I think this game is an improvement on everything the first game did besides the actual gameplay itself. The art style is the same as the first game but way more stylized and colorful which is exactly how I picture sonic as a franchise. One of my favorite things about the adventure games is that every character had their own genre of music. But in SA2 this leaked into the levels, so each level theme was made to fit the character then the stage. It really put you in the shoes of the character you were playing as.
The story is almost the best in the series in my opinion and shadow the hedgehog is an amazing antihero in every way shape and form. Everyone in the story is super in character, yet they all act realistically to serious moments (well as realistic as a blue hedgehog on the GameCube can get). That last scene on the ark is the most the series has ever made me feel something.
Now the gameplay is where problems arise. There's the speed levels, mech levels, and treasure hunting levels. Thew speed levels are definitely the best part of the game as they're fast, reward skillful play, and are replayable. The mech levels are slow and clunky, but they can sometimes be satisfying when you chain a bunch of targets together. The worst thing this game has to offer are the treasure hunting levels. There emerald pieces are randomly placed, the radar is horrible, and the stages are huge. These levels can last so long if you dont know what you're doing and it drags the experience down too much.
So yeah this game is very special to me and to many but it fundamentally has issues and if i only truly like 1/3 of the gameplay i can only vouche for the game so much before i start to deny things that are just true. I still love the game though.

This was the first game to make me cry. I played this back in middle school thinking it was just the game with the "funny little skeleton", boy was I wrong. This game is so cleverly made its scary. Its very deceptive and can be extremely dark. But it has the most heartwarming message in any game I've every played. The game id very good at telling the story through gameplay as well. The game's turn based but reactionary combat tremendously helps with that. The game is fairly short as well which is my personal preference. With spoiling anything, just don't be afraid to experiment with the choices you make and pay attention to the dialogue. You'll be heavily rewarded for things like that.

This game is so jank at times and the cutscenes are horrible, but if you look closer and truly try to appreciate the game, you can see how much passion was poured into this game. The levels were designed very well and the characters control the best in the series to this day. The music is way ahead of its time, and had no right to go as hard as it did. Many people say that SA1 mainly had rock music and while that is true there was a heavy amount of jazz inspiration as well and its very pleasing to the ears. This game is peak sonic if you can overlook some shortcomings.

Story was kinda just standard jrpg nonsense but it’s been a while since i’ve played a game like that so it was refreshing. The art-style is super charming to me and it’s very nice to look at. The combat starts off very button marshy but it actually has a lot of depth to it and using different characters and co-op is also fun. My main issue is with how long this game is. The game is fun for a while then it becomes so repetitive and boring and the story becomes so predictable and it drags on and on and on and on. It starts to become a chore after you get to the second world and by that point i was just forcing myself to keep going. I’m sure i might come back to it someday but it’s just not clicking with me anymore.

This is honestly a near perfect game in my eyes. I’ll keep this brief. Roxas is one of the best characters in a Jrpg. Certain fights near the end of the game a little emotional. The story has a lot of attention to detail and the characters have many good moments. I think the combat (on critical mode or level 1) is the best combat in any action jrpg i’ve played. I’m not gonna bore you on the details, there’s multiple hour long videos on this game dissecting the combat and showing why it’s a masterpiece. The music especially in the remastered version is amazing, the orchestral music really fits and makes things 10x more dramatic than they would be. The graphics and voice acting or way better than the first game and you can really tell they put way more effort into polishing it.

FF9 is the only ps1 FF i could complete and i was not disappointed at all. The games story was way better than i thought from looking at the box art. I’m genuinely baffled a game like this got me to cry. The combat is the best adaptation of the atb system i’ve seen (until ff13). It was really satisfying getting abilities from weapons and equipment cause there was always a choice to be made. “Do i use this weaker sword on a boss to get the swords ability rather quickly, or do i just use the stronger one with an ability already mastered to have an easier time?” I love opportunities like this in games and they constantly show up in FF9. I do think the soundtrack is probably the weakest from the FF games i’ve played so far but it’s still really good. Overall this game is definitely worth playing, don’t let the art-style turn you off, this game will make you feel.