Good stuff! I feel like this exists in a pretty unique place in Square's history. Being "the Cinematic RPG", it absolutely feels at home on the PS1, sacrificing so much of its contemporaries' complexities as an RPG to go all-in on its frequent FMVs. But it's not an incompetent RPG either. The battle system at play is simple but rewarding, a good blend of 3D space and 2D Square's ATB system which I understand would be later refined in Vagrant Story. The gun upgrade system is a fun way to incentivize some character customization in such a linear adventure with its lone party member. And I hardly need to get into the cast or story or anything like that. I love that Aya and Daniel and Eve all feel like they've wandered off the set of an action movie and into this horror story, and rather than adjust to the tone, they just continue to do their own thing despite all the body horror going on.
This playthrough was my third time through this game, after reading an LP and playing it myself years before. I'll admit I embarrassed myself on stream this time around, spending over an hour trying to escape the Warehouse bonus dungeon while underleveled and underequipped. My cohost made the most of it - see here - but I worry I gave a bad impression of the game's overall experience. It really is great, I'm just bad at the video game. Sometimes that happens, I guess.
For this particular playthrough, I thought it'd be a fun exercise to read the novel that acts as this game's prequel. It's remarkably different - not bad, but pretty slow medical procedural for the first two thirds while you're waiting for the action to start up. The best comparison I can think of to describe the game and book's relationship is like when Hollywood takes a fairly tame source material and spices it up for their big-budget, feature-length blockbuster release. Which, I suppose, is also befitting of "the Cinematic RPG".
I've never tackled the Chrysler Building. Between the LP and the various horror stories I've read online, I have no interest in doing so. I guess I respect the moxie of it existing and that it's a challenge for people who got deep into the gameplay loop, but I'm good. I'll take the weird, non-canon false ending that gets retconned in the sequel.
This playthrough was my third time through this game, after reading an LP and playing it myself years before. I'll admit I embarrassed myself on stream this time around, spending over an hour trying to escape the Warehouse bonus dungeon while underleveled and underequipped. My cohost made the most of it - see here - but I worry I gave a bad impression of the game's overall experience. It really is great, I'm just bad at the video game. Sometimes that happens, I guess.
For this particular playthrough, I thought it'd be a fun exercise to read the novel that acts as this game's prequel. It's remarkably different - not bad, but pretty slow medical procedural for the first two thirds while you're waiting for the action to start up. The best comparison I can think of to describe the game and book's relationship is like when Hollywood takes a fairly tame source material and spices it up for their big-budget, feature-length blockbuster release. Which, I suppose, is also befitting of "the Cinematic RPG".
I've never tackled the Chrysler Building. Between the LP and the various horror stories I've read online, I have no interest in doing so. I guess I respect the moxie of it existing and that it's a challenge for people who got deep into the gameplay loop, but I'm good. I'll take the weird, non-canon false ending that gets retconned in the sequel.