This game is just good not great, but I will never ever EVER forget it. Picture this, I'm old as hell and on my deathbed, the light in my eyes is growing dim, and all my family and friends are gathered around me to share my last moments on earth:
"Come quick everyone, it's almost time! Grampa wants to say something. What is it, grampa? Go on, take your time..."
Me: "...so what was going on with Illusion of Gaia, anyway? There's a part where one of your friends just turns into a sea monster, and he's like bye now, I'm off to be a sea monster. You meet a bunch of starving people and your pet pig suddenly gains sentience and decides to throw itself on a bonfire so they can eat him. His name is Hamlet, and one of the characters says "to eat or not to eat" while he's watching this beloved pig of theirs roast to death. There's a minor antagonist you never meet until the end, and when he tries to fuck with you, you burn him alive. You spend a good minute and a half watching this guy crawl toward you in agony as the fire just renders him down to a pile of ash and boiling body fat. I mean, what the fuck?"
And then I die.
"Come quick everyone, it's almost time! Grampa wants to say something. What is it, grampa? Go on, take your time..."
Me: "...so what was going on with Illusion of Gaia, anyway? There's a part where one of your friends just turns into a sea monster, and he's like bye now, I'm off to be a sea monster. You meet a bunch of starving people and your pet pig suddenly gains sentience and decides to throw itself on a bonfire so they can eat him. His name is Hamlet, and one of the characters says "to eat or not to eat" while he's watching this beloved pig of theirs roast to death. There's a minor antagonist you never meet until the end, and when he tries to fuck with you, you burn him alive. You spend a good minute and a half watching this guy crawl toward you in agony as the fire just renders him down to a pile of ash and boiling body fat. I mean, what the fuck?"
And then I die.
Illusion of gaia é um jogo meh fds que eu não recomendo ninguém jogar, eu só zerei isso porque eu tinha um amigo jogando ao mesmo tempo comigo, mas sinceramente vou fazer uma review disso, porque illusion of gaia é um jogo retardado e quero compartilhar o potencial shitpost desse jogo.
A gameplay é simplória e tem o seu charme, mas ela fica enjoativa em tempo recorde: entra na dungeon, mata todos os inimigos da sala, troca pro frederico (que é uma transformação melhor para combate) mata o resto, fica puto porque o jogo do nada te obriga a usar alguma skill só do will (sua primeira forma) e volta pra trocar, e troca de novo pro frederico pra enfrentar o boss, POR UMAS 10 DUNGEONS.
Pra variar algumas dungeons vão te dando power ups pra serem usados em puzzles ou combate mesmo, alguns são bons e expandem as opções de combate, mas nem esses ajudam muito, E EU ESTOU FALANDO DOS BONS, porque um deles é literalmente um poder que você usa SÓ PRA UM PUZZLE MERDA, e ele nem é útil para combate, não só isso como a última dungeon do jogo literalmente te dá uma forma final onde torna o frederico obsoleto.
Os chefes desse jogo merecem uma própria menção aqui, a maioria é só ficar floodando espada que uma hora morre, com exceção de alguns que tem invunerabilidade que são tipo uns 3, que são lutas horríveis, uma delas é super difícil pois você é obrigado a usar o will, a outra é um tédio de longa e o outro é o boss final, que é super brochante de fácil.
Indo pra história e seus acontecimentos, o jogo é recheado de momentos que eram pra ser legais ou emocionantes não funcionam devido ao fato que o jogo não te deu tempo o suficiente pra se importar com os personagens, a grande maioria desses momentos se tornaram bizarros e me fizeram eu me cagar de rir pelo o quão ruins eles são implementados. Eu adoraria citar meus favoritos, mas ai essa review iria ficar gigante, se você manja de inglês, leia essa review, sério ela é linda: https://www.backloggd.com/u/McMahonishBoy/review/377963/
ESQUECE O CARA EXCLUIO O PERFIL FDS.
Pra ser justo, ali e aqui o jogo possui um design de dungeons e alguns puzzles ok, o que ferra mesmo é e a gameplay repetitiva e a quantidade de dungeons e seu tamanho, e não tive muitos problemas com direcionamentos pra onde deveria ir por parte do jogo; não só isso como o jogo possui algumas (poucas) cenas boas, e o que eu senti nas que achei cômicas podem passar uma sensação diferente pra outra pessoa. (duvido entretanto)
Esse jogo ficou encravado do meu cérebro, de uma forma negativa, é um jogo que eu me interessei de jogar pois ouvia bem sobre, haha, não, não mesmo. Tenho certeza que vou me esquecer dos designs das dungeons, falas dos personagens, a parte séria da história, mas nunca vou me esquecer das cenas bizarras que esse jogo possui. Agora se me dão licença vou comer um porco na brasa, bye.
A gameplay é simplória e tem o seu charme, mas ela fica enjoativa em tempo recorde: entra na dungeon, mata todos os inimigos da sala, troca pro frederico (que é uma transformação melhor para combate) mata o resto, fica puto porque o jogo do nada te obriga a usar alguma skill só do will (sua primeira forma) e volta pra trocar, e troca de novo pro frederico pra enfrentar o boss, POR UMAS 10 DUNGEONS.
Pra variar algumas dungeons vão te dando power ups pra serem usados em puzzles ou combate mesmo, alguns são bons e expandem as opções de combate, mas nem esses ajudam muito, E EU ESTOU FALANDO DOS BONS, porque um deles é literalmente um poder que você usa SÓ PRA UM PUZZLE MERDA, e ele nem é útil para combate, não só isso como a última dungeon do jogo literalmente te dá uma forma final onde torna o frederico obsoleto.
Os chefes desse jogo merecem uma própria menção aqui, a maioria é só ficar floodando espada que uma hora morre, com exceção de alguns que tem invunerabilidade que são tipo uns 3, que são lutas horríveis, uma delas é super difícil pois você é obrigado a usar o will, a outra é um tédio de longa e o outro é o boss final, que é super brochante de fácil.
Indo pra história e seus acontecimentos, o jogo é recheado de momentos que eram pra ser legais ou emocionantes não funcionam devido ao fato que o jogo não te deu tempo o suficiente pra se importar com os personagens, a grande maioria desses momentos se tornaram bizarros e me fizeram eu me cagar de rir pelo o quão ruins eles são implementados. Eu adoraria citar meus favoritos, mas ai essa review iria ficar gigante, se você manja de inglês, leia essa review, sério ela é linda: https://www.backloggd.com/u/McMahonishBoy/review/377963/
ESQUECE O CARA EXCLUIO O PERFIL FDS.
Pra ser justo, ali e aqui o jogo possui um design de dungeons e alguns puzzles ok, o que ferra mesmo é e a gameplay repetitiva e a quantidade de dungeons e seu tamanho, e não tive muitos problemas com direcionamentos pra onde deveria ir por parte do jogo; não só isso como o jogo possui algumas (poucas) cenas boas, e o que eu senti nas que achei cômicas podem passar uma sensação diferente pra outra pessoa. (duvido entretanto)
Esse jogo ficou encravado do meu cérebro, de uma forma negativa, é um jogo que eu me interessei de jogar pois ouvia bem sobre, haha, não, não mesmo. Tenho certeza que vou me esquecer dos designs das dungeons, falas dos personagens, a parte séria da história, mas nunca vou me esquecer das cenas bizarras que esse jogo possui. Agora se me dão licença vou comer um porco na brasa, bye.
Illusion of Gaia - presumably Soul Blazer's follow-up, set aside the town-building elements and opted for a linear, story-heavy action-adventure. This new approach awards stat boosts upon defeating monster rooms rather than hub progress, with unlockable special attacks serving as tools. But it's hard not to be reminded of Seiken Densetsu (and in particular its sequel, released a few months before IoG) while playing this Zelda/RPG hybrid: Unlike SD2, they aren't afraid to dabble in puzzles (best represented by its dedicated gimmick rooms). Unlike SD2, they can graft Zelda's clever solutions to the unique scenarios of JRPGs, and unlike SD2, combat's variety doesn't hinge on weapon types & magic (offering transformations, beat-em-up-esque collisions and follow-up strikes instead). They also compare favorably in regards to characters, dungeon designs + aesthetics, storytelling (whose emphasis, themes and quality were rare among action games at the time) and animations, losing only when it comes to battles (that turned to LoZ-grade poking with a few add-ons). If the RPG integration feels more cinematic than functional, and they've yet to learn how to balance boss fights, this game succeeds at recreating Final Fantasy Adventure from another - more narrative-driven and puzzle-y angle.
such a cool game...quintet games have this bittersweet vibe to them and this is no exception
Illusion of Gaia é um jogo medíocre, onde cada vez que eu e um amigo íamos avançando mais no jogo juntos a gente percebia mais e mais merdas, tipo O PORQUE DE DAR UM PODER NOVO PRA SER USADO EM UMA SALA E NUNCA MAIS.
Esse jogo não é nem um pouco igual oque falam em reviews, sobre ele ser um jogo com uma historia e combate incríveis, é um jogo com combate chato maior parte do tempo com uma adição ali e aqui, onde os inimigos não tem variedade nenhuma e que a historia é chata e desinteressante, e a musica amigo a musica por mais que ela seja boa, ela ainda acaba sendo ofuscada pela quantidade de merda que acontece nas dungeons do jogo entende?
Pra mim parece que fizeram review baseado em nostalgia e eu não vejo problema nisso, mas é da mesma forma que disser que Secret of Mana é um jogo MARAVILHOSO sendo Secret of Mana é um jogo podre com um combate horrível que fez eu e meus amigos dropar ele no final boss porque a gente já tinha passado muita merda com esse jogo, e eu vou fazer uma review pra essa merda.
Esse jogo não é nem um pouco igual oque falam em reviews, sobre ele ser um jogo com uma historia e combate incríveis, é um jogo com combate chato maior parte do tempo com uma adição ali e aqui, onde os inimigos não tem variedade nenhuma e que a historia é chata e desinteressante, e a musica amigo a musica por mais que ela seja boa, ela ainda acaba sendo ofuscada pela quantidade de merda que acontece nas dungeons do jogo entende?
Pra mim parece que fizeram review baseado em nostalgia e eu não vejo problema nisso, mas é da mesma forma que disser que Secret of Mana é um jogo MARAVILHOSO sendo Secret of Mana é um jogo podre com um combate horrível que fez eu e meus amigos dropar ele no final boss porque a gente já tinha passado muita merda com esse jogo, e eu vou fazer uma review pra essa merda.
Somehow even through the terrible translation it still gets you wondering and worried about the future. A great, bittersweet story about holding on to what's important for as long as you can. Can be a bit arcane at times. Taught me to love timpani.
Stunningly unique game, perhaps to the point of its own detriment. I'd love to see a major developer release a cracked-out game like this today.
The underground angel village is still one of the most beautiful and haunting setpieces in any piece of media for me.
The underground angel village is still one of the most beautiful and haunting setpieces in any piece of media for me.
This review contains spoilers
There are enough moments that remind me of previous Quintet games that I'm glad to have finally gotten around to this. That said, this is the first time I finished playing one of their games feeling pretty annoyed? "Annoyed" doesn't really go far enough for ActRaiser 2, since that was straight up heartbreaking, but there's too much to love here that it makes this more disappointing.
I honestly don't even know what happened with the translation. I would say there was an awkwardness to the translations on ActRaiser and Soul Blazer, maybe a flatness to them, but in the case of those games it served the narrative and tone really well, and enhanced emotional impact in some unexpected ways. Maybe it's having a party of more human characters and scripting them to have human drama, but here a lot of it is just stilted and abrupt; one "sacrifice" moment in particular that was definitely meant to land emotionally was instead kind of funny? Don't know how I feel about that.
Also some of the maps and enemies are just tedious to get through. The key standouts: the Mountain Temple and its endless identical looking vines; the obnoxious bush placement in the Angkor Wat garden; the invisible enemies in the Pyramid that may not alert you to their presence which then results in backtracking because you want to clear all the enemies out for the upgrades but also don't want to bring up the map over and over.....
And the central mechanic of swapping between forms as you traverse the dungeons is really cool, at least until you realize that the dungeons are, for the most part, designed to be played in a very specific way, and you're not really going to get the freedom to play as one form over another. If you find a door to swap, odds are the game is going to make you use a form you weren't using already.
It's very rough around the edges, and ambitious in ways that aren't necessarily positive. But when I went through the underground angel village, or talked to an NPC that casually let me know one of my friends was dealing with his parents fighting all the time, I was brought back to the time I first played ActRaiser and just felt the sort of mundane sadness that games of this console generation weren't bothering with. So it's still special, just less special than I'd like, I guess.
I honestly don't even know what happened with the translation. I would say there was an awkwardness to the translations on ActRaiser and Soul Blazer, maybe a flatness to them, but in the case of those games it served the narrative and tone really well, and enhanced emotional impact in some unexpected ways. Maybe it's having a party of more human characters and scripting them to have human drama, but here a lot of it is just stilted and abrupt; one "sacrifice" moment in particular that was definitely meant to land emotionally was instead kind of funny? Don't know how I feel about that.
Also some of the maps and enemies are just tedious to get through. The key standouts: the Mountain Temple and its endless identical looking vines; the obnoxious bush placement in the Angkor Wat garden; the invisible enemies in the Pyramid that may not alert you to their presence which then results in backtracking because you want to clear all the enemies out for the upgrades but also don't want to bring up the map over and over.....
And the central mechanic of swapping between forms as you traverse the dungeons is really cool, at least until you realize that the dungeons are, for the most part, designed to be played in a very specific way, and you're not really going to get the freedom to play as one form over another. If you find a door to swap, odds are the game is going to make you use a form you weren't using already.
It's very rough around the edges, and ambitious in ways that aren't necessarily positive. But when I went through the underground angel village, or talked to an NPC that casually let me know one of my friends was dealing with his parents fighting all the time, I was brought back to the time I first played ActRaiser and just felt the sort of mundane sadness that games of this console generation weren't bothering with. So it's still special, just less special than I'd like, I guess.
Lol i sold a guy to slavery for a red gem lmao got a free herb
First RPG I actually get to the end
Im close to giving this 5 stars but I will conset thats its a kinda clunky action game, barely an rpg. The story is what makes this incredible and the writting consistantly goes further than most games even after the SNES. Shame on people who claim we didnt have good game storys in the early 90s. This one has some real gut punches.
Delightfully strange. If played with the original (very poor) translation it's an incredible journey through a harsh and incomprehensible world peppered with genuinely affecting moments of humanity. I've never played it with a proper translation but I'd be willing to bet it makes the game much worse.
Gracias a este juego descubrí que los juegos rpgs y aventura eran mis favoritos. El diseño de los personajes y la música me fascinaba. De la trilogía Blazer... Este es mi favorito, uno de los primeros juegos que me pasé siendo muy pequeña. El cariño que le tengo a este juego es enorme, de mis favoritos.
実在する地球上の遺跡についての知識も得られる壮大なストーリーのゲーム。幼少期のトラウマ。
A great "fall from innocence" narrative in which the protagonist's emotional maturation is braided with his burgeoning understanding of the troubled planet he lives on. Even through the mangled translation, the game's intentions, and the aesthetically diverse vignette approach it uses to communicate them, are totally legible.
Eu sempre via esse jogo em revistas da época que eu era moleque e foi um game que eu nao joguei (so no emulador, mas nao fui muito longe). Entao é um game que eu não tenho apego. Dito isso e tendo terminado o jogo, ele é ok no final das contas.
A historia de Illusion of Gaia é sobre um garoto chamado Will, que acompanhou seu pai em uma aventura em uma torre e ele nao tem ideia de como saiu de lá, entao depois de uns 2 anos, ele vai procurar seu pai.
Tem uns temas pesados ao longo do game, mas tirando isso, eu meio que nao consegui me conectar aos personagens. E a parte final é uma confusao que só.
Quanto ao gameplay, é como se fosse um zelda mas com foco maior nos puzzles. O combate é simples mas ate que satisfatorio. Tem elementos de rpg tambem, onde vc elimina todos os inimigos da sala que vc tá e ganha um upgrade, que pode ser vida, ataque ou defesa.
Nas dungeons, nós podemos assumir 2 formas diferentes, mas a segunda forma do jogo deveria ter vindo bem mais cedo (vc so pega ela la perto do final ja).
Se nas dungeons os inimigos sao faceis, os chefes desse jogo nem tanto. Eles podem ser complicados a principio, mas todos tem algum padrao.
O game tem um design de mundo interessante, com varias localidades diferentes e sem contar que a trilha sonora do game é bem boa.
Ao longo do jogo, vc vai achar joias vermelhas. Tem 50 delas. Na moral, nao vale a pena pegar todas.
Illusion of Gaia é um bom game no fim das contas, mas esperava bem mais.
A historia de Illusion of Gaia é sobre um garoto chamado Will, que acompanhou seu pai em uma aventura em uma torre e ele nao tem ideia de como saiu de lá, entao depois de uns 2 anos, ele vai procurar seu pai.
Tem uns temas pesados ao longo do game, mas tirando isso, eu meio que nao consegui me conectar aos personagens. E a parte final é uma confusao que só.
Quanto ao gameplay, é como se fosse um zelda mas com foco maior nos puzzles. O combate é simples mas ate que satisfatorio. Tem elementos de rpg tambem, onde vc elimina todos os inimigos da sala que vc tá e ganha um upgrade, que pode ser vida, ataque ou defesa.
Nas dungeons, nós podemos assumir 2 formas diferentes, mas a segunda forma do jogo deveria ter vindo bem mais cedo (vc so pega ela la perto do final ja).
Se nas dungeons os inimigos sao faceis, os chefes desse jogo nem tanto. Eles podem ser complicados a principio, mas todos tem algum padrao.
O game tem um design de mundo interessante, com varias localidades diferentes e sem contar que a trilha sonora do game é bem boa.
Ao longo do jogo, vc vai achar joias vermelhas. Tem 50 delas. Na moral, nao vale a pena pegar todas.
Illusion of Gaia é um bom game no fim das contas, mas esperava bem mais.
What in the god damn
There’s a simple yet effective gameplay style here, but the story is practically nothing and leveling up has no satisfaction.
Once I was bored, I stopped after getting stuck with a puzzle. I’ve noticed it’s either those or navigation issues that turn me off an rpg if the combat isn’t still fun.
Once I was bored, I stopped after getting stuck with a puzzle. I’ve noticed it’s either those or navigation issues that turn me off an rpg if the combat isn’t still fun.
The main character has a stupid name don't @ me
I'm not sure how to feel on this game.
Illusion of Gaia is far from a bad game, but to me it definitely feels like the weakest of the Quintet Trilogy.
To start with the positives, traveling through dungeons in this game is amazing. Clearing out rooms to unlock upgrades, and being able to switch forms to solve a handful of puzzles. It's definitely really fun! Though there were definite noticeable spikes of difficulty, the dungeon exploration never felt too frustrating, and no dungeon feels poorly designed.
But, man, the story suffers so much. Its ending is great, but the journey to get there doesn't really feel deserved. I read from another review that it was an issue of translation, and I hope that's the case. I can see how the story wants to go somewhere, and make you care for the main cast, but at least for me, it just doesn't seem to do that. I also think some of the early bosses were just... not good. The later half were all really good and fun bosses, but the first half just felt terrible. Which, is a bit odd y'know, since you'd expect the first half to be easier then the second half.
Now one last note is that this game has what can only really be called a lives system? It's odd, and I don't think it works all that well, because it doesn't actually feel worthwhile to gain new lives.
This game, even with its strengths, is probably my least favorite of the Quintet Trilogy. Which sucks because I see a whole lot of potential within it. Yet again Illusion of Gaia is far from bad, but I wish I could like it more.
Illusion of Gaia is far from a bad game, but to me it definitely feels like the weakest of the Quintet Trilogy.
To start with the positives, traveling through dungeons in this game is amazing. Clearing out rooms to unlock upgrades, and being able to switch forms to solve a handful of puzzles. It's definitely really fun! Though there were definite noticeable spikes of difficulty, the dungeon exploration never felt too frustrating, and no dungeon feels poorly designed.
But, man, the story suffers so much. Its ending is great, but the journey to get there doesn't really feel deserved. I read from another review that it was an issue of translation, and I hope that's the case. I can see how the story wants to go somewhere, and make you care for the main cast, but at least for me, it just doesn't seem to do that. I also think some of the early bosses were just... not good. The later half were all really good and fun bosses, but the first half just felt terrible. Which, is a bit odd y'know, since you'd expect the first half to be easier then the second half.
Now one last note is that this game has what can only really be called a lives system? It's odd, and I don't think it works all that well, because it doesn't actually feel worthwhile to gain new lives.
This game, even with its strengths, is probably my least favorite of the Quintet Trilogy. Which sucks because I see a whole lot of potential within it. Yet again Illusion of Gaia is far from bad, but I wish I could like it more.
For most of my playthrough I had mixed feelings about Illusion of Gaia, and ultimately by the end I felt it was an underwhelming experience.
Gameplay, Dungeons:
Illusion of Gaia's strongest aspect is certainly its solid gameplay and well designed dungeons. The game primarily focuses on the dynamic between Will and one of his forms, Freedan the Dark Knight, when it comes to progressing dungeons and solving various puzzles. The strengths and skills of both characters are to be kept in mind to ensure thorough exploration and clearing of enemies, and I appreciate that one form doesn't necessarily make the other useless for that reason. The game also does not have a typical leveling system, instead encouraging the player to beat all enemies in an area to gain stat upgrades. I found it to be a good system that also ensured the player gets a good grip on combat and handling of the various enemies, and because of this system, exploration of dungeons also feels more natural. This way the player is both rewarded with stat upgrades and various treasures found through exploring.
Dungeons were probably my favourite part. I appreciate the variety in both aesthetic and enemies, keeping the experience fresh, and each dungeon has its own puzzle gimmick as well, none of which really frustrated me. The Sky Dungeon is definitely my favourite~
Boss fights tend to be on the difficult side, although the challenge certainly isn't consistent. That said, I found them fun, but there is a focus on pattern memorization that may lead to more trial and error than necessary with them. I also wish that there were more bosses, but ah well.
Shadow is the second form you obtained, and while he is fun to use, I do wish he could be obtained earlier. His lack of skills aside from the Aura (why it's used as an item, I have no idea) compared to Will and Freedan's rounded out repertoire also makes him feel more underwhelming than needed.
Story, Characters, and World:
The weaker aspects of the game relate to its story and characters mainly. It's just....kind of boring, honestly. There were a lot of interesting plot points the game explores, and there's a focus on the theme of light and dark as well the coming-of-age of Will and his friend group. It was handled in a way that didn't really keep me engaged; progression felt more abrupt than natural and some things just kinda happen, really.
I think a big part as to why I felt this way was that the characters themselves are for the most part, uninteresting too. Your group of friends show promising potential for character growth, but it never really gets explored or its just the bare minimum. It really just feels like they're there for plot progression only, sharing almost no interesting insights on what occurs around them nor do they seem to feel any sort of impact from them. Seth probably gets the worst of it. The most interesting I found were Lily, due in part how often she accompanies you in your journey, and Kara, the main heroine who actually does have decent character growth, and a developing relationship with Will. Overall, they're probably the most underwhelming aspect of this game.
What the game does better however is its world building and it's relation to the "dark" and "light" sides of human society. No two locations are the same, allowing us to see a variety of different aesthetics and cultures to each city. It helps that they tend to be interesting settings, such as the floating rafts of Watermia or the underground homes of the Angel Tribe. Most of these settings also show a "dark" side to them, which is to the evils or misfortunes of society. Slavery, Cannibalism, Suicide, stuff like that. It can come across jarring, going from more of a peaceful happy tone to this darker sad tone abruptly, but I feel that was the intention and as such, I appreciate the idea.
Other Notes:
The game is super linear and doesn't allow for much backtracking, however I believe there's an extra dungeon and bosses if you get all 50 red jewels. I didn't get them all, so I can't comment on it unfortunately.
Overall:
If I were to recommend Illusion of Gaia, it would be primarily for its gameplay really. The story and characters are unimpressive to say the least, so don't expect much in that regard.
Gameplay, Dungeons:
Illusion of Gaia's strongest aspect is certainly its solid gameplay and well designed dungeons. The game primarily focuses on the dynamic between Will and one of his forms, Freedan the Dark Knight, when it comes to progressing dungeons and solving various puzzles. The strengths and skills of both characters are to be kept in mind to ensure thorough exploration and clearing of enemies, and I appreciate that one form doesn't necessarily make the other useless for that reason. The game also does not have a typical leveling system, instead encouraging the player to beat all enemies in an area to gain stat upgrades. I found it to be a good system that also ensured the player gets a good grip on combat and handling of the various enemies, and because of this system, exploration of dungeons also feels more natural. This way the player is both rewarded with stat upgrades and various treasures found through exploring.
Dungeons were probably my favourite part. I appreciate the variety in both aesthetic and enemies, keeping the experience fresh, and each dungeon has its own puzzle gimmick as well, none of which really frustrated me. The Sky Dungeon is definitely my favourite~
Boss fights tend to be on the difficult side, although the challenge certainly isn't consistent. That said, I found them fun, but there is a focus on pattern memorization that may lead to more trial and error than necessary with them. I also wish that there were more bosses, but ah well.
Shadow is the second form you obtained, and while he is fun to use, I do wish he could be obtained earlier. His lack of skills aside from the Aura (why it's used as an item, I have no idea) compared to Will and Freedan's rounded out repertoire also makes him feel more underwhelming than needed.
Story, Characters, and World:
The weaker aspects of the game relate to its story and characters mainly. It's just....kind of boring, honestly. There were a lot of interesting plot points the game explores, and there's a focus on the theme of light and dark as well the coming-of-age of Will and his friend group. It was handled in a way that didn't really keep me engaged; progression felt more abrupt than natural and some things just kinda happen, really.
I think a big part as to why I felt this way was that the characters themselves are for the most part, uninteresting too. Your group of friends show promising potential for character growth, but it never really gets explored or its just the bare minimum. It really just feels like they're there for plot progression only, sharing almost no interesting insights on what occurs around them nor do they seem to feel any sort of impact from them. Seth probably gets the worst of it. The most interesting I found were Lily, due in part how often she accompanies you in your journey, and Kara, the main heroine who actually does have decent character growth, and a developing relationship with Will. Overall, they're probably the most underwhelming aspect of this game.
What the game does better however is its world building and it's relation to the "dark" and "light" sides of human society. No two locations are the same, allowing us to see a variety of different aesthetics and cultures to each city. It helps that they tend to be interesting settings, such as the floating rafts of Watermia or the underground homes of the Angel Tribe. Most of these settings also show a "dark" side to them, which is to the evils or misfortunes of society. Slavery, Cannibalism, Suicide, stuff like that. It can come across jarring, going from more of a peaceful happy tone to this darker sad tone abruptly, but I feel that was the intention and as such, I appreciate the idea.
Other Notes:
The game is super linear and doesn't allow for much backtracking, however I believe there's an extra dungeon and bosses if you get all 50 red jewels. I didn't get them all, so I can't comment on it unfortunately.
Overall:
If I were to recommend Illusion of Gaia, it would be primarily for its gameplay really. The story and characters are unimpressive to say the least, so don't expect much in that regard.
Mag sein, dass ich mich als Kinde hineingesteigert habe, aber so viel Seele habe ich in keinem anderen Action-Adventure mehr gesehen.
Eine Erzählerstimme, ein Wahnsinnssoundtrack, eine packende Story, geile Charaktere und ein geniales Ende.
Das passt alles.
Eine Erzählerstimme, ein Wahnsinnssoundtrack, eine packende Story, geile Charaktere und ein geniales Ende.
Das passt alles.
Phenomenal game, everyone should play this at least once. One of the best story-driven games before 1994.
This review contains spoilers
A story about kids, thrust into great responsibility, who learn that their ultimate enemy is the inevitability of change, both on a personal and a cosmic level. Linear to a fault, forcing you to keep your head forward as you leave the remnants of old civilizations behind you. Like a creation myth for the late 20th century that treats world history — from the pyramids to the airplane — as a patchwork folklore that tells us how we got here.
It feels like it would've been even better if the story had gotten another pass. There are thematic elements that never quite come to the surface; there are pieces of the narrative, like the human slave trade, that are persistent but never fully developed. The English version of the game is hamstrung by an awkward translation, though it also results in some outstandingly weird phrases ("True genius is a violent thing!").
There are so many moments of beauty, sadness, and joy, all at the same time. In the final scene, miles above the earth, Kara and Will look out over a changed world and realize that wherever they go next, it will not be the home they knew, and they can never return to this moment together. Even their greatest triumph is tinged with an awareness that their world is finite.
It feels like it would've been even better if the story had gotten another pass. There are thematic elements that never quite come to the surface; there are pieces of the narrative, like the human slave trade, that are persistent but never fully developed. The English version of the game is hamstrung by an awkward translation, though it also results in some outstandingly weird phrases ("True genius is a violent thing!").
There are so many moments of beauty, sadness, and joy, all at the same time. In the final scene, miles above the earth, Kara and Will look out over a changed world and realize that wherever they go next, it will not be the home they knew, and they can never return to this moment together. Even their greatest triumph is tinged with an awareness that their world is finite.
I wasn't the biggest Terranigma fan in the world but I will give it a bit more credit after playing this game. In some ways I actually appreciated its super simple combat and linear design because it meant I wouldn't be lost as much. While that was kinda true, the game devolves into a chore at a certain point. Enemies generally aren't handled very differently. Dungeons are mildly entertaining to explore but not super challenging unless they are really maze-like. I like the concept of upgrading your stats by clearing out rooms of enemies. The bosses are WAY more difficult than anything else in the game. Especially the vampires. Switching forms seems like such an arbitrary addition to the game. I guess playing as the knight and the other guy is pretty cool. You get one of them right at the end of the game which is lame.
It's pretty clear that the translation is really bad. Honestly it may even improve the game since it's at least funny when the writing in all these SNES JRPGs feels so stunted and weird. Even if the translation was good the event that transpire in this game are so goofy I probably wouldn't take it seriously anyway.
It's pretty clear that the translation is really bad. Honestly it may even improve the game since it's at least funny when the writing in all these SNES JRPGs feels so stunted and weird. Even if the translation was good the event that transpire in this game are so goofy I probably wouldn't take it seriously anyway.
An moderately challenging ARPG adventure with some interesting writing and character moments.
El mejor de la trilogia, la historia es muy buena.
A game that defined my childhood watching my brother and cousins play it nonstop so I hold it dear to my heart. I have to say though, the Mu section is horrible. All in all, it's probably one of the the weirdest and darkest JRPGs I've ever played.
Illusion of Gaia is the surreal cousin of Secret of Mana.
Tighter controls, better (and far more cryptic) story/writing. Phenomenal music.
Where most games from this time are about saving the world, this is a game about growing up, family, loss, and the hope that home is a place somewhere you can find.
Wildly underrated game in every regard.
Tighter controls, better (and far more cryptic) story/writing. Phenomenal music.
Where most games from this time are about saving the world, this is a game about growing up, family, loss, and the hope that home is a place somewhere you can find.
Wildly underrated game in every regard.
Continuing on with the Super Famicom's Quintet trilogy, this was the obvious next choice to play after Soul Blazer. Now this is a game I actually have played some of before, but I only got like a third of the way in and it was a LONG time ago. I'd also heard a lot of things over the years about how much worse the English version was vs. the original Japanese one (in a very standard mood for an Enix-published title), so I was very interested to see what the original version was like. It took me about 12 hours to play through the Japanese version of the game on emulated hardware without abusing save states.
Illusion of Gaia is the story of Temu, a young boy who lives in a coastal town and spends all day hanging out with his buddies. He's always had strange, telekinetic powers, but he's a kid like any other, and as soon as he's able, he's vowed to go out and find his father who disappeared a year ago when he left town to search for the Tower of Babel. After the kingdom's princess flees to his town and hides in his house, he and her become fast friends, and before they know it, the king has imprisoned Temu and they've all started onto a grand adventure to save the world.
In grand Enix fashion, I've heard many times over the years that this is a really poorly translated game in its English release. I've heard it described as outright nonsensical, even. The Japanese version, on the other hand, is actually a surprisingly really well written story. It's a really thoughtfully written tale about growing up, and I really loved how it tackled themes of discrimination (and while not perfect about it, it's a lot better than even a lot of games now get these sorts of things, frankly). Illusion of Gaia is a story very concerned about life, death, and just what you spend the one life you have doing. Life is never a completely pretty thing, and good people do bad things all the time for all sorts of reasons. What sort of life you lead and what you get from it, as well as what you do to others, is what paints this grand tapestry we call life. It's got some similar execution problems to Soul Blazer in how it doesn't always use music as well as it could to set certain scenes, but the story was nonetheless a really excellent one, and it's easily one of my new favorites on the console. It's just a shame it's nowhere remotely as good in the English release ^^;
The gameplay is once again a sort of Zelda-like, but with generally stiffer feeling combat as well as a transformation gimmick. Temu can turn into the dark warrior Freedan at save points in dungeons (and even another transformation much later into the game), and the respective powers of the different transformations are used to solve puzzles in dungeons. The boss and puzzle design isn't quite up to par with something like Link to the Past or other 2D Zelda games, but it still makes for a quite fun action game even if the adventure parts are more centered around the story writing than the exploration in towns and dungeons.
Speaking of which, there are significantly more towns in this game than in the last one, but they're largely for painting scenery and for telling the story. This is still a game with no money system, and you also don't level up with EXP like you did in Soul Blazer. Instead, clearing all of the monsters in a room gets you an upgrade to your max health, your attack power, or your defense power, so there's a hard limit to how great your stats can get in this game. There being no money also means that there's a hard limit to how many healing items you can get, and I've heard many a tale of how important it is to save your healing herbs in the English version to be able to deal with the harder bosses (which are MUCH harder in that version than in this one). The Japanese version, at least, had quite a nice difficulty curve to it, and while it's a bit harder than Soul Blazer and has no option to grind for power (though you can grind for extra lives, for whatever that's worth), this version should be eminently completable, especially for people familiar with the genre.
The presentation here is once again very good. The graphics are very pretty, and each location looks very distinct. NPCs and monsters are also very expressive and cool looking respectively, and the UI on top of the screen that shows monster and boss health is super appreciated for a game like this. While the UI design may've moved on from just copying Actraiser, the quality of the music is thankfully still just as strong as ever, and Illusion of Gaia has a soundtrack very befitting of its legacy.
Verdict: Highly Recommended. At least for the Japanese version, this is a game I can't recommend enough. It's a real shame that the English version is so much poorer, because it's honestly one of the strongest games on the system when it's actually written the way it's supposed to be. The action may not be the strongest on the system, but the story more than makes up for that (despite the imperfections and casual racism ^^; ), and this is absolutely a game worth checking out for action/adventure and 2D Zelda fans.
Illusion of Gaia is the story of Temu, a young boy who lives in a coastal town and spends all day hanging out with his buddies. He's always had strange, telekinetic powers, but he's a kid like any other, and as soon as he's able, he's vowed to go out and find his father who disappeared a year ago when he left town to search for the Tower of Babel. After the kingdom's princess flees to his town and hides in his house, he and her become fast friends, and before they know it, the king has imprisoned Temu and they've all started onto a grand adventure to save the world.
In grand Enix fashion, I've heard many times over the years that this is a really poorly translated game in its English release. I've heard it described as outright nonsensical, even. The Japanese version, on the other hand, is actually a surprisingly really well written story. It's a really thoughtfully written tale about growing up, and I really loved how it tackled themes of discrimination (and while not perfect about it, it's a lot better than even a lot of games now get these sorts of things, frankly). Illusion of Gaia is a story very concerned about life, death, and just what you spend the one life you have doing. Life is never a completely pretty thing, and good people do bad things all the time for all sorts of reasons. What sort of life you lead and what you get from it, as well as what you do to others, is what paints this grand tapestry we call life. It's got some similar execution problems to Soul Blazer in how it doesn't always use music as well as it could to set certain scenes, but the story was nonetheless a really excellent one, and it's easily one of my new favorites on the console. It's just a shame it's nowhere remotely as good in the English release ^^;
The gameplay is once again a sort of Zelda-like, but with generally stiffer feeling combat as well as a transformation gimmick. Temu can turn into the dark warrior Freedan at save points in dungeons (and even another transformation much later into the game), and the respective powers of the different transformations are used to solve puzzles in dungeons. The boss and puzzle design isn't quite up to par with something like Link to the Past or other 2D Zelda games, but it still makes for a quite fun action game even if the adventure parts are more centered around the story writing than the exploration in towns and dungeons.
Speaking of which, there are significantly more towns in this game than in the last one, but they're largely for painting scenery and for telling the story. This is still a game with no money system, and you also don't level up with EXP like you did in Soul Blazer. Instead, clearing all of the monsters in a room gets you an upgrade to your max health, your attack power, or your defense power, so there's a hard limit to how great your stats can get in this game. There being no money also means that there's a hard limit to how many healing items you can get, and I've heard many a tale of how important it is to save your healing herbs in the English version to be able to deal with the harder bosses (which are MUCH harder in that version than in this one). The Japanese version, at least, had quite a nice difficulty curve to it, and while it's a bit harder than Soul Blazer and has no option to grind for power (though you can grind for extra lives, for whatever that's worth), this version should be eminently completable, especially for people familiar with the genre.
The presentation here is once again very good. The graphics are very pretty, and each location looks very distinct. NPCs and monsters are also very expressive and cool looking respectively, and the UI on top of the screen that shows monster and boss health is super appreciated for a game like this. While the UI design may've moved on from just copying Actraiser, the quality of the music is thankfully still just as strong as ever, and Illusion of Gaia has a soundtrack very befitting of its legacy.
Verdict: Highly Recommended. At least for the Japanese version, this is a game I can't recommend enough. It's a real shame that the English version is so much poorer, because it's honestly one of the strongest games on the system when it's actually written the way it's supposed to be. The action may not be the strongest on the system, but the story more than makes up for that (despite the imperfections and casual racism ^^; ), and this is absolutely a game worth checking out for action/adventure and 2D Zelda fans.