Shining Hearts

Shining Hearts
Developer(s) Studio Saizensen
Publisher(s) Sega
Artist(s) Tony Taka (character designer)
Composer(s) Hiroki Kikuta
Series Shining
Platform(s) PlayStation Portable
Release date(s)
  • JP: December 16, 2010
Genre(s) Role-playing video game
Mode(s) Single-player

Shining Hearts (シャイニング・ハーツ Shainingu Hātsu) is a 2009 role-playing video game published by Sega. It is the first Shining game to be released for the PlayStation Portable and is the third with characters designed by Tony Taka, the other two being Shining Tears and Shining Wind.

The game has been adapted into an anime television series titled Shining Hearts: Shiawase no Pan that premiered in April 2012.[1]

Gameplay

The player can form a party of up to four characters that will be encountered throughout the course of the game. The player will be able to perform special team attacks with party members.[2] The ocean is a major part of Shining Hearts. The game puts the player's base of operations on a ship called "Home Ship". This ship serves both as the player's home and as means of transport. While the ship starts off in a ragged state, the player will be able to build it up with new functionality. Eventually, the player will use the ship to travel to other islands.[2] When not out at sea, the player is free to roam the Wyndaria Island. The player will be able to take part in a variety of activities. The player can progress through story missions, or take on side quests to help out villagers. The player will also be able to go around the island to collect materials for baking bread and forging weapons, and even go fishing.[2]

While playing through the game, working through the story and helping villagers out on quests, the player will collect Hearts. These can be given to Kaguya to help her return her emotions. As her emotions come back, Kaguya's spirit stone will release "Heart Keys." These can be used to open doors to new worlds, leading to new developments in the story.[2] Hearts are a parameter indicating how people feel about the main character. In response to the main character's actions, people will release Hearts of varying color. The different colors represent feelings: Red Heart: Happiness; Green Heart: Kindness; Yellow Heart: Anger; Blue Heart: Sadness; Black Heart: Hatred.[3] By collecting Hearts, the player will bring about changes to the game's island setting and world, and also expand the adventure to new areas. Hearts can also be used in battle. It is also possible to use Hearts when preparing bread at the bakery.[3]

One method for collecting Hearts is through the MOE (Mind Over Emotion) System. During conversation, the player will occasionally be allowed to select a response under constraint of time. Depending on the player's selection, the conversation partner will release Hearts indicating their reaction. Their favor for the main character will change accordingly.[3] There's more than one MOE System in the game, and one of them being the "Battle MOE" System.[4] Battle MOE is a group attack system. Every now and then, the player will be given the chance of pairing up with one of the battle members for a group attack. Depending on the selections, the player will get different moves. Some group attacks result in heal spells, some in group attacks, etc.[4] The feelings of the party members towards the main character will change during combat.[2] The character that the player selects to perform the team attack will be more pleased with the main character and will release Red Hearts, indicating happiness. The characters who don't get picked will be angry and will release Blue Hearts, indicating sadness.[4]

Plot

Story

One day, a mysterious girl named Kaguya was washed ashore the island of Wyndaria after a great storm. She encounters Rick, a swordsman who wound up working at the island's bakery. Apparently, Kaguya is suffering from having lost her memories and emotions. In addition, the usually peaceful Wyndaria is now swarming with pirates who came seeking for the special spirit stone that is worn around Kaguya's neck. Knowing the situation, Rick and his co-workers, Neris, Amil, and Airy decided to bring back peace to the island and help Kaguya regain her lost memories and emotions.[2]

Characters

Development and release

Promotion of Shining Hearts at the Tokyo Game Show 2010

The background music for Shining Hearts is composed by Hiroki Kikuta.[6] The game was released on December 16, 2010 in Japan.

The theme song for the game, entitled "Kokoro ni Todoku Uta" (心に届く詩), sung by Lia,[7] was released on December 15, 2010.[8] The soundtrack for the game was released on January 26, 2011.[7]

Anime adaptation

References

  1. "Shining Hearts TV Anime Titled, Dated". Anime News Network. 2012-02-09. Retrieved 2012-02-10.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Anoop Gantayat (August 5, 2010). "Shining Series Set for PSP Through Shining Hearts". Andriasang. Retrieved November 24, 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Anoop Gantayat (August 19, 2010). "Shining Hearts Has The "MOE" System". Andriasang. Retrieved November 24, 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Anoop Gantayat (September 6, 2010). "Shining Hearts Has Witches, Cats, Elves and More Moe". Andriasang. Retrieved November 24, 2010.
  5. 1 2 3 水樹奈々さんらの役名が明らかに! 『シャイニング・ハーツ』 (in Japanese). Dengeki Online. November 25, 2010.
  6. シャイニング・ハーツ 公式サイト (in Japanese). Sega.
  7. 1 2 "SEGAゲームソフト「シャイニング・ハーツ」主題歌「心に届く詩」がリリース!" (in Japanese). November 10, 2010.
  8. 『シャイニング・ハーツ』の主題歌『心に届く詩』は12.15リリース (in Japanese). Dengeki Online. November 26, 2010.
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