The demo disc is a relic of yesteryear, old as the dinosaurs yet just as fondly remembered. Whether tucked away in the pages of magazines or posted up in kiosks near the toy store entrance, playing small snippits of games was always a real treat. Honestly, I feel like demos themselves have sort of lost their luster in today’s climate. There are so many quality games that people can play for free nowadays. Who wants to spend their time playing an hour or two of a game that isn’t even finished? But back in the days when time was valued a little differently, sometimes demos were the closest thing to a game that you could get, especially for a kid. Which leads us to the game on my mind today: Shadow Hearts. Sifting through a copy of Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine, out popped a disc containing some demos for Ape Escape 3, Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams, and Shadow the Hedgehog. But alongside those titles was a quirky little game that never left my brain: Shadow Hearts: From the New World. It wasn’t a long demo, just two scenarios to play through, but the characters and tone stuck in my brain. The combat was different enough from the other mainstream RPGs that I was used to and there were some funny moments. I ended up not getting the game, but the specter of it would follow me. Now, about twenty years later, I’ve beaten it. And I’ve got thoughts.
Shadow Hearts: From the New World is a strange title. Developed by Nautilus and published by XSEED Games for the PS2, this is the third entry in the Shadow Hearts franchise. From the New World is more of a spin-off though, able to be played through and understood on its own merits. Knowledge of the previous games, though helpful for spotting cameos and larger world-building lore, doesn’t add much. On the outside, this game looks like just your bog-standard PS2-era JRPG. There are a million of them to comb through and, provided I don’t miss the payments to WordPress and also live to 500 years old, I’ll get to them all. But upon closer inspection, there’s a certain special sauce about this game. Now, I’ve played a lot of games in my life. I’d wager a guess in the realm of “too many.” But I have to say, this might be the most Japanese JRPG I’ve ever played. There’s just a vibe to this game that’s very distinct to Japanese culture. The character interactions are overacted and pantomimed like a tokusatsu show, similar to Kamen Rider or Power Rangers. Many of the scenarios are absurd and break the rules of their world just for a gag or two. There’s a giant sake-drinking cat that practices drunken kung-fu. It’s kind of a trip. But having wacky characters and off-kilter plot beats isn’t difficult. No, what really matters is whether all that weird is weaved together with quality story, characters, gameplay, and music. And there, we have some things to talk about.
Oh! What A Nice Cactus!
From the New World’s story is pretty simple as far as these games go. Taking place in 1929, you take control of a plucky 16-year-old New York detective named Johnny Garland. And despite my research, I’ve been unable to uncover any person in recorded history with a worse haircut. You’re given a job by a man named Professor Gilbert and tasked with finding his missing colleague. While on said case, you find your target and, before you can ask any questions, he transforms into an impossible monster. Cornered and armed only with a dinky pocket knife, you’re then saved by two Native American bounty hunters named Shania and Natan. After the battle, the mysteries of the world start to become too much for this teenage detective and Johnny sets off to grill Professor Gilbert with Shania and Natan in tow. That’s about as far as I can go without any serious spoilers. Truthfully though, I don’t think you would care even if I recapped every plot point right here. Because, and say it with me, in this title, you steadily realize the heightened stakes of the story, gain some friends, and beat a godlike creature at the end. As far as the genre goes, this is cookie-cutter stuff. And unfortunately, even with how simple these beats are, they’re still weirdly disconnected from one another. There are plenty of points throughout the game where you don’t have any good motivation to continue. Despite seeing small vignettes of the villain, you don’t actually meet her until the game’s halfway point. Al Capone and his family drama is a pretty substantial part of the game’s early story and is, for my money, the more exciting part of the story. I’m not gonna lie, seeing Al Capone and Elliot Ness chide each other like the most frustrating will-they-won’t-they couple of 1929 got me excited. I was totally down for a game where you bop all around the Americas, meeting wacky versions of historic figures. But with great sadness in my heart, I have to inform the reader that no, this does not happen. After Capone’s segment, it’s all about the generic JRPG villain. Everything after is the team Scooby-Doo chasing her and stumbling into the endgame. Then there’s one final twist and then boom, it’s time for the final dungeon. It’s not compelling stuff. And that’s the worst part. This story had the potential to be bad, to really chew the scenery, or to get into some goofy stupid territory. But despite wacky moments, it didn’t try anything out there enough to make fun of. In the end, it’s just a bland story, which is such a shame.
The characters do their best to carry this pretty bland concept. Your party is made up of a bunch of weirdos. In fact, I would probably say that from my experience with the genre, this is the most motley of crews I’ve controlled in a JRPG. A personal favorite of mine is Frank, an American with a Norwegian accent who crash-landed near a Brazilian ninja village and learned their ways. Now he works as a “protector of justice” to guard the States using the most jank ninja techniques you’ve ever seen. There’s also Hilda, a vampire who changes her appearance and battle abilities based on her caloric count. Ricardo is a mariachi straight out of Desperado, launching rockets and spraying flames with his guitar. And we’ve already mentioned Mao, the giant drunken cat. These are good characters, good bases for the game to build off. But a cool concept written on a napkin doesn’t always translate to a fleshed-out character. Unfortunately, it feels like the story happens at the characters rather than them having any great input. Outside of their introduction and maybe a few throwaway scenes, most of the characters fall into the background by the end. Aside from Shania and Ricardo, no one has any real motivation to continue on this adventure, not even Johnny himself. One of the most depressing parts of this experience was watching cutscenes where these initially bright and interesting characters were progressively turned into nonverbal nodding heads. Although this is a common issue in JRPGs, it especially hurts here considering how colorful the characters were before. Playing through, I was thinking about what relationships the party members had with one another. What camaraderie they had accrued throughout their long journey. I then realized that some of these characters have never actually talked to one another. And it made me sad. Because with the cast of From the New World, you’re presented a vast swath of perspectives and personalities, with their own quirks and motivations. However, by the end, what you’re left with are a bunch of pleasant yet passive coworkers
A Bit Of A Juggling Act
The combat system is the real star of the show. I’ve always been a sucker for RPGs that throw a curve into the combat, that make it more than just selecting words from a list of other words. From the New World shakes it up by including the Judgement Ring. After selecting an action and confirming, this ring pops up and a spinner starts rotating. You have to time your button presses to whenever the spinner passes over colored spaces called “hit areas” to actually perform your action. And even though this sounds simple, it’s so compelling. You can’t imagine the chaotic giddiness of coming up with a plan, summoning the reaction time to execute it, then watching in horror as you screw up and your team just gets decimated. Having stakes like that changes the dynamic of every single battle. There’s an extensive amount of customization that you have with the rings as well. You can assign attributes like poison to hits, you can change the amount of hit areas, and you can change the size of these areas. If you really want to, you also have the option to just turn the Judgement ring off entirely, turning From the New World into a more conventional JRPG. The amount of control that you have over gameplay is something that I’m honestly not used to in these types of games, but it almost single-handedly earns this game a recommendation. Along with the ring, you have combos, where you can link teammate attacks together in order to juggle enemies and really stack up damage. You can also double up attacks, so that one character can move twice, or you can combine the two and go to town on enemies. But relying on this tactic will drain your SP, which makes a character go berserk once it reaches zero. You also need to keep in mind player and enemy positioning since all moves have a limited area of effectiveness and Jesus Christ. This is a game with a lot of systems and a lot of moving parts. The first few times that I tried to get into this game, I remember bouncing right off. Even on this recent playthrough, it took me a good while to truly understand what was happening on my screen. But once it clicks, it’s hard to deny how fucking cool it all feels.
From the New World has a good amount of content included for people who just can’t get enough of Frank. Each character has their own side quest. They’re usually pretty substantial too, sometimes including optional dungeons and bosses. You can tell that the team had some fun putting these quests together too. Some of them are just off the wall. Johnny’s side quest has him going around solving arithmetic questions. Frank’s has him performing a bunch of tasks before culminating in a dungeon with a pseudo-golf mechanic. Mao has to pay off a bunch of cat actors so they will appear in her cat kung-fu drama directed by cat George Lucas. All of these quests are worth it, there’s not a bad one out of the bunch. Beyond fun gameplay and end-game loot, the real treasure these quests give is the additional character interactions. Seeing these characters finally have some screen time and agency in their story is a breath of fresh air compared to the main story. There’s an argument to be made that the best parts of From the New World are completely optional. There’s even a game-long quest involving taking pictures of enemies during battle and trading them. This trading quest eventually opens up the final optional dungeon, with all the toughest fights in the game waiting. This game is packed full of content. Then, after everything is all said and done, there’s even a New Game+ mode, where you can bring over your abilities, your fetishes, and a few other trinkets to a new run of the game. And it’s a credit to the gameplay that even with my issues with the story, a new run of the game isn’t off the table. But, on the topic of fetishes…
Punishment From Heaven
Ok, really quickly, let’s talk about grinding. A staple of the JRPG genre. In general, From the New World doesn’t really force you to do much grinding to get through the game. Game balance is pretty steady as long as you learn how to use your tools properly. The final boss is a pretty steep difficulty spike, but I did about fifteen hours of sidequests, so my personal experience wasn’t too rough. However, there is one situation that just stands out with how wild it is. So, let’s set the scene and get back to those fetishes. Shania has transformations that she acquires through the game. These transformations allow her to use contracts with nature spirits and take on the characteristics of said spirits, unlocking new abilities. Now, I’m not gonna speak on the Native American character having the ability to communicate with and form deals with nature. Maybe it’s tasteless, maybe it’s badass. But considering how Shania wears high heels and does a magical girl striptease every time she transforms, I know which way I’m leaning. Anyway, the transformations. Each transformation also has four associated fetishes that are used to increase power, unlock abilities, yadda yadda. To power up these fetishes, you have to funnel a currency called Soul Energy into them. You get this Soul Energy from defeated enemies. Now, all of this sounds pretty basic, pretty boring. It must feel insulting for me to type it all out to you like you’re a two-year-old. But the shoe is about to drop. To unlock her final transformation, you’re required to fully power up all of her summons. There are three transformations, so that means you’ve got twelve fetishes to grind through, some of which take up to 480 Soul Energy to fully get through. And what’s the average amount you get from a single battle? About seven. Seven Soul Energy.
I’m not lying to you when I tell you that it took until the absolute end of the game, along with a majority of the side missions, for me to finally get through all of this insane grind. But then, after you’re all done with that, you finally get to finish Shania’s sidequest. You battle and then finally acquire the final transformation. It’s a super climactic moment where Johnny and Shania stand side-by-side and go through this trial together. And the transformation looks really cool and the abilities are really cool as well. But there’s another shoe. This transformation also has four fetishes. And to achieve the good ending, you have to level them as well. There’s no escaping it. From the New World has you in its clutches. Unless you’ve been playing meticulously to unlock the final optional dungeon, you will not get the good ending. Save from spending a sickening amount of time grinding out an insignificant amount of Soul Energy from thousands of fights, you simply do not have enough opportunities to acquire what you need. Even the item you can equip to earn more Soul Energy barely adds anything to your total outside of boss battles. It’s absolutely crazy. I feel like you’re supposed to get the bad ending on your first go-around and pick up the good one in New Game+. The only bit of solace is how terrible the good ending is and how meaningless the changes are. If there’s a person who actually ground it out, giving up dozens and dozens of hours just for Shania to give you bedroom eyes for five seconds, just remember that you’ll have to explain this at the Pearly Gates. And Jesus isn’t gonna be happy about what he died for.
I’ve Been Everywhere, Man
The locales are some places that I’ve never explored in a JRPG before. Or any video game, for that matter. From what research I’ve done, previous games in the franchise were primarily European-centric. But for From the New World, we’re all about the Americas, north and south. Throw in a few islands from the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and you’ve got a pretty unique setting. And this adds to the charm of the title. While you can find countless titles where you can bebop around Chicago or New York, I’m blanking on where else you can explore Machu Picchu or Vilcabamba. Maybe Tomb Raider, but there are less English invaders stealing artifacts in Shadow Hearts, so that’s a point for the JRPG. You also get a few wacky locales thrown in there to spice things up. Break into and then back out of Alcatraz Prison. See what they’re hiding inside Area 51. Shoot the aforementioned kung-fu flick exclusively starring giant cats at Purramount Pictures. Probably more than the characters themselves, the settings make From the New World. It’s a joy to see a new far-off location pop up in your menu and wonder how they’ll pull it off because videogames just don’t tap this well very often. A few of the locations are turned into somewhat bland dungeons, but there’s enough flavor spread throughout the rest of the title that it’s easy to give a pass to the shortcomings. The only real critique I can give is how it feels like Nautilus threw most of their resources into the earlier locations. New York and Arkham University are sprawling with plenty of things to do and see, with people to talk to and secrets to find. But when you get to Moana Village and find it’s only one screen and a few houses, it’s hard to be too excited. The latter half of the game being almost entirely dungeons also doesn’t help break up the monotony. But these are fairly small complaints in the face of simply being able to experience these unique locations through this medium.
However, these locations would mean so little if the sounds didn’t hold up their end of the bargain. From the New World’s music has a personality. It’s a little mischievous and a little unconventional and a little beautiful. The music feels as if, like the locales, it can’t settle down in one place. Composed primarily by Yoshitaka Hirota and Tomoko Imoto, yet contributed to by various others, the different ideas expressed by all these cooks in the kitchen come through. Pulling from the emphasis on indigenous cultures in the game, lots of the instrumentation comes from chants, wind flutes, and various forms of percussion. But these organic sounds are contrasted by electronic static and drum and bass beats. The vibes are pretty killer. This strange pairing gives the soundscape an off-kilter feeling, which helps with such an off-kilter title. There are, of course, more conventional tracks as well. When it needs to, the game can strike a somber and serious tone. Despite the snooze-inducing story, the sounds played during cutscenes almost trick you into feeling the drama. There’s plenty of versatility on display here. There are unique versions of the battle themes that play when your team goes berserk, more resembling panic attacks given sound. Then, on the total opposite of the spectrum, places like New York and the Caribbean Pirate Fort sound cartoonishly exaggerated. The soundtrack feels confident, able to express itself without reserve and be in on the joke when there’s one to be told. From the New World’s soundtrack’s greatest strength is how it can dial in on the tone of a place or scene and never feel generic. Even the tracks that I don’t like too much are pretty spot-on for their setting. Ultimately, this game continues the long-running JRPG tradition of having an exceptional soundtrack that probably is too good for the game it’s attached to.
Smile And Say Cheese
Shadow Hearts: From the New World is probably the most uneven JRPG I’ve ever played. There’s so much about it that is completely my shit. The combat is great. The characters are fun. The settings are beautiful. The music is unlike any other JRPG soundtrack I’ve encountered. But this game feels like it’s less than the sum of its parts. The story isn’t strung together compellingly and underutilizes the great cast that oftentimes stand around with their thumbs up their respective asses. The pacing is off, and you can feel the disparity of effort between the game’s two halves. Despite having such great ingredients, I’m not fully satisfied with how they were put together in the bowl. But I also can’t stop thinking about this title. There’s something special buried underneath all the crust, something that, although it can’t pull off being a “real” videogame, can just be damn fun. When I think about my time with this game, I do look back on it fondly. I think back to Frank grabbing a random stop sign to use as a sword. I think back to the motorcycle shopkeepers who would show up even in the midst of Machu Picchu ruins. When the game stops trying to tell its wonky story and lets me dick around in silly situations with its cast, I’m having a great time. So ultimately, I think playing through this title was worth it. The best parts of it are mostly flash and sugar. But I think that there’s enough of that colorful frosting, that you won’t mind the somewhat bland white cake underneath.
If you want to go hang out with Professor Lovecraft, you can pick From The New World up here. It’s up to you whether you want to spend triple digits on a physical copy, but since it hasn’t been re-released digitally, it’s all we’ve got. Aside from the obvious. I’m just saying, eBay and Amazon aren’t paying the original developers.
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