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Huge disappointment

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 7
Date: August 28, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game started out with an interesting story line, then I continued to play and had flashbacks of the original Resident Evil. The battle field was a joke and the enemies were rather unoriginal. The weapons broke every five seconds and were we. The only aspect of this game that I thought had a gleam of originality was the weapon effects on status. All and all this game was a disappointment to Atari.

Great ! Just great !

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: June 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

After being a major rpg fan I decided to try out a new kind of rpg instead of treading the same "Final Fantasy" wheel over and over again. Don't get me wrong, I love Final Fantasy and I try to get a hold of every game possible. Koudelka is a rpg/ horror game, in spite of some of all the negative things that's been said about this game - I'll go ahead and give it a shot.

Koudelka is a mixed bag, its great at times and very frustrating at others, just when you though you've defeated a certain kind of enemy, the bounce right back and kill you all over again!! and the leveling system is slow and they only seem to level every other hour, so you try out a boss and get your ass kicked - you level for an hour - and take another shot - but once again You get your ass kicked. The game moves at such a slow pace, you wander around for hours and hours without really having done anything - if this problem were fixed you could easily finish the game in 10 hours instead of 25.

But Koudelka also have some good things in it, the atsmosphere is so immersive and you get complete caught up in the story and the characters, the Monastery is one of the spookiest places I've ever played. The weapons however seems to brake once you've used them for a while - but not to worry, you'll find yourself a new bunch of better and higher evolved weapons as the game moves along. This way it won't get to frustrating.

The graphics in Koudelka are amazing, the FMV movies are fantastic and they really compliment the amazing story and the suitable characters. The atmosphere is so immersive, you can't help but to get involved - and even if you won't, the game will drag you right ind. The opening sequenze is alluring and it certainly sets the mood for the rest of the game - even though I haven't finished Koudelka yet, I look forward to see the ending, all in all Koudelka is a nice change from Final Fantasy.

Story 4.5/ 5.0
Graphics 5.0/ 5.0
Sound/ Music 4.0/ 5.0
Gameplay 3.5/ 5.0
Replay Value 4.0/ 5.0
Final Appeal 4.0/ 5.0

Not a bad game, but not so good either.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: December 29, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Koudelka is very interesting; it's got a nice horror feel to it, some elements of RPG thrown into the mix, but overall it's rather average. The graphics, even during the time period it was released, are great when used in prerendered backgrounds, but the character design is quite bad.

Another problem with the game is the movement and voice acting. It's rather difficult controlling the youngster as you attempt to run up stairs (using the EXACT stair-climbing from Resident Evil.. What a disappointment there) and even though the actors did a relatively good job, COME ON! They don't sound their supposed ages, and they do not have accents from where they are supposed to be from. It sounds like Konami didn't really feel up to it to make the game any better.

It's a nice entry into the survival horror field, and I like the battle system alright. You fight across a chessboard in a strategic kind of way. I HATE the bonus point distribution; it would have been better if you got a point on each attribute and had the bonus points too to do whatever you wanted with them. The game slowpaces like hell, too, offering no real fun.

If you can look past all these flaws, you'll find Koudelka a bit engrossing and a little original. I like the ghost thing as well. Don't mistake my words for something else; I'm not saying its a bad game, it just could have been much, much better.

A great quick game . . .

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: August 02, 2002
Author: Amazon User

As an adult gamer I enjoyed this game - wasn't the biggest challenge or best I've every played but it held my interest, graphics were good, storyline was interesting, locales and battle were good and the game had different endings depending on the final battle.

Starts out with one character and you pick up the other two during game play. The battles were challenging without being to tough. Satisfying variety of weapons and spells - although the weapons do break after so many uses. You can also strengthen your magic with use.

Recommended!

Scary

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: May 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

i bought this game...actually by accident. i wanted a new rpg to play and since this one had 4 discs i knew i would be in for a challenge. boy was i!
i loved the storyline, the graphics rocked...and the ending that i chose was rather frightening...
however..the actual battle scenes were a great disappointment, after awhile it just became frustrating (the fight scenes).
all in all it was a great game and i am going to start playing it again just to check out the other endings :-)

"B" for plot, "C" for personality

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: December 04, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Despite a few quirks that nearly drove me mad, "Koudelka" is the best console RPG I've ever played. It's the only one to even approach the intensity of a real friends, food, and dice-rolling role playing session.

The battle mechanics are a cross between the familiar Final Fantasy options and board control taken from chess. Despite the chess allusions in the game, characters can move freely within the area of the board they control but cannot move into the battle area controlled by the monsters. This was a small let down since it makes it impossible to outflank or move in behind your opponents nor can they attempt to do this to the player characters. Still, it makes it possible to position the characters so as to force the attack of the monster onto a single character.

The only real structural flaw of the game is that the inventory system is limited and once you reach the cap, you're forced to accept any new objects you find and must drop something already in inventory. Since the game doesn't allow you to simply leave the new items laying in the dirt, and requires you to carry crates full of items around in order to solve many puzzles, this gets sickeningly annoying the first time it happens and remains just as irritating throughout the remainder of the game.

The other sour note of "Koudelka" are the personalities of the main characters. To the designers' credit, three strangers who meet in an ongoing massacre really shouldn't immediately become hard and fast friends...but it seemed the views expressed by the characters during these bouts were pulled straight out of a night club in the 1990s rather than reflecting sentiments of England in the 1800s. The name dropping of historically significant artists throughout the game indicates a level of research and detail planning that seemed lacking in the personalities of the main characters, and when the mysterious medium Koudelka morphs into a whiny goth chick, it tends to throw off the feel of the game.

Despite these quirks, "Koudelka" puts the frivolous and simplistic plots produced by SquareSoft to shame, and the production quality of "Koudelka" is high enough that it makes the Final Fantasy series look shoddy in comparison. It is at last a game which can be enjoyed by those of us who successfully graduated from high school. I'll be watching for new titles from Infogrames.

wateva

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: October 22, 2001
Author: Amazon User

the game is nice, although i haven't finished it yet(actually i just bought it a couple of days ago.)

what I really like about it is the atmosphere, it keeps you guessing, of what's coming next. that and the fact that the characters always keep you amused, since they always fight each other.

other tthan that, the game is very nicely done. it has great graphics, and gorgeous fmv's. the batle system is very simple, and very easy to learn. the characters talk in this game, which is nice for a change. finaly, the fact that the game has absolutely no money in it whatsoever (thank god, some of those game makers out there would put money even in this game) makes the game setting very beliavable.

there are only two things i could complain about. the first one being the batle speed. casting magic takes too much time, aspecially if you fight more than one character, and all of your people have weapons(the game loads each character and weapon separatly, each taking around two seconds, so do your math). the second part is the annoying battle music. these guys just couldn't live without a cheery balte theme. i think it ruins some of the suspense, and the monsters aren't as scary, when you hear "chocobo theme". if anyone knows how to get rid of the batle music, email me(dkdeathknight@yahoo)

other than that, the game is superb. i recomend it to all the people who are sick and tired of final fantasy love themes, and want to play something scary for a change. it's wel worth the (...) bucks i spent on it.

Good game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: October 03, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I liked this game. It has good graphics and music and the controls were easy to learn. It has a good story and Koudelka look pretty good. hehe!

Koudelka: A pleasant surprise

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 17 / 17
Date: August 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I picked this game up never having heard of it before. What I found was a compelling story line, a unique main character, beautiful graphics, excellent voice acting, but a less-than-great battle system.

The story line is definitely one of the strong points of the game; talk about unexpected twists. The plot folds out through written documents found throughout the game, secrets that your companions are hiding, and through bizarre NPCs, including a quirky several-hundred-year-old man. The characters were unique, especially Koudelka herself, who's a no-nonsense, sarcastic tough cookie.

I've heard people complain that the graphics are too bleak and colorless, but I think they fit the atmosphere. Plus, it reminds you that the game takes place over 100 years ago. The cut-scenes are gorgeous; the characters' mouths match the words they're speaking. The voice-acting itself is much clearer than other games I've heard, which is good since there isn't any text to follow.

However, the RPG battle system is where I started to get annoyed and disappointed. You work with three characters on a grided battle zone. The battles drag on, especially when you're building up weapons and magic spells. You have less than 10 magic spells to unlock, but they get stronger with each use. The weapons do the same; the more you use axes, your axe strength goes up. Unfortunately, weapons have a VERY bad habit of breaking after a few whacks. You eventually find an abundance of them, but during the first quarter of the game, my stomach was in knots since I was down to so few.

What REALLY disappointed me was the lack of scary elements. The atmosphere was perfect for things to jump out and scare the daylights out of you, but the RPG-style battles eliminated monsters walking around. PLUS, the game relies on text to explain events. In one case, you open up a closet, see a mummy lying there and a message pops up saying something like, "You open the closet and a mummy dressed in a wedding dress jumps out at you!" Could you imagine how frightening it would be if it actually jumped out at you, accompanied by appropriate music? But no. *sighs* There are many cases in the game where scariness is sacrificed.

Koudelka, overall, is worth playing. It's short enough that I was willing to sit through the whole game and enjoy it, but I was still disappointed with several elements of it.

Curious Hybrid

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: April 01, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Koudelka seems to be a survival horror game that has substituted battles from an RPG game into the action instead of "real time" encounters. As a Resident Evil fan, it was inevitable that I would have to try out this title, and in a lot of ways, I was not disappointed. First of all, the graphics and cut scenes are superb. The decrepit Abbey is beautifully recreated in the many pre-rendered backgrounds, and the characters are believeable and interesting (They fight with each other all the time, and the resulting slanging matches are often very entertaining!) As you explore the Abbey, a disturbing story unfolds, with some truly unpleasant secrets being revealed, especially in some of the written documents that appear along the way. However, I have to say that the game is let down by the implementation of the RPG battle sequences. Every now and then, at random times, there is a "woosh" and a swirl, a la Final Fantasy, and suddenly the three characters are in a huge arena, confronting a monster or three. The battles are actually very basic, you take a turn to either move position (which actually scarcely impacts on the proceedings) or cast a magic spell, or attack physically. This is followed by the enemy doing likewise until one of you is defeated. It's all incredibly slow, and after a while the battles become tedious. It's not helped by the fact that the battle music, pleasant though it is, is actually very non-threatening and relaxing! However, stick with things, and there are some real challenges to be had beating a couple of very bizarre and difficult bosses (beating the mighty Gargoyle took me well over half an hour!), and a lot of the monster designs are pretty nightmarish, so it's not all bad news. There are also lots of weapons and items to try out, which adds interest. Don't worry about the fact that weapons break after use, I never got close to running out of swords and hammers, but the infuriating thing is that you inventory soon gets full and you find yourself having to discard items you have never even used. But I enjoyed myself enough to stick around with Koudelka through to the end, so think about picking a copy up, as it seems to be going cheap everywhere now, and enjoy the sights and sounds of this brave and mostly successful merging of styles.

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