Gameplan [Warning! Superlong post!]

[color=blue] in blue are played normally, areas in purple are cinematic, areas in red are battles, areas in silver have "race-like" gameplay and areas in green are info messages displayed in the info tab and/or gameplay descriptions. All areas, save for cinematic, are played. Areas in []'s are text that appear on the screen. Finally, italised paragraphs are narrations by some old man voice.

Gameplay Note: Whenever a cinematic takes place, the game is auto-saved unless disabled by the player, in which case the game will have to be saved manually via the menu [Start, on the PS3]. For those who are wondering, the Last Light Trilogy games will be released on PC, XBox and PS3. Perhaps Mac and Wii as well, but we aren't making any promises.]


*[Helping company] logo animation*

*DNC logo animation*

[[Helping Company]...]

[...in association with DNC Games...]

[...presents...]

*Flashy blue text* [...The Last Light Chronicles...]

*Blackness*

"In the beginning... there was nothing"

Weird light starts appearing in the centre of the screen.

"Nothing but two beings of incomprehensible divinity."

A male and female - the source of the light - appears on the screen.

"Infinity and Valice, male and female, equal and opposite. The existed together for uncountable eternities. But not all was at place in this universe of emptiness. No, something stirred inside Infinity and over uncountable eons he become... split."

Infinity is shows as if fighting, but with no one to fight with. His face then contorts into two, one appearing to be a white glowing, you know, stereotypical good guy, white the other is dark and demonic. Valice stares in the distance, a sad look in her eyes.

"Slowly he became two individuals in the form of one. Eternity, the good, and Necros the evil. No one knows for how long the battle raged, but sooner or later it had to end..."

Now the two are seen as nearly completely separate beings, held together by a weird glowing energy thing between them, still battling. The energy bond then breaks, and the two part. They then stare at each other, motionless, then charge towards one another, crying out.

"...and end it did."

Suddenly Valice appears between the two, glowing tears streaming down her face, arms stretched out towards the two. They try to stop, but it's already too late. They collide and the screen goes white. Then all coloured streaks appear coming from the centre of the screen. The white then fades and you see Necros and Infinity floating in the centre of the newly formed universe, with three white cloth-like objects floating away from them.

"The impact not only created the universe through its unimaginable energy, but tore Valice, the love of both Necros and Infinity into three. Three parts of her soul which then floated away into the void of space."

Infinity, with a horrified look on his face stares at his brother, while Necros just remains motionless, with a look that could almost the sadness on his face. Then something appears in the centre of the screen. A small piece of light next to a spot of darkness.

"The battle may have been over, but the war had yet to end..."

The screen zooms in, and the sources of the light and darkness are revealed as two baby boys.

"For Valice bore the children of what was once Eternity. The children of Infinity and Necros. Judgement and Nexus..."

The children open their eyes and they stare at each other as their parents slowly drift away.

"Grieved and drained of his strength, Infinity sealed himself within a vault... a realm, hidden from all. The fate of Necros remains hidden, but the fates of their sons are certain."

The scene suddenly changes to that of a burning city somewhere on an alien planet, with strange humanoid creatures battling it out.

"Nexus, son of Necros, and Judgement, son of Infinity, came down onto the worlds of sentient races as saviour and destroyer."

Two more aliens suddenly appear on the screen, one glowing white and the other darkening the light around him. They fire bolts of light and darkness at one another which then explode and the scene changes one more to that of another world and another race.

"Every time they lived out there lives on one world, they would be reborn on another..."

The scene changes to yet another world.

"...continually battling out their opposites until one day they were born as beings greater than any other."

The scene changes again to somewhere within a nebula, with weird wispy creatures all over and two white, almost featureless humanoid figures, again dark and light fighting each other, both physically and via their weird dark/light powers, their eyes, the only notable features besides their arms and legs, glowing.

"Precursors. Gods in their own right. Beings made purely of energy. Beings that do not die of age or illness. This time their battle would rage longer than any could comprehend, until they were powerful enough to release their true divine forms."

The two are seen sorta exploding somewhere in space. Judgement's true form looks like some sort of knightly angel (he's still white, but with a faint blue glow mixed in there), while Nexus looks something like a skeletal dragon (he's still black but with a faint purple glow).

"In a remote system, they each forged a world. A stronghold wherein to keep their powers. Judgement created Gira, a beautiful world carrying life forms from all across the universe,"

Judgement is seen floating above the surface of a lush world, with stone age humans (being one of the many random life forms) and many strange plants and animals bellow.

"...while Nexus created a world of darkness. The Dark Star."

Nexus is seen floating above a planet that looks like its made of black smoke with a faint purple glow. Gira can be seen in the far distance.

The scene changes to the two fighting in the void of space somewhere between the two worlds.

"Their battle raged on for much longer until Nexus decided to finish it."

Nexus suddenly flies past Judgement and towards Gira. Judgement, with a vaguely distressed look on his face follows hastily. Judgement catches up to Nexus above Gira and pulls him back. Nexus lunges at Judgement and their battle continues.

"Judgement saw that their battle would lead to nothing. Neither of them would ever win. It had to end here and it had to end now."

Judgement drifts away from Nexus and starts glowing more intensely, a fierce look on his face. Nexus, confused, suddenly realised what's happening and tries to back away, but Judgement was already speeding towards him. The two collide in a huge explosion. The scene changes to a village on Gira. The people look up at the blue explosion in amazement. Back above Gira the explosion dies down and Judgement and Nexus are seen clutching each other, now crystallised, Judgement as white crystal and Nexus as blue - don't ask me why - they then fade, Judgement's crystal becomes transparent and Nexus' becomes grey rock. Tiny shard start breaking off them as they slowly start falling towards Gira. Then they start fragmenting completely and eventually they become thousands of tiny shards falling to the surface of Gira.

The scene once more changes to a woman in a hut giving birth.

"And so, during what came to be known as the Shard Rain, the cycle of rebirth continued. At that exact moment, twins Kalin and Kane were born, carrying the reincarnated spirits of Judgment and Nexus. Kalin and Kane."

The scene fast forwards into the twins' teenage years.

"From the start, the two had a turbulent relationship... and their fellow villagers could see why. While Kalin was kind and loving to all life, Kane was arrogant and aggressive."

Kane is shows throwing a duck-like creature at a pond with a stone, then laughing. Kalin comes out of the bushes and picks up the creature before Kane can do any more harm, he then hides it in the bushes. Kane comes and pushes Kalin, causing him to fall into the water. He then gets up and pushes Kane back. The two start fight again and eventually Kane hits Kalin over the head with a stone. Kalin fell back into the water, clutching his bleeding head.

"Kalin realised that the two of them together would only cause them to fight,"

The scene changes to Kalin carrying a brown leather bag out of a hut.

"...so he gathered his possessions and set off away from the village. For ten years Kalin lived in the wilderness of Gira. He slowly discovered his powers..."

Kalin, now aged around twenty, is shows picking up a rock by pointing his hand at it, then flicking it away and smiling.

"...and slowly he mastered them."

Now a few years later, Kalin is shown picking up the water in a stream and manipulating it into all sorts of shapes and then turning it to steam before igniting the oxygen in the water vapour and smiling to himself.

"He finally decided to return to his childhood home..."

Kalin is shown (from the front) coming over a hill, then freezing. He gasps and drops his bag before falling to his knees.

"...but there was nothing to return to."

Kalin is now shown from the back, his burnt down village before him.

He gets up, his face contorted by anger. He clenches his fists. From the hill, he sees a trail of burnt trees running through the nearby wood.

He follows it.

The cinematic time skips to nights fall. Kalin passes newly burnt wood, the embers of which glow purple instead of red. Eventually he passes foliage burning with purple flame. He then stops at a clearing. Before him, with his back turned, stands Kane, his right hand raised with a purple flame in has palm. The trees around him are ablaze. He looks behind him to Kalin, a crooked smile cutting through his face. "Hello, brother".

"For all the good that made up Kalin's soul, no force in this universe could stop the anger that boiled inside him. Anger for the loss of his home. Anger for the loss of his people. Anger for the loss of his family."

Kalin's hands ignite into white/blue flame and his eyes start glowing the same.

Now, the reason for this boss battle is A) because the intro's so incredibly long that not cutting it short with a bit of gameplay will make players fall a sleep and B) to introduce the player to the controls.

The camera now shifts to the back of Kalin, who the player now plays as. The player has access to all of Kalin's powers and must use them to defeat Kane. It would make no sense for you to loose this, so critical hits and health decay are deactivated for this battle (which would make sense, considering they're both technically gods).

Kane will say stuff like "If only you were there to protect them, I wouldn't have been able to kill them" and "You were always the weaker one" and "I have always been destined to defeat you" and "Join the dead, brother!" and random maniacal laughter.

As soon as the player lands a critical hit, the camera pans over to Kane's face.

"We both know you can't kill your own brother," Kane mocks.

Kalin, his right first raised and his left hand on Kane's neck against the ground, his body glowing white/blue, stares at Kane, his face full of anger. "Why'd you do it?"

"They feared me. So I gave them something to fear me for." He laughs.

"They were your people! Your family!"

"Kill me then."

Kalin hesitates, then brings his first down, hitting the soil in a white flash right next to Kane's head. "No."

He then brings both hands up and slams them into Kane's chest. The scene changes to darkness.

"Kalin could not kill his own brother. So he imprisoned him..."

The blackness disappears and a gigantic red rock stalactite is seen suspended above a sea of magma, a faint purple glow coming off it and screams of anger echoing all around.

"...near the centre of Gira, where is being would slowly degrade to nothing."

Kalin, now in his forties, is seen training four young individuals, three men and a woman.

"After the battle Kalin gathered the four most promising souls he could find as his apprentices to look after the world after he was gone. He thought each a part of his powers, as no undevine soul could possibly handle it all. So he thought them by the elements his powers represented."

The camera will now show each the four apprentices learning their corresponding element alternately.

"Earth, air, fire and water. However, he secretly has a fifth apprentice. A girl, who he thought the most powerful element. Light."

The girl is shown training alone with Kalin.

"He would not, however, teach any the sixth element. Darkness. Though there was nothing he could do to stop it corrupting the hearts of his chosen in time... But that time had yet to come."

The five apprentices are each shown training their own apprentices alternately.

"Kalin's apprentices soon chose their own apprentices to pass on their knowledge. An act that will soon reveal to be their undoing."

The four apprentices are seen approaching Kalin's hut in the dead of night.

"Nexus, even in his prison, was able to bend the minds of the Four. Corrupting their hearts. Making them seek more power. More than just the little Kalin was willing to teach them. If they couldn't have it all, neither could he."

The fire apprentice ignites his hand and throws a fire ball at the hut, which instantly ignites. The Four crowd around the building when suddenly Kalin explodes out of the roof. He looks at his attackers, too shocked to react as a builder crashes into his back from the earth apprentice, sending Kalin to the forest floor.

He slowly gets up, but is slammed back to the ground as water tendrils wrap around his arms and legs. He struggles to get back up, onto his knees, but then the tendrils become ice. Kalin tries to create a fire ball to melt the ice, but the flame quickly goes out as the air apprentice pulls away the oxygen.

Kalin then bursts out of the ice by pure strength, but is then engulfed by a whirlwind of flame created by the air and fire apprentices.

Kalin then creates an air bubble around him to keep the fire away from him before blasting the flames away. A blast of air then hits him in the stomach, causing him to slam into a tree behind him. White blood runs from his chest. He looks down and sees the branch that had impaled him.

"No!" shouts the light apprentice, glowing, as she runs into the scene from the trees. The earth apprentice comes up to her from behind and takes out his sword, which he then thrusts into her back. When he pulls the blade out of her she drops to the ground, her glow fading.

The fire apprentice then points his hand at the tree on which Kalin is impaled. Kalin manages a soft smile before the tree ignites. He screams as the fire rages inside him (the branch on which he's impaled is burning as well).

Meanwhile the light apprentice’s apprentice, also a girl, watches from the tree line in horror, the fire casting creepy shadows over her face. She then turns and runs into the woods.

As Kalin's body burns, white light suddenly explodes from it and the Four cover their eyes. When they look again, Kalin is gone.

The apprentices of the Four came onto the scene, horror spread over their faces. Then the earth apprentice took a black stone, glowing purple, from a pouch on his belt and through it between the Four. In a purple flash the stone along with the Four was gone.

"Then, as the sun rose on this dreadful of days, the consequences of Kalin's untimely death was revealed. Kalin had hoped his apprentices would keep the elemental balance of Gira when he was gone, but now that not even they were left, and their apprentices did not know of this, the balance was broken."

The ground starts to tremble. The camera moves from the scene, over the landscape and ends up at the shore, where it shows the water level dropping dramatically. The camera goes into the water and to the ocean floor, where it follows the water down a crevice until it meets the magma level, which was dropping just was much. The camera now moves upwards until it exits the water and goes up a cave. It winds through the caverns until an orange light is seen in the distance. It exits onto a very different world. The sky is orange, with not a cloud to be seen. The camera now moves across what was once ocean, showing sand, blown off the land, filling the basins. (Time is being accelerated in this part of the cinematic.)

All the while the voice keeps speaking. "And so, as the elements split, the apprentices bickered amongst one another over who was to receive credit for stopping the Four, as well as who was to blame over the parting of the elements. Inevitably, bickering became battle, battle became war and the apprentices became the Sages, each moving to their own part of the world."

The screen will now show the Sages' four palaces and the surrounding area alternately, as well as the races when they are mentioned.

"The Air Sage stayed on the Surface, the Earth Sage moved to the Crust, the Water Sage got the Great Water, while the Fire Sage retreated to the Boiling Caverns. Immortalised by their powers, the Sages had many mortal spouses over the years and eventually spawned their own races. Aeren, people of the air, Gaean, people of earth, Aquen, people of the water and Pyren, people of fire. Even the Light Sage, who had been forgotten after the eons was parent to her own race. Mystics, who live in secret away from the war raging across the planet."

A battle in a large cave open to the surface is shown between the Air and Earth Nations.

"But this war would blind the Sages, the great leaders of Gira, to what should have been seen. The Four, who had been banished to the Dark Star so long ago had gained new power. With Nexus as their new master, they have changed their elements, learning the way of darkness. They have become the Negative Knights."

The Dark Star is shown, with Gira "rising" over its horizon.

"Turning their prison into their fortress. Their weapon, the Knights are slowly bringing it closer to Gira. Inevitably, the two worlds will collide, ending all life. The Four will have their revenge on the peoples of Gira.

An ancient prophecy will soon come true..."

Violins start playing.

"Trapped in a world
Of darkness and bane
The Four of dark
Will doom let came

Only in unison
Shall The Four meat smite
To stop their vengeance
Let loose the light

When Earth and Air
Fire, melt Frost
Meats Dark, Light
The Found and Lost

Shall unison come
To the rescue of all
For when the Dark Star rises
A world shall fall..."

The screen goes black. The violins pause briefly, before continuing on a vaguely more dramatic tone.



The following will be muted, with only the song playing.

The darkness fades away to reveal a battle somewhere in the fire nation. A bunch of air nation troops attacking a fire nation prison. The inside of the prison is shown, with Aeren soldiers inside, freeing prisoners, with explosions all around.

*The first Crawling in my skin...*

One of the soldiers stop and looks down at a blasted open cell. He sees a Pyren woman lying on the ground, her hands and feet shackled, blood all over, looking half dead.

*Consuming, confusing...*

The looks up. The soldiers looks back.

*Without a sense of confidence...*

An empty part of the prison is shown, with the soldier running with the woman in his arms.

He is shown exiting the prison and running towards a weird craft, with everyone around him too preoccupied with the battle.

He is shown inside the craft, driving it through the cave systems. The woman looks up at him, smiling.

*The violins briefly stop and the trademark Crawling tune starts playing*

The scene changes to the beautiful domed, floating circular Aeren capitol, with more of those weird egg shaped draft flying in and out, with gardens, fountains and massive marble building on the inside of the huge class dome.

It zooms in to one of the buildings, showing the soldier, no longer in uniform, standing on a balcony. He turns around, looking into the building, and the Pyren woman, pregnant, is shown lying on a bed, smiling at him. Then her face suddenly contorts in pain and she screams, clutching her stomach. With a heavily concerned look on his face, the soldier runs over to her.

The scene changes to just out side the building, where a few Aeren officer/guard/things suddenly turn their heads, hearing the (muted) screaming.

The scene changes back to their room, where (only their shadows against the wall shown), the soldier holds a baby above the woman, who then reaches out to him, no longer screaming. Then someone slams on the door. Panicking, the father hides the baby under the bed after letting the mother kiss his forehead.

The doors burst open and the few guard/police/things run in, weird crystal-powered gun things pointed at them.

*Ah... Crawling in my skin... crawling in my skin... these wounds they will not heal...*

The scene changes to the parents standing on a white balcony, their hands and feet chained, white rope around their necks. The floor opens and (their shadows shown again) they are publicly hung.

A craft is shown flying out of the city in the distance. The camera focuses on that craft. Inside is an unknown Aeren man holding a bundle of blankets on his lap. He briefly lifts the top of a blanket, revealing the black haired (with seemingly orange highlights) baby (appearing to be a Nomad (normal human)) within.

Zoomed out again, the craft enters a cave mouth.

The scene changes to the outskirts of a Gaean city, inside a massively huge cave, where the man hands the baby over to a Gaean dressed in smithe-esque clothing. Both men nod and turn away from one another.

The camera zooms in to the Gaean's face, witch then fades away, showing some far away planet, with an incredibly futuristic city on its surface.

*There's something inside me that pulls beneath the surface...*

It zooms in to a lab looking part of the city. Inside a very alien looking building, silver particles are seen shaping themselves into a humanoid form within a big glass tank. A scientist-esque guy released a lever and the tank opens. The white-skinned, black haired (naked, but screen focuses on his head and chest only) figure opens his silver eyes.

*This lack of self control I fear is never ending...*

The scene changes yet again, to a sand storm. The sands slowly clear, revealing a caravan village filled with nomads in the mouth of a cave (to shelter them from the sand storms). Amongst the Nomads inside are a young hazel-haired, blue eyed teenage boy (wearing a breathing apparatus over his mouth like everyone else), playing fairly deep-ish in the cave, while the others do mundane things. He then freezes, and sees a pair of red eyes staring at him in the dark.

*To find myself again, my walls are closing in...*

The scene changes to the Gaean city, where the same boy with orange highlights, around the same age as the previous boy, is playing with scrap metal outside a crafter shop. Another boy, a few years younger, then runs out and joins him. The smith and his wife come out as well, smiling.

Suddenly the equivalent of a car crash takes place between two speeding bike-like things a few meters away at an intersection. While the one vehicle veers into a nearby building, the others skids at high speed down the street. The Gaean mother jumps in front of the boys, pushing the back haired one out of the way, but the smaller Gaean boy only a little. The smith follows in panic as the bike skids towards them. The screen goes black.

*Crawling in my skin, these wounds they will not heal...*

In a "clearing" in the metal Gaean city, gear-like graves cover the cave floor. Around one stands a group of people. Amongst them the young Gaean boy, his right arm missing - the stump bandaged and bloody, the smith-father, in a floating (wheel)chair, his legs nowhere to be seen, and black haired boy, unharmed. The Gaean mother is not with them. The camera zooms into the black-haired boy's face, staring at the grave. He clenches his fists and a tear runs down his face.

*Confusing what is real...*

Back with the boy in the cave, the source of the red glowing eyes jumps at him from the darkness, revealing itself to be a Ghoul. It lands on the boy, causing him to fall to the ground before it sinks its teeth into the boy's left shoulder. The boy screams.

*Distracting... reacting...*

A gunshot then hits the Ghoul, who then falls back dead. The man who fired runs to the boy and helps him up. As the boy runs back to the cave mouth, terrified, another Ghoul jumps the man. The boy looks back, but the man urges him on. The boy runs back to the village, multiple Ghouls following him.

He tries to warm the other villagers to leave, but its already too late. As the Ghouls attack, he simply runs into the desert, once more consumed by a sand storm.

*It's haunting, how I can't seem...*

The scene changes back to the futuristic world, where the figure with the silver eyes walks away from the city.

The screen flashes with brief images of him travelling across the world (not Gira) before returning to the city.

He enters the city to find its streets empty. The camera shows a woman ducking away behind a door as the figure approaches. The figure then starts running into the heart of the city. He burst through the doors of a palace-like thing to find a figure that looks just like him standing, his back turned, in the centre of the room. As the figure approaches, the door closes and two more figures appear from behind. The "main" figure grabs his sword.

*So insecure! And now the short vaguely instrumental part*

It goes back to the black haired boy, sitting on his bed-thing, looking out of a window. He suddenly clutches his back, his face filled with sudden pain.

Once more we'll be using the shadow on the wall thing, as the boy sprouts his wings and tail.

*Crawling in my skin!*

The boy in the sand storm is shown again, clutching his bleeding shoulder. He starts running back to his village.

*Fear is how I fall!*

The silver eyed, black haired, white skinned figure is shown fighting his brothers again, but then jumps up over them and through a window. On the other side there happens to be a space dock. He runs towards the nearest ship, his brothers pursuing him.

*Crawling in my skin!*

Under almost the same circumstances that led to Zane's parents' deaths, guard/police/things burst into the smith’s shop. The smith hurriedly gives Zane and the younger Gaean boy, now with a robotic right arm where his arm had been lost, a bag of supplies before shoving them out the back door. The run as the police-people run in and arrest him.

Zane and young step brother run into the caves, pursued by more police people, birth big guns.

*Confusing...*

Now images flash showing (in chronological order):

A) The young step brother's arm transforming into a gun (causing both the Gaean Enforcers and himself to form shocked looks on their faces) and him shooting (plasma like stuff) and killing one of the officer-people.

B) The village boy returning to his village and falling to his knees, the camera showing his face and front.

C) The silver-eyed figure in a space battle with his brothers. A shot hits his ship before warping away.

D) A single missile hitting the cave wall just right of the phoenix-winged, black haired boy and exploding in a blue shower of plasma which inadvertently hits him.

*Confusing what is real!*

*First repetition of Crawling tune*

The camera overlooks the black haired, phoenix-winged boy's seemingly dead body (with the right side aflame with blue liquid), zooming slowly out, eventually showing the soldier-people leaving and the step brother running over the his body.

*Second repetition*

The village boy is shown helplessly on his knees before his destroyed village (seen from the back now) with no trace of either the Ghouls or his people. Finally he clutches his shoulder once more, slamming his other hand to the sand, his head tilted down, sobbing.

*Third repetition*

(Seen from orbit) The silver-eyed figure's ship appears above Gira as a tiny object which then falls to the planet in a comet-like fusion.

*The song ends*

After the tiny flash of the impact, a purple star (the Dark Star) appears over Gira's horizon. The entire screen then fades into black, with only the star remaining, now in the centre of the screen.

"Dark Star" appears in the screen, with the actual star at the text's centre.

That too fades away.


*Breath*

Ok, from now on I'm just going to call characters by their names. The 17-year-old Pyren/Aeren combo with the black hair, orange highlights and phoenix-like wings and tail is Zane. His 12-year-old Gaean step brother with the robotic right arm with the hidden gun in it is Gidget. The village Nomad boy who got bitten the a Ghoul and who just lost everyone he knew is Luke. And finally, the artificial energy being with the silver eyes, pale skin and black hair who just crashed on Gira in the space ship's Neos.

*Breath*


The screen's still black. You slowly start to see a hazy image, like someone opening their eyes (you're looking through Zane's eyes - he's waking up).

You hear a hazy, almost distant voice. "Ae". The voice becomes clearer and so does the image. You can now make out a blurry figure looking over you (Zane). "Ane". Slowly the screen clears up. It's Gidget looking down at you. "Zane!"

The camera changes angel to a view that shows both Gidget and Zane (from the left). Zane's lying on the floor of a fairly small cave chamber with medical (amongst the supplies given to them) and crafter equipment lying around him. "Wh... where are we? How long was I out?" he asks, sitting up.

"We're in the caves." He looks behind him, then switches to a whisper. "In the fight, you were hurt pretty bad."

Zane looks at his right side. It's almost completely bandaged up.

Gidget continues. "The Enforcers left the weapons of their dead behind. There was also a broken down tank about half a mile down the caverns. You were out for a few days, maybe. I'm not sure."

"Why mention the weapons and tank?" Zane says, somewhat confused, still abit hazy from his unconsciousness.

"Maybe we should remove your bandages." He leans over and helps Zane remove the white cloths. Zane freezes in shock.

"Wha... what..!?" Basically his entire right side is robotic.

"I had to reconstruct you. Mostly your muscles. Much of that was practically gone."

Zane feels his right side. His wing has been reconstructed as well. He gets to his face. "My eye!"

"I replaced it with a scope-cam from the tank. I'm not sure if it'll work or not."

"I don't think it does..." Zane said after a while.

"I think I can help." Gidget leans down and tinkers with the whatever on Zane's face.

The screen switches back to Zane's view. Suddenly a HUD-like thing appears on the right side of the screen, showing overall health, heart rate, damage, scanners, etc. (This will act as the gameplay HUD as well. The left side of the gameplay screen will be occupied by more mystical things). "Wow!" Zane says.

"I guess it works." Gidget says, relieved. "Glad I connected the optic nerves to the circuit properly."

"Me too," Zane says with a small laugh.

"Oh! And I found this amongst the supplies." Gidget hands Zane a foot-long knife-looking thing. On its hilt is a small crystal-ball like thing. Zane looks closer and sees weird scenes and objects drifting inside the crystal, though he can't make much of it out. Then Gidget interrupts his thoughts.

"I guess it's for you, seeing as you're oldest."

"Thanks," Zane says, tucking the knife into his belt.

The camera kinda moves in reverse through Zane's head until both Zane and Gidget is shown, Zane from behind.

"Let's go," Zane says.

The gameplay screen has the sci-fy-esque HUD on the right side, displaying overall health (not an HP bar. This doesn't work with points. A party member dies when he/she sustains a critical hit, though even then they don't truly die - I'll explain later). There's a 3D pic of Zane (or the selected party member) in the right-hand upper corner. The right-hand lower corner is empty. On the left side is the knife's hilt with the crystal-thing in the left-hand lower corner. The knife's blade (vertically up from the hilt) acts as the experience bar for the selected party member. Later you'll find out why. The left-hand upper corner's empty. The two empty corners are reserved for other stuff.

Gidget just stands there, waiting for Zane to move. Now, as Zane, the player must do just that. Every few second, no matter what you're busy doing, the game will briefly pause to introduce a control, then Zane (or Gidget, if you switched characters) has to repeat it, unless it's something like switching characters.

Currently, your minimap is blank, apart from the chamber you're in and a small cave branch leading from the chamber to the place where the battle took place, which in turn leads back to the Gaean city. If you attempt to go there, you'll find your path blocked by a ledge Zane and Gidget jumped in the intro chase just before the battle which took half Zane's body. You will eventually be able to fly over, but for Zane, that skill needs to be learnt. Gidget, on the other hand, as a crafter, is able to build himself a hover board with parts he can collect. However, this is optional for the player(s).

You are currently in a maze-like area of the Crust called the "Riddle Caves". However, obstacles such as ledges, boulders, crevices, etc. (as you can't fly yet and aren't yet strong enough to move large objects) block off most paths (creating many dead ends), but for a single route the player must take.

As caves, the pats are unlit, meaning you'll see nothing but darkness save for the area directly in front of you, thanks to a torch in Gidget's robotic arm.

At this point you'll simply have to wander through the caves until you see "a pale blue light up ahead". Then another cinematic will take place.

Zane and Gidget run towards the light at the end of the tunnel, with Zane taking the lead. The light becomes brighter and larger as you near it, eventually it opens up into a huge cavern.

Zane suddenly stops in his tracks and puts his right arm out just in time to stop Gidget falling off the ledge they were on. The tunnel had opened up into the wall of a huge cavern. Zane and Gidget stare in awe at the sight. The source of the light is revealed to be a forest of giant bioluminescent mushrooms. There are also trees, bird-like alien creatures, many other animals and even a stream bellow, running into a small lake. The cavern is so immense that the cave ceiling almost isn't visible.

You're about to enter a new area: Twilight Forrest.

Zane then sees an extension of the ledge running down the cliff face to the bottom. He starts down it.

The ledge is about a foot wide. Both Zane and Gidget is now with their backs to the cliff, inching their way down. Balancing acts like this increase your balance stat.

You have ten stats in total:

Strength
Speed
Endurance
Balance
Will Power
Magic
Intelligence
Accuracy
Stealth
Agility

Your stats determine how good you are at learning certain things. For instance, no amount of will power is going to help you fire a bow and arrow if you can't aim.

Your skills then determine your class.

The eight classes are:

Wanderer
Warrior
Mage
Ranger
Crafter
Covert
Scribe
Oracle (Special class - is not determined by skills. There can only ever be 13 Oracles in existence)

This will be explained to you as you descend the ledge. In doing so, your stats of balance and will power (it's quite a long way to fall) will increase.

Once at the bottom, you can go into the woods freely and fight random animals to gain experience (a special overall stat) or for food (hunger has a negative effect on your health and stamina - so does thirst), etc.

At this point in the game you can explore all you want, until you "talk to" Gidget (or Zane, if you're playing as Gidget), who set up camp next to the lake.

When you talk to Gidget, he shows you a fish he caught. It then time skips to where you eat around a camp fire, Gidget laying asleep nearby. Zane then settles down and sleeps himself.

*Timeskip*

Zane awakes to the sound of howling in the distance. He lies awake for a few seconds before he hears a branch break behind him. Then he sits up and looks around. He eventually gets up and goes for a drink at the lake. After drinking, he notices a reflection in the water. When the ripples disappear, he sees a large black wolf with red stripes in its fur and dragon-like claws, wings and tail readying itself to strike.

Zane gets up and spins around and takes out his knife. He slowly backs up against a tall stone on the water's edge behind him. Just then, Gidget stands behind the wolf, arm in gun-form raised.

The wolf turns around and snarls.

Now behind it, Zane slowly says "We're not going to hurt you," hoping the wolf would understand him.

"I don't think it wants to eat us because it thinks we're scary. I think its hungry," Gidget says.

The wolf attempts to lunge at the Gaean boy, but Zane's new knife was already in its back.

It yelps and spins around, growling with anger.

The wolf then pounces the rock where Zane had been standing just before. Both Zane and Gidget are now standing on the opposite side of the wolf.

At this point the wolf will try to attack Zane and Gidget with no particular battle. In your info bar, a message will appear explaining how to block and dodge. After you manage to evade a few of the wolf's attacks, the info bar will tell you how to quick attack. If you successfully manage a quick attack (be that by Zane or Gidget) the battle would have been won.

The wolf yelps and backs up in pain. Zane sees his chance and slashes at it, cutting its shoulder. It yelps and steps back, now standing on its hind legs, its front paws paddling in the air and its wings spread. Then, with the sound of reforming bone, the wolf seams to grow smaller in stature, its front claws becoming more hand like, even growing thumbs, the snout shortening and the ears moving lower on the head. The fur on most of its body becomes abit shorter whilst the fur on its head becomes longer, its whole body becoming more human - more feminine.

Zane and Gidget finds themselves looking upon the cross between a wolf, dragon and girl about Zane's age clutching her bleeding right shoulder, still snarling.

"Wow," is all Gidget could manage.

"Who are you?" Zane asks. "Sorry about your shoulder."

The girl simply snarls. "Dess," she says at last.

"What?" Zane asks.

"My name is Dess," she said. She explained how she hadn't eaten and was looking for food, as she'd been kicked out of her pack by a new alpha a few days back, simply because of her appearance. "I'm a monster. The result of a wolf mating with a Pyren."

Zane tries to comfort her, while Gidget remains wary and awed. Zane offers her some of their food and a place in their party. He explained that they are outcasts too, and that staying together will be best for them all. She agrees

Dess has now joined your party!

The info bar tells you to hit select. A window comes up showing Zane, as well as smaller images of Gidget and Dess. The top of the window says "Party Menu".

The game will now explain that from here, you can edit a character's appearance and inventory (at the same time, by placing objects on placable parts of the character's body/clothing), view their stats, update their personal goals (e.g. Learn to swim; Increase strength; Become Mage; etc. - completing a character's personal goals will increase their motivation will in turn will improve their performance in whatever task), switch playing character (can also be done in game, but only between your three main characters) or select your three main characters (all party members will always be there, but your "main characters" will be the three party members of your choosing whose status bars (overall health, stamina, motivation and manna) will always appear on the HUD and who you can quickly switch between by pressing the right analog (on a PS3, at least)).

By default, as you only have three out of nine party members at this point, Zane, Gidget and Dess are your main characters.

Now you can go on exploring, if you want, or you could talk to Dess (Zane, if you’re playing as Dess).

Dess tells Zane: "As you're outcast from the Earth Nation, I guess this isn't the safest place to be right now."

"I suppose," Zane says.

"Then where do you think we should go?" Gidget says, approaching you with the now packed camping gear (amongst the supplies you initially received).

"I know these caves," Dess says. "I also know where it meets the Surface."

"The Surface?" Zane asks.

"It's the best option," Dess says. "The alternative's the Great Water and I, uh... I can't swim."

Gidget shrug’s. "Well, what are we waiting for?"

Zane and Gidget must now follow Dess, unless the player is currently playing as her, in which case the goal (in this case the exit from the Crust) will be highlighted on the minimap. Note that Dess' minimap has less blacked out areas that that of Zane or Gidget, as she's been at more places. However, areas such as the Gaean Capitol is blacked out for her as she hasn't been there yet. Something else about the minimap that is based on the character's knowledge are the icons that are displayed there. For example: If you can see a monster, it'll appear on the minimap. If you can't see the monster (even if its right behind you) it won't appear on the minimap. Icons will also remain on the minimap on areas that you can't see if the character remembers it being there, even if it's moved along. Your character may forget about it in time, in which case it will disappear from the map. If not, the icon will disappear once the character finds that it's no longer there. To access the full map, Select must be pressed.

Select may bring up the Party menu, but the map may also be accessed from here by scrolling with the arrows on the controller.

Anywho, following Dess will take you through the Twilight forest until the cavern narrows to become a tunnel. This tunnel will continue on until it opens up onto a ledge overlooking a large desert-esque cave hall with many spots of the ceiling open to reveal orange daylight.

You have now entered the Daylight Caverns, yet another area. Jumping off the ledge will allow you to continue, but will also disallow you from going back, as Zane hasn't thought himself you to fly yet ("flying" counts as a skill that must be learnt). Even though Dess can fly already, party members can only be at most twenty meters from one another, to stop the party from splitting up, especially during multiplayer-storymode play (max three players for story mode multiplayer).

You will soon find all three characters' stamina dropping because of A) the Surface heat and B) because of the low, low oxygen levels (both caused by the disappearance of Gira's ozone layer).

Unlike the Riddle Caves, the Daylight Caverns isn't very maze-like. It may have a tunnel or closed off cavern here and there, but it's mostly an open chamber with multiple columns holding it up. It was formed by dessert winds blowing into a cave mouth. The Daylight Caverns count as both a Surface and Crust area.

Eventually you'll come across a huge cave mouth (huge in width, not height).

The mouth looks out over a huge expanse of sand - The Great Sand Sea - which acts just like a sea of water, but with moving sand dunes instead of waves of water.

As the party approach the exit, their breathing becomes more and more constricted. Eventually Gidget collapses.

"Gidget!" Zane runs over, but topples over as well, followed by Dess. As Zane's eyes close, looking out onto a desert, he sees a speeding object coming towards them...



*Breath*

Ok, so now you've played in three areas: "The Riddle Caves", "Twilight Forrest" and "The Daylight Caverns". There are still many areas to come. The area you're about to find yourself in is "The Great Sand Sea".

You may want to make yourself a map of the areas visited and how they connect to one another.

*Breath*



Zane's eyes open, revealing the hot desert sun. He's moving. He sits up and finds himself, along with Dess and Gidget, in the back of a hovercraft (much like that of Star Wars IV on Tatoeen). They all have gasmask-like things on their faces.

"Welcome back to the world of the living," a buff-sounding man says. The man next to the driver (whose body is fully covered in white, Arab-like cloths, aside from his face, which is covered by a gasmask and a visor) looks behind him to the party. His open arms are heavily tanned. He wears clothing very similar to Disney's version of Aladdin, aside from the grey army-like boots, the gasmask and the huge broad sword strapped to his back. He grins. "My name's Zahn." He holds out his hand.

Zane shakes it in silence.

"And who might you be?" Zahn asks.

"I'm Zane," he says after a while. "This is Gidget and this is Dess. We are exiles from the Crust."

"I can see why," Zahn says, gesturing to Zane and Dess' wings. "You're hybrids."

Dess tensed in something similar to hate. "I prefer the term crossbreeds."

"Hybrids?" Zane asks.

"Well, yes," Zahn replies. "Dess here looks like a fire guy crossed with one of the wolves down from where you're from and you look like... Well, you look like the result of a Pyren and Aeren... getting along. How on Gira did that happen!?"

"I don't know," Zane admits. "I grew up believing I was a Nomad. Like you are."

"Makes sense," Zahn says, looking back in front of him out to the desert. "It's known to happen that hybrids only... sprout their features once the mature, if it happens at all! Some go about looking normal their entire lives without knowing their true lineage."

"That's sad," Gidget says.

"It's quite funny, really."

"How the hell's that funny!?" Dess asks, now in human-ish form.

"Wait," Zane interrupts. "What's that up ahead?" He points at a weird haze in the baking dessert up ahead, darker than the sand. Eventually it becomes shapes almost like floating tents.

"That, my friends," Zahn says, "is our caravan."

The speeder stops at the caravan, met by another fully covered-in-white figure.

"Welcome back, Zahn." He looks around to the side of the speeder and lifts his hands in a gesture of somewhat shock. "Why is it that there's a giant wolf in the back of your speeder? Or am I just going mad?"

Zahn shrug’s. "That's Dess. The guy with the wings is Zane and the little kid with the metal arm's Gidget."

"Hi!" Gidget says, looking down at the man.

"I... see," the man says. "Go hook the speeder to one of the Gathoke*. You know the drill."

The driver manoeuvres the speeder to one of the large reptilian creatures pulling the floating tent-things as Zane, Zahn, Dess and Gidget get off onto the sand.

Now, the caravans of the Great Sand Sea (the largest area on the surface) are kinda like moving villages. Like other settlements in the game, there are merchants, stalls, random citizens and people who can offer you quests. In others words, you can buy things here, chat to random npc's or get optional missions (like killing a pesky beast or locating a stolen item). These missions do not have to be completed to progress the story, but they can grant you experience, stat increases, awesome items and, most importantly, money.

The universal currency of Gia is, quite simply, coins. Coins can be used to buy things if you don't have anything to trade.

Anyway, you have quite a number of things to do here. However, exploring the desert is not one of them. You'll have to keep on moving with the caravan for (as some nomads may tell you) the vibrations created by the caravan keep most... sand sea monsters away. If you go out on your own, something will probably randomly jump out of the sand and attack/eat you after a while. If you die in a way mot from a critical hit (e.g. getting eaten or falling into lava) you'll restart from the last checkpoint. If you do die from a critical hit, you won't actually die. You'll find yourself as a glowing white figure in a glowing white version of the world, the only non-glowing things being the living. At this point, you're unconscious. To revive yourself, you'll have to find/get to your body before it dies. You'll then wake back up to the world of the living - your overall health will once more be full, but your stamina will still be in the low.

Anyway, after a few minutes you should spot something green in the horizon. Eventually you'll find the caravan stopping at an oasis.

Zahn speaks with the caravan leader as Zane approaches.

Zahn turns to him. "Welcome to Sjévan Oasis. It's the only speck of water for miles."

Zane looks around. There's a fairly large waterhole in the centre of the oasis, with a mini jungle of palm trees all around, with many clearings in which the caravan vehicles are parking. The Gathoke are at the waterhole, drinking, along with a number of women filling water barrels.

To the far side of the oasis there's what seems to be a cave mouth going underneath the trees into a hill. "What's through there?" Zane asks.

"On the other side of the hill?" Zahn's voice speaks abit softer. "I don't think you want to be there. It's the Sea of Souls."

"Sea of Souls?" Gidget asks out of nowhere. "That sounds fun."

Zahn ignores him. "It's a ghostly place. Legend says I great sea captain once sailed these seas. Thousands of years ago, when the seas were still seas of water."

"Before the Cataclysm," Zane adds.

"Yes," Zahn continues. Gidget simply listens with wide eyes. "The Sea of Souls is a bay. It was once the way to a bustling city - a port - where this captain used to live when not at sea. Then the Cataclysm occurred. As many other did, he perished. His ship was sunk, dragging him and his crew with it. Then the water disappeared, leaving the wreck exposed. Today, it's said that the ship sails once more upon the sands. The Ghost Ship of the Sea of Souls. Its captain is now known as the Ghost King."

"An old wives tail," a female voice suddenly says, before a lizard-like creature scurries up to Zahn shoulder from his collar. It continues, now addressing Zane and Gidget. "Don't let him scare you with such nonsense.

"Gah!" Zane and Gidget explains in unison in shock.

"What?" Zahn says. "Never seen a guardian before?"

"Yeah, but, your spoke!" Zane says.

"Oh, of course," Zahn says, shrugging. "One must really have lived with their guardian, you see? It has to be taught. Like I taught Shiela here."

"Lived with?" Gidget says. "That's weird. In the Earth Nation people who have guardians use them as, well..."

"Pets, workers and, well, guardians," Zane completes. "They're not treated as individuals."

"That's horrible!" Shiela says.

"It is," Zahn adds. "Guardians are representations of your soul, after all."

"Not for wolves," Dess says, startling Zahn.

"Of course," Shiela says. "Guardians are sort of meant to show an individuals opposites. No only the opposite gender, but also their animalian side."

"With wolves," Zahn adds. "You already have an animalian side as yourselves. You're practically your own guardians."

"Did the ghost king have a guardian?"

"Well yes," Zahn says. "The other part of the legend says that his guardian, apparently in the form of a Seeth*. When someone who have already unlocked their guardians die when their not supposed to, as in the case of the Ghost King, their spirit's will remain on the world as ghosts, while their guardians will become wild animals." He pauses briefly. "The only way for them to pass on to the Spirit Realm is to reunite with their guardians. As crazy as it may seem, many have tried and failed to reunite the Ghost King with his."

"Why?" Dess asks, sceptical.

"Because the Ghost King was a collector," answers Shiela. "According to legend, the one who sets him free will be given his ship."

"So?" Gidget asked.

"I'll give you one clue," Zahn says. "Think treasure. He was a great collector in his life and gathered countless rare artefacts. That's what you will receive once you manage to reunite him and his guardian. A guardian whose location has eluded everyone who's seeked her."

"I bet we can find her," Zane says.

"What?" The rest of them say in unison.

"My fa... my stepfather gave me a knife before he died." Zane takes it out. "See this ball in the centre? I think it shows the way to whatever it is I seek. I've been looking at it every now and then and It has shown me Dess before we entered the Twilight forest, and you before we even came to the Surface." He gestures to Zahn, who lifts his eyebrows.

"This is crazy," Sheila says.

"I'm with Zane," Gidget says.

"Well, we may as well die anyway," Dess adds.

Zahn just stares at them. Then he shrugs "I give up. You need a guide, don't you?"

"You're joking, right?" Sheila asks.

Zane grins. "Welcome to our party."

"I'll go get the speeder," Zahn says, before walking off.

"I can't believe what just happened." Dess shrug’s.



*Gathoke are huge lizard-like alien caravan desert animals similar to Warcraft's Kodo.
*Seeths are crow/parrot combo things about the size of a parrot.



Too be continued...