Shadow Hearts

"A Diamond in the Rough"

Shadow Hearts is a cute little title. Many overlooked the game because it had the misfortune of being released along side the RPG mammoth Final Fantasy X and was also not treated to kindly by critics. I admit that, while the title initially intrigued me (a horror themed RPG from ex-Square employees sound cool), I passed on it for the reasons above. However, because of the game's unique atmosphere, quirky sense of humor, and fantastic soundtrack, Shadow Hearts gained a cult following and thus warranted a look. Having completed the little gem, I can safely say that I'm quite glad I picked it up as it is a fascinating, if highly flawed little game.

The cornerstone of an RPG, for me at least, is its story. Shadow Hearts actually has a very traditional, even clichéd, story with many common RPG conventions such as a young hero with a dark past protecting an innocent young girl and villains trying to perform some ancient ritual to destroy the world. What sets Shadow Hearts apart from other RPGs is not the story so much as the story telling. Players take on the role of Yuri, a smart-mouthed young man with the ability to fuse with monsters. Yuri makes it his mission to protect Alice, a young exorcist whose priest father was recently murdered by a mysterious warlock named Roger Bacon. The story takes place in an alternate version of the early 1900s, one where magic and the supernatural are commonplace. This makes for a truly fascinating world and one that I wanted to learn more about as I went on. Aside from this interesting world, the game also has the atmosphere of a horror title and does its best to be quite creepy at times. Shadow Hearts also isn't afraid to have a sense of humor and a rather adult one at that. Characters will often make snide cracks about each other or the situation and this helps balance the often dark and serious directions the plot takes.

Speaking of the characters, the cast is quite appealing. Part of what makes them work is how they play off each other. As mentioned before, they aren't above making the occasional joke or innuendo about one another and this gentle teasing (as well as some full scale bickering) do a wonderful job of really making them feel like a group of friends rather than just a bunch of random characters working for the same goal. If there is one complaint I have about the story though, it's that I think some of them could have been a bit better developed. While I'm not a big fan of the FF6 style of character development where each character goes back to their home town, experiences some major personal revelation, then leaves not much different then they left; I still think many of the characters deserved to be explored more. Yuri gets some decent development, growing more mature as the adventure progresses and no longer acting like such an arrogant cad but we really never to get inside Alice's head and see quite what drives her. Part of this may have to do with the game's length which is quite a bit shorter than many recent RPGs. While the main plot seems to resolve itself well and doesn't feel rushed, it seems that its brevity came at the price of not fully exploring the cast. Still, despite this flaw, the characters are one of the key strengths of Shadow Hearts.

The battle system in Shadow Hearts is a bit of a mixed bag. At the center of it is the judgment ring. Players must push the ‘X' button when a marker on the ring passes over “hit zones.” By successfully doing this, the player can chain together attacks but if they miss, no attack will be performed. If the player can manage to hit a small red area toward the edge of the hit zones, their attack will be slightly stronger. Personally, the jury is still out on this system, for me at least. On the one hand, it does keep the player more involved in the battles and there are a number of interesting ways that the player and enemies can alter the ring, such as making the hit zones wider, making the marker move faster, and such. However, the ring can also prove quite frustrating. The player must hit all zones to equal what would be the equivalent to a typical attack in another RPG and if the first one is missed, the player is left totally venerable. It's also annoying that the small bonus of successfully hitting the red area really isn't worth the risk of missing and not attacking at all. The required concentration can also make leveling up a real pain. I think I would find the system more tolerable if their were greater benefits to it (in games like Paper Mario or FF8, such timing attacks only give players a bonus and never hurt them) or if the player had the option to turn it off and just do standard RPG attacks.

One really nice wrinkle to the battle system however is Yuri's ability to transform into monsters. It's similar to the Dragoon system in Legend of the Dragoon but done far better. The different monsters Yuri turns into correspond to different elements thus giving them a strategic value. They also have different powers and different attacks. Transforming costs Yuri a large amount of SP (sanity points). These points also decrease slowly during battles and, if they are totally depleted, Yuri will go berserk and start attacking at random.

One last positive thing that's worth noting about Shadow Hearts's gameplay is the relative ease of the dungeons. Rather than having frustratingly long maze-like dungeons, Shadow Hearts's are relatively straightforward without too much confusion. The random encounter rate is also relatively low which is relief as well.

Despite some strong points, there are also some really aggravating flaws in SH's gameplay that dampen the experience. One is the SP points I mentioned earlier. While they are important for Yuri as they stop him from transforming into 10 different monsters in one battle, they are nothing more than a pain for other characters. They slowly drain and the player must constantly waste turns to replenish them (enemies can also steal SP points). Since one already has to worry about replenishing HP and MP, this is simply a pain in the butt with no real value. It's as if the player was poisoned at the start of every battle and has no way to remove it. Another irritation comes from the Malice system. The souls of the monsters Yuri defeats form together to form creatures called Malice. Yuri must go his “graveyard” (a place in his mind) and clear out these monsters every once in a while or very powerful demons will ambush him in battle. As Malice gives no exp and has no useful purpose, clearing it out over and over turns into nothing more than a chore. A final frustration comes from HP and MP recovery. In most RPGs, after a boss fight or important story sequence, the party is usually healed as it is a pain to constantly have to heal one's guys. In Final Fantasy X, Square even employed the brilliant innovation of having save points heal the player (no more having to keep track of stupid tents). Shadow Hearts however rarely ever heals the player, even if it shows them resting in a previous cut scene. It's not a big deal but it's another of many pointless irritations that add up.

Graphically, Shadow Hearts looks like crap. I hate to state it so crudely but it's really the only way to put it. The game looks like a PSX title simply in high resolution. What's worse, the game doesn't even manage to be as good as some of the better PSX titles. The pre-rendered backgrounds for instance are not as lush or animated in as those seen in Final Fantasy VIII or Final Fantasy IX. The 3D characters also lack the color of Chrono Cross or the rich animation of Final Fantasy VIII. I can only assume that this game was started on the PSX and ported at the last minute. Nevertheless, what would have been a solid looking game on the PSX is flat out embarrassing on the PS2 which is supposed to be more than ten times as powerful. It's also really a shame that static backgrounds had to be used because, as Final Fantasy X and Xenosaga proved, a 3D camera can do a lot to enhance a game that is cinematic in nature (as Shadow Hearts clearly is). The only real bright spot are the beautiful CGI sequences which, though few and far between, look fantastic.

The music in Shadow Hearts turns out to be a welcome surprise. The soundtrack is incredibly atmospheric with some truly catchy tunes that do a lot to enhance the game's mood (almost undoing the damage the graphics do). Unfortunately, the few spots of voice acting here and there are utterly awful. The famous “sea mother” scene in particular may well be the worst voice acting I've ever heard. It's especially a shame since it's almost only used during the wonderful CGI cinemas and thus, some really great sequences are hurt.

As I mentioned before, Shadow Hearts is not a long game, taking the average player around 25 hours to complete. That said, there are a few meaty side quests which could add another 10 hours onto the gameplay. Even though it's short, the game still feels pretty complete (unlike many other brief titles) and is well worth the relatively paltry price you'll find it for.

Graphics: 3
Sound: 9
Gameplay: 8
Story: 9
Value: 8
Overall: 8

Shadow Hearts is a diamond in the rough. It's one of those games that is surprisingly enchanting but, at the same time, frustrating because of all the flaws that should have been fixed. If not for the gameplay flaws, short playtime, and the awful graphics and voice acting; Shadow Hearts would have been one of the best RPGs of this generation. As it stands, it's a unique and very fun little title that shouldn't be missed by people looking for something a little different.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/14/05