Shadow Hearts

[dfd3657]

Has anyone ever played any of the Shadow Hearts RPGs for PS2? Shadow Hearts 2 is quite possibly one of the best RPGs I have ever played. It's got so much originality. Instead of using the stale ATB like Final Fantasy VII, they made a completely new system called The Judgement Ring. What happens is whenever you do any action in battle (attack, cast magic, use an item), this ring comes up that has colored sectors on it. A little "arm" spins around, and you have to press X whenever the arm falls on the colored area. There's a perfect area that's red, and if you hit X there, you do more damage. Of course, it's more difficult to hit because it's smaller. It really adds a whole new dimension to battles. As much as I love FFVII, most of the time I'd get into a normal battle and just hold O to just make everyone attack. The battles are actually a blast in this one. And Shadow Hearts 2 is quite possibly one of the funniest games I have ever played. I found myself cracking up throughout the entire thing. It's just so whacky. For example, one of the bosses is a giant pink cat (don't ask) and when the main character sees it, he goes, "That is one GIANT pussy." And one of the characters is a wrestler that uses random things he finds lying around for weapons. One of his weapons is a giant frozen fish. Unfortunately, the games are quite unknown because Midway simply had poor release dates. The first SH was released in the same week as Final Fantasy X, and the second was released among more popular RPGs. And the third one is coming out in March, right around the same time of Kingdom Hearts 2. It's going to get overlooked once again. Anyway, I cannot freakin' wait. I feel like I'm 5 years old waiting for Christmas. It looks like it's just as whacky as the first. One of the characters is a giant female cat who uses drunken fist style, and the drunker she gets, the stronger she is in battle. Another character is a female vampire who sucks calories from enemies, and when she's sucked a lot out, she gets extremely fat and strong. I just can't wait. For a preview of the new game (which includes a much better explanation of the Judgement Ring than I could ever give), check out this video. Also, check out the official website. www.shadowheartsnewworld.com

[BurkeWorld]

FF VII > All

No matter what.

Burkey

[D-Mac]

I'll likely be passing on this one as deep/hardcore 3D RPGs are a genre that I'm rarely able to get into, but I really like what they've done to create a unique battle system here. To me it seems somewhat like an advanced version of the "timed hits" from the Mario RPGs.

Setting this in the late 1920s of New York, among other places is also pretty cool, despite this game's serious lack of fedora hats. But they manage to make up for it with DRUNKEN MASTER CAT.

FF VII > All

No matter what.

Burkey

If you're going to post, please be more relevant to the thread's topic.

[dfd3657]

FF VII > All

No matter what.

Burkey

And...that's all a matter of opinion. I agree, Final Fantasy VII is fantastic, but I think it just gets so much attention because it's really the game that made RPGs huge in the US. But it's still a fantastic game. I just love a lot games a lot more.

[Andrew_Fireborn]

FFVII is standard RPG fare... A classic, but a rather over-rated one.  (In my book, Chrono Trigger beats it easily.  Heck, IX & X almost equal it, with a few problems holding them back...)


Spoilers below

Anyway, on topic: I bought SH2 (AKA: SH:C) a while back in the discount bin, best money I've spent in a long time.  A great story with lots of humor, yet serious and engauging at the same time.

The judgement ring is an interesting battle system, but got old after a while.  The combat turns themselves are handled by a turn-based system very similar to the one found in FFX, which allows for strategic use of combo functions.

The combo functions are another thing unto themselves, while nicely carried out a number of features were nearly worthless.  Unless first in line, line baem skills and spells would miss a good number of their hits, breaking the combo.  Not to mention the little used alternate hit types.  Yet, the combo system allows for far more powerful attacks than would otherwise be possible.

It works off of a modifier system, adding damage based on the number of hits prior to the person going in sequence, therefore you always want to lead off with your character who do the most hits and end with a bruiser.  (For me, this almost always meant Karin -> Joachim -> Yuri (Usually in Highest Earth form available) -> Annastasia (for magic burst), changing morphs or order as needed)



Although, I have little but good to say about the game itself, it's one of the few that hasn't let me put it down in a while, and I'm looking forward to SH:From the New World... once I scratch up the funds for it.