 Not as strong. Illusion of Gaia is a pretty weird game, but I'll start with the positives here. Its strengths lie in the dungeon design, it successfully takes advantage of the top-down Zelda-like battle system, and creates some clever puzzles that can be challenging. The Skygarden in particular is one of my favorite dungeons in any game ever. Mu and the Great Wall of China are also really well done. The game has you switch forms between Will, who's a kid, and Friedan, this Fabio-looking guy who's a knight of some kind, and then a third form you can obtain later on. You'll be able to reach areas that Friedan is not, and vice versa, and the game does a nice job taking advantage of that by creating some decent puzzles centered around that dynamic. Another positive of Illusion of Gaia is that it's not a walk in the park, it's a little challenging. For instance, you're given a finite number of health replenishments, so you've got to pick your spots and use them wisely. Many of the puzzles are cleverly designed and take some thought, and some of the bosses, like the vampires here, are pretty tough, and it took me a few tries to finally beat. What I like about the combat is how simple everything is. You enter the area, and a new path opens up. The hit detection is quality, and the sound of defeating an enemy is addicting. So the game does a nice job of building momentum. The game takes a while to really get going at the beginning, so don't let the very slow start deter you. Unfortunately, Illusion of Gaia must insist on attempting to tell a big, sweeping story, and let me tell you, it is one of the weirdest, most bizarre stories ever, even for a video game. It goes like this, or as far as I can tell anyway. Will, our hero, is on a quest to find these mystic statues, because his dead dad told him to by communicating through a possessed flute. Some vague bullshit like evil is spreading throughout the world is spouted, and thwarting child slavery appears to be a consistent theme, but we're never told what the mystic statues actually do, or what the direct motivation is for anything. Also, this game is a sequel to Soul Blazer, but that's news to this game. In fact, there are so many weird ideas haphazardly thrown together that I don't think I can adequately explain things. There's a comet headed towards Earth, there's ancient civilizations, there's vampires. At one point, Will and his friends are taken captive by a tribe of cannibals, but his girlfriend's pet pig sacrifices himself to keep anyone from getting eaten by jumping into a campfire so he can be eaten instead. What the hell is that? Even the game's sense of humor is bizarre. You gotta love this random villager you just walk up to out of nowhere, he says, no one can put a show on like I can, and then he sets his hair on fire. Yeah, I gotta agree with you there, buddy. I'm pouring it out in a little harsh, and I don't want to undersell the qualities this game has, because it is a good game. The good outweighs the bad, the problem is that the story can't be ignored because there are so many unskippable cutscenes, and half of them barely make any sense. And I mean, beyond any kind of like translation issue, some stuff just makes you say, what the fuck? I get the feeling whoever wrote the story was just making shit up as they went along. The story tries hard to hit some emotional notes, and it is effective at some times. The story hits a nice note with the character Cara, who is a spoiled princess who accompanies Will on his journey, and she actually gains some perspective for the first time in her life. But aside from the story, Illusion of Gaia is a very good game, and the gameplay will remind you a lot of Link to the Past or Lufia 2 in the best possible ways. There's some nice action and stimulating dungeon design, so it is worth playing nowadays, I would say. As long as you're down with, you know, suicidal pigs and cannibals and vampires and all that shit.