Zill O’ll
It is the year 1200 in the timeline of the Vyashion continent. The evil
Emperor Balor, ruler of the Dyneskal Empire, has been defeated, and an era of
relatively peaceful co-existence between the continent’s various races began.
However, a new threat arises when the sleeping Dragon King awakens beneath his
secluded island. Supervising the life of humans, the Dragon King prefers to
keep them in a state of perpetual war, so that no faction would gain the upper
hand, believing that is the only way to uphold balance. An adventurer who
possesses the unique gift of the Infinite Soul, granting him or her the
greatest power of choice, rises to the challenge of shaping the fate of
humanity.
Zill O’ll is a Japanese role-playing game with several distinguishing
characteristics. The basic mechanics follow the convention of the genre, with
simple turn-based combat (against enemies visibly walking on-screen during
exploration) and semi-automatic leveling. Player-controlled character can also
learn various skills and raise elemental affinities which play a role in
combat. Defeating enemies quickly bestows benefits on the party.
The game’s unusual features lie in its scenario system. The player creates the
main character by choosing his or her gender, answering a few moral questions,
and choosing the initial location. Depending on these combinations the initial
quest will be different, though after a while all the prologues merge into a
single main plot. Despite being largely linear, this plot can be affected to a
degree by decisions made by the player. Locations can be visited by selecting
a destination on the world map. Each trip takes a certain amount of time,
which must be taken into consideration in conjunction with the events of the
main plot.
The player is also free to complete quests in any order. Plot-dictated events
(e.g. outbreak of a war) will normally occur regardless of the player’s input.
Important characters may stay alive or die depending on the player’s choices
and level of involvement in their personal quests. In addition, towns offer
guild quests coming in five varieties – delivery, escort, discovery, slay, and
rescue. These quests may open new areas and grant the party experience as well
as special Soul points, which are used to steer a character in a direction
corresponding to a certain class.
The lead character also has unique attributes such as bravery, kindness, etc.
These attributes may be affected by the player’s choices and also influence
the hero’s relationships with other characters. These relationships are
measured according to the emotion of the character in question, ranging from
hatred to adoration, and eventually determine the character’s fate during the
story’s conclusion.
Zill O’ll