Face it: most of the gay characters in Shadow Hearts are stereotypes whose interests are more than once played for comedy. That being said, Covenant's four major gay characters are also all heroic; Gerard (1) is your most frequent item shop even in places where he probably shouldn't be, Pierre (2) helps Gepetto with dresses that increase Cornelia's power, and The Great Gama (3) is a special teacher that gives Joachim (4) — a loyal and reasonable party member and one of your strongest physically — stronger moves to whoop-ass.
Yuri's perverted attitude towards Alice at the start of Shadow Hearts didn't really age well but the peverted-yet-good-natured hero was very much a classic stereotype in the early 2000s. It helps that Yuri stops being quite so perverted once he gets closer to Alice and that he's all talk for the most part.
Game-Breaker: In Covenant and From The New World, Energy Charge and Entrance spells (boosts Physical/Special Attack by 125-150%) can be utilized to deal tremendous damage when combined with general buff spells, the 'Technical Ring' system, and Lucia/Ricardo's 'Strike Bonus' boost effect.
Hilarious in Hindsight: Urmnaf, Yuri's original name, is widely mocked for being complete nonsense that only vaguely resembles a Russian name. Makes you think Karin just picked whatever sounded Russian enough to her.
Memetic Badass: Yuri. A lot of Shadow Hearts fans hold him up as one of the toughest protagonists in the RPG genre. It helps that Albert Simon's soul confesses in Covenant that Yuri's plan to go after Rasputin would do better than his and Yuri's might actually succeed where his failed, considering the Magnificent Bastard status Albert holds.
Overshadowed by Awesome: Most fans would take Yuri over Koudelka and Johnny put together. Koudelka may have Hijacked Cthulhu, and Johnny may be fueled by Eldritch power, but fact of the matter is Yuri can punch-out God, and that’s just in the first game. Koudelka and Johnny also pale in comparison to Yuri’s shear level of awesome when it comes to the subject of character development, though Koudelka is at least a little closer on that front.
Quirky Work: What other series will have characters wielding whatever they can find against the forces of evil... or have gun-based martial artists, ninjas in red, and egg-throwing princesses as party members?
Shipping: Given how beloved Yuri and Alice were, some fans were upset when it appeared that Karin was going to be Yuri's new love interest in Covenant. Turns out they had nothing to worry about, when it's revealed that Karin is Yuri's mother, and that Yuri and Alice eventually ended up back together again if one follows the canon Shadow Hearts Bad Ending > Shadow Hearts Covenant Good Ending > Shadow Hearts Good Ending scenario.
On the other side, some fans were upset that Yuri and Karin didn't end up together as they appeared to complement one another really well.
Alice's death in the end of the first Shadow Hearts.
The fight between Rasputin and Amon in Covenant.
The Bells Toll in Covenant, when Kato summons the final dungeon.
From the New World has Killer's death and Lady's rage afterwards.
That One Attack: Any status-effect inflicting magic, like instant death and petrifaction, that target the whole party. Judgement Ring status-effect are even worse as they can, among other things, speed up the indicator or make the hit area invisible.
Spiritual Successor: Has one through the game “Penny Blood”, which has been funded on Kickstarter and has yet to be released.
Underused Game Mechanic: The vampires mechanics in Covenant and From The New World can feel this way too, if only because of how little the game mentions them or how utilizing it often uses rare and/or expensive in-game items.
