Iron Gaia doesn’t start off too promising. The setting is like JRPG version of System Shock. The graphics are very workmanslike, with many default or borrowed sprites and many rooms are uninteresting open spaces. Then, it just gets better and better, and now it’s one of my favourite RP Gs.
The plotline truly asserts itself by the time you discover Garrety’s journal. There, Carter learns what he’s fighting for and changes from a confused survivor to a Good Is Not Nice protagonist. The many dialogues afterwards are (some misplaced pop culture references aside) well-written and interesting to read, and I always felt for the characters and understood what they were going through. It helps that Carter is very relatable and never feels disconnected from gameplay the way many protagonists are: his reaction to a locked Replicant Base entrance (“Are you guys missing simple pleasures like unlocked doors as much as I do?”) was exactly the way I felt during that scene. The plotline introduces further twists along the way, and remarkably, all are logical and foreshadowed. The increasingly heavy turn into supernatural near the end might appear jarring, but IG is still a technological setting first and foremost: remember that, and you’ll be spared the disappointing non-canon ending.
The turn-based combat itself doesn’t break new ground; what makes it stand out is the old-school survival horror difficulty. To put it simply, Iron Gaia is the first JPRG where I truly needed to use the "Flee" button: not because the enemies present were insurmountable per se, but because fighting would have drained more of my items and health/energy than I could afford to. You can save at any time (as long as you find the Strat-E-Mate terminal), but it never heals; once Rover is too drained of energy to heal, it’s paytime either at the auto-shops or at the regeneration chambers, and neither are cheap. It helps that nearly all enemies have skills and will use them often. This balance is held up perfectly until the difficulty plunges at the Gaia Core, but it’s still a unique experience until then. Early boss fights are somewhat disappointing, but latter ones are truly climactic showdowns, helped along by OST: it might not be theirs, but no other game has final boss fight set to Rammstein’s Engel, or first Alphus/Omegus fight to “Angels Deserve to Die” instrumentals.
VideoGame A patchwork gem
Iron Gaia doesn’t start off too promising. The setting is like JRPG version of System Shock. The graphics are very workmanslike, with many default or borrowed sprites and many rooms are uninteresting open spaces. Then, it just gets better and better, and now it’s one of my favourite RP Gs.
The plotline truly asserts itself by the time you discover Garrety’s journal. There, Carter learns what he’s fighting for and changes from a confused survivor to a Good Is Not Nice protagonist. The many dialogues afterwards are (some misplaced pop culture references aside) well-written and interesting to read, and I always felt for the characters and understood what they were going through. It helps that Carter is very relatable and never feels disconnected from gameplay the way many protagonists are: his reaction to a locked Replicant Base entrance (“Are you guys missing simple pleasures like unlocked doors as much as I do?”) was exactly the way I felt during that scene. The plotline introduces further twists along the way, and remarkably, all are logical and foreshadowed. The increasingly heavy turn into supernatural near the end might appear jarring, but IG is still a technological setting first and foremost: remember that, and you’ll be spared the disappointing non-canon ending.
The turn-based combat itself doesn’t break new ground; what makes it stand out is the old-school survival horror difficulty. To put it simply, Iron Gaia is the first JPRG where I truly needed to use the "Flee" button: not because the enemies present were insurmountable per se, but because fighting would have drained more of my items and health/energy than I could afford to. You can save at any time (as long as you find the Strat-E-Mate terminal), but it never heals; once Rover is too drained of energy to heal, it’s paytime either at the auto-shops or at the regeneration chambers, and neither are cheap. It helps that nearly all enemies have skills and will use them often. This balance is held up perfectly until the difficulty plunges at the Gaia Core, but it’s still a unique experience until then. Early boss fights are somewhat disappointing, but latter ones are truly climactic showdowns, helped along by OST: it might not be theirs, but no other game has final boss fight set to Rammstein’s Engel, or first Alphus/Omegus fight to “Angels Deserve to Die” instrumentals.
Score: 8/10.