BulletMagnet
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"Who PLAYS this stuff?!"
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Post by BulletMagnet on Aug 29, 2012 21:02:36 GMT -5
A too-brief series of odd and enjoyable JRPGs, and personal favorites of mine. Alucard's recently finished up most of the essential work on this one, so here's the link. A few of you got a previous look at an earlier revision when I was polishing up the text; in any event, I hope you like what you see, and will let me know what needs fixing!
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BulletMagnet
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"Who PLAYS this stuff?!"
Posts: 138
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Post by BulletMagnet on Aug 29, 2012 21:03:32 GMT -5
On that note, here are a couple of things I noticed offhand:
- The top of the browser window lists the article as "Last Survivor".
- It was already brought to my attention that the mp3 links aren't functional; it's your call as to whether to pop them in or just eliminate the link text altogether.
- I still think a few more shots of the item descriptions/illustrations and profiles found in the menus ought to be added to give a fuller depiction of what the game looks like (that said, thanks for giving the Stud Cards their due emphasis), but that's just a personal quibble.
- It appears you used that CG screenshot of Koudelka looking to the left twice; not sure if that was intentional (or necessary due to lack of available images).
- The accented "e" in "cliche" in the second paragraph, as well as near the end of the Covenant page, doesn't display correctly in my browser...anyone else seeing the same thing? My previously-submitted articles sometimes did this too.
- It seems you edited Yuri's profile on the first SH page down somewhat...was it too long for the format? Let me know if you want it rephrased, as some of the omissions are a bit awkward.
- The "Domremy" hyperlink in Yuri's Covenant profile is messed up, and some of the accompanying text is obscured as a result.
- There's a space missing between "almost" and "always" in the first paragraph after Nicolai's profile.
- About 3/4 of the way down the Covenant page the phrase "less-then-inviting" should be "less-than-inviting".
- Speaking of Stud Cards, the grammar of the sentence just before those images seems off: I'd rephrase it as "One long-running side mission in particular, involving hunting down "stud" cards, was...interesting enough by itself to inspire a Penny Arcade comic strip." (Italics optional.) Actually, I'd remove the middle segment entirely, but again, that's just quibbling on my part.
- Just a technicality, but I think that "Nibelung" and "Oh Smania! Oh Furie!" ought to be italicized.
- The html for the "Vilcabamba" hyperlink needs to be fixed.
- Thanks for sneaking in that blurb about the demo disc; if you want to be more specific it was included with Volume 102.
- Not sure if the cameo/legacy stuff ought to be on the same page as New World, or should have its own...I'll leave that up to whatever seems better for you formatting-wise. Same goes for the decision not to display the box art for Chaos Wars.
- I goofed up on the italics in the third-to-last paragraph, and used BBCode instead of HTML.
- The link to shadowhearts.net at the very end seems to have somehow gotten lost inside the link to shadowheartscovenant.com.
- Now that I look at it, that ending list of links is rather long, isn't it...maybe replacing the links to Resonance of Fate, Lost Odyssey and Arms Heart with hyperlinks in the previous paragraphs would be more efficient.
- The bottom of the last page has a vestigial "next page" link that just reloads to the current location.
Thanks again for the hard work!
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Post by lanceboyle94 on Aug 29, 2012 21:39:04 GMT -5
Still surprises me that Midway of all companies decided to publish the first two. Could have been worse, though. Agetec could have picked it up. Also that Stud Cards stuff... what the fuck. SORT OF RELATED: On the topic of Midway, I swear that in one part of The Suffering: Ties That Bind where there's a bunch of Midway games laying on the floor one of them was Shadow Hearts: Covenant, but I'm proved wrong by these two screenshots. Maybe it's on another similar part or it's only on the PS2 version.
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BulletMagnet
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"Who PLAYS this stuff?!"
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Post by BulletMagnet on Aug 29, 2012 21:52:18 GMT -5
I thought Onyx /Orbus was going to write about the series. I guess it didn't pan out on his end. Alucard would have to fill in the gaps, but on my end it was a weird bit of serendipity that got me involved in this: I actually started writing the article quite some time ago, and planned to submit it out of the blue to see if it'd be accepted. Before I could, the "bounty" was put out for Cave's shooters, and I decided to pitch for those instead, since I'd written about shmups for another site before - in the email, I mentioned that I was also interested in doing Shadow Hearts, and the reply was "it's currently taken, but I'll let you know if anything changes." Lo and behold, after both Deathsmiles and Espgaluda were posted (though I do still need to update them), I get word that "Hey, it turns out Shadow Hearts is available, you still interested?" No idea what happened to send it my way, but there you have it. Heh, I remember that area, it was particularly easy to get lost in there. I picture the guy in your avatar saying that, and laugh every time I read it as a result. I hadn't heard of that one, but if it turns out to be true it definitely ought to be added! By the way, before anyone asks, I DID quote Yuri's "giant pussy" line correctly, despite the nearby screenshot - the dialogue doesn't match. I have proof!
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Post by derboo on Aug 30, 2012 4:57:04 GMT -5
To add to the line of small fixes, author credit is also missing.
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Post by Wildcat on Aug 30, 2012 10:47:27 GMT -5
A very thorough article! I've enjoyed the first game and see that I have much to look forward to once I beat the original. Great work!
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BulletMagnet
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"Who PLAYS this stuff?!"
Posts: 138
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Post by BulletMagnet on Aug 30, 2012 17:13:47 GMT -5
�You can add an space in "Universal web site�cthen" (FTNW) I think that one's actually another formatting issue; if memory serves there was a "..." between "site" and "then", which like the accents and umlauts and such doesn't seem to be displaying correctly. Thanks for combing over the article, I would have almost certainly missed the stuff you pointed out.
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Post by Super Orbus on Aug 30, 2012 20:07:07 GMT -5
I'm very happy to see this article go up. I recall it was among the very first articles to be reserved, I thought Onyx /Orbus was going to write about the series. I guess it didn't pan out on his end. I don't think it was ever going to be me. I only played about an hour of the first game, never touched the second, and I don't even own the third one.
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Post by Sac (a.k.a Icaras) on Aug 30, 2012 22:18:55 GMT -5
Halley's name was mistranslated? Now THAT is interesting.
I actually had the pleasure of playing this series in order. I basically inherited my copy of Koudelka from my younger sister (Funnily, I teased her over buying it pre owned and said I'd heard it was rubbish. I came to love the game and completed it, and she never played it fully, lol)
I bought Shadow Hearts because I was a member of a community that had played a game where RPG characters fought each other and the site users voted for who should be the winner.(The site died when the owner closed it down, many year ago sadly) Yuri was a character that started showing up and winning in the highest tier, I reseatched him and discovered his game and was lucky to find a copy in my local EB for cheap.
I was really happy/surprised to discover the Koudelka link, as it wasn't something I was aware of when I 1st bought the game.
I always assumed that Edward married Koudelka, but sadly this link was kinda destroyed by the translation of Halley's name (I'm guessing his was meant to have "Plunkett" and fans of Koudelka like me were meant to say "Hhheeyyyy....Plunkett...I know that name!") I used to assume that he was (Edwards' kid) and that for whatever reason he started using a differant name, for reasons undisclosed. Bloody translating errors!
I enjoyed SH2, not much to say on it.
I still haven't completed From the New World (I will replay it one day), Tho I much prefered when the series took itself deadly serious (ala Koudelka) then when it sgot super silly and campy, like the last few entries. I was also disapointed that the main charcater changed, but given the storyline of 2, it'd be a bit hard to bring Yuri back, and there is still enough cameoes and references that I feel its fair for FTNW to be part of the Shadow Hearts series.
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Post by cj iwakura on Sept 2, 2012 13:30:03 GMT -5
The 'giant pussy' line was the funniest thing ever.
I've played the 3 SH games, and for me, it's 2>1>3, but all are solid. Never played Koudelka.
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Post by aganar on Sept 2, 2012 13:46:03 GMT -5
"Urmnaf Bort Hyuga." That is possibly the worst name ever.
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BulletMagnet
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"Who PLAYS this stuff?!"
Posts: 138
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Post by BulletMagnet on Sept 2, 2012 14:13:47 GMT -5
"Urmnaf Bort Hyuga." That is possibly the worst name ever. Considering Yuri's toughness I suppose it's a uniquely Japanese application of the "Boy Named Sue" principle.
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Post by Discoalucard on Sept 6, 2012 22:47:11 GMT -5
OK, made most of the fixes, except some of the extra screenshot stuff, not sure if I'll have the time to grab them for the next update.
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Post by Warchief Onyx on Sept 18, 2012 14:30:11 GMT -5
Yeah, I reserved the article ages ago. But had computer trouble, never played (or for that matter, had much interest in playing) Koudelka, and a whole bunch of other stuff going on.
Glad to see someone pick up my slack and write an article for this series! It was a really good read.
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BulletMagnet
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"Who PLAYS this stuff?!"
Posts: 138
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Post by BulletMagnet on Sept 18, 2012 18:00:14 GMT -5
Thanks for the kind words! EDIT: Hey, it's on the front page! Just one thing, I think you meant to say "AFTER getting off to a rocky start..." in the second sentence of the introductory paragraph.
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