Time and Eternity (PS3/PSN)

Through vivid dream-like animations, symphonic music, witty character dialogue, and brilliant voice acting NIS America breathes life into this vibrant fun-filled anime adventure otherwise known as, "Time and Eternity". The plot, as simple as it may seem involves the marital love interests of a pervy husband-to-be, and a seemingly innocent bride-to-be. Toki, the princess of Kazma is soon to be betrothed to her beloved yet quirky knight in shining armor (*INSERT YOUR NAME HERE*). Sadly, as it often goes in such a tale of love-filled fantasy the main wedding event is spoiled by some uninvited guests, and things immediately go from being joyful to grim, and even sorrowful. In this game's moment of tragedy the princesses' long hidden secret is revealed unwillingly as her dual soul "Towa" emerges to save the day. The prince who was mortally wounded is left unable to defend his bride, and sits slumped down watching his precious Toki, now turned Towa take out the assassins single-handedly.

After clearing the room of ninja assassins Towa gazes over her twin soul's (Toki's) husband as he slowly dies before her eyes. As the husband fades in, and out of consciousness Towa decides to use her family's secret time spell to go back, and right the wrongs that were done. Using her inherent time traveling capabilities this desperate wife sweeps both herself, and (unknowingly) her husband back in time 6 months before the wedding is scheduled to take place. It is her hope that she can save her husband by intervening on the assassins' plans to launch an assault on the wedding ceremony. This is of course where you step in, and the game actually begins.

At the initial start of "Time and Eternity" you'll sit at a table side chatting session with your wife-to-be (Toki), and three of her wacky female friends. Before the chat begins though you must give the blue-haired knight of honor a name. Yes, you will actually be taking on the role of the husband as well as Toki/Towa throughout your vast journey of discovery ahead. Once you've got that squared away you will click on each girls' icon to initiate an animated conversation that gives meaning to the current situation. In one seat you'll find the cute blue-haired moe type girl named "Edna" which is likely the most unusual of the group. Next up you'll meet "Reijo" who is Toki, and Towa's longtime childhood friend. Continuing on in order you'll find "Wedi" who just so happens to be Toki's wedding planner (hence the name "Wedi"). Lastly you'll be introduced to a non-talking blue dragon named "Drake" who is Toki's loyal pet. This interesting creature also takes on another important role in a very different way later on in the game (After the wedding tragedy to be precise). As you can probably guess you'll also get to chat it up with your future bride as well, thinking up all sorts of pervy situations in the process.

After the previously mentioned wedding tragedy occurs your newly named prince is thrust back in time with his bride Toki, and ultimately finds that he is now the non-talking pet Drake. At this point you are within an actual stage, and everything is being explained to you through back, and forth character dialogue. You'll need to pay close attention to everything, because this is not your standard RPG experience. Sure it has the usual accessory/weapon applications, level ranking system, and spells, but you'll find that the in-game combat is a lot more intricate in design than any turn-based RPG out there. In retrospect I'd call this more of an Action-RPG, because of it's hands-on melee/weapon/spell based combat.

Throughout "Time and Eternity" you will mostly be guiding, and controlling Toki, and Towa as they traverse the many lands of their world running errands for the various characters via an overhead map. Each point on the map is a specific locale that houses NPCs (Non-player Characters), battles, side-quests, and side-quest items. The level based stages that can be found on the outskirts of Kamza (Toki's Kingdom) will be entirely void of visually depicted enemies, but will all have that signature 3D watercolor appearance that most anime are known for. The individual characters, and enemies on the other hand are what you'd call 2.5D. In other words they look like 2D anime characters, but move in a way that makes them seem 3D. As far as enemy encounters go you will find that they will appear randomly as you make your way across the various 3D land layouts. I would compare it to the random encounters in FFVII (Final Fantasy VII). The kingdom of Kazma on the other hand is an all overhead oriented set of locations that depicts places such as a plaza, church gardens, and even the back alley in a similar art style as the rest of the game's offerings. It is in these initially available locations that you'll meet, and greet different townsfolk in order to gain a better understanding of the future wedding attack as well as fulfill tasks that are asked of you.

Before I get into all the combat material let me describe for you the navigation system that NIS America has put in place for this unique RPG. Being the quest/side-quest oriented RPG that "Time & Eternity" is you will be doing a massive amount of in-game traveling as you try to advance the plot, and learn more about the characters and world around you. To simplify this process both the stages, and areas located within the overhead map have an icon, and crystal based system that helps you to better understand where you should go for each task at hand. In the towns like Kazma that house multiple semi-overhead locales you will be going by an "exclamation mark", and "question mark" oriented set of icons. Each exclamation mark, and question mark is color-coded according to importance. The plot advancing spots in the game will be marked with an "orange exclamation mark". Blue exclamation marks on the other hand mean that a certain task is ready to be completed (you have gathered the necessary items, etc., ...). Question marks within these landmarks ultimately serve as a means for quest/side-quest initiation. The "blue question marks" are places where new quests/side-quests can be taken on, and the "grey question marks" act as a reminder that the current quest/side-quest hasn't been completed yet.

In a way these markings also double as features found on the actual walk through stage areas. By pressing "SQUARE" on the overhead map each location will show the current quest/side-quest items for that particular locale as well as the location's name. You'll find plenty of question, and exclamation marks as well as some 3D stage items that are walk through stage specific. These walk through stage oriented beacons (crystals, spades, clovers, diamonds, hearts) also act as a guide for the player to find where he/she needs to go within the action driven stage areas. There are three types of crystals to be found within these areas. Like the exclamation, and question marks these crystals are also color-coded. The blue crystals are always the "SAVE" crystals, and can usually be found at at least two different points on any given stage. The secondary crystals, or green crystals act as a means of quick transportation around the stage areas. You have to activate them by pressing "X" when you''re close to them though. Last but not least are the red/orange crystals. these types of crystals only become active during certain events in the game, and in turn can only be used at those times to go to previously inaccessible areas.

The spade, clover, diamond, and heart beacons are an entirely different beast in themselves. Each 3D animated beacon (with respective symbol) holds the place where certain quests/side-quests must be initiated, and fulfilled in a stage area. The light blue diamond beacons are basically quest/side-quest items that must be gathered for task completion. The clover beacons are persons of interest/NPCs whom you must talk to in order to initiate/fulfill a quest/side-quest. Spades on the other hand are enemy encounters that also must be taken on in order to complete certain battle oriented tasks that are asked of you. Lastly are the heart beacons. These love oriented in-game tags are few, and far between. They will ultimately trigger one-on-one scenarios with Toki/Towa, and her husband-to-be. Through onscreen driven dialogue you will be required to make a choice regarding one of Toki's/Towa's personal questions. You can go the perverted route, or be a true gentleman and choose the more decent reply. If you choose correctly however you will be awarded a sexy Toki/Towa picture that can be unlocked, and gazed upon the the game's "GALLERY" section. There are a total of 11 sexy gallery pictures depicting both Toki, and Towa to unlock within the game.

As you might imagine "Time and Eternity" plays heavily on the theme of love, and betrothal. Throughout your many in-game fights using Toki, and Towa you will earn XP which in turn will not only sway the love interest between the two (via menu meter) and their hubby-to-be, but will also switch the current character you are playing as. While Toki, and Towa have very similar methods of attack, spell casting, and defense their plot interactions greatly differ. Toki, for example is a pink-haired naive princess who wants to live the life of a normal wife while Towa on the other hand is more outgoing, and aggressive in nature often times hiding the fact that she too is in love with the knight of their dreams. It is this relationship based gameplay that encompasses most, if not all of the interactions to be found within "Time and Eternity".

Now onto the combat ...

As I mentioned earlier on in this review combat in this action based RPG isn't common. As you traverse the stage areas found within "Time and Eternity" you will encounter random sets of enemies that will happen up out of thin air (virtual thin air ^.^). Once the diamond onscreen curtain is gone the in-game combat will commence, and whomever it is you are controlling (whether it be Toki, or Towa) will be the one to deal the damage, and defend against incoming attacks. To control Toki's/Towa's movement in a battle sequence you will simply press the "Left Thumbstick" in the desired direction. Pressing "Forward" will cause Toki/Towa to get up close, and personal with their while pressing the left thumbstick to the right direction will allow Toki/Towa to avoid spell blasts, melee attacks, and projectile based attacks. As far as actual button oriented combat goes you'll be pressing "CIRCLE" to hammer out melee attacks with your sword, or fire bullets with your current gun. Melee/sword attacks are for up close engagements while the rifle attacks are only for distance situations. The spells, and special attacks that must be learned through gift giving/gift points can be assigned to either the "Triangle", "Square", or "X" buttons though.

With every fight that you win (composed of 1-? creatures) you will be awarded three things. These things include experience points, gift points, and chronos (In-game currency). It's the earned gift points that can be used to master different spells, and special attacks/defenses, and can be done via the skill branch in the game's menu system. Your earned gift points can only be spent on the current female character (Toki/Towa), and as such only the skills applied to that character can be used when in combat scenarios. Another thing to note is that skills/spells do not use mana, or anything of that sort. Instead they use a unit of energy called "SP" that can be gained from firing your rifle, or performing melee attacks on enemies. Your SP meter will fill up as you attack with your melee, and gun strikes, but will also deplete when a skill is used. Certain skills such as elemental spells will take a certain amount of time to charge up before the spell projectile is finally released. The timer that is associated with the activated spell will show up beside either Toki, or Towa. Depending on how powerful the spell is it may take quite some to activate, so using it at the appropriate times in a battle is a must. You also need to keep in mind that some enemies you encounter can also cast spell projectiles in a similar fashion.

Both attacks, and defenses ("LB" to block) must be used wisely in any enemy encounter. While the enemies often times look the same in appearance (with the exceptions of size & color) you'll find that their attack/defense patterns are entirely unique. Learning the preset enemy attacks/defenses is definitely the key to successfully defeating the bosses, and the lower enemy encounters found within the world of  "Time and Eternity". Learning when to attack, dodge, and block will ultimately keep you from failing. Aside from that you should always keep Toki, and Towa equipped with the best accessories, and weapons. These items can of course be gained from quests, side-quests, and even the local shops found within the game. All of the items that can be obtained through gameplay have stats associated with defense, attack/damage, and resistance. Some of the enemies in "Time and Eternity" will be more easily defeated with certain weapons, or better defended against with the proper accessories (Tiara, Circlet, Necklace, Ring, Belt ...). You also need to keep in mind that the creatures, and enemies found within this game's expansive world are all elementally oriented, meaning that certain weapons with elemental attacks will destroy them more quickly than standard weapons. Every attacking/defending creature has it's weakness, and it's your job as the gamer to figure that out.

Now onto the verdict ...

Time and Eternity is, in essence an episodic anime style RPG that aims to capture the hearts of it's audience through an animated story of undying love. Unlike traditional RPGs such as the "Final Fantasy" series you'll find that this game is mostly about running errands for NPCs (Non-Player Characters), and less about combat though. A major portion of the game is spent reading dialogue, listening to the voice actors play out the roles, and watching the gorgeous animations that are constantly being shown before your eyes. It will be obvious to anyone that plays the game that not much effort was put into the battle scenarios that were offered. Most of the time you will encounter a lot of the same creatures with slight differences such as size, and color. As you advance to the different chapters of the story though you will also be blessed with the occasional boss battle, and newly introduced sets of enemy types. Each chapter which consists of many hours worth of gameplay, multiple stages to playthrough, and multiple quests/side-quests to complete only contains a small variety of enemy types, unfortunately. While this would be a turn off to a lot of gamers I found it to be acceptable. As I said before the game is mostly about the story, and the characters involved therein. As such it's easily overlooked.

At this point I know your thinking why would you say poorly crafted battle scenarios, and a mediocre selection of creatures are an acceptable thing? Well, during my playthrough my undivided attention was always focused on the plot, and the characters involved. It was like watching a really awesome lengthy anime series unfold before my eyes, but one that I could actually take a part in. The characters, and their many problems were always relatable, and had a human quality about them. It's the kind of character driven story that will have you falling in love with some characters, and despising others at the same time. While the battle/combat scenarios were honestly a little lacking, and a better variety of creatures would have been desirable I found that the combat was not all that bland. In fact it was fun seeing the animated creatures, and characters fight it out on the screen in front of me. The 2.5D anime inspired animation were spectacular (Especially on my HDTV), and always fun to watch. Learning the tactics that went with each creature fight was also a very fun experience. When playing this game it is imperative that you keep an open mind. This is not your usual RPG experience as I've said many times before.

In my opinion NIS, and Namco Bandai have succeeded in creating a new type of highly enjoyable RPG experience. It will not only suit the palette of hardcore RPG veterans, but will no doubt capture the attention of anime enthusiasts as well. This blending of entertainment genres literally comes together in perfect harmony within "Time and Eternity". Given the chance, you'll find yourself falling in love with the game's well fleshed out cast of characters, it's catchy symphonic soundtrack, and even the newly introduced action-RPG battle, and relationship building system. Like me you will probably want to play this game through to it's end, and even play again just to unlock all that the game has to offer. It's been a hell of a long time since I've invested so much time in completing an RPG, and that says a lot for this game. I have truly falling head over heels with "Time and Eternity", and hope that you too will be bold enough to give this unorthodox RPG a proper chance. Keep in mind there is a pre-order bonus at stake which includes the game's soundtrack. You still have time to pre-order, and being the awesome game that "Time and Eternity" already is it would make the CD soundtrack icing on that digital wedding cake!