The party has tracked down the latest anomaly, but what happens when they are pinned down in a sandstorm in the middle of the middle ages? And can a small act of kindness bloom in the desert of a multi-millennial feud? T, G, Robo, and Lucca will have to depend on new allies to face off against old foes… or will they? In our world, T and G revisit one of the most eclectic, inspiring, challenging, and surprising sections of the game: the Sunken Desert / Fiona’s sidequest. There’s certainly a lot to cover, but we ‘dig’ into… * Its difficulty! After beating the game probably more than a hundred times collectively, why is it that this section is so much harder than any of the others? * What they remember about this influential moment in the game… and if they managed to save HER * The strangeness of this point in the game! Why is the iconic fireside chat optional, and why is it so easy to miss this sidequest entirely? Whose sidequest is it, anyway?! Editing, scripting, and podcast visual design by [Nick Terwoord](https://nt3rp.io). Special thanks to Square Enix for making that game that we love, Chrono Trigger ...and for not suing us. ## Episode Cast Alphabetically, by actor: * Manda Whitney in the role of Azala and Fiona * Nick G in the role of his fictional self, and discussion host * Nick T in the role of his fictional self, Robo, and discussion host * Patrick "TrickyLove" Moylan in the role of Nizbel III * SMZeldaRules in the role of Lucca Ashtear ## Musical Credits * [00:00] It doesn’t make ...
Could it be… Robo? T desperately scrambles to repair what may be their future hope as G delves into the Zeal Archives to leverage future knowledge of… well, the future! Could Belthasar still reside in the ruins, and the Epoch as well? Could the spatial anomaly be a way out of the world of Chrono Trigger? T and G discuss: * Melchior as a metaphor for world building! How NPCs can help to flesh out the world and add details to the story, even foreshadow, even when they don’t seem important. * The creations of Melchior! He sure made a lot of stuff, whether it be the Swallow, Prism gear, or… the Mammon Machine?! * Guru… of Life? For a merchant of death, he sure has a pretty cushy title! What’s the origin of his name, anyway? ## Where to find us The Zeal Archives is a [Nickscast](https://thenickscast.com) production and can be found wherever fine podcasts are listened to, or at the source at [zealarchives.com](https://zealarchives.com) For news and other updates about the podcast, you can follow us on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/zealarchives) or [Facebook](https://facebook.com/zealarchives) @zealarchives For more about the hosts, Nick T and Nick G, check out [the Nickscast](https://thenickscast.com) on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/thenickscast), [Facebook](https://facebook.com/thenickscast), [Instagram](https://instagram.com/thenickscast), or [YouTube](https://youtube.com/thenickscast), all @thenickscast. ## Special Announcement: Livestream for the Cure 4 The 4th Annual Livestream for the Cure (or the Livestream 4 the Cure?) has been scheduled for FORTY-EIGHT HOURS from May 28th thru the 31st, with a small four hour kick-off event scheduled for the evening before to do final tests (and hopefully wrangle in some amazing guests). This year we’ll be pushing to raise $10,000 for the Cancer Research Institute, and if all of that gets doubled, we stand ...
And that night, huddled around a campfire in an unknown future, four friends sat and told the tail (sorry, _tale_) of how the latest chapter of an epic fight for survival had finally come to a close. Though much was uncertain, for now, they cloud rest easy now that the universe was safe, and the problems of the world of Chrono Trigger could be left for another day. ...Or could they? T and G discuss: * Time Travel! It’s… complicated? Like, really complicated. We try to wrap our heads around how it is supposed to work in the world of Chrono Trigger (and even a bit of Chrono Cross), even though it hurts our heads a bit. * Common tropes, techniques, and mechanics used in time travel in other media, in particular, movies! Turns out, lots of works use time travel… and sometimes it is used really effectively (and sometimes it’s just lazy, looking at you Back to the Future) ...
![The Ashtear Line: Guardia’s Treasured Inventors [Book 1, Chapter 2]](https://episodes.castos.com/60d5657ae06977-39952902/b9anA19ZUi6o6s0VBkw15nwSvRbXA02mVMIGZB3x.png)
