Pop Culture Analysis of Sega's "Beyond Oasis"

Story

The story begins with an establishing shot of a young prince named Ali in a cave opening a chest and discovering a golden armlet. Suddenly he hears a mysterious voice from the armlet, calling him by name. The voice tells Ali to wear the armlet, and Ali does so. After Ali puts on the armlet, he sees a vision of an old man's face. The voice that Ali heard earlier then continues to say: "I am what remains of this Gold Armlet. I now entrust it's power to you, for you have been chosen to undergo a difficult task. The gold armlet has its pair: the silver armlet, which has possessed the soul of another. He will lead Oasis to ruin if you do not stop him, the powers of the gold armlet are now yours to wield. Find the four spirits this Gold Armlet governs, and stop the evil ambition of the one with the Silver Armlet."

Following this, a narration then explains: "Many ages ago, a devastating battle was waged in the shadowlands of the Kingdom of Oasis. It was between two powerful sorcerers, Reharl and Agito. Both sorcerers drew special powers from their magical Armlets. Reharl used his Gold Armlet to govern the spirits. Agito used his silver armlet to create chaos and destruction. The epic battle destroyed them both. The armlets were presumed to be lost as well."

After this narration ends, the cave begins to rumble, and Ali is seen leaving the cave on a boat. After this, the game begins! The player must venture to find and recruit the four spirits, and defeat The Silver Armlet.

The thing I love about Beyond Oasis's story, is that it has such a different setup than the average Zelda game. I specifically like it that nobody ever tells Ali that it's his destiny to defeat the silver armlet.

Ever since "A Link To The Past" I feel like there's a running theme in Zelda where Hyrule's inhabitants are constantly telling Link that it's his destiny to win. I've always had a problem with this: because it ruins the feeling of accomplishment for completing a task. How can I feel good about defeating evil when someone immediately tells me that I was meant to? That's like if someone won the super bowl, and a fan went up to one of the winning players and said "Don't get cocky dude, that result was pre-determined in the stars." It takes me out of the experience and comes off as rude.

There is nothing that spells out Prince Ali's fate for him: in fact there is a good chance that he could lose to the Silver Armlet, and the Silver Armlet could have his way with the world.

In short, the story of Beyond Oasis comes off as being very different than the average Zelda game, or Zelda-Like. Instead of coming off as a product inspired by "Lord Of The Rings", it comes off as being more inspired by a mix of Aladdin (most likely the inspiration for the name "Prince Ali"), Conan The Barbarian, and a little bit of Highlander.

When I first played Beyond Oasis, I found the story of the game to be a huge breath of fresh air. Finally I was introduced to a character that wasn't Link. Finally I was introduced to a kingdom that I wasn't familiar with. I understand Zelda occasionally changes it's story dynamic with installments like Majora's Mask, but even Majora's Mask reused settings and characters. There were still familiar elements that kept the game from feeling like a completely new adventure.

I understand Beyond Oasis may not have the most thick, engaging story. But the way I see it, comparing Beyond Oasis to modern, plot heavy Zelda, is like comparing a well done original film to a well done reboot of an old classic: you have to give Beyond Oasis credit for being original.