Product information

Computer Platform

PlayStation 2

ASIN

B00005LIP5

Release date

July 10, 2001

Customer Reviews

3.0 43 ratings

3.0 out of 5 stars

Best Sellers Rank

#83,863 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
#1,716 in PlayStation 2 Games

Package Dimensions

7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches; 3.2 ounces

Type of item

Video Game

Rated

Teen

Is Discontinued By Manufacturer

Yes

Item Weight

3.2 ounces

Manufacturer

Konami

Date First Available

May 31, 2001

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Product Description

Product description

The eccentric title is only the beginning of the crazy ideas that grace this German-inspired role-playing game. You play as Mouse, a poet and songwriter with a talking guitar named Pachimo. You've received an incitation to play an original song at the wedding of a princess on a distant island, and you have but five days to complete the tune. Once you arrive on the Island of Pandureu, you discover that the land has been placed under a time-loop spell that causes the same day to repeat over and over again. What's worse is that the hex has been cast by the princess' fianci, Zerphapolis. You try to defeat the evil Zerphapolis at the wedding, but you fail. Luckily, the time loop allows you to repeat the wedding day over and over again, making allies and collecting valuable items for the next time around. All of the battles take place in real time, giving the game a perfect balance of intriguing story, tough puzzles, and fast-paced action. With such original gameplay, EPHEMERAL FANTASIA is a one-of-a-kind.

Amazon.com

Konami made a very strange decision when it chose to release this game in the U.S. While the selection of role-playing games for the PS2 is currently limited, Konami could have selected from a number of strong RPGs it has published in Japan. Instead, the company serves up a mediocre offering in Ephemeral Fantasia, a game that's originality is negated by frustrating and difficult gameplay, making it appealing only to hard-core RPG fans.

Unlike most RPGs, you won't be controlling a warrior. Instead you follow the adventures of a bard named Mouse. Some of Mouse's occupation-related tasks include composing songs and playing rhythm games similar to Konami's Guitar Freaks. Most of the game has Mouse reliving the same day over and over (think Groundhog Day). Although he's stuck in a time loop, he retains the items and allies acquired each time he relives the day. It's an interesting twist, but the plot eventually devolves into the usual saving-the-world drivel.

The game's graphics aren't going to impress anyone--there are several PS One games that look better. Further hampering playability are several lulls in the game where you have to wait until a certain time before you can progress. This wouldn't be so bad if there were engaging side quests for you to take, but there aren't, so you're often stuck standing around town. When the action does pick up, it's often brought to a halt by extremely long load times. These frustrating aspects combined with the game's difficulty make it a poor choice for casual gamers. --Raymond M. Padilla

Pros:

Innovative combat system
Several attempts at originality
Cool minigames Cons:
- Poor graphics
- Excruciating load times
- Very difficult

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Customer reviews

3 out of 5

43 global ratings

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N AlNoaimi

Dont buy it a waste of money!

Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2005

Its a bad game and the story is really boring, at first i was really looking forward to meeting the princess but i got sick of the repeative scenes, the music sucks! its soo annoying! all and all dont buy it! get yourself something else lots of rpg's out there that are much better than this, hell lots of ps1 games surpass this one by a mile!

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Beth

Fantastic customer service!

Reviewed in the United States on December 22, 2018

Verified Purchase

Thank you so much! I can't begin to tell you how fast I got the game delivered to me. It came in perfect condition! I'm just in awe how nice everything was. Couldn't ask for better service! A++

Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2013

Verified Purchase

When I hear people talk of this game most of the time it's negative. But I honestly think that it is a great game. It actually requires you to think and remember.

One person found this helpful

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Rengal

Misunderstood

Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2022

This game has gotten a widely bad rep, due entirely to player shortsightedness. Yes, the exact same seven days plays over, and over, and over again. What you’re meant to do is anticipate every event, and stop the cycle of the time loop on the island. Ya know, since the EXACT SAME events happen over the course of the EXACT SAME seven days, all at the EXACT SAME times and places.

Ex: “Oh, I KNOW this bad thing is gonna happen. Cause it always does on THIS day at THIS time. MAYBE I should try to stop it.”

How so many people never clued into this fact I will never know. Why else would the game keep everything the same if you’re not meant to interrupt it? You collect allies by anticipating these events and changing their course, slowly gathering up an adventuring party, one by one waking them out of ‘the loop’, to join your party and defeat the big bad. Don’t let poor reviews put you off of this game, it’s not an XP grind, it’s strategy, party building and planning.

Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2001

** Minor spoilers included in text **
In this game, you play "Mouse" (you can rename him -- I did), a thief/bard who is journeying to an island to play at the wedding of a popular ruler. But... All is not as it seems on the island. The bride is unhappy, the ruler has some secret, and there is something funny going on with time...
This game uses the same "time loop" plot device that you've seen in "Groundhog Day" and others. But here, it is a 5 days that repeat. The first "week", you are basically led by the hand to every major encounter by your beautiful, fiesty guide Rummy (the leggy redhead you see in the screenshots). After the first week, though, you are free to explore, figure things out and recruit people in whichever order you want. Didn't save whats-his-face on Day 4? Don't worry, next week he'll be alive again, and you can save him then.
Story: (8 out of 10) I won't give the main story away, but I enjoyed it. The time-loop plot device was a good twist, as you could do things differently the next week and see what happened.
Characters: (9 out of 10) I liked most of the characters, with the exception of the princess -- she seemed bored, and to complacent. Rummy and Rinna where my favorites. The characters had personalities, and for the most parts, stuck to them well. Only games I like better for characters would be Grandia 2 and Lunar 2.
Combat: (7 out of 10) Party based, like most console RPG's. This time, though, attacks are happening simultaneously, so you need to choose your options quickly. I liked the skill system, and the ability to learn skills by watching other players. Still, I would have liked for it to pause while I was choosing options.
Graphics: (6 out of 10) This is the worst part of the game. Still, they are better than PSX quality. But they could have used better lighting. The character models are good though - I especially liked Rinna and Rumi.
Enjoyability: (9 out of 10) Can't really put it into words, but I find this game very fun. Supposedly there are multiple endings, I'll try for each one. I feel I got my moneys worth on this game.
A lot of people seem to like the "guitar freaks" mini game. This is a minigame where you pluck tunes by matching colors that are scrolling up screen. Well, it wasn't my cup of tea, and to be honest I was horrible at it. But I found that it didn't really matter whether you were good at it or not. (One of my favorites: "oh, that must have been the 'progressive' style that I heard about!") So don't be put off if you can't play it. I can't, and still had fun!
Sever reviewers on the game sites seem to be bashing this game - I believe they didn't play past the first week. The first week should really be considered an intro to the events- the game really begins on week 2.

21 people found this helpful

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clifford goldenberg

ha ha

Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2001

My head is pounding.Could the plucktastic sound track composed by zamfir and his mighty flutepeckers be the cause? Or might it be the tepid time traveling plot that is causing my neck muscles to contort in vulcan death grip style?I think it might be the horrid translation that is not only lacking strength and integrity,but is also filled with grammatical pitfalls carl lewis couldn't jump.Where's my aspirin?The mini games and such are nice distractions from the rudimentary battle system,and some incorporate the use of Konami's Guitar Freaks controller,only available as an import.But the scale of the town maps and the repetitive graphics make navigating around the map a laborious chore.And wait til you get into fisticuffs with the enemy.It looks like they spent about seven polygons on the whole works,making EF look like a high res Aidyn Chronicles.The best thing about the game is the triangle button which throws the game into fast forward.It's light hearted fare,which is a relief from the usual D and D but this is not a very good RPG.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

bp too high

IF YOU DON'T LIKE HEART ATTACKS AND HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE...

Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2002

THIS IS THE WORST GAME I HAVE EVER PLAYED. You (mouse) is stuck in a constant time loop. Most of the game is running around though the town. Almost 0 progress is made after the beginning. Everytime I try to play this is feel my blood pressure going up because THERE IS NOTHING TO DO! Think a huge castle might be fun to explore? wrong! there are annoying monsters readly to ambush about every 15 seconds. That's another thing. This game relies on time. The graphics are horrible. I think my gameboy had better graphics.. seriously. The one major plus of this game is the music. It has one of the best scores i've ever heard on a game. Up there with the final fantasys'. Rent this before you buy it if you have any intrest at all. If you don't like it, try FFX... that's a good game.

2 people found this helpful

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Jacob

I really liked this game

Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2016

I really liked this game. It's hard but when you get the hang of it you have an easier time, but it is challenging.

One person found this helpful

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Ephemeral Fantasia - PlayStation 2

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