TerraEarth's Destined Debate- The Greatest of 3

[Jason Tandro]

Okay, time to open the floodgates... what do you think is the greatest of all three Soul Blazer Trilogy games?

I'm gonna withhold my opinion for the time being, but I think everybody already knows my vote.

The key here is to explain why you feel this way.

[Freedan]

It's a close call between IoG and TN, but my vote goes to IoG.

TN's gameplay is more fluid, and there's much more to see and do. But IoG has a certain atmosphere to it that I don't think TN has.

IoG had a few stand-out moments to it that made me stop and think "did I really just see that?". When you first come to a slave camp where people are being sold, when you come across a village of people that have had to resort to cannibalism (and you find the bones of former villagers), or come across the bones of an explorer, then talk to his family who are waiting for him to come home.... these are all things that, up to this point, haven't been included in video games, let alone in a mature light.

And while you're exploring this slave camp or desolate village, this song is playing the whole time. It's creepy as hell as far as SNES tunes go.

IoG had its share of cliches, but it also had several of those gut-sinking moments where you feel like you've discovered some horrible, secret truth. TN, while still a fantastic game, didn't really have that.

[Jason Tandro]

That song is the first thing I think of when somebody mentions Illusion of Gaia. My favorite track from the game.

[EverPhoenix]

my vote goes hands-down to Terranigma.

First of all, it was the first RPG i ever played. So, because of that, it'll always have a special place in my heart. Secondly, I enjoyed the story a lot more. I never understood the story of Illusion of Gaia, and no one on TerraEarth could explain to me some of the things that i did not understand (namely, the significance of Kara, and why). As for Soulblazer, I never did see much of a storyline, or an attempt to explain why you were resurrecting towns one building at a time. They were all fun games, but only Terranigma seemed to give me a sense of purpose when playing it. Epic Spoilers Omitted

As further reasoning, I enjoyed the characters a lot more in Terranigma. Ark's personality was distinct, as was that of several of the other main characters. Not everyone had ideal character development, but it is unreasonable to expect so. In Illusion of Gaia, i found the character development to be minimal, and in Soulblazer, (correct me if I'm wrong) I don't recall anything of the sort.

Illusion of Gaia was very linear, with little in the way of sidequests that i could see. You couldn't go back to areas you had been before, and there was no free-roaming world map. Soulblazer didnt have a world map either, but it gave you the choice (well, technically it Wasn't a choice) of going back to previous areas. Terranigma, however, had an expansive world map, many bonus areas with varying usefulness, and a large amount of sidequests (although to be fair, most were similar in theme).

Finally... the music. Soulblazer had a grand total of about 8 tracks. None of them really stood out that much, although I do recall enjoying the Deathtoll battle theme. Illusion of Gaia had some interesting tunes in it, but Terranigma wins it for me. The Underworld Theme... enough said? Most of the areas had very fitting music, and the character themes are very well composed. It is one of the few games in which I enjoy listening to more than 5 of the tracks, when not playing the game.

Just to re-state my point in the conclusion, as I was taught in essay-writing... Terranigma FTW!

[Dark_Gaia]

Terranimga is linked with many childhood memories. for that reason its one of the best games ive ever played.

[tay120n64]

Real tough call here. Soul Blazer clearly has more well defined gameplay than Illusion of Gaia, but...

...the atmosphere...

For serious, though, Illusion of Gaia is one of the three most important games of my life (the others being Link's Awakening and King's Quest VI). Perhaps my vote is strictly subjective, but you know what, I DON'T CARE. I freaking love Illusion of Gaia: it's sights, its sounds, its stories, its locales, the graphics, the gameplay...

There may be a lot of ways it could be improved, but when I was eight years old in 1994, that game was PERFECT.

[EverPhoenix]

but you havent played terranigma

[chicken]

i never found a working german soul blazer ROM (and to be honest, i did not put much effort in finding one).

i did play IoG but when i was like half way through, i stopped. dunno why, i guess it just did not feel right.

with TN, its something completely different. TN was the first game i played on my SNES. i got the whole package: a huge box with the game and even the book all the solutions and pictures and whatsoever inside. but back then, i never got past the norfesta forest (i guess i was too dumb to use the book -.-).

anyway, there are so much memories sticking to that game. and when i re-played it on an emulator and got PAST that fucking forest... well, it was like christmas... sort of.

maybe i'll play through SB and IoG someday. but i am pretty sure that it won't be the same like TN.

[psychokind]

all clear: my vote goes for Terranigma!

I only played through Soul Blazer because it's the first of the series.

Illusion of Gaia was a great RPG, but it lacked a strong hero, and the personalities of the others weren't as developed, sinister and serious as in Terranigma. it's soundtrack was very good, but nothing compared to the epicness of this incredibly huge orchestra-converted Terranigma OST. of course, the game was older, and so was the graphics. alltogether, too linear and the epicness could have been even greater.

Terranigma is the best game I ever played, and it's very unlikely there will ever be a game as good as this. it's propably the only artificial "thing" that ever influenced my life. all my worldview, philosophy of life, sense of justice resulted out of this game. for me, this game was like the bible for someone who wanted to be a priest after reading it.

evaluating this games graphics, ost and gameplay is really hard. as said, did you ever argue about the narrative style of the bible? still, for 1996 it showed the peak of the SNES capability:
the soundtrack was incredibly awesome, it's a masterpiece no hans zimmer or the likes could have made better. I love to tell how my parents suddenly begin to whistle the music once they hear it out of my room. sometimes, they come into my room and when asked why, they answer "oh, I don't really know, it's just that this melody made me thoughtful and I wanted to... it's from the game you played when you were a kid, right?"
the graphics, as said, were propably the best of all of the RPG's for the SNES. the level design, the details, the animation, everything was fitting the atmosphere, and the pictures were burned in my mind I could draw the whole game map (if I could draw). the variety was unbelievable, even the towns looked so unique for themselves that thinking about it now makes me shiver. the dungeons looked so realistic, and remembering sylvain castle feels like I was a grown-up for several hours when playing Terranigma. the memory of the game is so clear and sharpened like non other memory I have before coming into puberty.
the gameplay was fluid, and it feels like you are ark, not playing ark. when he's talking, he's saying what I would have said in his role. when my playing skills were childish (as a child), I remember clearly how I fought better when I was vigorous and eager to play the game. ark moved like my subconscious wanted him to move. the better my mood, the faster he reacted. sometimes gnat's stang me while playing, and I didn't realize it.

if it'll be a daughter later, her first name is going to be Melina, and I'm dead serious about this. since it's a beautiful name in german and fits my last name very well, I'll propably pull this through. it might get hard having "Ark" be the second name of a son though
I promised myself, if I was rich enough, I'd have the world see Terranigma the Movie, in a epicness that has never been there before. just like the game in 1996.

[EverPhoenix]

psychokind wrote:

if it'll be a daughter later, her first name is going to be Melina, and I'm dead serious about this. I promised myself, if I was rich enough, I'd have the world see Terranigma the Movie, in a epicness that has never been there before. just like the game in 1996.

i very much like and support your ideas.

[Dark_Gaia]

well said! that speech does the game justice n couldnt describe it better myself. alot of similarities we have with that game its seems

[chicken]

ha, funny you wanted to name your daughter melina... i had the same thought a few years back

[tay120n64]

EverPhoenix wrote:

but you havent played terranigma

Terranigma will never be better than Illusion of Gaia to me.

...even if it is.

[Mantaray]

naturally i say illusion of gaia since i practially grew up with that game () (same year, it's just a matter of which month it was made XDD) even though it was kinda linear, the atmosphere was just amazing and it had the deepest story from all the games we owned at the time. it's already dug a permanent spot in my heart XDDDD

i'll be watching TN and SB on youtube during the summer when school's out of the way. it's free and i dont want my brother to get angry for downloading an entire ROM on the computer.... but i so would otherwise...

[EverPhoenix]

tay120n64 wrote:

EverPhoenix wrote: but you havent played terranigma Terranigma will never be better than Illusion of Gaia to me. ...even if it is.

be that as it may, you should still play it.