Part 3: Plains, part 1

Plains, part 1


We start on a map of Asia; the only place we can go to right now is "Plains".


By the train tracks, the kid has just dumped the girl on the dirty, dirty ground. Nice.







Heh heh... Pretty exciting, huh?




It's hard to catch in screenshots, but he just pointed to her, um, stomach while he was talking.



Stay away?! I haven't even done anything yet.

Stay...stay back, please... I...I can't. No... I...I can't do anything, I...




*mumble, mumble* Ungrateful...

Uh... Where do you think you're going? I'm telling you, it's not safe that way. Aw, give me a break... Hey, girlie! Don't run off like that!

He tries to follow her, but...





The Mysterious Voice is the only character (such as it is) that has in-game voice acting. The only other voice acting is in the CGI scenes and during a few stories that some of the characters tell.

AARGH!! That hurts...! Not that damn voice again...!

Great. Our hero is not only rude, he's crazy, too.




And you're doing a real good job of it so far, Ace.


Luckily, she isn't very far away.



Were you attacked or something? I TOLD you it was dangerous, didn't I...





...



...

...


Looks like someone is all talk.

Hey! Girl! Don't just lie there like a dead fish! Get up!



I bust my hump savin' you, then you take one look at me and run off...

Then you faint? You got no manners, y' know that?

A... A monster just suddenly...

Look, I know he's a bit rough around the edges, but there's no need to call him names.

Yeah. There's lots of hungry wolves and bloodsuckin' bats around here. You're probably attracting them. You smell pretty good, y' know.

Why... why is he smelling her?

...

Anyway, don't run off like that, okay. 'Cause if I don't do like the voice says, my head's gonna split open!

...Huh?

This is really the only logical response when someone tells you they hear voices.

...Don't "huh?" me. Someone, or something, is pretty damn insistent that I protect you.

Protect...me?



Stupid voice jumps into my head all the time. And now it's orderin' me to protect you. Anyway, at least I'm never bored. Wherever it tells me to go, there are always plenty of monsters.

Then why are you only level 3?

So that's why you were on the train?

Yup. But thanks to that voice, I'm changing from your ordinary bad-boy type into a real psycho. What about you? Hey, are you psycho, too? Do you see weird things?

I do not think that word means what you think it means.

...Maybe.

Well you don't seem quite like me, but... Whatever. We can't just chat all day. First we've got to find a place to rest. And I'm gettin' hungry.

He starts to walk away, then realizes something.


My name's...


Here is normally where I'd put up a vote so you could pick the names, but I think I have a pretty good idea of what would win.





Dongs...

I'm...





Heh heh, Tits, huh? Even your name's cute.


Yeah, I didn't think so, either. We'll stick with the original names. It'll save confusion when we get to the second game.



Yuri. You can call me Yuri.

Yuri...

I'm...

Alice Elliot. Please, call me Alice.

Heh heh, Alice, huh? Even your name's cute.





Okay! I got it! I won't touch you!! Right, we're off!



Alice is now an official member of our party, so it's time to look at her stats.

Alice starts out on lowly level 1, and is one of the weakest physically of your eventual party members. Her main role in battle is to stand back and heal the other members. You'll spend most of your time with her that you aren't healing someone trying to keep her from going Berserk, thanks to her abysmally low SP. I'll be putting her in the back row in battle formation to increase her defense and her magic power at the cost of attack power.


Her unique skill is White Magic. Although she'll eventually learn Light-based attack spells as well, she starts out with a single spell, Cure, which restores about 100 HP.


Her weapons are books. She casts her spells from them, or she uses them to bash monsters over the head. Alice starts with the weakest female armor, the Cotton Blouse. She does get one accessory; a bandanna that increases her defense slightly.


In this area, the enemies are the wolves and bats Yuri mentioned. (I circled the bat because they flutter so much it makes them hard to screenshot.) The bats cast Falcon on themselves, a spell that increases agility slightly. I don't remember if the wolves do anything; they never did it while I was leveling, at any rate.


We also fight GIANT FUCKING SPIDERS!! that Yuri never bothered to mention. They have a weak Poison skill that has a very low chance of actually working and only does 1 point of damage per round. Poison, and all other Status Effects in this game, wear off as soon as the battle is over.


We need to cross the river here, but Yuri is a delicate flower, so we'll either need to find another way around or a way to drain the water.


First, we're going to backtrack up here to pick up a chest.


Bonus! Leather Belts increase attack power. This is going on Yuri. We also get a glimpse of a series of wooden drainage gates in the canal.


We get over here by going back to the bridge in the southeast of the first screen.


Over in the southeast of this screen is our first save point. And that's about it.



Um... Maybe if we do something with this sluice gate, we'll be able to cross the river...

Huh?

Ah, of course! Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing.






An examination of both the western gates reveals that they are rotten and won't work.


The eastern gate is fine, but it needs a new handle. You can get a new handle from either of the other gates, but you need to do a different mini-game at each one.


The northern gate is pretty simple. You just have to hit the red areas.


I did the southern puzzle, though. You have to hit X like mad and then time when you stop so the indicator falls into the red area just as time runs out.


And I barely made it on the first try.



Hah!! Not bad, eh?!




Then we just run back and put it in the one working gate.



Hey, I say we take a rest over there.

Smart-using make Yuri sleepy.

R-right.


You'd think she'd be pretty well-rested by now.

Zzz... Zzz...

...She's asleep. What's that all about?! She's got some nerve...




Unh, uhhh...



Father...

Wha... You talkin' in your sleep!? Don't scare me like that!





Oh, please. Don't tell me she's dreamin' about her DAD.

Whew... I'm gettin' a bit sleepy myself...


Just as he's about to lie down, the fire starts throwing a fit.




Damn furries have learned how to spawn out of thin air now.



F-father! What... What are you doing here?!

Wait, what?

I've come to visit, boy. The souls of the monsters you've killed are quite lonely, you see...

Souls of the...monsters...!?


I don't think he's staring at her face... Maybe he really IS related to Yuri.

And yet, I must show proper courtesy. It is thanks to this woman's power that I am even here.

Her power?! What?!

Haven't you noticed? This world overflows with the ghosts of the monsters you've slain. The gate of eternal darkness was closed until now, you see...this woman is causing it to open! The ghosts sealed inside the darkest depths of your heart... they call to me, boy. And they demand that I devour your very soul!










And now begins another un-winnable battle.


An un-winnable battle that starts with the bastard taking nearly half of Yuri's SP.


Like Bacon, Fox Face pulls out a special skill after a couple rounds.






!!!, besides being the best spell name ever, reduces your HP to 1, no matter what they were before. Since I can't win anyway, I'm not going to waste any healing items on this fight.




Fox Face has the same Fusion power as Yuri. So not fair.


He hits Yuri with the Dark Messenger attack.


And it's lights out for Yuri.


Literally.

Next time on Shadow Hearts: a more in-depth look into Fusion, and we finally get somewhere inhabited.


Plains, part 1 on Vimeo

NPC Scorecard