The best part of being an Australian is experiencing the sheer delight of international actors getting your accent slightly wrong in different ways constantly.
The puzzle at 46 minutes is solvable by reading the note. The number on top is one clue for sure, but the message itself highlights the numbers in the correct order. Foreign+4N, TO=2, Before+B4, TOmorrow=2, TO=2, SEE=C, Eight Grand=8000.
i absolutely adore the backgrounds in this game. something about the overly shiny, primitive look of early cgi, especially in short, somewhat awkward loops is so ethereal to me. coupled with the vivid, yet detailed cel shaded models makes for one of the most visually striking games on the system. I've never played this game, but just watching it is enough for me to get lost in the world. The toy room is especially hypnotising, and the atmosphere of the 'creepy spinning room' as you put it, is beyond surreal. Great video as always. I appreciate coverage of games that have something very unique to offer, but I'll probably never get around to playing
Like the others said, your content just hits on all aspects. Nice narration without slowing down or doing too much, the selection of games/game music, and your presentation. Along with nostalgia, it definitely gets us indulged. Amazing work as always!
The animations really bring out the characters, and the facial expressions aren't half bad either. Reminds me a little of Killer 7. I own a copy of this game I bought for cheap at Goodwill, but I never got real far because tank controls make me very angry. Thanks for the play through. Edit: I also was very happy to see Deke was okay. I really thought hell had claimed him. 10/10.
This game blew our minds when it came out. Playing on a crappy crt with the lights off really adds to the quality of the visual style believe it or not. You had to be there.
I saw Koudelka for a brief moment and that game is a masterpiece it doesn't have tank controls and honestly the best eng voice acting out of all psx games everyone go play it and listen to the song incantation again ! The whole game has a very nice atmosphere that could only exist on the psx such an underrated gem of a game
Fantastic video. Always been intrigued why people adored this game even though I couldn't get into the way it controlled. Now I understand why it's kind of like a cult classic. A strange but wholly unique game. Thanks for this entertaining and thorough run-through!
When u got used to the controller it became very cinematic tho playing this game consistently an smoothly is hard but rewarding when u pull it off even to die on the next screen ,repetition is key
Excellent video! Thank you for giving the sound design some love, because that stood out to me almost as much as the visuals. It’s pretty incredible for the era. The guns, the ambiences…very detailed. It all has such a cinematic feel to it.
This isn't celshaded. Along with the backgrounds you mentioned, all the lighting ( some areas even have a fixed camera to simulate flash from gunfire as well which is amazing) all are being pre-rendered. The models are unshaded, the textures are hand painted pixelart stylized with a hard light look similar to MegaMan Legends, Dynamite DEKA etc It's why no matter where the character faces they still look like they are lit from the front.
Thanks for making this video! I don't exactly regret sleeping on it (i didnt know the story was this cool, tank controls drive me up the wall, and i would have been annoyed on the difficulty) but the story is amazing and the visuals are incredible, thanks for playing so i dont have to XD
love to see a feature length Seanson shindig! this looks SO rad, thank you for introducing it to my life! also I just want to say in general I’m so appreciative that for both these focused play-by-play videos and your wheel selections, you always take so much time to talk about and show off each game’s sound and music! not just saying whether you liked the music, not just playing ten seconds of one song, but a bit of a fuller sample of what the game has to offer. anyway, proud to be a patron and wishing you the best!
This is one of those games that I was super-excited for, but ultimately passed me by. I did get Retro Helix, but that was yeeeears after the PS1's demise - which is actually something that I appreciate about this video. When I started playing Retro Helix, I was worried that the game didn't work properly, because the backgrounds were so incredibly artifacted. It's nice to know that that's not the case, it's just super-compressed FMV all the way. Also, I haven't done the research, but I do wonder how much of the mythology/folklore in the game is real and how much is created by the writers. I kinda want to look into it.... Maybe... Either way, this video, which I did wind up watching all in one sitting, you crazy bastich, has made me fascinated with the series; very well done, sir. Well... The series outside of Sedna.
Ive kinda gotten obsessed with the series a lil too. I think a lot of the mythology is made up, which is impressive since it seems very convincing but then again im no expect on Chinese belief systems so maybe its more legit than I think. Whatever you do, don't watch the trailer for the cancelled PS2 game, its maybe the most upset ive ever been about a cancelled game and I didnt even care about the series until a few months ago 😭
@@SeanSeanson There was a PS2 game in the works?! I had no idea! I may watch the trailer, despite best advice, because I do that to myself sometimes... 😅 This series definitely looks like it had much better writing than the majority of PS1 action games, so I can totally understand becoming obsessed with the series. When I have the chance, I feel like I need to give it a go at this point. Well... Except for Sedna. 😜
*Finally* got around to watch this video of yours and it was absolutely worth it! Very informative, very funny, very Sean Seanson! Thank you so much for putting time and effort into this and all your other videos!
George's "startle" look before he goes back to "determinedly grimily heroic" is amazing & that inhale Jin does before exploding will haunt my waking hours.
28:17 Breathe in, now breathe out, hands up, now hands down Back up, back up, tell me what ya gonna do now (c'mon) Keep rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin' (uh) Keep rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin' (what?) Keep rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin' (uh)
Excellent video! Just came across your channel, top notch content, design, and it's always great to see people talking about Fear Effect and other lesser known PSX games. Definitely looking forward to that Retro Helix video.
Such a vibe. Your videos are deeply satisfying to watch and love the sense of humour and fascinated dedication in this video. Always remembered Deke being some weird english guy, but there you go, Australian, not far off i guess...
Loving the algorithm for revealing this channel to me. My older sister rented this at launch and beat it in a weekend. Surprised by how many aspects of the game I could still remember given this is the first video I’ve watched on it. I remember the two of us being so friggen confused by the end of disc 4 sending us back to disc 2. We had no idea why it did that
Ahh, nothing like a good two hour episode of Playstation goodness from the PS1 Sensei! I had something of a love/hate view of this game. A lot of the experience I loved - like you said, the visuals and style were excellent and some of the cool tweaks to the RE Formula stood out to me. I always have a soft spot for RE clones that try something a bit different and the technology powering it was insane. But there were many, many, many times this game also had me pulling what little hair I had left out. So many insta-kill hazards and cheap moments, and like you, I couldn't bring myself to try it on Hard as I had such an uneven experience on Normal. I'd say FE is good, but has enough frustrations to put it below the best of class like Silent Hill and RE. Great stuff as always buddy!
@@SeanSeanson I remember wanting desperately to play it, and when I got my PS3 the first PS1 classic I bought on the store was Fear Effect. Its an experience I'll never forget, for better and for worse xD Did gain bonus points for chonk case though! I genuinely had no idea the same dev as those fighting games made this though! Imagine a dev making three critical and commercial failures in today's landscape - they'd be shuttered before the 2nd game! But glad they got to make this at least.
These character expressions were way ahead of its time! There are still games made today that aren't nearly as expressive.(Looking at you Elden Ring 😜)
Vraiment une superbe vidéo avec un travail énorme pour le montage. Great job and what a beautiful game when as kid this game scary me and never finish the disc 3. Sorry for my bad english I like your channel. 😎
This really reminded me what a great game this is, I do love watching you suffer through games made by hell-spawn but throughly enjoyed watching you play a gem for once 😂
What a game. I remember buying it at, what, 8 years old ? And I'm pretty sure I never got past the helicopter fight ahah. But I spend hours and hours on those first scenes, everything around this game was fascinating me. And don't get me started on the sequel.
I gotta say, this game had a really unique depiction of Hell. They threw all the cliches out the window and came up with their own thing and pulled it off well. Unless Asian culture has their own version of Hell and that's what they gave us, but I have a feeling that the depiction we see here is unique to this game. Have you ever played the sequel to this game? Id love to see you cover it eventually. I'd even love to watch a Let's Play of it if you did one.
This is one of the most interesting games on the ps1, the graphics looks astounding even for today. The sequel it's very good too, they polished a lot of the things that you mentioned (for example the loading times)
agree on all points! visually groundbreaking for the time and best replayed as is (w/save states). Arguably the highest overall production quality of any game of this era.. great story, characters, art style, vibe. My steam review of Fear Effect: Sedna - "Bailed 5 minutes in. All I can really say." ;)
I remember playing through this game when it came out. My friends and I played through it and got that ending…and were like, “WTF?” Immediately went back and played it on Hard. I find the game not that hard on hard if you are just coming off Normal. The hardest part of the game is just learning the game itself.
What a video Sean, amazing playthrough, stunning edit and background music, all these videos of yours, they just have that ps1 era atmosphere overall. You are such a talented lad, I always look forward to your videos, your channel is a warranty of high quality content, I enjoyed every video on your channel and I know that you will keep it up my man. Huge bow for doing amazing stuff for retro and ps1 scene! I remember playing Fear Effect as a kid, my friend lend me his burned copy of the first disc, he had just disc 1 so I naturelly did not know there were multiple discs, I also sucked at this game and did not get even near to the end of Neon Hong Kong :D However I would've never guessed it would become so sinister and dark with the plot and visuals. I also watched your featuring on Back of the Rack, funny video. Hope that we are blessed with another video soon, no matter if it's Wheel Provided or not :) take care
A proto of Fear Effect 3 Inferno was recently posted online. It's in a playable state, not start to finish though and also has some game crashing bugs that can be mitigated with cheat engine
1:40:49 Y'know... for some reason I'm reminded of a thing that happened with one of my great grandfathers. He got married. However, he got married with someone outside the faith, so his family did a funeral for him doing that.
Heeey, didn't expect to have Fear Factory in this video. I'm more of a Devin Townsend guy when it comes to metal, but Fear Factory did heavily influence his early work, so big respect either way.
Some fun little facts about the series: - Both Fear Effect and Retro Helix received comic book tie-ins, courtesy of Top Cow, who also published the original run of the Tomb Raider comics. They both only lasted one issue each, and seem to have some continuity changes in comparison to the games, namely Retro Helix's comic, which acts as a SEQUEL to the first game, rather than a prequel, among other details. - We almost got a Fear Effect MOVIE. Originally, infamous shitty video game film director Uwe Boll was supposed to direct, but his deal with Eidos fell through, and afterwards, the project just...kinda disappeared. Needless to say, we dodged a bullet there. - Retro Helix's infamous "thirteen climaxes" ad (as seen near the end of this video) was actually denied publication in American game magazines. It was suggested that Eidos could still probably run the ad in other magazines like Maxim, but I don't actually know if it was ever actually printed. If anybody reading this saw this ad printed in any North American magazines back then, please let me know! Awesome vid BTW. This is a game that has a special place in my heart, in spite of it's problems, kind of like Meat Puppet and Cardinal Syn. It was fun to see someone take such a deep dive into this game, and I can only hope you end up doing the same for Retro Helix at some point too!
Now that was a fun watch and made me quite interested in the game, hopefully it's not an expensive one! I can't believe this came from the team behind CritiCom, this baffles me! Though it's so surprising that fear effect was on ps1, mad how good this looks! Also what a legend Deke is! And Mr Lam might be one of the best villains I ever seen! Sad you can't use the wet towel to whip zombies with!
Oh my god. @46:58 that whole puzzle with the numbers backwards. I thought it was weird too that there’s no indication of writing the code backwards so I paused on the note. I think I figured it out. If you actually read it phonetically you’ll notice some words have capital letters. It starts with FOREmaN - 4N. Then TO and BeFore. And finally eight grand - 8000. Interesting puzzle but tbh I don’t think I ever would’ve even put it together without seeing you do it lol
Great work, I feel not only does your videos scratch my obsecure gaming itch, your overall quality has really improved since your earlier vids. Keep it up!
I had Fear Effect back in the day but I didn't make it very far because the game felt really difficult and I was kinda terrified of the game lol. Even if I only got around disc 2, the game left an impression on me for sure. Such an unique game. Maybe I should give the game another try...
This game is amazing. I grew up playing the second game and only played the first years after, but it's just as good. Just wish they stuck with the cyberpunk environments more.
I went through half of it thinking that I watch some RU-vid superstar in all of their glory, only then I noticed the sub count. You have immense potential, my friend, so let's all pray to the algorithm together! Also, making highlights of your deaths, especially the embarrassing ones, was a nice touch that made the video rather relatable. God, this game is such a bastard.
I wish this game would get a next Gen remake treatment a la Resident evil series. Ditch the tank controls and update the graphics but keep the animated style to the character designs.
I think there was some thought behind Deke being sat on a toilet in the Golden Ending, not just a simple visual gag. His demon form spends his boss fight as a putrid mass of slime that slides across the surface of a watery arena, like feculent. His destiny in Hell is to be rendered into barely more than actual faeces for all eternity, and when Wee Ming Lam gave his life back to him it was like a toilet backing up. Deke is a mass murderer, like Glas and Hana. Hell is his destiny, and his ultimate fate is to be flotsam on Hell's septic tank. When Wee Ming returned him to our world, its on borrowed time. The portal he returned back from Hell via was literally a U-bend.
Just got done watching the whole thing. Wonderful video Sean. A really fascinating, in-depth look from the perspective of a PS1 enthusiast who just happened to be play Fear Effect for the first time in 2022. Especially interesting for me because I bought this game day one when it came out and probably has very rose-tinted glasses. Even had to lie about my age to the man at the store counter because it had an official BBFC rating of 15 on the cover and I was underage. Needless to say, I rinsed the game over the span of that weekend and Fear Effect immediately became one of my favourite video games ever. You nailed why it's so special, in spite of all its flaws. Also totally agree with you on your stance regarding the remake, and how it's kind of redundant because it won't be mimicking the unique Motion FX technology of the original. I say you either completely overhaul the gameplay for a remake of Fear Effect, or you don't bother doing it at all. Hope you cover Retro Helix someday. I don't think it's AS good as FE1 (the story doesn't have quite the same impact), but it is definitely a worthy sequel. Prequel? Prequel sequel.
Thank you and luckily it seems like they have since decided to overhaul the Fear Effect remake into something quite different, can't say if it'll be good or not but it's at least a step in the right direction! Also, the Retro Helix video is still on its way (eventually)
What a trip! So, Fear Effect is not quite what I expected it to be, for better and for worse... Well, I'm off to play the game on hard mode (cos I hate myself) and Double Helix.
1:35:58 The moment you pass the first Dragon I noticed the I-Ching symbol at the base. Memory serves me correctly I believe each symbol stands for something different not sure if the elements fit though. But I was heavily into Chinese mysticism for a little bit.
It seems Fear Effect Reinvented was finally confirmed canceled in September 2023. Shame, because I've heard Fear Effect Sedna (currently the last release in the series) is not good.
The style of the game makes me wish that Fear Effect 3 wasn't cancled, becuase imagine what they could've done with background FMVs on a PS2 with it's DVD discs that could store 4-8GB of data.
I think somebody uploaded a few of the backgrounds they had completed for Fear Effect 3 prior to its cancellation. They're on RU-vid somewhere and they are INCREDIBLE.
@@SeanSeanson There's even a trailer for it Fear Effect 3 Inferno, looks fantastic, really shame it was cancelled after multiple delays. As for Reinvented from what I seen not that exciting, it really follows XIII remake game loses it's style in favor of typical 3rd person shooter gameplay.
Sneakily starting off with Koudelka, are we My exposure to Fear Effect is limited to all the noise that was around the second entry (who know those know) and I bought Sedna sometime ago, then lost it in the backlog pile
Looks awesome. Might check it out. I just noticed you were in a podcast recently. I didn't know you would talk about the Sabrina game of all games. I even left a comment talking hard about it. Yikes is it unbelievably bad. 🤮 Ah well, at least there are the Game Boy Color games based on Sabrina: The Animated Series. Surprisingly good games based on a television program I find fairly underrated.
The original Fear Effect was an interesting game... as it was a blend between Resident Evil and Dragon's Lair with a *very* unique drawn aesthetic. I agree the Remake that is/was in development would've lost that look, and was a big part of what made it appealing. Of course, realistically most of us bought it because the Advertising for it at the time focused on Hana in a towel and that it was "Resident Evil" Like. I think if a Remake would be fully realised today., instead of leaning towards Realism (as so many tend to try today), which would match the aesthetic of the CG Backgrounds; but instead I reckon it would be far better leaning the other way... that is echo the backgrounds to match the character aesthetics. Would make it pop with a real Cyberpunk Anime (like something from Project IG) would really work well with the story. The other thing would be for it to be VR... which might sound weird but hear me out. That art style would work to hide the limitations of VR., while at the same time you can keep the Fixed Camera look; and use the Motion Controllers for aiming; and as almost every puzzle switched to a 1st Person View... well, they could then be more "involved" with how you solved them. It'd add to the gameplay and suit the art style on modern hardware, plus the Game Length (minus the bullshit deaths) would also be an ideal length for a VR Experience; especially if the story was expanded with optional paths based on success and failure of key events; rather than just a more simplistic choice and difficulty for replayability. That'd probably capture the "Spirit" of the original game, without either (a) making the original obsolete and/or (b) feeling like a downgraded experience because it lost it's "charm"
