Time and Eternity

1. Mack_si

   Jul 16, 2013

   10

   Well, I thought this game will be REALLY big disappoint For some fans it is. But is it the worst thing? (see Mindjack) No! It's not! I willWell, I thought this game will be REALLY big disappoint For some fans it is. But is it the worst thing? (see Mindjack) No! It's not! I will say one thing. Do you like japanese games? Do you enjoy it? Then, buy it! Now, later, but if you really into these games, you'll enjoy it. Haters, go home, you're drunk.
   PS. I like japanese games.… Expand

   • 11 of 22 users found this helpful
2. Zemeckis

   Sep 17, 2013

   10

   Ever since this game was announced I followed it and day after day my desire to play it became stronger. When it launched I was kinda shockedEver since this game was announced I followed it and day after day my desire to play it became stronger. When it launched I was kinda shocked because of the bad reception. Most gamers and "specialized critic" (which I've decided to ignore for JRPGs) gave scores between 0 and 4. I had all the reasons to avoid this game but I bought it anyway. For my surprise I must say that I've really enjoyed this game and I don't know what is wrong with all the haters.
   
   Yes, the game has a lot of problems. Character animations were developed in a way that they look unnatural. For instance, sometimes they have to finish a pose in the same position as the next one starts. That may look more realistic but at the same time it makes the character staying in a position that he didn't need to be. And in some moments they used poses that weren't fitting in the situation, like the main character smiling when talking serious to an enemy.
   
   Some basic problems are still present, like the impossibility to pause the cutscenes. You can skip them after watching for the first time, but you can't pause. If you start watching them, be prepared to watch until the end without interruption. English voices are not synchronized with the animations, so you might get frustated. That may be one of two problems: the translation couldn't fit the timing or NIS America didn't do a good job.
   
   You play the game with two characters that keep switching each time you level up or use an item. There's a small dragon helping you too, but you can't control him. The skill system and its evolution is cool, but has nothing special at all. The skills to control the flow of time are very interesting but they make the game easier.
   
   The battles occur with random encounters. They are fun but kinda repetitive because enemies usually do the same actions in the same order. And they're not fast because sometimes you fight against many enemies in sequence and the transitions between them take an unnecessary time. Also, I didn't find a real challenge playing in normal mode and doing all the sidequests. Most battles are finished using magic because they do massive damage. I missed the balance of physical and magical skills. There’s also a special type of battle that occurs with giant bosses, but it's less fun than the standard battle.
   
   There are loading screens when simpling choosing a place to go on the map but they don't last long. And the soundtrack is something that people should not complaint about: it's really awesome.
   
   About the story, I can say it’s very interesting, entertaining and exciting. And when you almost reach the end, you’ll see an unexpected event regarding the main characters. That’s when I say that you must plug yourself into the game and forget about the outside world. You’ll feel like you’re part of it making tough decisions.
   
   I'd give a much lower score if I were analysing as a technical reviewer. But I'm a gamer and I decided to give a score based on my entire experience with everything the game offered me. I felt the immersion in an anime world, I got involved with the story and the flaws weren't enough to pull me off. I think that's something most people need to do nowadays: turn on the "let it go" and relax playing.
   
   You know what's funny? There's a lot of games considered masterpieces out there and they're full and full of problems. We accepted them as they are, so what has changed? Why people are so critic these days putting the mistakes above everything and being blind against the qualities?
   
   Do you really like anime or cartoons? Do you love niche JRPGs? Are you tired of the same games and formulas that are released year after year? Do you want a new experience and immersion to break your gaming routine? Do you accept that this game has flaws that might not be taken too serious due to other things it can offer? Do you want to stimulate NIS America and Imageepoch to continue bringing new games and experiences with the genre? If so, Time and Eternity is the game for you.… Expand

   • 3 of 5 users found this helpful
4. RaidenDP

   Aug 24, 2013

   8

   I sincerely fail to get all the hate with this game. It's certainly not NEARLY as bad as everyone makes it out to be. It sure isn't great, butI sincerely fail to get all the hate with this game. It's certainly not NEARLY as bad as everyone makes it out to be. It sure isn't great, but hey at least it tries out new things and takes more risks than I can count, which isn't something I can say for other JRPGs released this year (like "Tales of Xillia"). True, some of those risks don't pay off, but for the most part, "Time and Eternity" is a very enjoyable experience which should certainly be at least tried by all JRPG fans!… Expand

   • 3 of 4 users found this helpful
5. Sonicfanx1

   Feb 25, 2015

   6

   Coming from a gamer and avid anime fan (not a weeaboo), I found this game to be...well disappointing.
   
   I won't try to sugar coat this game.Coming from a gamer and avid anime fan (not a weeaboo), I found this game to be...well disappointing.
   
   I won't try to sugar coat this game. I'll be honest, I haven't finished the game yet (getting to it), but talking from a gamer's viewpoint, this game failed. Hard.
   
   The combat is very, if not, extremely bad but playable. It's basically a dodge left or right (really doesn't make much of a difference), attack from ranged or melee with special attacks thrown in. That's it. You don't move in combat, there is no "extremely" interesting feature, you just dodge some, shoot some, melee a little and SP attack like some RPG rail-shooter. If you're here for the gameplay, leave. Just leave, don't look back. Go, bye, bye, thanks for reading this review.
   
   But if I were to talk about the combat, I might as well touch on why I said what I said. First of all: the gameplay is repetitive as **** (purposely censored by me). You basically run round to objectives that take WAY too long to find and fight monsters along the way or avoid them. You'll start to avoid them once you realize your health doesn't regenerate (probably after 1 or 2 fights) and that the gameplay is terrible in its own right, but playable and enjoyable if you're engaged in a "good" boss.
   
   I'll use Infinity Blade as an example, the first one. It's godlike in its own right because it does what Toki no Hana- I mean, Toki to Towa does, but right. You see, Infinity Blade's fights are random and sometimes unpredictable. If you make a mistake, you can cancel that mistake by either dodging or canceling your dodge with an attack. However, in Time and Eternity's case, you can't cancel any actions preformed (a subject that will be touched upon later). This leaves a MASSIVE delay for you to get hit. When I play, I'll use guns and when I use my god damned guns, I have to reload. I CAN'T CANCEL THAT RELOAD ANIMATION (literal animation). Leaving me wide open to get hit. Same with melee attacks and dodge animations, you can't cancel any of them.
   
   The gameplay is also extremely repetitive and not he Infinity Blade type. You end up avoid most monsters thanks to this. Too bad you need that XP to level up for the next few stages. You end up figuring out most enemy tactics by then and you just get tired and just want the story to continue. However, boss fights are actually surprisingly fun to play when they're not cheap damage dealers. Gives you a very similar feeling to Infinity Blade's titan fights. The randomness and skill (like lvl 30-50 titan skill if comparing to IB, in the first act anyways) it takes to beat these bosses are probably the most fun I've had playing the game.
   
   Also you have a block move. Really, I don't use that **** since you STILL TAKE TONS OF DAMAGE AND CAN'T CANCEL THE BLOCK ANIMATION (slight delay after stopping). So, to me: it's pretty much a death trap.
   
   The story is a unique concept that has not been brushed on frequently nor as in depth in both Japanese and American entertainment: The Time-Loop. This gives the game its namesake: Time and Eternity or Toki to Towa, they are also the names of the two main heroines: Toki and Towa.
   
   Coming from a guy who played just the first act, the story is "cute" and "moe" at times. The protagonist, not heroine, is completely unrelatible though and I found him annoying. The two heroines are generic anime girls. A tsundere...and another tsundere, type A and type B though, going by TV Trope definitions here. The plot is clever, I'll give it that, but executed fairly averagely. It's not good, it's not bad, it's just....meh. Notable, but not a piece of art. Like I said, I haven't finished playing the game yet (combat really put me off, planning on getting back to it), so I'll cut my review of the plot here.
   
   Now, onto the gimmicks they use. Remember when I said "two heroines", Toki and Towa? Well, they're the same person. Kind of obvious. However, the gimmick is, when you level up, you switch heroines. REALLY annoying when you're trying to get one ending and you end up always getting the other heroine's favor. It's second gimmick is the fact that characters are anime sprites. Something that worked for it only when they're trying to get weeaboos to cash in and I swear to god it worked on me.
   
   This method of approaching the game limits many things. You can't cancel the combat animations "fluidly" and the 3D and 2D are difficult to mesh together. The good thing though: well you get anime cutscenes, if you really care for that (rare for me, it's a guilty pleasure). Honestly, they did a great job of animating the game. The 2D looks like something torn from a god damned PSX game though.
   
   I can't touch on music now, I've reached my character limit, but what I do have to say is, it's actually pretty good. Worth a listen.
   
   This review may be biased, all reviews are, but this game is worth a look. Rent it, buy it if you really like it, but if you're not a big JRPG fan, rent it.… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
6. ryuzaki57

   Jul 18, 2013

   6

   ImageEpoch intends to bring a bit of fresh to the JRPG scene by making Toki Towa in full anime style, and they did it right imho. TheImageEpoch intends to bring a bit of fresh to the JRPG scene by making Toki Towa in full anime style, and they did it right imho. The characters' animations may be somewhat repetitive, the art style is charming and looks like nothing you've ever seen. It's clear that Toki and Towa are the main attraction of this, so it's more than ever a matter of opinion. The humor is particular also, very ludicrous similarly to what you can see in actual anime (the clear source of inspiration again), while heavily leaning towards ecchi (including the illustrations that come together). But in the result, it's super effective and I had awesome laughs quite a couple of times. Be careful though because I don't know how well it can be transcribed in English!
   
   The first thing that falls into pieces pretty quickly is the gameplay. For starters, enemies of the same type do always the same actions in the same order. Consequently, you always attack them the same way, that is to say in the few openings they leave. Let's be absolutely clear about this, battles in Toki Towa are not repetitive, they're IDENTICAL. Skills are extremely unbalanced, since magic can OHKO most enemies and even 2HKO bosses up until the first half of the game. Physical attacks as well counter are then left unused because underpowered and imprecise. Time Magic is not really better the only useful one is the one that freezes your opponent. The others I still don't know what they are here for, except for the time-acceleration magic which is clearly here to kill you since you take damage anyway! If you add a not so engaging quest system and a insane surge in difficulty in the 3rd chapter, you realize that you need a great deal of patience to finish Toki Towa.
   
   On the graphics side and independently from design which I've already talked about Toki Towa is again fairly modest and it's clear that the company has privileged an economical development. Dongeons aren't that varied and backgrounds are as empty as Moon landscape, whilst suffering from framerate drops and clipping on the top of things! NPCs aren't fully animated or even displayed on the field... In short, Toki Towa is kind of halfway between JRPG and visual novel.
   
   It is therefore hard to recommend Toki Towa to regular JRPGs players. It is mostly destined to Japanese anime/games fans you are deep into ecchi design/visual novels. So if you've fallen in love with the art direction, Toki or Towa, you might try this out, but the risk of disillusionment remains high.… Expand

   • 2 of 6 users found this helpful
7. GMWaffles

   Jul 17, 2013

   3

   So I bought this game without the highest hopes. Although most JRPG's aren't great games, they are usually quite entertaining. This game rightSo I bought this game without the highest hopes. Although most JRPG's aren't great games, they are usually quite entertaining. This game right here was atrocious. I tried to like it it, I really did but I just couldn't.
   The graphics look great, and that's probably the strongest point of the game. Although the animation in itself was jarring and felt awkward, especially when moving through an area, Toki/Towa's running animation was just terrible.
   
   Another major letdown was the voiceovers, they seemed bland with no emotion. And the lip syncing was way off with the mouth visibly moving even though the voiceovers had finished. The gameplay itself was also very clunky and hard to use, pressing the dodge button didn't work more often then not, leaving it a gamble to try and dodge the attacks.
   
   The story wasn't great, but I wasn't expecting some grand epic amazing story when I started the game.
   All in all I give this game a three, it's not broken and it works, and I think that's the only thing it has going for it right now, so if your reading this, buy it at your own risk.… Expand

   • 11 of 17 users found this helpful
8. ChexMix

   Jun 13, 2017

   0

   The biggest draw for this game, at least for me, was the concept of hand-drawn animations being used, even during the battle and "roaming"The biggest draw for this game, at least for me, was the concept of hand-drawn animations being used, even during the battle and "roaming" gameplay. In this aspect of the game, I was met with great disappointment, as the animations outside of cutscenes did not 'fit' well with the 3D backgrounds at all (those backgrounds themselves also looked very bad and poorly rendered), and at times they just looked downright terrible.
   
   However, I do not base my enjoyment of games on how they look. Unfortunately, I happened to find that the rest of this game is just as unappealing as its "graphics" are. But before I get into anything major I'd like to quickly address the voice work done for this game, since that also seems to be something worth taking note of on here. Now, keeping in mind that I personally had played it with English voices (and I have absolutely no intention of getting the game again to play with Japanese voices), the voice work was far from at least being average. It simply lacked the emotion and some of the characters just simply sounded "annoying," to put it simply. A couple characters were 'okay' to listen to, but it later got to a point where I had to mute the game because I just didn't want to hear much more of any of it. Speaking of muting it, the game's music was surprisingly good, but really nothing too memorable and something I would listen to a lot outside of the game (keeping in mind I also muted it, so I didn't listen to a lot of it in-game either). I'd consider the soundtrack to be the best thing about the game.
   
   Now for my personal worst thing about the game, the plot and the characters. Starting with the characters, all of them are essentially anime troupes. Really bad ones. Toki is a typical ditzy, generic, happy-go-lucky type of character, Towa is what I believe the 'anime world' refers to as "tsundere," consistently angry and the more 'tough' of the two. 'Zack' is essentially just a stupid pervert, no real redeeming qualities about his character. Any and all side characters in this game are a joke, literally. They're almost all there to make "jokes" and have "gags." Moving onto the story, it has a hint of originality, but that all is soon diminished by the snail's pace the game goes at, and how boring it becomes the further you go.
   
   And finally, for the gameplay itself: I wasn't fond of it. The battle system, similarly to the plot, went very slow, and to make it even worse most enemies seemed to block attacks, only making it feel even slower. The enemy encounters were also at random and I feel happened far too often. I think it would've benefitted them to put actual enemy models in the overworld, as it is far too desolate, empty, and just not pretty to look at otherwise (going back to the visuals a bit here). Side quests were boring as well, if I remember correctly most of them were simply pointless fetch quests and "kill X monster(s)".
   
   I will conclude here, because I do not feel that I have much more to say about my disdain for this game. Also, this review is all just my opinion, if you are interested in this game then I would suggest viewing gameplay and deciding for yourself whether or not this is the game for you (as evident by other reviews on here, there are people who actually really enjoyed it, I'd read from both viewpoints before deciding).
   
   - ChexMix… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful

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