Introduction

Hello again everybody, and welcome to an LP of the third game in the Quintet series:



Illusion of Gaia was released in 1993, 94, and 95 in Japan, the US, and Europe respectively. It’s unusual in that it apparently sold more copies in the US than in Japan, and is pretty well regarded for a great gameplay and an excellent soundtrack. Illusion of Gaia is an action RPG that in some ways is similar to Zelda, and is loosely related to SoulBlazer, Terranigma, and possibly ActRaiser. We’ll talk more about that when connections become apparent.

As far as RPGs go Illusion of Gaia is something of an odd bird, since you don’t have an experience system, equipment, or currency. Enemies don’t respawn unless you die or completely leave an area, and you can actually gain extra lives. This will actually make more sense as we progress, but in the meantime we’ll talk about art and the intro. Also, this one’s a bit of a slow starter so it might take a bit to get to the action.



The Japanese box art is notable in that it pretty much paints an almost exact image of what we’re going to be doing. The US box art is pretty much identical to the title screen…



But in Europe the game was released as “Illusion of Time.” The actual title is Gaia Gensouki, which can be translated as “Records of the Illusion of Gaia.” For the next part, you might want to have this playing:

Intro Music: Illusion of Gaia




The timing of the game is a bit ambiguous. The Age of Discovery is an historical period that stretches from the end of the 15th century to the 18th, which means there’s a lot of time to cover.




The images here represent Egypt and Easter Island, which wasn’t even discovered by Europeans until 1722.




Stonehenge is a thing, but that kind of looks like the Mirage Tower from Final Fantasy.



I promise that despite this being a crystal skull, there will be no Shia LaBeouf. No Harrison Ford, either, but that’s still a net gain.




I hope you all appreciate that image of Angkor Wat, which is detailed enough that it’s about half again as large as other images. If you can’t quite read it, the text says:

“People who entered the ruins, searching for wealth, went in and were never seen again.”



They probably should have known better.



And with that, we pass into the start screen, with some new music:

Start a Journey

I love the fact that the new game option is starting a journey while the save function is a trip diary. As for that coastline.. well, if anybody recognizes it, I’d be interested to hear. Next up: We begin our journey.

Table of Contents

• Update The First: In Which Will Forgets Something
• Update the Second: In Which Will Picks a Card, any Card
• Update the Third: In Which Will Refrains From Strangling a Princess
• Update the Fourth: In Which Will Cleans Out the Basement
• Update the Fifth: In Which Will and The Princess Kidnap Each Other
• Update the Sixth: In Which Will Violates a Graveyard and Several Tombs
• Update the Seventh: In Which Will Goes it Alone
• Update the Eighth: In Which Will Discovers the Lost Ship
• Update the Ninth: In Which Will is King for Less Than a Day
• Update the Tenth: In Which Will Commits Fish Murder
• Update the Eleventh: In Which Will Explores on his Own
• Update the Twelfth: In Which Will Huffs, and Puffs, and Blows a Door Down
• Update the Thirteenth: In Which Will's Hair Finds a Secret
• Update the Fourteenth: In Which Will Trips the Light Fantastic
• Update the Fifteenth: In Which Will Defies Gravity
• Update the Sixteenth: In Which Will Takes a Leap of Faith
• Update the Seventeenth: In Which Will Purifies the Spring
• Update the Eighteenth: In Which Will Slides Into Home
• Update the Nineteenth: In Which Will Defuses the Situation
• Update the Twentieth: In Which Will Does the Mushroom Samba
• Update the Twenty-First: In Which Will Appreciates Art
• Update the Twenty-Second: In Which Will Plays a Game
• Update the Twenty-Third: In Which Will Has Much to Apologize For
• Update the Twenty-Fourth: In Which Will is a Tourist
• Update the Twenty-Fifth: In Which Will Channels His Inner Devil
• Update the Twenty-Sixth: In Which Will Sees Death
• Update the Twenty-Seventh: In Which Will Finds Hidden Depths
• Update the Twenty-Eighth: In Which Will Cracks Some Skulls
• Update the Twenty-Ninth: In Which Will Attends a Barbecue
• Update the Thirtieth: In Which Will Trims the Hedges
• Update the Thirty-First: In Which Will Shakes the Earth
• Update the Thirty-Second: In Which Will Softens a Heart of Stone
• Update the Thirty-Third: In Which Will Pounds the Snake
• Update the Thirty-Fourth: In Will Does NOT Walk Like an Egyptian
• Update the Thirty-Fifth: In Which Will Starts the Fire
• Update the Thirty-Sixth: In Which Will Takes the Plunge Again
• Update the Thirty-Seventh: In Which Will Settles Old Scores
• Update the Thirty-Eighth: In Which Will is Batman
• Update the Thirty-Ninth: In Which Will and Kara Remake the World