Shining Hearts (シャイニング・ハーツ Shainingu Hātsu) is a Shining series RPG released on December 16 2010, exclusively in Japan for the PlayStation Portable.
Plot[]
Rick Elwood awakens washed up on the shores of Windaria. He is greeted by one of three girls; Neris Filiam, Amil Manaflare and Airy Ardet (his guide being the player's choice). With no memories except his name, he asks the girl where he is. She responds with many people like him arrive on the shores of Windaria, known as 'Wanderers', revealing she herself ended up washed up on shore just like him and whilst she also lacks memories of her past she has built a life for herself on the island.
With no where else for Rick to go, he is invited by the girl to live with her for the time being in a modified shipwreck on the beach and offered a job alongside her at Madera's Bakery, a magical bakery run by a former witch who often looks after wanderers who find themselves stranded on the island.
Rick is given his first task at the bakery of delivering bread to Flora, the resident bar maid, and a magical Soul Lantern. After Flora recieves her bread, her happy emotions from eating it are collected in the Soul Lantern, allowing Madera to bake it into more delicious bread that can lift people's moods.
The following day, Kaguya, yet another amnesiac Wanderer washes up on shore with no knowledge of who she is. Not only are her memories locked away, but so are her emotions. Worst yet, pirates seem to be targetting her for the pendant around her neck that seems to hold some significance. In order to keep their island safe and peaceful, Rick and Amil/Neris/Airy decide to fight the pirates off whilst helping Kaguya unlock her memories and emotions through Madera's magic bread.
Gameplay[]
During island sections, the player can collect materials for baking bread, forging new weaponry and armor and can go fishing. Completing quests from the island's residents will allow Rick to collect hearts. These hearts can be used in various ways including using them in baking, using them in combat and using them to unlock Kaguya to restore her memories and emotions. This in turn allows Kaguya to release heart keys from her pendant which will unlock doors to new worlds and new stories.
During combat, the player takes control of a four man party. Through the use of the Battle MOE system, the hearts collected can be used to perform combo moves with fellow party members.
Characters[]
Party Members[]
- Rick Elwood: The amnesiac swordsman hero of the story who washes ashore on Windaria.
- Amil Manaflare: A baker girl with powerful magical abilities. One of the three possible girls who find Rick.
- Neris Filiam: A baker girl who excels at archery. One of the three possible girls who find Rick.
- Airy Ardet: A baker girl who is also a nun. Her speciality is healing magic. One of the three possible girls who find Rick.
- Alvin Ray Sylphis: The leader of the elven forest guardians, and a spirit master who left his true home in End Earth to protect Euforia. He is the elder brother of Rana and accompanied by his Wind spirit friend, Kefia.
- Lin Xiaomei: A cat beastman antique seller who also happens to be a phantom thief known as 'Black Tail'. She joins Rick's party thinking they'll be useful pawns for her Black Tail job. She seems to have a higher purpose.
- Ragnus Windaria: The ruling prince of Windaria, he is skilled with a rapier. He possesses the ability to defeat undead creatures.
- Rufina Windaria: Ragnus' sister and known as the 'Holy Mother' to the island's residents. She has some particularly challenging bread event requests.
- Rouna Murasame: The wolf beastman maid of Rufina. She is quite clumsy, but is incredibly skilled in combat having been raised in a village of ninjas.
- Melty de Granite: A half elf, half vampire ice witch who lives in a mansion with her butler familiar, Sorbe. She loves sweets and her dream is to make the ultimate ice cream flavor. Many of her attacks revolve around weaponising ice cream.
- Hank Dimrock: An elderly dwarf who works in a village as a blacksmith. He's friends with Madera, and has survived many battles in his time. Formerly a member of the Arc Buccaneer crew and possesses a lot of knowledge about ancient technology allowing him to fix everything from bread ovens to ships.
- Dylan Rouen: Leader of the trans dimensional pirate crew, 'Arc Buccaneer', Dylan seems to be one of the few who knows Kaguya's secret and is well skilled in dual wielding swords. He's also acquainted with both Mistral and Isaac.
- Kuon Gaoroad: A beastman boy found starving to death by Rick near the forest of the elves. He joins Rick's party if given enough bread, but is incapable of speaking human language.
Non-playable[]
- Madera: The kindly owner of the bakery, and caretaker of the various 'Wanderers' who wash ashore. Madera used to be an evil witch, but is making amends for her past misdeeds by spreading happiness through her baked bread.
- Kaguya: An amnesiac young woman who has lost both her memories and emotions. Pirates are targetting her for her pendant which can create 'Heart Keys'. She seems to be of vital importance.
- Mistral "Misty" Nereis: The pirate captain of the 'Siren' crew, she pursues Kaguya's pendant.
- Maxima Enfield: A mysterious woman who shows up when Kaguya regains some of her emotions. Said to carry the blood of the ancients in her, she has some sort of connection with Kaguya.
- Hayane: Rouna's rival who happens to secretly be an awakened blade. Defeating her in combat will allow Rouna to achieve a new powerful ability.
- Phantom Queen EX-Xecty: The commander of Isaac Saint-Germain's armoured pirate crew 'Gale Bunker'. She is a combat organoid created by the ancients, and follows their wills. She has the ability to absorb the Checkmate Forces abilities.
- Isaac Saint-Germain: Captain of the armoured pirate crew 'Gale Bunker', Isaac attempts to acquire Kaguya and her pendant. He has entered Euforia to break the seal on Maxima Enfield's soul, and is seeking the technology of the Ancients. He's also responsible for the destruction of Rouna's ninja village to obtain Urayukihime and is able to manipulate Mistral as a useful pawn.
- Gadem: One of Mistral's three beastmen crewmates. Gadem is a panther beastman and an old fashioned warrior type.
- Balder: The leader of Mistral's beastmen crewmates, Balder is a parrot beastman and master strategist.
- Radon: Another of the three beastmen crewmates of Mistral, Radon is a bull beastman and given the order by Balder to capture Kaguya.
- Geldof Draculea: The undead captain of the ghost ship Hellgeist, he leads an entire crew of undead. He is bound by unfinished business to the world.
- Genrousai: A wolf beastman that was Rouna's master and an elder of the ninja village she grew up in.
Trivia[]
- Shining Hearts recieved an anime adaption known as Shining Hearts: Bread of Happiness.
- Whilst the game was not released in the west theanime adaption, Shining Hearts: Bread of Happiness recieved an English dub.
- Likewise, an artbook with interviews and concept art for the game was released in English; Shining Hearts Collection of Visual Materials.
- Shining Hearts was originally not meant to be part of the Shining series and was being developed as a totally seperate game project.[1]
- Originally the game was meant to be a real time system game with real time seasons. Certain breads would be locked off until the correct season, for example strawberry bread would not be able to be made until spring.[1]
- During the design phase, the original plan was to have Rick be one of three male main characters each of which would specialise in either swordsman, mage and exorcist.[2]
- Amil Manaflare was the character the script was written in mind of, and Neris Filiam and Airy Ardet came from both her and the idea of specialised optional party members like the above.[2]
- Due to Amil being split into three different characters, both her, Neris and Airy were all voiced by the same voice actor and their backstories don't get delved into much in the game.[2]
- Rana who appears in this game is in actual fact the elf queen of Shining Tears and Shining Wind, Elwyn Rana Sylphis.
- Rick Elwood, Amil Manaflare, Neris Filiam, Airy Ardet, Maxima Enfield and Lin Xiaomei all appear in Shining Blade.
- Rick Elwood, Rouna Murasame, Lin Xiaomei, Maxima Enfield, Isaac Saint-Germain, Melty de Granite, Mistral "Misty" Nereis and Urayukihime appear in Blade Arcus from Shining, Blade Arcus from Shining EX, Blade Arcus from Shining: Battle Arena and Blade Arcus Rebellion from Shining.
- Rick Elwood, Maxima Enfield and Mistral "Misty" Nereis also appear as limited time recruitable characters in Chain Chronicle.
Gallery[]
