Spectral Souls is a SRPG for the PSP and it may be the big SRPG for the PSP like Final Fantasy Tatics was for the GBA.

A vicious circle of violence has erupted. The battle torn continent of Neverland is caught up in a great war between mankind and demons. In spite of all hope, the peace process came to a complete halt with the first wave of attacks by the Royal Demon Army. The demon forces turned their war on the Neverland mainland with simultaneous attacks on human villages and kingdoms.

Now, three young soldiers rise to put an end to this on going war. In Spectral Souls the player will switch between the three opposing kingdoms to play the Royal Demon Kingdom, the Imperial Army, or the Rebel Army. Depending on how you progress through the game with each of the armies the story will change through out the title.

Gameplay
Spectral Souls plays like your typical SRPG in many areas but it also has some very interesting twist on the conventional formula SRPG's fan may be used to by now. Early on in the game you will run into an event scene which will overall set the pace and stage of the entire game. During the event scene you will learn about certain story elements that move the story a long and immerses the players into the story line. During these scenes you will see each army partaking in their own takes on certain events going on throughout the world at that time. This occurs because as your progress through the game you get the control each force and from there change the game. By using each force you alter the game in certain aspects. For example if you complete a lot of the Royal Demon Army quests and you destroy the Imperial Army in certain parts of the game you will hinder what they can now do in the game. By destroying one army you could in turn strengthen the other and or weaken them as well. This adds a nice feel to the typical SRPG formula because it now has the feeling that your victories and decisions actually do affect the fate of the other opposing characters. Another good aspect of this feature is that you aren't confined to be only one of the Armies in the title and you have the freedom to choose which Army you want to control and who you want to win the war of mankind vs. demon.

The battles in the game are set-up like your typical SRPG in the sense that you fight on a grid based battlefield. But before you run into battle you have to prepare for the battle at hand. The go through the preparation stages in the title you must first visit a town or a nearby kingdom. Here players will be able to buy items, weapons, and equip their characters before going into battle and waging war. Players can also do more in town than just get the basic necessities listed above. While you visit towns you can also enter battle contest to earn some extra money and you can change your character's job class as well. So if your character was only a swordsman you can now make him an expert swordsman. But before changing your class and upgrading your characters in those ways you must first level up by fighting in battles.

The battle system of this title is extremely fresh and unique. Like previously stated the battles take place on a grid based battlefield. The characters will take turns depending on the characters speed and amount of AP they have. So the AP your character has the more moves he will be able to get in and the less he has the longer the wait you have before being able to use him in battle. On the top right corner of the screen you will see the characters icon move along a timeline. Once the enemy or your characters reaches the end it is then that characters turn to attack. This is a nice feature because you can see what to expect coming up and can try to plan some kind of strategy to the possibility of a move from the enemy.




Each character has their own unique skills that can be learned in towns but there are also some moves assigned to the main characters and enemies that only they can pull off. These moves are along the lines of a "super" skill, which means they can only be used after so much damage is given and taken. But once you get the chance to use one of these skills you will want to wait for the perfect moment and use it against the most powerful enemy on the screen and watch the beating begin. As your progress and become more powerful so do your super skills. These skills will level up as your character levels up and become bigger and more powerful. They are also unique to your characters job class. So if you have a magician you can expect some pretty powerful magic attacks whereas a swordsman will have a sword combo attack.

Despite the super skills each character can also make their own powerful attacks by using just regular attacks in the game. A unique feature to the game is the ability to hold, charge, chain attacks together.