Some criticize video games for being too "simple."
Some might say that if you want to learn, you should read a book instead.
The SNES RPG Illusion of Gaia is yet another simple RPG.
...or is it?
Welcome to the city of Freejia! [sic]
Freejia [sic] is known as the city of falling petals
As you walk through the gates, flitting pink leaves greet you like trumpet fanfare.
(petals)
You see its residents wearing the finest of garments.
They live a life of utmost comfort and opulence.
Your princess companion begins to feel at home.
"What is the source of prospeirty?" she asks.
An eager citizen answered:
Diamonds!
They are our wealth!
Acquire diamonds and secure perfect health!
No Diamonds?
That'll be fine.
Work in the mine
You visit the hotel and see a familiar face...
your friend Lilly [sic]!
You haven't seen Lilly [sic] in over a month.
If this weren't just a "simple RPG," you might have expected the worst!
Doom, maim, untimely death
credit card scam, hangnail,
parents "disappointed" that they pursued career in liberal arts...
But no! Lilly [sic] was fulfilling her dreams in the big city.
I mean, maybe it wasn't the lucrative engineering career that her parents had hoped for...
But by golly, she was working in a fancy hotel and serving wealthy people!
OK Lilly [sic]! That's nice! But where's Erik?!
As Lilly [sic] told you about how her job was waaaay better than Erik's at the diamond mine
...you had the worst feeling.
You and your friends raced to the diamond mine
...and there you discovered the bloody secret of Freejia [sic], the city of falling petals.
Every laborer there was enslaved
...including your friend, Erik.
(also the city's name should've been spelled Freesia.)
Beyond the veneer of a simple RPG with pastel colors and happy music was something much darker.
