"Harukanaru Toki no Naka de" Review

by Janet Losey

I mostly wanted to pop in and give my impressions of Haruka naru Toki no Naka de. I got two games I was anticipating on the same day - the aforementioned and the English version of Wild Arms 2, which received quite a bit of critical acclaim. Hakuka is the one that ended up eating all my time. Like Angelique, it's one of those games where you say to yourself "just a few more days," but you end up playing for several more hours instead. And it's loaded with ambiance - the character's costumes, the music, even the text window is Japanese. This game has the least amount of English of any import I've played, and that's not nessecarily a bad thing. The things that bother me about the game are the enemy animations (3 frames that seldom flow together) and the lip syncing (especially with Takamichi who likes long pauses.) I wish my party could attack with something besides projectiles too. ("Go get 'em, Yorihisa-san!" "Hai, Miko-dono." ::Slash!::) I like that you have pictures of your character's mood to help you choose responses. Thus far I have played through once, and I got what I believe is called the Ryuujin ending. It wasn't very satisfying. My favorite is Abe no Yasuaki, one of those cold, unfriendly seeming characters who doesn't smile often, so when you get him to smile, it makes you that much happier. ^_^

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