Phase Paradox: The Weird, Sci-Fi Horror Game That Never Left Japan

[@eurothug4000]

Thanks for watching everyone! You can check out more info for Lost in Cult's new book MANSION and pre-order here: www.fangamer.com/products/the-horror-mansion-book

[@twisteddevotio2456]

Awesome and informative. To bad there is no US release or continuation of a potential series. The world building what peak my interest the most along with the science terms.

[@Texican75]

Respect for going the extra length to contact the director

[@eyebrowowl9292]

I love this era of early 3D games that were still finding their feet and were willing to experiment with gameplay concepts. The look and setting of Phase Paradox really calls to mind that bizarre Final Fantasy movie, Spirits Within. Interesting how both of these projects are loosely connected by wanting to be cinematic and movie-like but were hamstrung by that ambition (and arguably by the avalaible tech at the time). Thanks for shining a light on this game and massive props to you for tracking down and interviewing Mr Yanagihori as well! It sounded pretty cathartic for him to be able to tell his story about a game he clearly had so much passion for.

[@makeitthrough_]

I love it when video essayists and game reviewers are able to get insider information, but getting the director himself is a cut above. Really good stuff, thanks for doing so much for obscure games like this

[@xelaperez4559]

Your new ending screen is so cute. And I love hearing about niche games I've never played -- your attention to detail, obvious love, and dedication to the source material is immediately noticeable. Thank you for your hard work!

[@realkingofantarctica]

I can't watch any of your videos because they're all on games that I really want to experience yet don't want to get spoiled on. Can you make a video on UNO or something?

[@Tgarker]

Uno is way too scary, tho :(

[@selfawaretrashcan4594]

Dang, I really feel that. I wonder if a list of potential upcoming video topics would help or not. I'd love to dive into the games first before listening to the history and context of the game

[@TyCollage]

​@@TgarkerAfter the uno portion I was done, couldn't finish the game after that, Everytime I make an attempt the anxiety eats me alive.

[@Taiga_R6]

You'll never end up playing them especially since they will never be translated, So why does it matter?

[@gabzpot]

I feel the same.

[@Roughling]

I love that you went out of your way to contact Tokayuki, this is great

[@danielpratt3794]

7:04, 37:15. Wow, without sounding condescending, I got to say its really impressive how often you manage to actually get hold of people related to the games you play. Adds that professional and interesting layer of information. Also great video, the game really reminds me of the Xeno series by Tetsuya Takahashi where if you look at his art books and plans he had soooooooooooo much ambition of a wide spread, cinematic, and beautifully detailed game universe (six stories with animes movies games and books) but had to condense it down to just one game Xenogears. Really loving the finding games region locked series, as its really interesting finding these gems especially when they have such passion and interesting ideas. Good luck on your next video!

[@kasocool2812]

It that kind of thing always amazes me. The difference between old school Devs Vs current ones it's like " I reached out to the dev to ask about the game they are currently working on but I didn't hear back from them" Vs "I asked the dev about a game they worked on 20 years ago and they happily answered my question and sent me some notes from development they found on a old hard drive that was in a box in their attic"

[@MrDumbRodent]

i really need the PUT YOUR HEAD INTO MY MOUTH clip isolated in entirety to savor. thank you for another incredible video!

[@mooxsir]

Fantastic video as always, one of the few channels that shows actual obscure games. It's awesome that you got in touch with the director

[@dmaa88]

Dayum! The Philisoma plot is hardcore sci-fi goodness, and for a shoot 'em up? Nice!

[@noot1375]

What a fascinating series that sadly never came to the west. I loved this video, so thank you for making it and thank Tangomushi for introducing me to the channel!

[@Qwarky]

You know it's gonna be a good weekend when we get new eurothug! What a fascinating look into Philosoma and Phase Paradox, I especially appreciated the dive into the concept art in the artbook. I recognized Philosoma by name, so it's probably been mentioned in some old game magazines I read in the late 90s, but I don't think I've ever heard of Phase Paradox. I'm an absolute sucker for prerendered backgrounds and cinematic camera angles, whether it's in a horror or adventure game setting. How wonderful you got to interview the director of the game!

[@evlynm]

It was super interesting, thanks for talking about these odd games.

[@dpan2447]

I'm very thankful for this vid. As a youngling I rented Philosoma, had an inkling of it's horror elements, and had dreams of somehow finding an import copy of Phase Paradox and playing it. These days I prefer lets plays and retrospectives (I guess 'digest format' stuff) and I'm very happy I am able to find out what this mystery plays out and sorta close out one of those "what if's" of my gaming life

[@heitor916]

This idea of a sentient planet and even the vibes of the CGI from Philosoma and Phase Paradox reminded me of the movie Solaris by Tarkovsky and the American version with George Clooney, kind funny that it was not even mention haha. The aesthetic of Phase Paradox feels like Starship Damrey, an obscure puzzle, kind of a horror game for the 3DS. Awesome video as always!!!

[@Argonisgema]

The metroid prime games i think also had the same idea.

[@call-me-pigeon]

Genuinely LOVE the end screen!!! So cool!!

[@azuraflame1]

Hey I'm a new viewer and I have really been enjoying your content. Love the video!

[@kitseu]

The character models (especially the faces) look incredible for the time.

[@alicesheep6394]

I’m a little disappointed that D3 didn’t show up or was written out I wonder what the reason was. I was thinking there might be a big reveal about D3 or that he would save the day somehow. Seems only fitting to bring back the player character of the last game. I wonder if the director knows of a reason for that or if it was probably due to them having to cut features to launch.

[@null8fuffzn199]

Great channel btw the quality of these video essays really tickle my funny bone. Wonder why there are not more views

[@heybimo]

Aside from my biased love of RE, so many titles deserve a remake because of unrealized penitential at the time, not just for nostalgia/modernization. But that feels like they should be remade because they wanted to be re-made by either dev (who probably moved on in most cases) and audiences (if they're aware in the first place...) This game looks still charming with pre-rendered background despite on PS2 hardware. Also I'm glad Mr Takayuki felt proud about this title where it could have felt too "ahead-of-time-but-unachievable" to him. Thanks for covering this game, Maria. PS2 feels like there's always a new game coming out despite they had already come out.

[@xLadyRaine]

I’m sorry, but i’m in awe at a black woman being a playable character in this old game. it’s so cool

[@lacatan6664]

great video! i love the heavy biocellular take they had in approaching world building. love your new outro, it's so cute!

[@ECdeadly44]

Thank god KZbinrs like you are recording video game history-- especially with how conpanies are letting go of backwards compatibility and going all digital, games like these just fade away great video, I hope there's thousands more to uncover

[@geoh3x]

Amazing video! I’m glad I was able to make an end screen for it 😸

[@Skiad-OpsGash]

Yakuza 3 - Aqua Sky playing around 10:00 minutes. Love it! ❤

[@tonyichiban2144]

Wow, I had no idea Philosoma ever got a sequel. This is amazing 😮

[@ieatatsonic]

Recently I've been really into Sci-Fi with failed first contact stories, the stories where alien life is not humanoid and incongruous with our expectations. Combine that with some really tight and cohesive biology for these aliens and this is just very up my alley.

[@Sadler2010]

It harkens to Parasite Eve in that regard...

[@sxdbxys]

can’t beat a new video from maria on a friday ✨

[@vjsmyth]

Great video! It's nice to see a spotlight shone on stuff that deserved a bigger audience and wider releases. This is one I'll be checking out myself at some point! Kinda gives me some Enemy Zero vibes as both intended to be an interactive movie experience set on a spaceship dealing with an alien infestation changing the ship and both having homages to Alien (well, E0 is more blatant 😂!)

[@dappercat2482]

Jamieson Price is giving BIG Leslie Nielsen vibes in his delivery for Massimo, and now I want a scifi Naked Gun

[@IconicBoar097]

was busy today so sorry for the late comment but amazing video! both these games and their ideas were cool alongside you interviewing the games director! and love that outro so happy for ya1

[@CassidyListon]

Great video. I was always curious about Philosoma as a kid, but never got around to playing it. I would LOVE to see Grimbeard cover Psycho Phase.

[@dmaa88]

Random fact, during military comms, you do not sign out by saying "over and out", as this is a contradiction, "over" implies you're passing comms over to the person on the other end, "out" means that comms have ended, and in a sense you're "signing out", so "over and out" would basically translate to "your turn to talk, actually, bye". Not sure if this applies for military forces all over, but this is how it's taught to is in the US.

[@Adam-nc6qg]

If you liked Philosoma with its techno organic feel then you will definetely enjoy the setting of R-type. Both have a similiar premise with an alien lifeforms assimilating humans and machine with a lonely fighter sent out to dispatch then. Just be warned that R-type games are extremely difficult and I would recommend that you start with R-type Delta for PSX as that one is the most fair

[@Wnick1996]

Really wish that this game gets the remake treatment similar to Dead Space.

[@Sadler2010]

Unlikely unless it gets a fan treatment, it would be nice though. I don't see Sony bothering to, especially for a Japan only release from 23 years ago... And they'd likely not allow it...

[@vortenzi2592]

Another great vid. Thanks for all your hard work that goes in to researching these games. It's such a great time getting to go back to this time period and have a peek at the gems I missed. 👌

[@ryansandwich1086]

Great video! When it started, I really didn't expect to watch for very long, but the story in the games and behind them is super interesting!

[@thewanderingartists]

PS2 was peak gaming creativity sooooo many crazy ideas, I remember laughing my ass off while playing God hand ✋🏻

[@markcampbell8590]

You’re becoming one of my favorite horror gaming KZbinrs here!

[@saraczwei6850]

If I had a Nickel for every game that came out early in a console's life cycle where the big twist is that all we did was help a space monster get laid I'd have two Nickels. Which isn't much, but it's weird that it happened twice. SPOILER: (the other one is Blue Stinger)

[@ReallyNotTrixYT]

Omikron: The Nomad Soul from 1999 was the first David Cage written and directed game. So his works would have been early enough to influence Phase Paradox. It's main mechanic was that you jumped bodies when you died, which you would later master and need to do to finish the game. It was pretty fun, even if it had David Cage's usual craziness to it

[@eurothug4000]

yeah I didn't mean it as Fahrenheit being Cage's first game, but rather the start of his more "interactive movie" titles :) Omikron had a lot more gameplay involved!

[@ReallyNotTrixYT]

@@eurothug4000 It was a mix bag. It was an adventure game, but it had platforming, FPS combat and hand to hand combat sections thrown in for good measure. David Cage even got David Bowie to do songs and music for it! Actually when you were describing Philosoma, I was thinking "this sounds a lot like Nier Automata - then you mentioned Yoko Taro being involved in Phase Paradox and it all made sense where Yoko Taro got some of the ideas for Automata

[@thegamerfe8751]

Hey look who it is, I never expected to see you here

[@Phrogly]

7:18 Just enjoying the creepy atmosphere...and then suddenly Ape Escape 3's Training Room music starts playing. I mean it's a banger so this already great video got even better!

[@metalwolfzx]

4:40 There's also an unused third end scene featuring Michau, but was cut from the game for some reason... (Or maybe the team ran out of time to put it in) Philosoma Kickstarted my love of collecting video game artbooks, I've found some wild stuff in the "World of Philosoma" book, I was also utterly fascinated with the setting of the game, as it was a scrolling-shooter with light cosmic horror elements sprinkled in...

[@pelgervampireduck]

the idea is awesome, it deserved to be a full survival horror game, it deserves a remake!. to me that ending implies the alien thing evolved into another phase and "possessed" the captain, the menace is not over. the thing will now spread to the whole universe.

[@MarkLambertMusic]

That artwork for the game is incredible.

[@ancientandbored]

This was so interesting! One of the things I miss from old games is the attention to its lore and environmental details! I need to play this game now!

[@Phantasiu]

Philosoma really stands out for the time period it came out in. It has surprisingly great voice acting and pacing, it's not the most polished shmup or anything (the style shifting is still really cool though), but the way it all comes together is just emblematic of the weird things you'd find during the launch era of the PS1. Always wondered about the sequel since hearing about it, distinctly remember the last time I looked a few years ago nobody had anything on KZbin and just had to be content knowing the genre shifted and thinking that was cool as hell considering how dark the ending felt in comparison to anything else like it. Good to know about the voice acting in Phase Paradox, I can at least fumble around in the game with that.

[@omtakes]

the ideas they were playing with back then was fun. today's titles are neutered in all sorts of ways

[@ryansandwich1086]

Ok so I just need to run an RPG campaign using thos exact plot

[@DetournementArc]

Sounds like a good Mothership or Call of Cthulhu adventure

[@Lucirby93]

Another great video. Really love seeing stuff about Japan exclusive games.

[@larvaedadindex]

I just got hooked on your videos today, gotta be my new favorite channel !!! Happy holidays ╰(*´︶`*)╯

[@GuyDude-hk8uy]

11:39 "You're the best looking guy here" moment.

[@JC-kl3uc]

This game really holds up visually

[@MaitreMechant]

I'm so glad i've found this channel :D

[@zacharywong483]

Fantastic video, as always!

[@la912]

37:06 An interview with the creator of Rule of Rose? That's Awesome!!!

[@stellaofnine]

Discussion of pre-rendered backgrounds reminded me of Lumino City. Might be your type of game!

[@myopic_max6980]

Crazy timing, I just finished watching Laila Dyer’s playthrough of Phase Paradox the other day

[@the_artbureau]

"Is a long time, old one" is good to see you back U.U

[@ellie_online]

Looking at the art book makes me wish Phase Paradox/Philosoma was made today with the budget and time it deserves. It could have been something truly revolutionary. Also loved the video, your work is always really interesting. ^_^

[@SocraTetris]

"Philosoma" as a word means love-body or "The body of love." But likely os referencing the word philosophy as a whole. Yay, I helped.

[@picahudsoniaunflocked5426]

A couple character models look so much like hot actors from the 90s, like Halle Berry + Winona Rider, that I wonder if that's deliberate or just the beauties of the era vaguely emulated.

[@kalezuki9231]

So what happens to the ones you didn't choose when you choose a companion towards the end?

[@Bi0mega]

Massimo is a robot? Massimo is a goddamn robot?!

[@KanaGamez]

I agree, the backgrounds are beautiful

[@dcrossman]

Great video. Book looks excellent too. Preordered it.

[@sg137iu]

Wow, someone else not only saw but remembers Pandorum!

[@MaxKusari]

Couldnt find it anywhere in japans local shops, so a friend there bought it from mercato and gve it to me the last day of our trip, I was soooo happy. 😂

[@FractalShoggoth]

The algorithm requires engagement

[@axdonat]

engagement engagement engagement brrrrrrrrrr

[@TKUltra971]

looks like it could have been a sleeper hit or a cult classic. i really miss this era of gaming. the PS 1 and PS 2 era's is when companies let their creativity run wild.

[@MuhammadHarisUmar]

as a biology major, your explanation of the philo soma was so interesting to listen to

[@beardsbooks9325]

Thia feels like a game that would be so popular if it had a full remake!

[@ImHELLBERG]

Great video as always!

[@redhood7778]

The concepts and designs are amazing. Maybe you should convince him for a remake?

[@la912]

Another pretty interesting video, thanks!

[@sebastianjasper543]

:D I kinda want to see a remake of something like this (that isn't dead space) with this same style and such, just updated graphics and a more populated world, like how the yakuza games have a ton of side content maybe. It's a shame that it never got to release in the west

[@redhood7778]

Oh hell yeah. It's my homegirl Eurothug

[@rendraner1757]

Thank you for the discovery

[@blinxman4956]

Such a huge disappointment that many exclusive Japanese titles will never be localized or even preserved.

[@ACN617]

I wouldn't be surprised if the main reason this game didn't get localized is because they would not have been able to get away with all these famous look-alikes.

[@dogsouls9689]

Wake up babe, eurothug4000 just dropped a new video

[@AStupidID]

I wonder if anyone who worked on Dead Space played this game - from your description I see a lot of similarities in terms of story.

[@Spookybluelights]

I am offended you didn't mention Patricia Jaa Lee having been one of the best Pink Rangers ever.

[@eurothug4000]

I was born in 97 😭

[@Spookybluelights]

​@@eurothug4000Well that's when her season was on, Power Rangers In Space. Given your taste in sci-fi I think you'd enjoy it quite a lot. It has a very camp sense of seriousness to it that feels like an updated version of a 50's serial.

[@eurothug4000]

that sounds pretty cool! I’ll have to check it out!

[@Ravenayre]

this concept is so good what the fuck???

[@Henry14arsenal2007]

Holy shit, are those graphics amazing for a 2001 PS2 game.

[@sass2836]

It's always a good day when there's a new eurothug video. Can't wait to watch! I'm always in awe of the incredible presentation and research that goes into every one of your videos.

[@Strawboie]

What's that game in the beginning after the polar bear? (0:47) Looks amazing.

[@vjsmyth]

Deka Voice!

[@jplichta]

One little 🤓☝️-ass note: the correct pronunciation of phage rhymes with age. Edit: never mind the voice actors pronounce it the wrong way too lmao

[@eurothug4000]

yeah I just say it however they say it in game lmfao 💀

[@jplichta]

@@eurothug4000 I realised that when I heard it in a voiceline lol Didn't delete comment so maybe other smartasses will see it instead of saying it again..

[@stevekucpittet802]

An interesting game, I'll have to look for it.

[@thebigdawgj]

I had to pause a few minutes in to comment because I'm confused. If the game was fully voiced in English from the start why the FUCK didn't it get a USA release? Translation and dubbing is usually the hardest part and they didn't even need to bother with it!

[@mDayShamangahabash]

I'm not subbed to you yet but the times I stumble on your videos were quite enjoyable. I'll sub later

[@fhjunior6183]

Thanks for the vid

[@crackersalone5870]

Y’all I need a list of the songs she used in this video it’s so good.

[@eurothug4000]

in the description ;)

[@crackersalone5870]

@@eurothug4000 THABK U GODDESS I MISSED IT

[@eileenscat]

Renee was such a fashion icon baddie, Iove her

[@theSHELFables]

Great video.

[@DeltaCressida]

Where did she find the Concept art for Phase Paradox? no results on google images

[@eurothug4000]

as I said in the video (and wrote on-screen in the top left) it's the philosoma official art book :) I took the photos you see in the vid

[@DeltaCressida]

@@eurothug4000 they're a great find, in fact this whole channel is a great find. Been binging your videos 😅

[@_X1M_]

Have you ever played Cry of Fear?

[@ruliak]

I love your videos! 🫶