It is the year 1200 in the timeline of the Vyashion continent. The evil Emperor Balor, ruler of the Dyneskal Empire, has been defeated, and an era of relatively peaceful co-existence between the continent’s various races began. However, a new threat arises when the sleeping Dragon King awakens beneath his secluded island. Supervising the life of humans, the Dragon King prefers to keep them in a state of perpetual war, so that no faction would gain the upper hand, believing that is the only way to uphold balance. An adventurer who possesses the unique gift of the Infinite Soul, granting him or her the greatest power of choice, rises to the challenge of shaping the fate of humanity.
Zill O’ll is a Japanese role-playing game with several distinguishing characteristics. The basic mechanics follow the convention of the genre, with simple turn-based combat (against enemies visibly walking on-screen during exploration) and semi-automatic leveling. Player-controlled character can also learn various skills and raise elemental affinities which play a role in combat. Defeating enemies quickly bestows benefits on the party.
The game’s unusual features lie in its scenario system. The player creates the main character by choosing his or her gender, answering a few moral questions, and choosing the initial location. Depending on these combinations the initial quest will be different, though after a while all the prologues merge into a single main plot. Despite being largely linear, this plot can be affected to a degree by decisions made by the player. Locations can be visited by selecting a destination on the world map. Each trip takes a certain amount of time, which must be taken into consideration in conjunction with the events of the main plot.
The player is also free to complete quests in any order. Plot-dictated events (e.g. outbreak of a war) will normally occur regardless of the player’s input. Important characters may stay alive or die depending on the player’s choices and level of involvement in their personal quests. In addition, towns offer guild quests coming in five varieties - delivery, escort, discovery, slay, and rescue. These quests may open new areas and grant the party experience as well as special Soul points, which are used to steer a character in a direction corresponding to a certain class.
The lead character also has unique attributes such as bravery, kindness, etc. These attributes may be affected by the player’s choices and also influence the hero’s relationships with other characters. These relationships are measured according to the emotion of the character in question, ranging from hatred to adoration, and eventually determine the character’s fate during the story’s conclusion.
