Illusion of Gaia is a game made by Enix that hit shelves for the SNES in North America in 1994. Enix was available for a number of games before it's merger with Squaresoft, including one I have reviewed prior in The 7th Saga. This game is not that tough or that unforgiving so you won't see much in the way of comparisons anyway to it. However that doesn't mean it doesn't have it's downsides and doesn't have it's own positives which it does. Those are below!
Positives:
1. Graphics- Enix had a lot of games on the SNES and those are all very graphically well done. This game is the same way, from any dungeons, the map, sprites on the screen, to the details of anything all make this a really well done game on the graphics aspect.
2. Different stories- Each character has it's own story and its own progression in that story. The main one is Will, who is trying to find his father and become what he was. But every non-playable character also has their own story as well. It's one of the cool parts to this game and is one of the lasting thoughts of the game as well, the friendships made in this game.
3. Will's story- Will is the main protagonist in the game, and so his story is told for everyone to see. He does well for a protagonist who switches to different characters in different dungeons and that is something of a change. You could consider it a new job class but he is allowed to do this and it is very beneficial to the player overall.
4. The story itself- Aside from the characters own stories the story itself is one that is really, really amazing. What starts out as you getting thrown in a jail in a kingdom opens itself up in a large, large way. You go a lot of places, meet a lot of friends and find out a lot about all the characters families. They also help others. I will also say a couple of the parts of the game there should be a trigger warning, but you could easily figure out what those are when you get to that point.
5. Music- Enix, along with Squaresoft, had games that just did well with music. I love the open world map music here, town music, castle and dungeon music. It's all very well incorporated into the story and everything plays a good, major role here.
6. Difficulty- This game isn't unforgiving like The 7th Saga, but isn't too easy like that of FFIV. You experience, especially for a first time game player, some difficulty with bosses. However the main thing is it has a lot of strategy you have to encounter with bosses, so it is a fun game from that perspective.
Negatives:
1. Jewels- I feel the only major downside of this game is the jewels you collect. There are 50 to collect and to be honest, some are hidden. In my playthrough of it I relied on a guide to help me out on it. Otherwise if you don't, you'll miss a lot of them. I felt if they had done more with this to make it a bit easier, they would have been better off.
Overall Rating/Rank
Illusion of Gaia is a really well made game by Enix for the Super Nintendo. The game has a lot of depth, a lot of great storylines, a great story within itself. The music is fantastic, not too difficult while also having a lot of strategy involved. I feel this was a game that I almost didn't appreciate the first time I played it as much as I should. I feel when I play it again I will appreciate it more. It's a game that will do well with first time gamers of this and experienced players. I highly recommend Illusion of Gaia, I give it a 9.3 out of 10 and an overall ranking of 16th on the SNES platform.
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