I've finally finished reading this thread!
PJ, you seem like a pretty wise person.
I finished Shattered Memories the day after I received my PS2 copy of it in the mail, and I was overall pleased. Actually, it's not very often that I'll sit down and beat an entire game in just a couple of gaming sessions. Luckily I had the time to devote to this one, and it had me hooked. I
loved that it kept me wondering what in the world was going on until the end; I can't say the same for the previous two installments in the series. (That statement wasn't meant as bashing, as I did still enjoy and appreciate the last two games, at least for certain aspects.)
While I'd say Shattered Memories was somewhat decently lengthed, it could definitely have been made longer with more areas to pass through and explore. I did enjoy what exploring there was. I liked that we could leave the path in the forest area, and I liked that when swimming across the lake, we could look down and see things. Despite the lack of monsters in the regular realm, I found that it still had a good atmosphere and enjoyed moving through it, especially outdoors. Sometimes when I'd enter an area and think I heard something, I found myself somewhat expecting a monster, even though I knew better.
The otherworld, on the other hand, wasn't quite a winning point with me. The flee sequences were alarming and frustrating at first, but then they got kind of annoying. I sometimes tried to avoid them by being stealthy, but that never really worked for long.
I don't think the otherworld
looked so great, either, but I don't think that was a main point.
I was a a bit disappointed by the enemies, as I found their "transformations" to be much less drastic than I expected and difficult to see well (or sometimes even notice!) while fleeing. I also think it would have been nice to have at least a couple or a few different
types of enemies in the game instead of always encountering tons of the same damn thing. Their noises kept reminding me of Jurassic Park raptors.
I don't mean to say I thoroughly disliked the otherworld and the raw shocks- I think they could have been better, but they were great concepts and not executed badly. I consider them worthy parts of the game.
I love the concept of things changing based on how you play and how you answer Kaufmann. I find lots of replay value in it. Usually I feel like waiting a while (weeks, months, sometimes even more) to replay a game, because I don't get as much out of a game if I've just recently played it. But I felt like starting this game again pretty much right after finishing it, and only partly because of the obvious incentives. The game is just somehow addictive- there's something about it! I'll be going through it again very soon.
I've read about some of the things that can change in the game, but I'm anxious to experiment with the possibilities myself. I think it's awesome that not only do characters and monsters look different, but some cutscenes also play out differently and some of the surroundings will be different. Also the fact that in the mall you can enter one place or the other, but only one on each playthrough because the other place will be closed to you. I think little separations of pathways like that are really cool. Also the fact that you can go a little bit out of your way to discover something, but that you can also just go past it. I hope to discover more!
I didn't really expect that the whole cult aspect would be completely absent, and while I find that kind of sad, the game did fine without it. The story kept me interested, and the ending really caught me off guard. I
really appreciated that. I can't say I was moved to tears or anything, but I was pretty blown away. I've spoiled some things for myself on here regarding other endings and the like, but that's okay. I got a lot out of my first playthrough and I think I'll still get a lot out of my next playthroughs.
The (PS2) graphics weren't what I'd call great, but I wasn't going into this game expecting or caring about great graphics.
The puzzles were probably a bit underdone, but I thought it was pretty cool the way the one in the art room worked out. And I doubt this was supposed to be a puzzle, but in the store with the safe, I assumed I had to enter a 3-number combination on the lock. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what the combination was supposed to be, and my frustrations were increased by the fact that the dial couldn't even be turned all the way. I gave in and looked that part up in a walkthrough, which told me to turn it to 70. I wasn't sure where 70 came from, but I went with it!
To be honest, the phone messages got a little annoying. There were just so many of them, it got old. It might have been nice to learn things more through a mixture of notes/documents and messages, or something. Some of those messages, though, I didn't even think of being related to Cheryl until reading about them on here, and so now I can look forward to listening to them next time with that new light.
To wrap up, Shattered Memories was really a good game that I look forward to playing more and to reading more about on here. I've been pretty pleased with both of Climax's contributions to the series and am hopeful.
Sorry my "review" was so long, but I say if I'm going to bother doing it, why not express all of my main thoughts?