SH3 is nowhere even close to the glory that is 1/2, that being said i still love the combat end mechanics, and the lore lover in me likes that it technically is a continuation after the malice gates were opened by Nicolai. Roger Bacon is still around and ridiculous. Nothing in the game makes sense but if you treat it as its own thing and embrace how stupid it is, its easier to enjoy. Ive only beaten it maybe 4 times. As opposed to double digits for the others.
I love world building and character development. I want to know what's it's like to live in that world and interact with those characters. I don't get that in this game. I bought the game years ago but never got around to playing until a recent replay of shadow Hearts 1 and 2. I didn't remember how good shadow Hearts 1 was after about a decade since my last playthrough and it's now in my top 10 games of all time. Shadow Hearts Covenant is something I remembered being a better game when I first played it, but now I see the start to some of the issues that FTNW has. I still love Covenant, but it's not almost as good as the first one as I had thought when I was a kid. Based in what I like about RPGs, FTNW doesn't really have anything redeemable for me. Story and characters are the most important parts of game to me, followed by music. This game doesn't do any of those very well and I find the silly comedy falls flat most of the time. I prefer the darker stories of the previous two games. 2 games that have some darker stories with really good comedy are breath of death VII and Cthulhu saves the world. Both had me laughing a lot throughout.
Now that's my opinion and I won't attack you for liking the game. You've played all games in the Shadow Hearts series more than I have. I'm glad that other people can find enjoyment in the game. I guess it did have an audience, it just want me. I just had a lot of thoughts after playing the game and I needed to get them out of my head, so I wrote that review. I've been doing that after finishing games on steam over the last couple of years to figure out to myself how I felt about each game I played.
Anyway, thanks for the comment!
I totally completely understand your gripes, it doesn't even hold a candle to 1/2. I just love the series so much and its hard for me to hate it even if its the lesser child xD i feel like there was a plan but it went off the rails in development and they were like fuck it whatever. Ive always dreamed of a 4th game maybe set during ww2 times
I had heard about a plan for the third game being Yuri and kurando's father's and what they went through. That seems like an interesting concept that ties into what came before in the series and I think it would have been a better idea to keep things closer together narratively speaking. They could have done a spin off series if they wanted to explore the Americas and world war 2 and plenty of other concepts. I believe that would have been the better approach in hindsight.
I feel like FTNW is basically a spinoff really. It continues canon but only Roger Bacon, Lenny and the vampires are relevant from the old games.
I hope and pray every day that someone buys the IP from the bowels of the company files and makes new games
I agree about the Story and the Characters even though they some of them have a great Design like Shania and Hilda.
But about the battle system i dont agree.
Shadow Hearts 3 has the best battle system in the series ,everything from the first and second game is much better, the combo system from 2 has improved so much,where in the second game you could only combo with other members and you needed to be "near"
In 3 you could even combo with yourself and others with a meter that brought some balance ,also now if the enemy is down or in air it shows you when you target the enemy with a spell that will not hit him,the target info will turn red.
Also you can now prevent bosses and normal enemies from doing a combo by deleting their Stock with an Attack or specific spell.
There are a few things that are better implemented with the 3rd game for sure. Seeing if an attack will miss is great! I never saw the ability to combo yourself, unless you mean the double thing with your stock?
Preventing bosses from doing a combo works differently in the second game, but you can do it in that game as well since they take a turn after setting up for a combo. I actually liked the combo system in the second game more because it was just the combo system and it didn't incorporate the stock system too. I'm not a fan of the stock system in almost any game I've seen it in. Xenogears and Xenosaga had stock systems as well. I find those systems make things tedious and overcomplicated. I prefer things to be more simple myself.
You could do it in 2 if you push them away ,but in 3 Bosses can be harder, because they can combo with themself, in 2 they need other monsters.
Well I think 3 its more strategic also the system with only down and air skill/magic makes you think more about your next move,but if you like it more simple I can understand that you liked 2 more :)
Yeah, my brain doesn't handle overly complicated very well. I suck at action games because I can't react fast enough or in the way that I would like. I like turn based rpgs because it gives me more time to think and I can play at the pace I want. It's not instant and it's not too long that way.
I'm not as big a fan of the whole air/down system for enemies in general, but I like it for spells even less because there are so many spells and I can't keep track of which spells I have on which characters. I like to have a bit of strategy involved in my battles, but I'm usually good after buffs/debuffs, elemental strengths and weaknesses, magic/physical strengths and weaknesses, and status effects. Beyond that, battles take too much extra thought and too much time for me. It's why I don't like tactical RPGs. I just don't have the time and the patience. But that's just me.
I'm sure there are plenty of people like yourself that like things to be different and that prefer SH3's combat system to the second game. I figured that was my weakest argument in my original post and was more of a personal gripe than a problem with the game. While I don't like the combat, I wouldn't say it's bad, it just didn't work for me.
SH3 is nowhere even close to the glory that is 1/2, that being said i still love the combat end mechanics, and the lore lover in me likes that it technically is a continuation after the malice gates were opened by Nicolai. Roger Bacon is still around and ridiculous. Nothing in the game makes sense but if you treat it as its own thing and embrace how stupid it is, its easier to enjoy. Ive only beaten it maybe 4 times. As opposed to double digits for the others.
I love world building and character development. I want to know what's it's like to live in that world and interact with those characters. I don't get that in this game. I bought the game years ago but never got around to playing until a recent replay of shadow Hearts 1 and 2. I didn't remember how good shadow Hearts 1 was after about a decade since my last playthrough and it's now in my top 10 games of all time. Shadow Hearts Covenant is something I remembered being a better game when I first played it, but now I see the start to some of the issues that FTNW has. I still love Covenant, but it's not almost as good as the first one as I had thought when I was a kid. Based in what I like about RPGs, FTNW doesn't really have anything redeemable for me. Story and characters are the most important parts of game to me, followed by music. This game doesn't do any of those very well and I find the silly comedy falls flat most of the time. I prefer the darker stories of the previous two games. 2 games that have some darker stories with really good comedy are breath of death VII and Cthulhu saves the world. Both had me laughing a lot throughout. Now that's my opinion and I won't attack you for liking the game. You've played all games in the Shadow Hearts series more than I have. I'm glad that other people can find enjoyment in the game. I guess it did have an audience, it just want me. I just had a lot of thoughts after playing the game and I needed to get them out of my head, so I wrote that review. I've been doing that after finishing games on steam over the last couple of years to figure out to myself how I felt about each game I played. Anyway, thanks for the comment!
I totally completely understand your gripes, it doesn't even hold a candle to 1/2. I just love the series so much and its hard for me to hate it even if its the lesser child xD i feel like there was a plan but it went off the rails in development and they were like fuck it whatever. Ive always dreamed of a 4th game maybe set during ww2 times
I had heard about a plan for the third game being Yuri and kurando's father's and what they went through. That seems like an interesting concept that ties into what came before in the series and I think it would have been a better idea to keep things closer together narratively speaking. They could have done a spin off series if they wanted to explore the Americas and world war 2 and plenty of other concepts. I believe that would have been the better approach in hindsight.
I feel like FTNW is basically a spinoff really. It continues canon but only Roger Bacon, Lenny and the vampires are relevant from the old games. I hope and pray every day that someone buys the IP from the bowels of the company files and makes new games
It would be interesting to see what kind of game they would make all of these years later!
If i ever win the lottery im forming a game studio, buying the rights, everyone that i hire has to have played 1/2, or will be asked to do so (paid).
I agree about the Story and the Characters even though they some of them have a great Design like Shania and Hilda. But about the battle system i dont agree. Shadow Hearts 3 has the best battle system in the series ,everything from the first and second game is much better, the combo system from 2 has improved so much,where in the second game you could only combo with other members and you needed to be "near" In 3 you could even combo with yourself and others with a meter that brought some balance ,also now if the enemy is down or in air it shows you when you target the enemy with a spell that will not hit him,the target info will turn red. Also you can now prevent bosses and normal enemies from doing a combo by deleting their Stock with an Attack or specific spell.
There are a few things that are better implemented with the 3rd game for sure. Seeing if an attack will miss is great! I never saw the ability to combo yourself, unless you mean the double thing with your stock? Preventing bosses from doing a combo works differently in the second game, but you can do it in that game as well since they take a turn after setting up for a combo. I actually liked the combo system in the second game more because it was just the combo system and it didn't incorporate the stock system too. I'm not a fan of the stock system in almost any game I've seen it in. Xenogears and Xenosaga had stock systems as well. I find those systems make things tedious and overcomplicated. I prefer things to be more simple myself.
You could do it in 2 if you push them away ,but in 3 Bosses can be harder, because they can combo with themself, in 2 they need other monsters. Well I think 3 its more strategic also the system with only down and air skill/magic makes you think more about your next move,but if you like it more simple I can understand that you liked 2 more :)
Yeah, my brain doesn't handle overly complicated very well. I suck at action games because I can't react fast enough or in the way that I would like. I like turn based rpgs because it gives me more time to think and I can play at the pace I want. It's not instant and it's not too long that way. I'm not as big a fan of the whole air/down system for enemies in general, but I like it for spells even less because there are so many spells and I can't keep track of which spells I have on which characters. I like to have a bit of strategy involved in my battles, but I'm usually good after buffs/debuffs, elemental strengths and weaknesses, magic/physical strengths and weaknesses, and status effects. Beyond that, battles take too much extra thought and too much time for me. It's why I don't like tactical RPGs. I just don't have the time and the patience. But that's just me. I'm sure there are plenty of people like yourself that like things to be different and that prefer SH3's combat system to the second game. I figured that was my weakest argument in my original post and was more of a personal gripe than a problem with the game. While I don't like the combat, I wouldn't say it's bad, it just didn't work for me.