Chrono Trigger DS: Geno Dome Time

That's right, having finished Lost Sanctum and gone around doing sidequests, I'm up to Geno Dome grinding.  On SNES/PS1, I always recommended having one character equip the Berserker while using the Rage and Fury Bands on the other two.  However, one of the additional items from Lost Sanctum is the Valor Crest, which raises a character's hit rate as well as giving them a 50% counterattack chance.  So, my recommendation on the DS version is to use that alongside the Rage and Fury Bands.

With everyone having a counterattack chance, it goes faster.  Ayla's up to level 72 and has the mostly useless Iron Fist.  I still think it'd be more useful if she got it at an earlier level, perhaps when she was still at the point where she could land the critical hit necessary to inflict Confuse without also killing the target.  Whatever, level 96 is what matters anyway, because it's all about dat 9999 damage critical hit.

Speaking of 9999 damage critical hits, I've read that one of the new items that I have yet to see is a weapon for Robo that enables him to do 9999 damage critical hits.  I don't know how useful it'll be since he doesn't land critical hits all that often, but it's interesting.

Since Robo has to be in the party the entire time we're in Geno Dome, I basically ignore him.  He'll max out eventually.  Thus, the first party is my mainstay: Crono, Ayla, and Robo.  Once they're maxed, the next party is Robo, Frog, and Magus.  When they're maxed, I switch back to Crono, Ayla, and Robo to max out Marle and Lucca from out-of-party XP, which, as I've mentioned in the past, is faster than having them in the party due to their low regular attack damage.

Once everyone's at 99, then I'll finish Geno Dome and get Robo's equipment, and then work my way through Black Omen and beat the game.  The thing with the extra equipment in the DS version is: the ultimate equipment everyone's used to from the SNES/PS1 is still the best, until you're in New Game + and have the Dimensional Vortex available.  Being that I haven't gotten to that point yet, I don't know precisely when Dimensional Vortex gets unlocked or what time period you have to go to in order to enter it.  Regardless, within is brand new ultimate equipment to play around with, as well as an extra ending.  Should be fun.

There is something new, though.  There's a sword called "Dinoblade" that you get from Lost Sanctum, that's better than Frog's Brave Sword.  So basically, when saving his penultimate sword for New Game + now, we have a slightly better option.  Also, Lost Sanctum has a successor to the Hero Badge: the Champion's Badge.  In addition to the standard Masamune critical hit rate up effect, it also halves Frog's MP costs.  I guess that would be useful if more of his magic was useful, but that's a separate rant.