|
Post by Ex on Sept 13, 2018 21:46:58 GMT -5
The best game I've played (beaten actually) that does the "running away vulnerably from scary monsters" thing, would be Yomawari: Night Alone. Unfortunately it's on Vita and is way too new for HRG.
|
|
|
Post by toei on Sept 13, 2018 21:59:16 GMT -5
I did beat that one post-Team Silent SH no one likes where you can't fight at all, but the fleeing parts are treated as independent segments in set places - ie you explore for a while, then you get to the point where you have a little run-away séance, then you're free to explore again... they were a nuisance, but they didn't ruin the game completely.
|
|
|
Post by Sarge on Sept 13, 2018 23:48:21 GMT -5
Silent Hill does a good job landing somewhere in the middle. I don't play those for the combat but it's not bad.
Some of my favorite sequences in games are those that pit you against an overwhelming foe, where you just have to run, run, run! The one that immediately comes to mind is Metroid Fusion, when you're running from the SA-X parasite. Of course, a lot of games get this very, very wrong, which makes them not nearly as fun or terrifying, depending on the goal. I usually despise segments like these, too scripted... and running/sneaking in a Metroid? Yuck!
I think the one that does something like that best would be Silent Hill 2.
Well, a ton of it is scripted, honestly. Once you've seen behind the curtain, you can't really unsee it. It's why some games, you can see the illusion of danger, but there's no actual danger. At least with Fusion, if you screw up, you die.
|
|
|
Post by Ex on Sept 14, 2018 0:17:26 GMT -5
As much as I hate to get this thread back on the rails, I'll just mention now that Light Crusader is finished, I intend to give my full attention to finishing Shadow Hearts: Covenant for the rest of the month.
If I have any September left afterwards, I'll give Dive Alert an attempt.
|
|
|
Post by Ex on Sept 16, 2018 0:57:30 GMT -5
I'm still dabbling in Covenant, still enjoying the game. I've got about 16 hours in it now. Very fun JRPG for the most part currently. The only complaints I'd levy currently; it's been a total cakewalk so far, and it's been very formulaic so far. By "formulaic" I mean town, dungeon, town, dungeon, town, dungeon, town, dungeon... very Dragon Quest like that.
Despite the lack of difficulty and formulaic design, I'm still having a great time with it. Some of the dungeon designs have been puzzle-y lately and I appreciate that. Monster designs have been getting ever weirder, always appreciated in a Shadow Hearts game. Overall I look forward to playing this every time I sit down with it, can't ask for much more than that.
|
|
|
Post by Xeogred on Sept 16, 2018 7:39:27 GMT -5
How different is the battle system? Music still great?
|
|
|
Post by Ex on Sept 16, 2018 10:45:17 GMT -5
How different is the battle system? The battle system is very similar to the original Shadow Hearts, except now you can customize the Judgement Ring to your personal preferences. How you can do so would be a lot to explain here, but it's a big improvement overall. Going beyond that, every character has their own suite of special powers inherent to them. Beyond that even, there's a complex magic system that can be allocated to each character individually. Meaning you can have any character (other than Yuri) use heal spells, fire spells, buff spells, what have you. BEYOND that even, there's now a combo system, where you can juggle enemies using multiple party members for aggregated damage. This is all sounds complicated, but it's really not in practice. However at this point (nearly halfway through the game), the difficulty has been so trivial that you really don't need to master these systems, or even use half of them, to succeed. I'm hoping the back half of this game ramps up the difficulty to the point that strategy is actually warranted. The music has been great so far, although there's not enough track variety for my taste. The OST lists over sixty tracks, but it seems like I'm always listening to the same handful of tracks. This is a 40-50 hour long game supposedly, so it may be that more of the tracks are being saved for later. But here's one that I like a lot: I definitely would recommend this game to you though. I may sound negative about it, but that's not intentional. Rest assured I've had a great time with Covenant so far. There's far more good here than bad.
|
|
|
Post by Xeogred on Sept 16, 2018 11:07:47 GMT -5
I don't mind hearing about lower difficulty, it would make it even easier to skip out on FAQ's but I still wonder how much hidden content is in the game. I think it was dunpeal that said there's a LOT. Would hate to miss a Kowloon Fortress styled area or minor plot points that conclude on the side. Overall I think if I missed out on a lot of the Shadow Hearts side content it wouldn't have changed my feelings on the game, but some of that stuff was a real highlight honestly. So I'm still not sure how I'll approach Covenant, but it being like twice as long as the first game will probably make me steer further from FAQ's so I just don't have to worry about it. And this morning...
It is done, 12:03 last I checked my menu before the final battle. I was pretty overpowered so I cruised through the last battle. The Lifedrinker sword for Edward came in handy, while casting Reflect on him a few times. I only had Heal 2 myself like Sarge originally, but it can still heal a few people together... so I had Koudelka and James lined up behind Edward. Elaine's final form design was amazing.
"Bad ending" implies... well, bad, but it seemed like the best happy ending by far to me. I got the good ending so I just looked up the rest. The non-pendant death is brutal and hilarious.
You do have to be in the right head space for this game for sure but overall I loved it, probably an 8/10 for me. In ways I like it more than Shadow Hearts and vice versa. I enjoyed the Shadow Hearts lead characters a lot but it's always fun to play as older adults in games like here in Koudelka, her and Edward were great. The atmosphere, graphics, music, is top tier and really impressive for the PSX. I wouldn't really change anything about Shadow Hearts but I think more Koudelka styled installments with a different battle system could have been something really special, but that's the survival horror fan in me talking. The shorter ~10 hour adventure and isolated gothic mansion/dungeon setting is always something I love. The game is comparable to Silent Hill 1 for me, mechanically it's rusty around the edges and doesn't have the best gameplay, but the pros and good elements excel beyond the norm and really carry it.
|
|
|
Post by Ex on Sept 16, 2018 11:18:48 GMT -5
I still wonder how much hidden content is in the game. I've looked at FAQs to see what I've missed covering areas I've already explored, and so far nothing, except for the odd Lottery Ticket. I've read there are sub-quests later on, but Covenant doesn't seem to lock you out of them. By that I mean traveling back to previously explored areas is easy, and they remain accessible. There may be a point of no return far later in the game, but I don't see anything so far to suggest there's that mandatory buy the official game guide junk like the first SH pulled. Keep in mind the "bad endings" were canon for Koudelka and Shadow Hearts going into Covenant. I'm glad you played through Koudelka and enjoyed it. I do hope you continue to roll on into Covenant, it'd be interesting to see how our opinions align and differentiate. I also hope Sarge bothers to play Shadow Hearts this month. Truth be told I'm not sure if I'm willing to say Covenant is better than Shadow Hearts yet. Covenant is more polished, with more complex game systems and improved graphics... but its atmosphere and plot haven't hit the same high notes for me yet that its predecessor did. I've still got quite a ways to go though, so not judging yet.
|
|
|
Post by Xeogred on Sept 16, 2018 12:00:13 GMT -5
Lottery Tickets... don't tell me the wheel minigame is back again for stuff outside of battles? Wasn't a fan of that in the first.
I don't think I'm up for Covenant right now but I won't plan on sleeping on my PS2 library again for years like I was. Maybe there's a chance I'll get to it later this year to knock all three out in the same year, although I might hit up more DQ.
|
|