Shadow Hearts: Covenant
by Midway Entertainment
Our Price: $64.99
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Category: Video Games
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Product Summary
Brand: MidwayPlatform: PlayStation2
Publisher: Midway Entertainment
Product features:
- Innovative Combat System based on the Judgement Ring -- choose which characters to bring into battle, then work with new team-based attacks and defensive formations
- New magic system lets players devise their on magical abilities -- from building skill sets to earning new spells
- Unique morphing option lets users transform into various creatures
Video Game Reviews of Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Customer Review: A classic RPG Fans should appreciate!
Summary: 5 Stars
As Covenant stands it was at least to me the best in the series. The first game while very good still had dated visuals and the Ring of fate system was not quite so polished. From the new world by comparison did everything awesomely and yet despite that fact it seems shorter with a story line not as well contrived. I still strongly suggest you get every game but if a sadistic leprechaun presented you with the choice to only get one Shadow Hearts title Covenant would be the best route.
Some people say Covenant had a weak story and I never understood that argument. Firstly it ties into the previous game perfectly and secondly there were many unexpected twists especially concerning Karin the beautiful and sweet German lieutenant.
So who is main hero Yuri? Yuri is a harmonixer, a guy like any other save for the fact he can turn into various monsters. To unlock them he must go to a dismal "graveyard" in his own mind to fight each of his odd psyches in order to transform into them. Just by that explanation alone Shadow Hearts seems more original then more than half of the rpgs out there.
Yet Yuri is presented with a problem. To save the world the girl he loved had to die and Yuri handles all this like a true human being. He swears, he cries, he drinks alcohol , and to make up for things he considers his fault he helps the people in a small German village survive and avoid the persecution of the military. This my friends is why Yuri is so great. He is a good person but he is not perfect and fake like "most" of the Final Fantasy-esque heroes out there swinging around their bus sized swords.
So what happens? Karin, a beautiful high ranking female soldier is forced to help a Vatican priest named Nicholas confront "the demon" who so happens to be Yuri. Granted Yuri was just protecting kindly villagers and trying to take a nap but naturally the opposition does not see it that way. Nicholas proves to be a jerk infecting Yuri with a curse and after Karin sees "altar boy" is an unscrupulous fanatic that has his thugs torment little girls she dumps him in a heart beat to help the good guys.
Already Yuri is teamed up with Gepetto a heavy drinking puppeteer with a doll fetish and Blanca , a wolf who is very intelligent and loyal. Those these characters are "odd" they are not entirely unbelievable. Regardless Yuri and company set out to find a way to remove his curse and as expected it gets a lot more complicated.
In addition to the aforementioned heroes Yuri is joined by Anastasia the adorable princess of Russia, a voluptuous Fortune teller named Luca, a young bishi-looking Japanese samurai, and a jovial wrestler vigilante vampire named Joachim who can make almost anything into an effective weapon.
Though that may seem hard to take in every character does have a good background and there are many side quests to increase their abilities.
If you missed a lot of the interesting NPCs from the first game fret not because a good majority of them make cameos in Covenant along with dastardly or kinky villains such as the dark magician Rasputin and the sado masochistic Dominatrix Veronica. Covenant has no shame in portraying its' inhabitants as perverts, odd fetish enthusiasts, gay merchants, or sex crazed desperadoes. Even Yuri is hot blooded. While some conservative gamers might find this odd or deplorable I liked it. In Final fantasy so many scantily clad women run around yet all the guys do is sit around talking about delicious pie or how they will get their "perfect kiss". Maybe young girls like their neutered "perfect prince fantasies" but once said girls become adults they probably agree that RPGS need to address "human desires" more often to create a more believable setting.
As you can guess Covenant takes place in the wake of World War 1 spanning across Europe and Japan. The thing I love about Shadow Hearts is it uses our own reality to tell its' tales. This is a very original approach I've not seen in many other Japanese rpgs.
So through it all you'll laugh, you'll cry, and be fully satisfied after getting both the good ending and bad ending. There's 60+ hours packed into this beautiful beast and you definitely should explore every nook and cranny before serving up pain to the end boss.
Pros
+ Great sound track
+ Interesting "fictional tale" interwoven with real history.
+ Lovable characters
+ Unexpected twists and turns.
+ Finishes the story arch from the first game.
+ Ring of fate system makes you pay attention and time your button mashes carefully. Whether its' slaying monsters or bartering with merchants it puts an exciting element over the top of what would normally be a boring turn based experience.
Cons
- The towns are small
- Some of the "stereotypes" are a bit too over the top and may offend certain players.
-Like almost all J-rpgs you are not presented with many choices on how to do things. The way you answer one question near the end of the game determines what ending you get. It is usually a point A to point B affair and even the map is set up this way.
Description of Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Shadow Hearts 2: Covenant is a deep, engaging strategy role-player that continues the story of the original Shadow hearts. In this sequel, World War I has started, and a cult has used the chaos to further their own ambitions. Yuri, the hero of the first game, will explore his new powers as he fights this new evil. An engaging strategy epic where you try to survive battles against secret cults and powerful, mysterious wizards.All Games
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