Time Travelers (Level5, 3DS/PSP/Vita) - Dated in Japan
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twentytwo22
Member
There are a lot of dialogue choice sections throughout the game -- many of them cause a short scene followed by a time lock (basically "game over", go back and choose the other answer). There is nothing early on that affects your ending or anything (that I am aware of >.>) There is some good comedy in a lot of the choices, as well, but it basically comes down to "choose the correct answer and advance, choose the incorrect answer and get a scene/time lock, choose the funny answer and see the reaction".
papersleeves
Member
So basically Ishii made a real movie this time, as opposed to 428's novel with movie stills backgrounds.
How about bonus scenarios? Is the plot as linear as the one in 428 (which didn't have a lot of different good endings, most of them were just variations that focussed on a certain character, some of which unlocked bonus scenarios)? Are the bad ends as numerous as in 428? It sounds as it has a bit less volume in general, which I would expect from the movie format.
I guess the QTE's are the replacement excuse for gameplay element to replace the hyperlink tips in 428.
I'm waiting for the LL and hoping for a digital eShop release until then.
Also, L5 need to consider an option for switching off furigana (Wind Waker had this, why wasn't it widely adopted...?). They slow me down too much as they're hard to ignore and in most cases I don't even need them (their games feel like shounen manga for that reason).
Hyperlink tips are far from gone, since there are 447 in TT.
Yeah, furigana bugs me too. Not a common viewpoint in discussions amongst people who speak Japanese as a second language, so I rarely bring it up, but it definitely distracts me.
twentytwo22 should lend me his copy now ~
I budgeted for it next month so I guess it shouldn't be too much longer for me either way, I'll have Nayuta and DQ10 in the interim.
twentytwo22 should lend me his copy now ~
I budgeted for it next month so I guess it shouldn't be too much longer for me either way, I'll have Nayuta and DQ10 in the interim.
twentytwo22
Member
Come and get it
Totally understand the furigana point -- a quick "on/off" or touch/tap to reveal would be ideal, as I do find it useful at times but at others allow it to slow me down (especially for long kanji compounds).
Wow, Nayuta is next week already... time flies. Still trying to decide what to do with DQX...
sorijealut
Member
Thanks for letting me know, I guess the best way is offscreen recording, if anything.
Someone put up a gallery of 3DS (3D) screens taken with the game's snapshot feature: http://3dmedia.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=410
QR code to link: http://i.imgur.com/NBEHA.jpg
QR code to link: http://i.imgur.com/NBEHA.jpg
Viola of the Abyss
Member
Consider me part of the "good thing there's furigana" club 
I'll be obviously getting the Vita version due to it being region free and also much more readable than the 3DS lower resolution screen.
Then again putting an option to switch furigana on/off wouldn't be difficult at all.
I'll be obviously getting the Vita version due to it being region free and also much more readable than the 3DS lower resolution screen.
Then again putting an option to switch furigana on/off wouldn't be difficult at all.
JustAnotherOtaku
Member
I don't understand, it's a cinematic visual novel with qte or you can move freely like heavy rain?
Is speech skippable w/ a button press? I played through the demo, and being used to skipping 90% of voiced scenes once I read it out on the text bubble (or just turning off voices altogether for the average shit-in-a-can voice acting) the inability to skip bothered me to no end. I realize it's more difficult to implement when some scenes run closer to a cutscene, but it's still a necessary feature.
Cinematic visual novel all the way. QTEs are really seldom.
Speech isn't skippable the first time you see it, thinking is.
twentytwo22
Member
I could be wrong, but there might be an option to skip even voiced text by pressing a button -- I seem to remember seeing something in the options screen. I'll have to check it out.
RyougaSaotome
Member
Some of the vocal tracks in the game are hilariously weird. There's one in particular that makes me crack up every single time it starts up.
I'm about 6 hours in though and I'm really into the story. Still not a big fan of the real life super hero though.
I'm about 6 hours in though and I'm really into the story. Still not a big fan of the real life super hero though.
Ah, right , there was an option for that. The default choice is what I've described.
hamauzu kaito
Member
Promotion for this game seems high, I keep seeing the commercials on tv but i keep seeing the one featuring 3DS. Are there other commercials featuring the other platforms?
Animated visual novel with dialog chocies and sparse QTEs.
I finally took the time to unlock the demo in Guild01. So it fully retains the novel part (with tips as already answered, thank you), just staging the dialogue parts. No problem with that. But the 3D effect is really underwhelming.
I thought it was a joke in Crimson Shroud but this is actually terrible. When I use the slider there's no noticable change until it turns fully off. In Crimson Shroud the effect could be enhanced a little by holding the 3DS further away from you and the stages were supposed to be tiny table top settings but even then they felt compressed. TT has plenty of city scenes right at the beginning and there's no real depth at all.
Is it as bad in the final retail version (semi-urgent question to anyone who plays that version)? I guess there is no reason why it shouldn't be but what were they thinking?
I guess I'll be getting the Vita version after all. Even the Good People Die demo had better 3D. Heck, the home menu of the 3DS has better 3D.
I thought it was a joke in Crimson Shroud but this is actually terrible. When I use the slider there's no noticable change until it turns fully off. In Crimson Shroud the effect could be enhanced a little by holding the 3DS further away from you and the stages were supposed to be tiny table top settings but even then they felt compressed. TT has plenty of city scenes right at the beginning and there's no real depth at all.
Is it as bad in the final retail version (semi-urgent question to anyone who plays that version)? I guess there is no reason why it shouldn't be but what were they thinking?
I guess I'll be getting the Vita version after all. Even the Good People Die demo had better 3D. Heck, the home menu of the 3DS has better 3D.
Based on the screenshots taken from the in-game snapshot function someone posted earlier, the 3D depth is indeed very pathetic. The depth manages to be even lower than those of most Nintendo Video 3D movie trailers, which is a shame because a game full of static camera angles offers some of the best opportunities for 3D.
Actually some of the later scenes don't seem quite as underwhelming. You expect great depth when the city scape stretches to the sky and feel disappointed but inside the broadcasting building the depth is relatively more accurate to the surrounding. Even with weak 3D it is a plus for the 3DS version and at least on the normal sized screen the resolution is very clean.
I'm gonna wait and see on this one. Story feels too similar to 428 also, no need to rush out and get this one.
Bonus: For what it's worth, the Vita digital release was the most successful game for the week (ending 15th, with 4 days of sales). Some sales reports indicate 3DS version sold slightly better in stores.
Depends on the game, really, and Chunsoft's "Sound Novel" series tends to offer a lot of options.
(I know this one is a Level 5 game, but it's arguably part of the series... hell, it's even set in the same world as Machi and 428)
True. Good thing Abiko Takemaru's story makes up for it...
They do? The original sound novel and father of the whole VN genre, Otogirisou, only had the branching path options. That was the whole gameplay. It did popularize the branching path/multi ending type of game though, also for other non-novel adventures. Chrono Trigger also was influenced by it.
Shin Kamai-tachi no yoru has room exploration in places and requires you to make logical connections to argue your deductions similar to the ones in Ace Attorney Investigations but those are regular adventure elements added to the sound novel formula. Which originally was simply a choose-your-own-adventure-type book with audio-visual presentation.
428 pretty much has the same type of interaction as TT, except for the QTEs added in TT.
I think these are inspired by Heavy Rain as are the time limits for multiple choice screens (Radical Dreamers was a rare early case to use something like this already in the mid-90ies though). Heavy Rain also shares the concept of multiple independently acting protagonists (which 428 did before it), the major difference being that you cannot allow any of them to drop out of the story in Ishii's games. Heavy Rain just continues the story like an SRPG would if a character dies.
TT and HR are both examples of adventures trying to be like a movie, TT taking its starting point in the novel genre and HR in the graphic adventure one. They don't quite meet in the middle but the common goal is evident.
Sure, what I mean is that there's quite a bit of those. Some visual novels have hours-long stretches without a single branching path option. Or no branching path option at all, even.
(... and they were mostly superfluous, really...)
ZombiePlatypus
Member
So...any word about a US release yet? I mean 999 has it's audience here and we are hyped up for VLR: Zero Escape, so it's not like there's not market for it! If publishers and developers are gonna push for region-locked hardware then they are accountable to release all their games everywhere. They made their shitty choice. :/
Sorry, I interpreted your reply in the context of the post you quoted. And that one seemed to imply that not just the low frequency of the multiple choice options but also the fact that there's nothing beyond them in terms of interaction was a problem with the gameplay.
If I misinterpreted flawfuls' post also, well my whole point has become moot then but it seems we're in agreement anyway.
Adding to that, 428 had less multiple choice options than Otogirosou and since they either lead to a bad end or just continue the linear story I felt they were less meaningful than the ones in earlier SNs. But the multiple character idea was brilliant.
Yeah, definitely a novel game at its core, not a command and inventory based/free moving graphic adventure like Good People Die.
BTW, as opposed to the edited quote I don't think the Type-Moon 428 scenario was 'poop' but I find the chain of replies leading from my post to yours also confusing. Didn't Ghirahim basically imply the story was 'poop', since there's nothing but story anyway? But you liked it, so why is his statement true?
Well, the part I quoted wasn't about that, but about how frequent the interactions were.
... I'm not following you, sorry. I didn't like that scenario, which is why I was agreeing.
It was also about that:
But yeah, I'm not in disagreement with you there. Would be nice if the poster your replied to would reply again.
In a novel the scenario and story are the same. Definitely neither refers to the sound or illustrations. So how can you dislike the scenario and like the story?
I figured "frequently" and "once every hour or so" were the keywords in the complete sentence...
Like I said, I didn't like the scenario/story/whatever. I thought that Type-Moon scenario was long and boring.
If you're referring to my "Good thing Abiko Takemaru's story makes up for it...", I was referring to the other extra scenario, there, not the Type-Moon one. One was bad, the other was nice.
Yes, and the "don't have any interaction beyond selecting an option out of a list" is also crucial to his meaning. Good thing there are more frequent options in sound novels, which wasn't clear from your wording, since "a lot of options" doesn't equal "frequent" unless the game is also relatively short or it could also mean that it has like 10 options every a hour or so, which would still be infrequent. Since you apparently meant frequent, that would have been the most easy to understand word to use.
Still, the number or frequency of options won't change the fact that the poster wanted more than just selections out of lists. I guess it'll make it a little better if that kind of interaction becomes more frequent but criticism seemed to lie with the underlying gameplay structure too.
So what you said is correct but still misses the point a little. Which is why I misinterpreted you. Sorry.
Oh, so that's the one with Achi's sister? That was better, I agree. Not sure how one bonus scenario makes up for another though. To me the Type-Moon one ruins the original scenario by making major characters from it into science fantasy.
Well, that's not how I interpreted his post, anyway...
Agreed. I found it pretty hard to recognize "those two characters" overall, really.
And of course, magical eyes, gratuitous foreign words, etc.
Been playing this slowly over the summer, pretty much the only game I've been playing, but it's taken me a while because I sort of put gaming down while the sun's been out.
Just finished it tonight and I really liked it in the end. Obviously ymmv depending on if you were a fan of the PS2 era of cutscene cutscene melodrama cutscene that were jrpgs and Metal Gear Solid, but I've always been a fan of cutscenes if they're well directed and the story is engaging.
I thought the cutscene direction was really great for the most part. Up there with good rpgs like FFX/FFXII. The story was good throughout, though the Hero guy's plot was generally lame and boring until the last 1/3rd. The last 1/3rd of the game was very surprising coming from the tone of the game up until that point. It went very Kingdom Hearts where the story is going smoothly chapter by chapter and then in the last couple of hours the it becomes a totally different beast. Luckily though the plot is fairly out there by the very, very end; for the most part it makes sense and even the
plot holes are plugged.
The ending is pretty powerful too. Which made me like it a lot more in the end. I like stories that have impact, because those are the ones that stick with you down the line.
There's basically no gameplay. It's just watching a 26ep TV drama/anime on your Vita/3DS/PSP for 11ish hours. For what it is though, it's pretty good! The music and voices really add a lot. The animation is kind of crappy, which is totally surprising since L5 is known for great visuals and animation, but I'm guessing the budget was fairly low on this.
There's some post-game stuff and multiple endings. But that's just dressing on the main story. Would be nice if they localized this in the US, even if it meant just doing sub-only release because dubbing 11 hours would be too costly. I think there'd be an audience in the west for visual novels done like this. I know that personally I preferred watching a VN as cutscenes rather than reading. I like books and all, but I've always found VNs pretty weird with their sort of voice acted anime, but sort of novel middleground. I usually get bored playing VNs (still haven't gotten through Umineko PS3), but this was easy to just sit back and enjoy a little at a time.
Unfortunately due to the higher cost of doing VNs like this and the fact the game sold like 5 copies in Japan, I wouldn't be surprised if Time Travelers was the first and the last game of its new genre.
I might play 428 since I hear it's fairly similar to TT in its setup, but live action stills <<< cutscenes ;_;
Also for those who've finished it:
Just finished it tonight and I really liked it in the end. Obviously ymmv depending on if you were a fan of the PS2 era of cutscene cutscene melodrama cutscene that were jrpgs and Metal Gear Solid, but I've always been a fan of cutscenes if they're well directed and the story is engaging.
I thought the cutscene direction was really great for the most part. Up there with good rpgs like FFX/FFXII. The story was good throughout, though the Hero guy's plot was generally lame and boring until the last 1/3rd. The last 1/3rd of the game was very surprising coming from the tone of the game up until that point. It went very Kingdom Hearts where the story is going smoothly chapter by chapter and then in the last couple of hours the it becomes a totally different beast. Luckily though the plot is fairly out there by the very, very end; for the most part it makes sense and even the
time travel (is that even a spoiler, the game is called "time travelers")
The ending is pretty powerful too. Which made me like it a lot more in the end. I like stories that have impact, because those are the ones that stick with you down the line.
There's basically no gameplay. It's just watching a 26ep TV drama/anime on your Vita/3DS/PSP for 11ish hours. For what it is though, it's pretty good! The music and voices really add a lot. The animation is kind of crappy, which is totally surprising since L5 is known for great visuals and animation, but I'm guessing the budget was fairly low on this.
There's some post-game stuff and multiple endings. But that's just dressing on the main story. Would be nice if they localized this in the US, even if it meant just doing sub-only release because dubbing 11 hours would be too costly. I think there'd be an audience in the west for visual novels done like this. I know that personally I preferred watching a VN as cutscenes rather than reading. I like books and all, but I've always found VNs pretty weird with their sort of voice acted anime, but sort of novel middleground. I usually get bored playing VNs (still haven't gotten through Umineko PS3), but this was easy to just sit back and enjoy a little at a time.
Unfortunately due to the higher cost of doing VNs like this and the fact the game sold like 5 copies in Japan, I wouldn't be surprised if Time Travelers was the first and the last game of its new genre.
I might play 428 since I hear it's fairly similar to TT in its setup, but live action stills <<< cutscenes ;_;
Also for those who've finished it:
The good ending really hit me hard. I felt really bad that Shindo would never have the experience of raising a daughter like Mikoto. And just the idea that there's really no "perfect world" and either way some things will be better, some things will be worse and having to make the decision was tough. Also, when Mr. Hero dude exploded I sooooo did not expect that from his character. What a bad end 
Hours Left
Member
I really want to play this game.
How is it too short? I mean, I know some VNs are like 30-40 hours long but that's because you're reading them, not watching them. The story in TT feels full length and 11 hours is the length of a 26episode 22min ep TV series in Japan. That's a pretty substantial amount of time.
Ugh, this is why games have so much filler.
Ugh, this is why games have so much filler.
djplaeskool
Member
It actually got pretty good marks among the major reviewers (take from that what you will), with the length being a primary detractor however.
I actually just got the demo and tried it out and was impressed with the quality of the presentation.
Might pick it up when I get some more free time.
Have to leave this at "slim to none" until we get other news.
Usually for major releases, somebody has tickled the dev's ear about localization.
TT has been left to its own devices, so maybe we'll be surprised.
I'm not expecting it, though. There is a TON of voice acting, and they'd have to be willing go with subtitles only, as VOs would make the cost to do so skyrocket.
I think it depends on two factors:
1. Whether L5 is willing to let someone else localize it now that they have a US office for localization. (because I doubt they will do it themselves, need someone like Aksys)
2. Whether someone who does localize it can release it subtitled only and get it past Sony/Nintendo QC that way. (because dubbing 11 hours of voices >>>>>>>> subtitles cost)
You and me both >.<
Use your magic and convince your higher ups to localize this game!!!!!!!
This is a gamechanger