======================================= SHADOWHEARTS FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ======================================= For PS2 By LyssaJ, contact ljaraba@earthlink.net Version 1.0 Sept 22, 2002 LEGAL: This document copyright 2002 LyssaJ. Shadow Hearts belongs to Sacnoth and Aruze. This document not to be used or duplicated in whole or in part without permission. Permission granted for this document to be used by GameFAQs.com. If you wish to use this document on your site or use a portion of this document, please email me and ask permission. ========== Okay, I get a lot of email questions that ask the same thing over and over, and a lot of these same questions get asked on the board over and over, so I thought I'd save you the delay of waiting for a response and give you a file that covers them. This document is not meant to replace the walkthroughs, including my own walkthrough, but is meant to provide a quick reference for those trying to get through on their own but stuck on one issue. If you have a question you think I should add to this file, let me know. See Also My: Shadow Hearts Walkthrough (update expected ~Oct 2002) for a complete walkthrough of the game. Shadow Hearts Supplement (posting expected ~Oct 2002) for characters, skills, weapons, armor, items, and bestiary. I'd also recommend the other Shadow Hearts FAQs and guides on GameFAQs.com, in particular Grand Admiral's Sidequest FAQ. ========== 1. How long is the game? 2. Fox Face is after me. How do I get rid of him? 3. I'm running out of cash. How do I get money? 4. I've reached level 2 on my soul energy. Why can't I get a level 2 soul? 5. How do I do the Blue Castle coffin maze? 6. How do I do a push ring, particularly the London push ring? 7. Where are all the lottery members? 8. I have my soul energy at max level. How do I get level 3 fusions? 9. How do I unlock the '?????' skill? 10. What is a good party to use? 11. Where is a good place to level up? 12. How many crucifixes are in the game and where do I find them? 13. Where are the documents? 14. How do I open up the secret areas? 15. Where are the hidden angel bosses? 16. How do I get the hidden fusions? 17. Where is everyone's ultimate weapon and armor? 18. What is the 100% monster and 100% treasure thing about? 19. How do I get the good ending? 20. How do I start a second game with the game plus features? 21. Why can't I equip all my fusion souls on my second game? ----- 1. HOW LONG IS THE GAME? It all depends on your strategy for leveling. If you're the type of person who likes to hang out in each battle area for a while, you'll spend more time on the game than if you prefer to move on to the next area as quickly as possible and level up at the end against monsters who give more XP. Both strategies are viable. If you level up early, you'll have an advantage against bosses. If you move as quickly as possible through the game, you'll have fewer malice fights and Yuri will face malice monsters at a lower level with better weapons and fusions. Side quests and how high you decide to level your characters will also factor in to your total time. Also, if you use a walkthrough, you'll probably shave off a couple of hours at least. So, here is a rough estimate: Fast, walkthrough, no sidequests, main party level 35 - 15 hours Slow, no walkthrough, all side quests, all level 99 - 40 hours As you can see, there's wide variance and on your first game you'll probably fall somewhere in the middle. ----- 2. FOX FACE IS AFTER ME. HOW DO I GET RID OF HIM? This question is actually answered in the FAQ section of the game's help menu, but it still gets asked a lot. Every time you kill an enemy, you acquire malice from the anger of its soul trapped in the Graveyard. As this malice builds, you'll see the screen flash different colors after every couple of battles, blue, green, yellow, and finally red, accompanied by a growl. This means the malice has accumulated to a point where Fox Face can break out of the shadow world into the real world and attack Yuri. If you want to check your malice level, open the menu. There is a little icon in the corner that looks like part of a Yin-Yang symbol. That is your malice meter and will change color to show you your level. To prevent Fox Face from coming, you can clear the malice at any point from after a single battle to when you're red and your next fight will be against Fox Face himself. To clear malice, go to a save point and pull up the menu. Choose Graveyard from the side menu, then choose the option at the bottom of the screen to enter the Graveyard. Approach the masks on the far left of the screen and tell them you'd like to clear your malice. You will go into a one on one fight against a monster born of the anger of the trapped souls. There are different monsters depending on how much malice you've accumulated, four in all. The less malice you have, the easier the monster you'll face. Malice monsters count in your monster library if you're trying to complete that, so you'll want to fight each one at least once. Malice monsters, like Fox Face, level up with you, so always expect a bit of a challenge. If you lose against a malice monster, you won't get a game over, you'll just get another unconscious on your score. For a win you'll receive no XP or money, but the masks will reward you with a random item. Usually they'll give you a leaf, but they've also been known to throw in silver hands, monkey paws, and various seals for prizes. If you fight a malice monster after you've already reached red, your only prize will be not facing Fox Face. If you choose to face Fox Face, be prepared for an extremely tough battle. Save before you do it as even in the best of situations you have about a fifty-fifty chance of getting killed. A victory will depend on luck as much as strategy, as your best shot is if he happens to miss on an attack. Be well-stocked on thera, mana, and pure items and have Yuri fully healed and rested. Three to four solid perfect attacks is about the usual for taking Fox Face down, but keep in mind that you'll have to survive that long, so you'll be spending more turns healing and restoring. A light soul seems to survive better than the others as it can do more damage against Fox Face's dark element. For a win you get no XP, no cash, no items, and five points of soul energy in each element. ----- 3. I'M RUNNING OUT OF CASH. HOW DO I GET MONEY? Cash is a precious commodity if you're getting a lot of acupuncture and moxibustion on your weapons. The easiest way to take care of the money issue is to prepare for it in China when things don't seem so tight. You'll want to buy Brigand and Pirate earrings while you're still in China. They're first available in Dalian. Get three pairs of Brigand earrings first. Put them on all your active party members. This raises your trophy money by 60%, although it drops your item drop rate by 60% as well. Don't worry so much about that, though. In China and most of the game the items aren't worth anywhere near as much as the cash, and you can buy the items with the extra money easily. You should now make enough money to get you through Europe without too much pain. Be sure to buy the Pirate Earrings before you leave China, however. You have to get them before you go up the stairs after the barrier is broken in Kuihai Tower, and you'll want them later in Europe when they're not available. In the last part of the game you should have more cash than you have any use for, and you'll want to switch earrings at that point so you can pick up some of the really great items dropped by the later monsters in the side quest and final areas of the game. If you missed out on the earrings, you can still do a few things to increase the cash flow, but it will take a little more time than just doing your normal battles and takes a bit of going out of your way, but not much. One trick is to trade in pedometer steps for Thera Extracts and sell the extracts for the cash. Another trick once you have enough cards to make it worthwhile and if you're really good at discount and raise price rings is to buy items at the highest discount you can get and then sell them back at the highest raise price you can get. I recommend the earrings, though, as it's just a lot more convenient to get the extra cash doing what you're already doing. ----- 4. I'VE REACHED LEVEL 2 ON MY SOUL ENERGY. WHY CAN'T I GET A LEVEL 2 SOUL? Your first time through the game you're limited to level 1 souls in China. Yuri is not yet emotionally equipped to handle higher level souls, so no matter how much soul energy you build up, you won't be allowed to fight a higher soul until something changes for him. This doesn't mean you shouldn't get soul energy built up, though. Take advantage of fighting the right element monsters when you can so that when you're ready to take on a level 2 or higher soul, you're not scrambling to find enemies. ----- 5. HOW DO I DO THE BLUE CASTLE COFFIN MAZE? The solution to this one is one of those things where you'll smack your forehead for not seeing it, but it slips by a lot of people, so no need to feel bad. Pray at the coffins in alphabetical order: Abel, Edgar, Frank, Helen, Leon, Maria, Robin, Steven. ----- 6. HOW DO I DO A PUSH RING, PARTICULARLY THE LONDON PUSH RING? A lot of people complain that they can't get this ring. Yes, there are times that it will still not move no matter what you do because it's irregular, but that should be only once every ten times or so. First, put the controller down on the floor or another flat surface in front of you. Use your index finger instead of your thumb to push the X button. Wait until the ring and indicator are fully displayed before you start pushing (don't worry, there is plenty of time on the clock to do the ring). Now repeatedly and rapidly press X to move the indicator. If at any point you stop pressing X, the hand will sweep back and there is nothing you can do to stop it. You can either run a few seconds off the clock before you start pushing, or you can run the indicator past the hit area and let it fall back in the last couple of seconds, but your goal is to have the indicator in the hit area at zero seconds. ----- 7. WHERE ARE ALL THE LOTTERY MEMBERS? There are sixteen lottery members you must play against, from 15 to 00. If you miss any of the first fifteen, you will not be allowed to play against 00. In general, there is one lottery member in each town, although a couple of them are in battle areas. Here is a list of the lottery members and their locations: 15 Fengtian, 1st screen (after 'incident' can be found inside shop). 14 Dalian, in Sea Turtle Restaurant on second day. 13 Smuggler's Boat, Wheelhouse. Tell Kato you don't want to shop. 12 Shanghai, first trip. Leave hotel and go down side street to right to find the docked boat. Go down into the bunkroom to find him. 11 Ni Wan Palace, red level. Xiaofang is at the end of a path. 10 Kowloon Fortress, 1st screen. You must open the side quest by giving the first response all three times when Alice is being questioned by Dehuai, then return to Shanghai after Kuihai Tower is opened and take boat to Kowloon Fortress. He's one of the first men you'll meet when you get off the boat. 09 Kuihai Fortress after first Dehuai battle. Talk to Japanese soldier and tell him you don't want to change party members. 08 Prague, guard next to save point. 07 Bistritz, after town is cleared. Talk to top right door in village. 06 Rouen, after town is cleared. Man in the alley next to the inn. 05 London, old man on his knees. 04 Calios Mental Hospital, after Alice's solo trip. Go to Torture Room (the one with the chair in the middle and all the chains) and go to the chair. He's difficult to see. 03 Orphanage, after Europe side quests open. Play hide-and-seek with children to open the way to the cauldron, talk to boy in cauldron. 02 Rouen, after Europe side quests open. Put Margarete in party and go to church, then talk to Lottery 06 in alley. (Note: he'll revert to Lottery 06 once you win his red prize, so if you want any of his other prizes, win them first.) 01 (Vice-Chairman) Blue Castle, after Europe side quests open. Do not have Keith in party. Go to throne room and talk to 'Invisible Man'. 00 (Chairman) Nemeton Monastery, after playing against all previous members and entering Float at least once. Go into Strange Creature's house and talk to him. Tell him you need to go to the bathroom. (Note: if there are other side quests active that he's involved in, you might need to clear his role in them before he'll reveal himself.) ----- 8. I HAVE MY SOUL ENERGY AT MAX LEVEL. HOW DO I GET LEVEL 3 FUSIONS? To get a level 3 fusion soul, you must have the gravestone that corresponds to that soul, then you can approach the tombstone in the Graveyard to initiate the fight with the level 3 fusion soul. Here are the six stones and their locations: DARK GRAVESTONE - Head up to the top of Blue Castle's tower and check in Yuri's old room to find the stone. EARTH GRAVESTONE - After Alice's solo fight in Prague, go to Bistritz and examine the shining point outside the shop. Choose to watch over it, then leave town and return again. Continue to choose to watch over it and leave until Nina appears. Talk to Nina to receive the stone. AIR GRAVESTONE - Return to Prague after entering London. You must have Tissues in your inventory, which you can get by losing any lottery. Enter tavern, then go into bathroom to find Darcie. Give him Tissues and leave. When you try to leave the tavern, he'll give you the stone. WATER GRAVESTONE - After first dialogue in Orphanage and returning to the London inn, go to Rouen and enter the inn. Go up the stairs to Yuri's room and talk to the couple, then go to the church and to the rear confessional. Return to the inn room. If you picked the first choice in the dialogue, he'll sell you the water gravestone for 3,000 cash. If you picked the second choice, he'll give it to you for free. If you picked the third choice, you can find him in the street in front of the church and purchase it from him for 10,000. FIRE GRAVESTONE - Calios Mental Hospital, Spade room. Check the chest after getting the Dungeon Key to find the stone. LIGHT GRAVESTONE - Nemeton Monastery, Strange House. Go all the way to the end of the ramps to find the stone. ----- 9. HOW DO I UNLOCK THE '?????' SKILL? Equip the soul you want to unlock the '?????' skill on and enter battle, fuse, and allow Yuri to go berserk. The next turn, the soul will automatically use and learn the spell. To make the process faster, equip Yuri with the small jug so he'll use up two SP points per turn. Either take the party to someplace with easy monsters, like Blue Castle, or have Yuri enter the Graveyard for a malice fight against Gust Ein (fight one battle with Alice in the party after clearing malice so you get the easiest monster). If you have the whole party, kill all but one enemy, then sit back and defend until Yuri loses it. If you're at a high level, you might want to have Yuri fuse to a level 1 soul, then disembody, then fuse to the higher soul to wipe out his SP even faster. Yes, those berserks are going to be counted on your score, but you'll only have to unlock these skills once. When playing a second or subsequent game, the skills already unlocked will remain unlocked on any fusion souls you inherit from your previous game. ----- 10. WHAT IS A GOOD PARTY TO USE? Shadow Hearts is very forgiving in letting you pick a party. You won't actually be able to pick a party for much of China, but as you get deeper into Europe you have much more choice in party members. To be honest, you can take any allowed party into any of the areas and be able to make it through, but the easiest party when you have all members available is Yuri, Keith, and either Alice or Halley. Yuri is of course your party leader and can't be replaced most of the time, but you wouldn't want to give up his power in battle anyhow. Keith makes an excellent second choice for sheer strength of attack and balance of skills, plus he can take care of himself in battle with his special skills that allow him to do damage and heal or cure status in the same move. His judgement ring is also very easy for most people to hit once they get used to it. With Keith in your party you can generally face off against the tough bosses at a much lower level than with a party where he's absent. The third party member choice of Alice or Halley is a hotly debated issue, but comes down to personal preference. Alice is a better healer and has massive MP, but is weaker on attack and a little more likely to go berserk in a long battle. Halley is more limited on cure skill, but he's fast as lightning and has a better balance of offensive abilities and a better chance of evading damage altogether. In the end, though, pick who you like best, and more importantly, who you can hit with best. If you like Margarete and Zhuzhen, go for it. You may need to level up a little higher than for another party and stock up on items a bit more, but there's no reason why it can't be done and plenty of people have done it. ----- 11. WHERE IS A GOOD PLACE TO LEVEL UP? This of course depends on where you are. Generally, if you're in the linear portion of the game, the best place to level up is exactly where you are. There are a few choice places to go if they're available to you and you need some quick XP, though. KOWLOON FORTRESS. Particularly if you're having trouble beating the China boss, this is the place to go. If you find you can't beat this boss, you'll need to have a save before you go up the stairs in Kuihai Tower after you've gotten the barrier taken down, then return to Shanghai and your boat to get to this side quest, and it will only be open if you chose the first response throughout Alice's interrogation by Dehuai. The monsters here are the equivalent of most of the bosses you've faced so far and will give you some quick leveling. ANCIENT RUINS/CAVE TEMPLE. A couple more side quest areas that have some healthy monsters in them to rack up that XP. You should have some Monk Earrings by now, so use them. Cave Temple is probably a bit more effective because you'll face larger groups of monsters in your random encounters. NEAMATO. This is the final area, so naturally it has bigger and better random encounters than anywhere else in the game. The higher you go in Neamato, the harder the fights become and the more XP you'll get. ----- 12. HOW MANY CRUCIFIXES ARE IN THE GAME AND WHERE DO I FIND THEM? There are a total of five Crucifixes in the game, but you'll only need three to have your main party equipped for battle. The Crucifixes can be found in: London Rats Hideout. Joshua will give you your first Crucifix after you talk to Chris when you first visit the hideout. London Rats Hideout Pit Fights. You'll win a Crucifix if Alice survives all ten rounds in the pit fights. This is very, very hard to do if she's under level 50. I'd suggest grabbing the next two listed and then coming back for this after you've gotten her leveled up. Orphanage. When you play Lottery 03, a Crucifix is the red prize. Fairly easy if you wear a Pocket Watch, by the way. Dollhouse. There is a Crucifix in the final room in a chest to the right of the bed. To open the Dollhouse, you need to go to Prague during the Europe side quests and enter the tavern with Alice in your party. Neamato 3rd Floor. Fight the boss Scapegoat and win a Crucifix as a trophy. By this time you should have at least three others, though, so it's a bit of a bonus. ----- 13. WHERE ARE THE DOCUMENTS? There are four documents in the game which are needed for certain side quests. None of them is necessary to complete the game. One of the documents requires an item only found in China, so you need to get that before you leave that continent. The documents themselves are available once the Europe side quests portion of the game is opened. The documents and their locations are: BOOK OF RITUALS - Take Alice and Zhuzhen to Nemeton Monastery and approach the front of the monastery. CODEX OF LURIE - Return to boss fight area of Nemeton Monastery and inspect the shining point in the middle of the floor. EMIGRE MANUSCRIPT - Play hide-and-seek with children in Orphanage, then approach the cauldron in the Experiment Room. PULSE TRACT - You must have the Erotic Book from Kuihai Tower (you can find it on the floor in the Blue Dragon altar room). After you've gone through the Ancient Ruins side quest twice (see WHERE ARE THE HIDDEN BOSSES? below under Seraphim) and if you have the other documents, go to the Strange Creature's house and talk to him to trade the Erotic Book for the Pulse Tract. ----- 14. HOW DO I OPEN UP THE SECRET AREAS? There are four secret areas on the World Map that you can open. All are sidequests and none are required to beat the game, but all contain unique monsters and treasure and make the subsequent parts of the game easier. KOWLOON FORTRESS - In China when Alice is kidnapped and interrogated, answer with the first option all three times. When Kuihai Tower is opened, visit it once, but go back to Shanghai before going past the barrier at the end of the votive altar puzzle. Go down the side street to the boat and board the boat to go to Kowloon Fortress. ANCIENT RUINS - In Europe, after Float has risen and you've spoken to Koudelka, get the Book of Rituals and read it in your Valuables menu to open the Ancient Ruins on the World Map. CAVE TEMPLE - In Europe, after Float has risen and you've spoken to Koudelka, get the Emigre Manuscript and read it in your Valuables menu to open the Cave Temple on the World Map. DOLLHOUSE - In Europe, after you have gotten the Air Gravestone, the Float has risen, and you've spoken to Koudelka, put Alice in your party and go to the Prague Tavern to open the Dollhouse on the map. ----- 15. WHERE ARE THE HIDDEN ANGEL BOSSES? Once the Europe side quests are opened, you can find the hidden bosses Seraphim and Cherubim. To find them, you must do the hidden areas Ancient Ruins and Cave Temple twice. SERAPHIM - Read the Book of Rituals in your Valuables menu to open the Ancient Ruins on the World Map. Complete the torch maze, then read the menu again to change the maze. Complete it again and you'll find Seraphim at the end. Maze 1 - red, orange, yellow, green, aqua, blue, purple. Maze 2 - purple, blue, aqua, green, yellow, orange, red. Because of tint interpretations being rather open in this section, it may be more helpful for some of you to use left-right directions. Maze 1 - center, right, left, center, left, right, right. Maze 2 - right, left, right, center, right, left, center. CHERUBIM - Read the Emigre Manuscript in your Valuables menu to open the Cave Temple on the World Map. Complete the maze, then read the menu again to change the maze. Complete it again and you'll find Cherubim at the end. Maze 1 - up, left, up, left, down, down, left, left, up, left, up (save point), up. Maze 2 - up, right, up, right, down, down, right, right, up, right (save point), up. (Note: These are the final maze solutions and do not include the treasure to be found by following other paths. Once you complete a maze it will shut out any treasure paths, so be sure to grab the treasure first.) ----- 16. HOW DO I GET THE HIDDEN FUSIONS? There are two hidden fusions in the game, Amon and Seraphic Radiance. To get them you must have the correct stones, the Destruction Stone and the Rebirth Stone. AMON - You must have the Destruction Stone before the boss fight in Nemeton Monastery. To get the stone, you must trigger all three torch switches in the Monastery Basement. Blue switch - From first screen go left, then take bottom path to end. You'll see a chest. Open it to open another chest down below. Return to first screen, take lower right path until you get to bottom chests. Examine chest in upper right to make all three chests vanish and expose blue switch. Turn blue switch on. Red switch - From first screen go left, continue, then take top path to red switch. Turn red switch on. Green switch - Go back down from red switch and continue to left, then down and past torch pool. Continue right and take the top path to the green switch. Turn green switch on. Now go back to the huge cauldron you passed on your way to the green switch. Walk behind it to receive the Destruction Stone. After the boss fight, if you have this stone, you will receive Amon. (Note: The solution above describes only the order to get the stone. To open the treasure chests surrounded by the colored pyramids, you will need to change the torch color at the torch pool to the same color as the pyramid by turning the various switches on and off.) SERAPHIC RADIANCE - To get this soul, you need to have the Rebirth Stone. To get the Rebirth Stone you must have the Pulse Tract (see WHERE ARE THE DOCUMENTS? above for how to get it). Read the Pulse Tract to change the Ancient Ruins torch maze, then complete it to find the Rebirth Stone. Maze - yellow, red, green, purple, blue, red, teal. Take the Rebirth Stone to the Graveyard and enter the gate at the top of the screen to fight the enemy who has this fusion power. ----- 17. WHERE IS EVERYONE'S ULTIMATE WEAPON AND ARMOR? All ultimate weapons and armor are available during the Europe side quests, with the exception of Yuri's ultimate weapon, which you can't get until you visit Neamato. YURI'S NIGHTBIRD CLAW After visiting Neamato once, return to Strange Creature's House and choose the option to help him with his experiment. You'll need to complete a tricky 10-spin ring to get it. YURI'S FATHER'S COAT After defeating Seraphic Radiance, check behind the tree. ALICE'S HOLY BOOK OF FLESH Defeat Orb Chaos in Dollhouse to win this prize. ALICE'S GOLD THREAD COAT Complete the Ancient Ruins maze once and open the chest at the end. ZHUZHEN'S HOLY PEAK STAFF Defeat Cherubim in Cave Temple to win this prize. ZHUZHEN'S COAT OF THE ADEPT Go to Rouen inn and talk to Meiyuan in his room. MARGARETE'S 10 GAUGE Play against Lottery 2 in Rouen and win the red prize. Margarete must be in party and must visit the church first. MARGARETE'S LEATHER SUIT Accumulate 100,000 steps on your pedometer, then talk to the silent peddler in the London tavern. KEITH'S DEMON SWORD-TYRVING With Keith in the party, go to Blue Castle's coffin room. Keith must defeat Golden Bat in one on one battle with physical attack only. KEITH'S MANTLE OF SHIVERING Complete the Cave Temple maze once and open the chest at the end. HALLEY'S VOLT SNIPE Defeat Seraphim in Ancient Ruins to win this prize. HALLEY'S METAL JACKET Halley must survive ten rounds in the London Rats' Hideout pit fights. ----- 18. WHAT IS THE 100% MONSTER AND 100% TREASURE THING ABOUT? On your second or subsequent play of the game you can attain a complete monster library. To do this you will have to have completed all the side quests and fought all eight malice monsters, plus pit fight monsters and the masks in both forms. When you have a complete monster library you can talk to Old Carl in the London Rats Hideout and he'll give you a reward. Treasure is counted by how much of the scattered items on the ground and in chests you have discovered. I personally have never gotten 100% on the treasure, so I cannot confirm what the result is, but it is said to be nothing more than a 'job well done' from Old Carl. ----- 19. HOW DO I GET THE GOOD ENDING? To change the ending, Yuri must rescue Alice during the Atman fight. To trigger this, you must defeat the four masks before going to Neamato. To make this task easier, you will need the Oath Grail, acquired from Joshua in the London Rats Hideout after Alice's solo trek to Rouen. THE ORDER OF THE FIGHTS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE OUTCOME OF THE GAME! IT ONLY MAKES THE FIGHTS EASIER! After receiving the Oath Grail, put Alice in your party and run your malice to red. The first mask to appear if you have the Oath Grail should be the Grail Mask. It will be weakened by the presence of the Oath Grail and should be an easy fight. Save and fight a few more battles to make the next mask appear. It will be randomly any of the other three masks, or the already defeated dead mask. If it is the next mask in the order, Gold Mask, then the fight will be easy as it will be weakened by Grail's loss. If it isn't, then the fight will be more challenging as the judgement ring attack will work for the mask and their attack will be more powerful. Pocket Watches and Phoenix Tails have no effect during these fights, so don't bother with them. Continue fighting until all four masks are dead. If you're going for a complete library, be sure to fight each mask in its dead form as well. Dead masks are pathetic little beasts with 1 hp and a 1 hp damage attack, but they are funny. For beating a dead mask you'll receive a thera leaf, 10 XP, and five points soul energy in all elements. For live fights, here is each mask. Keep in mind that if they are in order the judgement ring attack will have no effect. GRAIL MASK - Weakened automatically by Oath Grail. Judgement ring attack doubles hit areas. Easy fight. Reward: amber ring, 45000 XP, five points soul energy in all elements. GOLD MASK - Judgement ring attack Popping Spin (tiny ring on everyone). Impervious to physical attack, so hit it with your strongest specials. Reward: carnelian ring, 45000 XP, five points soul energy in all elements. STAFF MASK - Judgement ring attack Tight Spin (hit areas halved for everyone). Reward: lazurite ring, 45000 XP, five points soul energy in all elements. SWORD MASK - Judgement ring attack Fast Spin (double indicator speed for everyone). Impervious to special attack. Reward: obsidian ring, 45000 XP, five points soul energy in all elements. My third party member in these fights is Keith, because his judgement ring is fairly easy even if it's got an abnormality on it, and he's a powerful fighter who can heal himself while still doing damage. I put Alice in the back and Keith and Yuri up front to act as the attackers while Alice plays support with healing skills and items. I use Czernobog or Amon against Gold Mask for their strong special attacks, and Lobo or Amon against Sword Mask for their strong physical attacks. Okay, now that the four masks are defeated, take Yuri to the Graveyard. You've probably noticed that a small tombstone has sprouted up in the lower left next to one of the element tombstones. Have Yuri read this tombstone so he knows what's going on. When you prepare to go to Neamato the first time and Alice faces her nemesis, Yuri will show up to help out. If you win this battle, you'll get the good ending. You'll also get the Crystal Ring from the final mask, and the Seven-Eyed Mask as a prize if you talk to the four masks after beating him. ----- 20. HOW DO I START A SECOND GAME WITH THE GAME PLUS FEATURES? After you beat the game the first time, you'll be given the option to save your game as a clear file. Choose to do this, then load that file to start the game over with game plus. The game plus features in Shadow Hearts are that you retain your monster library from your previous game, you inherit all fusion souls you had before, and your previous score will now be posted for comparison to your new score. ------ 21. WHY CAN'T I EQUIP ALL MY FUSION SOULS ON MY SECOND GAME? You can only equip souls Yuri has enough SP to fuse to. You must level him up to have the required fusion SP + 1 before you can equip the soul. You won't have to build up soul energy or fight the souls to use them. Don't worry, if you level him up enough, you'll be able to use Seraphic Radiance in China. =========== A big thanks to Sacnoth and Aruze for a great game, and to Midway for bringing it to the US so I could play it. Even bigger thanks to the readers who emailed me with their questions and their answers to some of my questions. And thanks of course to the fellow freaks who hang out on GameFAQs on the Shadow Hearts board (especially hard sync oscillator and PixieCry who proofread this FAQ and offered suggestions to improve it, and Kashell Triumph who also offered suggestions), where you can find people willing to answer any questions you still might have, and to CJayC for his hard work in maintaining GameFAQs.