Ephemeral -Fantasy On Dark- Review
Spoilers Included
So got into playing this and although there is several endings and I have not played it all the way through however I have done the main story first of it and gotten a idea of how these fellas are so I wanted to review the game in whole as well as each love interest and my thoughts. There will be spoilers.
Ray
I did not see this coming what so ever this man blindsided me in away that brought me to tears. I went into this game for Shiba and Natsume and walked away with the most wonderful memories of Ray. He made the rest of the mens sacrifices seem pointless not only did he fight for her, not only was he willing to give his life for her, and not only did he pass up other women who were prettier and an arranged marriage but he really gave over 1000 of his lifespan for just 100 more years with her so that they could die alone. He stepped up past any others and even early on once he confessed his love to her he said we will find someway around you living longer and he kept his word.
No matter what they went up against no matter how much she got hurt he was there to pick her up and save her. She saved him as much as he did her in so many ways and let him be himself. His words of love and devotion for her were absolutely breath taking. I have always loved vampires and even though he is a Tsundere as most do he lets those walls down to her and is still nasty to everyone else but he is willing to give up the world and destroy it all for her. At one point someone hurts her and he bout kills them she is the reason he stopped. He showed what unconditional love was until the end. Ray by far is the best reason to play this game and even if you know things about how things might end trust me you still aren't prepared for how much this will emotionally effect you in some way. Even if Ray isn't the guy you would choose you should still feel the loyalty and connectiuon they have for yourself.
----------------------------------------------- Natsume
This man had me stumped at first because first off before playing it I found him severely attractive. Then going into it after hearing others talking about him being yandere I wasn't so sure I was going to like him. I'm not a huge fan of yandere per say however in my book not sure I feel like he is truly one. I say this because I feel like with him his issues with him mom growing up trying to kill him and fighting the way it feels to be a merman the need for beautiful things on top of abandonment issues I feel like he was more the less dealing with PTSD. I also feel like he was upfront with her when he started getting possessive of her he told her and he said he didn't want to see her due to that. He knew he would emotionally hurt her and she continued to come back because she loved him. I only say this because I have PTSD irl and I know sometimes you hurt the people closest to you even when your the one trying to shield them. I feel like he always loved her but wasn't always sure how to show it. I know he betrayed her but I also see from his end of things from a PTSD side of things he just didn't want to lose her so he felt if she had no way to leave him he would never worry about that. I will tell you from a PTSD mind set you would not believe how easy it is to make yourself believe something is the best way to prevent being betrayed and left.
On from that though in my past yandere's to me were scary like psycho scary I never felt that with Natsume and thats why he is my number 2. I feel like nothing compares to Ray's good ending and his lovingness however if you do Natsume's bad ending it broke my heart he stayed by her for 300 yrs even when she was bones promising her he wouldn't kill himself so he could one day hopefully be reunited with her. His love shined out past any wrongs he had done in the past to show he was genuine. I broke into tears when this man held her hand her nothing but bones hand and confessed his love, loyalty and devotion to her. Honestly I hope people push past to really see the core of this character because he is so worth it. To find out he isn't a mummy floored me yet at the same time around that time I saw it coming. Anyways I hope everyone enjoys him as much as I do and honestly when this man tears up it touches my very soul, and to think his mom wanted to kill him SMH.
----------------------------------------------- Shiba
I know he may not always be peoples favorites and yes he did hurt Cloe at one point but when he realized what he did wrong and knew he could lose her forever he fought for her. He may not seem smart to others but who cares about how smart he is when he does have so much love deep down for her. He decided being a bigger badder wolf wasn't worth it and we can't forget this man jumped out in front of a wolf that could kill him to save her life. This itself makes things different. He shows you sometimes in life the people we love may not be perfect but its the fact they know they make mistakes and want to better themselves because they can't see a world without you in it.
Even when he was under a love spell he chose to fight to get back to her and she was in a happy world that didn't hurt her yet still chose the real Shiba in the end. I feel like he has many layers from being funny, cute, and adorable as well as shy and even sometimes a bit arrogant. He tried to be this big puffed up wolf but I think he did it because he wanted to be the best for her. I also love his flirtiness at times and how he gets shy and bashful if he has to confess his love or that he was falling for her in the beginning. I don't know he is my feel good romance even though I felt her pain it was a believable pain but I also felt how sincere how he didn't want to live life without her and this is what makes me love him so much. Also can't forget that when he is a little wolf he likes to be cuddled and then the point where he likes the rubbing and petted when he is human I normally am not down for that but for him I would have done it too. Sweet Shiba you still know how to make my heart beat faster.
----------------------------------------------- Nagi
Oh sweet Nagi he looked so innocent from the start. He had such a soft and slowly moving romance but once he let that wall down and truly let Cloe in you could see he had a passion inside of him that would love her forever. You watch him grow as a person and learn to care about himself as long as he has her in his life he doesn't feel alone. They both have something in common one day he will no longer be seen and she will turn to bones and yet after Nagi meeting her grandmother he vowed right then he would never leave her side just like the grandmothers lost love never left hers even though he could longer be seen he was there beside her to the end and Nagi said he will do the same for Cloe. Honestly whole scene has me in tears and I was so moved by Nagi.
As everything fell into place I could see Nagi always had a good heart and he loved her so purely to the point it would make you cry when you saw him cry. I will say it is so sweet and tragic that even on the best ending he gives his life so that she can one day love again. (My opinion though that if it wasn't for Shiba yelling at him and practically confessing his own love for her on top of wanting to make it where she was happy and not reliving over and over this cycle I think Nagi would have sat in a corner and faded away for good.) That is honestly the part of Nagi I found more annoying because Shiba gets shit on by people the fact his prank went wrong and he left her for an amount of time but yet he saved her life and went into the dream world to bring her back, yet Nagi plans to fade away when he just couldn't change the original outcome cause the stupid doll and everyone's ok with it. Nagi is a good guy and honestly I think the world of him but now you know why he is a confliction for me at the same time.
I also loved the MC she was pretty cool probably one of my more favorite ones she wasn't an idiot but she loved completely with her heart. She wasn't overly naïve yet you could still see she was young. This has now made it to one of my favorite games and I finished the whole game all routes good and bad in 30 hours on Switch.
