Well, I've not played "Koudelka" or the first "Shadow Hearts," but I've played "From the New World" and half of "Covenant." On your reccommendation, I will go hunt down "Koudelka" and then proceed to play the franchise forwards, rather than in reverse.
The judgement ring (and ring-related maladies that can be cast upon you) was actually something I really liked about the "Shadow Hearts" franchise. As far as the rest of the battle system goes, it became more complicated as time goes on (*two* types of blocking and *four* types of regular attacks?!), but much more refined. The placement of enemies, both in a plain and their altitude, area effect of special attacks, and the management of several variables at once (HP, MP, sanity, and "stock") made for a multitude of strategic calculations that I found both challenging and stimulating.
There is a recurrent theme throught the franchise (save for the first installment) of the characters acting comically in situations that aren't always expected. Sometimes it culmonates in a bizzare skill management system (not the least of which are Joachim's biorhythms and Hilda's calorie count). Most people's skills can only be built on parallel quests, often involving items that are traded for new abilities or power-ups for existing ones. More often than not, they are extremely offbeat:
• Giepetto's magic is focussed through his doll, who gets new abilities with new outfits. To get them, you trade beefcake collector cards to an effeminite tailor. (Most are foofy and cute, but some are disturing, like a dominatrix outfit.) • Mao, the 5ive-foot kung-fu movie star gangster cat (yeah... as if that in and of itself wasn't bad enough) collects cat currency to pay feline actors for fight scenes in her movie. • The oddly-accented American ninja Frank gets bizzare ninja attacks by completing ridiculous tasks on behalf of his ninja clan. • Also, all Frank's weaponry can be obtained for free. He finds an interesting item in various spots and attaches a sword hilt to it. Joachim does something similar. • Karin gains sword skills by collecting pieces of an opera by Richard Wagner. • Ricardo the Mariachi can play variations on a memento-inspired theme, causing various effects or unleashing an arsenal hidden in his guitar. • Natan lures powerful monsters and traps them in a magic jar. He trades them to his village's shaman to power up his gun-fu. (Personally, I rather like Natan's gun-fu.)
It gets sillier as it goes on, but I found "From the New World" quite fun. "Covenant," so far, is a bit of a let-down by comparison.
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The judgement ring (and ring-related maladies that can be cast upon you) was actually something I really liked about the "Shadow Hearts" franchise. As far as the rest of the battle system goes, it became more complicated as time goes on (*two* types of blocking and *four* types of regular attacks?!), but much more refined. The placement of enemies, both in a plain and their altitude, area effect of special attacks, and the management of several variables at once (HP, MP, sanity, and "stock") made for a multitude of strategic calculations that I found both challenging and stimulating.
There is a recurrent theme throught the franchise (save for the first installment) of the characters acting comically in situations that aren't always expected. Sometimes it culmonates in a bizzare skill management system (not the least of which are Joachim's biorhythms and Hilda's calorie count). Most people's skills can only be built on parallel quests, often involving items that are traded for new abilities or power-ups for existing ones. More often than not, they are extremely offbeat:
• Giepetto's magic is focussed through his doll, who gets new abilities with new outfits. To get them, you trade beefcake collector cards to an effeminite tailor. (Most are foofy and cute, but some are disturing, like a dominatrix outfit.)
• Mao, the 5ive-foot kung-fu movie star gangster cat (yeah... as if that in and of itself wasn't bad enough) collects cat currency to pay feline actors for fight scenes in her movie.
• The oddly-accented American ninja Frank gets bizzare ninja attacks by completing ridiculous tasks on behalf of his ninja clan.
• Also, all Frank's weaponry can be obtained for free. He finds an interesting item in various spots and attaches a sword hilt to it. Joachim does something similar.
• Karin gains sword skills by collecting pieces of an opera by Richard Wagner.
• Ricardo the Mariachi can play variations on a memento-inspired theme, causing various effects or unleashing an arsenal hidden in his guitar.
• Natan lures powerful monsters and traps them in a magic jar. He trades them to his village's shaman to power up his gun-fu. (Personally, I rather like Natan's gun-fu.)
It gets sillier as it goes on, but I found "From the New World" quite fun. "Covenant," so far, is a bit of a let-down by comparison.