So this recent thing about Chrono Cross remake made me check some videos on Radical Dreamers, the original visual novel type game on SNES. Although they didn't mention Schala by name, it's obvious that she's supposed to be Kid there too. There's also no real tie-in to Lavos, just that Schala was still lost somewhere out there and she became Kid to experience a different life, and at the end of the game Kid finally remembers that she's Schala and The Unstealable Gem, the ending theme for both Radical Dreamers and Chrono Cross, is the fact that Kid finally remembered that she's Schala Zeal. In Radical Dreamers it'd also appear that Schala and Kid are the same person. Schala/Kid also ends up finding Serge at the end, when he's already an old man and I guess Schala is immortal or at least extremely long lived but they still met, just like she promised before they parted ways.
In Chrono Cross, Schala and Kid are I guess two different people. Schala is extremely pretentious. I'm actually pretty offended by her whole speech at the end where she pretty much lectures on the party as being some kind of Supreme Being deal on the meaning of life. It reminds me of Terranigma when after you beat the game you get lectured by Light Gaia and are told Ark needs to go away anyway because he's of the Darkside. However the big difference is that I think in Terranigma you know by now that Lightside and Darkside aren't absolute so there's no reason to believe Light Gaia is necessarily looking out for the well being for Ark who is the champion of the Darkside, and indeed the ending suggests that Ark managed to defy the fate that was ordained by the Lightside and ended up with Lightside Elle which probably isn't how things are supposed to turn out if Light Gaia has his way.
Further, the whole 'world exists for the evolution of the Ultimate Being' stuff is thoroughly debunked in Chrono Trigger. When the party confronted Lavos Core it dawned on them that evolution only exists for the existence of Lavos Core and there are some memorial line where they shot it down, my favorite being Marle's "I mean, this is everyone's world!" Chrono Cross tramples on a lot of the fond memories of Chrono Trigger needlessly, and this is another perfect example. The Chrono Trigger cast already overcame this in the past, and you'd never imagine Schala, who is probably The Entity who works tirelessly to protect the lives of the weak no matter how insignificant, needs to be suddenly start telling you that maybe all of existence is some kind of pointless thing on the path toward the end of evolution. Also, Schala did literally nothing in the entire game of Chrono Cross except waiting to get rescued. This isn't like Chrono Trigger where it's heavily hinted that she's the Entity doing stuff like opening a time portal so Lucca can save her mother, and someone who always sacrificed herself to help others. In fact, I think the point is that we're in this mess because she's too selfless because if she turned her back on the Mammon Machine earlier and refused to help, Lavos likely could be defeated much easier since you need Schala's powers to drain the planet's energy but Schala could never abandon anyone even if it means her actions doomed the planet. Most of her dialogue is something Lavos might say if Lavos could talk, and even if she eventually refutes that, that kind of gibberish is not something that should ever come out of Schala. The Schala of Chrono Trigger would never go along with the idea of how people are just pawns for the wheel of evolution, and the fact that she needs to say 'btw I'm totally not for this idea' is an insult because nobody would ever doubt the Schala of Chrono Trigger would turn her back on the downtrodden.
It's also worth noting that Schala in Chrono Cross doesn't really find Serge beyond some weird symbolic thing, and besides, who actually finds Serge at the end? The way she's dressed obviously looks like Schala, but Schala has no attachment to any characters in Chrono Cross, so it's probably Kid who just decided to redo her hairstyle to match Schala's? Or does the two actually merge at some point? But again, if Schala is the dominant personality, what is her purpose to even finding Serge because her main personality knows nothing about Serge other than that he lead a party that eventually freed her, but the whole 'finding Serge' thing clearly isn't just so that Schala can say 'thanks for bailing me out back there'. Besides, shouldn't Schala be trying to find, um, Janus? Of course, this is where the whole Gil not being Janus in Chrono Cross whereas Magil is clearly Magus in Radical Dreamers also comes into play. If you look at the letter Lucca left behind obviously it's intended that Janus was always part of the party, as Gil, except he isn't.
I think by trying to overplay the whole Schala being some kind of cosmic being of importance it greatly diminished her charm. In Radical Dreamers, although Schala is still the likely immortal Entity forever lost in timestream, we get that all she wanted to is live another normal life again which is why she became Kid even at the cost of losing her memories and powers. In Chrono Cross, she became Kid because there's some cosmic conspiracy involved and mega complicated plan needed to save all of existence in all dimensions from the Time Devourer. I realize Chrono Cross probably has big expectations so if it turns out the whole story is just Schala throwing a tantrum because she wanted to experience the life she's lost after spending an eternity righting what's wrong with history, but I think Schala and Chrono Trigger does deserve to throw a tantrum. They don't need to prove themselves again by saving a dimension or whatever this time around. If Princess Schala wants to go on an adventure with her knight in shining armor and that's the entire point of the game, she's entitled to that. In Radical Dreamers, it's her adventure and her identity that's the Unstealable Gem. In Chrono Cross, I'm not even sure what's the point, because those memories and adventure are only meaningful for Kid, who is gone from the party half of the time anyway, and has zero relevance to Schala since we don't even know if the two remains separate entities or merged together at some point. In fact, even in the ending itself there's a sharp contrast. You have Schala talking about the meaning of life, and Kid is basically like 'stop yapping I'll find ya Serge', and I think she probably should have slapped Schala much earlier to make her shut up monologuing about the meaning of life.
In Chrono Cross, Schala and Kid are I guess two different people. Schala is extremely pretentious. I'm actually pretty offended by her whole speech at the end where she pretty much lectures on the party as being some kind of Supreme Being deal on the meaning of life. It reminds me of Terranigma when after you beat the game you get lectured by Light Gaia and are told Ark needs to go away anyway because he's of the Darkside. However the big difference is that I think in Terranigma you know by now that Lightside and Darkside aren't absolute so there's no reason to believe Light Gaia is necessarily looking out for the well being for Ark who is the champion of the Darkside, and indeed the ending suggests that Ark managed to defy the fate that was ordained by the Lightside and ended up with Lightside Elle which probably isn't how things are supposed to turn out if Light Gaia has his way.
Further, the whole 'world exists for the evolution of the Ultimate Being' stuff is thoroughly debunked in Chrono Trigger. When the party confronted Lavos Core it dawned on them that evolution only exists for the existence of Lavos Core and there are some memorial line where they shot it down, my favorite being Marle's "I mean, this is everyone's world!" Chrono Cross tramples on a lot of the fond memories of Chrono Trigger needlessly, and this is another perfect example. The Chrono Trigger cast already overcame this in the past, and you'd never imagine Schala, who is probably The Entity who works tirelessly to protect the lives of the weak no matter how insignificant, needs to be suddenly start telling you that maybe all of existence is some kind of pointless thing on the path toward the end of evolution. Also, Schala did literally nothing in the entire game of Chrono Cross except waiting to get rescued. This isn't like Chrono Trigger where it's heavily hinted that she's the Entity doing stuff like opening a time portal so Lucca can save her mother, and someone who always sacrificed herself to help others. In fact, I think the point is that we're in this mess because she's too selfless because if she turned her back on the Mammon Machine earlier and refused to help, Lavos likely could be defeated much easier since you need Schala's powers to drain the planet's energy but Schala could never abandon anyone even if it means her actions doomed the planet. Most of her dialogue is something Lavos might say if Lavos could talk, and even if she eventually refutes that, that kind of gibberish is not something that should ever come out of Schala. The Schala of Chrono Trigger would never go along with the idea of how people are just pawns for the wheel of evolution, and the fact that she needs to say 'btw I'm totally not for this idea' is an insult because nobody would ever doubt the Schala of Chrono Trigger would turn her back on the downtrodden.
It's also worth noting that Schala in Chrono Cross doesn't really find Serge beyond some weird symbolic thing, and besides, who actually finds Serge at the end? The way she's dressed obviously looks like Schala, but Schala has no attachment to any characters in Chrono Cross, so it's probably Kid who just decided to redo her hairstyle to match Schala's? Or does the two actually merge at some point? But again, if Schala is the dominant personality, what is her purpose to even finding Serge because her main personality knows nothing about Serge other than that he lead a party that eventually freed her, but the whole 'finding Serge' thing clearly isn't just so that Schala can say 'thanks for bailing me out back there'. Besides, shouldn't Schala be trying to find, um, Janus? Of course, this is where the whole Gil not being Janus in Chrono Cross whereas Magil is clearly Magus in Radical Dreamers also comes into play. If you look at the letter Lucca left behind obviously it's intended that Janus was always part of the party, as Gil, except he isn't.
I think by trying to overplay the whole Schala being some kind of cosmic being of importance it greatly diminished her charm. In Radical Dreamers, although Schala is still the likely immortal Entity forever lost in timestream, we get that all she wanted to is live another normal life again which is why she became Kid even at the cost of losing her memories and powers. In Chrono Cross, she became Kid because there's some cosmic conspiracy involved and mega complicated plan needed to save all of existence in all dimensions from the Time Devourer. I realize Chrono Cross probably has big expectations so if it turns out the whole story is just Schala throwing a tantrum because she wanted to experience the life she's lost after spending an eternity righting what's wrong with history, but I think Schala and Chrono Trigger does deserve to throw a tantrum. They don't need to prove themselves again by saving a dimension or whatever this time around. If Princess Schala wants to go on an adventure with her knight in shining armor and that's the entire point of the game, she's entitled to that. In Radical Dreamers, it's her adventure and her identity that's the Unstealable Gem. In Chrono Cross, I'm not even sure what's the point, because those memories and adventure are only meaningful for Kid, who is gone from the party half of the time anyway, and has zero relevance to Schala since we don't even know if the two remains separate entities or merged together at some point. In fact, even in the ending itself there's a sharp contrast. You have Schala talking about the meaning of life, and Kid is basically like 'stop yapping I'll find ya Serge', and I think she probably should have slapped Schala much earlier to make her shut up monologuing about the meaning of life.
