Welcome to this week's, "Sequel, Spin Off, Start Over or Stay Dead?" Each week Diehard GameFAN is going to look at a dormant franchise that was once pretty popular, but for some reason has disappeared into the sands of time. Diehard GameFAN staffers will have four options for what they want to have happen to the series and you can see them in the title of this piece.
This week, Diehard GameFAN is continuing a look at horror themed games for the month of October. This particular series is actually a spin-off from one of the best looking games ever released on the PSX, Koudelka. However where that game was a straight up horror series, this franchise slowly but surely mixed comedy into the franchise. The entirety of this series was released solely on the Playstation 2 and after the third game was released in 2006, the development team of Sacnoth aka Nautilus (Which was made up of old Squaresoft employees who left due to hating how insipid the plots of the Final Fantasy games were) was dissolved and left to scatter to the wind. Still, this trilogy of games is fondly remembered as the best horror RPG series of all time. Let's see what the Diehard GameFAN team thinks should happen to Shadow Hearts.
The PlayStation 2 was the golden age of Japanese RPGs. Many great titles were released during that time, but some excellent games did not get the attention
Super short list, but of course Dark Cloud 2 and Rogue Galaxy would make this list.
They did release both of those games on PS4 though. Two of the very few games I was happy to "buy" digitally, and with trophies.
Gary Green said: Most JRPG fans look back to the PS1 era and smile. It was a time when narrative masterpieces were being released regularly, which was a good thing since most gamers were very hungry for more. It’s no wonder the late 90s is referred to as ‘the JRPG golden age’. Sadly, all things must come to an end, and the dawn of the PS2 would see ambitious developers try to set new trends with expensive visual upgrades, deviations in gameplay to include more focus on either action or strategy, or even online gameplay.
Not all hope was lost, and a handful of dedicated developers would attempt to revive the ‘traditional’ JRPG. While many attempts would be lost to time and obscurity, others would slowly rise to cult status as respectable masters of their craft. One such game would put its growing franchise on the map and captivate many a gamer with its unique theme of real-world characters and locations, and recurring use of Lovecraftian horror. It’s time to revisit Shadow Hearts.
I loved the trilogy. Dark and edgy, very good battle system, good characters. 3rd game has gone extra silly, but it was still very fun. I hope one day a remaster comes out
It's probably not impossible.... not sure where the rights sit currently after Midway went under but somebody somewhere owns the IP, and somebody somewhere else has to be asking how to get these games out again (please not Aspyr)
I would love a collection with Koudelka, Shadow Hearts, Covenant and From the New World... I never got to play Shadow Hearts, that game was stupidly rare before Covenant came out. From the New World isn't too expensive or difficulty to find for a reasonable price, but Shadow Hearts is impossible unless you want to fork over $200 for a copy.
The list is as long as it would take you to grind through Dragon Quest VIII. Here are the best JRPGs on the PlayStation 2.
Good list, kudos for adding Shadow Hearts, Covenant is probably the best Jrpg most people have not played and what an improvement over the first one (plus ties with Koudelka which is an awesome game as well).
I own all 3 of those games with 2 copies of Koudelka on PS1 just in case one of the four discs crapped out on me . Same with Legend of Dragoon. That’s one thing I want Sony to get back into , JRPGs , action and turned based
Yep, they should have at least 1 Japanese studio with 2 teams in it specialize in JRPG.
The amount of time I bring up Covenant when referring to amazing RPGs is astounding.
I wish I had played the other Shadow Hearts games, didn't know there was so many until later in the PS3 generation, at that point they hard to get for a reasonable price. I only got to play Covenant sadly, hopefully they'll all get ported to modern systems at some point.
Take a look at the libraries of your favorite consoles. I guarantee you, other than a handful of fighting games better suited on the Dreamcast, PS2 still has the best, biggest, and most varied library. Literally something for everyone. JRPGs on PS1 and PS2 really were special.
Edit: the article basically just lists every single JRPG on PS2 lol
The first one was decent. The second was amazing. And the third was silly but it had one if not the best turn-based battle system ever created. So amazing that FFXIII is incorporating some of its aspects. Like for example: the launchers and combo system.
The first 2 shared a story but it had an end. The third was a restart (well it was the same world but in a different time and place) but the story was so silly that they should simply restart it again... Like FF.