The American Road Trip Horror JRPG | Shadow Hearts: From The New World

more rpgs should include a segment where you become best buddies with a famous historical figure
Patreon - / punchystream
Stream Archive Channel - / @punchystream
Twitch - / punchy
Twitter - / succinct_punchy

[@caseypatterson7030]

Damn Punchy, you really read Yuri for filth

[@Ziegrif]

This game has absolutely IMMACULATE music.

[@NucleaRaptor]

Yoshitaka Hirota is the GOAT. Based Mitsuda wouldn't have picked some hack as his protege.

[@lilwyvern4]

Really. The first random battle theme, "Dead Fingers Talk" is incredible.

[@TheOneAndOnlySame]

All Shadow Herts have neat music

[@arubinojr5670]

Meet famed real historical figures, like Al Capone, and his most trusted giant drunken kung fu cat.

[@nikodem123asdf]

I actually really adore the main villainess of FtNW simply because she's not actually a villain, rather a vessel of a destructive force. If you (over)analyse the plot of the game and pay close attention to the cutscenes Lady is in you'll notice none of her action show any kind of premeditation (aside from the very end) and what she does do often has to do with reaction or flow of energy (giving them Kiss of Malice to replenish their life energy). Killer follows Lady cause she saved him from certain death and he wants to help her become more human. He was given the kiss of Malice but unlike other characters who also received it, he never loses control cause the underlying intention of all his actions is to ensure Lady's safety and not haltered or revenge. Gilbert is a fanboi of hers obsessed with becoming a Cthulhu overlord or some shit but ultimately completely irrelevant which I found rather fitting and funny. The main cast if you think about it is sort of portrait as villains from Killer's perspective and the fact the main cast is flawed is explored in the super dungeon where each one gets assigned to a deadly sin boss that fits their disfunction is very fitting. And the final boss against Lady is honestly to me one of the most sad bitter moments I've experienced in a game.

[@Klarden]

That photogenic cat uses selective meows, what is she planning?! Cats aside, it is a shame Koudelka/Shadow Hearts didn't get a modern re-release so far :c

[@RTheStoryteller7]

there is a spiritual successor in the works called "Penny Blood" with the original SH's director Matsuzo Machida on the lead

[@Klarden]

@@RTheStoryteller7 Sure, Punchy mentions that. It's just a shame that these original titles are currently locked to PS1 and PS2 respectively. Though I'm certainly curious about Penny Blood and hope it turns out well

[@noahhobson4521]

The reason why there isn't a rerelease is because the ownership rights of the series is a convoluted mess.

[@Volvagia1927]

​@@noahhobson4521 I mean, if we're discounting Koudelka? Not really. Core rights on Shadow Hearts 1-3 are all with Aruze, which is what I'd say the actual problem is: NO. ONE. WANTS. TO. WORK. WITH. ARUZE.

[@Just.Kidding]

​@@Volvagia1927Aruze is more concerned with "how can we make a pachislot out of this? And then how do we get gamers to use pachislot?"

[@crypto66]

This was the only one I played in the entire series, so finding out the franchise started with a horror game tripped me bad. Shania occupied my dreams for a _while._

[@Bird-wz7nx]

This was my first introduction to Shadow Hearts. The person playing this also introduced me to Stretch Panic, Magic Pengel, and Okagē Shadow King. They were basically my own personal "obscure Japanese PS2 game youtuber" but back in the college dorm in 2008

[@slaturwinters1828]

Literally!

[@lamiaprincess6371]

I basically hadn't heard about the Shadow Hearts series before you streamed them except for the most vaguely remembered article in a Gameinformer magazine. This series rocks so much. I'm very ride or die for it. The combat is slick, the story writing for the first two games is really good, and From the New World is a bewilderingly fun game, especially when you have zero context for anything that's happening, which is constantly. Also, Covenant and FTNW have great soundtracks. Covenant's OST fucks super hard.

[@PunchyYT]

i really wish I'd made space in the script to talk about the music because it's exceptional and unlike a lot of RPG soundtracks but the script got longer than I intended already so I settled for just using it instead

[@luyandolove]

YES!!!!!! THE CATS!!!!!!!! So happy to see them being shown to the wider audience

[@Everdistance]

One sad thing about Shadow Hearts is that not only did From The New World sell so poorly it killed the series, the IP ended up changing hands so many times that it eventually wound up with a hotel chain. Apparently various companies have approached them about licensing the IP for some sort of HD collection and been completely stonewalled.

[@PunchyYT]

a friend of mine actually emailed the company and got a reply about how they had no plan to use the Shadow Hearts IP for anything as recently as like a couple weeks ago as of the video's publish date. it's very funny that they will reply to just random people to crush their hopes about ever getting a re-release of these games lol

[@Lh0000]

Months old but like… HOW… why even hold on to the IP just let someone buy it off you. I genuinely don’t understand

[@Kwannnn_]

I randomly came across this game at Blockbuster as a kid, never played a shadow hearts game before, and ended up loving it! ❤❤

[@AliceDewDrop]

Another great video Punchy, great job

[@TerminallyNerdy]

I will give this video the highest honor I can *adds to his video essay playlist*

[@KisekiFox]

The whole "set one foot in the final dungeon then a bunch of sidequests open up" is a staple in just about every JRPG I've ever played to be fair haha, from the ps1 to ps2 era Idk why they do it, but it's basically a genre staple, either when the final dungeon opens, or after walking in and having to walk back out. Is funny

[@Y2000NK]

It's probably just a me thing but I've been seeing a lot of Shadow Hearts coverage lately.

[@SirIsaacFortesque]

Honestly you actually sold me on trying to check out this game/series, I'll definitely keep an eye out for it at a decent price.

[@TheSpaceBrosShow]

Same. I specifically want to check out Koudelka

[@SjefDriscoll]

A very pleasant watch :) It looks like a real fun game!

[@GarudaRamudasRumpusRoom]

Last time I listened to Lady Tears II was over a decade ago in a SupraDarky video and I never even played or knew what SH was. Still remembered the melody the instant the violin kicked in, talk about a beast of a composition.

[@Scrubb69]

Seeing Shadow Hearts being mentioned anywhere is wild, I managed to grab this game for a good 20 bucks and got to play it on a working ps2, it was fun

[@seth-rah]

JRPG Enjoyers eating good tonight

[@mr.voidout4739]

1920's NYC -This 12,000AD NYC(?) -Nier Automata New Los Angeles colony crashed on an alien planet -Xenoblade X Hawaii -Yakuza Infinite Wealth JRPGs have gone places.

[@Catapilamila]

I remember playing this and a damn Ps2 jampck along with Steambot Chronicles . Crazy remembering what the hell I was playing from like 20 years ago

[@luyandolove]

This game kinda looks like Yiik… but good. I don’t remember Ackk studios ever mentioning this game but I wonder if this is what they were going for

[@Finnecable]

I saw bits and pieces of your playthrough of this game, it looked really fun! Also 7th Dragon is my semi-niche JRPG series that I go feral over.

[@Adamkunnn]

I played the entire series. Shadow Hearts II/Covenant is what got me to start learning Japanese. It will always be near and dear to my heart.

[@masterk5066]

Ive been trying to think of the name of this game for months 😂 Back in the day I use to buy PlayStation monthly game informer magazines with the multi game demo discs inside the magazine $10 (deal of the century when you can’t afford games lol). This game was in one, issue102. I definitely want to check out the rest of the series this game’s demo left a impression on me for all these years later got me thinking about finally getting it & i didn’t even play the game fully

[@kabob0077]

5:11 Hang on, is that fucking massive Stargate in the background?

[@kabob0077]

5:56 I dunno but I think we need more games like it, maybe have everyone thinking the goal is one thing but it's unique to every villain? Oh well, I just want more games where the villains are just as lost as the player.

[@FoNgThOnG]

Man, was thinking of playing this again since I don't remember much about it from when I played it as a kid.

[@tollutollu]

"talks like somebody who definitely has a something awful account" ouch, punchy, ouch

[@tollutollu]

Oh reading your comments in other videos you type like a goon, so I am going to assume you also are one. Which would make sense, then!

[@NucleaRaptor]

As fun as it is, the only bad thing about this game is that it very clearly feels like an extended inconsequential sidequest. Machida even said outright that it's not a true sequel, and that a proper SH3 (never ever ;_;) would've continued Yuri's story.

[@Twitch_Bear]

i heard SH3 was supposed to be a prequel. the story of Yuri's dad.

[@Wardot]

I also go feral over Shadow Hearts after playing Koudelka & SH1/2 over the last few years, haven't played 3 yet but it looks like more of the same combat in a goofier setting so I'll have to check it out

[@CadelGamer]

Glad someone reviewed this game without comparing it to other SH games! This is my first SH game, and I really likes the battle mechanic! It's not too hard, but punish and rewards evenly with how well doing judgment ring! Too bad the franchise got shafted since the developer got bankrupt :( I really hope the Spiritual Successor can bring the same feeling as SH games like once before...

[@ViviesBones53]

I played this game Way too young and it really became formative media. When im standing around in real life my go to music is the garland office / harlem theme from the start. I still have my copy too!! Gotta replay it soon

[@gumhoy5054]

I'M SCREAMIN' RN LIKE SPONGEBOB BOUTTA BE MADE MANAGER OF THE KRUSTY KRAB A SHADOW HEARTS VIDEO!? YEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS HERE'S TO THE FUTURE, HERE'S TO PENNY BLOOD!

[@ShaggyLad]

Finally, a From the New World review that isn't just completely shitting on the overly goofy tone and horrible pacing! It's got an absolutely banger soundtrack, beautiful zones to explore, and some of the best JRPG combat ever made. There is so much charm to it. It's one of my absolute favorite guilty pleasure games.

[@DjoLian]

Big Up for Phoebe & Zelda for the cuteness value added to this already geat video ♥

[@Ufobydeath]

Picked up Covenant on a whim back when it first released and have been obsessed with the series from that point on. It really is a tragedy that it's been relegated to obscurity considering just how many cool ideas are packed into these games!

[@chocobofangirl]

2:55 It's usually called RPF and is certainly hosted alongside fanfiction. I think the distinction between it and historical fiction is usually whether or not the people you're talking about are alive and able to consent to being in an officially marketed work though so I guess Al Capone hangouts are just self-indulgent historical fiction lol

[@kabob0077]

4:38 The "Fuck it, we ball!" Attitude is nice to see a lot of the time.

[@beav5221]

video games

[@velvetbutterfly]

I for one would love a 4 part series of Punchy explaining the plot of weird niche JRPGs for over half an hour each

[@amyrlinn]

shoutout my girl slim hilda

[@PervertedNovaxc3]

When I first saw Slim Hilda back in the day, I just went got DAMN.

[@kilgoretrout8896]

HELL YEAH THANK YOU FOR MAKING A VIDEO ABOUT THIS GAME I NEVER HIT THE SUB BUTTON SO HARD BEFORE BRO

[@jasonblalock4429]

Well, you've now convinced me to give this series a try.

[@andrewcasias2676]

I see a new upload from you, and I have to watch it!

[@endarkculi]

I still fondly remember this game, even though kid me did get stuck in the Roswell dungeon for an embarrassingly long time. Out of the whole cast of weirdos, my favourite will always be Frank the American ninja; you nearly never had to buy a weapon for him, he'd just stick a hilt on random objects you'd come across, like a cactus, or a stop sign, or a huge sword that already had a hilt on it...

[@slaturwinters1828]

I love Frank 🤣 I wonder if it inspired the real Filthy Frank 🤔

[@TheSpaceBrosShow]

The adventures of JOHNNY ME BOI ME BOI

[@KarinKoenig7]

I wonder if the Penny Blood game will lead to a rediscovery of the whole series. Shadow Hearts and Koudelka have been obscure for so long. Shin Megami tensei used to be too, but with the continuous release of new games, I feel they've become less niche than they once used to be.

[@AthosJosue]

For me this series has the best combat of any rpg in the PS2, yeah including FFX and XII. In fact the only one I like more is the combat system from baten kaitos

[@dragamation3266]

I've known about Shadow Hearts since the Armed Fantasia Penny Blood kickstarter and theyve all looked real interesting. This one looks especially interesting as a weird humorous spinoff type deal. ill have to check em out, maybe after i finish the wild arms series, my old semi-obscure jrpg series i go feral for (I wanna say breath of fire, but im mostly feral for 2 despite the others also being good)

[@Dizerfullpower]

Couldn't make it very far, and I really liked Covenant. No character clicked for me, Nathan has less personality than Lucia, Frank is unfunny, and the villains are incredibly dull

[@asturias0267]

You should try out Fear & Hunger. Its a jrpg style survival horror game series made mostly by a Finnish solo dev. Both games in the series are really good, but they can come off as a bit hard because of the learning curve and "trial by fire" way of learning the game.

[@nawnomadnan9874]

Love this game!

[@issaknifeprty]

Honestly hate how this game is always compared to the other 2 and described as bad. There’s nothing remotely BAD about this game.

[@stinkbanana2522]

Huh, as a kid I totally disregarded this because I thought it was a Kingom Hearts spinoff lmao

[@tavastian3288]

Shadow Hearts 2: Covenant is probably the best JRPG ever made

[@kitfox2155]

Speedrunning this series seems interesting given how easy it is for ring system to throw wrench into everything at the most unfortunate moment.

[@PunchyYT]

shadow hearts speedruns primarily involve abusing the accessory that makes the ring invisible at the benefit of tripling your attacking power so they're really hard lol.

[@kitfox2155]

My god that's a pretty extreme skill floor lmao I really can't imagine pulling a 100% speedrun attempt with that being a must for over 5 hour straight.

[@Dante2056]

I mean, Yuri and a couple other Shadow Hearts characters do show up in a tactics RPG. And uh... it's great. It's called Chaos Wars. And I recommend it. 🤣

[@diamondhamster4320]

For covering goofy and wacky JRPGS may I recommend Operation Darkness on Xbox.

[@TheDiscoGenre]

This is a rare positive review on this game. Its pretty damn descriptive too.

[@that2amvagueexistentialdread]

Can you join the Discord without being a Patron or is it Patrons only?

[@kyubbiman2255]

Played it, loved it, played it multiple times, loved it even more

[@necogreendragon]

This is a great series. I love the judgment ring mechanic. It adds so much to the but can be tedious at times admittedly. I like the way Frank gets new weapons. I am not a fan of the whole do these extra obscure things to get the "good" ending trope in games but that is a minor gripe. Also some of the humor did not age well. Lookin at you gay stereotypes that run the motorcycle shop.😅

[@dc8836]

The combat system sounds almost like a prototype of designs we saw in games like Octopath Traveler, in a lot of ways. Man, what a weird game.

[@kirah.7106]

If only my 3 PS2s hadn't all broken.

[@Cojoe]

Recent subscriber and enjoying binging most of your content. I will say, I wish you would spend the time to fully outline the plot as it's half the reason most of us watch these videos. We want to fully explore the game with you, instead of being recommended to go out and invest time in playing it. I can get a recommendation from google, but I can only get you from these videos, if that makes sense? If you're truly worried about spoilers, maybe a single timestamp to skip it for the limited people that are actually going to go out and play it. Best of both worlds!

[@PunchyYT]

it's not that I'm worried about spoilers its that I don't think that highly of From The New World's plot and therefore didn't care to outline it. this video is not intended as a comprehensive overview of the game, I just wanted to talk about the bits I liked.

[@dmeep]

I was like nr 70 so i ruined something nice

[@hyperflares2879]

Yeah, this game seems like the bastard child of Legend of Legaia, Legend of Dragoon and Saga Frontier that I always wanted. I'm in.

[@JayAshkevron]

I think the problem was Shadow Hearts and Shadow Hearts 2 were just super dark and yeah it had a lot of funny stuff. But he stories were ultimately dramatic and pretty awesome. But then FTNW came out, and all of us who'd played the other games in the series were hyped, only to be confronted by talking kung fu, mobster cat, and bleach blonde native American princess. Its was just a touch to weird, and out of touch with the series mood and feel as a whole. I hate that it killed the series, because it its such a great group of games. I really wish they could get a reboot or an additional chance to release a game on a modern console.

[@kabob0077]

2:33 *Finger guns* Hey, you're pretty good.

[@OneGamer2EnvyThemAll]

I still have the PS2 version but the last few times I booted it up, it was getting worryingly longer and longer to read the disc, so I ended up having to drop my replay 40% of the way through. This game would be at the tippy-top of my list to emulate... if PCSX2 didn't have that atrocious input latency that would destroy any semblance of playing the Judgement Ring well.

[@jamesblack893]

Loved the game. honestly my favourite out of the three. Fun combat and entertaining characters (even Nathan). wouldn't call it a horror though since I've probably had more laughs playing this than any other JRPGs (teen me loved the crap out of Frank's and Mao's side missions). If there's anything that I find lacking it's Grace's involvement (or lack thereof) in the overall plot.

[@alenezi989a3]

I absolutely love this game, man I really miss the PS2 era a time when amazing JRPGs like this were everywhere. JRPGs just lost something afterwards. This video got me hyped to all 3 games plus the prequel.

[@Hyperion-5744]

Shadow hearts covenant is my favorite out of the series, also i'm looking forward to penny blood whenever it comes out.

[@HappyHyperHuggieNini]

I really liked how if you've played through the stories of the previous 3 games, that From the New World's plot essentially acts like the foil or inversion to the plots of the previous 3 games. Not gonna spoil how but if you know you know

[@tomsawyer283]

I love Shadow Hearts 2 Covenant

[@anarchisedlute3463]

If this and Rising Zan: Samurai Gunman taught me anything, it's that games where the protagonist is called Johnny are almost always peak

[@noahhobson4521]

Covenant is the best game in the series, but From the New World is silly fun that I still enjoy playing regularly.

[@nacho5184]

WOOOHO NEW VIDEO

[@bonchedagain]

remember watching you stream this when i was in my monthly jrpg phase, was hearing that fuckass battle theme in my goddamn sleep @_@

[@localSunMan]

Regarding Yuri and his cool quips: The game makes much more sense when you read Yuri as a surfer dude.

[@Twitch_Bear]

gamefaqs is gamer's friend.

[@slaturwinters1828]

Life was hard and I had to sell my games as a teen, but this one I loved It so much I bought it again as an adult, along with a few others. 🤟🏼

[@EdenAdema]

I played all the way through shadow hearts 2 covenant and loved it , ill definitely be playing from the new world now

[@DarkBloodSouls]

I remember rage quitting this game during a late game dungeon and dying to some bs status effect and losing a lot of progress

[@WanderingyNephilim]

I really love these videos where you talk about various video games (Mostly horror games). I do hope you do them more!

[@Skuttie]

where's the cup noodle

[@doublemaycare7171]

Okay but Johnny and Shania look a lot like Shulk and Sharla from Xenoblade 1.

[@localSunMan]

Oh man, I have terrible news regarding Penny Blood. The project isn't dead, but the devs are struggling to find investors and it seems they are pretty much out of money at this point.

[@lobstrosity7163]

A very strange game.

[@sadie9728]

My fav SH game. 💕

[@Bunni89]

I oddly enjoyed Gilbert more than the main two villains that we're supposed to care about. Hes just weirdly endearing in how unapologetically hilariously horrid he is. 90% of his screentime is making fun of his own plot, I connected more to that than Killer being so convinced he's in an epic love story and Lady just staring blankly in the background. And Gilbert's voiceactor really hams it up! I can never forget "LOOK AT ALL THIS COZY EVIL" agasfsfssf. Genuinely felt sad to kick his ass. Not because he wasnt a terrible villain, but cos he was a self aware one and oh no now the comedy has died with him. Rest in piss, weird gremlin grandpa, you were the highlight of this batshit experience!

[@Bunni89]

Also, my favourite quote from Shadow Hearts wiki: "Relationships: Gilbert has no relationships, mostly because he is hated by everyone."

[@LinksRoyal]

Shadow hearts Covenant and shadow hearts 1 are absolute gems.

[@senataisivelia3160]

I've been looking for Shadow Hearts video so thank you for this video! This game sure is a weird one among the list of many jrpgs I played on ps2 back when I was a kid but it's very fun and the comedy horror is so good! (Maybe you can cover Rogue Galaxy next? No pressure though, love your video!)

[@PunchyYT]

Rogue Galaxy is interesting to me (but not at the top of my priority list rn) because it actually has a significantly better reputation in the west than it does in Japan, where it was largely considered a pile of shit, so that could make an interesting thing to cover.

[@nikodem123asdf]

As far as I know the picture snapping doesn't really have many is any missible monsters since you can encounter literally every enemy in the game in Lovecraft's challenges. It is however recommended that you at least use a guide for the cat coins and snap cards start each area in the game with Johnny and Mao in your party so you can meet the quota without having to re-visit the areas.

[@PunchyYT]

I'm pretty sure there's a handful of bosses that just don't show up in the challenges but there's no real logic to which ones don't so you have to be a bit careful about it. also the UMAs absolutely cannot be refought in any capacity so if you miss one of those for whatever reason you're totally SOL

[@nikodem123asdf]

@@PunchyYT I think the intention was for you to complete the collection on NG+ since the cards do carry over together with stellar charts. Kinda like how Persona 3 FES technically allows you to complete the social links on your first playthrough. It's possible but highly unlikely. Not saying it was the best execution of it but I do know that for a number of bosses Johnny cannot be present or doesn't have to cause you can get their cards from trades.

[@b-d9099]

This just sounds like trails from zero tbh

[@joshramsey912]

Who else wants a HD release or remake of this series? Who owns the rights?

[@PunchyYT]

a hotel chain, for some reason. there's a complicated story behind that but the short version is "weird series of corporate acquisitions"

[@sporepics]

A jrpg set in America. I don't think it's a mystery why people hate or ignored it.

[@Bunni89]

I akwats feel guilty that I enjoyed this game more than all the others. I get why rationally they SHOULD be better exoeriences, they have a much deeper story and genuine emotion. But idk, i just enjoy a completely silly no depth comedy game with an excellent battle system better. Its just an entirely different genre, and that's fine. I honestly think it wouldnt have been as hated as it is if they simply named it it's own thing instead of tenuously linking it to the Shadow Hearts series. Of course people were gonna be pissed off if they expected darkness and got the most sun ever crammed into a game, lol I cant help but be overjoyed every second Frank is onscreen, he's just a slice of serotonin through and through!