Onward to the Castle!

Well, so much for keeping to decent schedule eh? I'm not sure I have appreciated the effort some people must go to when blogging - so kudos guys! With that, here's another chunk of my gameplay as I plug away at Chrono Trigger.
Having done my initial exploring around the clearing, I was left with the only obvious route - through the forest to the castle! There were a few skirmishes, but so far only the same imps and roly poly things to fight; so nothing really of note until I found this:

oooooohhh.. magic box!

If I remember rightly, there is another one of these in the inn as well - but they are sealed for now (by magic no less) and I can only assume that I can only open them when I have become 'worthy' - aka coming back later in the game... but this could mean I'm going to be flipping back and forth between time periods - and that can only lead to some time travel 'hijinks'

Knock knock!

Right then, we're finally here. Lets see if we can meet this queen and find out what's going on...

Don't I know you?

Hang on a second... you look very familiar, don't you?
I'm then told I have the freedom to wander around the castle (as you do) and go and speak to the queen privately. First things first - time to go off and explore. I now have a feeling about how the meeting with the queen is going to play, so I'm going to go for a mooch around the castle first. There's a couple of areas to visit: the barracks, a tower (with obligatory chest at the top) and the food hall! Which was good for a free meal, except I did run into this guy:

Rude much?

Who seems to be a bit of a tool for treating the staff like that (and funnily enough I can't tell him what I think right now!). Right, belly is full and exploring is covered - I suppose I should get down to business. I also seem to have found my way into the throne room... shouldn't that be a little more... you know... guarded? Oh well, time to greet the king and move on!

Well, hello there Mr King!

Now to find her majesty and find a way out of here!

Ta very muchly!

Well that was easy enough, let's see what she has to say, because I have a fairly good idea where this is heading, after her gigglyness appeared before.

Err... no.

Oh lass... no, you didn't fool me. But that confirms it, I've found Leona again - but now what? I assume I've got to get her out of the castle without anyone noticing and find a way home, you know something nice and easy. Right?

Steady on love!

Well maybe not - she doesn't seem in any rush to leave, and naturally decides that this is the time for a heartfelt conversation. She's a sweet lass, but her timing isn't great is it? At this point I'm still on familiar ground - follow the girl, find the girl, rescue the girl etc. and right about the time I'm expecting to have to drag her away from her sudden rise to royalty the game throws me a curveball...

Uh-oh.

Something is obviously not right here - and this time there's no faulty machinery or magic pendant to blame! Understandably she starts to panic... and with good reason! Suddenly there is an eerie light, some magic sparkles and all of a sudden she is gone. Again.

This may be difficult to explain away...

Uh-oh. So now I find myself in the 'queens' private room, after the kingdom has only just found her and after 5 minutes alone with me she has vanished... I may have a tough time talking my way out of this one! I'm kinda glad I didn't insult the guard captain now - I have a feeling I'm going to see him again reeaaallll soon!

Well then, next time we get to see if I can actually get out of this one, as I continue My Gaming Catch Up!

Through the portal - and creeping onwards

Well apologies first - bank holidays, kids birthdays and the Play Expo & Blackpool all compounded together to delay this post! Unfortunately I haven't got much further, but as promised I'll share my experiences thus far...

Having made it through the initial hilly/foresty section, I am treated to a map of where I have managed to strand myself:

Now this looks familiar...

Now then... That looks suspiciously similar to the map I had before I ended up thrown through the magic whirlygig portal thing, doesn't it? Time to engage the time honored JRPG tradition of barging into peoples houses and poking things!

Sorry I just barged in, but would you happen to have the time?

Well that seems to confirm it - we're dealing with time travel here aren't we? And to make doubly sure, the map screen now says 600AD so I know which time period I'm in. If nothing else, I'm now on familiar RPG ground so it's time to do some exploring! First off, there's an inn (naturally) a shop, and a few houses - nothing exciting so far, there's a broken bridge looked after by one very lonely soldier and a church?

That church looks pretty good to me!

 So, the church should be a safe bet right? They're always safe places in these games...

Ok then...

...or not! The church seems to be inhabited by some 'odd' ladies of the cloth - from their little chats, ones that seem much more interested in killing and/or eating me... time for a swift exit methinks! But now I'm at a bit of a loss as to where to go next... and as always, in times like this a good mooch around the pub is a good place to start - and this is no exception. One of the happy bar patrons mentions that Queen Leene has been found wandering about. While this is still a little light on the details for me personally, I now have a rough direction and this leads me to the forest...

Oh goody - more imps!

Now I have to admit, I haven't got much further than this - but I did find out I have unlocked the 'cyclone' technique. And this does exactly what it says on the tin - start with pointy bit of my sword sticking out and spin round! This also has the bonus of AoE damage - meaning if I can time it right, then I can hit more than one enemy at once... if only the little buggers would stay still! That's pretty much all I've got time for now - hopefully I can find out what the 'Power Tab' is for as I continue My Gaming Catch Up!