Questions about the storyline

[Ishida]

Hello!

I'am a big Illusion of Gaia fan, it is easily one of my favorite games ever, but I never quite got the storyline, or at least I think I may be wrong on some aspects, and the game is quite vague on explanations.

So please help me remove these doubts so I can understand the plot better.

So, as far as I understand: The game takes place in modern times, in OUR era so to speak, you know, buildings, cars, TV, all that kind of stuff. Then, a comet with reality-altering powers passes near the Earth, and it's light begins to change the Earth and alter the reality. The comet sends the Earth "back" to the Age of Exploration.

So, when Will gathers the Mystic Statues and defeats Dark Gaia (The Comet), it's light vanishes and reality goes back as it originally was? So we can conclude that everything was just an "illusion" (Hence, the game's title)? Perhaps South Cape, Freejia and Euro were just normal, modern cities before they were "altered" by the comet's power?


At the game's ending, you are shown a city with a large building standing tall in the middle. The game says that the Tower or Babel stands there or something. Does that mean that particular building was the original form of the Tower of Babel we visited? Did we really visit all those ruins (Larai Cliffs, Angkor Wat, Mu, etc)? Or they were just part of the altered reality?





Now, if all this is true: How many years did the Earth remained changed? Will says that he was with his father at the Tower of Babel about a year and a half ago from the start of the game, so the world was changed AT LEAST a year and a half ago?




One last question for now: Is this game REALLY connected with Soul Blazer and Terranigma? I heard it is set between these two games, but I never spotted references to them besides the Jeweler and stuff. In IoG you hear the Comet was a weapon used during an acient war. Is this war mentioned in any of the other two games?



Thanks in advance for helping me understand this great game better!

[Yet One More Idiot]

Hmm...as far as I understood the storyline, the evil comet had passed by the Earth on some previous occasion long ago, like, centuries past. And its powers had altered the course of human progress from what it was meant to be (progressing towards our 20th century world), stunting the technological and other aspects of the entire world. When the comet came back during the game, its power again affected the whole world, presumably to cause even more disruption to the intended future of humanity.

So it wasn't really an illusion as such, and all those ruins that Will visited probably still existed at the end (though I agree, it seems to imply that that large office block is the "true" form of the Tower of Babel) - for instance, Angkor Wat is a real ruin in our world. But the comet's disruptive influence on the whole of human history was retroactively removed by defeating the comet and Dark Gaia.

Did that make sense to anyone who's not me?

[Ishida]

Hmm...as far as I understood the storyline, the evil comet had passed by the Earth on some previous occasion long ago, like, centuries past. And its powers had altered the course of human progress from what it was meant to be (progressing towards our 20th century world), stunting the technological and other aspects of the entire world. When the comet came back during the game, its power again affected the whole world, presumably to cause even more disruption to the intended future of humanity.

So it wasn't really an illusion as such, and all those ruins that Will visited probably still existed at the end (though I agree, it seems to imply that that large office block is the "true" form of the Tower of Babel) - for instance, Angkor Wat is a real ruin in our world. But the comet's disruptive influence on the whole of human history was retroactively removed by defeating the comet and Dark Gaia.

Did that make sense to anyone who's not me?

Yes, it made a lot of sense, thank you! So I was a little wrong, then. I thought that the world managed to reach our level of civilization, and then the comet changed it back to the Age of Exploration. But your explanation sounds a lot better!

[inferiare]

Most of the connections to Soul Blazer and Terranigma are small references, such as Turbo in Terranigma being a reference to Soul Blazer (and hey, that brings up the question in whether Meilin's parents were Blazer and Lisa or something? ), being able to fly over/sail past South Cape in Terranigma, and Solid Arm being in Illusion of Gaia. Maybe Blazer was Lightside Ark in a different life (though most official art says no, but it's good speculation), and Illusion of Gaia came after Terranigma? Perhaps Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma take place around the same time?

The timeline for the games is shaky, but the connections are there, though slight.

As for the rest of the questions, I have no idea. I haven't beaten IoG.

[tay120n64]

In Illusion of Gaia the Comet passes by Earth once every 800 years. The visit you are trying to prevent is its fourth visit, implying that this has been going on for 2,400 years (a very long time!)

However, if we are to assume that the title Illusion of Gaia, or, more appropriately, Illusion of Time, bears any significance whatsoever, we can assume that although 2,400 years passed in the altered reality, no time passed in the true reality.

However, with the script being so poorly translated, and not going into extreme detail, it is difficult to say whether time stopped, or was merely blanketed with an illusion from the comet's light.

[Ishida]

In Illusion of Gaia the Comet passes by Earth once every 800 years. The visit you are trying to prevent is its fourth visit, implying that this has been going on for 2,400 years (a very long time!)

However, if we are to assume that the title Illusion of Gaia, or, more appropriately, Illusion of Time, bears any significance whatsoever, we can assume that although 2,400 years passed in the altered reality, no time passed in the true reality.

However, with the script being so poorly translated, and not going into extreme detail, it is difficult to say whether time stopped, or was merely blanketed with an illusion from the comet's light.

I see! Very interesting!

While I absolutely loved this game in every aspect, it's true that they could've done better with the script sometimes, to explain better just what was going on. I don't know if the original Japanese version had a better script, though.