Fun at the Chrono Trigger Fairground!

Afternoon campers :)
Well then, continuing from where I left off... mostly. Due to the 'charming' (read as 'awkward') nature of PSP emulation, some of the snes emulator versions appear to not like saving - or, to be exact they are happy to save... not so happy to continue where I left off. D'oh. Having spent a fair amount time re-starting and reloading the game, I have consequently spent a lot more time at the beginning than I intended to. Without wanting to disappoint, this entry is now more of an in-depth look at the fair than was planned, so apologies for that - having sorted emulator issues now I should hopefully be able to *actually* progress and continue playing as planned!

But back to the events at hand: I was roaming round the fair with a girl in tow - this is the one I had previously knocked over of course. My first thought was mostly "Oh, there's a fair bit to do here!" (pun not really intended, but I'll probably leave it in) and it was bigger than I expected it to be - I can try ringing a strongman bell, enter the soda drinking contest, guess who's going to win a race (comprised of an odd collection of individuals who I can only hope are in costumes... otherwise that Green Ambler looks like it needs a cuddle), and more. Obviously an event this big also needs catering and musical entertainment, which leads me to this area...

At least we get to dance along... 

Yep, that appears to be a caveman 'group' providing some ambient background music for the diners... those poor people! Credit where it's due though, I can dance along - even getting on the stage and shaking along to the 'jungle rhythm'. Back to exploring I think, we visited some shops (picked up some healing things and a new sword - it there's one thing I know about RPGs it's always grab a bigger sword!) and then we found Gato. Who's a big musical cat-bot-thing...

Gato seems like fun, especially with the concealed boxing glove!

Gato seems to be a nice introduction to the games combat mechanics. I had set battles to 'wait' at the beginning (mostly because I wasn't sure what I was letting myself in for) so I was soon in familiar territory: turn based commands with good old fashioned attack / technique / item categories. The technique list was obviously empty for now, but I'm assuming I'll fix that soon enough! Biggest surprise here was that the girl I'd dragged in here with me was actually packing - she is armed with a (one assumes) collapsible crossbow and isn't afraid to use it! After a couple of turns of (me) getting punched in the face by Gato's hidden boxing glove, he is defeated and we even get some Silver Points. These are earned over the fair for little things like guessing the race winner, ringing the bell and beating Gato. If you're sensible, you can convert them into cold, hard cash... if you're me, then you'll probably fall for this line:

Horrors? You want to see the Trade Descriptions act mate!

Having accrued a whopping 20 points from robot fighting and bell ringing, I decided that this would be a fun way to spend the points. Well I don't know about them, but seeing 3 men in purple jumpsuits run around isn't quite the stuff of nightmares... or is it? Either way, it's a "follow the ball" mini game and if you can correctly keep your eye on the right individual then you get a prize! Second time lucky for me - and what do I get?
A cuddly toy.
Oh well, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.

After these, there are only a few more bits to mention: there's a lost cat to return to a little girl, the soda drinking contest and some poor guys lunch to steal (!) all these seem to endear the young lady (who I named Leona, by the way) to me instead of putting her off - another instance of game me being much more charming than me I expect!
Having visited most of the attractions, we were then told that the invention is ready to go and we can go and visit Lucy (the other character I named) and see what she has built:

Time to find out what all the fuss is about!

Now this I am looking forward to, so I'm going to stop here for now and hopefully you'll all join me next time as I continue My Gaming Catch Up!