Story (3.5/5) | Characters (3.5/5) | World (4/5) | Gameplay (4.5/5) | Visuals (4/5) | Music (3.5/5) = 77% overall score

Illusion of Gaia is the first game in Quintet's death and rebirth themed games on the SNES that actually has a story and several side characters who develop as you go through the game. While not amazing, both of them are enough to pull the game's narrative along and get you invested to the end. The world itself is full of fun dungeons and towns which almost always have a dark side to them. I actually kind of surprised me that Nintendo itself localized this game as it has overt slavery and death references. Honestly, my biggest issue for the story is that the translation is very stiff and some character dialogue makes no sense at times.

The dungeons of this game are the standout part of it in my opinion. You play as Will who has a pretty basic skillset at the start that then expands and provides new ways to fight enemies and to progress through dungeons. You eventually get the ability to transform into two additional characters who are stronger and are required for other parts of the dungeon. The monsters in a dungeon do not respawn and once cleared you will be provided with a stat bonus, this is how progression works in the game as there is no traditional level up system.

The game has some gorgeous pixel art and the NPCs themselves are large and pretty will animated. The game has some really great music tracks as well, I just wish there was a different town theme for all of the places you visit as I liked the main one but it got replayed too much.

Time to Complete: 15 hours

Favorite Chill Theme: Returned Memory

Favorite Action Theme: Final Battle

Preliminary: Well, I absolutely loved Soul Blazer. I'm hoping its sequel holds up. I'm not thrilled to read, instead of the cute absurd Tomba-esque world of Soul Blazer, it's a recreation of earth, and the original version had some questionable depictions. It looks like I will have to play the censored, altered North American release, because there is not a simple rom hack out there that merely returns the game to the Japanese version but translated to English. Sounds like one is in the works, but even that one comes with many modern alterations and QoL features etc.

I like the beginning in-school music and vibe. Oh wow the Red Jewel collectible mechanic reminds me of the Stardust in Legend of Dragoon for some reason.

it's got a generally nice Look and Feel so far

Early Game

The Look and fisher and I dunno, the village I guess?, remind me of Stardew Valley. Tho none of this is giving Soul Blazer vibes at all haha.

Lol nice. Since I know/assume there will be a more epic journey ahead, this is reminding me of the beginning of Kingdom Hearts. Very cutesy and nice and nostalgia-building before the journey begins.

I love the fluid movement with diagonals so far. There is sprint too but hasn't been totally necessary, lots of QoL leaps to make shrotcuts and whatnot. I love the vibe. Solid beginning--I'm just hoping the combat holds up.

I'm a good way through the first dungeon and I can say I enjoy the combat so far! It could just be the introductory phase that I will like but it has nice features, a way to defend, a way to jump attack etc. The manual helps for sure so be sure to read it. My only beef so far is when you accidentally dash when not intended, since it just requires pressing the d-pad direction twice in a row.

Oh. Look like the gameplay and combat is going to be more complex than I expected. Now I can transform into some older man? I keep expecting the gameplay to shift to the Soul Blazer style building a town feature? But that doesn't seem to be the case? I'm still really really enjoying this so far though.

I haven't seen any questionable racial depictions so far, but it's all been very straightforward (and whitewashed) in that sense so far. Also, the way only Will ever goes into the dungeons was a missed opportunity but I assume they will develop things more... Hopefully. Or Kara will just be the selfish princess that's fine I guess lol.

The main conncetion I'm seeing to Soul Blazer so far is the shortcut mechanics! :-p

Uff what is with first bosses in 93 action-adventures and their difficulty! But I got through it haha. Thanks to a guide. The boss reminded me a lot of Great Olm in OSRS, complete with hands, phases, and basically dancing to fit in 2 hits then going back to the wall to avoid damage.

I dunno what it is about the Look and Sound and Feel, but I keep getting Tomba vibes. It's also their conversations, basically always giving hints to where to find something. I dunno how to explain it but it's interesting that Soul Blazer also gave me Tomba vibes but for different reasons.

As much as I didn't love this waiting on the sea segment, these colors tho-- I always love a good sunset/sunrise

Wowwww shady! To get one of the Red Jewels I had to snitch on a hiding slave laborer! Smh

I'm not loving the dungeon-y music of the Diamond Mines, but otherwise been loving the Sound. Yessss tho the Mine Key sparkling on the ground like a Resident Evil item.

Mid Game

I think finishing Diamond Mine constitutes Mid Game, tho I barely have defeated any of the bosses/Guardians heh.

The Link to the Past/Zelda influence was palpable with the pillar/switches "puzzle" in the Sky Garden :-p I wasn't in love with the Sky Garden tho. I'm grateful for the heals from savepoints .

I am still really loving this, and completely hooked to the actrion-adventure ARPG gameplay, but dang three dungeons in a row. And some definitely filler-feeling parts, which I've grown to expect from JRPGs, like the Drifting segment and this ghostly/purification segment between dungeons. Luckily I feel good with the combat and enjoy the gameplay/combat, otherwise this would've definitely been dropped! I just hope it doesn't go down to a 4 star if the rest of the game is so dungeon-focused and the music hasn't been as stellar since it's focused on battles/epic/dungeon which is never my vibe for Sound.

I am still fulyl hooked to this, but there is something more and more derivative-feeling about it. i love having abilities/power-ups unlock new areas etc, but it always felt a bit like an imitation of Link to the Past when those moments happened. And the music I lvoed so much has started to be repeated.. a lot, and with the abundance of dungeons, the tunes I didn't like so much have been heard... a lot lol.

I love the tune and Look of this Well area

If it weren't for the fun moves and way of doing combat, the way certain enemies are repeated so many times in certain dungeons would get old. It's silly that you can't reenter certain rooms for a Red Jewel (I had to reload my last save, just cuz I exited the room, and there was no logic behind not reentering the Ishtar puzzle rooms after the puzzles were done or anything). And those puzzles in general were super suepr bland. And now I'm not liking the music for Great Wall of China. Argh!

Some of the antics in this game raelly could've been left out. A lot of the item retrieval "puzzles" aren't well-implemented, like when the woman keeps saying she's had enough but you're supposed to keep buying her Apples in order to get a Red Jewel but I suppose at least that is optional. A better example is waiting in this line for literally 7ish minutes. Thank goodness for fast forward. It just is losing some of its initial sheen, which is disappointing because of how exciting it all was, and the combat is still very addictive and fun and right-for-me.

I;m loving this upgraded version of the Dark Freedan/Friar/whatever it's called that your tall-guy version can use. If you smack your sword after shooting the fireball, it'll cause a swirl of fireballs to circle out killing so many enemies on screen. Which is needed since this Mountain Temple is a lot of repetitive enemies. I don't really mind the repeated enemies tho because I en joy the addicting combat and the way, like with Soul Blazer, you can see how many enemies are in an area and you are basically crossing off a list. I love lists!

End Game

Welp I am considering the Angkor Wat area to be end-game, based on the walkthrough I'm using to not miss Red Jewels/keep my sanity. Tho really maps are the crucial part for this game tbh, some of the moves and ramp-based things it helped a lot to have the Manual and a walkthrough available.

I do like how much of the plotline is heping laborers and slave laboreres. Still, some absurd things going on here lol. Ah, yeah, I see the questionable choices with the Angkor Wat part.

Ugh these Angkor Wat orange skulls are just tedious/annoying. Can't be hit when they split up and it's just annoying/waiting, not hard. Bruh and as the enemy mechanics get worse/more tedious, they pull areas like this

Oooo after some negative vibes, I did like the part where the Blue Spirit showed us the future.. And omg bahaha I just now fully grasped that you can just use a Red Gem to send it to Gem, you don't have to find him every time. Woopsie.

Hmmm after reading up, it turns out these Red Jewels and the mansion dungeon (Tomba anybody?) they unlock aren't really worth it and sound like it'll just be a tedious sidequest with no reward except... an Herb.... Wow. But I'll at least give it a shot. If it gets annoying, I'll just return to main game. Cuz I'm almost done!

This new playable character Shadow looks really cool, but the collision mask of its weapon makes no sense at all. At least let it reflect the animation/graphic... I'm glad I'm still enjoying collecting Red Jewels, cuz a lot about this game has lost its sheen.

More and more this game is using that bland "design" method of "just pile a bunch of the enemy in this room and that makes for clever level design" And what a mess of glitches this attempt at a clever design for the spiked ceilings/Psycho Dash use in the pyramid dungeon turned out... Probly would have dropped this game at this point if it weren't for my love for the series, Look, and initial Feel. I think I will definitely skip the Red Jewel Mansion tho... after what these last 2 dungeons have been like... Which is sad, considering I've collected them all lol

Oh boy the final dungeon is basically just a boss rush. And I wanted to at least go look at the Red Jewel Mansion, but after I got the 50th Red Jewel, I couldn't figure out how to leave the Tower of Babel and tbh wasn't all that motivated to do so. I could finish up the game tonight!

I had a chance to go back and see the Mansion right ebfore the final boss. Yep was not worth it at all and reloaded my save right away. Al for no stat boosts, same dungeon tune, one Herb (albeit valuable since there are absurdly only 12 Herbs--the only healing items--in the entire game... and no way to buy etc more), and a reskinned boss (albeit a boss reskinned from Soul Blazer so I maybe would have liked that). Whatevs, moving on to the final boss.

Finally a new tune! And the plot coming together more around this whole Comet and father thing. And cool-looking final boss!

Cute ending and post-credits screen/concept

Look: 8/10

Sound: 8/10 Got wayyyyy too repetitive, but really added to the initial Feel

Play: 8.5/10 Perfect example of overstaying its welcome, but I can't deny I was hooked.

Feel: 8.5/10 The initial Feel was incredible and exciting. The ending was pretty solid too. But the late-middle (?) game really dragged and got tedious, namely Angkor Wat and the pyramid dungeon.

Attachment: 8/10 When in a Soul Blazer mode, I will play Soul Blazer. But if after beating that, I'm craving more--I will play this for sure :-p

Overall: 8.2/10

Completion: Main Story, Collected All 50 Red Jewels but did not do the Mansion lol

Playtime: ~9h 20m

This title is one of the most distinctive action RPGs of its time, blending historical settings, emotional storytelling, and inventive gameplay into a hauntingly beautiful adventure. It serves as the second entry in an informal trilogy alongside Soul Blazer and Terranigma, exploring themes of human evolution, civilization, and spiritual growth, so if you liked any of those titles, this is definitely a must-play alone by the fact that it happens in the same universe.

The MC is called Will, a young boy with psychic powers who sets out on a journey that takes him across the world, from the Nazca Plains and Angkor Wat to the Great Pyramid. The game reimagines real historical landmarks as mysterious dungeons filled with monsters and puzzles, blending myth and history into a surreal fantasy world. Will can transform into powerful warrior forms like Freedan and Shadow, each with unique abilities that keep combat and exploration fresh.

The gameplay strikes a balance between action and puzzle-solving: clearing enemies rewards you with permanent stat boosts, and the lack of traditional experience points encourages exploration over grinding. This may sound limiting, but the other elements of the game are good enough to make up for it. Its tight level design, emotional dialogue, and understated storytelling create an atmosphere that feels more introspective than most RPGs of the era.

Visually, it is rich in color and mood, with a soundtrack that heightens the game’s mysterious and sometimes melancholy tone. And while not having the same quality as most JRPGs at the time, this is still a good OST overall, just with a different tone in order to it fit with the main plot. Its story of loss, discovery, and sacrifice carries surprising emotional weight, especially as it builds toward a bittersweet ending. This is a game that captures both the wonder and tragedy of human history through the lens of an imaginative journey.