Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within (PS1) Playthrough - NintendoComplete

A playthrough of Agetec's 1999 point and click horror adventure game for the Sony PlayStation, Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within.
Clock Tower 2 is actually the third Clock Tower game (the first being an SNES game that was later ported and upgraded for other platforms) , and is the last in the famous survival horror series to use the classic PC style point-and-click interface.
The story is completely different from the first two games this time around (which would explain why this was a spin-off rather than a numbered sequel for its Japanese release), focusing on Alyssa Hale, a girl living in California (because that house looks totally American... sure) who suffers from some sort of psychological disorder giving her multiple personalities. If she is stressed enough, she "becomes" Mr. Bates, a rough, no-nonsense kind of guy who doesn't put up with anything from anybody. Alyssa carries a magical amulet that helps her suppress this manifestation, but she'll need a lot more than just that to survive.
The game starts as she's visiting the house of Mr. Tate, a friend of her fathers. Things go south pretty quickly when Mr. Tate's daughter Stephanie begins to chase Alyssa with a knife, and the events in the Tate house set an entire series of events in motion that will ultimately reveal family secrets that have been long kept secret.
It's a bit hokey, but it's a setup that has some potential. It instantly starts with the haunted house, psychological disturbances, things moving without explanation, the killing of (or being killed by) small children, people huddled in corners whimpering - Clock Tower 2 starts off pretty strong with the horror atmosphere, and keeps it up pretty well throughout.
If only things continued so positively, this might have been a sequel that matched up to the original game. It looks and sounds very similar, but this is certainly not the same game as the first US Clock Tower was.
Instead, it's loaded with completely random triggers for scenes that make it pretty infuriating to play. There's rarely any hint for what you are expected to do next, and oftentimes being stuck in an area means you forgot to click on some innocuous object in the background for the third time at the right point during the game play. If you plan on playing it multiple times to see all of the different endings (I show the best ending here), you'll eventually remember all of these triggers, but this insistence on forcing you to wander around blindly clicking on everything multiple times feels like little more than a cheap ploy to extend the time it takes to finish it (and it takes forever the first time, iirc I spent a good 15 hours or so on my first playthrough of this!).
That wouldn't be so bad if the third and final chapter's gameplay didn't go completely sadistic on you. Consuming about 60% of the total game, Chapter 3 unceremoniously dumps you in a lab with little explanation and tells you to figure it out. However, the lab is four stories of doors and corridors that all look virtually identical to one another, and with virtually no weapons, you are constantly backtracking to kill zombies that you can't get past with the same fire extinguisher over and over and over again - the video would've been a good hour shorter than it is if this hadn't been necessary to continue moving forward. The threat of being killed becomes more of an extremely annoying time-sink than a tension-builder, which pretty well destroys any sense of "horror" that might've been built by the other elements.
The environments are effective enough (if you ignore their extreme repetition), creepy sounds and wiggling body parts abound, and the rumble feature is used effectively - though if you play the recommended way, with the PlayStation mouse, you of course don't get to make use of this. And believe me, you'll want to use the mouse if you have access to one - the gamepad's controls of the cursor is awful. It's too fast and hyper-twitchy, and I guarantee it's complete lack of precision will cause you to get killed several times.
It's worth checking out for fans of the series because of the similar gameplay mechanics, but just be warned - it's easily the worst of the Clock Tower games. I was so dissapointed with it when it came out. I loved Clock Tower - it was one of my favorite PS1 games. Clock Tower II is one of my least favorite - it's certainly not the worst PS1 game ever, but it's a pretty hard slap across the face for anyone expecting the brilliance of the previous titles in the series.
At least Bates is good for a number of laughs.
____
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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[@NintendoComplete]

Clock Tower was one of my favorite PS1 games, which makes The Struggle Within all the more heartbreaking to play. As a horror work, it succeeds on a fair number of levels. As a game, it's an infuriatingly broken mess that does little but to relieve itself on the legacy of its predecessors.

[@riddleiddle]

As a newbie, which Clock Tower game should I start out with?

[@NintendoComplete]

+Nathan Riddle I'd go with First Fear or the US Clock Tower. Skip this one for sure. 3 was good too, but the original 2 were the best imo

[@Gamer88334]

Consider starting out with The First Fear. It'll make part of the second game make more sense if you see one of the endings. In Japan, this Clock Tower is actually called Clock Tower 3 so it's technically not Clock Tower 2.

[@judyhopps9380]

I also recommend Haunting Ground for the PS2. It's by the same team as Clock Tower 3, and frankly, is a better Clock Tower than it.

[@thered6swan]

What a good game ..but im stocked..the right door and last door it won't open at all.. :( ?!

[@CliffKuN-tf2ee]

Wow,this is my childhood game!! But never finishing this game....I was too scared back then

[@Big-Disee]

Me too fam. Me too. 😢

[@dominykaszakrys3373]

The ghostface voice actor for bates was the best decision

[@Derethevil]

*casually kicks child*

[@txmetalhead82xk]

I thought it was a doll! Lol... I was thinking, who the hell is Stephanie?

[@RgxSnowy]

@Lazy Hazy 😆 dat kick though

[@ross4fun966]

Bates = Yami Alyssa, she also holds the millennium amulet that holds the power of good and evil 0.0

[@macm78theofficialchannel60]

Good call for that

[@NikkiTrip]

"Well... I guess I've gotta get rid of those zombies."

[@ross4fun966]

R.E. foreshadowing.

[@hanchiman]

Back when voice overs was done by amature inhouse staff, especially in English

[@DoomDutch]

1:39:00 So... A zombie is smart enough to take an elevator?

[@jsbmx2039]

Not smart enough to run away when she picks up the broom thou2

[@Altered-Beast]

33:45 She did the ➡️➡️ X Eddy Gordo Kick 😂😂

[@datemasamune2904]

Never played it, but I remember seeing articles and ads on the PSM. Those along were enough to scare me.

[@DerivativeWorker]

When she turns to Bates I always kept thinking she went super Saiyan. I'm sorry but I think everyone thought that.

[@SwiftieLuma]

If the gameplay wasn't sooooo tedious and the localization team didn't make a mess out of the game setting (is set in Japan but in the USA version is in California and yet there's millions of japanese references?) then this game would have been very good.

[@alfrednicastro2053]

It would be better if they just made it. Take place in japan 🇯🇵

[@lowhp_comic]

And how easy it is to constantly softlock yourself into a bad ending

[@GameBreaker1055]

What is even going on in this game? So Hale dug up Alyssa and because of that George became a demon who created a demon child to hunt the statue down and also let out a Zombie virus? What's more, what does this even have to do with Clocktower?

[@arandomdoggo9923]

This game was actually a spinoff in Japan, the localization team changed the name to clock tower 2.

[@reconchris8562]

Ah yes. The standard suit of Samurai armor that any true Californian would own. Seems legit. XD

[@reconchris8562]

I will admit that Bates is my favorite thing about this game.

[@drkinferno72]

A Japanese American family might

[@thenico92]

Hipsters

[@NisseDood]

Probably stupidest thing about the game is that she never took the broom with her so she wouldnt have to run back and forth all the time.

[@sonyslyer9946]

This game looked like it had a lot of potential and when I watched videos like this one, I noticed it failed and I got bored with it and even frustrated by how it started so well to how it just imploded upon itself. Clock Tower SFC and PS1 are my favorites and it's sad that this fell off the cliff because of awkward story connections, strange item placement locations, strange quick-time events, and just annoying issues throughout the later part of the game.

[@whoohaaXL]

How many brooms are IN that stall?!

[@Kimberliearcher]

Of all evasion point you use, you decided to run all the way to the fire extinguiser on the first floor

[@macm78theofficialchannel60]

Alyssa Hale = Yami Alyssa The split personality using their mysterious antics like Yugi does have a personality. Between light and dark, it is one way to solve their problems. Clock tower is the most suspense,horror and mystery game of all 90s.

[@Curseius]

11:39 btw this totally innocuous activation of the samurai is needed to get the best ending in the game if you do not activate the samurai you get i think like the C OR D ending NEAR THE END OF THE GAME yes you get hard locked into an ending at the end of the game if you do not activate the samurai antagonist in the first level

[@korosi1862]

dude im so confused because a little beyond 16:08 she opens the door but for me its locked and idk what else to do

[@MajorShepard]

wait the yellow stuff everywhere is meant to be...blood? It looks like someone pee'd everywhere :/. And again no one sticks with each other all running off for some badly made up reasoning. I gotta get a story on this occult phenomenon! Also a Zombies weakness is a broom, who'd have thought. (Spoilers) But really what is this? This ain't clock tower this is running around with ghosts simulator. Bates best defence is the kick in the groin too. Strangely enough some of the animations are actually quite good for a ps1 game. Also that ending...wut? It made no sense. My father is dead...SMILE AT THE FACT THE DETECTIVE GON KILL ZOMBOS! Really bad and just all over the place.

[@montyb.9779]

MajorShepard i mean, this game is just a spinoff of the original clock tower, if you kinda read the plot of all this, you'd probably understand about the zombies and the toxic chemicals and the protaganist's father being the murder. Some people say it has nothing to do with clock tower, but this game sorta plays the same way as it when it comes to an action-type chase game. And theres a hypothesis I feel like people are missing here, bobby and dan are demon brothers, looking like twins when you seen them both in clock tower: first fear, and clock tower, and they look exactly like twins. I feel like Alyssa and Bate are the exact same with that situation, but have the opposite affect from evil. But i mean, its always fun to have different plots and a different antagonist in the game :)

[@PatenaudePhilippe]

I remember that game. It came out around the same time as all those Resident Evil 2 clones. It's almost like if they were trying to mix a point 'n' clic mechanism with Resident Evil gameplay and it failed so bad. As much as the game itself as a LOT of potential I've never passed the house stage cause of the controls were horrible and some items location did not make any sense.

[@BigShinyPearl]

Its awesome to the point where you need to figure it out yourself, otherwise your too stupid if you can't.

[@bamboozel1234]

Runs back and takes elevator every time a monster appears. Wouldn't it be easier if you carry that extinguisher around? lol

[@mugglesmonster]

Oh my god. Why did I like this game growing up lol. A lot of it seems painfully tedious now.

[@jjrj8568]

that happens with a lot of 1988-2002 games

[@DGS2605]

Asian symbols in intro and asian style house. Western names. Yeah ok.

[@NintendoComplete]

Infamous Snowman11 Haha the Japanese version is set in Osaka, and they changed it to California for the English version. They changed it in name and nothing else lol :)

[@DanganJerry]

Good ole 90s localizations

[@Gamer88334]

It could make some sense, if it were set in a small village and the family was to like Japanese culture this much.

[@prophetofpants1906]

NintendoComplete maybe it’s in a china town of sorts.....Little Osaka, yeah that could work🤔

[@prophetofpants1906]

Mike De Guzman I don’t think you’re understanding the situation of localization here

[@marped4670]

O terror do jogandofodacci "Eu tenho zumbis para matar"

[@kdust9958]

Mano essa série foi o meu Terror

[@DGS2605]

This game is much better playing the Benny Hill theme during the chases.

[@ShockerTopper]

I thought this game had its moments for sure. Certain parts were legitimately scary...and some parts were unintentionally funny lol. BUT I will say it's 1000x better than that Clock Tower 3 garbage that Capcom put on on PS2..god damn was that awful! At least this was in the same spirit more or less even if it doesn't include the good old Barrows family. The story was pretty convoluted and they really messed up with having TOO many endings. It was much less fun to get those endings than in The First Fear. Clock Tower (2) had the perfect amount of endings with 5 each character. Now that I think about it, Roger Jackson doing the voice was the BEST part of this game by far. Anybody unfamiliar with him, he voiced Ghostface in the Scream franchise, among other voice acting roles in other games.

[@AGJ117]

33:08 This whole scene was...what in the world?

[@ozzie.l.6035]

That is Alexa Bliss.

[@kuyawill25]

Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within Is Not Actually A Sequel But A Sequel Spin-Off...

[@mrmusickhimself]

This game had such potential, but that final stage is one of the worst final areas I've ever played -- ruined the whole game.

[@NintendoComplete]

thatonedrewguy Totally agree. Makes you wonder wtf they were thinking. The third part reminds me of Human's sequel to the SNES game SOS called Septentrion, and it was completely awful

[@mrmusickhimself]

NintendoComplete Wow. Did not know there was an SOS sequel -- shame it sucks. At least Mr. Bates is awesome.

[@nostrnastr9439]

A shotgun in a desk must be pretty damn big desk but seem like normal desk to me

[@xvc918x8]

1:17:05 excellent voice acting

[@RgxSnowy]

Damn that kick in the face 😂

[@anntodd3055]

My childhood. I love it

[@John3_16_]

The snes clock tower puts this garbage to shame lol.

[@MakotoTsuguri]

I endured watching this entire playthrough. My god, on top of this mind numbing gameplay, this story is all over the place. The sense of urgency is literally killed compared to the first two, and literally finding out about Bates feels like an absolute letdown. Even the conclusion was huge disappointment. I felt no attachment to any of these characters. The only thing that got me jumping in this was Bates actually stabbing Stephanie. I totally forgot who Michael was, and after confirming that she lived, that's completely it for her. I would assume the original plot without localized interference was better, but I don't think that would save this game at all.

[@Parasiteve]

ohhh muh gerrrd this game. so when i was 10 this game came out and i was at my cousins and she played it and i couldn't sleep without a light for a fucking week lmao. i love this game series, except the 3rd one really, because it was just so creepy. to make it worse the first one dead in this game is named ashley and that's my name D:

[@thiagowill26]

Hey gorgeous

[@Axxxel_in_Harlem]

@@thiagowill26 SIMP!

[@thiagowill26]

@@Axxxel_in_Harlem Hey handsome

[@RoseBouquet3]

2:47:31 When you finally made it to the last door of the game 2:52:10 The End

[@angel_nerd]

Wow, it is meh game I mean don't get me wrong it's nice but too much zombies lol he kind of close to Scissorman I mean it of Clock tower for sake. It's fun watch this game.. Can tell me what's they talking in ending because No CC/subtitle in there?

[@ActivistParrot]

Wow I think these games need remakes

[@darkjadde]

more than 20 years later I watched the end of this game XD lol

[@nickpastorino5370]

Notice how she calls the suicidal lady a nurse but when you first meet the lady she is a cook... Also, this game is about a possessed girl fighting a zombie apocalypse?? WTF?

[@Jopo1226]

Nick Pastorino No her name is Cook..Nurse Cook

[@Gamer88334]

And it's about a girl and her twin trying to make it out of a bad situation, which just so happens to have a few zombies and apparently some ghosts, if you watch all the deaths.

[@kamespinosarojas9225]

Chief Arino: human... Arent those the ones that make wrestling games?

[@gorilli09]

Play Crash Bandicoot on PS1 #woah

[@1000Gamernerd]

Now I remember why I stopped playing this. Those zombies were so damn annoying

[@silasakamasterchiefgamingt6240]

Mine too i finished the game by my self it was hard though so i played this on my computer

[@7641955]

1:08:06

[@manuellia687]

Can someone help me please ? I need to download this game on my pc but i dont know how. Thanks for your help.

[@trancesunrise3056]

This game is a PS1 exclusive, not for PC, unless you download PSX.

[@themedia1271]

Does this tale place in America or Japan I'm really confused.

[@drkinferno72]

The Media japan but changed to America for the western release

[@mrtyrant1680]

I Once wrote a fan fic about this game To be honest is a poorly written mess The fan fic I just changed some details of the original story 1: Bates being the protagonist (no split personality) [Bates apparence would be similar to alyssa he has a average height and a lean build,he has a side swept haircut,his clothes are his school uniform (a white and untucked shirt with roll up sleaves with black pants and brown shoes) he also has a small scar in his left cheek, his personality is the same 2:The story: In the overall story bates is the only son of George maxwell (but the hole burying the twins at birth didn't happen) and shannon hale (the women in purple) (Little backstory: The maxwells and the hales have a rivalry of centuries) Bates always was a outcast in both sides of his family being neglect by both sides At the age of 10 bates was sent to a boarding school but one day he got into a fight with kid where bates broke both of his legs he then threated the child saying he will if he tells anyone When bates hit his early teens he started to develop sociophatic tedencies and started to do a lot of bad stuff When bates was 16 years old he got into a fight with three other boys while breaking into the school to alter a falling grade The fight ended badly However because bates killed the three boys using a pocket knife The murder was never discovered However since bates framed another Student for the murder by hiding the knife in his closet Bates then gets invite to visit his aunt ' s house (his grandfather ' s sister) And that's where the story begins 3: No supernatural The main thing causing everything is a toxin created by maxwell that was sabotated by bates ' s grandfather that causes the person to go insane and go on a murderous rampage (Instead of the zombies the foes would be people like stephanie)

[@amano6979]

I couldn't finish the first chapter of this game back then 😅

[@85tannis]

The walking sound effects are annoying asf. hard wood sounds nothing like that!! Like someone just walked around in slippers and they recorded it.

[@NintendoComplete]

85tannis They probably took it off of one of those awful public domain sound effect demo cds you could buy for like $3 in the mid 90s that were always set right next to the freeware clip art and font discs :)

[@85tannis]

NintendoComplete touche

[@nguyenkimgiang]

♥

[@HiddenInTheTruth]

Fully aware this game came first but the chase music still sounds like 'Saw' if you bought it off of wish.

[@VideoGameStupidLC]

2:06:26 If you wanna get into this country then shit yeah it's important.

[@Curseius]

This game i enjoyed but its story is a frustrating mess, first there's a curse, then there is no curse, then it was your dad all along, and zombie virus for some reason. but George maxwell is a real person and then made insane by allan hale, and alyssa was dead and dug up as a baby? but allan never wanted to use her and shannon commits SS right in front of you guys for no reason? and alyssa is actually cursed now with bates and its not just a alternate personality like the story and its pacing and flow is just like wtf i seen more cohesive writing from a Neil Breen movie my guess is this games writing went through some kind of development hell

[@trey6419]

Ohh dear lord, this voice acting is cringey. xD

[@ZeoHidra]

That might be one of the most stupid and convoluted plots to a video game I've ever seen (and I've seen a full LP of Omikron the Nomad Soul).

[@MultiVince95]

Nice

[@curtisholland16]

Ok... So my friend doesn't understand what happened lol

[@ozzie.l.6035]

This is 33:35 Alexa Bliss!! 😆

[@thiagowill26]

2:13:11 LMAO

[@felmiers]

Can bates VA just stop thanks I mean he's better than most voice actors these days anyways but omfg

[@carloseltopoquegira7454]

Clock Tower 1: Jennifer Connelly 👌 Clock Tower 2: Olive Oyl 👎

[@MrBassRenegade]

Why does this little girl have such a gruff, old man voice?

[@andrewguerra9343]

1:17:02 1:19:28

[@samfanhellyeah]

WTF was that ending XD

[@cristiancaporusso6423]

Ke storia mai finito primo livello

[@stevenchao66695475]

@tongsengchao

[@raulmendoza9239]

Plss help me. Nintendo Im still gaming a clock tower I cant get out of here cause of crazy doctors always killing me plss help me to exsist a bad woman and help me to shot a crazy doctor but the woman dosent exist i have a key i get some items but i cant escape

[@Ae-lo3hr]

Me bad ending

[@JuvyAustria-pv6hw]

Bates kicks th cousin of alyssa

[@giuseppeianniello1998]

No wonder this game is considered one of the worst ever made! Tedious gameplay, voice acting on par with the OG Resident Evil (Ghostface from Scream was the only exception), interesting ideas executed very poorly and there’s not even a Clock Tower in it, despite the title.

[@ismantototo3133]

SUMO

[@primaryendo]

Lol this game fucking sucks!

[@Antichrist1977]

What a bored game! Now I see why only play 20 minutes

[@aaronjecevicus3843]

Worse game I ever players. Period.

[@thenico92]

Crap game hahaha 😂

[@andrewguerra9343]

2:47:48