Game:

Terranigma (1995)

Category:

Let's Play

Duration: 6:02:37

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5

This is the emotional finale of a four-part longplay of Quintet’s 1995 SNES game Terranigma, the vastly-improved sequel to Illusion of Gaia and Soul Blazer. Despite a few offensive problems I talk about in my video essay “Terra Enigma,” most obviously a kind of awkward translation, Terranigma is outstanding. For me, the uneven difficulty curve is a good thing too—keeps you guessing. The enjoyable gameplay and sad, mythic-scale plot with likable characters mix with great music and wonderful, sometimes beautiful graphics to create an engrossing experience. I’m honestly glad Terranigma never got a North American release back in the ’90s. Ironically, this spared the game Nintendo of America’s brutal censorship: God is God, booze is booze. Terranigma pulls no punches. When Ark ends up in so much pain, I really feel it.

Unfortunately, I don’t quite achieve 100% completion in this longplay. I’m not doing it again just for these minor slipups. I missed one Magirock (I think at Grecliff). There is a hidden area in the Sahara I forgot to visit. Additionally, I miss a bit of dialogue: I never spoke to the jack-o’-lantern in Crysta (which is a shame, since it’s funny); I missed a few minor pieces of dialogue in Crysta aside from this, such as the Elder yelling at Ark if you ask where the Weavers’ house is (since Ark would definitely know where Elle lives!); I missed a line from Dr. Emilio in Litz, who at a certain point remarks Columbus is still recovering and is out on a walk in town; I do not speak to most of the volunteers a second time after giving them the Nirlake letters; after getting the ship, I never talk to the sailors at the Liotto port; and I missed some funny lines about soccer in Liotto, where the boy and his mother reject Ark if he says he hasn’t heard of it. I never get 100% of the items available, though I do attain all four “special” staffs and armors, as indicated by their placement inside Pandora’s Box.

Of course, given some of the mutually exclusive options that exist in Terranigma, it is impossible to receive all the dialogue in one playthrough anyway. In the words of Takebayashi Reiko, one of the writers: “There’s so many logic flags in the programming to handle all the different situations, that even I have no idea how many times you’d have to play to see it all.” As quoted in an interview on this website: http://shmuplations.com/terranigma/

I also wish I had “upgraded” Suncoast before awakening Beruga, if only because it feels like that sequence of events better suits Ark’s character arc. Ark arc ark arc. I suppose, in my playthrough, Ark doesn’t realize the error of modern life until it’s really hammered home to him when he realizes his animal friends are imprisoned. This seems fitting enough, since Ark isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but we love him anyway.

Otherwise my main mistake is probably being underleveled for the Storm Master and Defense Robot boss fights. But hey, I beat ’em! I’d say I was also underleveled for Bloody Mary, but that one is just part of the authentic Terranigma experience.

After Terranigma / Tenchi Souzou, Quintet would make several more video games, including what appears to be another Actraiser follow-up entitled Solo Crisis. However, The Granstream Saga in 1997 would be these intriguing developers’ last release to see an English translation.

The Terranigma longplay: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLchQPuppJ_RmxB05oYXCk3eajPMZkolVq

More no commentary playthroughs: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLchQPuppJ_RkktO98GcOUixCGoTo--M5C

My Terranigma let's play: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLchQPuppJ_Rm51Bu9hp-9flQICchnB9Wr

My Twitter: https://twitter.com/MackerelPhones

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