Information
Illusion of Gaia, or, as it is known in European territories Illusion of Time, was developed by Quintet and, unsurprisingly, published by Enix. In Japan it was released Nov. 1993, in America Sep. 1994, and finally in Europe in April of 1995.
Overview
Coming off of the cinematic stylings of Koshiro's ActRaiser, and the fascinating, if undeveloped style of Takekawa's Soul Blazer, Yasuhiro Kawasaki's score to Illusion of Gaia marks a shift - a permanent one - to a more traditional brand of game score. Illusion of Gaia is almost a complete disconnect from the previous games. Takekawa and Koshiro shared stylistic tendencies - an epic title theme, an organ piece inspired by Baroque music to some extent, and a peaceful town theme - but this can not really be said of Illusion of Gaia.
It bears more similarities to an epic RPG score, or perhaps a Zelda game. The soundtrack is much longer than any of its predecessors, too, aiding in such an impression. Why the change? Perhaps its was driven by Illusion of Gaia being closer to an RPG than its action-oriented predecessors. Maybe it was the greater scope of the game - looking at the tracklist, I see names like "Lost Incan Melody" and "Great Pyramid". Most likely, it was a mixture of both along with the new composer.
Looking at Kawasaki's works list, Illusion of Gaia is his highest-profile project, and the Quintet games are generally not examples of A-list games. According to VGMpf Kawasaki stopped working in the game audio industry in 1997. This is unfortunate because, whatever the flaws of the score, Kawasaki shows a great deal of skill and talent.
Review
Perhaps the only real issue with Illusion of Gaia and preventing it from reaching the A-tier of SNES scores is that it just doesn't sound very full. In, for example, "Guardians", the boss battle track, it perennially sounds as though there's an instrument line missing from it, or perhaps a percussion line - there's only a timpani. This persists in many other tracks, and this really prevents it from reaching greatness. It's a shame, too, because "Guardians" is a powerful track, if one that shifts between ideas too quickly without developing them.
Nevertheless. Illusion of Gaia has greater stylistic consistency than Takekawa did and greater development of its tracks than ActRaiser, even if it lacks the diversity of Soul Blazer and the sheer power and memorability of Koshiro's compositions. In that respect, like Soul Blazer, it is one step forward and one back, leaving us with another middle-of-the-road soundtrack.
In any case, back to the beginning. The first track is named identically to the game, and sure enough, the title theme "Illusion of Gaia" is a powerfully orchestrated track, introducing us to the game's main theme. Yes, we have a genuine main theme! "Illusion of Gaia" also shows off an interesting detail of the soundtrack - many of its tracks are over a minute and a half before looping. Not all, but many of them. Anyways. The title theme is a strong track, one of the fullest in the game, certainly epic with its strings and brasses, and varied, too, between the epic opening, a darker middle, and a warm last third of it.
"Lively City" is quickly become a favorite town theme of mine between its catchy snare beat, warm strings and lovely flute melody. It's a delightfully simple track and a delight to listen to. At the 1:10 mark it becomes quieter with the addition of sleigh bells and a twinkly glockenspiel melody creating a very warm, home-y sort of feeling. The glockenspiel then doubles the flute for a little bit before seamlessly looping back to the beginning. Not much can be said of "Lively City by the Sea" as it's essentially the same track with the interesting, if irritating addition of seagull cries.
Afterwards is the remarkably simple, yet also charming overworld theme, "Beautiful World", using a bass, guitar, and what appears to be a sample of someone whistling. In addition, it uses a variation on the main theme of the score (first introduced in the title track). The last thirty seconds moves towards a very Western vibe, which is rather interesting in a JRPG score.
"Lola's Melody" is short and simple. Not much to say. Afterwards is the "Royal Anthem", which one can only assume to be the castle theme. It's delightful in its faux-classical stylings. Kawasaki takes the basic motif introduced in the beginning of the track and varies it in a wide variety of ways using the strings and brass, with timpani accompaniment. It's quite listenable and enjoyable. The variations are generally in manner of tone and layering of instruments.
"Descent into Darkness" is not much a favorite of mine. It's very thin and it's got some odd instrument choices. "Space beyond Time" is much better. Simple, but what a difference layers makes! Still a little simple for my tastes, but the ticking clock gives it a lot of character. "Blessing of Nature" is a nice, calm track with its guitar and percussions. It's rather relaxing, if not very memorable. "Ominous Whispers" is again another simple track, creating a mysterious effect with its low choral harmonies and panpipe melody. It's marvelously effective in its last half with the added harp and low strings and muffled timpani.
Finally we come to the big dungeon track, "Awakening the Wind". It's tied with "Threat of Dark Gaia" for 2nd-longest track in the game (the first longest being "Rebirth", one of the ending themes). Luckily, this length is not wasted on it. It's one of the most impressively layered tracks in the game. It's an absolute epic of a track and a personal favorite. It has a great central melody, too, seemingly a variation on the main theme. (It even comes back in the very short "Lost Incan Melody".) It's impressively varied instrumentally, as well, always retaining its imposing mood, but doing so differently as the track goes by.
(I'm going to skip "Guardians" as I already spoke on the subject.)
"Deep Sadness" is a beautiful, simple track with its choral melody and piano arpeggios. It has a quietly reflective quality to it, an emotion enhanced when strings come in for a reprise. It's melancholy. In its last half it begins to brighten a little, but it still retains that melancholic air.
"Drifting Endlessly" is another track in the vein of the overworld and town theme. It's too short to really make much of an impact, but it's decent enough. "Melody of Memories" is another short melodic jingle in the vein of "Lola's Melody" and "Lost Incan Melody". Not much to say, except that Kawasaki certainly likes his panpipes, doesn't he!
"Longing for the Past" is the first before a fairly big stretch of five dungeon themes. It's similar to "Deep Sadness", but not identical thanks to its sleigh bells and echoing idiophone. Not much to say about it again. Truth be told, there's not much to say about most of these tracks. Kawasaki's melodies, however good they may be, do not stick in the head very well.
And so we reach the five dungeon themes! And my are they - well, they're a bit of a slog, honestly, again marred by the thinness of instrumentation that dogs this soundtrack. (Though it may be down to the soundfont, thinking about it.) But even so these tracks just aren't very layered.
"The Secret of Nasca" spends much of its time on a mysterious harp section, which I suppose is fitting. It only reaches excellence in its last half-minute, though, when the harp is relegated to accompaniment and the melody is instead taken by strings. "Legendary Sunken Continent" features, most notably, the return of the descending two-note timpani motif from "Awakening the Wind". It's got a neat section with low strings, but it's not particularly distinctive. "Golden Road" is undoubtedly the best of the five with its Oriental stylings and instrumentation. Once again, Kawasaki continues his habit of dropping many instruments and then building back up. It's surprisingly effective here, even if he repeats it in its entirety to pad out the length of it. "Unexplored Temple" has an exotic feel to it but it's otherwise dull. "Great Pyramid" is similarly indistinct, despite some terrifying bassy 'screamings' alternating ears.
Finally, we come to the final battle theme, one of the best pieces on the soundtrack. It suffers from its own problems - the weakness of the soundfont and the persistence of the high strings - but this is, if you listen to it, undoubtedly going to be a favorite with its powerful, recurring motif from the opening. Like a good final battle theme it has its darkness and its brighter, more heroic section. Kawasaki continues his trick of dropping instruments and building them up and it's again quite effective. One dreams of what it would sound like played by an genuine, full symphonic orchestra.
"Bittersweet Victory" is one of the two ending themes. It's a melancholic piece, slowly brightening as strings enter. Alas, the melody is nothing to write home about. The other is "Rebirth" which plays, I assume, for the credits. It's a widely varied track, clocking in at nearly eight minutes in length. It impressively moves through a variety of moods, reprising the feelings, if not necessarily the melodies, of a couple tracks through the game and ending, naturally, on the main theme, even reprising the title theme.
Concluding Thoughts
Gah. I must apologize, firstly, for taking nearly two weeks to put this out. Even with word that I'd be slower than usual this took longer than I thought. But, as promised here it is - you are not abandoned.
I have to interject with my own thoughts. (They're all my own thoughts, but these are different from the usual brand of thought I provide.) I'm going to be honest, listening through this score was a slog. Whatever its merits, something about Illusion of Gaia just did not connect with me. If I had to point to any tracks I'd want to listen to again, I'd point to the title theme, "Lively City", "Awakening the Wind", and "Threat of Dark Gaia". They are my personal favorites. Everything else just didn't reach me. None of the melodies were very distinct, the instrumentation thin and lacking in layering... none of it sticks in my head. Nothing says 'excellence', to me.
This review, therefore, was a difficult one for me. Kawasaki provides us with the longest score thus far, the most stylistic consistency, even the most thematic consistency, thanks to the main theme. But he also lacks the sheer memorability and power of Koshiro's score for ActRaiser. He lacks the stylistic diversity and uniqueness of Takekawa's Soul Blazer. It's more consistent than either, but it's lacking in power, diversity, and memorability.
So in the end, I'd have to rate this 5.5 out of 10. It makes it to just a step above average thanks to the four tracks mentioned above.
Your Thoughts
Am I entirely wrong in my judgement on Illusion of Gaia's weak score? Tell me exactly where and how I'm wrong in the comments. I await many disagreements.