Working on a Shadow Hearts retrospective.

[Zevin_Mars]

I feel like this series of games that are very near and dear to my heart has been largely forgotten in the last few years for some reason or another, so I've got it in my head to do a series of retrospectives/review videos for the series, something similar to Roo from Clan of the Gray Wolf's 16-bit Gems videos. I'd be covering the series from Koudelka - From the New World, with a possible, humorous video covering "Chaos Wars" to cap the series off.

Anyway, I'm interested in talking about the games since they've recently been on my mind a lot.

Anyone else have a huge hard on for these games like I do? I feel like I've been unnecessarily bitter since posting here, and I'm under tons of stress, so some fanboy gushing is needed to balance the scales, lol.

[AppleQueso]

Never played these games, heard good things, especially about Shadow Hearts: Covenant.

[flojocabron]

one reason why they aren't really played/known is that they are kinda expensive.

At gamestop one of these games (cant remember which) was $29.99 used

I think I read/heard somwhere that the game Koudelka is part of the shadow hearts universe. Sort of like a prequel.

when you finish your article please post it here for us to read too okay?

[AppleQueso]

Most of the games are around $20 and they're actually pretty easy to find in the wild for cheaper.

$20-30 hardly seems expensive to me, I don't know.

[sabrage]

The reason I wanna get them is because they're expensive, and I only expect it to go up.

When I was a kid i really wanted to get the first Shadow Hearts, but it was rated M.

[Xeogred]

Yeah I've been interested in these games for quite awhile. Sounds like some rare quality JRPG's on the PS2.

[SirPsycho]

I'm planning something similar with the Suikoden series. While I'm planning on it being as informative as possible and using intense literary analysis on the storyline, I also want it to be entertaining to watch.

[Gamerforlife]

I played the first one. It was right after I had given up on Shin MegaTen Nocturne. I remember thinking that Shadow Hearts was more fun and had a similar supernatural theme to it that I liked. I really enjoyed the timing based combat too. Reminded of Legend of Dragoon, though I think LOD did it better.

[Zevin_Mars]

Koudelka and the first Shadow Hearts game can be pretty expensive (Koudelka has dropped in price as of late, and if you find it in a brick and mortor store you'll rarely see it go for more than $25). I know I got a sealed copy of Shadow Hearts for $15 sealed a few years back, and still haven't opened it, never imagined it would ever go up in value like it has. The other ones are pretty easy to get though.

I think I read/heard somwhere that the game Koudelka is part of the shadow hearts universe. Sort of like a prequel.

when you finish your article please post it here for us to read too okay?

Koudelka is part of the SH universe, the location and some of the characters factor heavily into the first two games. It also establishes a lot of the Lovecraftian elements that stuck with the series through to the end.

The articles are a ways off, I work as a children's therapist in my day job, so I'm stretched pretty thin, but I will post them here when done.

I played the first one. It was right after I had given up on Shin MegaTen Nocturne. I remember thinking that Shadow Hearts was more fun and had a similar supernatural theme to it that I liked. I really enjoyed the timing based combat too. Reminded of Legend of Dragoon, though I think LOD did it better.

I agree with you that LoD did the timing thing better than the first Shadow Hearts, but I think Shadow Hearts: Covenant did it better than both of those due to the level of customization they gave you.

[flojocabron]

hey zevin!

not to go too much off topic...

But there is also a koudelka manga, translated of course.

Its not too long, only a couple of volumes.

try to find online if there are other media tie-ins to the shadowhearts series.