Shadow Hearts: Covenant

What can I really say about this RPG other than it's simply amazing? It is well scripted and one of the funniest RPGs I've played in a long time. The graphics, while good all around, aren't as spectacular as in, say, Final Fantasy X. The story is of epic proportions and the voice acting is good. The real fun, though, is in battle. The game, like its predecessor, makes use of the Judgement Ring. What is the Judgement Ring? Simply put it determines the success of your attacks and the power of them as well. It's also used for using items and special abilities. Timing is key to using it to its full potential, and it isn't always easy. You can even customize the ring to be able to execute more attacks in one turn and to widen the Hit and Strike areas on it. Status effects can be applied to it as well.

The only thing that really bothered me is that the game starts out deceptively easy and then pours on the difficulty. There isn't any room for mistakes, which can become annoying. Equiping your characters with the best equipment before each area is a must. That's easier said than done as everything is extremely expensive, so just getting money to afford the stuff is a chore. The best thing to do is to go into the new area and wonder around by the entrance fighting monsters until you gain more money.

There is a lot to this game, much more than I feel like writing. All in all Shadow Hearts: Covenant is an RPG well worth your time and money.