Illusion of Gaia (SNES, 1994)

It was almost unheard of to have a character driven game back in the days of 8 and 16 bit games.  Quintet/Enix were one of the few companies that concerned themselves greatly with having great plots in their games, which they succeeded at with their Dragon Warrior/Quest series on the NES, and then again with Actraiser (1991) on the SNES.  They wouldn't nail that mark until they made Illusion of Gaia (1994), the second game in their "Gaia" trilogy, which began with Soulblazer (1992), and ended with Terranigma (1995).
The three games, like Actraiser, deal with themes of creationism and evolution, with Illusion of Gaia being the strongest of the three.  In the game, you are a young man named Will who survived a fatal expedition, while his father and the rest of the crew did not.  Back in his home town, he amazes his friends with his gift of telekinesis.  One day a young girl named Kara and her pet pig, Hamlet, come to the seaside village and she and Will strike up an immediate friendship, but she is quickly taken away by guards.  As it turns out, she is a princess, attempting to free herself of palace life in favor of adventure and romance.
Will is summoned by her father, the King, to ask him about a precious artifact that he suspects the boy possesses.  Regardless of Will's answer, the King is outraged and has him thrown into the dungeon.  Sitting in his cell, Will is contacted by a spirit, unknown to him but offering strength.  Hamlet comes to him, with a letter from Kara and a key.  He escapes the prison, ascends to her bedroom, and the two of them make their way out.
Travelling across the globe, Will is contacted by the god Gaia, who tells him of a great evil that will pass over the Earth, in the form of a comet.  This comet has been by the planet before, and when it comes close it changes the whole world and speeds up evolution, at the cost of many lives and entire civilizations.  Will is tasked with preventing the annihilation of life on the planet, but knows that he may not survive.  His friends, especially Kara, with whom he is developing a romance, agree to help him in any way they can.
So the epic tale is in motion.  It is a good thing that the plot is so interesting, because it forgives the game of having somewhat mediocre gameplay.  The actual gameplay is similar to The Legend of Zelda in that you have a top down perspective and you slash at enemies with your flute (not sword).  You have telekinesis, as I stated before, but it is only really used to move objects.  Occasionally Gaia will grant you the form of one of two ancient warriors, but these parts are limited and few.  It is adequate, I suppose, but it would make for a boring game if the story weren't so grand and exciting.
One part of the story that keeps things interesting is the romance between Will and Kara.  This is one of the most realistic and affectionate personal relationships I have seen in a game, especially incredible when you take into account that this was a time when gaming relationships were mostly hero-saves-damsel.  The two of them share a believable affection and chemistry, seen most evidently during one scene that takes place after a shipwreck.  The two of them are alone together, floating through the ocean on a chuck of their vessel. Without the constraints of society and peer pressure, the two of them survive a few weeks adrift, forming a tender closeness.  They very clearly have fallen in love, but whether or not they consummated that love would have been impossible to even suggest in a video game at this time.
Perhaps it is to set them up as the Adam and Eve figures for Illusion of Gaia's other main theme of creationism and evolution.  The god Gaia has clearly defined the effects of the comet as evolution, so perhaps Gaia's illusion is that he has intentionally set it on a course for Earth.  After continuing the progress of creation, Will and Kara shall be the patriarch and matriarch of a new human civilization.  So which is the game in favor of?  Creation or evolution?  I believe that the game is suggesting a symbiosis of the two, where the actions of a deity can be best explained through natural science.
Illusion of Gaia is a criminally overlooked title for the SNES.  Of all of the operatic and melodramatic RPGs of the time (even the best Final Fantasy games were guilty of this), it has the most subtlety of tone and genuinity of characterization and storytelling.  Quintet/Enix obviously took great care and attention to detail in their games, which sadly led to their eventual purchase by Square (forming the current day Square Enix).  On the bright side, many of their great titles made it to the United States because of their insistence.  We have all four Dragon Warriors on the NES, Actraiser, and the first two installments of the Gaia trilogy (Terranigma sadly did not make it over).  Their old titles are a vindication to the medium of video games.