Pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this, especially after seeing people say Covenant was way better (now im way more excited to play that one).
I'll get the gripes out of the way first. It's an early ps2 game and it's very obvious. While the in game models and environments are solid enough, the CG cutscenes are definitely not. Yuri especially does not resemble himself at all in these cutscenes. Luckily there's not a whole lot of them. Yuri's early characterization was not my favorite thing. They could've made him have the same vibe without being super pervy/creepy. Honestly, the only other thing I didn't enjoy much about the game was some of the dialogue sequences went on a little long.
Now with the plethora of good. Can't talk about this game without first mentioning the judgement ring. Taking combat inspiration from something like Super Mario RPG and Legend of Dragoon and turning it into this beautiful little circle. Items, equipment, and attacks were all created with the ring in mind and it all works flawlessly. Speaking of attacks, combat is a bit more than just pick an attack and don't miserably fail at using the judgement ring. Being able to pick a favorite demon for Yuri to transform into and go dummy mode on a bunch of creepy dogs is a lot of fun. I went with his fire fusions and buffed attack and popped off when I found the item that made my ring invisible but dealt double damage. Managing sanity points in the later boss fights when it's actually a danger is a lot of fun.
Going to wrap it up by saying the soundtrack is amazing, Brain Hopper whips. OST is equally eerie and beautiful and the fact that there's two composers working together in tandem like this is amazing. Characters are all fun and lovable and their interactions with each other actually get to be pretty wholesome. Game isn't really difficult but a lot of the late bosses hit the right level of difficulty. Story is serviceable and the way it connects to Koudelka is great. Play this game!
I'll get the gripes out of the way first. It's an early ps2 game and it's very obvious. While the in game models and environments are solid enough, the CG cutscenes are definitely not. Yuri especially does not resemble himself at all in these cutscenes. Luckily there's not a whole lot of them. Yuri's early characterization was not my favorite thing. They could've made him have the same vibe without being super pervy/creepy. Honestly, the only other thing I didn't enjoy much about the game was some of the dialogue sequences went on a little long.
Now with the plethora of good. Can't talk about this game without first mentioning the judgement ring. Taking combat inspiration from something like Super Mario RPG and Legend of Dragoon and turning it into this beautiful little circle. Items, equipment, and attacks were all created with the ring in mind and it all works flawlessly. Speaking of attacks, combat is a bit more than just pick an attack and don't miserably fail at using the judgement ring. Being able to pick a favorite demon for Yuri to transform into and go dummy mode on a bunch of creepy dogs is a lot of fun. I went with his fire fusions and buffed attack and popped off when I found the item that made my ring invisible but dealt double damage. Managing sanity points in the later boss fights when it's actually a danger is a lot of fun.
Going to wrap it up by saying the soundtrack is amazing, Brain Hopper whips. OST is equally eerie and beautiful and the fact that there's two composers working together in tandem like this is amazing. Characters are all fun and lovable and their interactions with each other actually get to be pretty wholesome. Game isn't really difficult but a lot of the late bosses hit the right level of difficulty. Story is serviceable and the way it connects to Koudelka is great. Play this game!