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Like it better than FFX

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 11
Date: January 20, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I had just chucked in FFX `movie/game (horrible, really sucks..) and was waiting for Shadowman 2, when I was misinformed that SH was a sequel to the excellent Kodelka (a very very very excellent game) from PS1. So I bought this game. The screen graphics are an excellent ripoff of Shadow Madness, which was a nice graphic ripoff of FFVII. The battle scenes are what grabbed me. There is a `battle wheel' where you have to x-mash on lit sections to fight. fairly new. As the hero, you can morph into a monster `soul' which has varied spell attributes (not so new). The quality of the spell effects are a tribute to the PS2 capabilities.

The story? It's all about the Japanese trying to take over China while the Occult has it's own agenda. Nicely done, and thank you for not letting PC (Political Correctness) ruin a game.

All in all, the continuity of the game is fair. A lot of political intrigue, and there is the ability to create battle parties. Unfortunatley there is a boatload of x-mashing through conversation, but the graphics are okay, even thought the level of puzzle solving is kindergarten at best. The monster graphics are 32 bit.

This is a 20 hour game, so I would rent it only of you have a 5 day pass. Otherwise, it's a used game sale.

Refreshing and a bit innovative RPG!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: July 11, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I just beat this game.

Ok, first, is it a horror game, like 'M rating' imlies? The introductory movie is certainly what you might call horror or black humor. The first level is moody, and the second one is ... I don't know whether to call it a taoist scary tale or something that will make you laugh like crazy. It's something in between. There is one more ghost tale and that's it!!! Game continues with lot of humor and great characterization and NO SPOOKY STUFF!!!

System is like Persona and bit like a Materia system in Final Fantasy VII, considering Yuri only. Main character 'tames' demons and fictive beings and has ability to fuse with them (get their appearance and powers), just like you do in Persona 2, except in Persona 2 you don't become exactly that creature/persona. Other guys in game are typical, you have normal attack and special one, which drains magic points (think spells).

People in game (except Yuri) are your typical fighter, white mage, mage, but they are well disguised by game designers in gun shooter, priest's daughter, old Chinese sage and so on. There is even funny female spy: she doesnt have spells but she always calls her friends on the phone and then you see funny animation, like drop of brick on opponent's head.

What I dislike about game is that it goes linear with no backtracking required to progress , and after you defeat sub boss (after long stairs), who is really strong and after which you get movie, you need to do quests all over map at old places and read FAQs or guides, because last boss is really too hard.
************************SPOILERS***************************************
When you fight boss after large stairs, well that is just half a game. SAVE ITEMS

I built Keith, Alice and Yuri up to level 70 and took out Alien Meta god easily, but I think you needn't do that. Level 51 is ok, because they will have ultimate spells, but again, more the merrier. For last fights, you need 10 tera extracts and just 6 7 pure roots. If your characters hit hard, 400 points or so, there is no problem, fight meta god with your melee weapon using third key and other keys IF YOU ARE AT LEVEL 70.

Even if you miss some Gravestones in China and Asia, you can get them all in Europe after big fight that is not a boss fight but looks like one...

What you CAN'T seem to get in Europe is get Erotic Book/'Shanghai angels' which you need to get best weapon and armor for Yuri. Pay attention about stone for getting fusion monster Amon , you need that for best fusion monster for Yuri, it's rock is in front stairs mentioned before.

I must admit that some puzzles are ok and logical, but game designer made it hard and bit illogical after sub boss fight.
**********************MUST READ*************************
THERE IS EXTRACT SHOP IN PRAGUE AT THE END OF GAME. YOU NEED JUST 10-15 Thera Extracts and 10 Pure Roots for last bosses if you are 70+level.

You HAVE to wait for Alice to get best magic , before it she doesn't have one good offensive magic before last one.

BE SURE to have AT LEAST 3 crusifixes and three more bundles of Leonardo Bear, Cosmix and zodiac bracelet. Get 6 pocket watches, they are byable.

If you want good ending, you have to read one of Valuable items/ a book about in which order you beat masks. Check FAQ for complete explanation. How do you challenge masks? Well, get malice to red and walk around, without going to graveyard to beat malice. Beat masks in order given in document. Since they don't come in that order, spare 90 minutes and: wait till you meet first one , run away from others. When you kill first one, wait for the second one and run away from first, third and fourth when you meet them. The probability to meet all four in desired order is one out of 256 and thats why u run.

If you miss order in first fights, kill all four in no particular order and then kill weakened versions in proper order. So, to get good ending, read book, kill masks and go to graveyard to read Alice's tombstone.

*****************************CONCLUSION*******************************
Fun game, in not so typical ambient for rpg, with sometimes illogical side quests, but you can also build caracters in typical rpg fashion, find cave and battle it out till you get cash and exp. I ENJOYED IT !!!

*****************************CONCLUSION*******************************
After beating Persona 3, Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne, Digital devil BOTH discs, I must admit, this game is real good and interactions between characters unforgetable!!!

True Masterpiece

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: March 12, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game was well constructed, I found little details I rarely see. Like every weapon and item had a long description and picture about it and every character and monster had profiles. Also the characters conversations actually interested me and the love interaction with the main character flowed really well which was almost odd. Only two particular reasons why I would see people would have a problem with this game. Which is the Judgment ring where u must time your attack everytime. The other is that u must follow a specific story line and cant venture around until around the end. It made it near impossible to get lost which can happen in lots of games. This game is well worth it if you can find it.

a rare rpg must have

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: May 05, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The first SH game I played was number 3(which was awsome by the way) Then I read about SH 1 and how it was one of the top 10 rare rp games to own, so of course, I had to have it. However, I was rather dissappointed when I put the game in and started to play. The graphics on this game are really bad and the story, for me, was a bit confusing. Also, there is just so much reading involved and you can't just skip through it. Sure, you can just not read it, but then you wouldn't know what's going on. I guess that's why the story was confusing for me, I did just skim through all the talking scenes, which there are A LOT!!

Your main character Yuri is kinda cool, I guess. He transforms into different monsters so long as you have enough MP and SP for it. The bad thing is he has so many fusions to choose from that it makes it kinda hard to know which three to equip on him. I just simply had my three favorite equipped to him at all times.

Then you have some characters that are simply worthless that I hardly played with at all, like Margarete and Zhuzhen Liu. Even Alice is pretty much useless until she learns her ability to cure the whole party.

Then there are your awsome characters. Yuri, the hero, of course. Haley, who is just a kid, but very powerful. And then there is Keith, the silver bat, who makes a cameo apperance in Sh 3. And the only way to learn new abilities for your people is to play them and when they reach a certain level, they will aquire a new skill. That works out great for the team you use the most, but it will take forever getting new skills for your less played characters.

This game is very dark and sinnister, very different from SH 2, which was quite humerous, and SH 3 which was set during the Great Depression. I can't say this game is all that bad, it has some rather interesting features, such as the judgement ring.

The judement ring determines the fate of your attack. If you miss, then your turn ends, but if you're able to hit your mark, your attack is successful.

Another thing that's great is that you can aquire like over 200 items to use on the field, or during combat. Some of these items are quite powerful and should only be used during boss fights.

Unlike the other 2 games you don't have crest magic or stellar charts to equip to your characters. Which can be good so you don't have to keep track of what's equipped to who and leveling up your magic. However, like in the other 2 games (at least in SH 3) you can have the same magic equipped to 2 or 3 of your people, like Cure or Cure ALL, so you don't have to rely on just one person healing the party and having to keep that person in play the entire game. Sure you can use your items, but they normally don't affect the party as much as using your magic.

If you are interested in any of the SH games, I suggest playing 3 first, simply because it's not connected storywise to the first two. If you played this one first, chances are you would not play the others. Don't get me wrong, the game is good, but the others are way better, and hey, why not add a rare game to your collection?

The Psuedo-Sequal to Koudelka-and IM GLAD!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: June 17, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is one of the most overlooked games I have ever seen. It's inovativness and originality go hand in hand. With the slew of different characters and dynamic storyline this game is sure to keep gamers pulled in. My only recommendation is that you play an beat Koudelka first. Otherwise in my opinion you will ruin alot of the plot twists in the story of Shadow hearts. So if you can run to get Koudelka do so. If not don't worry. Theres still plenty of thrills an chills to go around!

A Great RPG That's Been Overlooked!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: July 02, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I really can't say enough about this game, I mean it was a pleasant surprise to play an rpg that was...well unconventional. Not as unconventional as say Silent Hill2 but along the lines of Persona2:Eternal Punishment. I got the same vibe playing this game though without the superhard bosses and absurd puzzles though I must say the puzzles in ShadowHearts are far too easy, that's my only complaint if any...the story gets a little creepy almost Lovecraftian especially at the fishing village when Sea Mother tells the story of the local ghost girl...it goes into an eerie cinematic scene...I had to turn the lights on then.
This game is for anyone interested in a unique storyline and you may not like the graphics...I frankly have seen better on the PSX and MarioRPG for the SNES but...the game is fun and there are moments in the game in which it fully takes advantage of the PSX2 engine. Great game...BUY IT!!

The best but not THE best.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: November 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Okay, let me start by saying that I really enjoyed this game. I spent the better part of 2 months trying to get the full run of it. However, it does lack on some things. I'll dispense the nasty stuff first. The big one is the judgement rings. They're EVERYWHERE! This game gives you very little for free, but lets face it. Searching a corner that you just happened to get lucky and decide to look into shouldn't have a "Spin 5" wheel just to pick up the item. I fully understand the designer's wish to make the game challenging, but come on! Most times I found that the item wasn't really worth the effort you'd put into getting it. And these wheels cut you NO slack! There's one "Spin 10" wheel in this game. I'll admit I was never able to get it until my girlfriend had gotten quite a bit into her cups one dark night and decided to try it on a lark. The graphics aren't all that great, either. They do look nice and smooth, but let's face it. This is stuff I expect to see on my PS1. For a PS2 format, they're very slight. Now, graphics are a moot issue, especially if the rest of the game makes up for the lack of them, but I just didn't feel this game was designed strong enough to cover itself. My personal feelings are that perhaps we could have taken up some of the programming space used for all the ring challenges and applied them to graphics. The final problem I had with the game was the opprotunities for experience building. Or, should I say, the very FEW opprotunites. This game just didn't have very many places where you could go 'Auto' and just build experience. For the most part, this game leads you by the nose.

Now, for the good part. My best compliment to this game is going to sound like a complaint; It's too short. Read it again if you missed it. I loved the FUSION techniques and the sequences of the battle moves were excellent. Although there is no way you can disable them (they do get tedious after awhile), when coupled with turn-based combat, you get plenty of time to get up and do things (bathroom-breaks, phone calls, etc) without having to pause the game or wait until you get to a save point. And this isn't really a problem as the save points are spread nicely even throughout the game. Another nice point is that gameplay is simple. Even without reading the instruction manual, you can still figure out the controls on your own, and a credit to this game is you're given ample opprotunity to do this. This is a wise move when you consider the problem with the judgement rings. I also liked being able to pick up the clues on how an item is used just by looking it up on the menu. For the most part, should you ever forget where you are, or what you should be doing, this game is good about showing you how to get back on track.

Overall, I'd say this game is a nice competitor to the Final Fantasy series. You'll hear a lot about the comparisons and rightly so. However, if you go into it thinking you're going to see a 1914 version of FF, you're in for a disappointment. This game just doesn't have the strength for it. But then, very little else does. You'd be better going into this game for the game itself. It is a very good storyline and is accurate enough to the time period it represents, although there are a few inaccuracies. One of these is the use of a cellphone, but I'll leave it to you to figure this one out. As the title on this review suggests, it's the best, but not THE best.

Shadow Hearts

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: April 13, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This was such a great game. I'm still in the middle of the game, but it is definately a great game to play. If you like Final Fantasy and Dark Cloud type games you'll love this game also. It was recommended to me around Christmas time. Since Chriatmas all I can think about is this game and how I'm going to finish it.

Very enjoyable game.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: June 14, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is from a company that I hadn't seen put out RPG's before, but I'll sure be looking for more from them. I've played a number of RPG's, and this one has to hold the record for sucking me in the fastest. The backgrounds and scenery are spectacular, the monsters have some interesting special attacks, and the storyline has some of the most believable human elements I've ever come across, including a villain you can sympathize with.

Yes, there are some things they need to work on. Like others have said, there are a limited number of strategies you can use in battle, though the Judgement Ring concept is a cool idea. They've got a number of neat ideas storyline-wise, but there are some holes and some things that are incompletely explored. Some more development in terms of storyline would have been really nice -- there are really interesting bits that they only touch on instead of exploring fully.

All in all, a nice first offering, though there are some holes and room for improvement. Like I said, I'll be looking for more from this team.

A different kind of RPG

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 4
Date: December 30, 2001
Author: Amazon User

When i frist seen this game i hesitated because the lack of a good rpg for ps2 but when i poped this game in it was a new experience the enviroment for this game is like no other rpg its like playing resident evil or slient hill in rpg form it dark and spooky unlike most bright and colorful rpg where used to. the graphics on this game are great it only falls short to one game final fantasy X it has great CG. the gameplay is fresh with a new battle system where you have this wheel every time youu attack use magic or items what you have to do is time you button pushes at a certin time on the wheel to execute a moer powerful attack so no more just pushing the button and watching what happens this system makes you feel a more a part of the game. the story seems great a cant maketo much of a comment since i have'nt cleard the game yet an i dont want to spoil anything. all in all this is the second best rpg on ps2 behind ff10 and should at least be rented if not purchesed ill give it a 4 cuz it still need some work to be a true classic.

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