And it is finally done...
93. Shadow Hearts: Covenant | 2004 | PS2
"Shadow Hearts: Covenant" is a JRPG developed by Nautilus, and published by Midway in 2004 (in the USA anyway). "Covenant" is actually part three of the "Shadow Hearts" series. It continues a narrative that began in "Koudelka", evolved through "Shadow Hearts" and then reached climax in "Shadow Hearts: Covenant". "Covenant" boasts a greatly increased budget compared to its fore-bearers, doing its best to poise as a grandiose JRPG. Noticeable alterations to the original series' concept are evident, apparently catering to target demographic expectations of its genre.
+A highly polished obvious labor of love.
+Complex game mechanics offer tactical interactivity.
+Dungeons offer continuous variety.
+Marvelous enemy monster concepts.
+Extremely impressive set designs.
-This game's difficulty is a total cakewalk.
-"Shadow Hearts: Covenant"'s plot is far weaker than "Shadow Hearts"'s or "Koudelka"'s plots were.
-A goofy sense of humor is too often at odds with otherwise dark themes.
-Copious sidequests require a walkthrough to even known they exist.
-Completion time is at least ten hours longer than it needed to be.
"Covenant" tried to keep what worked from "Koudelka" and "Shadow Hearts", while attempting to placate to typical JRPG expectations. There are many examples of this, but Yuri (the protagonist) is a key point of my contention. In the original "Shadow Hearts", Yuri was a total badass. He was fearless, courageous, sometimes evil, and above all else never doubted his own convictions. In "Covenant" Yuri has been watered down into an angry emo teenager, who too often falls victim to melodramatic self-doubt, and constantly allows himself to be manipulated by others around him. This character (assassination) change was put into place in tandem with a huge dollop of silly humor that permeates large portions of "Covenant". Often "Covenant" attempts to amuse its player with whimsy antics and surreal characters, apparently in an attempt to keep the overall experience from being too serious. Unfortunately these attempts at humor are hugely detrimental to the developer's attempts at otherwise pathos-addled cutscenes. It would take far more talented writers than this game had, to be able to pull off the kind of silly humor they chose, while also having the player take the game's plot seriously. This is doubly aggravating considering the original "Koudelka" and "Shadow Hearts" had great plots and solid writing.
Putting the questionable writing aside, the rest of "Covenant" is mostly strong above average stuff. The graphics are wonderful, the OST is rather good (though often repetitive), party members are concept-original and highly varied, and there are subsystems on top of subsystems - combat complexity is certainly here if you want it. There are copious sidequests and secrets to find, and a fair amount of collectables as well. It is obvious that Nautilus really cared a LOT about "Covenant", and they went the extra mile polishing it. It's easy to be impressed with much of what is on display here. Most JRPG fans would likely enjoy "Covenant" quite a bit, and this game's reviews prove that fact.
Unfortunately for this JRPG fan, I can't give "Covenant" a completely glowing score. Too often this game's outrageous sense of humor fell flat for me, and ultimately its writing was amateur hour. Far too often I sat though long, boring, drawn out dialogues that completely failed to engage me. This lack of engagement carried with it a severe dearth of difficulty. That is to say that "Shadow Hearts: Covenant" is extremely easy to beat. Now when you've got a game that lasts over forty hours with a tepid plot and unchallenging battles... well, that's not exactly prime JRPG material in my opinion. However the impressive graphics, fantastic CGI cutscenes, varied dungeon designs, beautiful backdrops, crazy monsters, and other small parts added up enough to keep me interested till the end. And after the ending cutscene, I was very glad I'd beaten "Shadow Hearts" before "Covenant", because of the way "Covenant"'s ending tied so well into the original "Shadow Hearts"'s beginning - a rare moment of excellent writing in "Covenant"'s case.
There are a considerable amount of JRPGs on PS2. Most of them are mediocre, some are terrible. The original "Shadow Hearts" is top shelf material. Its sequel "Covenant" is simply not as good as its predecessor. However, "Covenant" is still noticeably above average, and I daresay quite a bit better than most JRPGs on PS2. While I wish "Covenant" had been as dark, scary, serious, and challenging as its predecessor; I still walked away from "Covenant" fairly entertained nonetheless. After all, it's not every day you get to beat up demons as a dirty old incestuous pedophiliac marionettist.
Ex's time to beat: 41 hours 59 minutes 05 seconds
Ex's rating: 8/10