Shadow Hearts - Koudelka 2 - The Something Awful Forums

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Space Cadet Omoly: Jan 15, 2014; ~Groovy~

Really Pants posted:

How many JRPG villain sympathy arcs aren't completely ham-fisted as all hell, anyway? The only ones I can think of off the top of my head are this game's sequel, Magus from Chrono Trigger, and Loewe from Trails in the Sky.

I always appropriated how Magus never really becomes friends with the rest of the cast. The others come to understand him better, and decide not to murder him, and they're even willing to team up with him to fight a bigger enemy, but he's not really a part of the group the way everyone else is because at the end of the day he's still a major rear end in a top hat who shows no interest in changing on a personal level.

# ? Feb 12, 2019 23:51

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# ? Jun 3, 2024 17:22

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

Space Cadet Omoly posted:

I always appropriated how Magus never really becomes friends with the rest of the cast. The others come to understand him better, and decide not to murder him, and they're even willing to team up with him to fight a bigger enemy, but he's not really a part of the group the way everyone else is because at the end of the day he's still a major rear end in a top hat who shows no interest in changing on a personal level.

And it's symbolized by the fact that he learns no Double or Triple Techs, and can only use Triple Techs when someone in the party is equipped with one of a few specific accessories, IIRC.

# ? Feb 13, 2019 00:41

Xander77: Apr 6, 2009; Fuck it then. For another pit sandwich and some 'tater salad, I'll post a few more.

Accordion Man posted:

Tales of Berseria was mostly fine I felt, a big part of that is the game still doesn't try to justify what they're trying to do at all and the cast still hates them.

Sounds like Tales of Phantasia to me.

# ? Feb 13, 2019 02:04

Shitenshi: Mar 12, 2013

Albert has that for the greater good excuse, while Dehuai even when earnestly wanting to protect China from invaders, always had his primary goal set on ruling with an iron first. I guess? I want to think that. The exchange between these two is too cool for me to think it's hamfisted and rushed.

# ? Feb 13, 2019 03:55

DiggleWrath: Aug 30, 2018; O O
>

Welp, we're approaching the end. I completely forgot that Albert transformed into... whatever the hell that was. Hell, I think I forgot that there was another fight with Albert after the Amon fight. Ah well, at least it's suitably hosed up for the end of the game.

# ? Feb 13, 2019 04:46

ultrafilter: Aug 23, 2007; It's okay if you have any questions.

The endgame fights are probably a lot more memorable if you don't have the Seraphic Radiance and everyone's ultimate gear.

# ? Feb 13, 2019 05:29

DiggleWrath: Aug 30, 2018; O O
>

ultrafilter posted:

The endgame fights are probably a lot more memorable if you don't have the Seraphic Radiance and everyone's ultimate gear.

Or three crucifixes, honestly. Most of these fights sound infinitely harder, or at least more annoying, without status immunity. I bet the endgame would be just as challenging (if even more of a slog) if you went straight into the final dungeon without doing any sidequests except to get 3 crucifixes.

# ? Feb 13, 2019 06:12

Accordion Man: Nov 7, 2012; Buglord

DiggleWrath posted:

Or three crucifixes, honestly. Most of these fights sound infinitely harder, or at least more annoying, without status immunity. I bet the endgame would be just as challenging (if even more of a slog) if you went straight into the final dungeon without doing any sidequests except to get 3 crucifixes.

I didn't do much in the way of the sidequests aside from the Masks and I don't really remember it being a slog. It probably helped that I beat Covenant before I played 1, so I had a good understanding of how the series worked.

Accordion Man fucked around with this message at 06:26 on Feb 13, 2019

# ? Feb 13, 2019 06:18

gimme the GOD DAMN candy: Jul 1, 2007

i missed amon, and he's the prerequisite for most of the other overpowered stuff. i also never did the masks, which uh, changes things a bit. so, i had a lot of difficulty with the bosses here, though it didn't help that i was terrible at judgment rings.

# ? Feb 13, 2019 06:23

BisbyWorl: Jan 12, 2019; Knowledge is pain plus observation.

The Dark Id posted:

Yep, that certainly is a holey chest, alright.

# ? Feb 13, 2019 07:45

Magic Fanatic: Oct 28, 2008

The Holy Chest is actually quite a bit more rude if you aren't prepared, as it shaves off half of each character's SP with the damage. Will Power makes this a non-issue in the LP's run, but it does mean that Yuri would have to chow down on a Pure Root/Extract before being able to fuse into Seraphic Radiance this time for anyone that came into the fight without Will Powers equipped.

# ? Feb 13, 2019 08:38

DeafNote: Jun 4, 2014; Only Happy When It Rains

DiggleWrath posted:

Or three crucifixes, honestly. Most of these fights sound infinitely harder, or at least more annoying, without status immunity. I bet the endgame would be just as challenging (if even more of a slog) if you went straight into the final dungeon without doing any sidequests except to get 3 crucifixes.

I can count on my hand the final bosses that dont get nerfed into harmlessness with a good status negating equip. (Final Fantasy 9 didnt have one for instance)

# ? Feb 14, 2019 10:11

The Dark Id: Aug 13, 2005; Why
you
know
I
LOVE
THIS SHIT !!!!
[citation needed]

Episode LXXXIV: Imbroglio

We're given one very last chance to switch up our party before throwing down with God. Unfortunately, there is no alternate ending for losing to the final boss this time around. So sorry Zhuzhen, Keith and Halley. You get to just cheerlead from the sidelines. Assuming Halley can still talk. I don't think he's had more than three non-generic lines of dialogue since we rescued Koudelka. At least Zhuzhen is still participating in the plot even if he's useless in a fight. And Keith... sometimes pipes up, I guess.

Let's get to it!

Gonna be real, I didn't think a game starting on the Trans-Siberian Express in 1913 featuring a shonen protagonist punchman and a girl in a sexy Alice in Wonderland Halloween costume would end up in space. But here we are... Also, apparently that massive glowing god glyph that appeared during the Neameto Float rising cutscene has just been hanging over the planet this entire time. That's got to be obnoxious for anyone in the northern hemisphere.

The party all slowly beams onto the god glyph. I guess the thing provides ample footing. And oxygen...? Don't worry about it too much. It's eldritch old ones magicks. It's fine.

<looks around> Where are we?!

The stratosphere?

...
...Yeah, I don't know what that means.
Umm... well, it is the second layer of the atmosphere between the troposphere below and the mesosphere above.
...
...That's not helping.
It means we're in space, kid.
Awesome!
...It's not TECHNICALLY space. We're more in the upp�
...I don't think technicalities are going to help matters.
Frikkin' space! I'm gonna punch out something in space. Hell yeah!
...
Maybe you're right.

Look how tiny the temple is from here!

How bad would that be if it fell outta the sky?
It probably wouldn't be great.
I dunno. I think it'd be a pretty awesome explosion.
......
Tch... Guess I'll never get to see it...

This really is the end of the earth...

Everything briefly shakes violently.

Hey, what's going on?!

I'm not big on science, but I don't think they get earthquakes in space.

<shakes head> So it would seem.

I thought He would be taller...

God buzzes the ~~tower~~ party. Everyone tries to keep their heads down. Other than Yuri, who is loving STOKED!

<punches fists together> All right, god!!

Punching out god and punching a dude in space has been on my bucket list since as long as I can remember. This is gonna be the best day of my life!!

Hell yeah!!
...I am going to have to rethink religion after seeing this.
I don't want to think of all the paperwork I'm gonna have to file in a report saying I shot God.
Well... I had a good run.
I didn't...
I still think it should be taller.

New Music: Imbroglio (It's the final boss music. Of course you should listen to it! It's also really good.)

Meet the final boss of Shadow Hearts -- Meta-God (or Super/Ultra God if you're going with the original text which... sounds just kind of dumb.) Being a deity and all, Meta-God is a non-elemental boss with the highest health value in the entire game with a whopping 12500 HP beating out the runner up, Cherubim, and its 10,000 HP.

Meta-God opens the battle for the fate of the planet with its contractually obligated Final Boss Overly Long Attack Animation� super move -- Time of Judgment. It is only 20 seconds long, so it isn't that bad in the grand scheme of final boss moves lasting for an eon.

Time of Judgment is just an overly elaborate meteor drop on the planet. A meteoric drop of which the party happens to be standing in the path of at the moment. It's somewhat hard to tell on that really low-resolution texture of the planet, that was far blurrier on original hardware, but it looks like the meteor is heading for Southeast Asia. Hopefully, Shanghai isn't getting another bad day during this space battle. That seems like it would be a real dick move.

The meteor drop super move does around 270-300 HP of damage to the entire party and also drains 20% of everyone's MP for good measure. That would only really be an issue for Alice since she is once more sliding into the healer role as Meta-God is all full-party damaging attacks all the time.

Now that Meta-God is done showing off, we should probably discuss our strategy. Hey, you know For Everyone which buffed the entire party extremely well and kind of trivialized most of the boss encounters on Neameto Float? The thing that felt like our reward for doing all the plot relevant side quests in the game? That technique?

Yeah, Meta-God is having NONE of that bullshit and will instantly counter it (and any) full party buffs with Light of Depravation which instantly negates any buffs applied. So the For Everyone tactic that had aided us so well for... like four boss fights... is out the door. I personally feel that is kind of bullshit. I went and did all your drat optional content. Let me clown on the final boss.

This guy already sucks. He needs to go! :argh:

So fine, Shadow Hearts. We'll play by your drat rules. No full party buffs. Fine! What if we use some of those 97 consumable buff items and just pump every goddamn stat boost we can fit just into Yuri? What if we punched Meta-God the gently caress out in a single turn? What then, Shadow Hearts!?

This is going to take a few rounds of doing, so let's get started. First with with Silver Hand, which we just got from dear departed Albert Simon. It gives the user a 100% Hit Area for five turns.

Alice is going to be on Arc duty. She has such an absurd pool of mana by this point that we won't need to worry about topping her off even with that Time of Judgment MP drain.

Meanwhile, Margarete is just going to take pot-shots at this space deity. It doesn't do much, but I appreciate the moxey of just trying to light up an Old One with conventional firearms. It's worth noting that Meta-God has the silliest sounding pain noises. They sound more like they belong to a cartoon fish getting slapped than an unknowable eldritch beast from the darkness of space screaming in pain.

Meanwhile, Meta-God starts doing this attack. Or more accurately, it starts doing six different versions of this attack. Yellow Abyss is a Wind Elemental full party attack which does around 210-250 HP of damage. Most of Meta-God's attacks are some variation of this just with a different elemental affinity. There are also Black Abyss (Dark), White Abyss (Light), Verdant Abyss (Earth), Scarlet Abyss (Fire), and Blue Abyss (Water) versions of the attack. It's the same exact animation but with a different color for the psychedelic lines. Alice will take a bit more damage from Black Abyss, Margarete from Scarlet and Yuri won't care either way since Seraphic Radiance is non-elemental. He'll just take around 210 damage regardless.

Besides, he's still too busy setting up for punching out Meta-God in a single turn. Monkey's Paw is an item that makes the user's attack power 3x but also inflicts an irregular indicator speed. But we've already got 100% Hit Area from Silver Hand for four more turns. So no big deal. We picked up one of these back in Jack's Orphanage and another from the Dog version of the Shell game in Shanghai.

Other than the Abyss variety of attack flavors, Meta-God also possesses Nine Springs which is just a really unimpressive looking reskin of the !!!! attack that drops its target's health to 1 HP. Alice can sort that out with Arc just like everything else. Arc is kind of a broken skill for something that is virtually impossible not to gain from just normal gameplay. Remember we got that back when Halley was still a relevant character and we hadn't even met Koudelka yet and that was even with Alice frequently getting taken out of the party by the plot in the early game.

Meanwhile, we'll slap a Star Swallow on Yuri. This was in a chest back in Keith's Blue Castle. As a refresher, this one makes all attacks a Critical Hit for the next turn. We're almost ready to make the donuts.

At the same time, Margarete is still holding down the fort taking pot shots at Cthulhu's cousin. At this point, Meta-God is down roughly like MAYBE 500 HP out of its 12,000 total. Margarete can only do at most sub-200 damage turn with her physical attacks and calling in an airstrike to space would only raise that to 300 HP of damage tops. She's kind of a third wheel here. But so is anyone else at this juncture, really.

The final piece of the Punching God the gently caress Out Stew is the Seventh Key. This is an item that makes the Judgment Ring spin SEVEN times and will repeat the action taken as many times as the player can make successful hits on the Judgment Ring spins (canceling out if we were to flub it at any point.) This item is virtually impossible to use on its own because the Judgment Ring indicator speeds up with each spin until it's going at roughly one revolution in a quarter of a second. I'm good at QTEs but I'm not THAT good.

But... given all the other items we've poured into Seraphic Radiance Yuri at this point...

Music: Bate Me Bate Me (It's the Berserk version of the final boss theme. RIP.)

To review, Yuri now has a 100% Hit Area on the Judgment Ring, is doing 3X damage, all physical attacks are Critical Hits and the Judgment Ring will spin seven times. We're now going to have Yuri perform a Physical Attack. Which means we get to jam X on the Judgment Ring 21 times in rapid succession. It's very satisfying.

This results in Yuri doing a three-hit combo round of physical attacks in the ballpark of 1,800+ damage...

Seven times. ORA-ORA-ORA-ORA!!

Music: ENDS

Prolonged horrible inhuman scream/baby's cry.

And thus did Yuri Hyuga become Yuri the Godslayer -- the man who punched a deity the gently caress out in a single turn.

Meta-God, or perhaps whatever lingering will Albert Simon had, is nice enough to teleport the party away before Meta-God does what any good deity does after getting hit a sufficient number of times with blunt and/or sharp objects.

Violently explode! Tune in next time for the Ending A of Shadow Hearts!

Video: Episode 84 Highlight Reel (It's the final boss. You should watch it.)

The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 16:08 on Feb 15, 2019

# ? Feb 14, 2019 19:21

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

gently caress yeah, Yuri.

Also the Final Boss theme is aces.

# ? Feb 14, 2019 19:30

Marmaduke!: May 19, 2009; Why would it do that!?

I thought 125000 sounded a bit high...

# ? Feb 14, 2019 20:25

Shitenshi: Mar 12, 2013

Seeing Space YHVH's HP being in the six digits makes me wonder how much damage For the Children actually does. I spammed that move every turn and the fight was over way sooner than I expected.

# ? Feb 14, 2019 20:30

Geostomp: Oct 22, 2008; Unite: MASH!!
~They've got the bad guys on the run!~

The party just clowned an eldritch deity from unknowable regions of space. The previous group had to call for divine intervention to beat an undead insect woman. Kind of a big step up.

Still not big on trying to play Albert as an understandable villain after an entire game of enjoying his evil, despite remaining dapper all the while. I�ll get over it.

# ? Feb 14, 2019 20:59

rannum: Nov 3, 2012

The final boss's pain noises sound like Ocarina of Time reaction noises from young link or maybe a deku or octorok

# ? Feb 14, 2019 21:17

Space Cadet Omoly: Jan 15, 2014; ~Groovy~

The implication from Koudelka that the Judeo-Christian God is real in some form and at least somewhat benevolent (I mean, that God was willing to rapture the final boss and save the protagonists after James prayed hard enough and admitted that he had been acting like a douche) combined with the existence of a separate evil lovecraftian God in this game that Yuri is able to punch to death raises a lot of questions about the theology of the Shadow Hearts universe that are probably best left unanswered.

Space Cadet Omoly fucked around with this message at 21:48 on Feb 14, 2019

# ? Feb 14, 2019 21:22

Alaan: May 24, 2005

So if you take �you shall worship no other gods before me� as yeah others exist but I�m the most important it�s not totally crazy town.

What they worship as Judeo Christian god is probably something very different than we conceive it though.

# ? Feb 14, 2019 21:28

Accordion Man: Nov 7, 2012; Buglord

Space Cadet Omoly posted:

The implication from Koudelka that the Judo-christian God is real in some form and at least somewhat benevolent (I mean, that God was willing to rapture the final boss and save the protagonists after James prayed hard enough and admitted that he had been acting like a douche) combined with the existence of a separate evil lovecraftian God in this game that Yuri is able to punch to death raises a lot of questions about the theology of the Shadow Hearts universe that are probably best left unanswered.

Meta-God is more of an Arthur C. Clarke style sufficiently advanced alien, its not actually Shadow Hearts God. Meta-God's bestiary entry pretty much states this.

# ? Feb 14, 2019 21:32

Llab: Dec 28, 2011; PEPSI FOR VG BABE

It's probably a good thing that the Seraphic Radiance fusion makes Yuri a Ken doll. I'm not saying he'd be sporting a full erection after kicking God's rear end in one turn as he and his friends floated in space above Earth, but. He absolutely would be.

# ? Feb 14, 2019 21:40

Space Cadet Omoly: Jan 15, 2014; ~Groovy~

Accordion Man posted:

Meta-God is more of an Arthur C. Clarke style sufficiently advanced alien, its not actually Shadow Hearts God. Meta-God's bestiary entry pretty much states this.

I see, so what Yuri just punch murdered wasn't a creator deity, but rather a monster so powerful that from a human's perspective it may as well be a God and is often mistaken for one.

# ? Feb 14, 2019 21:48

...!: Oct 5, 2003; I SHOULD KEEP MY DUMB MOUTH SHUT INSTEAD OF SPEWING HORSESHIT ABOUT THE ORBITAL MECHANICS OF THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE.

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT A LAGRANGE POINT IS?

Shitenshi posted:

Seeing Space YHVH's HP being in the six digits makes me wonder how much damage For the Children actually does. I spammed that move every turn and the fight was over way sooner than I expected.

That was a typo. He states further down that it actually has 12,000 HP.

Space Cadet Omoly posted:

I see, so what Yuri just punch murdered wasn't a creator deity, but rather a monster so powerful that from a human's perspective it may as well be a God and is often mistaken for one.

Exactly. I'm pretty sure the game states that in almost those exact words at some point. Maybe in the bestiary?

# ? Feb 14, 2019 22:06

Speedball: Apr 15, 2008

This is basic Gnosticism.

# ? Feb 14, 2019 22:55

Geostomp: Oct 22, 2008; Unite: MASH!!
~They've got the bad guys on the run!~

Space Cadet Omoly posted:

I see, so what Yuri just punch murdered wasn't a creator deity, but rather a monster so powerful that from a human's perspective it may as well be a God and is often mistaken for one.

Bacon flat out said that it isn�t really a god. It�s just that the ancient civilization that learned of its existence found it so powerful that they started worshipping it. I mean, when an alien wipes out all of your competition without real effort and lets you remake the world in your image, you can see why they consider it divine. How they managed to learn of it at all, let alone construct a castle that could summon it from the depths of space will forever be a mystery, but I doubt it�s mind is close enough to comprehend the idea of worship, let alone care about those weird little bipeds that make noise at it.

# ? Feb 14, 2019 23:18

DeafNote: Jun 4, 2014; Only Happy When It Rains

Ah so thats where that boss music is from that I kept seeing in everyone's top ten lists. (I am a sucker for those, sadly)

# ? Feb 15, 2019 00:52

Picayune: Feb 26, 2007; cannot be unseen; Taco Defender

The Dark Id posted:

Oh, good. Two conjoined faces, three eyes, two mouths. It's the freakin' Watchers again.

# ? Feb 15, 2019 01:56

Malachite_Dragon: Mar 31, 2010; Weaving Merry Christmas magic

A punch that did indeed crush like a mace.

# ? Feb 15, 2019 02:48

W.T. Fits: Apr 21, 2010; Ready to Poyozo Dance all over your face.

I. Hear. A. Sound.

I. Don't. loving. Care.

# ? Feb 15, 2019 03:26

Gilgamesh255: Aug 15, 2015

...How did I not notice the mosquito head before?

# ? Feb 15, 2019 03:32

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

The Dark Id posted:

Anyone else think of the scene from E.T. on seeing this shot?

# ? Feb 15, 2019 05:01

Alaan: May 24, 2005

FFT is on the short list of other RPGs where you can conceivably just vaporize the final boss in one attack. The numbers usually get with damage caps, even with multiple hits.

# ? Feb 15, 2019 05:47

Omobono: Feb 19, 2013; That's it! No more hiding in tomato crates! It's time to show that idiota Germany how a real nation fights!

For pasta~! CHARGE!

Picayune posted:

Oh, good. Two conjoined faces, three eyes, two mouths. It's the freakin' Watchers again.

gently caress that's how Accord is going to solve the Watcher problem. She'll find Shadow Hearts Earth, recruit Yuri and by the end of the year the Watchers will flee behind a dimensional seal or five to avoid the crazy punch man.

# ? Feb 15, 2019 08:24

Neddy Seagoon: Oct 12, 2012; "Hi Everybody!"

Omobono posted:

gently caress that's how Accord is going to solve the Watcher problem. She'll find Shadow Hearts Earth, recruit Yuri and by the end of the year the Watchers will flee behind a dimensional seal or five to avoid the crazy punch man.

I just like the mental image of Yuri smugly scarfing down a half-dozen weird old herbs and things, never breaking eye contact with God the entire time, then just calmly walking over to Punch.

# ? Feb 15, 2019 08:54

The Dark Id: Aug 13, 2005; Why
you
know
I
LOVE
THIS SHIT !!!!
[citation needed]

Episode LXXXV: Shadow Hearts

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE ENDING!! :siren:

It seems Meta-God and the Palace of the Deranged Gods had a rather Castlevania-esque relationship as the Neameto Float immediately explodes upon its master's death.

I sure hope a bunch of charred bio-technology scattered across the waters of the Irish Sea doesn't have an adverse ecological effect. The barren wasteland of Wales will likely be fine. I'm more concerned about the greater British Isles. But perhaps there are greater concerns for the environment than just Neameto Float exploding.

Like, I don't know... a massive cloud of magical dust three times the size of the planet blanketing the northern hemisphere. That feels like it could be like an extinction level problem. But... it's probably fine.

...

Probably...

Music: Black Cat Floating in Blue Sky

And so, our battle came to an end. The god awakened by human hands was returned to sleep once again by human hands.

Yes, that is a flowery euphemism for Yuri having punched it to death. His version of events came off as...
JUST CALL ME GODHAND CUZ THIS FIST KNOCKED GOD THE gently caress OUT!!
...A bit unfittingly brash.

On the morning after, a refreshing breeze blew across Wales and the horrible events leading up to yesterday seemed like nothing more than a bad dream. Soon, it was time to say farewell to everyone.

Keith, our handsome vampire, grew weary of the hustle and bustle of the outside world and so he returned, once again, to his peaceful castle in Transylvania. I wonder how long he�ll sleep this time. Goodnight and sweet dreams, dear friend...

"Dear friend"? I never saw you exchange more than like five words with him. Heck, I never saw ANY of us say more than a sentence or two to that guy. Ever.
He was very kind and sweet! Just not... very talkative...
He was boring, is what he was.
Oh hush!

Master Zhuzhen, our brave Adept, has gone back to Shanghai to mend the disruptions in the energy fields of China. You taught us so much, Master Zhuzhen. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts. And please, try not to over-exert yourself!

Is that a nice way of telling him not to drink himself into a coma now that nobody is watching?
Of course not! Master Zhuzhen was very responsible with his drinking habits around me.
Yeah... Around you.
...OK. Maybe that was a little bit of what I was getting at...
Heh. Maybe I'll miss that old fart... A little...

Our beloved spy for hire said she planned to go home to Paris, but she joked that her next assignment was probably already waiting for her. So there�s no telling where she might be right now.

I bet it is either blowing something up, shooting a gun or crashing a plane.
You really did never let that one go, did you?
I feel like you were WAY too cool with the part where she crashed a plane we were in!
Forgive me, my reservations with the plane crash were overridden by being cursed by a ghost later that day...
I ergh... Huh... That did happen the same day, huh...
Yes. It did...
Hmm... guess that would be kinda a bigger issue than a plane crash.
Indeed.
...But just barely.
......

Halley, that cute little street boy we met in London, set sail from Southampton with his mother, Koudelka, to find his long-lost father in America. Finally, they�ll be able to live together as a family. I pray you�ll all find happiness.

Geez, I forgot all about Koudelka even being a part of this.
She did rather abruptly taper off on involvement as soon as we rescued her.
Though, heck. I half forgot Halley was a part of this too.
In retrospect, he probably should have just stayed with his mother. But, he did prove to be a valuable ally.
Dude, he fought in a cage match against monsters one of his orphan friends summoned. That's it. That's all he ever did after we got his mom to stop yelling stuff into my head. Speaking of which... did those other brats go to America too? Or are there just a bunch of unattended demon summoning and soul stealing orphan kids running around London now?
Halley didn't say.
......
<concerned grunt>
I'm gonna make an executive decision and file this under "not our problem."
It's probably fine.
Probably...

As for me... I�m headed for Zurich, where my mother�s waiting. With Yuri, of course!

Still not sure about the name "Zurich" business.
For the last time, it's the name of a real town -- not a wizard!
I'm just saying, after I punched out a god, beating up a wizard kinda seems beneath me.
Oh, hush up and get on the train!

Music: Shadow Hearts (It's the ending credits theme. You should listen to it!)

In the stardust desert, an abandoned fish tank and us
With our arms around our knees,
By the moonlight that fell on the water's surface
And the shades of flowing clouds I measured the time.

What I see with open eyes is the heat haze - a lie
What I only see with eyes closed might be the future
Now, with closed eyes, I�m watching you.
Shadow hearts colour�d all in blue. Shadow.

The endless caravan drags its heavy feet,
Continuing to the other side of the horizon

Surely this wounded world is filled with wounded people among us also.
If that fish tank were to overflow with the tears of the fish and the blood this planet sheds
Would everyone realize their mistakes?

Now, with my eyes closed,
I�ll listen to your dream.
Shadow.

What I see with open eyes is the heat haze - a lie
What I only see with eyes closed might be the future
Now, with closed eyes, I�m watching you.

Shadow hearts color'd all in blue. Shadow.
Shadow hearts color'd all in blue. Shadow.

As the warlock said in the end...

...even if winter comes bringing the harshest hardships...

I intend to live on... with my new family.

Music: ENDS

And that is the end of Shadow Hearts! Or it is, at least, an ending of Shadow Hearts. We are not quite done yet.

At this point, we could save the game which unlocks New Game Plus. New Game Plus restarts from the prologue but Yuri has access to all of his Fusions, up to and including Amon and Seraphic Radiance, from the very start of the game. The trouble is he starts at Level 1 again and literally nothing else, including Cash and items, carries over. So... you still won't be able to use most of the high-end Fusions until Yuri has gained enough SP to fuse into them which... makes it a rather dubious NG+. The Library also carries over and includes all entries from Neameto Float including Messiah and Meta-God. I mentioned the only thing the completed Library unlocks is the Black Silk Underpants for Alice which... uh... I think we're good. It also saves the previous Score value so you can try to get a better one on the replay if... you care about that sort of thing.

As I mentioned earlier, there are two endings to Shadow Hearts. This is considered the Good Ending. The thing is... there is a Shadow Hearts sequel which is a direct continuation of Yuri's story. And this ending here? The one that takes an obtuse route and a degree of effort to achieve? Much like in Koudelka ...I'm afraid that ain't the canon ending. So we need to roll back our save quite some time to get this right.

Stay tuned. Shadow Hearts continues down a much less happy path...

# ? Feb 15, 2019 17:39

Kemix: Dec 1, 2013; Because change

Welp, time to do the bad deed and kill plot central characters for the second time. Oh well, Yuri at least gets a sequel which Koudelka can�t say she really got.

# ? Feb 15, 2019 18:04

Omobono: Feb 19, 2013; That's it! No more hiding in tomato crates! It's time to show that idiota Germany how a real nation fights!

For pasta~! CHARGE!

Do Koudelka and/or Halley and/or Edward get a cameo in From the New World?

# ? Feb 15, 2019 18:07

Accordion Man: Nov 7, 2012; Buglord

Omobono posted:

Do Koudelka and/or Halley and/or Edward get a cameo in From the New World?

Nope, not even a single mention.

# ? Feb 15, 2019 18:15

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# ? Jun 3, 2024 17:22

Space Cadet Omoly: Jan 15, 2014; ~Groovy~

Awwww, Alice is going to live a happy life with her new boyfriend and her mom. :unsmith:

That's sweet.

# ? Feb 15, 2019 19:17

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > Comedy Goldmine > The Goodmine > Shadow Hearts - Koudelka 2

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