Shadow Hearts: Covenant

[Tortolia]

Not much to say. Awesome, awesome game - probably my second favorite PS2 RPG now (behind SMT: Nocturne, ahead of FFX).

Great combat system (very tactical, and relies heavily on player skill), fun plot, a willingness to not take itself too seriously, really great soundtrack (helped in no small part by some tracks by Yasunori Mitsuda), and enough optional content to make Squaresoft look inadequate (and, yet, it didn't require levelling up for three months in order to do it).

It seems to be running new for $20 now. Go buy it, like, now.

Next up - Digital Devil Saga. Mmm, Megami Tensei.

[Derithian]

yeah it absolutely rocks. I can't wait for DDS either

[Julius Seeker]

I've been saying this for years. However, it is my favourite game on the PS2 =)

[Tortolia]

It's been out less than a year.

[Nev]

I would like to pick it up. Isn't there a first one, though?

[Tortolia]

Yes. Hard to find, though, and more expensive than Covenant is nowadays.

I played Covenant without having played the original. The relevant aspects of the plot are more than amply covered, and all in all, it made me actually interested in playing the original.

If you want to track down Shadow Hearts before Covenant, that'll work, but while the sequel is very strongly tied into the first, you won't be in any way lost if you just hop into Covenant directly.

[Julius Seeker]

Years, months, you get the picture =)

Personally, I would recommend playing the first game first just simply based on the attatchment to some of the characters and events which, at least for me, made the second game more enjoyable. Then again, the second game is certainly the better game. Despite some negative reviews for the first one, I really loved that game as well. If you just play the second one though, I am going to say that you'll still love it.

[SineSwiper]

Yeah, I just started it now. I thought this was a Sqeenix game, but I look closer and it's produced by Midway??? WTF? Since when did Midway make RPGs?! Anyway, it looks like I probably would have gotten more backstory with Yuki on the first game, but I'm not going to worry about it, since I'm getting the gist of the story.

The combo system is still confusing to me. Still trying to figure out WHY bother with combos, if they are so hard to pull off.

[Tortolia]

Combos aren't all that great until you start getting some multi-hit Crests or personal abilities. Good combos, much like getting the strike zones, can add about 20-40% more damage to a given attack/combo/effect. It's also helpful when you can identify the elemental affiliation of a given critter.

My best was a 97 hit combo. Fucking brutal, but fun to watch.

Sticking Yuri in one of the two middle party slots, incidentally, makes doing some combos simple - just have him fuse into one of the larger forms, and he'll be positioned to do 2/3 person combos in battle without having to specifically move people into combo position.

[SineSwiper]

Yeah, that was something I noticed and I wasn't sure if the position on the line was actually adjustable. I could see some very large combos with a few Three Rings on a 5-attacker. BTW, most of the Combo Magic is almost impossible to do, at least not without a slowdown accessory. (I bought a bunch of those, but in some cases, they do more harm since you have to get used to the slow timing.)

How do you find out what the element is? That has been one thing that is annoying, since it was easy to get in Xenosaga II.

Overall, a good game, though I like Xenosaga II slightly better in gameplay, and a lot better in story. (At least SH:C makes light of the goofy elements, but it's still a very average RPG story so far.)

[Tortolia]

I hated the slowdown accessories. If you don't slap them on everyone, the variation in ring timing fucks you up - but there are entirely too many valuable accessories to justify losing 1/3 of your total accessory slots on slowdowns. Practice makes perfect, especially with the abilities you use often (like Karin's sword arts).

A character you get later on can detect elements for you.

[SineSwiper]

Yeah, I also realized that the library tells you the element. Duh! So used to Scan spells...

I managed to pull off a 50-hit combo just to see it done, with a fifth and third key. I was disappointed in the dumbass prize I get for it (Western Belt), though, so I just quit without saving to keep my keys. Given 4 Fifth Keys and a group with 5/5/4/4 in attacks, the max would be 90 hits. So, I guess you either have a really good hit spell later on, or there's some better keys out there (Seventh?).

Also, I didn't know that the keys actually spin the ring multiple times. I guess when I tried it the first time, it was with somebody with a Gamble Ring. -AND- it moves faster, so I can't imagine trying to do 25 hits without a 50% slowdown. (Then again, I was trying for near-perfect strike hits on a technical ring. I later switched to normal with the 50% and just aimed for the middle on most of them.) Also funny is trying to do a 25 hit with a Gamble Ring: smallest possible wedge that you can barely see.

Do you actually keep any of the ring items when you do a New Game+? It would be nice to be able to get a solid red ring if you actually had the patience to do so. The same with key collecting, but I imagine those don't stay.

[Tortolia]

My 97 hit combo was without using a Key.

I didn't actually test to see what carries over in New Game +. You are limited to 99 hit and 99 strike extenders, though.

[SineSwiper]

How the hell do you do it without a key? I guess just a really good spell, then.

[Tortolia]

17 hit special ability + 24 hit special ability + 25 hit special ability + 30 hit special ability, with them hitting the wall at some point.

All of which are upper level character specific specials. It's concievable there were combos out there that might raise the hit total a few more, but I put that together using my normal party. Only caveat was that the 17 hitter had to go first, or else using it would result in a lot of misses and break the chain (in cases where I couldn't use the 17, I'd use a 9 hit Crest spell).

No items necessary, just a few uninterrupted turns for my party.

[SineSwiper]

I still haven't completely figured out the different attack types for combos, despite the Help in the game on it. The game says that it's "hard to follow up a Hard Hit attack with something else", but doesn't really ellaborate to how it's possible or any other details. Neither do any FAQs on GameFAQs.

EDIT: Funny post about combos on GameFAQs:

Lucia + weak weapon + Eternal Key + Gamble Ring vs. Last Boss = 10000 hits for 10000 damage.

It's a boring 35 minute wait though. pic

[Tortolia]

I didn't worry about it for the most part. The only example of problems would be if you mix up Crests and physical blows (like, a linear/beam attack might miss if you've knocked an enemy into the air beforehand, or a hard hit might knock two enemies apart that otherwise could be hit by the same circular attack).

I generally just went with high/down combos or whatnot, but it's not a huge deal.