Chrono Cross, Episode 10: Time to Mash That Contextual Action Button!
000:00 Starting Soon
06:00 Beginning
07:14 Discovering that the Mic is Not On
22:00 Doing the Unstuck
37:41 Recruiting Zappa
47:25 Return to Viper Manor
At the start of this week's episode, I spend a minute making some of the most profound, perfectly-phrased observations about Chrono Cross and the nature of RPGs that I've ever uttered... prior to realizing that the mic isn't on! (In the timeline where Serge drowned, I had the mic on from the start and everyone was very impressed with my perceptive comments.)
In this abbreviated span of our adventure, our primary goal is to get back on track, after spending much of last week's episode hopelessly wandering, unable to progress the plot. This is the beginning of my gradual realization that I was a fool to decide not to create a big note-taking spreadsheet for Chrono Cross like I've done with the other RPGs I've played recently, on the grounds that "who needs notes in a narrative-driven JRPG?"
Later on down the line, I'll come to understand Chrono Cross better and start getting around sticking points with careful reasoning (and a little luck). Here, it's pure brute force! After narrowing down the likely areas where the next progression step might be, I go walking through those likely areas, mashing the hell out of the contextual action button. Wouldn't you know, it turns out that the answer was to press the action button in a place I'd already tried it, to do a thing I thought it might do, but to do it while in *just the right position* at *just the right orientation*. Ah, the days of 3D models on 2D pre-rendered backgrounds!
Note that I say that it "never turns out to be some elaborate thing that you had to piece together" when you get stuck in a JRPG like this. I'll eat those words later on, as I come to realize that Chrono Cross expects players to pay a LOT more attention and do a lot more of the work than a typical story-based game might.
From there, we make peace with Karsh and ZOAH, recruit (an instance of) the blacksmith Zappa to the party, and return to Viper Manor, where we meet the HELL COOK!
Just as we started with "stuck because you can't find the right place to press the button," we end with another classic JRPG trope: losing some progress because the game throws too much at you between save points (haven't encountered that trope since my PSX was hooked up to the family TV!).
Originally broadcast live on Twitch at https://www.twitch.tv/58dreamstreet
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