GUYS GUYS GUYS

GUESS WHAT I FOUND AT GAMETRADERS THE OTHER DAY

( I AM EXCITED CAN YOU TELL I'M EXCITED )

WHY YES THAT WAS A POINTLESS BLOG POST. HOW COULD YOU TELL?

~Aaron

This is it, everyone. The final episode. We're entering the Tower of Babel and wrapping this whole story up.

I hope you're ready, because here we go.

Previous Episodes

( Let's do it. )

~ Aaron

All right, a certain thing - that I cannot specify upon because it is a big spoiler - has been whipping my ass in Illusion of Gaia, so the next updates will take a day or two. In the meantime, I present you with Pokefic and some Illusion of Gaia stuff.

I've been meaning to link this for awhile, but apparently there is a small amount of Illusion of Gaia fanfics around! I'm pretty sure none of them contain ending spoilers, so you should be safe.

Quite a bit of Gaia fanart over at the deviant arts, too. Some of it is quite good. It's always interesting to see how people interpret the details of Will and co. from these little sprites. Freedan is looking a little too bishie for my tastes, but eh.

There's an Illusion of Gaia remix over at Dwelling of Duels, too. It is pretty damn good!

Also, a lovely fellow called Codeman38 has apparently gifted the Internet with the Illusion of Gaia font! The very same one used in the whole Soul Blazer trilogy, apparently. There are a whole bunch of awesome VG fonts on his page - personal faves include the Mr. Saturn font and the DOS font - and I heartily encourage you guys to download the crap out of them.

Anyway, you want Pokefic? YOU GOT POKEFIC!

( The start is the most important part. )

I'll do an index for these in a minute, probably. I've got the Angry D beginning in 'rewrite' status, and the Irving evolution in 'first draft'. So, expect more...but a Gaia update first.

~ Aaron

Okay, so this update kinda meanders at the beginning due to me not knowing where the hell I was going. After about cap #50 I finally get my bearings, so we're all good from there onwards. The Pyramid is a very confusing dungeon.

Also, on the subject of the next one: I have a shortlist of three options right now, and I'm currently writing up a list of pros and cons for each one. (Well, not currently. Currently, I'm writing this. You know what I mean.) Once I get to the last update (which is either the next one or the one after that), I'll put it up the next day so you guys can vote on them.

Anyway we got Gaias to Illusion. Let's go.

Previous Editions

( Walk like an Egyptian! )

Final dungeon, guys. The Tower of freakin' Babel. I am excited.

Also: Black Books and Entourage are excellent shows. Yes.

~ Aaron

Christ, it’s hot today. I’ve been sitting here uploading these screenshots without my shirt on, it’s that bloody hot. Good old Australian summers.

I do not do well in summer. :B

Still, there’s only one way to really beat the heat...and that’s with screencaps of Illusion of Gaia!

Previous Editions

( It's a temple...of DOOM!!! )

Two plugs: A Softer World and IM-Comic are two webcomics that I’ve started reading recently. A Softer World is, as many of you may know, one of the most heartbreakingly melancholy comics in existence. IM Comic is...well, clever. I recommend them both.

We’re getting pretty near the endgame with this game, guys. I should start thinking about what I want to do for the next one. Got any suggestions? I'm thinking of maaaybe Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2, because I like that one, but I'd have to figure out how to reliably take pictures through the GBA emulator. Dox, if you could tell me what your methods were for the Superstar Saga adventure, that would be terrific. :D

~ Aaron

Random idea for the day: a Silent Hill sim date! That would be equal parts awesome and hilarious. You could play as Henry, James, or Harry, and date...I dunno, Cybil, Heather, Lisa, Dahlia, Pyramid Head...it'd be cool. I think you'd have to put in some restrictions (Harry can't date Heather/James can't date Pyramid Head, for example) but somebody should get on this, like, right now. I want to play this.

Anyway, let's head on into Mt. Kress with our next episode of Illusion of Gaia!

Previous Editions

( There's Kress, but no water... )

Oh, in other news, it's my sister's 31st birthday today! Happy birthday, Heather!

(Also, here's a thing I found while looking for that FFVII box art. Best Lego EVER.)

~ Aaron

Alright, let's get on with this nonsense. In our last episode, we saw angels, soul-paintings, a water town, and a heartfelt confession of love. Let's see how it all pans out...

Previous Editions

( This wall is the greatest! )

God it's been a long week. I haven't really written anything in nearly a fortnight, and that makes me feel like I'm really wasting my time. I need to write more to eliminate that feeling, or at the very least, step up the job-hunt to another level.

Next update soonish. I've finally figured out what is wrong with my laptop, so things should speed up a little. I won't make any promises, because we all know what happens as soon as you commit to a schedule.

~ Aaron

PHOENIX WRIGHT 3 CAME OUT HERE IN AUSTRALIA TODAY AND I CAN'T AFFORD IT

D:

D:

I am seriously getting the Gamer Jonesing here. I haven't felt this since...I don't remember when. The GCN version of Animal Crossing? God, I haven't wanted a game like this in so long and there is no way I can play it for at least a month. D:

I think another screencap adventure is in order to distract myself from that unpleasant truth.

In our last episode of Illusion of Gaia, we made our way through the dungeon-continent of Mu, defeated a pair of vampires with a bomb, saved Erik, found out what the heck the deal was with that Water Palace, and walked for a month through an underwater passage to reach a strange village populated by Angels!

Let's get to it.

Previous Editions

( Surely angels can't be any trouble! Right? )

I should probably get some other work done today.

~ Aaron

Of course I beat the Mu boss as soon as I said I was having trouble with it. I don't know what else I expected of myself.

This episode is super-short, clocking in at about 280 screencaps, mainly because the Mu boss fight was VERY annoying and if I didn't stop where I did, I would have had to do about 500 more screecaps in this instalment. And really, screw THAT. I'll do another one as soon as I can to make up for it.

In our last episode of Illusion of Gaia, we met Will's long-lost cousin, the genius inventor Cid Neil, fought our way through a giant floating garden, defeated a large winged statue, saw a strange underwater vampire palace, and walked - under the water - to a mysterious new place called Mu! Let's get going.

Previous Editions

( I hope you like wandering, because this update sure has a lot of it )

Oh wow, my dad just came home with a TV. I'm gonna have to go check this out. Awaaaay!

EDIT: I passed a car on the way to help my mum with her job last night. It's licence plate read '50-GEM'. I THINK SOMEONE IS TRYING TO TELL ME SOMETHING, GUYS

~ Aaron

Geez, Phoenix Wright 3 comes out and the whole Internet just shuts down. I've still got a week before it comes out here in Australia, so subsequently, I hate you all with a burning passion.

Anyway, let's move into the next episode of Illusion of Gaia! In our last episode, we saw slave traders, diamond mines (with no diamonds), kidnapping, and the most infuriating raft ride known to man. What could possibly follow this?

Previous Editions

( A genius inventor who is not Cid? What? )

Now, I have a recently-found $20 copy of Worms: Armageddon and an unfinished copy of Final Fantasy VI waiting for me. I'm gonna go dive headfirst into them for a couple of days. See you guys next episode!
~Aaron

Oooookay. After one catastrophic failure of the Whirring Behemoth, a computer move (back to my old laptop, affectionately named 'Freezy McFuckup', which has started working again out of the blue), a replay through this entire section to re-cap the thing, and a few more embarassing mistakes (like doing this entire episode in JPG format and swearing to whatever God is listening that I am NOT going through that part again), we're ready to get on with the next instalment of Illusion of Gaia!

This one is a little shorter than the others, only 401 caps rather than the usual 500+. But my favourite part is coming up, so it'll still be just as interesting. I finished university for the year as of last Thursday (Oct 31, Halloween! Nothing happened down here, unfortunately.), so hopefully these things will be more forthcoming. I wouldn't put money on it, though.

Enough talk! We had just been thrown off a ghost ship by a giant sharkfish in the last episode. What happens next?

Previous Editions

( What's the worst that could happen? )

Other news: I love this Lana icon so much. I didn't even like her character that much in the game! Zarla, this is what your Mambolawyer Flash has done to me.

~ Aaron

Wooo I finally finished that 2000 word essay I've been working on for, like, a week. Now just to do two more exams and I'll be finished with university for the year! CELEBRATIONS ENSUE.

Anyway, let's get into the second instalment of Illusion of Gaia! These things probably will come about a week apart, since I can be fantastically unmotivated sometimes. I offer pre-emptive apologies.

Oh, quick mentions first: thanks to Zarla, Dox, and WaywardOctagon for all those suggestions about streamlining the process. They really came in handy!

ANYWAY ENOUGH OF THAT WE GOT A WORLD TO SAVE

Previous Editions

( Will returns to his home to find... )

Hopefully I can finish these last few exam-essays in enough time to do another this week. At the very least, I should finish rewriting that fic. ONLY TIME WILL TELL.

~ Aaron

Okay, let's get this show on the road! I am pumped, I am ready, I have...nearly 500 screencaps for this edition alone. Geez, I'm gonna need to cut down next time. I'd say that I should stop talking to every single NPC, but we know that's madness. Rule 1 in videogames is that you Talk To Everyone, after all. ^_^

Anyway. Illusion of Gaia was the second game in the Soul Blazer trilogy, notable for not actually having the games relate to each other at all. The only thing they had in common was the general theme of reviving a dying world, and the occasional running theme in location names and so forth. It's a lot different from most of the other RPGs of the time; there's no experience bar, you can only ever control one character at a time, and the ending is definitely different from anything I've ever seen in Final Fantasy. We'll see most of this as we play through.

I'm afraid I can't supply music as we go through, as this computer is retarded about sound, but we won't be missing too much. The music is nice, but it's no Earthbound.

But enough of that! Let's get into the Illusion of Gaia!

Further Editions

( We begin our tale in the town of South Cape... )

Now to finish off that essay and edit that story before bed. Man I'm gonna be exhausted tomorrow.

~ Aaron