Shattered Hourglass is an rpg centering around the character known as Duran, a time mage who is forced to travel to alternate dimensions, inevitably causing a great amount of impact on the worlds he comes across.
The premise itself was very interesting, and what ultimately drew me to this rpg. The idea of a karmic system, an upgradeable house that actually serve beneficial functions, and a job system by itself are not terribly original concepts. However, with all of these aspects combined, Shattered Hourglass is something that stands out from most rpgs I have ever played.
Unfortunately, all of these aspects don't show themselves until late in the game. Despite the creator's claims that you can get by with minimal grinding, this is simply false. Some bosses on normal mode are outrageously hard if you don't spend at least one to two hours grinding before hand, and even normal monsters that spawn can be very difficult to deal with right after a fresh transition to a new act. Several times I found myself dying to normal monsters like voodoo dolls, and the poison debuff is incredibly damaging (a shame, since a lot of monsters later on apply it like crazy).
This is not necessarily a bad thing however. There is a certain satisfaction to slaughtering monsters that give you trouble after an hour of grinding. Unlocking skills is awesome, and keeps you pumped for that next level, something that makes the game so addicting. However, while I may find the difficulty refreshing, not so hardcore players may struggle (I guess that's what easy mode is for).

Another negative aspect is the slow pace in the beginning.

Shattered Hourglass takes a lot of time and effort before you get to the juicy bits. This is enforced by the main character Duran, who is a kind of Magikarp Power, literally a useless fish that evolves into a top tier character once he reaches his "level 20". While he is essential to keeping your characters alive in the beginning, his lack of an offensive arsenal will slow things down a lot. Ironically, by the time he does receive powerful spells, you have to keep him healing if not all your party members die. After 16 hours of play time, I haven't had a single party member capable of healing on a level to prevent deaths except for Duran. Which is a shame, considering how damaging the average monster is, let alone a boss.

However, once you get past all the boring bits (around where you battle Zulwhern), the story gets very interesting. The characters will start to grow on you, comic relief will run abound, and some hilarious scenes will play out. The turn based combat system, though generic, actually incorporates a lot of possible strategies into it which doesn't make it as boring as it sounds. Duran's slow progression into a powerful character and the multitude of skills you will no doubt gather is about when combat gets a lot more exciting (especially since the harder monsters later on will force you to change your tactics). The idea of saving people by time traveling is awesome as well.

But its act II that gets you. That's where the real interesting things start happening, and when the story finally starts to take itself seriously. Depending on your karma, you have three different routes you can take. Good, Bad or Neutral- Good is generic, butterflies and rainbows and all that shit. Bad and Neutral...that's the interesting bits. You see hints of the darker sides of the story before act II, but its only after a certain event later on that really hits it home. The good route downplays it alot (a shame really), but its the bad and especially neutral route that really fleshes out the story and adds a whole new element to it. (No Spoilers.)

Other criticisms would include the job system, where you start out at level one all over again. But since they require far less exp to level up to decent tier, it's not really as bad as it sounds. As for music, I muted it off the bat with most games I play. The ability to mute the music was another great feature of the game, while the graphics were rather high tier compared to other rpg maker games.

A fair amount of warning to potential players though, make sure to get at least 5 points of karma on any route, if not you won't be able to progress through the end of act II. Highest karma determines your route, and keep several save games just in case.

All and all, the game is very solid and very enjoyable, you just have to invest a great amount of effort to get to the juicy bits, unlock new skills and jobs, and get kickass equipment. If there was a guide to this game, it would have made my experience a lot easier, but as of now I found myself rummaging through comments below like crazy. I'd give this game a 4.5/5, but it would have been a 5/5 if not for the agonizingly slow beginning.