Part 22: Addendum - Bits and Bobs
Addendum – Bits and BobsBasically, this will be a collection of little things I found out about the game from wherever I could.
At the end of my Legaia 2 LP, I shared what insights I could gather about the game online. I couldn’t find any real info about Ephemeral Fantasia’s development, unfortunately. It might just be lost to time.
Wikipedia mentions that there was planned content that got canned due to the move from the Dreamcast to the PlayStation 2. I can’t really verify any of this as Wikipedia doesn’t cite a source directly and simply claims it came from an interview in Famitsu. Technically I could buy old issues of Famitsu online, but fuck paying 40+ NZD for old magazines just to see what was said about this shitty game, doubly because I couldn’t be sure which issue of Famitsu the interview is actually in.
Apparently, Ephemeral Fantasia was also to include cameos from Sega characters like Sonic the Hedgehog, Ryo Hazuki from Shenmue, and Ulala from Space Channel 5. All I can say is that sounds incredibly stupid. None of those characters would have any connection to a fantasy setting like Ephemeral Fantasia (I guess Space Channel 5 has a minor connection because music?), so they’d be there for nothing but gratuitous references. Can you imagine fucking Sonic the Hedgehog running up and smacking Xelpherpolis in the jaw? They were also apparently going to have Sega game devs show up. In what capacity I cannot imagine, but I guess they’d just have them be NPCs sitting in a corner somewhere?
Anyway, did you know this game had an absurd amount of alternative box covers?
This is the original Japanese box cover. Obviously they couldn’t have “Reiselied” there with their unfathomable decision to remove it from the game’s title, so they needed something else for the English release.
Now my Japanese is far from perfect, so my translations may not be entirely correct, but I’ve done my best:
Red Text (top of the back):
サラウンドバトルフィールドやアクションカウンター採用で、奥深い戦闘システムが”プレイステーション２”で存分に楽しめる！！
“By using the surround battlefield and action counter, you can fully enjoy the deep battle system on the “PlayStation 2”!!”
Yellow Text (middle of the image, near the faces):
終わらない夏の物語…
“A story of endless summer…” (Obviously referring to how everyone called Pandule an island of endless summer)
Blue Text (underneath yellow text, bottom of image):
だれも見た者のない楽園。王に招かれた流浪の楽士。人語を解する生きた楽器。冷たい瞳をした美しい姫。
そして…
経験したことのない日々。
“A paradise no one has seen. A wandering musician invited by the king. A living musical instrument that understand human speech. A beautiful princess with cold eyes.
And…
Days that have never been experienced (really not sure about that part!)”
Leftmost Black Text (underneath image of Xel and Loreille):
数々のイベントが、謎を解く鍵になる！イベントの中には、曲を演奏するものも。冒険だけでは終わらない物語。
“Numerous events are the key to solving the mystery! In the middle of events, you will also perform music. It’s a story that doesn’t end with adventure alone.”
Rightmost Black Text (underneath image of Mouse using a tidal wave attack):
迫力の戦闘シーンを堪能！！もちろんビュー変更も可能。AIコマンド簡単に操作できるから、誰にでも戦闘が楽しめる。
“Enjoy powerful battle scenes!! Of course it is possible to change the view. AI commands are easy to make use of, so anyone can enjoy the battles.”
Yellow Text with Red Outline (next to guitar image):
ギターフリークス専用コントローラ対応！！
“Compatible with Guitar Freaks dedicated controller!!”
The rest is all technical information that isn’t terribly interesting.
This you might recognise as providing the image I used on the music tracks. You might also notice that Jawarro’s face, which is hidden by the game up till her piffy half-mask drops off, is displayed here uncovered. So much for that, huh? Grantus is completely uncovered too, and his bestial nature was arguably more of a surprise.
It lists “multiple endings” as a feature. Ah yes, the bare minimum variations in who might be with you on that boat! How thrilling!
This one has the image I used for the OP. Notice that Mouse’s hair is darkened beyond recognition in the back artwork?
This one is obviously a German version, so here’s the English version of the back text…
All these covers tout the battle system as something so intricate and noteworthy, but it’s just Final Fantasy’s ATB with mild additions.
Here’s another alternative cover. The image a bit small, but I can’t really help that without tracking down a copy of the game with this cover on it. It appears to be a French version, if I’m reading the admittedly hard to read text at the bottom right.
Interestingly, this version contains character artwork I haven’t seen anywhere else. Most of them reuse the same batch of official art, but Mouse is clearly different here, Rinna has closed her mouth and raised her leg, and Xel is holding a wine glass.
That’s it for cover images. With the amount of these that exist, I honestly wonder if they had some really undue faith that this game was gonna be a success? It’s one thing to change the cover for the English release, but why bother creating all the others unless you thought this was going to be a real hit? Assuming I’m correct, they sure were wrong in their prediction.
This is taken from a version of the game’s manual, I believe. Once again, it not only spoils Jawarro and Grantus’ faces but also Twinboom’s.
I believe this is a strategy guide for the game. This is also where I got my Gallhint portrait from and the only official piece of art of him that I am aware of.
I’m not actually sure what these images are. They’re either official artwork made to promote the game, or some decently made pieces of fan art. The image link takes me to some Italian review of the game, and I can’t even find where on the page these images are supposed to be.
Apparently these are from a beta version of the game. I’m gonna guess it’s from the Dreamcast version. You can see that the battle interface was going to be slightly different.
That’s the Seaman from the beginning. He looks ridiculous here, especially in contrast with Mouse. Perhaps proof that this game was once going to look even worse?
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That’s about all I could find. Maybe if I plumbed the absolute depths of the internet I could find more, but I doubt it would be worth the effort. Most information on this game is likely lost to time.
Anyway, thank you for reading, have a good day.