Saiyuki: Journey West
Encyclopedia
Saiyuki: Journey West is a tactical role-playing
video game released for the Sony
PlayStation by Koei. It is based loosely on the Great Classical Novel
Journey to the West
. The game's Japanese
title is simply Saiyūki (西遊記), which is the Japanese name Journey to the West.
It follows the basic outline of the plot of the novel, in which the main character, a Buddhist practitioner named Sanzo
, travels from China
to India
on a religious mission and has a variety of adventures along the way. The game also features several other characters from the novel, including Son Goku
, the monkey king. In contrast to other renditions of the story, the game allows Sanzo to be played as either a male or a female character at the player's choice.
A gameplay twist is that every character except Sanzo can transform into a monstrous form for a limited time. Instead of transforming, Sanzo has access to summon spells that each boost the party's stats in different ways for a number of rounds and allows him/her to use an extra spell at will. Furthermore, each character has a native element that powers their spells and weakens them to opposing elements.
The game softens the original story, with most of the heroes' negative characteristics removed, and most of the villains surviving at the end.
Sanzo - Portrays the righteous Buddhist monk, based on Xuanzang
. His/her element is Nature.
Son Goku - Portrays the rebellious Monkey King, Sun Wukong
. His monster form is a giant fire-breathing ape, and his element is Fire.
Cho Hakkai - Portrays the lustful pig demon, Zhu Bajie
, here rendered as childlike and food-obsessed, with an overall goal of becoming a great chef. His affiliation is Earth. He transforms into a monstrous humanoid boar.
Shu Ryorin - Haughty but kind-hearted daughter of the King of the Eastern Dragons, on the run from her father and a forced marriage. She fights the party before joining, because she thought her father had sent them to capture her. Her monster form is a powerful bronze dragon, and she is consequently aligned with Metal. Based on Long Nu
.
Sha Gojo - Portrays the man-eating sand demon, Sha Wujing
, here an intellectual human cursed with a monstrous fishman alternate form. He's ashamed of his monstrous nature, and at first rejects the party's help before Sanzo (and his/her refusal to see his/her friends as mere "monsters") convinces him to join. His element is Water.
Lady Kikka - A dryad
-like spirit who is found trapped in her tree. Her monster form is a giant humanoid butterfly. Like Sanzo, her element is Nature.
So Kinrei and So Ginrei - Twin girls accidentally transformed into monsters during the course of the story. Their monster forms are identical giant humanoid golems with oddly technological attacks (including missiles and lasers). Their elements are Metal.
Chin Genshi - Grandfather of Lady Kikka, and formal teacher of Cho Hakkai. He may or may not join the party, depending on Sanzo's actions. Like his granddaughter, his element is Nature, and he transforms into a tree-like form.
Reikan - Ryorin's fiancé, who is trying to get her back. Starts out as an enemy, and will only join the group if the Sanzo says the right things to him during previous meetings. His element is Water, and he transforms into a turtle-demon.
Taurus and Tessen - Portrays the Ox-Demon-King and Jade-Faced Princess from the novel. They start out seeming to be the main villains (though neither are really shown to be truly evil, just petty and bad-tempered), before plot developments cause them to reform and join Sanzo's side. Their monster forms are a minotaur-like bull demon and a humanoid scorpion respectively, and their elements are Earth and Fire.
Lady Kikka is not based on any characters from the novel, but is made up for this game.
Tactical role-playing game
A tactical role-playing game is a type of video game which incorporates elements of traditional role-playing video games and strategy games. In Japan these games are known as , a designation which might seem peculiar to native English speakers...
video game released for the Sony
Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. is a major video game company specializing in a variety of areas in the video game industry, and is a wholly owned subsidiary and part of the Consumer Products & Services Group of Sony...
PlayStation by Koei. It is based loosely on the Great Classical Novel
Four Great Classical Novels
The Four Great Classical Novels, or the Four Major Classical Novels of Chinese literature, are the four novels commonly regarded by scholars to be the greatest and most influential of pre-modern Chinese fiction. Dating from the Ming and Qing dynasties, they are well known to most Chinese readers...
Journey to the West
Journey to the West
Journey to the West is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. It was written by Wu Cheng'en in the 16th century. In English-speaking countries, the tale is also often known simply as Monkey. This was one title used for a popular, abridged translation by Arthur Waley...
. The game's Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
title is simply Saiyūki (西遊記), which is the Japanese name Journey to the West.
It follows the basic outline of the plot of the novel, in which the main character, a Buddhist practitioner named Sanzo
Xuanzang (fictional character)
The fictional character Xuanzang is a central character of the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West.For most of the novel he is known as Táng-sānzàng, the title Sānzàng referring to his mission to seek the Sānzàngjīng, the "Three Collections of Scriptures"...
, travels from China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
on a religious mission and has a variety of adventures along the way. The game also features several other characters from the novel, including Son Goku
Sun Wukong
Sun Wukong , also known as the Monkey King is a main character in the classical Chinese epic novel Journey to the West . In the novel, he is a monkey born from a stone who acquires supernatural powers through Taoist practices...
, the monkey king. In contrast to other renditions of the story, the game allows Sanzo to be played as either a male or a female character at the player's choice.
A gameplay twist is that every character except Sanzo can transform into a monstrous form for a limited time. Instead of transforming, Sanzo has access to summon spells that each boost the party's stats in different ways for a number of rounds and allows him/her to use an extra spell at will. Furthermore, each character has a native element that powers their spells and weakens them to opposing elements.
The game softens the original story, with most of the heroes' negative characteristics removed, and most of the villains surviving at the end.
Characters
Characters in recruiting order.Sanzo - Portrays the righteous Buddhist monk, based on Xuanzang
Xuanzang (fictional character)
The fictional character Xuanzang is a central character of the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West.For most of the novel he is known as Táng-sānzàng, the title Sānzàng referring to his mission to seek the Sānzàngjīng, the "Three Collections of Scriptures"...
. His/her element is Nature.
Son Goku - Portrays the rebellious Monkey King, Sun Wukong
Sun Wukong
Sun Wukong , also known as the Monkey King is a main character in the classical Chinese epic novel Journey to the West . In the novel, he is a monkey born from a stone who acquires supernatural powers through Taoist practices...
. His monster form is a giant fire-breathing ape, and his element is Fire.
Cho Hakkai - Portrays the lustful pig demon, Zhu Bajie
Zhu Bajie
Zhu Bajie, also named Zhu Wuneng, is one of the three helpers of Xuanzang in the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West. He is called "Pigsy" or "Pig" in many English versions of the story....
, here rendered as childlike and food-obsessed, with an overall goal of becoming a great chef. His affiliation is Earth. He transforms into a monstrous humanoid boar.
Shu Ryorin - Haughty but kind-hearted daughter of the King of the Eastern Dragons, on the run from her father and a forced marriage. She fights the party before joining, because she thought her father had sent them to capture her. Her monster form is a powerful bronze dragon, and she is consequently aligned with Metal. Based on Long Nu
Long Nu
Long Nü , translated as Dragon Daughter, along with Sudhana are considered acolytes of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara within Chinese Buddhism. However there are no scriptural sources connecting both Sudhana and Long Nu to Avalokiteśvara at the same time...
.
Sha Gojo - Portrays the man-eating sand demon, Sha Wujing
Sha Wujing
Shā Wùjìng is one of the three disciples of Xuánzàng in the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, although versions of his character predate the Ming novel. In the novels, his background is the least developed of the pilgrims and he contributes the least to their efforts...
, here an intellectual human cursed with a monstrous fishman alternate form. He's ashamed of his monstrous nature, and at first rejects the party's help before Sanzo (and his/her refusal to see his/her friends as mere "monsters") convinces him to join. His element is Water.
Lady Kikka - A dryad
Dryad
Dryads are tree nymphs in Greek mythology. In Greek drys signifies 'oak,' from an Indo-European root *derew- 'tree' or 'wood'. Thus Dryads are specifically the nymphs of oak trees, though the term has come to be used for all tree nymphs in general...
-like spirit who is found trapped in her tree. Her monster form is a giant humanoid butterfly. Like Sanzo, her element is Nature.
So Kinrei and So Ginrei - Twin girls accidentally transformed into monsters during the course of the story. Their monster forms are identical giant humanoid golems with oddly technological attacks (including missiles and lasers). Their elements are Metal.
Chin Genshi - Grandfather of Lady Kikka, and formal teacher of Cho Hakkai. He may or may not join the party, depending on Sanzo's actions. Like his granddaughter, his element is Nature, and he transforms into a tree-like form.
Reikan - Ryorin's fiancé, who is trying to get her back. Starts out as an enemy, and will only join the group if the Sanzo says the right things to him during previous meetings. His element is Water, and he transforms into a turtle-demon.
Taurus and Tessen - Portrays the Ox-Demon-King and Jade-Faced Princess from the novel. They start out seeming to be the main villains (though neither are really shown to be truly evil, just petty and bad-tempered), before plot developments cause them to reform and join Sanzo's side. Their monster forms are a minotaur-like bull demon and a humanoid scorpion respectively, and their elements are Earth and Fire.
Lady Kikka is not based on any characters from the novel, but is made up for this game.