The good and the evil are the two sides of humanity, existing as a duality, with compassion and cruelty on display in equal measure. In Illusion of Gaia however, the good and evil aren't simply a plucky band of adventurers versus a tyrannical entity, there is no Kefka here to hate. There is often a struggle at the core of many JRPGs between good and evil, this is nothing new. Where the dialogue sometimes comes across a little clunky, the themes in Illusion of Gaia are strong.
Here is where Ohara's writing really shines in Illusion of Gaia. Her work The Heart of Thomas (1973-1975) is considered one of the earliest examples of Boys Love manga, stories pairing beautiful boys together in oft tragic romance. Hagio is the mother of modern shojo manga, or manga intended for a young female audience. In addition to Ohara, Quintet reached out to manga author Moto Hagio for the character designs. Ohara gained notoriety in Japan for her novel Hybrid Child, released just before Illusion of Gaia, and has won countless science fiction prizes since then. The developer brought in well-known science fiction writer Mariko Ohara to pen the script for Illusion of Gaia. In Illusion of Gaia, the player is being reminded that this is Earth and is expected to remember that as they play.Īlso noteworthy is the person who wrote the story for Illusion of Gaia, as it was another move by Quintet to think outside the box. While games like Star Ocean or Tales of Phantasia took technological and architectural inspiration from the real world, the player is not supposed to make a direct comparison.
For a fantasy RPG to be so grounded in real world geography was an interesting choice at the time. The game features Incan ruins, the Great Pyramid of Giza, Angkor Wat, the Great Wall of China, the Tower of Babel, and a host of cities meant to evoke certain regions of the world. Illusion of Gaia's story is unique in that it takes place on a semi-fictional version of Earth. RELATED: Why Final Fantasy 5 and 6 Deserve the Remake Treatment By and large, the game delivers a well-paced and quirky tale, that goes to some dark places thematically, with simple action RPG mechanics that keeps combat fast and fun. With Final Fantasy 6 already release looming in Japan, and so many great SNES RPGs available, Illusion of Gaia had a tight window to impress. Secret of Mana's successful launch months before Illusion of Gaia's release showed that Action RPGs had appeal. Dragon Quest 5 and Final Fantasy 5 had shipped the year prior, to critical acclaim and multi-million unit sales. Illusion of Gaia arrived on the Super Famicom (SNES) in November of 1993, right in the middle of a number of huge releases.
With so many storied developers releasing excellent work, when the small studio Quintet created Illusion of Gaia for Enix, it seemed that another quality franchise was on its way, yet somehow success never materialized for Quintet.
Other franchises like Star Ocean and the Tales series got their start in the 1990s as well, providing the major franchises with some competition. While series like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest debuted in the 80s, entries on the Super Nintendo solidified them as bonafide hits. A number of well-known Japanese RPG franchises got their start, or really found their footing, in the 1990s.