Shadow Hearts: Covenant (PS2)
Dec. 31st, 2020 02:36 pmThis is less a review and more just a record for myself: I played through the first third of this game in 2010, after playing both the first game and From the New World in 2009. It was the very last PS2 game left on my backlog since I finally played Grandia II in 2017. I started up a new playthrough of it late last year (using Action Replay) with the intent of powering through it, but I petered out maybe a quarter of the way into the game. At this point, I don’t remember where I was or what I was doing and I’m not going to try starting a third time. I’m declaring the game culled.
I don’t want this to be read as my thinking it’s a bad game, though theme-wise it’s a bit weaker than the first and system-wise it’s not as good as the third. Clearly, some people on staff were trying to make a horror game (dungeon and monster designers, certainly; but likely also whoever conceived the main story) but others were making a goofy romp (the dialogue and character designers primarily). But it’s not what I’m in the mood for now; I think I’ve closed the book on the PS2 game era and it’ll be a while longer before I’m interested in revisiting it for nostalgia.
I don’t want this to be read as my thinking it’s a bad game, though theme-wise it’s a bit weaker than the first and system-wise it’s not as good as the third. Clearly, some people on staff were trying to make a horror game (dungeon and monster designers, certainly; but likely also whoever conceived the main story) but others were making a goofy romp (the dialogue and character designers primarily). But it’s not what I’m in the mood for now; I think I’ve closed the book on the PS2 game era and it’ll be a while longer before I’m interested in revisiting it for nostalgia.