Jak & Daxter? Maximo? Shadow Hearts? Please advise!

[BioMechanic]

Time for a new game purchase, and these three seem most promising...what're your takes on them?

SH looks like an unusual horror RPG...I loved Parasite Eve & Vagrant Story; how does it compare?

Is Maximo REALLY as cheap and difficult as most people say?

Is J&D REALLY that short and easy?

[TheSCHLONG!]

the only one ive tried is Jack and Daxter and i really enjoyed the game. if you take an unjaded view of gaming in general (which ive since learned to do) the "mario clone" arguments arent even an issue. i really liked the graphics and the control isnt too shabby either. wish i could help with the others.

[skelly]

1 - I'm finding it pretty bland and boring. About ten hours in. I guess I have pretty high standards for RPGs, though.

2 - No.

3 - Yes.

[Kidnemo]

I've only played Maximo.

And while it has some difficult parts, chances are if your posting on this forum, you got what it takes to play thru and enjoy the game.

[Prince Planet]

Don't dismiss Jak & Daxter, since you might find it to be pretty enjoyable. Pay no mind to the "short and easy" concerns. I don't recall ever complaining about a game's length, and I don't know why anyone would level that criticism at J & D. How long do you really want to hop around in 3D, anyway? As for ease, there are a few challenging spots, but nothing that will frustrate you. Overall, nice enough looking, and pretty fun to play.

[Dolemite]

Despair will tell you to get Shadow Hearts.

Personally, I've played demos of Maximo and J&D, and neither did anything for me. I've never played Shadow Hearts, but it looks interesting.

[MechDeus]

Maximo is great, buy it. Just do it.

The reason you shouldn't purchase J&D (rent it) is not because it's too short and easy, in fact, the less you play it, the more fun it'll be. It's just that there isn't anything to it, actually. You collect orbs. That's it. You'll run around the same levels over and over to find orbs, there's two bosses, and that's it. It's fun for a short time, though, and is a great platformer clone that does nothing new, but doesn't deserve full price.

Haven't played Shadow Hearts (adding to Despair's "great game no one played" list).

[Kidnemo]

Originally posted by MechDeus
Haven't played Shadow Hearts (adding to Despair's "great game no one played" list).

I'm with you on that.

As soon as I see it discounted, I'm going to pick it up and give it a go.

[piku]

I love Jak & Daxter. It combines the good of the Crash series with the good of Mario 64, and it combines them well. It is a little short though...

[Despair]

Well, The moment has come for me to talk about Shadow Hearts

Well, I've been talking alot about this game lately. I finished it recently after about a month I spent playing it, and now I'm trying to convince more people to try it.

It had a bad luck to come out right before FFX hit the screen, and thus was completely overshadowed by it, and reviewers sure started comparing both, which isnt really fair. You know that FF will get the best scores

So here are some impressions I have about this game:

When I started playing SH, it just clicked with me. From the beggining movie, that kicks ass, and introduces you to the main hero, to characters, locations, and monsters it all worked great for me. I enjoyed the music, graphics were good, not FFX level, but very nice. Battles system is original, and every character has their own unique skills and magic, and their own strenghts and weakneses. Storyline is good as well, dark and gothic and the game has M rating, something that happen not very often with rpgs. It has blood, sexual references and horror themes, but it all presented very well. I really liked the way the characters interacted with each other, with lots of humor trown in.

Character range is great too, Werewolf type hero, who can transform into monsters to fight, Priest Daughter who fights with big bible that she uses to smack monsters upside the head, female spy with big range on weapons, chinese adept with staff fighting and buddist magic, vampire knight reminding me of Alucard, and Esp using teen.

There are no overworld, just a world map, where you can go to specific cities, so it is linear like FFX. But it doesnt make it less fun. There are lots of hidden side quests later in the game you can open up, many powerfull monsters to beat and armors and weapons to find. There are also some mini games, that you can play to win some intems. And not to forget about Secret Lottery, that you play during the course of the game, that will lead you to some hidden prize as well.

Monsters are also unique bunch, with Eastern and Western mythologies references, some religious themes too.

As I said before, music is very nice too, and I would love to have soundtrack. It has some great FMV movies, but it doesnt go into FMV overload as FF games, and uses them very nicely, and in the right places.

Damn, I need to write a review for it, I'm getting tired retyping all these good points, over and over

Check it out, it definately worth it.