History Videogame / IllusionOfGaia

* ArtInitiatesLife: Inverted; [[spoiler: Ishtar's paintings trap people inside them]].

* DefiantToTheEnd: [[spoiler:Even as he burns to death, the Jackal never stops trying to kill Kara until the bitter end.]]
* DefrostingIceQueen: Kara, who gains a great deal of humility the longer she spends away from the castle.

* {{Expy}}: The Flasher enemies that appear in Mu are pretty much identical to the Wizzrobe enemies in the [[TheLegendofZelda Legend of Zelda]] series, attack pattern and all.

* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: You have no choice but to be thrown into King Edward's dungeon for not having the Crystal Ring. [[spoiler: Turns out Will might have avoided that if he'd just [[ItWasWithYouAllAlong taken a closer look at his flute.]]]]

* RebelliousPrincess: Kara.

* HealingHerbs: The game's only healing item. Not to be used lightly, since there's a strictly limited number of them in the entire game.

* BittersweetEnding: As foreshadowed earlier in the game, [[spoiler: the comet's light has an unnatural effect on the evolution of the planet ''itself''. By defeating Dark Gaia, Will and Kara stop the cycle of destruction, [[NoOntologicalInertia enabling the world to assume its proper shape]] (real-life, modern-day Earth of the 1990s). Will and Kara go there to live new lives, with no memory of their adventures or feelings for each other.]] Happily, [[spoiler: Will and Kara vow before returning to Earth to find each other - and the final scene of the game shows Will, Kara, Lance, Erik, and even Seth together again, in a modern-day school.]]

* InstrumentOfMurder: Will's flute. In the pyramid, [[spoiler: it sets off a sound-sensitive trap that reduces The Jackal to a flaming corpse and charred skeleton.]]
* InventoryManagementPuzzle: Will can carry no more than sixteen items, and as you fill those slots with precious, finite Herbs, freeing up space for new quest items gets tricky late in the game. The 50 Red Jewels seem like a headache waiting to happen, but forunately they can be sent off to the Jeweler at any time.

** Lilly celebrates her 15th birthday at one point in the game, so it can be assumed that the ages of the other kids are in that area. Eric is likely the youngest, and Will is just a tad taller, so possibly older.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Angkor Wat is spelled 'Ankor Wat' in the game.

* PutOnABus: Seth, who disappears abruptly when a giant sea creature attacks the Ghost Ship. He does reappear briefly later on, but in dialogue only, [[spoiler: as he transformed into the same creature that sank the ship]]. Eventually, [[spoiler: all the characters [[leave the party forever, and only Will and Kara see the quest through to its end]].

* PutOnABus: Seth, who disappears abruptly when a giant sea creature attacks the Ghost Ship. He does reappear briefly later on, but in dialogue only, [[spoiler: as he transformed into the same creature that sank the ship]]. Eventually, [[spoiler: all the characters leave the party forever, and only Will and Kara see the quest through to its end]].

* RoyalBrat: Thankfully, Kara [[CharacterDevelopment grows]] out of it.

** The RainbowText also works like this with character speech. For example, Kara, who wears pink, speaks in pink text, and Lance, whose outfit is green, has green text. Lilly and Erik have blue and yellow text, respectively.

* MysteriousMercenaryPursuer: The Jackal chases Will throughout the game, [[spoiler: but only shows up once near the end]].

* PlatformingPocketPal: Lily's dandelion transformation ability lets her take cover in dungeons by hiding in Will's pocket.

* BittersweetEnding: As foreshadowed earlier in the game, [[spoiler: the comet's light has an unnatural effect on the evolution of the planet ''itself''. By defeating Dark Gaia, Will and Kara stop the cycle of destruction, [[NoOntologicalInertia enabling the world to assume its proper shape]] (real-life, modern-day Earth of the 1990s). Will and Kara go there to live new lives, with no memory of their adventures or feelings for each other.]] Happily, [[spoiler: Will and Kara vow before returning to Earth to find each other - and the final scene of the game shows Will, Kara, Lance, Erik, and even Seth together again.]]

* RainbowSpeak: Every named character speaks in a text color different from the default blue-white text, as do a few nameless, but prominent, characters.

''Illusion of Gaia'' describes its setting as the "age of exploration". In practice, it's that special blend of MedievalEuropeanFantasy and VictorianBritain that {{Eastern RPG}}s are fond of mixing up, with an extra dash of the Victorian plus an emphasis on [[LandmarkOfLore Landmarks of Lore]] and explorers. The father of [[KidHero Will]], is one such explorer. Father and son went on an expedition to [[TheTower the Tower]] [[TowerOfBabel of Babel]], but a ''completely mysterious something'' went wrong and only Will made it back home. How, he doesn't know, but it did awaken his psychic potential, whatever it was.

Aside from the ESP, Will is an [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent ordinary schoolboy]]. At least, he is until the day he meets two people - Gaia, the [[CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers spirit of the earth...]] er, [[MotherNature "source of all life"]], and Kara, a [[RebelliousPrincess runaway princess]]. Before long, Will is on the run from Kara's sovereign parents and trying to stop a [[CometOfDoom doomsday comet]] under Gaia's direction, all while trying to reunite with his missing father. Will's [[TheHerosJourney journey]] takes him through an assortment of (16-bit renditions of) real-world sites, such as [[{{Mayincatec}} Macchu Picchu]], the [[AncientAstronauts Nazca lines]], [[TempleOfDoom Angkor Wat]], the [[FarEast Great Wall of China]], and [[PyramidPower Egyptian pyramids]].

** Lilly acts as an [[ExpositionFairy Exposition Fairy]] of sorts during [[ThatOneLevel Mu]]. Not so much in The Great Wall.

* EverythingsEvenWorseWithSharks: There is a tense moment with a school of sharks during the shipwreck, but it turns out that [[ImNotHungry they're not hungry]].

* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: It turns out that [[spoiler:the approaching comet grants humanity amazing power, causing them to be driven mad and change into demons]].

* AdvertisedExtra: The descriptions and marketing of the game, and even the ''instruction manual'', makes it sound like Lance, Eric and Seth had larger roles in the game than they actually do.

* AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield: Serves as the site of the endgame...

* ArtInitiatesLife: Inverted; [[spoiler:Ishtar's paintings trap people inside them]].
* ArtisticLicenseBiology: The game states that [[spoiler:the way the comet causes rapid evolution is by speeding up time, so that the organisms mutate faster. However, organisms cannot evolve, only populations -- once your chromosomes combine, you're stuck with that DNA. Granted, this ''could'' potentially work if it was ''mutating'' the organisms, similar to radiation, which is probably what was originally meant. Of course, in that case, it would not be the biological superweapon the spirits claim it to be, since it's extremely rare for radiation to result in positive mutations.]]

* BittersweetEnding: As foreshadowed earlier in the game, [[spoiler:the comet's light has an unnatural effect on the evolution of the planet ''itself''. By defeating Dark Gaia, Will and Kara stop the cycle of destruction, [[NoOntologicalInertia enabling the world to assume its proper shape]] (real-life, modern-day Earth of the 1990s). Will and Kara go there to live new lives, with no memory of their adventures or feelings for each other.]] Happily, [[spoiler: Will and Kara vow before returning to Earth to find each other - and the final scene of the game shows Will, Kara, Lance, Erik, and even Seth together again.]]

* BonusBoss: Solid Arm, a.k.a. Metal Mantis, the first boss from ''SoulBlazer'', [[spoiler:the true form of Gem the Jeweler.]]

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: To say that [[spoiler:Rolek]] engages in shady activities is to say that the ocean is damp. That said, it may be because [[spoiler:Neil's parents were replaced with demons]].

* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: [[spoiler: Hamlet]], then later [[spoiler:Jackal]], both of which get ''burned alive''. The latter's is particularly gruesome.

* GeniusLoci: The game appears to subscribe the the Gaia Hypothesis concept of the Earth as a living organism. [[spoiler:Organisms exposed the the comet's light mutate, and the Earth is no exception. This ends up being the explanation for why the game world is unlike the real Earth.]]

* HeroicSacrifice / SomeoneHasToDie: [[spoiler:Hamlet the pig allows himself to be cooked and eaten so a village doesn't have to starve.]]

* MysteriousMercenaryPursuer: The Jackal chases Will throughout the game, [[spoiler:but only shows up once near the end]].
* OneOfTheseDoorsIsNotLikeTheOther: In some areas, there appears to be no door at all, but paying careful attention to [[spoiler:the wind, or else the sound made by striking]] reveals the secret.

* OrganicTechnology: The endgame reveals that [[spoiler:the comet is a LostSuperWeapon created by an ancient civilization that mastered biotechnology and altered organisms to suit their needs. Shadow is another one of their products.]]

* PutOnABus: Seth, who disappears abruptly when a giant sea creature attacks the Ghost Ship. He does reappear briefly later on, but in dialogue only, [[spoiler: as he transformed into the same creature that sank the ship]]. Eventually, [[spoiler:all the characters leave the party forever, and only Will and Kara see the quest through to its end]].
* PsychicPowers: Will's friends make a big deal out of his telekinetic powers early on. He also has some sort of ill-defined, seldom used predictive power [[spoiler:that serves as a red flag in the Russian Glass game, and makes whatever wire you pick to disarm a bomb automatically correct]].

* ReincarnationRomance: [[spoiler:Will and Kara, apparently.]]

* RussianRoulette: The Russian Glass game. [[spoiler:Your opponent is [[DeathSeeker playing to lose]].]]

* ShowDontTell: During the raft sequence; [[spoiler:rather than show us exactly why [[RomanticPlotTumor Will suddenly falls in love with Kara]], what he sees in her, etc., we're simply told that he "realized he had feelings for [her]". That's pretty much all we have to go on their romance.]]
** Gaia even ''lampshades'' that despite how close they became over the course of their adventure, neither of them found anything interesting about each other at first, and they shouldn't be so obsessive about it. [[spoiler:They find each other on the restored Earth, and though they are presumably happy together, it's doubtful they'll ever realize the relevance of it.]]

* TheUnfought: [[spoiler:Jackal.]]

''Illusion of Gaia'' describes its setting as the "age of exploration". In practice, it's that special blend of MedievalEuropeanFantasy and VictorianBritain that {{Eastern RPG}}s are fond of mixing up, with an extra dash of the Victorian plus an emphasis on [[LandmarkOfLore Landmarks of Lore]] and explorers. The father of our KidHero, Will, is one such explorer. Father and son went on an expedition to [[TheTower the Tower]] [[TowerOfBabel of Babel]], but a ''completely mysterious something'' went wrong and only Will made it back home. How, he doesn't know, but it did awaken his psychic potential, whatever it was.

* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: [[spoiler: Hamlet]], then later [[spoiler:Jackal]], both of which get ''burned alive''. The latter's is [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel particularly gruesome]].

* PsychicPowers: Will's friends make a big deal out of his telekinetic powers early on. He also has some sort of ill-defined, seldom used predictive power [[spoiler:that serves as a red flag in the Russian Glass game]].

An ActionAdventure game with RPGElements for the SuperNintendo, developed by Quintet. Enix (now SquareEnix) published the game in Japan, and Nintendo published it worldwide, with release dates of November, 1993 (Japan); September, 1994 (North America). It was released in Europe in April, 1995 [[MarketBasedTitle under the title]] ''[[MarketBasedTitle Illusion of Time]]''. The game revolves around the adventures of Will, a boy with PsychicPowers who winds up having to SaveTheWorld from an ancient evil that wiped out the legendary civilizations of the past. The game never met the levels of success that ''SecretOfMana'' or ''ChronoTrigger'' did, probably because it is short, but it is still well-remembered by many.

* ShowDontTell: A particularly egregious example during the raft sequence; [[spoiler:rather than show us exactly why [[RomanticPlotTumor Will suddenly falls in love with Kara]], what he sees in her, etc., we're simply told that he "realized he had feelings for [her]". That's pretty much all we have to go on their romance.]]
** To be fair, he ''spent a month on a raft'' with her. During that time, he (and the player) were shown more of her character, including some intelligence and a softer side. Will even says that, after the time Kara's spent away from the castle, she could probably pass herself off as "one of the island girls".
*** Gaia even ''lampshades'' that despite how close they became over the course of their adventure, neither of them found anything interesting about each other at first, and they shouldn't be so obsessive about it. [[spoiler:They find each other on the restored Earth, and though they are presumably happy together, it's doubtful they'll ever realize the relevance of it.]]

** According to shark experts, contrary to the movie "Jaws," sharks tend avoid humans rather than attack them. The rare incidents of shark attacks are due to cases of mistaken identity. Flapping around like a helpless seal is probably not a good idea considering that sharks have very bad eyesight. Oh, sharks also react to blood so you might want to check that too.

* DwindlingParty: Will's group grows to six members at some points, but they leave one or two at a time as the game nears its conclusion.

* InventoryManagementPuzzle: You can carry a total of only sixteen items, the majority of which are generally Herbs and Red Jewels. Unfortunately, not all items can be discarded [[IrrelevantImportance even after they're no longer necessary]], so good luck making space for the tablets you acquire in the Pyramid. Fortunately, the last problem can be overcome by putting individual tablets in their place as you get them, rather than waiting until you have all six. It's just a little more [[{{Padding}} time-consuming.]]
** Red Jewels can be used to send them off to Gem the Jeweler, even from the middle of dungeons. And herbs are in such finite supply that you'll have a very hard time cluttering your inventory to the point of using it up.
*** Additionally, the plot at one point actually requires you to look in your inventory and read a letter that one of your friends has snuck into it, in order to advance to the next area. Of course, this happens while you're wandering around a town and have [[GuideDangIt no practical reason]] to be checking your inventory.

* LostForever: Even though most of the adventure takes place on the same continent, you have to FollowThePlottedLine and (with few exceptions) can't return to ''anywhere'' once you've left it; anything you failed to inspect or pick up (namely, those Red Jewels) is LostForever.
** Only until you get to the (possibly) Eurasian continent. Before then, you can't go back to any of the dungeons you've completed, and have to move on ahead. But once you leave that tunnel and enter the Angel village, you can finally skip something and go back for it. (With the exception of the very last jewel, however.)
** Easily the ''worst'' example has to be the Red Jewel outside the house where you wind up after your shipwreck misadventure. The window to get that jewel is miniscule, as you can't return to that house after leaving for Freejia. This is despite the fact that there is NO story or gameplay reason why you shouldn't be able to do so, at least not before leaving for the Nazca plain and Sky Garden.
*** The [[BehindTheBlack hidden guard]] at Edward Castle is almost as bad -- you have to talk to him ''before'' going to the king and getting thrown in prison, as he'll be asleep later on.

* MessageInABottle: Will and Kara find one...while adrift at sea themselves.
** You eventually get a chance to help the people who wrote the note when you storm the Diamond Mine and set them free. In return, they give you a healing song (for Lance's memories).

* BackgroundBoss: [[spoiler:Dark Gaia. Its first form actually appears on the ground under your feet!]]