Thread: NiGHTS into dreams - The game every lucid dreamer should own

Just to show you guy's the reason I got into lucid dreaming, NiGHTS into dreams. It was made by sonic-team in 1996 and still remains one of the most, relivant, artistic games to date (perhaps the most).

Spon from the iMAGNi forums wrote an in depth analysis.

~ Introduction ~

I've chosen to write this as I don't believe a proper analysis of NiGHTS has been made which fully draws all the parallels and symbols from many psychologists, notably that of Carl Gustav Jung (see below).

NiGHTS is a game that has been neglected, somewhat. Being limited to a small audience since release, I feel that rampant speculation on the subject has not been made widespread or clear enough. NiGHTS has also spawned a generation of very spiritual thinkers (I was first exposed to the game at the tender age of 8, and it made me into a sensitive little bugger with an interest in the occult, amongst other things. I blame this entirely on a videogame) and artists, and a rather large number of people interesting in Lucid dreaming (Being able to control your own dreams to your own needs, and other uses like sharing dreams).

It's very lucky that NiGHTS is such a small game (compared to today's standards, it was quite a feat at the time), because the amount of symbols, clues and references are simply huge, as I will (hopefully) demonstrate in this analysis.

Many times during this analysis, you'll probably think 'WTF is he talking about? That's a load of TRIPE!', and with good reason. For a lot of this analysis, I've really gone rampant with my speculation and gone for some very unlikely things. But after all, that's the fun of speculation. If you want to add to this or comment, please drop me an e-mail at [email protected]. Remember, if you think this is all stupid and boring, make me a good example and show me how to do it properly, if you're that good. And with that, let's continue.

Carl Gustav Jung*

Carl Gustav Jung was a psychologist who was born in Switzerland, 1875. He believed heavily in dream symbolism, and the characters that appeared in them, believing them to be aspects of our personality in a personified form. He also believed in the collective unconscious, a sort of bank of past experiences which all humans are born with. This can be linked to shared experiences amongst artists and musicians, and likewise with prophets amongst various religions.

I believe that his archetypes (the personified personalities which I spoke of above) are portrayed in NiGHTS as Nightmaren - Even NiGHTS itself. I'll draw these comparisons up later, but for now I'll leave you to toy with the thought of the better known archetype, The Wise man. No points for the person who guesses who that is linked to.

*This bio is stupidly short. But I lack large amounts of chocolate oranges** and therefore cannot be bothered to expand on this matter any further.
** They're so hard to find. I need to literally go to another country to obtain some. Bloody world.


~Story provided with the manual~


That night Elliot and Claris return home, thinking of themselves as failures, not realizing that the real challenge is about to begin. In the world of Nightopia where our dreams are played out, an evil being is gaining tremendous power. He is Wizeman the Wicked, and through his creations the Nightmaren, he captures precious dream energy from humans. If he is not stopped, he will rise from the subconscious and enter our world. No power on earth will be able to stop him........ As Wizeman's Nightmaren start fulfilling his horrible plan, a Nightopian escapes from the dream world and begs the sleeping Elliot and Claris to save the world from the evil being. Just a few moments ago they felt like total failures. But now that the world needs their help, Elliot and Claris feel, for the first time in their lives, a courage growing within them. They accept the desperate Nightopian's request. *
The creature explains to them that they need to recover four types of dream energy from Wizeman's Ideya Capture, a group of large machine-like beings. The four energies are White (representing Purity), Green (Wisdom), Yellow (Hope) and Blue (Intelligence). Wizeman will attempt to steal Elliot and Claris' dream energy and try to confuse themby placing them in strange dream worlds. These worlds are places developed from the depths of their minds. The fifth and rarest of the dream energies, bravery (Red in colour), is the only type of energy Wizemand and his henchmen cannot steal. It is said that the only one not yet under Wizeman's power is NiGHTS, who appears as an aerial acrobat and is attracted to Red dream energy, and therefore NiGHTS will come to Elliot and Claris' aid. The Nightopian warns that sooner or later Wizeman will send the most powerful of his Nightmaren, his henchmen, after Claris and Elliot. The two children will need the help of NiGHTS every step of the way to thwart Wizeman's plans if they are to restore peace to Nightopia. *



~ Characters ~

Jung believed that people's souls were split in half when they were born, usually distributed to a member of the opposite sex. Throughout life, the two people would usually search throughout their lives for 'their other half'. This can clearly be seen in the relationship between Claris and Elliot - they seem to be perfectly suited to each other, and almost seem to be in love by the end of the game - despite the fact that there is no dialogue between them in the entire game. The only thing they ever say is the occasional gasp of horror or scream of anguish. Claris does a bit of singing, too. But she seems to have this magical ability to sing like 25 different robots all at once, so her skills seem questionable.


Claris Sinclair

Claris has one desire - to sing in the Twin seeds concert (A very girly girl theme, I might add). She tries out her magical robot singing skills in the park, and then decides she's finally ready for the audition.

However, things do not go as smoothly as she thought, and this is where things get a bit confusing. She stands onto the podium, and a blinding spotlight is pointed directly into her eyes. The three judges, all of whom are probably on cocaine (you can see it in their eyes, I tell you) all look disgruntled, disapproving, and generally unimpressed. She starts to feel the bite of her anxiety, and suddenly the situation becomes a nightmare. The judges turn into cackling ghouls, and chase her down a psychedelic pathway of psychological torment.
And suddenly, there is a burst of light at the end of this tunnel; presumably a gate to Nightopia, which I believe is Sonic Team's interpretation of the subconscious.

There is only one confusing factor to this... Claris' experiences and Nightmares seemed to have melded into one single situation. Because of this, we cannot be sure of whether the event actually happened. It could either be that she has a nightmare about what could happen, or she actually goes to the audition and has a nightmare about it the night after. It's not terribly important if it's one or the other, but it just makes the confusing and mysterious experience of NiGHTS even more befuddling.

How things turn out for her, however is written somewhere at the bottom of this analysis.


Elliot Edwards

Elliot is a sporty guy who loves to shoot some hoops (Sorry. I needed to use that expression. It's been haunting me for a while). One day, he's just hanging out with his friends at the basketball court, having a laugh, when some big ol' thug of a dope comes along, steals the ball, and then slam dunks it (All in slow motion, to rub it in).
This of course leaves Elliot, just like his emotionally fragile counterpart, absolutely distraught and depressed.

To make things worse, everybody starts turning into evil ghouls that taunt him, and he begins to run down the same path as Claris does in her failed audition. And yet again, the same blinding light* engulfs him, giving him access to Nightopia, which he fails to realise is his own subconscious.

This time, it is quite clear that he is having a nightmare about what had happened that day - The only other alternative I can think of is that he was taking magic mushrooms, and that doesn't seem to be too likely in Elliot's case. The reason that I doubt this for Claris is that because it would mean she would go to the auditions twice. Which is hardly fair. So Elliot's bad experience has happened, but I believe that Claris is completely overwhelmed by her anxiety, and this takes shape in her dreams. That's open to debate, however.

NiGHTS

OK, so let's say your name is NiGHTS, you live in a Nightmare, and some bloke with eyes in his hands starts telling you to go steal glowing orbs from innocent, colour-coded children. Sound particularly fun? Nah (Well, maybe a bit). So naturally, you rebel, and this causes a confrontation with Wizeman. This confrontation is not documented anywhere, but I am willing to fill in the gaps for you all.

NiGHTS: Wizeman, we've got to talk....
Wizeman: OMG U R NOT LEAVING ME
NiGHTS: I'm afraid so! I refuse to partake in your evil plan to take over the world!
Wizeman: STFU.

Then, Wizeman promptly makes NiGHTS look a bit wimpier, and traps him inside an Ideya palace. Great idea, NiGHTS. You could have taken over the world, but morals get in the way again.

But as NiGHTS is a rebellious number, it gains the trust of a passing Nightopian (probably by the means of some Cheesecake on a piece of string) and gets the Nightopian to go tell Claris and Elliot about the whole situation, yadda yadda. Now, to get NiGHTS out of the Ideya Palace, Claris and Elliot need to place one of their Ideya in the palace. And in this case it needs to be Red Ideya (representing courage). Once this is done, NiGHTS is freed from the palace, and can fly about at will, collecting more Ideya so as to meet and defeat the Nightmaren.

And now, for the slightly more speculative material... NiGHTS has definite evidence of being one of Wizeman's former henchmen. The humanoid figure, the disembodied limbs, sparkles emitting from hands, some kind of voice, and those blasted things on it's head. Of course, we should take it that NiGHTS used to look a lot more vicious and imposing before, along the lines of something like Reala. But now NiGHTS has a certain jazzy factor to it. To be honest, NiGHTS looks really groovy. Archetype wise, NiGHTS is undoubtedly The Son, who is known as being youthful and rebellious, and it also fits in nicely with NiGHTS being the Son of the Wise Man (Wizeman for you dopes out there).



~ Dreams and their Nightmaren ~

Every level takes the form of a dream. These dreams involve collecting items to feed into a machine, and then receiving and Ideya, which you then return to the Ideya Palace. After you complete this cycle, Claris and Elliot experience a nightmare - represented as bosses in Sonic Team's game.
I believe that each Nightmaren represents an archetype of Claris or Elliot. In case you've forgotten what archetypes are, it's basically a personified aspect of your own personality or the collective unconscious. In this case, it's all those troublesome archetypes that make the deeper, darker part of our minds. Cool.

Spring Valley ~ The Ideal

As suggested by the subtitle, Spring Valley is Claris' idea of utopia. The sun is shining, the flora is blooming, and it all has a very alpine feel (A homage to Jung, perhaps?). It has a few very dream-like bits of scenery situated around such as floating rocks, a very thick tree with roots on it's top and bottom (All the levels are double sided... the environments all have 'ceilings'. Technological as opposed to narrative, I think. Although I might not have taken that into account with other things...), as well as strong updrafts of wind which may symbolise the basic human impulses, pushing in directions we might not want to go in... That's all, really.

Gillwing

Gillwing is the Nightmaren for Spring Valley, therefore making him one of Claris's nightmares (I think Puffy would've been more fitting, but I'll explain that later). Gillwing cannot be compared to any of Claris' experiences, or any of Elliot's. Therefore, we can safely assume that it is a simple, basic fear - that of monsters and the dark. Gillwing resides in a dark, obscured cave, representing how little Claris can actually understand what is going on. Untended growths and gigantic trees make up the centre of the stage, and I feel this shows that Claris has been leaving her psychological issues unattended, and letting them go out of control. And, as a punishment for being so lazy, she now has to tackle with these in a Nightmare.

Claris deals with Gillwing in a very feminine manner - Instead of chucking the boss into various bits of scenery, she and NiGHTS simply hold Gillwing's face and then repulse him away. Notice that this action is more defensive than offensive, and as this continues, Gillwing's tail gets shorter and shorter, and Claris begins to realise that what she is dealing with is really not as bad as she thought it would be. The entire boss stage symbolises a spiritual cleansing before going on to the more complex psychological problems.


Splash Garden ~ The Affection

Compared to Spring Valley, Splash Garden is a fairly confined dream. There is a small amount of space, and what little room there is is filled up with fountains, rings and Ideya captures. There is also a rather lovely water section in which NiGHTS suddenly grows fins and does a bit of swimming now and then. This shows NiGHTS' adaptability for all kinds of thing, realising new ideas and methods, and ideally fitting in with NiGHTS' ambitious nature. The water in this dream is not constricted by gravity, but prefers to float around as spherical masses dotted around the level.

The subtitle of the dream, 'The affection' may indicate Elliot's beginning love for Claris. It hasn't come to fruition yet (as he hasn't seen her yet...) but it's a confirmation that it's coming along.

Puffy

Puffy is just a big, fat old bouncing ball of rubbery doom, with only one weakness - furniture. Puffy is linked to one of Elliot's levels, which I believe is somewhat odd - Puffy is evidently the personified form of Claris' fear of singing at the Twin Seeds audition. I feel that instead of any mix ups or mistakes being made, this is Jung's collective subconscious theory coming into play again. Elliot seems to be picking up Claris' nightmares and fears, and therefore he is stuck with a problem that he knows nothing about. So, he deals with it in the most male possible - throwing things about. And in this case, that happens to be Puffy.

Puffy also represents a very materialistic character - her house is filled to the rafters with luxurious goods, furniture, exuberant decorations, and a banquet to boot. I believe that by defeating her, Elliot and Claris make one of their first good moves in realising their potential, by casting away their material possessions, and instead focusing on the spirit. The first step towards a better self has been taken.


Mystic Forest - The Possibility

Mystic forest works perfectly with it's corresponding Nightmaren, Gulpo. Both are very mysterious and dark, and both show the darker part of our subconscious. There are various bits of modern life everywhere - Traffic signs, a car that moves by itself (Coming to a store near you!), and oddly classic Roman era ruins. Of course we shouldn't take this as evidence for ancient life, as it's a dream, but we should perceive the ruins as fragmented memories, drifting through the overgrown and untended subconscious of Claris. Of course, it could be a shared dream from Elliot... but who knows?

The car could symbolise the minds autonomous operations such as breathing, heart beats, etc. Seeing as it's a car that drives itself, just doing... what it does. Which is driving around. There's also a cave at the bottom of the level filled with stars, which may represent all those talents and memories which have been hidden away... Maybe. Meh.

And about the subtitle... 'The possibility'. Well, firstly it's a forest, and it seems fairly well developed and grown, and seeing as that Twin Seeds is 'The Growth', it could be a sign of things to come.

Gulpo *
Gulpo is indisputably the evil that lurks inside our subconscious. That's simple enough to understand. He lives, submerged, inside a gigantic tank. The fact that he lives in the water only adds to our confusion - our vision is impaired, and we cannot see clearly. Just like the subconscious, Gulpo can only use outside resources to affect you, and these outside resources in this case are represented by the small fish. The interesting thing about the small fish is that you can use them against Gulpo himself. However, you cannot defeat your own subconscious. You can only take wild, jerking stabs at it.

Think of the tank as your subconscious; Gulpo is only a small part it comparison to it. You have to eliminate the problem, and not the subconscious itself. To do this, you have to find the problem (the small fish around the tank) and turn it in on itself to really get anything done. *

The scariest thing about Gulpo is when he bangs himself against the tank. This could be seen as your subconscious fears coming out and making themselves known (much to your dislike).


Frozen Bell ~ The consciousness

Isn't it funny that the counterpart for Claris' dream is subtitled 'The consciousness'? I don't think it's a coincidence, that's for sure. Frozen Bell is a Winter Wonderland with a penchant for floating snowballs, bizarre yellow trains and a taste for bob-sleighing. The consciousness is conveyed perfectly in this dream, frozen, crystallised. Things couldn't be more solid.

The level also features an intricate network of metal piping that runs over the train lines, complete filled with all kinds of goodies. Scrumptious.
NiGHTS also transforms into a bob-sleigh in this dream, showing off the magical multi-purpose abilities yet again.

Can't think of anything else that's particularly significant. *

Clawz

I really, really can't think of what Clawz has to do with anything. He's just a damn cat. The only link I can possibly think of is time. He does live in a clocktower, after all. But I can't imagine Elliot having any major psychological problems with that. I'm open up to speculation on that one. Maybe he has something to do with the inner-workings and basic functions of the mind? Meh. Watch this space.


Soft Museum ~ The Confusion

Soft museum is one of those dreams where everything is screwed up to the maximum extent possible. The architecture may seem solid, but it's not. It shifts and moulds into any shape, and then quickly rebounds back into shape. Not only does this mean that you're bouncing around for most of the level, but it also means that it makes you lose track of where you're going. What would seem to be a solid door is actually nothing but air, items appear out of nowhere, mirrors continue to confuse you, and you're constantly shot find yourself being shot out of cannons.

The dream may appear as a utopia to Claris, but as we all very well know, it's not. Looks can be deceiving, and so can Museums. Tying in with Jackle's theme, Soft Museum is about not being in control. You can be wildly bounced about at no wish of your own, and there's nothing you can do about it.

Jackle

The level one nightmaren are so easy to analyse (I'm of the opinion that Jackal is up there* with NiGHTS and Reala). Seriously, it's a dream to speculate on. No pun intended.

Jackle is living in a land of smoke of mirrors, a master of illusion in his own right. How fitting that he should be the nightmaren associated with Soft Museum. To match this amazing sense of confusion, he has a cloak. Yes, a cloak, all for himself. The lucky bugger. The cloak can easily be shown as his exterior image; what protects him and empowers him. Without that, he's a head, and some socks and gloves. Not much to be afraid of, honestly. This clearly shows how you have to really look into a situation to truly understand it and make it go away.

Jackle can be seen as Jung's trickster, always messing things up for you, and always laughing at your failure. He does nothing seriously - He attacks with a glint in his eye and a sinister laugh to match. His room is clearly one of a twisted and easily amused mind. Fluffy and deranged toys lay about the floor, as well as a rather interesting looking guillotine hiding in the corner of the room.

Jackle also has something different up his sleeves - Cards. And as far as I can remember, these aren't your normal playing cards. We're talking Tarot here. Tarot, if you don't know already, is the method of getting very good advice on situations on your life with only a slight insight into the future. Of course, Jackal is no friendly advisor willing to give you tips on your love life! He is the darker depiction of Tarot card reading, a dealer of destiny. He indirectly makes all your decisions, and bends you to his will.

When NiGHTS defeats him, I feel that it symbolises Claris and Elliot gaining full control over themselves and their actions. Yay for psychological development.

*I believe that Jackle is level one Nightmaren, simply because he is more humanoid than most other Nightmaren, and has the ability to speak. He also has a large amount of control over himself - unlike Puffy, for instance.


Stick Canyon ~ The Revival

Stick Canyon is a very male dream - It's all about mechanics, constructions, and machines. Which is odd, because as all observant dreamers know, machines never ever work in dreams. I find this the most frustrating dream ever, mainly due to the fact that the last course is absolutely out of my control...

Do you ever feel that your life is on rails? Stick Canyon certainly thinks so. Two courses are filled with the most irritating game mechanism ever, the rails. They decide your direction, you can only flail aimlessly in the breeze, hoping to catch a star or two. You're forced onto the rails, simply because you have nowhere else to go. And even then, you're guided into them via those green and yellow arrows. Life might seem like this sometimes. Well, maybe you're not guided by green and yellow arrows, but you get the idea.

There's also a rather clever machine which charges you with so much static that you start accumulating items around you. You then cash all your goods into a lovely score machine, and retrieve a lovely bonus (provided you didn't bump into anything on the way). This could represent the accumulation of skill and knowledge, and finally being given the chance to use them, making yourself feel good, hence the name 'The revival'.

High above the level stands a monumental tower that has bizarre rocks that seem to be crafted intentionally by someone. Luckily, you get a warning via a handy system of sirens, but they're still pretty hard to avoid. This could all represent an escalating situation, with consequences being forced upon you which you know about beforehand. Such is life. Once you get all the ideya, you're off to meet Reala.

Reala

There are two ways to think about this: That NiGHTS and Reala are two separate entities, or that Reala is in fact NiGHTS' very own evil alter ego that has taken physical form. But before I start to rant on about that, let's looks at the facts about Reala.

For starters, Reala fits the same 'template' as NiGHTS does. Both have lean figures (though Reala is far stronger), and both have the sweeping, curving head-dress that defines them pretty clearly from everyone else. Both can fly, and both of them can do the legendary paraloop. However, they have very different themes. Reala is a hard-core rocker with bulging biceps and a penchant for mascara. And he has those weird yellow claws... Yeurgh. He also has that cool red and black thing going on.

Basically, he's the polar opposite of NiGHTS in every way, and it really really shows. Even his name is the opposite - kind of. If NiGHTS represents dreams, then REALa should represent... ?

Reala symbolises the Archetype The Shadow, which is the exact opposite of every archetype it is encountered by. Which could mean, that instead of Reala being always in the form he is now, he is able to transform into the dark side of whatever he encounters... So if let's say Obi Wan Kenobi somehow managed to find himself in Reala's level, Reala could possibly transform into Darth Vader or whatever is fittingly anti-Jedi and evil.


Twin Seeds ~ The Growth

This dream is nearly exactly the same for both children, and is literally packed with symbols and what not. I feel that with a few of the dreams, I've been running about on one leg, poking at the very obscure. Twin Seeds has a lot of obvious stuff everywhere, so this one should be easy.

The first thing you'll notice is that the dream takes place in a fairly realistic environment. It actually takes place over Claris and Elliot's home city, in the vicinity of the Twin Seeds Tower. When the dream starts off, they attempt to reach NiGHTS, but fail horribly as Wizeman flicks them away like pestilent fleas into the breeze. This, quite naturally, makes Claris and Elliot very unhappy. So unhappy, in fact, that they decide it's a good idea to commit dream suicide and jump off a ledge.

But their suicide attempt doesn't quite go to plan, and they end up flying instead. Filled with this new hope, they decide they can destroy the Ideya themselves, and fly around the level doing what NiGHTS usually does. This very evidently symbolises the confidence for Claris and Elliot to do their own thing now, without any help, and they do a good job of it.

And suddenly, everything seems to be going their way, by the mere flick of a switch, stars are raining from the heavens, feeding that ever omnipresent thirst for high scores, and it looks as if their luck has changed. There's a startling presence of balloons about, and this could symbolise the new heightening spirit and joy which the two children have found. They don't have to try so hard to get to the top; all they need to do is take hold of a balloon and merely float up.

However, trouble strikes when they reach the Ideya palace. When one tries to break Wizeman's force field, they fail, but lo and behold, the other one shows up, and lends a helping hand. They break through the force field, and fly into the Ideya Palace. But instead of merging with NiGHTS they are the ones who are lifted into the Nightmaren.

Wizeman

Claris and Elliot find themselves at the dream version of the top of Twin Seeds tower - Where Wizeman is attempting to make his transition into the real world. Luckily, NiGHTS lends a hand, and both the children transform into that rebellious purple Nightmaren which we all know so well.

The Wizeman, with his many, all-seeing eyes. Eyes everywhere apart from his head. Quite ingenious, really. The Wizeman is quite simply Sonic Team's perception of Jung's Wise Old Man. All knowing and infinitely knowledgeable, he wants to guide you to his will. He represents insight, wisdom, cleverness, willingness to help, moral qualities. His appearance serves to warn of dangers, provide protective gifts (for himself, noticeably) and so on. As with the other archetypes the wise old man also possesses both good and bad aspects.

And in this case, it's a wise old man who's got a lot of bad aspects (Taking over the world, etc). And he's been taking everybody's dream energy, to boot. It's time to teach him a lesson and finally get rid of all this psychological torment! However, it's not easy. (In the game it is, but from their view, it ain't). He has all kinds of magical powers when you face him; fire balls, snow balls, Wall's bal- Sorry. Rocks, Tornados... He's giving it all he's got.

The backgrounds change drastically in this battle to the kind of thing that you see when you take shrooms. It's a truly trippy scene, with cubes flying everywhere, hieroglyphics whizzing about, colours warping and shifting... Even Wizeman is changing colour and texture. He's a master of his surroundings, controlling every little thing. Much like a Lucid dreamer can control a dream, the Wizeman can control reality.

Once Wizeman is defeated, we move on to the final piece.


~Final Results~

We now have a cinematic which seems to take place in Spring Valley. Elliot bursts into the dream. flecks of energy drifting off of him. He stands on a hill and sees a glimmer in the distance. He runs towards it, and find Claris (who seems to have fallen asleep inside a dream, the lazy girl). He lifts her up, and puts her in the shade of a nearby tree. His figure then drops out for a second. Looks like he's waking up. He then walks away, and disappears. Claris only sees him as he fades out, and then she wakes up (Sorry to be so literal here but really - that's all there is to it). A small bust of NiGHTS flashes on screen for a moment, flashing away in an instant. We see both of the children, then each one encountering NiGHTS. What they're actually saying or doing is unspecified, so we can only think that it may be a good-bye and thanks for all the help message. And then a bit of credits with a few (unimportant for now) side images...

And now we either see one of two things:

Claris wakes up, fearing nothing. The first thing she does is go straight to the Twin Seeds audition, and finally face her fears. She stands on the podium again, but this time a red glow appears inside her. Ooh, how touching. (Red Ideya represents courage, remember?). She begins to sing in that weird, freakish way she does, and the judges love her. Their jaws are dropping, opening their eyes in absolute amazement! This girl is the one for the show, no doubt about it! And yeah, she feels great. Woo! You go girl!

Or

Elliot wakes up, with a renewed taste for basket ball. He makes it a priority to pop down to his local Basketball court, and pop a cap in tho- Sorry - Show them what he's really made of. He approaches the red team with his pals, and stops for a moment. He hold his fist up, and that cool magical red stuff shows up again. He then sprints into the court, steals the ball, passes it to his friend who flings the ball back around his back (Without this guy, Elliot would have failed, and then the universe would fall into ruin), Elliot catches the ball, somehow manages to jump 6 feet in the air, and slam dunks the ball.
The red team initially look shocked, but then they realise the talent they've stumbled upon. They can use him. So they laugh, and pretend to be his friend for a while. Yay!

And then we cut to the Twin Seeds festival. Everyone's shown up, and it's a really swingin' joint. Elliot decides to mingle with the crowds, and then he sees the Twin Seeds Tower and is suddenly filled with the urge to go to it. So he leaves his friend (Who saved the universe) and runs off to the entrance of the tower. Once he gets there, he looks at the poster for the current gig. Should he go? Maybe not... Then suddenly NiGHTS appears, and gives a confirming nod. Elliot is naturally amazed, and loads of confetti flies past him in a really touching fuzzy moment. Aww.

So then he runs inside, and he recognises the person on stage. It's the love of his life, Claris! He runs towards her, arms wide open, and Claris begins to sing her scary song. So Elliot is basically googling at her as she sings, and Claris is singing her freaky song, and then everything starts dissolving. They appear back in Nightopia, and everybody should (in theory) say 'Awww'.

And then that's followed by another large bit of credits, with some side pictures entailing how Claris and Elliot then meet up again and walk down the street together (I don't know why. Kids nowadays). The whole thing then finishes off with Elliot or Claris getting into bed, and looking into the sky. And at the top of the Twin Seeds Tower, we see NiGHTS. Looks like a perfect open end for a sequel.[/b]

While this is very brief for an analysis of this game, reading it, it is plain to see the symbolism of the game. NiGHTS has a cameo in Sega Superstars, though I'm not sure if it's great. Sega has reacently given the rights to make a sequal to an undisclosed developer, so that should be interesting (much stalkage shall be involved).

In the mean time, I hightly recomend anyone with a Saturn to get a copy and anyone ise to either buy a Saturn to play it, or download it.

You won't regret it. This is pure poetry in motion. I've been playin it since it was realeased and it still throws surprises at me whenever I play.

BUY IT NOW!