Shadow Hearts: From the New World

Shadow Hearts: From the New World

PAL cover art
Developer(s) Nautilus
Publisher(s)
Distributor(s)
Designer(s) Takamasa Ōsawa(game director)
Miyako Kato(character designer)
Composer(s) Yoshitaka Hirota
Series Shadow Hearts
Platform(s) PlayStation 2
Release date(s)
  • JP July 28, 2005
  • NA March 7, 2006
  • EU May 25, 2007
Genre(s) Role-playing video game
Mode(s) Single player

Shadow Hearts: From the New World (シャドウハーツ・フロム・ザ・ニューワールド Shadōhātsu Furomu za Nyūwārudo) is a role-playing video game developed by Nautilus in 2005 and was published in Japan by Aruze in North America by XSEED Games, and in Europe by Ghostlight. It is the third official game in the Shadow Hearts series.

The game series departs from Europe and centers on the "New World", the Americas. It is not directly related to the previous games in the series but it occurs in the same universe. The main characters' quest is to investigate mysterious "windows" from which vicious monsters pop out.

Gameplay

Gameplay follows that of its predecessors, using the Judgment Ring to decide most battle outcomes, as well as many other actions throughout the game. A new "Stock" system was made for this game which expands the combination attack system between party members from Shadow Hearts - Covenant and enables double attacks.

The "Stock" system works by filling up a character's stock gauge when he/she performs or receives an attack. A maximum of two stock gauge may be stored. Stock can then be utilized in many ways. For example, doing a Double attack (a character performs two action on the same turn) or starting a Combo consumes one Stock. A Double Combo on the other hand consumes two Stock. The Judgment Ring system essentially remains the same from Shadow Hearts: Covenant, with ring customization and added ring effect items being still available.

Magic returns in the form of Stellar Charts, where characters equip Stellars onto the chart. The charts are based on the constellations of the twelve zodiac signs. Finding and fitting all the Stellars onto the charts rewards the player with the Melt Crest Stellar, the strongest non-elemental magic in the game.

Fusion is also back in the game, albeit quite differently. Unlike Yuri, Shania does not possess the power of the Harmonixer where she is able to fuse into different demons. She makes spirit pacts with the different Guardian Spirits and draws on their power to transform. Shania is only able to fuse into four forms but through acquiring fetishes; statues of different animals, she is able to learn different techniques by powering them up.

Snapping photos is more emphasized in this game. Not only can Johnny obtain enemy data through his photographing enemies, he can also trade the snap cards obtained for prizes. Johnny can also draw upon the power of Malice to transform; though this ability comes rather late in the game.

Plot

The game 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, although she is not a 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.

Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, a wanted criminal who was severely injured was being pursued by the police. He met a mysterious woman who rescued him by finishing off his pursuers with ease. Then, she healed his wounds with the 'Kiss of Malice.' Nobody knows what her intentions or motives are, nor did she speak a single word. The man who identified himself as 'Killer', called her 'Lady' and thereafter followed her where ever she would go.

Shania later teams up with Johnny, accompanied by her guardian, Natan to investigate the strange happening Johnny has witnessed. Arriving at Arkham University, they meet Gilbert, who reveals his true intentions to open the Gate and rain Malice upon the world. Gilbert later teams up with Lady and Killer to achieve his goal. Johnny continues his pursuit to stop Gilbert and meets new allies along the way. They include: Frank; a wacky ninja, Ricardo; a lone guitarist, Master Mao; a cat specialized in the Drunken Fist and Hildegard Valentine; sister of the vampire brothers Joachim and Keith Valentine in the Shadow Hearts series.

Together, Johnny and his friends travel across the globe to stop the evil plans of Gilbert, Lady and Killer. Johnny finds out a shocking truth along the way - that he was revived using the Emigre Manuscript and that Lady was actually his sister, Grace Garland. Their father had revived them after losing them in an accident. He was eventually killed by Grace as she had transferred all her Will into Johnny in exchange for his Malice. This explains why Lady does not speak; she has no memories and is only acting instinctively on the Malice in her body.

An epic battle with Killer eventually defeated unlocks Johnny's "Awaker" powers and Lady calls out Killer's name for the first time. The ritual to invoke the opening of the Gate of Malice is going underway and Johnny is determined to stop his sister. The team battles Gilbert, powered by Malice, for one last time before the final confrontation with Lady. Lady is finally put to rest with Johnny delivering the final blow and she disappears along with Killer's body.

Months later, Johnny receives a case from his detective agency and he proceeds to investigate. There are two different endings, the Good Ending and the Bad Ending. In the Good Ending, Shania follows Johnny out of the agency. In the Bad Ending, Shania watches over from a building with red eyes; an evidence that she has been consumed by Malice. The Good Ending can be obtained by maxing out all of Shania's fetishes including the ones for the optional fusion.

Characters

Playable characters

Villains

Other characters

Development

While some may argue that From The New World is closer to a spinoff than to a sequel, it is important to notice that the game has several links with the previous games. Besides a few returning characters (Roger Bacon, Lenny Curtis, Joachim, Joachim's younger Sister Hilda, Keith Valentine, and Gerard Magimel) and items (the Émigré Manuscript), reference is made to Nicolai Conrad's release of Malice from the Apoina Tower in the previous installment, and a store in Times Square titled "Gepetto and Cornelia" is named after said people in Covenant.

Shadow Hearts: From The New World was released in Japan on July 28, 2005. Midway announced that they will not translate the game, due to the poor sales of Covenant. XSEED took over the distribution for the North America released the game on March 7, 2006 in the United States while Ghostlight took over for the PAL release on May 25, 2006.[4]

The localization from Japanese to English was done by Jeremy Blaustein who also directed the voice recording.

Audio

Voice acting

The English voice actors are as follows:

The Japanese voice actors are as follows: [5]

Soundtrack

Yoshitaka Hirota returned for the composition of the music for Shadow Hearts: From the New World. Yasunori Mitsuda however was not involved and instead Battle Sound Effects Producer Tomoko Imoto joined Hirota in the composition of the game's music.

The OST (Original Soundtrack) of Shadow Hearts: From the New World was released as two Compact Discs under the name of Shadow Hearts From the New World Original Soundtracks by Team Entertainment in Japan on August 24, 2005.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Oh smania! oh furie! ~ D'Oreste e d'Aiace was used in the game in the Chelsea Erick Theater with Soprano and Arrangement by Akiko Shikata (who also provided chorus for a number of other tracks in the game along with Ikuko).

The ending theme, titled SPREAD MY WINGS ~ Ending sung by Takehara Tomoaki, was composed by Yoshitaka Hirota and the lyrics were written by Takehara Tomoaki.

Reception

The game received a somewhat weaker reception than Shadow Hearts: Covenant, though it was still, for the most part, positive. According to review aggregator Metacritic the game averaged 76.[6] Common complaints included the game's shift in tone from the darker nature of the previous two to a more light-hearted atmosphere. Despite these shortfalls, the game tended to receive positive comments about the improved graphics and gameplay. X-Play gave the game a 4 out of 5. Players noted that the combo system from Covenant was expanded upon, but also became more complicated to execute. Enemies are also more apt to use combos than they were in the previous title. Another point taken was that each characters abilities required some sort of sidequest to unlock, rather than being obtained automatically, which led to mixed fan reactions.

References

  1. "Shadow Hearts The New World". CentreSoft. Retrieved May 29, 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Characters". Shadow Hearts: From the New World Official Website (in Japanese). Aruze Corp. Retrieved October 12, 2009.
  3. 1 2 "Characters". Shadow Hearts: From the New World Official Website (in Japanese). Aruze Corp. Retrieved October 12, 2009.
  4. "Shadow Hearts: From The New World - PS2 Games". Ghostlight. Retrieved May 29, 2012.
  5. http://www.tenshi.org.uk/sdb/pages/game/SHADOW_HEARTS_FROM_THE_NEW_WORLD_____________PS__.html
  6. Metacritic Scores

External links

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