Spectral Souls: Resurrection of the Ethereal Empires

Spectral Souls II (新紀幻想スペクトラルソウルズII, Shinki Gensou Spectral Souls II) is a tactical role playing game developed by Idea Factory and released for the PlayStation 2 in 2005. In 2011, it was ported to the PlayStation Portable as Spectral Souls II: Unlimited Side (新紀幻想 〜SS II アンリミテッドサイド〜) and to mobile devices as Spectral Souls. The PSP port was published both in the U.S. by NIS America and in Europe by Ghostlight under the title Spectral Souls: Resurrection of the Ethereal Empires.

Spectral Souls: Resurrection of the Ethereal Empires
Developer(s)	Idea Factory
Publisher(s)	NIS America Ghostlight
Series	Spectral Souls
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2 PlayStation Portable Android iOS Windows 8 Windows Phone 8
Release	PlayStation 2 JP: January 27, 2005 PlayStation Portable JP: October 22, 2005 NA: September 28, 2006[1] EU: January 26, 2011 Android WW: January 15, 2011 iOS JP: July 11, 2012 WW: July 12, 2012
Genre(s)	Tactical RPG
Mode(s)	Single-player

Development

The opening song is "Blue Sky", performed by Dogschool. It is now sold in the Apple App store. Later on, this game was ported to Android and iOS devices.

The iOS port solves the problem of the extreme long loading time issue from the PSP port.

Reception

Aggregate score

Aggregator	Score
Metacritic	47/100[2]

Review scores

Publication	Score
1Up.com	D–[3]
Electronic Gaming Monthly	3.33/10[4][a]
Famitsu	(PSP) 28/40[5] (PS2) 26/40[6]
Game Informer	5.5/10[7]
GameSpy	[8]
GameZone	6.9/10[9]
IGN	5.5/10[10]
Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine	3/10[11]
Pocket Gamer	(AND) [12]
RPGFan	43%[13]

Reception

The PSP version was criticized for its long load times. It received "generally unfavorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of one seven, one six, one seven, and one six for the PlayStation 2 version,^[6] and one seven, one six, one seven, and one eight for the PSP version.^[5] GamePro called it "a game which -- while nominally a PSP exclusive -- is a landmark in programming incompetence. Exclusive or not, it's a bigger embarrassment than any retro port could have been."^[14][b]

Notes

1. Three critics of Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the PSP version each a score of 4.5/10, 2.5/10, and 3/10.
2. GamePro gave the PSP version 4/5 for graphics, 3.5/5 for sound, 2/5 for control, and 2.5/5 for fun factor.