGIL ~RADICAL DREAMERS~

     It was said to be a gem which soothes all scars,
     granting eternal life to its owner...
     ...Or so people believed.
     The Frozen Flame is more than just an object.
     It's not of this world.
     It descended from the heavens long ago, part of a huge meteorite.
     Once, there lived a people who sought to harness its power,
     hoping to tap into their yet unknown potential.
     And so, it became a treasure of great importance and dreams.

     However, whether a gift which bestows power is actually a blessing
     or a curse, is another question altogether.

     Since the birth of humanity, at least one entire race has fallen
     because of it.
     These people once built a great thriving metropolis with its power,
     but now, all knowledge of this era has been completely lost within
     the sands of time.

GameSpark Article[edit]

The Japanese gaming news site, GameSpark, ran an article after the C&D which can be found here. As translated by DeepL:

Square Enix Injuncts Overseas Fan Project that Took Four Years to Complete → Criticism from Some

This month, Square Enix's injunction against an overseas fan's homebrew sequel project to Chrono Trigger, claiming copyright infringement, has been criticized by some overseas media.

The project in question was Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes, which took an overseas ROM modding community group about four years to create. The game is a sequel to the original Chrono Trigger, hacked from the original and using the same sprites, etc., and was scheduled for release on May 31, 2009, as a non-profit project created by fans for fans.

However, on the 8th of this month, Square Enix's legal department sent a warning letter to the group, demanding that Crimson Echoes and all other Square Enix-related ROM hacks be removed from the site and that the data be deleted immediately. Otherwise, we demand that you compensate for the damage per work. Otherwise, the company has declared that it will take legal proceedings against them, with damages of up to $150,000 per work.

In response, the production group announced that it had ceased production of Crimson Echoes and several other ROM hacks that were nearing completion, and that it had deleted all data and copies of the hacks in development. They also shut down their website and forums, putting an end to the longtime Chrono Trigger fan project. The people involved could not hide their surprise, especially since it was right before the release of the game and many such ROM hacks had already been made.

The international media that reported on this series of incidents were critical of Square Enix, although they acknowledged that the actions taken by Square Enix were not legally wrong.

"Do you know what Valve did back in the day when fans modded Half-Life to create Counter-Strike? Instead of arrogantly stopping the fans' efforts, they licensed the game and thereby made it commercially successful." (from an article on Kombo.com)

"Consider using fan passion as a marketing benefit, such as getting creators involved in DS or WiiWare porting projects. It may be an extreme approach as a general strategy, but it's much more positive and beneficial than using lawyers to get rid of them." (From an article in The Guardian, UK)

Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes was removed from the game at 98% completion without being touched by fans, according to a web page left by the production team. The game had 35 hours of gameplay, 23 chapters, and 10 different endings.

ZeaLitY of Chrono Compendium, who directed the project, thanked his colleagues involved in the production and concluded with the following comments.

"I sincerely hope that this is not just a short-term legal action to alienate and disappoint the fan base, but a sign that Square Enix is looking at the Chrono Trigger series again and is trying to develop a new title."

The Magazine ZeaLitY Interview[edit]

Find it here.

Music[edit]

When development on Crimson Echoes began in earnest in 2005, a side-project went on encouraging fans to submit their own instrument re-arrangements of songs using the Temporal Flux editor. The project was not sustained through 2005, but some of the pieces were planned to be used in the final release. Developers also kept a list of music from other games planned for use. Most of the songs on this page are in SPC format; get the SNESAmp Winamp plugin if necessary.

Re-arrangements

Most of these are by Exodus.

Music from Other Games

Final Fantasy VI - Troops March On (considered for Porre)
Front Mission: Gun Hazard - A Running Fight (considered for desperate situations)
Front Mission: Gun Hazard - Approach to a Shrine (considered for part of the Darkness Beyond Time)
Front Mission: Gun Hazard - A Store Keeper (considered for 2305 A.D. shopping mall)
Front Mission: Gun Hazard - Blue Sky ~ Blue Sky (considered for a tender moment)
Front Mission: Gun Hazard - Death in Broad Daylight (considered for part of the Darkness Beyond Time)
Front Mission: Gun Hazard - Invasion (considered for 1005 A.D. politics)
Front Mission: Gun Hazard - Sorrowful Karion (considered for the Darkness Beyond Time)
Front Mission - Mercenaries (considered for underwater Zeal ruin)
Front Mission - Rage! Rage! Rage! (considered for desperate situations)
Front Mission - Shallow Twilight (considered for underwater Zeal ruin)
Front Mission - Shop (considered for 2305 A.D. shopping mall)
Front Mission - Take the Offensive (considered for desperate situations)
Front Mission - The Evils of War (considered for Porre)
Romancing SaGa 3 - Mikhail's Theme (considered for an heroic entrance)
Romancing SaGa 3 - Field (considered for desperate situations)
Romancing SaGa 3 - Ice Lake (considered for 11,995 B.C.)
Romancing SaGa 3 - Song of Everlasting Battles (considered for multiple uses)
Romancing SaGa 3 - Tower of the Godly King (considered for a fortress)
Romancing SaGa 3 - Underwater Palace (considered for underwater Zeal ruin)

Original Music

Claado Shou composed some original pieces for the game in 2005. There was no way to include them, but FaustWolf added some to the Crimson Echoes Youtube playthrough.

Usage List

ZeaLitY wrote this list of song usage during beta testing to keep track of things in anticipation of new song addition.

Titles

Pretitles - 41 - Primitive Mountain
Titles - 57 - Epoch ~ Wings That Cross Time
Battles - 12 - Battle 1
Boss Battles - 18 - Boss Battle 1
Sleeping - 10 - Goodnight

Prologue

Opening Scene - 56 - Crono & Marle ~ Far Off Promise
Crono's house - 03 - Morning Sunlight
Truce, Others - 04 - Peaceful Days
Fair - 06 - Guardia Millennial Fair
Manoria Cathedral - 15 - Manoria Cathedral
Porre - 17 - Silent Light
Snail Stop - 31 - Bike Chase
Snail Stop - 50 - At the Bottom of Night
Zenan - 05 - Memories of Green
Fiona's Forest - 11 - Secret of the Forest
Medina - 37 - Delightful Spekkio
Medina Bandeau - 17 - Silent Light
Guardia Castle - 13 - Courage and Pride
Porre Fanfare - 42 - Ayla's Theme (intro only)
Porre Meeting - 39 - Underground Sewer
Porre Surprise - 8 - A Strange Happening
Porre Escape - 12 - Battle 1
Final Cut Scene - 02 - Chrono Trigger

01 Legacy of Zeal

Opening Scene Until Magus Pauses - 76 - Strong Wind
11,999 B.C. - 51 - Corridors of Time
Dalton Scene - 08 - A Strange Happening
Beast's Nest - 39 - Underground Sewer
Dalton's Dungeon - 46 - Confusing Melody
Magus is Defeated - 55 - Undersea Palace
Magus's Reflection - 50 - At the Bottom of Night

02 Double Trouble

Entering Chronopolis Scene - 33 - Remains of the Factory
Chronopolis - 36 - The Brink of Time
2305 A.D. - 05 - Memories of Green
2305 A.D. Mall - 30 - Reckless Robo Gang Johnny
Central Regime - 21 - The Kingdom Trial
Spy in Chronopolis - 23 - A Shot of Crisis
Denadoro Mts - 08 - A Strange Happening
Porre Engineering - 25 - Mystery of the Past
Zenan Bridge Fight - 23 - A Shot of Crisis
Chronopolis Fight - 23 - A Shot of Crisis

03 Beneath the Azure

Ocean Palace - 55 - Undersea Palace
Zeal Cut Scene - 47 - Battle with Magus

04 Murmurs of Red

Schala Reuniting - 53 - Schala's Theme
Truce Canyon - 71 - Truce Canyon
Truce Canyon - 17 - Silent Light
605 A.D. - 09 - Longing of the Wind
Dorino Fields - 17 - Silent Light
Forest Battles - 23 - A Shot of Crisis
Mystic Den - 11 - Secret of the Forest

05 Asking the Mirror

Glass Rose Scene - 53 - Schala's Theme
Zeal - 51 - Corridors of Time
Zeal Palace - 52 - Zeal Palace
Enhasa Tag - 46 - Confusing Melody
Enhasa Frogs - 37 - Delightful Spekkio
Enhasa Berries - 02 - Chrono Trigger
Dalton Scene - 39 - Underground Sewer
Pleasant Sounds of Nature - 66 - Sounds of the Ocean

06 The Breaking Point

Belthasar Explains - 46 - Confusing Melody
Belthasar Explains - 17 - Silent Light
Belthasar Explains - 55 - Undersea Palace
Belthasar Explains - 28 - Lavos's Theme
Mystic Mts - 17 - Silent Light
65KK OW - 43 - Rhythm of Wind, Sky, and Earth
Singing Mountain - 48 - Singing Mountain
Atash Kedah - 40 - Boss Battle 2
Intermission - 22 - The Hidden Truth

07 An Emerald Dream Pt. I

Wake-up - 56 - Crono & Marle
Astur Hill - 17 - Silent Light
1 A.D. - 11 - Secret of the Forest
Cedric Dialogue - 13 - Courage and Pride
History of Guardia - 37 - Delightful Spekkio
Snaking Forest - 17 - Silent Light
CarryOnHat - 35 - Fanfare 2
Dinopolis - 49 - Tyran Castle
Final - 24 - Ruined World

08 An Emerald Dream Pt. 2

Base - 80 - Blackbird (Inside)
Operator - 33 - Remains of the Factory
2305 A.D. - 41 - Primitive Mountain
Info Center - 05 - Memories of Green
Residence - 33 - Remains of the Factory
Huacan Factory - 33 - Remains of the Factory
Dinopolis - 49 - Tyran Castle
Vision Serpent - 40 - Boss Battle 2
Final Operator - 50 - At the Bottom of Night

09 An Emerald Dream Pt. 3

Wakeup - 17 - Silent Light
1005 A.D. - 17 - Silent Light
Strongman - 27 - People Who Threw Away the Will to Live
Marle's Cell - 24 - Ruined World
Confrontation - 40 - Boss Battle 2

10 The Stain of Regency

Atash Kedah - 23 - A Shot of Crisis
Aftermath - 20 - Fanfare 1

11 The Founding of Guardia

1 A.D. - 11 - Secret of the Forest
Battle - 23 - A Shot of Crisis
Marle Approaches - 46 - Confusing Melody
Battle - 11 - Secret of the Forest

12 The Gray Forgotten

Marle Talks to Crono - 00 - Silence
Crono Says Marle Died - 29 - The Final Day of the World
Belthasar Bursts In - 02 - Chrono Trigger
Rebel Base - 34 - Battle 2
Cakulha Appears - 49 - Tyran Castle
First Talk to Cakulha - 46 - Confusing Melody
Cakulha Talks About Killing - 52 - Zeal Palace
Cakulha Good Result - 56 - Crono & Marle - Far Promise
Stop the Missile - 31 - Bike Chase
Missile Scene - 23 - A Shot of Crisis

13 Animal-Like Persistence

Epoch Hangar - 57 - Epoch ~ Wings Across Time
605 A.D. Choras New Forest - 41 - Primitive Mountain
Yaluk Scene - 50 - At the Bottom of Night
Frog-Catching - 44 - Burn! Bobonga!
Frog and Ayla Joke - 12 - Battle 1
Schala and Magus Scene - 46 - Confusing Melody
Schala and Magus Scene - 52 - Zeal Palace
Schala and Magus Scene - 53 - Schala's Theme

14 The Glare of Midnight

Mystic Den Battles - 58 - Black Dream
Ozzie Dialogue - 39 - Underground Sewer
Kasmir's Fortress - 46 - Confusing Melody
Ozzie Game - 07 - Gato's Song
King Zeal Speaks - 55 - Undersea Palace
Masamune Placement - 64 - To Far Away Times
Masamune Placement - 19 - Frog's Theme

15 The Darkness of Noon

Meeting - 39 - Underground Sewer
Meeting Elements - 8 - A Strange Happening
Meeting Suspense - 46 - Confusing Melody
Approaching Army - 40 - Boss Battle 2
Fall of Guardia - 60 - World Revolution
Porre High Command - 58 - Black Dream
Dalton Battle - 40 - Boss Battle 2
Lose to Dalton - 28 - Lavos's Theme
Burning of Truce - 28 - Lavos's Theme
The King's Impatience - 46 - Confusing Melody
The Other King - 52 - Zeal Palace
King Zeal Appears - 55 - Undersea Palace
Resolution - 27 - People who Threw Away the Will to Live
Sleeping In - 29 - The Final Day of the World
Truce - 24 - Ruined World
Millennial Fair - 29 - The Final Day of the World

16 Stop the Porre Lab!

Porre Lab - 17 - Silent Light
Shenanigans - 37 - Delightful Spekkio
Self-Destruct - 31 - Bike Chase
Above Ground - 72 - Prison Tower

17 Once More Unto the Breach...

Belthasar Scene - 52 - Zeal Palace
Schala Enters - 53 - Schala's Theme
Ocean Palace Access - 58 - Black Dream
Activating Agitator - 55 - Undersea Palace
Distortion - 23 - A Shot of Crisis

18 Born in Sin, Die in Sin

Crono - 02 - Chrono Trigger
Crono and Lavos - 60 - World Revolution
Marle - 56 - Crono & Marle - Far Off Promise
Marle Battle - 24 - Ruined World
Lucca - 50 - At the Bottom of Night
Robo - 32 - Robo's Theme
Robo Crash - 24 - Ruined World
Robo Atropos Fight - 34 - Battle 2
Frog - 19 - Frog's Theme
Final Frog - 47 - Battle with Magus
Frog Battle with Magus - 46 - Boss Battle 2
Magus - 47 - Battle with Magus
Final Magus - 46 - Confusing Melody
Ayla - 43 - Rhythm of Wind, Sky, and Earth
Ayla Approaches - 42 - Ayla's Theme
Ending - 55 - Undersea Palace

19 The Dreamtime

Project Anabasis Record - 49 - Tyran Castle
Flame Speaks to Zeal - 52 - Zeal Palace
Rampage - 23 - A Shot of Crisis
Agent 9 and Sasha - 29 - The Final Day of the World
Spekkio - 37 - Delightful Spekkio
Dreamtime - 27 - People who Threw Away the Will to Live
Eidolon Battle - 40 - Boss Battle 2
King Appears - 55 - Undersea Palace
Subjugation - 13 - Courage and Pride

20 Dalton's Last Stand

New Land Bridge - 52 - Zeal Palace
Dalton Falters - 46 - Confusing Melody

21 Let Us Part in Zealous Regret

Hello, Belthasar - 33 - Remains of the Factory
Hello, King Zeal - 46 - Confusing Melody
Hello, Magus - 47 - Battle with Magus
Hello, Janus - 53 - Schala's Theme
Hello, Determination - 55 - Undersea Palace
Hello, Spire of Telos - 54 - Sealed Door
Hello, Sun Stone - 50 - At the Bottom of Night
Hello, Crono - 29 - The Final Day of the World

22 Dreaming Across Time

Gurus Reunited - 54 - Sealed Door
Knights Quest - 65 - Rat a tat tat it's...Mitsuda

23 Where Dreams Go to Die=

Entering DBT - 76 - Strong Wind
Darkness Beyond Time - 55 - Undersea Palace (for now, at least)
Darkness Beyond Time Nu - 46 - Confusing Melody
Darkness Beyond Time Right - 33 - Remains of the Factory
Lost Timelines - 58 - Black Dream
Conversation - 46 - Confusing Melody
Kasmir Battle - 40 - Boss Battle 2
King Zeal Speaks - 76 - Strong Wind
First King Battle - 61 - Last Battle
Afterwards - 50 - At the Bottom of Night
Pissed-off Devourer - 76 - Strong Wind
Revelation - 28 - Lavos's Theme

Ending

Back to Reality - 15 - Manoria Cathedral
Chronopolis - 63 - Epilogue ~ To Good Friends
Credits - 64 - To Far Away Times
King Zeal Alive - 76 - Strong Wind
Magus Enters - 46 - Confusing Melody

Aggregated List

A Premonition
Chrono Trigger (P: Introduction, 5: Berries, 12: Belthasar, 18: Crono)
Morning Sunlight (P: Crono's house)
Peaceful Days (P: Truce)
Memories of Green (P: Zenan, 2: 2305 A.D., 8: Info Center)
Guardia Millennial Fair (P: Leene Square)
Gato's Song (14: Ozzie Game)
A Strange Happening (P: Porre Surprise, 1: Dalton Scene, 2: Denadoro Mts Chase, 15: Meeting Elements)
Longing of the Wind (4: 605 A.D.)
Goodnight (Inns)
Secret of the Forest (P: Fiona's Forest, 4: Mystic Den, 7: 1 A.D.)
Battle 1 (Battles, P: Porre Escape, 13: Frog and Ayla Joke)
Courage and Pride (P: Guardia Castle, 7: Cedric Dialogue, 19: Subjugation)
Huh?!
Manoria Cathedral (P: Manoria Cathedral, E: Back to Reality)
A Prayer to the Travelers
Silent Light (P: Porre, Medina Bandeau, 4: Truce Canyon, Dorino Fields, 6: Belthasar Explains, Mystic Mts, 7: Astur Hill, Snaking Forest, 9: Wakeup, 1005 A.D., 16: Porre Lab)
Boss Battle 1 (Boss Battles)
Frog's Theme (14: Masamune Placement, 18: Frog)
Fanfare 1 (10: Aftermath)
The Kingdom Trial (2: Central Regime)
The Hidden Truth (6: Intermission)
A Shot of Crisis (2: Porre Spy, Zenan Bridge Fight, Chronopolis Fight, 4: Forest Battles, 10: Atash Kedah, 11: Battles, 12: Missile, 17: Distortion, 19: Rampage)
Ruined World (7: Final, 9: Marle's Cell, 15: Truce, 18: Marle Battle, Robo Crash)
Mystery of the Past (2: Porre Engineering)
Dome-16's Ruin
People Who Threw Away the Will to Live (9: Strongman Contest, 15: Resolution, 19: Dreamtime)
Lavos's Theme (6: Belthasar Explains, 15: After Dalton, 23: Revelation)
The Final Day of the World (12: Crono and Marle, 15: Sleeping In, Leene Square, 19: Agent 9 and Sasha, 21: Crono)
Reckless Robo Gang Johnny (2: Mall)
Bike Chase (P: Snail Stop, 12: Stop the Missile, 16: Self-Destruct)
Robo's Theme (18: Robo)
Remains of the Factory (2: Entering Chronopolis, 8: Operator, Residence, Huacan Factory, 21: Belthasar, 23: DBT)
Battle 2 (2: Coliseum, 12: Rebel Base, 18: Robo Atropos Fight)
Fanfare 2 (7: CarryOnHat)
The Brink of Time (2: Chronopolis)
Delightful Spekkio (P: Medina, 2: Coliseum, 5: Frog Scene, 7: History of Guardia, 16: Shenanigans, 19: Spekkio)
Fanfare 3 (Tabs)
Underground Sewer (P: Porre Meeting, 1: Beast's Nest, 5: Dalton, 14: Ozzie, 15: Meeting)
Boss Battle 2 (6: Atash Kedah, 8: Vision Serpent, 9: Confrontation, 15: Approaching Army, 15: Dalton Battle, 18: Battle with Magus, 19: Eidolon Battle, 23: Kasmir Battle)
Primitive Mountain (Pretitles, 8: 2305 A.D., 13: Choras Forest)
Ayla's Theme (P: Porre Fanfare (Intro Only), 18: Ayla Approaches the Flame)
Rhythm of Wind, Sky, and Earth (6: 64,444,995 B.C., 18: Ayla)
Burn! Bobonga! (13: Frog-Catching)
Magus's Castle
Confusing Melody (5: Reaper Tag, 6: Belthasar Explains, 11: Marle Approaches, 12: First Cakulha Dialogue, 13: Magus and Schala, 14: Kasmir's Fortress, 15: Meeting Suspense, King's Impatience, 18: Final Magus, 20: Dalton Falters, 21: King Zeal, 23: DBT, Conversation, E: Magus Enters)
Battle with Magus (3: Zeal Scene, 18: Final Frog, 21: Magus)
Singing Mountain (6: Singing Mountain)
Tyran Castle (7: Dinopolis, 8: Dinopolis, 12: Cakulha, 19: Project Anabasis)
At the Bottom of Night (P: Snail Stop, 1: Magus's Reflection, 8: Operator, 13: Yaluk Scene, 18: Lucca, 21: Sun Stone, 23: Defeated Zeal)
Corridors of Time (1: 11,999 B.C., 5: Zeal)
Zeal Palace (5: Zeal Palace, 12: Cakulha Speaks, 13: Magus and Schala, 15: King Zeal, 17: Belthasar, 19: Flame Speaks to Zeal, 20: New Land Bridge)
Schala's Theme (4: Schala Reunion, 5: Glass Rose Scene, 13: Magus and Schala, 17: Schala Enters, 21: Magus)
Sealed Door (21: Spire of Telos, 22: Gurus)
Undersea Palace (3: Ocean Palace, 6: Belthasar Explains, 14: King Zeal Speaks, 15: King Zeal, 17: Activating Agitator, 18: Ending, 19: King Appears, 21: Determination, 23: DBT)
Crono & Marle ~ Far Off Promise (P: Opening Scene, 7: Wake-up, 12: Cakulha Good Result, 18: Marle)
Epoch ~ Wings that Cross Time (Titles, 13: Epoch Hangar)
Black Dream (1: Dalton's Dungeon, 14: Mystic Den, 15: Porre High Command, 17: Ocean Palace Access, 23: Lost Timelines)
Determination (I forgot, but it's used)
World Revolution (15: Fall of Guardia, 18: Crono and Lavos)
Last Battle (23: Battles)
Festival of Stars
Epilogue ~ To Good Friends (E: Chronopolis)
To Far Away Times (14: Masamune Placement, E: Credits)
Rat-A-Tat-Tat It's... Mitsuda (22: Knights Quest)
Sounds of the Ocean (5: Guard scene - Robo plays bird sounds)
Leene's Bell
Ocean Tide
Time Gate (Gates)
Truce Canyon (4: Truce Canyon)
Prison Tower (16: Above Ground)
Mystic Chant
Rain (5: Leene Square)
Lavos Scream
Strong Wind (1: Opening Scene, 23: Entering DBT, Zeal Speaks, Pissed Devourer, E: King Zeal Alive)
Earthquake
Fall of Mt. Woe
Fall of Zeal
Blackbird (Inside) (8: Base)
Blackbird (Outside)
Inside the Shell
Breath of Lavos

'Unused

A Premonition
Huh?!
A Prayer to the Travelers
Dome-16's Ruin
Festival of Stars
Mystic Chant
Lavos Scream - REVIEW LATER
Earthquake - MIGHT BE USED
Fall of Mt. Woe
Fall of Zeal
Blackbird (Outside) - MIGHT BE USED
Inside the Shell
Breath of Lavos

CE Memorial Music[edit]

If you're looking for special music used in the CE Memorial, check here. Here are the set lists:

Part 19
Claado Shou, "Battle 3" -- Compendium may release later


Part 20
Claado Shou, "Sheltering Light" -- Compendium may release later


Part 21
Claado Shou, "Sheltering Light." -- Compendium may release later

Hitoshi Sakimoto & Masaharu Iwata, "Antidote." Final Fantasy Tactics OST.
http://www.gamemusic.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/GMOStore.woa/wa/ProductDetail?pid=1416&cid=10012&did=101
OUT OF PRINT -- see here for PSF archive: http://www.zophar.net/music/psf/final-fantasy-tactics.html

Claado Shou, "Modus Dissonantiae." -- Compendium may release later



Part 22
Irfan, "Peregrinatio." Irfan album.
http://www.amazon.com/Irfan/dp/B0007LPRUA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1247945962&sr=8-2

DP, "Mobius." Beyond the Shattered Mirror experimental music project. 
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=26402&content=music&songcount=105&offset=0&currentPage=4



Part 23
DP, "Mobius." Beyond the Shattered Mirror experimental music project. 
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=26402&content=music&songcount=105&offset=0&currentPage=4

Bau-Hauss, "Remains of the Factory." Chrono Trigger Arrange album. 
http://bau-hauss.com/bauhouse/
More info at the Compendium: http://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Albums_and_Doujins.html#Bau-hauss_-_Le_Cercueil_du_Reve_-_Chrono_Trigger_Arrange



Part 24
Bau-Hauss, "Remains of the Factory." Chrono Trigger Arrange album.
http://bau-hauss.com/bauhouse/
More info at the Compendium: http://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Albums_and_Doujins.html#Bau-hauss_-_Le_Cercueil_du_Reve_-_Chrono_Trigger_Arrange

Yasunori Mitsuda, "Fates - Gods of Destiny," Chrono Cross OST.
http://www.gamemusic.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/GMOStore.woa/wa/ProductDetail?pid=1529&cid=10004&did=101

DP, "Mobius." Beyond the Shattered Mirror experimental music project.
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=26402&content=music&songcount=105&offset=0&currentPage=4

Claado Shou, "Modus Dissonantiae" -- Compendium may release later


Part 25
Claado Shou, "Modus Dissonantiae" -- Compendium may release later

Yasunori Mitsuda, "Tower of Stars." Chrono Cross OST.
http://www.gamemusic.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/GMOStore.woa/wa/ProductDetail?pid=1529&cid=10004&did=101

Yasunori Mitsuda, "Dragon God." Chrono Cross OST.
http://www.gamemusic.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/GMOStore.woa/wa/ProductDetail?pid=1529&cid=10004&did=101

DP, "Mobius." Beyond the Shattered Mirror experimental music project. 
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=26402&content=music&songcount=105&offset=0&currentPage=4


Part 26
Darren Mitchell, "Jungle Ruins." Turok: The Dinosaur Hunter OST
OUT OF PRINT. No seller found.
USF Format archive: http://www.zophar.net/music/usf/turok-dinosaur-hunter.html

Claado Shou, "Battle 3" -- Compendium may release later.


Part 27
Claado Shou, "Battle 3" -- Compendium may release later.

Darren Mitchell, "Jungle Ruins." Turok: The Dinosaur Hunter OST
OUT OF PRINT. No seller found.
USF Format archive: http://www.zophar.net/music/usf/turok-dinosaur-hunter.html

DP, "Impish Subversion." Beyond the Shattered Mirror experimental music project.

Yasunori Mitsuda, "Sanctuary of Darkness." Ann Cinnuint -- Tsugunai: Atonement OST 
http://www.amazon.com/Tsugunai-~-Cinniuint-Yasunori-Mitsuda/dp/B00023BNOM



Part 28
DP, "Impish Subversion." Beyond the Shattered Mirror experimental music project.

Darren Mitchell, "Jungle Ruins." Turok: The Dinosaur Hunter OST 
OUT OF PRINT. No seller found.
USF Format archive: http://www.zophar.net/music/usf/turok-dinosaur-hunter.html



Part 29
Darren Mitchell, "Jungle Ruins." Turok: The Dinosaur Hunter OST
OUT OF PRINT. No seller found.
USF Format archive: http://www.zophar.net/music/usf/turok-dinosaur-hunter.html

Yasunori Mitsuda, "Under the Moonlight." Radical Dreamers OST.
OUT OF PRINT. No seller found.
SPC Format archive: http://www.zophar.net/music/spc/radical-dreamers.html

Claado Shou, "Modus Dissonantiae" -- Compendium may release later.

Yasunori Mitsuda, "Dragon's Prayer." Chrono Cross OST.
http://www.gamemusic.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/GMOStore.woa/wa/ProductDetail?pid=1529&cid=10004&did=101

Hideyuki Fukasawa, "Feel No Fear." Chaos Legion OST
http://www.gamemusic.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/GMOStore.woa/wa/ProductDetail?pid=10910&cid=10314&did=101



Part 30
Hideyuki Fukasawa, "Feel No Fear." Chaos Legion OST.
http://www.gamemusic.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/GMOStore.woa/wa/ProductDetail?pid=10910&cid=10314&did=101

zyko and Destiny, "Dragon's Prayer: The Blackened Desire." Overclocked Remix.
http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01145/

Yasunori Mitsuda, "Sanctuary of Darkness." Ann Cinnuint --Tsugunai: Atonement OST 
http://www.amazon.com/Tsugunai-~-Cinniuint-Yasunori-Mitsuda/dp/B00023BNOM



Part 31
Claado Shou, "Sheltering Light" -- Compendium may release later.

Yasunori Mitsuda, "Departure." Ann Cinnuint -- Tsugunai: Atonement OST.
http://www.amazon.com/Tsugunai-~-Cinniuint-Yasunori-Mitsuda/dp/B00023BNOM



Part 32
Yasunori Mitsuda, "Departure." Ann Cinnuint -- Tsugunai: Atonement OST 
http://www.amazon.com/Tsugunai-~-Cinniuint-Yasunori-Mitsuda/dp/B00023BNOM


Part 33
Yasunori Mitsuda, "Departure." Ann Cinnuint -- Tsugunai: Atonement OST.
http://www.amazon.com/Tsugunai-~-Cinniuint-Yasunori-Mitsuda/dp/B00023BNOM

Yasunori Mitsuda, "Facing." Radical Dreamers OST.
OUT OF PRINT. No seller found.
SPC Format archive: http://www.zophar.net/music/spc/radical-dreamers.html

Dead Can Dance, "Avatar." Spleen and Ideal album.
http://www.amazon.com/Spleen-Ideal-Re-Mastered-Dead-Dance/dp/B0015YFOGU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1247952957&sr=8-1

Claado Shou, "Sheltering Light" -- Compendium may release later.

 

Part 76
Yasunori Mitsuda, "Into a Time of Darkness." Chrono Cross OST.
http://www.gamemusic.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/GMOStore.woa/wa/ProductDetail?pid=1529&cid=10004&did=101

Mythos, "Requiem." The Reality of a Dreamer album.
http://www.amazon.com/Reality-Dreamer-Mythos/dp/B00004SQW3/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1247953098&sr=1-4


Part 77
Mythos, "Requiem." The Reality of a Dreamer album. 
http://www.amazon.com/Reality-Dreamer-Mythos/dp/B00004SQW3/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1247953098&sr=1-4


Part 78
Mythos, "Requiem." The Reality of a Dreamer album. 
http://www.amazon.com/Reality-Dreamer-Mythos/dp/B00004SQW3/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1247953098&sr=1-4


Part 79
Mythos, "Requiem." The Reality of a Dreamer album.
http://www.amazon.com/Reality-Dreamer-Mythos/dp/B00004SQW3/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1247953098&sr=1-4

Sefiros, "Transferred Consciousness." Deconstruct album. 
http://www.archive.org/details/SefirosDeconstruct


Part 80
Sefiros, "Transferred Consciousness." Deconstruct album.
http://www.archive.org/details/SefirosDeconstruct

Yasunori Mitsuda, "Into a Time of Darkness." Chrono Cross OST.
http://www.gamemusic.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/GMOStore.woa/wa/ProductDetail?pid=1529&cid=10004&did=101

Koh Otani, "A Violent Encounter." Shadow of the Collossus OST. 
http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Colossus-Earth-Kow-Otani/dp/B000BKJHOY/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1247953913&sr=8-6



Part 81
Koh Otani, "A Violent Encounter." Shadow of the Collossus OST.
http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Colossus-Earth-Kow-Otani/dp/B000BKJHOY/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1247953913&sr=8-6

Yasunori Mitsuda, "Into a Time of Darkness." Chrono Cross OST.
http://www.gamemusic.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/GMOStore.woa/wa/ProductDetail?pid=1529&cid=10004&did=101

PLBenjaminz, "Determined." Chrono Symphonic project. 
http://chrono.ocremix.org/



Part 82
PLBenjaminz, "Determination." Chrono Symphonic project.
http://chrono.ocremix.org/

Yasunori Mitsuda, "The Devil." Ann Cinnuint -- Tsugunai: Atonement OST
http://www.amazon.com/Tsugunai-~-Cinniuint-Yasunori-Mitsuda/dp/B00023BNOM

Darangen, "Atonement." OCRemix of Magus' battle theme.
http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01377/

Yasunori Mitsuda, "Battle With the Devil." Ann Cinnuint -- Tusgunai: Atonement OST 
http://www.amazon.com/Tsugunai-~-Cinniuint-Yasunori-Mitsuda/dp/B00023BNOM


Part 83
Yasunori Mitsuda, "Battle With the Devil." Ann Cinnuint -- Tsugunai: Atonement OST
http://www.amazon.com/Tsugunai-~-Cinniuint-Yasunori-Mitsuda/dp/B00023BNOM

Unknown (that's actually the author's title, FW thinks), "A Parting of Ways." Chrono Symphonic Project. 
http://chrono.ocremix.org/



Part 90
Scott Peeples, "Requiem for a Green Revolution." OCRemix
http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR00708/

Yasunori Mitsuda, "Chrono Trigger." Chrono Trigger OST
http://www.amazon.com/Trigger-Original-Soundtrack-Yasunori-Mitsuda/dp/B000793EKM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1247955028&sr=8-1

Mathew Valente, Corridors of Time. Remix of Yasunori Mitsuda's track by the same name. 
http://www.opcoder.com/projects/chrono/media/

Inspired-by Music[edit]

ZeaLitY had planned a release of several remixes that matched up to tracks and events used in Crimson Echoes, drawing on the huge collection of the Chrono Series Music Archive. The release, known as "Crimson Echoes - Inspring Music", was also going to feature remixes of custom songs inserted into the game from other sources. Click on links to download songs.

Plot[edit]

The development team had a document outlining the plot in detail. This is the 4B and final revision of the plot.

Before the game

Belthasar comes to the future and builds Chronopolis in secret. He uses the Frozen Flame, its generator, and a Time Egg to resurrect friends and others. However, the effort to save King Zeal backfires; he loses control of the King, who escapes on his own will with the Flame and Time Egg.
King Zeal wants to create a new kingdom of Zeal, and recruits Dalton to gather old relics and technology. Dalton is of doubtful loyalty, as he was with Queen Zeal, but King Zeal doesn’t consider him a serious threat. King Zeal takes interest in Crono, Marle, and Lucca, and gives General Montcrief funds and cyborg implants (built by Dalton) to cause trouble in the present. Porre tries to reverse-engineer these to create other machines, such as the Chimera tank, but they aren’t skilled enough to make them functional.

Prologue

1005 - Montcrief’s cyborg program releases its first candidate (Sorin) and sends him and Ingrus on a test run to assassinate the Chancellor. Lucca's prototype Time Egg backfires, sending the party to Chronopolis.

Chapter 1: Legacy of Zeal

11999 - While searching for Schala, Magus faints, is rescued by the First Village Elder, and gets Sargon (a Zeal survivor) to let people use his healing square.
11999 - Dalton retrieves the Silver Streak for King Zeal. Magus shadows Dalton but is defeated. Emphasis is put on the fact that Magus is much weaker than he should be. Magus is locked in stasis; he retains a dreamlike consciousness and begins reflecting on his past.

Chapter 2: Double Trouble

Having heard and observed the party, the Porre agent (Sorin) decides to quietly loot Lucca’s house to learn interesting stuff. He finds the Gate Key, and uses it to travel to Chronopolis (via the Telepod blue Gate). He downloads information about tank technology.

2305 - Belthasar greets Crono and friends. He shows them the Time Dispatch Chamber, a machine which can send people to any year in time, but not bring them back. He explains that the party’s arrival was due to the Temporal Catch, a powerful force field which diverts time portals to Chronopolis instead of the End of Time.
2305 - The party find the Porre agent and try to capture him, but they’re all caught in the Dispatch Chamber and return to 1005. They visit the Porre Camp. The agent waits for them to leave to enter the camp and fix the Chimera tank.
1005 - Montcrief attacks Guardia. The party fight off the invasion. The agent flees and loses the Gate Key. Lucca picks it up and they decide to go see if the Telepod Gate (or the one from the Medina) has somehow been reopened.
2305 - The party arrives in Chronopolis again. King Zeal releases monsters to test it; the party defeat them.

Chapter 3: Beneath the Azure

King Zeal resurrects Schala with the Flame’s power. He does this instead of simply preventing her from dying in the past, because he wants her to experience the same thing he has experienced.
2305 - Belthasar notes that the monsters were from the same kind as the ones from the Ocean Palace. He sends the party to 11995 B.C. to investigate the Palace ruins.
11995 - The party find Schala and King Zeal. Magus feels something is going on and frees himself from the stasis prison. He rushes to the Ocean Palace and is confused to find his sister now, even though he had already explored the place before and found nothing. To get rid of Magus, King Zeal picks up the Masamune, hurt him and escapes with it, “entrusting” Schala to the party for the time being.

Chapter 4: Murmurs of Red

King Zeal’s removal of the Masamune alters the timeline. In the Middle Ages, Cyrus and Glenn died as ordinary soldiers. Kasmir lived on to become a powerful Mystic illusionist instead of dying young. In 600 A.D., Kasmir replaced Magus as the Mystic leader. A bewildered Glenn returned from the Lavos quest and founded the Vanguard order to try and restore peace quickly. However, the war dragged on until about 650 A.D.

2305 - Magus and Schala reunite, while the party request to visit Glenn in 605 A.D.
605 - Glenn is found in the Dorino Field, preparing to raid the Mystic continent. Kasmir is defeated in the tunnel, but as expected by Glenn, it was just another illusion (Glenn had defeated multiple Kasmirs before but they were all fake).
605 - The party must track back to save two Vanguard, while Glenn continues the raid alone. He finds Vanguard and Porre troops discussing what to do with a small Mystic Den claiming to be fed up with Kasmir. * The three Vanguard captains have differing opinions, and Glenn must side with one of them:
- Renault’s option: Help Porre raid the village. This option will show Glenn giving into his distaste for the Mystics, and ravaging the village. Porre will give you thanks for helping them. In 1005 A.D., tensions with Porre will have backed down somewhat, while Medina will become unfriendly. Montcrief will have been reprimanded for starting hostilities and demoted to Lieutenant General.
- Luther’s option: Prevent Porre from raiding the village. Porre will express incredulity at this course of action and will send forth some soldiers that Glenn will defeat. The Mystics will thank you and give you a reward. In 1005 A.D., however, you will find Porre to be much more hostile to you. Montcrief will be promoted to High Commander of the Armed Forces of Porre.
- Roget’s option: Declare neutrality. This provokes a dismissive reaction from both sides. When it's over, the Mystic and Porre fighters will have been eradicated to the last man. The corpses are available for looting, and thus you obtain far more items than you would with either of the first two options. In 1005 A.D., both Porre and Medina will be unfriendly. Montcrief will be normal.

Chapter 5: Asking the Mirror

2305 - The party return to Chronopolis with Glenn. Magus joins them following a dialogue with Schala.
2305 - Belthasar remarks that the recent activities are starting to wear out the Chronopolis Dreamstone, so he needs his old Zeal notes to choose a new and better power source. He sends the party to 12001 B.C. with an incomplete but functional Time Egg (so that they can return).
12001 - The party learn about early Project Mammon, recover the notes, and avoid a patrol by Dalton.

Chapter 6: The Breaking Point

2305 - Having recovered his notes, Belthasar gives a speech on Dreamstone and King Zeal. He then decides that the Dragoon Tooth, a legendary Reptite artifact, is what they need to power Chronopolis. The Dragon Tooth is an artifact created by the Reptites after Lavos’ arrival to remember all their fallen comrades. It is a ceremonial totem partly made of Reptite bones and it is used to communicate with the dead. It's not particularly useful as such, but it can power Chronopolis efficiently due to its connection with the Black Wind (Black Energy in Japanese); Belthasar could modify it to channel energy directly from the "void".
2305 - The entire party depart to Prehistory, as Belthasar notes that they might need the extra hands for uncovering the Dragon Tooth if it requires a little work.
64999995 - The active party rescue Ayla while the other party find the “Dragoon Tooth”. They also find King Zeal, who followed the party around for some time and learned of Lavos’s presence in Prehistory. The reason he didn’t know it directly is because the Frozen Flame withheld the information from him, to keep (past) Lavos safe.
64999995 - King Zeal notes how he and Lavos are both in a contest for survival, and he will kill Lavos. Ayla is wounded, and the Frozen Flame dispenses the Dragon Tooth and the six party members through time while King Zeal attempts the Atash Kedah.

Chapter 7: An Emerald Dream Pt. I

The Dragon Tooth falls into a Gate leading to 3 million B.C., where the Frozen Flame recreates a bunch of Reptites from the bones that compose the Tooth. These Reptites then go to war with humans and the timeline eventually become the "Reptite timeline" as seen by the party in 1 A.D., 2302 A.D. and 1002 A.D. (Note: This information should be revealed in the Lucca/Robo chapter rather than this one.)

1 - Marle awakes to find Cedric and her ancestors, still sharing the planet with Reptites but on the verge of defeat. Cedric asks Marle to retrieve a child in Snaking Forest, and notes that some kind of magic portal has recently been opened in the Reptite territories. After retrieving the child, Marle explores Dinopolis, where the main power source of the Reptites is supposed to be, to try and locate the magic portal. She briefly sees a Xamoltan datacube (later carried by Yaluk in a sidequest) but is trapped by Cakulha, one of the Xamoltan time travelers, and puts in a prison. Cedric’s village is destroyed by the Reptites.

Chapter 8: An Emerald Dream Pt. 2 (this needs a distinct title)

2305 - Lucca and Robo arrive to find themselves in the midst of robots. They learn of the Reptite world's history: at some point in the future, Reptite scientists discovered that they were “corrupted” by the Frozen Flame in 3,000,000 BC (via their re-creation through it and the Dragon Tooth). This discovery deeply affected their society and worldview. All their certainties were suddenly called into questions, and they believed that they were inherently harmful to the planet due to their corruption.
They eventually decided to relinquish their individual ambitions and free will to the Vision Serpent -- a central AI which would control them collectively and establish a society that would have a wiser vision of what is good and what is bad for the planet. Whereas the Vanguard are the embodiment of misguided zeal, the future Reptites embody the total rejection of desires and ambitions, for a "greater good".

This is where the Robots come in. They are opposed to the plan (they can't be plugged into the Vision Serpent anyway) because they believe that free will and aspirations should never be relinquished, especially as they aren't even sure whether the Vision Serpent's guidance will actually be any good. A war occurs between the Reptites and the Robots.

As for the Xamoltan time-travelers, they don't have the right to change anything historical in the timeline (like, going to the past to destroy the first Robot model or something); their only mission is to protect the timeline from changes, like the ones that might be caused by Crono's party.
As you may have noticed, the Vision Serpent's mind control is reminiscent of FATE's, thus furthering the parallel between the two and shedding a slightly ironical light on the Chrono Cross Dragon God. The implication is that Belthasar will gain the idea of the Records of FATE after he studies the datacube that Yaluk gives to the party.
2305 - So, the Robots enlist Lucca and Robo to raid Huacan Factory, where a non-Maverick AI is being developed to stop the robot rebellion.
2305 - In exchange, the robots give Lucca and Robo access to Dinopolis, noting that destroying the Vision Serpent will cripple the Reptites for good. They learn about Cakulha, Coyopa, and Yaluk, but never meet them as they seem to have already gone back in time.
2305 - Lucca and Robo destroy the Vision Serpent, a prototype Dragon God (this relation is hinted, not stated of course). Unfortunately, they can't go back in time since the portal too is destroyed, but this cripples the Reptites, effectively putting an end to the war. Lucca and Robo seemingly enjoy living with the robots, and spend the rest of their lives there.

Chapter 9: An Emerald Dream Pt. III (this needs a distinct title)

1005 - Crono, Magus, and Glenn arrive in a forest. They head up a little and find a village (all one map) and Dinopolis, where a traveler blocks the entrance but is cordial.
1005 - They see Reptites doing a strongman contest. They battle a few and win, earning a dinner with the Xamoltan time travelers Coyopa and Yaluk.
1005 - Coyopa and Yaluk explain their history and ask where the others came from; they say outer space.
1005 - The party get elemental armor from a group who do not trust the Xamoltan.
1005 - When Crono meets with the religious leaders who doubt the Xamoltan, they'll reason that time traveling is going too far...that the Reptites have grown in harmony with the planet by restricting their ambitions, and that the time traveling seems to be a blind leap even if they set "non-intervention" rules.
1005 - The party sleep for the night. Glenn talks to Magus about not having a home.
1005 - The party find the Porre agent from Chapter 2, bewildered and thinking that he came to the wrong era. They almost fight, but decide to ally to figure out what's going on. His name is revealed as Sorin.
1005 - They go to Dinopolis. Magus detects a massive accumulation at the top of Terra Tower, and they break in.
1005 - Crono sees Marle's skeleton in a cell with the pendant and immediately kills two Reptites trying to reason with him.
1005 - King Zeal comes in and notifies Coyopa that Crono, Magus, and Glenn must also be apprehended, and that they're trying to disrupt Reptite civilization.
1005 - Crono and the others kill Coyopa. Sorin enters the portal to 64999995 B.C., and the party follow him.

Chapter 10: The Stain of Regency

64999995 - Sorin, Crono, Magus, and Glenn burst in to the crater a few minutes before the initial time warps. They reason that one of them must somehow prevent the Dragon Tooth from getting warped, and Sorin immediately jumps on the Dragon Tooth to avert the resurrection of the Reptites from the other side of the portal, in 3,000,000 B.C.
64999995 - The party must choose once more to save Ayla or attack Zeal. A few battles happen.
64999995 - Magus and Glenn are held back by a Light barrier, but Crono, being Light innate, is able to go through. King Zeal taunts Crono and talks about the Flame. It's such an illustrious shade of crimson...it represents the uncovered, unbound desire for more power and advancement. He notes that communicating with it has given him many new perspectives, and opened his mind to all sorts of things...but * * Crono knocks King Zeal to the ground, disrupting the spell.
64999995 - Magus and Glenn join Crono to try and finish him off. King Zeal leaves, but notes that the spell will partly finish, and hopes they enjoy the fire. Magus, Glenn, and Crono are severely wounded before they can escape.
2305 - Chronopolis picks up the signature of Sorin and the Dragon's Tooth, and an agent retrieves them with a Time Egg.

Chapter 11: The Founding of Guardia

1 - The screen cuts here in the new 1 A.D., where Cedric the Executor wakes Marle and they ride out to battle Antaeus of Porre. This time, Cedric Guardia is truely a brutal conqueror (and Arbiter of the Flame! but we don't know it yet), not the polite and ordinary "Cedric" of the Reptite timeline.
1 - Due to Marle's presence during the battle, the events are altered: Marle does something not very wise that draws the warriors' attention where it shouldn't have. The consequence is that Antaeus steals the Frozen Flame before Cedric can use it. Antaeus's body is charged with energy and he utters the already famous declaration:

"A thousand fires have sparked within my mind! I see everything! I know all! And I know this: you must perish!"

1 - Marle realizes what she's just done and has to fight Antaeus in Cedric's place to fix history. She defeats him; Cedric grabs the Frozen Flame back and the troops surrender. A Chronopolis agent locates Marle and takes her back, noting that the Entity apparently created a permanent Gate in this era.
2305 - Marle finds Crono, Magus, and Glenn bedridden. She talks to Crono. Lucca and Robo arrive directly from the Atash Kedah scene. Schala is busy tending to Ayla in Prehistory.

Chapter 12: The Gray Forgotten

2305 - Belthasar informs the party that Cakulha is causing some crisis on Zenan mainland. The party may learn about the future political situation by browsing a computer: in the aftermath of a disastrous nuclear conflict in the 22th century, the nations of the world decided to unite in a Central Regime to prevent other tragedies. In reality, the Vanguard organization is almost synonymous with this regime: it controls most of it. Rebellions appear from time to time but are always easily crushed. In 2,305 A.D., the situation is different because of Cakulha. He joined the current (terrorist) rebellion and has managed to acquire a nuclear missile that they plan to use on a city of the Central Regime. Belthasar doesn't really know why Cakulha joined them, but the party must take care of him in any case.
2305 - The party make their way through the rebel base. Whenever there are no enemy around the party to hear him, Cakulha appears on a computer screen or hologram and ask the party ethical questions about changing time. He also reveals that his only goal in this conflict is to gather resources and acquire the means necessary to find Chronopolis by exposing its signature with a nuclear blast. He can't directly use the resource of the Central Regime, because he doesn't want to tell anyone about the Time Fortress and because they would have used him as a guinea pig if they ever found him. So he joined a non-xenophobic rebellion instead and tries to make them overthrow the regime. Cakulha in the missile base ridicules the world and the party for mucking in time, noting that dangerous, blind pursuits like this are like a cancer of space-time. After all questions are answered, one out of three possible outcomes for Cakulha is reached:
1. He commits suicide (normal rewards).
2. He is defeated in battle by the party (more EXP gain + some piece of equipment).
3. He tries to stop the missile launch but is killed by the rebels (more GP + some Elixirs or Megalixirs).
2305 - In the end, the remaining rebels manage to launch the missile regardless of Cakulha's fate. The party try to stop it with a computer but fail, but fortunately, Agent 12 hops in the Epoch 2 at Chronopolis and takes it out in the skies.
2305 - After returning to Belthasar, the party are told that a few rebel robots (including Proto 5-02C) actually managed to hear Cakulha and them mentioning Chronopolis, and that rumors of its existence are starting to spread on the mainland. Only the Vanguard of the Central Regime take this rumor seriously, as they already suspected that their founder Glenn was a time traveler.

Chapter 13: Animal Persistence

The party is saddened by Cakulha's fate (whatever it is) but Belthasar is just upset about the Vanguard searching the oceans for Chronopolis. The party decides to visit Ayla in prehistory.

64999995 - The party find Ayla wounded, but alive. Things are back to normal in prehistory.
64999995 - ...actually, are they? NPCs speak about a new leader among the Reptites. The party realize that the Xamoltan were three: Coyopa (killed in 1005), Cakulha (seen in 1 AD and taken care of in 2305), and Yaluk, the female leader whose fate is unknown.
64999995 - Somewhere (Singing Mt or a new location), the party meet with the Reptites. Yaluk is here, but reveals she doesn't want to fight. She ceased to obey King Zeal and plans to just live peacefully with the remaining Reptites, away from the humans, until her species die out (which is after her lifetime anyway). She dreams of a world in which Lavos never falls and the Reptites can leave in harmony with nature... but it's just a dream, isn't it? She also notes that she is sterile, like many Reptites were in her era, so the party doesn't have to worry about her having offspring in prehistory.
64999995 - Yaluk tells the party that she knows of Azala, who may have had a chance to save the Reptites, but was so selfish and absorbed with his war with humanity that he did nothing and was crushed by the events of Lavos's fall. His desire became almost self-destructive. Yaluk cautions the humans against a similar fate.
64999995 - If you talk to Yaluk a second time, the party tell her about Cakulha's death, but Yaluk's decision isn't affected.
64999995 - After all those emotional moments, I suppose something less distressing is gladly welcome by the player: a strong and stupid Ioka man named Kong challenges Ayla to be chief of Ioka, citing her incapacitation as weakness. He challenges her to a game of getting the most frogs from the Hunting Range.
64999995 - Ayla obviously cannot participate, but Glenn steps up to the challenge, comically scampering around to get more hides than the other guy. Schala proposes a party, and the party talk a bit at night.
64999995 - That night, Magus and Schala reflect on King Zeal. Schala reveals her sorrow, her feeling that back in the Ocean Palace when she woke up Lavos, she ultimately caused everything bad that happened since then and is in a way the actual responsible for every life that was suppressed because of it.

Chapter 14: The Glare of Midnight...

Belthasar thought he could handle the situation with the robots and Vanguard searching for Chronopolis, but he can't handle it any longer. Belthasar decides to clean up the timeline: if the party recover the "past" Masamune and put it back somewhere in 11,995 B.C., the Mystic War will revert back to its original state and the Vanguard will cease to exist to annoy Chronopolis. Belthasar reveals that King Zeal had given it to the real Kasmir in 605 A.D. (he put Masa and Mune to sleep too).

605 - The party arrive to find Zenan set back by fighting which recently subsided. They hear that Imps led by Ozzie, Slash, Flea are trying to overthrow Kasmir on the eastern continent.
605 - At the Mystic Den, the party help the Mystical Knights fend off some of Kasmir's troops. Ozzie tells the party about the Fortress of the real Kasmir, and everyone meets there.
605 - The Mystical Knights reach Kasmir first, and after an (offscreen) fight, Slash manages to take the Masamune from Kasmir's hands. The party arrive but have to track back to the entrance with Slash to rescue some Imps.
605 - In Kasmir's room, King Zeal appears and seemingly defeats Ozzie and Flea. He tells Kasmir that he needs his Mystics for a task, and takes the entire group.
605 - The party find the Imps dead and return to find everyone else gone. Slash believes Ozzie and Flea are still alive, and gives the party the Masamune.
11995 - Glenn puts the past Masamune in Beast Forest. The party mention in passing that a Glenn fighting with two legendary swords would have been awesome. They decide to go to 1005 to see how things have changed.

Chapter 15: ...And the Darkness of Noon

1005 - The situation has reverted to how it was at the beginning of the game, but with no Vanguard. The text in Porre changes to their legitimate griefs about Guardia statically holding all the wealth, etc. King Guardia is staging another meeting with Porre. Montcrief is present.
1005 - Marle and two party members decide to attend since the meeting is taking place immediately.
1005 - While at the meeting, Guardia Castle comes under attack from Porre, led by Dalton, as well as Kasmir and his troops from the alternate 605 A.D.
1005 - Guards seal the meeting room while Marle and the others rumble in the castle. The envoy and a representative of Medina maintain that they have nothing to do with the attack.
1005 - Masa and Mune arrive from Chronopolis (or Glenn's equipment if he's present) and say that the party has done a lot for them, so now it's their turn to help them. They go to battle the Porre and Mystic troops.
1005 - The party make it up to the top tower, where they find the portal that the monsters came from. They defeat Dalton, who is pushed out of a window.
1005 - The party return to the throne room to find King Guardia crawling to the throne. Marle rushes in.
1005 - King Zeal appears behind them on the throne of Guardia. He laughs at the turn of events and remarks that it's given him the opportunity to do some shopping in Guardia's treasury, showing the Sun Stone. Marle takes a shot at him, but he disappears and King Guardia dies. The guards get things under control.
1005 - Montcrief, apparently shocked, expresses condolences. Porre establishes a protectorate on Guardia, allowing Nadia to become Queen, but Marle delegates her powers to the Chancellor as she's still busy with chasing King Zeal through time.
1005 - Screen goes black and Crono wakes up at his house. Marle comes up and they share a scene about what happened to Truce before heading back to Chronopolis.

Chapter 16: Stop the Porre Lab!

2305 - The party return to Chronopolis, where Marle argues with Belthasar about saving her father's life. Belthasar reveals that he was soon to die anyway. He tells the party he's trying to locate King Zeal.
2305 - Belthasar breaks the argument by meeting arriving agents, who bring with them Cakulha (who lives now that history removed the Vanguard).
2305 - The party decide to check Medina 1005 to find and destroy the lab for revenge, but also in case they can rescue Coyopa.
1005 - Hutch tells the party Toma XIII has gone missing. They search at the sealed pyramid and find the door to something. However, they can't open it, and Hutch is worried about Toma. The party decide to go see the first Toma.
1005 - They bring him to 1005 A.D. and he opens it up. They enter and go down a few hallways to find a Porre lab conducting experiments. The lead researchers are Luccia's parents; she's there as a 10 year old kid along with her older brother (the man who would create Grobyc in CC). Anyway, they're trying to infuse humans with magic and Elements, and create monstrosities as a result. Toma attempts to bust out his descendant as the party fight some of their creations.
1005 - They eventually find Luccia and her parents, who confirm that Medina is not aware of their presence here. A monstrosity, apparently upset by the party's presence, comes out. The party defeat the monstrosity, which appears to be a mutated Coyopa. Luccia's parents tell her and his brother to finish their research and complete a new cyborg (the first Porre cyborg was completed only thanks to King Zeal's help and Dalton's technology).
1005 - The party take Coyopa's Xamoltan datacube from the parents, which will be translated by Cakulha and help Belthasar create Elements in the future for Chrono Cross, among other things.
1005 - Luccia's brother stupidly set the self-destruct sequence, thinking Toma had already done it. They take Luccia and her brother outside with the Tomas, but the parents don't make it. William Ishito shows up and remarks that Porre might form a Black Wind unit to replace the losses there, and that he'll join it to make sure things don't get out of hand. His 8 year old brother Norris is with him and notes that he'll join too, as he wants to be a hero. Ishito shrugs it off, and Toma goes to check out his museum before returning to 605 A.D.

Chapter 17: Once More Unto the Breach

This chapter is a strong opportunity to demonstrate Belthasar's philosophy that the end justifies the means, as well as the actual unreliability of Crono's party. Ultimately, this will show why Belthasar didn't work with most of them in Chrono Cross...

64999995 - Ayla, if the party decided to save her, heals.
2305 - Belthasar, flabbergasted, suggests the party strike at the Frozen Flame to lure King Zeal out for battle. He notes that in a few days, it will be one year exactly since the Ocean Palace incident, and that the party can strike at the Frozen Flame -- inside the Mammon Machine -- in the interim period between the Ocean Palace's destruction and the creation of the Black Omen.
2305 - Belthasar notes that Schala must be present to allow the party to get close to the Frozen Flame. Magus objects but relents once Schala demands she be allowed to go. Once Schala unseals the Mammon Machine, the party members will activate an Annihilation Energy Agitator, which will mix Annihilation energy with the Anti-annihilation energy of the Flame.
2305 - Striking the past Frozen Flame actually has more consequences than it seems: if the party change the Flame in some way, Guardia would disappear from history, as Antaeus would easily butcher a Flame-less Cedric! In that scenario, past Marle might still defeat Antaeus anyway, but Guardia might not dominate over the other tribes on the long term. The risk must be taken according to Belthasar, who slightly hints towards the fact that Chronopolis would still exist in a Porre dominant world anyway. Moreover, he reminds the party that they already destroyed one world, the Reptite one, and that they must not have remorse in destroying another one... because it is necessary. The party, as well as Melchior, are in a dilemma.
2305 - The party decide to risk it, and resolve to change history back to normal if the Flame changes and causes any problems.
12000 - The party arrive and access the main room through a back route. They get to the throne room and find the Mammon Machine.
12000 - Schala unseals the Mammon Machine and the AEA is activated. King Zeal arrives to taunt the party, but the Flame discards both the Machine and Schala in the Darkness Beyond Time to protect itself. A party member strikes at King Zeal, who drops his Frozen Flame.
12000 - King Zeal is temporarily stunned to learn that Schala has been sucked in, and the party approach the Flame.

Chapter 18: Born in Sin, Die in Sin

12000 - The Frozen Flame beckons and challenges each of the three party member to see if they can tame it.
? - Marle goes through Guardia Castle and witnesses humiliating moments in her past. In the center of the castle is Yakra. The Frozen Flame ridicules her for being too weak to deal with the hard realities of the world, and she falters.
? - Glenn goes through mountains and observes scenes of cruelty perpetrated by Cyrus. Magus appears and kills Cyrus. Glenn then kills Magus. Glenn goes to Cyrus's side, and Cyrus tells him to kill all Mystics as his dying wish. Glenn falters.
? - Robo enters a dome of the ruined future. He walks through scenes of his life, and regrets not being able to save his human masters from Lavos. The Flame torments him by calling him an in-betweener, caught between the world of humans and robots but unable to fully participate in either. Atropos later appears and says he is infected; he must fight Atropos to survive. He tries to help Atropos after beating her, but she springs back and cripples him; he falters.
? - Lucca awakes in her house, were she's ridiculed. Her science is merely a tool to be used by governments and those more powerful than her, and she'll never see the bright future she's creating. She sees a few scenes from her life, including Crono's rejection. The scene shifts to her house, where R-series blue robots are burning the orphanage. After killing them, she discovers they were piloted by children, and falters.
? - Magus enters what appears to be his lair. The Flame torments him by revealing just how many thousands of humans and Mystics died as a result of the war. Magus shrugs it off and keeps going, and after passing a few rooms with broken bodies of Mystics, he enters the next room to find Zeal Palace's throneroom; he finds Schala too. What appears to be King Zeal arrives and challenges Magus in battle; this is a new enemy. Magus defeats King Zeal. King Zeal appears to launch a fire spell, and Magus is forced to counter it. As a result, Schala dies, and Magus falters.
? - Crono appears in his house, and sees scenes of his life. He's then taking to a black area where he sees bodies broken upon the ground. The Flame ridicules him for killing scores of people across time, and notes that he's nothing more than an assassin. Lavos appears; Crono fights him, but falters.
? - Ayla, if available, appears in prehistory. She says "Home?" and scampers around before Reptites surround her. She wanders around and defeats them. The Flame taunts her for being a ruthless killer, but she echoes "law of earth. Win and live. Lose and die. No change law." (In the JP version it was the law of earth, not rule of life.) She's transported to a factory. No battles here; the Flame just ridicules her for not being able to even comprehend the future of life. She notes that life is simple; eat and live, love friends and lovers, and live for the betterment of the world. Defeated again in this little game, the Flame takes her back to prehistory. She wanders around and destroys more Reptites before confronting two Xamoltan. The Flame interjects that humans can never co-exist with other life. She asks if they wish to fight. They decline, and Ayla opts not to fight them. Ayla states that one must protect oneself, but that all life is precious. She is transported to a black screen, and approaches the Flame (which asks her how to arbitrate with Lavos) before hearing King Zeal object.
12000 - The party materialize back at the Ocean Palace, where King Zeal has recovered from his stupor and stops the party from accessing the Frozen Flame.
12000 - The party must battle the Frozen Flame.
12000 - After the battle, King Zeal exclaims that he'll take revenge, and withdraws through a portal with the Frozen Flame. The party returns to Chronopolis.

Chapter 19: The Dreamtime

At this point, the player can access a computer record in Chronopolis showing Project "Anabasis", the record of King Zeal's revival and escape.

2305 - The party returns to Chronopolis and finds that King Zeal recently attacked, capturing the Gurus and inflicting casualties. Agent 12 explains what happened, as does Mother Brain. The party and agents assume that King Zeal's next target is Gaspar, and decide to go to the End of Time.
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 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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.
Dreamtime - The party makes its way across the barren land fighting curious spirit creatures. Their magic is ineffective for some reason. Nevertheless, they reach Gaspar near a small crack, observing some of these strange emanations bursting. Suddenly, King Zeal appears from nowhere and asks Gaspar to join him in the recreation of Zeal; Gaspar informs Zeal that his magic is useless.
Dreamtime - Crono, emboldened by this fact, rushes to attack King Zeal but is hit by the King's defense and falls into the planet's energies. King Zeal notes that'll come for Gaspar later. 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 20: Dalton’s Last Stand

Zeal contacted Dalton as early as before Chapter 1, somehow gaining his support and asking him to gather old relics to prepare for the re-creation of the Kingdom of Zeal. So that's why Dalton seeks the "Silver Streak" in Chapter 1 and encounters Magus. It doesn't change history then because the relics are inactive without a power source. This allows us to put Chapter 1 in 11998 BC instead of 11999 BC without too much coincidences (since Dalton's action is directly caused by King Zeal in this scenario). Zeal actually intends to kill Dalton since he is well aware that Dalton would try to enslave the villagers and make himself the king of that new kingdom.

11995 - King Zeal is finally ready for the re-creation. He activates the relics with the Sun Stone and goes to talk with the villagers. The relics have been assembled into a bunch of defense systems in a fortress guarded by Dalton, and the final activation of the Sun Stone will raise the continents.
11995 - Its purpose would be to protect the new kingdom. The party passes through it in hopes of finding King Zeal. Instead, they see Dalton trying to navigate the complex maze that King Zeal had him create.
11995 - The party confront Dalton and find out that he does plan to overthrow King Zeal at the first opportunity. They try to talk Dalton into joining them, since they have the same enemy, King Zeal.
11995 - But of course, Dalton refuses and Magus then kills him. This recalls yet again the main theme of reconciliation, except that Dalton happens to be an example of a typical stubborn person who refuses to reconcile.
11995 - King Zeal departs with Melchior and Belthasar, and speaks with them en route to the villagers to put the Sun Stone at Sargon's house.

Chapter 21: Let us Part in Zealous Regret

11995 - 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 Dream Devourer is calling him to the DBT).
11995 - 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).
11995 - 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).
11995 - The party find the Gurus at the Commons and confront King Zeal at the North Cape. King Zeal talks about regretting that he was under some kind of Lavos influence, and admonishes the party to enjoy the remaining days of earth. He tells them to pursue him if they want to see the end.
11995 - King Zeal disappears upward into a huge distortion leading to the Darkness Beyond Time. A pumped up version of the Sun Stone "Son of Sun" named "CrimseSun" appears to battle the party.
11995 - 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).
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.
The party stop Sargon, who's furious and makes a convincing argument for recreating Zeal. A scuffle breaks out and the Sun Stone activates, but nothing happens.
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 before losing a blue graphical effect and wondering how he got there.
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 reference to CC).

Chapter 22: Dreaming Across Time

2305 - Back in Chronopolis, Gaspar brutalizes Belthasar verbally for creating Chronopolis and reviving King Zeal.
2305 - The party enters, and 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.
2305 - Gaspar comment that something huge is probably happening in the DBT, but Belthasar says they should still take the time to repair things in the timeline to gain more power; this is the sidequest chapter. The Gurus present a Time Egg to help enter the DBT.

Chapter 23: Where Dreams go to Die

DBT - Having 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:
- a cathedral
- a castle with an unknown ruler
- a fair
- a ruined computer dome
- a Zeal teleporter
- a robotics facility
- an unknown Zeal area
DBT - Gradually, emanations of Lavos reveal the role of the Arbiter...Lavos's history and original desires...and the spurned Lavos's desire to end it all.
DBT - At the final area, Kasmir and King Zeal are shown talking. Kasmir offers to delay the party while King Zeal goes ahead to the Dream Devourer. Three PCs remain behind to battle Kasmir in the cloud illusion.
King Zeal is in front of the DD's "face", and reveals its wish of destroying the universe and his impending merging with it. Anyway, King Zeal comments that he is strong-willed enough to resist the merging, and wants to use the Dream Devourer power to recreate Zeal. The party have a heated argument.
He is defeated in a climactic final battle, after which the Frozen Flame is taken by Crono and the Dream Devourer seems to shatter. King Zeal, before dying, tells them that the Dream Devourer is still alive.

Ending

DBT - King Zeal apparently dies, and the Dream Devourer erupts in distortions, though still unseen. Everyone's thrown out except Magus, who goes up to find Schala atop what appears to be a Lavos spawn. He's thrown out at that point, too.
2305 - At Chronopolis, Belthasar and the Gurus reveal that they feel the planet's finished its business, since the Gates are closing, but Belthasar still wants to formulate a plan for the Dream Devourer. However, everyone must return to their eras to stabilize time.
2305 - Magus storms out in anger, leaving to an unspecified time period. The rest say their goodbyes and leave.
64999995 - In prehistory, Ayla shares a small scene with Yaluk and is last seen gazing over the peak of Singing Mountain.
605 - In the Middle Ages, Frog returns to a hero's welcome. Leene is eager to talk to him, and the scene ends as they prepare for a feast in his honor.
1005 - ?
Credits roll.
230X - SCENE: Belthasar opens up Project Kid in Chronopolis at night.
? - SCENE: King Zeal is lying down in an undisclosed location. Magus enters and they share dialogue. Magus notes that King Zeal will tell him all the secrets of the dark arts to help him find Schala. King Zeal laughs.
? - SCENE: If you completed all the sidequests, the bonus scene appears.
After all this, you get a Developer's room check message (if you didn't find it) and a save prompt for New Game +.

Other overarching plot points

The following points are mostly valid, although they're sometimes not 100% ironed out or are susceptible of being changed as the coding of the game advances.

Crono

Crono will speak in Crimson Echoes. He speaks in Chrono Cross, as well as in the official Chrono Trigger manga -- in which we have a huge glimpse at his personality. The only reason he didn't speak in CT was because he was the main character. Same for Serge; he's silent because he's the main character, and as soon as "Lynx" replaces him, "Lynx" becomes the one who doesn't speak.

The thing with CT:CE is that we don't have a main character. Magus, Glenn, and Lucca appear to be the most central characters in the plot; Marle gets a lot of attention too thanks to the 1 A.D. story arc; Robo may be a bit less important but has exposure in the future arcs; and Ayla fills the role of the optional character. Crono, on the other hand, is less developed because of his silent role. All he does (and he doesn't actually do much in the plot) is generic cardboard heroic stuff, even with the addition of the Entity connection stuff in Chapter 19.

Granted, even though his personality is shown in the manga, we would have to expand on it if we make him speak. We would have to create something that isn't already here. But isn't this the very point of making a sequel in the first place? To put the characters in new, different situations than the ones they've already experienced? We expand a lot on Magus and Glenn; we could do the same with Crono and explore the human being that's hiding being the simple "hero" stereotype.

Also, Crono's silence completely nullifies one of the biggest difference between this game's Crono and CT's Crono: the fact that he's married with Marle. They're in love with each other, they form a couple, yet it doesn't really affect anything because of Crono's silence. If Crono were to speak, this "love" stuff wouldn't be an unwelcomed addition; on the contrary, as long as we keep the current epid mood and stay away from cliché, cutesy love-story stuff, this Crono/Marle detail would fit perfectly with the game's main theme of "reconciling differences" and "personal attachment", and Lavos's original loneliness and quest for knowledge.

Glenn

Glenn is secretly haunted with the feeling of having no place to call home. Indeed, he has been "lost" ever since 590 A.D. when his friend Cyrus died and he went into hiding in the wilderness as a mere frog-man. Then after the events of CT, due to King Zeal, he returned in an alternate 600 A.D. in which Cyrus was never a hero and the Mystic War still continues in 605 A.D., while people think he has delusional disorders due to his mumblings about the difference between his timeline and this alternate, Masamune-less timeline...

Most people accept Glenn overall since he does create the Vanguard (who aren't corrupted fascists until the future era), but a few still think his mind isn't exactly sane. Without the King's protection, people would have thought he was crazy when he appeared out of nowhere in 600 A.D. talking about the war being finished and Cyrus and himself being heroes, etc.

Kasmir

In the original timeline, Kasmir was killed early in the war (perhaps by the Hero Cyrus, though we don't need to specify) before he managed to master his illusory spells. In the modified timeline, Cyrus not-the-Hero died first and stuff changed so that Kasmir lived on and went to become Magus' successor.

Kasmir knows a spell that allows him to create illusions of himself. This way, tons of battles can have happened between 600 and 605, but everytime Kasmir was defeated it happened to be an illusion, while the real one has always remained safely away from the battlefields in his hidden fortress. Thus, in Chapter 4, it's also an illusion, and the real one is defeated only later in the game

Origin of Lavos

Lavos did not only evolve the human species, Lavos IS humanity. He represents the desire of evolution taken to an extreme. He wants to keep on evolving and improving himself continuously but too wildly: if we could ask him why he wants that, he'll probably have no answer to give. This is kind of the same thing for humans:

Kid: So that's Terra Tower's final, true form... In the end, we're all the same... Everyone dreams of bein' greater, more powerful... They want self-improvement, scientific progress, etc., but where are they heading to with all this? The same question can be asked for the Reptites and every other living beings too, but the game will focus on humanity because they're the ones who got in contact with the Frozen Flame. In CC, the humans are compared to Lavos; throughout CE we could hint at the reverse, that Lavos can also be compared to humans. The original Lavoids would have originated on a planet in which humanity was so advanced, yet so selfish and destructive, that they evolved into Lavoids (this would take thousands of millennias of course). In addition to what we know of the Lavoid life cycle, the humans would also fit somewhere in there, being evolved by Lavoids, but also becoming Lavoids. The Chrono planet basically risks the same fate if the humans don't take more responsability in their free will. In a way, I guess this cycle is comparable to the Hindo-Buddhistic notion of Samsara, the wheel of perpetual reincarnations.

Now, about the Frozen Flame's origins. Its creation was actually accidental. In order to evolve, Lavos just has to slumber in the planet's core, he doesn't need anything else. However, a piece of his shell splintered by mere chance and remained on the surface. Lavos never wanted other beings to use the Flame's power, so he wanted to retrieve it.

Lavos succeeded in recovering the Flame in 12,000 B.C. in the original timeline, when he tricked Queen Zeal into setting forth the conditions of the Ocean Palace disaster (yes, this is an adaptation of DBoruta's theory, we'll have to thank him hugely). After retrieving the Flame, Lavos simply destroyed it, or something, because he already has similar powers to it. However, in Keystone T-1, the same attempt failed because of Crono's intervention (in Keystone T-2, the TTI-fied Lavos pulls Chronopolis back in time to try a second time to retrieve the Flame, but that's after CT:CE).

Yet, simultaneously to these attempts, and all the more after them, Lavos also communicates with the person possessing the Flame, if this person is fitting or special enough. This person would be the Arbiter of Time, someone Lavos discusses with and gives a chance to stop his never-ending quest for evolution, i.e. the mediator between Lavos and the planet's inhabitants. Lavos will, explicitly or not, interrogate him about the meaning of life and their purpose in the universe (Lavos's and the Arbiter's purpose, which is the same). Whether the Arbiter can answer those questions or not, he will eventually have to make a choice: either merge with Lavos and join him in his quest to find the answers, or refuse to do so and possibly remain alive if they're strong-minded enough, in which case Lavos will still destroy the planet sooner or later and continue his life cycle anyway. King Zeal and Schala were the latest Arbiters. There were a certain amount of Arbiters before them too, and whether they fused with Lavos or not, they all contributed to add to Lavos's sentience and knowledge of things (Lavoids are all sentient, but this particular Lavos is even more...cognizant thanks to his contact with the surface species; there is a bit of the "Reconciling differences" theme in here).

The last point is the defeat of Lavos in Chrono Trigger. This has viciously altered Lavos' perspective on the universe. Instead of wanting to seek some metaphysical knowledge, he has given up and began to wish for the destruction of all space-time instead. In CT:CE, King Zeal is the Arbiter of Time. He's supposed to have the choice to not fuse with Lavos, and hugely prefer a new Zeal Kingdom actually, but he eventually goes into the Darkness Beyond Time. Although believing his fate to be a dark one, he discovers there that Lavos's mind is ruined in agony, and he aims to merge with Lavos and take over the resulting being with his own will.

At the end of CC, Serge uses the Chrono Cross to "heal" the Time Devourer. Whether it answers Lavos' questions or not, we again don't know, but the liberated Schala does seem to have grasped something deep about the meaning of life. This interpretation explains a lot about Lavos, and gives him some personality, while still keeping the focus on humanity and the struggle of free will and fate, as it is in the rest of the series.

King Zeal

King Zeal is so strong-willed and determined that he isn't really absorbed by Lavos. Rather, it's Lavos who is absorbed by King Zeal, thus resulting in a new entity controlled by King Zeal, who doesn't want to devour space-time but return in the timeline to... create a supernatural empire and conquer the universe... recreate Zeal... or maybe resume Lavos's quest for the meaning of life. We don't find out.

This idea also kind of shifts, in the end, the feeling of "ultimate menace" from Lavos to King Zeal, so if it's implemented badly it could make Lavos looks too much like a wussy emo puppet while King Zeal would possibly seem too incredibly powerful. Yet, having the DD absorbed into King Zeal and fighting it would sort of neatly wraps up many story arcs of the game, since Schala but also Cedric the Executor are supposed to be part of that TD (though Cedric is just "felt", not seen since it happened long before Schala).

(Added 2010) King Zeal, back in the days of Zeal, was an ambitious but measured man. Like Zeal, his philosophy was rooted in humanism. He praised consciousness, sentience, emotions, and all realms of the human experience, and valued highly the pursuit of dreams. This made him a natural fit as King; the entire Kingdom of Zeal was possessed by a great spirit to learn and discover.

Post-death, King Zeal's philosophy has been considerably embittered by the discovery that Zeal fell because of Lavos, and that humanity never produced such a beautiful civilization thereafter. In Zeal, there was Kajar and Enhasa; Kajar hosted those who wished to discover and build in reality, and Enhasa hosted those who preferred to dream and explore those ethereal realms. But in the modern world, King Zeal found people to be dominated by pettiness and consumerist cares, with dreams of more grand material possessions or simple procreation. And worst of all, the highest ambition of Zeal had been demonized in legend as overdoing it.

King Zeal consequently viewed most of the rest of humanity not part of Zeal as inferior. They possessed inferior minds, inferior curiosities, inferior passions, and inferior dreams. This ethically rationalized manipulation of these people and his own arbitration of the timeline to revive the Dream of Zeal, which was in contrast to the modern world's mediocrity. On a personal level, he remained a consummate human, with voracious curiosities in new experiences and a desire to taste all the spice of life that the universe could offer. But post-death, he held a lot of anger towards the world for its mediocrity; for the fall of Zeal; for the wasting of humanity's potential.

Temporal Catch

It's an unnoticeable but huge energy field set up by Belthasar around Chronopolis and which pulls temporal strain on it, basically turning it into the "the space-time coordinates of least resistance". With it, Chronopolis effectively replaces the End of Time (except it's not in a Pocket Dimension), and thus all the Gates that should lead to the End of Time lead to Chronopolis instead.

This explains why the party always arrive in the time fortress when they use a Gate or break a Time Egg, and why they sometime do it with more than 3 peoples. When King Zeal rampages Chronopolis near the end of the game, the Temporal Catch is broken and this is why the party can go to rescue Gaspar. It's then repaired when the 3 Gurus return.

This thing indirectly foreshadow something huge about Chrono Cross. This doesn't really affect the plot, but this should be kept in mind when writing dialogues: by the end of the game, Belthasar indeed possesses:

the Temporal Catch (a system that seriously weakens the fabric of time on Chronopolis' coordinates), the Dragon Tooth (a direct connection with the energy of the void), the Frozen Flame (a direct connection with Lavos). Combine all these stuff and you get... yes, the Time Crash! The Temporal Catch diminished the "resistance" of Chronopolis' coordinates so much that it resulted in a permanent "hole"...

Expanded Main Ending

If you did all the sidequests

Instead of remaining in Guardia, Crono and Marle decide to use the unused Time Egg to explore the dimensions affected by the Devourer, to see the extent of the destruction, to heal the people that were hurt and to help them rebuild their homes. Crono mentions that he said goodbye to his Mom and that she's okay with him leaving. Crono and Marle note that with Lucca helping to rebuild Truce and helping the orphans, Guardia will remain in good hands.

So, they use the Time Egg at the Telepod exhibit to return to the Spire of Telos and reach the wormholes.

The credits + the Magus and Belthasar cutscenes play.

Then another cutscene is shown, with Gaspar, Crono and Marle discussing (in the Dreamtime?). Gaspar asks them how well they've been doing with the other dimensions, if they met Schala now that she'd been freed, and if they found the Chrono Break yet. At the end of the chat, Crono and Marle say their goodbye and leave, and Gaspar literally vanish. The dialogue would be more on the lighthearted side than overly mysterious or very important storywise (like maybe have Marle notes that Schala looks nice with blonde hair, etc.). However, one extra plot point we might hint at is Gaspar's new status: at that point in Chrono history, he may have finally merged with the Entity (hence how he knows so much, and how he vanished).

So, that's an idea. It gives more closure to several points, including Crono and Marle. Instead of the passive feeling of having them remain in a time that doesn't need them, we have a more dynamic feeling and we know they're not that sad of leaving (think Sam Beckett in the last episode of Quantum Leap). This also draws a subtle parallel with the actual state of the Chrono series: a large part of the gaming world has moved on, but the series still lives on in some form.

The downside in that ending is that we jump around between many separate story arcs (Guardia, Crono/Marle, credits, Magus, Belthasar, and Gaspar/Crono/Marle). CC is a major common link between all these arcs though, and we could allow the player to walk in some of the cutscenes to let them see the ending at their own pace. What do you think?

Screenshots[edit]

The project team had several screenshots selected for the release website. You can view them here, along with some personal favorites of the team members in the second section. The team members' favorites contain HEAVY SPOILERS.