So yesterday I finished Shadow Hearts: The Covenant. It was a fun game, worth the money I spent buying it. I enjoyed the first one as well, but it's been so long, I don't remember much about it. I plan on replaying it in the future (when I get it back from my sister's husband).
I wasn't too happy with what the did to Yuri's character design...he reminded me of some punk who stepped out of a boyband...He'd somehow lost he's "coolness". Still, his personality was fairly decent and made him a likeable enough main character. I liked most of the other character's as well...except Joachim...the WWF Vampire Wrestler. WTF!!! Oh, he was funny enough (a total doofus actually), but the way he walked irritated the hell out of me...I stuck mainly to a party of Yuri, Kurando, Blanca, and Geppetto.
I didn't like the way the camera moved either. I really hate fixed camera angles. That sort of stuff pisses me off. I want to know where I'm going, instead of rushing blindly into things. Not to mention fixed angles making finding treasure chests a real bitch. Let me handle the camera, thank you very much. Even rotating camera angles would be better than a fixed angle (ie: camera spins to characters back as you move).
Storywise, the game was okay. Nothing spectacular, like FF, Star Ocean, or Xenosaga, but it was by no means a bad game. I enjoyed the emphasis on Yuri and Anne's relationship. Anne is his girlfriend who died in the last game. Actually, one particular scene was pretty heartwrenching. I teared up watching it. You know, I never quite understood what the big deal was about Aeris dying in FF7. Yeah, it was sad, but not as sad as everyone makes it out to be. (I may receive hate mail for this comment) I thought this scene with Yuri and Anne was far more emotional that Cloud and Aeris...
Anyway...
Battle system...fairly standard turn based RPG. The only difference is the "Ring Strike" that determins amount of hits and amount of power...as well as combos. Just like the last game if I remember correctly.
Graphics were very pretty, no complaints there. The cut scenes were beautifully animated too. Still, nothing compared to FF or Star Ocean, but then again, Square Soft is on an entirely different level most of the time when it comes to their games. I really shouldn't compare....
Voice acting was pretty good. I was pleased. However, some of the scripting was a bit annoying. Yuri had some pretty lame lines, they could have thought it out a bit better. I did like the silly humor they added in, when they managed to make it flow right. Some of the scenes were pretty funny.
Like I said, Shadow Hearts was a good game. It took me 50 hours to finish it, so it's not a renter. Still, it's good enough to be worth the 40 bucks you'd spend on it. The final boss was a bugger to beat, which always makes me happy!
Posted by Zoso at December 2, 2004 05:57 PM> You know, I never quite understood what the big deal was
> about Aeris dying in FF7. Yeah, it was sad, but not as sad as
> everyone makes it out to be. (I may receive hate mail for this
> comment)
No hate mail here, but I remember that scene pretty vividly - and, yeah, Glenna and I got a bit emotional after seeing it.
I don't know if you ever finished FF-X, but the ending there was pretty much the same sort of thing (not the events, but still very emotional), and I had about the same reaction.
Meh. I'm just a big softy. Movies can do the same thing, but then again you don't spend 40+ hours in front of a movie...
Posted by: Jeff at December 6, 2004 11:29 AMI didn't like FFX at all anyway. I didn't like Tidus or Yuna, so I didn't find the end that emontional. I'm hoping FF12 will be better.
Now, FF9, I bawled at the ending, thinking Zidane was dead. Shadow Hearts 2, the scene where Yuri tries to bring Anne back to life, but her body disingrates just before she tells him she loves him got me all teary-eyed. It didn't help that Yuri started to cry either.
Aeris and Cloud was sad, no doubt about it, but I guess for some reason I failed to see much of a connection between them...*shrug* I might play the game again to see if I perhaps missed something. LOL Tales of Symphonia had me a bit misty eyed as well.
Nothing wrong with being a softy. I can't count the number of shows (mostly anime) I've watched that got me all teary eyed. Chrono Crusade, Naruto (I've bawled watching this one), Peace Maker, Full Metal Alchemist (another bawler), etc. The Green Mile, with Tom Hanks had me sobbing along with my friend Mike. Gawd, what a sad movie!!!!
Granted, I think the long, well written games and long animated series tend to move me more so than many movies, just because the amount of time I put into them, as you stated. A movie has to be incredibly good to strike me emontionally, just like Green Mile, Titanic, Braveheart, etc.
Posted by: Zoso at December 6, 2004 08:07 PM