Shadow Hearts 2 compared with Final Fantasy.
Setting
The Settings of Shadow Hearts are Europe and Japan in 1915. The game often tries to look authentic and often historical facts are mentioned. It is kind of cool too walk through a location where you have actually been to in real world. Cannot happen to you in FF. Of course there are many dungeons that are fantasy - as well as the magic and the monsters.
Although many NPCs talk about WW1 it is not really part of the story. It is still a fantasy RPG with evil villains that want to destroy the world on their own without an army.
Amount of content
Playing the game without side quests lasts about 40 to 50 hours. With side quests look forward to up to 70 hours. There are a lot of side quests but unlike in FF all of them are doable without pain (at least if you have a walkthrough to guide you a bit). No leveling up for hours. No 100 turns of trial and error. Everything is fair and fun.
One thing is probably missing: an ultimate optional boss. If you have acquired all the best armor and weapons and fusion forms you want a fight in which you really need this stuff. The end boss is too easy with the best equipment.
Graphics
If you look at a still image it looks like FF7. But this time the environment is real 3D. The world is pretty detailed. The characters look nice too. But it is no FF - technically as well as artistically. It does not have this "Wow beautiful" effect and some character models look a little bit cheap.
If you watch a pre-rendered SH movie you might think that it looks quite perfect but then you watch an FF movie and realise you were wrong. FF is still much better there.
Sound
It may not compete with Nobuo Uematsu's tracks but neither can the PS2 Final Fantasies. In the bigger battles the sound really rocks with a lot of drums!
Sound effects are nice too. You can clearly hear if you are walking over parquet, a carpet or snow.
For my ears voice acting is fine but my ears are not too used to English language.
Humor
In FF it is like "Oh cool I found a joke!" In Shadow Hearts you are constantly laughing! It is the funniest game I have ever played! The jokes are everywhere. Even if you go through your inventory. Sometimes I they cannot be serious making such a perverse joke... and kept laughing.
But it is also the saddest game I have ever played. The story is mean!
Battle system and character development
Most RPGs require the player to choose the actions wisely and that is all the skill the player has to have in fights. In some FFs you have to be really quick, too, but that's it.
In Shadow Hearts the player also needs perfect timing because of the judgement wheel system. Conditions do not only make life harder for your character - there are conditions that make the ring smaller or faster or going backwards and so on. That way they directly effect you!
You do not have to care much about the character development. They level up and stats rise automatically. However you can influence the judgement wheel by adjusting it to your wishes. For example you can expand difficult hit areas or equip an item that makes the needle go much slower. In the latter case you have to abandon another stats raising item for it.
There is the magic crest system that lets you equip certain magic spells to the character you want. That way you do not have to rely on certain characters. Give the spells you need to the character you wish to use.
Most time you have to choose 4 of 8 characters for fighting.
Each character also brings some special abilities and you have to find certain items or accomplish tasks to improve these abilities. Some abilities are really cool although you do not necessarily need most of them.
The best special skill probably is the fusion of the main character Yuri. He can transform into different powerful monsters.
Random Battles
The frequency is far lower then in FF but if you do encounter enemies you can't just press X and wait till the battle is over. Most fights last at least 2 rounds and for each action a character performs you have to hit several areas on the judgement wheel correctly. You will want to hit the small red areas (if it is just for the statistics and your self-esteem). So you have to pay attention a lot even in small fights.
Series
In FF each roman number stands for a completely new story but Shadow Hearts 1 and 2 are connected and if you have the chance play SH1 first. I did not do so and SH2 was still great but there are a lot of references to part 1.
German Translation
The German translation is terrible - just in case you are interested. There are orthographical failures, same names are translated differently, they even confuse left and right where it is important!
But a bad translation did not stop FF7 from success.
If you like Japanese RPGs you definitely want to have this! You do! The characters are funny and lovable, the dungeons are versatile and the battle system is fresh. I couldn't stop playing.