Resuming Chrono Trigger DS

With Bravely Default only having a few minor things left to do, relating to sending Rejuvenation and trying to get the most out of an inferior moneymaking build for the hell of it, I have a lot more time to play the DS port of Chrono Trigger.

It took me a bit to adjust from Bravely Default to Chrono Trigger.  I had to go through menus and remind myself that I did indeed have all the techs and was ready to continue the story by entering Magus' castle.  Magus himself was a pushover as always with my usual grindy playthrough.  I worked my way through Tyrano lair to 12000 BC, did everything I could do, then activated the pendant and got banned from the time period.  Went and grabbed Epoch so I could go back there and continue the story.

However, you know me.  If there's something on the side that I can do, I'll do it.  It's the main reason that Bravely Default took me so long.  One of the things I did in 12000 BC was telling the woman not to burn the sapling that she'd been given.  I knew that doing so was part of activating the Fiona's Villa sidequest, however, I didn't know that it in fact activated it right then and there.  So when I arrived in 600 AD to go prime some sealed chests, I saw the vortex in the desert.

I've never had any major issues with the Retinite, grindy playthrough or not.  For whatever reason people always say to try and leave the core alive, but it's always the first thing I kill.  If there's any adverse effects for killing it, either I don't notice them, or I'm so good at coping with them that I don't notice them.  My party for it this time was Crono/Frog/Robo, with Frog and Crono using Water 2 and Confuse (the DS version calls it Frenzy), respectively, and in that order.  Robo was strictly on standby for Cure Beam and Heal Beam.  Anyway, I went on and successfully stopped the machine from crippling Lara, and got my Green Dream.

All that is well and good, but I thought that even though you can activate the sidequest early, it didn't actually show up until you reached the endgame where the rest of the sidequests are available.

Also, while I was hopping back and forth between 600 AD and 1000 AD, I bought the Jerky and gave it to the Porre elder's family, so that the mayor would be nice to me later on when I'm doing the Sun Stone sidequest.

Anyway, it's great to be back playing this classic RPG.  Going from a modern classic in the making whose mere existence justifies dropping $200 on the console necessary to play it, to a classic that's stood the test of time (har har).  It's a bit different, yes, but it's all good gaming in the end.