Great review - I just started playing it again recently, just made it to where the party splits up, with the Robot and the Floating Head go one way while Stinger and Windleaf go another.  One thing I love is that you can play the game with maxed out music and no sound effects, as the music is awesome.  Another thing I think you should point out is that the whole Full-Circle back at the bar is only about 2-3 hours into a 20-30 hour game (rather than the entire game being up to that point - you didn't make it sound like it was it the end, but it was slightly ambiguous).  Also, you don't need to beat Red Tom, actually ever as far as I can tell, or at least not at first, so you might be able to level-up using your 'cheat' to quickly get yourself ready for Red Tom.  But yes, not a perfect game, but I love it.

The atmosphere is really well executed in Shadow Madness.  I found alot of the prerendered scenes pleasant to look at.  The dialogue was witty and humorous and the music fit well with the game enviornment for the most part.  For me, those were the aspects where the game excelled. 

This game really is a special game, the characters were awesome, it's was one of the few games I beat and felt a sadness inside me because I wanted it to last longer

This game was awesome. Very immersive sound and visual design. One of my favorite PSX era games.

Thanks for posting this review! A true hidden classic game. Are you still out there, Zheng Fei?

Loved this game. Searching for reviews of it... Theres basically just yours and 2 others. Getting the nestalgia itch to play it.

I actually loved this game!! my friends laughed at it. I really enjoyed it. Love the horror theme

This game deserves a place in Top 10 over the best RPG games on PS1, and Guardian's Crusade is also a hidden gem, there are very unknown for many.

That is what I did. I battled those guys over and over again, leveling up very quickly. As I continued onward, I never died for the rest of the game.

Had to turn it off too many early spoilers, want to go in fresh! Made me interested in the title though!

you should do more reviews

Haha that would just add a whole new layer to the review.

I wouldn't mind seeing an LP of this. To be honest, I love RPGs with lots of reading xD awww no raging ZhangFei :P

man I'd love a let's Play of this

What an awesome game!

I love this game, it's my favorite playstation's game

I played this as a kid ans it was my first RPG. Sadly I only have one disk. Would love to play this again just to find out what happens next.