Soul Hackers 2 is like the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull of Megaten. I don't think I've fully processed that it exists, even like a year and a half after finishing it. I think of this game often. It just confuses me - it's like the ultimate monkey's paw. They made a sequel to a 1997 Sega Saturn game that offers basically nothing to someone who loved the original, aside from some terminology carried over.

This game is fine - and I think that's what makes me so bitter towards it. They specifically selected one of the most unique, rough around the edges Megami Tensei games and sanded all of the interesting features down into something more digestable for general audiences. Things like demon loyalty and zoma fusions had so much more potential, but instead of exploring that they were just stripped and replaced with a combat system reminiscent of modern Persona. Dungeon design is repetitive, as is the music. They added in a pointless mascot character, there's nostalgia baiting content locked behind a paywall, and even the game's special Jack Frost variant was only obtainable by pre-ordering.

So many things about this game just reek of marketability and someone in a suit making the decisions, which is pretty funny considering it spends time critiquing capitalism and exploiting nostalgia.

Ringo is a very cool character. There are some standout tracks in the OST too. It's just not enough to justify the rest of the game for me. Some people see that this game is functional and has characters and argue its reception was unfair. I also knew people who saw Crystal Skull as their first Indiana Jones movie who said the same thing.

A very enjoyable survival horror game that focuses much more on the aesthetic than nail biting survival. Despite the novel 'real time pre-rendered graphics' the game has quite a bit of restraint visually and with the dialogue. Usually games like this veer off into twee and eye rolling quips but you can feel the very conscious restraint and I really appreciated it. It was deeply refreshing to play an indie game that is a bit quirky without at all being cringy.

Anyway, simple combat mechanics and the game never gets truly hard but that's not the main point. The fact is this game has very nicely contextualized enemy respawning only when you make major progress and something I've seen basically never which is constant traps everywhere, traps constantly being added to places you've been before. If you think about it for two seconds, that's the main usage for traps in a game, you're naturally going to be more careful your first time through, so traps are at their most obvious and easily avoided then. Just a smart decision and makes the game 50x more fun. The puzzles are just enough to make you pump out some level of cognition instead of just phoning it in but I'll be honest I was a bit disappointed there weren't any headscratchers. If I was ever stuck at a puzzle for more than just a moment it was consistently because I overthought it, and in which case I solved it instantly. But, that's the point of the gameplay. Enough enemies, traps, puzzles and backtracking to keep you constantly engaged and thinking, which is an essential part of this ultimately aesthetic experience (I say this positively).

The visuals, the audio and the story are all captivating. The themepark setting feels decidedly fresh with the Final Fantasy VII influence and the high amount of not interactivity per se, but the detail with the interactions and the fact it feels like everything in the game is a necessary and important part. The arcade in particular was a great experience. I could go on and on, the crow design is iconic and endearing, the story was engaging, I quite liked Mara and all the vignettes. Overall recommended to anyone that wants a game focused on being fun first and foremost.

What is easily the best looking game for the Playstation 1, could use a remaster that goes into it like a director's cut. I want the visuals to stay the same, seeing all the facial expressions, all the animations for the characters, the great lighting and everything is impressive, but for one, it's too long and has balancing issues that hold back what actually is a pretty enjoyable experience. I like the unique combat system, that there's no typical leveling up but almost all stat improvements are tied to your equipment, the depth of its weapon customization. But later parts of the game just drag on and on, especially since enemies have a high priority on stat changing spells which turns the fights into a battle of getting nerfed and buffing yourself up again constantly - with unskipable, way too long animations.
This is a good game and there's potential for an even better game, if only Square Enix were to ever lay their finger on it again.

I've scarcely felt so undecided on a game, this is genuinely an oddball experience. This is basically a retelling of Evangelion but in game form. The cutscenes and sound have incredible quality, but actually playing it - crazy shit. The first couple of stages set you up to think this is a 3D fighter as you control Eva 01 and fight angels, but just as soon as you get used to that, you're slapped in the face by an 8 second mission where you're fighting with the controls trying to aim a missile. Then you're mashing buttons hard enough to give yourself an aneurysm as you chase down Jet Alone - and then its a fucking rhythm game with Asuka. Your head will be spinning, but not for long, because you can clear this entire thing in like an hour. Is it even fair to call this a game? It feels more like something you'd play with at a museum exhibit