Chrono Trigger time periods
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chrono Trigger features several distinct time periods, which must be explored to progress the story.
Contents |
[edit] 65,000,000 B.C.
65,000,000 B.C. is home to Ayla's village, Ioka Village, and the Reptite Lair. 65,000,000 B.C. is also the time period when Lavos crashed into the planet, burying itself deep beneath the crust. This ushers in the Ice Age that can be seen in 12,000 B.C. Its layout is reminiscent of the Supercontinent Pangea.
65,000,000 B.C has only six notable locations. The world is at a primitive stage and humanity is yet to evolve into modern-day humans. Many of the locations that Crono and gang visit are in the outdoors or close to nature in some way or another.
- Ioka Village — The most important place in the world in this era. The tribe of "apes" known as the Iokans live in this village. Their chief is none-other than Ayla, the powerful member of Crono's party.
- Laruba Village — hidden deep within a forest to the north of the continent. Here the tribe Laruba live, hiding themselves from the Reptites, the enemies of the apes. After the Reptites burn down Laruba Village, Chief Ayla from Ioka offers the Larubans shelter in Ioka Village. Later in the game the Laruba ruins contain a Nu which will change the names of the party members, if desired.
- Reptite Lair — an outpost of the Reptites, most likely designed as a staging area for the Reptite legions for raids against the ape's villages. On the outside of the Lair lies the Forest Maze, a jungle that surrounds the Reptite Lair in all directions. This would have been used as a good defense against an attack from the apes. Crono and Ayla come here to find Crono's Gate Key, the only item that can open the Time Gates. There they meet Azala, the Reptite leader. After a battle against Nizbel, Azala's powerful minion, Crono receives the Gate Key.
- Dactyl Nest — A mountainous area, home to many tough enemies to fight. At the top-most point Ayla calls the Dactyls to enable party members to fly to previously unreachable places on the map. At this point the red star, which is Lavos, is able to be seen in the sky.
- Tyrano Lair — The main stronghold of the Reptites, this fortress is set high on a mountain overlooking Volcanoes in a sea of lava, as well as Ioka Village away in the distance. Azala, ruler of the Reptites abides in the stronghold. Crono and Ayla arrive here by Dactyls to free the captured Laruban Villagers. Crono and Ayla climb the fortress and face off against Nizbel again, finally beating the formidable beast. Crono and Ayala reach the top of the fortress, where they do battle against Azala and the Black Tyrano.
- Hunting Range — A forest full of creatures to fight, and a secret Nu that only appears while it is raining. Unlike other battles when you engage in combat, the original battle music is not heard. Instead, the music that was playing during the "feast" scene in the village and at the prehistoric dance at the Millennial fair is played.
In the Pre-Release version of Chrono Trigger, 65,000,000 B.C had a few different locations that did not exist in the official release of the game. These included an un-named village on the eastern side of the continent, a mountain in the middle of the continent many fans refer to as the "Singing Mountain", which was available in the pre-releases coding.
- Unnamed Village — The Unnamed Village's mystery is impossible to decipher. Within the coding, there is no location info or text strings that show the name of the village.
- Singing Mountain — The most talked about location in the Beta. The Singing Mountain is practically complete on the inside. Though access is denied from the outside, using cheat codes, one can enter the inside of the mountain, which is filled with lava rivers, a deep maze and a couple of lava falls. Though no events are at work inside, the music is available.
[edit] 12,000 B.C.
12,000 B.C. is also called the Dark Ages and is a utopian time period in one sense and dystopian in another. The world has been left to die; the ice age surface of the world is populated by the non-magic users called "Earthbound Ones," while up in the sky are floating landmasses upon which those capable of utilizing magic (called "Enlightened Ones") live. The skybound Kingdom of Zeal is where the heroes meet Schala as well as other important characters, and where much of the story is developed. While the floating kingdom of Zeal may seem like paradise, there is something sinister going on under the surface, and many of the inhabitants seem powerless to stop the evil Queen, despite their ability to use magic.
After the fall of Zeal the skybound kingdom is hurled into the sea and all that remains is the Last Village on a desolate plain along with some other small landmasses. The Last Village is inhabited by survivors from both the Earthounds and Enlightened ones, though this distinction is finally lost.
- In Chrono Cross, Crono and the crew are believed to have defeated Lavos in this time period, as the people of the saved future can trace the existence of Lavos to discarded timelines only.
[edit] 600 A.D.
600 A.D. is also known as the Middle Ages and is populated by many humans and Mystics across several continents. The Kingdom of Guardia rules the northwestern continent and is waging a war against Magus and his Mystic army. Magus's lair is found in the center of the map and Magus occupied the Zenan continent to the south during the war. Ozzie, one of Magus' top generals, has his own fortress far to the east.
Frog lives alone in a forest on the West side of the southern continent away from the city.
[edit] 1000 A.D.
1000 A.D. is home to Crono, Lucca, and Marle who all reside in the Kingdom of Guardia in the northwestern continent. The Millennial Fair is being put on in the Kingdom during this time. Farther to the east resides Melchior and the Mystic Village. Cyrus and Toma's graves are also located in the southeastern continent.
The year 1000 A.D is the most populous era in Chrono Trigger's timelines. This section will provide a brief overview of each town and important location.
- Truce Village — home of Chrono Trigger's silent protagonist hero Crono. This town is presumed the capital of the Kingdom of Guardia. The Millennial Fair is held just north of here.
- Porre — a town located to the south of the Southern Zenan continent. Porre is a busy port run by a greedy Mayor. As an optional side-quest later in the game, the party can travel to his house in the 600AD period and give the woman living there an item for free, instead of charging her. She comments on the group's kindness and remarks that she will raise her children to have the same kindness. This changes the Mayor into a generous, helpful man. The town of Porre has a large play in Chrono Trigger's sequel game, Chrono Cross, as a large military power that colonizes the El Nido Islands, as well as destroying the Guardia Kingdom.
- Medina — a town east of Truce. It is inhabited only by beings known as "Mystics". These beings are somewhat like demi-humans. They are fluent magic users and are the descendants of the survivors left over from the Mystic War of 600 A.D.. The Mystics worship Magus, a magician who lead them during the War. If the player returns after defeating Magus, however, they will worship Ozzie instead. The Mystics do not take most visitors lightly, so most of the human population stay away from Medina. After completing a side-quest later in the game, and defeating Ozzie in 600AD, the Mystics will become a happy and friendly people, prompting a ferry service to be built as a link between Medina and Truce.
- Choras — a town tucked in a remote corner of the world. It is a sleepy town with no worries with the outside world. West of Choras lies the grave of the explorer Tomas, who lived in the town 400 years ago. North of the town lies the Northern Ruins, an old castle where the ghost of the Knight Cyrus haunts. After completing a side-quest Crono and Frog (also known as Glenn) put Cyrus' Ghost to rest in his grave within the Ruins, and the ruins become the Hero's Grave.
- Guardia Castle — The centre of the Kingdom of Guardia. This castle is the home of King Guardia the XXXIII, current and presumably last ruler of the Kingdom of Guardia. The castle has an extensive Dungeon in which Crono must escape after being wrongly accused of kidnapping Princess Nadia (mainly known as Marle). In 1005 A.D, during the Fall of Guardia, it can be theorized that the Castle was sieged and laid to waste; the King most likely dead.
- Sealed Pyramid — Though not an important location, Crono can return here and use Marle's charge pendant to release the seal on the magical pyramid-shaped barrier, revealing a Nu who will give Crono a choice of one of two treasure chests, one of which contains a powerful weapon, the other containing strong armor.
In the Beta Version (also known as the Pre-Release) of Chrono Trigger, 1000 A.D remained almost completely the same than the Official Release. There were only two major changes: Zenan Bridge, the bridge connecting the two Zenan Continents together, is destroyed, and the architecture and the layout of the Northern Ruins were different.
[edit] 1999 A.D.
1999 A.D. is a technologically advanced age, where humans live inside large domes and use robots and computers in everyday routine. Little of it is seen in the game; the protagonist never interacts with this time's inhabitants. The Day of Lavos occurs during this time period.
Lavos, the antagonist of Chrono Trigger, crashed into the Earth 65 million years ago. In 1999 A.D., he awakens and ascends to the surface of the planet. The specific day of the event is unspecified; the time is given as 1:24 pm. The Day of Lavos is an apocalyptic event; he destroys modern civilization and leaves the earth as a barren wasteland; the atmosphere is clouded or otherwise ruined, a state functionally similar to nuclear winter, sending the planet into perpetual night, and agriculture disappears. Most of the world's population starves and civilization disappears. Almost no hope of recovery is given.
Players access 1999 A.D. only for the Day of Lavos, and can do so at almost any point in the game. However, players are not sufficiently strong to beat him until they have completed most of the game. If the player fails to defeat Lavos, the inevitable apocalypse occurs and the game ends with the message, "But The Future Refused To Change". This ending also shows a photograph of the dying world.
Chrono Trigger sets the apocalypse in 1999 because of Nostradamus's prophecy that the world would end in the seventh month (July) of the year 1999. This prophecy was more famous in Japan than in the United States.
[edit] 2300 A.D.
2300 A.D. is a dystopian time period, the world left to die after the Day of Lavos and the absolute destruction it brought to the entire planet. The atmosphere is dirty and black and hardly any light reaches the planet's surface. The once prosperous human race has been reduced to living in the remains of scattered domes across the continents, abandoning the ruined cities to the mutated creatures left in Lavos' wake. Robo is found in this time period, lying dormant since 1999 in the Proto Dome (Promethe Dome in Japan), and Belthasar lives in his lab (the Keeper's Dome (Guardian's Dome in Japan)) on the southern continent. A prominent location in the game (accessible in a sidequest) is the Geno Dome, (Genocidome in Japan) which seems to represent Genocide and Dome in one word. True to its name, Genocidome is a human processing plant, where the few remaining humans are killed and turned into waste by a production line. The robots, which seemed to gain sentinence want to kill all the remaining humans and rebuild Earth into a country of iron and machinery. Prometheus (Robo) was a prime candidate in accomplishing this by interacting with humans to study them secretly for Mother Brain until the Day of Lavos, which seemed to erase most of his memories.
An alternative version of this time period where the Day of Lavos was averted can be seen in some of the endings to the game. It is implied to be a happy time, with Nadia's Bell, a famous 1000 A.D landmark, still existing, and Robo enjoying a fair with his girlfriend, Atropos.
In the Beta Version, some islands were changed around, but the map mostly remains the same. The strangest inclusion is a coliseum-like building isolated in an island. It is not enterable whatsoever, for there was nothing programmed for it. It has been given the name "Robot Village" by fans due to the text strand located in the game.
[edit] End of Time
The End of Time (The Farthest Reaches of Time in Japan) is located in the extremely far future, represented by 
(the infinity symbol) in Epoch's time gauge. It is the point of least resistance in the space-time continuum. All lost time-travellers (such as those who enter a time warp in groups larger than three) end up there. Inhabited by only Gaspar and Spekkio, the End of Time is a dark and desolate place where everything throughout the universe seems to have ended. However, it contains portals to all other time periods including the Day of Lavos, and it can dock the Epoch. The End of Time further features a rejuvenation point and a save point.
When Gaspar was banished to this period by Lavos, all that could be seen was swirling mist and emptiness. By the time the game's characters first arrive at the End of Time a little piazza has somehow appeared, complete with a terrace housing the portals, a chamber for Spekkio and a lamppost under which Gaspar stands and, more often than not, sleeps. From this vantage point, Gaspar can glimpse into any point in time.
The End of Time is first visited by Crono, Lucca, Marle and Robo when all four enter a time gate together, which becomes unstable. Gaspar explains that, as already mentioned, the End of Time is the point of least resistance of the space-time continuum, and since time gates can't carry more than three entities at once, it had to dump them at the End of Time. Only three characters can leave the End of Time together, so one (and later more) team members must remain there, although they can swap party members from almost any point in the game. The End of Time is also the place where most of the characters can gain magic power from Spekkio and sometimes get hints on where to go next from Gaspar. In a game featuring frequent time travel, the temporal nexus of the changeless End of Time might be viewed as a "base of operations" of sorts for the heroes. The game's instruction manual refers to the End of Time as "the most important place in this game".
