Ephemeral Fantasia
Ephemeral Fantasia, known in Japan as , is a 2000 role-playing video game developed and published by Konami for the PlayStation 2. The game was released in Japan on August 10, 2000, in North America on July 9, 2001 and in Europe on September 7, 2001. Gameplay. "Ephemeral Fantasia" features traditional role-playing video game turn-based battles, with a variety of playable characters and skills. Additionally, there is a guitar mini-game that can be played several times throughout the course of the story. Plot. "Ephemeral Fantasia" is similar to "" in that the story transpires over a  constantly looping period of five days. This is caused by a time loop created by the main antagonist, Xelpherpolis. In order for the time loop to be halted, Mouse must travel through the same five days multiple times. This game follows Mouse, who has been summoned by a powerful figure on a remote island to compose a song. Xelpherpolis invites Mouse to play at his wedding, no doubt because of his fame as an excellent musician. Of course, Xelpherpolis doesn't expect him to solve the mystery of the island and free its inhabitants. Development. "Ephemeral Fantasia" was originally to  be released on the Sega Dreamcast. An interview with development team member Makoto "M2" Moribe of "Famitsu" revealed that additional content planned for the Dreamcast version was cut when the game was moved to PS2. The Dreamcast version of "Ephemeral Fantasia" was to feature cameos by Sega characters including Sonic the Hedgehog, Ulala, Ryo Hazuki, and, oddly enough, notable Sega developers Yu Suzuki and Yuji Naka. Reception. Francesca Reyes reviewed the PlayStation 2 version of the game for "Next Generation", rating it one star out of five, and stated that "Don't be fooled by the cute characters on the  box promising console RPG goodness. You'll find none of that here. Keep moving." The game received "generally unfavorable reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.