I want to get back to writing about some older games that have some profound scenes and dialogue. I find that many games which are heavier on character conversations get into some interesting topics, like faith or purpose. In one of my favorite video games from the SNES era, Chrono Trigger, there’s a part after completing a side mission where all the characters ponder about an “entity”. Many games have mysteries that aren’t ever delved into and we are left to decide what it means on our own.
For those that aren’t familiar with this game, CT (Chrono Trigger) is a JRPG about a group of time traveling friends, led by Crono, who want to save their future. An alien named Lavos had arrived from space and in the year 1999, arises from slumbering deep in the Earth and attacks. This leaves Earth in desolation and destruction, which the group finds out about after going to the future in a machine called the Epoch. So while going from one time to another, they find ways to go about stopping this monster from ever awakening. It’s one of my favorite games ever and has a very large following even so many years later.
In this short scene, one of the characters named Robo, who is a robot from the future, says that he has been wondering if their entire journey is just an entity living out it’s memories. As if they are being guided to arrive at a certain destination, which they are not sure what that would be. Some other characters mention that when people die, they see their saddest regrets flash before their eyes. I too have heard of this, and I agree that it could be true if those regrets are ones that have stuck with them for a long time.
This entity is mentioned at the end of the game as well, where once character remarks to another, “I feel that the Entity is at rest, don’t you?”. Since the evil that was present is now vanquished, Lavos cannot destroy the future and cause global suffering.
I decided to see if this Entity was given an identity, and I discovered that it’s actually the planet itself! Just like in Final Fantasy VII and the Life Stream, the planet seems to be sentient and can feel pain. It’s “dream” is to have peace and not be disturbed, so it sent the adventures of time to put an end to the parasite that dug into it’s recesses. It could not prevent it, nor is it able to fight in a physical form so it instead acts as a guide for the heroes. Using portals, or gates as they are called, Crono and his crew jump around time to put an end to Lavos.
The planet was afraid to die, to be devoured by this inter-stellar virus that had dug inside its core. The tablet’s words in the image above are referencing Chrono Cross, which is the sequel to Chrono Trigger. After the end of the first game, the fight continued to save the world in the second one.
Crono takes on this journey because he knows that in the future, his world will end and the aftermath is bleak and desolate. Even though he won’t be alive to see it because it’s 999 years later (Crono’s timeline is 1000 A.D., Lavos awakens in 1999 A.D.), he decides to protect people that he will never meet. In the end though, was Crono motivated by his own will or was the planet itself somehow guiding his steps so he would make that choice?
Proverbs 16:9
9 A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.
Free will is a discussion that many people get confused about when it comes to living out our lives. Does God guide us, or are we allowed to do what we want and how we want to? Yes, actually we are! Whatever I decide to do has consequences, good or bad. Cause and effect are how life is lived, whether it’s us that made the decisions or someone else did. The planet did not decide for Lavos to arrive, but it did and now it wants to get rid of it.
God’s plan for our lives is always one that is good, yet many times we don’t understand it. I have my own plans on how I believe my life will turn out, but often just like in video games, situations happen that I did not expect. Most of the time, it’s not a big deal but sometimes it is. It could be an argument with a friend, a business opportunity that didn’t work out, an unexpected payment or bill, among other situations.
Jeremiah 29:11
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
I question things that have occurred in my own life, like why my family isn’t the picture perfect one compared to others. Times where I have had no money, yet I was serving in my church and going to school to get my degree. Life can be complicated and sometimes an explanation isn’t always given, but my faith will always be in my Father in Heaven and His will. He knows more than I do, and I would not have anything if it weren’t for His guidance. When I think about all miracles, coincidences, blessings, however, you would like to call them, I can trace them all back to God.
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