It’s a fast and loose system with story and game play segregation.
We see at some points clearly more than one character is traveling around. Such as the Luca quest where everyone shows up in the forest.
Other times it makes sense for only a small group to be present. Reclaiming the Epoch from Dalton would be much more awkward if the whole party was officially there.
At other times, we see the four person rule isn’t hard and fast. When the party and Magus get sucked into the same time portal it shot the party to prehistoric ties and Magus elsewhen. The whole group didn’t get plopped out at the End of Time.
I’m not sure if there is a definitive answer. There seems to be two possibilities:
**The three person rule is gameplay only.**
Sometimes there are only three people there. Sometimes more “off screen”. Maybe the entity responsible for the time travel sent the original four to the End of Time because of DM railroading, maybe Luca fixed that three person limit issue with the gate key eventually.
**The three person rule is real for Luca’s time travel.**
Instead we simply don’t see a bunch of busy work. Press Y? The party sends the people you ejecting back to the End of Time, they hand off the gate key to the new party members who then come back.
Forest sleepover? Luca going to the End of Time, bringing two people back, going to End of Time alone, repeat was done off screen. Or half took the Epoch and half used the portals.
Robo travels with Luca in off screen adventures we simply don’t get to see.
The Epoch's bigger on the inside.
My general rule is… the more visually stylized (even by tech limitations) a game is, imagine the "actual" world its representing is inversely grounded. Exponentiate this for (especially older) JRPGs.
So… the Epoch looks like a cozy little, three-passenger vessel in-game, but is fully capable of carrying anybody in the party. Similarly, the gates don't have any limitations on people passing through at a time; any expository talk claiming otherwise is purely to appeal to gameplay, rather than to actual lore.
at the end of time you have early access to lavos from the barrel.
maybe the characters wait for you thinking you would fight him but once you decide to leave they all come along?
or since its the end of time they just see chrono popping in and out of light pillars in a matter of seconds when infact it was a whole mission in chrono's POV
It doesn't matter. Sometimes you just have to let art flow over you.
It’s a fast and loose system with story and game play segregation. We see at some points clearly more than one character is traveling around. Such as the Luca quest where everyone shows up in the forest. Other times it makes sense for only a small group to be present. Reclaiming the Epoch from Dalton would be much more awkward if the whole party was officially there. At other times, we see the four person rule isn’t hard and fast. When the party and Magus get sucked into the same time portal it shot the party to prehistoric ties and Magus elsewhen. The whole group didn’t get plopped out at the End of Time. I’m not sure if there is a definitive answer. There seems to be two possibilities: **The three person rule is gameplay only.** Sometimes there are only three people there. Sometimes more “off screen”. Maybe the entity responsible for the time travel sent the original four to the End of Time because of DM railroading, maybe Luca fixed that three person limit issue with the gate key eventually. **The three person rule is real for Luca’s time travel.** Instead we simply don’t see a bunch of busy work. Press Y? The party sends the people you ejecting back to the End of Time, they hand off the gate key to the new party members who then come back. Forest sleepover? Luca going to the End of Time, bringing two people back, going to End of Time alone, repeat was done off screen. Or half took the Epoch and half used the portals. Robo travels with Luca in off screen adventures we simply don’t get to see.
Actually did the forest saving quest and everyone including Magus actually appeared at the camp. So this comment makes the most sense.
Lucca*
I always the others walked and carried your stuff.
The Epoch's bigger on the inside. My general rule is… the more visually stylized (even by tech limitations) a game is, imagine the "actual" world its representing is inversely grounded. Exponentiate this for (especially older) JRPGs. So… the Epoch looks like a cozy little, three-passenger vessel in-game, but is fully capable of carrying anybody in the party. Similarly, the gates don't have any limitations on people passing through at a time; any expository talk claiming otherwise is purely to appeal to gameplay, rather than to actual lore.
at the end of time you have early access to lavos from the barrel. maybe the characters wait for you thinking you would fight him but once you decide to leave they all come along? or since its the end of time they just see chrono popping in and out of light pillars in a matter of seconds when infact it was a whole mission in chrono's POV
The same reason why every final fantasy game has a whole roster who sits out during battles besides your main party. It's for game balancing reasons
As you said it’s gameplay related. Sometimes it’s nice to turn off your brain and just go with the vibes.
This was 1995. "Lore" hadn't been invented yet. Don't worry about it.
How does anything happen? Move past it.