1/1/2024 0 Comments Ephemeral fantasia amazonOf course, there are ways to speed the progression of time, but even that doesn't help much.Īdd to that a weak translation. With a world that's frustrating to explore, there's little incentive to go out and find what you need to do to progress the storyline, and the five days that have to pass before you can try something again can try the patience of any gamer. That exposes one of the core flaws of Ephemeral Fantasia it does wrong everything that Majora's Mask did right. Unfortunately, like almost everything else in the game, it's all timed, so if you screw up you have to wait for the next week before you can try it again. There are a number of characters that you can have join your group, and the methods to gain them range from the relatively simple (find them at a place and time, do some basic tasks) to the complex. Xelpherpolis is the Bad Guy, and you've got to stop him before he does Evil Things to the people of Pandule. Soon enough you'll discover the core conceit of the game, a time loop that keeps playing the same five days over and over again. Once you meet them, you can tell that there's something wrong going on Loreille is much colder than you'd think a bride-to-be would be. A man named Xelpherpolis (where do they get these names?) invites Mouse to the island to play music for his upcoming wedding to the Princess Loreille. The storyline is actually rather intriguing. Add in an atrocious mapping system which requires you to find pieces of the map and you have yourself a hindrance to the gaming experience from the start. The city is one huge maze, which makes exploration frustrating, not to mention trying to make appointments on time wandering around the world map can be an aggravating experience. Indeed, much of the game takes place in the center city, which sprawls across most of the island. The game takes place on the island of Pandule, a smallish plot of land that may remind you of any fantasy seaside resort. It's hard to get into character when you're never really sure just what's going on with them. Unfortunately, while the sorts of things that Crono tended to say were simple enough to divine from his actions, Mouse is an attempt at a more complex hero, and his silent status only makes it that much more frustrating. He also happens to have a talking lute named Pattimo, which basically provides us with a voice for the main character, as Mouse is as mute as Crono. The few glimmers of light that you'll find scattered around the title don't make up for its core flaws, which is a shame, because you can definitely catch a glimpse of just what EP could have been.ĮP casts you in the role of Mouse, a world-renowned musician who also happens to be a master thief. That doesn't keep Ephemeral Fantasia from being an almost universally unenjoyable game. I can even appreciate it the concept of melding a free-roaming world with traditional RPG elements is intriguing, and should definitely be explored more in the future. I can see where Konami was going with Ephemeral Fantasia. I'd comment on the voice acting, but there isn't any considering the translation, though, that may be a good thing. The sound effects are strictly standard RPG fare, with clangs and booms and swirly-whirls that will do absolutely nothing for you. Of course, the audio quality depends quite a bit on your skill as a lutist, so be forewarned. A notable exception to the mediocre music is the guitar solos that you get to play yourself, which range from good to fantastic. The pumped-up battle theme is nice enough, but it doesn't have quite the same amount of pull as many other themes from the genre. The tunes you'll hear while you wander around are passable, but they're not particularly memorable. Add to all of this a bad case of both jaggies and polygonal seams and you've got a game that, while you can see the potential, never really gets off the ground in the visuals department. And even Mouse and crew look a little strange, as their facial textures never seem to be quite right. The character models fare slightly better, but the enemies are oftentimes cartoonish in their simplicity. The world is blocky and nondescript, with muddy textures and a camera that takes way too long to pan around the screen. I'm not entirely sure just where Ephemeral Fantasia's graphical design got started, but it's fairly evident that it wasn't on the PS2.
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