Chrono Trigger DS: Spoiler-Filled Post About the New Ending

As both my previous post and the title of this post suggest, spoilers ahead.  There is one non-spoiler that I can put here, though.

The method of accessing this ending is via the bucket in the End of Time.  Once you've completed all three Dimensional Vortices, using the bucket will show a menu allowing you to go to The Day of Lavos, as well as the new boss fight, called "Time's Eclipse".

I'll give you a jump break to hide the spoilers.  'Cause I'm nice.

When you go to Time's Eclipse, you meet Magus, who says that you're currently in the timeline you created by defeating Lavos.  He also tells you not to meddle and that this is his fight.  Kind of anticlimactic.  Oh well.  On to the next post, I guess.

Naaah, I'm not going to do that to you.

You follow him through another portal to find him fighting a red version of Lavos that seems to have Schala imprisoned just above it.  He's not doing so hot, either.  He ends up getting knocked offscreen, and our party takes over.

The battle itself has phases.  As it starts, it will counter any physical damage with MP Buster.  So use elemental damage.  Then at a certain point, it puts up a barrier that makes elemental damage heal it, so you have to switch to physical.  Then it lowers its defenses and begins storing power, which doesn't cancel the elemental damage barrier, so keep up that physical damage.  In this phase, though, it counters everything you do with Chaos Zone, so status immunity is an absolute must for the fight.  It deals a lot of damage, even to a level 99 party with full Dimensional Vortex and Lost Sanctum gear.  Eventually it does a "Destruction rains from the heavens!"-style attack.  It died shortly thereafter so I didn't get to see what it does after that.  Despite the high amount of damage dealt, I suffered zero character deaths and it went down without too much issue.

Once you defeat it, Magus runs in to try and save Schala.  He's unable, but Schala wakes up and talks to your party.  After a few choice lines, she sends everyone but Magus away.  She then says her goodbye to Magus and sends him away as well.

Magus then contemplates his inability to save Schala, before deciding to "fade away".  He ends up in a place that looks a lot like Guardia Forest (it uses the same tileset), but apparently having lost all his memories.  The one thing he knows is that he was seeking something, and he decides to find a way to remember what it was he was seeking.

After the credits roll, you see the 1005 AD "Fall of Guardia" scene from the PS1 port, if you've got those cutscenes turned on.  On the "yay you got an ending" screen, you also obtain an item, the Dreamseeker, which is a new ultimate weapon for Crono with a 90% critical hit rate.  Its attack is higher than that of the Rainbow, so it's a straight upgrade.

To be honest... the ending is kind of a letdown.  This does nothing to bridge Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross.  From what I remember of Radical Dreamers, one of the characters there was basically Magus, but using a different name.  If I'm to understand other things correctly, then Kid in Chrono Cross is actually Schala, having been sent to 1000 AD and turned into an infant that Lucca finds, which then gives her the idea to start an orphanage, as described in Chrono Cross.

I know I've said in the past that I'm going to ignore Radical Dreamers and go straight to Chrono Cross, but... Radical Dreamers was designed to bridge the gap between Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, and with my aforementioned loss of A/V cable for my PS2, I can't really play Chrono Cross at the moment.  I mean, I could pop Chrono Cross into my DVD drive and use a PlayStation emulator, but... I've got the real hardware right over there. *points at his PS2, even though you can't see him doing so*