Developer: Image Epoch
Publisher: Nippon Ichi Software
Platform: PS3

Have you fallen out of love with Japanese RPGs lately as I have? Often we have to return to the golden age of JRPG’s to remind ourselves how good the genre can be but a surprising amount of these games flew under the radar during the Playstation 3’s lifetime. I will definitely be talking about Folklore some other time, but for now, it’s Time And Eternity, a game which puts you in the shoes of a newlywed princess Toki whose perverted husband gets assassinated immediately after saying I do. Luckily the princess has the ability to reverse time to the months leading up to the wedding and with the help of her pet dragon and the soul of another woman, Towa, who also inhabits her body, tries to uncover the mystery behind the attack on her wedding in the hopes they can prevent it….did I mention this game is Japanese? 

“An incoherent mess of ideas done badly, Time and Eternity is a train wreck of a role-playing game.”

...sorry, that’s the Gamespot review being especially ironic about train wrecks. Time and Eternity is, in fact, not a train wreck by any measure. Though some may find that it falls into many of the same old traps that modern Japanese games do, not only with the aforementioned anime tropes but with the general flow of the gameplay. Sure, it might be tedious to trek back and forth across the map, lightly grinding for whimsically named loot for the 10th generic NPC sharing the same character model as the previous 9 but if given a chance, the almost visual novel style dialogue to be had with these characters is charming, humourous and if not taken too seriously, even quite well written in some places. 

Political intrigue and commentary on the human condition will not be found in Time and Eternity. The one-dimensional characters are purposefully so, to be played for laughs and that means you’ll either be laughing or cringing at gags such as the husband’s tendency to blurt out whatever’s on his mind in the presence of attractive women or character’s assuming Toki “gets a bit freaky” with her pet dragon. The main quest while completely linear, leaves the player constantly guessing as to the reasons behind the central plot point, once one layer of the story is peeled away, another is revealed and time travel plays a big role in that as you move incrementally closer back to the fateful wedding day.  

There are many better reasons the game deserves the time of an avid JRPG fan however. Time and Eternity has several unique and incredibly ambitious elements, first and foremost its combat system. Enemies are taken on sequentially in one on one battles, both close range and long-range over two planes, both you and the enemy have the option to move in close or back up between these planes at any time. An incredibly satisfying dodge mechanic can be used to avoid taking damage and you can seek out an opportunity between enemy attacks to execute a slower but more powerful special move or magic attack. Poor timing however, can leave you open to enemy special attacks that can knock you to the floor or back to the long-range position. The boss battles are where the combat really shines, though unfortunately, bosses are not nearly as frequent as they could be. Each one tests your mastery of all the elements of combat to its fullest and lulls you into a hypnotic rhythm of dodges, parries and attacks. 

Another ambitious aspect of Time and Eternity is its gorgeous anime art style and animations. The way this is done differently is that 2D hand-drawn characters are projected on to 3D environments with the developers aim to give the player the experience of a “playable anime.” Only a couple of things hamper this otherwise excellent vision. Firstly, whilst the 3D environments of the game outside of the main city are incredibly vibrant, any indoor or urban areas seem very low budget, with jagged edges on 3D models and a general washed out, lifeless feel. Then there's the frame rate, a common issue with JRPGs of this type is that no time was taken to optimise the engine and unfortunately with a battle system that focuses entirely on timing and reflexes, this is an unacceptable blunder. Those beautiful animations become stuttery and button presses become unresponsive. 

What really drags Time and Eternity down is that the battles are incredibly easy, despite their enjoyability and the facade put up by all the different stats and systems. For instance, the two female protagonists who share the same body each have their own statistics, with Toki being better at using the gun and Towa, the close-range dagger. Every time you level up, control of the two ladies switches, an interesting mechanic that seems at first like it might have some impact. In the end, other than some of the erotic artwork you can unlock by giving certain responses in “love scenes” for each of the two women this mechanic is a complete missed opportunity to add depth to the levelling and combat system because each plays almost identically to the other. Then there’s the enemies themselves which are often merely palette swaps of the same handful of enemies you will face throughout the entire game. Again, the combat is undeniably fun, but only if you’re the type of person that likes to get creative with using a variety of combos and moves rather than going the very viable route of simply pressing the standard attack button repeatedly until the enemy dies. 

The audio is another area lacking in production value, often glitching out or having volume spikes in both directions. Certain visual cues in the game like the triggering of a random battle you would expect to have some sort of corresponding sound to, like pretty much any other RPG of this type, but instead there’s silence. Making up for that though is the overwhelmingly gorgeous soundtrack. ‘Bout! - Theme of Towa’ is undoubtedly the game’s best piece, this lengthy battle track makes epic use of call and response with string then brass melodies and electric guitar that at first complements the strings but then breaks out in to a driving guitar solo of its own. The themes for the various outdoor areas are a different style of epic but epic nonetheless, making the perhaps rather unimaginitive, copy/paste style level design seem a little more sweeping than it actually is with fluttering woodwind and marching snare drums. There are just a couple of tracks that go a bit over the top with the comedy, they are just a bit too needlessly silly for my tastes in an almost purposely bad kind of way. 

So there we have it, Time and Eternity is pretty great, despite its obvious flaws and its a real shame that it could have potentially been one of the best action-focused JRPGS on the PS3 if more time and care had been taken with it. Similarly to Drakengard 3, this project was clearly starved of the budget it sorely needed. For those who know the genre well, there will be few surprises for better or worse but the main draw of any classic JRPG is ambitious gameplay systems and with its combat system developer Image Epoch delivers at least one of those that could easily serve as a great influence for future games. “Time and Eternity is an ill-conceived mess, executed poorly”….whoops, sorry that was what Gamespot said again.

Pros:

• Unique action RPG combat system.

• Gorgeous sweeping orchestral soundtrack.

• Colourful as a rainbow.

Cons:

• Frequent frame drops, ugh!

• Frequent audio spikes, ugh!!

• It’s just really cheesy, ugh!!!