TomGuycott's General Trivia

[TomGuycott]

Opening this thread as a general thread for trivia evidence in games that I don't think I'll go in as heavy detail as other games.

Actraiser 2:

The evidence I'm providing today is the connection between the main game bosses and areas and the Seven Sins. The symbolism is fairly obvious and outright stated for some, but a little less obvious for others, sometimes due to the English translations.

Gluttony
One of the most straight-forward demons is Gluttony, named after the sin it represents. The demon itself is a giant ant monster. The areas near it are called Temponia and Modero, representing Temperance and Moderation, which are the opposite of Gluttony.



Envy
Jealousy is an obvious reference to the sin Envy. In the game, the city of Devote (in other words, to devote yourself to another instead of being jealous towards them) had a queen who became jealous of all things beautiful. In the game a nearby town on a tortoise's back is dragged under the sea by a squid monster, presumably controlled by the queen's ghost. A temple containing the flame of the queen's jealousy is then accessible after, allowing you to fight her.



Wrath
The kingdoms of Justania (Justice) and Favorian (Favor) are under the influence of the demon Fury (or Wrath), the war raging to the point that Justania's king is actually transcending death to proceed with it. Fury takes the form of a giant man made of fire, fairly appropriate imagery.



Sloth
Near the towns of Diligence and Industen (Industrious) there is a demon called Fatigue causing people to become weakened. In the English version it is unclear whether Fatigue is the first demon, an emaciated skeleton riding a rain cloud, but the second demon, whether Fatigue or not, is definitely a representation of Sloth. The boss is a giant snail demon, and ultimately, aside from coming in and out of its shell, the lazy demon doesn't move an inch.



Greed
Here is where some of the naming becomes confusing and the imagery and dialogue is what must be relied on. The town Leon near the castle Stormrook are affected by the king's deal with a demon called Doom. Doom is supposed to be Greed based on the fact it changes the king into a golden dragon covered with jewelry, who the player fights in a room filled with gold. The nearby prison, run by a crown-wearing goblin wizard, is called "Gratis", meaning "for free". It is unclear whether the goblin is Doom/Greed, whether Doom/Greed is actually the dragon, or whether the king was actually the Goblin and it is lost in translation. Regardless, in the final battle where all Seven Sin bosses are revisited, it is the dragon that returns, not the goblin.



Lust
The city of Lovaous is frozen by the spell of a demon in the Palace. It is some form of ice demon that takes the form of a beautiful woman.



After defeating the demon, the king is still in a deep sleep. A greater demon called Deception is said to be infesting his mind. This boss, in the form of a fetus (or is it a womb? I don't actually know about that) with the king's body swallowed up inside, is the equivalent of the sin of Lust. It would make sense, because this demon was in his mind, and the connection to a lesser demon in the form of a beautiful woman who froze the king's land would make more sense.



Pride
After the first six main demons are defeated, the town of Humbleton finishes building a gigantic Tower of Souls, atop which they place their mechanical false idol, a reference to Pride.



The Tower of Souls is actually named a bit differently in Japan, making the connection to the sin of Pride a bit more obvious.



After the battle with Pride, the final stage opens up, where all the previously mentioned seven bosses are fought a second time, followed by the final battle with...

Satan
Tanzra is allegedly called Satan in the Japanese version, and with good reason. He's the spitting image of Satan from Dante's Inferno, a giant beast with three heads (one facing off screen, one barely sticking out from the side of the screen, and of course the center one), frozen from the waist down in a giant lake.