Koudelka
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 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.
Koudelka received poor critical reviews and little word of mouth. Additionally, it was soon revealed that internal quarrels within Sacnoth had led to a compromised product. Kikuta had wanted to develop an action-based battle system, citing Resident Evil as a source of inspiration. However, his employees were adamant about releasing something closer to the kind of games that Square had been making.
Most people agreed that the game showed some promise, but had serious flaws, particularly in the combat system. Disheartened by the political friction within Sacnoth, as well as the financial condition of SNK, Kikuta resigned. Aruze Entertainment eventually took control of Sacnoth after SNK folded.
The initial plot of the game centered around 3 investigators coming to Nemeton Monastery in Wales in the year 1899: Koudelka Iasant, a young girl with supernatural powers; Edward Plunkett, adventurer; and Father James O'Flaherty, sent by the Vatican to recover a special tome of knowledge. It is likely that Edward Plunkett in the game is modeled after the historical Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany. The monastery was used as a prison in the 1700s, and more recently as the site of a dark ritual from the stolen document, the Emigré Manuscript, that Father O'Flaherty seeks.
The style of the game was a composition of survivial horror games such as Resident Evil, and tactical RPGs with a grid-based system for combat. The game was fully voice-acted, and starred Vivianna Bateman as Koudelka, Michael Bradbury as Edward, and Scott Larson as Father O'Flaherty. The game also featured several FMV cutscenes which were critically lauded as being high in quality, and were part of the reason for the game's four-disc length, despite its rather short playing length.
