Shadow of Destiny
| 
Screenshot |
Player's Review
Originally released for PS2 in 2001, with ports for Xbox (which remained Europe only) and PC that came out shortly after. This is a very interesting adventure game where time travel, all kinds of mysteries and lots of other stuff are involved. Also known as Shadow of Memories in Japan and Europe.
The plot is about a young guy named Eike who has to find out who is trying to murder him, travelling through time in the process. A bit later in the game, his female friend he met at the town cafe decides to know how the past looked like, then Eike meets some ancestors ... among other stuff that you encounter depending on your actions and decisions in some of the chapters. Not going to spoil the plot too much.
Each chapter, including the playable prologue, has a time limit (or fated hour as it's called in game) and Eike has to fulfill a series of quests before time runs out, not only in the present, but also in the past, using a device known as the Digipad (or Z-Pad in this version). I should also mention every single action, except for picking up energy chips, has a time penalty, which is why I highly suggest avoiding too much unnecessary interaction, as well as not saving in the middle of a chapter. Once you understand the gameplay mechanics, and also proper routing(s) for each chapter, it becomes a literal breeze to get all five possible endings. You just have to keep in mind one important thing in Chapter 5, which is telling Margarete about the ancestor. This action triggers one of two paths for the final chapter, leading to endings A-C where differences are at the very end; otherwise you can only get either ending D or E through another decision at the beginning of Chapter 8 (not to mention the way to complete it is different between those two subroutes!).
There are plenty of noticeable differences in this version compared to the original releases, such as a completely replaced cast for the characters' voices, a new sidequest exclusive to the PSP version where you can actually 'reunite' a loving couple, some technical compromises to adapt the game to the handheld's hardware, and slight differences in the HUD and text font. Though to be honest, they could've done a bit better job in the text part, as I found a few errors related to spacing and punctuation that aren't present in the original.
I have no complaints regarding the audio part: its soundtrack, as well as the redubbed dialogues, are pretty decent; in fact I personally prefer the second voice cast over the original. However I feel default settings for audio are a bit loud, so I had to make it quieter thanks to the powers of editing. This same issue can be noticed in the Xbox version, my guess is that sometimes the QA team accidentally ignores some small details that could be polished a bit more.
In this longplay I first went through the route that leads to endings A-C, this also includes all sidequests: giving Sybilla a kitten, saving Miriam in Chapter 6, drinking some coffee in the 1900s and of course the exclusive one related to the loving couple. The I added some alternate outcomes, including not telling Margarete about the ancestor, the total flop scenes, Eckart's confession without his wife and the Chapter 8 routes for endings D and E. All endings are shown in order to keep it neat. I wrapped up the video with the EX chapter, which is unlocked after getting all five main endings in the main story.
0:00:00 - Start
0:01:40 - Prologue chapter
0:21:07 - Chapter 1: The Burning Bar
0:28:14 - Chapter 2: To the 16th Century
0:50:26 - Chapter 3: The Museum
1:10:59 - Chapter 4: Brum's Manor... sort of
1:36:25 - Chapter 5: Is she my ancestor?
2:17:10 - Chapter 6: A Cold Day
2:38:14 - Chapter 7: The Deadly Tower
3:00:41 - Chapter 8: The Final Fate
3:39:56 - Ending A
3:56:57 - Ending B1 (just talk to the fortune teller)
4:07:14 - Ending B2 (just talk to Homunculus)
4:15:07 - Ending B3 (talk to both and send Margarete back)
4:20:10 - Ending C
Alternate outcomes
4:31:54 - Finishing chapter 4 with the iron sign
4:40:25 - Going to the coffee bar without Oleg's pocket watch
4:42:52 - Not telling Margarete about the ancestor
4:48:07 - Finishing chapter 6 without saving Miriam
4:55:57 - 'A Total Flop' scenes
4:58:34 - Paying the bar debt (if drank coffee without the watch)
4:59:31 - Eckart's confession if Miriam is dead
5:04:02 - Chapter 8 (route to Ending D)
5:30:46 - Ending D
5:42:30 - Chapter 8 (route to Ending E)
6:15:34 - Ending E
EX chapter
6:27:56 - Route to Ending EX1
6:44:31 - Ending EX1
6:50:56 - Ending EX2 (travel back to the present)
The plot is about a young guy named Eike who has to find out who is trying to murder him, travelling through time in the process. A bit later in the game, his female friend he met at the town cafe decides to know how the past looked like, then Eike meets some ancestors ... among other stuff that you encounter depending on your actions and decisions in some of the chapters. Not going to spoil the plot too much.
Each chapter, including the playable prologue, has a time limit (or fated hour as it's called in game) and Eike has to fulfill a series of quests before time runs out, not only in the present, but also in the past, using a device known as the Digipad (or Z-Pad in this version). I should also mention every single action, except for picking up energy chips, has a time penalty, which is why I highly suggest avoiding too much unnecessary interaction, as well as not saving in the middle of a chapter. Once you understand the gameplay mechanics, and also proper routing(s) for each chapter, it becomes a literal breeze to get all five possible endings. You just have to keep in mind one important thing in Chapter 5, which is telling Margarete about the ancestor. This action triggers one of two paths for the final chapter, leading to endings A-C where differences are at the very end; otherwise you can only get either ending D or E through another decision at the beginning of Chapter 8 (not to mention the way to complete it is different between those two subroutes!).
There are plenty of noticeable differences in this version compared to the original releases, such as a completely replaced cast for the characters' voices, a new sidequest exclusive to the PSP version where you can actually 'reunite' a loving couple, some technical compromises to adapt the game to the handheld's hardware, and slight differences in the HUD and text font. Though to be honest, they could've done a bit better job in the text part, as I found a few errors related to spacing and punctuation that aren't present in the original.
I have no complaints regarding the audio part: its soundtrack, as well as the redubbed dialogues, are pretty decent; in fact I personally prefer the second voice cast over the original. However I feel default settings for audio are a bit loud, so I had to make it quieter thanks to the powers of editing. This same issue can be noticed in the Xbox version, my guess is that sometimes the QA team accidentally ignores some small details that could be polished a bit more.
In this longplay I first went through the route that leads to endings A-C, this also includes all sidequests: giving Sybilla a kitten, saving Miriam in Chapter 6, drinking some coffee in the 1900s and of course the exclusive one related to the loving couple. The I added some alternate outcomes, including not telling Margarete about the ancestor, the total flop scenes, Eckart's confession without his wife and the Chapter 8 routes for endings D and E. All endings are shown in order to keep it neat. I wrapped up the video with the EX chapter, which is unlocked after getting all five main endings in the main story.
0:00:00 - Start
0:01:40 - Prologue chapter
0:21:07 - Chapter 1: The Burning Bar
0:28:14 - Chapter 2: To the 16th Century
0:50:26 - Chapter 3: The Museum
1:10:59 - Chapter 4: Brum's Manor... sort of
1:36:25 - Chapter 5: Is she my ancestor?
2:17:10 - Chapter 6: A Cold Day
2:38:14 - Chapter 7: The Deadly Tower
3:00:41 - Chapter 8: The Final Fate
3:39:56 - Ending A
3:56:57 - Ending B1 (just talk to the fortune teller)
4:07:14 - Ending B2 (just talk to Homunculus)
4:15:07 - Ending B3 (talk to both and send Margarete back)
4:20:10 - Ending C
Alternate outcomes
4:31:54 - Finishing chapter 4 with the iron sign
4:40:25 - Going to the coffee bar without Oleg's pocket watch
4:42:52 - Not telling Margarete about the ancestor
4:48:07 - Finishing chapter 6 without saving Miriam
4:55:57 - 'A Total Flop' scenes
4:58:34 - Paying the bar debt (if drank coffee without the watch)
4:59:31 - Eckart's confession if Miriam is dead
5:04:02 - Chapter 8 (route to Ending D)
5:30:46 - Ending D
5:42:30 - Chapter 8 (route to Ending E)
6:15:34 - Ending E
EX chapter
6:27:56 - Route to Ending EX1
6:44:31 - Ending EX1
6:50:56 - Ending EX2 (travel back to the present)
No Comments have been Posted.