Illusion of Gaia
Encyclopedia
, known in Europe as Illusion of Time, is an action role-playing game
that was released on September 1, 1994, for the Super NES
(SNES). It was developed by Quintet
. Enix
published the game in Japan
, and Nintendo
published it worldwide. The Australian PAL release was in fact a North American localization and was converted to PAL
format and released in Australia as Illusion of Gaia, a rarity for Nintendo Australia
which usually rely on European PAL versions, despite the OFLC website stating it was classified as Illusion of Time.
Illusion of Gaia was scored by Yasuhiro Kawasaki. Moto Hagio
the influential manga artist
is credited with the character designs. Novelist Mariko Ōhara
worked on the story.
Combat is relatively simple. Characters share the same health and defense scores, but have different levels of strength. Freedan, for example, does noticeably more damage, and has a longer reach than Will. In turn, Shadow does more damage than Freedan. Attacks are almost exclusively melee, using Will's flute, Freedan's sword, or Shadow's pseudopod. Enemies' health bars appear upon attacking, displaying as a series of red spheres that represent hit points. Bosses
cannot be revisited, and enemies do not reappear unless Will loses all his lives or completely exits an area and then returns.
Illusion of Gaia has a general design that is uniquely simple as RPGs go. The game eschews the experience system
of typical RPGs; instead, the game has a more novel system for advancing the player character's statistics
. Defeating all enemies in a room earns the player a permanent stat bonus in the form of a jewel. These jewels boost attack, defense, or health power. While returning to a cleared area will cause enemies to reappear, the bonuses for defeating them again do not. Also, after an enemy is killed, it will leave a stone—either a small or a great one. Collecting 100 of these allows you to restart
closer to where you died with all enemies still defeated, by earning a new life.
Also, the game has no currency or equipment systems. There is only one healing item (herbs), and only a small number of those in the game. Unlike most games of its type, formerly visited areas become impossible to revisit almost immediately after the story progresses beyond them until the last third of the game, though areas from the first two-thirds of the game remain inaccessible. The only side quest in the game, finding Red Jewels, then becomes impossible to complete if the player fails to find them before advancing the story.
Like most RPGs, the game has only one difficulty setting. Saving
is accomplished at Dark Spaces located throughout each level—including areas without enemies, such as Will's hometown. Will can recover lost health within the Dark Spaces, and occasionally switch forms or gain new abilities.
-based version of Earth
. The game contains several real-world sites, such as Incan ruins, the Nazca lines
, Angkor Wat
, the Great Wall of China
, and Egyptian pyramids
. Each of these ruins hold a piece to the final puzzle, unveiled at the top of the infamous Tower of Babel
.
It is firstly believed to be the age of exploration (a period roughly corresponding to the 16th century; Christopher Columbus
is mentioned at least once), and explorers have begun scouring the world in search of ancient ruins and the lost treasures and secrets within. Many return with nothing, and some are simply never seen again. Will, the protagonist
of the game, is a survivor of one such ill-fated expedition. He accompanied his father, a famed explorer, on a sea journey to uncover the secrets of the Tower of Babel
, but the explorers met with a mysterious disaster. Somehow Will managed to make it back to his home town, but he does not remember how.
It is later revealed that the comet is in fact an ancient weapon used during the last Blazer War
, and has the power to change the shape of the world. In the ruin of Ankor Wat, it is discovered that when the comet approaches the Earth this time, the comet's light will change the world into that of the modern world.
Will and his friends travel the world and collect artifacts known as Mystic Statues. At the climax, Will and Kara reach the Tower of Babel, where it is then revealed that Will is the Dark Knight, and Kara is the Light Knight. The two knights join to form Shadow and use the ancient statues to release the ultimate power, the firebird.
Attacking the comet directly, which soon manifests itself as Dark Gaia, Will and Kara manage to destroy its power, returning the world to normal. The spirits of Will's parents inform them that the world will return to normal and that no one will conserve any memories of the adventure. Saddened by that fact, Will and Kara join one last time as Shadow to return to Earth.
The final scene is left ambiguous. All of Will's friends are depicted in what appears to be a modern-day school, implying that even if they forgot about their time together, they remained friends in the "real" world.
Will and his friends face many enemies in their journey to uncover the secret of the Tower of Babel, both those who protect the clues to the mystery and those who seek its power for themselves. A number of powerful demons guard the priceless treasures of lost civilizations, while the human but power-mad King Edward and Queen Edwina contract Jackal, an assassin, to tail Will and Kara through their journeys. Neil's parents are the driving force behind the Rolek company, which is also the driving force behind the world's slave trade. It is later revealed that they are replaced by members of the Moon Tribe. The Tribe themselves are encountered numerous times throughout the journey, being living shadows that lost their corporeal forms after being subject to the comet's light. Will's other notable encounters include Sam, a slave who helps him give Lance's memory back, and his adoptive guardians, Lola and Bill.
at the time of publication, numerous changes were made to the game to make certain story elements less dark. Most notably, the native tribe encountered near Angkor Wat were originally cannibals, with the skeletal remains lying around the village being the remnants of their own tribesmen, whom they had eaten to survive.
Additionally, numerous religious references were changed or completely removed. Will's school was initially a Sunday school
run by a priest and held in a Christian church; the American release simply identifies the building as a school and replaces a cross with a statue. In the Japanese release, speaking with the priest would cause him to begin leading Will in a prayer; in the American release, the teacher leads Will in reciting a poem. The ocean monster was identified in the Japanese release as the Biblical Leviathan
, who was revealed to be a member of a race of humanoid ocean dwellers, as opposed to a unique entity. The American release indicates that Seth's consciousness has been absorbed into Riverson's, whereas the Japanese release indicates that Seth was merely turned into another Leviathan. A line from the game's climax, in which Will and Kara comment, upon seeing Earth from outer space, that this is what it must feel like to be God, was also removed.
A notable change to gameplay itself is that the Japanese and American releases feature a different boss in the Sky Garden. In the Japanese version, the boss is simply a giant bird. In the American release, the boss is a winged Babylonian statue with talons. The American boss was apparently the creators' initial vision, and tied in with the idea that the Sky Garden was once the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
; the creators used the port of the game to "tidy up" the boss, as they were dissatisfied with the bird/snake hybrid present in the original release.
It was rated the 186th best game made on a Nintendo System in Nintendo Power
's Top 200 Games list.
The online magazine Hardcore Gaming 101 (published by GameSpy
) has referred to Illusion of Gaia and a few other Quintet games such as the Soul Blazer series, pointing a few common themes between the different titles.
Action role-playing game
Action role-playing games form a loosely defined sub-genre of role-playing video games that incorporate elements of action or action-adventure games, emphasizing real-time action where the player has direct control over characters, instead of turn-based or menu-based combat...
that was released on September 1, 1994, for the Super NES
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
(SNES). It was developed by Quintet
Quintet (game developer)
is a Japanese video game developer, founded in 1987 or 1989. The company name is derived from musical terminology, as well as 5 elements of game design - planning, graphics, sound, programmers, and producers...
. Enix
Enix
The was a Japanese company that produced video games, anime and manga. The company was founded by Yasuhiro Fukushima on September 22, 1975 as and renamed Enix in 1982...
published the game in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
published it worldwide. The Australian PAL release was in fact a North American localization and was converted to PAL
PAL
PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
format and released in Australia as Illusion of Gaia, a rarity for Nintendo Australia
Nintendo Australia
Nintendo Australia Pty. Ltd. established in 1994, located in Victoria is Australia's local head office, sales, licensing and distribution centre for products and other Intellectual Properties created by Nintendo Co., Ltd of Kyoto, Japan and is owned by Nintendo Co., Ltd in Japan. Prior distribution...
which usually rely on European PAL versions, despite the OFLC website stating it was classified as Illusion of Time.
Illusion of Gaia was scored by Yasuhiro Kawasaki. Moto Hagio
Moto Hagio
is a manga artist born on May 12, 1949 in Ōmuta, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, though she currently lives in Saitama Prefecture. She is considered a "founding mother" of modern shōjo manga, especially shōnen-ai. She is also a member of the Year 24 Group...
the influential manga artist
Mangaka
is the Japanese word for a comic artist or cartoonist. Outside of Japan, manga usually refers to a Japanese comic book and mangaka refers to the author of the manga, who is usually Japanese...
is credited with the character designs. Novelist Mariko Ōhara
Mariko Ohara
is a Japanese science fiction writer. In her teens, she wrote Kirk/Spock fan fiction. She graduated from Seisin University and her writing career began in 1980....
worked on the story.
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. The characters gain techniques as part of the story. Will's techniques are all based on reaching new areas with incidental combat applications, while Freedan's techniques are more combat-oriented. Shadow arrives late in the game, but being such a powerful character, he causes Freedan to be nearly obsolete.Combat is relatively simple. Characters share the same health and defense scores, but have different levels of strength. Freedan, for example, does noticeably more damage, and has a longer reach than Will. In turn, Shadow does more damage than Freedan. Attacks are almost exclusively melee, using Will's flute, Freedan's sword, or Shadow's pseudopod. Enemies' health bars appear upon attacking, displaying as a series of red spheres that represent hit points. Bosses
Boss (video games)
A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...
cannot be revisited, and enemies do not reappear unless Will loses all his lives or completely exits an area and then returns.
Illusion of Gaia has a general design that is uniquely simple as RPGs go. The game eschews the experience system
Experience point
An experience point is a unit of measurement used in many role-playing games and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's progression through the game...
of typical RPGs; instead, the game has a more novel system for advancing the player character's statistics
Statistic (role-playing games)
A statistic in role-playing games is a piece of data which represents a particular aspect of a fictional character. That piece of data is usually a integer or, in some cases, a set of dice....
. Defeating all enemies in a room earns the player a permanent stat bonus in the form of a jewel. These jewels boost attack, defense, or health power. While returning to a cleared area will cause enemies to reappear, the bonuses for defeating them again do not. Also, after an enemy is killed, it will leave a stone—either a small or a great one. Collecting 100 of these allows you to restart
Spawning (computer gaming)
In video games, spawning is the live creation of a character or item. Respawning is the recreation of an entity after its death or destruction....
closer to where you died with all enemies still defeated, by earning a new life.
Also, the game has no currency or equipment systems. There is only one healing item (herbs), and only a small number of those in the game. Unlike most games of its type, formerly visited areas become impossible to revisit almost immediately after the story progresses beyond them until the last third of the game, though areas from the first two-thirds of the game remain inaccessible. The only side quest in the game, finding Red Jewels, then becomes impossible to complete if the player fails to find them before advancing the story.
Like most RPGs, the game has only one difficulty setting. Saving
Saved game
A saved game is a piece of digitally stored information about the progress of a player in a video game. This saved game can be reloaded later, so the player can continue where he or she had stopped...
is accomplished at Dark Spaces located throughout each level—including areas without enemies, such as Will's hometown. Will can recover lost health within the Dark Spaces, and occasionally switch forms or gain new abilities.
Setting
Illusion of Gaia is set in a partially historical but mostly fantasyFantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
-based version of Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
. The game contains several real-world sites, such as Incan ruins, the Nazca lines
Nazca Lines
The Nazca Lines are a series of ancient geoglyphs located in the Nazca Desert in southern Peru. They were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. The high, arid plateau stretches more than between the towns of Nazca and Palpa on the Pampas de Jumana about 400 km south of Lima...
, Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat is a temple complex at Angkor, Cambodia, built for the king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and capital city. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation – first Hindu,...
, the Great Wall of China
Great Wall of China
The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in northern China, built originally to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire against intrusions by various nomadic groups...
, and Egyptian pyramids
Egyptian pyramids
The Egyptian pyramids are ancient pyramid-shaped masonry structures located in Egypt.There are 138 pyramids discovered in Egypt as of 2008. Most were built as tombs for the country's Pharaohs and their consorts during the Old and Middle Kingdom periods.The earliest known Egyptian pyramids are found...
. Each of these ruins hold a piece to the final puzzle, unveiled at the top of the infamous Tower of Babel
Tower of Babel
The Tower of Babel , according to the Book of Genesis, was an enormous tower built in the plain of Shinar .According to the biblical account, a united humanity of the generations following the Great Flood, speaking a single language and migrating from the east, came to the land of Shinar, where...
.
It is firstly believed to be the age of exploration (a period roughly corresponding to the 16th century; Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
is mentioned at least once), and explorers have begun scouring the world in search of ancient ruins and the lost treasures and secrets within. Many return with nothing, and some are simply never seen again. Will, the protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
of the game, is a survivor of one such ill-fated expedition. He accompanied his father, a famed explorer, on a sea journey to uncover the secrets of the Tower of Babel
Tower of Babel
The Tower of Babel , according to the Book of Genesis, was an enormous tower built in the plain of Shinar .According to the biblical account, a united humanity of the generations following the Great Flood, speaking a single language and migrating from the east, came to the land of Shinar, where...
, but the explorers met with a mysterious disaster. Somehow Will managed to make it back to his home town, but he does not remember how.
Story
When the game begins, Will stumbles into a "Dark Space" where he meets a strange being called Gaia. Gaia tells Will that he must leave his home and save the world from a coming evil. A comet is approaching, and it will bring ill fortune to the world. As he travels, Will gains the ability to change into other forms, each with special powers: Freedan, a dark knight, and Shadow, a solid form of energy.It is later revealed that the comet is in fact an ancient weapon used during the last Blazer War
Soul Blazer
The soundtrack of the game was composed by Yukihide Takekawa. It was published in Japan by the record label Apollon on February 21, 1992.- Reception :The game was reviewed in 1993 in Dragon #200 by Sandy Petersen in the "Eye of the Monitor" column...
, and has the power to change the shape of the world. In the ruin of Ankor Wat, it is discovered that when the comet approaches the Earth this time, the comet's light will change the world into that of the modern world.
Will and his friends travel the world and collect artifacts known as Mystic Statues. At the climax, Will and Kara reach the Tower of Babel, where it is then revealed that Will is the Dark Knight, and Kara is the Light Knight. The two knights join to form Shadow and use the ancient statues to release the ultimate power, the firebird.
Attacking the comet directly, which soon manifests itself as Dark Gaia, Will and Kara manage to destroy its power, returning the world to normal. The spirits of Will's parents inform them that the world will return to normal and that no one will conserve any memories of the adventure. Saddened by that fact, Will and Kara join one last time as Shadow to return to Earth.
The final scene is left ambiguous. All of Will's friends are depicted in what appears to be a modern-day school, implying that even if they forgot about their time together, they remained friends in the "real" world.
Characters
Illusion of Gaia features only one playable character at a time: either Will, a boy who develops psychic powers after surviving a shipwreck during an exploratory expedition with his father, or his alter egos Freedan and Shadow. However, a large group of non-player characters accompany Will from region to region. Included are Will's classmates and friends known collectively as the seaside gang: Lance, a bold, adventurous boy whose father was lost in the shipwreck that Will survived; Seth, a studious, bespectacled boy with a troubled home life; and Erik, a naїve boy who seems younger than the others but has a courageous spirit. The other characters who join Will are Princess Kara, a spoiled royal on the run from her increasingly cruel parents, and her pet pig Hamlet; Lily, a member of the mysterious Itory tribe who has the power to transform herself into a dandelion puff at will and float amongst the winds; and Neil, a brilliant inventor responsible for the telescope, the camera, and the airplane, among others.Will and his friends face many enemies in their journey to uncover the secret of the Tower of Babel, both those who protect the clues to the mystery and those who seek its power for themselves. A number of powerful demons guard the priceless treasures of lost civilizations, while the human but power-mad King Edward and Queen Edwina contract Jackal, an assassin, to tail Will and Kara through their journeys. Neil's parents are the driving force behind the Rolek company, which is also the driving force behind the world's slave trade. It is later revealed that they are replaced by members of the Moon Tribe. The Tribe themselves are encountered numerous times throughout the journey, being living shadows that lost their corporeal forms after being subject to the comet's light. Will's other notable encounters include Sam, a slave who helps him give Lance's memory back, and his adoptive guardians, Lola and Bill.
Development
A pre-release English version of Illusion of Gaia has been leaked onto the Internet in the form of a "ROM" file. It 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. The final US instruction booklet contains one picture of an early title screen, which still contains the characters at the bottom, but has the correct title. In the leaked prototype, the title is given as Soul Blazer: Illusion of Gaia. Another noticeable difference are the name changes of most of the characters. The main character's name is Will in the final release of the American game, whereas in this Beta version, his name is Tim. Kara is Karen, and some of the other children have different names. In the final release of the game, the character who stalks Kara and Will on their journey is named The Jackal. However, in this build of the game, his name is The Black Panther. Most people assume that his name was changed due to the American political party The Black Panthers. There are also a few script errors in this game, and some of the script is even changed, making some of the characters more sinister, such as the Jeweler Gem. Nintendo is not listed on the title credits. It appears that the prototype was developed before Nintendo of America decided to publish and market the game for the US region. When Nintendo decided to be the US publisher, the title was changed and a logo was specifically redesigned to resemble the logo of Nintendo's popular Zelda game franchise.Version differences
In keeping with Nintendo of America's censorship policiesVideo games censored by Nintendo of America
Nintendo of America has gained notoriety for its formerly strict ban policy, particularly with regard to video games bearing religious symbols , references to widely practiced religions, violence, profanity, death references, political propaganda, copyright issues and so forth...
at the time of publication, numerous changes were made to the game to make certain story elements less dark. Most notably, the native tribe encountered near Angkor Wat were originally cannibals, with the skeletal remains lying around the village being the remnants of their own tribesmen, whom they had eaten to survive.
Additionally, numerous religious references were changed or completely removed. Will's school was initially a Sunday school
Sunday school
Sunday school is the generic name for many different types of religious education pursued on Sundays by various denominations.-England:The first Sunday school may have been opened in 1751 in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham. Another early start was made by Hannah Ball, a native of High Wycombe in...
run by a priest and held in a Christian church; the American release simply identifies the building as a school and replaces a cross with a statue. In the Japanese release, speaking with the priest would cause him to begin leading Will in a prayer; in the American release, the teacher leads Will in reciting a poem. The ocean monster was identified in the Japanese release as the Biblical Leviathan
Leviathan
Leviathan , is a sea monster referred to in the Bible. In Demonology, Leviathan is one of the seven princes of Hell and its gatekeeper . The word has become synonymous with any large sea monster or creature...
, who was revealed to be a member of a race of humanoid ocean dwellers, as opposed to a unique entity. The American release indicates that Seth's consciousness has been absorbed into Riverson's, whereas the Japanese release indicates that Seth was merely turned into another Leviathan. A line from the game's climax, in which Will and Kara comment, upon seeing Earth from outer space, that this is what it must feel like to be God, was also removed.
A notable change to gameplay itself is that the Japanese and American releases feature a different boss in the Sky Garden. In the Japanese version, the boss is simply a giant bird. In the American release, the boss is a winged Babylonian statue with talons. The American boss was apparently the creators' initial vision, and tied in with the idea that the Sky Garden was once the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were considered to be one of the greatest Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one of the Wonders which may in fact have been legendary. They were purportedly built in the ancient city-state of Babylon, near present-day Al Hillah, Babil, in Iraq...
; the creators used the port of the game to "tidy up" the boss, as they were dissatisfied with the bird/snake hybrid present in the original release.
Merchandise
Nintendo released a bundle pack in America that, while supplies lasted, included a "one size fits all" T-Shirt that featured the logo, Freedan, and Shadow. As a Nintendo-published title in the US, the game received special attention in Nintendo Power magazine and additional merchandise was sold in the Super Power Supplies catalog for Nintendo Power subscribers.Reception
Quintet reported that Illusion of Gaia sold 200,000 copies in Japan, 300,000 copies in North America, and 150,000 copies in Europe.It was rated the 186th best game made on a Nintendo System in Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US, the U.S. subsidiary of British publisher Future.The first issue published was...
's Top 200 Games list.
The online magazine Hardcore Gaming 101 (published by GameSpy
GameSpy
GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
) has referred to Illusion of Gaia and a few other Quintet games such as the Soul Blazer series, pointing a few common themes between the different titles.