Shadow Hearts

[Tommy]

Is this series good?

Are any of them rated M?

Is it Japanese-Made?

Is the fact, it takes place in 'Our World' a dumb quality or a good one?

Is the combat system good?

Do I ask too many questions?

[Da Rabid Duckie]

Is this series good? Yes, though I wouldn't recommend any of them to a 14-yr old.

Are any of them rated M? Yes, the first one is rated M.

Is it Japanese-Made? Yes.

Is the fact, it takes place in 'Our World' a dumb quality or a good one? Doesn't affect it, really. It's nice to see a little bit (and I do mean a little bit) of implied history, but it would be better to consider it an alternate universe.

Is the combat system good? Big yes. It's Final Fantasy with a timing-based attack system. You don't get bored from fights, and even something as small as using a potion still requires you to use the judgement ring, sometimes creating some very tense moments, such as when your party is about to get wiped, and you're hoping the last heal all spell you have works.

Do I ask too many questions? Yes. Now in the bag you go.

[Tommy]

Could I skip to a random one to the series and not be confused? I was thinking Covenant or the new one.

What makes then innappropriate?

[Da Rabid Duckie]

Two is the sequel to One, Three is a stand-alone story as far as I know. Two would be confusing without understanding the finer details of the first.

As far as content, One has blood, gore, and some suggestive themes, and the second one in addition to what is in the first (minus the gore) has partial nudity and suggestive themes. Both also make a good bit of reference to the homosexual lifestyle, whereas gay characters constantly hit on poor Yuri. Also, in the second one two gay brothers, in order for one of them to make dresses for a puppeteer with a living doll for her to receive new abilities, request "male stud cards" which are basically male-pin ups.

Oh and don't get me started on the religious themes. Some of this stuff would put NGE to shame. Actually, if I did have to explain it, this series would become the first specific video game to end up on the DND list.

I haven't played the third one yet.

Soooo like I said, I can't recommend it for a 14-yr old.

[Tommy]

I think I could handle it, but now that I heard about the Homosexual stuff, I`m not interested. Sexual content can sometimes ruin what would be an amazing movie/game ala Transporter 2.

[GrubbTheFragger]

homosexual stuff in it !! thats highly uncool to bad it looked good to

[MasterDias]

I did play through the second one. Duckie gave a pretty good overview of it. The gay shopkeepers were played for laughs and were such a minor part of the game that it didn't bother me.
But, on the other hand, the game borrows so much weirdness and bizzarity from religion and demonology that even I was very uncomfortable. Like Duckie, I don't really want to get into it here. But, keep in mind that I'm generally fine with a lot of things... However, some aspects of this game were just too much...

To keep this post from being too negative, there were things in the game that I liked. The battles were really fun. And the characters were some of the coolest I've seen in a while. My favorites included a white wolf named Blanca(Yes...a wolf is a party member), a historically-accurate Russian princess named Anastasia, and a European vampire who thinks that he's a pro-wrestler/superhero and who upgrades his weapon by picking up random objects off the side of the road... Some of the scenes were quite funny to watch.
And it had a good, although bittersweet, ending sequence and plenty of emotional scenes.

The third game is coming out shortly. It stars a different main character, probably in an effort to attract new fans. I'll probably check it out eventually.

[desperado]

I have yet to play the second one (I do not think I shall) but the first one had so many dark overtones I quite playing it. I then went to gamefaqs.com to look up if it was that bad the whole way through and supposedly the end boss was called "the messiah" and something about the father or something. I never thought about playing it again after that.

[Tommy]

I have made my decision. I`m going to wait to see how the IIIrd is.

[MasterDias]

The second one is lighter than the first one actually, given all of the comedy and lack of gore.

[Tommy]

I`m aware of that, but as you saw the thread go, I can`t play II by skipping I.