ABSTRACT

The primary lesson that Chrono Trigger teaches about combat with non-boss enemies is that there are different types of enemies that share behaviors and weaknesses. The Cathedral teaches the most basic division of enemies into categories; some enemies can be defeated by normal attacks, and some enemies must be defeated by special "tech" attacks. The boss of the Cathedral, Yakra, introduces players to types of boss monsters. Attrition/spike bosses like Yakra generally work like this: the boss spends 2–4 rounds dealing small amounts of damage to every party member before launching a high-damage, single-target attack. The Heckran also brings back the design features of the Guardian: periodic phases and severe counterattacks. New players are meant to think that these kinds of small actions will be meaningful throughout the rest of the game—that their decisions matter. The tricky thing is that players cannot see the lack of impact their choices have until after the Tragedy of the Entity is complete.