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[acklame]

Thanks to the sh3 trailer, and the accompanied prasies for the series, I'm interested in checking out sh2. I play RPGs mainly for the storyline, so in that respect, how's sh2? I have no intention in checking out sh1 however. Also, I'd appreciate any other general comments regarding the game

 

[demi]

http://www.ga-forum.com/showthread.php?t=39000


But in conclusion, you should buy it. Because it has the demi seal of approval. Now would I lie to you?

And you really need to play Shadow Hearts 1 to fully understand 2 really, mainly for the characters themselves.

 

[DaBuddaDa]

There was a thead not too long ago which discussed the game a bit.

I'm thinking of buying it soon, too.

 

[belgurdo]

Yeah, definitely get it. The story in it is very strong

 

[Tamanon]

Very cool game, a one-of-a-kind RPG in the saturated PS2 market. Innovative combat, for the most part great characters also and a good story.

 

[lordmrw]

Add me to the list of voices saying buy it. It was one of the best rpgs I played last year, and to tell you the truth i think I might have enjoyed it the most out of all of them. I also recommend the first one, but just know going in that its pretty ugly.

 

[Luscious LeftFoot]

Can someone (re)post the link to Shadow Heart 3 trailer?

 

[Bebpo]

Just want to chime in that if you liked SH2, you might want to pick up this:

It's got lots of nice promotional artwork and character/enemy/weapon/location sketches/artworks. Only like 2-3 pages of text, rest is all nice color art so even if you don't read Japanese it's a great book to have.

 

[DarienA]

Ditto the other positive posts in this thread for SH 1 and 2.

 

[demi]

Can someone (re)post the link to Shadow Heart 3 trailer?

http://www.gamesmediamirror.com/leech_1197_en.html

 

[belgurdo]

Just want to chime in that if you liked SH2, you might want to pick up this:

It's got lots of nice promotional artwork and character/enemy/weapon/location sketches/artworks. Only like 2-3 pages of text, rest is all nice color art so even if you don't read Japanese it's a great book to have.

Yo, duder, where can a SH nut pick this up? I love the designs for this game

 

[Brandon F]

I really need to play SH2 myself. I beat the original twice for god's sake, in two languages!

Even though I dug it, putting 100+ hrs into SO3 really sapped my motivation for playing any other console RPG it seems. Even the mighty SMT3 is practically untouched.

 

[Mrbob]

100 hours in Star Ocean 3? That may sap my will to play games, period.

 

[Dead]

Yo, duder, where can a SH nut pick this up? I love the designs for this game

You can get it here

or here

 

[The End]

I was just about to post a "Late to the Party XXVI:Shadow Hearts Covenant" thread. I just picked it up used, and I'm loving it so far. Has a kind of neat Castlevania RPG vibe to it. Only problem is, i got no book.

A couple questions:

1)The sould energy gauge seems to have a part that should fill up, but never does. I've upgraded all of my demon forms to grade 3, and leveled them each a couple times. Am i doing something wrong?

2)Is there anything I can do to prevent SP from draining so fast in boss fights, other than Sorm's "Stand" skill?

3)Is it worth picking up Shadow Hearts or Koudelka to fill in the story?

 

[demi]

I can't exactly answer 1 and 2, but on 3...

Yes for Shadow Hearts, as it is pretty much a direct "prequel" to Covenant, but as for Koudelka, if you are really desperate to learn about some of the stuff in Shadow Hearts (emigre document (skull book) and such, then yes. Heck, Koudelka even comes in during Shadow Hearts 1! And those Neam Ruins you visit in Covenant? Why, that's actually the old Mansion in Koudelka! See how it comes around full circle? Because it doesn't really fucking matter.

So yes for Shadow Hearts, big maybe on Koudelka, if you really want to see the big circle. Koudelka's battles are extremely different from Shadow Hearts, by the way.

 

[radios shipping overview]

You can get it here

or here

Slightly cheaper at amazon.co.jp (yeah, they ship books and CDs to the US): http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos...3/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i3_xgl63/249-2986074-6165913

 

[maskrider]

I was just about to post a "Late to the Party XXVI:Shadow Hearts Covenant" thread. I just picked it up used, and I'm loving it so far. Has a kind of neat Castlevania RPG vibe to it. Only problem is, i got no book.

A couple questions:

1)The sould energy gauge seems to have a part that should fill up, but never does. I've upgraded all of my demon forms to grade 3, and leveled them each a couple times. Am i doing something wrong?

2)Is there anything I can do to prevent SP from draining so fast in boss fights, other than Sorm's "Stand" skill?

3)Is it worth picking up Shadow Hearts or Koudelka to fill in the story?

1. Nothing wrong

2. There are accessories that prevent SP down attacks and another will replenish SP with a successful ring when you go berserk

3. "Yes" on the original Shadow Hearts. The link with Koudelka is not really that much.

 

[Bebpo]

Slightly cheaper at amazon.co.jp (yeah, they ship books and CDs to the US): http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos...3/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i3_xgl63/249-2986074-6165913

Be warned, shipping to the US is ungodly expensive. I tried as hard as possible not to use amazon jpn while in the US for this reason. $50 in books = $30-40 in shipping.

Yet they have free shipping if you live in Japan

 

[maskrider]

Slightly cheaper at amazon.co.jp (yeah, they ship books and CDs to the US): http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos...3/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i3_xgl63/249-2986074-6165913

Book shippings are 1000 YEN (500 YEN for Asia) higher than CD/DVDs at amazon.co.jp, amazon.co.jp uses DHL.

Depending on the number of items, I sometimes get my stuffs from mangaoh.co.jp, the world guidance link, mangaoh.co.jp uses EMS and the delivery charge depends on weight.

http://www.mangaoh.co.jp/php/data_product.php?i_prd_code=80812

You can also get it from hmv.co.jp

http://www.hmv.co.jp/product/detail.asp?sku=1609626

which uses FedEx, around the same price as amazon.co.jp

 

[Bebpo]

I can't exactly answer 1 and 2, but on 3...

Yes for Shadow Hearts, as it is pretty much a direct "prequel" to Covenant, but as for Koudelka, if you are really desperate to learn about some of the stuff in Shadow Hearts (emigre document (skull book) and such, then yes. Heck, Koudelka even comes in during Shadow Hearts 1! And those Neam Ruins you visit in Covenant? Why, that's actually the old Mansion in Koudelka! See how it comes around full circle? Because it doesn't really fucking matter.

So yes for Shadow Hearts, big maybe on Koudelka, if you really want to see the big circle. Koudelka's battles are extremely different from Shadow Hearts, by the way.

I wonder how much of the original Koudelka staff is part of the SH1/2/3 team? I mean the composer came in at SH1 and like you said the battle system is completely different.

 

[Dead]

Be warned, shipping to the US is ungodly expensive. I tried as hard as possible not to use amazon jpn while in the US for this reason. $50 in books = $30-40 in shipping.

Yet they have free shipping if you live in Japan

hmmm....last time I used amazon jp I dont recall shipping being that much, maybe a bit more than 2000 yen for $100+ of DVDs....Got my stuff in a week too.

edit:

Book shippings are 1000 YEN (500 YEN for Asia) higher than CD/DVDs at amazon.co.jp, amazon.co.jp uses DHL.

Ok guess that explains why

 

[maskrider]

hmmm....last time I used amazon jp I dont recall shipping being that much, maybe a bit more than 2000 yen for $100+ of DVDs....Got my stuff in a week too.

edit:


Ok guess that explains why

If you can wait (2-5 weeks than 2-5 days), select world economy and save 1500 YEN on shipping at amazon.co.jp.

 

[Dead]

If you can wait (2-5 weeks than 2-5 days), select world economy and save 1500 YEN on shipping at amazon.co.jp.

My wallet says yes, but my patience says no

 

[demi]

I wonder how much of the original Koudelka staff is part of the SH1/2/3 team? I mean the composer came in at SH1 and like you said the battle system is completely different.

shrug

 

[The End]

1. Nothing wrong

2. There are accessories that prevent SP down attacks and another will replenish SP with a successful ring when you go berserk

3. "Yes" on the original Shadow Hearts. The link with Koudelka is not really that much.

1) cool
2) cool
3) I'll keep an eye out for SH1.

 

[Bebpo]

shrug

Just brought it up because there are certain members of this forum who still haven't played SH1/2 to date because they were burned by Koudelka and don't believe Koudelka staff could ever make a good game.

Without any actually basis of facts, I'd guess that afteR Koudelka sucked/bombed most of the team got fired and like the writer and maybe art guy gathered together a new staff and made SH1 and then expanded the same staff a little to make SH2.

 

[Brandon F]

Funny story, I actually traded my copy of Donkey Kong 64 for a friend's copy of Koudelka.

Never could figure who got burned in that deal...

 

[Dead]

Funny story, I actually traded my copy of Donkey Kong 64 for a friend's copy of Koudelka.

Never could figure who got burned in that deal...

Definately your friend, no question about it

 

[Shouta]

Heh, my friend just picked up the world guidance book today at Kinokuniya (for like 30 bucks). Pretty nice book. A little thin for a game with so much content though, if you ask me.

 

[AniHawk]

I think I'm too late, but I strongly do not recommend picking up Shadow Hearts Covenant. The storyline and characters are ruined by terrible voice acting. By the time the game starts getting interesting, the game is over.

Also had a friend who is a very big fan of Shadow Hearts. He loves it to death. He hates Covenant as well. He actually stopped playing the game and he's an RPG fanboy.

 

[Bebpo]

Heh, my friend just picked up the world guidance book today at Kinokuniya (for like 30 bucks). Pretty nice book. A little thin for a game with so much content though, if you ask me.

heh, oddly enough mine arrived in the mail this morning along with the DC version. I really like some of the promo artworks that I'd not seen before.

 

[The End]

I think I'm too late, but I strongly do not recommend picking up Shadow Hearts Covenant. The storyline and characters are ruined by terrible voice acting. By the time the game starts getting interesting, the game is over.

Also had a friend who is a very big fan of Shadow Hearts. He loves it to death. He hates Covenant as well. He actually stopped playing the game and he's an RPG fanboy.

The VA isn't great, but it's not "Star Ocean Bad". Having never played SH before, I'm liking Covenant quite a bit.

 

[belgurdo]

I think I'm too late, but I strongly do not recommend picking up Shadow Hearts Covenant. The storyline and characters are ruined by terrible voice acting. By the time the game starts getting interesting, the game is over.

Also had a friend who is a very big fan of Shadow Hearts. He loves it to death. He hates Covenant as well. He actually stopped playing the game and he's an RPG fanboy.

By "terrible" you mean "completely awesome," right? I found the direction interesting as the actors seemed to ad-lib the lines in parts instead of read them from the script (this was done to get around the lip movement gaffes of localization) making the acting sound very natural to me. And there is far worse voicing in games out there

 

[lunlunqq]

I think I'm too late, but I strongly do not recommend picking up Shadow Hearts Covenant. The storyline and characters are ruined by terrible voice acting. By the time the game starts getting interesting, the game is over.

Also had a friend who is a very big fan of Shadow Hearts. He loves it to death. He hates Covenant as well. He actually stopped playing the game and he's an RPG fanboy.

Well, interesting... since I actually think SH:C is one of the best piece of English OV work I've ever heard... atleast everybody in the cast sounds very nature. What do you say about the OV in Star Ocean 3 and the GC ToS? OV in those 2 games make me want to kill myself... maybe because I'm not a native English speaker so I can't tell the quality?

 

[radios shipping overview]

I found the acting pretty inconsistent. There were some decent work (mostly Gepetto), but Yuri's actor was pretty embarassingly bad and miscast (he sure tried, but he just could not pull off the "cool antihero" role, and his forced laughter made me squirm). Karin's was sometimes good and sometimes bad - though mostly she was given awful lines - and Lucia's wasn't so hot. The actors could read their lines without sounding awful, but when it came to comedic delivery (very, very important in this game) or anything emotional or dramatic, most of the actors fell pretty flat.

The game itself is well-executed given its design goals, but I really don't have the patience for that kind of unambitious, repetitive design anymore, especially when the voice acting grates on me the whole time.

 

[belgurdo]

Well, interesting... since I actually think SH:C is one of the best piece of English OV work I've ever heard... atleast everybody in the cast sounds very nature. What do you say about the OV in Star Ocean 3 and the GC ToS? OV in those 2 games make me want to kill myself... maybe because I'm not a native English speaker so I can't tell the quality?

The problem with both of those games is that the actors don't even attempt to sound like anything beyond stock anime characters, and the writing for those games is also very dry. In SH2, the characters actually sound/act like humans, and the ad-libbing helps it out. That said, he probably loves them, natch

 

[Shouta]

I haven't heard SO3 but ToS is a solid dub. The script could be more interesting but it's very good and way more consistent than Shadow Hearts from a voice-acting standpoint. Covenant has some solid dubbing, a little inconsistent at times but there's some great lines here and there. ToS > Covenant in terms of overall dubbing but Covenant has better lines.

Quite a few people that complain about English dubs either have an impossible high standard or (more common with anime fans) are so subconciously infatuated with the Japanese language they consider anything that isn't Japanese to be badly dubbed. There's a ton of good dubbing nowadays and Covenant and ToS are two examples of it.

 

[The End]

I think the Metal Gear Solid series has spoiled us on world-class voice acting that something like SHC or FFX that would have been considered outstanding otherwise is now seen as mediocre.

 

[Shouta]

Only MGS could be considered Stellar voice acting if you ask me. Mind you I've only played MGS1 and MGS2 so I don't know about MGS3.

 

[AniHawk]

The problem with both of those games is that the actors don't even attempt to sound like anything beyond stock anime characters, and the writing for those games is also very dry. In SH2, the characters actually sound/act like humans

There was nothing about Joachim that made him sound human. Or any of

Spoiler

Kato's henchmen.

The problem was, like I found in Xenosaga 2, was that there wasn't really a consistent performance in the game except for one character or two. There were some parts better than others, but I felt the overall dubbing was... bad.

Spoiler

Especially Yuri's "ROT/BURN IN HELL." I mean good god. Awful.

As far as ToS goes, I think for the most part it had better VA. Collette was terrible, and Kratos and Tara Strong's character were bland. I thought Scott Menville, Jennifer Hale, and whoever did the red-haired guy did pretty good jobs. Regal (think that was his name) also had a good VA. Nothing from the game was really outstanding, but I'd label it overall as "good."

I haven't played SO3.

 

[The End]

Part of the trouble with ToS is that too many of the VAs were too familiar. Much like Grandia II (Michaelangelo's Awesome Adventure), ToS felt like "Robin, Raven, and Liquid Snake Save the World".

 

[radios shipping overview]

I haven't played SO3 or US ToS at all, so I can't compare them. My favorite English voice work is, yes, in the MGS series, Beyond Good & Evil, and in several PC games - Fallout series, Blizzard games, Icewind Dale, System Shock series. For a closer comparison, though: I like the voicework in Front Mission 4, I found the VA in FFX-2 to be mostly inoffensive to enjoyable, and the work in Onimusha 2 wasn't bad at all. I am incredibly picky about voice acting and voice direction in games, and that has nothing to do with how much subbed anime I watch. I just refuse to lower my standards just because voice direction and casting on average is not so hot.

 

[The End]

The voiceacting in FM4 was highly underrated. They did accents well without sounding ridiculous.

 

[demi]

Um...I like Shadow Hearts. It is good.

Um...I feel that while Covenant is graphically and perhaps battle-wise better, there certainly are some parts that are lacking.

Um...voice actors mean zilch to me.

Um...jeez you guys are super fucking picky.

 

[AniHawk]

Part of the trouble with ToS is that too many of the VAs were too familiar. Much like Grandia II (Michaelangelo's Awesome Adventure), ToS felt like "Robin, Raven, and Liquid Snake Save the World".

If you thought Presea (just remembered the name ) sounded anything like Raven, you need to get your ears checked. The only guy that really sounded familiar was Scott Menville's character. I'd've liked to have heard Kratos sound more like Liquid though. At least that way the character would be, you know, interesting.

 

[The End]

If you thought Presea (just remembered the name ) sounded anything like Raven, you need to get your ears checked. The only guy that really sounded familiar was Scott Menville's character. I'd've liked to have heard Kratos sound more like Liquid though. At least that way the character would be, you know, interesting.

Presea, not Priscilla.

Again, I know they're "actors", and do what they can to play a character, but the pool is so small that drawing similarities is inevitably.

 

[Shouta]

If you thought Priscilla (just remembered the name ) sounded anything like Raven, you need to get your ears checked. The only guy that really sounded familiar was Scott Menville's character. I'd've liked to have heard Kratos sound more like Liquid though. At least that way the character would be, you know, interesting.

Man, you really don't know your voices.

The VA for Presea (not Priscilla =P) is the same person as the VA for Raven, Tara Strong.

If you want funny, Kari Wahlgren who played Raine in ToS is Karin in Covenant.

 

[AniHawk]

The VA for Presea (not Priscilla =P) is the same person as the VA for Raven, Tara Strong.

Uh... I know that. Kinda like how Timmy Turner doesn't sound like Raven much.

If you want funny, Kari Wahlgren who played Raine in ToS is Karin in Covenant.

That'd explain why I didn't like either. Thought Karen sounded familiar.

 

[The End]

imdb has been listing videogame VAs for a while now. If you look up Kahri Walgren, for example, she's does a couple dozen videogames about as many anime series.