Shadow Hearts From a New world at a glance

[Rift120]

Draco is probably gonna kill me for writing this, but oh well. Having recently finished Shadow Hearts Covenant, I have recently started up this game and having reached AREA 51 decided to give my thoughts on it so far.

SH:FNW is a psuedo-sequel to Shadow Hearts Covenant. Taking place about a decade and half after covenant. As the title suggests it takes place in America (I wonder when we'll get a true globe spanning Shadow hearts game?).

The story centers around Johnny Garland, a rich orphaned 16-yearold detective who lost his memory when his father and sister were killed in a  carcrash. Oh yeah and he somehow gained Lenny, late from Sapiente Gladios in Covenant, as his personal manservent.

SInce there is only one BED in his house and certain dialogue, what type of 'manservent' Lenny is a mystery I'd rather not explore.

Anyways during his first real case, Johnny observes a 'window' of Malice forming (The windows having appeared ever since Nicjolai released Malice from Aponia tower) and amonster appearing, until he is saved by SHania, our fanservice Harminoxer in the game.

From there the plot begins and takes you all across the US 1929 history... and mishistory as well (Oh yeah, I completly believe Elliot Ness and Al Capone would be so polite to and respect each other.)

On to the actual game. As might be expected from the previous games, the various world areas are gorgeous to wander around in. As are the enemies which occasionaly have a lovecraftian feel to their design. (Considering Arkham University is one of the first locale's you visit, this is rather appropiate.)

Music is also well done. not only fitting each enviorment perfectly, but being a joy to listen to as well. I dare someone NOT to unconciously tap their feet to the BGM for Upper West side.

Acting on the other hand is not so good. In the various FMV's the VA's emotion and acting tend to range from adequete, to 'wouldn't make it into a Corman film' bad. Also dissapointingly, they didn't use the same VA for ROger Bacon that they used in Covenant. Thats just wrong...

The menu system remains mostly the same, albeit much more compartmentalized. the option Property is used to open up the library, score, and a couple other features.

Combat is slightly improved and refined from Covenant. You still  have the same judgement ring from COvenant, but its like version 2.0. The addition of stock for both you and your enemy, makes battles a little more challanging, but not overly difficult. THe ability to doubleis a rather nice addition as well, and is executed nicely, with a sort of 'combo ring' which combines your two actions into one judgement ring. This helps avoid tediousness that might appear if you had to execute each attack seperatly.

On the downside is the Snap quest, as if you want to unlock the bonus dungeon 'purgatory' you'll have to use Johnny's ability Snap (Essential identical to Anastisa's snapshot ability) to create snap cards. Since you need multiple cards of certain enemies, this can really hamper your combat effectiveness. Fortunatly Gamefaqs does have a Snap card FAQ to list howmany snaps of which monsters you'll need.

ON a side note, during the opening stage where, let Johnny die once in battle for a interesting 'cutscene' with Lenny.

Magic on the other hand is a MUCH improved over Covenant's 'crest' system. Instead your given various charts based off of constellations. And then affix spells to certain chart areas that allow them.  This provides much greater flexibility and less frustration to your magic users than the Crest system did in covenant. (No more DCP to worry about or trying ot remeber which crest has which spell YAY!) Even better is the ability to customize the charts that you gain at arkham. No healing spots to plunk down cure in? No problem.. 500 bucks will change another spot into that. Or maybe change a attack element. You can also enhance the level of magic able ot be equipped to a spot, the effectiveness of a attack spell, or even reduce the MP cost of a spell placedon a certain spot.

The charcters are all fairly interesting, albiet none have gotten quite to the level of amusment that I bestow upon Grand Pappilon. Still Frank (The south american ninja trained charcter) comes close.

Interestingly I find the few cutscenes between Lady and Killer the most interesting. They hsould proove intriguing villians. ON a side note am I the only one who finds Lady is reminding me of Chi(form CHobits) during that second cutscene?

Anyway so far I rate the game a solid 4 out of 5 (it would have gottena 5, but that acting can be really bad at some scenes)

[Duke Otterland]

Gonna pick this one up one of these days...

[Olvelsper]

I disagree with your opinion on the magic system. I think that while it's all fine and dandy to customize, it shouldn't cost you an arm and a leg when you want to upgrade your abilities. The nodes cost so much that I just gave up all together on magic throughout the game, and just relied on the special abilities of the characters and Shania's fusion magic.

Armor and weapons are more important, afterall

[Rift120]

A few addendums now that I am farther along in the game.

Storyline- while certainly not boring, has a few noticeble flaws. Aside from some predictability (I figured out Lady's 'secret' identity upon seeing her for the first time) it is pretty good. Its a lot more linear and coherent than Covenant, where new charcters and plots seem to pop out of nowhere or with practically little warning till nearlyt he end of the game.

On the other hand other aspects of the story aren't handled very well. The most glaring offender is Johnny's little secret. You get this big surprise when his knife becomes a lightsaber, two charcters essentially saying 'that boy' at the very beginning (well to be fair Rogers saying that was more near the midway point) and then its just.... ignored.... until nearly the end of the game where his past is 'revealed'.

THeres no buildup... no mystery events... no buildup of tension about his amnesia....heck I had almost completly forgotten about how mysterious his lightsaber knife was and his amnesia till the cutscene.

Considering how important it is to the storyline, its really rather disappointing that it wasn't explored further. (I mean couldn't they have at least given us a few disjointed flashback scenes on his first real encounter with Lady midway through the game for some suspense?)

charcters

JOhnny- okay eventually near the end of the game you get the awaker form... his dual react skill is one of hte most useful int he game (does massive damage AND a hard hit to knock out enemy stock). The downside is with Johnny's low SP, unless you have the flare brooch equipped you can't really use his awaker form for any prolonged battle (at level 50 with around 16 sp, you can be awaker for 4 rounds before going beserk)... on the downside this means my Johnny is in a bit of a pickle concerning his 3 accesories... as I have to choose between my current line up of " Coral pendant, Panoramic lens, and Flare brooch" or switch out hte panoramic lens or flare brooch for  a status guarding accessory.....

Considering how annoying the snap quest is without the panoramic lens... this is a real nuisance. (Loosing the coral pendant is a possibility I suppose, but I'mmuch more effective with the slower ring speed).

Hilda- remains my favorite for both attitude and magic. Unfortunatly the mechanics to make her change from her forms are really not well thought out. You can drain calories from enemies to add or subtract your calorie count to change from slim, to bat, to curvy. The catch is the Calorie drain attack does no damage, no status effect, no nothing aside from providing you calories. Now unless your so overpowered that you don't have to worry about hte monsters your facing, this means you effectivly lose a attack phase from one of your most effective charcters to gain or lose 1 to 5 calories.

The saving grace to this is that the items 'angel suffle' and 'fruity fiber' are common enough treasures that you can switch back and forth betweent he three forms often enough to snag all of Hilda's 'magical art' magazines.

Still I pretty much keep her in Slim Hilda form (Both because I prefer the charcter design, and prefer her attack abilities to her healing ones) and don't worry about her calories attack because its to much of a pain to use. still aside from her poorly thought out calories drain (Really Joachims Joachrhythms which you have practically no control over was better than this), Hilda is one of the most useful charcters and a regular in my main battle party.

Ricardo- Ah the mariachi player... not only his special 'songs' attack useful (Much more than the 'perfume' ability from covenant) but each one has its own catchy little music when you activate it.  I've heard and used them all except for hte last Rage melody (Namely because that friggin melody costs 750 MP to use! and I only have 725 with a oracle earring equiped! On the other hand it does give each of your other party member the equivalent of a third ring to attack... so I can understand hte high cost)  Not one of my main charcters but a worthwhile one, especially his two 'attacl' serenata's (How does a guy fit a bloody mini-missile launcher AND flame thrower into his guitar and still be able to play it?)

Stock gauges- This is a great gameplay addition... not only giving you a much more indepth series of attacks, but its well balanced to (Doing a D-combo all the way through against a boss, assumingyou don't kill it, does massive damage. But is offset by the fact that it not only gives your opponent a pretty much guarenteed double stock attack *unless you end with Johnny doing a hard hit and vaccum attack* but also the chance for two turns in a row.)

My one complaint? there is a total of 1 accessory that effects your stock gauge and its a charcter specific one(shania). Not even a item you can use to fill a charcters stock gauge.... that just seems wrong... especially since you want to face bosses witha  full stock gauge, you have to waste time once you reach there lair wandering around looking for fights to fill up your gauge.

Finally the pit fights: Taking hte place of Solomon's trial. These are really well thought out, albiet one or two will make you tear out your hair... (THe timed ones, the one where you have to have them airborne to cause damage, the combo magic finishing moves one).

Of course the nicest touch? There is one trial where if your two over leveled you will probably fail. (It requires a 70+ finsihing combo and if your two powerful you'll kill the monster BEFORE you reach 70 hits). That's a nice touch