Don’t forget it was one of the first games to use stuff like motion capture. They had to go to LA for it. So they had actors on set voicing and acting out every cutscene years before Silent Hill 2 would do so. This game is groundbreaking but so obscure. It’s not fair.
You think it is that much better than the voice acting in other PS1 games? I couldn't tell the difference, but maybe that's just because I only hear people on the internet berate voice acting (of any kind) so I might have become totally desensitized to it. I do remember my first playthrough of Koudelka though, and I really thought nothing extraordinary of the acting.
@@PikaLink91 i respect your opinion but the vast majority of fans think Koudelka has some of the best voice acting on the PS1. Go ahead and compare it to silent hill and resident evil. The performances are like night and day.
This game is really good, I mean above average good, but almost no one talks about It. This was the first time that the term "hidden gem" made sense to me.
Nice Video! I remember Koudelka, I loved it back in the day. Not allot people where interested in the game, but I really liked it... it stayed in my memory.
Playing this right now for probably the 8th time! On Disc 4 right now. Always makes me glad to see people still talking about this game! Very underrated hidden gem!
I had no idea something like this existed. It looks really interesting. Wish there were more attempts at horror JRPG's. And yeah, from what i saw the acting is way better than most things were at the PS One era.
@@judoshrew Oh that makes sense partially. They def sound like good VA's. But there was something about the PS One era games that the game devs were just bad at making the dialogue between characrers flow naturally. But this game sounds like it doesn't have that issue or is far less of an issue at least, for some reason.
Try some Big Fish "hidden object" adventure games. They use pre-rendered backgrounds and if you have a taste for beautiful art, you should find these games very enjoyable. For some stuff with better stories and game-play, I recommend "9 Clues - Secret of Serpent Creek" and all three "Grim Legends" games, which include, in order from first to last, The Forsaken Bride, Song of the Dark Swan, and The Dark City. Obviously the animations and such aren't anywhere near the level of even a double-A game, but I think the stories are interesting enough and art good enough to be worth your time. For me, they're like page-turner novels. I start and I can't stop.
Koudelka was a surprise hit for me. I don't even remember how I learned of it, but I picked it up on eBay about 10 years ago where the choice was between it and Parasite Eve because I only could afford one. I was intriqued by the description of the game being a turn-based horror game, as turn-based was someone I had normally only experienced in lighthearted fantasy games. So I picked it up, played it, and loved it.
This was an INCREDIBLE review! You are more entertaining than RUclipsrs who have sub counts in the multiple millions You for sure earned my sub and bell ring!
Ah Koudelka/The Shadow Hearts series. A series of games that is fixed on Lovecraftian horror, but that isn't about dealing with creatures that have a million limbs and sea-creatures for heads, or about rampant xenophobia - No; This is a series that focuses on existential horror. A child losing a parent, a village eaten alive figuratively and literally by it's old traditions, a man butchering hundreds to get back his wife, for nothing. *True* Lovecraftian horror.
Ah yes, the Horror RPG that eventually grew into the Shadow Hearts Duology (Duology, I refuse to consider New World as anything but a Spin Off, Shadow Hearts was a two part story that rolled back on itself if you want to see Shadow Hearts Covenant Good Ending as what leads to Shadow Hearts 1 NG+ where Yuri gets the Good Ending by setting the events that allow Alice to save his soul WITHOUT dying herself! And yes while weird, I AM okay with the Karin was Yuri's mother via time travel all this time, and was grossed out when I discovered SHE WAS HIS MOTHER! Man at least it explains falling in love with his dad while still suffering amensia, but at least he never finds out his wife was seeing THEIR son in him when she was attracted to him LOL. And kind of makes it fun since it means Yuri isn't Half Japanese/Russian, but Japanese/German) I'll miss the trilogy (Was nice to see Koudelka again in Shadow Hearts 1 LOL. Also wasn't too much of a fan of From the New World! Funny that I got into Jojo AFTER this series because it reminded me of them, only to realize coming back to this series that Jojo may have been what inspired THIS series! As a reminder, Jojo is suppose to be Supernatural "HORROR" and I was getting ALOT of Part 1, 2 and 7, Phantom Blood, Battle Tendiency and Steel Ball Run vibes while playing this series! Though the Phantom Blood part seems to fit Koudelka and Shadow Hearts 1 more, Battle Tendiency for Covenant and Steel Ball Run SLIGHTLY with the other parts for From the New World! Man if I EVER get a chance to time travel with my memories still intact! I'm going to make sure to buy these's games and keep a PS1 and 2 Intact if not have MULTIPLE just to keep playing them to the PS5/Switch/XBOX X era of gaming LOL)
How nice! I loved this game as a lad (the only good present my aunt ever got me) and this review was nice! It makes sense why I was always confused in Shadow Hearts because I never got the "defeated by boss" ending, just the no pendant and defeat scenes.
See, for me, Edward was guns and occasionally knifing or supplemental items. While Khoudelka was Swords and offensive magic. So it's definitely malleable
The cool part of it, is that you can make the build you want every playthrough. And the playthrough could be completely different from one another because the items you collect carry a random element/buff. Man I love this game.
Really glad I stumbled on this channel. Considering how into games I was as a kid I am pretty surprised that I have never even heard of this. One note, you started talking about music at the end and I got confused (Huh? This guy said he made an OST? Where can I find that?). I listened to what you said again and realized you were talking about music playing during the video. Except... I don't hear any music in the video other than the part about the battle theme. My guess is that you need to balance the mix between your voice volume and the music volume. Also... we can expect Hard Edge next right? I haven't heard of that one either!
Awesome Video, enjoyed every minute :) plz more of that ! I've always been interested in this Game, gonna buy it def. coming Month. As a kid i wasnt even aware of its existence, my Games were Jade Cocoon, Breath of Fire 3, Soul of the Samurai, Technomage Return of Eternity... 1 Game i want to recommend for a future review called Shadow Madness. Its a turn based Rpg with emphasis on Puzzles, it doesnt has Voice Actors but the Texts are really well written and get the Message across. Balancing is non existent, Characters are 6 Polygons, Lock Picking is Simon says but awful but still its one of my fav Games on the Console :D Its a bit pricy but its on 2 CDs so clearly the Devs did their best but were unexperienced.
I got Koudelka when it came out first and it had a charm to it very few other games had, if a little clunky compared to the original vision for the game. I was always a fan of gothic horror stuff and this was nothing like other PS titles at the time besides maybe Ronin Blade by Konami. The sheer production efforts that went into the game for voice actors, (many of whom went on to be very well known) motion capture, research and setting were something of a work of passion. I'm Welsh so seeing how the team came to Wales fo location scouting, much like how Vagrant Story's went to France, to get a more authentic European gothic feel not attainable with Japanese architecture was fascinating. Not long after, I picked up Shadow Hearts in a bargain section of a game store without knowing it was a sequel of sorts to Koudelka and that began a long love affair with that series of games. I'm looking forward to Penny Dreadful, led by Matsuzo Machida so anyone who isn't aware that the series is getting a spiritual successor should look into that for sure.
Just learnt the existence of this gem just now! Overall good review. Loved how the review comes in naturally and how well it's paced and how the section of the review just comes together in coherent consistency. Just spot checked some of the vids you have, I can see most looks like J-RPGs. Personally, not into those games, but will def watch a review of them if I wanna know more about it. Great review viewing experience overall! Def subbed and hope to see the Shadow Hearts review soon!
I'm looking forward to Penny Blood, it's a successor to Koudelka and shadow Hearts with some of the same crew behind the previous installments. On that note, I absolutely love Koudelka, it has a great setting, atmosphere, likeable characters who aren't inherently good guys, the voice acting is some of the best on the Psone. My praise stops there however as the gameplay is very barebones imo, it's definitively not terrible, but it's not good either, but hey I'll give props for the monster design and how open ended you can customize your characters.
I remember giving this a go (we're talking over 20 years ago mind you) and it always stuck out in the memory as one of the few games I bought that didn't seem to work properly- the first time I got control of Delka I just got hammered by a seemingly never-ending series of encounters. I literally couldn't even finish taking a step forward after beating the last encounter before being launched into the next one, which made exploring impossible, so I gave up. A friend absolutely insisted that it was the best game he'd ever played, and his experience was so different to mine that I just assumed my copy was janky. It absolutely tanked any interest I had in the game though. Interesting video, might give it another go!
A lot of this game wasn't all that hard, but that changes as soon as you either try to beat the final boss or beat the Gargoyle... which you need to get the weapon you pretty much need in order to beat the final boss...
@@CacadasdeFoghart yeah i've seen it, though i didnt think it was the shadow hearts devs i thought it was more of a fan made spiritual successor, and true it does look good though the knight fusion monster is a little generic imho
Must have beaten this game like 4 or 5 times on a minimum. Love this game, too bad the NSTC and PAL version goes for upwards of $300 now. Cheaper to get the Japanese version of game and console for no more than a third of North American version. Good thing is, the JP version is said to be in English.
Since you've asked: I gave up on this game because it's hard to explore whilst running into random battles that drain your resources. That's more of a "me" problem, since I tend to take way too much time on those kinds of games. My first playthrough of Resident Evil 7 lasted upwards of 50 hours, for instance. But in Koudelka that just becomes annoying. Like when you think you've missed a clue, so you trace a route in your head and take like 30 minutes to cross a couple rooms because the game keeps pushing you into random encounters, it just gets old fast.
I stopped after experiencing that awkward transition to disk 2. I think it's probably better enjoyed watched than played - the game had a troubled development where the team could not decide on what they wanted to make, and it shows. Outside the cutscenes and designs, the game feels half-assed and sloppily put together. A lot of the potential was at least brought forward to the Shadow Hearts series.
Koudelka was voiced by actual theater artists that's why voice acting is so damn good. Superior than most new games.
Don’t forget it was one of the first games to use stuff like motion capture. They had to go to LA for it. So they had actors on set voicing and acting out every cutscene years before Silent Hill 2 would do so. This game is groundbreaking but so obscure. It’s not fair.
I learned something new today.
The game is super old now but the voice acting is still amazing in todays standard
@@kanatapaw it's a Classic and an amazing game too
You think it is that much better than the voice acting in other PS1 games? I couldn't tell the difference, but maybe that's just because I only hear people on the internet berate voice acting (of any kind) so I might have become totally desensitized to it. I do remember my first playthrough of Koudelka though, and I really thought nothing extraordinary of the acting.
@@PikaLink91 i respect your opinion but the vast majority of fans think Koudelka has some of the best voice acting on the PS1. Go ahead and compare it to silent hill and resident evil. The performances are like night and day.
Koudelka was a game I never got to experience back then and unfortunately, eventually forgotten. Your review made me want to play this game now.
I randomly came across this game when it first came out. I picked it up and it quickly became one of my favorite games ever.
This game is really good, I mean above average good, but almost no one talks about It. This was the first time that the term "hidden gem" made sense to me.
Nice Video! I remember Koudelka, I loved it back in the day. Not allot people where interested in the game, but I really liked it... it stayed in my memory.
Playing this right now for probably the 8th time! On Disc 4 right now. Always makes me glad to see people still talking about this game! Very underrated hidden gem!
Did you end up doing all the endings?
@@bustergundo516 I’ve done them all. I’ve even fought the Gargoyle optional boss and found the Sacnoth sword!
I had no idea something like this existed. It looks really interesting. Wish there were more attempts at horror JRPG's. And yeah, from what i saw the acting is way better than most things were at the PS One era.
Its so much fun. The voice actors were actual actors from a theater troupe so it feels like a play. Highly recommend.
@@judoshrew Oh that makes sense partially. They def sound like good VA's. But there was something about the PS One era games that the game devs were just bad at making the dialogue between characrers flow naturally. But this game sounds like it doesn't have that issue or is far less of an issue at least, for some reason.
"There are terrible demons. Ouch."
The voice acting in this game is incredible.
It's always a real treat to find a game that has good pre-rendered backgrounds, it's a lost art with a lot of baked in beauty
Try some Big Fish "hidden object" adventure games. They use pre-rendered backgrounds and if you have a taste for beautiful art, you should find these games very enjoyable.
For some stuff with better stories and game-play, I recommend "9 Clues - Secret of Serpent Creek" and all three "Grim Legends" games, which include, in order from first to last, The Forsaken Bride, Song of the Dark Swan, and The Dark City.
Obviously the animations and such aren't anywhere near the level of even a double-A game, but I think the stories are interesting enough and art good enough to be worth your time. For me, they're like page-turner novels. I start and I can't stop.
Koudelka was a surprise hit for me. I don't even remember how I learned of it, but I picked it up on eBay about 10 years ago where the choice was between it and Parasite Eve because I only could afford one. I was intriqued by the description of the game being a turn-based horror game, as turn-based was someone I had normally only experienced in lighthearted fantasy games. So I picked it up, played it, and loved it.
This was an INCREDIBLE review!
You are more entertaining than RUclipsrs who have sub counts in the multiple millions
You for sure earned my sub and bell ring!
Another awesome review of a cult classic from my childhood, thank you for triggering the best memories
This game had a good music. Especially towards the end, battle music is so cool
Clicked for the rat avatar, subbed for the content 👍
Ah Koudelka/The Shadow Hearts series. A series of games that is fixed on Lovecraftian horror, but that isn't about dealing with creatures that have a million limbs and sea-creatures for heads, or about rampant xenophobia - No; This is a series that focuses on existential horror. A child losing a parent, a village eaten alive figuratively and literally by it's old traditions, a man butchering hundreds to get back his wife, for nothing. *True* Lovecraftian horror.
Ah yes, the Horror RPG that eventually grew into the Shadow Hearts Duology (Duology, I refuse to consider New World as anything but a Spin Off, Shadow Hearts was a two part story that rolled back on itself if you want to see Shadow Hearts Covenant Good Ending as what leads to Shadow Hearts 1 NG+ where Yuri gets the Good Ending by setting the events that allow Alice to save his soul WITHOUT dying herself! And yes while weird, I AM okay with the Karin was Yuri's mother via time travel all this time, and was grossed out when I discovered SHE WAS HIS MOTHER! Man at least it explains falling in love with his dad while still suffering amensia, but at least he never finds out his wife was seeing THEIR son in him when she was attracted to him LOL. And kind of makes it fun since it means Yuri isn't Half Japanese/Russian, but Japanese/German)
I'll miss the trilogy (Was nice to see Koudelka again in Shadow Hearts 1 LOL. Also wasn't too much of a fan of From the New World! Funny that I got into Jojo AFTER this series because it reminded me of them, only to realize coming back to this series that Jojo may have been what inspired THIS series! As a reminder, Jojo is suppose to be Supernatural "HORROR" and I was getting ALOT of Part 1, 2 and 7, Phantom Blood, Battle Tendiency and Steel Ball Run vibes while playing this series! Though the Phantom Blood part seems to fit Koudelka and Shadow Hearts 1 more, Battle Tendiency for Covenant and Steel Ball Run SLIGHTLY with the other parts for From the New World! Man if I EVER get a chance to time travel with my memories still intact! I'm going to make sure to buy these's games and keep a PS1 and 2 Intact if not have MULTIPLE just to keep playing them to the PS5/Switch/XBOX X era of gaming LOL)
I mentioned in my own comment but the series is getting a spiritual successor in Penny Blood, its looking real good so far.
I am so glad someone is bringing this game to light. I played it years ago and enjoyed it.
How nice! I loved this game as a lad (the only good present my aunt ever got me) and this review was nice! It makes sense why I was always confused in Shadow Hearts because I never got the "defeated by boss" ending, just the no pendant and defeat scenes.
Today I learned what a spider is... Shits hardcore.
Also good vid, i've somehow never ever heard of this game. And it looks amazing.
Well I wasn't expecting Darkesr Dungeon in this video but here we are
But did you save/murder the ghost girl?!?
"Then the panic takes hold"
If panic felt this good, I would always be panicking.
See, for me, Edward was guns and occasionally knifing or supplemental items. While Khoudelka was Swords and offensive magic.
So it's definitely malleable
The cool part of it, is that you can make the build you want every playthrough. And the playthrough could be completely different from one another because the items you collect carry a random element/buff. Man I love this game.
Really glad I stumbled on this channel. Considering how into games I was as a kid I am pretty surprised that I have never even heard of this. One note, you started talking about music at the end and I got confused (Huh? This guy said he made an OST? Where can I find that?). I listened to what you said again and realized you were talking about music playing during the video. Except... I don't hear any music in the video other than the part about the battle theme. My guess is that you need to balance the mix between your voice volume and the music volume.
Also... we can expect Hard Edge next right? I haven't heard of that one either!
When the man says don't look up the spider torture device, he effing means it. Don't, I did, I wish I didn't.
Awesome Video, enjoyed every minute :)
plz more of that !
I've always been interested in this Game, gonna buy it def. coming Month.
As a kid i wasnt even aware of its existence, my Games were Jade Cocoon, Breath of Fire 3, Soul of the Samurai, Technomage Return of Eternity...
1 Game i want to recommend for a future review called Shadow Madness.
Its a turn based Rpg with emphasis on Puzzles, it doesnt has Voice Actors but the Texts are really well written and get the Message across.
Balancing is non existent, Characters are 6 Polygons, Lock Picking is Simon says but awful but still its one of my fav Games on the Console :D
Its a bit pricy but its on 2 CDs so clearly the Devs did their best but were unexperienced.
I got Koudelka when it came out first and it had a charm to it very few other games had, if a little clunky compared to the original vision for the game. I was always a fan of gothic horror stuff and this was nothing like other PS titles at the time besides maybe Ronin Blade by Konami. The sheer production efforts that went into the game for voice actors, (many of whom went on to be very well known) motion capture, research and setting were something of a work of passion. I'm Welsh so seeing how the team came to Wales fo location scouting, much like how Vagrant Story's went to France, to get a more authentic European gothic feel not attainable with Japanese architecture was fascinating.
Not long after, I picked up Shadow Hearts in a bargain section of a game store without knowing it was a sequel of sorts to Koudelka and that began a long love affair with that series of games. I'm looking forward to Penny Dreadful, led by Matsuzo Machida so anyone who isn't aware that the series is getting a spiritual successor should look into that for sure.
Koudelka was AMAZING. I still think about that game all of the time
Just learnt the existence of this gem just now! Overall good review. Loved how the review comes in naturally and how well it's paced and how the section of the review just comes together in coherent consistency. Just spot checked some of the vids you have, I can see most looks like J-RPGs. Personally, not into those games, but will def watch a review of them if I wanna know more about it. Great review viewing experience overall! Def subbed and hope to see the Shadow Hearts review soon!
Would love to see a remaster or even better, a remake.
Nice to have a dream.
That's one great death scene for PS1 @21:02
I'm looking forward to Penny Blood, it's a successor to Koudelka and shadow Hearts with some of the same crew behind the previous installments. On that note, I absolutely love Koudelka, it has a great setting, atmosphere, likeable characters who aren't inherently good guys, the voice acting is some of the best on the Psone. My praise stops there however as the gameplay is very barebones imo, it's definitively not terrible, but it's not good either, but hey I'll give props for the monster design and how open ended you can customize your characters.
I'm so hyped for Penny Blood! Loved the battle track they made!
It's a cowboy mouse
I just love Khoudelka's battle music! So does my cat, apparently.
I stopped playing because they were old discs in an old PS2, and it kept crashing while trying to load up a cut-scene.
You feeling alright mr mandalore?
I've read some really messed up stuff so I've seen Spiders before along with other devices. But this video taught me its name.
I don't know The pear of anguish or the heretics fork is probably nasty than the spider but you know to each its own
I remember giving this a go (we're talking over 20 years ago mind you) and it always stuck out in the memory as one of the few games I bought that didn't seem to work properly- the first time I got control of Delka I just got hammered by a seemingly never-ending series of encounters. I literally couldn't even finish taking a step forward after beating the last encounter before being launched into the next one, which made exploring impossible, so I gave up. A friend absolutely insisted that it was the best game he'd ever played, and his experience was so different to mine that I just assumed my copy was janky. It absolutely tanked any interest I had in the game though. Interesting video, might give it another go!
Yeah I really did want to finish this one unfortunately only disc 1 work maybe I should try to find another means to finish the game 🏴☠️
To get this boxed is over 200.00 dollars, if you love this game and want to collect it go for it but I recommend to emulate it first.
This game popped into my head a while back.I never played it,it just looked different.
Holy crap, I had to look it up... Nothing short of barbaric.
Spiders?.. Oh breast rippers. Was wondering how spiders were used in gender specific torture. 😅
Hey can you make a review of the original RE games trilogy, (trivia you can make your review easier on those games using the classic rebirth)
I see Ar Tonelico, I like video. Simple as.
I hope it gets a remake!
Вторая КУДЕЛКА когда выйдет ?
A lot of this game wasn't all that hard, but that changes as soon as you either try to beat the final boss or beat the Gargoyle... which you need to get the weapon you pretty much need in order to beat the final boss...
this really was a great game as was its sequel shadow hearts, i wish this game and shadow hearts would get remasters
Not a remaster, but the Shadow Hearts devs are making a new game called Penny Blood. It looks awesome, check it out!
@@CacadasdeFoghart yeah i've seen it, though i didnt think it was the shadow hearts devs i thought it was more of a fan made spiritual successor, and true it does look good though the knight fusion monster is a little generic imho
I remember this game. Loved it.
I like your profile picture.
Nice video :)
Must have beaten this game like 4 or 5 times on a minimum. Love this game, too bad the NSTC and PAL version goes for upwards of $300 now. Cheaper to get the Japanese version of game and console for no more than a third of North American version. Good thing is, the JP version is said to be in English.
I looked up what a spider torture device was.......🤮
Yes
Since you've asked: I gave up on this game because it's hard to explore whilst running into random battles that drain your resources. That's more of a "me" problem, since I tend to take way too much time on those kinds of games. My first playthrough of Resident Evil 7 lasted upwards of 50 hours, for instance. But in Koudelka that just becomes annoying. Like when you think you've missed a clue, so you trace a route in your head and take like 30 minutes to cross a couple rooms because the game keeps pushing you into random encounters, it just gets old fast.
I looked it up 😬😬😬
Loved this game
Koudelka soundtrack is amazing tbh.
Had never heard of this, will check it out
Mandalore wants his title cards back. Come on man...really?
0-0 wooaah , Ai remember CordeIia, yet, Im nautt shir frm :oo~ “ , , *p
I always think about playing this game but I just can't get exited about playing jrpgs as the combat is just boring to me now.
Koudelka > parasite eve
First!
uuuhh yeah boi, I'm always up for some Koudelka
I stopped after experiencing that awkward transition to disk 2. I think it's probably better enjoyed watched than played - the game had a troubled development where the team could not decide on what they wanted to make, and it shows. Outside the cutscenes and designs, the game feels half-assed and sloppily put together. A lot of the potential was at least brought forward to the Shadow Hearts series.