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It's pretty much common knowledge, but Japan has way too many RPGs for its own good. We Westerners get lucky from to time and usually get the best of the bunch, though we still miss out on some classic gems, including some we've likely never even heard of. Shinki Gensou is a prime example of the everyday Strategy RPG for the Japanese PlayStation 2. Despite a tepid critical reception in Japan, it earned enough of a fan base to warrant a sequel not too long after. Titled Shinki Gensou: Spectral Souls II, it also received enough attention to lead Idea Factory to port the sequel to the PSP and, eventually, a direct localization from NIS America.
Spectral Souls' premise is familiar, albeit with a little twist. You obviously assume the role of an effeminate protagonist heralded with the chore to save the world (in this case, Neverland) from warfare. Of course, with this you get to choose between joining any of the game's three factions, be it the Royal Demon Kingdom, the Imperial Army or the Rebel Army. Made of humans, demons or both, the choice to destroy or merely prevent war is totally up to you. The best feature of this branching storyline is that you're free to switch between alliances at any time, offering for very interesting plotlines and multiple endings.
Spectral Souls is, at face value, another typical SRPG straight out of Japan with the same kind of anime-influenced characters you grow to love (or hate, in some cases).
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As in just about any other SRPG you've played before, your loyal peons cross the battlefield with issued commands, ready to distribute special attacks, guard or charge at will. For the most part, levels offer some form of variety, but there are no real archipelagos or sceneries in Spectral Souls that'll knock your socks off. It's fun, but it also suffers from a whole lot of generic themes. If that kind of thing gets to you quickly, your complaints have only started.
It's normal to worry about porting issues when you're looking forward to a game. You've grown accustomed to a standard, without the discouraging compromises brought on by the translation. When its target platform is known for porting issues it's going to spell trouble. Spectral Souls bears some of the worst loading times in video game history. It's a very unfortunate drawback in the game's design, because the loading is so bad at times that it manages to be longer than most battles altogether. "Disc Access" will likely be the most familiar bit of text you'll come across, beginning with loading breaks reaching from areas that are common in most games (in the front end, between cutscenes, while loading the following map), to some you may have never seen before (scrolling through dialogue, accessing the HUD menu, just plain moving). It's very discouraging and unless you have Zen-like patience, you will likely put the game down before the first few missions are over.
Spectral Souls is, at face value, another typical SRPG straight out of Japan with the same kind of anime-influenced characters you grow to love (or hate, in some cases). But it's only when you actually get to playing the game that you notice how little playing time you spend actually doing anything. With loading that lasts longer than most battles, trekking through this SRPG feels like a real chore, despite some shining moments towards the end of the game. The design is solid, but the porting isn't, ruining the experience and rendering the game to feel unplayable. The curious or hopelessly consolephobic should approach with caution; Spectral Souls is a game that did things right, ported into a sad unplayable mess.
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