Quintet's Soul Blazer trilogy, for the SNES

The magniloquent title says it all, but whatever.
This thread is aimed to discuss over a very creative series, made up of 3 action-oriented RPGs, that were published for the SNES under the ENIX mark. They didn't receive much attention from the various media back then. And that is a real shame, considering the objective value that these jewels sport, with their originality and narrative depth.

Mostly known as just the 'Soul Blazer' trilogy, the three titles that make up this brief saga aren't really intertwined.



It started with the homonymous 'Soul Blazer', a simple action game with simple mechanics and a linear development. To tell the truth, I can't say much about this one, since I've played it to little extents. Surely it seemed to be a solid adventure, despite its sheer essentiality - but I need to venture further into it, in order to express some judgment.

But, whatever, as far as I'm concerned, the trilogy took actual flight with the two sequels: Illusion of Gaia and the ever-beloved Terranigma.



These games show what became the core of Quintet's effort: a very suggestive naturalistic/ecological theme, more evident in Terranigma than in IoG, but ever present in the saga. These two games managed to unite a pleasant, though linear, gameplay with an awesome and evocative story.

The tone of the narration echoes from bits of oriental philosophies, so you'll find plenty of references to the ever-contrasting dualisms of Light and Dark that such movements present.
In a few words, I really loved these games - and still enjoy playing them, if only to watch more and more how the plot magically unfolds, with its subtle course.

That said, I'm curious to read your takes on the thing. Did the thing disgust you? Or did you adore this long-forgotten gem, as I did?
Let's see what comes out of this interesting debate.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

While the other first two games were mainly mediocre, Terranigma stands to be one of the best games made in the SNES era.

SoulBlazer was mediocre at best, while Illusion of Gaia was a large improvement over the formula that SoulBlazer started. All of their overall connection to the Actraiser line (the sounds are clearly present) also held up the series a little bit. A lot of RPG enthusiasts who had jumped on the SNES bandwagon when it came out played Actraiser, and while Actraiser isn't part of this particularly trilogy the reusage of those sounds holds a special in many people's experience of the trilogy.

It's truly a shame that the US never got to experience Terranigma and other games that really took advantage of the SNES.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I loved SoulBlazer, not exactly sure why, I guess it just takes me back to the days of the early snes, and as mentioned in the original post, the ties to Actraiser made it quite enjoyable as well.

Illusion of Gaia was also quite good, although like so many games back in my snes days, my experience of it was limited to a couple weekends where I would rent and play through it... I did finish it, and it was fun, but it's hard to remember clearly... good story and I remember liking the flute music though.

As far as Terranigma goes I have had the translated rom for ages but never really sat down and played it, heard nothing but good things though, so maybe if I'm in the mood for something old school, some day.

Most amazing jew boots

I do have to agree, now that I think back on the games, that there are alot of Actraiser bits in these games... but Actraiser was a great game.

Now, as for SoulBlazer I played through it as a kid, and remember finding the game absolutely easy, and a very average game.

Illusion of Gaia I also played as a kid when it first came out, and I went through a second time when I first learned about roms...

and then you end up downloading the european version which is allready in english, don't even need a fan-made patch. This game is absolutely wonderful and reminds me of Alundra for the PSX to some extent.

Overall, great series, but the first game does show its age

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Terranigma is an RPG that's still a favorite of mine. I played Illusion of Gaia as well, but it didn't stand out as much as the latter did for me. It was still an enjoyable game though.

I've yet to play Soul Blazer in its entirety since I stopped roughly two hours into the game.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Always meant to play Terranigma but never really got through it.

I've got a lot of SNES/PSX era RPGs like that sitting around. I'll probably start chipping into them when the PS2 dies out before I feel willing to blow my wad on a Revolution or PS3.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

The only one I own and played was Soul Blazer. That game was simple, almost too simple. I got it in a box of SNES games in like 2004 and it was just too bland for me to play throughly. I still enjoyed it (the bits I played of it)

Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma were equally cool but I never owned an Illusion of Gaia cart and Terranigma never came out in the US.

FELIPE NO

I played through Illusion of Gaia, and loved it. Soul Blazer was a bit boring compared to I.o.G. Terranigma was a great game too, but stopped playing after a while because I lost interest.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Soul Blazer is awesome. Though it's very old, it was a pretty cool experience. Illusion of Gaia was awesome, though I don't really know what's going on because I was a kid back when I played it. Terranigma, however, is simply one of the best SNES games. I love how the story unfolds (how the world is made...or whatever). I love how there are different ways to execute attacks (although you end up doing the same ones over and over). And I love the amount of extras (you probably will miss a lot of them). In fact, I don't think I even got half of the items.

I get this weird feeling whenever I play these games. I guess it's because in Soul Blazer, you help build towns; Terranigma had you practically do the same thing; and even Actraiser (which I don't believe is part of this) does it...at least the first one. Not to mention that the sounds and the HUD is very similar...

Actually, Terranigma is kinda confusing. My bro was playing and then now he doesn't know where to go. I went through this game without knowing where I was actually supposed to go. Lucked out though, so I was able to beat the game.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by SuperDK

Terranigma had you practically do the same thing; and even Actraiser (which I don't believe is part of this) does it...at least the first one. Not to mention that the sounds and the HUD is very similar...

Soul Blazer was originally slated to become Actraiser 3, but instead was given a new name and the entire "Actraiser" name was dropped because of backlash due the changes in Actraiser 2. Not many people enjoyed the fact that Actraiser went to all action and no sim. Soul Blazer plays as the combination of Actraiser 1 and 2 (sky palace and all) with you having to find and seal the monster portals in the actual action stages instead of the sim stages while dealing with a given town's revival as the monster portals were revived.

Illusion of Gaia moved away from the concept altogether, while Terranigma combined a little bit of everything from every game to become something special.

Quintet also made a little gem called Robotrek, but hardly anyone mentions it anymore. =P

There's nowhere I can't reach.

*Possible Spoilers (Sorry, but I don't know how to use spoiler tags)*

Illusion Of Gaia was just awesome! The only problem was (Look down for spoilers)
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when you had to defuse a bomb that the kid was straped to after defeating the vampire, you never knew which one difused it!

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

First off, there are spoiler tags, used by [ spoil ] and [ /spoil ] with no spaces between the brackets.

Second, I've only played Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma... and well, I actually thought Illusion of Gaia sorta sucked. The ending was SO LONG, too.

Terranigma, though... wow. One of the BEST GAMES EVAR.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?