Make this make sense...

[DBZ_KAKAROT]

So I recently watched Marvel Loki tv series, and it reminded me of this game in a way. Now this game had somewhat of a convoluted story, so I didn't fully understand, unlike the first game. So help me understand this in Marvel terms.

From my understanding the original Chrono Trigger is like the Sacred Timeline, and Chrono Cross is now like a branch extending out of the sacred timeline, is this correct? The original game Chrono Trigger had multiple endings, did each one created a new timeline?

In the DS version, there was a new ending with Magus, if you enter that Void at the End of Time with Magus as a team member, there will be two Magus. In the ending your team gets transported back to their sacred timeline, while the second Magus seem to have been transported somewhere else, I'm assuming this is the branching Chrono Cross timeline?

Final question, does this mean the events of Chrono Cross is its own thing, meaning it does not affect the sacred timeline aka Chrono Trigger timeline, and in that timeline the events occur differently?

[Door Into Summer]

Cross has nothing to do with the multiple endings (they were all just for fun) of Trigger, its more about 2 different times lines involving a character who is dead in one and alive in another. Guile was suppose to be Magus but because of stupid upper management decisions, was changed. A letter from Lucca hints at it as well. The connections between Trigger and Cross are extremely weak. Renaming the Trigger references in Cross would not effect Cross's story in the least. Lucca suddenly having a last name for example. Ashtear was most likely originally meant to be an original character altogether before execs forced connections to Trigger.

[TheShadowHatter]

Idk how well I can explain it but it all comes down to Belthasar, who is key to all of this. He had a master plan called "Project Kid", which involved Belthasar creating a clone of Schala known as "Kid" to take her mother's (Schala) pendant and sent through time to get discovered by Lucca, who creates an orphanage as she was doing her research on Time Eggs. Eventually Lynx and Harle burn down the orphanage but Kid escapes and is later contacted by Belthasar with a mission to travel back in time and save a boy from drowning (aka Serge). That causes the parallel world split in Chrono Cross where one timeline is Serge alive and one where he's dead. So the game is basically you following Kid's mission to chase the Frozen Flame (a shard of Lavos) and eventually create the Chrono Cross, which is a crazy weird element/power that you use to free Schala from Lavos and destroy Lavos for good.

So that's the main connection to Chrono Trigger, which I find cool that a character from Trigger essentially created the game Chrono Cross to save Schala (not literally create the game mind you lol but the parallel worlds and such).

There's more explanation to link the two games, but I'm not the smartest so this is all you get lol and that's because I'm a big fan of Chrono Cross and it's one of my top JRPGs of all time so needless to say I'm quite passionate about it.

Also because I predict this random question will come one day...the Crono/Marle/Lucca children in that one part of the game with Miguel aren't the real Crono/Marle/Lucca. They're just there for fan service really.

Oh! and the Prometheus Circuit is Robo, which is pretty neat. There's a lot of connections to Trigger, but you won't notice them on the surface. It's kind of like Dark Souls where you need to go out of your way to look for them.

[Fear Ghoul]

Actually, I'm pretty sure those kids are indeed supposed to be the heroes from the first game since they all die before the game starts, while the Prometheus Circuit is stated to be something Lucca created herself, modeled after Robo.

I'd have to find the quote again, but the main guy behind Chrono Cross, who also worked on Chrono Trigger, stated that every possible combination you create while playing through the game is a legitimate timeline. The game is about infinite parallel realities, with the two we see resulting from a split in a certain timeline, which I sort of think about like the cleavage of two cells. These two worlds have a direct link to each other, but I think that every deviation within that is also creating new worlds of these connected worlds. I hope that makes sense.

This game has a crazy and complicated story, but it does make sense the more you play it. I think it's the best story I've seen tackling the concept of time travel, multiple worlds, and the consequences of time travel.

[TheShadowHatter]

Oh no yeah the ghosts are supposed to be Crono/Marle/Lucca, but since we don't know their ultimate fates (Crono/Marle unknown and Lucca kidnapped by Lynx), it can't be confirmed if those ghosts are ACTUALLY them, or if it's something else entirely. EDIT: especially when you consider the ghosts are CHILDREN, and you don't play as children versions of Crono/Marle/Lucca in Trigger.

As for the Prometheus Circuit you're right it's not 100% confirmed to be Robo itself, so it's possibly just modeled after Robo since he returns to his time at the end of Chrono Trigger and doesn't stick around with Lucca.

The multiple endings being their own canon does make sense. That's pretty much part of the multiverse theory where universes get created based off of each and every decision, so in reality, there's an infinite number of universes based on slight changes/choices. So yeah definitely agree with you on that though of course the game focuses on the main two of Serge being alive/dead.

Definitely love Chrono Cross the most out of the two exactly because of how complicated it is and how many risks they took in terms of gameplay and story. The more people talk about it, the more I end up learning more about the game and the possibilities. If only we got Chrono Break...but maybe one day?

[Fear Ghoul]

For a long time I thought the Prometheus Circuit was Robo after he traveled to the new future, but I saw someone online state it wasn't him, and when I played the game again, I paid attention to what was said about him and while I don't remember the specific part, I do remember a part where it's stated that Lucca built it based on Robo.

Yeah, while it never absolutely states that Crono, Marle, and Lucca died, I think there's enough evidence to assume that they must be dead. For a long time I thought those kids were some sort of representatives of fate, taking the form of those characters, but I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be them. The line Lucca says to Kidd if you have her in your party seems to be strong evidence that it really is them, and that these are somehow their spirits.

As for Chrono Break/Brake, I don't know. So much time has passed that I don't think it could really capture the feeling of the old games. I've actually had this opinion for a long time. If it had come out not too long after Chrono Cross, like at the end of the PS2, I would have been more optimistic, but I just don't think if it was made now that it would be something that would appeal to me.

[Door Into Summer]

Originally posted by Fear Ghoul:

Yeah, while it never absolutely states that Crono, Marle, and Lucca died, I think there's enough evidence to assume that they must be dead. For a long time I thought those kids were some sort of representatives of fate, taking the form of those characters, but I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be them. The line Lucca says to Kidd if you have her in your party seems to be strong evidence that it really is them, and that these are somehow their spirits.

The CT crew's fates are left so vague that I like to think the original crew, including Lucca, are really off on another time traveling adventure while the events of Cross take place. Hard to believe/accept that a party that destroyed a space traveling parasite as well as other monstrosities gets taken out by normies and a furry. Cross suffers from a lot of telling and not showing some of the more important aspects of the story but maybe they were also trying to avoid rage from fans like The Last of Us 2 received when it comes to Joel.

[Towik]

Chatting and explaining story is really tight
just gonna add, please don't ever compare utter crap tv show like Loki to this game.
Thanks

[Fear Ghoul]

Originally posted by Door Into Summer:

Originally posted by Fear Ghoul:

Yeah, while it never absolutely states that Crono, Marle, and Lucca died, I think there's enough evidence to assume that they must be dead. For a long time I thought those kids were some sort of representatives of fate, taking the form of those characters, but I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be them. The line Lucca says to Kidd if you have her in your party seems to be strong evidence that it really is them, and that these are somehow their spirits.

The CT crew's fates are left so vague that I like to think the original crew, including Lucca, are really off on another time traveling adventure while the events of Cross take place. Hard to believe/accept that a party that destroyed a space traveling parasite as well as other monstrosities gets taken out by normies and a furry. Cross suffers from a lot of telling and not showing some of the more important aspects of the story but maybe they were also trying to avoid rage from fans like The Last of Us 2 received when it comes to Joel.

Putting things together from the new Toriyama anime scenes in the release of Chrono Trigger on the PS1, and what's said in the game, we know that Guardia fell (stated by Another World's Radius on his island at one point), which we see in PS1 CT, done with the Masamune, which is how it became full of negativity, and this could be how Crono and Marle die. Lucca was attacked in her house by Lynx, and a theory I saw that makes a lot of sense to me is that Lynx and Harle might have used the kids as human shields, so when Lucca attacked with her fire magic, she tried to avoid hitting the kids and set her house on fire. We don't see her body anywhere, just her glasses on the floor. I think it's safe to assume she either died in the fight, maybe getting trapped and burning to death, or she was captured by Lynx but refused to help him and eventually died.

I agree it's pretty weird thinking about how they became legendary heroes by the end of CT, while Lynx and Harle absolutely should not be powerful enough to kill them based on how strong they are when we see them, but I think this all just has more to do with the plot. Perhaps after years of peace, they grew lax and were no longer at their best. If we think of characters leveling up as them getting better and better at fighting, then after being out of practice for years, maybe we should think in game terms that they are at far lower levels by that point.

[Visser]

I love the enthusiasm of some of these responses trying to link the two games...
but as a fan of Chrono Trigger, and not a fan of Cross at all
the games barely have anything to do with each other. Trigger is kinda fun and loose with it's time mechanisms, the plot has you do it is for story and some rare items (the rainbows), but you are essentially following a group of important people through time and fighting a giant boss monster that is wrecking all of time and space... its silly its fun, and the characters are great
cross has none of that. the time stuff is hard and the characters are terrible. the combat is different, and you can recruit tons of losers for their slightly different attack animations... and it all wraps up in a story that just doesnt connect with anyone.

I'm sure the people in this thread would want to punch me with logic to inform me i'm completely wrong... but yeah your weird take on how the stupid and aweful loki show has similarities? yeah i can buy that for a dollar. cross is all over the place and has only it's writing team to blame for ending this series before it had a chance to grow