The best way to describe this game I would think is a survival horror game with the fighting being the type one would find in a turn based role playing game such as found in the Final Fantasy series of games. This game is also pure Gothic horror, something that the Shadow Hearts series started as with the first game of the series. The second one would have a bit of it in there, but in that game the series would use more humor and by the third all the Gothic had just about been removed and we were left with giant talking cats. Though I still say the third Shadow Hearts game is a bit better than this one, but only by a little. This one trumps that game in atmosphere, however there are glitches in this one that make this game seem like it was rushed to the finish line. The best in the series is by far the second Shadow Hearts game as it was the most complete game and the most well done in the series. In this game a young woman named Koudelka (who also has a bit part in the first Shadow Hearts), a person named Edward looking for treasure (though I am not sure about his motives as I am the other two) and James a bishop on a mission from the Vatican converge on a old abandoned church and monastery. During their adventures they come across lots of mysteries as this place seems to hold many unholy beasts. There is also the question behind the nice caretakers of this place and that of the spirits who dwell within. The combat is random encounter turn based and a bit tricky to get a hold of at first. However, once you get the gist of it, you can power up your characters rather quickly and you can even customize them to some degree. The graphics are okay for late playstation one, but there does seem to be a lot of glitches here and there. The music is rather plain as it does not really vary much at all. However, all the dialog is spoken, which is probably why there are four discs to this one and there are some rather good looking film sequences as well. This game also does something very different in that if you get beat by the final boss you get a better ending than if you win. Very strange indeed. So my final verdict, this game is fun and enjoyable and easy once you get the hang of the battle system and leveling. They could have taken some times in parts of this game though and kind of smoothed over the rough edges and they would have had a really great game. Let's face it, Final Fantasy 9 looks a heck of a lot better than this.
