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Full Title:
Iron Gaia Part I:
Where Angels Fear To Tread

As the amnesiac test subject designated Number 898462138069001 (as you later learn, structural engineer Armand Carter) you awaken aboard the enigmatic Iron Gaia mobile space station, your memories shattered.

As the only human awake on board the rapidly decaying station, controlled by an insane artificial intelligence with delusions of deification, is up to you to unravel the mystery of your own identity, and to answer the crucial question: what is the Iron Gaia?

Its final version released in 2004, Iron Gaia is the first half of an epic, story-driven science fiction RPG adventure, Iron Gaia packs custom skills, great storytelling, metaphysical angst, memorable characters, unique minigames, a truly vast dungeon crawl into one complete, and if we are to be honest with ourselves, some of the worst graphics you've seen in a long, long time into a full length jRPG style roleplaying game.

Its genre, self-coined, is apocalyptic spacepunk, combining the cheesy high-action grandeur of space opera and the dark, gritty film noir stylings of cyberpunk.

The second half of this game, a long time in the planning, was eventually canceled due to fatal hype, disappointment, overextended ambitions, and impossible to meet expectations. The game did go on to spawn one full-length sequel (a side story, or if you must be all Japaneezy about it, gaiden) a (much prettier) action-RPG made with RPG Maker 2003, three novellas and one complete novel, hundreds of pages of fiction and fan art, and a three year campaign of group story-telling and experimental theater, all of them set over a thousand years in the future posited by this game. The never-completed direct sequel serves as the missing piece in a long, enigmatic, deep and complicated fictional history that this game was the starting point of.

IF...you liked any Max McGee games
AND...you like Science Fiction
AND...you like RPGs
AND...you haven't played this yet...

you might be in for a heck of a treat.

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I lied.

"I... I left in a sudden rush
And never said why
You... couldn't know
That I had no goodbyes..."

"I'll call you when the time is right
Are you in or are you out?
For them all to know the end of us all."

"In our sleep, there's more to this nightmare.
Will she beg for your mercy?"

"These are the days. The end complete.
The world still turning to the sound of the suffering.
You are the jury, we are the saints.

Our minds divide, the past repeats.
A war still brewing in the hearts of those we once bled.
I am the knowing, the living dead.

Dig deeper, remember
All you've been and all you've left behind.
Wave goodbye, my dear.
Dig deeper, remember
All you've been and all you've left behind.
Welcome home, my dear."

"I've been cautious with the words I extend.
Allow this year before the world starts to end.
"
  • Completed
  • Max McGee
  • RPG Tsukuru 2000
  • RPG
  • 11/12/2008 10:55 PM
  • 09/03/2021 08:38 PM
  • 11/13/2008
  • 200583
  • 44
  • 5687

Posts

Pages: first 123 next last
No scientific background mentioned here whatsoever. Very little details provided
which sounds very much like classic terminator series.
Max McGee
with sorrow down past the fence
9159
The idea of a sleeper ship is fairly well grounded in hard science fiction, the propulsion physics are apparently similar to the idea of an emperor bomb, and I also thought it was a clever idea to have...well, anyway, there would be some spoilers if I were to get into science talk right now, so play the dang game!

P.S. You're a very critical person, aren't you peanut. : P
I like this game back when it first came out it was a good game :) Wish i could have played the second part.
Wow this sure is nothing like Terminator even a little bit.

You know how I feel about this game.
Happy
Devil's in the details
5367
Does this run standalone?
Max McGee
with sorrow down past the fence
9159
No, it doesn't. I'm sorry Rei- but you'll need rm2k3 installed and probably the RTP as well.
Max McGee
with sorrow down past the fence
9159
*Rm2k. Forgot which game I was talking about. Actually, Iron Gaia might be standalone...it was so long ago I've forgotten!
Poor and incorrect use of mapping chips.
Story aside from pitfalls had no scientific or a compelling background for that matter. No meaningful description involved in the gameplay. Give more background about the characters. Fortunately the download link worked.
Max McGee
with sorrow down past the fence
9159
Peanut17, if I want your opinion, I'll sodomize you with it. :P
No, in all seriousness the contrast between your capsule-thrashing and secretseeker's gushing review is pretty representative of the reception of Iron Gaia as a series over its long and storied history.
Max McGee
with sorrow down past the fence
9159
Clevar, Mr. Nemo, very Clevar.
This game is one of the first RM games I played when I was getting into RM with games such as ABL and it will always be a classic for me. Introduced me to a certain sci-fi metal band too, let's hope their 5th album is a little better than the last eh.
Max McGee
with sorrow down past the fence
9159
Eddie, have you played the sequel yet? I think it is hugely superior to this game. Fallen-Griever seemed to agree.

Don't get me wrong ,IG1 will always hold a special place in my heart, but I think its value is more nostalgia than anything else.
^^ well i'm still playing it so i'll keep my opinions up ^^
But can tell u if there is a sequel I already wanna play it!
There is a sequel, and it's right here:
http://rpgmaker.net/games/808/downloads/

There was also a demo for a 3rd game that was never completed and is now no longer available anywhere.
http://www.ghostlightgames.net/ig/ (scroll down to the bottom for info on the 3rd game)
I need some help here-

I'm at the overworld part, just after you get the train. According to the game, the area I'm headed too is in the lower left quadrant, but I checked every single one of the blocks there, and they were all locked. Am I doing something wrong, or is it somewhere else?
Max McGee
with sorrow down past the fence
9159
I would say how wrong it is that this is rated higher than Iron Gaia: Virus but then the devil would hear me and drop this to a one or a two when actually Virus should be a 4+ and this should be around a three. Um...the sequel is better but you kind of need this one for it to make sense.

Same dilemma I am facing with my novel. Anyway...

baru:
As SegNin said.

Myotis:
God I made that part like....I don't know....EIGHT....years ago...or some shit? If you've checked all of the blocks, have you tried following the "Rails" off the map? I think that might be the key but I honestly don't remember. I am sorry.
I finally started playing this game. While I could give some immediate feedback, I realize this game is very old and it's useless to nitpick about little qualms 4 years later or w/e when I'm sure they've already been realized. So i'll just say this, I'm liking it so far.

What happened to part 3 though? Is it lost to the ether forever? Seems like a shame that we'll never get full closure, or will we?
Max McGee
with sorrow down past the fence
9159
Love to see a review/more in-depth feedback when you've completed the game. You're right that all of the gross mapping errors and buggy passability and epic design failures have been addressed in future projects, but discussion of substantive issues/impressions of the game still welcome.

Anyways, (commence nitpicking) Iron Gaia never had a Part 2. There was a Part 2, "Mana From Heaven" that died to drama. The remaining game is Iron Gaia: Virus which, although technically a gaiden/side story, I think has closure enough for everyone. And then...I have other projects which continue the Iron Gaia story in a much more oblique and indirect way, taking it, relatively speaking, far in the future and even-farther-in-the-future.
I'll see what I can muster up for a review when I'm done. I just don't want to draw too much attention to things that I'm sure your games have improved upon since, it would just seem more like I was being critical than helpful. I'll find some way to work around it.
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