Did anyone ever confirm the existence of a sixth parallel in the Japanese version of Dark Savior? From this old (2004) topic, @Geoffrey_Duke describes the rumoured sixth parallel:
@legaiaflame Dark Savior is one my favourite Saturn games, indeed one of my favourite games in general. I’ve yet to play a game that implements a branching storyline quite so well. Bioware’s games, for example, contain choices but usually the overall journey is similar (the same locations visited, etc).
@Geoffrey_Duke It’s been a while since I played Dark Savior, but from memory the four parallel story made sense on it’s own (with the fifth being more of a bonus) with the need for a sixth parallel to tie it together. My interpretation: Garian was frozen in carbonite for killing that boy while he was drunk, experiencing the “endless nightmares” Jack describes. Carbon Garian is the true Garian, a much shadier character that the Garian who we play as. It makes sense that Garian seems like a decent guy if indeed the story is told from his perspective. I guess that Kay is an invention of Garian’s dreaming subconscious to help block out the horrific experience of murdering the boy (she was one who stopped him from killing the boy with the blue roses). She is also sometimes referred to as the woman of his dreams - perhaps literally? If I’m right, the story is dark indeed. But solely in the context of parallels 1-4 (if there is no parallel 6), perhaps this was Climax’s intention?
Yeah that seems to be the official story. Garian was carbon frozen and he was experiencing endless nightmares. In the game other characters experience deja vu too, and we see different timelines collide.
Nevertheless, the story never truly ends. The game will always send Garian back to the beginning.
If he did kill the boy while drunk then Garian wouldn’t have experienced anything past that point on Jailer’s Island unless he imagined it all. If that’s the case, then I hope he killed Bilan on the prison transport ship. Bilan couldn’t be allowed to live.
Unless the fabled sixth parallel is real. There’s some Japanese copies of Dark Savior on eBay for reasonable prices. Maybe we could attempt the method of finding the sixth parallel that your source described.
That might be the point - he is trapped in a kind of purgatory.
By the way, the ending screen for Parallel 5 looks like this:
None of the other parallels say “The End”. Maybe this was added in the English version. But if it wasn’t, the inclusion of “The End” is particularly telling.
However at the start of Parallel 5, JJ tells you this:
Resurrection? What does he mean? That sounds a lot like there’s a way out of the purgatory. Unless he just means that you can wake up again and can choose a nicer parallel (than 5).
The voice Garian hears is Jack IMO, or himself. JJ wouldn’t have known Garian that well, although Garian was notorious, so it’s possible. JJ has a distinct sound for text as well (I still remember) and the narrator is silent.
I believe that Garian was being punished, either by himself or by an outside force that was attempting to redeem him.
The tragedy of Garian’s life is he had to become worse than Bilan in order to defeat him, and Bilan was an evil shape-shifting demon that was never going to stop. But Garian wasn’t beyond hope.
It doesn’t make sense that carbon Garian was possessed by Bilan because Bilan could easily escape from Deadman’s Castle. It therefore stands to reason that carbon Garian was insane. However it’s also possible that carbon Garian was possessed by Bilan, and Bilan used Garian to enter Deadman’s castle but was carbon frozen before he realized it.
Good point about it not being J.J. who says those lines. I’m not sure why I thought that. Is there any evidence that Jack is behind it though? The Japanese version might be different; in the English translation it seems to be an anonymous narrator.
Garian possessed by Bilan? I wouldn’t have thought so, but that could be an angle worth exploring.
I think Carbon Garian is meant to represent part one half of Garian’s personality. Parallel 4 is a battle of the good and evil sides of his personally trying to obtain dominance. But even though Garian’s good side wins, he still reawakens in another cycle of the dream. I wonder if “death” mentioned by the character Indigo in Parallel 4 is meant to represent the end of Parallel 4:
If Garian is still frozen in Carbon freeze, what do you think all the talk of parallel universes was for? Figurative for overlapping nightmares and different sides of his personality perhaps? When I originally played Dark Savior I thought that they were literally different parallel universes, but now I’m not so sure; I think it was more psychological.
Some more evidence that Dark Savior is a recurring nightmare without end.
In the ship at the start you encounter this guy:
He could just be taunting Garian, but I think this may have been the writers telling us something.
At the end of Parallel 4, Garian gives Kay a message from Carbon Garian:
We never see Carbon Garian tell regular Garian this message. How did Garian know this… perhaps because Carbon Garian is just another part of his subconscious? How would Carbon Garian know that he will meet Kay in his dreams (or that he would have more dreams - he was about to die after all)? Could it be because he figured out that he was still trapped in carbonite and knew that he would continue to have dreams?
And of course the empty cylinder in Parallel 2 where Bilan was going to be frozen (and Carbon Garian was put in Parallel 4):
Jack sends Garian back in time. If someone trapped Garian in a timeloop, Jack would be my first suspect. What I was told ages ago is that you have to complete all 5 parallels first, then make Jack send you back in time, then a new ending becomes available.
That would make sense.
Carbon Garian in parallel 4 pushes Drizzit into the tank in parallel 2 when timelines collide. Carbon Garian seems completely insane and has no real personality, like Bilan when he takes someone over.
Also, like I said, other characters also experience deja vu. I just hope that Garian killed Bilan on the transport ship if Garian was frozen in carbon.
I think you’re referring to this scene (from the video I linked earlier):
But this is separate from the part where Garian is actually sent back in time. This happens a short time afterwards when Garian wishes that he could relive his past:
If this is all part of Garian’s dream then he wouldn’t need Jack to send him back in time. It would be his own subconscious making it happen in the dream. In that case, him wishing it to be so might be enough. I also wonder if Jack is part of his subconscious. A talking bird who just happens to have the same dreams that he does.
We need to confirm whether the method you described for getting to Parallel 6 is possible or not in the Japanese version though.
Carbon Garian was attempting to eliminate Parallel 2 Garian from his reality (just as he attempted to destroy Parallel 4 Garian). So I’m not sure if insane is the right description here. He had reasons for his actions.
Bilan wanted Garian dead too. Nevertheless I think it’s more likely that carbon Garian was simply insane rather than evil (he was carbon frozen after all).
Now here’s the real question: if Garian was carbon frozen all along, why didn’t he remember? It almost seems as if some outside force is punishing him and attempting to redeem him. It could be his own conscience. Either way, he’s trapped in a timeloop.
The best way to find out the truth is by finding the Japanese source material. Garian clearly isn’t evil, but he would kill someone if they were possessed by Bilan, which he did when he killed Lance before traveling to Jailer’s island.
Jack was real before he almost killed the boy as well (unless of course, none of it was real). Jack also understands alternative timelines. There’s also a bad ending. If Garian loses to Tracy (whom is unkillable), Bilan spawns and takes over the world (IIRC).
Seriously, we often don’t remember our dreams very well, or remember important details of our lives inside of dreams. Garian did recall the memory of Bilan escaping and the blue rose (which appears in his handbook). I suspect Garian blocked out the memory of killing the boy if it indeed happened. People often block out inconvenient truths that are too horrible to confront. Human nature, if ever there was one.
Do you still plan to play the Japanese version? I would try myself, but it will be a while before I get the chance as I need to first obtain a new computer with Windows (and SSF) on it. I’m not sure when that will be.
I didn’t try to confirm whether there was a 6th parallel or not because someone would have done it already. I don’t think it exists, but might have existed at one point in the minds of the creators.
Jack being the source of the problem might have been something that was cut. After all, the game never truly ends.
I don’t believe the voice Garian hears in parallel 5 is himself. I believe that it’s someone trying to reach him.
The fact that Lance ended up on Jailer’s island after Garian had already killed him strikes me as strange as well. Perhaps a guilty conscience came back to haunt Garian.
There is also another possibility: It’s possible that Garian was carbon frozen while possessed by Bilan, which would mean Bilan was in Garian’s subconscious as well. Bilan does actually speak to Garian in parallel 5, albeit briefly. Garian was incredibly stubborn, which means his personality might have survived and might still be buried deep in his subconscious.
I bought this game years ago off Solo’s recommendation but never really gave it a good play through. Reading this topic makes me really interested though, it sounds awesome. And confusing.
Dark Savior is an 8.5/10 RPG if you can forget that it’s not meant to be a sequel to Landstalker. Some of the platform hopping in DS is extremely challenging.
I just hated the battle system, but I imagine that was popular in Japan, so I can live with it. The graphics are really great for a 32 bit console too. The art is very steam punk-esque, and Bilan looks awesome. Imagine someone trying to hunt down that thing. That’s Garian.
The story was probably clarified in Japan. Nevertheless I think an actual timeloop is possible because the warden of Jailer’s island started experimenting with Bilanium, which is what created Bilan in the first place.
It’s a tragic fate. Garian was actually worse than all the other prisoners (in that Garian was a better killer than them), and they were evil mass murderers. The fact that Bilan’s origins are explained in the game suggests that this might have been a battle for Garian’s consciousness in which Garian would always win.
I still don’t trust Jack though. The other bounty hunters didn’t like Jack either because he was sent by the “agency”. There’s more to Jack than meets the eye.
Damn I remember that tower type place in the sky, with all of those moving platforms, was challenging as hell! I also really enjoyed the games soundtrack!
