(This is part of my journey going playing through Chrono Cross. You can follow the entire series on the Retro Gaming page.)
With the ice breath ability in hand, Serge and Co. chase after General Viper and Lynx to Mt. Pyre — a huge volcano that screams “yeah, please come climb me, I’m totes safe!” In any case, this is a massive dungeon that’s going to take a good long while to complete, so I best settle in and get it done.
Mt. Pyre is basically a boss clearance warehouse full of strong encounter after strong encounter. At least the team gets a couple more star levels, which will no doubt help in the fight to come. And we get to tick off Marcy again, who throws a temper tantrum and makes me wonder who at Square thought that using a little girl as a serious threat was a good idea.
In the middle of Mt. Pyre is, naturally, a huge boss lair. Those evil villains, always planting their flags in the middle of volcanoes! Unfortunately for me, Fort Dragonica is my most dreaded of RPG dungeons, the puzzle dungeon. Every room is some sort of puzzle to figure out and slow down progress. Huzzah, I say.
I actually died against a boss here, which stunk because it was at the end of a maze that I had to re-do. One consolation prize I got was that my characters are starting to come into their level 5 techs, which are powerful once-per-battle abilities that can attack all of the mobs at once. It definitely makes fights against packs of mobs a ton easier.
Seriously, there are SO MANY bosses in this place. Including — why not — a sun that tries to kiss you to death.
After a long time, the party finally makes it to the central chamber to face off against General Viper (who literally gets stabbed in the back) and Lynx.
The mysterious connection between Serge and Lynx is brought to the forefront after the battle — we get another little slice of flashback where a panther attacked someone somewhere at some time. This is what JRPGs do, continually tease you with a tiny little bit of revelation for a long, long time. It’s kind of tiresome, to be honest.
As has been foreshadowed since the start of the game, Lynx and Serge switch bodies through the Frozen Flame. Serge/Lynx gets his butt handed to him, and Lynx/Serge up and stabs Kid in the stomach. For an encore, Serge/Lynx is banished to some sort of impressionist painting dimension. See you next week!
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