Ephemeral Fantasia - Review

So, a few weeks ago, I took upon myself a challenge. I've owned this game, Ephemeral Fantasia for quite a while, but neither time I played through it, I beat it. The game is very long, and very complicated. I used a guide to beat it because otherwise it is basically impossible.

The story begins with Mouse, the guy on the left, arriving at this beautiful tropical island. He was called upon by Xelpherpolis, who is going to marry Princess Lorielle (the girl on the right). Well, what he didn't know is that Xelpherpolis can control time. And that he has unwittingly entered a five day time-loop that at first there seems to be no way out of.

It isn't explained how long the time loop has gone on for, but it is referenced that at least several years of it has happened. But for some reason, Mouse is unaffected by the time-reversal, and keeps his memories. So he decides that he will get out of the time loop, and save the princess.

The reason I used a guide for the game is because you can only do certain events on certain days, and the game doesn't tell you a damn thing. It takes a minimum of 12 time-reversals in order to accomplish most of what the game offers. I didn't do it all because I wanted to be the game this time.

Graphically, the game isn't nearly as impressive as many other PS2 games, and there seemed to only be twelve or so musical tracks (excluding the guitar mini-game songs). So the music got really annoying after a while.

Before there was Guitar Hero, there was Lute Master. Yeah, there is a mini-game that is actually plot-important. And it is tough as balls. Some of the songs are so damn ridiculous I could barely hit half of the notes. Good thing is, any time the song is needed for the plot, it doesn't matter how poorly you play it.

The battle system was mostly average, but there was one really cool part about it. If you use certain skills enough, they level up. When those skills reach a high enough level, you'll unlock new skills. And Mouse has the ability to learn unique skills when his allies learn some of their skills. It was pretty nice...until the best skills start to unlock, because it takes forever to level them up.

Look at that guy. Straight up wanna-be Sephiroth.

There is a fair sized cast of characters you can get, but in order to do so, you have to do certain events, which then falls upon certain days, and so forth. You don't have to get every single character, but it is really nice to learn those team skills.

Here is something a little different about Ephemeral Fantasia. You have two sets of levels. Character Levels, and Party Levels. Character levels increase your stats, unlock magic spells, and make gaining skill levels take longer. Party levels increases everyone's HP and MP stats. So if a character is level one, but the party level is 25, they have a lot of HP, even if their stats suck.

Oh yeah, and Mouse's Lute can talk. And is named Pattimo.

So, finally, I reach the final point of the game. Xelpherpolis freezes time, and only members of Mouse's crew can move around. They head into the castle to fight Xelpherpolis. And let me tell you, that fight was a pain in the ass. The guide said mid-forties should be enough to win. I was nearly level 50. Ugh. And some of those dungeons were so damn long, like the Water Dungeon. Freaking spent an hour and half in it. Running a square, over and over.

But I beat it. It feels good to have finished it this time. I'd suggest playing it, but you don't need to finish the game. Cause it took move over 75 hours to beat it. That's almost standard Dragon Quest lengths, but imagine staying on the same damn island the entire time.