shinki sekai evolution 1 world of sacred device

back in 2000, i bought a japanese copy of the dreamcast game "shinki sekai evolution" in hk during my summer-break visit there. this was my first dreamcast game, and it led to me buying the dreamcast console, so it holds a special place in my heart, even to this day.



in the first game, linear cared for a flower, later revealed to be named after linear's former lover "yuka", who returned in the second game and fought mag to his death. after yuka died, so did the flower, leaving a saddened linear to stare blankly at the empty spot where the flower once was.......even now i remembered how bittersweet the story of evolution 1/2 was.



aside from being a dreamcast launch game here, evolution was also an "evolution" of jrpgs, because it was a next-gen jrpg with true 128bit 3D graphics, while retaining traditional turn based battles. storywise the game was set in pre-ww1 europe, with an emergent german empire that utilized panzers and even a sakura wars styled steambot.

in total there are 5 uniquely designed dungons/bosses that can be tackled in any order, and characters can jump around in platforming segments. also random battle enemies are visible on map, and each NPCs are unique with their own cutscenes.



the character design of linear was done by yumiko uekusa, who also did her own manga "Guru Guru Monster"

ingame, linear will follow mag around and do her own cuetsy thing, while mag interacts with other NPCs. being mute, linear only spoke once during the ending, and also occasionally during post-game random battles. though her voice actor also sung the ending song as well.



since each evolution game had featured somebody dying in the end, i always thought that it would be linear's turn to die in the third game, since evolution 2's ending heavily hinted at it. alas we will never know, aside from an official artwork released by sting, which showed linear in a wedding dress from the cancelled evolution 3.



evolution was a dreamcast launch game here, as the above hk game megazine from 1999 has shown. though after i bought EVOLUTION in 2000, i also bought BAROQUE in 2001, which was the older sister game to evolution, with also "BAROQUE 2" being developed for the dreamcast, until it was cancelled.



both baroque and evolution shared many gameplay aspects and design elements between them. namely they're both rogue dungeon crawlers, with randomized dungeons, loot, traps, monsters, and item appraisal; all of which were carried over from baroque to evolution1/2. also the atmospheric soundtrack for both games were composed by masaharu iwata.



curiously the neuro tower from baroque somewhat exists in evolution 1, in the form of an aesthetically similar tower, which stood atop the 8th empire carrier deck. both towers also featured a giant orb situated on the highest floor, where the final boss resides. in evolution 2, another similar looking tower also exists as a training dungeon.



in the ending of evolution, mag was revived by linear, who then asked if he's still in pain, before embracing him as her wings of light enveloped them.

conversely in the ending of baroque, the protagonist was embraced by the absolute god, who says that she could feel pain, before wrapping her tentacle wires around him, as the entire world is warped into nothingness.



in mid 2001, i also bought the english version of evolution in canada, which allowed me to fully understand the story, albeit with the japanese battle voices toned down. interestingly, post-ending dialogue from NPCs mentioned a railroad linking to a new continent, as later seen in evolution 2. as for the title "world of sacred device", it was a faithful translation of the kanji "shinki sekai"



after returning to hk in late 2001, i also bought the pc version of evolution 2. at the time the taiwanese company which ported the game was distributing a chrismas theme screensaver on their homepage to promote the game during the holidays, featuring mag and linear running in the gently falling snow



with the 2004 gamecube port "evolutia" however, all of the first game's dungeons and its associating soundtrack had been removed, along with most of the monsters/bosses, NPCs, FMV, and post-game content. although a new 3D model for linear, and 2 new dungeons were added in, which likely came from the scrapped evolution 3.



the photo above was taken at a gameshop in hong kong back in 2004, when the gamecube port of evolution was still being displayed in the shelf. back then i thought if Evolutia had sold well, then Evolution 3 might come out for the gamecube, though it sadly never came to be....instead sting made yggdra union for the gba, following a trend of them mostly focusing on making handheld jrpgs.



back in 2008 sting also released "Hexyz Force" which runs on the evolution engine, and plays exactly like it in terms of the battle system and dungeon crawling. though the character design and dungeon soundtrack were done by other artists.



back in 2013 i bought a discounted copy of gungnir, another jrpg made by sting, because i noticed that the heroine "alissa" had looked abit like linear, just as yggdra had also resembled linear.



back in 2016 i also bought a vita tv with dungeon traveler 2, which along with its sequel would serve as sting's last dungeon crawlers, that combined the best of baroque's first person dungeon crawling, with evolution's solid turned based battles. all in all the game was certainly quite enjoyable to play.



in 2019, sting re-released BAROQUE, which gave hope that EVOLUTION could be re-released in the future as well, perhaps even included with the upcoming dreamcast mini console, though only time will tell.



the above artwork was done by the artist "Rua" on pixiv, who drew this beautiful piece of artwork for the game's 20th anniversary.



in the end, i leave you with an inspirational final message from the game:

"your evolution is everlasting"