Galerians: Ash
Encyclopedia
is a PlayStation 2
video game developed by Polygon Magic
. It was published by Enterbrain
in Japan, and by Sammy Studios in North America and Europe. Galerians: Ash is the sequel to Galerians
, a PlayStation
game. It is a psychic action game with a dark setting. It follows the story of a young man named Rion who has psychic powers and the resiliency to overcome the Last Galerians, a genetically engineered group of superhumans whose purpose is to wipe out humankind.
, and begins with a synopsis of the events from that game. In the 26th century, two computer scientists
develop an advanced self-replicating artificial intelligence
, whom they called Dorothy. Dorothy grew in scope and influence quickly, and began to question why she should obey humans, whom she identified as inferior. Her creators told her of the existence of God, and that just as humankind must abide by the will of God, so must Dorothy obey her creators - humans. While Dorothy seemed to accept this explanation, she secretly began developing Galerians - a superior human race with psychic powers, for whom she would be God.
Dorothy's creators put a safeguard against her - two programs that, if introduced into Dorothy's systems, would destroy her - into the minds of their two children, Rion Steiner and Lilia Pascalle. Though Rion was captured by Dorothy's followers and experimented upon, he managed to break free using the psychic powers he gained from the experiments. Going through a series of painful ordeals, Rion found Lilia and killed the Galerians, but not without discovering that he himself was a Galerian, and that the real Rion died while being subjected to the experiments. In the end Rion and Lilia destroyed Dorothy, but the mental stress of the battle destroyed Rion's brain.
Galerians: Ash takes place six years after the original Galerians. Though Dorothy was destroyed, she produced several more Galerians - the Last Galerians - in her final moments, and mankind has fought a desperate battle with them ever since. The game begins with Lilia, now a computer scientist herself, locating backup data of Rion's personality in the remains of Dorothy's systems, and using them to bring Rion back to life. Lilia realizes that only Rion has the power to stop the leader of the Last Galerians, known as Ash, and end the nightmare once and for all.
One of the soldiers helping Dr. Lilia, and defending the human race, Cas is highly respected by those she works with. She seems to be one of the few soldiers who believes that Rion will be able to stop Ash. She sacrifices herself to stop monsters from further entering the second level of the airbase currently being used as a stronghold in the battle against Ash.
The best hacker and student AirBeagle pilot available, Pat is easy going, but has a serious side that comes out when Dr. Lilia is kidnapped by Romero. He's very young, which takes Rion by some surprise at first, and has a habit of tugging at his fingerless gloves. Ten years after the final battle with Ash, he's the only one of the main characters still alive, and has become a computer scientist to continue Dr. Lilia's work.
Romero is leading the battle against Ash from the airbase, but he refuses to have his troops fight him head- on. When Ash infiltrates the airbase, Romero betrays the others, and sells Ash DNA information needed to access Elaine, the airbase's main computer. In exchange, Ash promises to spare both Romero and Dr. Lilia, but not as one would expect- Romero is made into a robot, and he brings Lilia to the uranium refinery, where she is poisoned by the intense radiation, which will lead to her eventual death two years later.
The first of the Last Galerians Rion meets, Spider was created from Ash's feelings of rebellion and longing to escape from Dorothy. He appears physically younger than any other Last Galerian, although they are technically all the same age. He wishes that he had never existed, and he keeps a tarantula named Leo as his companion. He uses many spiderwebs when fighting, on which his spider friends wait for Rion to walk into them. Killed by Rion, he is the second of the Last Galerians to die.
The second Last Galerian Rion meets, Parano was born because of Ash's feelings of hatred for his own weaknesses and wanting to be rid of them. Parano comes off as sadistic and violent, but his true nature may be those very weaknesses Ash wants to destroy. His weapon of choice, are two knives. He enjoys seeing blood. His specialty is cutting out the eyes of his victims and replacing them with circuits to create undead cyborgs under his control. Killed by Ash, he is the first of the Last Galerians to die. He's also one of the hardest bosses in this game.
The fourth and last of the Last Galerians Rion meets, Nitro was born from the sorrow and pain Ash lived with and tried to hide, even from himself. She has the ability to lock a person in a perfect-seeming fantasy world in which the victim could be content to live out their wishes and dreams. She offers this option to Rion, in exchange for him allowing her to delete the virus program meant to destroy Dorothy and all of her children that is implanted in his brain. Naturally, he refuses, which initiates the final battle with Nitro, leading ultimately to her death. Killed by Rion, she is the third of the Last Galerians to die.
The truth about Ash is that he can not really be considered a Galerian, because he is not a human, biologically advanced or not, but a computer program. His sole purpose was to be the resurrection of Dorothy, should anything happen to her. Discontent with that purpose, when Rion destroyed Dorothy, Ash used it as an opportunity to completely rewrite his program, so that, when he did resurrect Dorothy, she would be under his control, instead of the other way around. Another truth about Ash, that even he does not realize until the end of the game, is that Spider, Parano, and Nitro do not exist but as mere facets of his own twisted and pained personality. He and Rion were frozen only as data, which Rion requested that Pat delete all trace of. Ash and Rion are the last Galerians to be killed, or more specifically, deleted.
Critics agreed that graphics were "technically impressive with some fantastic looking areas", with "rock-solid sixty frames per second, even during boss battles". Although critics noted the repetitive environments, "everything had a very similar look and setup to it regardless of the room or area".
The sound to Galerians: Ash was mostly made up of industrial noises and clanging sounds. IGN stated that "the game music is pretty sparse, but what's there is decent". But IGN also noted that "the voice acting is missing real human emotion".
The major complaints focused on the gameplay. IGN noted that "this combat system makes no logical sense", while others critics did not like the charging system and lack of dodging. Critics also disliked "mixture of puzzles with battle" which create an artificially difficult game. Critics also noted that "many puzzle solutions being a little too vague and items being hard to find which leads to more running around and backtracking than action or progress". Several complaints were also aimed at camera issues, "there are just too many occasions where its spin causes confusion, especially when locked onto enemies".
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
video game developed by Polygon Magic
Polygon Magic
is a Japanese video game developer.The company has been one of the largest studios in Japan. The company develops various platform including arcade, 360, Wii, PS3, DS/3DS, NGP/PSP Vita, Facebook, Japanese SNS such as GREE and Mobage, and Pachinko .The company has been a top developer and publisher...
. It was published by Enterbrain
Enterbrain
is a Japanese magazine publisher established on April 1, 2000. Enterbrain magazines are generally focused on video games and computer entertainment as well as video game and strategy guides. In addition, the company publishes a small selection of anime artbooks. Enterbrain is based in Tokyo, Japan...
in Japan, and by Sammy Studios in North America and Europe. Galerians: Ash is the sequel to Galerians
Galerians
is a PlayStation video game developed by Polygon Magic. It was originally published in Japan by Enterbrain, and published by Crave Entertainment for North America. Galerians is a psychic survival horror game with a dark setting. It follows a boy named Rion who discovers he has psychic powers...
, a PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
game. It is a psychic action game with a dark setting. It follows the story of a young man named Rion who has psychic powers and the resiliency to overcome the Last Galerians, a genetically engineered group of superhumans whose purpose is to wipe out humankind.
Story
The plot of Galerians: Ash is highly dependent upon its predecessor, GaleriansGalerians
is a PlayStation video game developed by Polygon Magic. It was originally published in Japan by Enterbrain, and published by Crave Entertainment for North America. Galerians is a psychic survival horror game with a dark setting. It follows a boy named Rion who discovers he has psychic powers...
, and begins with a synopsis of the events from that game. In the 26th century, two computer scientists
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
develop an advanced self-replicating artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
, whom they called Dorothy. Dorothy grew in scope and influence quickly, and began to question why she should obey humans, whom she identified as inferior. Her creators told her of the existence of God, and that just as humankind must abide by the will of God, so must Dorothy obey her creators - humans. While Dorothy seemed to accept this explanation, she secretly began developing Galerians - a superior human race with psychic powers, for whom she would be God.
Dorothy's creators put a safeguard against her - two programs that, if introduced into Dorothy's systems, would destroy her - into the minds of their two children, Rion Steiner and Lilia Pascalle. Though Rion was captured by Dorothy's followers and experimented upon, he managed to break free using the psychic powers he gained from the experiments. Going through a series of painful ordeals, Rion found Lilia and killed the Galerians, but not without discovering that he himself was a Galerian, and that the real Rion died while being subjected to the experiments. In the end Rion and Lilia destroyed Dorothy, but the mental stress of the battle destroyed Rion's brain.
Galerians: Ash takes place six years after the original Galerians. Though Dorothy was destroyed, she produced several more Galerians - the Last Galerians - in her final moments, and mankind has fought a desperate battle with them ever since. The game begins with Lilia, now a computer scientist herself, locating backup data of Rion's personality in the remains of Dorothy's systems, and using them to bring Rion back to life. Lilia realizes that only Rion has the power to stop the leader of the Last Galerians, known as Ash, and end the nightmare once and for all.
Protagonists
- Cas
One of the soldiers helping Dr. Lilia, and defending the human race, Cas is highly respected by those she works with. She seems to be one of the few soldiers who believes that Rion will be able to stop Ash. She sacrifices herself to stop monsters from further entering the second level of the airbase currently being used as a stronghold in the battle against Ash.
- Pat
The best hacker and student AirBeagle pilot available, Pat is easy going, but has a serious side that comes out when Dr. Lilia is kidnapped by Romero. He's very young, which takes Rion by some surprise at first, and has a habit of tugging at his fingerless gloves. Ten years after the final battle with Ash, he's the only one of the main characters still alive, and has become a computer scientist to continue Dr. Lilia's work.
Antagonists
- Romero
Romero is leading the battle against Ash from the airbase, but he refuses to have his troops fight him head- on. When Ash infiltrates the airbase, Romero betrays the others, and sells Ash DNA information needed to access Elaine, the airbase's main computer. In exchange, Ash promises to spare both Romero and Dr. Lilia, but not as one would expect- Romero is made into a robot, and he brings Lilia to the uranium refinery, where she is poisoned by the intense radiation, which will lead to her eventual death two years later.
- Spider
The first of the Last Galerians Rion meets, Spider was created from Ash's feelings of rebellion and longing to escape from Dorothy. He appears physically younger than any other Last Galerian, although they are technically all the same age. He wishes that he had never existed, and he keeps a tarantula named Leo as his companion. He uses many spiderwebs when fighting, on which his spider friends wait for Rion to walk into them. Killed by Rion, he is the second of the Last Galerians to die.
- Parano
The second Last Galerian Rion meets, Parano was born because of Ash's feelings of hatred for his own weaknesses and wanting to be rid of them. Parano comes off as sadistic and violent, but his true nature may be those very weaknesses Ash wants to destroy. His weapon of choice, are two knives. He enjoys seeing blood. His specialty is cutting out the eyes of his victims and replacing them with circuits to create undead cyborgs under his control. Killed by Ash, he is the first of the Last Galerians to die. He's also one of the hardest bosses in this game.
- Nitro
The fourth and last of the Last Galerians Rion meets, Nitro was born from the sorrow and pain Ash lived with and tried to hide, even from himself. She has the ability to lock a person in a perfect-seeming fantasy world in which the victim could be content to live out their wishes and dreams. She offers this option to Rion, in exchange for him allowing her to delete the virus program meant to destroy Dorothy and all of her children that is implanted in his brain. Naturally, he refuses, which initiates the final battle with Nitro, leading ultimately to her death. Killed by Rion, she is the third of the Last Galerians to die.
- Ash
The truth about Ash is that he can not really be considered a Galerian, because he is not a human, biologically advanced or not, but a computer program. His sole purpose was to be the resurrection of Dorothy, should anything happen to her. Discontent with that purpose, when Rion destroyed Dorothy, Ash used it as an opportunity to completely rewrite his program, so that, when he did resurrect Dorothy, she would be under his control, instead of the other way around. Another truth about Ash, that even he does not realize until the end of the game, is that Spider, Parano, and Nitro do not exist but as mere facets of his own twisted and pained personality. He and Rion were frozen only as data, which Rion requested that Pat delete all trace of. Ash and Rion are the last Galerians to be killed, or more specifically, deleted.
Critical reception
Galerians: Ash received mostly poor or average reviews.Critics agreed that graphics were "technically impressive with some fantastic looking areas", with "rock-solid sixty frames per second, even during boss battles". Although critics noted the repetitive environments, "everything had a very similar look and setup to it regardless of the room or area".
The sound to Galerians: Ash was mostly made up of industrial noises and clanging sounds. IGN stated that "the game music is pretty sparse, but what's there is decent". But IGN also noted that "the voice acting is missing real human emotion".
The major complaints focused on the gameplay. IGN noted that "this combat system makes no logical sense", while others critics did not like the charging system and lack of dodging. Critics also disliked "mixture of puzzles with battle" which create an artificially difficult game. Critics also noted that "many puzzle solutions being a little too vague and items being hard to find which leads to more running around and backtracking than action or progress". Several complaints were also aimed at camera issues, "there are just too many occasions where its spin causes confusion, especially when locked onto enemies".