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Shadow Hearts

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Shadow Hearts is a series of role playing games for the PlayStation 2. The original Shadow Hearts was developed by Sacnoth and released by Midway in the United States during December 2001. The sequel, Shadow Hearts: Covenant (or Shadow Hearts II), was also made by the same group, although Sacnoth reformed itself into a company called Nautilus for the project. It was released in October 2004 in the United States. A further sequel, Shadow Hearts: From the New World, was released in Japan in July 2005 and in the United States on March 7, 2006. The Shadow Hearts series is known for its juxtaposition of historical facts and details with fantastic, often anachronistic characters and events, otherwise known as a "secret history" or alternative history. While not amazing sellers, the Shadow Hearts games have developed a reputation as "cult" games that have done very well in their niche.

Contents

Koudelka

It should be noted that the PlayStation game Koudelka, Sacnoth's first effort, is technically a predecessor to Shadow Hearts, although the connection to it as not as strong as the connection between the other games.

Shadow Hearts

Shadow Hearts
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Shadow Hearts

Koudelka was set in 1898. Shadow Hearts moves considerably ahead and starts in late 1913 on a branch of the Trans-Siberian Railroad in Manchuria. The game's protagonist, Yuri Volte Hyuga (Urmnaf "Uru" Bort Hyuga in the Japanese version), hears a voice in his head telling him to rescue the young Alice Elliot, whose priest father was recently murdered in a most brutal fashion in Rouen, France. After an English gentleman by the name of philosopher Roger Bacon attempts to abduct Alice from the Japanese army himself, Yuri saves her, and starts a quest through China (and eventually Europe) to discover Alice's importance, Bacon's intent, the identity of the mysterious voice, and his own relevance.

The brainchild of Matsuzo Itakura (art director of Koudelka), who succeeded Hiroki Kikuta as the president of Sacnoth, this game plays more similarly to standard console RPGs than Koudelka, yet features some innovations that set it apart. It marks the introduction of the "Judgement Ring" system, where players must press the action button as an arm circles the Ring. It also introduced Sanity Points, a somewhat Lovecraftian addition, in which characters are slowly poisoned by the insanity and malice of nearby monsters during combat. If a combat drags too long, the afflicted character becomes "Berserk" and uncontrollable.

Shadow Hearts is also considered unique by its fans for its quirky style. The setting, an alternate Earth where monsters and mystical forces seem common, the seriousness of some of the game's subject matter and the horror elements clash with its sense of humor.

The voice actors in the English version of the game are as follows:

Shadow Hearts: Covenant

Shadow Hearts: Covenant
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Shadow Hearts: Covenant

Shadow Hearts: Covenant (also called Shadow Hearts II) directly continues from the story at the end of Shadow Hearts, assuming the "bad ending" was correct.

The town of Domremy has stubbornly refused to fall to the German advance at the beginning of World War I thanks to the aid of a "demon" which seems to defend it. Lieutenant Karin Koenig of the German army is sent along with a person who claims to be an Inquistor from the Vatican, Nicolai Conrad, to acquire a means of exorcising this demon. However, the 'Demon of Domremy' is actually the Harmonixer Yuri from the first Shadow Hearts. Yuri, Karin, and Nicolai soon become entangled in a plot involving secret conspiracies, the Russian royal family, the Japanese foreign minister, the mystical tome from Koudelka, and more.

Other characters include Gepetto, a puppeteer who uses his puppet Cornelia to fight; Blanca, a white wolf; Princess Anastasia of the Russian Romanov Dynasty; Lucia, an Italian fortune teller and aromatherapist; Kurando Inugami (犬神蔵人 Inugami Kurando), a swordsman and fledgling Harmonixer; and Joachim Valentine, a strange vampire wrestler who is also the younger brother of Keith from Shadow Hearts.

The game as a whole was revamped from Shadow Hearts, including the graphics, the way the Judgment Ring worked, and the cast of characters. Game critics have also smiled upon Shadow Hearts: Covenant much more than the original, and a general consensus seems to be that the game is an overall improvement on the first.

An interesting bit of trivia, is that, when this game was in its early stages of development, Aruze "leaked" that the story revolved around only Nicolai, Karin and other yet-to-be-named allies. Yuri was unmentioned and Shadow Hearts 2 was believed to be absent and this game a separate story. However, once the game was released, many players and fans were delighted and surprised to see that Yuri had made his return as the main focus of this game. [[Citing sources citation needed]]

The voice actors in the English version of the game are as follows:

Shadow Hearts: From The New World

Shadow Hearts: From the New World
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Shadow Hearts: From the New World

The latest installment in the series, Shadow Hearts: From The New World, was announced in March 2005. XSEED Games, a company made up of former Square Enix USA employees, brought Shadow Hearts: From the New World to North America.

It begins in North America in the year 1929 and features two new main characters: a 16 year old New Yorker named Johnny Garland, and a 21 year old Native American woman named Shania, who has powers of fusion similar to Yuri and Kurando in the previous Shadow Hearts entries, however, Shania is not an harmonixer, she makes pacts with spirits while Yuri and Kurando turned into demons. The story begins with Johnny, a private detective, being hired by a man named Gilbert to find one Marlow Brown. When Johnny finds the man, however, a mysterious 'window' opens, and from it emerges a monster. The rest of the game follows Johnny, Shania, and company as they attempt to uncover the truth about Gilbert and his plans.

From The New World is closer to a spinoff than to a sequel, although many fans still refer to it as Shadow Hearts 3. The game does have some ties to the previous incarnations in the series, including returning characters Roger Bacon and Lenny Curtis, as well as another member of the Valentine vampire clan, Hildegard. Also appearing is be the infamous Émigré Manuscript (The series' McGuffin) and shopkeeper Gerard.

Playable characters include Johnny Garland, Shania, Natan (Shania's traveling companion and protector), Hildegard Valentine, Ricardo (a mariachi gunfighter in the style of Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi character), Frank (an oddball ninja), and Mao (a large, talking cat).

Shadow Hearts: From The New World was released on July 28, 2005, in Japan and March 7, 2006, in North America. The English voice actors are as follows:

Other characters include:

See also

External links

 

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