If you’d like to see more in depth videos like this in the future let me know! I’d love to do the rest of the Shadow Hearts series if people are interested. LINKS Discord: discord.gg/CrkQ86CVXg Support the channel: ko-fi.com/earlybird twitter.com/earlybird_tv twitch.tv/earlyybird
@@SSubversive It is haha! I had a hard time getting a beak to do expressions so it does definitely look a little odd I’ve been thinking that for a while 🤣
@@NargaCat That would be the term "Gypsy", it's generally accepted to be an offensive term based off certain stereotypes. Personally I couldn't care less, but some might find it more palatable if they called them travellers instead but that's only been accepted relatively recently
I think it depends on the group you are referring to. Some call themselves travellers, some call themselves gypsies. I think mixing these groups up is considered to be the offensive part. Ppl be pretty tribal like that 😂
@@SPLOOBS It's what the majority of Europe called them. She corrects Edward herself, so she clearly isn't fond of the term either. It's appropriate to the time period.
@@KyokujiFGC Do you have a source for that? In another comment about Roger's VA having no other roles I theorized that the cast might be mostly stage actors as an explanation for why most of them outside Sara Paxton have nearly-empty IMDB pages despite their obvious skill.
I beat Koudelka years ago and one thing that always stuck out to me was how excellent the voice acting was considering the time it came out. Koudelka's actress did a great job on the role.
@@BeardedBushMan81 the use of The word "Gypsy". nowadays its considered inappropriate as its actually a slur used to refer to the Romani people. and therefore nowadays its not used and the people are refered to be thier proper name.
@@wadejohnston4305 Going by IMDB, most of the cast other than Sara Paxton did almost nothing else other than this game, which makes me really wonder how the casting process worked. Most of the time, "this was their only role" means they weren't a professional actor at all, they were part of the development team. But with this being a Japanese game, we can rule that out. I wonder if they were mostly casting stage actors, because they're all way too good, across the board, to just be first-time voice actors who never made it. If they were working as voice actors, with talent like this, their filmographies would be absolutely stuffed.
The way you said "this game is beautiful but agony to play," is spot on. I was thinking "I'd love to see how this turns out even though I'm probably never playing this again" and it's like you were in my head lol. Thank you for providing.
@@early-tv Agreed. Also interesting monster design. It reminds me of this game called Jean D'Arc that uses that kind of tactical combat style really well. (I heard Final Fantasy Tactics is like that too). But random encounters are the quickest way to get me frustrated these days. Make them painfully slow and it's the perfect storm of NOPE lol
+video that actually delivers on what it promises +extremely interesting game ive never heard of before +well edited/structured content (balancing describing events with reviewer thoughts, and development history/context of where the game sits relative to the other games in its series) good video
When I was a kid I saw my uncle play on his PS1, and I had one of the games scenes so stuck in my brain I spent years trying to find which game it was.... IT WAS THIS ONE 46:10 YEARS OF SEARCH FINALLY CAME TO AN END, THIS WAS THE GAME ALL ALONG 😭 Thank you for this video, the game is awesome, even my little brain thought it was cool enough to remember until my adulthood.
If Koudelka were to be remade today, I can see it being a hybrid of Fear and Hunger and World of Horror. The battle system really held it back from its full potential, and I wager it's because of executive meddling. Then again, had Koudelka managed to successfully become a four-game series, Shadow Hearts likely wouldn't exist. Maybe one day we'll see Shadow Hearts and/or Koudelka again someday.
It was somewhat due to meddling you’re correct. Kikuta had ideas for a more open and intractable environment but since Final Fantasy was so hot at the time others pushed for the turn based system. The game was over 4 discs because of the whopping amount of voice acting and CGI scenes and part of the slowness of the combat was due to loading and size of the game 😅
About that, some of the Shadow Hearts devs are working on a spiritual succesor called Penny Blood. Not the exact same, but it's more than Skies of Arcadia is getting.
I only heard about Koudelka a few years ago and tried to play it, even on a ROM with speeding things up, and coming from someone with a background in dothack//sign, even I couldn't get past how droll the gameplay was. Everything else was so good!!!!! It made me so sad!
The thing that sticks out to me the most about this game is how 'real' the dialogue is. Not so much that it's some exalted, masterwork prose or anything, but the characters are clearly-defined and have actual personalities. At the time, this being executed to this good of a degree was pretty rare.
The conversation between Koudelka and Edward while they were drinking is one of the most genuine human conversations I have witnessed in a game. The voice acting from Koudelka is especially impressive.
The voice acting on this game is so good it’s insane. Like if you compare this to the early Resident Evil and Silent hill entires there’s just no content. Also you have a lovely voice and a captivating charisma! Hope you’ll make more videos this long
Thanks so much! I do plan on doing more long videos since the reception to this one has been great. I wasn’t sure if such a long video would be off putting or not but seems to have gone well! 🤣
Its kinda hit me hard... Even to this day the struggle of edward back in his childhood kinda remind some of us how beautiful imagining things and those imagination make us happy for our selves... Then suddenly reality hit you hard then bam... Misery comes... My inner child is still here even were getting older and thats the fact.
Even beyond the acting, the dialogue is actually written and recorded like they're said by real people. Even modern dubbing still sticks to anime-style speaking and syntax, where every single line feels like a declaration. When everything is great, except for the one thing that mattered most. In the age of reboots/makes/masters, this entire franchise deserves some attention.
I will say, Koudelka is one of my favourite RPG's all time. Its story is small and intimate, its a setting that isnt used that much, the characters have charecter... But it came a tad too early, its a game that would benefit from a remake, improvements on the systems or entirely new ones. The only major concern would be the need to keep the voice acting, because it is spot on.
I agree it was ahead of its time in a lot of ways. I was reading that Kikuta originally had a completely different battle system in mind but it just unfortunately didn’t come to be mostly because of the time and limitations. It makes me sad because I really think this game would have been a big classic. I love all the Shadow Hearts games it’d be great to see them get some updating attention that stayed true to the originals haha. We do have Penny Blood coming up though so that’s a plus :D
The scene with the thief in terror talking about how sweet and wholesome people can be cold and evil, followed by “Just look at him!” Was pretty funny. But I wouldn’t be laughing in a setting like that. I also wouldn’t be shouting.
As someone who checks out these longer deep dives to vicariously live through the experiences of those who had a PS1, I greatly appreciated this video and will be sharing it around. Thanks for letting me know about this rough cut gem!
You’re right, the cut scenes and voice acting is excellent. I cried during the scene between drunk Koudelka and Edward. I’ll be patiently waiting for your Shadow Hearts video. Great stuff, keep it up! :)
I like the longer video. I didn't expect the decently voice acted deep conversations about childhood trauma, religion and grief. I also didn't expect such a spicy hot Gargoyle boss! 10/10 🔥
Awesome video! I went from never even hearing about this game’s existence to questioning how NOBODY ever talks about this game, I was blown away by how good it looks and the performances. That scene of them drunk by fireplace is genuinely so ahead of its time, so much heart put into it. Hope to see more great videos - both short and long - in the future!
The reason I played this game back then was because the hot chick lady on the cover but hollysht!! never had I realize the voice acting was this good back then, and this is the same era where "Jill Sandwich" is a thing.
Koudelka is the result of Resident Evil, Parasite Eve, Silent Hill, and Clock Tower all having one combined lovechild. Really unique take on combat too, but the movement part seems a bit redundant. I can see it being useful for manipulating who the enemy hits, but that's it.
I do like the grid movement it is a little bit of a chore at times but it was at least kinda unique. A little bit obnoxious when you have to keep constantly moving though haha 😆
How about shadowhearts combat system? Add in a merchant that pops up at regular intervals of distance to sell/buy weapons from that area? Or a repair mechanic, to preserve particular weapons longer?
Plot twist, what about a Vagrant Story combat system? It leans itself well to the horror RPG where you target individual body parts and can sustain injuries is very horror RPG
16:02 This whole exchange sounds like it was recorded with all the actors together, rather than in separate studios. The timing is just _too_ good otherwise; you don't see that even today all that often so it's impressive to see it here.
I haven't cried at a video game in about 12 years, and only cried once before that when I was a little boy Its really a testament to the writing and acting that a scene from a game I have no real time or spirit invested in managed to cause some considerable tearing up I feel like I would legit have to stop playing for a little while and go for a walk or something if I got to that scene organically, especially at this point in my life
With the sound of drinking, clinking glass, and lips popping from the mouth of the bottles. It just feels like you're there with them. And then the sad music kicks in and the tears start.
Thank you. Enjoyed the longer video. As someone who's only played Shadow Hearts, this has been on my list to try for a while, so it's good to know that there is some story there if you can get through the gameplay.
I was just thinking about this game today when you tube randomly recommended your video. Also an hour does not seem overly long to talk about something your obviously passionate about, it may take me a bit to finish the whole video but i can't wait. Thank you for making a vid about one of my favorite least talked about games.
you know, this is likely unintentional, but the fact koudelka uses a slur for her own people still makes sense narratively and honestly adds more punch to her backstory.
Edward's talk of "colonizing the western territories" as well, it really colors him as of a very specific and privileged worldview, something that Koudelka immediately calls him on
As someone with romani/gypsy family, I can confirm we absolutely use the gypsy term ourselves. Not that it's not a sensitive thing we should all be mindful of, but still, it's not a hell or high water thing in the community.
Youve pleased the algorithm somehow so this popped up in my feed and loved it. Long form 1 hr+ reviews and dives of weird games ive never played is legitimately my favourite genre of youtube. Easy sub.
As someone who loves TRPG I loved every bit of the battle Koudelka throws at me. Ngl I cried with that scene when she bare her own past, that scene was so so good. Thank you for this awesome retrospect.
Character animation during cutscenes is REALLY interesting here. In many games you have characters being static or idle, until it's their time to play an animation. But here it looks like every cutscene is one continuous animation. So there are a lot of unique animations, with characters gesturing along to what they say, or interacting with each other. It all looks very fluid and motion captured. That's not only way ahead of its time by PS1 standards, I'd say it's actually even good by today's standards. (disregarding the low-poly models of course) Interestingly, the character animation during dialogue scenes looks more natural than the ones in pre-rendered cutscenes.
Great job on this video. Not many people know about Koudelka unfortunately and the original game goes for a hefty price of these days. Watching you video flooded my mind of how much fun I had playing this game back in the day despite the combat system.
@@early-tv Yeah and it’s a really good video. Don’t worry about videos being too long. The pacing was great, and your personal takes were hilarious. I think I might play this game again next week. Also, before shadow hearts came out, I always figured the ending were you lost to the boss was the best ending. I had always thought that they made a error with how it was achieved, but in my heart I always went with that being the best ending.
Never heard of this game but I’m so glad this video was recommended to me. The voice acting is really something else. Especially the scene when Koudelka opens up about her tragic upbringing. Hats off to the voice actress she did a tremendous job in that scene. I could almost visualise what was happening. Also I love Kouldelka’s design and gothic style outfit. She’s such a badass!! Again going back to the voice acting Charlotte, man you could really hear the trauma in her voice. Her backstory being equally if not more tragic and Koudelka’s. It’s nice that Charlotte can get some form of closure when she sees the letters from her deceased Mother for the first time. And the Elaine boss battle, her exorcist bend over backwards posture reminds me of Voldo from Soul Calibur 6. It wouldn’t surprise me if someone made a custom character using Voldo’s style. Overall I think this game has a great story and some well thought out characters. Of course some riveting dialogue to top it all off. Although I think the battle system lets it down. Which is a shame because this game has such potential. Maybe if it had a Final Fantasy style battle system instead. As much as I want to experience this for myself I probably lack the patience to endure the battle sequences. However you’ve done a fantastic job summarising the events that take place on this game. Loved the in-depth review!!
Wow. That scene where Koudelka lets it all out. Amazing, even by today's standards. Blew me away just how raw and how well acted it all was. Although I was thinking when you said about the terminology "Oh man! What bad words will be said here!" ... and yeah, I guess not a major word. Still, great video!
At the time, I had it in my mind that video game VA peaked at Metal Gear Solid. Granted, I was a child, but still. My 1999 brain would have exploded, had I gotten my hands on Kodelka. This is some serious gourmet shit, right here.
@@early-tv yeah, many games at the time didn't even had voice acting and when they had was like robotic (Resident Evil 1). When I was watching the video I was thinking how great the voice actors and actresses were to really convince us. That spirit girl was scary as hell! This is such a hidden gem.
I love the length and girth of this video. Longform content has so much more effort and thought put into it and I love just relaxing to someone geeking out for somthing over an hour.
Crazy that these Americans are supposed to be Welsh, at the very least they could've done an English accent lol. Still, as a Welsh person it's nice to see a game set in Wales even if it looks nothing like Wales and none of the characters have a Welsh accent
I randomly got your video recommended yesterday and I have to say, I enjoyed my time watching this video thoroughly. Your humour, your voice, the fact that you explained the story but let the game tell the key points on its on by showing cutscenes and dialogues... everything was great and I am definitely subscribing and checking out your other content 👍🏼 keep it up
Play this video because of the name, Koudelka (which caught my interest, since I’m Czech). Fun fact, Koudelkas “Gypsy” name sounded a lot like “Zlato”. In Czech it means gold (might roughly by translated as tresure, as she mentioned), but is also used as passionate addressing to your beloved, something like “Honey” or “Darling”
I remember discovering this odd gem back in the day. Yes, the combat could be frustrating, but the story itself is one of my absolute favorites. It also has what can best be described as the most jarringly peaceful non-boss battle music tracks I have ever heard. Thank you for giving such an honest review on this often overlooked game. 😁
I know of this game because my spouse was low-key obsessed with it for a few years, and seeing some of the FMV and themes I can totally tell why they were so into it now. Also, the length of this video was just fine. Your jokes and commentary kept the pacing at a good beat, and your meme edits had me howling.
Thank you for introducing me to this game! I never knew it existed and now that I've got to play it I'm greatly enjoying it! Never knew this game lead into the Shadow Heart series!
This randomly popped up on my feed and I just had to watch it. Koudelka was among my favourite games of the PS1 era. I think I played it around the same time as I played Resident Evil (maybe RE2) and some mech game with the same kind of combat, which could have been Front Mission, so it had a mix of the things I liked in games, plus an excellent story and graphics (for the time). I don't remember the combat being that slow, but that's probably due to nostalgia goggles. Thank you for this in depth review of it, and reminding me how good it was :)
Such a nice video about a very interesting game! To me these videos can't be long enough as I don't mind chipping away at them or rewatching sections if I lost focus, but I think an hour is a good time frame for a game review of this style. Subbed.
This long form deep dive into this game was absolutely enjoyable to watch. Loved the humor coupled eith your own wit and manner of presenting. By all means, I vote yay for longform videos 😋
LOVED THIS VIDEO! Thank you for the info, I heard about this game in passing but knew nothing about it. I had no issue with the duration of the video, I enjoy long form content. Tiny observation though, during expositions or playing long scenes it would be good to have a banger follow up, like the scene where Koudelka gets tipsy and talks about her past, I was hoping you'd really dig into the scene or make a humerous comment once it played out but nothing was rly said. Felt like a missed opportunity. Shout out to using a clip from Radiel on one of the reactions. Good stuff, again thank you!
Wouaw I heard about this game back in the day..but I had no idea it was THIS elegantly made (voice acting, mocap, story and setting...not yet at the part of the video about game mechanics haha). If I had seen a bit of in movement I definitely would have got my hands on it. Looks fantastic for the time!
I don't know how they cooked up that drunk convo between koudelka and edward but they came out with the most realistic dialogue i've ever heard in a game
omg im impressed with the effort and time to make this review so detailed and professsional. finally someone made a video about this game you deserve milion subs
I like the longer format since you obviously cover so much more of a game, but honestly, I feel like it should matter how long you feel a video should be based on the topic. I just like your content :)
Woah that's some insanely good motion capture and VA work for the 90s. The way they made sure to still get the details of when Koudelka would look down or away in the cutscenes is some really good stuff, like I'd argue that holds up well today too because you can see her hurt and passion when she speaks, and where she speaks. Love for what you're making really shines through in moments like that, you can tell the team REALLY put effort into what they were doing. Shadow Hearts games are barely talked about as is, I literally had NO idea they had a precursor??? That's amazing, I'm super pumped to learn about this! This seems like such a hidden gem wow, so glad you put the time and effort into making such a lovely video going over the plot! Thanks for that!
As a newbie here I won’t speak for everyone, but I love long form retrospective type content. Something to listen to while I’m doing housework or gaming. I can’t say if it will be best for growth but I know I wouldn’t be disappointed with more of it
@@early-tv well I’m watching this video in parts because of my schedule but I intend to finish it. I’d say you have a good grasp on what makes a good video essay, equal parts good script and funny editing to keep it from becoming too mundane 😊
I've watched a few ps1 Era title videos and this is the best by far. I love story driven games and I would have never heard of this if not for you. I will try to get a ps1 just to experience this in its entirety but if I don't. Just know I appreciate you
Thanks so much! This game is definitely worth a playthrough to really experience all of the atmosphere and soundtrack. If you can tolerate the slower pace and some of the longer fights haha.
I love how unhinged Roger Bacon is. I went back just for the "I see, well I've been around for 6 hundred years, and I've seen plenty of ABNORMAL PEOPLE JUST LIKE MYSELF. laughing my ass off at his delivery.
I'm Croatian and I was impressed to hear word "zlato" in this game. Koudelka says it means "treasure" and the direct translation from our language is "gold". So maybe it is the same word here? Just awesome anyway
Thanks for this video! I only got to play this game some weeks ago, although I remember seeing it around while growing up. You summed up pretty well my thoughts about it and it really has all the foundations for being a flawed but brilliant hidden gem.
This game was such a good find. My dad bought it for me for $12 (lol) out of the blue and I couldn’t put it down. This game and Shadow Hearts 1 had such gripping atmospheres
i've just stumbled on your video and decided to watch it not seeing your other videos and i was surprised how good and interesting it is. i love such kind of videos about analysis of the old games so i really enjoyed your video!! also your voice is really nice and i like your jokes!!
I'm so happy I finally found your channel! I watched your Stray Souls video not too long ago and thought it was insightful and hilarious. This video was great, too, and I'm liking the longer format! I'm happy to subscribe for more of your videos. Keep up the great work!
I started your video and decided to actually play the game first for once, thank you so much for bringing this gem to my attention! I just finished it this afternoon and it was a great game!
Got here from the algorithm since I watch so many hour-long video essays and I assumed it was a much larger channel who does these all the time. This was fantastic! I love these longer videos and you really did a wonderful job. Would love to have more of this kind of thing! I missed out on the shadow hearts games so I'd love to hear about them :>
Great video. Your editing and narration are top-notch. I lucked out and bought this in the late '00s but never got pass the first CD so it's great to finally know how things turned out.
Thank you!! You're lucky to have a physical copy they're pretty pricey these days haha. I can definitely see not getting past the first disc though, I probably wouldn't have either back in the day.
The length of the video is the reason I clicked on it. I never heard of the game (or Shadowheart) nor did I ever see your channel pop up before. But I love me some good in depth analysis of video games. There is so much to learn about story telling in those videos.
Thank you for drawing attention to this absolute masterpiece. I remember being one of the seemingly few people who actually played this upon release, and greatly enjoying the philosophical moments. Liked and subbed.
Thanks so much!! It really is an amazing game. Despite the problems I have with it now that I’ve played it I think it’s definitely my favorite out of the Shadow Hearts games 💕
A Koudelka video.. IN THIS DAY AND AGE!?! I fell in love with the SH games and discovered there was a PS1 game related to them, Koudelka, so I managed to get a copy of it! ❤ I didnt hate the battle system but I somewhat I agree that it wasnt the best one either 😆 It was definitely a interesting PS1 title, and having already played SH 1 and Covenant it was such a good feeling seeing these characters having a deeper story. Made certain parts of re-playing SH1 feel different and deeper than when I played it before Koudelka❤ 😊😮
I think I’d completely love the battle system if it wasn’t so slow 🥲 And I know what you mean! I’m replaying SH1 right now for the next video and it really feels so much different having now played Koudelka.
@@early-tv eyy yooo was about to ask if you would make any Shadow Hearts videos, just saw you did like 2 weeks ago AND I DIDNT GET NOTIFIED!! HOLD UP I'll check it out, I'll be sure to leave a comment on your video later. Love to see another fan of the franchise cause people rarely know of these titles these days 😭
my first video I’ve saw from you but this was pretty amazing!! I can rarely watch long content but the explanations and commentary made it compelling all the way through! I hope you keep doing your own thing in the future with content!
@Earlybird Not expecting a response, but I wanted to point something out to you. 1. The difficulty spike in "Koudelka" is typically caused by a specific charm you find in the quarters of the old couple that drugs you when you re-visit it later. This charm says something about how it repels weak spirits or something. Most people who play Koudelka pick this up and assume the item is used for something later, that's not really true, what it does is puts the game in "hard mode" which means weak enemies stop spawning and you get those far more difficult enemies and battles that take a really long time. The game doesn't make this clear. I also believe this is why armor might not have been dropping as I am not sure if the hard mode enemies drop armor. I am not a super-fan, but I've played this game quite a bit, and am pretty familiar with it. In fact for quite a while after the game's release, I was one of the old people posting advice for it on Gamefaqs back when that was the primary gaming site of the internet. 2. The poor combat design of "Koudelka" isn't what the problem was. Actually it was seen as being fairly good for the time, by the audience it was catering to. There are some interesting little details behind why this game failed that I mostly picked up from back when it was newer, and a lot of discussion about it. While not something that can be proven, or would be admitted to even if evidence could be compiled, it's pretty straightforward if you knew what was going on at the time. To put it bluntly, let's say your my age (I'm 49) how many people do you know of my age who will claim to have ever seen this game on a game shelf at one of the game stores that were common at the time? Not many, and this is a big part of why nobody was heard of it. Also notice the game's production values and the obvious effort that went into it, but ask yourself.... where was the advertising blitz? Why were there no real posters for this game in every mall? Why did none of the video game magazines at the time say much about it other than "it exists" if anything at all? To get to the bottom of that, you have to understand that back around 1999/2000 there was a sort of nasty rivalry between Japan and the US. Basically, most Japanese pop culture was directly based on stuff from the US, and a fair number of the actual anime and game creators were all westerners, some of whom were using Japanese pseudonyms. Pretty much all their concepts, and most game design elements came from western names going all the way back to the 80s, and growing awareness of this was hitting the Japanese right in the egos. They also had this tendency to want to claim they were superior gamers, given how games were popular there, and to reinforce this they tried to claim their games were too difficult for Westerners, even though they were in most cases far easier than the games they borrowed the ideas from, and did things like re-label their super-hard modes the "normal" mode for the western releases. There have been articles pointing out how the Japanese "Resident Evil" is actually far easier than the American version (they called it Biohazard there). At any rate one company that had a particular chip on it's shoulder was SNK, a company you might remember was infamous for some of it's terrible translations, despite a lot of their major games being set in the US (which they had a weird love/hate relationship with). The thing is those translations were apparently deliberately bad, meant to offend westerners, as you'll notice Japanese high schoolers doing fan subs could do a better job. SNK was actually a major producer for Koudelka, and the source of Sacnoth's funding for most of the game development, they had a real fetish for western stuff, but had a very racist attitude towards westerners basically. Sacnoth put a lot of attention into making the game work for both western and eastern audiences, but SNK wanted to keep the game Japanese only, something Sacnoth disagreed with and managed to get a very limited release of the game to the US despite the effort put into the translations, and had pretty much zero budget for advertising, meaning this game appeared under the radar. The heavily edited version of the original "Persona" game for the PS-1 has a similar tale. It's funny because despite attempts to snub westerners and do as much of a shadow-release as possible, the eventual evolutions of both series became very popular. I could say more about this period and go into all the history of things like "Final Fantasy X: International Edition" (to everywhere except the US) and it's "Final Mission" (end of the game for Japan Only) release and all that to illustrate attitudes with more verifiable stuff, but I figure this will be long enough. Simply put "Shadow Hearts" never had the success of "Persona" but it did get it's US release and became a cult classic despite every attempt to kill the origins of the series in the western mind. At any rate, Koudelka's combat was to be fair not the best, though it works better if you don't pick up that charm (or dispose of it once you do). Something they should have been more clear about. They were going with a more experimental RPG approach and wanted to try and do something between a traditional RPG and a Tactics based RPG, with mixed results. "Shadow Hearts" went with it's timing based RPG system as an alternative. Supposedly the transition to "Shadow Hearts" occurred due to some of the original Sacnoth developers parting way with the company and SNK and disputing the rights to use elements of it. Allegedly Koudelka appears in the sequel as she's an entirely fictional character and SNK had some kind of rights to her character design, and they were trying to block the defectors from doing the sequels on their own (or so I hear), Edward is a different situation being pseudo-historical and without the shared assets. Bacon was not someone anyone could claim rights to. They basically wanted to keep the universe, but had to do in a different direction due to this alleged falling out which split the rights up. As far as the comic series, I do not know it, who published it, or how that would interface with what I was hearing back then, and I admit it's been a while so I could be remembering parts of it wrong. I mostly only regale anyone bored enough to read this with the dirt I was hearing (and I can personally verify the game basically wasn't advertised and in almost no game stores, I heard about it second hand and had to special order it if I remember) simply to say that I don't think the issue was specifically the combat mechanics. I mean as they were experimental they could have refined them in later installments, and as you know from "Shadow Hearts" the series clearly continued in some form (a point which also indirectly reinforces a lot of this) so it's not like the game met with a complete lack of interest for those who became aware of it.
Some interesting stuff there, thanks for taking the time to comment! I somewhat disagree that the combat was widely accepted as alright back then as a ton of old reviews at the time also widely complained about the slowness and pacing of the fights. Most of the negative criticisms then were directed at the pacing. They chose to go turn based because of other games at the time but the battle system itself being turn based isn’t really the issue for most people it’s how long the turns are. Comparing the length of turns to another turn based game I played back then, like Chrono Cross for example, there’s a huge difference in the how long the fights and turns are. Combining that pacing with the random encounters caused a lot of people to lose patience and a lot of reviewers to complain about it. Kikuta himself has gone on record to say that he regrets how the battle system turned out and wishes it could have been fixed as it was a big problem for the game and its ultimate success. There are several contributing factors as to why the game didn’t take off I totally agree with ya there ☺️ but the combat pacing in my mind is a major contributing factor.
I'm an impatient person myself and I yet I agree that I don't think it was the combat design being a problem, I'm 30 myself (1993) and found this game in a video game store when I was much younger a few years after its release, and despite my impatience I thought the combat system was amazing and still to this day find myself going back to playing Koudelka whenever the mood strikes.
Watching this brought back a ton of memories. I remember playing this at a friend's house back in 2000 solely based on it being what I thought was an SNK game (was huge into Neo-Geo at the time). Haven't touched it since. At the time, the cinematics, voice acting, and to a degree the story were a cut above everything else released to that point. And then...the combat. While I would say I suffered playing through it, it wasn't great at all. Played Shadow Hearts a year later, and was completely surprised to find Koudelka in it later on. Had no expectation that they were related. This video brought back some great memories. Makes me wish it would get remastered with a new battle system. Thanks so much!
Okay, THIS would be a video game that I wouldn’t mind having a remake of. I could see them remastering the graphics and reworking the fight mechanics (and put in a little PSA that this is indeed an old game and due to the preservation of the original voice over work, some language will be very dated and not okay for this day and age) and this game could do SO well on the PS5.
Long videos are awesome! I think the longest I watched (in sessions lol) was an 8hr GTA retrospective. This video was well done; the audio mixng/quality is good, the pacing of the video itself flows well too. Hope you'll cover the other games in the series (even if you don't, this video stands on its own).
I have a video up of Shadow Hearts and Covenant will be up very soon! I got a little carried away with the Covenant video though it got pretty long LOL. Puts this one’s run time to shame.
I love the "rag-tag band of misfits" dynamic. A group of people with vastly different beliefs, outlooks, and goals, forced together by circumstance. They start out quite antagonistic but over time grow to be quite close, in spite of their differences. I dunno, I just love that trope :) Makes for great dialogue and character development when they're forced to challenge each other's opinions or choices, which in turn forces them to reflect on their own beliefs and actions. Oh, and yes the voice acting in this is absolutely amazing, especially for the time.
I actually had this game when I was a kid. I gave up after the first disc because of the super slow combat, thank you for showing the story, I never got a chance to finish it.. ;)
This video was randomly in my recommended and you have earned an instant sub. I love this game to death and no matter how many videos I watch and hear people talk about it I love it more! Also the length of the videos are perfect to listen to while relaxing or at work, so keep up the awesome work! I’ll definitely be watching your shadow hearts video soon!
If you’d like to see more in depth videos like this in the future let me know! I’d love to do the rest of the Shadow Hearts series if people are interested.
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The nose on your cartoon person looks weird 👃
Change it
@@SSubversive Haha I don’t disagree. But it’ll probably stay for a while. Someday I’ll redo the whole thing 😆
@@early-tv only fooling. It's fine. I guess it's supposed to be a beak.
@@SSubversive It is haha! I had a hard time getting a beak to do expressions so it does definitely look a little odd I’ve been thinking that for a while 🤣
it's a beak >:( @@SSubversive
that drunken conversation is better than most video game voiceovers. So real and full of pain
I would like to know what people found offensive in that scene tbh
@@NargaCat That would be the term "Gypsy", it's generally accepted to be an offensive term based off certain stereotypes. Personally I couldn't care less, but some might find it more palatable if they called them travellers instead but that's only been accepted relatively recently
@@SPLOOBS I don't know how could that be offensive, she IS gypsy
I think it depends on the group you are referring to. Some call themselves travellers, some call themselves gypsies. I think mixing these groups up is considered to be the offensive part. Ppl be pretty tribal like that 😂
@@SPLOOBS It's what the majority of Europe called them. She corrects Edward herself, so she clearly isn't fond of the term either. It's appropriate to the time period.
the drunk convo was so well done, sound like 2 actual drunk just talking and eventually they opened up to each other.
They hired actual theatre actors and had them perform together from what I remember, which is why it's so well done.
@@KyokujiFGC Do you have a source for that? In another comment about Roger's VA having no other roles I theorized that the cast might be mostly stage actors as an explanation for why most of them outside Sara Paxton have nearly-empty IMDB pages despite their obvious skill.
I beat Koudelka years ago and one thing that always stuck out to me was how excellent the voice acting was considering the time it came out. Koudelka's actress did a great job on the role.
Agreed! I really feel like all the voices are great, especially for the time. They’ve held up well.
I would argue they are pretty good even for today, a little campy at times, but the direction, pacing and mixing is pretty top tier.
Yeah man, was thinking that too😮
I played it in German and I remember having a German voiceover. So unusual. I should really revisit and listen again for funsies
The voice acting is hella’ campy! But somehow it just works! I genuinely love it.
Koudelka's drunken monolugue is some of the most powerful shit in gaming. Period.
It amazes me how cozy it was, it was like having a true conversation with a new friend.
100% agreed. The dialogue in this game is quite organic and well put together. The characters feel like actual people instead of archetypes.
It is fantastic, but I don't know what was supposed to be so offensive that we were warned about?
@@BeardedBushMan81 the use of The word "Gypsy". nowadays its considered inappropriate as its actually a slur used to refer to the Romani people. and therefore nowadays its not used and the people are refered to be thier proper name.
I imagined the problem would've come from something like that. Thanks for clearing it up.
I was sold at “THE SEXIEST GOTHIC HORROR ROLE-PLAYING GAME” lmaooo
I mean did you see that gargoyle?
Fr, how did the game slip under the radar with an elevator pitch like that? (I know it was probably the gameplay but still)
No need for the "lmao"
90s game ads were... something else. Hilarious to look at, and great when done well, but not something I miss.
@@matildarose 90s gaming ads were much better than the shit we have that
The voice actor for roger must have had so much fun playing the role
Rogers VA slayed it lol
roger reminds me of cicero from skyrim
Fun fact this was that VAs one and ONLY role. He never again did any voice acting. A shame as he's clearly very talented. 😢
@@wadejohnston4305that’s crazy. He slayed
@@wadejohnston4305 Going by IMDB, most of the cast other than Sara Paxton did almost nothing else other than this game, which makes me really wonder how the casting process worked. Most of the time, "this was their only role" means they weren't a professional actor at all, they were part of the development team. But with this being a Japanese game, we can rule that out. I wonder if they were mostly casting stage actors, because they're all way too good, across the board, to just be first-time voice actors who never made it. If they were working as voice actors, with talent like this, their filmographies would be absolutely stuffed.
Okay but 12-year-old Sara Paxton killed it
She really did, fantastic performance~
Ong!
She really did! It's hard enough to get good child acting, so to find good child VOICE acting is a huge flex.
The way you said "this game is beautiful but agony to play," is spot on. I was thinking "I'd love to see how this turns out even though I'm probably never playing this again" and it's like you were in my head lol. Thank you for providing.
I do like a lot of things about the combat but… yeahhh it is soooo slow. Requires some serious patience to get through 🤣
@@early-tv Agreed. Also interesting monster design. It reminds me of this game called Jean D'Arc that uses that kind of tactical combat style really well. (I heard Final Fantasy Tactics is like that too). But random encounters are the quickest way to get me frustrated these days. Make them painfully slow and it's the perfect storm of NOPE lol
+video that actually delivers on what it promises
+extremely interesting game ive never heard of before
+well edited/structured content (balancing describing events with reviewer thoughts, and development history/context of where the game sits relative to the other games in its series)
good video
Thanks so much!!
When I was a kid I saw my uncle play on his PS1, and I had one of the games scenes so stuck in my brain I spent years trying to find which game it was.... IT WAS THIS ONE 46:10
YEARS OF SEARCH FINALLY CAME TO AN END, THIS WAS THE GAME ALL ALONG 😭 Thank you for this video, the game is awesome, even my little brain thought it was cool enough to remember until my adulthood.
If Koudelka were to be remade today, I can see it being a hybrid of Fear and Hunger and World of Horror. The battle system really held it back from its full potential, and I wager it's because of executive meddling.
Then again, had Koudelka managed to successfully become a four-game series, Shadow Hearts likely wouldn't exist.
Maybe one day we'll see Shadow Hearts and/or Koudelka again someday.
It was somewhat due to meddling you’re correct. Kikuta had ideas for a more open and intractable environment but since Final Fantasy was so hot at the time others pushed for the turn based system.
The game was over 4 discs because of the whopping amount of voice acting and CGI scenes and part of the slowness of the combat was due to loading and size of the game 😅
About that, some of the Shadow Hearts devs are working on a spiritual succesor called Penny Blood. Not the exact same, but it's more than Skies of Arcadia is getting.
I absolutely loved the combat system, along with the combat system in Shadow Hearts. I wish other games had similar systems.
I only heard about Koudelka a few years ago and tried to play it, even on a ROM with speeding things up, and coming from someone with a background in dothack//sign, even I couldn't get past how droll the gameplay was. Everything else was so good!!!!! It made me so sad!
The thing that sticks out to me the most about this game is how 'real' the dialogue is. Not so much that it's some exalted, masterwork prose or anything, but the characters are clearly-defined and have actual personalities. At the time, this being executed to this good of a degree was pretty rare.
The conversation between Koudelka and Edward while they were drinking is one of the most genuine human conversations I have witnessed in a game. The voice acting from Koudelka is especially impressive.
The voice acting on this game is so good it’s insane. Like if you compare this to the early Resident Evil and Silent hill entires there’s just no content.
Also you have a lovely voice and a captivating charisma! Hope you’ll make more videos this long
Thanks so much! I do plan on doing more long videos since the reception to this one has been great. I wasn’t sure if such a long video would be off putting or not but seems to have gone well! 🤣
That scene of them drinking and talking by the fire was so good 🤌🤌
Its kinda hit me hard... Even to this day the struggle of edward back in his childhood kinda remind some of us how beautiful imagining things and those imagination make us happy for our selves... Then suddenly reality hit you hard then bam... Misery comes... My inner child is still here even were getting older and thats the fact.
It made my heart go out to Koudelka, everything about that scene was so well done
Even beyond the acting, the dialogue is actually written and recorded like they're said by real people. Even modern dubbing still sticks to anime-style speaking and syntax, where every single line feels like a declaration.
When everything is great, except for the one thing that mattered most. In the age of reboots/makes/masters, this entire franchise deserves some attention.
I will say, Koudelka is one of my favourite RPG's all time. Its story is small and intimate, its a setting that isnt used that much, the characters have charecter... But it came a tad too early, its a game that would benefit from a remake, improvements on the systems or entirely new ones. The only major concern would be the need to keep the voice acting, because it is spot on.
I agree it was ahead of its time in a lot of ways. I was reading that Kikuta originally had a completely different battle system in mind but it just unfortunately didn’t come to be mostly because of the time and limitations. It makes me sad because I really think this game would have been a big classic.
I love all the Shadow Hearts games it’d be great to see them get some updating attention that stayed true to the originals haha. We do have Penny Blood coming up though so that’s a plus :D
The scene with the thief in terror talking about how sweet and wholesome people can be cold and evil, followed by “Just look at him!” Was pretty funny. But I wouldn’t be laughing in a setting like that. I also wouldn’t be shouting.
As someone who checks out these longer deep dives to vicariously live through the experiences of those who had a PS1, I greatly appreciated this video and will be sharing it around. Thanks for letting me know about this rough cut gem!
Thanks so much! Appreciate ya! 💕
You’re right, the cut scenes and voice acting is excellent. I cried during the scene between drunk Koudelka and Edward. I’ll be patiently waiting for your Shadow Hearts video. Great stuff, keep it up! :)
The drinking scene is really amazing, that scene will stick with me for a long time.
Shadow Hearts should be out soon 😁
I like the longer video. I didn't expect the decently voice acted deep conversations about childhood trauma, religion and grief.
I also didn't expect such a spicy hot Gargoyle boss! 10/10 🔥
Gargoyle adds some much needed eye candy 😮💨
Awesome video! I went from never even hearing about this game’s existence to questioning how NOBODY ever talks about this game, I was blown away by how good it looks and the performances. That scene of them drunk by fireplace is genuinely so ahead of its time, so much heart put into it.
Hope to see more great videos - both short and long - in the future!
Thanks a ton! This game definitely had a ton of heart in it ♥
The reason I played this game back then was because the hot chick lady on the cover but hollysht!! never had I realize the voice acting was this good back then, and this is the same era where "Jill Sandwich" is a thing.
The voice acting is definitely ahead of its time
Koudelka is the result of Resident Evil, Parasite Eve, Silent Hill, and Clock Tower all having one combined lovechild. Really unique take on combat too, but the movement part seems a bit redundant. I can see it being useful for manipulating who the enemy hits, but that's it.
I do like the grid movement it is a little bit of a chore at times but it was at least kinda unique. A little bit obnoxious when you have to keep constantly moving though haha 😆
This is one of those games that deserves a talented modder to remove the clunky battle system and replace it with the one from Parasite Eve.
It’d be amazing if someone did that. The story and atmosphere are so amazing to play through :)
I disagree i hated Parasite eves battle system and enjoyed Koudelkas’ somewhat chess battle system.
How about shadowhearts combat system?
Add in a merchant that pops up at regular intervals of distance to sell/buy weapons from that area? Or a repair mechanic, to preserve particular weapons longer?
Plot twist, what about a Vagrant Story combat system? It leans itself well to the horror RPG where you target individual body parts and can sustain injuries is very horror RPG
16:02
This whole exchange sounds like it was recorded with all the actors together, rather than in separate studios. The timing is just _too_ good otherwise; you don't see that even today all that often so it's impressive to see it here.
The Voice Acting and musical score really had me tied into the universe that was awesome.
That drunk conversation cutscene was amazing, I'm glad I found this video
Really is a great scene 😊
I haven't cried at a video game in about 12 years, and only cried once before that when I was a little boy
Its really a testament to the writing and acting that a scene from a game I have no real time or spirit invested in managed to cause some considerable tearing up
I feel like I would legit have to stop playing for a little while and go for a walk or something if I got to that scene organically, especially at this point in my life
With the sound of drinking, clinking glass, and lips popping from the mouth of the bottles. It just feels like you're there with them.
And then the sad music kicks in and the tears start.
Thank you. Enjoyed the longer video. As someone who's only played Shadow Hearts, this has been on my list to try for a while, so it's good to know that there is some story there if you can get through the gameplay.
I was just thinking about this game today when you tube randomly recommended your video. Also an hour does not seem overly long to talk about something your obviously passionate about, it may take me a bit to finish the whole video but i can't wait. Thank you for making a vid about one of my favorite least talked about games.
you know, this is likely unintentional, but the fact koudelka uses a slur for her own people still makes sense narratively and honestly adds more punch to her backstory.
Edward's talk of "colonizing the western territories" as well, it really colors him as of a very specific and privileged worldview, something that Koudelka immediately calls him on
As someone with romani/gypsy family, I can confirm we absolutely use the gypsy term ourselves. Not that it's not a sensitive thing we should all be mindful of, but still, it's not a hell or high water thing in the community.
Youve pleased the algorithm somehow so this popped up in my feed and loved it. Long form 1 hr+ reviews and dives of weird games ive never played is legitimately my favourite genre of youtube. Easy sub.
Haha thanks so much, appreciate it!
As someone who loves TRPG I loved every bit of the battle Koudelka throws at me. Ngl I cried with that scene when she bare her own past, that scene was so so good.
Thank you for this awesome retrospect.
Character animation during cutscenes is REALLY interesting here. In many games you have characters being static or idle, until it's their time to play an animation. But here it looks like every cutscene is one continuous animation. So there are a lot of unique animations, with characters gesturing along to what they say, or interacting with each other. It all looks very fluid and motion captured. That's not only way ahead of its time by PS1 standards, I'd say it's actually even good by today's standards. (disregarding the low-poly models of course)
Interestingly, the character animation during dialogue scenes looks more natural than the ones in pre-rendered cutscenes.
Great job on this video. Not many people know about Koudelka unfortunately and the original game goes for a hefty price of these days. Watching you video flooded my mind of how much fun I had playing this game back in the day despite the combat system.
Thank you!!
It really is a great game. Once I played it I just knew I had to make a video on it in the hopes that more people could appreciate it ♥
@@early-tv Yeah and it’s a really good video. Don’t worry about videos being too long. The pacing was great, and your personal takes were hilarious. I think I might play this game again next week. Also, before shadow hearts came out, I always figured the ending were you lost to the boss was the best ending. I had always thought that they made a error with how it was achieved, but in my heart I always went with that being the best ending.
Never heard of this game but I’m so glad this video was recommended to me. The voice acting is really something else.
Especially the scene when Koudelka opens up about her tragic upbringing. Hats off to the voice actress she did a tremendous job in that scene. I could almost visualise what was happening. Also I love Kouldelka’s design and gothic style outfit. She’s such a badass!!
Again going back to the voice acting Charlotte, man you could really hear the trauma in her voice. Her backstory being equally if not more tragic and Koudelka’s. It’s nice that Charlotte can get some form of closure when she sees the letters from her deceased Mother for the first time.
And the Elaine boss battle, her exorcist bend over backwards posture reminds me of Voldo from Soul Calibur 6. It wouldn’t surprise me if someone made a custom character using Voldo’s style.
Overall I think this game has a great story and some well thought out characters. Of course some riveting dialogue to top it all off. Although I think the battle system lets it down. Which is a shame because this game has such potential. Maybe if it had a Final Fantasy style battle system instead. As much as I want to experience this for myself I probably lack the patience to endure the battle sequences. However you’ve done a fantastic job summarising the events that take place on this game. Loved the in-depth review!!
For an old classic game. The dailog, voice over and music is *chef kiss*!
Wow. That scene where Koudelka lets it all out. Amazing, even by today's standards. Blew me away just how raw and how well acted it all was.
Although I was thinking when you said about the terminology "Oh man! What bad words will be said here!" ... and yeah, I guess not a major word.
Still, great video!
At the time, I had it in my mind that video game VA peaked at Metal Gear Solid. Granted, I was a child, but still. My 1999 brain would have exploded, had I gotten my hands on Kodelka. This is some serious gourmet shit, right here.
I was genuinely shocked by the voice acting when I played it.
@@early-tv yeah, many games at the time didn't even had voice acting and when they had was like robotic (Resident Evil 1). When I was watching the video I was thinking how great the voice actors and actresses were to really convince us. That spirit girl was scary as hell! This is such a hidden gem.
I love the length and girth of this video.
Longform content has so much more effort and thought put into it and I love just relaxing to someone geeking out for somthing over an hour.
Thanks, appreciate it!!
Working on the next game in the series now should hopefully be a longer video as well :)
Crazy that these Americans are supposed to be Welsh, at the very least they could've done an English accent lol. Still, as a Welsh person it's nice to see a game set in Wales even if it looks nothing like Wales and none of the characters have a Welsh accent
Also that long drinking scene is perfect and so far ahead of the standards at the time. We seldom had voice acting of that quality in the 90s.
I have seen three long retrospectives of the shadow heart series now. Each time a delight. Thank you for making this 🙏😃
I randomly got your video recommended yesterday and I have to say, I enjoyed my time watching this video thoroughly. Your humour, your voice, the fact that you explained the story but let the game tell the key points on its on by showing cutscenes and dialogues... everything was great and I am definitely subscribing and checking out your other content 👍🏼 keep it up
Thanks a ton, appreciate it!!
"I had a childhood"
2 mins later
"I predicted my dads death, my mom tried to choke me to death and I sold my body at 9"
Play this video because of the name, Koudelka (which caught my interest, since I’m Czech). Fun fact, Koudelkas “Gypsy” name sounded a lot like “Zlato”. In Czech it means gold (might roughly by translated as tresure, as she mentioned), but is also used as passionate addressing to your beloved, something like “Honey” or “Darling”
Aww, that's cute!
I remember discovering this odd gem back in the day. Yes, the combat could be frustrating, but the story itself is one of my absolute favorites. It also has what can best be described as the most jarringly peaceful non-boss battle music tracks I have ever heard. Thank you for giving such an honest review on this often overlooked game. 😁
I know of this game because my spouse was low-key obsessed with it for a few years, and seeing some of the FMV and themes I can totally tell why they were so into it now. Also, the length of this video was just fine. Your jokes and commentary kept the pacing at a good beat, and your meme edits had me howling.
...that drunken scene was incredible. The VA deserves so much credit for that!
Hot gargoyle is probably my favorite video game character of all time
I'm not saying I'm obsessed with hot gargoyle... I'm just saying if there was a gargoyle body pillow I'd buy it.
Im so blown away by the voice acting. I listen to videos at work and i kept forgetting this was an older game
Thank you for introducing me to this game! I never knew it existed and now that I've got to play it I'm greatly enjoying it! Never knew this game lead into the Shadow Heart series!
Literally some of (if not) the best voice acting I've heard in a video game. Dude, how the heck has this game not been talked about more?!?
best ps1 voice acting I ever heard
Agreed!
Always love hearing others talk about older rpg gems!
Love your other works, keep it up. You have a great voice for it =)
This randomly popped up on my feed and I just had to watch it. Koudelka was among my favourite games of the PS1 era. I think I played it around the same time as I played Resident Evil (maybe RE2) and some mech game with the same kind of combat, which could have been Front Mission, so it had a mix of the things I liked in games, plus an excellent story and graphics (for the time). I don't remember the combat being that slow, but that's probably due to nostalgia goggles. Thank you for this in depth review of it, and reminding me how good it was :)
It really is amazing. I didn't know what to expect going in but I really love it. The atmosphere and scenes are just top notch.
Such a nice video about a very interesting game! To me these videos can't be long enough as I don't mind chipping away at them or rewatching sections if I lost focus, but I think an hour is a good time frame for a game review of this style. Subbed.
The voice acting in this game is on another level.
This long form deep dive into this game was absolutely enjoyable to watch. Loved the humor coupled eith your own wit and manner of presenting. By all means, I vote yay for longform videos 😋
Yoooo! Hour long Earlybird video!
I'm going to save this for tonight to listen to at work, but I'm very happy to see you cover this game.
appreciate ya! ♥
LOVED THIS VIDEO! Thank you for the info, I heard about this game in passing but knew nothing about it. I had no issue with the duration of the video, I enjoy long form content. Tiny observation though, during expositions or playing long scenes it would be good to have a banger follow up, like the scene where Koudelka gets tipsy and talks about her past, I was hoping you'd really dig into the scene or make a humerous comment once it played out but nothing was rly said. Felt like a missed opportunity. Shout out to using a clip from Radiel on one of the reactions. Good stuff, again thank you!
"A squad of 3 slowpokes" I'mma stop you right there and correct you, a squad of 3 zubats on steroids.
Wouaw I heard about this game back in the day..but I had no idea it was THIS elegantly made (voice acting, mocap, story and setting...not yet at the part of the video about game mechanics haha). If I had seen a bit of in movement I definitely would have got my hands on it. Looks fantastic for the time!
I don't know how they cooked up that drunk convo between koudelka and edward but they came out with the most realistic dialogue i've ever heard in a game
omg im impressed with the effort and time to make this review so detailed and professsional. finally someone made a video about this game you deserve milion subs
That's very kind of you to say, thanks so much! Appreciate it :)
I like the longer format since you obviously cover so much more of a game, but honestly, I feel like it should matter how long you feel a video should be based on the topic. I just like your content :)
Thanks a ton, appreciate it!
Woah that's some insanely good motion capture and VA work for the 90s. The way they made sure to still get the details of when Koudelka would look down or away in the cutscenes is some really good stuff, like I'd argue that holds up well today too because you can see her hurt and passion when she speaks, and where she speaks. Love for what you're making really shines through in moments like that, you can tell the team REALLY put effort into what they were doing.
Shadow Hearts games are barely talked about as is, I literally had NO idea they had a precursor??? That's amazing, I'm super pumped to learn about this! This seems like such a hidden gem wow, so glad you put the time and effort into making such a lovely video going over the plot! Thanks for that!
As a newbie here I won’t speak for everyone, but I love long form retrospective type content. Something to listen to while I’m doing housework or gaming. I can’t say if it will be best for growth but I know I wouldn’t be disappointed with more of it
Thanks!! I enjoy watching longer videos in the same way, I’m just not confident in being interesting for that long 🤣🤣
@@early-tv well I’m watching this video in parts because of my schedule but I intend to finish it. I’d say you have a good grasp on what makes a good video essay, equal parts good script and funny editing to keep it from becoming too mundane 😊
6:49 "Yes ma'am!" Should've been the proper response here. 😂
I've watched a few ps1 Era title videos and this is the best by far. I love story driven games and I would have never heard of this if not for you. I will try to get a ps1 just to experience this in its entirety but if I don't. Just know I appreciate you
Thanks so much! This game is definitely worth a playthrough to really experience all of the atmosphere and soundtrack. If you can tolerate the slower pace and some of the longer fights haha.
I love how unhinged Roger Bacon is. I went back just for the "I see, well I've been around for 6 hundred years, and I've seen plenty of ABNORMAL PEOPLE JUST LIKE MYSELF. laughing my ass off at his delivery.
Roger seriously has some great lines in this game, great VA 🤣
I'm Croatian and I was impressed to hear word "zlato" in this game. Koudelka says it means "treasure" and the direct translation from our language is "gold". So maybe it is the same word here? Just awesome anyway
Hmm well I can definitely see how treasure and gold would be related :D
Thanks for this video! I only got to play this game some weeks ago, although I remember seeing it around while growing up. You summed up pretty well my thoughts about it and it really has all the foundations for being a flawed but brilliant hidden gem.
This game was such a good find. My dad bought it for me for $12 (lol) out of the blue and I couldn’t put it down. This game and Shadow Hearts 1 had such gripping atmospheres
Completely agreed.
i've just stumbled on your video and decided to watch it not seeing your other videos and i was surprised how good and interesting it is. i love such kind of videos about analysis of the old games so i really enjoyed your video!! also your voice is really nice and i like your jokes!!
Thank you, appreciate it!!
Working on the rest of this series as longer videos hehe c:
I’ve never even heard of this game before. The voice acting and writing is quite remarkable, especially for the time
I'm so happy I finally found your channel! I watched your Stray Souls video not too long ago and thought it was insightful and hilarious. This video was great, too, and I'm liking the longer format! I'm happy to subscribe for more of your videos. Keep up the great work!
Thanks a ton, appreciate ya!
God the fireplace scene was heartbreaking....
I started your video and decided to actually play the game first for once, thank you so much for bringing this gem to my attention! I just finished it this afternoon and it was a great game!
Got here from the algorithm since I watch so many hour-long video essays and I assumed it was a much larger channel who does these all the time.
This was fantastic! I love these longer videos and you really did a wonderful job. Would love to have more of this kind of thing! I missed out on the shadow hearts games so I'd love to hear about them :>
Thanks so much I really appreciate it!
I plan on doing the next in the series soon c:
This was genuinely so cool, thank you for all your work
Great video. Your editing and narration are top-notch. I lucked out and bought this in the late '00s but never got pass the first CD so it's great to finally know how things turned out.
Thank you!! You're lucky to have a physical copy they're pretty pricey these days haha. I can definitely see not getting past the first disc though, I probably wouldn't have either back in the day.
The length of the video is the reason I clicked on it. I never heard of the game (or Shadowheart) nor did I ever see your channel pop up before. But I love me some good in depth analysis of video games. There is so much to learn about story telling in those videos.
I wasn't sure i was onboard at first, but yea, this some good ass acting for a 90's game for sure.
Thank you for drawing attention to this absolute masterpiece. I remember being one of the seemingly few people who actually played this upon release, and greatly enjoying the philosophical moments. Liked and subbed.
Thanks so much!!
It really is an amazing game. Despite the problems I have with it now that I’ve played it I think it’s definitely my favorite out of the Shadow Hearts games 💕
A Koudelka video.. IN THIS DAY AND AGE!?! I fell in love with the SH games and discovered there was a PS1 game related to them, Koudelka, so I managed to get a copy of it! ❤
I didnt hate the battle system but I somewhat I agree that it wasnt the best one either 😆
It was definitely a interesting PS1 title, and having already played SH 1 and Covenant it was such a good feeling seeing these characters having a deeper story. Made certain parts of re-playing SH1 feel different and deeper than when I played it before Koudelka❤ 😊😮
I think I’d completely love the battle system if it wasn’t so slow 🥲
And I know what you mean! I’m replaying SH1 right now for the next video and it really feels so much different having now played Koudelka.
@@early-tv eyy yooo was about to ask if you would make any Shadow Hearts videos, just saw you did like 2 weeks ago AND I DIDNT GET NOTIFIED!! HOLD UP I'll check it out, I'll be sure to leave a comment on your video later. Love to see another fan of the franchise cause people rarely know of these titles these days 😭
"I was born in Wales, can't you tell from my clearly Welsh accent?!?"
Welsh + Gypsy = American, obviously.
my first video I’ve saw from you but this was pretty amazing!! I can rarely watch long content but the explanations and commentary made it compelling all the way through! I hope you keep doing your own thing in the future with content!
The voice acting is really good especially koudelka’s when she was telling about her life
I loved this game when I was a kid. This game and Final Fantasy 8 were my gateway to jrpg type games. Thank you for this! what a nostalgia trip. ❤
@Earlybird Not expecting a response, but I wanted to point something out to you.
1. The difficulty spike in "Koudelka" is typically caused by a specific charm you find in the quarters of the old couple that drugs you when you re-visit it later. This charm says something about how it repels weak spirits or something. Most people who play Koudelka pick this up and assume the item is used for something later, that's not really true, what it does is puts the game in "hard mode" which means weak enemies stop spawning and you get those far more difficult enemies and battles that take a really long time. The game doesn't make this clear. I also believe this is why armor might not have been dropping as I am not sure if the hard mode enemies drop armor.
I am not a super-fan, but I've played this game quite a bit, and am pretty familiar with it. In fact for quite a while after the game's release, I was one of the old people posting advice for it on Gamefaqs back when that was the primary gaming site of the internet.
2. The poor combat design of "Koudelka" isn't what the problem was. Actually it was seen as being fairly good for the time, by the audience it was catering to. There are some interesting little details behind why this game failed that I mostly picked up from back when it was newer, and a lot of discussion about it. While not something that can be proven, or would be admitted to even if evidence could be compiled, it's pretty straightforward if you knew what was going on at the time.
To put it bluntly, let's say your my age (I'm 49) how many people do you know of my age who will claim to have ever seen this game on a game shelf at one of the game stores that were common at the time? Not many, and this is a big part of why nobody was heard of it. Also notice the game's production values and the obvious effort that went into it, but ask yourself.... where was the advertising blitz? Why were there no real posters for this game in every mall? Why did none of the video game magazines at the time say much about it other than "it exists" if anything at all?
To get to the bottom of that, you have to understand that back around 1999/2000 there was a sort of nasty rivalry between Japan and the US. Basically, most Japanese pop culture was directly based on stuff from the US, and a fair number of the actual anime and game creators were all westerners, some of whom were using Japanese pseudonyms. Pretty much all their concepts, and most game design elements came from western names going all the way back to the 80s, and growing awareness of this was hitting the Japanese right in the egos. They also had this tendency to want to claim they were superior gamers, given how games were popular there, and to reinforce this they tried to claim their games were too difficult for Westerners, even though they were in most cases far easier than the games they borrowed the ideas from, and did things like re-label their super-hard modes the "normal" mode for the western releases. There have been articles pointing out how the Japanese "Resident Evil" is actually far easier than the American version (they called it Biohazard there).
At any rate one company that had a particular chip on it's shoulder was SNK, a company you might remember was infamous for some of it's terrible translations, despite a lot of their major games being set in the US (which they had a weird love/hate relationship with). The thing is those translations were apparently deliberately bad, meant to offend westerners, as you'll notice Japanese high schoolers doing fan subs could do a better job.
SNK was actually a major producer for Koudelka, and the source of Sacnoth's funding for most of the game development, they had a real fetish for western stuff, but had a very racist attitude towards westerners basically. Sacnoth put a lot of attention into making the game work for both western and eastern audiences, but SNK wanted to keep the game Japanese only, something Sacnoth disagreed with and managed to get a very limited release of the game to the US despite the effort put into the translations, and had pretty much zero budget for advertising, meaning this game appeared under the radar. The heavily edited version of the original "Persona" game for the PS-1 has a similar tale. It's funny because despite attempts to snub westerners and do as much of a shadow-release as possible, the eventual evolutions of both series became very popular. I could say more about this period and go into all the history of things like "Final Fantasy X: International Edition" (to everywhere except the US) and it's "Final Mission" (end of the game for Japan Only) release and all that to illustrate attitudes with more verifiable stuff, but I figure this will be long enough. Simply put "Shadow Hearts" never had the success of "Persona" but it did get it's US release and became a cult classic despite every attempt to kill the origins of the series in the western mind.
At any rate, Koudelka's combat was to be fair not the best, though it works better if you don't pick up that charm (or dispose of it once you do). Something they should have been more clear about. They were going with a more experimental RPG approach and wanted to try and do something between a traditional RPG and a Tactics based RPG, with mixed results. "Shadow Hearts" went with it's timing based RPG system as an alternative. Supposedly the transition to "Shadow Hearts" occurred due to some of the original Sacnoth developers parting way with the company and SNK and disputing the rights to use elements of it. Allegedly Koudelka appears in the sequel as she's an entirely fictional character and SNK had some kind of rights to her character design, and they were trying to block the defectors from doing the sequels on their own (or so I hear), Edward is a different situation being pseudo-historical and without the shared assets. Bacon was not someone anyone could claim rights to. They basically wanted to keep the universe, but had to do in a different direction due to this alleged falling out which split the rights up. As far as the comic series, I do not know it, who published it, or how that would interface with what I was hearing back then, and I admit it's been a while so I could be remembering parts of it wrong.
I mostly only regale anyone bored enough to read this with the dirt I was hearing (and I can personally verify the game basically wasn't advertised and in almost no game stores, I heard about it second hand and had to special order it if I remember) simply to say that I don't think the issue was specifically the combat mechanics. I mean as they were experimental they could have refined them in later installments, and as you know from "Shadow Hearts" the series clearly continued in some form (a point which also indirectly reinforces a lot of this) so it's not like the game met with a complete lack of interest for those who became aware of it.
Some interesting stuff there, thanks for taking the time to comment!
I somewhat disagree that the combat was widely accepted as alright back then as a ton of old reviews at the time also widely complained about the slowness and pacing of the fights. Most of the negative criticisms then were directed at the pacing.
They chose to go turn based because of other games at the time but the battle system itself being turn based isn’t really the issue for most people it’s how long the turns are. Comparing the length of turns to another turn based game I played back then, like Chrono Cross for example, there’s a huge difference in the how long the fights and turns are.
Combining that pacing with the random encounters caused a lot of people to lose patience and a lot of reviewers to complain about it.
Kikuta himself has gone on record to say that he regrets how the battle system turned out and wishes it could have been fixed as it was a big problem for the game and its ultimate success.
There are several contributing factors as to why the game didn’t take off I totally agree with ya there ☺️ but the combat pacing in my mind is a major contributing factor.
I'm an impatient person myself and I yet I agree that I don't think it was the combat design being a problem, I'm 30 myself (1993) and found this game in a video game store when I was much younger a few years after its release, and despite my impatience I thought the combat system was amazing and still to this day find myself going back to playing Koudelka whenever the mood strikes.
Watching this brought back a ton of memories. I remember playing this at a friend's house back in 2000 solely based on it being what I thought was an SNK game (was huge into Neo-Geo at the time). Haven't touched it since.
At the time, the cinematics, voice acting, and to a degree the story were a cut above everything else released to that point. And then...the combat. While I would say I suffered playing through it, it wasn't great at all.
Played Shadow Hearts a year later, and was completely surprised to find Koudelka in it later on. Had no expectation that they were related.
This video brought back some great memories. Makes me wish it would get remastered with a new battle system.
Thanks so much!
Okay, THIS would be a video game that I wouldn’t mind having a remake of. I could see them remastering the graphics and reworking the fight mechanics (and put in a little PSA that this is indeed an old game and due to the preservation of the original voice over work, some language will be very dated and not okay for this day and age) and this game could do SO well on the PS5.
If this game had a decently paced battle system it would be unstoppable haha 😫
Long videos are awesome! I think the longest I watched (in sessions lol) was an 8hr GTA retrospective. This video was well done; the audio mixng/quality is good, the pacing of the video itself flows well too. Hope you'll cover the other games in the series (even if you don't, this video stands on its own).
I have a video up of Shadow Hearts and Covenant will be up very soon!
I got a little carried away with the Covenant video though it got pretty long LOL. Puts this one’s run time to shame.
Oh damn, that drunk scene put tears in my eyes.
I love the "rag-tag band of misfits" dynamic. A group of people with vastly different beliefs, outlooks, and goals, forced together by circumstance. They start out quite antagonistic but over time grow to be quite close, in spite of their differences. I dunno, I just love that trope :) Makes for great dialogue and character development when they're forced to challenge each other's opinions or choices, which in turn forces them to reflect on their own beliefs and actions.
Oh, and yes the voice acting in this is absolutely amazing, especially for the time.
I actually had this game when I was a kid. I gave up after the first disc because of the super slow combat, thank you for showing the story, I never got a chance to finish it.. ;)
This video was randomly in my recommended and you have earned an instant sub. I love this game to death and no matter how many videos I watch and hear people talk about it I love it more! Also the length of the videos are perfect to listen to while relaxing or at work, so keep up the awesome work! I’ll definitely be watching your shadow hearts video soon!
Thank you!! I appreciate it :)
That drunk conversation might be the rawest scene in gaming history