Pretty much an upgraded experience to the first one, though I played the psp versions of both the first game and this one, so not much had changed mechanically. If you've played the first game, this is pretty much the same gameplay-wise, battles go pretty much by mashing X (outside of couple selected boss fights of course) and you can pretty much annihilate the game's challenge with the right skills, menu no jutsu and savescumming. Casually you probably won't even need those, but there are some late- and postgame content that seems to require some cheesing and guides to even find them.

Visually, this game is just as beautiful as the first one, maybe even more. The interiors seem to be 3D-renders and while it helps your pixelart-character to pop out in the scene, it makes actually navigating and interacting with the environment taxing. The pixelart itself is really well done and the little animations are cute, kinda reminiscent of jrpgs on SNES (gee, almost like they had the experience or something). There is also some FMVs and character art done by animation studio. These were a nice little touch, though the cutscenes were reserved for only major moments and showed only the main characters. I don't blame them, animation can get quite expensive.

I found the soundtrack to be tad underwhelming compared to the first game. I can still remember some of the songs from the first one, but hardly any of the songs here made an impact. I don't want to say that it was bad, the soundtrack definitely served it's purpose. There just isn't any songs that stood out or made me return to listen them again.

Then there is the story. This is probably the biggest upgrade to the first game I noticed. The main character in the first game was bland by design, someone the player could project themselves onto and relate with. The second game took a wildly different route and made two playable protagonists with their own stories and personalities. They are actual full-fledged characters with their own goals, dreams and weaknesses beyond just saving the world from evil. It's a bold choice and pays off somewhat, I really like Rena and her story whereas I find Claude rather irritating. I get it, he's supposed to be stupid teenager and have all this pressure and grow during the story, but he can get really insecure and insufferable. The side characters also shine well, some more than others. In the end I can't think of single boring side character who didn't have something interesting going on for them and I could enjoy myself with the story. Despite the name "Star Ocean", this game also continues the good tradition of the first game of introducing us to a scifi setting and then putting us in the middle of a medieval fantasy. I'm not saying you can't do medieval fantasy well, you just might feel rather fooled if you think you're going to play a scifi-rpg.

I can recommend this game if you like jrpgs. It got a bit more involved battle system than just turned-based and the story is great. It's not without it's shortcomings, but if you played and liked the first game, you're most likely going to love this one.

I've been hearing praises for this game for years already and now finally beat the PSP port. It's a solid indie game and I can see why it's so loved.

While the gameplay is really simple, it's been executed beautifully. Some people don't like the floaty jumping, but I personally don't mind and it's fun to explore around trying out where you can actually reach. The game also has a wide variety of weapons serving different playstyles, but you'll do well using just one or two of them during your whole playthrough. It also has some metroidvania flavor with gadgets and powerups you can use to reach places not reachable before, but these are often just sidemissions and are not required for progression.

The game is also mostly on the easier side if you play casually. Some of the bosses can get challenging, but they are often generous with pickups to refill your health and weapon xp, so you never feel completely helpless. With the normal ending, I never really felt challenged until the final bosses. Going for the true ending is a whole another story and the difficulty ramps up considerably, but you still don't feel like it's unfair. Ever challenge can be beaten with knowing your moveset and careful tactics.

This game also features a rather complex story and a beautiful soundtrack. The story is mainly told through dialogue with the npcs and you don't really have to fill anything in yourself, just play the game and focus on what people are telling you to uncover the mystery. While I appreciate "show don't tell" style of storytelling better, this type of serves it's purpose well enough and does it's job. The characters have all been made well and are interesting and I can't say I remember any boring cutscene and I was invested in the story fully.

It's a good game with a great cultural impact. If you haven't played it already, I can well recommend checking it out.

The massive popularity of the Batman movie can really be seen in the thought and care that was put into this game. The aesthetics are well-done and everything from graphics to the music is made to reproduce the same kind of gothic vibe the movie had. I can say that I enjoyed myself with this one.

On gameplay-wise, this is clearly a product of it's time. It's a NES-platformer that seems to be padding the gametime with challenge. It's not as painfully difficult than some other platformers released on the system, but the difficulty ramps up pretty fast during the last two levels. Especially the last one has some tricky and specific jumps you need to perform accurately or you can kiss your health goodbye. The only saving here grace is the generous amount of pickups the enemies drop.

Platforming itself is generally well done. Sure, there are some jumps that require pixel-perfect execution, but performing them is actually not too hard once you figure out what you need to do. The controls perform smoothly and the character's movement is consistent. My only gripe here is that jumping while holding d-pad locks you into that jump, but that's not too much of a hindrance. By the fourth level you've gotten a good idea how it all works and can perform jumps you didn't even realize are possible.

With the platforming requiring so much skill, the bosses themselves feel almost ridiculously easy in comparison. They often have pretty well telegraphed attacks and Batman's weapons seem to damage them pretty good. Only the last two bosses gave me any actual trouble.

My final thoughts are that it's a NES-era platformer. It can get pretty challenging, but clearing the challenge feels immensely satisfying. This game really makes you feel like Batman.