Come on a trip through time to learn of Shanghai's secret destruction, Transylvania's vampire infestation, the ability to summon a biplane into orbit and how rotten staying in English mental asylums was. One or more of these things may not actually be true.
So Prague has about ten people in it? Huh.
Live and let live, that's what I say. Anyone who can't understand that should be killed. It's a simple philosophy, but it's always worked well in my family.
Definitely sounds right to me. While I like the game, I can spot the faults far too easily, and it's kinda hard to come back to this after playing Covenant, which may be the high point of the series.
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I really liked the humour in Shadow Heart 1&2. I'd have given it a higher score. Especially visuals are better than 2/5 in my opinion.
I'd agree with this review in general. I have a lot of fond memories of this series and especially the relationship between Yuri & Alice. Yuri was probably one of my favorite characters of the PS2 era. But I definitely remember some of the irritations listed in the review and I wonder how much Covenant effects how I view SH1.
That post reminds me...JuMe, which ending did you get, the bad, or the good?
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Bah. Disagree on a few of the "faults".
And I definitely disagree with it not being a must-play. One of my favorite series (probably in top 10 fav. games too) and I'm still hoping for a comeback someday, even in handheld form if need be.
A critic is someone who stands on the mountaintop high above to watch a battle, and then comes down to shoot the survivors.
-Hemingway
I agree with it. The first game in the series was extremely underwhelming. The sequel was much improved.
The Role-Playing Jew - 'Tis me blog!
Fair review, though I'd definitely rate the soundtrack higher since I found it to be the best of the franchise.
Nice review.
I'm sorry I didn't play this one.
However, I did play the 2 games that followed.
Covenant is my all time favorite RPG, but I agree that the original Shadow Hearts had some flaws. And why would you release around a FF game? Seriously? I think the story is much better than you gave it credit for though. While the overall plot had holes, I enjoyed the character development that happens as Yuri deals with his past, as well as grows in his relationship with Alice. Also, while the settings were smaller than real life, I loved that they took you to actual locations, which gave the story a fun "what if" feel. Obviously this is also something Covenant did even better. I would give this a 3.5 or 4 personally, but I am pretty biased
Oh and what I loved about this game is that the "bad" ending is actually the true ending. We need more rpg's with the somber feel that the Shadow Hearts series provided. (and then ruined with the third installation...)
Last edited by retrodragon; 12-03-2012 at 02:47 PM.
Playing: Wild Arms 3, Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning, Star Ocean First Departure
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I made the mistake of getting the good ending first and then playing for the bad/true ending. Goddamn that tore me up... And then, after replaying SHII, that one scene with Alice hit me even harder. Goddamn, that was such a good love story.Originally Posted by retrodragon
Covenant is my all time favorite RPG, but I agree that the original Shadow Hearts had some flaws. And why would you release around a FF game? Seriously? I think the story is much better than you gave it credit for though. While the overall plot had holes, I enjoyed the character development that happens as Yuri deals with his past, as well as grows in his relationship with Alice. Also, while the settings were smaller than real life, I loved that they took you to actual locations, which gave the story a fun "what if" feel. Obviously this is also something Covenant did even better. I would give this a 3.5 or 4 personally, but I am pretty biased
Oh and what I loved about this game is that the "bad" ending is actually the true ending. We need more rpg's with the somber feel that the Shadow Hearts series provided. (and then ruined with the third installation...)
I loved this game but sadly they din't sold well... This game was released too close to FFX release date.
Never buy a game published by D3 Publisher that is not WKCII. They cheated on their fans by releasing a game that they didn't support not even for a year and they released a rushed translation.
I didn't even know it was an RPG till years later <.<
26 years of gaming and still going strong
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Maybe you haven't looked at it compared to a recent release. I played it for the first time when there was a bit of a slow down in releases earlier this year. I assure you, it didn't age well compared to other games of the era that I pulled out of my backlog.
I'd say the review is a fair assessment of the game.
Hmm, I see so you just rate graphics not related to their console but compared to modern games? Because for a PS2 title, it has at least average good graphics. And all games that are 3D and try to be somewhat realistic looking don't really age well.
I also don't really remember the second part being significantly better than the first. I liked both. I didn't like the third part as much, though.
Rya there are other games from PS2 era that have aged well. Lets take Shadow Hearts Covenant. It looks better then the first game graphically and still looks good. There are games that even graphically still look good. FFVI is a GREAT example though it was SNES it's graphics still stand the test of time. However FFIV my god with the HD versions out there are monster I could never realize what they actually looked like compared to the HD versions better defined (lamia being one of them). There are indeed games that graphically that do stand time better then others.
And that can be an important part when reviewing a game because new people not in the know don't care how it looked compared to other games out at the same time it was. New players would want to know how it compares to games out NOW!
26 years of gaming and still going strong
and now a Proud Father :D
Even for the time it didn't look good. It went the "prerendered backgrounds, 3D characters" route on a PS2 game.
The Role-Playing Jew - 'Tis me blog!
Yeah the graphical update that Covenant received was a major part of making it such a great game. I would say Covenant was more on par with other ps2 titles of the mid 2000's. When you compare the original Shadow Hearts with something like FFX it's actually a little embarrassing...I think its still playable though. Nothing like trying to play say FFVII nowadays lol
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I actually prefer Shadow Hearts graphics to some of the ugly 3-D scenery sported in some 3-D RPGs of the era. I've played a PS3 RPG that has prerendered environments (Ar tonelico III), and I think they looked good.
It also depends on the quality of the environments, of course. SH1's were rather drab in and of themselves.
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