This blog analysis the rest of the scenes of the first episode of Mechanical Saga: Life’s Ultimate Gamble.
Iridir Prison
- Scene Description
One of the main goals of this location is to rescue an old friend who is inprisioned. It is an underground location, illuminated by old fire lamps. There should be an eerie sense of danger and challenge as it is a location controlled by the empire and anything can happen at any moment.
- Story and Gameplay
The inprisioned friend was caught robbing the city’s medicine cabinet to save his mother. He was also being watched as it was claimed that he started a union of workers and incited strikes, which is true.
At first, when entering the prison, there is the possibility to read a book called “Destructionism and the Will to Live”, which claims that demons are “man-made” and it reflects on their will to live. Then the prisoner can be found in the next room, and to release him the player has to find a switch in the room to unlock the prison, by solving a small riddle. After this, the prison lock opens and two beasts appear to fight shortly after. This fight is more advanced in terms of strategy, there is more complexity and use of nature elements.
After the fight there is the possibility of carrying on to other zones, with several more enemies to possibly fight and treasure chests with important items to be collected. There are five different zones, and from the last one it is possible to get to the “Warden Chambers”, where the final beast will be. Here there will be the final “boss fight” of this scene. The battle can take until approximately ten minutes. After the fight the player has to exchange some final words with the beast, decide its faith (to kill him or not) and then quickly leave the prison as it slowly crumbles.
- Music Soundtrack
For this scene there will be six musical pieces, including two fight songs. The first theme of the scene will accompany the player throughout the quest until the boss encounter, which will bring back the main theme, followed by a special fight song (the boss fight theme) that represents the peak of tension. Until there the music track will also be interrupted by the standard fight music as it happens in Iridir Forest. After winning the boss battle, the player has the ability to choose the faith of the beast, deciding between killing it or letting it live. This calls for a reflective music (second theme), which is then followed by the third theme as the player quickly has to escape the prison solving a final riddle.
What should the music portray?
First Theme (Iridir Prison I): Eeriness, danger, challenge, use metallic elements to represent the jails.
Second Theme (Iridir Prison II): Sense of victory; triumphant, conclusion of an important chapter.
Third Theme (Iridir Prison III): Reflexion, hint of empathy for the beast.
Boss Fight: Peak of tension, challenge, drama, adrenaline.