They had the actors delivering their lines and doing motion capture like a real play or TV show. The results speak for themselves. They filmed it all in California, which is why there's no Japanese audio track. It was WAY ahead of its time.
I absolutely adore the natural delivery between the characters, how they can interrupt and talk over each other. It's like a stage play and exceedingly rare to see from games back then, especially a japanese RPG. And it's all elevated through the use of expressive motion capture. Amazing.
Yeah exactly! And the best thing about mocap back then is that a lot of times they had the voice actors be the motion actors as well, so all of it is synced really well.
Yeah, the banter was surprisingly good. In my experience, quality things like characters interuppting each other is missing in many modern games. Makes a big difference compared to individually recorded voicelines
Batman: TAS also used to have the voice actors record together like a play, and it always made it much better. I feel like more games/animations should do that.
There's a reason for that, this game is one of the first games to ever use motion capture. What they basically did was basically use actual theatre actors and fully act out the scenes in a green screen and those were converted fully into the game. That's why the voice acting is so good, they weren't just recording the lines in a booth they were actually acting out the scenes.
Can't imagine how the director convinced the company to let him do that back then. I have heard about the voice acting of the Resident Evil, which was also develped around that time, Capcom just hired some random exchange students. And also the famous the House of The Dead 2, Sega hired professional voice actors, but they just sent the script to each voice actors and demanded them to finish their record. The voice actors didn't get to know or see others, they even didn't know what game they were working on.
The voice work in this game is so so gorgeous; calling it just ok feels criminal. It has a beautiful quality to it that feels both like watching a stage performance and an older film. There's so much life in it, not only compared to voice work at the time, but even voice work now. It truly stands out.
Yea I literally had to give this video a thumbs down after hearing such a blatant disregard for the voice acting. Few PS1 games if any had better voice acting.
I love that even though the game director was a composer, he jammed so much goodness into this game that he only had space for a handful of tracks (which all slap).
Oh man, this era for Hiroki Kikuta was great. There was that one other OST on the PS1 by him, Soukagi I think it was? That one is so, so amazing. The game itself is just mediocre but goddamn the music is peak.
I love the performances in this game. They have this sort of theatre-actor naturalism that you don't really get with more recent, professional voiceover actors. I didn't know about the The Name of the Rose connection, that makes me love this game even more.
I didn't expect " Oh hey, the nitroglycerin's ready" to be a phrase permanently branded into my brain to mean "let's have some extreme tonal whiplash", but here we are
Shame we never got the Koudelka sequels Kikuta envisioned. And also that I never knew of the original game's existence, even though it was released in the PAL regions. Glad to have you and Majulaar cover it to bring it to my attention. Hopefully you'll cover some other Sacnoth games too, but for now thank you very much for this video and keep up the good work!
Thank you! I also wish we could have seen Kikuta’s other game ideas too. I was trying to dig up more info on them, but what I mentioned in the video was all I could find. I’ll get to Shadow Hearts. I want to start doing more RPGs. They’re actually my favorite genre, and it was fun making this video.
@@dungeonchill I am curious to see you cover Shadow Hearts and more RPGs in general, since they're my favourite genre as well! With Capcom's Breath of Fire 3 making me fall in love with the genre and even forcing a little Risax to learn some English.
A fun fact about Sara: She's the 7th cousin of the late Bill Paxton (they're related through a guy named Samuel Paxton.) Bill was also the great nephew of Mary Paxton Keeley, who was a prominent journalist!
Same as music. Once was made by artists that gave consumers something they could never expect. Now is made by corporations that just want to convince shareholders they know what consumers want, scamming them out of their money and just releasing generic, uninspired, broken shit.
@@KaijuAKDart has had a very long relationship with greed. There's way more good music than there ever was. There are more independent artists than ever.
Or at all. I can't think of a single "modern audience" game that has elicited any feelings in me besides non-stop laughter. Wait, Returnal. That's one.
As a Welshman myself, I've learnt some Welsh shit I didn't know about. But then you'd be surprised how little some Welsh people know about their own country. And when I say some, I mean most. Cool vid for a cool game. Can't wait for the day you cover the Panzer Dragoon games.
He posted a pic of him having all 3 Panzer Dragoon Saturn games along with Racing Lagoon and the hot air balloon game on PS1 about a month ago on twitter talking about his summer is booked…so hopefully those are the next games we get vids for! I think (I hope) Racing Lagoon is next considering he mentioned the next video being about a game in Yokohama. I took that as a hint to Racing Lagoon
Great job conveying the literary aspects and narrative of the game, came through stronger than some other videos I've seen, and thanks for the book recc!
Koudelka deserves a remake and so does the Shadow Hearts franchise. The characters were compelling and believable since they had actual actors voice act the characters. The entire development behind Koudelka is fantastic. It has great atmosphere, very memorable things going for, the only negative thing I can point out is that the gameplay can be rather lackluster and slow.
The problem being: what if they remake those games but don't want to spend too much time or money? Or something even worse happens like with RE3? Remakes are good in theory but they can be a curse as much as a blessing.
@@magnaremora Never heard of it before, judging by the Steam page it looks like a good game but uh... not sure it can really be called a spiritual successor. Unless it's supposed to be like Book of Memories but good. Most comparisons are saying Hades.
@@greenhowie So, it's a bit complicated, but Penny Blood (the main game) is very much a spiritual successor to Shadow Hearts that was funded on Kickstarter. However, while working on the game they released a "spin-off" rougelike starring the main game's villain squad, which is what's on Steam.
Charlotte the Girl Ghost was voiced by Sara Paxton (to those who grew up watching Aquamarine, or to Horror fans who watched The Last House on the Left [2009]and The Innkeepers or to those who watched chickflicks like: Sleepover or Sydney White. She was also on that Superhero Movie with Drake Bell and recast Marnie on the third Return to Halloween Town).
I remember watch a specific let’s play of this over and over as a kid. The player was a really fun guy and made the game much more engaging through the long combat and exploration sequences. I hope he’s well.
Yeah not really. That isn't to say it doesn't look good, but most later PS1 games are of similar visual quality. Especially like this, when they used pre-rendered backgrounds which left more space for the models to use for polygons. I also really wouldn't compare it to early PS2; the 6th console generation saw the largest technological leap to this day.
5:25 "it's never remembered" Me, who spent years of my life looking for the name of this game because I was a child and only saw my uncle fight the final boss, but left such an impact on me I couldn't forget for +20 years: yeah...
Everyone's on about the voice acting (and rightfully so) but I'd just like to appreciate the character animations They don't just stand around awkwardly when they talk, they move about, interact with the environment - it's all so lively, it's amazing
The combination of mocapped actors also voicing their lines at the same time is so neat. No other game that I know of has done this since. There has been plenty of mocapped games after, (LA Noir for example) but none with the static camera, stage play style. Same deal with Vagrant Story and its facial expressions done entirely with animated textures.
A late Victorian era Welshwoman, who sounds like she grew up in New York, accompanied by an Englishman and an Irishman with accents originating from somewhere in New England, was certainly a novel premise.
Honestly not surprising. English VA's from the UK were fairly rare at the time, and a lot of the English language localization studios were in the United States.
Just need a new Accursed Farms Does Dungeon Chill reside within the game dungeon? Is it on the same floor as Civvie11 or in the asylum wing with Grimbeard? Maybe Majuular knows... _writes expanded universe youtuber fanfiction_
The Voi e acting in this is actually really good. Almost like an audio book or radio play, or thester show. There were some mid 2000s ganes on the ps2 that had worse voice acting. The cut scenes also look mocapped. The amount of secondary motion in things like resting arms, counter motion looks natural, no repeating idle animation . This is all during cut scenes, however. Not to mention this game was made by former square employees so the quality is pretty good. This feel really underrated and I'd be happy to see a remakester.
My partner and I adored playing through this together, albeit using a guide yo understand general mechanics and building. It's extremely atmospheric, with beautiful art and emotional cutscenes. They actually shot the cutscenes in-person with all the actors so it'd feel more natural, and it really shows. Nothing like it :)
Just found your channel last night - very similar to my other favorite youtube gamer, Grim Beard! This is a good thing. Gonna go ahead and watch every single one of your videos now
Just downloaded a PS1 Emulator some days ago, I didn't grow up with one (Born in 2004), but I have always had an obsession with PS1 games and PS2 games. Thank you for showcasing these games to add to my gameplay list!
This is your best video yet. Started other videos abt this game but none of them gripped me. The way you framed the emotional moments was really impactful; thank you for undercutting the fireplace scene with a joke - I needed that
This game was supposed to have 2 or 3 sequels of it's own before Shadow Hearts but it's reception got those cancelled. Edit: Saw this comment before he talked about it in the vid
I watched the video until 12:40 and stopped. I need to play this. I LOVE Koudelka's personality. It is not one you often see in games. And that is why it is special.
Speaking of Parasite Eve, I would be thrilled to see you do a video on Third Birthday. I honestly believe it's extremely hated for the wrong reasons and is an actual work of genius.
I remember picking up Koudelka on a whim when I bought Legend of Dragoon, I ended up playing it from start to finish before moving on to the game I was originally excited for, it was a fantastic experience and made me super excited for Shadow Hearts on the PS2, which I also absolutely loved.
This was one of your best, bro. Truly an interesting gem of a game and you really did it justice! The voice acting and animations are so well done, actually pretty affecting for a PS1 game.
I swear you did this one already, dang. Love the coverage Kodelka has been getting lately, nice to see it being brought up next to Parasite Eve. Also, Robopon 2 is awesome.
I had the exact same feeling! Thought this was a reupload. But it turns out I watched Majuular do his retrospective on this game like two months ago, and they have similar presentation styles. Which is where I think the feeling of Deja vu came from.
If I had a nickel for every youtuber who has covered Koudelka I'd have about 4 nickels- but I'm not complaining, love having more people know about this series. Just so weird that multiple ppl all decided to cover it in like a few months of each other. Well more to watch!
I’m Welsh. I remember buying and play this back in the 00’s. I remember enjoying it but in the way I couldn’t recall anything about this game until after I watched this video. Trip down memory lane this video. I really enjoyed this. Keep it up pal.
You're so right about RPGs of this era being slowed down to due 3D animation. Some of the later bosses in Legend of Dragoon took literally 1-2 hours lol
You’ve entered my clean plate club for amazing long form gaming docs. Alongside Majulaar and Accursed farms. Retail work is killing me and its nice being able to unwind with content like this.
Honestly, I wouldn't say that the voice acting is shaky, quite the contrary. It's theatrical and combined with the low poly deliciously motion captured scenes, it's just a delight.
Damn man, I was not ready for how painfully beautiful this game's story is! Literally brought me to tears. Each character struggling to find solace amidst a world of hellish torment.
I know you say the voice acting is “fine” or “good”, but I think it deserves much more credit than that The voice work and character animations for this game is spectacular for the era it was made in. I believe they did mocap and also recorded voice lines together, which is why you get that “theatre play” feel where the dialogue feels a bit more natural and they interrupt each other naturally instead of the usual back and forth talking we tend to see in gaming even today.
I'm not a big fan of the style but you're 100% right and credit where it's due. Just watching this video was like watching an off-broadway play. The flow was fantastic even if I didn't much like the style. I don't feel like dungeon under-sold it though, even if you both do lol Great vid, great game. Might play it if I can find the iso
Great video on a subject that doesn't get much love, but deserves this length and detail! Having played Koudelka at release, I remember two things. 1.: Thinking it was for more natural dialogue what Legacy of Kain was for shakespearian dialogue four years prior. 2.: Thinking "OMFG, how I hate with a seething fervor these f&%§ing random encounters every three f&%§ing steps!!!" They completely ruined the experience for me. You had these gorgeous graphics (for the time), evocative locations, great ambience - and then the dreaded wooooshing sound effect plays, the picture gets distorted, and strangely upbeat music comes in. (I remember the game having only two battle tracks, and with the sheer number and length of encounters I grew so sick of them that my brain tortured me with those tunes even with the game turned off! I can't believe you're saying you enjoyed them even after the 100th encounter.) Resi-like exploration in a spooky castle and turn-based combat with tiresomely drawn-out animations just don't mix. Like, at all. Thankfully I got the Xploder codes for turning random encounters off. Only then did I realize what a great horror game this could have been. Such a waste. This could've been a great Resi clone. BTW, in my opinion the voice acting is both horrible and great. Horrible because it's written and directed horribly, mostly in the first hour, and great because as the game progresses and the awfully clichéd character introductions are out of the way, the banter gets better and better. Then out of the blue it gets bad again, comes right back to being entertaining and natrual, and so on. I can't shake the feeling that Hiroki Kikuta must have had help with the script, because both writing and direction can be as inept as they can be really good. Especially considering that natural voice acting was pretty much unheard of back then.
Another incredible game that I never even knew existed, despite loving PS1 RPGs to death. The sheer quantity of games and experimentation in the 90s always has surprises.
I don't know if it is mocap or what but those characters move very realistically for ps1 models. The VA is also pretty great when the trio bicker it sounds like real bickering with spicy language tossed in instead of just a scripted evrent.
I remember seeing this game for $15 dollars at Funcoland back in the 90s, and I didn't buy it. Then I forgot all about it until this video. Keep up the good work! Great nostalgia!
not only is the script/va doing so much work, but also the physicality of the characters are so engaging. the small yet intentional movements so they aren't just standing locked knee and staring at each other? it all seemed so...real.
Very fond memories of this one. After watching my friend play it after school I remember I kept wishing I had a copy then one day he pulls it from his book bag and handed to me to borrow without me asking. Good times
I'm not joking when I say that after seeing a preview of this game in a gaming magazine 24 years ago, I immediately thought I had to play it. And then nothing, I never found this game for sale anywhere, no one ever mentioned it again, no one I knew had ever heard of it. I even forgot its name. And finally 24 years later I find this review. Thank you! I thoroughly enjoyed the whole video.
I purchased this game back when it first came out. I did feel it. About a year and a half ago, I started a fresh play through and finally finished it. So glad I did.
Absolutely loved this! ❤ I started with Shadow Hearts: Covenant back in the day and worked my way backwards from that. I still play through Koudelka, SH & SH:C at least once every year/2 years. They are three of my most favorite PS games, so I was really excited to see this video. Awesome job! Looking forward to seeing SH covered 🤩
Man, during Koudelka's monologue, I began tearing up and ended up ugly crying...Jesus christ, what voice acting. Thank you for showing me this game, I am so sad I missed it. I would have loved it as a kid.
I played this game quite some time ago, I even own the original - happy to see this game covered, so more people can learn about it. An unique blend of survival horror and jrpg, not overstaying its welcome, with fantastic atmosphere and music. I still like to listen to battle themes every now and then.
The fireplace scene alone makes me want to experience this whole game. I never mew shadow hearts had a prequel! Gives me another reason to get back into that series. I’m impressed with the mocap for sure. It still holds up pretty damn well. Some scenes seem like something that would be made today. Like it’s an artistic choice to use the low poly characters. Also, Koudelka revealing the meaning of Zlato at the end brought a tear to my eye 😭
What a blast from the past! I was definitely surprised how well made Koudelka was for a game I couldn't fine anyone else had played when it came out. Unfortunately I'm one of the people who didn't have the pendant at the end and not knowing I needed it saved before the boss my closest previous save was like half the game back so I just have up having no idea what to do cause I was too poor at the time to have a decent Internet connection to find out what the hell I had to do. Definitely worth a playthrough. Great video!
Me and my mom played Koudelka and we even played Shadow Hearts, they were interesting games to say the least. I enjoyed their environments and the settings, but really they did feel slow paced and sometimes you would get lost, I always ended up just going back and playing Parasite Eve.
I like several of his novels and also encountered his academic works such as the one about fictional middle ages in modern culture. He always seemed to have an axe to grind with the church. Also no fan of the general whole theoretical base of his academic work. Talented author of fiction though.
"But Charlotte? She's made her peace and 'flit-flit-flit-flit' gone to heaven!" That is so HUMAN. That's the kind of thing that comes out when someone is truly bitter. I dunno if that was part of the script, it almost feels too in the moment to be anything but improvised.
Dude you are on a roll with these bangers. I watch playthroughs of this game constantly. Great voice acting and blocking. Music is fantastic. Cult classic.
Holy crap the voice acting in this game is so underrated, it's almost like a radio play
I am sort of blown away, too. It's above many games of its era and after.
They had the actors delivering their lines and doing motion capture like a real play or TV show. The results speak for themselves. They filmed it all in California, which is why there's no Japanese audio track. It was WAY ahead of its time.
yeah finding it quite good+
I know, right? The VAs put in WORK.
Seriously though.. It's brilliant!
I absolutely adore the natural delivery between the characters, how they can interrupt and talk over each other. It's like a stage play and exceedingly rare to see from games back then, especially a japanese RPG. And it's all elevated through the use of expressive motion capture. Amazing.
Yeah exactly! And the best thing about mocap back then is that a lot of times they had the voice actors be the motion actors as well, so all of it is synced really well.
Yeah, the banter was surprisingly good. In my experience, quality things like characters interuppting each other is missing in many modern games. Makes a big difference compared to individually recorded voicelines
Batman: TAS also used to have the voice actors record together like a play, and it always made it much better. I feel like more games/animations should do that.
The Voice acting sounds like out of a theatre play. I love it
There's a reason for that, this game is one of the first games to ever use motion capture. What they basically did was basically use actual theatre actors and fully act out the scenes in a green screen and those were converted fully into the game. That's why the voice acting is so good, they weren't just recording the lines in a booth they were actually acting out the scenes.
@@MrFutago87 yea i heard/remember reading about them using theater actors to act/voice which give that "theatrical" feel
Because they are literally recorded on theatrical set. Can't believe he doesn't mention that in the video.
@@Mr-on2ww Thats a big plus in my book
Can't imagine how the director convinced the company to let him do that back then. I have heard about the voice acting of the Resident Evil, which was also develped around that time, Capcom just hired some random exchange students. And also the famous the House of The Dead 2, Sega hired professional voice actors, but they just sent the script to each voice actors and demanded them to finish their record. The voice actors didn't get to know or see others, they even didn't know what game they were working on.
The voice work in this game is so so gorgeous; calling it just ok feels criminal. It has a beautiful quality to it that feels both like watching a stage performance and an older film. There's so much life in it, not only compared to voice work at the time, but even voice work now. It truly stands out.
the gameplay really is just ok
Yea I literally had to give this video a thumbs down after hearing such a blatant disregard for the voice acting. Few PS1 games if any had better voice acting.
Feels like the voice actors recorded this in the same room. They're able to bounce off each other. Even modern games don't have this quality.
I love that even though the game director was a composer, he jammed so much goodness into this game that he only had space for a handful of tracks (which all slap).
Oh man, this era for Hiroki Kikuta was great. There was that one other OST on the PS1 by him, Soukagi I think it was? That one is so, so amazing. The game itself is just mediocre but goddamn the music is peak.
And apparently his story writing slapped as well. I guess if the game did released in the vision he wanted, it would of been a much bigger hit.
It always amazed me how solid the VAs for this game were considering the time it came out in. Koudelka herself does a really good job.
I love the performances in this game. They have this sort of theatre-actor naturalism that you don't really get with more recent, professional voiceover actors. I didn't know about the The Name of the Rose connection, that makes me love this game even more.
I didn't expect " Oh hey, the nitroglycerin's ready" to be a phrase permanently branded into my brain to mean "let's have some extreme tonal whiplash", but here we are
Shame we never got the Koudelka sequels Kikuta envisioned. And also that I never knew of the original game's existence, even though it was released in the PAL regions. Glad to have you and Majulaar cover it to bring it to my attention. Hopefully you'll cover some other Sacnoth games too, but for now thank you very much for this video and keep up the good work!
Thank you! I also wish we could have seen Kikuta’s other game ideas too. I was trying to dig up more info on them, but what I mentioned in the video was all I could find.
I’ll get to Shadow Hearts. I want to start doing more RPGs. They’re actually my favorite genre, and it was fun making this video.
@@dungeonchill I am curious to see you cover Shadow Hearts and more RPGs in general, since they're my favourite genre as well!
With Capcom's Breath of Fire 3 making me fall in love with the genre and even forcing a little Risax to learn some English.
I'm so glad you covered this game. The motion capture and performances were WAY ahead of their time. Good one, DC.
The voice acting especially in the drinking scene is fantastic
That fireplace scene, it was just pure gold, would like to see that level of VA in all modern games.
Yep, and the dialogue is pure 90's edgelord OC cringe. You could fill an entire Bad Fanfiction bingo card with her lines alone.
Fun fact, Charlotte is voiced by baby Sara Paxton. the actress who played the mermaid in aquamarine
A fun fact about Sara: She's the 7th cousin of the late Bill Paxton (they're related through a guy named Samuel Paxton.) Bill was also the great nephew of Mary Paxton Keeley, who was a prominent journalist!
“You’d better keep your mouth shut, if you want to live”
She said as her face twisted into fourty two dimensions
I will always miss this era of gaming, it had a special charm that we just don't capture enough anymore.
Same as music. Once was made by artists that gave consumers something they could never expect. Now is made by corporations that just want to convince shareholders they know what consumers want, scamming them out of their money and just releasing generic, uninspired, broken shit.
@@KaijuAKDart has had a very long relationship with greed. There's way more good music than there ever was. There are more independent artists than ever.
Or at all. I can't think of a single "modern audience" game that has elicited any feelings in me besides non-stop laughter.
Wait, Returnal. That's one.
This sound like you just see AAA stuff. Theres more games produced, you will found it if ur willing to dig a bit
nah, you living in the past. Gaming is thriving more than ever before in creativity and story telling.
As a Welshman myself, I've learnt some Welsh shit I didn't know about. But then you'd be surprised how little some Welsh people know about their own country. And when I say some, I mean most.
Cool vid for a cool game. Can't wait for the day you cover the Panzer Dragoon games.
Panzer Dragoon, you say? Oh buddy…..
Just you wait.
Ooh, I smell some tasty Panzer Dragoon Saga a-comin’ down the pipeline.
@dungeonchill I hoped that you would say that 👍
He posted a pic of him having all 3 Panzer Dragoon Saturn games along with Racing Lagoon and the hot air balloon game on PS1 about a month ago on twitter talking about his summer is booked…so hopefully those are the next games we get vids for! I think (I hope) Racing Lagoon is next considering he mentioned the next video being about a game in Yokohama. I took that as a hint to Racing Lagoon
Great job conveying the literary aspects and narrative of the game, came through stronger than some other videos I've seen, and thanks for the book recc!
Thank you! Hope you enjoy The Name of the Rose, if you decide to read it. It’s goooood.
@@dungeonchilltop tier recommendation. Couldn't agree more
This game is probably in the top 5 or 10 for most thematically powerful cutscene dialogue on the PS1
Koudelka deserves a remake and so does the Shadow Hearts franchise. The characters were compelling and believable since they had actual actors voice act the characters. The entire development behind Koudelka is fantastic. It has great atmosphere, very memorable things going for, the only negative thing I can point out is that the gameplay can be rather lackluster and slow.
All the more impressive that they managed to get a good performance out of them, as voice acting is a different skillset from acting.
The problem being: what if they remake those games but don't want to spend too much time or money? Or something even worse happens like with RE3? Remakes are good in theory but they can be a curse as much as a blessing.
@@greenhowie I forgot to mention that the SH creator is working on a game called Penny Blood which is supposed to be a spiritual successor.
@@magnaremora Never heard of it before, judging by the Steam page it looks like a good game but uh... not sure it can really be called a spiritual successor. Unless it's supposed to be like Book of Memories but good. Most comparisons are saying Hades.
@@greenhowie So, it's a bit complicated, but Penny Blood (the main game) is very much a spiritual successor to Shadow Hearts that was funded on Kickstarter. However, while working on the game they released a "spin-off" rougelike starring the main game's villain squad, which is what's on Steam.
Charlotte the Girl Ghost was voiced by Sara Paxton (to those who grew up watching Aquamarine, or to Horror fans who watched The Last House on the Left [2009]and The Innkeepers or to those who watched chickflicks like: Sleepover or Sydney White. She was also on that Superhero Movie with Drake Bell and recast Marnie on the third Return to Halloween Town).
Wales is such an underrated setting and I'm not just saying that because I live here.
Same. I was not expecting Aberystwyth to be mentioned when I clicked on this video one bit
the voice acting in the game is surprisingly really good for the time.
I don't remember leaving this. I need to lay off the devil's lettuce.
I remember watch a specific let’s play of this over and over as a kid. The player was a really fun guy and made the game much more engaging through the long combat and exploration sequences. I hope he’s well.
This game looks really good for a PS1 game, in fact if you had told me it was an early PS2 game I probably wouldn't even question it
Come on. It's obviously PS1.
Yeah not really. That isn't to say it doesn't look good, but most later PS1 games are of similar visual quality. Especially like this, when they used pre-rendered backgrounds which left more space for the models to use for polygons. I also really wouldn't compare it to early PS2; the 6th console generation saw the largest technological leap to this day.
This and Vagrant Story really had good graphics.
It doesn't even come close to a ps2 game tho.
There is also a sequel manga series to Koudelka. It's non-canon because of Shadow Hearts but is still worth bringing up.
Shadow hearts is so weird i hardly see it as being related to koudelka even if it is.
5:25 "it's never remembered"
Me, who spent years of my life looking for the name of this game because I was a child and only saw my uncle fight the final boss, but left such an impact on me I couldn't forget for +20 years: yeah...
Roger bacon sounds exactly like Lo Pan from big trouble in little china, and I love it
Exactly, I really thought it was James Hong lol
Everyone's on about the voice acting (and rightfully so) but I'd just like to appreciate the character animations
They don't just stand around awkwardly when they talk, they move about, interact with the environment - it's all so lively, it's amazing
The combination of mocapped actors also voicing their lines at the same time is so neat. No other game that I know of has done this since. There has been plenty of mocapped games after, (LA Noir for example) but none with the static camera, stage play style. Same deal with Vagrant Story and its facial expressions done entirely with animated textures.
I'm pretty sure Silent Hill 2 and 3 did this as well.
Final Fantasy 6
I'm so glad that Koudelka is getting the love and attention it deserves.
I love this game so much
A late Victorian era Welshwoman, who sounds like she grew up in New York, accompanied by an Englishman and an Irishman with accents originating from somewhere in New England, was certainly a novel premise.
Honestly not surprising. English VA's from the UK were fairly rare at the time, and a lot of the English language localization studios were in the United States.
i mean , George Martin wrote a whole saga of supposedly medieval europeans who say "fuck" every other sentence
@@j.2512that’s the thing you singled out?
considering the era, if that is your biggest complaint with the voice acting, i'd say it was a top notch job.
Oh hell yeah. Marsh *and* Dungeon Chill uploading new video essays on criminally underrated games within 24 hours of each other? Christmas in June.
Just need a new Accursed Farms
Does Dungeon Chill reside within the game dungeon? Is it on the same floor as Civvie11 or in the asylum wing with Grimbeard? Maybe Majuular knows...
_writes expanded universe youtuber fanfiction_
@@planescaped Now I wonder where MarshSMT and EarlybirdTV would be...
The drinking scene is still one of the most heart rending things I've ever seen in ANY medium.
Wow dude, you could do an uncanny impression of a young David Hayter. That is a natural GIFT right there.
The Voi e acting in this is actually really good. Almost like an audio book or radio play, or thester show.
There were some mid 2000s ganes on the ps2 that had worse voice acting.
The cut scenes also look mocapped. The amount of secondary motion in things like resting arms, counter motion looks natural, no repeating idle animation . This is all during cut scenes, however.
Not to mention this game was made by former square employees so the quality is pretty good.
This feel really underrated and I'd be happy to see a remakester.
58:40 Damn that clap-back was so intense... That was so good and so heart wrenching
31:30 Holy cow. Genuinely amazing voice acting. Sent chills down my spine.
My partner and I adored playing through this together, albeit using a guide yo understand general mechanics and building. It's extremely atmospheric, with beautiful art and emotional cutscenes. They actually shot the cutscenes in-person with all the actors so it'd feel more natural, and it really shows. Nothing like it :)
Waterfall is such an amazing and haunting battle theme. Both triumphant and full of trepidation at the same time somehow.
Just found your channel last night - very similar to my other favorite youtube gamer, Grim Beard! This is a good thing. Gonna go ahead and watch every single one of your videos now
The number of ps1 games that i never knew existed bc I wasn't buying my own games back then, just blows my mind. Great videos man
Just downloaded a PS1 Emulator some days ago, I didn't grow up with one (Born in 2004), but I have always had an obsession with PS1 games and PS2 games. Thank you for showcasing these games to add to my gameplay list!
omg? the fire chat scene actually made me cry
Wasn’t expecting to cry when watching of your videos. That fireplace scene is intense.
This is your best video yet. Started other videos abt this game but none of them gripped me. The way you framed the emotional moments was really impactful; thank you for undercutting the fireplace scene with a joke - I needed that
I was wondering when the next video would come. One refresh later, lo and behold.
Fr though, this game needed more attention and a sequel
What is Shadow Hearts?
This game was supposed to have 2 or 3 sequels of it's own before
Shadow Hearts but it's reception got those cancelled.
Edit: Saw this comment before he talked about it in the vid
At 44:43 I just thought the two were smooching while the bishop spilled the beans. Old graphics can be deceitful. 😅
I watched the video until 12:40 and stopped. I need to play this. I LOVE Koudelka's personality. It is not one you often see in games. And that is why it is special.
A current meme going around is "The worst thing you can wish upon your enemy is a remake of their favorite game franchise."
Speaking of Parasite Eve, I would be thrilled to see you do a video on Third Birthday. I honestly believe it's extremely hated for the wrong reasons and is an actual work of genius.
I remember picking up Koudelka on a whim when I bought Legend of Dragoon, I ended up playing it from start to finish before moving on to the game I was originally excited for, it was a fantastic experience and made me super excited for Shadow Hearts on the PS2, which I also absolutely loved.
This was one of your best, bro. Truly an interesting gem of a game and you really did it justice! The voice acting and animations are so well done, actually pretty affecting for a PS1 game.
I swear you did this one already, dang. Love the coverage Kodelka has been getting lately, nice to see it being brought up next to Parasite Eve.
Also, Robopon 2 is awesome.
I had the exact same feeling! Thought this was a reupload. But it turns out I watched Majuular do his retrospective on this game like two months ago, and they have similar presentation styles. Which is where I think the feeling of Deja vu came from.
@@milkgxng No I realize that. *I* watched it a couple months ago :P
If I had a nickel for every youtuber who has covered Koudelka I'd have about 4 nickels- but I'm not complaining, love having more people know about this series. Just so weird that multiple ppl all decided to cover it in like a few months of each other. Well more to watch!
So glad to see this game covered. Koudelka (or some variation of it) has been my gamertag for the last 8 years :)
I'm so glad i still have my copy of this game. It was a favourite growing up. The voice acting really got me, they were great.
I’m Welsh. I remember buying and play this back in the 00’s. I remember enjoying it but in the way I couldn’t recall anything about this game until after I watched this video. Trip down memory lane this video. I really enjoyed this. Keep it up pal.
You're so right about RPGs of this era being slowed down to due 3D animation. Some of the later bosses in Legend of Dragoon took literally 1-2 hours lol
You’ve entered my clean plate club for amazing long form gaming docs. Alongside Majulaar and Accursed farms. Retail work is killing me and its nice being able to unwind with content like this.
This channel has become one of those where if a new video comes out it's an instant watch. Great stuff man.
Thank you so much for covering it. I would love a remaster of this and wish there were more rpg horror games like this :D
Honestly, I wouldn't say that the voice acting is shaky, quite the contrary. It's theatrical and combined with the low poly deliciously motion captured scenes, it's just a delight.
Damn man, I was not ready for how painfully beautiful this game's story is! Literally brought me to tears. Each character struggling to find solace amidst a world of hellish torment.
Nice, this game is set in my home country of Gorllewin Cymru, I'll keep this up to watch later, hopefully he gives pronouncing Aberystwyth a go.
This might be my favorite video of yours - i always come back to this one for some reason 😌
Koudelka's actress was fantastic
marsh and dungeon chill uploading on the same weekend, oh my
I know you say the voice acting is “fine” or “good”, but I think it deserves much more credit than that
The voice work and character animations for this game is spectacular for the era it was made in. I believe they did mocap and also recorded voice lines together, which is why you get that “theatre play” feel where the dialogue feels a bit more natural and they interrupt each other naturally instead of the usual back and forth talking we tend to see in gaming even today.
Oh yeah. I regret downplaying it as much as I did. I actually loved the voicework in this game. It's phenomenal.
I'm not a big fan of the style but you're 100% right and credit where it's due. Just watching this video was like watching an off-broadway play. The flow was fantastic even if I didn't much like the style. I don't feel like dungeon under-sold it though, even if you both do lol
Great vid, great game. Might play it if I can find the iso
Great video on a subject that doesn't get much love, but deserves this length and detail!
Having played Koudelka at release, I remember two things. 1.: Thinking it was for more natural dialogue what Legacy of Kain was for shakespearian dialogue four years prior. 2.: Thinking "OMFG, how I hate with a seething fervor these f&%§ing random encounters every three f&%§ing steps!!!" They completely ruined the experience for me. You had these gorgeous graphics (for the time), evocative locations, great ambience - and then the dreaded wooooshing sound effect plays, the picture gets distorted, and strangely upbeat music comes in. (I remember the game having only two battle tracks, and with the sheer number and length of encounters I grew so sick of them that my brain tortured me with those tunes even with the game turned off! I can't believe you're saying you enjoyed them even after the 100th encounter.)
Resi-like exploration in a spooky castle and turn-based combat with tiresomely drawn-out animations just don't mix. Like, at all. Thankfully I got the Xploder codes for turning random encounters off. Only then did I realize what a great horror game this could have been. Such a waste. This could've been a great Resi clone.
BTW, in my opinion the voice acting is both horrible and great. Horrible because it's written and directed horribly, mostly in the first hour, and great because as the game progresses and the awfully clichéd character introductions are out of the way, the banter gets better and better. Then out of the blue it gets bad again, comes right back to being entertaining and natrual, and so on. I can't shake the feeling that Hiroki Kikuta must have had help with the script, because both writing and direction can be as inept as they can be really good. Especially considering that natural voice acting was pretty much unheard of back then.
Another incredible game that I never even knew existed, despite loving PS1 RPGs to death. The sheer quantity of games and experimentation in the 90s always has surprises.
If spiders develop wings, I'm disconnecting from life
The voice acting in this game is phenomenal for its time
48:44 For a few seconds I forgot I wasn't watching a Mandalore video, fully expecting a mystery of the druids smash cut.
Lowry brainrot is real. Needs more Marv scream, though.
SOUL TAKER! SOUL TAKER!!!!
I don't know if it is mocap or what but those characters move very realistically for ps1 models. The VA is also pretty great when the trio bicker it sounds like real bickering with spicy language tossed in instead of just a scripted evrent.
I heard its because the voice actors were acting in the same room, so they're able to play off of each other
I remember seeing this game for $15 dollars at Funcoland back in the 90s, and I didn't buy it. Then I forgot all about it until this video. Keep up the good work! Great nostalgia!
Quite the title! Thank you for relaying the story in this form, it allows me to experience somthing I probably wouldn't manage otherwise.
not only is the script/va doing so much work, but also the physicality of the characters are so engaging. the small yet intentional movements so they aren't just standing locked knee and staring at each other? it all seemed so...real.
Very fond memories of this one. After watching my friend play it after school I remember I kept wishing I had a copy then one day he pulls it from his book bag and handed to me to borrow without me asking. Good times
I'm not joking when I say that after seeing a preview of this game in a gaming magazine 24 years ago, I immediately thought I had to play it. And then nothing, I never found this game for sale anywhere, no one ever mentioned it again, no one I knew had ever heard of it. I even forgot its name. And finally 24 years later I find this review. Thank you! I thoroughly enjoyed the whole video.
nothing makes my day more than seeing a new Dungeon Chill upload on my feed
Everytime I see you upload it's an instant watch. Keep up the great work!
I purchased this game back when it first came out. I did feel it. About a year and a half ago, I started a fresh play through and finally finished it. So glad I did.
Absolutely loved this! ❤ I started with Shadow Hearts: Covenant back in the day and worked my way backwards from that. I still play through Koudelka, SH & SH:C at least once every year/2 years. They are three of my most favorite PS games, so I was really excited to see this video. Awesome job! Looking forward to seeing SH covered 🤩
This game looks amazing! I'm going to have to check it out as soon as possible! Fantastic video by the way, like seriously fantastic!
Man, during Koudelka's monologue, I began tearing up and ended up ugly crying...Jesus christ, what voice acting. Thank you for showing me this game, I am so sad I missed it. I would have loved it as a kid.
This game really was something unique and deserves to be talked about more often.
I played this game quite some time ago, I even own the original - happy to see this game covered, so more people can learn about it. An unique blend of survival horror and jrpg, not overstaying its welcome, with fantastic atmosphere and music. I still like to listen to battle themes every now and then.
Had to do some tedious work and had this on in the background and the time flew by. Thanks!
I love that my assessment that the voice acting was fantastic is shared by so many.
The fireplace scene alone makes me want to experience this whole game.
I never mew shadow hearts had a prequel! Gives me another reason to get back into that series.
I’m impressed with the mocap for sure. It still holds up pretty damn well. Some scenes seem like something that would be made today. Like it’s an artistic choice to use the low poly characters.
Also, Koudelka revealing the meaning of Zlato at the end brought a tear to my eye 😭
I see an hour long video about obscure video games, I click subscribe. Thanks dawg.
What a blast from the past! I was definitely surprised how well made Koudelka was for a game I couldn't fine anyone else had played when it came out. Unfortunately I'm one of the people who didn't have the pendant at the end and not knowing I needed it saved before the boss my closest previous save was like half the game back so I just have up having no idea what to do cause I was too poor at the time to have a decent Internet connection to find out what the hell I had to do. Definitely worth a playthrough. Great video!
Dude, I am loving these games you're reviewing. I've not heard of half of them, and I'm checking them all out. Great stuff, PLEASE keep going!!
Me and my mom played Koudelka and we even played Shadow Hearts, they were interesting games to say the least. I enjoyed their environments and the settings, but really they did feel slow paced and sometimes you would get lost, I always ended up just going back and playing Parasite Eve.
Never did i expect to hear about Umberto Eco than on a retrogames channel
Thanks for the cozy videos btw 😊
I like several of his novels and also encountered his academic works such as the one about fictional middle ages in modern culture. He always seemed to have an axe to grind with the church. Also no fan of the general whole theoretical base of his academic work. Talented author of fiction though.
Thanks for the video! This was incredibly cool. I never play RPGs but I'll watch these all day. Great job!
"But Charlotte? She's made her peace and 'flit-flit-flit-flit' gone to heaven!"
That is so HUMAN. That's the kind of thing that comes out when someone is truly bitter. I dunno if that was part of the script, it almost feels too in the moment to be anything but improvised.
This is my all time favourite game glad to finally see someone covering it
Ah, Earlybird covered this game a few months ago.. but yet again, I wished there were more PS1 gems like this one.
Dude you are on a roll with these bangers. I watch playthroughs of this game constantly. Great voice acting and blocking. Music is fantastic. Cult classic.
Love this game so much one of my absolute favorites 🙏
Thanks for covering it!! The fireplace scene gets me every time 🥹