We will now continue our discussion on Shadow Hearts 3 the prequel that was planned but never happened. Only this time we will be talking about battle system. I will discuss this topic in sense of the third game in the main franchise as well as a series for if (or hopefully when) Wild Rose gets the rights to Shadow Hearts.
Now this is for the prequel game mainly when I refer to Shadow Hearts 3. Machida said that a prequel staring Yuri father Jinpachiro was to be the next main game. From The New World according to Machida was suppose to be a spin off series. So it is part of the franchise but just not the main at this moment.
Also there will be spoilers ahead in the discussion. So please check out the Shadow Hearts series and be warned I will be spoiling thing. AGAIN SPOILER WARNING AHEAD.
Now I did talk about this at length when and if Machida ever made another Shadow Hearts what the battle would be. It would be either turn base which the old one was with the judgement ring or non turn base action RPG such as we see with Final Fantasy VII Remake and XV.
Now when I went over these points I did so discussing them from Machida go to another studio for the development. I came up with the big 2 Square Enix for Final Fantasy learning towards Action RPG as that is what Kitase mentioned that is what they are going for and Atlus for turn base as we have seen with the Persona series.
But since then we learned that Machida has his own studio and has said his next game will be a Shadow Hearts Alternative. With that in mind we can look into what the battle system would be for this JRPG and other games similar to it coming out of the studio based on what they have done. Especially if he gets what we all want and gets his hands on Shadow Hearts once more to make this game what it would be.
First off it would be based on the Judgement Ring. Something that has become a big part of the series. A circlular dial with lit indication on where to press. the judgement dictate your action. In the beginning you got just 3 attacks with yellow area being average and red being max. This would evolve in later game as the ring can not only be altered but by from the world was no in some case meant to handle 2 actions not just the one thanks to double.
Double allowed for 2 attacks that can be normal, magic or special. This came with stock management. if you had stock you can do combo if you had 2 stock you can not only double but do combo magic. Combo magic appeared at the end of the combo allowing the players todo powerful magic attacks.
That judgement ring also comes with sanity points. Every move you make in Shadow Hearts during battle comes at the coast of sanity as well as fusions. The coast of fusions came down but the rule still apply that during battle everything you do takes away from your sanity. Something that if it hits zero you will go berserk. A mechanic the developers made sure you had to do as Yuri fusions strongest attack in SH1 were only made accessible when he went berserk. By this I mean all of the ultimate forms not just the strongest in the game. A good thing then the characters are programed to attack the enemy first.
Now that is covered we can look into how this would be implied in the next game from Machida and Wild Rose as if they are working on the game and it is meant to be an alternative or sequel to Shadow Hearts this system will be there. But how will be implemented this time? Remember that from the new world was the latest one and that it gave us the double attack and stock system. I see this being the same thing only with a few additions. Namely adding certain team attack to go along with combo system. This can be for certain attacks or spells which can vary in strength as well as participants. It will also be something to look for if characters will get more than one type of attack. For example if Jinpachiro got another special skill such as the soul crusher attack that according to the back of the box in the first game Yuri was supposed to learn after beating fox face.
But if this was to happen it wouldn’t be the first time. Johnny from the new world had 2 sets of special abilities. One was his appliances which were a camera, vacuum and phone with the other being awaker his transformation. Keep in mind Awaker was the power house which not only boosted his states but gave him some serious power. Something which I believe if the team had more time with the game they would have given to him sooner and allowed you to expand on it more.
With that being said Johnny case serves as the perfect example. 2 set of special skill with one being dominate and the other being back up. This could also play into the combo system we discussed earlier as some combined attack can lead to new ones. We rarely see this but my best example is Legend of Legaia where you imputed some attack to get new ones. in the sequel to the game we got some attack combination that mixed right had a special attack at the end. This would require us to do the right combo instead of attack. This would have to be the case as how would implement this fighting game imput idea from one JRPG into shadow hearts.
The reason why I want to see this and happy that we are seeing more combo attacks in JPRG is that we should be. You are fighting in a group and thus you will be fighting together using some attacks that work as one while others work as a multi stage attack. Something that drive me crazy when I see Atlus put them in one Persona game then take them out again to rerelease it. But with that said those my thoughts for the battle system right now for both the prequel and if/when the series moves forward.
Again these my own thoughts about and if you have any opinions about this let me know I will get back to you and share my thoughts. This for us so that as we await Machida Shadow Hearts Alternative we also hope he one day gets the series back.
My next post on the game will be about the 4 guardians. If the name doesn’t ring a bell take my word you now one vey well.
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