Part Twenty-Five: Kid and the Chrono Cross
Entering Terra Tower
Your final challenge in Chrono Cross - as far as dungeons are concerned, anyway - is Terra Tower, which is now floating in Another World, where Sky Dragon Isle used to be. You have a boat, which is insufficient for entering Terra Tower. How do you reach the thing?
Travel to the El Nido Triangle, in the south of the world map, and put Starky in your party. Put a bunch of Red Innate Elements on your team - one of your members should be Red Innate, making Kid a good candidate - and plunge into the light in the center of the El Nido Triangle. Below is the same coral maze you navigated to get a Star Fragment earlier in the game while exploring Home World. There's a Rainbow Shell in the right chest on the first screen, and if you loop south and to the right on the second screen you'll find another Rainbow Shell.
In the middle of the second screen is, well, a UFO. There's a big floaty jelly thingy barring your path to the UFO, as well. Boss time!
Royal Jelly
A Blue Innate blob of goo, the Royal Jelly is a pain in the butt. It attacks slowly, has so-so Elements at its command, and doesn't hit very hard. That said, the Royal Jelly bears one unique quality that no other enemy in the game does: It's immune to almost every type of attack. The one exception is Red Innate Elements and Techs. Anything else - normal attacks, non-Red Elements and Techs, status ailments - will do zero damage.
The answer? Pelt it with Red Innate Elements. That's all you can do. It's an easy fight so long as you have plenty of Red Elements equipped. If you don't, well, run away and equip more. Termina has an unlimited number of Red Innate Elements you can buy if you're low.
You'll receive a Star Level, 900 g, and a Resistance Belt for defeating the Royal Jelly. If Starky's in your party he'll also open the ship up, and after a quick trip to Chronopolis your boat will become a flying boat. Nice. Hop aboard and it will take you to Terra Tower.
(You cannot, unfortunately, use your flying boat to go anywhere else. If you hop back on it'll just be in the water, as usual, though capable of accessing Terra Tower. Boooo.)
Terra Tower
You'll start off near a save point. Save up and head inside. Almost immediately you will run into the first boss of Terra Tower.
Terrator
A Yellow Innate robot, Terrator isn't a huge deal compared to some of the other stuff in Terra Tower. It will start off by debuffing your team's defense with Wave of Fear while buffing its own with Spirits Up. It will then go on the offensive, using strong normal attacks and its unique Tech Omega Yellow to batter your team. Omega Yellow can do around 300 points of damage to one target, and more if that target is Green Innate. Once its health gets low enough it will use Capsules to restore a bit of health.
So long as you use Green Innate Elements - or any Element besides Yellow, really - this battle shouldn't be a problem. Terrator never attacks more than one person at a time, and the damage inflicts isn't enough to kill anyone in a single blow unless they're already damaged. Easy fight.
You'll receive a Star Level, 1,000 g, and the Yellow Field Element for defeating the Terrator. You'll also open the way deeper into Terra Tower.
Past Terrator you'll get into the actual dungeon areas of Terra Tower. You'll run into the following enemies here:
- Terra Terror - White Innate. The strange, floating spirits that roam Terra Tower. Terra Terrors favor physical attacks, and aren't very good at them. Occasionally they will create floating Cytoplasms and Ectoplasms that use Elements on you.
- Cytoplasm - Blue Innate and Ectoplasm - Red Innate. Sometimes created by Terra Terrors and sometimes just in the battle from the start. Both use Elements corresponding to their Innate Color. Generally not a big deal, though they can both use the Elemental Tech Plasma Beam multiple times in a row, potentially dealing a fair amount of damage to one character. They can also Confuse your characters with their Elements, so taking out these floating blobs should be your first priority.
- Myxmycete - White Innate. Bulbous flying creatures with no discernable head. Weird, but they rely on fairly weak White Innate attacks, so also pretty weak. Not a big deal.
- Whoot - Yellow Innate. A beast that won't show up too often, Whoot has a unique move, Owl Eyes, that hits one character with a random status effect. Otherwise it will try to debuff or debilitate your party in various ways. Not a big deal, but worth killing before everything else.
- Cupoid - White Innate. Robotic cupids that show up later in Terra Tower. Their Slash All move is a minor threat at best, even to Black Innates.
Take a left from the entrance and you'll find a pillar that you can knock down with a touch, creating a path. Ignore it for just a moment and go north from the entrance, looping around to the west side of the room. You'll find a Nostrum Element in a chest.
Go across the fallen pillar. You'll come to a series of stairs, patrolled by Terra Terrors. Go down the stairs and you'll find a split in the path at the bottom, with a waterfall that will sweep you off the path on your left. Ignore it for the moment and go right. Kill the Terra Terror blocking your way to the next screen.
You'll wind up on the right side of a pit of water. To your immediate left is a chest containing a Nostrum Element. If you go south while sticking to the right side of the coral formations that serve as paths you'll wind up down in the water, with a bunch of roaming Terra Terrors. Ignore this and take a left as you cross the coral. You'll find a doorway near the southwest corner of the room.
The next area has more coral formations, several of which you can climb. Make your way to the south, until you reach the water at the bottom. Go west onto an overhead branch of coral and follow it northeast. The exit is across a branch of coral that takes you to the west, past a waterfall - though as you try to cross to it you'll hit a bad branch and fall into another area.
When you land a giant stone face will explain the nature of Terra Tower. Climb the coral to the left of the face to proceed. The path ahead looks complex, but it's a pretty straightforward road around the room. Partway through you'll wind up beside a doorway on the right; go through to reach a chest containing a Pack of Lies. Keep climbing the coral in the previous room and you'll see a waterfall on your left. Cross it carefully - don't get swept off! - to find a Defender Plus Element. The exit is in the northeast.
You'll wind up at the bottom of a pit. Climb the coral on the right, then cross underneath it and head west. Behind the waterfall ahead is a Rainbow Shell. Run back to the right and climb up the coral to the next level. Keep climbing coral and moving back and forth around the room until you reach a ledge near the upper-right corner of the screen. Below is a hole in the wall, and you can slide down the ramp to your right to reach it. Inside is a Betta Carotene, a weapon specifically for Janice.
Return to the previous room and keep using the coral to rise to the uppermost level, where you'll find a large hole in the upper-right wall. You'll wind up back in the first room, just past the hallway where you fought the Terrator. There are two pillars on your right that you can push down, creating a path back to the entrance, including the save point and your boat. You've covered a lot of ground, so saving is probably a good idea.
The pillars you knocked over also granted access to the northwestern path out of this room. Past this point you'll start to hear ominous bells tolling, and when you get into fights you'll hear chimes each time you use an Element. The colors of the chimes get lined up at the top of the screen, near the Field Effect. This is a clue for completing the final battle of the game. Don't worry about it right now. Follow the broken path to the northwest corner to find a chest containing a Heal Plus Element, then approach the ominous, floating, red blob blocking the eastern path.
Pyrotor
Ah, another elemental robot thing. Pyrotor fights similarly to Terrator, starting with Sadness Wave to lower your party's Attack, then following up with normal attacks, Omega Red, and some other Red Innate Elements to inflict damage to a single party member. Occasionally it will boost itself with Rage and Ninety-Nine to make its physical attacks more potent, and it can use a ton of Tablets to restore some of its health - not to mention swiftly make the Field Effect Red.
Rage and Ninety-Nine can make Pyrotor surprisingly dangerous, so you want to deal the lion's share of your damage before it buffs itself. As with most enemies, targeting the weakness works best. Bring a Blue Innate character in and pummel Pyrotor with Blue Elements, healing yourself as needed. Not much else need be said.
You'll earn a Star Level, 1,000 g, and the Red Field Element for defeating Pyrotor.
Continue down the path past Pyrotor. The next room looks like it should be a puzzle, but it isn't. Walk west and keep climbing ladders to get through the room. You'll find a Rainbow Shell down one ladder, and when you reach the top you can keep going left and down more ladders to find a Spectral Glove.
Climb the gnarled coral at the top of the room. You'll come to three staircases littered with rubble. Go up the staircase on the far right and climb all the way to the top to find a Rainbow Shell. Backtrack a bit down the stairs, then across to the left and down to find a Holy Healing Element. Zigzag your way around the rubble to reach the exit in the top-left corner of the screen.
Beyond this point you'll be... back in Viper Manor? Huh. The library is ahead. Enter and speak to the Prophet by the door. What follows is perhaps the most convoluted info dump in the game to date... though you'll see an even more convoluted one soon enough. Once the Prophet is gone, climb to the top of the library and use the switch on the wall (it's right beside the wooden pillar) to get to a treasure chest containing a Black Hole Element.
Leave the library, and Viper Manor, and you'll wind up back where you came. There will be a new door to the north. Inside are six floating crystals. As with the chiming sounds from earlier, these serve as a clue to 'properly' defeating the final boss. Cross the bridge past the crystals, then skirt along the edge of the room to the west. You'll find a set of stairs leading down to a lower ledge. Follow it southeast to find a chest containing an Ultranova Element.
Through the door in the north of the crystal room you'll find another big, blobby crystal. Guess what's waiting!
Anemotor
The Green Innate robot of Terra Tower, Anemotor's attack patterns should seem pretty familiar by now. It uses debuffs on your side, buffs on its own, a slew of Green Innate Elements, and Omega Green to hit one person for a big chunk of damage, potentially a lethal amount. Carnivore and Tornado are area effect threats, but they don't seem to come out too often, and can be healed away.
Anemotor likes to rapidfire fill the Field Effect with Green, so countering with Yellow Field - or just a bunch of your own Yellow Innate Elements - will prevent its attacks from becoming too strong. Beyond that, fight this fight as you normally would. Use your strongest Yellow Innate Elements to rebalance the Field Effect and deal damage, and just beat Anemotor to death. So long as you keep Anemotor from maintaining a full Green Field the fight shouldn't be too bad (though it's definitely more challenging than the first two bosses).
You'll receive a Star Level, 1,000 g, and a Green Field Element for defeating Anemotor.
Anemotor was floating over a teleporter. Step aboard and the party will be shot up to the top of Terra Tower. You'll be standing in front of the final structure, which is apparently kept sealed by two beams from the left and right. Save, then check out the two paths. The one on the left leads to...
Gravitor
The Black Innate robot of Terra Tower. You should know what to expect from these things by now, and Gravitor is just dripping with Black Innate Elements. These can lead to a bad time for Serge, especially if he gets hit by Omega Black. That said, your worst enemy here is Hell-Bound, which has the potential to kill a character in a single move if you're unlucky. Not much you can do about that besides keep Revives on multiple characters.
This is a fight where Serge will shine as long as you keep him alive. His normal attacks - especially with the Mastermune - can demolish Gravitor, and his Techs will do the same. White Innate Elements in general will smash Gravitor to pieces. It's kind of slow compared to the other robots, and won't get in nearly as many attacks during the fight. Healing shouldn't be a problem so long as you don't run into bad luck with Hell-Bound.
You'll receive a Star Level, 1,100 g, and a Black Hole Element for defeating Gravitor. You'll also open one half of the seal on the final section of Terra Tower.
Back to the save point. The right side leads to a windy pathway, and beyond that...
You're almost done with these guys, promise. The White Innate Robot, Luxator uses the usual gamut of White Innate Elements, though its greatest weapon is using Magnify and Omega White, one after the other. This combo is enough to kill even Serge in one hit if he's a bit damaged, let alone a Black Innate. Otherwise it's about the same as Gravitor, albeit more likely to hit multiple times in one turn with its physical attacks.
Use Diminish to deaden the effects of Magnify so Luxator can't do too much damage, then whittle the big guy down with Black Innate Elements, Techs, and normal physical attacks. It can use Null State to increase its Magic Defence, so alongside Diminish you may ultimately find physical attacks to be your best path through the fight. Just make sure you throw in Elements every now and then to make sure Luxator doesn't benefit from an all-White Field Effect for too long. If this fight drags on too long you'll probably see Ultranova, which can kill you in one hit, so either end it quickly or throw down an Ultranova Trap at some point.
(I personally found Luxator to be the most difficult of these robots, but your results may vary.)
You'll receive a Star Level, 1,100 g, and an Ultranova Element for defeating Luxator. You'll also open the path forward from the save point. Enter the door, and within...
Aquator
Okay, pinky swear, this is the last one. Promise! The Blue Innate robot, Aquator starts off by buffing itself and debuffing your characters. It then, shockingly, uses Blue Innate Elements and a slew of normal attacks to pummel you, the strongest of which is Omega Blue. Sound familiar? It can also use Deluge and Iceberg one after the other, which is painful.
After Luxator, Aquator is pretty easy, though Vigora does make its physical attacks more potent, and the Deluge / Iceberg combo is harsh if you aren't healed up. Use Diminish early if Blue Innate is an issue for your team, and use status-based Elements like Numble and Weaken to offset the pain of Aquator's physical attacks. Otherwise, it's all about Red Innate Techs and Elements.
You'll receive a Star Level, 1,000 g, and a Blue Field Element for defeating Aquator. Taking out the final robot will also unlock an elevator that will take you to the tip-top of Terra Tower...
... and once you watch a cut scene that will finally give you a look at the Frozen Flame, you'll be facing off against the Dragon G... Time Devourer. Sorry, it's the Time Devourer.
Time Devourer
This is an odd fight, though not a particularly difficult one. The Time Devourer starts off using only physical attacks, and is White Innate. Do enough damage, however, and the scenery will shift, turning the Time Devourer into a Yellow Innate. At this point it will begin using weak Elements against you... until it changes again, and again, gaining slightly stronger Elements each time. You need to fight your way through all six Elements before it ends.
This fight is an endurance trial. You need to deal roughly 2,000 points of damage to the Time Devourer to trigger a change, and you can do this by conserving your Elements until they become the Time Devourer's weakness. This will allow you to capitalize on the strengths of each Element without blowing through your stocks too quickly. Normal attacks will do fine if you're out of effective Elements. The Time Devourer's final form brings it back to White Innate, so save your Black Innate Elements for the final round. Keep everyone above 300 points of health and this should not be a difficult fight.
You'll receive a Star Level, 2,000 g, and an Earring of Hope for defeating the Time Devourer. After the fight you'll speak with the Prophet again, who will explain what the Dragon God / Time Devourer really is, and give you a Time Egg. This will allow you to reach the final boss of the game. And with that, Terra Tower comes crashing down. (Kinda.)
You've completed the final dungeon of Chrono Cross! Congratulations! All that remains is the true form of the Time Devourer... and, er, perhaps a few side quests.