Terranigma: Wayback Wednesday Vol. 18, Part 2

Terranigma is part of a trilogy of games that includes Soul Blazer and Illusion of Gaia, and was developed by Quintet, published by Enix, and released in Europe in late 1996. This is yet another marvelous game, in a laundry list of games, that never made it stateside. Truly a pity because it is a blast to play with an expansive world to explore and impressive game mechanics.

Terranigma is, when you get right down to it, the story of life and death, and portrays the earth’s progression and advancement uniquely and intriguingly. Furthermore, the main character, Ark, comes from the underworld and, early in the game, enters a forbidden door in his village.

After poking around too much, he unleashes a curse that spreads across the village, leaving all of the inhabitants frozen in place. The only one unaffected by this curse is the village elder, who instructs Ark to travel to the five separate towers found around the underworld to fix what he has done, as well as a far greater purpose soon to be discovered. All five towers are linked with the five continents on the surface, and by beating each tower, you unlock one of the five continents. This portion of the game, with the five towers, is just a blip compared with the grand adventure he eventually embarks on.

After the towers, the majority of the game will take place on what we know as our planet. While I enjoyed many of the locations, I felt some areas, such as the entire South American continent, were, unfortunately, under-represented compared to how much diversity/bio-diversity can be found there in real life (hint: Colombia, where I lived for five years, is the second most bio-diverse country in the world). I would have loved to see more locations in this area of the globe, as well as on the Indian subcontinent.

Those are minor grievances, as the locations that do appear are varied and interesting to explore for the first time, filled with vibrant colors and erupting with detail. The second chapter starts in a desolate area, and once Ark triumphs over his first task, to free a tree, plants are released throughout the world, similar to Soul Blazer but on a global scale.

However, not all is as it seems, and as Ark unlocks everything that makes our world what it is, he also unlocks a great evil, including one of the key antagonists in the game, Beruga. The backstory behind this guy, as well as his devious plans, is too good to go into any more detail here, and I will leave it up to the reader to start a new game of Terranigma immediately after this review. Suffice to say, Zombies are involved for those who dig that stuff!

Just like its two predecessors, Terranigma is a real-time action RPG, and the action is fast and constant! It will be up to the player to experiment with the different moves Ark can perform, depending on whether he is running, jumping, doing a running jump, etc., but these lead to more powerful attacks. Ark can also guard, but this was only slightly useful as it served to protect against distant attacks like fireballs, but felt useless against close-range attacks. I preferred to dispose of foes in a slugfest.

As far as damage output, the only other possibility is magic. I didn’t use magic that much as I found it mostly ineffective. Using magic requires finding magirocks that are transformed into rings and medals at various stores. Again, I never really bothered, as the magic system left a lot to be desired and felt both too basic and too limited.

Finally, the menu system where you access all of these new weapons, armor, and items might feel a little cumbersome, especially if you’re like me and are used to the more streamlined menus of Illusion of Gaia and Soulblazer. But with patience, it eventually became second nature, and I enjoyed how unique the item, weapon, and armor presentation was.

The game is very easy to get into and has a gentle learning curve. Perhaps the only stumbling block, at least if you are playing “blind,” is exactly how to help the towns in North America (2), Europe (2), and Australia (1) to progress. While this was a neat idea, it has been utilized better in other, older games, and some of the things you need to do are somewhat cryptic. While not mandatory towards beating the game, helping these towns to grow is a fun diversion and helps with immersing in the game's world. It is no shock that the first time I beat this, I did not help the towns grow and didn’t feel as engaged in the story, and the second time I played, I helped every town fully develop, and it felt more engaging than I remember. I admit, I also used a walkthrough a few times to help me through the process.

The music of Terranigma is top-notch and one of my favorite parts of the game. The boss theme does an awesome job of setting the mood. You can tell you are at a crucial juncture in the plot as the music instantly speeds up to a frenetic pace, everything feels pressing, that a victory is vital, or the world is doomed.

Indeed, the weight of the planet is on Ark’s shoulders as he goes toe to toe with these hideous beasts. The music of Crysta, the starting town, feels so homey, so pleasant, and I would legitimately enjoy listening to it outside of playing the game, which I can not say for a lot of other games, to Terranigma’s credit. Other towns, especially on the North American continent, feel folksy and down-home.

Dungeon music is foreboding and suitable for the danger Ark faces. There is a mysterious song that plays when Ark is about to enter a pit, and it does a perfect job of matching the endeavor he is about to take up. Overall, the game has nearly five dozen tracks, so growing tired of any particular song is unlikely, as there is a diverse array of different tunes.

While bosses are large and impressive, normal enemy sprites leave a lot to be desired with too many simple palette swaps. This is a minor gripe when looking at the larger picture.

My only other complaint was that some of the characters from Neo Tokio were walking cliches, which I found annoying, but thankfully, that was such a small part of the game. The aforementioned overly simplistic magic system would round out my three minor issues with the game.

Otherwise, Terranigma has aged surprisingly well, and I enjoyed it more this time around than I did the first time in the very early 2000s. It is an enjoyable game not to be missed by RPG fans.

Wayback Wednesday Volume 1: Final Fantasy 7 and Chrono Trigger.

Wayback Wednesday Volume 2: Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

Wayback Wednesday Volume 3: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

Wayback Wednesday Volume 4: Secret of Mana and Wild Arms

Wayback Wednesday Volume 5: Illusion of Gaia and Grandia

Wayback Wednesday Volume 6: Breath of Fire 3 and X-Men Legends

Wayback Wednesday Volume 7: Star Ocean: The Second Story and Super Mario RPG

Wayback Wednesday Volume 8: Demon's Crest and Dragon Quest VI

Wayback Wednesday Volume 9: Suikoden I and Jeanne d'Arc

Wayback Wednesday Volume 10: Ranking the first 6 Final Fantasy games

Wayback Wednesday Volume 11: Earthbound and Valkyrie Profile

Wayback Wednesday Volume 12: Legend of Legaia and Secret of Evermore