Chrono Trigger Low Level FAQ/Walkthrough

Written by Crinkles (Last updated June 10, 2003)

Email: everyonesgrudge@hotmail.com
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Version 0.91b
This FAQ is copyright Jay Yamamoto, (C) 2003

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To use this FAQ, it is recommended that you utilize the "Find" function of
your browser.  To search specifically for bosses, type in the appropriate
ID number from the table of contents (ex. <1> will go to the boss "Yakra").
From the Boss ID, you can scroll up or down appropriately.
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This FAQ will contain unmarked plot spoilers!
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Table of Contents
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1.  Version History
2.  Definition of a Low Level Game
3.  Additional Notes
4.  Walkthrough (Pre-Wallet)
   <1> - Yakra
   <2> - Dragon Tank
   <3> - Guardian, Bits
   <4> - R-Series
   <5> - Heckran
   <6> - Zombor
   <7> - Masa and Mune, Masamune
   <8> - Nizbel
   <9> - Flea
  <10> - Slash
  <11> - Ozzie
  <12> - Magus
  <13> - Nizbel II
  <14> - Azala, Black Tyrano
  <15> - Golem
5.  Walkthrough (Post-Wallet)
  <16> - Red Beast, Blue Beast, Mud Imp
  <17> - Giga Gaia
  <18> - Dalton
  <19> - Golem Twins
  <20> - Ocean Palace: Lavos
  <21> - GolemBoss
  <22> - Dalton Plus
  <23> - Magus
  <24> - Lavos Spawn (x3)
6.  Walkthrough (Fated Hour and Black Omen)
  <25> - Rust Tyrano
  <26> - Son of Sun
  <27> - Yakra XIII
  <28> - Hero's Grave
  <29> - Atropos
  <30> - Mother Brain
  <31> - Retinite
  <32> - Great Ozzie, Flea Plus, Super Slash
  <33> - Mega Mutant
  <34> - Giga Mutant
  <35> - Terra Mutant
  <36> - Lavos Spawn
  <37> - Zeal
  <38> - Mammon Machine
  <39> - Zeal
  <40> - Lavos
7.  Walkthrough (Inside Lavos)
  <41> - Lavos
  <42> - Lavos Core

8.  Final Notes - Please Read

9.  Credits and thanks, Legalities

Version History:
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0.91b - June 2003: Minor update fixing 2 strategies.

o.9b - June 2003: Second Major Update.  Major mistake in experience realized
thanks to SSJVegeta69, but not yet corrected since it has negligible effect
upon final levels as of now. The error as well as new levels in between the
affected sections will be fixed when another playthrough is completed.  FAQ
completed through the defeat of the final boss.  Minor errors fixed, new
strategy for previous boss added.  Language feels... choppy, but that can be
fixed later.

0.75b - March 2003: First update.  FAQ completed through the revival of the
main character.  Minor errors fixed.

0.5b - February 2003: The first version, product of over 250 game saves and
1 1/2 complete attempts over the period of one month.  Strategies scrapped
after wallet since they included Magus and gave players a decidedly unfair
advantage.

Definition of A Low-Level Game
-----

For the purpose of this FAQ, a Low Level Game is defined as progressing
through the entire game with all characters at the very low levels. Following
this guide, Crono will finish the game at his starting level of 1, Lucca or
Marle will finish at LV5, and all other characters will finish at a low level.
This FAQ also operates under the idea of obtaining a low overall party
average.

In this FAQ, to slightly add to the challenge, and because Crono is the main
character, he is required to be the leader of the party whenever possible.
The only times when he is not the leader is when he is dead or during the
Geno Dome side quest (during which he is still in the active party).

Because of certain strategies which are extremely tedious and rely on luck,
it is highly encouraged that you play this game through an emulator.
The strategy of saving state in battle is used, a function not available
on the SNES.  Other than savestates, external help is prohibited.

No hacks, cheats, or glitches may be exploited to make this challenge easier.

This FAQ is definitely NOT in depth as to how to progress through the plot.
Rather, it focuses on preparation and strategies that are necessary to
complete the game.  It is HIGHLY recommended that you have completed the
game at least once before attempting to complete this game because of this,
or utilize another, more in depth FAQ if you are having problems progressing
through the storyline.

Additional Notes
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Several basic rules are always followed in this FAQ.

 - Always run away from encounters whenever possible (hold L and R).

 - Forced encounters (outlined in this FAQ) which cannot be run from do exist.
   Bosses in the plot, as well as certain monster encounters, are unavoidable.
   Experience in this game does NOT divide out (as in 500 exp. between 2
   members will give 250 to each).  Rather, each character conscious at the
   end of a battle will receive the set number of experience.  For this
   reason, to net the least possible amount, kill off all but one of your
   party members before the end of every battle.

 - Some encounters that seem as though they are forced can be run from. Always
   attempt to run.

 - Some encounters that cannot be run from can be avoided by moving your
   character around the "point of encounter," or the place where the fight is
   initiated.  These are outlined in the FAQ.

 - Damage from attacks are not based upon level (excluding Ayla's attack).

 - Basically, higher defense and HP is the best possible thing.  Certain
   defensive or enhancing items that are listed are absolutely necessary.

 - Active party members receive 100% experience, and members out of party
   receive 75%.  If a fraction of an experience point is gained in a battle
   for an out of party member, that fraction is ignored (i.e. if 50 exp. is
   gained in battle, 37.5 exp. rounds to 37 for an out of party character).

 - Each additional level will take more experience then the previous level.
   Mathematics dictates that by allowing a higher level character to absorb
   experience, fewer levels overall will be gained (i.e. a LV5 Character will
   gain more levels by receiving 500 experience than a LV14 Character).
   In your party (up until the wallet) will be Crono, a Low Level
   Character (Marle or Lucca), and the highest level character that you can
   have.

 - Characters enter at set experience values. After you get a character, they
   receive experience, just like a normal character left behind at the end of
   time.

   Crono -     0 exp.    - LV1
   Marle -     0 exp.    - LV1
   Lucca -    20 exp.    - LV2
   Frog -    240 exp.    - LV5
   Robo -   1840 exp.    - LV10
   Ayla -  11520 exp.    - LV18
   Magus - 97780 exp     - LV37

   Magus will always be the highest level character. You must pick up Magus
   in this challenge.  This FAQ requires that all characters be picked up.

 - Characters out of party will not gain more than one level in a battle.
   This is due to the fact that they will not gain experience toward the next
   level.  For instance, if Lucca LV4 out of party gained a level and became
   LV5, regardless of how much experience she gained she would still have the
   full 160 exp. to go to LV6.

 - Charm is one of the best techniques in the game.

 - The Wallet is the best accessory in this game.  Exp. --> G.  Up until you
   can obtain the wallet, however, you must be careful with your encounters.
   It must be equipped on a member in the active party to work.  At the end
   of the battle, it does not matter whether the bearer of the wallet is
   conscious or not for its effect to work.

 - The names referred to in this FAQ are default names.

 - It goes without saying that you should be saving state in battle.  When
   saving, make sure that you are not overwriting a lot of progress!  Always
   leave yourself the option of abandoning a hopeless battle by giving
   yourself a savestate saved right before a boss battle.

 - In battle, you will need to be focusing heavily upon timing.  Since your
   characters are weak, one blow will often be all it takes to get wiped out.
   So when a strategy indicates to pay attention to timing in battle,
   generally it means to time your healing/reviving properly after enemy
   attacks to maximize the chance that your characters will get their attacks
   off.

 - At certain points, I will be completely ignoring Crono.  While his role is
   critical in certain fights, in many cases he will be ignored because...
   well, he is K.O.ed from the first attack and a waste to revive.

 - Set your battle speed on slowest in the Configuration Menu.  This will help
   you in many battles.

Walkthrough
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You awaken as Crono, LV.1.  Pick up the 200G from your mother and head to
the fair.  Don't bother with Silver Points.  Run into Marle, LV1.  Talk to
Marle before returning her pendant.  Make sure to return the cat to the
little girl.  Talk to Melchior and refuse to ask Marle to sell her pendant.
Lastly, wait when Marle is buying candy.  Go to Lucca's Teleporter, watch
Marle get sent into the time gate, and go after her.

You will now fight a *Forced Encounter:*
Blue Imp x3, 6 exp.

Just attack.  These 6 experience are the only 6 that Crono will gain this
entire game.  After you win, move down the mountain, running from every
encounter.  Take the Powerglove and Tonic.  In town, buy 10 tonics.

Because you cannot gain money simply by fighting battles, it is prudent
to get as many items as possible to sell.  For this reason, you should
get about 30 shelters from the bush in the forest (enter the forest, get
the shelter, then leave and repeat).  Because you will not be gaining stats
as much from leveling up, it is also wise to pick up all tabs possible,
so get the power tab in the forest.  After you have at least a few, go
all the way through to the castle, and go to see the Queen/Marle.
After she disappears, head out and meet up with Lucca LV2.  Take all
the items in the castle before heading out to the Cathedral.  You will
have another *Forced Encounter* inside.

Naga-ette x4, 32 exp.

Have Crono and Lucca attack those that are closest to Lucca.  Crono will
be knocked out by those closest to him, and afterwards, Lucca can take them
out.  Lucca will absorb these experience points.

Frog LV5 will now jump in and save you.  Go with him.  Play the organ and
enter the door, picking up all items.  Do not go into the room leading into
Magus's Shrine, and do not get the Naga-ette Bromide.  DO get all other chests
and the power tab.  After heading up the stairs, you end up in the second
room.  The switch you need to hit is on the right side.  After you lower
the spikes in the room with the organ, savestate outside the room, and heal
Crono and Frog. Now meet the *Forced Encounter.*

Hench x3, Diablos x2, 53 exp.

You can get wiped out here if you aren't careful.  Just attack.  Make sure
both Lucca and Crono get knocked out here.  If it gets close, have Frog slurp
himself.

Play the Organ and head upward.  Use one of your shelters at the save point.
Now you face Yakra.

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Boss Encounter: <1>
Yakra, 50 exp.
----

He is not at all difficult.  As a basic rule, don't attack him unless he is
close to the character who is attacking to avoid his counter attack.  If
Crono or Lucca get close to death, heal them with slurp unless you are sure
the battle is nearing the end.  If Frog gets close to death, have him slurp
himself. Make sure Lucca and Crono both are knocked out when Yakra goes down.

After Yakra dies, take the chests and leave.  Frog will leave the party.
Recover Marle.  Even though she had disappeared from the space-time
continuum temporarily, she has strangely leveled up to 3 from the
encounters in the cathedral.

Now that the Cathedral is clear of encounters, go back to Magus' Shrine for
a Defender, a (!) SPEED BELT (!) and the Naga-ette Bromide.  Of those
three, the Speed Belt is the best.  Now, if you wish, you can get more
shelters from the forest.  Buy about 30-40 more tonics.  Once you have all
the items you need climb the mountain and use the gate to return to the
Millennial Fair.

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Having done these sections, your current party should be Crono LV1, Lucca
LV2, and Marle LV3.  You should have a Speed Belt, and about 40 Tonics.
---

Lucca will leave your party.  Escort Marle back to the castle, taking the
power tab in the forest.  Now Crono gets put on trial. If you did the
things properly when meeting Marle at the fair, you will be found not
guilty, and when you are taken to jail you will find an ether.

In jail, to avoid fighting those guards, just wait out the three days
(stand still in your cell).  After three days pass, you will be taken to
the guillotine.  Lucca will come to rescue you.  After getting out, free
Fritz.  Before leaving the prison, you should get as many items as possible.
There are no forced encounters in this area; there are no enemies that you
need to fight to get out.  You can run through the middle between the two
shields without encountering them.  Make sure to grab the 1500G and the
Lode Sword by climbing down the hole.  Once you have taken everything that
you can without triggering any battles head up top.  Examine the
Supervisor's body for 5 mid-tonics.  Now head out and face Dragon Tank.

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Boss Encounter: <2>
Dragon Tank, 40 exp.
---

Lucca should have the Speed Belt.  Crono should have the PowerGlove.  Crono
LV1 with the Lode sword and a Powerglove will do about 80 damage.  The head
heals itself 70-75 each time.  The only offense in this battle should be
Crono.  Have him constantly attack the head, with Lucca healing with Tonics.
After the Tank charges and hits both Lucca and Crono, have both of them heal
with Tonics as necessary.  While all three parts are alive, this battle can
be somewhat frustrating since your characters are so weak.  Once the head
dies, this fight is much easier.  Take out the wheel next, then focus on
the body.  Right before the body is about to die, let Crono get knocked out
and have Lucca deal the final attack.  Lucca will grow to LV3.

After you win and escape the prison tower, Marle will join you.  You will
get forced outside.  Take the gate into the future.

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Having completed these sections, Crono will be at LV1, and Lucca and Marle
at LV3.
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You awaken in Bangdor Dome.  Remember this place.  Behind the sealed door
is the best accessory in the game: the wallet.  But you cannot get it until
much later in the game.  Head out to Lab 16.  Pick up all items, and avoid
all fights.  There are no inescapable battles in this area.  Try not to get
any tonics stolen.  Make sure you have another Lode sword, a Lode Bow, and
a berserker upon leaving.

Now enter the Sewer Access.  Take a right on the screen, and take the 600G,
running from the fight.  Do not go any further.  Leave the Sewer access,
and enter the Arris Dome.  Rest in the Enertron and buy a few more tonics.
If you wish, you can spend a little money getting a helmet for Marle or
Lucca, which will come in handy in the upcoming battle.  Head downstairs to
investigate the refrigeration unit.  You will be attacked by Guardian

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Boss Encounter: <3>
Guardian and Bits, 300 exp.
---

Marle should have her Lode Bow and the Speed Belt.  She will deal as much
damage as Crono in this fight.  If you attack the Guardian while two bits
are alive they will all counter with a Delta Attack.  If you attack the
Guardian while one bit is alive, they will counter with Amplifire.  So
have Marle and Crono attack.  Lucca should heal unless it is not necessary;
you can save her turn until healing is needed.  Focus on taking out one
bit at a time, and once both bits are out, attack the Guardian.  Continue
to attack until the bits are revived, then repeat the strategy.  This
fight is not at all difficult as long as you don't trigger counterattacks
by attacking the Guardian while the bits are alive.

When Guardian is close to death you have a choice.  You can choose to have
either Lucca or Marle absorb the experience here.

***AUTHOR'S NOTE (6/7/03): Please Read Final Notes Section before choosing
a LLGirl in this game!  A change will be made official in a future version
of the FAQ!  If you are starting a new game, it is recommended that you keep
MARLE at a Low Level.***

Anyway, head in back and pick up the seeds.  Chase the rat statue and
learn the password, and enter it at the shimmering console.  Once you open
up the door, proceed carefully, avoiding encounters as much as possible.
If you do initiate any battles, they can all be run from.  Just make your
way to the back room and learn information about the Proto Dome and about
the Day of Lavos.  Now head out to the surface and give the elder the seeds.
You will get the Bike Key.  Now that you are finished here, buy a few more
Tonics.  You will need to buy at least 15 revives.  These will be used for
a future battle.  After this head out to Lab 32.  Win the bike race to
cross the Lab.

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Having Completed these Sections following this FAQ, Crono will be at LV1,
Lucca at LV3, and Marle at LV5 OR Marle at LV3, and Lucca at LV5.

From this point on, the girl you chose to stay at a lower lever (either
Marle or Lucca) will be referred to as the LLGirl (Low Level Girl), and
the other girl as the HLGirl (High Level Girl).  From this point on until
your battle with Golem the LLGirl must always stay in your party whenever
possible; if she is outside, she will gain 75% exp. from battles and her
low level will be ruined.  The one exception is the battle with Nizbel II
which will be later on in the game.

You should have about 15 revives and a lot of Tonics.
-----

In the Proto Dome there is one *Forced Encounter*
Bugger x3, 54 exp.

Let the HLGirl absorb the experience points.  Take out the Bugger closest
to your HLGirl, then wait until Crono and your LLGirl get knocked out from
the other two.  Your HLGirl can just attack to finish the rest.

The next group of 4 buggers can be avoided by hugging the edge farthest
away from them.  Pick up Robo LV10.  Choose to take your LLGirl along with
you.  As you leave the Proto Dome your party should be Crono, Robo, and
your LLGirl.

As you enter the Proto Dome you face a *Forced Encounter*
Acid x1, 33 exp.

Robo will absorb this.  Just wait for your LLGirl and Crono to get knocked
out.  If you didn't heal from the last battle, this should be fast.

Proceed to the conveyer belt room and get the Robin Bow.  Go back upstairs.
Go to the other lift and run from the battle...

***AUTHOR'S NOTE (6/7/03) At this point, I made a mistake and fought a battle
gaining an unnecessary 123 exp.  As of now, this error has not been corrected.
It will be corrected as soon as another playthrough is completed.  For this
version, it will be assumed that you do not run from the battle with 2
Alkaline and 1 Acid (which can be run from).  All in all, this battle does not
have an immediate effect upon final game levels so at this time it will be
ignored.  Ultimately, however, it WILL be addressed and fixed.***

Use the computer to open the stairway and head down.  Turn off the laser
defense system and you are faced with your second and final *Forced
Encounter* of this factory.

Acid x4, Alkaline x1, 177 exp.

Robo will absorb this again.  Take the items here, including the Titan
Vest.  Now that the lasers are down, head straight to the locked door
(the door locked with the password Zabie).  Just enter the password:
X A B Y.  Now BEFORE you hit the switch, leave the Factory.  Head back
to the Proto dome, taking caution to avoid the buggers, and de-equip
whatever good equipment is on your LLGirl.  Switch your LLGirl for
your HLGirl (who will be at LV7 from the factory experience) and equip
her.  Head back into the factory and hit the switch.  De-equip Robo
of his armor, and prepare for a fight with the R-Series.

---
Boss Encounter: <4>
R-Series, 480 exp.
---

Both Crono and your HLGirl should have Iron Helmets and Titan Vests.
Your HLGirl should have either the Robin Bow or the Plasma gun depending
who it is, and should have the Speed Belt.  Crono should be given the
Berserker.  Now, just focus on using Tonics (or using Aura if your
HLGirl is Marle).  Once 3 of the R-Series are defeated by Crono, and the
others are a little damaged, stop healing Crono.  He should be knocked out
by the time there is 1 of the R-Series left.  When only one remains,
powerful counters are used, so you should attack and heal, alternating
turns.  Your HLGirl will absorb all 480 exp.

Recover the damaged Robo who will be repaired.  Now the four of you will
go through the gate and end up at the End of Time.

-----
Having completed these sections, Crono should be at LV1, your LLGirl at
LV4, your HLGirl at LV8, and Robo at LV10.
-----

Now you are at the End of Time.  Take Lucca, Marle, and Crono to see
Spekkio.  Learn to use magic.  After you defeat Spekkio, the man will
tell you to return to your own time.  You can learn the very first dual
tech between each of your characters (Flame/Aura Whirl, Rocket Roll,
Aura Beam etc).  Take your LLGirl and Robo along with Crono to Medina
Village.

In Medina Village pick up a Power Tab and a Speed Tab from the Elder's
House.  Head down to Melchior's House and buy some Tonics.  After head
into the Cave.  You will fight a *Forced Encounter*
Hench x2, 22 exp.

You know the drill.  Get Crono and your LLGirl knocked out and lump the
experience upon Robo.  After you win proceed through the cave, collecting
all the items that you can, and running from every fight that you are
faced with.  This next boss fight is where your low levels are going to
begin to hurt you.

---
Boss Encounter <5>
Heckran, 250 exp.
---

Give Robo the Speed Belt.  The LLGirl can have either the Bandana or the
Magic Scarf.  Crono is just a healer.  Heckran initially starts out with
a bubble attack (about 50 damage) and a Cyclone attack (kills Crono,
80 damage to Marle, 100 damage to Robo).  Constantly use Ice/Fire and Laser
Spin until Heckran tells you to "Try and Attack."  Use this counter-attack
period to heal yourself.

After you drop Heckran's HP by a certain amount, he will switch to another
series of attacks.  He will now use two Cyclones and a physical attack
before going into his counterattack stance.  If Crono was not taken out
before, he probably will now.  Designate Robo as a healer (use his Cure
Beam) and have Marle/Lucca use Ice/Fire.  When you run out of MP, use
Ethers.  The LLGirl will eventually get knocked out.  Hopefully you will
have damaged Heckran enough to be able to Laser Spin him to death with Robo
alone.  Don't be surprised if you die.  Boss battles from here on out will
get increasingly more difficult.

With Heckran defeated, proceed through the whirlpool.  Go into Lucca's
house.  If Lucca is your LLgirl you will benefit by picking up the Taban
Vest right now.  Pick up some more tonics and head into the fairgrounds to
the gate.  Proceed to 600 A.D.

-----
Having completed these sections, Crono should be at LV1, your LLGirl at LV4,
your HLGirl at LV8, and Robo at LV11.
-----

Proceed to the bridge.  Talk to the knight captain, who requests food.  Head
to the castle and talk to the cook, who will give you jerky and a power tab.
Head back to the bridge, and the knight captain will give you a Gold Helmet.
Proceed across the bridge and fight the two *Forced Encounters*
Deceased x2, 106 exp.
Deceased x3, 144 exp.

Robo should absorb these.  Now heal up.  This next boss is pretty tough if
you don't fight it correctly.

---
Boss Encounter <6>
Zombor, 350 exp.
---

Zombor is divided into two parts.  If you have Lucca as your LLGirl have her
use fire on the bottom.  If you have Marle, have her use Ice on the Top.
Robo should use Rocket Punch, and Crono should use Cyclone.  You will need
to take out the top of Zombor first; however, you must sufficiently damage
the bottom enough so that Robo can easily defeat it.  All in all, this
battle is not difficult.  The top has a move (doom, doom, doom) that will
wipe out Marle and Crono; that is why it needs to be taken out first.
However, the bottom has an absorb attack; it will go after the party member
with the highest HP.  It will kill Robo in one hit.  So after taking out the
top, don't heal Robo until after it uses the attack.  Try to always have
one of the other two with higher HP than Robo when the bottom of Zombor is
preparing to use its absorb technique.  Again, Robo will take all 350 exp.

Now that you have defeated Zombor, proceed into the town. Get about 25
mid tonics.

Head into the Cursed Woods and talk to Frog.  Now head up the
Denadoro Mt.  Here, you will meet your only *Forced Encounter* in the
mountain.
Goblin x1, 32 exp.
Ogan x1, 32 exp.

After letting Robo absorb these exp. points head up the mountain, getting
every chest.  The most important chest to get is the (!) SILVER ERNG (!)
Get this by jumping off the waterfall.  You can get a Silverstud here too,
but the Silver Erng is very important.  Make sure to get the speed tab.

If you run into an encounter that you cannot run from, you have made a
mistake.  All encounters that are inescapable can be avoided on the
mountain.  Hugging the walls is a the main way to avoid encounters.  To avoid
a battle where you get sandwiched between two Freelancer, hug the outside
wall on the right.  To avoid a battle on the ridge, hug the ridge and proceed
along the outside.  Once you get the idea of how to avoid these battles you
should be able to make it through the rest of the mountain.  The final battle
that is a little tricky to avoid is at the end.  You must wait for the
freelancer (the one that throws rocks at you) to move up on your screen before
climbing the ladder; otherwise it will knock you off into a battle.  To "bait"
the Freelancer up the screen try to move as high up on the screen as you can.
When you see the Freelancer move up, make your move toward the ladder.

Once you reach the summit, prepare for a battle.  With proper preparation,
this won't be very difficult at all.

---
Boss Encounter <7>
Masa and Mune, 400 exp.
Masamune, 500 exp.
---

Give Crono the SilverErng.  Crono will prove very useful in the second battle,
the harder of the two, and the slight HP boost will help.  Robo should have
the speed belt.  What you equip your LLGirl with will not really matter.

For the first fight, just hit Mune, the one with the purple around his neck
(He is on the left hand side of the screen).  Hitting Masa will trigger a
counter attack.  Mune will go down very quickly, so judge how much HP he has.
Right before he is going to go down, have Crono and your LLGirl attack Mune
to intentionally trigger the counter attack.  Once they are out, have Robo
finish off Mune.

Now the two will fuse.  Crono will now play a critical role in this fight.
Masamune's initial attack pattern is attack, attack, wind, tornado.
The physical attacks will do about 50 damage, and the wind attack will do
between 85 and 90 damage.  With the SilverErng, Crono has a chance of
surviving the wind.  Anyway, at the start of the battle, heal Crono with a
Mid-Tonic. Keep his HP high up using either Crono or Marle to heal.  Have Robo
RocketPunch.  Marle, if not healing Crono, should use Ice.  Once Masamune
begins to charge for his tornado attack, have Crono use slash to negate the
attack.  His attack cycle can repeat 4 times before Crono runs out of MP,
whereby an ether should be used.

Once you hurt him a lot, he will change his attack pattern.  His pattern will
become attack, attack, and tornado.  His physical attacks are doubled in
power, meaning that Crono will not be able to survive a hit.  From this point
on, let Robo be the one standing (the others will die off quickly). Have Robo
use one Rocket punch while Masamune is using its two physical attacks.  Robo
will need to use a mid tonic while Masamune is charging, and another mid tonic
after the tornado attack.  Repeat this a few times and Masamune will go down.

Take the broken Masamune and ride the wind to the bottom.  Go to Tata's house
and get the hero medal.  Now go see Frog to get the Masamune hilt.  With both
blade and hilt, go to see the swordsmith Melchior.  He will cue you to go to
the prehistoric era for the Dreamstone.

-----
Having completed these Sections, Crono should be at LV1, your
LLGirl at LV4, your HLGirl at LV11, and Robo at LV13.  You should have the
Silver Erng and all items previously listed.
-----

As soon as you enter 65,000,000 B.C. you will fight two forced encounters.
Reptite x5, 360 exp.
Reptite x4, 288 exp.

You should already know what to do.  Let the Reptites take out Crono and your
LLGirl before having Robo use Laser Spin.  You will see Ayla, whose strength
is impressive.  Follow her to her village.  Before you go to the party, MAKE
SURE YOU HAVE ABOUT 10 REVIVES!!  Revives can be purchased in 1000 A.D. on the
southern continent if you don't have any revives. Once you are sure you have
at least 5 (more is better), attend the party.

When you awaken, your gate key is missing.  Get your strongest character as of
now in your party, Ayla, LV18.  Leave behind Robo and take your LLGirl. Before
you go to the Forest Maze, however, take a trip North to the Dactyl Nest.  Get
the Meso Mail here.  Depart for the Forest Maze.  Just proceed through as you
normally would, taking all items.  There are no forced encounters in here.

Now, the Reptite Lair.  There are two *Forced encounters* total; you have a
choice to make.  Falling down a different hole will lead to different monsters
and different treasures.  The one that leads to the least amount of experience
is the first hole that is there as soon as you get in (not any of the holes)
the Evilweevils dig).  This will lead to
Evilweevil x2, 162 exp.
Megasaur x1, 147 exp.

While you won't get any treasure, you net the least amount of experience.
After you fall a second time you will be in a room full of Reptites.  Take
both treasure chests in the room where the Reptites are running around.  Be
very careful not to initiate a battle in this room since these Reptites cannot
be run from.  After taking the Rock helm and Full Ether head out.  Run from
these battles.  Use a shelter at the save point that appears at the top.  Now
you will fight Nizbel.

---
Boss Encounter <8>
Nizbel, 500 exp.
---

This is the battle where the revives you bought back in the Arris Dome are
going to be used.  Before the battle, GIVE AYLA YOUR WEAKEST ARMORS AND WORST
ACCESSORIES.  I recommend the Hide Cap, Hide Tunic, and Powerglove.  After
this battle, she will leave the party temporarily and take your armors and
accessories along.

Crono will need to use lightning.  Ayla can attack about two times in between
Nizbel's electrocution attack.  This attack is pretty much all you need to
worry about.  It will wipe out Crono and Marle and hurt Ayla quite a bit.  So
your attack pattern should be:

Crono uses lightning
Ayla attacks (150 damage)
Ayla attacks (150 damage)
Crono attacks
Ayla attacks (150 damage), or uses a mid tonic on herself
Nizbel releases stored electric energy.
Ayla uses a mid tonic
Ayla uses a revive _after_ Nizbel's next physical attack.

This pattern should be repeated until Nizbel goes down.  When Crono runs out
of MP, have Ayla use an ether.  Toward the end of the battle, when Nizbel is
about to fall, let Crono die, and use Ayla's attacks (5-16 damage) to finish
off Nizbel (who should be weak enough to survive only a few attacks).

You will now get the Gate Key back.  Ayla will leave the party, taking your
Hide Cap, Hide Tunic, and Powerglove.

-----
Having completed these Sections, Crono should be LV1, your LLGirl at LV4, your
HLGirl at LV11, and Robo at LV14.  You should have the Speed Belt, SilverErng,
Ruby Vest, Meso Mail, and 2 rock helms.  With this equipment, this next part
will not be AS bad... it will still be very hard...
-----

Return to 1000 A.D. with the Dreamstone and get the Masamune repaired.  Now go
to 600 A.D. and see Frog again.  After his flashbacks he will join you.  Your
party should by Crono, Frog (LV11) and your LLGirl.

Make sure you have about _70_ Mid Tonics, and 20 heals.  Expensive, yes, but
you will need them.  Sell some old equipment, like the lode swords.  Each lode
sword will be worth 20 mid tonics.  After you have these items, head to the
Magic Cave.  Run from each fight.  You now stand before Magus' Castle.  Run
to each end of both halls and back, and hit the "save point."  Ozzie will
appear and you will initiate a *Forced Encounter*
Hench x4, Vamp x2, 488 exp.

Have Frog absorb this.  He will gain a badly needed but oh so awful level,
and become LV12.  You should face Flea first, so head down the right hall.
Talk to the children, say you want their treasure, and run.  Take the barrier.
Now proceed to the end of the hall to fight an easy boss.

---
Boss Encounter <9>
Flea, 500 exp.
---

Equip Frog with the Masamune, Rock Helm, the Meso Mail, and the SilverErng.
Everyone else doesn't matter.

Have Crono attack the Juggler dummy.  He will be MP Busted (no exp. gain,
don't worry).  Now Flea will appear.  Flea has a decent arsenal.

Prism Beam: Dark attack, 50 damage to all
Rainbow Storm: Poison attack
A regular physical attack that can cause sleep status
Waltz of the wind: confuse attack.
Flame heart attack

This isn't a hard battle.  Have Crono attack until he dies, have your LLGirl
attack with magic until she dies.  When this becomes a 1 on 1 with Frog vs.
Flea is when this battle really starts.  Have Frog repeatedly Slurp-Cut.
When he get poisoned, use a heal; poison status increases damage dealt to Frog
and decreases the damage he deals.  Just keep attacking, healing when
necessary. Flea has no powerful techniques.  When the battle is over, take
the Magic Tab that is left behind.

Go outside and use a shelter.  If you have under 60 mid tonics left, go back
to the village and buy some more.  You will need them for two of the hardest
bosses up to this point in the game: Slash and Magus.

After you are healed in MP from the shelter and have a lot of Mid Tonics, go
down the left hall.  You will have a *Forced Encounter*
Decedent x5, 60 exp.

Have your _LLGirl_ absorb this.  Its not much, and probably won't make a
difference, but your LLGirl can take the 60 exp. without level gain.

After the fight heal up with Tonics.  Get ready for a major battle.

---
Boss Encounter <10>
Slash, 500 exp.
---

Aye, this battle is hard UNLESS you know what you are doing.  If it wasn't a
battle between Frog and Slash alone, it wouldn't be as difficult.  However,
once Slash enters his most difficult attack mode, it would be a waste of
turns to revive your LLGirl or Crono.  His first phase is simple. Just attack
him, and use a Mid Tonic when necessary. His second phase starts when he
grabs his sword.  The only attack he uses in his second phase is slash,
about 70 damage.  Not a big deal.  Heal when necessary and just attack.
Save state in battle often.  There is no indication that he is entering his
third phase of attack; but you can tell he is because he will perform a
leap slash that deals 120 damage.  This leap slash is the start of his deadly
attack pattern that will leave you little room to attack.

3rd phase pattern:
Jump slash              125-130 damage
Jump slash              125-130 damage
"Yes, Indeed" combo     100 damage
Slash                   70 damage
Jump slash              125-130 damage
Attack                  70 damage
Slash                   70 damage
Attack                  70 damage

Just by looking at this chart, you should be able to see that you will be
needing to use Mid-tonics very often in battle.  Slash is faster than you,
so even if you are at 200 HP you could very well be in danger.  The idea for
this phase of attack is to use Mid tonics during his first 5 attacks.  When
he is performing the last of his three attacks in his pattern (the ones that
do the LEAST damage) it is safe for you to use slurp-cut.  Save state often;
if you screw up and attack when you shouldn't have, open state.

His forth phase is very short, but deadlier than his third.  In this phase
he will counter-attack with "Yes, Indeed," the 100 damage attack!  4 slurp
cuts from the start of this phase will finish him.

Now take the slasher and leave.  You probably used about 40 mid-tonics.  It
is recommended that you leave the castle and get a total of 50 mid tonics for
the upcoming fights (as always, more is better).  Now return to the castle.
Heal Frog only.  You will now be chasing Ozzie around the castle.

You should be able to get through Ozzie's "Puzzles" fairly easily.  Make sure
to grab the (!) DARK MAIL (!) in the room with the guillotines.  Its +5 Magic
Defense will help.  All encounters can be avoided; there are no forced
encounters up until the end of the chase of Ozzie.  When climbing the stairs,
use the ladders effectively to avoid the rolies.  In the case of an outlaw
that is moving toward you, you should attract it past a ladder.  It will
move out of your way onto the ladder.  There are also outlaws that appear
to be blocking your way at the end of the stairs; they can be run past by
hugging the up most edge of the stairs when running past them.

Toward the end of this chase there are two *Forced Encounters*
Groupie x2, Outlaw x2, 462 exp.
Juggler x4, 512 exp.

These encounters are faced in the room where Ozzie raises monsters using the
chain-elevators.  Although there are three total encounters in the room, only
two are forced (the first and third).  You can easily get wiped out if you
aren't careful.  For the first fight, use slurp-cut on the two outlaws.  For
the Groupies, attack.  Don't hold back with the items; use a mid tonic if
necessary.  After this fight heal everyone.  For the forced encounter with
the jugglers, have Crono and Marle use magic, and Frog attack with the
Masamune.  From these battles, Frog will grow to LV14.

Now you are at the end of the chase after Ozzie.  You will fight him.

---
Boss Encounter <11>
Ozzie, 0 exp.
---

Since Ozzie is technically a boss, he gets his own little boss section.
Just attack the cranks.  For good measure, you can kill of Crono and your
LLGirl by attacking the ice block before you win the battle but really it
doesn't matter.

Now use a shelter.  Head through the teleporting point and run down the
stairs.  The showdown between Frog and Magus is about to start.

---
Boss Encounter <12>
Magus, 1500 exp.
---

This boss is more a measure of your patience and luck.  Equip Frog with
the Dark Mail, and SilverErng.  One factor will determine how long this
battle is and ultimately your success or failure:

 - How many times Magus chooses water as his weakness -

His elemental spells will deal about 120 damage to Frog (everyone else is
out by the first attack).  Magus's attack pattern is:

1.  Elemental Spell  -  120 lightning/fire, 100 water, 140 shadow,
2.  Geyser (HP down) -  50 damage
3.  Physical attack  -  60-70 damage
Steps 2 and three will repeat until you: 1. Use the element he is weak
against or 2. Attack him two times.  Once you do one of these two things,
Magus will change barriers.  Whenever you can (which is whenever he is weak
against it), attack him, then use water.  The 250 damage water will deal him
will really help.  The Masamune will deal 30 damage to him (60 for a
critical).

Once you deal 3000 points of damage, he will switch to his easier attack
mode.  He will now cast magic wall on himself, then dark matter.  Your
attacks will deal 110 damage (220 for a critical) and slurp cut will deal 150
damage.  This is basically a run on your mid tonic count.  You must use two
mid tonics for each time he uses dark matter (which will nearly kill you,
dealing 290 damage).  If you have enough mid tonics to last you, you win.
If you don't, you lose.  On one run through Magus, I used 50 mid tonics and
ran out and died.  The next time, I won, having only used 35 (so luck plays
a role in your survival).

What does work is changing the time that you attack.  If Magus chooses an
undesirable barrier, then open state and wait until he does a move. Hopefully
he will choose water.

Once Magus is defeated and you gain 1500 experience, you will be sucked into
a time gate.  You will awaken in 65,000,000 B.C.  Get ready for yet another
very tough fight in the Tyrano Lair.

-----
Having completed these sections, Crono should be at LV1, your LLGirl should
be at LV4, your HLGirl at LV15, Frog at LV15, and Robo at LV16.  You're
doing great.  Just three more battles before you can fight as much as you
want.
-----

Go to the woods and see Ayla request for her Dactyl.  Now follow her up the
Dactyl Nest and she will join the party.  She will have leveled up to LV19.
Now that you are stocked up you can go to the Tyrano Lair.  Keep this in
mind: there are no forced encounters in the Tyrano Lair.

After you free Kino run up the passage that he opens up.  Hit the switch to
drop the monsters.  In the room with the teleporters, just open state if
you hit an encounter (encounters in this room can be maneuvered around but
cannot be run from if encountered).

Now, you will reach the balcony.  Between the 1st door and the middle door
on the balcony, hug the up most wall.  Once you reach the middle door, run
down to the bottom of the screen.  From here you will need to take a few
steps and save state after those few steps.  You must not initiate any
battles.  Once you reach the far door hit the right switch and open the
skull.  Hit the button.  Now retrace your steps back to the middle door,
which is opened.

Now here comes a tedious part.  Save state as you are looking at the door.
Normally, when you try to run through the door, monsters come out and you
would initiate a fight.  However, this fight CAN be avoided.  Run at the
door.  If the fight starts, open state.  Keep repeating this and eventually
you will make it through and run straight into Nizbel II.

Luckily the fight doesn't just start.  Run past Nizbel toward the stairs,
however, and the battle begins.

---
Boss Encounter <13>
Nizbel II, 880 exp.
---

Nizbel...  Aye...  This Nizbel is far more powerful than the first.  You
cannot use Crono as you think you would because:

1.  Just because you use lightning doesn't mean Nizbel's defense becomes
LOW. It only means it is LOWER.  From actual tests, Ayla was dealing very
little damage after a while.  It started out at 200... then dropped... 150,
100, 90, 50.  Even though Crono was using lightning, Nizbel's defense was
not dropping fast enough.
2.  Crono has 8 MP.  You will have 4 lightning for every ether/mid ether.
And because of point 1, this is not worth it.
3.  The Electric discharge.  ARGH!  Very painful.
4.  Crono cannot survive Nizbel's charge attack no matter what you do.

So for this battle, let your _HLGirl_ fight.  This will mean that your
LLgirl will level up to 5.  Until I come up with a more sound strategy for
defeating Nizbel with a LV4 Marle or Lucca, this is all you can do.
Based upon mathematics, your total average party level will remain the
same whether or not you used your LLGirl.

With your HLGirl, Nizbel is not so bad.  Crono will get knocked out quickly.
Have your HLGirl (equipped with the silver stud) use her magic spell since
in this battle, Nizbel does not have really high magic defense (unlike the
last one).  Just use Ayla to heal and your HLGirl to attack.  This not hard.
At the end of the battle, have your HLGirl absorb the experience, not Ayla.

Use a shelter at the save point, and take your HLGirl out of the party.
Put in your LLGirl, who has leveled up to 5.  Now proceed onward.  You
will end up on a second balcony.  Use the same method of taking steps and
saving state to cross the balcony.  Once you make it to the other side and
into the room, just run up to the skull to open it.  Hit the button to
unlock the middle door.  Now return to the middle and save state.
To avoid the encounter with the Terrasaur in the middle of the bridge,
align yourself with the inside left edge of the door like so:

Bridge
--DD--    DD represent the door.
-- ---
-- ---
-- ---
-- ---

Run down the empty channel to avoid the encounter.

Finally you are through dodging dinosaur encounters!  You are also through
dodging encounters _period_.  You will have one fairly tough fight with
Azala to deal with, then Golem, then you are through.

Talk to Azala.  He/she (?) will run outside.  Equip Ayla with the Ruby
Vest and Speed Belt.  You're set.

---
Boss Encounter <14>
Azala and Black Tyrano, 1800 exp.
---

You need to get rid of Azala as soon as possible.  Have your LLGirl use
magic.  Crono can use lightning.  Ayla should attack.  If anything, make
Crono the healer, unless he dies, whereby Ayla should become healer.
Concentrate everything you have on Azala, using kiss/mid-tonics when
necessary.

However, before Azala goes down, the Black Tyrano will enter its countdown
phase.  Use this time to attack Azala with everything.  Before the Black
Tyrano reaches 0, make sure Ayla has at least 200 HP.  The flame attack
will deal 150 damage and wipe out everyone else.  Revive your LLGirl and
continue to barrage Azala.

After you use a mid ether on your LLGirl and she runs out of magic a second
time, Azala should go down.  Once Azala uses Azala break and dies, you must
now focus upon the Black Tyrano.  It is simple enough.  It has the pattern
of crunch/absorb attack (absorbs HP = to 1/2 your character's max HP) and
then the countdown flame attack.  So just attack constantly, healing with
mid tonics after its flame attack and the absorb attack.

Black Tyrano will die and give Ayla 1800 horrible experience.  Lavos will
come crashing down.

-----
If you have been following this FAQ _exactly_, then you have reached your
final game levels: Crono LV1, your LLGirl LV5, your HLGirl LV15, Frog LV16,
Robo LV17, and Ayla LV20.  When you pick up Magus, he will automatically
be LV37.  Now you should check the statuses of all your characters.  If
any character other than Crono and the LLGirl has _less_ than 751 exp.
to go toward a level up, or if Ayla has less than 1000 exp. then you should
not fight the next boss.
-----

Go into the crater and take the gate.  Welcome to 12000 B.C.  In Enhasa,
meet Janus.  What a cool kid.  Now just run to the palace atop the hill.
Learn the secret Nu scratch point by scratching the Nu in the palace and
return to Kajar and pick up the speed tab and the magic tab.

Watch the encounter between Schala and Magus.  Now follow Schala, and watch
her use her pendant on the door.  FINALLY!!!!  You can now power up your
pendant in the Mammon Machine.

You know what that means... You can open the door to the wallet now...

But since the exit is blocked, you must now fight your last "forced"
experience battle.  Luckily, the experience isn't really forced since you
can choose to lose.

---
Boss Encounter <15>
Golem, 1000 exp.
---

This boss is different.  If you lose, the storyline progresses normally
instead of it being a game over.  For this reason you can lose to avoid
the experience. Again, if you have been following this FAQ exactly, you
CAN fight this battle since no one should be gaining a level.  On the
other hand, if you had battles that are not listed in this FAQ and gained
more experience than necessary, you may need to lose this one on purpose
to prevent further leveling up.  In fact, you can just elect to lose on
purpose right off the bat even if you can take the experience, but that's
not the spirit!

If you chose Lucca as your LLGirl, you are lucky.  Equip Ayla with the
Ruby vest and you are pretty safe.  If you chose Marle to stay low, this
fight will be harder.

The basic strategy is to NEVER let Golem copycat physics.  When you attack
Golem, he techcopies the element associated with the attack (so physics
is a physical attack).  The powerful physical attack will ruin you; it
will waste even Ayla in one hit.  So to avoid this, you will need to have
your LLGirl use her elemental spell immediately after Ayla uses her fists;
this will set the Golem on either water or fire depending on whether you
have Lucca or Marle.

Before the fight let Ayla have the Silver Erng.  Let Crono get knocked
out immediately.  Once both girls have their turns ready, let Ayla attack
first, then immediately use ice/fire to avoid physics.  Ayla should always
be the healer.  Just repeat this, making sure never to let Golem use
the physical attack that can take out Ayla (if Ayla dies this is pretty
much over for you).  If Lucca is using fire, the fire attacks Golem uses
are halved by Ayla.  If you have Marle, though, this is still possible.
This is the last battle you will need to make sure 2 characters are knocked
out at the end.

Once you win (or lose) you will be captured.  Schala and her good heart
will free you.  The Prophet will catch her and you will be forced to reveal
the portal and thrown back to 65,000,000 B.C.

Pat yourself on the back.  Now return to the end of time and take the portal
to 2300 A.D.  Cross the Lab32 and get the treasures in the basement of the
Arris Dome.  Now cross Lab16.  Out of all the goodies, these are the best:

THE BIG TRERASURES:

HIT RING!

GOLD ERNG!!!      (Arris Dome)

GOLD STUD!        (Trann Dome)

WALLET!!!!!!!     (Bangdor Dome)

You now have the wallet in your possession.  From here on our, any experience
you gain will turn into money, G.  This marks the end of the experience in
the game.

Now that you have the wallet, you are free of two major burdens.  No longer
are you burdened by the presence of your LLGirl.  Replace her if you wish.
Also, you are free to learn whatever techniques you desire since you no longer
need to worry about gaining experience.  Keep the wallet on someone at all
times.

In addition to granting you the ability to open sealed doors, your pendant
will allow you to open sealed chests.  The four chests that are significant</pre><pre id="faqspan-2">
are the chests that contain the Red, White, Blue, and Black Mail.  Go to
600A.D. and touch all 4 chests (2 in the Elder's House, 1 in Truce Inn, and 1
in Guardia Castle).  Do not open them at this time.  Now go to 1000A.D. and
open them to get the powered up Mails.  Go back to 600 A.D. after getting the
mails and open the chests in this era to get the weaker vests.

-----
You should have the Gold Erng, Hit Ring, Gold Stud, Red Mail, Blue Mail,
White Mail, Black Mail, Red Vest, Blue Vest, White Vest, Black Vest, and the
Wallet.
-----

Moving onward... Proceed through the Sewer Access as you normally would.
Fight Krawlie and shred him.  Meet Balthasar and receive the Wings of Time:
the Epoch.  Before you head onward to 12000 B.C., go to 65000000 B.C. and
repeatedly fight the Nu in the hunting range with Ayla until you learn Charm.
Charm, as already stated, is one of the best techniques in the game.  To
easily find the Nu in the hunting range, just wait at one of places that he
appears (one is on the ground on the top-right part of the Hunting Range,
another is on the second level in the bottom-right corner.  When it rains,
he should show himself, and he can easily be defeated for 30 tech points.
Exchange your items (feathers, horns, fangs, petals) for good equipment back
in Ioka Village.

Now take Frog, Ayla, and Crono to 12000 B.C.  Frog should already know leap
slash.  To prepare for future sections, charm at least 3 R'bow Helms
from the Beasts.  These will give you sufficient defense for your next boss
encounters.

---
Boss Encounter <16>
Red Beast, Blue Beast, Mud Imp
---

Frog and Ayla will be the attackers in this battle.  Give them both R'bow
Helms and the best armor you have.  Give Ayla the Gold Erng.  At the start,
if you can, have Crono and Frog use Swordstream on the Red Beast.  Charm a
Speed Tab from the Mud Imp and a Mermaid Cap from the Blue Beast.

Focus on the Red Beast first.  Have Frog use Water, and Ayla use Rock
Throw.  It should go down easily enough.  Use Mid Tonics whenever it is
necessary.  Once the Red Beast is down, the attacks of the Mud Imp will
increase in frequency.  Make sure both characters stay above 200 HP - use
Mid Tonics frequently.  Attack the Blue Beast whenever you have a free turn.
Once the Blue Beast is defeated, just wait out the Mud Imp, who will run
away.

Now head up the Mountain of Woe.  Utilize charm to get some Alloy Blades
from Bantam Imps, Big Hands from Gargoyles, and Pearl Edges from Man Eaters.
These will sell for a handsome sum later on.  Just make sure to pick up at
least 1 Pearl Edge for Frog.  Once you make it to the summit, you will
face Giga Gaia.

---
Boss Encounter <17>
Giga Gaia
---

This boss probably gave you a tough time in your normal game (Well, maybe).
However, this boss is incredibly easy.  Give Frog the Red Mail and the Hit
Ring so that he can hit his target more easily.  You win.

Giga Gaia has two attacks that he does with two hands:

DblHandBlaster - heal 270HP for Frog (he absorbs it from the Red Mail)
Dark Plasma - 150 damage to Frog

He uses DblHandBlaster more often then Dark Plasma.  Because you absorb
the fire attacks Giga Gaia does, Frog cannot die.  Repeatedly attack the
main body; don't even bother with the hands.  Giga Gaia will go down.

Having defeated Giga Gaia, you have rescued the Guru of Life, Melchior.
After watching the scenes here, you must now follow Schala to the Ocean
Palace.  Restock on restorative items (sell some of those charmed weapons
if you are short on money).  Head through to Zeal's Palace and fight
a simple boss battle.

---
Boss Encounter <18>
Dalton
---

Dalton has no attacks that can kill you except for his finisher.  All he
uses is Iron Orb, an attack that halves HP.  Because of his high evade,
use techniques that cannot be blocked (like Volt Bite).  Before you deal
the 3500 damage necessary to defeat him, heal Ayla with a Mid Tonic.
She will survive Dalton's final attack.

The Ocean Palace awaits.  And... it is difficult to make it through.  Take
Frog, Ayla, and Crono.  Proceed carefully.  Take all treasures.  Make sure
to find the hidden Demon Hit for Frog - the 2x attack against Magic enemies
will prove very useful.  You can charm barriers and shields from the
enemies here.

To defeat Flying enemies, use Frog's weapons.  Given that you charmed a
Pearl Edge, Frog already has 1.5x hit against these magic enemies.  Once
you get the Demon Hit you are in better shape.  To defeat a Barghest and
Jinn combo, just pay attention to when you strike the Barghest.  If you
hit it while it is in close proximity to its counterpart, they will deal
a painful counter-attack.  Overall, the enemies in the Ocean Palace are
tough.  It is a good idea to run away from most of these encounters.

The hardest part of the Ocean Palace is the elevator.  You will have
three consecutive battles.  As a basic rule, have Frog attack the magic
enemies (Jinn, Barghest, any of the flying enemies).  Ayla can take out a
thrasher or lasher with a single Rock Throw for 700 damage.  After the
second battle on the elevator, make sure that Frog is conscious and at high
HP.  The third battle on the elevator is a large group of scouts.  Frog's
Demon Hit combined with leap slash will certainly help.  In this battle,
the enemies can join for a delta attack, which will basically end the game.
Therefore, have Frog Leap Slash and Crono and Ayla attack both red scouters.
Once the red scouters are out, the threat of the delta attack is gone.

After making it through the elevator, activate the bridge.  Again, take
care when activating the bridge (you will have to fight 2 sets of three
scouters who can use the delta attack together).  Once you hit both
switches and activate the bridge, prepare for a boss fight.  Switch Lucca
in for Frog, regardless of what level she is at.  Dalton will summon the
Golem Twins to fight you.

---
Boss Encounter <19>
Golem Twins
---

Remember your fight (if you actually bothered to fight it) with the Golem?
you will need to use the same strategy.  Now...

Equip Lucca (LV5 or 15), with the Red Mail and Ayla with a Red Vest.
Give Lucca a speed belt (this makes Lucca have a speed of 8), and give Ayla
the Gold Erng.

The Golem Twins are vulnerable to sleep.  Use Hypno Wave at the start.  If
you don't get both of them to fall asleep, restart the battle.  Once you
do get both to fall asleep, manipulate the Golem's techcopy ability.  Have
Ayla use Rock Throw on one, then immediately follow the attack with a Fire
from  Lucca.  Because all the Golem can techcopy is fire, and you are
protected against all fire attacks, you cannot die.  Make sure to charm a
magic tab from this Golem before it goes down (Charm is physical, so just
substitute charm for one of Ayla's Rock Throws in the attack pattern).

You should be able to eliminate one of the Golems before the other wakes up.
Finish the other accordingly.  Again, get a Magic Tab from this one too.  As
long as you don't get sloppy, and always prevent the Golem from using physics
for its turn, this is a simple battle.

Dalton will threaten with the GolemBoss but Lavos will begin to emerge.  An
important scene is about to take place so... DE-EQUIP CRONO NOW.  Whatever
you do, do not let Crono *die* with your stuff.

Give Crono the following Equipment:

Wood Sword
Hide Cap
Hide Tunic
PowerGlove

Make sure that you have your handy-dandy wallet on someone other than Crono
before advancing.

---
Boss Encounter <20>
Ocean Palace Lavos
---

Even though you automatically lose, this battle deserves its own little
section.  Now, you will face Lavos.  Observe the incredible damage dealt to
Crono.  2100 damage!  Awesome!  This is a figure that you probably have never
seen dealt to your characters before.  And... this is a figure that is DWARFED
by the damages dealt by later bosses!

Magus will show himself and attempt to defeat Lavos.  After he gets
drained, Crono will sacrifice his level 1 self.  With him will go all those
wonderful things you equipped him with before.  Lavos now brings destruction
upon 12000 B.C.

The wonderful Kingdom of Zeal is gone, and so is Crono.  Now, form your
party (I used Frog, Ayla, and the HLGirl).  Put Frog in the lead and give
him the wallet.  Now go to the commons, and get captured by Dalton.

Now you are aboard the Blackbird, and all your equipment is gone.  The
first thing that you should be thinking about is your wallet.  So, go and
retrieve Frog's Equipment.  Because Frog was your party leader, you can
collect his equipment from the room with the sleeping guard without facing
any battles.  When you get his equipment, you also get your wallet back,
meaning that you are safe (exp. wise).  Once you have Frog's equipment, just
get all the rest of the stuff back.

On the wing of the blackbird you will fight the GolemBoss.

---
Boss Encounter <21>
GolemBoss
---

Just do nothing.  GolemBoss will flee.  Now you will fight Dalton.

---
Boss Encounter <22>
Dalton Plus
---

Have Ayla use Rock Throw, and Frog use Leap Slash.  Your HLGirl should heal.
This is another very simple battle.  Don't use elemental attacks.

Now that Dalton is gone, you destroy the Blackbird.  Return to the Commons.
Just for _fun_ if you want to, save and prepare for a boss battle.  Form
a party without Frog (Ayla, your HLGirl, and Robo is ideal), and equip them
with different elemental Mail (Red, White, blue).  Also, give one person
wearing the white mail the mermaid cap, and give the other two R'bow helms.
In this way you can cover 3 elemental attacks that Magus uses, and half one
other element.

Meet with Magus at the North Cape and learn about his past.  If you wish to
fight him just once, then do so.

---
Boss Encounter <23>
Magus
---

Just to prove your dominance over Magus, you can defeat him - but you WILL NOT
SAVE since you must collect Magus.  Have Ayla Rock Throw, Robo Rocket Punch,
and HLGirl heal.  At the beginning of the fight, Magus will only do a weak
scythe attack for about 60 damage.  When he starts to do his level 2 spells,
at least 1 person will absorb the attack because of your armors.  Because you
are stronger, Magus will fall easily.  Once he dies, open your game without
saving.

---

**Thanks to **ccexplore** for providing the following boss strategy for
defeating Magus with Frog alone - this is a true face-off worth the attempt
just for fun.  This was written using mostly ccexplore's own words**

Give Frog 4 Speed Tabs and the following Equipment

Demon hit
R'bow helm
Red Mail
Wallet

Battle:

Use Leap Slash throughout the entire battle.  Magus has 6666 HP, and has two
distinct "phases": one when his HP is above 3333 and another when its HP drops
below that mark.

In the first phase he doesn't use magic, so simply attack and heal.
Mid-tonics are adequate for healing purposes.

Frog deals 450 damage with Leap slash, so it takes 8 of those before Magus
switches to phase 2.  After 7 of them, wait until Magus hits Frog, then spend
the next few turns doing the following, in order:
  1) mid-tonic
  2) ***barrier***
  3) Leap Slash

This takes Magus to phase 2, who starts using and countering with level 2
magic.  It's pretty deadly, but thanks to the barrier, it is manageable.

Magus's level 2 magic has the following effects on Frog when barrier is
active:

- Lightning 2: about 70 HP of damage, thanks to the R'bow helm
- Fire 2: heals Frog something like 120 HP, thanks to the red mail
- Ice 2: about 100 HP of damage

Magus's speed is such that he deals out about one (occasionally 2?)
level-2-elementals per Frog's turn.  Of course, he also counters each of
Frog's attack with a level-2-elemental.  So in this phase, the idea is to hold
out with mid-tonics until a turn in which Magus uses Fire 2.  It's a good idea
to try to keep Frog above 200 HP at all times.  When Frog's turn is ready, if
he is below 200 HP or so, you should heal with mid-tonic; otherwise attack
Magus with Leap Slash.

You might sometimes need to "waste" a turn substituting an Ether/Mid-Ether
for Leap Slash.  And the barrier will likely run out, in which case make sure
to use another one as soon as Frog's turn comes.  Hopefully the barrier will
not run out at a bad time.  It takes just another 7 Leap Slashes to finish
off Magus.  You of course don't need to worry about staying above 200 HP, if
you know you'd be dealing the final blow (that being said, Leap Slash *can*
miss!)

ccexplore's Comments:
 - the barriers are I think essential to surviving this battle.  You can get
   an unlimited number of them by that point: by charming certain enemies; and
   a few can be picked up in chests
 - you don't really need to use Leap Slash during Magus's 1st phase.  In fact,
   now that I think of it, it's probably best not to waste your MP at that
   point (to avoid having to waste a turn using Ethers in Magus's 2nd phase).
   On the flip side, you'd wind up using more mid-tonics if you just use
   regular attacks in the 1st phase.

---

When Magus asks if you wish to fight, refuse.  He will join your party at
LV37.  Magus will suggest that you see Gaspar, the Guru of Time, for a way to
revive Crono.  Once you finally do collect Crono again, you will have the
final party.  Because Magus is so much more powerful than any of your other
characters, and to add to challenge, do not put him into your party.

-----
Overall, after working hard to get the wallet, you have had a series of very
simple battles because:
1. You could take the LLGirl out and put a stronger character in
2. You could learn all the techniques you could possible want
3. You received several powerful armors that made bosses pushovers
However, from this point on, the battles will be getting increasingly tougher.
-----

Since you now have the Epoch with wings, you are free to do as you wish.  The
first thing that should be done is the revival of Crono since Crono is the
lead character and should be the leader of your party.  Go to the End of
Time and get the Chrono Trigger from Gaspar.  Return to 1000A.D. and obtain a
Crono clone from the Festival.  In order to prepare for Death Peak, you will
also need to get some armor.  Go to the ancient weapons site north of Medina
Village and select the Safe Helm.  Also, it would be a good idea to go to
65000000B.C. and get a Ruby Armor (or 2... or 3).

With these items, go to the Keeper's Dome.  Talk to Balthasar, the Nu.  Climb
Death Peak as you normally would.  There is nothing that you will need to
watch out for in terms of monster fights since all can be run from.  The three
Lavos Spawn, however, will give you trouble.

---
Boss Encounter(s) <24>
Lavos Spawn
---

Use Frog, Ayla, and Robo.  Give Frog the SilverErng, and Ayla the GoldErng.
Give both Ruby Armor, and give Ayla the Safe Helm.  These are the first fights
where even your moderately leveled characters will suffer.

Lavos Spawn has an attack pattern
Lavos Spawn needle: 360 damage to Robo and Frog, 190 to Ayla with Safe Helm
Bomb attack: 200 damage magic damage (1 target)
Lavos's sigh: 200 damage and sleep status (sometimes) (1 target)
Blizzard: 60 damage and chaos status (sometimes) (1 target)
Lavos also counterattacks with Lavos Spawn needle on all party members if you
hit the shell.

Ayla and Robo should survive the first attack.  The basic battle plan is to
take full advantage of the time between Lavos Spawn's needle attack.  Since
he uses 3 single target attacks following his needle, during those three
attacks you are "safe" since you cannot lose the battle.

Use Ayla to continuously Cat Attack the... beak(?)... head.  Do not ever
attack the shell.  Revive other characters after the Lavos Spawn Needle
so that there is a chance that they will draw the fire from Lavos Spawn away
from Ayla, who should get uninterrupted attacks if all possible.  During
Frog's or Robo's turn, have them heal Ayla or use their most powerful attack.
The worst possible thing is to have Ayla get hit by Blizzard, get into chaos
status, and have her attack the shell, which would result in two consecutive
Lavos Spawn needles.  Luckily Lavos Spawn is not very strong, and it should
go down after 3 rounds of its attack cycle.

Once you defeat all three Lavos Spawn and reach the summit of Death Peak,
Crono's revival scene will begin.  If you wish, sub in Marle or Lucca at
this point to view their special scene.

With Death Peak completed, you have finalized your party.
Crono       LV1
Marle/Lucca LV5/15 or vice versa
Frog        LV16
Robo        LV17
Ayla        LV20
Magus       LV37

And, with the revival of Crono, you have entered the Fated Hour, the time
where you better the past, present, and future.

The following are the quests which must be completed and the appropriate
character that should or must be in the party:

1.  - Rainbow Shell
2.  - Sun Stone
3.  - King's Trial          - Marle
4.  - Hero's Grave          - Frog
5.  - Origin of Machines    - Robo
6.  - Revival of the Forest
7.  - Ozzie's Fort          - Magus (not recommended)
8.  - Black Omen            - Magus (Zeal, again not recommended)

For all of these except for the Geno Dome (Origin of Machines) Crono will be
the leader of the party.  In the Geno Dome, Robo is required to lead the
party, so Crono will be in the #2 spot.  Using Magus is optional for
completionists or people who want to use Magus *once* in the most appropriate
parts of the game.  This FAQ assumes you do not use Magus, but if you do, you
should be able to figure out what to do on your own - he is strong enough.

Do not forget to continuously stock up on items through these parts of the
game since money is no longer a problem.

The easiest quests which will lead to excellent benefits are the recovery of
the Rainbow Shell and the sun stone.  First go to 600A.D. and talk to Toma and
get his "pop."  Get a lot of Full Tonics.  Pour the pop on his grave in
1000A.D. to open up the Rainbow Shell sidequest.

When you enter the cave, you will find the Tyrano Lair, buried deep
underground.  All encounters are very tough and damaging, so run away.  After
battles, heal.  Your party should be Crono, Ayla, and someone else.  In the
lair, be sure to grab all the tabs you can find.

Overall, there are no difficult spots of the lair.  At the end, you will fight
the Rust Tyrano.

---
Boss Encounter <25>
Rust Tyrano
---

Before this fight, equip Ayla with the Red Vest and Crono with the Red Mail.
Take off all HP enhancing equipment.  Give Ayla a power increasing accessory
instead.  Give Crono his best sword and the Hit Ring.

Rust Tyrano will use the same sort of Powerful Countdown Fire technique as
the Black Tyrano.  His pattern is as follows:

Slow Countdown - Fire attack (i.e. - 5.... 4.... 3.... 2.... 1.... attack)
Bite - Absorb 1/2 to 4/7 Max HP of target
Bite
Increase Power
Slow Countdown
Bite
Bite
Increase Power
Fast Countdown (i.e. - 3,2,1 in one turn, attack)
Increase Power
Fast Countdown

(In addition, you are in constant HP down status)

After one full cycle, his power resets to default, and he repeats.

At the start of the battle, charm a Red Mail from him.  Because of your Red
Vest and Mail, you characters will absorb his fire attacks.  For the first
two slow countdowns, after he unleashes the attack he will bite your
characters.  After his first bite, heal that character.  In this way, you can
prevent your characters from dying at all during this battle.  Just keep
attacking, healing only after he BITES, and you will eventually defeat him.

It is worth noting that you can witness around **5200HP** healing to Crono -
This is the largest single amount of damage dealt to one of your characters
that I have seen in the game.  Conversely, you can witness 5200HP damage to
Crono by taking the Red Mail off of him.

After you crush Rust Tyrano, take the Rainbow shell.  It will be guaranteed
safe storage in Guardia Castle.  Now go to 2300A.D. and enter the Sun Palace.
Fight Son of Sun.

---
Boss Encounter <26>
Son of Sun
---

Son of Sun is a very simple boss.  Keep the same equipment from the last
battle.  Equip the Red Mail that you stole from Rust Tyrano on your third
character.  The idea is just to hit the correct flame.  Because you absorb
flame counterattacks, as well as Son of Sun's Flare, you are not in danger.
Just find the correct flame and keep attacking it.  The only move that Son
of Sun can use that can wipe out your party is his ray; after the character
dies, revive him/her.

Charm a Black mail from Son of Sun before you kill him.

Once Son of Sun goes down, get the Sun Stone.  Power it up as you normally
would (get the Jerky, give it to the woman in 600A.D. etc. etc.).

Now to wrap up these quests, attend the King's Trial.  Use Crono, Marle, and
Ayla, and return to 1000A.D.  Proceed through the scenes as you normally
would in a game: Find the plot, get the PrismShard, and reveal the Chancellor.
Once you reveal the Chancellor, you will fight Yakra the XIII.

---
Boss Encounter <27>
Yakra XIII
---

Because you don't have status protecting armor yet, this fight is a little
tough.  Give Ayla the Safe Helm and the Gold Erng.  Yakra opens with a simple
attack pattern: blizzard, blizzard, attack, attack.  Blizzard inflicts Chaos,
and the attacks hit the whole party.  As a whole, Yakra is fairly harmless in
this stage.  Use Rock Throw repeatedly, using Mid Ethers and tonics when
necessary.

He will switch to his second stage of attacks after you deal him a certain
amount of damage.  This is indicated by his speech (Heard about it from the
ancestors...) - If Ayla is in chaos status at this point, you should start
over...  Once this phase begins, his attack pattern changes:
Multi-hit Needle:  200 damage to Ayla, kills Crono/Marle
Needlespin v13:    220 damage to Ayla, 1 target only
Needlespin
Needlespin
Needlespin
Needlespin
Blizzard:          chaos

At this point, you will need to take advantage of his constant use of single
target attacks.  Revive Crono since he is faster.  If Yakra attacks Crono,
you prevent damage from Ayla.  If Yakra hits Ayla, use Crono to heal.  By
completing the rest of this battle in this way, you will be able to get the
most amount of attacks off with the least risk of losing.  After Yakra does
Blizzard, he will have a very long pause before repeating his attack pattern.
Hopefully Ayla was not Chaosed by that.  Just pummel him, keeping Crono alive
during Yakra's long series of single target attacks, and you will win.

So, the King and Marle reunite.  After the scenes here, Melchior comes and
makes you powerful equipment.  You finally get your status protective
equipment: three Prism Helms.  Since you also have the Sun stone, you get
the Rainbow and PrismSpecs.  Giving Crono the Rainbow will make him a
formidable fighter capable of dealing more damage than Ayla right off the
bat.

---
Quick Reference <28>
Hero's Grave
---

Complete Frog's Sidequest with Frog, Ayla, and Crono now to obtain the Moon
Armor, Nova Armor, and the powered-up Masamune.  There are no bosses in this
section.  First talk to the repairman in 600A.D. then get the tools in
1000A.D.  Tell the man in 600A.D. to repair the ruins.  The monsters here are
more difficult than previous bosses.  The skeleton enemies are easy; Crono
with Hit Ring and Rainbow can defeat just attack for great damage.  The
Armored Guard type enemies can be defeated only with Magic attacks.  When
you go into the basement, put Ayla in the second party position and have her
use Tail Spin.  Frog can also use Water if the enemies are out of her reach.
Just remember to heal often.  Once the ruins are fully repaired, power up
the sealed chest to get the Moon Armor in 1000A.D. then go back for the Nova
Armor in 600A.D.  For now, do not pursue the Shiva Edge or the Valkerie; the
monsters are too difficult when matched to your current equipment.

Now go to complete the Geno Dome.  Seal the Origin of Machines.  Put Robo at
the head of the party.  Crono and Ayla can be in the other two places.
Equip Robo and Ayla with the Black Mail, and Crono with the Black Vest.  Give
Robo the Gold Erng and Ayla the Hit Ring.  Most machines use Shadow techniques
(lasers, beams).  Despite the fact that you do absorb these shadow attacks,
you will need to be very careful since the physical damage dealt by normal
monsters is Proceed through the Geno Dome normally. Fights cannot be escaped,
but they are not too tedious thanks to the constant healing from the Black
armors. Toward the end of the Geno Dome, you will fight Atropos.

---
Boss Encounter <29>
Atropos
---

Thankfully, she is not difficult.  Her attacks are weak enough for your
Robo to just wait her out.  For good measure, equip Robo with the Wallet...
the battle doesn't actually give experience though.  Give Robo Red Mail
and Safe Helm.  Atropos has an attack pattern, and at the end of the
pattern she loses automatically:

rocket punch
cure beam
laser spin
cure beam
tackle
uzzi punch
area bomb    - Healing
area bomb
area bomb
area bomb
area bomb
area bomb
bomb

Just keep healing.  Note that the Area Bombs will be absorbed thanks to the
Red Mail.  She will defeat herself and come to her senses.

Atropos will give you her ribbon which will substantially increase Robo's
speed and up his Magic Defense.  Now proceed on and fight Mother Brain.

---
Boss Encounter <30>
Mother Brain
---

This battle is a lot of fun.  Mother Brain will kill you if you take out all
three of its displays.  So you will need to keep one alive.  However, the
display will heal Mother Brain for 1000HP at a time, putting a restraint upon
your strategies.  You will need to stop that display without killing it.

Give Ayla the Wallet and the Black Vest.  Give Crono the Black Mail and the
Hit Ring.  Give Robo the Black Mail and PrismSpecs.  Mother Brain cannot hurt
anyone because your characters will absorb her shadow attacks.  Take out two
displays at the start.  Use the Dual Tech Boogie with Robo and Ayla to put a
stop to the Display, thus stopping healing.  By keeping one display alive in
stop status, and pummeling Mother Brain, you can defeat her without her
unleashing powerful attacks.

Robo will receive the Crisis arm and Terra Arm.

At this point in the game, you will finally need to start seriously learning
techniques if you haven't already.  Fight battles until Ayla knows Triple
Kick. With this tech you are now ready to fight Retinite.

Proceed to 600 A.D. desert and talk with Fiona.  If the sidequest is not yet
enabled, go to 12000 B.C. and speak with the woman in the commons nearby the
green plant.  Once the quest has been activated, take Crono, Frog, and Ayla
underground.  Take the chests, run from the battles.  Then fight Retinite.

---
Boss Encounter <31>
Retinite
---

This is a fairly aggravating fight.  Ayla, Crono, and Frog can fight this
battle. Give Ayla the Safe Helm, Black Mail, and Gold Erng.  Her role in this
fight is to serve as the survivor.  Give Frog the Masamune, Prism Helm, Black
Mail, and Dash Ring - This ring can be found in the Magic Cave in 1000 A.D.
where you fought Heckran.  Frog's role is to be the fast water-user.  Give
Crono the Wallet.  His role is to be at level 1, die, and turn your exp. into
G.

Opening the fight, charm a speed tab from the core and Leap Slash it with
Frog. After the top decides to absorb from the core, it dies.  Now you are
in for a long series of a water-triple kick cycle.  Retinite, like many
dangerous enemies in this game, has a top and bottom part.

The top has:
2 Shadow Based attacks (healing because of Black Mail/Vest)
Drain attack (70-100 damage and healing for Retinite)
Bomb attack (kills Frog and hurts Ayla 200 HP)

The bottom has:
Earthquake attack (70-100 damage to both Ayla and Frog)
Swallow attack (slightly more than 1/2Max HP damage and healing for Retinite)
Sand Cyclone, which deals around 200 damage to Frog and 130 to Ayla

This is just tedious.  Retinite's attack pattern appears random.  Hopefully,
the top chooses to use its shadow based attacks to give you free turns without
healing.  Because there are two enemies, damage stacks very quickly.  It is
important to keep Ayla at high HP (200 or less is not safe).  Frog's healing
should come mostly from the shadow attacks.

All in all, use water on the bottom, then have Ayla use Triple Kick it.  Use
Mid Ethers on Ayla to recover MP and Full/Mid Tonics on her for HP recovery.
This is an elementary strategy that just takes a long time.  After the bottom
dies the top should fall soon after.

After the beast falls go to see Fiona with Robo in your party.  Agree to let
him stay, go to 1000 A.D., and recover him to go through the campfire scene.
Change history here if you like.

Go to 600 A.D. and meet Ozzie.  With or without Magus, the trio of Ozzie,
Flea, and Slash is a complete pushover.  If you want special dialogue and a
fitting end to these mystics, use Magus.  Otherwise, to stick with low level
characters.  The party you used for Retinite will do.  Flea and Slash are
easily defeated with basic attacks.  Don't go for the chest.  Make sure to
find a hidden Magic Tab, Gloom Helm, Gloom Cape, and Doomsickle in the room
with that chest.  Now fight the three together.

---
Boss Encounter <32>
Great Ozzie, Flea Plus, Super Slash
---

For this battle, use Ayla, Frog, and Crono (or just Magus since he is -that-
strong - let the others just die).  Give all three/him Red Mail or Red Vest.
Give Ayla the GoldErng, and Frog the PrismSpecs.  Ayla should be in the party
so you can obtain their unique items especially if you are a completionist.
It's not necessary as their equipment is complete rubbish, but their items
are unique.

At the start of the battle, have Ayla charm from Flea for its Flea Vest.  The
three together counter every move against them with Bad Impulse, which you
will absorb because of your red armor.

Ozzie - No moves
Slash - Slash attack (70-100 Damage) Attack (200 damage)
Flea - Flame attack (not a fire attack) (50-80 damage)

The only technique that you need to worry about is delta storm, a triple tech
used by all three monsters.  If you are using low level characters, you could
get wiped out in one hit.  Therefore, after charming the Flea Vest, pummel
Flea with strong attacks.  Flea should fall fairly quickly, and Bad Impulse
will keep you at full HP.  Once Flea falls, you will no longer have healing
since they cannot do triple techniques, but the threat of Delta Storm is
gone.  Finish Slash off, then Ozzie, who retreats.  Follow Ozzie up finish
him.

Finally! The Fated Hour is nearly complete!  Now all that remains is the hell
known as the Black Omen.  Only after completing the Black Omen will you have
the power to defeat Lavos.  Prepare yourself.

Go to 1000 A.D. and land in the Black Omen.  Take out the lasers.  Form the
party Robo, Frog, and Crono.  To win, give all your power and speed tabs to
ROBO.  This will max out Robo's speed and give him around 45 power.  The next
boss fight is incredibly tedious and luck-based.  It will likely take multiple
attempts.  Proceed inside and talk to Zeal, who will summon a horrible boss.

---
Boss Encounter <33>
Mega Mutant
---

Mega Mutant is a major pain.  In order to win, you will need to connect with
several attacks without missing.  Equip Robo With his Terra Arm, PrismHelm,
Moon Armor, and GoldErng.  This will give him 50MDef and status protect, which
will help him survive the powerful magic attacks of MegaMutant and block the
status attacks.  Give Frog the Masamune, PrismHelm, Nova Armor, and
PrismSpecs.  Crono should have the Wallet.

The attack pattern of Mega Mutant's two parts are deadly.

Top:
Mutant Gas (Sleep)(100 damage to 1 target - Robo)
Blacken (350 damage to 1 target - Robo)
Absorb attack (150 damage to 1 target - Robo)
Mutant Gas (Poison) (130 damage to party - Robo)

Bottom:
Chaotic Zone (200 damage to party - Robo)
Attack (100 damage to 1 target -  Robo)
Steel Steam (HP Down party)
Attack (100 damage to 1 target - Robo)

To win you must defeat the bottom part first, as together, top and bottom more
than overwhelm the party.  Opening the fight, everyone needs to get their
attack in.  Robo will use Uzzi Punch and must HIT the bottom part.  Crono will
use a Barrier on Robo. Frog will use Leap Slash and HIT the bottom part.  Now
everyone gets wiped out by Chaotic Zone except Robo, who will have around 300
HP.  Have Robo revive Frog.  Robo will get hit by Mutant Gas (Sleep) and the
"attack" and fall to 100 HP.  Have Robo use a Full Tonic on himself and have
Frog use Leap Slash.  The bottom will use Steel Steam (not a really bad thing
- no damage) and the top should use Blacken on Robo, knocking him down to 200.
Have Robo Full Tonic himself and Frog Leap Slash again.  After this, Robo has
a turn again and can use Uzzi Punch again.  If all the attacks thus far have
hit, the bottom should die.  If not all the attacks hit, prepare for another
attack cycle.

Getting the attacks to hit on emulator is difficult even with savestates as
whether or not the next attack will hit is already decided - if you are having
problems, go and fight a battle to change the order of hits and misses.  It
just takes a lot of luck to get consecutive hits on Mega Mutant.

Once the bottom dies, and if you have Frog and Robo alive at the time it dies,
you basically win.  However, you must still be careful - Blacken packs major
damage to Robo and kills Frog, and Mutant Gas (Poison) can kill Frog and
hurt Robo.  Keep your characters at high HP and you should win.

Once Mega Mutant dies, you are officially in!  Welcome to the Black Omen!
Get used to shuffling equipment... shuffling a lot of equipment...

You will need to run from basically every enemy.  Put Ayla in your party and
give her the Black armor and the Dash Ring.  Black Omen monsters carry
excellent items.  Charm Nova Armors from the Goons in the first room after
the entrance room then RUN.

In the second room, you will fight Panels.  Panels are fairly tough enemies
that have Speed Tabs.  Each Panel has 1875 HP.  It is vital that you steal
enough tabs in the Black Omen to max out speed for Crono and Marle (12 tabs).
In all, there are 13 panels and 4 speed tabs in chests.  Steal all tabs in
this room as you only fight Panels two at a time at this point - it gets
harder later on.

Panels can either use shock attack that deals shadow damage (170-240 damage)
or a single target missile attack (170 damage).  Give all characters Black
armor to reduce the chance of death - Panels tend to use missiles more often
than Shadow attacks so it is actually possible to lose.  After one panel is
left, the shock attack is replaced by a shadow based laser.

After defeating Panels, proceed, running from every fight.  At the elevator,
it is recommended that you switch Frog in for Ayla.  Hopefully you do not
fight Goons on the elevator...

Charm an additional *Gold Stud from the Flyclops.

Eventually, you will reach a place of rest.  In this room you will find 2
Nu.  More importantly however, is a helmet in a chest.  You will find the
best Helm in the game:

The *!HASTE HELM!*

Give it to Robo.  In addition, outside this room is a regenerating monster
called Tubster.  It only counterattacks.  More importantly, you can charm an
infinite number of power tabs from this monster.  Charm a few - it is very
boring.  At this time it is not necessary to charm the full 150 or so tabs
that you should eventually to obtain.

After moving on a bit you will run into a place where Ruminators move across.
Remember this location as well, for you will be stealing many MegaElixirs from
these monsters.  For now, you will NEED to steal *30* for the next major
boss fights.  However, you can choose to steal about 80, and you will not
need to return ever again.

So keep moving, running from every fight.  Take every chest.  When you reach
the aliens, it is recommended that you take off the Wallet from Crono and put
it on Ayla.  Have Ayla Charm Magic tabs from the Aliens, and have Crono
attack.  Even with his low level, Crono is one of your best attackers with
his Rainbow.  Revive when Crono gets knocked out when attacking the Aliens.

Use a shelter at the save point in the next room and form your party: Crono,
Robo, and your HLGirl.  Before you proceed, make sure Robo knows Shock - Use
Ruminators to get an easy 72 Tech Points as Ruminators kill each other before
attacking you.  If you had Lucca as HLGirl teach her Flare and you have the
advantage of two sources of damage in the next boss fight.  If you had Marle
HLGirl, give her all your speed tabs and you have the advantage of a second
speed character (She will have 15 or 16 speed depending on if you found
every tab).  Now move on and fight Giga Mutant.

---
Boss Encounter <34>
Giga Mutant
---

Crono has Wallet and dies in this fight.  The HLGirl, depending on who she
is, will have a specific role.  Lucca should be given the Taban Suit and
Dash Ring so she has a speed of 12.  She will be casting Flare.  Marle
should be White Mail and whatever, and serve as healing.  Give Robo the
Haste Helm, Nova Armor, and GoldErng.  Robo will be casting Shock.  Giga
Mutant is impervious to your physical attacks, so you must use Magic.

Giga Mutant is... just long to whittle down.  Attack when you can.

Top:
Shining Bit: Kills 1 character, Heals Marle
Bomb attack (450 to Robo, 90 to Lucca, kills Marle)
Mutant Gas (Sleep) (300 damage)
Mutant Gas (Poison) (150 to party)
Absorb Counterattack (sucks 3-4MP as a counterattack to any move against
Giga Mutant)

Bottom:
Tack Attack (100 damage)
Attack (100 damage)
Lifeshaver (Reduces 1 character's HP to 1).

To make things difficult, Giga Mutant appears to attack from his attack set
at random.  If using Marle, she will not die from the dangerous Shining Bit.
Have Robo use Shock constantly and have Marle use MegaElixirs. With Lucca,
have her use Flare, healing when necessary.  As a whole, this battle is just
a run on patience, meaning that you must slowly hack away at the roughly
5000 HP the bottom has.  Since he is not completely predictable, all you can
do is be prepared for whatever he throws at you next in terms of having
someone with a turn.  Because of this, double techs aren't recommended as
it is not good to be without a turn.

Like Mega Mutant, Giga Mutant should fall easily once the Bottom is dead.

Re-form your party to include Frog, Crono, and Robo.  Give Crono the Haste
Helm and Hit Ring.  Give Frog the Wallet.  Give Robo and Frog Black Armor.
Take the elevator.  After winning the encounters on the elevator, you will
have a short series of unavoidable encounters in the next room:
2x Synchrites, 2x Tubsters.  The bats which summon Goons can be avoided if
timed; you can run along the top.  Synchrites are no problem.  Tubsters only
counterattack one target, so use Triple Raid (you should get it from the
Synchrite battle if you didn't have it before) twice on each Tubster.

After the Tubsters, put Ayla in the party for Frog.  Put the Haste Helm on
Robo.  Give Ayla the Dash Ring.  Give Robo and Ayla the Black Mail and Black
Vest respectively.  Give Crono the Wallet.  There are 4 panels in the next
room from which you will need to charm Speed Tabs.  Start by using Twister
to hurt all Panels. On Ayla's next turn, steal from a Panel.  After Robo
gets his next turn, save it and use it to heal if necessary.  Use Uzzi
Punch on a Panel if you have taken its tab to finish it off.  Use
MegaElixirs if you need to be saved.  If you are having major problems,
try to quickly eliminate 1 panel at the start with Robo and then start
charming Speed Tabs.

I had enough tabs for Crono, Robo, and Marle to have ** speed after this
battle.

Prepare yourself right now.  Two consecutive boss fights are up ahead.
Very shortly you will unleash the ultimate Triple Technique: Lifeline.
Form the party Crono, Marle, Robo, give all three Red Armor.  Give Crono
and Marle Gold Studs and give Robo the Wallet.  You will now fight
Terra Mutant.

---
Boss Encounter <35>
Terra Mutant
---

In this battle, Terra Mutant will kill itself.  You will deal it no damage.
Terra Mutant has the following attacks, which follow a pattern:

Top:
Magma (healing)
absorb HP from bottom (1000 damage to bottom)
chaotic zone (all characters die)
absorb HP from character (very weak - small damage)
physical attack (150 damage to 1 target)
absorb from bottom
physical attack bomb (300 damage to 1 target)
absorb from bottom
magma
absorb from character
chaotic zone
absorb from bottom

Bottom:
Nothing

When one part dies, the other dies with it shortly after.  Since the bottom
is impervious to damage and the top is constantly healing, you can simply
wait for the top to kill the bottom with 1000 damage absorbsion.

Open with Lifeline and just wait.  Because of Red Mail/Vest, all your
characters can survive the Magma.  You will all get wiped out by Chaotic
Zone, then revived.  Cast Lifeline again.  When Terra Mutant starts using
his physical attacks, if only one person loses "Auto-Revive" status,
and the other 2 keep it, do not cast Lifeline and revive manually after
Chaotic Zone.  If two people lose Auto-Revive recast Lifeline.  The only
party hitting attack is Chaotic Zone, and as long as 1 person (preferably
2) have Auto-Revive, you are fine.  In addition, there is ample time to act
in this battle.  Use Ethers on Crono when he runs out of MP, and MegaElixirs
when the whole Party needs MP.

Isn't Lifeline great?

When the bottom dies, the top might scare you with Hallation, but then it
dies.  Use a shelter, and take Marle out of the party for Ayla.  Give
Ayla the Wallet and Blue Mail.  Give Robo the Haste Helm, GoldErng and
Black Mail.  Give Crono the Hit Ring and Black Mail.  Now fight a slightly
stronger Lavos Spawn.  Even though better than its Death Peak brethren,
it is no match for your new power.

---
Boss Encounter <36>
Lavos Spawn
---

The Lavos Spawn is (1) Easy, and (2) has a Haste Helm in its Head.  Have
Ayla Charm it at the start of the battle.  Lavos has two parts, and uses
attacks at random.

Destruction Zone - Party Shadow attack - heals Crono, Robo, hurts Ayla 250
Water Rise - Kills Crono or Robo, Heals Ayla fully
Lavos Spawn Needle - Disorder - 300-350 damage to party
Dark Bomb - Heals Crono, Robo, kills Ayla

Once you get the Haste Helm, pummel the head.  After Lavos Spawn Needle, use
a MegaElixir and revive Crono.  Thanks to your elemental armor you should
have no problem.  Just keep using strong single techs/attack, using
MegaElixirs and reviving, and you win.

You will now need to fight 5 Panels at once.  Give Ayla the Haste Helm, Black
Mail, and Dash Ring.  Keep the Black Mail, Haste Helm, and GoldErng on Robo.
Give Crono the Wallet.  If necessary, charm speed tabs to ensure ** speed on
Crono, Marle, and Robo.  Open with Triple Tech Twister, and use Shock twice
to quickly win.

You are at the end of the Black Omen.  Put Crono, Marle, and Robo together.
There are 4 consecutive boss battles: Zeal, the Mammon Machine, Zeal, then
the shell of Lavos - All of which does not give exp.  You get breather time
between Zeal and Lavos.  Put Blue Mail on Marle, and Black Mail on Robo.
Crono can take either a Blue or Black Armor.  Give Crono and Marle Gold
Studs, and Robo the Hit Ring.  As for the Haste Helms, give one to Crono
and one to either Marle of Robo.  Either will work.

Read the following strategies before choosing whether to equip Crono with
Black or Blue.  Once you decide, and have your equipment reshuffled, fight
Zeal.

---
Boss Encounter <37>
Zeal
---

Easy.  Pummel her with attacks, or be fancy and use techniques.  You will
only need revives for this battle, and Ethers/MegaElixirs if you decided to
use techs.  Zeal has 3 attacks:

Hallation (Party 1 HP)
Absorb MP
Physical attack (100 damage to 1 target)

So basically, she is harmless.  After you win, she will throw you into the
Mammon Machine.

---
Boss Encounter <38>
Mammon Machine
---

Also Easy.  The Mammon Machine has two phases: "Modifying" phase and
"Sitting" phase.  Open with Lifeline (if you cannot use it because of MP,
use a MegaElixir, then Lifeline).  Continuously use IceSword2 until it
releases its stored energy.  Do not have Robo do anything while the Mammon
Machine is modifying energy unless you want to use shock, meaning more
Ether usage.

After it releases its energy, you die and are revived. The Mammon Machine
then sits still, then uses Point Flare twice (1 target dies with each
flare).  After the Mammon Machine releases its energy, attack it with
strong techniques, using Revives after the Point Flares.  After the
second Point Flare, use Lifeline again, as the cycle repeats.

The Mammon Machine will break down, and you finally face a fairly tough
boss.

---
Boss Encounter <39>
Zeal
---

Zeal has a formidable arsenal, and three parts:

Shadow Laser/Beam: Hand attack, Healing to Robo (Crono w/Black)
    kills/hurts Marle
Skygate: Lightning - kills one character
Hexagon Mist: Water - Healing to Marle (Crono w/Blue), kills Robo
Dark Gear: Shadow - Healing to Robo (Crono w/Black), kills Marle

You might expect to use Lifeline.  Lifeline, however, is actually
ineffective.  Zeal is skilled in wiping out single characters with her
powerful spells, and Lifeline works best against a whole-party attacks.
However, thanks to your armor, you guard against her party attacks.

As can be seen, Zeal covers three elements.  However, since Lightning only
hits one target, it is mostly harmless - just Revive.  Shadow and Water are
the deadly ones.  So what this battle comes down to is guarding Shadow and
Water (as for whether to protect Crono from Water or Shadow, on one hand
there are more Shadow based attacks, but Hexagon Mist seems to be used
more often.  I used a Blue Vest for water protection on Crono).

So, finally, the strategy.  Given that you cannot be wiped out from a
single attack thanks to protection all that must be done is:

(1) keep two people conscious before Zeal's next attack

(2) attack the Head with Robo or Crono with a free turn - Have Crono use
Confuse, and Robo use Uzzi Punch (special note: with Confuse, Crono attacks
4 times, and if he hits, all attacks after that hit will connect
successfully - just useful to know).  Keep Marle on standby to Revive or
use MegaElixirs.

Focus on using Revives before attacking.  After Dark Gear or Hexagon Mist,
you will have one or two characters standing, so whichever attack is the
more dangerous (the one that leaves on standing) is the one that you must
watch out for.  Healing for HP is not really necessary, but do use
MegaElixirs to recover MP.

After you hurt Zeal's Head, she will start using MP Buster and Hallation,
which are merely nuisances.  Use MegaElixirs and continue your attacks.

With her defeat, the desperate Queen summons Lavos.

---
Boss Encounter <40>
Lavos
---

A marathon of repeats as Lavos mimics the bosses you already defeated.
Shuffle equipment as you see fit or as indicated in the appropriate strategy.
The following are the forms that Lavos takes on - they are easy, so
strategies are brief.  If you like, switch in other characters.  The
strategies below assume you keep Crono, Marle, and Robo in the party.

1.  Dragon Tank - ...  Annihilate it.
2.  Guardian - Kill the Bits, then Attack the Center
3.  Heckran - Use Magic, pausing when Lavos enters counterattack mode
4.  Zombor - Use IceSword2 on Head, then use physical attacks on the Sidekick
5.  Masamune - Attack, use slash when Lavos is charging for a wind attack IF
            he ever gets that far...
6.  Nizbel - Lighting with Crono followed by UzziPunch with Robo.  Marle Heals
7.  Magus - You should equip Black Armor.  Counter with the correct Element
            (Robo covers Shadow, Lighting, Marle covers Water)
            When he reaches DarkMatter phase of attacks, he is harmless
8.  BlackTyrano/Azala - Equip Fire absorbing Armor.  Kill "Azala," then
            pummel the Head.
9.  Giga Gaia - Give Red Armor to everyone.  Attack the head.  If Marle is
            LLGirl, then the battle will come down to only Robo - if that is
            the case don't worry, just keep attacking since you cannot die.

Finally, Lavos assumes his true form.  If you switched characters before,
re-form your party to include Crono, Marle, and Robo.  Marle and Crono
should have Gold Studs.  Give Robo and Crono the Haste Helms.  Robo can
have the Hit Ring.

His attack pattern:

Destruction Rains from the Heavens: Wipes out the party
Chaotic Zone: 100 damage to party
Lavos Needle: Wipes out 1 person
Destruction Rains
Earthquake: 30 damage to party
Lavos Needle
Destruction Rains
Lavos Needle
Destruction Rains

After the last Destruction Rain, he repeats the pattern.

Open with Lifeline.  Your party gets Wiped out by Destruction, and Revived.
Use Lifeline again.  The party gets wiped out by Chaotic Zone, then Revived.
Use a MegaElixir, and Lifeline again.  You now have time to repeatedly
attack Lavos.  Have Crono Confuse, and Robo Uzzi Punch.  Keep Marle ready
to use a MegaElixir when Crono runs out of MP (sadly, after 2 Confuses).
Because of the Haste status, Crono and Robo should be able to deal a great
amount of damage before Lavos uses Destruction again.  Once Destruction is
used again, you will be revived.  Use a MegaElixir, which will let you
survive the Earthquake.  Continue to attack Lavos.  If you were moderately
fast (and you succeeded in hitting all the time) Lavos falls at this point.

Go inside Lavos.  Heal with a Shelter.  Now run away through the gate.

---
With the destruction of the Black Omen, the Fated Hour ends.  All sidequests
are finished.  Only Lavos, the Final Battle, remains.
---

First, mop up everything left to be done outside.  First, go to the Hero's
Grave and pick up the treasures that could not be retrieved earlier - Shiva</pre><pre id="faqspan-3">
Edge and the Valkerie.  Next, make sure you have about 40 MegaElixirs left
over.  Restock on items - the Black Omen probably drained you of a LOT of
items - at this point, only Revives are necessary.  Do whatever else you
feel needs to be done to maximize and finish your game.

Go to the Black Omen in 600A.D.  Take Ayla along.  Proceed to the room
with the regenerating Tubster.  Charm a Power tab, run, and go back to
the room with the two Nu.  Repeat... many times... until you max out Crono
and Robo's Power.  When Ayla needs MP, use a shelter at the save point in
the room with the Nu.  This would also be a good time to get additional
MegaElixirs from the Ruminators above if necessary.

Now that you have prepared - make sure you have completed the checklist:
1.  ** Power on Crono and Robo
2.  ** Speed on Crono, Robo, and Marle
3.  40 MegaElixirs MINIMUM
4.  99 Revives
5.  2 Haste Helms

Setup your characters.

Crono:
   Rainbow
   Haste Helm
   Nova Armor
   Gold Stud

Marle:
   Valkerie
   Prism Helm
   Zodiac Cape
   Gold Stud

Robo:
   Terra Arm (or Crisis Arm)
   Haste Helm
   Nova Armor
   GreenDream

Jump through the gate in the bucket - the final battle is finally about to
start!

---
Boss Encounter <41>
Lavos
---

At long last the fated battle has arrived.  You are (poorly) prepared...
but you CAN AND WILL WIN!

Lavos opens the battle... by killing you!  Before you can even move!
Luckily, the GreenDream is there to save Robo.

However, here I must explain about Auto-Revive mechanics: If a character
has Auto-Revive status and a turn ready (i.e. they can select a move) and
is knocked out, then upon (Auto) Revival, their ATB will reset to zero.  If
a character has Auto-Revive status and their ATB is filling and is knocked
out, then upon (Auto) Revival, their ATB will be at the same position as it
was before getting knocked out.

Now, this rule will affect you, as the way the battle opens can vary.
Sometimes, Lavos will kill you before your characters have their turns, but
sometimes a character will have their turn.  So, if you open the battle and
Robo has his turn BEFORE the Doors of Doom Open, you are screwed.  If this
is the case, open your save and fight Spekkio to change the battle
parameters.

-THE STRATEGY-

Lavos Battle: Phase I Attack Cycle - Head, Left Arm, Right Arm
Laser Beams: Doors of Doom Open - death to party
Sickle attack - death to two characters
Sickle attack
Laser Beams

Lavos opens with Laser Beams: Doors of Doom open, and everyone dies.
Under the proper parameters, Robo is revived, and he uses revives on Marle,
then Crono.  The Hands use sickle attacks on two characters, taking them out.
The remaining character uses revives on the two who got knocked out.  Keep
reviving until everyone has their turn, then cast Lifeline.  Lifeline should
take place BEFORE Lavos uses his second set of sickle attacks.  When the
second set of attacks knock out two characters, use Lifeline again.  After
this, you are wiped out by Laser Beams again.  But this time, instead of just
Robo, all three characters stand!  Now you must move quickly.  Have Crono use
Confuse, and Robo use Uzzi Punch on the Left Arm (your perspective Left side).
Marle should use MegaElixirs.  You should be able to defeat the Left Arm
before Lavos can act again.  Once the Left Arm dies, Lavos should just about
be ready to enter his next phase.

Phase I-II
Because one arm is probably still alive, you are in-between phases of attack.
The lone Arm unleashes several new attacks in addition to old ones.
Span Death - 1500 healing to Lavos Head
Protective Seal - 350 damage to one target and removal of status protection
Engaging Main body - Body is engaging for Phase II attacks, 1HP dmg to party
Sickle attack - 1 target
Freeze/Stop - 1 target, 30HP damage
Engaged - death to party

Focus on the Right-side arm now.  Keep spending your turns; remember the rule
about Auto-revive.  It is more efficient to be between turns when you are
wiped out than to have your turn ready.  Use MegaElixirs _constantly_.
After Confuse and UzziPunch twice, Marle should have her turn which is perfect
timing for a MegaElixir.  Hopefully you will eliminate the Right Arm by the
time the Main body is in its "Engaged" state (when engaging, the floor will
glow; when the body is finally engaged, the party will be wiped out in a
powerful attack of red explosions).  The Engaged body is in Phase II of its
attacks.

If both arms are gone and Lavos indicates it is engaged (by wiping you out
with the said attack), you have a strong change of winning.

Phase II
Obstacle - Wipes out Party
Shadow Slay - Hits Party for 300 damage (Robo can but usually wont survive)
            - Inflicts Poison
Flame Battle - 200 damage to one character
Shadow Doom Blaze - Wipes out Party
Evil Emanation - Lavos attack Power Up

In this Phase, you will be annihilated most often, but since it is quite
predictable and easy to recover from, at this point in the battle you should
not have problems.  Lifeline after every attack that can wipe out the party
(Obstacle, Shadow Slay, Shadow Doom blaze).  After Evil Emanation, Lavos
pauses a LONG time, so take advantage of that.  In fact, between every attack
of Lavos, you should have no problems setting up Lifeline again; there is
always ample time.  Keep up Lifeline, attacking when you have your turns
ready.

After this form, you're almost there!  Fight the Core!

---
Final Boss <42>
Lavos Core
---

This battle has three parts: Left Bit, Center Bit, and Lavos Core (Your
perspective).  The Left Bit serves to heal, the Center Bit is the attacker,
and the Core on the right revives the bits.  Your goal is to eliminate the
Core.  To accomplish that, the general idea is to work from left to right,
taking out both Bits, then unlashing your most powerful attacks on the
unprotected core.

Because of random variation, this battle is not completely predictable.  Here
are the attacks of Lavos, and a strategy for victory:

Basic attacks of Bits and Core

Center Bit:
Slap - Kills character
Crying Heavens: Hidden Blow - Kills character

Left Bit:
Attack - kills character
Heal - Heals 1000 HP to Center Bit

Core:
Attack1 - kills character
Attack2 - kills character
Active Life - Revives all Bits
Shut Down Defense - Defense Down!
Activate Defense - Core is Defended

In addition, the Center Bit will use Time Warp to take you to a different
location.  Based upon the background, you can determine what attack he will
use.

65000000 B.C. Forest:       Grand Stone - Ultimate Physical attack
                            Obliterates Party
12000 B.C. Mammon Machine:  Invading Light - Annihilates party
600 A.D. Magus's Castle:    Evil Star - Halves Party HP
1000 A.D. Lenne Square:     Spell - 300 damage and random status.
2400 A.D. Lab Ruins:        Dreamless - Ultimate Magic attack Destroys Party

In short, Evil Star is harmless.  Spell can be survived by Robo.  The others
simply wipe out the party.

STRATEGY:

Open with Lifeline.  The Core and Left Bit will usually get an attack here,
taking out two characters.  Use Lifeline again.

Confuse and UzziPunch the Left Bit - if they hit, the Bit is gone.  Now you
are in a battle with Center Bit and the Core, which is how the majority of the
real battle will be fought (i.e. this is the situation you will be in when you
are fighting for your life!).

Since you can at least predict what attacks will be used in each location,
prepare appropriately.  Use Lifeline after every devastating attack wipes out
your Auto-Revive status.  In between attacks, attack the Center Bit.  You
should be able to eliminate the Center Bit before three sets of Time Warps
have taken place.

Now, with both Bits gone, concert your efforts against the Helpless core.
Attack until the bits return.  Once they are revived, take out the Left and
Center Bits in the same manner as you did before.  Never let down your
Auto-Revive status...  You shall prevail...

With the final blow dealt, the Lavos Core vanishes into time.  Congratulations
for completing a Low Level Game!  Enjoy your ending!

---
FINAL GAME LEVELS AND STATUS:

Crono: LV1
Marle: LV5/15
Lucca: LV15/5
Frog:  LV16
Robo:  LV17
Ayla:  LV20
Magus: LV37

All sidequests completed.  Black Omen cleared.  Lavos Defeated.
---

Final Notes - Please Read
-----
This is still in its beta stages, meaning there is still work to be done. If
you have any suggestions, DO send them to me at the email address on top. Any
strategies you could provide, or suggestions or errors that you could point
out are welcomed.

To all who have read and attempted this challenge FAQ, congratulations for
hopefully finishing a LLG.  However, in the next update, there will be many
changes.

Probably the most notable is that _*I will be rewriting the FAQ so that Marle
is always the LLGirl*_.  This is because of her role in the final part of the
game - Defeating Lavos with a party average of 7.6666... is much more
fulfilling than defeating Lavos with a party average of 11.

To sum up the changes coming up:

The full 1.0 Release will include:

 - Rewritten strategies to make Marle always LLGirl

The full 1.0 Release should also include the following:

 - Completed Levels with errant experience removed
 - Refined strategies and consistent wording - I _Severely_ underestimated
   the usefulness of Double and Triple Techs throughout the latter half of
   the FAQ.

The full 1.0 Release might also include the following:

 - Lower (?) final levels, perhaps through shuffling exp.
 - Possible strategies to defeat Lavos with a party average of 7
   (3 characters at LVs 1, 4, 16)

Credits and Thanks
-----

SSJVegeta69, one of the earlier readers of the FAQ who pointed out
an avoidable battle I previously listed as unavoidable.

ccexplore, who provided a boss strategy for defeating Magus with Frog alone
after the Ocean Palace and also pointed out better strategies to be used
in the Geno Dome.

Thanks to GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com) for hosting this FAQ.  If you are
viewing this FAQ from another website other than GameFAQs, please report it
to me.

Legalities
-----

No part of this FAQ shall be copied or distributed without the permission
of the author. This FAQ shall never be sold in part or whole for profit or
other personal gain. No web sites other than GameFAQs may feature this FAQ
without the permission of the author. In addition, no part of this FAQ may
be changed or altered from its original form. This FAQ is limited to
personal use only.

This FAQ is copyright Jay Yamamoto (C) 2003.