Spectral Souls
Developed by Idea Factory, the team behind Generation of Chaos, I had little hope for Spectral Souls going in. As I was expecting the strategy RPG takes place in a world ripe with political turmoil, opposing forces and just about every other genre cliché under the sun. NIS is known for publishing games that exude personality, but sufficed to say this one is generic to the point that you'll find yourself skipping through all of the story stuff. Thankfully a single press of the start button got the dialogue bubbles popping faster. Normally I don't do this, but since there is literally a load time in between each snippet of conversation I found myself more than eager to move things along.
Basically all you really need to know is that in a place called Neverland (not Jackson's ranch) a battle is brewing between humans and demons. There are different forces at play and the fragile peace has finally shattered between them so naturally it's up to you to fight your way to victory. The nice part is in Spectral Souls you actually get to pick which army you want to play as. Doing so can change the way the game plays out and does indeed alter the story, but is it really worth the aggravation of sitting through hours of loading screens? Not so much.
Gameplay:
Since Spectral Souls is a strategy RPG there are many things you can assuredly assume going in. The battle area is laid out in the form of a grid with varying heights, objects and distances. At the beginning of combat your party is deployed and you're given a range of movement depending on the character and location. Attacking is accomplished by position your players and pressing the command when you're the correct distance from an enemy. Each fight also has objectives such as kill everyone to win (duh) and have everyone in your party die to lose (double duh). In fact the gameplay in this title is so cookie cutter you're bound to make immediate comparisons to other titles such as Final Fantasy Tactics or, yes, even Disgaea. There are enough similarities to garner those comparisons but there is a surprising amount of depth the further you get in.
You'll notice immediately that the flow of turns is different than most SRPG titles. Each character has an icon that moves along a bar at the top of the screen. This represents the speed in which a character (or enemy) gets their turn. If you ever played Atelier Iris or are familiar with that game, the system works pretty much the same way. It was a nice spin on the genre, since it really added a new echelon of strategic elements that needed to be applied.
Spectral Souls also employs two combat options called "Hold" and "Charge". Each character is given a certain amount of points that can be applied to attacking or whatnot. Each selection has a cost associated with it, so say you have 8 points and an attack is valued at 4 you'll still have 4 points left over. The system works a little bit like a card game with casting costs, but unused points aren't cumulative by any means.
The best way to maximize your attack points is with the Hold feature which allows you to pile on a variety of strikes. You can simply toss one attack after another or experiment to make a combo out of nothing. This particular gameplay system gives a lot of room to tinker with and really opens up the combat once you got right down to it. The Charge feature works essentially the same way as Hold, but you can do team attacks with other characters if you get the strategy right.
Over the course of the game you'll build up your characters and find new ones along the way. Customization becomes a strong factor with nigh-limitless character potential and a great variety of skills to harness. Things also get deeper as you explore the possibilities of playing as a different army to fool around with Historical Events that change the face of the world. There is so much to do in Spectral Souls that it's not even funny, but all of this comes at a tragic cost; it's borderline intolerable due to load times.
When I complained earlier about the loading times during conversations that was only scratching the surface of my gripes. Everything in this game takes time to load; and my God, do I mean EVERYTHING. If you want to open a menu there's a load time, if you want to open a door in town, if you want to attack, if you want to change your action, heck… if you even just want it to be your turn in battle there's a freaking load time! SRPG fights often take a fair amount of time but considering the sheer amount squandered seconds that this title throws at you it's downright infuriating. While most of these times were minuscule I counted multiple load times from one scene to the next to the tune of 28 seconds or more.
I so wanted to love this game because truly, it has many elements that I got into. The deep customization, the combo-laden battle system and the multiple armies to explore were fantastic. Unfortunately the experience was ruined by the worst loading time I have ever witnessed in my 23 years of gaming. Diehards with nerves of steel may be able to stick through the frustration, but there are so few of you brave souls out there. It's sad to say but it would appear that $40 buys you more load time than actual gameplay.
Graphics:
That generic word comes back into play when you're talking about the graphics for Spectral Souls. Deformed characters and low resolution grids blanket the game with a visual finesse that reached its crescendo back in the 90s. Granted this stuff is typical SRPG fare, but some graphical flare would have been nice. Animations are limited, textures are drab and some of the on screen text is too small to read on the PSP's LCD screen. The character designs are nice at least.
Audio:
While the music in this game is yet again standard to the genre, I thought the soundtrack in Spectral Souls was pretty darned good for a handheld. Some of the tunes were a little out of place where they were being played but for the most part they helped add some depth to the world of Neverland. Sounds effects are mediocre with limited range so unfortunately the audio package isn't completely solid.
Conclusion:
Ouch. Just ouch. Spectral Souls had so much potential working in its favor. PSP gamers were on the cusp of getting a great SRPG title only to have the rug ripped out from underneath their feet by an absolutely staggering amount of load time. As a PSP owner I have become accustomed to abnormal loading time, but this game by far takes the cake. This is a great game completely ruined by this one single flaw and frankly it's a crying shame. Those of you with nerves of steel may be able to enjoy it but everyone else should just keep their $40. To put it another way if this release didn't have the loading issues you'd be looking at a 3.0 and a recommendation. Sadly that's not the case.