One of the best games
I agree with everything L wrote. Awesome game. Play the others in the series too!

Shadow Hearts
This and Magna Carta are my favorite games. I'm just telling you that.
Story:4.5/5
The story in this game is good. There are afew plot twists in the game that will shock you, but all of the plot twists are at the last 7 or 8 locations of the game.The story overall is good.The only reason why I gave the story a 4.5 is because the first three games in the series had better stories, and because the story is nothing special.(p.s:the other three games inthe series are shadow hearts covenant, shadow hearts, and KOUDELKA)
Graphics:5/5
The graphics in this game are to die for, when you turn off the filter. When you are in battle or just walking in the location you are at, it is very smooth and flexible. During cutscenes, the graphics are very smooth, but sometimes during cutscenes, it looks very jaggy, but in ony afew of the cutscenes. Now for the FMV's, they are beautiful. Though not as good as Magna Carta tears of bloods's, they are very nice to look at. They are very smooth and realistic. There are about 14 FMV's in the game, and the average length for the FMV's is about 4 minutes.
Gameplay:6/5
THE BEST BATTLE SYSTEM PERIOD. This game is based on something called the 'judgement ring' (jr) without it, it wouldn't be Shadow Hearts. Now the jr is like a little disk with parts of the disk colored, and there is a little bar that spins around the disk, and whenever it reaches the colored part , you have to press x, triangle, square, or circle. Now if you miss, your turn ends. Even when you are buying things, you can have a 10-50% off discount, and even when you are selling things, the judgement ring shows up, and you can even make the price higher by using the jr. This doesn't sound too fun, but hoo boy, it is is fun. Trust me.
Difficulty:5/5
In the first 8 locations are pretty easy. The puzzles are easy, and the bosses are easy. But after those 8 locations, the enemies get harder and harder, and the puzzles get harder and harder, and the bosses get harder and harder. I am also warning you about the final boss. Level up until you are level 60 with the strongest weapons and armor for at least 4 characters. I am warning you. Great amount of difficulty.
Music:5/5
The music in this game is good, but not that good. It only fits the location, and the mood of the seting that is why I gave it a 5 out of 5. My favorite music in this game are in all of the FMV's, and the trailer that shows up right when you load the game.
Replay Value:5.5/5
Man there is alot of replay value in this game. There is A TON of sidequests in this game. Though you can only do 80% of the sidequests when you reach the final level. The other 20% of the sidequests are Natan's UMA hunting which takes pretty long to do. The other sidequest is Shania's Fusion collecting. By doing this sidequest, you can get the good ending and not the bad ending. Now this seems like there isn't too many sidequests, but you are wrong big time, there are about 50 sidequests, along with 10 extra bosses, and 5 or 6 secret locations. They also take a long time to do. In fact, I have 2 files of this game. One of the files says 40:34:56.(I just checked this) That was the file where I didn't do any sidequests. My other file says 70:43:12, and this is the file where I did MOST of the sidequests. Not all.
OVERALL:5/5
If I could, I would give this game a 6 out of 5. PERIOD.

Shadow Hearts: From The New World
Awsome. This game is awsome. I have only had it for 2 days and i already fell in love with it. You get to fight monsters, level up, and get new abilities. But the best part of all is getting Shania to fuse in to many different spirits!