音時雨 ～Regentropfen～

Before I start:
SH = Shadow Hearts as a series
SH1 = Shadow Hearts
SH2 = Shadow Hearts II
SHF = Shadow Hearts: From the New World

Even I myself couldn't believe that I've finished all three Shadow Hearts games, with a rather high degree of completion, after declared to no longer touch RPG about 2 years ago. Why I said that was simply because lots of RPGs have so many hidden flags that hard and tiresome to find out. Yet I still decided to resume my RPG playing with SH1, after watching someone's SH1 play video. The story and world setting were interesting, the battle system was unique, also, for quite a lot of times, the ambience is like those you'd see in a horror. So I stopped following that player's videos (when they just arrived at Da-Lian) and decided to try SH1 on my own. Which then led me to my lovely four months with Shadow Hearts since last November.

However, my first SH1 experience was so sad and so bad. Apparently I wasn't prepared after a long RPG-free (horror-only) time span. This game have so many time-limited flags. Once you missed it, it's gone forever (in this round). Therefore, some boss fights was deadly hard (because I couldn't put the correct soul monsters), and the bad ending came with no surprising (because I didn't know how to get the good one!).
So I did get my lesson: while playing an RPG, find a story-spoiler-free guide first.
and here, I'll show my special thanks to this website:
http://www.geocities.jp/sky_peace000/
Without this guide, I won't have so much fun with SH series. I might miss lots of hard-to-see items, miss proper flags to trigger hidden dungeons, and fail due to the lack of good "boss fight preps" (I remember my first Maiki-battle was so harsh, due to his instant-death skills).

The stories are all good with no doubt. SH1 and SH2 are gloomier compared to SHF: People in SH1 die mercilessly, SH2 connects to the bad ending of SH1 (which indeed shocked me), while in my opinion, SHF is more limited in a small circle of people and the connection to the-destiny-of-the-world is weaker -- although I don't mind it at all. The story flow is rather (or at least made me feeling) smooth compared to lots of others (recently I'm following the game DEAD SPACE, and each time when Issac completes an objective he gets the hint/direction from other people -- that I don't even have the desire to poke in).

Then, about the endings, SH1 and SHF are straight forward, but SH2's both endings are rather intriguing and make people want to think more.

On the other hand, as of the characters, most of them are so impressive that I couldn't refuse (or wish if s/he is playable) to keep in my party, while a few are out of my favourite type and hardly get a chance to go with me, and the existence of the rest is just as invisible as the air.

Fixed party members:
Yuri: no body should complain about him (and you can't really remove him from the party ^^;)
Alice: I personally don't want to include her in the party, but only she is able to do the arch-cure.
Keith: Ikemen Mr. Vampire! High HP + SP + PAtk, my choice in the "super god fight". The event with his gold-flashy brother is excellent!

Why I didn't use others
Zhu-zhen: I wished I could use him till the end as I love his skills, but he's low on HP and can't heal the entire party with high efficiency.
Margarete: her rings are hard, and her skills are... to be honest, I've seen enough in Biohazard series so I didn't use her that much.
Harry: skills are ranged from supporting to attacking, flexible, but same as Zhu-zhen, he's not as strong as Keith and can't do supports as Alice.

Fixed party members:
Yuri: guess no body would complain about my choice toward him. xD
Blanca: with fully powered up soul comet, strong party cure and full HP revive, and with my affection of a wolf.
Gepetto: has the highest MP and SAtk, easy to switch attribute, and Cornelia is cute~
Joachim: same reason as why I stick to Keith. AND MORE, HE'S SUCH A FUN GUY (I kept his frozen tuna till the end of game)!

↓ Joachim's symbolic pose (both before and after battle):

Why I didn't use others
Kallen: yes, she's strong and her skills are great -- I'd consider using her more if she keeps her military uniform.
Lucia: cute is justice, being sexy is worth nothing! lol;;
Anastasia: the album-skill isn't useful, normal attack is weak, and isn't as cute as Kawashima Yoshiko (I want her to be a party member though!).
Kurando: I'd like to use him more but he appears too late while the top four already occupy my heart. :P

Others who I wished to become party members:
Nicolas: for Koyasu's voice!! <3
Yoshiko Kawashima: as a magic girl that would be fantastic.
Kato: a tough guy (expected to be as strong as Joachim).

Fixed party members:
Johnny (=可愛い): the main character should be within the party! Not only he's essential to take snaps, which is much more important than SH2, he's cute! Lots of players say Johnny is weak, but I maxed all his chart nodes for attacking magic to turn him into a true magic warrior~
Natan (=渋い): another tough guy (I just love tough guys, complaints?)
Frank (=面白い): another Joachim. His bowling ball attack is my favourite skill => "ミーにパワーをぉぉ"
Ricardo (=格好いい): high PAtk + MP, fits into various situations, and he's also an ikemen. ;3

↓ Johnny's most attractive face -- perhaps that's my first time having so much love toward a boy!

Why I didn't use others
Shania: she's supposed to be in the party all the time, but I changed my mind to have a fusion-free SHF, because, the same reason as Lucia. Too sexy = loveless. Moreover, I want to complain about that I had to "farm" soul energy points in order to get into the dungeon for Tirawa, what a pain it was! While after obtaining Tirawa, the appearance is even worse than her previous three spirits that I had totally no desire to use. orz. She's strong with them? -- who cares! (btw, I hardly used Jutendoji for the same reason)
Nyanko-sensei Mao: I love cats! I indeed hesitated between her and Frank and Natan, but eventually I went with the tough + funny combination. (Also, to get her skills powered up was tiresome so I lost interest halfway.)
Hilda: I love her brothers much more, but she's not my type at all! ^^;

Summary: In SH1, non party members can't get Exp at all, and it hurts! Plus I fail a lot at hitting rings so my Sh1 party members are fixed since the very beginning. But thanks to the customisable magic system, I could choose my party members more freely based on my personal taste, rather than how strong (or weak) s/he is. (・ω・`)

The sense of humour of SH series is currently the most marvellous, and reached the climax in SH2 (thanks to Joachim's join) -- although it's hard to explain to people who didn't play.

Such as:
Motion of Maiki's skill: the death game (both as a human and a monster),
Joachim and Man-Festival and Man-Sushi,
Roger and his collection of Shanghai-Tengoku and N.Y.Heaven,
..and our environmently-friendly heroes! ( ´∀｀)

↓ Joachim thinks seriously in front of a postbox:

↓ Joachim's frozen tuna:

↓ Frank's ultimate Oden-stew:

As of the music. Actually I didn't think SH OSTs are so great until I finished the games. Lots of battle BGMs can be looped forever, especially the final boss BGM: Imbroglio and The 3 Karma (SHF's final boss BGM isn't as good as these two IMO). And need not to mention the Akiko-singing-Mozart-aria. In game, the sound was twisted as being played by a near-death gramophone (or record). At first I was disappointed as with that aria only a man was eaten by a monster, but later, when that man reappears -- so you're sort of important, and your death with that aira is now acceptable. << I don't know what I'm talking about...

But, how come the SHF OST has no the piece for Ninja's hideaway?! °A° That BGM (Frank does Momonga flying) is so relaxing and adorable.. maybe I should get record from the game some day..

Shadow Hearts series is really great. Now look at the GUST's Ar Tonelico I and II (because I can't recall other RPGs right now), they look so cheap (except the gorgeous music/hymmnos..)!! Fine, that's a thing called style.

↓ At last, my personal pride: