Damn Skyblade, you're really hung up on that issue aren't you. (SPOILER)Don't forget that Dalton was actually a fairly competent villain up until the showdown with him on the Blackbird, petty maybe but its not like he was a comic relief character the whole time he was in the story. Its also not like Fate was dealing with Lucca doesn't mean it may not have decided to deal with Crono and Marle as well. Course my own personal interpretation is that some other major catastrophe happened before Guardia was attacked, that drove Crono and Marle away, this is largely why I want a Chrono 3 cause I feel Kato would have to answer these questions since Cross ultimately created so many loose ends despite the main plot trying to tie up CT's loose plot threads.

Other than that, I don't really mind CC, though I definitely feel that working on Xenogears seriously changed Masato Kato's writing style. CC's writing is definitely more in line with Xenogears (complex themes and heavy philosophical banter) compared to CT's more charming and simple narrative. Still, I like the contrast between CT largely embody the themes of adventure and determination as opposed to CC's more cynical and cautionary themes. Though I do feel Kato was pretty bad about sucking the subtlety out of some of his environmental themes. The scenario with the Dwarfs and Fairies is a bit anvilicious...