| Illusion Of Gaia |
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''Illusion of Gaia'' (ガイア幻想紀 ''Gaia Gensōki'') is an Action-RPG Video Game that was released on January 1 , 1994 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was developed by Quintet . Enix published the game in Japan, and Nintendo published it worldwide. The game is titled '''''Illusion of Time''''' in Europe. Fans regard ''Illusion of Gaia'' as the second game in the ''Soul Blazer'' series (which consists of '' Soul Blazer '', ''Illusion of Gaia'', and '' Terranigma ''). While there are many similarities both in Gameplay and plot themes between the three titles, they are not officially aknowledged as a trilogy, contrary to popular belief. BACKGROUND AND SETTING The game's setting is a partially historical but mostly Fantasy -based version of Earth . The game contains several real-world sites, such as Inca n ruins, the Nazca Lines , Angkor Wat , the Great Wall Of China , Mu , and Egyptian Pyramids . Each of these hold a piece of the final puzzle, unveiled at the top of the infamous Tower Of Babel . The main character of ''Illusion of Gaia'' is Will, a boy from a small town named South Cape, living with his grandparents. It is the age of exploration (sometime in the 16th century; Columbus is mentioned at least once), and explorers have begun exploring many of the ancient ruins around the world, looking for treasure and secrets. Many return with nothing, and some don't return at all. Will's father was one of these explorers, who disappeared a year prior to the beginning of the game while exploring the Tower of Babel. Somehow Will managed to make it back, but he doesn't remember how. When the game begins, He stumbles into a "Dark Space," where he meets "Gaia," the spirit of the Earth. Gaia tells Will that he must leave South Cape and save the world from a coming evil. An interstellar body known as the Chaos Comet is nearing Earth again, and each of the previous times this occurred, great human civilizations were destroyed. As he travels, Will gains the ability to change into two other warriors, each with special powers: Freedan, a dark knight, and Shadow, a solid form of energy. ''Illusion of Gaia'' was Scored by Yasuhiro Kawasaki , the influential Manga Artist Moto Hagio is credited with the character designs, and Novelist Mariko Ohara worked on the scenario. CHARACTERS Will
The main character of the game. Will takes on many forms; however this is most likely his true form. He also reverts to the form of Will when he is not in a hostile area. A young man from South Cape, Will was born with psychic powers. While his ability at the start of the game is limited to small amounts of ESP as well as the ability to draw certain statues towards him, he gains more powerful abilities later. Freedan and Shadow
Freedan is a dark knight and Shadow is a humanoid construction of energy. Will has the ability to take on the shape of these two beings by utilizing statues of them in the Dark Space. It is unknown if Will simply takes the forms of these beings, if he is actually replaced by them and takes their place as a statue for brief times, or if they are spirits who possess him and use him as an Avatar . Whatever the means, these beings are completely benevolent to Will during the game despite their fearsome nature. Princess Kara
The daughter of King Edward, Kara is spoiled and naïve, but she is also a dreamer, and can't stand the thought of a cloistered life. She joins Will on many of his adventures, and matures quite a bit over the course of the story, eventually falling in love with Will. She has a pet pig named Hamlet (or Peggy in the Japanese version) who follows her everywhere. GAMEPLAY While ''Illusion of Gaia'' has a large cast of characters, Will, Freedan, and Shadow are the only playable characters in the game. They each have unique abilities, and certain areas are impassable without a specific character. For example, in the first dungeon, Freedan's sword is required to hit a switch out of Will's reach. Specific techniques are granted to each character as the game progresses, such as Freedan's Dark Friar attack or Will's Psycho Slide. Characters share the same health and defense scores, but have different levels of strength. Freedan, for example, does noticeably more damage than Will. Defeating all enemies in a room earns the player a jewel. These jewels increase your attack, defense, or health power. After an enemy is killed, it will leave a stone - either a small or a large one. Collecting 100 of these allows you to restart closer to where you died with all enemies still defeated. Combat is relatively simple. Attacks are almost exclusively melee, using Will's flute, Freedan's sword, or Shadow's pseudopod. Enemies' health bars appear upon attacking, showing as a series of red spheres that decrease in size upon striking. Bosses cannot be revisited, and enemies do not reappear unless Will loses all his lives. Illusion of Gaia has only one difficulty setting, like many RPG s. Saving is accomplished at 'Dark Spaces' located throughout each level -- including areas without enemies, such as Will's hometown. Also within the Dark Spaces, you can heal and occasionally change characters or gain new abilities. Within the game, hidden throughout various locales, are items called Red Gems. Fifty in total, they must be returned to Gem the Jeweler to receive rewards. Collecting all the Red Gems results in revealing one of the game's few secrets, where Gem is revealed to be Solidarm, a Villain from Soul Blazer , and turns out to be responsible for creating the Slave Trade in order to locate Red Gems all around the world. ILLUSION OF GAIA ENGLISH BETA A pre-release English version of ''Illusion of Gaia'' has been uncovered, which contains a number of differences in presentation and translation. First and most apparent is that the prototype has a different title screen, based on the original Japanese one. It features small sprites of the main characters running on the surface of the comet, and the title is given as ''Soul Blazer: Illusion of Gaia''. Nintendo is not listed on the title credits, but the prototype was almost certainly designed for Nintendo Of America internal use. The translation is mostly similar to the release version of ''Illusion of Gaia'', but uses names closer to the Japanese version - Will is called Tim, and Kara is called Karen. There are also translation errors that were cleaned up in the final release; for example, the comet (彗星 ''suisei'', rendered in-game as すい星) is mistakenly called 'the crystal' (水晶 ''suishō'') at least once. The game mechanics are identical to the final version, but there are some graphical glitches. One such instance occurs at the end of the opening sequence, where a Mode 7 display is rendered incorrectly. EXTERNAL LINKS |