I'm Waking Up Every Morning at 5am to Play Shadow Hearts on a Pink PS2 with a Pink Controller

Inspired by a friend, who has a blog of her own, I've decided to start blogging some of my gaming adventures. In particular, I've had a unique schedule with Shadow Hearts for the PS2. Starting over the Winter Break from school and while I was at my parent's house (and, therefore, had access to my Sakura Pink PlayStation 2 and several DVD-Rs to burn), I began charting a path towards making my Japanese PS2 playable.

Between December 20th and December 22nd of 2025, I was in New Mexico visiting family. I believe it was the 21st when we were doing some Christmas shopping and went to a thrift store, where I found a PlayStation FreeMcBoot card in it's full package, manual and all. I bought it and, once back in Texas, tested it out. It worked! But I didn't want to boot games from a USB stick (I heard that was slow and had bad performance) and I didn't want to boot from a hard drive (I haven't done the research to see how that works). However, last summer I was experimenting with FreeDVDBoot. The family PS2 is a Phat, but the PS2 I bought for my sister is a Slim. FreeDVDBoot *always* works on a Slim, as far as I'm concerned, so I started burning DVDs for her. And roughly 85% of them worked! I got invested, but couldn't make games for her once I got home. So, I started trying to crack the family Phat PS2. Although I still haven't managed it, I felt that I made decent progress. With this experience, I felt more comfortable burning ESR-patched ISOs onto discs for me to use on my Japanese PS2.

The first disc I made, of course, was an ESR patched version of my ISO for Haunting Ground. I love this ISO, have it backed up to a Cloud, and want it to become a family heirloom some day (not entirely joking on this one). I've talked about it with friends and family before, but there is something so special and neat about burning discs for my friends to play Haunting Ground, one of my favorite games of all time, and it's not an ISO I found on the Internet. It would be totally fine, if that was the case. The ISO for Haunting Ground on Vimm's Lair has always worked great for me, both the North American and European version, and I'm extremely grateful for the people who got those ISOs and shared them with the public. However, there is something much more personal about sharing the ISO of my personal copy with friends and family. Have any of my friends/family played the game, yet? No. But in their home, they have a disc that says "Haunting Ground," the version it's been patched to, and a note that says "Love, Maia." I don't know if those discs will last, but things have a way of sticking around, and I'd love to imagine someone else finding those years down the line. And, maybe they'll pop it into the PS2 and experience the game for themselves.

Anyways, I'm ranting. Oops.

On January 7th, I burned a copy of Shadow Hearts onto a disc for myself and popped it into the PS2. My first time playing this was during mid-morning, probably around 8am - 10am, and I wasn't immediately hooked. But, I'd heard the words "gothic" and "horror" surrounding this game, and so I decided to give it more time.

I liked the music and dark atmosphere of the outdoor night sky in the opening. I enjoyed Alice's character and character design, was frustrated with Yuri, and decided to save the game and quit.

Until I woke up around 5am on January 8th and decided to pop the disc in again. There's something magical about waking up in a house that has so many people (I come from a big family) and knowing it's morning but the sun not being up yet. Sneaking down the stairs and getting breakfast. Closing the doors quietly, keeping the lights off, and booting up your game with the volume barely up. I don't know what it is about Shadow Hearts, but it fit into the ideal image perfectly. The noise when you boot up the game, and the "ding" it makes when you press 'X' to skip the opening company credits. I believe you press it three times before you get to the opening screen, and the pretty music plays. Press 'X' two more times for that same "ding," and you get to continue where you left off. It's lovely, and I liked it.

I remember distinctly the cannibal village because I was genuinely spooked. I wasn't confident in the combat system yet, and Alice isn't exactly the strongest team member. In this early game, I was constantly complaining in my head about Yuri's characterization and how I just wanted to play as a girl. Sometime after the cannibal village, this predominant thought would move from the forefront of my mind to the backseat and I would be mainly enchanted by the game. At this point, now, I'm used to being Yuri and I actually like the combat. Whereas I had originally been praying for a modded version of the game that switched Yuri and Alice's character (so that I could play as an Alice that was a bit more mean to Yuri and witness a Yuri that was constantly having to be protected by Alice), I now just enjoy the game for what it is.

I would wake up early again on the 9th of January to play more Shadow Hearts. And then the 10th. I got to the fishing village, and would listen to Sea Mother's recounting of Li Li's story. However, the sound got really funky at one point and just became loud static, so I had to pull out the sound cables to try and fix it. When that didn't work, I just muted it until story time was over. I would head back to my apartment the same day, and then wake up the following day around 7am instead of 5am to play some more. This gameplay session was mostly just leveling up for a boss I had deemed rather tough. I was in the fishing village, but before the Li Li fight on the boat. On the 12th, I would wake up around 7am on the first day of class on my final semester of undergrad and would beat the boss of the fishing village before the smuggler's boat section. On the 15th, I played some more (and, unrelated, broke my smartphone screen... Now we're really stuck with the Nokia 2780). I don't have any notes made about playing on January 16th, but I did start Heated Rivalry! On the 17th, I woke up early once again and played some more. On the 20th, I traded Shadow Hearts time for some RE5 Mercenaries (who can blame me?) and on the following day, I would beat the trials in the tower.

I made it through some of the Dehaui section, and on the 27th I decided to start making this blog on the 28th. The following notes for the 27th were written on the 28th, and the notes for the 28th were written on the 28th. Here are the following names of characters for reading convenience, as the game has canonical names but lets you have fun and name them whatever you want:

1/27/2026
For this section of the game, I did pull up a GameFAQs guide. I don't need to provide an excuse but I will anyways: I play this game almost primarily at 5am. Brain no worky. Can't figure out picture puzzle.

Excuse finished.

Nonetheless, I kept it pulled up for the following fights before I'd even attempted them because, hey, the website was already open! And things progressed smoothly. (Here's the guide I used.)

Fighting the Badger Devil was a piece of cake because I'd leveled up Margarete/Piper and she now had the 'Snipe' spell. Which was a one-shot kill, I'll have you know. When I saw that rifle drop from the sky, I squealed. SHE IS SO COOL. And the sound when each end falls in her hand? It's just so satisfying and I love the 'clicky' sound it makes.

The following fights were easy, but the Dehuai/Yamaraja/Calamity fight at the very top of the tower was taking too long, and while I'd prepared for petrification, I had not prepared for Piper and Zazzerta to be silenced. Also, I was too excited to go write about Sheva Alomar, and so I turned off the game (after saving before the fight) and went and did that, instead.

1/28/2026
Today is not a 5am play session! I actually woke up around 7am and played some Wild World (more on that, later). I successfully beat Dehuai/Yamaraja/Calamity on the first try of the day, although Zhuzhen/Zazzerta died (sorry) and Piper went berserk (sorry, again). This is particularly unfortunate because neither of these characters, her arguably need the experience more than Yuri/Mop, got the experience that Mop ended up getting.

Also, Alice fell down right after the fight and was like "owie" even though bitch wasn't even part of party. Tired, Alice? OVER WHAT?!

Also-also, every time Dehuai says the word "Seraphic," I read it as "Saphic." Oops.

...

Kawashima x Margarete when?

Question! And this is nitpicky, but, is this a typo? "Yes. The bastard tried to loose his last bit of strength and ignite the Spirit Machine." Did they mean 'lose'? I am only asking because I can see it both ways. Like, he tried to "let loose" his last bit of strength? I get that this game has been localized (and I'm grateful for that) but some of the dialogue options and the fact that I had to pick up a dirty magazine... Yeah, I'm allowed to make fun of this game.

Also: Kevin Bacon saying "spot of tea" and "ta-ta, everyone!" and then evil laughing is possibly a new vocal stim.

And finally... Sorry, Shanghai... Couldn't save you :(

...

1/30/2026
This morning is an early morning and bagel in one hand (energy drink in other), I sit down to play. Terry has died (rip to a real one) and Alice and Zazzerta make it to the town of Bistritz to check out the situation and inform his family that he is, in fact, dead. When we make it there, the town is covered in the coolest, spookiest fog and I can't help but laugh at the dialogue Zazzerta has here. He says something along the lines of "This is kinda creepy," which- yeah. Yeah, it is.

We meet Terry's wife and daughter, Michelle and Nina. Nina mentions something about the master of the castle not being involved, but is quickly told to stfu by her mom. Probably not important.

The mayor walks in (why is he roaming around the monster-ridden fog at night?) and lowkey starts making moves on Michelle after finding out that her husband is dead. Albeit hilarious, probably not the time.

The mayor, Kevin, is immediately giving off the wrong vibes - which the game confirms a second later by having Alice confirm that there's something "evil" behind his house door. We go house to house, talking to villagers through their locked doors, and then meet back up with Michelle and Nina. Michelle is feeling sick (which makes sense, she just found out her husband died), so Nina greets us instead. She tells us about how the man in the castle saved her from wolves one time, and that he's not responsible for the monsters.

We decide to go ask him some questions, and make our way to Blue Castle.

The forest we have to go through, though, is full of gnarled and grotesque looking trees (sorry, trees). It's really cool looking and is reminiscent of not only Yuri's graveyard, but of Kingdom Hearts 2's Nightmare Before Christmas world. Very cool looking stuff.

I make it through the castle a tiny bit, before getting the itch to play some Animal Crossing, haha.

I am still getting used to Alice's attack ring, and am lowkey missing Yuri/Mop. That guy was a bit irritating at first, but he really grew on me. Heard he was in the second game, too, and a bit more likable off the bat there. So, I'm looking forward to that. I also want to play as a GIRL.

We're sixteen hours into the game and we have a new character joining our team! The vampire of the castle, named Keith Valentine, has joined our ranks. I changed his name to Lestat, though, for obvious reasons. "Keith" just wasn't cutting it.

We level up some more, and Zazzerta learns a new skill! "Corpse arm." Cool.

So, where were we?

The cursed town of Bistritz is in need of our assistance, and it's revealed to us through Kevin that Terry, the man who reached out to us (and died, as a result) was actually his partner. They were researching vampires in order to figure out how to get their hands on the "treasure of Blue Castle." Lestat, the vampire of Blue Castle who just joined our party, informs us that there is no treasure. In the middle of researching, Kevin and Terry (what a duo!) figured out how to summon monsters, and they're under the complete control of Kevin. So the monsters that attacked and killed Terry? All Kevin's doing. The monsters that have been attacking us? Fucking Kevin!

(I was going to make a Kevin Bacon joke but, alas, there is already a Bacon in this game and I don't want it to get confusing. The Kevin Bacon jokes are reserved for the Big-Bad-Bacon when we see him again.)

We run to Nina after recruiting Lestat, only to find that her mother (Michelle) has been kidnapped. Kevin told Nina that the only way to get her mother back is for her to give him the gold dust that she has.

So, we break into his house and threaten to bonk him on the head.

He turns into a monster (don't they always?) and it's a pretty cool design! He looks like a fleshy, meaty dog that's been wrapped with, like, a wire. And the meat protrudes around the tightness of that wire. And he has one bulging eye on his left side. The wire wraps around his body, leading to a spiked collar around his neck. He has a stump for a tail and the flesh is worn around his front left elbow, revealing the bone that's wearing the flesh like a frayed sock. It's spooky and reminds me of something from Silent Hill 1 and 3, if memory serves me right.

I'm fond of our newest addition, Lestat the Vampire, already. Maybe it's because he's a vampire, maybe it's because I named him Lestat, or maybe it's because we were in dire need of more attack power, but I'm excited that he's here and to see what he contributes to the story overall. I love his boots, as well. They look like the Antique Boots from New Horizons. Or the boots that the prince wears in the The Little Mermaid. I love the way he seemingly teleports over to the enemy, and dodges attacks. I will say that his weird moans during rituals is funny and kinda catches me off guard.

During the Dog-Kevin fight, Alice ends up going berserk. And I really want to talk about how frustrating it is that berserk characters who survive the battle don't earn any XP at all. I get that it's, like, a punishment (for going too long in the fight, I guess?), but I wish we'd get like at least half of the total XP we would've earned. Nonetheless, Alice's berserk music is cool and pretty spooky, so that was nice to hear, at least.

After the battle, Michelle and Nina are reunited and the fog is gone. Going back to Kevin's lab to talk with Lestat, he informs us that there is a demon in his castle that "looks human but transforms into a monster." Alice and Zazzerta excitedly agree to exorcise the "demon," thinking that it might be Mop. After this dialogue, I look around Kevin's lab - and I come across what Alice calls a "cheap-looking crucifix." Which is just too funny to me. Of course she would know what a cheap crucifix looks like compared to a quality one. And it seems so in-line with her character, too, to indirectly insult one of the foes.

I decide to visit the Acupuncturist beforehand to get Lestat's attack ring a bit larger, and... I'm morbidly curious to see what his reaction is going to be. (It wasn't that bad.)

Lestat unlocks the door to the left and allows to climb the tower. My attack ring executions are not the best today, unfortunately.

We start climbing the tower, and it is really, really tall. Like, kinda stupidly tall. But I really like the fixed camera angles on the way up!

The tower is ridiculously tall, and I hope I have an option to jump out the window to get down. Because I don't want to go all the way down. Please, don't make me go down.

Mop is in the tower! And we have to fight him! Yay! Exciting!

Alice get's knocked out (twice) and corpse arm misses. Awesome.

Mop is really difficult, unfortunately. But WHO made him that way?? ME. I LEVELED HIM UP.

Now we're just stuck with Mop using drain wave (to take away my MP) BUT I have no more MP and he keeps trying?

OH?! Okay, we got Mop down to low HP and the game switches over to Alice in the graveyard. Alice talks to the four masks, and they agree to let her past the gate, but in return she will bear their curse and they will one day come for her soul. She agrees, saying that she does not care as long as she can save Mop.

Alice finds him digging his own grave (literally). Fox Face appears (Mop's dad who is lowkey evil?) and Alice confronts him, cries, and then he fucking pelts her in the face?! I let out a nasty snort at that, so funny. Now everyone is just hitting each other and goodness. Now we have to fight him. Die, Papa!

...

He killed me. He has an attack that does 300-something damage, and kills me. And then I get an actual game over, not a fake one. And then it takes me back to BEFORE I fought Mop originally.

I am done. Terrible point to NOT put a save spot. Done.

BYE.

I ended up reusing that guide from earlier to look into what I needed to do for each fight, and it seems that I was pretty close to defeating Fox Face the first time. If I die again, though, I'm gonna lose it and not play again until tomorrow.

I GOT HIS ASS!

I was worried about that fight, but it was pretty easy (knowing what was going to happen made it so). And the biggest threat was having to do all those cutscenes again.

So, for context, Fox Face (Mop's dad wearing a fox mask) has been "chasing" us throughout the game. There is a monster meter that goes up with the more monsters you defeat, and you have to reset it every now and then by visiting 'The Graveyard' (which I think is a place within Mop's mind/soul) and defeating a monster there. If you don't reset it, and the meter goes into the red, then Fox Face will start to chase you.

Now, that sounds absolutely terrifying - so I never let the meter go into the red.

After defeating Fox Face here, though, it is revealed that it's not actually Mop's dad (who is dead btw), but Mop himself. Some sort of inner turmoil thing, I'm sure. I really liked this moment though, especially because of the soundtrack this game is sporting, but I think it would've been more impactful if I'd let Fox Face chase me a time or two. Maybe on playthrough two, however many years from now that'll be.

With Lestat joining us on our adventures, and Mop now back in our party, we head back to Prague. We go to the bar and are told that Piper is waiting for us just north of Paris.

A drunk woman named Yuria kind of bugs the group before heading to the woman's restroom. We chat some more, and then get concerned about her since she's still in there. Alice agrees to go check, but there's a witch in the bathroom and a fight ensues.

You have to fight the witch as just Alice, which is a bit frustrating. I went berserk before much else happened. So at one point I was just writing this while the game autoplayed. And then I died - and I, once again, expected that to be a scripted fail - but I got a game over. This game is something else.

The design of the witch (Olga, funnily enough, is her name) during the battle is really cool, though. It's like her classic purple witch-robe is made of leather.

Just before my sanity counter reaches the negatives, I manage to defeat her. The problem I was having before is that I didn't realize Alice had one magic spell that didn't damage, I thought she was solely support (and I'd read the attack description wrong, thinking it added a light-class attack to a move and not just being a light-class attack within itself).

So, I kicked Olga's butt. Fun.

Mop, hearing the commotion, enters the woman's restroom. Be careful, Mop! Bathroom laws are tight in Texas, these days :(

Without really finding out what happened to Yuria (only knowing that Olga had possessed her during that fight and we successfully exorcised Olga out of her) we regroup outside of the bathroom and head to Rouen in France. The carriage ride takes about a month, and once we get into to town we head into an inn. Upon asking the inn-owner some questions, we learn that Piper has a room there as well, but isn't in right now. Everyone decides to go ahead and turn in for the night, but Mop has a nightmare.

In the nightmare, we're back in the graveyard. The four masks inform us that now, when the meter gets into the red, Fox Face will no longer be there to chase us. Instead, the masks themselves will chase after Alice, with the goal of snatching her soul (since, when she visited the graveyard, she agreed to share the burden of the curse Mop has with this whole graveyard thing. Uh oh.). I have a bad feeling about this...

Also, I'm calling it - Piper is a bad guy. I love Piper, so this pains me... But she's just too suspicious.

We start out in the hotel looking for Alice. As Mop, we head out and find her in an alleyway near the back entrance to a church. Apparently, this is where her father was murdered.

While Mop and Alice talk, Bacon shows up with his little old lady henchman, Arcane Olga. He says that he's not there to fight, but to alert the party of his presence (isn't that nice of him?). Olga doesn't seem to be as friendly, though, but before she can send her evil cohort of enemies after us - Piper shows up! She jumps down from a roof from somewhere and makes quite the entrance. She's probably my favorite character, and I'm very happy that she's back.

The three of them, Mop, Alice, and Piper, fight off two enemies summoned by Olga. After they're defeated, Olga and Bacon teleport away. The group returns to the hotel room to meet with Zazzera and Lestat. Piper and Lestat are introduced to each other, and it seems they both have a thing for the other (rip Kawashima x Margarete, you'll remain in my head only, I guess).

The group asks Alice about who her father was trying to meet up with the day he died. Alice says that the Father of the church will know, but before they head out - Piper shares the culmination of her research over the past few months. It turns out that Bacon is hundreds of years old, and was exiled by the church during the witch hunts in Europe. When precious holy books were stolen from the Vatican 23 years prior to current day, Alice's father and a man named James O'Flaherty eventually split up to look for the three books. The game mentions Wales, which is where my ears perked up! The hour-ish I played of Koudelka, the "somewhat prequel" to Shadow Hearts, is paying off. I looked up the characters from Koudelka, and James O'Flahtery is on the list! I'm guessing he died, though, because Alice informs the group that the last letter her father received from the man came from Wales.

The group decide to head out to the church, despite Olga (who has been spying on them in their hotel room) warning them not to go. I group up with Mop, Piper, and Alice (my star trio!) and head out. Mop breaks the back door down and we meet the Father of this church, who is afraid of the group. He is able to tell Alice the name of the man her father was going to meet the day he died: Cardinal Simon. However, he is struck down by lightning (from Olga, of course) before he manages to share Simon's location.

Oops.

The Father's dying words inform us that Cardinal Simon is in London, and then he disappears and I return to the hotel to save my game. The music for the hotel/Rouen is very relaxing. I actually have my game on as I write this, letting Mop just stand there so I can enjoy the music. I love this game's soundtrack. I was going to have the map music playing on this blog page of the website, but I'm not a premium Neocities user and so it won't let me :/

Here are the two songs that I've added to my iPod from the game, though:

• Plains 'Sphere -qu-'
• China Map 'Blow up'

Maragarete/Piper helps out a kid who was about to get dragged off to "the orphanage," and in return the kid steals her wallet. We track down the punk and find other punks, too, who are all without parents, but refuse to get caught and go to the orphanage. Why? Well, they claim that the children who go there get "turned into monsters." With all the shit we've seen in this game, I believe them immediately.

The leader of the London Rats is a boy named Halley. We have the option to name him something else, but I got confused and thought I was naming the bartender who was telling me about Halley? Anyways - we kept his name Halley, and he goes with us to ask the old man next door if he knows where Cardinal Simon lives. The old man tells us about the mansion Simon owns in the next town over, so we go there - but upon arrival, Halley freaks out, saying that this mansion is actually the orphanage that he protects the other kids from.

Halley hides and waits for us to go inspect. When we knock on the door, we're greeted by a man named Jack. He says that he doesn't know much about the previous owner, but does remember that his name was Cardinal Albert Simon. Margarete/Piper immediately calls bullshit, interrogating him about his knowledge of Cardinal Simon as well as asking where all the kids are, all while under the guise of being a reporter from the USA named Malkovich.

I don't believe Margarete's nationality was reveleaed to us earlier in the game - for some reason I thought she was Russian? Either way, I'm curious now where exactly she's from. We know that Yuri/Mop is Japanese, Alice is English (I think?), Zazzera is Chinese, Halley is English, and Margarete/Piper is... North American? Russian? Also, I'm pretty sure Kieth/Lestat was in the Prague section of the game, so I'm guessing he's from modern-day Czech Republic. I only point this out because we've been everywhere in this game, and I love that our journey is reflected in the cast of characters we adventure with. Everyone is from everywhere, forming unlikely friendships out of necessity or common goals. I know that language barriers is part of the "suspension of disbelief" (as in: we don't bring it up), but I'd like to think that they all find some joy when they go to a new place and are chatting with townsfolk and come across someone who knows their native tongue.

Anyways - Jack kicks us out of his mansion, and we go back to the London Rats hideout. However, we're being followed (unknowningly), and by the time we get to the hideout, Chris, Joshua, and Shanon (Sharon? I forgot...) are missing. Halley concludes that they've been kidnapped, and in a brief spat of anger reveals he has powers. The game recruits him, giving us one person to swap out with. Not knowing Halley's moveset, I send Piper to go back to the hotel to inform Lestat and Zazzera of what's happened. I want Alice in my party in case we need healing. However, the upcoming battle with the Night Crawler in the mansion proves my decision kind of pointless...

We travel back to the mansion, and the music is fittingly disturbing now (finally! I hated the little upbeat tune they were playing for gloomy London). We sneak inside, inspect a locked door, and hear the three missing kids on the other side. We're caught by the man in the black suit who had tailed us back to the hideout, and a fight breaks out. He turns into a monster called the Night Crawler, where he's basically a two-faced man hanging upside down from the ceiling, armed with a gun. He's relentless against Alice, and all I can do her turn is make her heal herself. If I'd known that Halley also had healing magic, I would've brought Piper with us for maximum damage output. Oh well. You live and you learn. Halley passes out, and then right before the fight is over, Alice does, too. Dammit. Only Mop is walking away with any EXP these days.

I head back to the inn and swap Alice out with Piper. When I get back to the orphanage, though, it's some typical random encounters that help with leveling up - so I might have to swap out characters a couple of times to get everyone up to a decent level. I personally dislike using Zazzera, and Lestat is cool but doesn't do as much damage as I wish he did.

Here are some screenshots I took, though, becuase I found them ironic for the times, but also very sad. As of February 21st, 2026 (the day I'm writing this), there's a worldwide 'scandal,' for lack of better word, that involves the abuse of children and the protection of the rich. Seeing it in my game, made when this abuse was happening, and having that realization that "this isn't fiction" is a bit heartbreaking. Anyways. Here's those screenshots:

If seeing the images is difficult, I'll quote them for you here.

The first one is when you're talking to the massuse guy who does acupuncture, and is also obviously gay and the game rags on it a bit (more on that later). He says the line "There aren't any young boys in this town. Wonder if some rich pervert's rounded them up somewhere!"

The second one is when you're inspecting the room that you saved the kids from in the orphanage. When inspecting the toys, the game (or Yuri/Mop, maybe) says "Toys that will never be played with again are scattered on the shelf."

Something tells me that the monsters we're fighting in this mansion we're once the orphaned children...

WHO KNEW?

I beat Jack's boss fight, without saving beforehand because I didn't know there was going to be a boss fight. And then immediately after is another boss fight, again without saving and without healing, and I accidentally let all the characters get petrified. Whoops!

I will say, though: there was a puzzle where you had to enter dates as passcodes and because we're in Europe, it was day/month/year, rather than the U.S version (month/date/year), and I'm really glad that they didn't change it for North American localization. It would've "taken me out of it," probably. It just made sense, and I liked it.

Also, right before Jack's boss fight, he gets really upset and his boss fight begins when he, without notice, lunges at you with his entire body. It's awesome, and shows how he's kind of not all mentally there.

So, yeah. I might need to level up some more, and wear petrification prevention items when I load up the game again.

Jack is pathetic, and he calls out for his mother after we defeat her. It's not lost on me, the parallels between Jack and Halley. Jack, a man who is fully grown when he loses his mother and is "orphaned" takes advantage of and abuses orphan children, who are without their parents (just like him). Halley, who was "abandoned by his mother," according to him, has beef with the man who was also "abandoned" by his mother, when she died. Love it!

Both boss fights in a row took about forty-ish minutes to complete, which is a pain, but now it's over with! I had to keep using items to restore SP and MP for Piper and Halley. When the fight ended, Mop's SP was around six! That is SO many turns, especially since he starts out around, like, forty SP and your SP is consumed each round.

After the battles are complete, we are taken back to the London Rats' hideout for some story time. Halley reveals that his mother was taken away from him by the Inquisition and sent to a mental hospital. It's revealed that the voice that's been calling out to Mop throughout the game is Halley's mother. There were some lines that made me chuckle during this part, such as when Halley asked the group if they thought he was a monster, to which Zazzerta looks towards Mop and Mop goes "What are you looking at me for?!" When Halley reveals that the Inquisition took his mother, Alice is surprised and Mop asks what an inquisition is. Alice says the following:

And that last line really stuck with me.

The group decides to head to the mental hospital to retrieve Halley's mother, and that's where I called it. I have Resident Evil Requiem to get to, after all!

(Happy late Resident Evil (9) Day btw!!!)

Thank you for reading. Wanna go back to the home page?