things more profound than full metal daemon muramasa:

-my sally brown shirt that says "be kind" on it
-that chapter in yotsuba when she has to say bye to her grandma
-the F.U.N. song from spongebob

it's funny that the translation of this got so much hate when it really can't change the fact that the game itself is bad, no matter what language it's in

there's a cool understanding of what this is, not just a sequel but a maturing of derek and angie from rookies to veterans, that is shown through the OST.

for some context: i consider the first game's "normal operation" music one of the most amazing pieces of video game music ever. not just because it itself is a great scary tune, but because it serves its purpose of being tense, not overwhelmingly horrific. atlus knew the gameplay of trauma center was something unlike anything anyone had really ever seen before, and you have to remember that the touch-heavy games on the DS were usually pushed as casual, family-friendly difficulty romps. "normal operation" is a genius track, emphasizing that this game was about to get crazy and it wasn't for the average person trying to kill time.

a lot of the first game's OST is horror slanted, but this one's is much more techno and electronic. it represents a confident derek stiles, and i love that! you're no longer a scared little himbo, you're a superhimbo!

gameplay has been refined and is way more forgiving, but... it plays way slower. this is the biggest flaw in it -- it's too easy for the wrong reason. everything just feels like slow-mo, and the surgery patterns are meant to reflect on this by being much more forgiving and simple. there's a lot of recovery you can do in surgeries in this game, and it does kinda suck since that aspect doesn't really work itself into the whole "you've honed your skills in trauma center 1, now prove yourself in 2!" vibe i just praised this one for having... but whatever.

story is all over the place once again, but i appreciate it being much less random. emilioooo ;_;

this is simultaneously a half-star and a five-star experience.

i don't trust people that can walk away from this and just say, "oh, it's just another bad telltale fad game" and move on with their life.

this features the most insane, psychopathic writing (both literal and structurally) i have ever witnessed. this game will change your fucking life. it is goddamn amazing. there are lines like "go fuck your selfie", "I WAS EATING THOSE BEANS", and "this is the only place where i can feel 'myselfie' ", what the fuck are you waiting for? please play this game. it's honestly inspiring. it taught me that as long as you nail your aesthetic to a demographic, you can make money.

"IF YOU SAVE ME, I WILL FIGHT YOU AGAIN, AND I WILL KILL YOU. I'LL KILL THE PEOPLE THAT ARE PRECIOUS TO YOU FIRST, AND THEN YOU. AND YOU WON'T BE THE LAST. I'LL CONTINUE TO KILL EVEN AFTER THAT."

a mysterious game that came from the future.
this was noriaki okamura's big directorial debut, but unfortunately the depth just isn't there.
it feels uncomfortable at parts just how little is given to you plotwise in what is clearly trying to be something grounded in morality. there's a bad end just for deliberately destroying every single building and making sure all survivors end up dead -- something that is not possible unless done on purpose, to which leo says "i was... just playing...", and that's fantastic! but nothing past this extremely interesting detail is really given to the player to latch onto, and the game ends up becoming what i would assume it didn't want to be: an action game instead of a cinematic action game, a la mgs.

atmosphere, sound effects, music, and visuals are all top-notch. this is a konami game being produced by kojima, and all the assets are amazing. i can only imagine how this game felt to play on launch. it truly must've seemed otherworldly -- and im sure the intense care that went into the battle system both feeling and looking great was not by pure coincidence. the game features an awe-inspiring OP, "kiss me sunlights", a beautiful classical piece that only emphasizes the feeling of starting something you've never experienced before. you would think this is where a konami game being produced by kojima and directed by a man that has worked closely with kojima would put in some over the top anime cg cutscenes, at the very least custom visuals to match the epic swell of the music -- but half of the opening is just the regular mecha battles you do in the game. it's why i get so emotional watching the opening to ZONE OF THE ENDERS; i can truly feel how proud they were of the gameplay. how it looked, how it felt, how it immersed you into jehuty, how it immersed you into fighting. i consider this game to have one of the best OP's for any video game ever. in spite of this being an obvious cheese-fest of gundam and general mecha anime, they did not go crazy. there is nothing they could've created for the OP that could beat what they had already made in-game. and that's wonderful to me.

ZoE is a little strange and all over the place, but i think its soul is genuine.

"Boy, will you answer one stupid question?"
"Yes, what is it?"
"Was I strong?"
"...It's hard to believe that I'm still alive."
"Is that so?
Thank you.
...
Beautiful. You knew how beautiful the stars really are."

it really could've been way more funny and exciting, but it has way too many moments of "isn't this sad/relatable???" shoved in your face and it just makes it feel, ironically, out of touch. fantastic UI and art direction/pixel art, and how the game plays with the music is really genius, but i can see this easily being the next overrated """""mental health analysis/commentary"""""" thing....

most fun thing about it is the genuine balancing act of every attribute as the game 'ends' early if most are maxed out, unlike other raising sims where maxing everything is the goal.

the same thing that held this game back in 1994 holds it back today. (some) people were relieved when it was revealed this was a remaster, not a sequel or a reboot. unfortunately, the game being a remaster is exactly what destroys it. you are still playing a super fami game at its limitations, meaning that amazing selling point of "play completely different campaigns in one game!" still only gets you 1-2 hours of playtime. there's nothing inherently wrong with short campaigns in any type of game (never believe 'it's really long!' is a compliment of a game, please), but the problem here is that there is really nothing exciting to experience within these chapters. the strategy in live-a-live is non-existent save for bosses... which are placed at the very end of chapters. so in the meanwhile, you're stuck with easy, mindless dungeon battles. typical rpg stuff though, right? but the short length really shows when each chapter's story is extremely simple, something that can usually carry the grind. there's really not a nice package of story+combat, and, in fact, i'd say the best campaigns are the ones where there's little to no combat (wild west, distant future, japan).

campaign's stories themselves are pretty bad, to be honest. you know it's rough when distant future has the best plot....yet it's a complete rip-off of two of the most famous sci-fi space movies ever made.

visuals are very nice, but the team's gotten so wrapped up in their own new 2.5d space that they've forgotten how to block scenes. this game is a remaster of the original's story, all remains there. but now, everything just takes a bit too long thanks to everyone having to have a dramatic, slow walk speed and having to close their eyes, shake their heads, etc etc, making every scene a melodramatic nightmare. it's a little maddening, and apparently this is a problem in octopath traveler too(?), wouldn't be surprised.

OST remake is astounding though, these songs are beautifully arranged and have truly come to life. sure, megalomania is a pretty epic song to hear coming from your SFC, but hearing it here is on another level entirely. the boss sprites are also mind-blowing, especially the last boss!!

definitely get it if you're a die-hard of the original and want to see it in all its glory one more time, but i'd say this is a pass for most others.

it's known for its fluid animation, but this comes at a cost. your character's movement is severely hindered due to the fact that instead of snapping left to right, there is an added delay due to the makers actually adding frames to his turning. this ends up giving the game a weird difficulty spike where the levels are a cakewalk but the bosses are quite hard due to you having to play around this delay.

fun story and cinematics, and i really loved the ost. the final boss of this game is quite horrific for NES.

uchikoshi once again proving he can't do sequels to any of his series'
tokiko + chikara + tearer best characters, wasted though

it's a little disturbing how this was sold as a "separate but not separate" entry... it feels like a low-budget game trying to be sold as a passion project, and i am aware that most of his games are low-budget, but i think he used that to his advantage here. this really doesn't feel like it was thought through, and im not even talking about the entire game -- just the beginning with "date" retconned... so what was the whole 'found family' message from the first game supposed to mean? nothing? why even have date and iris and ota and moma and blah blah blah here? for fanservice points? there's no personal stakes in this one, and that's a common complaint, even from people who enjoyed it... there's just no tension. and to me, this comes from the explicit fact that this is trying to be 2 things at once. it's trying to be a sequel, but also trying to create a completely new story with a new cast. the balancing act doesn't work, the true villain sucks, even the somniums are long and boring. every character is dull, the twists are all bland or just unfair (i'm looking at you, 'quartz!') and the whole game just feels like a slow progression towards nothing.

...huge points for the intro with ryuki's mental breakdown at the gameshow though. i genuinely do think that's one of the freakiest intros to any game i've ever played. it was a great hook, and every aspect of the "glitchiness" was really cool and scary!