how good is shadow hearts (all three)?

the thing is, i have thirty games left to buy for the ps2, if there are no more that will come out (yes i made a list).

but i realized that there are too many RPGs on it and i do not have time for all of them. so i wanted to know:

how good is shadow hearts? is it a must-play? or if i do not play it will it be a mistake?

i still have FFXII, xenosaga 1-3 and dragon quest 8 to beat, all of which i really want to play, but these will take up a lote of time, and by the time im done ill probably have my ps3 and be buying games it so... plz answer. thx

I wouldn't list it as must plays like Xenosaga and Final Fantasy are, but if you are an rpg lover and like the quirky then you owe it to yourself to play through SH.Cerza

Shadow Hearts 1 & 2 are leagues above Xenosaga, and Final Fantasy 1-3 & XII. This person is a liar.

I'd say play through DQ8 first, then buy Shadow Hearts 1 & 2. Shadow Hearts 3 is crap, btw.

very good and funny. a must play!

Shadow hearts is a must play for the simple fact that it does something different to break the repetition. You actually have to be a wake and competent enough to play it. Definatley not a 24 hours without sleep type of game.

Xenosaga isn't that long 30 hours for the first game, 25 hours for the second game, I don't know about the last game. The second game sucks... so you may not get through all of it. Dragon Quest VIII is like 80 hours and HARD AS HELL. You can spend hours leveling up, be almost full health, and then get ambushed by 5 enemies and all of a sudden you are dead even though you were killing everything else before you were even dealt damage.

I don't like Final Fantasy games much at all... Especially not X I'm excited for XIII though.

Shadow hearts is a must play for the simple fact that it does something different to break the repetition. You actually have to be a wake and competent enough to play it. Definatley not a 24 hours without sleep type of game.

Xenosaga isn't that long 30 hours for the first game, 25 hours for the second game, I don't know about the last game. The second game sucks... so you may not get through all of it. Dragon Quest VIII is like 80 hours and HARD AS HELL. You can spend hours leveling up, be almost full health, and then get ambushed by 5 enemies and all of a sudden you are dead even though you were killing everything else before you were even dealt damage.

I don't like Final Fantasy games much at all... Especially not X I'm excited for XIII though.

wolfblademusic

true. but NOCTURNE is insane.

Shadow hearts is a must play for the simple fact that it does something different to break the repetition. You actually have to be a wake and competent enough to play it. Definatley not a 24 hours without sleep type of game.

Xenosaga isn't that long 30 hours for the first game, 25 hours for the second game, I don't know about the last game. The second game sucks... so you may not get through all of it. Dragon Quest VIII is like 80 hours and HARD AS HELL. You can spend hours leveling up, be almost full health, and then get ambushed by 5 enemies and all of a sudden you are dead even though you were killing everything else before you were even dealt damage.

I don't like Final Fantasy games much at all... Especially not X I'm excited for XIII though.

wolfblademusic

So wrong. Shadow Hearts is pretty average. Dragon Quest VIII looks, sounds and plays terrible. And is boring as hell. It's wasn't hard since JRPGs aren't, not even SMT: Nocturne/Lucifer's Call. About Xenosaga trilogy... Episode I was great, Episode II was good but Episode III was just plain awesome. Though nothing beats Valkyrie Profile Silmeria. Valkyrie Profile Silmeria and the Xenosaga trilogy are the greatest PS2 RPGs... can't forget SMT: Digital Devil Saga since those games were great though pretty easy when compared to Nocturne/Lucifer's Call. IMO Shadow Hearts isn't a must play, at least when compared to the likes of Valkyrie Profile Silmeria, Xenosaga trilogy and Digital Devil Saga.

I'd leave off DQ8 before I left off the three Shadow Hearts games. I loved them for their unique setting, characters, and battle system. Great games that have a dark atmosphere, but never take themselves too seriously.

Don't leave off the Xenosaga's, they're also great and if they aren't on your list, you need to add Suikoden 3 and 5 at least. I also thought 4 was good, but opinions vary widely on this one.

everyone here gives their opinions, different people different opinions, so you may not like our opinions. you should read some reviews that explain more about the game, watch some videos about the game. if these dont help, find someone that has the game or rent it to see it for yourself.

personally i think Shadow Hearts is better than Dragon Quest 8 and Xenosaga Series. i couldnt play more than 1 hour of Xenosaga but i think its still good game, but again not better than Shadow Hearts, in my opinion.

Shadow hearts (played 2 and 3) actually string together the jokes. You wont see the one joke about the main character coming on to, well, whoever. But you will see the *ahem* lively shopkeep flirt with the main character ALL the time. Oh, and having bacon disagree with your name for him is odd, but cool.

If you want something different try the shin megami tensi (nocture was mentioned, i believe). Twisted, a touch gross at moments, and a million little tricks. Plus getting Dante from DMC in your party is one of the most awesome things ever.

[QUOTE="Cerza"]I wouldn't list it as must plays like Xenosaga and Final Fantasy are, but if you are an rpg lover and like the quirky then you owe it to yourself to play through SH.IsNotInterestes

Shadow Hearts 1 & 2 are leagues above Xenosaga, and Final Fantasy 1-3 & XII. This person is a liar.

I'd say play through DQ8 first, then buy Shadow Hearts 1 & 2. Shadow Hearts 3 is crap, btw.

There is no better narrative RPG on the PS2 than Xenosaga, period. There are others that are really, really, really good as well such as Valkrye Profile 2 and Final Fantasy X, but to me Xenosaga left the deepest impression. It really comes down to what you play RPG's for. Do you play for the narrative? Do you play for the character building and combat, or do you play for both? If you play for the combat and customization then you will despise purely narrative driven RPG's, such as Xenosaga, because they are lacking in that area, plain and simple.

My problem with SH was that the games are just quirky and funny. That's all. They never take themselves seariously, and you can't take them seariously because they are so off the wall. If I had to compare SH to anything it would be Earthbound, because they are so similiar in the respect that they just want to be funny, which they are. However, this is also what holds them back and makes them not as memorable, because they never leave a deeper impression like other games such as Xenosaga do. I'm not a liar. I am just giving my opinion and my view on things. So if it differs from yours to bad, deal with, and put your pointer down before it gets chopped off.