We need to give this game some love. Anyone else have been emotionally invested with this game?
>>3165897
Love the soundtrack. Sorta hate how confusing it gets towards the end with the sun-stone-shrine full of existing characters, the dark Ark outta nowhere and the bittersweet ending.
Terranigma is one of my favorite games ever. Some people think it loses its charm after you resurrect humans, but that's one of my favorite parts.
>>3166006
>the dark Ark outta nowhere
You mean Light Ark? I thought that was foreshadowed well enough. As soon as you find the princess and Storkholm, and other people who look and act like the townsfolk from Crysta, it becomes pretty obvious that there must be another Ark somewhere in the surface world. I was more surprised by his role than by his existence. The first time I played, I assumed he would be one of the bad guys.
game loses steam sadly
it was so unique and good
>>3165897
I loved it, especially the soundtrack.
I don't remember well what was the deal with the second Ark. What was he really? The supposed "hero", while you're supposed to be the villain or something? I also don't remember why the stuff from the ending happens.
This game is the shit. i actually started replaying it again last night.
>>3165897
I loved the game when I first played it but that was many years ago. I remember that it was my favorite game for some time but now I just have vague memories of it. I've been meaning to replay it for quite some time now.
I agree on the OST being great and I still listen to it occasionally.
Obligatory.
>>3172408
?
Context?
How is this obligatory? It's creepy I'll give it that...
The gameplay is way to mediocre and unambitious for me to really like it.
I like the game once you get to Earth up until the era of Humans
>>3168531
>I don't remember well what was the deal with the second Ark. What was he really? The supposed "hero", while you're supposed to be the villain or something?
Lightside Ark was the hero who restored the planet's balance the last time Light and Dark Gaia went out of control and trashed the world. He also sealed both Gaias in their respective sides of the planet, which predictably didn't sit well with Dark Gaia.
The Ark you play as is a copy of him made by Dark Gaia. He is not a villain, but he is being manipulated by one.
>>3174914
Thanks.
>>3174914
Then why is Light Gaia such a dick an tries to kill Ark! Couldn't he figure it out and work together to defeat Dark Gaia?
I always thought it was a Yin-Yang thing where since Ark is being the Light, the Light Ark must be the Yang and the dark.
>>3174123
It's better than Soulblazer and arguably Illusion of Gaia.
>>3167972
I had a feeling a second Ark was going to show up at some point, but I didn't expect what was to occur. It's been a while since I've played, so I'm probably not remembering all the details, but...
So you, being a resident of the underworld, which in itself is a dark reflection of the overworld in some aspects (Crysta), get into mischief and accidentally open pandora's box. To put things back in balance, you wind up recreating the world's continents, reviving plants and animals, advancing humanity through their history, and eventually wind up at a plot to bring stagnation to the world, which you foil. All of this winds up with you eventually discovering the location of a hero who's suppose to save the world, which turns out to be your light side version, buried in a grave.
Now here's where I get real fuzzy on the situation, essentially your light side version kills you, and you finish the rest of the game as him? Or perhaps you two merge somehow? What was dark Gaia's goal anyway?
>>3175510
Spoilers throughout.
Think of the underworld as hell, a stagnant world. Dark Gaia (the "Devil", appearing during most of the game in the guise of the Elder) can't create things, it can only copy them and twist them. This is hinted at in the game, and it's obviously straight out of Jewish/early Christian folklore.
Light Gaia ("God") struggles eternally with the Devil in a cycle of creation and destruction. The Devil devises a plan to take over the cycle. Humanity progresses to the point where Beruga, led by the Devil, figures out a way to stop death and thus reincarnation, which allows Dark Gaia to somehow control the cycle for good. Light Gaia sends (or maybe creates?) a man, Light Ark, and gives him a powerful spear ("man's first weapon") to fight Dark Gaia. Light Ark wins, but dies in the conflict and the world is ultimately destroyed.
Dark Gaia copies this Ark and creates his own hero. He leads him to resurrect the world as it was before, up to the point where Beruga once again sets into motion the plans to prevent death/reincarnation. At this point, Dark Gaia orders Ark to be killed, so that nobody can stop its plans again.
The creatures that Ark befriended and aided during the journey revive him, and instruct him to find some mcguffins to awaken the remains of his light counterpart. Light Ark doesn't kill Dark Ark, he merely fuses with him. You never play as Light Ark, but this fusion gives Dark Ark the strength to wield the legendary spear and be able to destroy Dark Gaia (again).
But since Dark Ark was made from Dark Gaia (out of crystal blue and magirock) like all things in the underworld, after destroying Dark Gaia his body must fade away, too. Light Gaia grants him one last day in his hometown, the one thing Ark has wanted all along during his journey, as a reward.
Dark Gaia's goal is to stop the cycle of reincarnation at a point where only it controls the world, the "13th hour".
>>3175602
NOW this game makes sense. Thank you.
>>3175602
Is that stuff communicated through the manual or other out-of-game stuff, or is the game just really convoluted and indirect about it?
>>3175721
Some of it is indirect, but most of it is explained, or at least heavily hinted at, in the game script. It's just that there's only about three key scenes that give away the whole thing, so if you skip a text box at the wrong moment you're going to be lost.
>>3175726
got it,thanks. I played the game twice so far, and it's the only action adventure on the SNES I ever finished. Got to say though, your summary is quite useful in clearing up stuff that's a bit faintly hinted at in the game.
Also, yet another good example of a hopelessly convoluted "rpg" plot. It's entertaining, sure, but sheesh, can they do anything below the whole universe and two million twists?
>>3165897
OMG! This is my favorite game of all time, it is super underrated imo. It's stuck with me since I was a kid, mainly because it gave me my first emotional experience playing a game. lol, that ending. Ugh.
I know that is super corny, but for real. It changed my view on what games can be and do. Even now, I think the story stands up and is really unique. And yeah, stellar soundtrack. The load screen/magirock theme makes me tingle.
>>3175737
I don't think there's any flaw with the plot itself, just the conveyance. Like all text heavy SNES RPGs what can be said in Japanese takes a lot less memory than English, so they have to abridge information and leave a few lose ends. Same thing with Secret of Mana. It's apparently meant to allude a lot of the world of mana series yet all I got out it was "dude finds sword, random chick magic kid, and dragon, go find a tree, evil lich appear and blows up tree, dragon is now bad guy, kill him the end".
>>3175915
I don't think Secret of Mana is a good example of it. It legitimately has a broken story due to its planned CD format falling apart. Tons of things go by without much rhyme or reason in that game. Terranigma is subtle about some plot points, and how time progresses in the game makes some points confusing, but you can tell the whole story the writers wanted is there.
>>3177472
>it was translated decently
That comment has aroused me from my slumberOkay so I know that's a perfectly acceptable use of that word but comeon.
>>3175915
mana beast is not flammie
>>3175915
Terranigma also had a lot of tie-in merchandising for a standalone game, including a manga and several novels. I know the manga is pretty much its own thing, but I wonder if the writers used the novels to expand on some stuff they couldn't fit into the game due to time/space constraints.
I rather like how the game uses a spear as it's weapon instead of boring old cliched swords
>>3172575
The context is that after resurrecting humans, you can walk into an whorehouse in neotokyo, but since Ark's underage, they'll tell him to come back when he's older. And then call him B A B Y.
>>3175602
Oh. That's not how I interpreted it.
From how I understood it, the Ark we play as isn't the second Ark to be created, he's some million down the chain. The Hero's grave in Antarctica is full of gravestones, and I figured they were all past light heroes, with some corresponding mass grave in the underworld for all the dark heroes, as though the creation of Beruga and the destruction of the world had was just part of an infinite cycle of creation and destruction. Like Ark is doomed to destroy and rebuild the world for the rest of eternity.
>>3178191
A hundred times this. Even to this day I still have people saying that the Mana Beast IS Flammie, when the Sprite actually says "Another Flammie?" just a minute before fighting it. I get they look similar but had it been Flammie, it'd have gotten a far more dramatic stance to it.
>>3179001
what can ya do? people are dumb.
That fortune teller song tho...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD36rgXMSGQ
>>3178603
That's really interesting. I never knew about the manga.also, that scene with the goats
>>3178715
Yeah, that's how I saw it too. It's like Sysyphus, stuck in the eternal loop. I think it makes a better analogy for life, along with all the duality of creation/destruction stuff.
I fucking love this game. If it ever comes out on Virtual Console i'd buy it 10 times over.
>>3165897
I got to the area where you fight the dragon/snake in the water and you are on a log. The fucking starfish immobilize you and you get rekt with fire. I lose all motivation to go back through the cave so I usually try again in a month or so.
>>3179362The dragon is the benevolent guardian of the lake, he's helping you by roasting the starfishes whenever they try to strangle you. Just ignore him and attack the starfishes. You'll be done in five minutes.
>>3179276
>>3178715
The game implies that the conflict has been repeating itself for several cycles, true, but it also outright says Ark (Dark Ark) is special. The monks in Lhasa explain that "you belong to nothing, and therefore you're important", and also ask you to gather the starstones so you can break the loop. So your interpretation is correct, but the game also underscores how special this cycle is because while Light Ark has always fulfilled his fate, this is the first time that Dark Ark will break free from it.
>>3177964
I never said it was translated decently though. But I do think it's a solid translation. It obviously leans toward the literal side of things, which makes for a lot of awkward sentences, but it gets the full message across. It's not an incomprehensible mess like Breath of Fire II, nor a radical localization like, say, the Tactics Ogre remake.
>>3178603
The manga ending is different, but the one novel I managed to read has the exact same story as the game. Given the (few, maybe just one about Terranigma) Quintet interviews you can read online, you can tell the game was designed with its ending in mind. Some details may have been lost, but it just feels like the full main story was told.
>>3179270
>also, that scene with the goats
Holy fuck that was sad.
>>3179628
It was a better translation than Illusion of Gaia, that's for sure.
>>3179270
>I never knew about the manga.
Some of the manga chapters were scanlated years ago. I think the scanlator's website disappeared, but some online readers still have them.
>>3179779
>Hey big guy, ever wanted to be a bird
Aw man. :,^)
Also Arks is a big guyfor you ________________________
>>3178647
It's symbolic, because spears are very primitive weapons. There's a lot of stuff like that in Terranigma, and it's not especially DEEP, but I like it a lot.
Nope, I refuse to touch games ureleased in NA.
>>3180239
Hahahahahahahahahahah get a load of this faggot. Don't even care if this was troll bait, thanks for the hearty chuckle.
wwwwwww
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94fmC7cqpzw
The best 1 minute track ever. I started crying relistening to this
>>3179001
I was so disappointed when using the drum while on top of the Mana Fortress did nothing.
I wanted an aerial dragon vs dragon fight for the final boss.
>>3180239
>>3165897
the game drags on in the 3rd chapter and the forced grinding is stupid.(doing 1 damage to a boss in an ARPG just because you don't grind for a half-hour is bad design.)
That being said music is fantastic and I like the game a lot. I wish Ark got more moves as time went on and the dash spear attack wasn't so broken.
>>3181367
>the forced grinding is stupid.(doing 1 damage to a boss in an ARPG just because you don't grind for a half-hour is bad design.)
Considering it's the only instance of "forced grinding" you could chalk it up to the devs making a mistake. Maybe some side quests were cut and the stats not adjusted. You make it sound like a fully intentional decision by the devs just to fuck with players, and I don't see how you could arrive at this conclusion, when the entire remainder of the game does not exhibit that trait at all.
>>3181370
Well regardless of how it happened its there and its stupid. The design issue relates to how there's such a huge damage leap with each level, creating situations where you go from doing 2 damage to like 14 within a level.
>>3181380
>its stupid
Nobody's denying that. Wouldn't you agree there's a mild difference between intentionally annoying the player, and having made a small mistake?
>The design issue relates to how there's such a huge damage leap with each level
The huge damage leap is satisfying everywhere else, and ultimately leads to the excessive power dealt at the end of the game, making a fight against a god-like entity more "believable". I tend to hate jrpg power progression, because it's so ridiculous. In a story like Terranigma's though, the power progression is part of the narrative.
>>3181367
>doing 1 damage to a boss in an ARPG just because you don't grind for a half-hour is bad design.
When physical attacks fail, try using magic. Also, throw that goddamned Ice Pike to the trash where it belongs. Every single enemy in Sylvain is inmune to ice damage.
Why did those fucks add like three more spears than I had inventory slots REEEEEEE
>>3181863
That fucking lion cub
jesus christ I hated that asshole
If I were to import the game, would it still play at 50hz?
Does the PAL timing apply to the games themselves or is it the console that does it?
>>3181639
Have to go back to the light spear for that boss.
>>3181943
There's a lot of shit you have to go through to get a PAL game working on NTSC console, it's more complex than Jap -> US. And it's the games themselves which are 50hz so you'd be stuck there.
>>3180590
Play Seiken Densetsu 3 then? It's been translated for ages as has a battle like that. It's a good game, it tries to fix the problem of spell spam, and general uselessness of move charging from Secret of Mana, but fails both. Still fun though.
>>3182451
Dude, anime is bad and stuff. Because reasons.
But, yeah, jokes aside, the coloring is incredibly nice, I'd even say the technique is spot on, but the faces and partly the shapes are just so off, it totally ruins the whole.
Reminds me of some of those MTG cards with insanely well-colored painting-style art but comedic/deranged expressions.
Every time I see OP's pic, I see Lina Inverse.
I should play Terranigma some time.
>>3182451
I think it looking creepy and weird is the point.
I believe it's going for a "It's bad on purpose"
>>3182647
don't bother, she's not in it
>>3182668
Bad on purpose is never good. Something can be so bad it's good (The Room, Foodfight, Birdemic) because they were trying to be good and failed terribly, but when you try to make something bad using you skill and knowledge of what is good, you just make something bad skilfully (The House that Drips Blood in Alex). You can make something cheesy (Evil Dead, Mars Attack) but the thing about making something cheesy is that you'rr not making it bad, you're using you skill to make something look bad very well, so it in a way it's not bad, but a homage to it while still being good.
![102[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/RpyqfpX.jpg "102[1].jpg")
>>3182709
I'd put the pictures more in the joke category than in cheesy. You're supposed to get a cheap laugh at how weird and uncanny it is.
>>3182724
See this one I can tell it's a joke. The Terranigma ones not so much...
>>3182447
Yeah. Well, the battle isn't quite like that - I was thinking of Dragon vs Dragon, not party vs Dragon while flying on top of a Dragon - but it comes close.
It's a very pretty game, and the story... well, vidya lore and all that. No issues. The gameplay was meh-ish, though. This being said, the decision to give physical attacks priority was a good one.
>>3183051
It's very ambitious. Too bad in trying to fix magic spam and useless charging they fucked up and punish you for charging past level 1 and make magic spam possible anyway.
>>3184963
>make magic spam possible anyway.
You mean the glitch where you if you pause by bringing up the ring command the casting time still runs out anyway as if you were unpaused?
That's an easy fix, just don't bring up the command while someone is casting.
>>3184963
Besides I think SOME level 2 techs are full screen though, that's still relatively useful.
>>3185003
>Don't bring up the magic ring when casting
That's stupid. I'd make Angela and Lise cast at the same time at the start of battle to do damage and up my stats. Eventually I wouldn't need Lise but I cant imagine what it's like with Carlie and Angela (well I can, magic spam to victory).
>>3185006
Yeah the problem with that though is halfway through the game enemies and bosses get counterattack that do ridiculous damage if you use tech past level 1, but won't counter if you use a level 1 tech, making it stupid to use any tech past level 1.
>>3182695
>>3182647
Ark actually does remind me of Lina. They're really different in many ways (Ark's not famous, he's not driven by money...), but they both have this "fuck it I'm just gonna do whatever I want" vibe and seem to be full of themselves in a comedic way. I rather like that in Ark, because most RPG protagonists tend to be goody two shoes and he's definitely not.
>>3186256
I agree. I instead of some "chosen child destined to save the world" (at least at the beginning) it's more "you done fucked up now fix it".
>>3181639
Some bosses are immune to magic.
So obviously SB, IoG, and terranigma take place in the same universe but what about this?
>>3187726
Granstream was designed by somebody else, and although Quintet did help it is entirely unrelated to the thematic Soul Blazer "series". Which should be called the ActRaiser series anyway, because there are (obvious, honestly) links between ActRaiser and the rest of Quintet games (sans Robotrek).
>>3187771
That's more than obvious, its creator confirmed. But before that it was obvious in a million ways anyway. The way all of the games have a Christian/Buddhist combination aesthetic, the way SB reuses ActRaiser's "Holy warrior sent by/is God" character and sound effects, an Terranignmas continuation of these themes.
Illusion of Gaia is the real iffy one. It's like a weird intermediary between SB and Terranigma that refines the combat and introduces the Dark/Yang inherent to the Heros Yin.
>>3187930
Well, Mariko Ohara was brought in to write the story of Illusion of Gaia, so it's the only Quintet game with a different writer. Since Ohara started as a Star Trek slash fanfic writer (seriously), it makes sense that Illusion of Gaia feels odd because it's the only one with more science fiction elements, whereas the rest of the games (again, sans Robotrek) are fantasy oriented, with little to no scifi. Gaia still fits because it tackles duality and reincarnation, but it does seem like a detour. It does seem to have some influence over Quintet writers, particularly the "real world" aspect of Gaia, which seems to have inspired Terranigma's setting.
>>3187726
I think it was HG101 who started that misconception. It doesn't even work "in spirit", really. Just because of sharing some workers it doesn't automatically make it related.
