Ancient Civilizations in Video Games

[Johnny Sooshi]

This idea came to me recently and it's been bugging me since so I decided to write it down here.

I've always loved the ancient civilizations of different video games. Often they serve as a source of story or mystery to the player, providing clues, puzzles, or information through various, and sometimes obscure, methods. As such, I'd like to share my favorite video game ancient civilization and then ask you what your favorite is and what it's like (ie. history, race, significant figures if any, etc.)


The Chozo

The Chozo are a race of of bird like humanoid creatures from the Metroid series who are said to have come from the heavens themselves. Chozo lore doesn't depict any specific origin, other than this believe, meaning that their existence is almost divine in and of itself.

The Chozo area a peaceful race who desire knowledge more than anything else. As such they devoted their entire existence to knowledge, creating temples on other planets across their galaxy and other galaxies nearby. In this way, Chozo are considered a wandering species, never truly taking a permanent residence.

The only place that was ever settled by the Chozo was the planet Zebes, but it was overrun by Space Pirates and all the Chozo disapeared, presumabely dead from the attack. Whatever Chozo still remain are hidden on other unknown planets in the universe.

It is known that the Chozo did at one time inhabit Tallon IV, the planet on which the events of Metroid Prime take place. In addition, the Chozo are also credited for building Skytown, a planetary observatory and machine operated floating city on the planet Elysia in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

The reason that Chozo lore is so heavily laced through the entire Metroid series is because of Samus. When Samus was you, she lived in a planetary colony that was destroyed by Space Pirates. Samus Aran was the only survivor. So the Chozo took her in and raised her, infusing her blood with some of their's to increase her physical abilities and giver the ability to use the Varia suit, a power suit they created just for her.



Anyway, that's all I really have. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope that you too will share about your favorites.

 

[Castle]

Good Question!

For more mainstream gaming, I'd say the Protheans from Mass Effect. They figure prominently into the plot and resonate emotionally with the narrative. Not only that but the remains of their civilization serve as a catalyst for the adventure, and the twist regarding what actually lead to their disappearance is one of the heaviest moments in video game narrative. I like that although they are long gone, their influence is still crucial to Shepard's adventure and his fight against the Reapers.

For far less mainstream gaming (these days anyway) and my favorite ancient video game race, I would say the D'ni of Cyan World's Myst series of classic adventure games. The D'ni (pronounced "dunny") are an advanced alien human like race that lived in an immense cavern deep below the surface of the Earth and possessed the secret to writing "links" to whole other wondrous alien worlds, or "ages" as they are called, by writing in "linking books" which feature prominently in the series. There is nothing else quite like the worlds visited in these games, and the city of D'ni in that vast cavern deep beneath the Earth is one of the most unique, mysterious and enigmatic places ever devised.

Sadly, so little of it was ever open to exploration in Cyan's URU series of games which brought explores down into D'ni and into the ages of their written worlds for the briefest of moments. What's so fascinating about it is that the games are set in the present day and the ancient city is in the process of being explored by modern day adventurers, creating the juxtaposition between familiar and mundane real world items the explorers brought with them and the wondrous alien nature of the ancient city. It is just a tantalizing glimpse of one of the most fascinating ancient civilizations in video games.

 

[Ganondork]

First Civilization - Assassin's Creed

The First Civilization has been the most important presence in the Assassin's Creed series since Assassin's Creed II. They've proven to be resourceful, but surprisingly human-like, as is evident in the ending of Assassin's Creed III. The First Civilization is easily my favorite ancient civilization. My favorite aspect of them is that they are the Roman gods, but seen as simply a civilization that created the humans.

I find that they display human-like attributes - emotions, among other things - makes them more interesting, rather than being perfect beings. You see Minerva and Juno become developed by the end of Assassin's Creed III. I thought it was amazing that they could become such important characters over the span of thousands of years.

Definitely the First Civilization is my favorite, and most likely always will be. They make the Assassin's Creed lore that much more interesting, and have made the series that much better.

 

[Sir Quaffler]

I was gonna pick Chozo but somebody beat me to the punch! Ok, ok, I'll just have to think of something else...

I really like the Kingdom of Zeal from Chrono Trigger. Not only because it's an ancient civilization that we can can actually go back to and see firsthand, but also because their actions greatly influence the rest of the times and the heroes themselves. It's a perfect metaphor for the arrogance of man and how pride comes before a fall.

The leader of the kingdom Queen Zeal, has become corrupted with the power of Lavos and thus orders her people to turn from the sun, their natural source of magical power, towards Lavos, an extraterrestrial being sucking the lifeforce from the planet. They also purge their kingdom of people without the ability to perform magic and abandon them to the harsh frozen wastelands of the land under the clouds; later on they use these same people to construct their Ocean Palace against their will, many dying in the process. Having removed themselves from the troubles of the surface world, they have become aloof and careless, preferring to spend their days dreaming away, musing philosophical matters of no importance, and further developing their magical abilities.

Their actions have long-reaching consequences across the ages of the planet. Due to their hubris they decimate the planet and the vast majority of the population dies, along with the ability to use magic among people. They leave behind many artifacts that later come into play, however; Schala's magical amulet is the instigator for Crono and his gang to start on their adventure to begin with, The Epoch allows them to freely travel anywhere, anytime, and the titular Chrono Trigger allows Crono's gang to interfere with past events and prevent his death. Magus, who originates from this ancient civilization, wages war against the humans and almost wipes out the kingdom of Guardia. Near the end the Queen summons the Black Omen, which transcends time periods and calls forth Lavos from any time, and she herself has become completely corrupted by Lavos' power.

Yet even with all the harm they have done across the ages, there remains good in them as well. Schala being chief among them, she is the only one who treats the other humans with any sort of dignity and respect, she helps Crono's gang to escape Zeal after they're captured, her amulet comes into play several times throughout the story, and she makes a desperate sacrifice to get the protagonists out of the Ocean Palace after Lavos breaks out, kills Crono, and starts wreaking the planet. Janus, who later becomes known as Magus, may very well have been corrupted by the power within him, but he does it all to get Schala back, and later on he joins the fight against Lavos. The people of the kingdom wise up after their precious floating islands come crashing down and learn to live off the earth again.