[Reknoc]

Y'know what's really good? Some of the arranged tracks in Terranigma's Creative Soundtrack

Zue
Evergreen
Light and Darkness
To Another Wide Open World

[Ledsen]

My prrrrrecioussssssssss........

[Aeana]

I love Granstream Saga. It's a shame that it doesn't get a lot of appreciation because of the graphics and poor voicework and stuff. It has a great soundtrack, and it's really fun.

[CO_Andy]

Played Terranigma for the first time last year. The moment you walked out of Crysta and into the world map... absolutely beautiful.

The perfect piece for a game that'll tug at your heart.

[Chao]

Ok now I need to replay these games, i hope you are happy now

[Jucksalbe]

I've never played much of both Granstream Saga and Soul Blazer, even though I think I own Granstream Saga.
Illusion of Time and Terranigma are both pretty unique games and both brilliant in their own way. Terranigma is the masterpiece in the series, very interesting story, great combat and especially one of the best soundtracks on the SNES.
It's a pity all of these games seem to be lost. There are no remakes no rereleases on any digital platform, I guess there's some kind of problem with the rights.

[Zee-Row]

I love the Leo's Lab theme in Soul Blazer , that's one song that has been stuck in my head for almost 20 years!

[RawPower]

Absolutely loved Illusion of Gaia. Never got to play Terranigma being in the US :(

This.

I want to play it so bad.

[The M.O.B]

Where is the kickstarter for old school ARPGS like these.

All 3 SNES games were legendary for me. Terranigma being my fave, and Illusion of Gaia following close after. So many memorable parts in these games.

I've yet to play The Grandstream Saga.

Such a shame none of these games look like they will be on VC any time soon.

[SlipperySlope]

I loved Soul Blazer. There's just... something about it.

[Haunted]

All three games left a large impression upon me. It's been a very long time since I last touched Soul Blazer itself, but I try and set aside some time once every few years to play through Illusion of Gaia/Time & Terranigma. I suppose my fascination for ancient civilizations, mythology, history, and geography helped blossom my love of the games in to complete adoration. I'm going to gush and start listing some great memories that have stayed with me through both games: - Discovering the "hidden" Itory Village and letting that beautiful song repeat itself over and over, before heading in to the Incan Ruins. I already loved the stories of the Incas during my childhood, so it was pretty awesome to run through some places that "represented" them in an obscure game back when Japanese RPGs weren't that popular. - Getting on to the Incan gold ship, only to be then cast adrift with nothing but Kara to accompany Will. Some people hate that section but I've always loved it for its change of pace. - Checking out Neil's place and then visiting the Nazca Plains where you begin to see spirits while this beauty of a track plays. - Heading up to Sky Garden. For some reason the pretty greenery always reminds me of Bomberman. - The only cool thing about Mu is its mythological ties represented by an underwater palace (how cool!?) and the name. I used to hate it because those vampires would always kill me and they were shits. - Ankor Wat! Such awesome music. Shame they couldn't spell it properly. - That ending music, with Will and Kara standing upon the comet looking down at the blue marble. Whenever I throw it on I have to let it repeat itself several times before I change the tune. - The entire opening. The second half being the best. - Heading outside of the house you start in for the first time and letting the music wash over you as you marvel at the floating bubbles. I must have spent several hours running around in Crysta doing absolutely nothing just so I could hear the music. Throwing pumpkins in to the river, stirring up the chickens, playing hopscotch with the kids, running laps around the village continuously. Too much time. - Meeting Yomi for the first time while everyone freezes over mysteriously, only to be yelled at and commanded to head out to the towers. Anyone who didn't feel intimidated in the Underworld, complete with its weird mirrored sky, is lying. - Resurrecting the continents and then being thrust on to the Overworld despite its barren and empty appearance at first. It was like a brand new game shoved on to your lap. - For some reason I really love the Ra Tree dungeon. Maybe it's such a welcome change of pace and colour compared to what the Towers were. Having kick ass music probably helped, though no one can dispute those haunting tunes in the Towers. - Having to tumble through mountains and cliffs to resurrect the birds and grabbing those sharp claws to become the crab version of Spiderman. - Gaia had Mu, Terranigma has Zue. What a shitfest. I have no reason why I dislike it. - Heading in to Louran was always cool. Best usage of zombies before they re-exploded in to popularity 15 years later. - Walking through Norfest Forest and discovering the carbon copy of Crysta. - Seeing towns everywhere and knowing that your actions later in-game will allow them to expand in to cities. Not only that, but you could pimp an apartment up just for yourself! - Rescuing Columbus and unlocking ship usage around the globe. Fuck you, Bloody Mary. - Seeing the (secretly resurrected) Mu again during an exploration, only to sigh at the relief that there are no vampires. - Killing off old mate Dr Beruga in the labs in Russia and then defeating Dark Gaia, only to experience the bittersweet ending complete with a tiny dash of the Crysta theme kicking in at the very end. Was it all a dream? But yes, the music helped play a large role in the appreciation and certainly helps the nostalgia boost itself. So awesome.

I want to hug you right now. <3 The trilogy starts out ok but just gets better from there, culminating in probably the only RPG of the era that could stand up to the heights of 16-bit Final Fantasy. Ahead of DQ, Mother and Seiken Densetsu for me. Terranigma is a game I revisit very frequently, it has so many fantastic moments. I guess it's just in that perfect sweet spot of nostalgia for me that will stick with a person for many many years.

[SkyOdin]

Soul Blazer and Illusion of Gaia are on my list of my favorite SNES RPGs. I played them a ton back in the day. I really wish that Terranigma had come to the US too...

Anyways, I never knew that Granstream Saga was made by the same people until this thread. Looking back on it, I guess I can see the similarity to the Soul Blazer trilogy. Creepy blank faces aside, Granstream Saga had some really neat ideas. The ability to copy anything you touch is a game mechanic that really needs to be revisited someday.

[LeadProtagonist]

Illusion of Gaia was one of my favorite games as a kid in the SNES era.

[Natetan]

the first two anyway also left a deep impression on me. love quintet games so much.

I didn't really enjoy terranigma though, its got pretty strong graphics, but the game play isnt as fun or satisfying as say soul blazer or illusion of gaia.

music in the games is fantastic too...

[Fularu]

I have all 4 games on my desk right now, I even have Illusion of Gaia (US version) and Illusion of Time (french version, still shrinkwrapped). Unfortunately I have no way of playing my french copy of Terranigma (still sealed too) since I lack the proper adapter to use it on my US SNES :(

[Teknoman]

I have all 4 games on my desk right now, I even have Illusion of Gaia (US version) and Illusion of Time (french version, still shrinkwrapped). Unfortunately I have no way of playing my french copy of Terranigma (still sealed too) since I lack the proper adapter to use it on my US SNES :(

If its anything like the JP carts that didnt have the small gaps in the back for NA SNES systems, you can just get a flathead screwdriver and gently hammer down the two tabs inside the SNES' cartridge slot. That way you can play any game without the use of an adapter.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCC-fxMCKuM

I still want to visit this place in real life see the signs in person.

[SlipperySlope]

If anyone hasn't played Crystalis, that follows these game's gameplay style a bit and is a blast too.

A little more traditional, but the gameplay is similar.

[Zoe]

If its anything like the JP carts that didnt have the small gaps in the back for NA SNES systems, you can just get a flathead screwdriver and gently hammer down the two tabs inside the SNES' cartridge slot. That way you can play any game without the use of an adapter.

Wouldn't PAL be an issue?

[Hamplin]

I always mix this title up with Skyblazer, which is an awesome game. Never really got into Soul Blazer. Go lured in here.

[Teknoman]

Wouldn't PAL be an issue?

Oh right the whole video format thing. I know it worked just fine with the JP carts I used to have, but I guess that would be an issue.

[Manmademan]

Terranigma is one of those cases where just emulating the damned game is outright justifiable.

It's been what- 16 years with no US release, despite the game being localized into english at release? What are they waiting for- my grandkids to be old enough to play it?

I always mix this title up with Skyblazer, which is an awesome game. Never really got into Soul Blazer. Go lured in here.

ha! I forgot about that game. That was one of the only Sony Imagesoft games made for the SNES, wasn't it? Not bad, but a totally different animal than SoulBlazer.

[Baron Aloha]

Played all 3. Soul Blazer is my favorite. Quintet is one of my favorite developers of all time. There was something magical about their games from the SNES era. Nearly all are timeless classics.

[TheShampion]

Soul Blazer blew my mind as a small child. It was the only video game that dealt with the emotional consequences of death, how to deal with mortality, reincarnation, and stuff that other media I was consuming barely mentioned, or dealt with in a immature manner. Soundtrack is amazing too. Soul Blazer remains as one of my all time favorite games.

I never got to play the other two games in the trilogy and don't have a lot of time/money to track the down. I really hope somebody releases them digitally one day.

[InfiniDragon]

Looking back on it. Unreal story telling for an SNES game. I can't think of a single other game at the time that did something as powerful and heart warming as this scene...

Will and Kara is still to this very day, the undisputed best video game romance I've ever seen. the writing in that game was just so good. The last line Kara says to Will about "burning his image into her memory" evoked such a strong response in me I nearly cried when I first played the game.

Oh and for me, the ranking is:

Illusion of Gaia/Time (one of my top 3 games ever) > Soul Blazer (music is too good) > Granstream Saga > Terranigma (because of that ending).

[The Foul]

Amazing games, still got my AUSPAL Illusion of Time & Terranigma carts from back in the day. My fondest memory of Terranigma was beating the first 5 "dungeons" on the first map & then thinking the game was over, having played for hours upon hours. Little did I know that was only 1/100th of the adventure & it just explodes from there into one of the best games the snes had.

[Kientin]

Only played the beginning of Soul Blazer. I've played through Illusion of Gaia a couple times and managed to get all the red jewels as a kid, was so excited when I got them all. Like a previous poster I played through a good chunk of Terranigma and loved what I played. I got up to the part where you voted for one of the two candidates. Probably the part that got me the most is when I went to the animals after bringing the humans back to find out that I couldn't speak to them anymore. Real great stuff. I can't remember why I stopped though and it was a shame I did.

Easily my favorite song in IoG. Is powerful stuff and really sucked me into the game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOCZMaiYQzs

Pretty much all Quintet games I've played were the bomb back in the SNES days to me. I loved Robotrek and Actraiser as well.

[Dylan]

These games are kind of like the Wes Anderson movies of jRPGs. They don't do everything right per se, but they are so unlike any other game that the experience tends to stick with you. Illusion of Gaia in particular really treads on some thematic waters that was completely unexpected out of an SNES game.

[Duress]

^^^
This tune stuck to me, from Illusion of Gaia.

edit lol guess I wasn't the only one

[Fularu]

If its anything like the JP carts that didnt have the small gaps in the back for NA SNES systems, you can just get a flathead screwdriver and gently hammer down the two tabs inside the SNES' cartridge slot. That way you can play any game without the use of an adapter.

That wouldn't work, and it stopped working on later SFC carts (you get a blank screen in FF6 during the ending with a US SNES).

Soul Blazer was my first SNES game, at a time when I was deeply into the Amiga scene, I played it in black and white because I had a US SNES and my 1084S Screen was PAL only, I still finished it (despite the various color puzzles that I couldn't figure out at the time and got through sheer dedication/luck). That game (and the music, god that underwater level... so so nice) blew my mind.

[SlipperySlope]

Terranigma is one of those cases where just emulating the damned game is outright justifiable. It's been what- 16 years with no US release, despite the game being localized into english at release? What are they waiting for- my grandkids to be old enough to play it? ha! I forgot about that game. That was one of the only Sony Imagesoft games made for the SNES, wasn't it? Not bad, but a totally different animal than SoulBlazer.

We're treading on thin waters here (emulation talk and all), but for Terranigma, I see absolutely no harm in emulating it. It's not that we're stealing, it's that Enix doesn't want to give us the opportunity to buy it. Which I would if it were on Virtual Console.

[BassForever]

My prrrrrecioussssssssss........

I'm super jealous, I really wish I owned this game I really wish it got a US release

[Dark Schala]

I miss Quintet so much. They were my favourite dev studio when I was little.

I own the Japanese version of Terranigma, and the NA NTSC versions of Illusion of Gaia and Soul Blazer. Terranigma is probably my favourite out of the three, but I have a huge fondness for Illusion of Gaia/Time, just because it was my first and it made me interested in a lot of architecture and historical structures around the world. I guess it fuelled my love and desire for games that twist history a little like Illusion of Gaia and Shadow Hearts do.

Soul Blazer doesn't get a lot of props, but I love the music so so so much.
Into the Dream
Leo's Laboratory
Dazzling Space
Lostside Marsh
Magridd Castle
Seabed of St. Elles

Terranigma's my favourite out of the three because I felt like it was a cohesive package (though I guess the combat might need a few adjustments to emphasize magic's usefulness), and the narrative was great. The town-building was fun, though for a few towns' cases, it felt like a double-edged sword at times. Not to sound odd, but that game made me question my decisions to build the towns up for certain reasons...

[Like the hat?]

Illusion of Gaia is my second favorite video game after Suikoden II

That being said, something about IoG is kind of depressing. I always feel it most in Angel Village and Mu.

Own Soul Blazer, IoG (with the t-shirt!), and Granstream Saga, but no Terranigma :(

I also own Robotrek which is another great little Quintet game

[Zornica]

I have all 4 games on my desk right now, I even have Illusion of Gaia (US version) and Illusion of Time (french version, still shrinkwrapped). Unfortunately I have no way of playing my french copy of Terranigma (still sealed too) since I lack the proper adapter to use it on my US SNES :(

could you do me a favor and take a picture of that? It has been far to long since I last saw a sealed copy of a legendary game.

sadly (or luckily), I only own terranigma (at least it's the big box version with the game guide). Up to this date it's my favorit snes game ever.
Still, I'd love to try the other two too.

[Schnei871]

Illusion of Gaia is my second favorite video game after Suikoden II That being said, something about IoG is kind of depressing. I always feel it most in Angel Village and Mu. Own Soul Blazer, IoG (with the t-shirt!), and Granstream Saga, but no Terranigma :( I also own Robotrek which is another great little Quintet game

Robotrek is another great SNES game along with the Lufia series

IoG is a really sad game! The golden ship, Seth, the slaves in Freejia, Lily, Hamlet! to only name a few All for the amazing moments at the end

[InfiniDragon]

Seabed of St. Elles

One of my all time favorite video game songs.

I also own Robotrek which is another great little Quintet game

Robotrek was also awesome, you too get the above image.

[GSR]

Illusion of Gaia is my second favorite video game after Suikoden II That being said, something about IoG is kind of depressing. I always feel it most in Angel Village and Mu.

I agree - IoG does have a sort of melancholy feel to it throughout. Still, that's not a bad thing - it's actually quite remarkable.

This thread is giving me the itch to go replay Terranigma. God bless the SNES9x Wii port; these games will always be on the TV in my mind (though I would have been all over a DS port.)

[Enk]

Nice thread coincidence! I've been playing Terranigma and Soul Blazer back to back this past couple of weeks.

I do have one question though: Wouldn't Actraiser be part of the Soul Blazer series as well since it shares more in common with that game than the other two?

Also you could probably include Ys V into this series as well since it's more in the vein of these games than it was with its own series.

[Instro]

I really liked what I played of Robotrek, but then I remember getting stuck on a boss or something and I ended up quitting. I quite sure I was pretty far in the game too.

Robotrek is another great SNES game along with the Lufia series IoG is a really sad game! The golden ship, Seth, the slaves in Freejia, Lily, Hamlet! to only name a few All for the amazing moments at the end

After putting it off for so long I actually started the first Lufia game recently.

Nice thread coincidence! I've been playing Terranigma and Soul Blazer back to back this past couple of weeks. I do have one question though: Wouldn't Actraiser be part of the Soul Blazer series as well since it shares more in common with that game than the other two? Also you could probably include Ys V into this series as well since it's more in the vein of these games than it was with its own series.

Well I think Quintet themselves said that those three were a trilogy, also "Blazer" is directly mentioned in IoG.

[Fularu]

could you do me a favor and take a picture of that? It has been far to long since I last saw a sealed copy of a legendary game.

Sure





The years haven't been too kind on the plastic sealing Illusion of time, but the box itself is still factory sealed (you can see the Nintendo sticker).

[InfiniDragon]

I do have one question though: Wouldn't Actraiser be part of the Soul Blazer series as well since it shares more in common with that game than the other two?

Though not technically considered part of the series, Actraiser is in the same universe and canon. The Master is the same deity present in Soul Blazer that gives Blazer his sword and his mission.

[CTLance]

Y'know what's really good? Some of the arranged tracks in Light and Darkness

This ends far too quickly! I demand my money back. This is an outrage etc

Made me tear up a bit. Need to play this now. I hate you.

[Reknoc]

Oh yea, how could I forget The Way Home

This thread is making me want to carry on my playthrough. Zuu is kinda eeh, but the area after it is even worse (stupid-ass lion).

[Night_Trekker]

Hardcore Gaming 101 says The Grandstream Saga is connected to the Soul Blazer series (or I remember reading that in one of their articles at one time), but I don't agree. There aren't many similarities between TGS and the other games in the series. (I do, however, like TGS. It's a good, if not great, action RPG. First game soundtrack I ever bought, too.)

I think my favorite of the SB series is Terranigma (one of the SNES's best games), followed by Soul Blazer (obviously an early SNES title, but it's filled with cool ideas and a solid game overall) and then Illusion of Gaia. IoG has never really appealed to me all that strongly, and I don't know why. I have yet to play more than a few hours of it, but I've tried more than once to get into it.

SE needs to re-release Terrangima for purchase. I'm gifting it to a few people when I have the option.

[Grampasso]

yep this was painfull,iirc you even had to be a jerk and betray the escaped slaves to get one of the red gems but at least the pal version came with this awesome guide so it wasn't much of a problem

Blazer was strong, but you're stronger!

[Jucksalbe]

Ahh, now you guys made me look for Soul Blazer. The cartridge must have one of the laziest "artwork" I've seen on a SNES game. I remember going to a video game store as a kid and asking for something similar to Illusion of Time. They showed me Soul Blazer and even let me play the first bit, for some reason I didn't buy it and chose something else. 20 years later and I still regret that decision.

Edit: Bought it.

Terranigma is probably my favourite out of the three, but I have a huge fondness for Illusion of Gaia/Time, just because it was my first and it made me interested in a lot of architecture and historical structures around the world. I guess it fuelled my love and desire for games that twist history a little like Illusion of Gaia and Shadow Hearts do.

I guess without Illusion of Time I still wouldn't know what Angkor Wat or the Nazca lines are. The only thing most other RPGs taught me is a way too deep English vocabulary of anything weapon related, well, and knowledge about every kind of mythical creatures.

[Grassy]

I just spent a few hours today playing Illusion of Gaia for the first time despite owning it for 10 years or so, as this thread convinced me to finally give it a go. It's so fucking good, it's a great experience to be playing this as a "new" game in this generation and almost 20 years after it first came out.

[Grampasso]

All three games left a large impression upon me. It's been a very long time since I last touched Soul Blazer itself, but I try and set aside some time once every few years to play through Illusion of Gaia/Time & Terranigma. I suppose my fascination for ancient civilizations, mythology, history, and geography helped blossom my love of the games in to complete adoration. I'm going to gush and start listing some great memories that have stayed with me through both games: - Discovering the "hidden" Itory Village and letting that beautiful song repeat itself over and over, before heading in to the Incan Ruins. I already loved the stories of the Incas during my childhood, so it was pretty awesome to run through some places that "represented" them in an obscure game back when Japanese RPGs weren't that popular. - Getting on to the Incan gold ship, only to be then cast adrift with nothing but Kara to accompany Will. Some people hate that section but I've always loved it for its change of pace. - Checking out Neil's place and then visiting the Nazca Plains where you begin to see spirits while this beauty of a track plays. - Heading up to Sky Garden. For some reason the pretty greenery always reminds me of Bomberman. - The only cool thing about Mu is its mythological ties represented by an underwater palace (how cool!?) and the name. I used to hate it because those vampires would always kill me and they were shits. - Ankor Wat! Such awesome music. Shame they couldn't spell it properly. - That ending music, with Will and Kara standing upon the comet looking down at the blue marble. Whenever I throw it on I have to let it repeat itself several times before I change the tune. - The entire opening. The second half being the best. - Heading outside of the house you start in for the first time and letting the music wash over you as you marvel at the floating bubbles. I must have spent several hours running around in Crysta doing absolutely nothing just so I could hear the music. Throwing pumpkins in to the river, stirring up the chickens, playing hopscotch with the kids, running laps around the village continuously. Too much time. - Meeting Yomi for the first time while everyone freezes over mysteriously, only to be yelled at and commanded to head out to the towers. Anyone who didn't feel intimidated in the Underworld, complete with its weird mirrored sky, is lying. - Resurrecting the continents and then being thrust on to the Overworld despite its barren and empty appearance at first. It was like a brand new game shoved on to your lap. - For some reason I really love the Ra Tree dungeon. Maybe it's such a welcome change of pace and colour compared to what the Towers were. Having kick ass music probably helped, though no one can dispute those haunting tunes in the Towers. - Having to tumble through mountains and cliffs to resurrect the birds and grabbing those sharp claws to become the crab version of Spiderman. - Gaia had Mu, Terranigma has Zue. What a shitfest. I have no reason why I dislike it. - Heading in to Louran was always cool. Best usage of zombies before they re-exploded in to popularity 15 years later. - Walking through Norfest Forest and discovering the carbon copy of Crysta. - Seeing towns everywhere and knowing that your actions later in-game will allow them to expand in to cities. Not only that, but you could pimp an apartment up just for yourself! - Rescuing Columbus and unlocking ship usage around the globe. Fuck you, Bloody Mary. - Seeing the (secretly resurrected) Mu again during an exploration, only to sigh at the relief that there are no vampires. - Killing off old mate Dr Beruga in the labs in Russia and then defeating Dark Gaia, only to experience the bittersweet ending complete with a tiny dash of the Crysta theme kicking in at the very end. Was it all a dream? But yes, the music helped play a large role in the appreciation and certainly helps the nostalgia boost itself. So awesome.

Also, how the fuck are you supposed to save the ill girl? I never understood how ç_ç

[limaCAT]

Save for two things I prefer Terranigma over Illusion of Gaia, the first being the original japanese box , the design of it it's simply perfect... the second being...

... this little heroic motherfucker. qq

[7threst]

I just spent a few hours today playing Illusion of Gaia for the first time despite owning it for 10 years or so, as this thread convinced me to finally give it a go. It's so fucking good, it's a great experience to be playing this as a "new" game in this generation and almost 20 years after it first came out.

You know, this post makes me want to forget everything about Terranigma and IoT and go in blank. But I can't :(