[Multiplatform] How good are: Shadow Hearts, Valk Profile, Dark Cloud, & Arc the Lad Series

I have played many-a-RPG in my life and it is starting to come down to looking at some RPG series that I have not tried yet. So, I was wondering if I could ask anybody who has played any of these:

Shadow Hearts series
Valkyrie Profile series
Dark Cloud series
Arc the Lad series

...how each game in the series is?

- Please review the gameplay the most as it is my most important aspect in games.
- Talk about how good the storyline is, if so.
- Try to compare gameplay or other aspects to Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest or other RPG games so that I get an idea.
- Finally: RECOMMEND SOME!

Thanks

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Quoting myself on another forum.

Shadow Hearts is the sequel to Koudelka. Koudelka wasn't a good game, but they redeemed themselves by bringing out pure greatness with Shadow Hearts. Also note you don't need to play Koudelka to understand Shadow Hearts, but maybe you should read up about the character Koudelka since she makes appearences in the series later on.

Shadow Hearts came out around the same time as Final Fantasy X so it was overlooked by pretty much everyone. This is just a huge marketing mistake, I think it could have gone over so much better if they advertised it more.

This series has a unique battle system. You have to time button presses as a line goes around what the game calls a "Judgement Ring", hitting the little spots that it shows.



As you can see, there are orange and yellow fractions. If you hit the small red fractions, you get a critical hit. If you normally hit the orange ones, you get a normal hit. But if you miss, your attack ends. So basically if you hit the first one and miss the 2nd one, you only do one hit instead of four in this case.

The game also throws in unique status effects and such. Like an enemy gives you "blind ring" status and you can't see where the fractions are, you just have to wing it. Or "speed ring" where the line goes faster than usual. Stuff like this just proves how unique this game really is compared to normal RPGs.

The story is probably one of the bigger parts of the series, all Shadow Hearts games are based on alternate reality. In the real world, at certain times in history. I believe they've covered the late 1800s and early 1900s so far. Of course they add fantasy to the game, so like I said "alternate reality" it's still pretty much based off of real world history.

Another thing worth mentioning is the music of the series. The first two were a collaborative effort with Yoshitaka Hirota and Yasunori Mitsuda. Mitsuda didn't really do too many tracks, but he influenced Hirota on the first game, and it shows. In my opinion the best soundtrack in the series is the first one, it also had the most quality sound sample-wise.

In the end, Shadow Hearts is an amazing series, and I reccomend everyone try it out. The first game first, please. Unless you're a graphics whore.

Dark Cloud 2

This is one of my top favorite games of all time. Everything about it is perfect, of course not everyone likes the randomized dungeons, but they didn't really bother me one bit.

The graphics still hold up pretty well to today's standards, the cel-shading is done very well. It's up there with Dragon Quest VIII, definitely. Though obviously it's not AS GOOD as DQ8, it's a bit older afterall.

The gameplay is the most important part of this game. The main character, Max has a melee weapon (wrench!) and a long-range type weapon (gun). The female character has a Sword and Magic. You can upgrade each weapon and long range item by finding items in dungeons and breaking them down and putting them on your weapon.

Your weapon has a set of requirements and different paths it can take in the upgrading line. For instance "Lightning 15" and "Power 25" means you have to find items that can increase lightning and power on your weapon, you break them down and put them in your weapon, then you upgrade it. The direction you go changes your weapon, you can find FAQs that give all that info.

Early in the game you get another "character" named Steve, he's basically a mech-type character that Max gets inside and uses to fight. Steve can also be upgraded, imagine having a mech that can fly and dual wields katanas or something. Great stuff.

The "big" system in this game is being able to build towns. If you listen to people and build it their way you get items that increase your stats as a reward. Also you can go into the future and see how your town turned out as well using an important item to the story.

This game is full of fun minigames. Namely "Spheda" which is a golf game, you can play it in every single level in the game. There's also fishing too, though I never really got into that myself.

Dark Cloud 2 is a game with a lot of fun to be had. It feels like it's worth way more than I paid for. It's just one of those games that you can be very impressed with all of the detail put into it.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Shadow Hearts --
The prequel game is a Horror-RPG called Koudelka (PS1). It isn't necessary, but playing this will help you understand several references and things that lie within SH1 & SH2.
#1 is good. It's a bit simple, but hey, it was early PS2.
#2 (covenant) is gold. Period. The voice acting is pretty poor for some folks (but the voices mostly match very, VERY well). Buy #1 and this, as they interweave tremendously.
#3 (From the New World) is bad. It's a step backwards from #2 in every way that mattered to me. I see it as pract near an "expansion pack", but it lacks Yuri, the core main character (and center of storyline) from the previous two installments. I never even finished this. I returned the rental in disgust.

Darkness Tear:
SH1&2 covers the 1920s whereas SH3 covers the 1930s-1940s era. I forget where it fell, exactly... But I don't care about the third ><

Valkyrie Profile --
#1 was a sleeper hit to most. I never played it; although I've watched it. It didn't strike my fancy, but I won't deny that it is a good game.
#2 looks fucking incredible. Not only is the battle system masterfully done, the graphics push the PS2 to a plateau I've never even seen before. The backgrounds are jaw-droppingly gorgeous. I wish I could see it play out on a HD TV.

Dark Cloud --
#1 was pretty basic. Ever play Soul Blazer? Pretty much the same premise. If possible, leapfrog over this and go to the sequel.
#2 is still a fantastic game today. All the gameplay features plugged in to it makes it almost untouchable. Photography, inventing, building towns, collecting outfits, combining of items, playing a golf-type mini-game, fishing, etc. I enjoy it tremendously =D

Arc the Lad --
To be honest... I'd only touch the PS1 games. The PS2 Arc the Lad games are bastardizations. The voice acting, gameplay, and story is very shoddily done. I dropped it once I got to Chiyo on the PS2's first game. It just didn't FEEL the same ;__;

But #1 is a basic, early PS1 game. Play it to get a feel for it. #2 is where the series takes off. It is incredible, long, and has lots of little gameplay features to take part in. There's also the monster arena thingy =o #3 is very good, but I never really did finish it... Several cameos by heroes from #1 & #2.

Don't touch beyond the initial trilogy or else you'll be upset =I

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Main problem I have with VP1 and 2 is that they seem pretty unbalanced to me and there's a lot of micromanagement which made it a bit hard for me to enjoy.

I also wouldn't consider SH3 a bad game. It's lower quality than Covenant, yes... but it's still a good, fun game.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Never played any of the Shadow Hearts games -- didn't ever show enough initial interest in them to even get started. And after I bought and played one of the three Arc the Lad games that was included in a collection for the PSone, I swore never to play the series again. Just not my thing.

Valkyrie Profile (and the remake, VP: Lenneth) is a fantastic game. Let me reiterate: it's fan-fucking-tastic. I'm a story kinda guy myself, and VP's is practically tear-jerking in some moments. Very tragic story that really pulls the player in. The battle system is great as well -- enemies appear on-screen and if you attack them, you'll start the battle sequence first. If they get to you first though, well it's a gamble -- either they could get the initiative or not.

The battles play out in pseudo real-time, meaning that while turns are involved, the timing of your attacks is very crucial. The correct timing will result in the maximum combo further resulting in the "Purify Weird Soul" finale; a series of ultra-attacks that are truly fun to watch.

The music is VP is fantastic, composed by I believe Motoi Sakuraba. Voices are easy enough to listen to, especially considering the game was made before the advent of voice acting hit the U.S. Some would probably argue "lol wut advent?" but I digress.

Valkyrie Profile 2, on the other hand, is like the pretty younger sister who's kinda shallow and somewhat limited in her worldliness. VP2 is a very, very attractive piece of gaming, no question. The battle system is mostly still intact, with the addition of being able to split up your party and the 3D movement on the battle screen (VP1 just had you facing the enemy on a 2D plane).

Valkyrie Profile 2 isn't quite as deep as it's predecessor though, which for me was a big plus to the first game. It's still deep, but VP1 was able to give detailed back-stories on all the characters, and VP2 neglects to do that for any of the Einherjar (your soul-bound warriors who fight with you) save for one, maybe two. Still, it doesn't detract much and the game is damn good either way you cut it.

At least a handful of members on the board know how big a Dark Cloud fan I am. The first one was, at the very least, unique and entertaining, and pretty damn impressive graphically for being such an early PS2 title (pretty near launch, if I'm not mistaken). The premise is something like this: the world has a catastrophe that basically wipes everything clean, and i's up to you, wielder of the Atlamillia, to restore the world to what it once was. Sounds easy huh?

It's a dungeon-crawler, city-builder, action-RPG hybrid. You crawl through dungeons, engage in battles with enemies on-screen and collect Atla, which are spheres that hold pieces to the town you're trying to rebuild. I think there were four or five places venues to rebuild. The game can get extremely monotonous, but it's fun nonetheless, just gotta persevere.

Dark Cloud 2, on the other hand, is the definition of a complete do-over for a sequel. I'll swear by this comment -- if every game's sequel made the improvements that Dark Cloud 2 did over Dark Cloud 1, every single sequel title would be triple-A. DC2 is an awesome example of how cel-shading can truly make a game vibrant and alive.

It follows the same premise, but the story is a good bit more involved. In DC1, you had I believe 7 other characters to choose from, but their stories were a little less than fulfilling. In Dark Cloud 2, only one truly joins your adventure, and you can freely choose between Max and Monica as you desire/require. You also gain followers whom you can place in houses or take them with you to provide you with their particular service, though they remain unplayable.

The Georama system (the system you use to rebuild each place you come across) has been completely overhauled and for the best. The environments and places are much more detailed, and when you place everything down, it somehow manages to look like it had always belonged that way. Truly a fantastic game.

Plus there's a bunch of stuff to do. As you conquer each level of a dungeon, you'll be given the choice to play a game of Spheda, a golf-like game where you have to hit a ball into a "time distortion" or something to that effect. Anyway, it's arcade golf and crazy fun. There's also fishing, where you can fish for the hell of it or participate in a Weighing Contest or a fish race.

Early on you're given a camera and that's a whole freakin' sidequest of its own. By taking pictures, you'll open up new ideas to use in the invention system. By combining ideas, you'll get Invention Notes, and using collected materials you can turn those notes into very useful items. I'd be lying if I said I didn't spend quite a bit of time taking pictures and inventing items. I spent equally as much fishing.

Dark Cloud 2 is most definitely one of my favorite games of all-time, and that will likely never cease to be. The first Valkyrie Profile ranks right up there with it.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Shadow Hearts 3 was good in gameplay. Graphics were pretty good and had decent music (the opening song still gets me every time i hear it).

The thing is that Shadow Harts games are pretty dark (including Koudelka), and in the last one they gave it another aproach. Full of colours, vivid places, cute cute cute characters (ok, Anastasia in Covenant was cute, but that was it) like Hildegard, Frank Goldfinger and Mao, etc. and gave the game another perspective and feeling (IMO at least). Shania's still very hot though...

Like i said, it's not a bad game gameplaywise, but FF-X2 wasn't either.

And just let's face it, Shadow Hearts without Yuri (which is one of the greatest characters I've ever seen) makes the story less interesting.

You MUST play the first two games though, if you are a fan of RPGs. I must admit that the first one didn't get me till amost the end of the game, but it made the experience of the second one MUCH more worth it. And, just for the record, it was one of the few games that actually made me cry. The story and character development is outstanding.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Shadow Hearts series
Koudelka (prequel to the series) - Horrible, horrible gameplay. Fun characters and good voice acting. Plot's not bad either. (7/10)
Shadow Hearts 1 - Gameplay's funnish, but not too spectacular. Plot's top notch and so are the characters. (7/10)
Shadow Hearts 2 - Gameplay is great and improves on the first one in every way. One of the best games out there. (9/10)
Shadow Hearts 3 - Gameplay is better, but everything else is worse compared to 2. Try the others first, if you like the gameplay, move on. (8/10)

Valkyrie Profile series
Valkyrie Profile - Great gameplay, so-so plot. Most of the good plot stuff is in the last 3 chapters and only if you go towards the obscure as hell A ending (total FAQ-bait). (9/10)
Valkyrie Profile 2 - Objectively, the gameplay is better. Subjectively, I liked it less. Plot's improved though, since you actually get some throughout the whole game. (6/10)

Dark Cloud series
Dark Cloud - Gameplay is complete and massive failure. Didn't get into the plot either. Probably one of the worst games ever. (Note: I didn't finish it so take that opinion with a grain of salt.) (0/10)

Arc the Lad series
Arc the Lad - Gameplay is pretty bland, as is the plot. Fortunately it is short and painless. And also gives you import data to the sequel. (3/10)
Arc the Lad 2 - Gameplay got a vast improvement, but the game is much longer and a lot of people get bored before the end. Plot's improved too, I guess, but still nothing great. (8/10)
Arc the Lad 3 - Game fails. Stay away. (2/10)

Suggestions
Shadow Hearts series. Start on Shadow Hearts 1 because Koudelka gameplay fails at life. You might like all three.
Valkyrie Profile series.

FELIPE NO

Talaysen, you should give Dark Cloud 2 a chance.

How ya doing, buddy?

Yeah, I thought Dark Cloud was one of the worst games I bought for the PSX, but after being pestered by my old roommate to buy DC2 I finally went out and bought it. I beat the game and couldn't believe it was already over, though I didn't quite finish the bonus dungeon since I felt it was a little on the OMG WTF NO side of things.

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Originally Posted by DarknessTear

Talaysen, you should give Dark Cloud 2 a chance.

I tried it once, but for like less than an hour. I plan on getting back to it eventually, but after that trainwreck with Dark Cloud, I haven't felt the drive to do so.

People warned me this would happen. I really wish I had listened to them...

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I have made a decision. I went out to buy a used DARK CLOUD 2 today.
Reasons: The reviews are great. I love Dragon Quest 8, also by "Level 5".
This thread has helped.

Possible second series to try:
Shadow Hearts. Most of you talked highly of some and they look interesting.
Valk Profile may not look like my thing after watching videos of the gameplay, but some of you talk highly of it.

I will probably skip Arc the Lad and Dark Cloud 1 altogether.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

After you get done with Dark Cloud 2, move on to Rogue Galaxy, the latest of Level 5's games. If you've got a PSP (which I believe you do), check out Jeanne d' Arc, also done by them. For next gen, check out the trailer for White Knight Story.

Big Level 5 fan, myself.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Big Dragon Quest fan myself, and Level 5 is obviously great.
I'll definitely look at gameplay videos of all of those. I do have all of the main (popular) handheld and console systems to date.

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