Illusion of Gaia

"A great game, but it could have been better"

Illusion of Gaia is an action/RPG game from Enix, made in 1994. It is the sequel to Soul Blazer, and the prequel to Terranigma. While the game isn't necessarily a direct sequel (you don't need to play Soul Blazer to enjoy this), there are similarities between the two games, mostly in the gameplay.

Illusion of Gaia is a story about a young boy named Will, who lives with his grandparents. He lost his father at the Tower of Babel a year ago, and has just been visited by a snooty princess who summons him to her family’s castle.. This is where the real story of the game begins. There is a surprising amount of story for a game of this genre. Action/RPGs usually just have you visiting dungeons without much dialogue in between. But here, there is alot of both, think Zelda mixed with Final Fantasy! Unfortunately, the storyline is not quite at the same level as most Final Fantasies. I found that alot of key points in the story were either rushed, or not explained enough. Alot of the dialogue that goes on in the towns is small talk with NPCs that you only see once in the whole game.. The story is by no means bad, but it could have been great if there was more time spent on the important details.

While the gameplay has alot in common with Soul Blazer, there are some things Illusion of Gaia does not have.. The telekinesis cannot be used as an attack anymore, and there is no magic. I was a little disappointed by this, but I was happy to see some new innovative ideas that were brought on for this game. For example, you can still grab GEMS from slain monsters using telekinesis, but here you can also move certain objects on the playing field, which is required to solve some puzzles that you will encounter. Also, while in dungeon areas, your character has the ability to change forms, into a dark knight named Freedan, and an ultimate dark.. blue thing named Shadow... I don't know what he's supposed to be.. he's just BLUE. There are some very challenging puzzles in the dungeons, and the monsters you fight are a fair difficulty. The games best moments definitely take place in the dungeons. They are very fun to go through.

Illusion of Gaia has excellent graphics. The towns you visit are detailed, the monsters are colored nicely, and wind blows through Will's hair whenever he is on a mountain, or any other place where wind may be found.. The game runs very well, and there is never any slowdown, no matter what is happening on the screen! You visit diverse locations, such as the Great Wall of China, a Pyramid, and the ancient Incan ruins. Each location is decorated just as it should be.

The sound in Illusion of Gaia is pretty good.. your flute (oh yeah, that's your weapon.. what kinda sissy boy plays the flute??) makes a good swoosh sound when you swing it, I didn't notice much else though.. Most of the music isn't bad, but it isn't very memorable, either.. except for the score in the ending, which was terrific.

There isn't a huge amount of replay value in this game, since it is very linear, and there is only one sidequest.. But if you have played Soul Blazer, the sidequest is definitely worth it. Why? It's a secret. I wouldn't want to get rid of this game, it's worth keeping in a collection.

So that's about it.. if you are a fan of Zelda, or any other Action/RPG then you should play this.. it's worth the time to play it.. it's good clean fun.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/06/03, Updated 07/06/03