the canon point thing, plus optional shit.
"comments on canon points and that damn second disc coming tomorrow."
... clearly, when I say "tomorrow," I mean "twelve days later."
This is a mix of old essay and new since, uh, my opinions have flip-flopped a lot after rewatching scenes and talking with people. So to start with, have this essay thing that's dated early May in my giant .txt file:
SO. Let's talk Shadow Hearts: Covenant.
The one huge issue I have with the game is how it kind of falls apart come the second disc. The plot takes a major wtf turn, your enemy is ... uh ... I-I don't even know, and some characters suddenly COMPLETELY CHANGE. RANDOMLY. At least the second disc has Kurando and the MAN FESTIVAL and those two things alone are incredibly awesome. But, well. Magical characterization issues!
Nicolai suffers heavily from this. In the beginning, we're shown this cool, collected man who's got a plan and will do what it takes to accomplish it. Almost everything he does in the first disc is in line with what we're shown! It's even revealed later that he's doing the whole damn thing to get revenge for his dead mother, which fits. Even them beating us over the head with the whole "nicolai loev karin!!1" stuff towards the end of the first disc makes some sort of sense!
And then there is an optional dream sequence where Karin rejects him or something, and the game makes like he runs off to Apoina Tower to laugh like a lunatic and release Malice on the world in attempts to one-up Yuri.
... Yes.
To be perfectly fair and in retrospect, it could have been a part of his Great Plan or something, but he comes off really unhinged during it, which is a sharp turn from how he came off before - particularly since he had just had a relatively calm and collected confrontation with Rasputin! He goes from "you cannot defeat Yuri, he's a human who's mastered the soul of a demon, but I can do the same thing" to "I RELEASE THE MALICE, TAKE THAT!!!"
It's like. A GIRL REJECTS HIM, AND SUDDENLY, HIS LOGIC FLIES OUT THE WINDOW.
Nevermind that on the second disc, when we finally see Nicolai again, he weeps over Karin. or something. I sort of facepalm every time I remember him on the second disc, particularly with the most ridiculous and undignified death ever. COME ON, GUYS, AT LEAST GIVE HIM A COOL DEATH. not "o I randomly kill this mutant ape, now Kato CRUSHES MY HEAD."
Point being, I don't want to take him from post-death because that's really hard to play with and the game, uh, made it very difficult in regards to his characterization. It would be easiest since he'd no longer have Astaroth and that'd be one less headache, but uh. I can always update later if I figure out how to deal with the characterization stuff and don't want to deal with Astaroth.
I still agree with most of that! His ending is kind of a bitch, dudes, and his character gets messed up pretty hardcore for what we see of Nicolai himself on the second disc. But the Malice stuff kind of ... makes sense to me now, especially re: the optional dream sequence.
Basically, it's this sequence where Nicolai confronts Karin in a dream, tells her that Yuri will never love her but he loves her, and she throws it back in his face and just tells him that she feels sorry for him because for all his bravado and his smooth talking and everything, he doesn't have anything he really wants at the end of it all.
And that sort of breaks him! Because it's true and to be honest, it is the first time in the game anyone genuinely gets to Nicolai. He doesn't give a crap about what Yuri thinks, Rasputin never really bothers him in that manner (although that is a completely different essay), but when Karin points out that he's Doing It Wrong by taking everything he's made himself out to be and cracking it over her knee, he snaps. Given that, the whole Apoina Tower thing ... makes sense to me! IT'S KIND OF HILARIOUS because yes, yes, a girl does reject him and his logic really does fly out the window, but it's because that girl took his logic and stomped it into tiny pieces under her heel.
... I think I have a pattern when it comes to apping counselors now, you guys.
... clearly, when I say "tomorrow," I mean "twelve days later."
This is a mix of old essay and new since, uh, my opinions have flip-flopped a lot after rewatching scenes and talking with people. So to start with, have this essay thing that's dated early May in my giant .txt file:
SO. Let's talk Shadow Hearts: Covenant.
The one huge issue I have with the game is how it kind of falls apart come the second disc. The plot takes a major wtf turn, your enemy is ... uh ... I-I don't even know, and some characters suddenly COMPLETELY CHANGE. RANDOMLY. At least the second disc has Kurando and the MAN FESTIVAL and those two things alone are incredibly awesome. But, well. Magical characterization issues!
Nicolai suffers heavily from this. In the beginning, we're shown this cool, collected man who's got a plan and will do what it takes to accomplish it. Almost everything he does in the first disc is in line with what we're shown! It's even revealed later that he's doing the whole damn thing to get revenge for his dead mother, which fits. Even them beating us over the head with the whole "nicolai loev karin!!1" stuff towards the end of the first disc makes some sort of sense!
And then there is an optional dream sequence where Karin rejects him or something, and the game makes like he runs off to Apoina Tower to laugh like a lunatic and release Malice on the world in attempts to one-up Yuri.
... Yes.
To be perfectly fair and in retrospect, it could have been a part of his Great Plan or something, but he comes off really unhinged during it, which is a sharp turn from how he came off before - particularly since he had just had a relatively calm and collected confrontation with Rasputin! He goes from "you cannot defeat Yuri, he's a human who's mastered the soul of a demon, but I can do the same thing" to "I RELEASE THE MALICE, TAKE THAT!!!"
It's like. A GIRL REJECTS HIM, AND SUDDENLY, HIS LOGIC FLIES OUT THE WINDOW.
Nevermind that on the second disc, when we finally see Nicolai again, he weeps over Karin. or something. I sort of facepalm every time I remember him on the second disc, particularly with the most ridiculous and undignified death ever. COME ON, GUYS, AT LEAST GIVE HIM A COOL DEATH. not "o I randomly kill this mutant ape, now Kato CRUSHES MY HEAD."
Point being, I don't want to take him from post-death because that's really hard to play with and the game, uh, made it very difficult in regards to his characterization. It would be easiest since he'd no longer have Astaroth and that'd be one less headache, but uh. I can always update later if I figure out how to deal with the characterization stuff and don't want to deal with Astaroth.
I still agree with most of that! His ending is kind of a bitch, dudes, and his character gets messed up pretty hardcore for what we see of Nicolai himself on the second disc. But the Malice stuff kind of ... makes sense to me now, especially re: the optional dream sequence.
Basically, it's this sequence where Nicolai confronts Karin in a dream, tells her that Yuri will never love her but he loves her, and she throws it back in his face and just tells him that she feels sorry for him because for all his bravado and his smooth talking and everything, he doesn't have anything he really wants at the end of it all.
And that sort of breaks him! Because it's true and to be honest, it is the first time in the game anyone genuinely gets to Nicolai. He doesn't give a crap about what Yuri thinks, Rasputin never really bothers him in that manner (although that is a completely different essay), but when Karin points out that he's Doing It Wrong by taking everything he's made himself out to be and cracking it over her knee, he snaps. Given that, the whole Apoina Tower thing ... makes sense to me! IT'S KIND OF HILARIOUS because yes, yes, a girl does reject him and his logic really does fly out the window, but it's because that girl took his logic and stomped it into tiny pieces under her heel.
... I think I have a pattern when it comes to apping counselors now, you guys.