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46. Shadow Hearts (tazzyboyishere)


This game is still sitting in my PS3, waiting for Quinton to come back and beat it. Anyway, Shadow Hearts is often a dark game with a twisted sense of humor, best embodied by the main character, the Rude Hero himself, Yuri Hyuga. He never backs down from a fight and always has a snarky insult or two for just about everybody he meets (friend or foe), but he also has the ability to transform into various monstrous forms. In the game's terminology, he's called a Harmonixer, someone who can fuse his own soul with another being's, albeit with the inherent risk of losing your sense of self if you bite off more than you can chew. Yuri acts tough and unflappable on the outside, but on the inside, the fear of eventually being consumed by his ability nearly overwhelms him at times (You can travel inside his mind, which resembles a graveyard). Part of his character development is learning how to conquer his fears. In terms of gameplay, Yuri's Fusion abilities make him super powerful because he can transform into whatever the situation requires. The game puts some limitations on this by making it impractical to switch between forms multiple times in a single battle, but one form is usually enough as long as you know what you need.

As far as the overall battle system goes, it's kind of weird. You have this thing called the Judgment Ring, and each character's is different. There are a varying slots on each ring depending on what action you take (Physical attacks usually have three), and there's a hand that rotates around it like a clock when you choose your action. You have to hit X when it's on the slot in order to successfully attack, so you could potentially do absolutely nothing on your turn if you mess up the timing. You can also get critical hits every time, too, if you can get precise enough with your button presses. Covenant really builds and expands on it (and From The New World does, too, I imagine), so it feels really primitive going back to this one after you've played the sequel(s).

I haven't mentioned any characters other than Yuri yet because he's by far the best character in the game. That's not to say there are no other good characters. There are a couple others. The female lead, Alice, and the main antagonist are both pretty good, too, but most of the playable characters are rather flat and one-dimensional. I like using Keith and Margarete in my party because they have cool moves and good designs, but they're nothing special as characters. It's a pretty solid story with some really good twists though, and watching Yuri's character development along the way is a real treat. Shadow Hearts is worth playing for him alone. It's a pretty short game, too. I think my final playtime was like 25ish hours, so it's worth a shot if you've wanted to give the series a try. I know it's still relatively obscure, so I'd like to see more people get into it.

Bonus Question: What is your favorite Shadow Hearts game?
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