Excerpts from the Game Analysis Diary

[Ennui's Personification]

>.>

Yeah, I need a place to put these that is a bit more reliable than GameFAQs with their purges. As a result of those, I've lost the first whole...thing of analysis on the opening scene.

Sorry about using TE as a backup - I hope you guys don't mind. ^^;

Quote:

And now, to continue! From this point on, linkage between points will be shown by the letters they're associated with. So far, the letters represent the following themes (more will be added to this list as necessary; this list will precede each post for ease of perusal): a = Crysta - dreams, people, the nature of. b = Crystal blue - the essence of the underworld, the nature of. c = Ark - his character, symbolism, themes associated with him, the nature of his existence. d = Light, dark, the Gaias, and their meanings in Terranigma. e = Fate and the possibility of a plan or a higher arbiter. f = Loose end and miscellaneous commentary. f) One final note - the start menu is upon a piece of parchment, and the arrow is a quill pen; this is a story, obviously, and it is being recorded - perhaps as lore or myth? And thus, we begin. Inside the Elder's First thing I noticed was that though Ark's room is very plain, something immediately tips off the attentive player that this is not a wholly Earth-like place. There is a crystal orb upon the table that seems to be a goldfish bowl, in which two things are moving; however, it is wholly a sphere without an open top. Elle:Ark. You looked like you were having a nightmare. Ark:I've been having these strange dreams. Day in, day out, always the same dream. a) Considering the references to dreams later, this is significant. NPC:The elder told me something before. He said that crystal blue are the tears of the outside world. NPC:I want to go outside to see the crystal blue, but the guys tell me I'll go blind if I see it. b) Addressing the second of the two quotes, I believe that this is simply a random blurb; said guy was mislead as a joke by his friends. In addressing the first, we come to the question of what the nature of crystal blue is - that is, how is "tears of the outside world" meant? 1. Crystal blue is of Light Gaia; it is the manifestation of Light Gaia's sealed power, or otherwise of his essence. (a, c, d) Ark's essence comes into play here - if crystal blue is of L.G, Ark would be too, and "Dark Ark" would be a misnomer of a sort. Problem with this theory is that crystal blue exists even as LG is unsealed, and that Ark and Crysta dissolve into crystal blue in the end; if it was of LG, one would think that it would be able to keep them corporeal. A possible answer is that LG's power doesn't extend into the underworld, as DG's doesn't directly in the overworld. 2. Crystal blue is of Dark Gaia; the line is either a red herring, or intended metaphorically - Dark Gaia's power is Light Gaia's lamentation. This is more solid as a whole, since Dark Gaia appears to be able to manipulate crystal blue; indeed, it appears to be it's energy/will/essence. This is perhaps the easiest and likely the intended meaning. 3. Crystal blue is neutral; it's simply energy - potential, if you will - that either Gaia could use. This seems dubious, however, as there is never any crystal blue on the surface, even during it's creation phase. Perhaps it was actively in use, and never had the chance to manifest as it did in the stagnant Crysta? (c, d, e) If crystal blue is wholly neutral and creation energy, it would provide an easy explanation for the struggle between LG and DG - they wish to control this energy. Ark would wholly be neutral either way, and both Light and Dark as applies to him would be somewhat wrong. It almost speaks of something above the Gaias that dictates the will of the hero, and a plan (whether by this above being or by LG, based on it's actions) that keeps the world unstagnant by generating this balance. Indeed, if this was the case, it explains the need for the world to be destroyed from time to time - a stagnant world devolves into crystal blue. It suffers the same problem that 1 did. O, how the days have gone by... It's been too long, hasn't it? Blame the torment that is school, and an unexpected ISP change by my parents resulting in an unstable connection for the past few weeks. In case I haven’t mentioned, this whole business is the idle conjecture of girl who may not have any business attempting this sort of analysis. Hopefully, this will spark someone else’s mental faculties, or at least be a mildly interesting read; in truth, it’s just a devoted fan gathering and organizing her thoughts on an astoundingly deep game. So far, the letters represent the following themes (more will be added to this list as necessary; this list will precede each post for ease of perusal): a = Crysta - dreams, people, the nature of. b = Crystal blue - the essence of the underworld, the nature of. c = Ark - his character, symbolism, themes associated with him, the nature of his existence. d = Light, dark, the Gaias, and their meanings in Terranigma. e = Fate and the possibility of a plan or a higher arbiter. f = Loose ends and miscellaneous commentary. g = Memories, dreams, foreshadowing, and prescience. h = References to a past before the game. i = Something's not quite right... j = Real world references or parallels. In and Around Crysta The following lines of dialogue are spoken by the townsfolk of Crysta, and in a few cases, have been rearranged slightly to make for a smoother flow of thought. f, i) Light shines in from all windows in a room concurrently in Crysta - it makes the whole area look rather ethereal, especially in comparison to other buildings in the game, which are simply lit arbitrarily as in most games (windows being dark). Even if it came from the “sun” in the center of the underworld, it still should shine from one direction only. Perhaps light bends around the inside of the underworld, or perhaps crystal blue illuminates? It makes for a distinct contrast between Crysta and the overworld, to be sure. One wonders how night is possible - perhaps Dark Gaia controls the phenomenon? NPC (Fortune teller): Hehehe. Ark, is it? Let's see your fortune, then. Hmmm. You have the look of trouble about you. You best take care. c, e, g) The fortune teller's words are apt; double meaning contained within. He does indeed have the look of trouble about him - he's the village troublemaker, after all - but she is, of course, referencing his future and all the trouble he'll be put through. Fortune tellers are consistently correct throughout the game, seemingly outside of Dark and Light Gaia's control; more on this at a later point. Pumpkin: What've you got planned next? f) Pumpkin? How random. Indeed, this is all the pumpkin says throughout the game. In retrospect, it almost sounds as though it is goading Ark on - at the end of the game, the pumpkin is silent. nepheliad Posted 6/13/2007 9:15:53 PM message detail NPC: Mom says boys and girls are bound by a promise from an earlier life. Ark, were you and Elle friends from the past? h) This one is pretty obvious, isn’t it? It’s one of the first times (depending on the sequence in which the player speaks to the townsfolk) that a past life is mentioned. Indeed, it is mentioned explicitly – there can be no mistake; there was a past, and Ark and Elle were present for it in some form or another. Also, that there is a “promise” engenders a sense of fate and predetermination, a sort of loose cyclicism. This is reinforced by the line from the man in the side room of the mill: ...Huh...what? Oh, it's you, Ark. I've been getting this weird feeling. Like I worked like this a long time ago. It would seem that a person’s role in the present are related to those in the past; it also serves as a link to various schools of thought as a sort of caste system, for it would seem that ones present life is related to ones past life, and that a soul remains in its set role. NPC: I wonder what crystal blue is? Is it harmful to my crops? NPC: I'm not allowed to go out today because crystal blue is flying. b, c) These two lines are likely red herrings. The latter of the two can be explained by either the mother being overprotective or wanting the child to remain inside to keep a watch on him and needing a good reason for it. (i, a) However, the first can’t be explained by such a means – it’s said by a grown man who is standing outside in the fields. One would expect him to know the effects of crystal blue quite well at his age, especially as a person who appears to have grown crops for some time (judging by the crops’ size and by the NPC in the mansion saying that Ark had wrecked the garden). That he doesn’t raises a red flag, as does a similar line from another NPC, this time in the mill: What am I doing? What does it look like I'm doing? I'm milling grains to make flour for baking bread. This mill is well made. I wonder who thought up of something like this? While it is of no interest by itself, in conjunction with the other lines, it seems to speak of a collective lack of a past. All of it is further evidence that Crysta may not have existed for very long before the game’s start. c, f, i) Furthermore, note how the inhabitants of Crysta speak only vaguely of the past beyond a day or two. There is no mention of Ark’s childhood, parentage – anything specific about his past at all. While this would be acceptable for a drifter as a main character in a video game, Ark has lived in Crysta all of his life; one would expect at least some tidbit about his past, especially since he appears to be an orphan, but even in that, Crysta’s residents are mum, as though he’d always lived with the Elder (if he was somehow the Elder’s son, one would expect that to be mentioned), and that it is not at all out of the ordinary... nepheliad Posted 6/13/2007 9:17:07 PM message detail NPC: Found throughout the world, magirock. NPC: Magirock is a stone that seals magic inside. Not just once but for many times. Magirock stores magic spells. b, f) As Mew seeker has been kind to point out, magirock was originally called prime blue (hence the name of the song on the soundtrack). This is almost certainly meant as a link to crystal blue; indeed, it is “prime”- that is, the best, purest crystal blue, in a crystalline form. (j) It stores “magic” – in this case, the energy – the potential of creation. Obeying the laws of conservation, one cannot destroy energy through use; in the same way, the crystal blue stored in prime blue cannot be destroyed, and is restored to its true form after usage. Perhaps this is also why it is referred to as “prime”; unlike the other forms of crystal blue, which dissipate into bubbles after use, possibly depicting a sort of entropy, prime blue is wholly conservative – it never loses it’s energy level, always being restored after usage. f) Alternative definitions of prime that may be applicable are “original” or “first” – it may be the original form of crystal blue (that is, actual crystal) – and “preparing” (though used as a verb – may be attributed to Engrish) – as in something to prepared into something else. NPC: Ark. Hey look! You can see things reflected in crystal blue! I can see places and people I've never seen before. It's really neat! b, d, h) Seeing people and places that aren’t familiar or even in the surroundings doesn’t exactly constitute reflection, so what could it be instead? It is almost certainly scenes from or a residual memory of the past, tying in with the idea that crystal blue is the “tears of the surface”. This also again calls into question the affiliation of crystal blue; if crystal blue is molded by Dark Gaia but seems to at least contain some essence of Light Gaia, it would have to be either a kind of neutral or “tears” of Light Gaia harnessed by Dark Gaia. Either way, it makes the nature of it more murky. NPC: Sometimes, I've seen what looks like a town in this pool. I wonder what it is? a) At first glance, this seems a rather inane question – they’re in a town; it stands to reason that it is the reflection of the area. However, the man says that he sees what looks like a town, not any specific part – that is, he’s seeing the entire town, not just part of Crysta reflected in the pool. Looking forward, this must be an allusion to a certain city of the overworld... NPC: Ark, please don't teach the kids anymore bad games OK? Just yesterday, they threw and broke all the vases here. c) Ark really is quite the rascal; the way he acts is puerile – he’s childlike, and likely to be in his early teens at most (might put up the detailed age analysis later). Again, emphasis on his mischievous ways. NPC: Oh Ark! I had this really scary dream. I dreamt that everyone turns into ice. g) Dreams and reflections are not what they seem in Terranigma; this girl in particular seems clairvoyant. The simple explanation, of course, is that they are nothing more than an easy way to provide foreshadowing for the player, but it’s not in the spirit of this analysis. Since they are all controlled by Dark Gaia, it is likely that her dreams are planted by Dark Gaia to give Ark some idea of what’s to come after he realizes that her dreams actually predict the future or provide insight into the past, or that she is somehow sensitive to the crystal blue “memories” and is recalling a past in which similar events occurred. And so ends another burst of analysis! Three massive posts later, and I’m still in Crysta – I’m in more awe than ever of Quintet and of Terranigma.