Time and Eternity is more than just a JRPG. All the characters are hand drawn and it looks beautiful. It also features a unique battle system that highlights the art and brings it all to life.
I’m a real sucker for JRPGs and I had heard of this game before but I didn’t really look into it much. That was a mistake as Time and Eternity took me by surprise and totally won me over.
The whole game might function around the hand drawn gimmick but it is a good gimmick. Running around a 3d world as a 2d hand drawn chick does look a bit odd, but in a good way. It looks like the RPG equivalent of Dragon’s Lair. All the animation looks phenomenal in motion to where it was just fun to look at the game. Although, it can be a bit rough I felt it added to the charm. Just like watching an old cartoon from childhood.
There’s a 3d overworld to explore with treasure, quests, and story beats scattered about. That is all pretty standard stuff but the battle system really sets it apart. You control Toki (or alter ego Towa) and face just a single enemy at a time. There is an AI partner that you might be able to tell what to do but I couldn’t figure it out in the demo. As for combat, you can do ranged attacks from where you stand or move in and attack head on. You can also block attacks or choose to actively dodge left or right. All of this happens in real time.
By attacking you build up a gauge that lets you use special moves. The three moves you can use in battle can be customized outside of battle. It is a simple system but while playing it there was a lot of strategy and the real time nature of it adds a lot to the fun.
Time and Eternity has a lot of the usual JRPG trappings but the hand drawn art and unique battle system made it very memorable. This is going to sound hyperbolic but it is true: Out of every game I played at E3, Time and Eternity is the only one that I walked away from and said, “I have to play that game.”
Time and Eternity is set to release July 16th exclusively for the PS3.
