KefkeWren

Ephemeral Fantasia is practically my test for whether someone has good taste in games or not. First of all, I'll be straight with one thing - this game is not for the faint of heart. You will get out of it what you put into it. It doesn't hold your hand, and it expects you to make a little effort. Engage with the game world, pay attention, and get invested, or it will leave you behind. If you do get invested, though? You'll find a complex story full of twists and surprises waiting for you. You'll find an engaging battle system that shapes itself to your play style through evolving skills and a "catch up" mechanic for less leveled characters that I've never seen in any other game. You'll find secrets, interwoven stories, and a world where your investment in it is rewarded. You can't just coast by in Ephemeral Fantasia. It is 100% true that it won't just tell you what to do next. That's because the game is open-ended. Over the repeating "Groundhog's Day" week of the story, you can do things in whatever way you want. Want to take a week to grind? You can do that. Want to spend a week learning the map? You can do that. Want to learn a particular NPC's schedule, so you know what they'll be doing at any given time on each day? You can and you should. Each additional party member you can recruit has to first be broken out of the cycle, made to remember what happened on previous loops, and the only way to do that is by learning about them, then using that knowledge to open their eyes. On top of all that, the game has multiple endings and characters you can miss completely depending on what you do. Despite the looping nature of time, it's a game where your actions have consequences and your choices matter. Of course, it's not a game without faults. Which begs the question, why am I rating it a 10? Simply put, for every fault I can list, there is a counterpoint for why I wouldn't let it affect my rating. It was originally made for the Dreamcast, and it has Dreamcast graphics. I don't hold that against it, because I love the Dreamcast and would never fault a port for being a port, even if the original was unreleased. The navigation and knowing what to do when can be confusing, but I don't consider those faults because it's an intended part of the game - as I've stated throughout this review, the game wants you to learn things by investigating, and make decisions for yourself. The last thing I could bring up is the songs you'll have to play throughout the game. On a regular Playstation 2 controller, some of these can be quite difficult to play. However, there are a few saving graces here. First, that the game lets you practice songs whenever you like. Second, that missing a song will rarely keep you from progressing the game. Third, the game supports a guitar controller in the second port, which will make things easier (I'm not sure if it HAS to be a Konami guitar controller or not). Lastly, and most importantly, if you really struggle with the minigame, there are some cheat codes available online that can make the difficulty trivial (as well as some for more of a challenge). All in all, Ephemeral Fantasia is a great game, but it's cute anime style can keep people from realizing that it's also a game that expects you to "git gut".