Holy Saviour! The secret of the Formors from the bottom of the sea... Emigre~!
great visuals, story and voice acting.
the gameplay isn't amazing, though. it's very basic and the game is incredibly easy for 99% of it. final boss was a tiny bit fucked in my playthrough because i could barely heal their damage output as i still had level 1 healing spells since at no point in the game did i really ever have to heal. you level up constantly which fully restores your hp and mp, and most of the game you take very little damage. thankfully i had stockpiled a load of full restores, otherwise i'd be fucked i think.
the gameplay isn't amazing, though. it's very basic and the game is incredibly easy for 99% of it. final boss was a tiny bit fucked in my playthrough because i could barely heal their damage output as i still had level 1 healing spells since at no point in the game did i really ever have to heal. you level up constantly which fully restores your hp and mp, and most of the game you take very little damage. thankfully i had stockpiled a load of full restores, otherwise i'd be fucked i think.
An interesting little game. I had never heard of it until recently when finding Shadow Hearts led me to Koudelka, and the idea of a horror turn based RPG appealed to me because we don't get many RPGs in that genre.
Far and away the best aspect of this game is it's story and characters. On their own they're unremarkable but this game has surprisingly amazing voice acting. It does feel a little campy and the line delivery can be awkward at times, but for a japanese PS1 game I was just shocked at the voice acting. The way the characters talk feels totally unlike most other games. The cast spends much of it's time together berating each other and arguing, which is honestly really entertaining and funny, but the way the characters speak is what stands out. They talk over each other, mumble, and talk to themselves in a way that feels very natural. That isn't something you really see much in any kind of acting these days. The acting honestly makes you more invested the story, waiting to see where it will go and what will happen next, even if it's a pretty simple story. There are a few standout scenes with the characters that are just full of great lines and acting, and honestly if you can stomach an older game I'd say it's worth playing just for that.
I just mentioned "stomaching an older game", and you definitely have to. The game plays exactly like a classic Resident Evil game... however with tactical turn based combat? A cool idea in theory and what actually drew me into the game, but I very quickly realized this game would simply be better if it had copied the Resident Evil style of gameplay as well. The combat is slow, sluggish, simplistic, and worst of all, boring. There is little variety in the way characters fight, how the enemies fight, and how the weapons work. It uses a simple RPG stat system with simple enemy weaknesses, but none of it feels fleshed out enough to warrant this system being in the game in the first place.
This game visually is pretty nice too, it has a decent amount of FMVs that look pretty decent for the time. The backgrounds are really nice, and the enemy designs are fantastically creepy (though its disappointing they all blend together in combat). The music is actually not bad! The problem is that there's not enough of it, and what's there just does not fit the game, and feels like it would better fit in some kind of adventure treasure hunting game? Very jarring...
Overall I think it's an alright game, and one I'll probably end up looking back on fondly. I think I'll always remember the voice acting most of all, really standout.
Far and away the best aspect of this game is it's story and characters. On their own they're unremarkable but this game has surprisingly amazing voice acting. It does feel a little campy and the line delivery can be awkward at times, but for a japanese PS1 game I was just shocked at the voice acting. The way the characters talk feels totally unlike most other games. The cast spends much of it's time together berating each other and arguing, which is honestly really entertaining and funny, but the way the characters speak is what stands out. They talk over each other, mumble, and talk to themselves in a way that feels very natural. That isn't something you really see much in any kind of acting these days. The acting honestly makes you more invested the story, waiting to see where it will go and what will happen next, even if it's a pretty simple story. There are a few standout scenes with the characters that are just full of great lines and acting, and honestly if you can stomach an older game I'd say it's worth playing just for that.
I just mentioned "stomaching an older game", and you definitely have to. The game plays exactly like a classic Resident Evil game... however with tactical turn based combat? A cool idea in theory and what actually drew me into the game, but I very quickly realized this game would simply be better if it had copied the Resident Evil style of gameplay as well. The combat is slow, sluggish, simplistic, and worst of all, boring. There is little variety in the way characters fight, how the enemies fight, and how the weapons work. It uses a simple RPG stat system with simple enemy weaknesses, but none of it feels fleshed out enough to warrant this system being in the game in the first place.
This game visually is pretty nice too, it has a decent amount of FMVs that look pretty decent for the time. The backgrounds are really nice, and the enemy designs are fantastically creepy (though its disappointing they all blend together in combat). The music is actually not bad! The problem is that there's not enough of it, and what's there just does not fit the game, and feels like it would better fit in some kind of adventure treasure hunting game? Very jarring...
Overall I think it's an alright game, and one I'll probably end up looking back on fondly. I think I'll always remember the voice acting most of all, really standout.
Unsurprisingly, the experiment of combining the JRPG and survival horror genres turned out to be unsuccessful on the gameplay side, spoiling the slow, methodical exploration of locations thanks to random encounters. But damn it, the quality of the writing and characters is unforgivably good, and this atmosphere is... I can't even believe that this project came out on PS1, especially with the quality of the voice acting here.
And right now, I'm very intrigued by what Shadow Hearts has to offer.
And right now, I'm very intrigued by what Shadow Hearts has to offer.
A real hidden gem. The rpg battle aspect of the game is really easy and its weakest part, but the story and voice acting is really incredible. The way characters are able to showcase emotion in both the fmv and in-game cutscenes is truly amazing and it deserves a lot more credit. My favorite scene was the one with Edward and Koudelka by the fireplace by far.
This is a game which contains so much vision and a sense of sophistication that it is felt even through the more sloppy aspects, to the point where they largely read as the product of perhaps limited time or resources rather than poor taste. To see a Playstation game which does all of its dialogue through motion-captured scenes which play out as if on a stage, and with high fidelity voice acting is something I didn't even know had been done on the console I grew up on.
The combat sytem isn't very challenging by design, and the puzzle solving is not particularly well-planned out all the time, but the strength of the performances and the unique setting, charracters, and story make it a game that sticks with you.
I stumbled backwards blind into this game after stumbling backwards blind into Shadowhearts Covenant and thinking I was probably missing some context for that game.
The combat sytem isn't very challenging by design, and the puzzle solving is not particularly well-planned out all the time, but the strength of the performances and the unique setting, charracters, and story make it a game that sticks with you.
I stumbled backwards blind into this game after stumbling backwards blind into Shadowhearts Covenant and thinking I was probably missing some context for that game.
It's good, except when it's not.
This review contains spoilers
Such a unique little gem of a game man.
Absolutely in love with the presentation. The cut scenes are even to this day, unique. They play out like a stage play. I'm pretty sure they mo caped the characters on top of the actors performing the scenes which was still pretty revolutionary for the time. The acting itself is on point. There's a scene about 3/4 of the way through the game that had me in tears.
I adore the aesthetic of the game too and the fact it all takes place in one area but they do so much with it. From eerie mansion hallways to creepy fog infested gardens, it reminds me somewhat of resident evil level design.
The music, particularly in combat I never got tired of. It has a very haunting melody that takes you by surprise considering it's fight music.
If I had one complaint, the combat can begin to get tedious. Especially when backtracking and trying to complete certain things, or just when you're trying to soak in the atmosphere it can be really jarring to get knocked into a random encounter. From what I've read, Hiroki Kikuta did not want JRPG turn based combat but he was outvoted by the rest of the team. It's a shame imagining how much more of an immersive exploratory type game this could have been in another universe.
I also think it's really weird that the "good ending" of the game requires you to lose the last fight. But either way, still a satisfying ending.
At the end of the day I truly don't think there's anything like Koudelka. Regardless of some annoyances I heartily recommend it to any fans of JRPGs or survival horror.
Absolutely in love with the presentation. The cut scenes are even to this day, unique. They play out like a stage play. I'm pretty sure they mo caped the characters on top of the actors performing the scenes which was still pretty revolutionary for the time. The acting itself is on point. There's a scene about 3/4 of the way through the game that had me in tears.
I adore the aesthetic of the game too and the fact it all takes place in one area but they do so much with it. From eerie mansion hallways to creepy fog infested gardens, it reminds me somewhat of resident evil level design.
The music, particularly in combat I never got tired of. It has a very haunting melody that takes you by surprise considering it's fight music.
If I had one complaint, the combat can begin to get tedious. Especially when backtracking and trying to complete certain things, or just when you're trying to soak in the atmosphere it can be really jarring to get knocked into a random encounter. From what I've read, Hiroki Kikuta did not want JRPG turn based combat but he was outvoted by the rest of the team. It's a shame imagining how much more of an immersive exploratory type game this could have been in another universe.
I also think it's really weird that the "good ending" of the game requires you to lose the last fight. But either way, still a satisfying ending.
At the end of the day I truly don't think there's anything like Koudelka. Regardless of some annoyances I heartily recommend it to any fans of JRPGs or survival horror.