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kirbysuperstar posted:You forgot that the drunk cat was a personal friend of Al Capone and that you took side missions from Lovecraft himself.  Looks like I have a PS2 to pull out...
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May 23, 2014 13:38
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It's definitely worth playing. While what has been said is all true, the gameplay only improves throughout the series - even though 2 and 3 are so piss-easy outside of optional dungeons and the last bosses that you don't have to be particularily good at it. The third game also has at least as good a soundtrack as the other two and the best battle theme (...for the first half of the game, unfortunately) and despite all the wackiness at least the main plot/endgame is a real downer. I like a good downer. I have yet to finish the first game, though, and I definitely should do so before getting back into the sequels because in comparison it's just really clunky and unrefined. I actually think one big draw of the series, and that applies to all of the games, is the weird combination of a somber real-world setting and utter JRPGishness. Makes for a nice contrast, and anything that's not generic fantasy gets a generous bonus from me.
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May 23, 2014 14:08
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The soundtrack might just be the best thing about the Shadow Hearts series. The music is very expiremental, bleak, and sometimes... rave-y? But it works so well.
Butt Ghost fucked around with this message at 18:40 on May 23, 2014 |
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May 23, 2014 18:34
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Hace posted:XSEED is still a thing? They're one of the best publishers working today. Their commitment to their fans and informed, discerning choices of what to publish is something all companies should aspire to.
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May 23, 2014 18:40
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Butt Ghost posted:The soundtrack might just be the best thing about the Shadow Hearts series. The music is very expiremental, bleak, and sometimes... rave-y? But it works so well. It's odd too, because in-game I find the soundtrack just kind of okay--nothing super stand-out--but whenever I listen to links on youtube, I'm always impressed by it. God, Yuri was such a great main character. 1920's Keanu Reeves with about four working brain cells and fists of justice. His banter skills were top-notch. ...dammit now I wanna play Shadow Hearts 2 again. The historical epic that shows pre-WW2 Japan with flying robots and mecha. Bless its heart.
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May 23, 2014 18:47
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BottledBodhisvata posted:It's odd too, because in-game I find the soundtrack just kind of okay--nothing super stand-out--but whenever I listen to links on youtube, I'm always impressed by it. And then he told God to shove it.
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May 23, 2014 18:51
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Shadow Hearts 2 was honestly one of my favorite PS2-era RPGs. It just felt loving huge. A 2 disc game that never seemed to end with like 3 distinct plot arcs and tons of characters and all sorts of side content and man I want that on PS2 classics so loving bad.
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May 23, 2014 18:53
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I really ought to replay Shadow Hearts 2. I distinctly remember absolutely hating it, but I'm so completely alone in this that my perspective is probably skewed somewhere. Except the part where I dislike it becoming more goofy. That part actually sucks.
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May 23, 2014 19:15
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Yeah it's kind of a shame that they veered off into sillyland in 2 and 3. They had the PERFECT balance in the original.
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May 23, 2014 19:17
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I thought 2 had the perfect balance honestly. 1 went a big up its own rear end at times and 3 was way too far into silly land. 2 was serious sometimes and silly sometimes and though it went a bit too far on occasion (usually with Joachim), I appreciated it having a drat sense of humor instead of being nothing but giant pretenious wankfest #943.
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May 23, 2014 19:19
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ImpAtom posted:I thought 2 had the perfect balance honestly. 1 went a big up its own rear end at times and 3 was way too far into silly land. 2 was serious sometimes and silly sometimes and though it went a bit too far on occasion (usually with Joachim), I appreciated it having a drat sense of humor instead of being nothing but giant pretenious wankfest #943. Let me rephrase that. It's not that I dislike that it's goofy so much as I dislike that they toned down the horror aspects. Shadow Hearts was downright creepy at times, and its monster designs were almost unanimously hosed up and interesting. Shadow Hearts 2 toned that way the gently caress down and became much more generic (and downright boring) as a result.
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May 23, 2014 19:21
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ImpAtom posted:It just felt loving huge. A 2 disc game that never seemed to end with like 3 distinct plot arcs and tons of characters
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May 23, 2014 19:22
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King of Solomon posted:Let me rephrase that. It's not that I dislike that it's goofy so much as I dislike that they toned down the horror aspects. Shadow Hearts was downright creepy at times, and its monster designs were almost unanimously hosed up and interesting. Shadow Hearts 2 toned that way the gently caress down and became much more generic (and downright boring) as a result. How far did you get into SH2? I seem to recall it having a lot of really hosed up designs and situations. Not quite to the same level as SH1's earlier parts (which were the most Pure Horror the series got to me) but certainly on par with the later Roger Bacon-oriented stuff.
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May 23, 2014 19:27
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ImpAtom posted:How far did you get into SH2? I seem to recall it having a lot of really hosed up designs and situations. Not quite to the same level as SH1's earlier parts (which were the most Pure Horror the series got to me) but certainly on par with the later Roger Bacon-oriented stuff. I quit playing literally at the final dungeon. I distinctly remember one enemy being pretty hosed up, and specifically remember this because it was the only enemy in the entire game that felt that way.
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May 23, 2014 19:29
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Eh, Shadow Hearts 1 had some jokes and stuff too, I wouldn't really call it 'generic pretentiousness.' The world is saved by a machine Roger Bacon made to get his pizza.
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May 23, 2014 19:30
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King of Solomon posted:Let me rephrase that. It's not that I dislike that it's goofy so much as I dislike that they toned down the horror aspects. Shadow Hearts was downright creepy at times, and its monster designs were almost unanimously hosed up and interesting. Shadow Hearts 2 toned that way the gently caress down and became much more generic (and downright boring) as a result. SH2 definitely keeps the creepy monster designs, and a good amount of the dungeons were pretty eerie. I thought the Petrograd Sewers were really unsettling and the monsters, especially the Big Boss Monsters, were usually quite disturbing. SH3 had really bright and colorful areas and encountering monsters in half of them felt strangely out of place and weird. In SH2, you were always exploring ancient structures or corrupted magical places and it made sense that long forgotten ghosts and goblins would be lurking about. The goofiness of SH2 helps break up a lot of the tension between dungeons, which isn't such a bad thing. Vagrant Story, for instance, rarely breaks the tension and keeps you wandering a pretty horrorshow location the whole game, and that can wear down on you. I'd like to see another horror-themed JRPG though. SMT has become more mainstream too, so there's really a lack of genuine horror in the Arr Pee Gees these days.
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May 23, 2014 19:31
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King of Solomon posted:Let me rephrase that. It's not that I dislike that it's goofy so much as I dislike that they toned down the horror aspects. Shadow Hearts was downright creepy at times, and its monster designs were almost unanimously hosed up and interesting. Shadow Hearts 2 toned that way the gently caress down and became much more generic (and downright boring) as a result. The enemy designs were pretty creepy throughout the entire franchise. It's the area design that really lost the horror aspect. I think the best example is the Doll House dungeon in each of the game. The Doll House in the first game did a great job of building up to that gruesome final room. The second Doll House had decent enough atmosphere and still did a good enough job of being creepy (those giant cockroaches that attacked by leaping right on the screen helped.) The third Doll House wasn't scary at all and just had a tedious puzzle to solve.
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May 23, 2014 19:34
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Endorph posted:Eh, Shadow Hearts 1 had some jokes and stuff too, I wouldn't really call it 'generic pretentiousness.' The world is saved by a machine Roger Bacon made to get his pizza. I wasn't referring to SH1 that way but rather the RPGs of the era.
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May 23, 2014 19:34
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ImpAtom posted:I wasn't referring to SH1 that way but rather the RPGs of the era. Either way, Bacon is the best JRPG inventor character.
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May 23, 2014 19:37
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I remember getting and starting to play SH2 and being pissed it continued off of the regular ending of SH1 and never getting far in it because of that. Now it is years and years later and I cannot find my disks and it is upsetting
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May 23, 2014 19:38
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BottledBodhisvata posted:SH2 definitely keeps the creepy monster designs, and a good amount of the dungeons were pretty eerie. I thought the Petrograd Sewers were really unsettling and the monsters, especially the Big Boss Monsters, were usually quite disturbing. Which is another reason I should probably replay it to refresh my memory. I played the game at release, was increasingly disappointed with the game, and then I stopped after doing a bunch of sidequests before heading into the final dungeon. My memories of the game at this point are basically "the monster designs were disappointing except one specific boss, can't explain why", "I didn't like any of the story beats," and "Joachim is loving great, but he shouldn't be related to Keith." Stuff like that.
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May 23, 2014 19:39
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Everyone who complained about SH2's added goofyness and lack of horror should go and play SH's prequel, Koudelka. It's pretty great... except for the actual gameplay part of the game.
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May 23, 2014 19:54
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Megami Tensei Megathread Mk. III: Shadow Hearts Megathread
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May 23, 2014 19:56
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http://www.reddit.com/r/Megaten/comments/267igt/dear_dear_dear_ratlusprime_could_you_please/chonkm2Atlus posted:There's not a lot I can talk about in regards to EU. EU is a big part of our 3rd party titles, (Daylight, Citizens of Earth, Zeno Clash 2, etc.) so it's not that we hate Europe or anything, we do everything we can to try and get our games released over there. But the bigger the title, the more resources, time, etc. it takes. (see: SMTIV) They're also looking into the Persona 4 Arena removal.
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May 23, 2014 19:59
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Krad posted:Everyone who complained about SH2's added goofyness and lack of horror should go and play SH's prequel, Koudelka. It's pretty great... except for the actual gameplay part of the game.
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May 23, 2014 20:28
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Butt Ghost posted:Yuri is essentially Joeseph Joestar meets Dante from DMC Goddamn, how have I not heard of this series before? I need to track these down
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May 23, 2014 20:33
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Butt Ghost posted:The voice acting is surprisingly good too, especially for a PSX game. While the gameplay is slow and PSX-y, it's actually super easy -- except for the final boss holy gently caress -- and the game is really short, so it's not all that painful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foSu7jxwctA
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May 23, 2014 20:36
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kirbysuperstar posted:You forgot that the drunk cat was a personal friend of Al Capone and that you took side missions from Lovecraft himself. Please tell me this game is on PSN.
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May 23, 2014 21:00
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Captain Mog posted:Please tell me this game is on PSN. Nope. None of the games are. There are all sorts of problems with the company who published them and the developer is out of business and carved up among other developers. 
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May 23, 2014 21:03
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I don't think they are super rare though, so you can still pick up copies in the $20-$50 range. I got 1 and 2 through Gamestop but that was a few years before they started cutting back on them. All three are really good games, namely 2 which I think is one of the best JRPGs period. And really they are rather similar to Mega Ten in setting and tone, the Raidou games especially. I wish JRPGs now had the same charm and creativity that the Shadow Hearts games had.
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May 23, 2014 21:19
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Three or four games at that price range plus a PS2 is pretty expensive.
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May 23, 2014 21:24
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I own all the games but SH2 emulates pretty lovely and my PS2 doesn't work anymore.
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May 23, 2014 21:25
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Manatee Cannon posted:Three or four games at that price range plus a PS2 is pretty expensive.  If you're on a budget though, 2 is the must play, though you're probably going to be a bit lost seeing is that its a direct sequel. Accordion Man fucked around with this message at 21:30 on May 23, 2014 |
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May 23, 2014 21:28
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Shadow Hearts to me where the perfect RPG's of that era, I don't really favor one over the other, I found them all to be perfect. I actually liked the 3rd the most, the party compositions you could make where just so batshit. Drunken Master cat, a vampire that could be either fat or skinny and it would changer her entire moveset, a mariachi, 2 native americans, one would that turn into different forms and one that used gun kata and a kid from chicago. It also had tons of little shout-outs to the original, it felt like a nice send-off to the franchise. 
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May 23, 2014 21:41
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Alteisen posted:Shadow Hearts to me where the perfect RPG's of that era, I don't really favor one over the other, I found them all to be perfect. 3 sports the best battle system of the three as well, the ultimate refinement of all the previous additives. The battles are harder too, it has a generally higher difficulty curve from SH2, which is a big boon because SH2 kind of becomes a cake-walk about halfway through, and never really requires you to utilize elemental weaknesses or anything besides your characters' best skills. SH3 makes magic more useful by virtue of giving you a weak-sauce main character who is a better mage than slasher. The only real downside is that the plot is really scattershot, the pacing is all over the place, and the game's easily half the length of SH2 without anything really major being added in. Plus they turn Al Capone into a sympathetic pretty boy , which was a bit strange.
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May 23, 2014 21:47
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Accordion Man posted:Perhaps, but they're worth it. Even at the low end of what you said you'd be spending around $100 unless you owned a PS2 previously, over $200 at the high. Kind of a lot!
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May 23, 2014 21:49
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Well this is the same series that has Anastasia Romanov being a magical badass that fights with Faberge eggs and Roger Bacon is an immortal old coot that has a teleporter to the moon that's powered by a treadmill. It's part of the series' charm.Manatee Cannon posted:Even at the low end of what you said you'd be spending around $100 unless you owned a PS2 previously, over $200 at the high. Kind of a lot! Accordion Man fucked around with this message at 21:54 on May 23, 2014 |
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May 23, 2014 21:50
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I would love to play new bad/good JRPGs, but I'm trying to find ways to juggle playing Inazuma Eleven, Etrian odyssey and Drakengard 3 while trying to find copies of all three .hack GU games for a not stupid price and adding Shadow Hearts to that would be very troubling.
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May 23, 2014 22:39
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BottledBodhisvata posted:3 sports the best battle system of the three as well, the ultimate refinement of all the previous additives. The battles are harder too, it has a generally higher difficulty curve from SH2, which is a big boon because SH2 kind of becomes a cake-walk about halfway through, and never really requires you to utilize elemental weaknesses or anything besides your characters' best skills. SH3 makes magic more useful by virtue of giving you a weak-sauce main character who is a better mage than slasher. The only real downside is that the plot is really scattershot, the pacing is all over the place, and the game's easily half the length of SH2 without anything really major being added in. Plus they turn Al Capone into a sympathetic pretty boy , which was a bit strange. Really? I found SH3 to be the easiest. You get some stuff in it that utterly shatters the difficulty curve. Hilda in particular is crazy with the way she can multiply magic damage. ImpAtom fucked around with this message at 23:32 on May 23, 2014 |
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May 23, 2014 23:26
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ImpAtom posted:Really? I found SH3 to be the easiest. You get some stuff in it that utterly shatters the difficulty curve. Not until the end though? I mean, maybe I missed out on something, I found it had generally harder random encounters and boss battles were a bit more technical, and elemental weaknesses mattered a lot more.
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May 23, 2014 23:29
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