Illusion of Time

Love that the American box art really makes it want to look like a Zelda title.

I guess it's not fair to criticize the story too much since this game's localization is notoriously awful, but the narrative really seemed like kind of a mess. The pacing was all over the place, and it felt like it was just throwing out loads of unrelated concepts without taking any time to dwell on or explore any of them. Normally I'd cut it some more slack, but considering how strictly linear this is and just how long some of the cutscenes go on, it's clearly trying to get you to pay close attention to the storytelling. That said, the core gameplay is really satisfying, there's a whole lot of visual flair, and the dungeon design is solid (the sky garden in particular was an absolute blast to explore). Kind of a mixed bag really, though since it's on the short side I'd be more than willing to play through it again if somebody ever puts out a retranslation patch.

Is there a better fan translation?

Playing this right now and this is a solid step-ups from SoulBlazer for sure. Really good so far!

the one thing i really remember from this game was the death of hamlet, which made me burst out laughing when it happened. mostly good, but definitely some extremely stupid moments in this one too