Ephemeral Fantasia Review

Continuing with our month of pre-Final Fantasy X Playstation 2 games, I’m going to talk about one that was not quite so good as one might hope. It was originally slated for Dreamcast, but got a port to the Playstation 2. Now, just because it was going from a system with less impressive statistics to one that was more solidly established, that doesn’t mean it would be a bad game. If you ignore graphics, like I usually do, it’s quite possible that great battle systems and stories can make such a game really great, even though it might not stand up to contemporaneous games. No, there’s a very good reason why Ephemeral Fantasia is a sub-par game.

The opening of the game follows our silent protagonist, Mouse, as he lands on the island nation of Pandule. Apparently, he’s there to perform at the princess’s wedding. His talking guitar-thing, Pattimo, reveals that the two usually engage in theft as well as performance. He’s met by female stri- oh, wait, that’s the female guards uniform? Ooookay… well, there’s a pervert somewhere in that outfit’s past. Well, whatever. You meet the princess, she’s all melancholy and doesn’t want to marry the guy, who totally can’t be a villain. No one with long silver hair is ever a villain in an RPG. Nope. So, you decide to save the chick, and then Sephiroth-wannabe freezes your behind in place, and when you wake up, you’re coming in on the boat you sailed in on. And it’s five days before the wedding, just like when you arrived. GROUNDHOGDAY! And so, you have to figure out how to make people remember previous iterations and so on. It’s not a terrible story, though it’s not very original even in the RPG world.

Well, now that we’ve got the story out of the way, let’s dive right in to where this game fails. Because of the time sensitive nature of the plot, you have a watch that ticks away the hours. An in-game hour occurs in an out-of-game minute. So, you’ll frequently have to reach spots in town or around the island in what works out to 8 minutes or less. That’s tough, but should be doable. What really makes things problematic is that the island, its main town, and all of its dungeons are set up like mazes, making it very difficult at first to figure out where you’re going. To compound this problem, you have to find pieces of the map to even be able to access a bird’s eye view of your location. So, the first several times you run around the island, you’re going to be late for everything. When the margin for being late is a matter of minutes, or rather seconds, being on time is extremely difficult. And because being on time is how you make the plot advance, things get dicey fast. The quests you have to do to change events on the island, unlock characters, and so on, are hindered by lack of hints, mediocre translation at times, and simple obscurity of what you have to do, quite apart from the necessity to be on time. And if you haven’t reach a certain point in the quest by the end of the week, all your hard work poofs with the next time reliving the week. AAAAAARGH! This is easily the worst aspect of this game, making things controller-breakingly hard in a seriously annoying way.

Now, the characters are actually decent. The royal guard Rummy, who meets you when you first get to the island, has a crush on another character, which causes her to try to murder a romantic rival, until you can stop her. Kyte, the fisherman (who wields fish as his weapon, by the way), has his tragic issues resulting from memories of his comrades who drowned during a mysterious ship wreck. There’s also the leader of the bandits, Galhint, who already knows about everything, but goes along with the script out of fear for his cohorts. Even the villains are pretty sympathetic, with the main baddy having a very legitimate reason for setting things up the way he had. Sure, there’s some characters who are a little bland, like Ano the magic scientist, who doesn’t do much. The characters who are well done, however, are pretty well done indeed. What is especially impressive is that each character has an almost entirely different combat style that makes it so no two characters use exactly the same strategies. The status effect user, who inflicts negative status effects on enemies, is useful against normal enemies, while the buffer character has some good skills for boss fights. There’s a character who has terrible physical skills, but has the best healing magics in the game. And so on. There are characters you may not like as much, but it is easily possible to use each one effectively.

Talking about the battles reminds me that the battle system is quite good. It’s a system similar to the active time battle system, where you wait for all of your characters to charge up before they can act. However, there is no simple “attack” option. Each character has physical skills that frequently deal damage, but can have other effects, like healing or stat buffs. Each of these skills has a different energy rating. The higher the energy rating, the longer it will take a character to act again in battle. And each skill levels up as you use it, which can unlock other skills, especially when the multiple skills are at certain levels. There’s also magic, which you learn at certain character levels, and cost magic points to use. You also have a party level, which dictates the max hp and mp of the characters, while character level dictates defense and attack power. There’s also an incredibly complex elemental system, but I won’t get into that too much. All you need to know is there are four elemental houses (so to speak) with three tiers. There’s an extra 13th element, which just adds to the confusion.

Replay value is another area where this game falls flat. There’s tons of characters to use, and a number of fun minigames that can only be played for a certain portion of the game, but there’s a lot of busy work involved in trekking around the island. Plus, you’ll have a lot of trouble getting through the game in the first place because of the difficulty resulting from poor design. So, I’d give this game “play it once with a walkthrough handy.” The beginning of the game is horribly difficult and annoying, but as you approach the middle and end of the game, there are some great rewards for you, in the story and the battle system. So, if you can get through the early bit without raging, the latter portion of the game is quite fun. The best way to do that is to follow a walkthrough pretty religiously.

So, yeah. This game’s one of them where the premise is pretty decent, but the execution ruins it. And really, it’s only because of one area of bad design. Still, the game’s major failing, the time based puzzles, is the focal point of the game, which means that you can’t really ignore it. So, right down to it, this game’s got a rating of about 7.2 out of 10. I enjoyed it a lot, but I referred constantly to a walkthrough, and even when I did, there were some frustrating parts. It gets as high a score as it does mostly because the battle system is really good, and the characters and story are adequate to good.

Quick Tip: Power Jump is the most useful skill in the game. It allows you to jump to any map square that you have found. You get it by having Rummy use diving kick, which she learns from using hi-kick, from hard punch. Get this skill as early as humanly possible.

How I Broke Game: I beat the final boss with Rinna and Lloyd-L. The loli with no good attacks and the princess with no good attacks or spells. To be fair, I wanted to use Rindrinna, but she froze the game every time. Probably a glitch.

If you liked this game, you should try one of the following games. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask is the same groundhog plot device done well, with better-designed puzzles and dungeons. Final Fantasy VI has a similarly large cast of unique characters, each of whom are quite usable in their own right. Okage: Shadow King is an unexpectedly good choice for those who liked Ephemeral Fantasia, because they both have their quirkiness, and both of them have a bit more challenge than your average mainstream RPG.

Okage: Shadow King Review

 

What would happen if you got Tim Burton to make a console RPG instead of a movie? Well, it would probably suck. But, looking at the pre-Final Fantasy X PS2, there’s one game that has a similar aesthetic to some of Burton’s works, especially “The Nightmare before Christmas” and “Corpse Bride.” That game is Okage: Shadow King. This game, though not hugely popular, has quite a vibrant fan base, making this a definite cult classic. But why is that? Well, let’s dive in and find out!

The story starts you off in the role of Ari, a boy with a weak presence. After his sister gets possessed by a ghost, causing her to speak only pig latin, Ari valiantly “volunteers” to sell his soul to Evil King Stanley Hihat Trinidad the XIVth. In exchange, Stan removes the curse, leaving in its place the lesser curse of a pink shadow. From there, Stan orders Ari to help him in his quest to regain his rightful title of Evil King by defeating lesser fake evil kings, so he can once again terrorize the world. It’s not your typical jRPG plot, though it does have some classic elements, like a princess who you have to save, collecting pieces of something or other to make a greater whole, and the fact that your main character is a chosen one with extra-ordinary powers. But… well, come on! Pink shadows? Saving the world for evil? This game’s plot is, well, quirky.

Quirky is a word that describes a number of things about this game, especially the characters. There’s Rosalyn, the expert hero who, because of a run-in with Stan, wields a parasol to hide her pink shadow. Or Linda, the Teen Idol Evil King, who takes over a whole town by, using her songs to make them idolize her. Or Epros, the Phantom Evil King, who uses playing cards as weapons and always talks in rhyme. He does it all the time. That’s right, those are all playable party members. Fortunately, though each of them has significant quirks, they rarely get annoying, because this game does not take itself seriously at all. You can’t help but chuckle at the characters, because, while their facial expressions aren’t as graphically sophisticated as in, say, Final Fantasy X, they just look funny. Stan is especially over the top, with puzzled, angry, and even default facial expressions looking just like a jack-o-lantern.

Right. Enough of that, on to the battle system. While you’re walking around on the map, ghosts will appear and try to chase you. If they catch your back, you’ll be ambushed, and if you catch their back, then Stan will ask you some questions, and if you get them right, he’ll attack the enemies for you. His questions are on the order of “How would you describe the bowel shaking terror that I inspire,” which sometimes leads to hilarious responses, even when you’re actually answering correctly. You might think that you can just avoid battles period, if you’re good, but the longer you go between battles, the faster and more frequent ghosts become, so eventually you’ll get caught. When you do, the system is pretty standard. Wait your turn, enter command, added to queue. Enemies and allies can act simultaneously, so it’s a little different, but  basically, your standard active time battle system.

You’ll want to get used to the battle system, because if you don’t (and even if you do, to some degree) this game has a wonky level curve. In most RPGs, you can advance to the next area immediately after defeating the boss, with only mild difficulty. If you take the time to buy new equipment, the next area will be almost easy. In Okage, if you get all the new equipment for all of your characters after beating the boss of an area, and then venture into the next area, you’ll be annihilated within around three battles. What it all boils down to is, level grinding. Get used to it.

Replay value is a tough call. You won’t see a sequel of this game, so you might play it again to get the most out of the world that you can. Plus, there is a relationship system hidden in the game, so you can experiment at finding different ways to do things. But, then again, the large amount of grinding might put you off, especially since there is no new game plus. I’m going to have to give this one a “play it again once in a long while, but not frequently.” It’s a fun game, but its issues make it so you really only want to relive the story, not the gameplay.

Well, I guess it’s time to get down a rating. Okage is a game that drags you into the world, and makes you sad when it’s over. Since there’s no sequel, you’ll have to settle for whatever the fandom has cooked up or replay the game. Really, it’s almost enough to make you forget how much of a pain power leveling was. So, as far as numerical ratings go, this guy gets a 7.6 out of 10. Just a hair above average (remember, 5 is the baseline for an RPG for me, so it’s something like 2.6 out of 5). I really like the plot, the characters, and the art style, but the gameplay is mediocre at best. Still, it’s fun while it lasts, and part of the thrill is looking forward to the next story segment. That might just get you through the grinding.

Quick Tip: During the part of the game when random encounters don’t happen (you’ll know when that is), you should take the time to try and find all the tiny gears you can. It’s annoying, but not as annoying as searching while ghosts blow you. Woo woo.

If you liked this game, you might give one of these games a shot. Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure, has the same irreverent quality to it, and also has a pretty fun little world. Disgaea: Hour of Darkness is very much in the same vein. A tongue in cheek approach to RPG conventions, a look at the bright side of the dark side, and fun characters. Thousand Arms, again for a lot of strangeness and laughing at RPGs.

Dark Cloud Review

At the beginning of most console’s lives, it’s not entirely clear what that console is capable of. Like, how could it possibly be better than the last system? Then a new game comes out that really showcases the new capabilities, and you go “Wow.” For the Playstation 2 RPG fans, many would say Final Fantasy X is that game. They’ve got a definite point. But there were earlier RPGs on the PS2, and the one I’m going to talk about today is Dark Cloud. This action RPG looked, to some people, like “just a way to kill time until FFX came out.” I’d like to take a quick look at this early PS2 game, to see what it did in a pre-Final Fantasy X world.

Dark Cloud starts out with a cutscene showing the villain reviving the Dark Genie, who had nearly destroyed the world long ago. Cut to our main character, peacefully enjoying a village festival. The Dark Genie strikes, and the entire town and everyone in it is destroyed. Or are they? An old geezer named the fairy king tells you that they’re all just sealed in big rocks, and that you can free them and rebuild the world. The rest of the game is basically you going from town to town, meeting people as you rebuild their homes. It doesn’t seem like much of a story, until the very end of the game, when you’re treated to a kinda cool fairy tale style story. No, I won’t spoil it, just letting you know that there is a little more depth to this game.

The characters are… well, kinda bland. They get a little dialogue during the time when you meet them, and after that they’re completely undeveloped. It’s too bad, because you’d think that some of them would have the potential to be pretty interesting, like the literal cat girl, the moon rabbit mech pilot, or the genie. I guess you get a little bit of personality from their minor battle noises and their play style, but… yeah, not much going here.

The main game follows this flow. You go into a dungeon, find seal rocks (Atla) rebuild as you can, get a new party member halfway through the dungeon, all while upgrading your weaponry. The dungeon floors are randomized, meaning you could end up with the exit right in front of you. You need a key obtained by defeating one randomly selected monster though, so no luck manipulation speedruns here. The biggest issue is that you’ve got three separate gauges that you need to keep track of per character. Character HP, thirst, and weapon HP. When Character HP runs out, you’ll have to leave the dungeon or switch to a different character. When thirst runs out, you’ll start taking damage every couple of seconds. When weapon HP runs out, your weapon disappears. This is especially worrying since powering up your weapon is the main form of leveling up in this game.

Ah, yes, the weapon level up system. When you use a weapon to defeat enemies, it gains experience and eventually levels up, though you have to trigger this level gain. Each weapon can equip a certain number of “attachments” which get absorbed during a level up, permanently adding to the capabilities of the weapon. You can also “build up” weapons after meeting certain prerequisites (fire element 15, beast attack 10, magic power 7, etc.), which evolves the weapon into a stronger weapon with higher max values. Some weapons have special abilities, which you’ll want to add in to other weapons by “status breaking” a weapon and turning it into an attachment. It’s pretty well laid out, but if you want to get a really powerful weapon, you’ll have to put in a fair amount of grinding.

Combat in the dungeons is adequate. You’ll probably want to use specific characters for specific enemies, because each character has a form of attacking that help kill certain enemies but makes killing others really hard. There’s some annoyances in combat, like trying to dodge attacks and the lack of a guard mechanic. It does at least have a lock on feature, which is a good thing. All in all, it’s good enough, but not perfectly polished.

The other main aspect of the game is the town building, which works something like a puzzle, where you have to fit houses and things around the requests of the residents. This can get pretty tricky, when three houses have to be around one thing in a certain orientation. Still, a seasoned player will have these puzzles solved without undue walkthrough consultation.

And now to talk about graphics. Wait, what? No! The game has graphics, they work for what they were intended, seeing the game, and that’s all you need! It’s no Final Fantasy X, but who cares?

Would I play this game again? Well… probably not from the beginning. This game rates more like “why play it from the beginning again? Almost everything good about the game is still accessible on my old save,” on replayability. Still, you might pick it up to finish up that optional end dungeon.

Well, it’s been an interesting voyage into an early PS2 RPG. For better or for worse, a lot of RPGs take their cues from the Final Fantasy series. Dark Cloud, however, came out before Final Fantasy X, and so entered onto the PS2 with a clear field. Though it’s got some failings, it does a lot of things quite well. The final rating I’d give for this game is 8.0. It seems to be really uncomplicated until the very end, at which point the rather weak story kicks into high gear. However, the character whose psyche you get the most insight into isn’t the main character. He’s not even playable. But the weapon upgrade system is good, the dungeon crawling adequate, and the world building simple and interesting.

How I broke game: When I played this game, I got Steve and a durable weapon while going through the first dungeon. Pretty lucky, but who cares? Well, I upgraded Steve to Super Steve, and then, going through the final dungeon, got another Steve. Lol.

Quick Tip: When combining weapons with canceling abilities, the one that is already on the weapon takes precedence and remains, meaning that you need to add the good ability before you add the bad ability.

If you liked this game, you might want to look at the following games. Legend of Mana has a similar world building mechanic, a weapon-making system, and an action RPG system. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is just a great game all around, and has similar combat strategies and complex boss fights. Dark Cloud 2  is just Dark Cloud with a graphics update (big whoop), voice acting (… okay), a little more of a story, and polished mechanics.