Harukanaru Toki no Naka de Yume no Ukihashi (遙かなる時空の中で 夢浮橋, Yume no Ukihashi translated as "Floating Bridge of Dreams") is a crossover game of the first three —Heian period centric— Haruka entries.
The Premium Box edition includes autographs from the voice actors and an original epilogue CD. The Treasure Box edition has the same merchandise with another original drama CD, a databook containing character data, and keychains made in the new characters' image.
Plot
Sometime during the games' stories, the presiding god of the dream world is infuriated when an unprecedented vengeful spirit infestation threatens his realm. He abducts the souls of the dreaming three White Dragon Priestesses and their Eight Guardians —whose negligence he deems to be the main cause of the invasion— to demand their eternal servitude to him. They are rescued by the god's younger brother who offers his mansion as hospice. With his help, they seek to restore order to the dream world and rescue their captured comrades for a safe return to their rightful eras.
Gameplay
General
At the start of each game, the player must pick one protagonist to use. Whoever they pick decides their possible romance routes. Players can read broad introductions for each protagonist's era or quickly skip to selecting a guardian. Regardless of the player's protagonist and selected individual, their starting team of characters will always be the same. Variations of the beginning sequence occur based on their team composition.
| Seiryu | Suzaku | Byakko | Genbu |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yorihisa Minamoto Tenma Morimura |
Isato Akifumi |
Yuzuru Arikawa Kagetoki Kajiwara |
n/a n/a |
| n/a n/a |
Inori Shimon Nagareyama |
Yukitaka Fujiwara Hisui |
Atsumori Taira Ridvan |
| Masaomi Arikawa Kurou Yoshitsune Minamoto |
n/a n/a |
Takamichi Fujiwara Tomomasa Tachibana |
Motomi Minamoto Yasutsugu Abe |
| Yoritada Minamoto Katsuzane Taira |
Hinoe Benkei Musashibo |
n/a n/a |
Eisen Yasuaki Abe |
Movement is performed in the same manner as the fourth title. Vengeful spirits are visible on the map while the player's party moves towards their location. Priestesses can momentarily repel them if the player blows into the console's microphone. Each time the player performs the deed, it drains a section of her Spiritual Power (circular blue icon on the map GUI). When it becomes critically drained, the player will be unable to negate battles until it is restored.
Combat mainly borrows from the third game's system except for the removal of the protagonist's turn and fully body battle portraits. The player can order the actions for three possible guardians before the attack sequence commences. Attack order is decided by each participant's Agility parameter rather than always letting the main party strike first. Will Power has been simplified as a concrete numerical value for every magic spell and ability. Magic still requires the protagonist and party members to share a required number of intimacy stars with the protagonist in order to activate. "Cheer" (応援) restores a single character's lost Will Power.
Guardians can be swapped before or during battle by rotating the active party wheel; the wheel can be altered only outside of battle within the main menu. A character's three battle parameters (Attack, Defense, Agility) increase naturally based on the number of victories made with their participation. First time players may wish to have every character fight in order ot unlock their abilities. Greater boosts occur if the enemy strength is placed on "Strong" within the settings menu. Most characters can max out their stats in the high nineties.
The player may want to rescue the other guardians not in their team by breaking through every gate in the center square. Crossover events and spells can be acquired if certain members have been recruited. Summoning magic can be acquired if the main party defeats the boss located at the farthest cardinal direction of the map. Different default endings occur if the party fails or succeeds to rescue every guardian and deity before fighting the final boss.
Here are other standard traits with this title:
- A title call from one of the guardians and special welcoming messages based on last time played and time of day (based on NDS system data). Certain guardians will speak for specific seasons/holidays.
- Music, backgrounds, and character portraits are mostly recycled from the key continuities. There are four unique music tracks.
- The two other priestesses will keep their default names in the script. If the player chooses to not rename their selected protagonist, other characters will speak it aloud during events.
- Unique voice commentary has been added to every event still in the gallery.
- Muting options are available for specific characters.
- Audio dialogue is lip-synced. Lip-flaps have been added to unvoiced dialogue.
- Neo Angelique's one button skip settings are in place.
Personal Routes
Every guardian starts with three stars of affinity with the protagonist, visually being represented as falling or rising ★ throughout the game. Once these stars are maxed out through main story events or winning battles, one of their "Little Dream Boxes" (夢の小箱) will pop onto the map. Guardians who debut in the same canon as the priestess will have three possible boxes, while crossover guardians have one box.
Once the protagonist opens the box, a dream event with a particular character initiates. The focal character will say a line before the dream to act as a preview. If the player selects favorable responses during these events, the protagonist may gain two additional bonds with the character. Guardians with the same origin as the protagonist have ten possible stars and can share a romantic ending with their priestess. Crossover guardians have one friendship event and give special farewell messages to the priestess during the denouement. Finishing either event successfully unlocks a special message when their profile is accessed in the menu screen.
The player can easily multi-task to earn multiple endings simultaneously in one playthrough. The ending which can be experienced is reliant on the lone character they choose during their departure from the dream world. As long as the player keeps their cleared save, it can be reloaded to defeat the final boss again for another character's ending. A complete save requires at least one playthrough with the three protagonists.
Modes
Continue
Self-explanatory. Six save slots. Continue from a cleared save to keeps system data of unlocked character endings. Characters also keep their earned parameters and abilities from cleared save data.
New Game
Self-explanatory. If the player has completed the game once, they have the option to keep their guardian's previously earned battle stats and abilities after selecting their protagonist.
Memories
Gallery to review earned image and events. Events are cohesive collections of each character's romance events.
Settings
Adjustments for text and skipping speed. Volume adjustment options for music and sound effects. Specific characters can now be muted. Battles can be changed to Weak or Strong. If these options are changed before a new game, they will automatically be in effect.
Mobile Joy
Cellphone bonuses after inputting passwords given on the Gamecity Fanclub site. Rewards players with images and audio clips for their cellphone.
Characters
The first cast mainly reuse their PS2 Hachiyoushou portraits, and the third cast's portraits are limited mostly to their debut appearances. Characters with an asterisk next to their name are present but unvoiced. The majority of these characters only appear in specific character events.
Special Changes
The PS2 re-release (Special) offers the following alterations.
- New romance routes are available depending on the protagonist selected. These boxes are added after the protagonist completes the main story objective for each division of the world map. Once their events are completed, choose to return alone during the final departure sequence to receive their endings. Three illustrations can be earned for these new routes.
- Akane: Beidou Xingjun and Nandou Xingjun
- Karin: Akram
- Nozomi: Tomomori Taira and Shigehira Taira
- Select pairs can have new group endings with their era's priestess. Open two of each guardians' boxes and revisit Nandou Xingjun's villa to trigger them. The protagonist can choose her preferred duo during the departure sequence.
- Every romance event is fully voiced.
- Additional unvoiced character events can highlight a guardian's impressions after his romance event or an episode which can occur when visiting a location in the dream world.
- Shirin (unvoiced) appears in Akram's first event.
- Certain events from the DS version have been removed.
- Enemy difficulty is now Weak, Normal, or Strong.
- Press
to repel battles. - Twenty-four save slots.
- Voice Collection has been added to the Memories section. Bonus character messages can be earned for each character if the player has collected a certain percentage.
Its Premium Box edition has printed versions of the new images compiled into a book and postcards. These goods are included in the Treasure Box edition which also has a printout of the game cover's image signed by Tohko Mizuno and a character illustrated karuta deck (referenced in Masaomi and Yuzuru's group ending). The Neoromance 3 Titles Gamecity campaign added a school calendar and a chance to win various prizes.
Related Media
Two guidebooks and two variety CDs were published for the game.
Gallery
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Premium Box cover
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Treasure Box cover
