Seeker of Light

Peace Seeker
Genres	Action-adventure, Adventure, Role-playing
Developers	Mitsetale ReDrum Studios (1988-2001)
Publishers	Mitsetale
Creators	Azun Fejian Zadi Philum
First release	Peace Seeker June 21, 1988
Latest release	Peace Seeker: Horizon January 11, 2017

Peace Seeker (Lithian: rЕllereter Rielle Reter), also commonly referred as R2, is a high-fantasy action-adventure video game series created by the Lugid game designers Azun Fejian and Zadi Philum. It is primarily developed and produced by Mitsetale, although ReDrum Studios did assist the game's development prior to 2001. The series' gameplay incorporates the elements of action, adventure, and puzzle-solving games, although the later games of the series have incorporated a true open world, such as in Genesis and Horizon.

The series centers on Dinel, as the chief protagonist and the playable character, who appears in different incarnations in different games. In most games of the series, Dinel's main task is to save the world of Ire and save Princess Merethe from the evil Zamut, who is the primary antagonist of the series; however, other settings and antagonists have appeared in some titles, as seen in Inversion, Starfarer, and Slumber. The plot of the series often incorporate the divine relic known as the Philair, shaped as an octagram.

Since the original was released on 1988, the series expanded to include 16 titles, mostly on the (TBD Console), along with a number of spin-offs. It is Mitsetale's most prominent franchise, and is one of the best-selling video game franchises on Sahar, selling at a total of 121 million copies across all platforms as of 2017.

Overview

Timeline of release years

1988	Peace Seeker
1989
1990	Reanimation
1991
1992
1993	Amidst
1994	Slumber
1995
1996
1997
1998	Prophecy
1999
2000
2001	Inversion
2002
2003	Starfarer
2004
2005	Fracture
2006
2007	Shineset Ironhorse
2008
2009
2010
2011	Genesis
2012
2013
2014
2015	Dimensions
2016
2017	Horizon

Gameplay

Peace Seeker titles feature a mix of puzzles, adventure, action, and exploration. These elements remain mostly constant throughout the series' history, although Shineset introduced an open world. However, the open-world element remains to be not extensive until the release of Genesis in 2011. The principal feature of the series is the rewarding system, where the player is rewarded with particular items or abilities needed to either progress through the quest line or increase the player's abilities upon the completion of certain objectives, particularly upon defeating a group of enemies, a dungeon room, or a boss. The series emphasizes the hack and slash-style combat as opposed to the strategic, turn-based combat of some other games, particularly on the time of the original Peace Seeker's release.

All Peace Seeker games incorporate at least three different principal areas: the open overworld, the areas of interaction with other characters (mostly in the form of rooms and towns), and the dungeons, which often ends with either a boss battle or a puzzle. Most dungeons in Peace Seeker are underground, but later titles show increased diversity in location of the dungeons, as it started to drift away from the traditional underground setting of dungeons.

The games often pioneer features to eventually become industry standards. The original Peace Seeker is the first to have a save function, enabling players to stop playing and resume later.

Setting

Peace Seeker takes place predominantly in the ancient world known as Ire, with its kingdom known as the Irean Kingdom. In most games, the world of Ire is subject to corruption by a villain, which then gets enslaved, as in Genesis and Prophecy. Much of the architectural style resembles that of Ancient Halaria, although there are small hints to Lugid architecture.

Inspiration

The series is initially inspired by Azun Fejian's love in mythology and fantasy, as well as his childhood experience when he visited Mount Lenthir, where he explored numerous caves, villages, and cultures. Initially, Azun wanted to create a novel from it, but the Lugid economic boom in the 1970s followed by the successful release of Otí the Tiger in 1985 opted Azun to eventually enter the gaming industry. He sees gaming as "a revolutionizing form of entertainment, a large and untouched arable land in the middle of the forests".

Much of the later inspirations come during the development times of Peace Seeker, when Azun explores mythologies and cultures around the world. One of the primary origins of his inspiration is the Ancient Halarian civilization, whose Azun sees as "rich in mythology".

Plot

Genesis

The story begins with the creation story of Ire. It is created by two equally polar but inter-balancing gods: Elene and Zamut, using the eight cosmic elements later to be manifested into a sacred artifact known as the Philair. Then, Elene creates mankind, whom Zamut sees as a corruption of Ire. This causes the evil side of Zamut to rise and eventually dominate over, and Zamut begins to secretly plan the corruption of Ire. Later, Elene departed from Ire and left the Philair, which is only accessible by going to the Temple of Elene and entering another realm called The Shine. The Shine itself is only accessible by the ones who are deemed worthy and capable of handling the powers of the Philair, which does not have a will, enabling it to be abused by someone.

Zamut's corruption plan came into fruition as King Sakhon managed to enter The Shine, and then possessed and abused the Philair to serve Zamut and eventually corrupt both The Shine and Ire. This caused the Philair to break into 8 pieces, with Sakhon possessing one. Sakhon later enslaved almost all of the Irean Kingdom to make its people serve Zamut and prevent the flourishing of mankind. Elene, in an effort to stop Zamut and the continuation of the corruption while maintaining no direct confrontations with Zamut that will cause a divine war, brought select Ireans into the floating archipelago known as The Eden. There, the first incarnation of Dinel as well as Merethe was born. Dinel is then trained by Elene and Merethe through trials, before Dinel can set foot to mainland Ire to fight over its enemies and look for the key to Elene's Sword, which is needed to defeat both Sakhon and Zamut.

On one day, however, Dinel is "kidnapped" to Ire by a mysterious group of people, thought to be Zamut's minions. Later, Dinel realized that the group is actually the high priests of the Temple of Elene, who remains uncorrupted as the village near the Temple where they live is one of Elene's "refuges". They desperately want Dinel's powers to be used against Sakhon, as the priests themselves doesn't have "the worth to possess Elene's Sword". This begins Dinel's quest for the sword, and against Sakhon.

The adventure ends with Sakhon's eventual defeat to Dinel. This made Zamut lose its indirect power in Ire. The fall of Sakhon allows the people and the world of Ire to be able to be cleansed of corruption. From this point, Dinel ventures into a new adventure, as the now-uncorrupted Ire brought in a multitude of new quests for Dinel.

Original game

Here, the Philair was fractured into sixteen pieces, and this time Zamut directly intervened mankind, rapidly corrupting most of it in the process. Targeted early by Zamut is Princess Merethe and much of the Irean royal family. The pieces of the Philair was then used by Dinel, whom Elene brought to birth moments after the corruption, to slowly cleanse the mankind. Here, Dinel rebuilds the mankind as well as the Irean Kingdom, but the process saw intervention from Zamut's minions which includes the corrupted people, preventing further progress. In an effort to save mankind and Princess Merethe, Dinel acquired half of the Philair, to be then used to forge his sword. The sword is then used to defeat Zamut, and thus end the corruption and finally save Princess Merethe.

Characters

Dinel

Dinel is the name of the chief protagonist of the Peace Seeker series, who characteristically wear a blue tunic. In most titles, Dinel bears various hidden powers gifted by Elene to help Dinel defeat the corrupted forces of Ire. Later throughout the adventure, Dinel learns about his hidden powers and the way of using it against enemy forces and ultimately against the chief villain, with the initial help of a person such as Princess Merethe. In almost all titles, the player can give Dinel a name at the beginning of the adventure, and non-player characters in that game will then refer Dinel with that given name, or in certain times with his titles, such as the "Child of Elene". To the player's perspective, Dinel is a silent protagonist, as he does not speak, other than producing grunts, yells, or similar sounds. This is under the purpose of letting the audience to have a liberty on their own thoughts on the way Dinel speaks and answers.

Princess Merethe

Princess Merethe was the prince of Ire before it was corrupted by Zamut. In Genesis, she bears powers from Elene, just like Dinel, but her powers are not hidden from the beginning, as the power is used to guard The Eden and other particular locations, which is usually those chosen by Elene. Merethe is a princess except in Genesis, where the Irean Kingdom is under the antagonist king Sakhon. In most games, Merethe is often subject to distress by the main villain of that game, and she can only be saved with Dinel defeating the villain.

Zamut

Zamut is one of the two gods who created the world of Ire, the other being Elene, and is a holder of a piece of the Philair. It is the main villain of most Peace Seeker titles. Zamut objected the creation of mankind by Elene, and from that point Zamut's evil grows. However, as with Elene, it doesn't want a direct confrontation with each other as such would cause devastation to Ire. As a result, Elene and Zamut waged a proxy war between each other, with Ire as the main stage—as Elene flourished the mankind ans Zamut corrupted the Ire in protest of mankind's existence. While Zamut is initially formless, Zamut appears as a corrupted angel in the original Peace Seeker. However, Zamut does not directly reveal itself in Ire. Zamut often either possess someone, such as King Sakhon, to later be given with the powers of Zamut and become its "puppet".