Game Title: Shattered Hourglass
Engine: RPG Maker VX Ace
Status at review: In Progress/Demo

Background:
The amount of knowledge I had about this game before I downloaded it was minimal, at best. I took a peek (in a rather literal sense) at the game page, but I was curious to see how much of the game explained itself.
I got as far as Icdalen Castle, therefore, not completing the game. I sincerely doubt taking a peek at the Page of Honor would have done me any good.


Graphics:
The pop-up text on entering hub areas was pretty cool. It would be neat if the other areas also had it, but I guess it's okay as-is. The face-sets from the VX Ace generator are not my cup of tea, but they are bearable. Mapping isn't anything to salivate over, but is generally competent.


Audio:
I gave the music directory a listen before playing the game. There was a mixture of tracks I could recognize (Lots of BoF3/4 tracks, here.) and ones I did not recognize, but were still good by themselves ("Icdalen"). For full disclosure, "Icdalen" is my new favorite song from, or in, an RMN game. Don't worry, the tracks from Ghost Shards are still up there!


Story:
Duran is a Time Mage that lives alone in a tower, performing and studying his art. One day, a knight barges into his place, claiming that he must die. The reasoning given was that Time Mages (Magi?) inevitably mess with history/fate/destiny/whatever-you-wish-to-call-it as part of the study of time. Duran claims to not want to do anything like that, but the knight doesn't particularly care, and the two get into a fight. After Duran suffers a mortal blow, he casts Vanish which was preceded by X-Zone, and gets sent who-knows-where with symptoms of amnesia. All he seems to recall is his name and a few of his skills the skills he had in the fight against the samurai.
Personality-wise, Duran comes across to me as all business, though the optional tasks suggest that he is not singular in his purpose. Treephop is something of a comedy relief character. I never took him too seriously, even if Duran did. Juliet is somewhat carefree, but is generally a serious person.
Duran and Juliet have a goal. With Duran, it is to get back his memories, and to return to wherever, or whenever as the case may be, he came from. Juliet joins after being impressed by how the party defeats a werewolf, and believes she can improve herself if she tags along. Treephop? He doesn't appear to have a clear goal, though he admits that he hates his job as a woodcutter, and certainly prefers the adventuring life.
There are several places where the theme of alternate realities timelines come into play. For example, players may find a person frozen by a grave. Duran can go back in time, and is given an opportunity to make a change. Aside from possibly doing exactly what the samurai fears (altering fate), enacting change will allow Duran to "remember" the "old" past, while the other party members are confused when he makes any mention of it. It's kinda neat.


Playing the game:
I started making notes for this game after a certain boss fight, so they are not as complete as they could be. Still, beware of spoilers.



General Observations:
The game has scattered grammar issues. Meaning that they pop up every now and again. It's not terribly deterring for me, though the description of the Exploit Powder is probably the worst offender I saw.
I'm pretty sure Slow is supposed to target enemies rather than allies.
I didn't use any of Treephop's abilities except for "Deep Breath". His other abilities had an HP cost, and I was having trouble enough with keeping my party alive.
Most of the gripes I listed could probably be erased by grinding longer, or by altering the difficulty mid-game and keeping it there, or a mixture of both.


Summary:
I can't really fault the designer for stupidly insistent players. Saying that, I can't really say that this game stands out as "good" to me. On the other hand, I can't really say that it stands out as "bad" either.


BOTTOM LINE: N/A