Community:The Legend of Zelda: The Fallen Sage

The Legend of Zelda: The Fallen Sage is a fan-made game created by UndyingNephalim and Cosmic Revenues using the program RPG Maker XP. The title centralizes around the theme of societal interconnectedness; Link befriends many familiar and new characters on his journey to keep the Kingdom of Hyrule safe from external threat, in an role-playing world. Fallen Sage has risen to large popularity within gaming forums, primarily because it brings all-new ideas such as the inclusion of multiple playable characters, a series of villains, and a Final Fantasy style battle system to The Legend of Zelda universe.

Fallen Sage is the second in a trilogy, preceding Time's Menagerie, and is the antecedent to The Gerudo Wars, the latter of which is under development with a separate team.

Plot and Setting
The events in the Fallen Sage are considered non-canon and can fit into almost any timeline. It is often considered to be separate from the canon Zelda timeline.

The Goddesses created seven Sages to watch over the holy relic; the Triforce. Of these Sages were Mapheaus, the Sage of Fire; Malkobagia, Sage of Water; Kovaloo, the Sage of Spirits; Evaleen, the Sage of Shadow; Demoko, the Sage of Time; Solarisin, the Sage of Light; and Sulkaris, the Sage of the Forest. Sulkaris became corrupt and attempted to steal the Triforce for herself, and was banished from the Sacred Realm for eternity to wander the mortal realm as an ethereal spirit. However, Sulkaris possessed a giant beast, a massive Gohma that controlled all other Gohma like an ant hive. She briefly unleashed the Gohma onto Hyrule and its neighboring countries and devastated them. The current Sages caught wind of this disaster, and used their powers to seal away Sulkaris. The current Emerald Sage vowed to watch over the imprisoned Sulkaris for all eternity.

Centuries later Link is walking alone through a forest when suddenly his shadowy avatar, Dark Link, suddenly appears and attacks him. Link awakens to find himself in someone's house. He soon meets the girl who found him, Liyer, a young Hylian girl talented in the art of knife fighting. She says his body was dragged for miles to the outer gates of Hyrule's Capital. In return for rescuing him, he promises to help Liyer sneak into Hyrule Castle and recover a personal trinket that a guard confiscated from her; subsequently, the two go to inquire within Hyrule's Capital as to the whereabouts of the trinket amongst the common folk. Eventually, it is discovered there is a passage in the Temple of Time that leads to the castle, so the player heads there to find it, however, are blocked by a Zora guardian. Redirected, the player finds another route into the castle. Much to Liyer's surprise, Hyrule's top generals as well as Zelda and the King of Hyrule are gathering together. Link and Liyer then end up getting caught by guards, and interrogated by Zelda. Link and Liyer eventually escape and retrieve Liyer's trinket, only to stumble upon the conference of generals. Link and Liyer listen in on the heated discussion. General Akazoo, one of the King's most trusted men has information claiming that the Gohma are mobilizing on Hyrule's western borders. General Kazakk, the highest ranking general disagrees and says it is impossible to fight the Gohma after the losses Hyrule sustained in the Gerudo Wars. Zelda interferes and says Akazoo has good intentions but Hyrule simply does not have enough troops. Akazoo instructs everyone in the room to follow him to a balcony. They look over, only to see hundreds of thousands of soldiers saluting them.The King of Hyrule is impressed, and openly declares war on the Gohma.

Meanwhile Link and Liyer continue their escape, only to be intercepted by Zelda and her Elite guards. The played defeats them and escapes from Zelda, taking a secret passage that leads to thee Temple of Time. However, it's too late, as the soldiers have already arrived and begun asking Zaleen about them. Upon their approach, Zaleen is blamed for their escape and the troops then attempt to arrest the three. Suddenly the temple's lights dim, and a figure appears and destroys the troops. Evaleen, the Sage of Shadow appears before Link, Liyer, and Zaleen, and kills the oncoming Hylian troops. Evaleen offers them to help her murder the king of Hyrule, which is simply out of the question for Link. A fight ensues and Evaleen is apparently killed by the player in the fight. Things seem safe now, and Link, Liyer and Zaleen go their separate ways.

By this time, Hyrule's army is marching out of the capital, but unfortunately General Akazoo unleashes a swarm of Gohma he was sheltering into the Capital, and he kills the King and captures Zelda. The city is attacked, and Link is chased down until he meets up with Zaleen and Liyer. The three fight their way out of the doomed city. The player travels along until at one point Zaleen is captured by Hyrule's army. Link will meet with a mysterious man named Salfoss, who says that it’s best if they retreat into the Kokiri Forest to avoid Akazoo. Liyer rejects the idea and decides to go in search of Zaleen. At this point the player chooses whether to go along and help Liyer or to go with Link to the Kokiri Forest. Both result in different story arcs, though both can be played in any order. On Link's path he will meet up with Darunia, the Ruby Sage as well as Saria, the central figure to the plot. On Liyer's path she will meet with Annara, a rogue bounty hunter from Ordon and General Kazakk, leader of the Hylian Army. The two groups eventually meet up and fight Akazoo for the first time.

Afterward, the group decides to find out what exactly Akazoo is planning, and Link will travel to several dungeons in search of information. Along the way, Link will accidentally free Sulkaris, the Fallen Sage, who will later replace Akazoo as the main villain. Once Link finds out Akazoo's plan: to use a device called the Heart of Palagard to transform into a god of the Gohma, he and his band of heroes brings the fight to Akazoo's doorstep. The player fights their way through Akazoo's twisted reconstruction of Hyrule, confronting a revived Evaleen and slaying her again. At the top, Link confronts Akazoo in a frenzied fight and eventually slays him. Before Akazoo dies, he opens up a portal into the Sacred Realm allowing Sulkaris top enter freely and attempt her theft of the Triforce.

Link confronts the Fallen Sage for the first time and tries to save Saria, but the Fallen Sage becomes alive again, slowly feeding off of Saria's flesh. Link eventually strikes Sulkaris down, but the Fallen Sage touches the Triforce and wishes the Sacred Realm be destroyed. Saria, with her last breath saves Link and his group, but she apparently is left trapped in the Sacred Realm as it collapses on itself.

At this point one year passes and everyone goes their separate ways. It seems Hyrule will slowly rebuild itself and everything will return to normal

One year later the player resumes control of Link. He's wandering through the Gerudo Desert when the mystery man Salfoss comes out of nowhere, Dark Link soon to follow. After chasing away Dark Link, Salfoss reveals himself as Mido. He claims he once knew Link's ancestor and was Saria's guardian and failed to protect her. Mido tells Link that he created Dark Link as part of a huge convoluted plot to find Saria. He claims he knew everything that would happen to this point, including the Fallen Sage. Now Mido says he knows a way to bring Saria back from the Sacred Realm... Link of course goes with the flow. Link then travels with Mido and the rest of the characters as they meet up with him in search of three Triforce shards that can re-open the Sacred Realm. Mido says that the Sacred Realm was not destroyed, and that with the shards he can go inside and rescue Saria. After traversing several massive dungeons Link finds the final Triforce shard... only to be confronted by his doppelgänger Dark Link. The shadow takes the shards with him to the Temple of Time and apparently kills Mido in the process. Link and company chase down the shadow and fight him in the Temple of Time, but Dark Link of course opens up the portal to the Sacred Realm and enters. Link follows in, and finds himself in the Temple of Light. After working your way through the Temple, Link confronts Dark Link for one last time. Dark Link is defeated... and Link eventually opens up a passage to Saria and rescues her.

Zelda and Kazakk meet up with Link in the Temple of Light, and tell him and his allies that the Gohma are preparing one final all out assault on the remnants of Hyrule. After returning to Hyrule's base of operations, the plan is laid out clearly: Kazakk will lead Hyrule's army straight to the Gohma's homeland and lure out their army while Link, Zelda, and several other members will sneak into the hive and kill the Gohma's leader: the Immanis.

That night a dance is held before the war begins. Link chooses one of the female protagonists to dance with. During the dance however, Sulkaris shows up from nowhere and causes chaos. It seems Sulkaris survived the destruction of the Sacred Realm but in a severally weakened form. She possesses Saria, and the Emerald Sage is morphed into a hideous plant-like monstrosity. Against his will Link must fight Saria as she rampages on a slaughter. Link eventually strikes her down, but before he can stop her Sulkaris kills Saria herself. Link in rage seems to finally kill off Sulkaris for good.



Morning dawns, and Hyrule's army marches out. Link and Zelda travel to a port where they board a ship to the Gohma homelands in the Misery Mire. They sneak into the Hive and wander down the massive final dungeon. At the end they meet their goal, the massive beast of legend: the Gohma Immanis. An epic fight begins with the massive creature in what appears to be a predictable final boss fight. After the long battle Link and his group slay the massive beast, and it falls down dead into the depths of its pit. All seems well now... and it appears the Gohma will die off.

As victory and the end of the game seem to have come, Mido dashes out from the darkness to warn Link of something. Before he can utter his warning... Sulkaris, and Saria in her grip appear floating above the dead Immanis. It appears that Sulkaris still had not died yet.

Sulkaris finally reveals her backup plan, she's going to do what Akazoo was plotting; become the god of the Gohma. Unfortunately for Sulkaris she prematurely uses the Heart of Palagard and only transforms into a premature version of the Gohma god. It seems now the real final boss is Sulkaris, and a ridiculously long fight with the Fallen Sage commences. After the insane dual Sulkaris is finally killed by Link’s valiant effort.

All seems well now, Saria is alive and well and finally admits her feelings for Link. Though he cares for her, he does not return her love. When all seems good... Saria finally cracks. The innocent child turns violent, and begins to threaten Liyer for stealing Link from her. Saria's adorable demeanor quickly warps into that of a raging brat, and like a spoiled child she unleashes her anger. She loses control of her powers and is overrun with anger. She is transformed into a giant crystalline emerald beast... the real final boss and master of the tragic events is revealed. Link and his group engage the new Saria in an hour long duel, which ultimately ends with ambiguously.

Gameplay




The Fallen Sage utilizes RPG Maker XP’s default battle system. The player’s characters align the bottom of the screen while enemies are displayed in the background on the top. Though the images are static, many of the attacks contain long and well crafted animations. The official forums state that the battles are the weakest point of the game, though many of the boss fights were said to be flashy and the bosses themselves have exotic and imposing attack animations.

Characters


Canon Characters
 * Link - As in every Legend of Zelda game, Link serves as the primary protagonist. He is essential to the plot, though his role is more of a bystander pulled along through the tragic events.
 * Princess Zelda - Zelda at several points joins Link in his quest. She dual wields rapiers and is the last character you get in your party.
 * Saria – Saria plays a center role to the plot. The main villain, Sulkaris, is her ancestor and thus Saria is at odds with the conflict that be. She uses powerful emerald magic to attack her foes
 * Darunia - Misspelled 'Daurina' throughout the entire game, Darunia plays a large role in the story and serves as a navigator late in the game. He wears a suit of Goron armor and gauntlets, and uses powerful fire magic to attack his foes. He is the most powerful single character in the game.

Non-canon characters
 * Liyer - A young Hylian girl that wields a knife in combat. She serves as a loyal companion to Link and serves with him through the entire game. Her hatred for Saria plays a major role in the plot
 * Zaleen - A Zora priest that watches over the Temple of Time. He serves as a healer and effectively removes the need for healing items.
 * Salfoss - A mysterious assassin that wields katars. It is later revealed that he is Mido, the bully of Link’s ancestor and that he was also responsible for the creation of Dark Link.
 * Annara - A bounty hunter from Ordona Province. She wields a bow and arrow and is the fastest character in the game.
 * General Kazakk – Famed leader and general of Hyrule’s army, Kazakk is a half Hylian and Ordonian. His lack of pointed ears has given him a stained reputation, though his career in the Gerudo wars have more then made a positive name for him. He wields a lance in game and uses a variety of support abilities.
 * Felonius – A powerful magician that uses mysterious staffs to summon celestial magics to his will. Though he is a slow character once his magic builds up he has the single most devastating attack in the game.

Villains
 * Sulkaris, the Fallen Sage - Led to be the primary antagonist of the game, Sulkaris bears a striking resemblence to Saria. She was created by the Goddesses with the first seven sages to guard the Triforce from mortals. However, she was tempted by it’s power and attempted to steal it for herself. Caste out of the Sacred Realm in a weakened form, Sulkaris resorted to a century spanning plot to use her descendant Saria as a means to reclaim the Triforce. When her plot is foiled by Link, she settles for using the plans of Lord Akazoo in becoming the god of the Gohma. Unfortuntely she misuses the necessary ritual and becomes the Gohma god prematurely. Link take’s advantage of this and eventually slays her at the game’s climax.
 * Lord Akazoo Vapith - Once an honored general of the Hylian army, Lord Akazoo Vapith is described as a 'psychotic clown.' His appearance suggests this; he wears blood red makeup and ridiculous hats. After gaining much prestige in the Gerudo wars, he was destined to marry Princess Zelda when she came of age. Her rejection of him caused his mental state to crack. Now an unstable mess and a warmonger, Akazoo plotted to use the Gohma to overthrow Hyrule and take control of it for himself. Using ancient knowledge he gained from years of study, Akazoo planned on using a device known as the Heart of Palagard to transform himself in the god of the Gohma. His plans are ruined after the Fallen Sage is freed and disrespectfully replaces Akazoo’s position as leader. In a final attempt to stop Link from foiling the Fallen Sage’s plans he is killed by the protagonists.
 * Evaleen, the First Sage of Shadow – One of the first sages created by the Goddesses, Evaleen is Sulkaris’ loyal supporter. She has the appearance of a dark angelic being, and being a master of the dead she can continually revive herself, giving her the impression of immortality. Only Link is capable of slaying her, and as Evaleen attempts to stop Link from foiling Sulkaris’ plans she is killed in the resulting battle.
 * Dark Link – Dark Link plays a large, if vague role in the Fallen Sage. He continually chases down Link and appears at random moments to confront him. It is later learned Dark Link was created by Mido to track down Link so that he could be lead to Saria, but the doppelganger broke free of Mido’s command and turned rouge. Dark Link confronts Link a total of seven times in the game, and is apparently killed in a one-on-one dual in the Temple of Light.

Development and Ownership
The game has been claimed to be in production for over 4 years as of November 2007. Discussions with the game's presumed creator undyingnephalim state that the Fallen Sage was originally a modification for the game Warcraft III, and was shifted to various game making engines over the next few years. It wasn't until March of 2007 that the Fallen Sage had finally found a stable program from which to make it with. After a very slow beta testing period the game was finally finsished and released on January 11th, 2008.

Though it is a fan made game, full credit is given to Nintendo. The game is not being sold for profit, and is only being shared as a tribute to Nintendo's Zelda series.

Release and Delays
The Fallen Sage went through numerous delays after it was scheduled for download. It was originally intended to be released the 25th of December 2007. After a quick production period, the creators claimed the game would be completed by the 17th of November 2007. Again the game was delayed back to th 25th of December, but after a long beta testing period it’s final release date was confirmed to be January 25th 2008. The game was finished early and released January 11th 2008.

The Fallen Sage can be downloaded for free here:

Reception
Though it is a fan made game and is not released professionally on the market, several websites have given both positive and negative reviews for the game.


 * Members of ZSO gave the game a 7/10, claiming that "The story is very intriguing, and feels very dark despite the colorful sprites and backdrops. The only flaws of The Fallen Sage are in it's own limitations. The battle system quickly becomes boring after the first few hours in."
 * Members of www.zeldadungeon.net have given the game an 8/10, saying "The Fallen Sage will entertain all fans of Zelda who enjoy a Final Fantasy style game, but it is only a game for those that are willing to put up with the odd and occasionally static battle system."
 * Members of RPG Maker Forums have given the game an 8/10, saying "The story is the Fallen Sage's most noteworthy feature. All Zelda fans should invest time diving into its twisted tale, and for a game made using RPG Maker the final product comes off surprisingly proffesional."
 * The creator of Song of Souls have given the game a 9/10, saying "The game is absolutely great. The battle system, however. doesn't feel right for any Legend of Zelda games, and there were too many glitches."

Technical Issues and Glitches
Though a majority of the faults with the game were fixed, several small issues were found in the final release.

- For those of you trying to play The Fallen Sage on Windows XP, there are two points early in the game that will cause the game to crash for no apparent reason. One is in one of the shops in Market Town where talking to the shopkeeper will cause the game to crash. This is avoidable for the time being. The second point, however, is directly linked to the storyline and cannot be avoided. After you defeat Captain Barbosa and confront Zelda in the infirmary, the game will crash just before Zelda calls two guards to defend her. This is completely unavoidable and Windows XP users may think the game is unplayable. However, there is a simple way to reverse these glitches and make the rest of the game crash-free.

Go to the folder where you unzipped the Game.exe and click on the Game.ini configuration file.

The line you need to change will read: Library=RGSS100J.dll

To fix the crashes in Windows XP, change it to the following: Library=RGSS102E.dll

Save the changes and run the game normally. You should be able to face Zelda and her guards after defeating Captain Barbosa. The game should be completely playable from that point onward.

- RPG Maker XP, the program required to run the Fallen Sage, is largely unstable with Windows Vista and by default cannot run on Vista systems. A patch was released to fix this issue. The patch can be downloaded here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/dkzo60

- An unavoidable program error required RPG Maker XP to be installed on the user’s computer to run properly, though a link to the RPG Maker download site was given in the Fallen Sage’s read-me file.

-Another glitch caused several characters to not display their correct graphic, the most notable being a boss called Sulthis, whose beta graphic is displayed in the fight rather than his final one. Other than that particular boss, the graphic glitch is random and sometimes does not even show up at all.

-In the sixth dungeon, Ganon's tomb, if the player fails to light the green flame after the mini-boss and exits the chamber it is impossible for them to get back inside; thus making it impossible to finish the game. Since the game requires the installation of RPG Maker XP to run, the user can fix the this error on his/her own. The script of EV010 on Map 187 should read:

@>Text:Do you wish to use the warp? @>Show choices: Yes, No : When[Yes] @>Play SE: '018-Teleport01', 100, 100 @>Control Switches: [0183: f1] = OFF @>Control Switches: [0184: f2] = OFF @>Transfer Player:[182:entry way], (009,006) @> : When[No] @> : Branch End @>

- Near the end of the game when Link is prompted to dance with one of the female characters, choosing Liyer will cause the approaching boss fight to be activated three times rather than one before continuing onto the following cinematic, and choosing Annara will cause the fight to be activated twice. Furthermore, choosing Zelda will result in Liyer being reset to the level she was at when she joined Link at Ganon's tomb. Since the game requires the installation of RPG Maker XP to run, the user can fix the this error on his/her own. All fixes should be made to the transparent event on square (039,050) on Map 241. A "Jump To Label" command in Liyer and Annara's Conditional Branches will suffice to take care of the first problem if the corresponding label is set just after Zelda's or Saria's Branch. To solve the second problem, uncheck the Initialize box in the line

@>Change Party Member: Add [Liyer], Initialize

in Zelda's Conditional Branch.

-In the city of Aslosus, exiting the city to the north gets the players stuck on a tile from which he/she cannot move. Since the game requires the installation of RPG Maker XP to run, the user can fix the this error on his/her own. The scripts of EV024-EV029 on Map 254 should read:

@>Transfer Player:[046:Overworld], (019,176), Up

Prequel, Sequel, and Remake
The Gerudo Wars was first leaked as anonymous users began to post a banner of a bloody Triforce on gaming forums with nothing but the year 2009 marked on it. Fan speculation was lead to believe it was an official game being made by Nintendo, until the creator announced it was only a fan game. It is an indirect prequel to the Fallen Sage.

Time's Menagerie has been announced as a sequel to the Fallen Sage. It take's place directly after the scene viewed at the end of the credits. The frontal battle system, a huge complaint about the Fallen Sage, has been completely replaced with a fully animated side-battle system.

Because of positive fan response from Time's Menagerie's showcase demos, it was announced that the Fallen Sage will be remade with the same superior graphics and battle animations. It will see a simultaneous release with its sequel.

Trivia

 * The overworld in the Fallen Sage has many locations akin to Ocarina of Time's world.


 * The Fallen Sage has more dungeons then any other Zelda game in the series, 16 dungeons total: 9 main ones and 7 hidden ones.


 * Though Ganon is not a villain in the game, his influence is apparent throughout the game. Several weapons are named after him, such as Mido's legendary weapon. Zaleen's legendary armor is called Ganon's Robe. Also, the fifth dungeon is Ganon's Tomb, and the player is forced to fight an animated statue of Ganon as the dungeon's boss.


 * General Kazzak is probably named after Doom Lord Kazzak from the MMORPG World of Warcraft