I noticed something rather odd playing through Radiant Historia, today. For a game that deals with time travel it really doesn't give a strong sense of time passing.
Part of this is, no doubt, the game's lack of any distinction between day and night (Stocke and co. met Raul at night, and it looked exactly like daylight). But, more importantly, I think, is that there aren't very many side views of the world. What I mean is that there aren't NPCs who tell you much about the world aside from the odd tidbit about this or that character or this or that opinion. The impression that this leaves is that events aren't happening in time, but are instead just piling up on one another.
What really triggered this realization for me is that after spending maybe half-an-hour going through events General Hugo won a major battle on Gran Plain - effectively ending the conflict on the Alistel/Granorg front. The game explains that Hugo and Granorg's Count Selvan are working together at something as explanation for this smooth victory, but even with such co-operation, ending the war so quickly seems like just another event added to the pile. It doesn't feel like something that happened in time, only in space.
Another reason for the apparent flatness of time in Radiant Historia is that you never really play through major scenes. In Chrono Trigger, you were there at the Battle of Zenan Bridge, you were there when the Enlightened ones complete the Ocean Palace and then raise it into the sky, you were there when Lavos falls from space. This presence at major events makes the game's story larger than life, and so far, this just hasn't happened with Radiant Historia.
Nonetheless, what the game's offered so far is more than enough to keep me sticking around - waiting for the big one.
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