2008-07-14, 01:14
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Link #2 |
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The Evil Twin
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: East Bay, S.F.
Age: 41
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My faves in order:
Shadow Hearts Shadow Hearts 2 Koudelka (I consider it part of the series) Shadow Hearts 3 I enjoyed most all of the characters, but Yuri/Uru and Koudelka are top in my list of favorite RPG characters.
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2008-07-14, 02:38
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Link #3 | |
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Rawr
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Florida ^-^
Age: 33
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you played koudelka i heard that game wasnt that good that it only sold like 10 copies world wide or some low number like that o.o i liked 1 because of the story i was expecting better graphics but oh well i never beat 1 fav charatcer in 1 is Yuri. 2 was cool i beat it lol but ya i liked it but it was long and i couldnt beat some of the bosses for a while i had to keep redoing them and it got annoying my fave character in 2 is Anastasia. i beat 3 but then again i wouldnt concider from the new world a sequal or what not so it shoudnt be called SH3 but oh well not here to judge names 3 was easy and it didnt take long to beat bosses were easy and story was good only challenge i actually had was battling the bosses on the side quests and thats about it favorite character in 3 is Natan |
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2008-07-14, 04:13
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Link #4 |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2005
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Most of the people that worked on the Shadow Hearts series went on to Feel+ a new game company which made Lost Oddesey though the director of the Shadow Hearts series didn't go to that new game company.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feelplus_Inc. |
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2008-07-14, 08:57
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Link #5 |
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ミシャだけ
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: below the sky, inside the time
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Played this game...
A good game though.... My Fave is Shadow Hearts 2... Favourite character : of course Yuri...The seconds are Alice and Karen... I dislike Shadow Hearts 3 though.... The main player was not good enough like Yuri... People from Shadow Hearts 1 and 2 appear again in Chaos Wars (anyone play this game)..... |
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2008-07-14, 10:07
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Link #6 | |
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AS Oji-kun
Join Date: Nov 2006
Age: 74
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I think SH2 is somewhat better than SH1 in terms of gameplay and graphics, though I thoroughly enjoyed both games. The third game is pretty mediocre despite its much larger doses of fanservice (yes, even more than Karin's skin-tight costume and Lucia's ample bust). The female characters wear ever more revealing outfits as the games progress. Koudelka is a rather strange game. I found the battle system annoying after a while because even simple encounters take forever with all the moving and such. Koudelka herself is a pretty compelling character, though less so in SH1. It seemed when she appears in Shadow Hearts they stripped all that dark cynicism from her character that made her so appealing in her namesake game. It's too bad we probably won't be seeing any more games from these people because I thought they had some of the best writers in gaming. Sequences in SH2 like the conversations with Garan about his pillow, or the whole "stud cards" quest, were just hilarious. These games are a great change of pace from the more relentlessly serious style of RPG story-telling in, say, the FF series. Yuri Hyuga may be one of the best protagonists in RPG history. One of my favorite sequences with Yuri occurs at the beginning of SH2: Spoiler:
Warning: The ending of SH2 is quite controversial. If you're going to play this game, don't read spoilers.
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2008-07-14, 23:19
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Link #7 | |
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simp for Lyria
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: on the Grandcypher
Age: 40
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SH2, SH1, SH3, in that order
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 . It's one of the only games that has good comedy AND a excellent dark, compelling story. The character interactions were excellent as well.And I concur with the Yuri statement. He's badass AND funny. Not many male protaganists can pull off that kind of characterization. |
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2008-11-30, 22:09
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Link #8 |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: PMB Headquarters
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I have all 3 games. My favorite one would be Shadow Hearts story-wise. And for gameplay-wise, it would be its direct sequel, Shadow Hearts 2.
Shadow Hearts The movements are slow and the gameplay is sluggish. The story is really good, the soundtrack is even better. The ending theme is sang by Kasahara Hiroko, the seiyuu who voiced one of the protagonists of the old anime, "Magic Knight Rayearth". Shadow Heart 2: Covenant The movements and gameplay has greatly improved. It now takes place during WWII somewhere in Europe. The female lead is now replaced by a German soldier. Aside from the Doll Master Grandpa, it features quite a variety of cool looking characters. The gameplay is rather similar to Grandia III, except that it is still random encounter. Shadow Hearts 3: From the New World The game got great improvements. The gameplay and controls are amazing, but.. In exchange for this nice new improvement, they decided to do something to the character roster. There is an American ninja who looks awfully ridiculous, while the item shopkeepers are a gay couple. Considering that the anime takes place in America near the start of the century, this is to be expected, but it ruins the game story-wise. The protagonist is no longer the heroic devil Yuri, but is an American boy in his early teens. |
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2008-11-30, 23:26
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Link #9 |
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Umineko and Mabinogi fan~
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Florida
Age: 42
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GOD I loved this series, and it makes me sad that there will probably never be a sequel. Especially considering how SH3 set up so many things story/world wise. Eh well.... siiiigh.
Shadow Hearts 2 is the first game I ever played in the series and it's still most definitely my favorite. Just some WONDERFUL storytelling and some great characters. There's also a wonderful balance of drama and comedy. It's honestly my favorite rpg. Not to mention it was a really fun game battle system wise. And yes, as many have mentioned. Yuri is pretty much one of the best protagonists out there XD . Shadow Hearts 1 I played next, and it was great to get the backstory on a lot of things. The gameplay isn't quite as great as 2, but that's to be expected. As Minato mentioned, Shadow Hearts 3 has the BEST gameplay in the series. It's just... really, REALLY amazing gameplay wise. I also loved the main male lead to DEATH. That said, HIS story itself is actually pretty interesting when it finally gets around to being told. And actually, the parts of the game that actually dealt with his situation/issues were some of the best and creepiest in the game. ....uuuuunfortunatley, a lot of other stuff NOT involved directly with that are thrown in the game too. A lot of the characters are simply TOO wacky or just having no personality at all. The female lead is fairly boring and dressed ridiculously, I mean, high heels and a near-bikini when traipsing around in the deserts? Really? The fact that you HAVE to do the majority of the sidquests to get the "good" ending was also a rather big annoyance. Especially considering that the "good" ending was pretty much out of character for everyone involved. That said, the "bad" ending while short, is pretty great and I liked what it set up. A lot of other little things in the game also seemed to point to future sequel set ups (Shadow Hearts 1 sort of did this too.) Though I may sound a little harsh here, I DO think Shadow Hearts 3 is actually a good game with a good basic story, I just think it could of been better. Finally, the shadow Hearts series has a monster in it that is the scariest in any console rpg ever. The Gregor. Giant. Realistic looking. Roaches. *shivers and cries* Oh yeah, and the music in the series is awesome too. Apparently the composer and singer of the Umineko opening worked on music in the first 2 games  .
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2008-12-01, 02:10
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Link #10 | |
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ポルカ
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: UK
Age: 42
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Then I wonder who the other 9 affortunated people are, since I have one copy myself. Shadow Hearts is one of my favorite RPG series, and my favorites in order were: -Shadow Hearts -Covenant -Koudelka -From the New World As far as characters goes, I really liked the pairing Yuri and Alice. Koudelka and Karin were nice too. I would like if Aruze made a new game in the series, I wonder what are they up to, they probably decided to work only with Pachinko, because their last videogame was From the New World, and they even canceled a couple of games after. |
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2008-12-01, 03:25
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Link #11 | |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2007
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2008-12-01, 20:28
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Link #13 | |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2005
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2011-12-10, 14:17
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Link #14 |
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Hiding Under Your Bed
Join Date: May 2008
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So, Shadow Hearts: Covenant is one of my favorite JRPGs on the PS2. I actually played it first, then hunted around for Shadow Hearts, and then Koudelka.
When Shadow Hearts: A New World came out, there were so many negative reviews, and my life was so busy, that I skipped it. Well, with nothing to play, I recently finally bought this game and dusted off my PS2 to play it. Perhaps it's because it's been a number of years since I played the other three games, but I actually found SH3 to be a fairly good game. It had all the trademark whacky humor, was fairly dark, and easily had the best gameplay of the four games. I mean, I loved Yuri, but it's hard to compare his story with that of SH3's, seeing as his story spanned two games with clear ties to a third (Koudelka). SH3 was a far more self-contained story. The characters may not have been as great from the previous games, but that doesn't mean they were bad. And, yes, they obviously continued their trend of sexualization of the female lead, though it wasn't quite as linear as one would think. We start with Koudelka, with her stockings, lace, and short shorts. We then had Alice who showed less skin, but liked to flash her panties at you. . Then Karin, who had the most blah and non-descript clothing of all the female leads, but it was also the second most revealing, which also raised strange thoughts in your head when you realize she's actually you know who's mother. Then Shania, who wins the award for most sexualized native american...ever. My point being that the way they portrayed Shania was hardly all that different from the way they portrayed the women of the rest of the games.My only real complaint was that the game was too short. It was more on par with the length of Shadow Hearts, rather than Covenant. I would have enjoyed it a lot more if they had tied into the rest of the games more than they did. For instance, a story centered around Halley (and possibly Koudelka), in America could have given them both the young male protagonist they seemed to want to have (and obligatory hot female lead ), while keeping players emotionally connected to the rest of the overarching themes of the series as a whole. Anyways, I know I'm years late, but I've finally finished off this series. The fourth and last game could have been better, but it was still pretty good. It's possible I'd have been more let down if I'd played it when it was released and Yuri's story was still relatively fresh in my brain. The series, as a whole, only ranks behind the Xenosaga series-in my eyes-for JRPGs on the PS2.
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