Shadow Hearts: From the New World
 

So this is coming out next week, and I've been anticipating this the moment I beat SH:C. I've heard that XSEED has done an excellent job with the localization considering the pure zany-ness of the characters such as Mao, that is the giant cat. I wasn't all that impressed with WA4, but it seemed pretty standard anyways and this will probably be a true test as to whether or not XSEED can localize good or bad.

OPM had a demo of the game, but I really want to get into this fresh so I can enjoy it without being bored with whatever part the demo shows. Most of the voices are actually a little better than what I heard when they were first released, but some are still iffy to me, some samples can be heard on the official site. So far it's looking great, there is a review up on RPGFan but I'm afraid to read it because spoilers.

Needless to say, I'm really hyped about this. I can't wait for a European release, although I doubt it since Xseed is a relatively new localizer, and we haven't heard anything about WA4. I've also tried to stay far away from any information, except for the trailer that was posted months ago (with the awesome music). The soundtrack is promising already, I can't stop listening to the battle themes, especially Lady's Tears. The only thing I hope that this game is more challenging than Covenant, I didn't even die once in that game.

I can't wait for this. I love the first two games. Only played the first one once but i've played through the second one twice. I don't know when this is coming to Europem but i hope it is soon.

As for Europe and Australia... I think we might still be waiting for quite a while! Unless XSEED is nice enough to release PAL and NTSC version at the same time~~ which I highly doubt

They seem to be very quickly moving away from the thematic elements that originally hooked me on the series: the dark themes from Koudelka and Shadow Hearts. This is somewhat disappointing, but I'm willing to overlook that, due to the fact that SH:C is one of the top three best PS2 games that I own, right up there with Star Ocean 3 and Suikoden 3. The fact is that Koudelka, Shadow Hearts, and Shadow Hearts: Covenant were all very different from each other, but they were all very strong games. I have avoided anything more than a couple of magazine scans for the new game, so pretty much everything except a few character designs will be a surprise to me. I'm highly anticipating its release next week, despite what appears to be a further removal from the darker theme that initially hooked me on the series.

Yeah, I think they're diluting the theme a little too much with all the zany characters. Mind you, I had no issues with a party consisting of a retarded gypsy, a gay pro-wrestler vampire, and a creepy pedophile puppetteer, but the juxtaposition did occasionally detract from the dark overall theme they were trying to present. The SH3 cast seems even more bizarre than before, which is just going to magnify that issue.

Oh well. Tycho of Penny Arcade says that you will once again be collecting gay porn for the homosexual shopkeepers, so the game still sounds like it'll be a lot of fun. :laugh: The cliched plot of SH2 drove me up the wall, but it's got enough flavor to bring me back for another look.

Covenant was hilarious because it had such zany characters, and for me at least it was actually refreshing to have some fun in a game, except for relying solely on dark and brooding characters. Covenant was one of the few games that I've played that made me laugh, especially Joachim's sidequest (the ultimate man thingie) aside from Disgaea.

Can't wait for this game (seems I can't wait for a lot of stuff lately...). SHC was one of the best RPGs I had played in awhile. Which was a surprise for me. I had enjoyed the first SH, but didn't expect them to improve the sequel that much.

I am going to miss Yuri quite a bit though. He was so cool.

I just hope XSEED doesn't mess anything up like the did in Wild Arms 4 when they left two monsters out and made it impossible to finish the monster book sidequest.

How do you omit two monsters if you're only changing the text?

Well, I take that back. They somehow broke Shining Force 2 when they brought that to the US too, making it so you couldn't open chests during battle. That's more than a little sloppy, though. Didn't any of the beta testers follow up all the side-quests and notice that?

Wild Arms 4 was XSEED's first game. They didn't localize Shining Force 2.

Have this one preordered. Can't wait for it to get released. From what i have seen it looks like its going to be a good game.

SH2 is much better than SH1? :edgarrock: I'm playing 1, have 2 on the shelf, and am going to the store on the 7th to pick up 3. I think that SH1 surpasses FFVII and approaches FFVI quality, since I like the tight storyline and the humor. I cannot believe the humor in this game! I am very surprised that people don't mention it more. To me, it's not so much an RPG as a comedy with battles lol...

Basically, the Shadow Hearts series traded away its cool setting and the good horror-type stuff for better graphics and a much more enjoyable Judgment Ring, which is why people can enjoy the latter two more than the original.

Humor remains about the same, I'd think.

I see people talking about the humor (in SH2, at least) a lot more than anything else involving it.

I played the demo in the OPM release recently. I must admit, some of the atmosphere are just way too bright. Hell, the battle system has a couple added features to it (S-combo, double combo and whatever) that it seems a tad bit complex (I mean, SH2 has simple yet effective system of some sort). Still yet, I'm going to see how this stacks up since it is now threading new ground with basically some of the elements of the past and adding basically more humor to it.

Shadow Hearts' humour is just weird, but it can still be funn as hell. The best jokes are easily found in the optinal quests (like with old man Solomon or the gay wrestling championship, which still cracks me up everytime I think about it). Most people are disappointed that the sequels aren't as dark as the first game, but I'm okay with it, since horror isn't really what I'm looking for in an RPG. Although the first game had some of the coolest scenes, especially the first confrontation between Yuri and Bacon on the train.

I don't get why everyone praises SH1 for being 'dark'. It has it's moments, like the first scene Enkidu just mentioned, but a lot of it just didn't work for me. Don't get me wrong, I still like SH1 I just wonder why it get's all this praise for something it doesn't even do that well.

SH1 is a lot more gory and gloomy than SH2... the Zhaoyang village scene, Li Li's scene, the orphanage scene, the Doll house, the bathroom scene, etc. The towns and cities from SH1 in general are a lot more depressing than those in SH2, and that really builds up the atmosphere for a successful story. I suppose that's why people praise SH1 for being more dark than SH2.

I don't see why they can't do both. You can have a dark game with humor in it. I will admit I prefer a darker setting, but SHC was by far the superior game. Everything from gameplay and graphics to the richness of the story, and the way they tied it back into the first game. Was just very well done.

Most people compared the first Shadow Hearts to the rpg's at the time of the release. The only ones for PS2 where, iirc, Dark Cloud and maybe FFX. Compared to those games, it was rather dark. In comparison to some of the older FF games, it looks a lot more like a Resident Evil or Silent Hill game, although it really isn't as dark as those games. It was one of the few RPG's that contained a lot of blood to my knowledge.

yay! coming out tomorrow.. im so ready to go pick it up. The demo was great, I know its not as great as the 2nd SH, but i should have fun. I just got done with Grandia III and Tales of Legendia.. need something to hold me over until Kingdom Hearts II

Something can't really be dark and light at the same time.

Anyways, I am going to pick it up today. I'm moderately excited, which is about as excited as I get for game releases these day.

I remember reading somewhere that the developers said that this wasn't a true sequel to the franchise, but more like a side-story. Has anybody else heard about this?

I'm kind of glad. SH2 left on a nice cliffhanger and I wanted to see ...



The characters in From the New World look kind of interesting. I just want to see a cat roundhouse kick somebody in the face.

I've played three or four hours on it so far and am enjoying it. It feels a lot like SH:C so far, which is good. I feel like there is only so much you can do with the same main character before it gets stale, and I'm guessing that is what the developers were thinking when they started working on From the New World. They're still using the Fusion form, just shifting it from the main character to another character, which I like, because I really like the Fusion stuff but it will be nice for it to not be as emphasized as before.

So far I've been pleasantly surprised with Johnny, as he isn't some annoying brat like I was half expecting, and Shania is pretty awesome, what with her dual wielding tomohawks.

Radez bought this the other day and I've been watching him play it. The game looks nice, but what is up with the bright, bright neon colors all over the interface? I mean, it doesn't look bad, but it's kind of weird in a game that's ostensibly set in the early 20th century (and yes, I know these games are not exactly big on historical accuracy). Maybe I'm the only one who thinks it's strange. :(

At any rate, I still have to play through Covenant before I sit down with this one.

Humor doesn't have to be light. In fact quite a bit of it is pretty dark. I just said they could have a game with humor in it, and still stick to a darker storyline.

I'm enjoying it so far as well. I just finished the Alcatraz part and now I'm off to Roswell. I can only imagine what I'll find there...

Most of the humour in this one and the previous has been more along the lines of humour derived from zany characters or characters reacting to serious situations in odd ways. I think back to SH:C and the scene in which you're attacked by a giant pink cat. Yuri's reaction is simply "Whoa, that is one giant pussy." They're mixing the darker themes with more zany humour than dark humour, which worked out well enough in Covenant, and is working well enough in From the New World. I guess that they wanted to use darker themes without turning all of the characters emo.

Also I hate the new VA for our favorite immortal child of the stars.

Yeah his VA is horrible. Though not as bad as Elliot Ness's was. *shudders*

Also is it just me or are Hilda's forms kind of annoying to manage? It seems like there's too big of a calorie difference between curvy and slim.

Wow, I just played the demo for this that came with OPM (what's with the damn time limit argh).

I've never played a single SH game before this and I didn't really know what the games were about. Honestly, when I popped it in, I was like "wtf is this...an RPG?" I didn't know whether to take it seriously or not since the only RPGs I've played were like serious fantasy games. So I assumed it was gonna be that. The characters in the opening movie seemed to fit in those kinds of games, but the main blonde kid was so plain and modern looking (aside from that one part of his hair...) that it threw me off. But after the first cutscene where Johnny gets his case, I realized that this was something different, it's set in New York for christ's sake.

So I played up to meeting those gay guys (when that Gerard dude just stood up I already wanted to laugh at him) before the demo cut off. I wasn't sure how I felt. I knew that I liked how it seemed like it was basically parodying other RPGs. So I played it again to see if there was any fighting, going through as fast as I could. Got to Chelsea where I met the little girl, demo cuts off. I get a little farther each time before some retarded time limit stops me from enjoying any more.

I gotta say, I'm happy as hell that I played that demo. Game looks really awesome and I'm sad that I haven't paid attention to it sooner. I'm definitely gonna try to pick it up if I see it.

But I was wondering about the SH games that came before this. I'd love to get them and play them first (that's just how I am). But story/character-wise, do I have to play them to understand what's going on? I can remember seeing a lot of copies at the game stores in the past, so hopefully they're still there.

No, SH3 is actually a very good one to pick up if you haven't played the first two. SH3 is sort of like a side story to the Shadow Hearts series and by not playing the first two, you might just miss out on the unimportant cameos that are in SH3 (Lenny for example at the start of SH3 was a 'bad guy' in SH2.)

The only real plot connection I've seen with SH3 and SH1&2 is the mention of the massive release of Malice which took place in the SH2 story. From what I understand, that is about as deep as the connection goes between the three games.

But if you play though SH3 and enjoy it then I'd highly recommend playing SH1 before attempting a SH2 playthrough.

Why lie, you need to start out with the first game in the series, Koudelka. Old PS1 game which featured excellent voice acting, years before voice acting became commonplace in RPGs.

Hmm, looks like this stuff is rare :tpg:

But I'm gonna try to get them all, regardless. Including Koudelka (wow, haven't played a multiple disc game in a LONG time). But in the meantime I'll try to pick up this new game and take it from there.

Thanks :D

Good luck finding a copy of Koudelka, I know I'm still hunting for a good one. I'm getting SH3 as we speak, and I'm really excited about it. Now I just need to finish Suikoden Tactics and I'm all set for SH3.

I've played this game for about 6-7 hours, I'm up to Roswell right now.

These are my first impressions. Do consider that even if I'll try to be objective, I do really love the series, so I definitely have some affinities with a lot of SH's aspects already.


First of all, let's talk about that intro and the beginning events. Everything was done in a stylish way as in the last 3 games (I'm including Koudelka here). Cinematics are nice, story seems very interesting, especially after seeing what seems to be the main villains of the story:



They bring a much needed dark side to an otherwise very light and humoristic story.

Speaking of which, this game really succeeds at bringing a nice touch of humor. Frank is consistently HILARIOUS, especially when he goes taking a random object and put it on his katana hilt to make a weapon. The concept is of course taken from Joachim Valentine from SHII, but it seems to be even funnier this time around... The ring spirit is also back! As funny as in the last game, too. The rest of the side-cast is also great in my opinion (mao, ricardo). However, so far, I'm a bit disappointed in the 2 main characters: Shania and Johnny. They definitely don't live up to Yuri and Alice, I feel basically nothing for them since the beginning.

Gameplay is pretty much the exact same thing as last game. I loved the gameplay the first time around, I still love it now. Of course, some might be disappointed in Nautilus rehashing its system from the last game, but I don't mind. There are still some additions, such as the stellar charts, a stock system, and a much improved combo system. Side quests are still a-plenty: lottery, personal side quests for every character (snap photos for Johnny, hollywood thingy for Mao, UMO for Natan, etc.)

I must say, however, that I think the OST is not as good as in the last two games. I still think the music is awesome this time around too, so if you're not willing to use SH I or II as a comparaison point, you'll probably enjoy the music. But except for the awesome Dead Fingers Talk (regular battle theme), which easily lives up with last game's Vicious 1915, nothing really hits me as songs like Alice, Castle of Silence, The Fate, ~ICARO AGAIN~. And yes, I've already listened to the whole OST.

Overall, this seems to be yet another excellent addition that's sure to please all the series' fans. And as others already said in this thread, the game really isn't linked with the last ones, except for

so newcomers can enjoy the game!

There's also the fact that the entire reason SH3 is happening is due to Nicolai's actions in SHC.

For a second there, I thought you meant...



That guy is all kinds of awesome.

I'm just enjoying all the little connections between SH:C and SH:FtNW. Your butler, for instance. Or the photograph collector. All the nice little tie ins, though I barely remember the ending of SH:C, and I got the good ending so a lot of this is different anyway. Though I, like everyone else, miss the darker tones to the first game. They keep getting fluffier every time out.

Yeah. Literally (remember the fluffy cat boss in SH:C?).

By the way, the bad ending for SH:C:

Oh, right right right. And the good ending is his perfect world. I remember.

I am not really liking the pacing of this game, as it seems to be spend an hour in a big ass dungeon, fight a boss, talk for 2 minutes about where to go next, spend an hour in a dungeon.

I did really enjoy one specific moment at the end of a dungeon when:

I want to play this, but I need to finish my game on Covenant first, for continuation purposes, but from what I've heard it seems to be a fairly good game, now it just need to wait for me to finish it's predecessor.

I was thinking about purchasing this game.

However, people keep complaining about the dungeon designs. I might wait until the price drops to check it out. Has anybody beaten this game yet? If so, how long did it take for you to finish? I heard the average game length is around 60 hours.

60 hours, lmao. I don't think so. If you do all the sidequests I'd put it around 40. 45 hours tops, and that's being generous. I did it all in less than 40.

Frankly I was hugely disappointed in the game. I might have mentioned it earlier in this thread, but characters and story were just boring as hell. The only remotely interesting thing that happens is the deal with Johnny's past. Which IMO was revealed way too late in the game for it to have a big enough impact. It's still a good game, just don't expect one as good as Covenant or the first SH.

I just want to know - is Yasunori Mitsuda the composer in this game? As he was in the last two. I love the tracks he's composed for this series.

I think Mitsuda did some of the game's tracks, but the main composer is Hirota, responsible for the excellent battle music.

I've played the game for a good hour, just entered the sewers beneath the university, and I've been impressed this far. Johnny's voice takes some time getting used to, but I <3 Shania's voice. It also looks like the battle system is more balanced, since you can only combo with 2 persons, where you could kill a boss in Covenant with only one combo, not even having him do any damage to you. I'm still getting used to the stock system, but I'll see how that'll work out.

Actually you can still do four person combos, and its actually much easier to do them this time around.

I'm only to the end of the University right now, but it seems to be a pretty good game so far. I really liked the fact that when I massive combo'd the first real boss for like 27 hits, it gave me a freaking weapon as a bonus item.

I'm up to Vilcabamba. It's good so far, but not as good as Covenant. I don't particularly enjoy Frank. He's a Joachim rip off. All of his humor just isn't original.

Yasunori Mitsuda isn't doing the soundtrack this time around. He and Kenji Ito have been replaced by Tomoko Imoto, who, I think, is a great replacement.

I've played the first shadow hearts, And i Shadow hearts covenant was boring, but i might finish it since i just got my grubby hands on a copy of SH:FTNW, i might as well finish Covenant ya?

Okay, just finished the University and i must say this game is pretty impressive, For some reason i really liked the whole New York theme than Europe theme.

Oh and for now i have no complaints bout the game, Nice and interesting story, some parts are kinda scary, battle is the same (fun) and the battle theme is pretty good.

I finally bought this yesterday and I'm really glad I did. Couldn't get the other games (I opted to just get this and Metroid Prime Hunters instead) but I'm still trying. Feels nice to finally play some new areas outside of what the demo offered, and without worrying about a lame time limit. I just finished the Grand Canyon and took a break as soon as I got to Chicago.

The Judgment Ring thing is pretty neat, I've gotten good at hitting the strike areas 100% in battle. And I like the combo system...single input makes me happier. I gotta remember to keep an eye on the SP, I've gone berserk a few times already and lost out on EXP. I'm having fun otherwise, Frank's awesome (cracked up when he grabbed that cactus...) and I like Shania, too. I keep wanting to call her "Shania Twain..." Johnny's design still irks me for some reason. His hair or his jacket...I dunno what it is. He's okay, though.

I like the setting and the humor, nice change of pace from the medieval fantasy stuff I'm used to. I like the music in the Grand Canyon as well as the regular and boss battle music. The music that plays in New York annoyed me but now it's stuck in my head, not sure if that's good or bad.

I'm probably gonna go play again soon, Just itching to get on with the storyline and figure out what in the world is going on with the redheaded dude, really.

Yeah shiana is cool, Fan service for the win.

Okay, so this game is good. It has it's share of problems, such as lame dungeons and sometime's the story just feels ugh. "Wow they aren't hear anymore." ::moves:: "Wow they aren't here either" etc..

I also don't get how people say it's too comedy-ish. The main story doesn't even have that many comedy bits after about 5 hours. The only comedy is the sidequests, which are hilarious. Mao's sidequest is pretty much the best, since the paraodied like every movie ever.

This game is still the worst in the series (excluding Koudelka) but it ends up being satisfying in the end. I just hope we'll find out what happened to Yuri in SH4.

i need to get back to this an beat it.. but the last boss is giving me problems.. then suikoden 5 and Kh2 made me lose my attention to this game.

I'm only up to the Uyuni Salt Lake...Flats...whatever it's called. True story, looking at the box and manual art, I totally thought Hilda was like Johnny's crazy twin or something (hey, they look alike in that art :/ ). I love Hilda, though. Pa-pa-pa-pumpkins. Really enjoying the game. Love the sidequests. I replayed that opening scene in the Caribbean about a million times to see all the possible reactions of the characters. Kind of tired of the scenes with Lady...or at least I'm just tired of watching her walk silently/endlessy while Killer follows and gawks with his dopey slouch. And I wish the battle music didn't change in South America -_-

Oh, and I bought a complete copy of Koudelka on eBay for 24 bucks. Got all the disks, the manual, the case in excellent condition although a little cacked but I don't mind that at all. It just got here today, w00t. Now to buy the other games.

Having finished the game, here's my review:

Well, now that Lady finally stopped kicking my ass, I just gotta say: what's up with everyone talking about how not-"dark" or whatever the story is.

I mean, yes, the characters are weird and just fucking odd and whatever, but there's moments in the story that are just fucked the hell up. Sure, it's got plenty of cliches (like:
)
but even then, some of the ways the cliches were delivered were kinda . . . messed up in my opinion. Now all I need is some fucking help trying to figure out how to open up sidequest areas apart from Natan's. I made it through the game once by myself, and managed to find a half-way decent amount of stuff (just didn't have the patience right now to get all those damn coins for Mao's shit,) so now all I can do is be annoyed at the half-complete status of most of the faqs that I've seen. Oh well, hopefully by the time I'm done with Kuon, KH2, and SotC and can come back to this, there'll be more side-quest faqs. If not, guess I'll just have to get the second ending to Fatal Frame 3. Stupid long games.

There's a personal sidequest FAQ thread thing at GameFAQs that helped me out a lot. They don't really specify when some things can be done, or where they can be found (like enemies that drop certain coins for Mao, but that can be figured out easily on your own). But overall it's very helpful.

http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/gen...topic=26968102