Like the first two? Want another like the first two? Walk away right now.
Going from Yuri Hyuga to Johnny Garland...biiiiig step down. Johnny wasn't a bad character. Just not Yuri, which was probably what I was hoping for. To be honest, Johnny reminded me of Tidus from FFX. Don't ask me why, but I just thought so. The rest of the cast just tried too hard to be like the old cast...but failed. Miserably. Sorry, but Frank and Shania just can't stand up to spunky Ana or Blanca.
The graphics are really no different than Covenant, so if you liked those, you should like these. The voice acting is pretty good, no different (again) than Covenant.
The plot, however, felt pretty weak in my opinion. Even though I only made it a little past the mid-point, I still know the ending and I still just don't think it stood up to the Shadow Hearts name.
The gameplay is the hardest in the series. I just didn't care for it. The crests were redesigned in FtnW and I didn't care for it. I preferred the old formula over it. It is difficult to describe how the battle system changed from Covenant but it has, and not for the better either.
In my opinion, you have a few options. 1.) If you didn't play the first two and want this one, go for it. There won't be anything that you're really expecting from it. 2.) If you played the first two and want to play this, try it if you want. Just don't expect it to be nearly as good. 3.) If you played the first two and have high expectations from the third, walk away. You don't want this.
I suppose if you can distance yourself from the amazingness that was the first two games while playing this, you should be fine. But the first two left such a good mark on me that I couldn't help but feel let down by this one.