Summary
Sensation! Final Fantasy in 1913!
The Good
"Shadow Hearts" is one of my favorite games, and I'm sad to see it appeared on the market without any pomp at all, and hardly attracted anybody. Even ardent console RPG fans seem to ignore this title. This is a pity, because "Shadow Hearts" is at the same time a truly traditional console RPG, and a very original game on its own. It is great for those who just like console RPGs, but it is especially attractive for those who appreciate originality in a game's setting.
The setting of "Shadow Hearts" is the first thing to talk about, and the most important feature of the game. Every console RPG fan knows the games that belong to this genre are usually set in a medieval fantasy world, or, more rarely, in a futuristic universe, or in a combination of both. In any case, the worlds of console RPGs are anything but our own Earth. Everything is fictional, and has no concrete historical content. "Shadow Hearts" is set in China and Europe of 1913. I don't think there was another console RPG before it that attempted to have such a setting. I don't even think there was another game before it that did it. To take all the elements of a typical console RPG and to put them into a real historical setting - this is called
style. I don't have enough words to praise this decision. It seems so simple, yet how many other games have ever done it? What's more, the game never becomes too "earthy" because of this setting. On the contrary, there is plenty of fantasy in the game, lots of magical creatures, evil warlocks, and other stuff appropriate for an epic "world-saving" game. It seems the mythology of China and Europe suddenly came to life. In China, all kinds of typical hell demons and local undead greet you, while in Europe, you'll encounter such a standard member of its mythology as vampire. There are a lot of references to folk culture and beliefs, especially in China (the Chinese part occupies half of the game). You'll have to free young girls possessed by evil spirits, or to help a "good" Dao monk to fight a "bad" one. It is amazing how the creators of this game managed to introduce this whole lot of folk superstition, religion, and demonology, and to make it look so realistic you'd almost belief those things really exist. And to make it all even better, this supernatural stuff is finely and skillfully merged with concrete historical details, for example, the Japanese/Chinese conflict before the First World War, the occupation of Shanghai by the Japanese, intrigues and schemes of the officers in the Japanese army, wandering Chinese monks, Russian spies, etc. Europe is slightly less colorful than China, but has also a great deal of appeal, and the storyline that evolves in Europe relies heavily on its culture and history, especially that of the Middle Ages. It recreates wonderfully the spirit of alchemy, dreams of immortality, church conflicts, "forbidden magic", and other interesting stuff. Alone the background of "Shadow Hearts" would be enough to make it worth a try. But that's not all. There are many other things to enjoy in this game.
Plot-wise, "Shadow Hearts" is connected to the Playstation game
Koudelka, but in its gameplay it is much less experimental. "Shadow Hearts" is not a horror-survival title (also the horror theme is present in many of the game's quests, locations, and monster design). It is a genuine console RPG, very similar to Final Fantasy games in its epic scope, its story, and its combat style.
"Shadow Hearts" is true to the spirit of the console RPG legacy in many aspects. First of all, the charm of any console RPG lies in its story development. To create a captivating story, with all kinds of sudden plot twists, secrets, dramatic situations, personal conflicts, etc., is the primary requierement for a good game of this genre. "Shadow Hearts" fulfills this requirement in such a way that even the most demanding console RPG fans will be probably fascinated by its story. As I already pointed out, there are lots of details in the actual setting of the game, referred specifically to the historical period, and to China and Europe as they were during this epoch. However, the main story of "Shadow Hearts" is a wonderful old world-dominating, world-saving, princess-saving tale, conceived in the best traidtion of console RPGs. Everything the genre had to offer until now in terms of story is present in "Shadow Hearts". There is the conflicted, slightly rude, but enormously appealing and charming hero; the love interest - shy and innocent, with big blue eyes, who possesses hidden powers everybody want to get, and whom you must protect at all cost; the colorful set of support characters (there are six party members you can choose from, to create an active party of three people); the big bad guy, who constantly avoids your attempts to eliminate him, laughing at you, demonstrating his power, and calling you a wimp; the not-so-big bad guys, who also must be stopped; the even-bigger-and-badder-guy, whom you suddenly recognize as your ultimate enemy; and most of all - the sheer "epic-ness" of the whole thing: the world is not enough. Religion, demons from hell, fanaticism, fighting the "evil within", memories and flashbacks from childhood, world domination, and even God himself - what more could you ask for?! I know, it sounds like a horrible cliché, but the stories of all great console RPGs are built on those clichés. A touching epic/melodrama mixture, with as much grandeur as possible, is the corresponding genre of console role-playing. Take the great console RPG of the past, and you'll see their stories are actually a constant recycling of the same themes. Take such a great classic as
Final Fantasy VII - its story is full of this stuff, and that's precisely why it is so great, that's why I
love this genre. There is absolutely no point in playing a 40-hours+ game where you don't save the world and where your opponent doesn't plan to conquer it, trust me!
The story development in "Shadow Hearts" is excellent. The plot evolves in such a way you'll be constantly facing new mysteries, lots of things will remain unclear and unsolved until the very end, and just when you think a plot part becomes clear, a new one appears, that complicates the matters even more. Of course, the plot is not as complex as in
Xenogears, but nevertheless the story is very intriguing and keeps your interest until the end. It also has a great balance, so I wasn't bored at no point in the game.
The character cast is among the best out there, such a collection of wacky and colorful characters is rare to find. What other game would let you to control a half-Japanese, half-Russian young adventurer, an innocent daughter of a priest who fights using a Bible, a super-sexy Russian blonde spy girl, an old Dao monk, a vampire who has been sleeping in his castle for hundreds of years, and got bored with the lack of action, and a London street boy, the leader of local thieves? The main hero belongs to the most appealing protagonists in video games - a young, courageous, seemingly easy-going fellow, who possesses the unique power of merging his soul with those of evil elemental demons, Yuri is charming when trying to look nonchalant and light-hearted, while hiding a deep personal tragedy inside of his soul. The "love interest" Alice, a must for console RPG, with her innocence and simple morals, forms a nice contrast to Yuri. My favorite character is the sexy Russian spy Margaret, who uses pistols in battles and who "orders" her special attacks per wireless.
The villains of "Shadow Hearts" are also very convincing. Of course, there is the obligatory figure of a maniac who is obsessed by world domination, and seeks for unsees magic power, that will allow him to summon the ultimate power, but what's interesting about this villain is that he is actually an accurate historical figure, a real English scientist who lived in 13th century (there is a major plot twists concerning the identity of this person, but I won't spoil you anything here)! The cast of "supporting villains" is very good, especially remarkable is the figure of Dehuai, a Chinese Dao monk who uses his powers for the evil and who prefers a total destruction of the world to capitulating in front of the Japanese forces.
The writing of "Shadow Hearts" is superb, the dialogues are vivid, colorful, and never too cheezy, with each character talking in his (or her) own way. The English translation is excellent, with nice usage of slang, you you shouldn't worry about poor or inadequate English lines.
What about the gameplay? Well, the gameplay is at first sight a fairly traditional console RPG business: random enemies and bosses to fight, turn-based combat, menu with normal attacks, special abilities and items, traditional equipment system, etc. Yuri can also transform into various types of monsters, who have their own attacks and abilities. A slight innovation is the additional SP (spirit points) bar. Your SP gradually lowers in a battle, especially after large SP-consuming moves (such as transforming into a monster). Once the SP reaches zero, your character goes berserk, and his (or her) SP must be restored by special items. It adds an extra challenge to the battles, which are otherwise not particularly hard (save for some bosses). But the real innovation of "Shadow Hearts" is the judgement ring system. When you perform a move, a disc with a spinning indicator appears. The disc is divided into several areas. If you stop the indicator while it spins over a marked area, your attack will deal damage. It will be much more powerful if the indicator falls on a smaller border area between different colors. Finally, the attack will miss completely if the indicator stops on an unmarked area. Various attack have various degrees of skill required to stop the indicator. Normal attacks have three fairly large colored areas, so you can hardly miss them. The most powerful special attacks have only a small marked area on the judgement ring, and the miss can be critical, especially in large boss battles. Ans that's where your quick decision will determine the outcome of a battle. You'll be constantly facing the problem: should you do it the more secure way, but to deal less damage, or to try and stop the indicator over the tiny critical damage area, while risking not to hit at all. The judgement ring system is great. Its roots can be traced to such features as enhanced attacks in
Legend of Dragoon, or Squall's extra damage attack in
Final Fantasy VIII, where timing was important. It adds a lot of arcade-action pepper into the placid flow of a turn-based combat, and makes the battles way more dramatic and suspenseful than they would have been without this system. There are also many items and accessories that will allow you to make the indicator spin more slowly, or spin faster, but with more damage inflicted by a critical attack - there are many possibilities. Also, the judgement ring system is very nicely implemented by bargaining in stores (you can always try to bargain with the help of the ring, and if you hit all the areas successfully, you'll get a discount), and by solving puzzles. Some puzzles require you to handle the judgement rings in various ways, sometimes you'll just have to stop the indicator over an area, sometimes you'll have to push an indicator to the desired point, while it is trying to spin in an opposite direction. But there are also traditional item-placing puzzles, that are very smoothly incorporated into the general flow of the game.
The graphics of "Shadow Hearts" is a lost art now: it is probably one of the last games to use pre-rendered backgrounds. Granted, those backgrounds would probably look just the same on a Playstation, but it dosn't change the fact they look marvelous. The 3D characters, on the contrary, clearly show the possibilities of Playstation 2, although they don't really match the level of
Final Fantasy X. There are a few amazing CG video sequences in the game, and one particularly impressive video showing a real er-hu (Chinese string instrument) player!
The Bad
It is a bit too linear. Of course, there are hidden items and other stuff to do (like locating all the final-level moster artifacts for Yuri), but there are hardly any sub-quests or optional areas.
There are also those silly "mood marks" above the characters' heads. During the dialogues, instead of voice-overs (which appear only in video sequences), there are small signs floating above the characters' heads: an exclamation sign for a sudden revelation, interrogation sign for a puzzling situation, and even small hearts as an expression of affection. While I was really amused by some of those cute signs (especially the hearts), they don't quite fit the serious and even spooky atmosphere of the game.
The Bottom Line
"Shadow Hearts" is one of the most underrated games of all times. Original, unusual setting, great story, superb writing, interesting characters, and a traditional, solid battle system with a cool new gimmick make it one of the best games for Playstation 2. It is a gem of a RPG that should be in any collection of a self-respecting console RPG fan, or of any person who appreciates quality games.
Also, the ending of the game is obviously an invitation for a sequel! If the gaming community wouldn't bother purchasing all kind of crap, and concentrate on really good games instead...
