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Post by Xeogred on Sept 7, 2018 18:06:18 GMT -5
Sarge: Oh yeah dude, don't ignore Agility... I've been reading around more and it seems important. I have run into some harder bosses in disc 2 that seem to get multiple turns in, so I finally started pumping those stats up a bit. It's usually a stat I'd favor anyways, but it was sounding like you really need to maximize on only 2-3 stats worth and sometimes in older RPG's AGI seems broken or worthless. Might be worthwhile here though, I'll find out.
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Post by Sarge on Sept 7, 2018 21:15:22 GMT -5
Yeah, I've been putting a point in every few levels or so. I don't think I've got anyone below a 14 at this point, and I figure I'll keep throwing a point here and there to it. Equipping certain weapons helps this, too, especially with your casters. I was a lot further from the end of the first disc than I thought, but at just shy of four hours, I'm on the second disc. I spent some time just grinding, although it's a very slow grind. Getting those spells leveled up helps; level 2 Flare is pretty beefy. The grind had another benefit, though, and that's getting more weapons. I also score more armor and a ring, so now Edward can really tank some magic hits. And I've got another piece that boosts VIT, which went to Koudelka. Enemy difficulty went up a bump on the next disc, as you can guess. But so far, it's a pretty good experience. If the battle system were just a little faster, this would be a true classic. (Also, I hope James stops being a loser. What a poor representative of the Christian faith. )
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Post by Ex on Sept 8, 2018 0:46:55 GMT -5
I put two hours into Shadow Hearts: Covenant tonight. Damn it's good to be back in a Sacnoth Nautilus RPG again! Plot starts off strong, graphics are great, music's great, battle system is improved (you can now customize the Judgement Rings), locations are interesting, map designs are impressive... oh yeah I've got the high hopes. My only complaint right now is that while the localization is good... I wish these European characters actually sounded European. Why can't Karin Koenig have a German accent? That'd only make her hotter I love the little things Sacn..err..Nautilus does in their RPGs. Like how you can view every item/weapon/armor/etc. and see hand drawn art depicting it. Or how entertaining the bestiaries are in these games. Being able to read profiles of every character that actually update as the game progresses. A robust help system built right into the menu with macro support. These devs actually gave a damn. I honestly can't think of a modern JRPG developer that does anything like this. Thankfully this is a direct continuation of Shadow Hearts; its story starts a year and a half after Shadow Hearts in the midst of World War I. Yuri, the main protagonist from Shadow Hearts, returns as the main protagonist for Covenant as well. I'm very glad I played through Shadow Hearts before Covenant, as there's already been a lot of allusions. - DID you guys know there was a Koudelka manga? There was also a Koudelka novel...
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2018 9:57:50 GMT -5
I was wondering about the magic damage last night. I had an enemy move away, and my spell did less damage. Didn't know if that was just RNG or distance, and was planning on trying it tonight. Yes, the closer you are the more damage you do. Should be the same for all ranged attacks. Damn it's good to be back in a Sacnoth Nautilus RPG again! How I envy you guys. Yeah, I've read it. It's a sequel to the game. It was all right.
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Post by Ex on Sept 8, 2018 10:48:58 GMT -5
Have you already beaten the Shadow Hearts series?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2018 15:44:19 GMT -5
Have you already beaten the Shadow Hearts series? I have beaten every game in the series except From the New World, where I have reached the final boss but didn't have it in me to dedicate 2-3 hours to grinding in order to defeat it.
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Post by Sarge on Sept 9, 2018 0:08:28 GMT -5
After very, very much consternation, I have finally beaten Koudelka. I have thoughts, but it's pretty late, so I probably won't elaborate too much right now.
Overall, the game was a cake walk. Probably owing to the way I min-maxed a lot of my stats, I was never in any real danger except for maybe a couple of battles. The thief with the automatic rifle threatened to rip Koudelka to shreds, and... of course it's the last boss, silly! What kind of JRPG would this be without a big boost in difficulty?
Well, the other problem is that I stopped grinding for a short amount of time toward the end, so I was underleveled. After getting my head handed to me, I went and grabbed a few more levels, and poked all of those points in Piety for magic defense. That helped, but still wasn't enough, as I used some bad strategy. I then put my two spellcasters on the back row, next to each other, and Edward just in front of them. That way, when the boss moved up close, if he died, I could still revive him. This didn't turn out to be necessary, as I was able to slowly chip away and keep him alive. Instead of going heavy magic defense, I gave him the crossbow so he could hit decently, had James perma-healing, and Koudelka doing either Flare or Heal as necessary. For the end, there's a tell when the boss is about to restore 5000-ish HP, which is no fun. Well, after a shot of that (and that's also what stymied me last time), I timed it just right and popped off a scroll I'd gotten from an encounter earlier. 9999 damage, and one dead boss. Whee! I'm not going to spoil anything about the ending, but I would actually recommend both winning and losing the battle.
Well, I typed more than expected. Visuals are pretty grainy, and there's lots of pixel-hunting (as it were) with the exploration. And the combat system is downright sedate. Not bad, but you definitely need to be in the right frame of mind. Thankfully, the game hands out levels quite quickly, so fights feel like they're worth it. Not to mention a lot of the random loot drops are very good. You'll run into inventory issues at some point, though; the game is content to throw a ton of quest items at you even if you're well away from actually being able to use said item.
The plot certainly goes very, very dark. It has the monster designs to match; those things are nightmare fuel. I thought this was a game that could use a remake, but I don't know if I want to see all those creatures "lovingly" rendered. Sound design is definitely a strong point. Although the exploration doesn't have music (instead well-done environmental sounds), the battle system does, and there are some solid tunes in there, especially if you end up in battle for some time and hear more of the tunes.
Overall, I'd say that Koudelka deserves more love than it gets, but I'm also not going to say that all the reviewers were crazy back in the day. I'll give this one a 7.5/10; good, sometimes great, but very flawed in ways as well. I'm very glad I played through it, though.
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Post by Ex on Sept 9, 2018 2:01:21 GMT -5
I'll give this one a 7.5/10; I'm very glad I played through it, though. As am I! I really hope you keep the momentum up and play Shadow Hearts next. I would also give Koudelka a 7.5/10, but for me Shadow Hearts was a 9/10. I just love that game, I bet it'd be at least an 8/10 for you. Also there are a lot of plot tie-ins from Koudelka into Shadow Hearts... best to play them while you still remember that stuff. I'd love to point out what those tie-ins are, but I won't spoil it for anyone. Also Koudelka has three endings. One ending happens if you didn't find the pendant (worst ending). Another ending happens if the final boss beats the protagonists (bad ending). And lastly another ending happens if the protagonists beat the final boss (good ending). The interesting thing? The bad ending is canon. Same thing for Shadow Hearts, it's bad ending ends up being canon as well. - I put three more hours into Covenant tonight. Still loving it. How can you not love a game that lets you walk around Paris in autumn, with sunset rays piercing through windows and leaves. Of course selling homoerotic smut to a gay tailor in trade for making my loli puppet new outfits didn't hurt either. Also battling demons summoned by a legit dominatrix? Yes please. This game has more imagination in its first five hours than 80% of all other JRPGs I've played combined. I'm still really impressed with Covenant's attention to detail when it comes to QoL stuff. For example, when you straight pause the game, the background OST goes silent. That's common enough, 'cause maybe you have a phone call, so the silence is appreciated. But then when you un-pause the game, the background music actually gradually increases in volume from 0% until it reaches 100%. SMART. Almost every game I can think of just returns the background music blaring at 100% as it was when you paused it... which is always jarring. This game's interface is full of intelligent design like that.
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Post by Sarge on Sept 9, 2018 7:05:24 GMT -5
Yeah, remember that I think Covenant is at least a 9/10. I have no doubt the first game will at least hit an 8.
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Post by Xeogred on Sept 9, 2018 7:29:01 GMT -5
Dangit Sarge, beat me to it.
Last I remember I'm about 4 hours in or something, so maybe close to halfway done. Perhaps I can knock it out this weekend.
Ex : Does it seem less sadistic with the obtusely hidden items and whatnot so far? Definitely something I'd knock on the original, tons of hidden items in the ground with literally no glimmering light or indication whatsoever.
I'm glad to see that Covenant still has pre-rendered backdrops and looks amazing. For some reason I thought it was fully 3D.
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