Shadow Hearts

I'm going to come out and say it. Shadow Hearts is easily my favorite RPG, but that doesn't mean I'm going to give it a 10 for everything. That would be close minded. I try to keep an open mind when playing a game and when reviewing it, meaning I try my best not to be biased at all. With that out of the way, I really do think it's a shame that Shadow Hearts was released around the same time as Final Fantasy X. That's most likely the main reason why this game was overlooked, and was only recently discovered by more fans of the RPG genre. Players that missed out on this game (including me since my friend told me about the series a couple of years ago) really missed out on a good RPG. It's not as large as Final Fantasy X, but I do think it's just as good as it, if not better.

The story of Shadow Hearts follows the trail of a young man named Yuri Hyuga. Yuri is a special case, mainly because he's able to fuse into different demons at will, making him far from the norm. While...

It's 1913, and, following the death of her father, a young girl is in the custody of the Chinese army. Young Alice Elliot is on a train, on the Trans-Siberian Railroad in Manchuria, when, suddenly, an elderly white-haired man walks through the carriages towards her. He calmly kills the guards, and proceeds to introduce himself as Roger Bacon, before Yuri Hyuga, the rude hero of our story interrupts. After having his arm ripped off and subsequently fixing it back on, Yuri escapes with Alice.





Alice is a little wary of Yuri at first, especially since she just watched this uncouth Russian/Japanese cross punch a man clear through the face. He's unlike anyone she ever met following her Priest father in his...

THE GOOD:
story,dialogues' quality,soundtrack,bosses' difficulty is decent,lots of side quests and hidden locations,great replay value,very interesting and pretty deep characters' personalities

THE BAD:
graphics are literally on Playstation 1 level,very short game length,small world's size

SUMMARY:
well,in short:

STORY great,in general-one of the best of all rpgs from NES through PS2.very original and standing out.
main character's personality development is high,deep and interesting.by the way,very original main character-the "hero",he is absolutely out of any "hero"-types that you can see in most rpgs.very interesting,and out of any type as well,all other characters.
dialogues are outstanding.
very interesting and original time and place of the game's events-the beginning of XX century,Asia and Europe..in general-dark and subtle storyline.

BATTLES & B.SYSTEM pretty decent,some bosses are...

Shadow Hearts is an RPG set in the early 20th Century, on an alternate earth where magic is real and not questioned by those in the know. Starting play as the mysterious, handsome, and not-exactly-all-there shapeshifter Yuri, you travel the world, make friends, fight monsters, and unravel a strange plot that binds you and your companions together. Taoist magic, spies, ancient secrets, stolen documents, and mysterious identities swirl around you as fate draws you and your companions towards a showdown with forces that both are and are not what they seem . . .

Graphics:7/10
Shadow Hearts graphics really are a mix. Sometimes the monsters and effects look like they just escaped from a PS1 game. Other times there are impressive effects or nicely done ''drawn'' cutscenes. The FMV sequences are good, with some very spectacular effects.

There is a great deal of artistry to the designs, the effects, and the images. This helps smooth over less-than-stellar graphical...

THE GOOD:
+ Battle system seemed innovate
+ The game finally ended

THE BAD:
- Horrible VOs
- Ugly watered down graphics
- The trying to hard to be scary plot and story
- Judgement wheel for 2 minutes seemed innovate then became a gimmiky chore.
- Sub-par music
- Dull character development
- Lack luster character design
- The game didn't end sooner

SUMMARY:
You are Yuri Hyuga, a 24-year-old man with a tragic past and an uncertain future. Driven by a mysterious voice to go to certain places and protect certain people, he comes aboard the Trans-Siberian express to save a young exorcist whose father was brutally slaughtered a few months before.... Yada Yada Yada, anyway the story is something a 4th grader threw together to be scary. Yes it was sacry, scary that this game even got made. I felt sorry for anyone who sat threw the whole game not only did you have to listen to horrible VO but look...

THE GOOD:
+Excellent particle effects
+An extremely superb soundtrack
+One of the most, if not the most, innovative RPG battle systems ever.
+Character arwork is unparallelled.
+A dark, gothic storyline that has yet to find a match in coolness.

THE BAD:
-Mediocre voice acting.
-Sub-par graphics, though when did graphics matter?
-Skill-based gameplay may turn off some, though I don't know why.

SUMMARY:
You are Yuri Hyuga, a 24-year-old man with a tragic past and an uncertain future. Driven by a mysterious voice to go to certain places and protect certain people, he comes aboard the Trans-Siberian express to save a young exorcist whose father was brutally slaughtered a few months before. Roger Bacon, a mysterious older Englishman, seeks her power to destroy the world. Alice is being guarded by Japanese soldiers, who fall in bloody messes to Roger's might. Before he can grab her, Yuri shows up. Yuri...

THE GOOD:
Jugement Ring!,(Adds A Bit Of Challenge,doesn't just do things for you!)FMV's:Great Graphics On Those,Character Realism,Fusion + Roger Bacon<img src="/smile.gif" border=0 vspace=2>

THE BAD:
Not So Many Of Those FMV's And Maybe A Bit Shorter Than Final Fantasy but it still is a great game!

SUMMARY:
This Is The Best RPG I have ever played apart from Final Fantasy 10!This Is At Least Worth A Go If You Are Into RPG's!The Main Character Is Sometimes A Bit Iritating And I Wish That the character's actually spoke out loud,This would boost my rating to a 5!The Judgement Ring Is Totally Unique In a game And I Think this is one of the best elements!Also Using Fusion(Tranforming Into other animals)Is cool aswell!This Game Has Fun Replay Value as when you have finished you get to start the game again with your previous stats,items,equipment and fusions!

THE GOOD:
Close to everything!

THE BAD:
The characters when they move around, better if they can smooth out the edge so they don't appear to be squares

SUMMARY:
Graphic isn't everything! The graphic mightn't be close to Final Fantasys' but everything else can level or even beaten Final Fantasy! The music background is definity a big point score for the game! The storyline is great, especially with the dark theme to it, giving alittle Silent Hill touch. The characters personalities is realistic and very much alive and real! The battle gets annoying at times but so does FF battles if you have to repeat it every ten seconds! The Judgement Ring system is a very nice touch to it, very detailed ring and give a sence of challenage, unlike other games where you press a button and the action is done for you...

So what you waiting for? Santa? Get up, go to your local game shop and give the game a try! It's a...

THE GOOD:
Involving story with, horror, RPG elements

THE BAD:
that annoying judgement ring

SUMMARY:
Good graphics, great story line, but so-so voice acting..I hate having to read almost every character line. This is a very absorbing game...I've been late getting up many mornings!

It's set in what appears to be victorian era Japan. It is only loosely set in that era, though. There are some references to things/events/sayings that could never be historically correct. It's the story of a priest's young daughter, Alice Elliot, who has white magic powers. She is rescued from an evil warlock who calls himself Roger Bacon, by the rude hero, Yuri Hyuga. Yuri is what is called a harmonixer, which means that he can fuse into various monsters that he has defeated.

Yuri hears a voice in his head that give him instructions and orders to go to this place and protect that person, and so forth. (say,...

THE GOOD:
Characters, storyline, sidequests, fusion... Ah, for God's sake, I could go on and on... Oh, but I have to mention Roger Bacon...

THE BAD:
It would be great if SH was a bit longer...

SUMMARY:
Alright, now let's see... Shadow Hearts was the first RPG I ever played, and it's still my favourite. It has a very deep, moving storyline, (well, most of the time it's funny... hilarious, actually) well-thought out character structure, and a great range of monsters (wait until you see the Rage Demon... Heh heh...). To top it all of, the FMV sequences are awesome, the dark, gothic theme is to die for, and we have our great friend Roger Bacon!!!
Because SH came out around the same time as FFX, not many people took notice of it. Trust me, you don't know what you're missing.
Overall, Shadow Hearts is an amazing RPG, one that...