I went with Perfect as it gives me early access to the new scenarios that are part of the new Possible History timeline. Perfect Chronology gives me the option right off the bat to play either Perfect or Append Mode. Not only one of the best characters in the game, combat is most fun when she’s in my party. It’s much more entertaining to bat around the baddies with a set of traps strewn about like a deadly conveyor belt. Aht, the young Satyros who joins my party several hours in, breathes new life into battles with her traps. I’ll sometimes face boss characters that break that strategy, but I would estimate 90% of the battles are easily winnable using this routine. This is amusing for the first several hours or so, but eventually, all battles start to play out the same. If I get it wrong, it usually means having to fast-forward through repeated plot points, or worse, having to re-fight a scripted battle. If it tells me to go to Celestia, for instance, there are several nodes on the timeline that will take me there and it’s not always clear which one is the correct point of time. I’m also not always entirely sure where on the dual timelines I’m supposed to go for certain quests or to progress the story. Nodes on the timeline I can travel to make this less of a hassle, but they don’t always get the best placement. Because the game isn’t exactly kind with easy ways to reinvigorate my team, I often have to jump through time just to stay at an inn and then work my way back to spot I left in this last chapter. I don’t know if this is to pad the runtime or what, but after draining my magic points fighting the sixth stone block in a row, I start asking myself if I’m having fun. Radiant Historia‘s campaign is incredibly well-paced right until that final chapter which just throws battle after battle my way. Everything makes sense from beginning to the long, drawn-out, oh-god-please-just-let-it-be-over-with end. It’s honestly like a family friendly HBO series. The narrative is thick with plotlines that intersect and hidden motives that only come to light at the right time. Unlike much time traveling fiction, there aren’t many plotholes here.

The not-too-frequent jumps from timeline to timeline show how well-written and orchestrated this script is. If you’ve heard anything about Radiant Historia, you’ve probably heard its story is really good and I’m here to tell you that still rings true… mostly.

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