A repost of the review I wrote three years ago for Koudelka.
The year is 1899. Through a horrible storm, a young woman makes her way to Neameton (also occasionally spelt Nemeton) monastery, somewhere out in Wales.
Finding no answer when she knocks on the door, she climbs to the roof, dropping her pendant into the monastery's magnificent courtyard in the process.
Finally, she kicks in one of the windows and climbs in through the roof. Therein, she finds a young man being menaced by a monstrous creature. He throws her his pistol, and you are plunged into the first battle of Koudelka.
After this short introduction to the battle system, you are further introduced to two of the main characters of the game; Koudelka Iasant and Edward Plunkett.
Koudelka, the title character, is 19 years old, and, as becomes clear throughout the rest of the game has had a somewhat traumatic life due to the manifestation of her psychic powers early on. Koudelka hears the voices of the dead; that's what brought her to the monastery, and what enables some of the game's creepier moments, as your party explores the darker areas deep within the old building.
Edward Plunkett, known in some versions of the game as Edward Brankett, is a 20 year old American/Englishman (again, depending on the version), who had heard about a rich man living in the monastery. Hearing about the amounts of money being spent and prostitutes being brought there, he claims that he decided to "put the poor man's fear of God into that rich bastard", which is the goal that brought him to Neameton.
Further on in the mansion, Koudelka and Edward run into the third member of their party - 45-year-old James O'Flaherty, a priest who, at first, does not reveal his intentions. Much of the conversation between the three characters consist of Koudelka and Edward arguing about James' varying prejudices. It's not like Edward and Koudelka get on perfectly, however - they argue a lot too. Unlike in most RPGs, the characters of Koudelka don't like each other very much. They are not together through choice, didn't grow up together, and don't even have to keep the peace because they were commanded to by some kind of superior officer. They stick together, at first, because they are three people in a scary monastery, where anything that moves is more than likely trying to kill them. They are together through fear, but this doesn't stop them sniping at each other, and, to be honest, it's fairly hilarious at times.
The voice acting is what holds this game together more than anything. It's amazing, particularly Koudelka and James. If you've played the sequels, I'd say it's better than Shadow Hearts: Covenant.
Koudelka is a curious cross between an RPG, a strategy game, and a survival horror.
Your three characters are trapped within a small monastery. There are no shops; you are reliant on items dropped by monsters or found within the building. There are no inns, either, although your characters are healed at every save point and every time they level up. Then there are the creepy caretakers, the bodies littering the monastery, and the discovery of its history as a political prison; the ghosts are not happy about this, and lose no time in telling Koudelka so. Those that don't just attack, that is. Several documents can be found which add to the history of the monastery, and explain more of what's going on. However, in many ways, it seems their main purpose is to freak people out.
There are many cut-scenes and conversations which propel your characters through the plot, and several puzzles which tend to be either slightly too difficult, or slightly too easy. In essence, you run through the building, various battles, conversations or puzzles unlocking more areas to explore, much like in the later Project Zero (known as Fatal Frame in the US) games.
The battle sequences are an interesting combination of various genres. You are pulled into a separate battle screen, like in RPGS. Your characters move on a grid, like a strategy game, although the grid is always the same. Your characters can go no further forward than the enemy - you can't sneak up behind them. This allows for a small amount of tactics, such as having a weaker character hide behind someone else and use a gun. You can also pin your enemy up against the opposite wall, and prevent their moving while you pick them off. However, if they are strong enough to throw your characters back, they can do the same to you.
The stat system in Koudelka is also unique enough to be worth mentioning. Every level, your characters get 4 points to add onto any stat. Although the stat limit is 99, this means that, essentially, your eight stats only rise by a cumulative amount of four hundred points, assuming you level up as far as possible. This really isn't that many. However, many of the weapons and armour you can pick up raise your stats by a significant amount, considering the relatively low limit. If a weapon raises someones stats above 99, you will see the benefit - you just can't raise stats that high manually. The problem with this, or rather, the challenge, is that weapons break after a certain number of uses. This does go well with your limited inventory, but can be frustrating at times; for instance, when your best weapon snaps in half right before a major boss fight.
All of your characters can use the same spells and equip every weapon, and your skill with both weapon types and spells levels up with use. The spell levels affect the area of effect, and strength, while the weapon levels affect the strength and amount of attacks, rising up to three. The movements of the characters in battle look pretty good, considering the age of the game, and, to be honest, Koudelka is pretty gorgeous in a tough kind of way. However, getting back to the subject at hand, it's difficult to level your spells up enough to be really useful without some serious training. Weapon skills rise much faster than spell skills, and, luckily for some, bare-fist is a class; raising a characters skill either without a weapon or with a pair of knuckles equipped is a very useful strategy, and is easy on your inventory. The bosses in Koudelka are fairly tough, especially the final boss, and the optional boss, Gargoyle.
Released towards the end of the PlayStations life-span, Koudelka's graphics were pretty good at the time, and, in general don't look too bad now, although they're nowhere near as incredible as some more recent games. Koudelka, your on-screen character, moves fairly realistically, especially on stairs. She's also, as mentioned, very attractive in a tough kind of way. Not physically tough, but emotionally so; at first, she comes across as unnecessarily mean, but as you go through the game you come to realise why she is that way. At first, she's really kick-ass, and has some of the best lines in the game, but then you - or rather, I did, at least - really start to care for her. She's one of my favourite video game characters, right up there with my first love, Deis.
The movements could be compared most to the Project Zero/Fatal Frame series, which does seem to have borrowed a fair few elements from this game, while the in-battle movements most resemble the original Shadow Hearts. However, the game does have some loading problems, especially in battle sequences, which causes it to play slower. It's said that this is due to the style of the graphics.
Koudelka is a very short game, at around twenty hours for a slow play through. It has very few side-quests; there is the optional boss, Gargoyle, and the extra items. Gargoyle is amazingly tough, especially considering that he levels up with your characters, and the extra items are difficult to get. The game needs to be saved at a particular time - ie, 1 hour, 11 minutes, and 11 seconds - with a certain number of items in your inventory. If done properly, quitting the game and reloading will result in an extra item. This can be a pain.
There are three endings, and they mostly depend upon your actions towards the end of the game. If you don't find Koudelka's pendant, and have it in your inventory at the end of the game, you'll get the worst ending. Otherwise, it depends on how well you defeat the final boss, much like the Breath of Fire series.
The company behind Koudelka, Sacnoth, was originally made up of ex-square employees, and it's noteworthy to any Final Fantasy addict for that reason alone. Wikipedia states that;
Although in a way, his vision did come to pass, with the next games released, the Shadow Hearts series, Koudelka alone is generally considered more noteworthy for being the prequel to that game, than a stand-alone. However, I played this game long before Shadow Hearts, and although not amazingly unusual by today's standards, it does have a charm all its own.
The game can be difficult to find now, and can be expensive; it's best bought second-hand from game stores who sometimes don't realise what they're dealing with.
In summary, Koudelka is a great game, although slightly let down by the short length and long loading times. However, the short play-time doesn't let down the amount of character development, which is a major part of the game. It's tough at times, but in my opinion, that kind of works. It's worth looking for if you enjoyed Project Zero/Fatal Frame, or the Shadow Hearts series (although, due to various plot links between Koudelka and Shadow Hearts, the games are best played in the order they take place.
It's difficult to define exactly why, but I guess what I'm saying is that Koudelka will always have a special place in my heart and on my shelf; despite its flaws, it's a great game. The plot is intriguing, and the occasional moments of humour are a welcome relief from the creepiness of the rest of the game. You really get to care about the characters, and when a few of them showed up in Shadow Hearts - which I wasn't expecting, since, although the games are linked, it's not in an obvious way - I was genuinely delighted.
Warning: The following contains major spoilers.
The year is 1899. Through a horrible storm, a young woman makes her way to Neameton (also occasionally spelt Nemeton) monastery, somewhere out in Wales.
Finding no answer when she knocks on the door, she climbs to the roof, dropping her pendant into the monastery's magnificent courtyard in the process.
Finally, she kicks in one of the windows and climbs in through the roof. Therein, she finds a young man being menaced by a monstrous creature. He throws her his pistol, and you are plunged into the first battle of Koudelka.
After this short introduction to the battle system, you are further introduced to two of the main characters of the game; Koudelka Iasant and Edward Plunkett.
Koudelka, the title character, is 19 years old, and, as becomes clear throughout the rest of the game has had a somewhat traumatic life due to the manifestation of her psychic powers early on. Koudelka hears the voices of the dead; that's what brought her to the monastery, and what enables some of the game's creepier moments, as your party explores the darker areas deep within the old building.
Edward Plunkett, known in some versions of the game as Edward Brankett, is a 20 year old American/Englishman (again, depending on the version), who had heard about a rich man living in the monastery. Hearing about the amounts of money being spent and prostitutes being brought there, he claims that he decided to "put the poor man's fear of God into that rich bastard", which is the goal that brought him to Neameton.
Further on in the mansion, Koudelka and Edward run into the third member of their party - 45-year-old James O'Flaherty, a priest who, at first, does not reveal his intentions. Much of the conversation between the three characters consist of Koudelka and Edward arguing about James' varying prejudices. It's not like Edward and Koudelka get on perfectly, however - they argue a lot too. Unlike in most RPGs, the characters of Koudelka don't like each other very much. They are not together through choice, didn't grow up together, and don't even have to keep the peace because they were commanded to by some kind of superior officer. They stick together, at first, because they are three people in a scary monastery, where anything that moves is more than likely trying to kill them. They are together through fear, but this doesn't stop them sniping at each other, and, to be honest, it's fairly hilarious at times.
The voice acting is what holds this game together more than anything. It's amazing, particularly Koudelka and James. If you've played the sequels, I'd say it's better than Shadow Hearts: Covenant.
Koudelka is a curious cross between an RPG, a strategy game, and a survival horror.
Your three characters are trapped within a small monastery. There are no shops; you are reliant on items dropped by monsters or found within the building. There are no inns, either, although your characters are healed at every save point and every time they level up. Then there are the creepy caretakers, the bodies littering the monastery, and the discovery of its history as a political prison; the ghosts are not happy about this, and lose no time in telling Koudelka so. Those that don't just attack, that is. Several documents can be found which add to the history of the monastery, and explain more of what's going on. However, in many ways, it seems their main purpose is to freak people out.
There are many cut-scenes and conversations which propel your characters through the plot, and several puzzles which tend to be either slightly too difficult, or slightly too easy. In essence, you run through the building, various battles, conversations or puzzles unlocking more areas to explore, much like in the later Project Zero (known as Fatal Frame in the US) games.
The battle sequences are an interesting combination of various genres. You are pulled into a separate battle screen, like in RPGS. Your characters move on a grid, like a strategy game, although the grid is always the same. Your characters can go no further forward than the enemy - you can't sneak up behind them. This allows for a small amount of tactics, such as having a weaker character hide behind someone else and use a gun. You can also pin your enemy up against the opposite wall, and prevent their moving while you pick them off. However, if they are strong enough to throw your characters back, they can do the same to you.
The stat system in Koudelka is also unique enough to be worth mentioning. Every level, your characters get 4 points to add onto any stat. Although the stat limit is 99, this means that, essentially, your eight stats only rise by a cumulative amount of four hundred points, assuming you level up as far as possible. This really isn't that many. However, many of the weapons and armour you can pick up raise your stats by a significant amount, considering the relatively low limit. If a weapon raises someones stats above 99, you will see the benefit - you just can't raise stats that high manually. The problem with this, or rather, the challenge, is that weapons break after a certain number of uses. This does go well with your limited inventory, but can be frustrating at times; for instance, when your best weapon snaps in half right before a major boss fight.
All of your characters can use the same spells and equip every weapon, and your skill with both weapon types and spells levels up with use. The spell levels affect the area of effect, and strength, while the weapon levels affect the strength and amount of attacks, rising up to three. The movements of the characters in battle look pretty good, considering the age of the game, and, to be honest, Koudelka is pretty gorgeous in a tough kind of way. However, getting back to the subject at hand, it's difficult to level your spells up enough to be really useful without some serious training. Weapon skills rise much faster than spell skills, and, luckily for some, bare-fist is a class; raising a characters skill either without a weapon or with a pair of knuckles equipped is a very useful strategy, and is easy on your inventory. The bosses in Koudelka are fairly tough, especially the final boss, and the optional boss, Gargoyle.
Released towards the end of the PlayStations life-span, Koudelka's graphics were pretty good at the time, and, in general don't look too bad now, although they're nowhere near as incredible as some more recent games. Koudelka, your on-screen character, moves fairly realistically, especially on stairs. She's also, as mentioned, very attractive in a tough kind of way. Not physically tough, but emotionally so; at first, she comes across as unnecessarily mean, but as you go through the game you come to realise why she is that way. At first, she's really kick-ass, and has some of the best lines in the game, but then you - or rather, I did, at least - really start to care for her. She's one of my favourite video game characters, right up there with my first love, Deis.
The movements could be compared most to the Project Zero/Fatal Frame series, which does seem to have borrowed a fair few elements from this game, while the in-battle movements most resemble the original Shadow Hearts. However, the game does have some loading problems, especially in battle sequences, which causes it to play slower. It's said that this is due to the style of the graphics.
Koudelka is a very short game, at around twenty hours for a slow play through. It has very few side-quests; there is the optional boss, Gargoyle, and the extra items. Gargoyle is amazingly tough, especially considering that he levels up with your characters, and the extra items are difficult to get. The game needs to be saved at a particular time - ie, 1 hour, 11 minutes, and 11 seconds - with a certain number of items in your inventory. If done properly, quitting the game and reloading will result in an extra item. This can be a pain.
There are three endings, and they mostly depend upon your actions towards the end of the game. If you don't find Koudelka's pendant, and have it in your inventory at the end of the game, you'll get the worst ending. Otherwise, it depends on how well you defeat the final boss, much like the Breath of Fire series.
The company behind Koudelka, Sacnoth, was originally made up of ex-square employees, and it's noteworthy to any Final Fantasy addict for that reason alone. Wikipedia states that;
"Hiroki Kikuta, most known for composing the music to Secret of Mana and Seiken Densetsu III (also known as Secret of Mana II) while working at Squaresoft, created Sacnoth in 1997 with funding from the video game company SNK. Unhappy with what he considered as the disjointed, juvenile, and stagnant nature of most RPGs, Kikuta had intended to take the genre in a whole new direction. Koudelka was to be his magnum opus, the game that would show the world just how far RPGs could go".
Although in a way, his vision did come to pass, with the next games released, the Shadow Hearts series, Koudelka alone is generally considered more noteworthy for being the prequel to that game, than a stand-alone. However, I played this game long before Shadow Hearts, and although not amazingly unusual by today's standards, it does have a charm all its own.
The game can be difficult to find now, and can be expensive; it's best bought second-hand from game stores who sometimes don't realise what they're dealing with.
In summary, Koudelka is a great game, although slightly let down by the short length and long loading times. However, the short play-time doesn't let down the amount of character development, which is a major part of the game. It's tough at times, but in my opinion, that kind of works. It's worth looking for if you enjoyed Project Zero/Fatal Frame, or the Shadow Hearts series (although, due to various plot links between Koudelka and Shadow Hearts, the games are best played in the order they take place.
It's difficult to define exactly why, but I guess what I'm saying is that Koudelka will always have a special place in my heart and on my shelf; despite its flaws, it's a great game. The plot is intriguing, and the occasional moments of humour are a welcome relief from the creepiness of the rest of the game. You really get to care about the characters, and when a few of them showed up in Shadow Hearts - which I wasn't expecting, since, although the games are linked, it's not in an obvious way - I was genuinely delighted.
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