Hi - And Some Site Ideas

[Limne]

So, I've been playing these games an awful lot lately and it's got me to thinking that there really ought to be more online resources for fans. When I look at how big a site Starmen.net is, I can't help but think that there ought to be something of a similar scale for these games. So, I went looking and it seems that this is the biggest Quintet fansite currently in operation.

Anyway, I've been thinking about features and it occurs to me that there really ought to be a region differences page. When I first saw the title screen for Gaia Gensouki (The Japanese Illusion of Gaia) I nearly fell out of my chair. Playing through the English version just recently I noticed how much the translation left to be desired and wondered what might have been obscured by the localization team. I know there's some interesting stuff in that regard for all these games.

So anyone else interested in this sort of thing? Frankly, I'm thinking that even a fan-retranslation patch would be an interesting possibility. I know enough Japanese myself to do some preliminary translation work if there's enough interest.

Ah, one other thing... Why is there nothing on this site relating to the ActRaiser games? People speak of a "Soul Blazer Trilogy," but to my knowledge, that's only ever really been an informal designation created by fans. As I understand it, each game is intended to be its own stand-alone non-sequitur story. What unites them is a strong sense of thematic unity; namely, a preoccupation with the evolution of human civilization and its resurrection after a catastrophic destruction event. And in that respect, ActRaiser is really no different than any other member of the trilogy; if anything, Actraiser has more in common with Soul Blazer than either does with Illusion of Gaia or Terranigma. So what are people's thought's on all this?

[inferiare]

Well, for the 'trilogy', it's more small things connecting the games (you fly over South Cape in Terranigma, Turbo the dog, and so on and so forth). ActRaiser is more of a "It's not connected to the series in the same way but SB and the two games after can be offshoots because of the same themes".

And plus, that's not our decision, that's ultimately boxxleman's decision since he's the one who owns the site.

Still, it's nice to see new faces around here.

[EverPhoenix]

welcome!
hope you enjoy yourself here.

and of course the games arent a directly related trilogy, but they share similar themes, easter-egg-like similarities, and are made by the same production team. good enough for us

[SoulBlazerFan]

Direct connections- Solid Arm, the first boss in SB, is a secret boss in IoG (or IoT, or GG, whatever you perfer). Collect all 50 GEMs in the game and you face off with him. Hell, should you beat him, he tells you you're stronger than the Blazer (Or Blader, as he is otherwise known).

Terrinigma has a secret area where you speak to the creators of the game- and they refer to the game as IoG 2. These factors alone constitute the reference of a trilogy- even if they don't have a continuing storyline. Hell, some directors make films that are part of a trilogy that have loose or no connections. I think that whacked out film Oldboy is part of a trilogy simply known as "The Revenge Trilogy." A famous horror director, whose name escapes me, has a trilogy called "Mother," and as far as I can tell, the films have no real connection other than the titles.

Hell, Matrix was a trilogy, and the last two films had nothing to do with the first.

Don't take me too seriously. Welcome to the site.

[Limne]

Certainly I’d agree that there’s a connection between Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma, but then, I’d also point out that the connection between Soul Blazer and ActRaiser is probably stronger. Namely, both game’s feature Tenkuu no Kami (God of the Sky) working to resurrect the world after a Mahou (Demon King; in this case, “Satan” and “Desutoru” in the originals) destroys it. In other words, both games feature the same scenario, the difference being that in Soul Blazer you play as God’s servant rather than God himself and that the “Mahou” have different names. Furthermore, Soul Blazer was released between ActRaisers 1 and 2 (in Japan), acting as a sort of Gaiden despite that some reviewers have gone as far as to think of it as a sequel (the sequel ActRaiser 2 should have been). Furthermore, ActRaiser and Soul Blazer have the same Director, Producer and Scenario Director (Masaya Hashimoto, Yasuyuki Sone, and Tomoyashi Miyazaki respectively).

Likewise, the thematic elements linking the game’s often thought of as a trilogy are also present in ActRaiser. Namely, there’s the preoccupation with the development of human civilization; as in Illusion of Gaia we see the presence of the Nazca drawings, the Egyptian Pyramids, Angkor Wat, and the Tower of Babel (ActRaiser 2) even if ActRaiser doesn’t name them as such directly. Likewise, there’s the interest in technology and invention; Just as Soul Blazer has it’s Dr. Leo, Illusion of Gaia it’s Neil and Terranigma it’s many geniuses, so too does ActRaiser see the development of fisheries, the compass, medicine, “wheat” (probably wet rice in the original), bridges, music, and woolen clothing. Most important of all, each game features its own interpretation of a common quest to recreate the world.

As I see it, all of this ought to suggest that ActRaiser has at least as much in common with these other Quintent titles as they have in common with each other… Besides, wouldn’t it sound better if it was the Quintet quintology? Of course, it’s not my say, not my site, I’m just saying that this is how I think of these games.

[Shiva Indis]

Welcome! I'm also really interested in retranslating IoG in particular, but I know Japanese and no programming.

Limne wrote:

Mahou (Demon King)

I think you mean maou?

I don't really believe in the trilogy... the terms for inclusion are kind of vague. Some people even make it a quadrilogy including Grandstream Saga, since it was co-developed by Quintet. And I bet that there are pretty good grounds for including Solo Crisis (I really should track that game down). Since SoulBlazerFan brought it up, to my recollection there was no mention of an "Illusion of Gaia 2" in Tenchi Souzou, just in Terranigma... but I can't remember what was in its place. I really should replay it...

It seems like Miyazaki and Hashimoto were the heart of Quintet. I expect that they have primary roles in all the Quintet games. That makes me want to go check.

Seems like I have a lot of homework suddenly.

[Limne]

Maou is right I must have gotten mixed up with "Mahoutsukai" (I've been trying to bumble my way through a Japanese copy of the Wizard of Oz for a while now). I don't think it would be too difficult to create a retranslation patch for Illusion of Gaia; to my knowledge the script isn't compressed data or anything. I've done stuff like this for NES games but even if I had the tools to deal with SNES ROMs I'd be fairly limited in what I could accomplish. Namely, the replacement text couldn't be any longer than the original for any given line. For someone who actually knows this stuff, I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult, especially with all the talented fans out there... Unless we wanted to change the Title Screen to show the animation from the Japanese version. That might be more difficult. It's something to think about anyway... I wonder if I could manage a text dump? In the meantime I'd like to see what other region differences there are between the different versions (Actually, until recently I had no idea it was "Illusion of Time" in Europe. Go figure.)

How is Grandstream Saga by the way? I don't usually take much notice of games after the 16-Bit era, but if it's any good I really should give it a look, just because it's from Quintet. Never even heard of Solo Crisis actually...

[Shiva Indis]

Maybe you had to be there at the time (1998) to enjoy Granstream Saga, I tried to play it 3 or 4 years ago and couldn't get into it. I understand that if you stick with it the difficulty level rises quickly. It didn't get very good reviews. Pretty cutscenes though - Production I.G.

Solo Crisis is a Quintet game on Saturn which seems to be a Populous-esque strategy game. You take the role of God - sounds like an Actraiser without the action bit, maybe?

[Jason Tandro]

Welcome to the forums, Limne. And yes, we pride ourselves on being the ultimate Soul Blazer Trilogy site and (let's face it) one of the coolest online communities. We're small in force, but big in spirit.

Now that that little bit of patriotic dribble is over, welcome to TerraEarth!

[tay120n64]

Welcome to the forums!

It's good to see someone with such a fascination with the series! Well, you've certainly found the right place to be!

[Metall Ark (XD®)]

Welcome to our forum.

This is very interesting what you write. Maybe we should find it out.

[NoZKeY]

A bit late but.. well
Welcome to TerraEarth!! Good idea to re-translate, its such a difficult task though...