Done playing Chrono Trigger

I got the one remaining ending, Reunion, and then progressed on just so I could advance my save back to saying "The Final Battle".  In the process I got the last Moon Armor I needed and three more Prism Helms, so now everyone can have their absolute maximum level of defense.  It's a shame there isn't a charm for PrismSpecs anywhere, so I can get the two more I need for Marle and Lucca, but whatever.

Now I'll talk a bit about Extras mode since it's fully unlocked.

Without putting any effort into unlocking it, you can view the intro movie and listen to the first ten music tracks.  If you want any more than that, you'll have to work for it.

Theater lets you view the extra anime sequences they added for the PSX version.  In addition, it has no-text versions of the two videos that have text over them.

Music Box lets you listen to the game's audio.  There are 69 total tracks, which is five more than are on the Chrono Trigger Original Sound Version album (which I own).  The only letdown about this is that you can't start a song playing and then have it keep playing while you browse around the rest of the extras.  You have to stop playback to leave the Music Box.

Monster Data lets you browse around all the time periods and locations and see various useful data about each monster, such as weaknesses and what you can get by charming it.  This section is very useful if you're trying to figure out how to get through an area in the most efficient manner possible.

Endings lists all the endings, shows a screenshot from each one, and gives you extremely vague hints about achieving them.  So vague that they're not useful.  Also to make it even more useless, it only ever tells you about endings you've already achieved.  But, if you need to see which endings you still have left to get, it'll tell you.  I guess that's what this section is for.

Art Gallery is probably the last thing anyone will unlock, since you have to leave Crono dead to unlock it.  In here you can view various pictures of the characters.  Not much else to say about this.

Tech Showcase is pretty neat.  It lists all the Single, Dual, and Triple techs and shows you a picture of what each one looks like while in use.  Unfortunately it doesn't give any better insight into the effect of some techs, so it won't help you figure out what PoyozoDance does.  I still have never used that one.

Boss Data is like Monster Data, but lists all the bosses with all their data, the techs they use, and gives strategies for beating each one.  The strategies are geared much more towards a first playthrough.  It does list the hard version of Lavos that you're supposed to lose against at the end of Ocean Palace, which will help whenever I decide to go back and try to beat it there.  For bosses with separate parts, like the Dragon Tank or Giga Gaia, it shows each part's stats separately.

Treasure Map is possibly the best part of Extras mode.  It allows you to browse around every area of the game and see what's in every chest.  It even shows you where the tabs are, though I know of a magic tab and a power tab that it doesn't show.  It also tells you what you get out of each of the sealed chests, and what you get for defeating each form of Spekkio.  If you're looking for a specific item, this section will definitely help you out.  Also, this section hides something equally as useful within it: the Item List.

The Item List lets you browse around each category of items, see how much they cost, and where you can get them.  So for instance if you want to get a bunch of Barriers and Shields, it'll tell you where you can find them.  It also tells you where (and how) to get all five Triple Tech-invoking rock accessories.

As you have no doubt noticed, Extras mode does contain some very useful features, and for those alone it's worth fully unlocking.  If you think getting all 12 endings will take forever, there's actually something a lot of people overlook that makes it faster.

When you beat Lavos in a New Game +, it's time to start another New Game +, right?  Wrong.  Nothing prevents you from loading your old save normally and continuing to play.  So basically, save just before going up against Lavos, and don't save inside Lavos if it gives you a save point.  Once you beat Lavos, save your system file, then load your save and progress to the point in the story where you can challenge Lavos and get the next ending.  Just remember to save before fighting him.  I recommend using the portal in the right telepod in Leene Square to fight Lavos, as it lets you skip the miniboss mimic.  You can either save in the End of Time, or just run out of Leene Square to the world map and save right there.  If you set equipment for the Lavos fight after saving, you won't need to change it back when you re-load to go get the next ending.

The only ending that may actually take some effort even in New Game + is the developers' ending, since both methods of achieving it are fairly difficult.  Either take Lavos on with only two party members (Crono and Marle), or beat the hard version of Lavos' outer shell at the end of Ocean Palace when you're supposed to lose to it.  It has 3 times the HP there.  I personally believe it's easier to take Lavos on with just Crono and Marle than to do it at the end of Ocean Palace.  You will want to grind out some levels (make use of the conveyor belt fights in Geno Dome), and then double-check that you have a few specific pieces of equipment.  My recommendations are as follows:

• Level: somewhere above 70, the higher the better
• Crono: Rainbow/Haste Helm/Nova Armor/PrismSpecs (you can use a Gold Stud instead if your HyperEther supply has run low) (alternatively, use a Prism Helm and Moon Armor)
• Marle: (weapon doesn't matter)/Prism Helm/PrismDress/Power Seal

The tradeoff between a Gold Stud and PrismSpecs is efficiency vs. power.  You'll deal 50% extra damage with PrismSpecs, but a Gold Stud will make needing to refill MP a thing of the past.  My personal recommendation is the PrismSpecs, since they make taking out the left bit in Lavos' third form easier.  Marle doesn't deal a lot of damage, so she'll spend most of the fight waiting to use items or healing spells as necessary.  Keeping her ready to do when needed so is a far better strategy than spending each of her turns as soon as they come up.  Crono deals the damage, and Marle watches his (and her own) back.

Despite the title of this post, I'm not actually done playing Chrono Trigger.  I still have more Chrono Trigger notes posts left to make...  I was trying to get around an hour of level ** gameplay into each one, but I always forget to check the timer.  Also perhaps I should post about strategies for getting each ending...