I’m at the stage in Chrono Cross where one fights the six Dragon Gods. I’ve already fought four (red, blue, green, yellow). According to strategy guides, I should now take the Fargo from the other world to the Home World Fargo. This will start Nikki’s concert and allow me to free Marbule so I can move onto the Black Dragon.
However, taking Fargo to Fargo does nothing. The home world Fargo tells me that the concert is over and nothing can be done about Marbule. The shaman in the hallway tells me all is lost because the humans have not cooperated with the singer. This is driving me crazy, because without freeing Marbule I can’t fight the Black Dragon and move on in the game.
What steps do I have to take to force the storyline on?!?!
Incidentally, what do I do with the Medical Book found in the Dead Sea?
You give the Medical Book to Doc so he can learn his level 7 tech, HangTen. That’s assuming you recruited Doc, of course.
As for your other problem, I think I need more info. I gather from your post that you’re stuck before actually triggering the concert. Have you fought the Sage (the shaman guy) on the Home World Zelbess? I think he’s key to Nikki learning the song.
No, I haven’t recruited Doc. AFAIK, you can’t recruit Doc unless you leave Kid to die. If I’m wrong about that, please let me know.
Of course I fought the Shaman, doing that was necessary to get the Fiddler Crab to enter the Dead Sea. That was a few stages back in the game. He’s still mopping the hallway in the home world Zelbess, but now he says that all is lost because the humans decided not to work with the singer.
Yeah, if you choose to save Kid, you don’t get Doc–I didn’t get him my first time through the game.
I’m trying to remember all the steps required to trigger the concert. It’s been a while, so I’m a little fuzzy on timing. You’ve fought the Sage, and done some other stuff since. Have you gone to Nikki’s ship and gotten a chance to recruit Irene? You get a choice as to whether or not to try to save Marbule, then the others go off to rehearse, and presumably Nikki learns the Song of Marbule. After much intermediate stuff (which you’ve presumably already done), you take Other Fargo to meet Home Fargo, and the event should trigger. If it doesn’t, the only thing I can think of is if you happened to go to the sleeping black dragon with Harle in your party; I think that if you do that, it just wakes up and hands over the relic, which bypasses a lot of events. If you don’t have the black relic, maybe you should just sail around a bit and swap back and forth between worlds a few times–it might come unstuck (I seem to remember that happening with an event or two in the game).
It’s best to fight the black dragon so you can steal the black plate armor from him, but if you’re irretrievably stuck, you could just take Harle to visit him.
I didn’t go to Nikki’s ship and recruit Irenes. I just found that in the strategy guide. It’s a single paragraph and I easily missed it. In any event, that’s not possible now because Nikki’s ship is no longer docked to the Zelbess.
Plus, I don’t have Harle in my party anymore (she disappeared about the scene in which she explains crying to Starky). So, I don’t know of any way to get the black relic and move on in the game. Could it be permanently ruined?
OK, this could be a problem. You may be out of luck. I know the game shouldn’t have a deal-breaker in it like that, but it wouldn’t surprise me if one slipped into a game as complicated as CC.
I don’t suppose you have saves going back far enough to go aboard Nikki’s ship? I know the thought of backing up that far is painful, but it may be the only way forward.
Did you complete the side quest to return the demi-humans to Marbule? If so, you should hear a roaring in back of the cave on Home World. Cross to Another World & the Black Dragon will wake up so you can fight him. If you didn’t, you just have to walk up to the edge of the pond to get the Black Relic.
My apologies. It has been a while since I played the game & memory was telling me that the fight for Marbule was considerably before the fight with the Black Dragon. I’m sorry if I gave you inaccurate information.
Have you fought all the monsters in Marbule and completely cleared them out? I always found that to be a pain, especially with the music (it gets grating after a while).
Mondo’s stuck at a point before the monsters become solid enough to fight. He can’t trigger the concert that starts the sequence. Until he does that, he can’t do anything about saving Marbule. I’d like to think that the designers thought of this, and included a way around it (although missing the black plate would suck), but I don’t know of one. My compulsive exploration habits ensured that I got the sequence on Nikki’s ship that sets up the concert.
It is possible, BTW, to do lots of things between saving Marbule and fighting the black dragon. The timing is somewhat flexible–you can, for example, fight all of the other dragons (I think) between the two events.
The Black Dragon is optional, btw, but you lose the chance to grab a few summons (and something else, I forgot).
Here’s the sequence of events…I think
Go to Marbule. You will meet Toma the Explorer. Talk to him, stay for night and wait for the mermaid to appear. Attempt to talk to the mermaid.
Go to the ship, talk to all the demi-humans, especially the one in the deck. If things are right, when you go out, you shall bump into the Sage. If you try to follow him the guard will say he’s gone to the grand slam and you are not allowed in.
Go talk to Fargo. Bet with him to enter the grand slam. If you got it right, Niki shall be there too. (Shall – it been years since I have touched Chrono Cross)
You shall lost your ship at this point. How do win against Fargo…?
Go to Snell, the magician (the room where Solt and Peppor are performing). He’ll be doing a special magic trick which turns people into cats. Volunteer for his second act.
As cats form, go into the inn (2nd deck), up the staircase and remove the handle.
Go back to Snell, revert back to your original form. Go challenge Fargo again.
You will be granted access to the Grand Slam. Find the Sage, fight him and win. Niki will appear to learn the song from the Sage.
Go up, go to the crane, operated by a boy/guy. Talk to him to go to Niki’s ship.
Agree to help them. Let the mermaid join.
[optional] talk to Fargo
Go to the other world and recruit Fargo. Let that Fargo talk to the Fargo (what a mouthful).
