So, to start, I have to explain something so I can explain something else, so I can resume making my point. Sigh. The hard part about this is that I'm writing this to people who either A) Have played both games (or the majority of both, at least), or B) Don't care about spoilers, so either way, it seems like a lot of unnecessary typing, but oh well. This is therapeutic, and for all the A people out there, hopefully I can reinforce opinions or even sway them.
Now, I guess the point I'll start at here is just how important Schala becomes to the entire, overall story of both games. Schala, for all intents and purposes, honestly doesn't matter much if you just play Chrono Trigger. She's a tragic character, as she basically exists to be the ultimate, tortured martyr. In the Kingdom of Zeal, when her mother, appropriately named Queen Zeal, starts going crazy because of the influence Lavos has over the world to those with magical ability, Schala is tasked with using her ability to keep a machine going that actually taps into Lavos' energy. Which...for a kingdom of knowledge and power, isn't really a smart move. But influence of the all-powerful, blah blah, whatever.
Anyways, Schala's sob story continues as she tries to fight against her mother, sort of, but being a pacifist, or something, kind of ruins that. So she just gets dragged along as the plan gets more and more dangerous and they decide to move the machine closer to Lavos to get moooooreeee powerrrr. And eventually when shit gets real, she's the one who ends up taking the fall, leaving one to imagine that she just got eaten by Lavos or died or something. The end.
But this is where Cross comes in. I'm not going to beat around the bush here. The girl pictured above is Kid, the second main character of Chrono Cross, and no matter what she looks like, she's actually a clone of Schala. She's actually a clone of Schala. A daughter-clone no less. You see, when Schala is left with Lavos, she actually gets absorbed by him, rather than just being lunch. And when Crono and Co. defeated Lavos, instead of, well, dying, he instead turns into the Boss of Chrono Cross, the Time Devourer. Somehow.
When Serge, the main character of Cross, dies as a child (which is what sets Cross' events into motion by creating an alternate universe in which, well, he doesn't die), the Time Devourer, or more aptly, the part that is Schala, births the child-clone that is Kid six years prior to him dying, as a means to give Serge an ally to stop himself from dying. I.....yeah. Let's just move on now.
The point is, Schala's role extends just like that to not only Trigger in ways that actually show up more than not now, but creates that bridge that is supposed to make us all go, "Oh, hey, it is a sequel, totally and completely!" But, of course, this is all gripes pointed towards Chrono Cross, which, as I have established, has very little to do with Chrono Trigger. (Snap!)
So where am I going with all this? I'm going to the all-new boss that leads to the all new ending exclusive to the DS version of Chrono Trigger. After you clear the Time Vortex areas (meaning you have to sit through that scene with Dalton) a new sparkle will open up at The End of Time, and the old man will warn you to stay the hell away, because this dude ain't messing around. So when you inevitably go, "Pshaw, you're old, what do you know" and warp there, guess who the new boss is?
The Dream Devourer. An early form of, wait for it, the Time Devourer.
You know, the thing responsible for Chrono Cross and.....you know what, just forget it. Obviously, we've established that Lavos just doesn't die. Since when he did die, he just got better. Italics. Anyways. For what happens here, I'm just going to post, verbatim, the private message I sent to somebody on Penny Arcade when they asked me about what happened in the new ending right after I'd gotten it.
Essentially, to get the new ending, you have to go through all three "Time Vortex"es which are new dungeons that take existing palettes and throw them together in sequences of five. Then there's a couple new areas (one or two 'zones') with Uber-gear, and then a Boss fight of Crono, Marle, or Lucca clone.I'll admit, the fact that it was called the Dream Devourer escaped me, as before tonight, I thought it was the Time Devourer. But....technically, it is, so fuck semantics. But that is the new ending. I don't think I can explain it anymore than that. So I'm just going to leave it at that.
Oh, and Dalton. Yeah, you fight Dalton right before the Crono clone in 1000 A.D. When you win, he basically says "I'm so mad, I'm going to go to Porre and raise an army to Destroy Guardia! That'll learn ya!" So he's a cheap plot device, basically.
So after the TVs, you go to the End of Time and Gaspar goes "Oh, hey, so the bucket leads to somewhere new, and it's pretty dangerous." So when you select the bucket, you have the option of going to Time's Eclipse, where you fight the Time Devourer (Dun dun dun) which is a Red Lavos with Schala on top.
When you get there, Magus is there (Future Magus, basically, so he's there even if you have Magus. Or....even if you 'killed' Magus) and goes, "I'm from the future after Lavos was destroyed, and I'm here to face the greater evil, you don't need to get in my way." So, you can follow him and watch as he gets his ass handed to him by the Time Devourer, then you engage in battle.
The Time Devourer is pretty rough, even with uber-gear. But he's entirely beatable.
Once you beat him, Magus comes back and Schala goes "I've become so terrible, I have to send you people away from this place." So the party gets teleported away. And Magus goes, "Schala, I have to save you, wahwahemo" and Schala goes "You can't save me, Janus, you've done all you can do and now you just have to make a new life for yourself, abloo ablooemo" and Magus goes "Noooooooooo emo" and gets teleported away.
Then there's a black screen and Magus goes "So my efforts were useless. Fine then, I'll do something else, whatever. Not like I needed a driving force in my life. Maybe I'll just wait til I DIE" And then he's in a forest and goes, "Oh no, I've lost my memory! But I remember that I was trying to find somebody! Even though I don't know anything at this point, I will search for this person!" and then walks off.
END OF GAME.
This is why Chrono Trigger DS is not the definitive version of the game.
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