IIRC, Koudelka’s voice actors all recorded their dialogue on a live set in each others presence in real time. That’s why the spoken dialogue feels so natural.
It'd be interesting to see a modern JRPG try that. Xenoblade 3 is extremely well acted but I think it would have benefitted from having its actors all together.
Wow, Koudelka's drunken monologue was so heartbreaking, and so well-delivered... that alone could convince me to muddle my way through slow grid-based, breakable weapons gameplay.
It's a lot longer than that little clip. She also admits to having to trade her body for food and a place to sleep on many occasions after her mother abandoned her.
Just leave Edward without weapons. His fists never break, and the more you use them the better they get. Switch to other weapons for utility, but you'll always be capable of throwing hands against demons and undead when your knuckle weapons break at least. Then you can just use magic to buff Edward until he's Doomguy and can RIP AND TEAR through any boss fight.
Yes exactly. It is honestly one of the best cut scenes in gaming, IMHO. Especially considering the time and techonology from the time, they did amazing
I struggle with his galaxy-brain thinking sometimes. But I like the art he has drawn as flavor chad-ing. I really like his commentary, he comes off as a nice person, with no egotism in sight! I really hope he develops more on his raunchy side of joking around in good nature, of course. Furthermore, I appreciate the c u next Tuesday, sometimes this is what the situation calls for. Cheers!
Upon watching, this is the magnum opus of reviews to me. The Xenogears one had an almost ethereal existential vibe of understanding and accepting the perception of gnostic beings granted in the setting. But this one, I have played through Koudelka (and Shadow Hearts) countless times and I have never perceived the characters struggles and development as well as you have described. Absolute masterpiece my man, the only way you can best this is to interweave Covenant (Easily my favourite and most emotionally connected piece of art, of my life) and complete the trilogy with a crescendo of paradoxical introspection, a weird love triangle, a fathoming of a butterfly vampire wrestler and a farewell to some of the best JRPGs to ever exist (And be criminally unknown). You now have a new Lordly Caliber follower.
@@666slateran666 is Yalm like Yinz? im from Pittsburgh so some folks say yinz cuz that means yall so yalm made me think of that. & 2b fair im always wildin haha
Can’t wait to sit here and take this one in. It’s a shame that the Shadow Hearts series has been lying dormant for like…3 generations now. Thanks for your hard work!
A smaller channel I admire started a playthrough of Koudelka and never had I seen a character like her especially with such strength of voice acting. I know that it’s expensive to get voice actors together and bounce off each other but if I heard more performances like this I would pay more for games
Please don't misconstrue this as an insult but your videos always put me to sleep in the best way possible. I go back and find the last thing I remember to finish the video the next morning but the tone of your voice is so soothing I just slip off into dreamland every time. I really appreciate all the hard work you put into these and I actually played Tales of Symphonia because of your review and had a phenomenal time with my play-through. I genuinely get excited whenever you drop a video so please keep doing what you do and keep up the good work my man. I'll drop some love in your patreon when I get the chance and you bet your sweet tookus I'll be buying some merch when it drops. Thanks again for all the love you put into these, it doesn't go unnoticed
Aww, this is so sweet. Reminds me of my own story too! A good friend of mine and I would talk for hours on end in skype and he always ended up falling asleep. His snores were so loud. When I asked him about it, he said that my voice was too soothing and he couldn't help it. I thought he was just being cheeky, but appreciated the compliment. ...we've been dating for 6 years now. Haha!
Dang, that drunken monologue... I felt that so keenly, deep inside my heart. I would never have had a glimpse into such a fascinating game as Koudelka if not for this video, and I definitely would have bounced off the glacial pacing if I tried to play it myself nowadays, so thank you, Majuular, for the work you do.
Man Shadow Hearts is my favourite game of all time. I live in Ireland so as a teenager seeing an rpg like this having a section set so close to ireland was amazing. Thank you for this video and please please pleaae make one for covenant!
Koudelka was revolutionary for me when I played it. I literally rented it - remember those days - because of the fact it was a four disc Sqaresoft RPG. I was blown away by its music, story and full voice acting, which as a visually impaired gamer who reads text boxes very slow, was a literal game changer. I never got the "defeat the boss" ending, but I was satisfied by the "bad" ending. When Shadow Hearts was announced, it was an instant buy, especially after they showcased the FMV cutscenes. My understanding was that was much of what the game would be. Boy was I disappointed. It was still decent - especially the music", but it lacked that feel of Koudelka. I was so excited when I got to the sanitarium and saw Koudelka ... and then she was not to the same. Despite my disappointment, I enjoyed Shadow Hearts enough to be excited for the sequel, and despite its more humerous approach, it was a much, MUCH better game in almost every way. I think your video was fantastic and I really appreciate this series being revisited. I hope you enjoand Covenant if you haven't played it yet. It's disgraseful there's no non-emulator way to play this series anymore. It needs a revival, especially after Shadow Hearts From the New World.
All it took was one stray reference and now I'm desperate for Majuular to make a comprehensive, multi-hour retrospective vid about Anonymous Agony. Another great video, by the way!
Discovered your channel like 3 days ago and I've already burned through like half of your content. Your presentation is always so introspective, and your voice/cadence makes for such a cozy video.
Honestly, thanks to the tone and setting FFXVI seems to be having, I always wondered why there isn't alot of horror or more specifically gothic jrpgs outside of the indie/fan game circle. Nice to learn about a game I've never heard about until today.
His content and revelation on how we are left with memories that leave an imprint of our souls when someone dies was definitely the healthier and greatest lesson to be learned for the player.
Why can't all RU-vid comments on other channels be like this? Every one in this section hasbeen on point, and seeing yours made me feel the need to say so!
Fun fact, Roger Bacon is voiced by the same guy who voices James and Meowth in the dubs for Pokemon, definitely explains the power to get super whacky with the role
I love all the well deserved attention the Shadow Hearts series has been getting the past couple of years. They hold a very special place in my heart and I'm glad I snatched a copy of Koudelka before the prices skyrocketed, though they seem to be a little more reasonable now depending on where you get them.
I just finished Shadow Hearts mid April. What a wild ride it was. Currently diving into Covenant and I’m already sad to see the pre-rendered backgrounds gone. I was surprised to see this video pop up and thought you were going to retrospect the entire series so I could see if Covenant and New World were worth it, but another comment in this thread says they get insane so I’ll keep pathing forward. Also, that remark about the industrial chain and Fear Factory made me feel personally attacked, hahaha
i've very recently discovered your channel and binged all your content and loved basically every second of it so i cannot express the excitement i felt when i saw this video about two of my favorite jrpgs
I never finished Koudelka because I hated the weapon durability, it actually soft locked my initial playthrough which made me give up on it altogether, but watching this video makes me want to give it another chance. I beat Shadow Hearts awhile back, I thought it was a solid game and I think you reflected a lot of my own thoughts on the game. Anyways, thanks for another banger of a video dude, you've become one of my favorite content creators as of late, keep up the great work!
Not sure if it's been suggested yet, but I would love a video on Dark Cloud 1 & 2/ Chronicles. Most retrospectives are around 20 minutes and pretty surface level for such a unique series.
Love Koudelka! Played a lot back in the day! The item illustrations are perfection. The aesthetic is also on point. The storyline and voice acting is also very well done. Again, loved playing it 💜
I know this vid is a year old, but it feels like the right place to post this. I work in a warehouse for an online retailer. It's not out of the ordinary for us to get things back in our returns department that aren't ours or weren't meant to come to us. When this happens, we attempt to contact the sender to see if they want it back. If it sits for long enough without a response, it gets thrown on a pallet of stuff that gets sent off to be destroyed. A little a while ago, we got a box containing a lot of retro game stuff. A sega master system with cd drive and 32x, a game gear, a 3do, the limited edition mountain dew xbox, and a bunch of games. These game included Koudelka and Vandal Hearts 2. Unfortunately, the sender did not respond in time and all of it was going to be destroyed. It was a very depressing situation. I couldn't just take the stuff as i would have lost my job and possibly worse.
Clicked on the video because i vaguely recognized the name Shadow Hearts from old game magazines. Came out with a newfound apreciation for Koudelka, a game I never heard of before today. That voice acting is insanely good for the time, the whole game gives me intense "passion project" vibes that makes cult classics stick out decades after their release.
I love this video. You did an excellent job reviewing these two titles- I've had a lot of curiosity about them, and I like watching reviews to get some idea of what I'm engaging with. God, the jump from Koudelka to Shadow Hearts is so jarring - it's even a little daunting/frustrating since Koudelka appeals to me because of its cerebral nature, gothic horror and character focused story. There's some games that are like it in some aspects, but even its sequel can't carry that torch. You showed me what some of the appeal of Shadow Hearts is and how it holds up and I DO want to try it as a result!
Sir, you made my day with this video, excellent retrospective for one of my favorite sagas, looking forward for the Shadow Hearts Covenant video, I still own all of them because they are excellent rpgs from that mythical era of JRPGS, thank you again!
i love your channel, i just discovered it because of the thief review and i’ve been watching everyone of your videos since then. your content is up there with grimbeard when it comes to funny long form video game reviews/retrospectives that are just long enough to scratch my video game analysis itch or keep my brain from melting when i’m busy wasting away at work without being a 7 hour long game design/philosophy lecture. Keep up the good work.
Thank you Majuular, your thoughts on these two memories of my youth, will resonate long after your voice fades from my ears. Thank you for your hard good work. Stay safe
idk man making a lanyard out of industrial materials seems more genuine and cool than buying one for $12 at Hot Topic. the difference between having ripped jeans from sliding around at concerts and buying them pre ripped from the mall, theyre both questionable but one obviously has more merit to it
Thank you for mentioning how difficult the Judgement Ring can be for colorblind people like us. I always found it super frustrating that I couldn't see the red portions against the background. I'd love to see a remake with some accessibility options.
This is one of new favourite reviews. Never heard of these games before and am so glad to be enlightened by them and discover the genre I dismissed had such deep character focused stories. And living in and near Wales most my life it's nice to see it get some love :) Can't wait for Shadow Hearts Covenant review now
Good old Shadow Hearts, I hope some day they make some kind of HD compilation You thought I was going to add something meaningful, but I'm actually Lottery member No 42. Here's some tissues!
16:55 the thing with Welsh is that it's a cartoon language where none of the letters except for A and C are actually pronounced like they are in real languages.
I had never heard of either of these games and this was so well done and informative and funny! Your channel is criminally under rated. Fantastic work as always!
Your channel is the best discovery on RU-vid since a long time. I really enjoy your content and your clever, deep and sometimes hilarious reviews and retrospectives. Keep it on! :-)
Great vid as always! I was confused for a minute because I thought I had played shadow hearts as a kid, but I just did some googling and it turns out what I played was shadow hearts: from the new world. The combat also had the timing wheel thingy but the whole vibe of the game was very very different.
Appreciate seeing Koudelka and Shadow Hearts receive this much attention I'm surprised you didn't cover the optional bits with the Amon or Seraphic Radiance fusions lol (don't blame you on that though especially the Seraphic Radiance since its very out of the way)
A little bit of music trivia fact here: I'm more or less in a good connection with Hirota. I always knew that the Glockenspiel-motive from Yuris Graveyard theme sounded inspired from Goblins main theme for the movie "Suspiria" but wasn't sure. And yes, he confirmed it. He's a big fan of the band, in general - besides his strong affinitiy for industrial - the early 70s prog-rock era is also a big part of his composing work (mostly notable through his basslines), and he said that he tried to catch the atmosphere with the utmost respect to the band. So, he sent his love letter to them through this music piece. :)
Coming home 2 a.m. and seeing Majuular uploaded is like coming home after playing in snow all day and getting surprised by a cup of hot chocolate as a kid. Pure. Joy.
1:38:34 Watched this a few times and only just noticed the prompt for the final battle: "Are you ready to go?" "Wait, I need to use the bathroom." Amazing.
Majuular , your reviews are just phenomenal. Started watching you with Dragoon and now you’re covering these other amazing games. You said it perfectly: Shadow Hearts had to awkwardly roam around so Covenant could run, lol. Shadow Hearts was a good experience and yeah that scene with fox face and Alice near the end / the second half of the game were fantastic.
Back in something like 2003/2004 a friend of mine let me have a bunch of his old PSOne games he wasn't going to touch again, Koudelka among them. At the time I lacked the patience to even bother beyond bumbling around a touch and realizing I wasn't in the right head space to appreciate it, being something like 2 years out of high school and more concerned with couch surfing and avoiding responsibility. Fast forward to about 2011/2012 and still struggling through life, possibly worse off for the experiences, and picked up a copy of Shadow Hearts Covenant for twenty bucks, knowing it was a sequel decided to track down the first game but was in no rush. Ended up finding a copy not even a full month later, no manual but figured it probably wasn't worth holding out for something I wasn't sure I would ever see again. Immediately went to town on it, throwing away all my free time enjoying the unique atmosphere and not quite all together feel of it. Very much agree that first half is acceptable but nothing overly engaging until later on, something I'm happy to not feel alone in that opinion. While not a giant favorite of mine the series is still something I look back on fondly and will probably revisit at some point when I bother to set up that CRT retro gaming room that's been on my mind for like a decade.
I remember seeing Koudelka in the lp archives and being fascinated another horror rpg exist that isn't Parasite Eve. Shadow Hearts i vaguely remember being on an episode of Xplay, but i didn't know it was associated with horror.
Everyone laughs at the voice over for the ghost story, as a young kid playing this alone in the dark, that shit freaked me out so bad. Still remember it to this day.
You make me wonder what happens if he misses when opening a door. I just imagine D&D when you roll a 1. Just just face plants straight into the door and somehow takes 50 points of damage.
If I remember it right, in shadow hearts, when you kill enemies there are ones that make a light that flys off and ones that dont. The ones that make a light add to the malice meter, and the ones that don't make the light don't raise malice
I just want to say that your scriptwriting and speaking voice are both really good. You hit the sweet spot in a bunch of different areas - presentation, editing, subject, tone. You’ve found balance between humor and concision. I don’t want to be a hater and namedrop other channels, but I love the linearity and focus of your writing in comparison to some other content creators. Doesn’t overhype, and doesn’t meander. Good shit
