Illusion of Gaia Review by Link584
"Illusion of Gaia 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." - Wikipedia
Story
It’s a little complicated to explain, but here is how it explained on Wikipedia.
“Illusion of Gaia is set in a partially historical but mostly fantasy-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.” - Wikipedia
It’s a little complicated to explain, but here is how it explained on Wikipedia.
“Illusion of Gaia is set in a partially historical but mostly fantasy-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.” - Wikipedia
Design
The game doesn’t look like masterpiece, but it certainly can feel it at times. The sprite sheets in this game seem simple enough to get us by and don’t seem terribly memorable or great looking. Even with this said though, this game isn’t about amazing graphics or need to even be compared to other games of its time as after just a little while of playing you are already immersed into the world presented that it doesn’t matter. It’s simple and that’s quite alright.
Gameplay / Controls
Moving and running around comes fairly natural pretty quickly. Through use of your starting town you get a feel for how fast you walk and how really fast you can run. Combat doesn’t have many moves or difficult controls either. You have your basic attack and later on you learn only a couple new moves. Learning enemy attack patterns and dodging is more rewarded then just flying in spamming a button, so having a basic combat structure and smooth controls fits in very well.
Moving and running around comes fairly natural pretty quickly. Through use of your starting town you get a feel for how fast you walk and how really fast you can run. Combat doesn’t have many moves or difficult controls either. You have your basic attack and later on you learn only a couple new moves. Learning enemy attack patterns and dodging is more rewarded then just flying in spamming a button, so having a basic combat structure and smooth controls fits in very well.
Music
Music is always a big thing in great games. The Zelda games might not be what they are without the great tunes we have grown to know and love, and this game clearly had someone know what they were doing as well. There is repeated music throughout, but for how dark and lonely this game can get, they really nail how each place should sound. When entering a new town you hear that wonderful uplifting music that really gets you excited to be there and out of some dark gloomy dungeon. Each setting feels like it should because of the sounds they created. Sadly repetition does hurt it by later on, especially in dungeons and feels a tad annoying. This mostly applies for the dungeon music.
Music is always a big thing in great games. The Zelda games might not be what they are without the great tunes we have grown to know and love, and this game clearly had someone know what they were doing as well. There is repeated music throughout, but for how dark and lonely this game can get, they really nail how each place should sound. When entering a new town you hear that wonderful uplifting music that really gets you excited to be there and out of some dark gloomy dungeon. Each setting feels like it should because of the sounds they created. Sadly repetition does hurt it by later on, especially in dungeons and feels a tad annoying. This mostly applies for the dungeon music.
Presentation
The game really fills your body with emotions as more time goes on, and very few games have made me feel sad and happy like this one at the same time. Through it’s story and great use of music, I feel sad when I should, happy and smile at the right times, and when no one is around and the game is suppose to feel lonely, it actually feels like it’s just you and world are the only ones left. It’s a great feeling to see a game feel alive and truly have life breathed into it’s cartridge.
The game really fills your body with emotions as more time goes on, and very few games have made me feel sad and happy like this one at the same time. Through it’s story and great use of music, I feel sad when I should, happy and smile at the right times, and when no one is around and the game is suppose to feel lonely, it actually feels like it’s just you and world are the only ones left. It’s a great feeling to see a game feel alive and truly have life breathed into it’s cartridge.
Conclusion
The paragraph above me really says it all. It’s a great game and worth playing. Sadly I feel it’s replay value is low, but worth coming back to every few years. It has only one real secret in the game and is very difficult to accomplish. The music can get old at times late in the game, maybe even sooner. The story itself can feel empty and you wonder why you might even be where you are. These are just little things though that sometimes might pop in your head but be soon forgotten as you progress. Overall, I give this game a 4 out of 5.
The paragraph above me really says it all. It’s a great game and worth playing. Sadly I feel it’s replay value is low, but worth coming back to every few years. It has only one real secret in the game and is very difficult to accomplish. The music can get old at times late in the game, maybe even sooner. The story itself can feel empty and you wonder why you might even be where you are. These are just little things though that sometimes might pop in your head but be soon forgotten as you progress. Overall, I give this game a 4 out of 5.
4 of out 5
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