Difference between revisions of "Illusion of Gaia"

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'''''Illusion of Gaia''''' is an action role-playing by [[Enix]].
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[[Image:Illusion of Gaia - SNES - USA.jpg|thumb|256x256px|North American box art.]]
  
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'''''Illusion of Gaia''''' is an action [[role-playing game]] developed by [[Quintet]] and published by [[Enix]] for the SNES on 1993-11-27. You play Will, an orphan with psychokinetic powers living with his grandparents in a small coastal village. He finds a girl in his house who soon turns out to be a princess running from an unwanted arranged marriage. Will helps her avoid the marriage, but finds himself caught up in an epic quest to save the Earth from destruction by having to visit important ancient locales like the Great Wall of China, Incan ruins, and the Nazca Lines.
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My middle school friend Kevin rented this game, and I watched him play it for the first few stages of the game until he had to return it. Later, I bought a used copy and tried playing it myself, only to become bored with it. I let a friend play my game and he made it through most of the game before also becoming bored. Finally, while wanting to find more SNES music to appreciate, and knowing that actually playing a game tends to make me like it more, I decided to play through the game and beat it.
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==Status==
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I own this game and have beaten it.
  
 
==Review==
 
==Review==
 +
* '''Overall:''' 5/10
 +
* '''Best Version:''' SNES
 +
 +
{{Spoilers}}
 +
 
===Good===
 
===Good===
* Over all, the game is a fun action RPG, with plenty of play time.
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* Over all, the game is a fun action RPG.
 
* The game has some really nice graphics and animation.
 
* The game has some really nice graphics and animation.
 
* Being able to turn into a more powerful knight is a fun addition.
 
* Being able to turn into a more powerful knight is a fun addition.
* While not as impressive as Square's soundtracks, the music is professional and fitting.
+
* While not as impressive as the soundtracks being produced at [[Square]], [[Yasuhiro Kawasaki]]'s music is professional and fitting.
 +
* The developers drew Will and Freedan's sprites without mirroring, so you remain right-handed when moving left, a nice touch.
 +
* The game has a fantastic manual.
  
 
===Bad===
 
===Bad===
* The story doesn't make much sense and does nothing to make the characters seem important or lovable.
+
* Will uses a flute as a weapon... lame.
 +
* The story's basic concept is interesting, but the game implements it poorly. I was left with little idea of what was going on most of the time.
 +
* The non-player characters that follow Will around through the cities are uninteresting and look goofy.
 +
* The game is entirely linear, often forcing you forward with no option to revisit previous areas.
 
* The red crystals, while a nice addition to the game, are hidden in such ridiculous locations that they force you to search every single area of every map to find them.
 
* The red crystals, while a nice addition to the game, are hidden in such ridiculous locations that they force you to search every single area of every map to find them.
* A lot of the enemies are boring and uninspired.
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* A large percentage of the enemies are unidentifiable and boring. For example, one enemy is just a chain of shiny spheres that moves around.
* While I love the idea of using various ancient cultures, the designers often mix cultures incorrectly, like having Lamasu in Incan ruins.
+
* Your weapon has a huge hit box, often hitting enemies that weren't visually touched by your weapon making combat easier than it should be.
* You weapon has a huge hit box, often hitting enemies that weren't actually touched by your weapon.
+
* While I like the system of constantly rewarding the player with minor improvements throughout the game, the fact that every reward is planned takes away a lot of the excitement. It also makes it impossible to grind for more power to get through more difficult areas.
* I don't like the fact that enemies may only be killed once and that you don't collect experience points. I do like the system of constantly rewarding the player with minor improvements, but they are entirely planned. Most of the time, you have to fight all of the enemies in a room anyway, so for less-skilled players, there is little option to grind for better stats.
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* Several of cut-scenes are really drawn out and dull, there's actually a part in the game where you have to wait in line for several minutes with nothing happening.
* The cutscenes are really drawn out and dull.
+
* While I love the idea of using various ancient cultures, the designers often mix cultures incorrectly, like having lamassu and shedu (from Mesopotamian mythology) in the Incan and Egyptian regions.
 +
* The bosses vary wildly in difficulty. The bird boss is far easier to defeat than the first boss.
 +
* Not giving the player a chance to heal between battles in the [[boss rush]] before the ending makes it very difficult.
 +
* The ending boss is stupid-hard compared to the rest of the game, and, if you die, you pretty much have to reset since you start with only 50% life.
 +
* The American release appears the have been renamed to purposely look like a Zelda title with the same lettering and intonation.
  
 
===Ugly===
 
===Ugly===
 
* Allowing the D-pad to clear dialogue boxes at the end of a conversation is especially annoying, and often results in missed text.
 
* Allowing the D-pad to clear dialogue boxes at the end of a conversation is especially annoying, and often results in missed text.
  
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==Media==
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===Box Art===
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<gallery>
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Illusion of Gaia - SNES - Japan.jpg|The original Japanese box art has a backdrop of Freedan and Shadow in front of Will and Kara. I don't care for this box art.
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Illusion of Gaia - SNES - USA.jpg|The North American box art is well-painted, but it shamelessly rips off the style of [[The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past]] in order to confuse players that it is related.
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Illusion of Gaia - SNES - Netherlands.jpg|This art was used through most of Europe and Australia. The new title fits the game better since the player is constantly running around the ruins of ancient civilizations, but, like the American art, it doesn't give any indication about what the game is like. I find if to be the worst art of all.
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Illusion of Gaia - SNES - Germany.jpg|The German release uses a portion of the Japanese box art with the European lettering. It's a step up from the original European art, but I would have preferred the quality of the American logo art.
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</gallery>
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===Documentation===
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<gallery>
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Illusion of Gaia - SNES - Manual.pdf|Game manual.
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</gallery>
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===Maps===
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<gallery>
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Illusion of Gaia - SNES - Map - World.png|World.
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Illusion of Gaia - SNES - Map - South Cape.png|South Cape.
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Illusion of Gaia - SNES - Map - South Cape (Spoilers).png|South Cape (spoilers).
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Illusion of Gaia - SNES - Map - Edward's Castle.png|Edward's Castle (spoilers).
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Illusion of Gaia - SNES - Map - Itory.png|Itory (spoilers).
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Illusion of Gaia - SNES - Map - Moon Tribe.png|Moon Tribe (spoilers).
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Illusion of Gaia - SNES - Map - Incan Ship.png|Incan Ship (spoilers).
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Illusion of Gaia - SNES - Map - Oakton.png|Oakton (spoilers).
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Illusion of Gaia - SNES - Map - Freejia.png|Freejia (spoilers).
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Illusion of Gaia - SNES - Map - Watermia.png|Watermia (spoilers).
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Illusion of Gaia - SNES - Map - Euro.png|Euro (spoilers).
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Illusion of Gaia - SNES - Map - Dao.png|Dao (spoilers).
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Illusion of Gaia - SNES - Map - Tower of Babel.png|Tower of Babel (spoilers).
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</gallery>
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===Videos===
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* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJzQpRQrKpc youtube.com/watch?v=xJzQpRQrKpc] - Longplay.
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==Titles==
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{| class="wikitable"
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! Language !! Native !! Transliteration !! Translation
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|-
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| English (America) || Illusion of Gaia || ||
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|-
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| English (Europe) || Illusion of Time || ||
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|-
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| Japanese || ガイア幻想紀 || Gaia Gensoki || The Gaia Fantasy Chronicles
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|}
  
 
==Links==
 
==Links==
* [http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/illusion-of-gaia mobygames.com/game/snes/illusion-of-gaia] - Moby Games.
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{{Link|MobyGames|http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/illusion-of-gaia}}
* [http://www.gamefaqs.com/snes/588383-illusion-of-gaia gamefaqs.com/snes/588383-illusion-of-gaia] - GameFAQs.
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{{Link|Wikipedia|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusion_of_Gaia}}
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusion_of_Gaia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusion_of_Gaia] - Wikipedia.
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{{Link|StrategyWiki|https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Illusion_of_Gaia}}
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{{Link|GameFAQs|http://www.gamefaqs.com/snes/588383-illusion-of-gaia}}
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{{Link|TCRF|https://tcrf.net/Illusion_of_Gaia}}
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[[Category: Game]]
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[[Category: Games]]
[[Category: Videogame]]
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[[Category: Video Games]]
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[[Category: 1993 Video Games]]
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[[Category: Video Game Prime Order - Adventure, Action, Strategy]]
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[[Category: Video Game Genre - Role-Playing Game]]
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[[Category: Game Mechanic - Boss Rush]]
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[[Category: Media Theme - Fantasy]]
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[[Category: SNES Games]]
 
[[Category: Action]]
 
[[Category: Action]]
 
[[Category: Adventure]]
 
[[Category: Adventure]]
[[Category: Role-playing]]
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[[Category: Games I've Beaten]]

Revision as of 13:13, 9 March 2020

North American box art.

Illusion of Gaia is an action role-playing game developed by Quintet and published by Enix for the SNES on 1993-11-27. You play Will, an orphan with psychokinetic powers living with his grandparents in a small coastal village. He finds a girl in his house who soon turns out to be a princess running from an unwanted arranged marriage. Will helps her avoid the marriage, but finds himself caught up in an epic quest to save the Earth from destruction by having to visit important ancient locales like the Great Wall of China, Incan ruins, and the Nazca Lines.

My middle school friend Kevin rented this game, and I watched him play it for the first few stages of the game until he had to return it. Later, I bought a used copy and tried playing it myself, only to become bored with it. I let a friend play my game and he made it through most of the game before also becoming bored. Finally, while wanting to find more SNES music to appreciate, and knowing that actually playing a game tends to make me like it more, I decided to play through the game and beat it.

Status

I own this game and have beaten it.

Review

  • Overall: 5/10
  • Best Version: SNES

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

  • Over all, the game is a fun action RPG.
  • The game has some really nice graphics and animation.
  • Being able to turn into a more powerful knight is a fun addition.
  • While not as impressive as the soundtracks being produced at Square, Yasuhiro Kawasaki's music is professional and fitting.
  • The developers drew Will and Freedan's sprites without mirroring, so you remain right-handed when moving left, a nice touch.
  • The game has a fantastic manual.

Bad

  • Will uses a flute as a weapon... lame.
  • The story's basic concept is interesting, but the game implements it poorly. I was left with little idea of what was going on most of the time.
  • The non-player characters that follow Will around through the cities are uninteresting and look goofy.
  • The game is entirely linear, often forcing you forward with no option to revisit previous areas.
  • The red crystals, while a nice addition to the game, are hidden in such ridiculous locations that they force you to search every single area of every map to find them.
  • A large percentage of the enemies are unidentifiable and boring. For example, one enemy is just a chain of shiny spheres that moves around.
  • Your weapon has a huge hit box, often hitting enemies that weren't visually touched by your weapon making combat easier than it should be.
  • While I like the system of constantly rewarding the player with minor improvements throughout the game, the fact that every reward is planned takes away a lot of the excitement. It also makes it impossible to grind for more power to get through more difficult areas.
  • Several of cut-scenes are really drawn out and dull, there's actually a part in the game where you have to wait in line for several minutes with nothing happening.
  • While I love the idea of using various ancient cultures, the designers often mix cultures incorrectly, like having lamassu and shedu (from Mesopotamian mythology) in the Incan and Egyptian regions.
  • The bosses vary wildly in difficulty. The bird boss is far easier to defeat than the first boss.
  • Not giving the player a chance to heal between battles in the boss rush before the ending makes it very difficult.
  • The ending boss is stupid-hard compared to the rest of the game, and, if you die, you pretty much have to reset since you start with only 50% life.
  • The American release appears the have been renamed to purposely look like a Zelda title with the same lettering and intonation.

Ugly

  • Allowing the D-pad to clear dialogue boxes at the end of a conversation is especially annoying, and often results in missed text.

Media

Box Art

Documentation

Maps

Videos

Titles

Language Native Transliteration Translation
English (America) Illusion of Gaia
English (Europe) Illusion of Time
Japanese ガイア幻想紀 Gaia Gensoki The Gaia Fantasy Chronicles

Links

Link-MobyGames.png  Link-Wikipedia.png  Link-StrategyWiki.png  Link-GameFAQs.png  Link-TCRF.png