This layout is based on 'kawaii collage' by sugarpurr. I removed the background and I scaled the image up a bit with an AI tool.

Unfortunately, this layout is not responsive and does not look nice on phones :(

But it's still super cool!

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You can find the code to this layout here.

[INTRO HERE] lol

4/24/2026
KATO IS BACK!!! And holy shit he is chad-ified.

4/25/2026
Today, we enter the mines and... We exit the mines!

I've returned to playing on the big screen because I'm at my parents, and it messed up the Judgement Ring timing (just like it did in the first game).

It takes a few battles to get the hang of the new timing, but it doesn't mess me up too bad. Mostly with Joachim and Blanca I struggle, but when I get their timing right, I almost always get perfect strikes.

We get to the bottom of the mine, which takes a while, and we fight a boss named Grimlock. He's not hard, but he does defeat Joachim.

Afterwards, I accidentally exit the mine too early and don't get the treasure chest that was in the boss fight room. I might go back through the mines to get it later... When I exited the room, it took me straight to Wales. We find where the Neameston Monastery was, and Yuri explains what happened six months ago. I'm the cutscene, only Karin and Yuri show so it's implied, I guess, that he's only telling her? But the rest of the group show up sometimes, so I'm not sure. The explanation cutscene is cute - there is a tiny box in the corner of the screen that shows the cutscene from the first game that Yuri is talking about, but the screen shows a childish, chibi-like drawing of the events.

We then make it to Roger Bacon's house, and I love what they did here. The first game only let you see the house as a sort of pixelated image that you walked up to. In this game, it's a fully modeled 3D structure that you can walk around and in-between the legs of. It's got an updated design, which is neat too. When you go inside, everyone starts examining Roger's space and Yuri runs up the stairs, calling out for him. The game then lets you explore the place, and the inside has been updated, too. It looks like something straight out of Alice in Wonderland. It's such a neat upgrade that fits so well, and I like that they took liberties with the redesign rather than sticking true to what was shown in the first game.

Additionally, and this is probably my favorite part, the vending machine is shown in the back of the house - right where it was in the first game! However, it's all tangled up in wires and suspended mid-air. When Yuri examines it, he notes that it's "all busted up." It's such a cool detail. That vending machine was an end-game store for the first game that let you buy all the supplies that you needed for the final act of the game. It makes sense that the devs would come up with a reason for it not to work here, since it would be too overpowered this early in-game. Also, it's a nice touch to show the change that has taken place between game one and two. We are no longer fighting Albert Simon. Yuri and the original gang have defeated the alien god. Alice is dead. This broken vending machine is almost symbolic to me of the bad time line we have left off of. It's a very, very nice touch to include, and I loved seeing it here.

4/26/2026
We leave Roger's home and encounter Lenny, the big, muscular guy with huge spikes on his shoulders who has been chasing us for a while, now.

Yuri tricks him into revealing where Roger was taken to by insinuating that Lenny isn't "high enough in the ranks" to actually know that information, to which Lenny proves him wrong by revealing the information altogether. Roger is in Florence!

The cutscenes are really fun in this game, and have a level of brevity that was missing in the previous title, but also - it wouldn't have felt right there. A fight ensues, and I start it with one HP for Joachim?? I completely skipped healing my characters after the last encounter and so, knowing I saved right in front of the weird vending machine, I restart the PS2 and heal before the encounter. I also find out that you can skip cutscenes, which I'd been curious about.

We head to Florence and meet an old woman named Carla who had a connection to the secret society chasing us, Sapientes Gladios.

Before we are introduced to her, though, we have a cutscene with a fortune teller woman named Lucia, who is wearing a revealing outfit that Yuri can't stop oogling over. Weakkkk.

Carla sends us off to an island (I'm assuming off the coast of Italy? It's not very far) to acquire a rare flower she needs. Lucia accompanies us as a guide.

4/27/2026
Lucia takes us to this island, but is constantly forgetting where we need to go, so we need to figure out things on our own.

There are four different poems with an attached puzzle where we need to attach zodiac signs we've collected throughout the building. The building's design is very otherworldly and Alice in Wonderland-esque. It's odd, but in a good way. There's even a fortune cookie on a table for you to eat, which made me think of the tea and cakes that make Alice grow tall or shrink down.

There's also a blood type puzzle that I ended up searching for the answer because I was just blatantly confused. Lots of weird wording and funky explanation. The answer was Gepetto, but I don't know how we got there.

When we finally make it to the room where the flower is supposed to be, Lucia releases a huge pink cat named Andre - both name and design make me think it's straight out of an old animated Barbie movie. It's awesome. The cutscenes also has a brief fourth wall break where Lucia looks at us, the played, and her eye twinkles to show she's up to no good. She sends Andre after us, but the cat doesn't listen and tries to eat her. We intervene and save her.

There's also a stupid response from Yuri where he goes "that's one big pussy" but we don't need to talk about that.

After saving Lucia, she explains that she and Carla have had people sent after them before from Sapientes Gladio who are pretending to be only interested in learning info from Carla. She and Carla have devised this plan about sending those people in search of the flower, where they are instead met with Andre and become a tasty snack.

Just as I predicted, Lucia joins us! Yay! New party member! BYE JOACHIM!!!

We go back out into Florence and save the game. There is an NPC you can talk to here named "Backstreet Nero" who is openly discussing how the war is allowing him to make more money, going as far as to say "Fine days, these are!" I couldn't help but feel that someone behind the game read up on their Roman history, haha.

4/30/2026
We make it to the Italian Branch Headquarters for Sapientes Gladio. There's a puzzle in the main room where you read snippets of each book to figure out what to do next, and I kid you not there's a book about farts. Why? Because one of the devs was probably secretly a child. The paragraph about them is kinda gross. The other books are fine.

I fight the boss for this section, Janus, with Karin, Yuri, Blanca, and Lucia. I also do it without using a tent beforehand when I saved! I finished it off with Karin during her last SP turn.

The initiation for this fight is also pretty funny. Usually there's something charming happening before the game goes from cutscene to boss fight, but not in this case. Yuri just says "Look" and the gang turns around and the fight starts without any fanfare. They are all totally unphased, which I found amusing.

Afterwards, Nikolai and his henchman show up on an airship(?) after shooting at the building we are in. He offers us Roger Bacon in exchange for a manuscript that he accused Yuri of hiding after defeating the alien god in the first game - which I'm pretty sure is bull because I don't remember any such manuscript.

He tells us to go to St. Marguerite island. Familiar name? That's our Piper from the first game! Though, she spelled hers differently. Yuri acts a bit like the name is familiar, repeating it after Nicolai says it, but I don't know if that was intentional and I have no idea if we are getting a Piper cameo. I hope so!! I love that woman.

5/3/2026
After talking with Carla, we head back to Wales to visit Roger's House - and the vending machine is functional now! I guess everything I said earlier about the symbolism of its distinction doesn't count anymore...

I couldn't find the rope ladder without a guide - it was hiding in the corner next to the save point inside the house. Oops.

I head down the rope ladder into the entrance of the Neam Ruins and the music is SUPERB.

5/12/2026
This is my first time booting up Shadow Hearts as a...

*drumroll*

GRADUATE!!

Yippee!

We're headed to Cannes to get to St. Marguerite. While exploring the little town and picking up hidden items in the environment, I interact with a kid whose name is "Wannabe movie critic Fabio." I love his dialogue. Including him was a very funny decision, and I approve greatly.

We head into a bar and talk to the man in the back - where we find out that he was the one who hauled Bacon over to St. Marguerite island. He loans us his boat and the waterway key, which we take before leaving him alone.

I fumble around trying to find this guy's boat for wayyy too long. There's a very subtle staircase that blends into the environment near the gay brothers that make the dresses for you. It's way too hidden and there's absolutely nothing pointing towards it - I'm dumbfounded that I even found it.

We make it to St. Marguerite and get a section where we play as Blanca. When trying to interact with the boat, we get a text box that says "Blanca is a wolf. He can't row the boat," which I thought was funny.

The section as Blanca lasts all of two seconds, and I beat the wolf who stole the key in two hits.

We enter the prison but are paralyzed by a perfume in the air. Veronica and the buff henchman come out and Nicolai follows shortly after, stealing the important book of off Yuri while he's down. Nicolai tells Veronica that she can do whatever she wants with everyone - except for Blanca, who is not paralyzed by the perfume and manages to run away. We enter a new cutscene where everyone is in prison, and it's revealed that Veronica and Lucia were students together. They've got some beef, though.

Veronica is honestly just weird. I think she's pretty lazy as a villain - like, can't write anything interesting? Just make her kinky and overtly sexual and that should work. I don't know. It doesn't feel like much effort went into making her interesting. And, also, I'm just a bit uncomfortable watching her in the cutscenes. She constantly makes veiled threats of turning everyone into her "playthings," and I accidentally volunteered Karin to get electrocuted by her. Welp. Sorry, Karin.

We now are back as Blanca - and that first section where we had to get the key makes a lot more sense, now. The developers make us play as him for a brief second, go back to normal, and then send us back to Blanca for real. It's like a compliment-sandwich!

Except, we immediately have to fight some dog as Blanca and he keeps doing over 100 points of damage each turn, whereas Blanca only does around 70. So, I get stuck in a loop where I can only do one round of damage before I'm stuck using healing items. And, I also saved right before the fight - so I can't easily go back before we got on the island to level up.

So, that's cool. I'm going to search up a guide because I'm a bit pissy.

The guide isn't helpful, just saying to heal between attacks. I try again and defeat the wolf. Third time's a charm, after all. I replenished my MP before the battle but didn't even use anything but physical attacks - additionally, the wolf had mind break which did nothing but take away my MP. So, I wasted a Mana Seed before the battle, evidently...

There's a quick dialogue between both wolves - something about Blanca looking like a wolf called "Lobo, King of the Wolves." Probably not important for now...

We get a ridiculous shot of Blanca hiding upright against a wall, bipedal style, while hiding from guards - and I'm finally convinced that I'm in love with this game.

There's an option to hide within the shadows as Blanca that reminds me of the hiding mechanic in Persona 5. However, I hid on the wrong side of the pillar thinking that the game would be stupid and let it slide... It did not. Luckily, fighting the guards is very easy, so I'm not sure why they're encouraging the stealth so heavily.

We hide inside an office that Blanca refers to as belonging to "the big cheese" and I'm reminded of this game's release date and proximity to that of the original re4. Suddenly, I realize how little lingo I actually know. Was "big cheese" an actual phrase? I ought to hold a survey, because I don't believe that those two words strung together is real.

We enter a room with Veronica's familiar, a double headed canine/bird/chimera thing named Oscar. It takes a few items, one of them being a Pure Seed, but the fight is over relatively quickly. I press X at the end of it's chain and get the wheel of fortune card, using the treasure hint I picked up from that guy in Cannes.

Blanca gets everyone out of prison, and we are now on the hunt for Roger Bacon. A guy from one of the cells tells us he's a locksmith, and that if we bring him a pen/pencil, wire, and something to meld the two - then he can make us a key to Roger's special cell.

I have a lot of soul energy, almost 500, so I level up Puera several levels because I like her. Then I save the game for tomorrow. The cells seem like a good place for leveling up while finding those materials, which I might use a guide for given that I kind of hate wandering around...

Overall, good game session, but...

• a) I hate Veronica
• b) It's been 12 hours and I only played as Karin once

5/16/2026
Getting parts to the key! (to get to Roger)

5/17/2026
...still getting parts to the key... to get to Roger...

5/19/2026
Put the key together to unlock Roger's cell door! Defeated the waves of steel claws and finally defeated Lenny as Godhand.

There's a cute little scene where the game "lets you" name Roger Bacon, and the screen is the same as the first game! Then, when you submit it Roger tells you that it's not his name and properly introduces himself.

We return to Cannes and then head to Roger's house.

5/24/2026
We are finally having an actual 5am entry, and after going to Roger Bacon's house, we find a jet he's built and fly to Petrograd, Russia!

It turns out... That the leader of Sapientes Gladio is literally Rasputin.

I learn that his first name was Grigori, and I've also got the song stuck in my head.

We cut to a scene where Veronica is in bed and Rasputin is looking out the window. And he looks fucking wild. Blue-ish grey skin and a pointy beard and hair. Absolutely wild get up. While I admire his absolutely goated design, I'm reminded that this game is just historical fanfiction. And I LOVE it.

We are introduced to a little girl who is just named "Girl Behaving Suspiciously," who I suspect is our Anastasia. And her design is so stinking cute. The music has also switched to something more charming and hopeful, with her on screen. Immediately, I feel protective.

Following this, the game lets us play as her! YAY! FINALLY, IM NOT YURI!

I'm assuming that she's joining our gang, which will be fantastic because I'm keeping her with us.

Also, we find a chest and crouch to open it - and the animation has her coat kind of "swooshing" outward a bit and it's a really nice animation and I'm kind of obsessed with it.

This game is fueling the urge I have to play as Emily in RE9 (*cries in console player*).

The guards are blocking the stairs to the main floor, so I skip interacting with them altogether and head to the other side of the castle and find some goodies inside Anastasia's room. The maid in there says that it will take a little longer to clean, implying that it's messy because Anastasia is a child - but in actuality the room is spotless. There are cute touches with a set of plushies on her bed and a teddy bear on the couch, but that's the only character in the room and I kinda wish they'd added a bit more to give us more info about Anastasia as a person.

We sleep until nightfall and head to a clockmaker's shop. The owner, named Edgar, has built a camera for us. Upon leaving the shop, we run into Kawashima's dude! The diplomat dude! I forgot his name! But Anastasia bumps into them, as they opened the door on either side at the same time, and they both apologize and she heads on her way. We get a short interaction between him and Edgar, before continuing to play as Anastasia. Of course, having been given a camera, my first thought is Fatal Frame - but our camera is a bit more modern than that.

We get a text box explaining how Anastasia works as an in-game mechanic. Her camera not only allows you to see an enemy's skills and abilities, but it also allows you to summon previous enemies that you've taken pictures of. This mechanic sounds really cool, and I'm excited to try it out!

We get a cutscene with Anastasia listening in on Rasputin's conversation with another man. She snaps a photo, but gets caught. Rasputin confronts her, saying "You're different than your sisters, very curious and brave. Unfortunately, children like that often die young." :(

I would've started running by now, but Anastasia is a bit more reckless than I

Anastasia begins to run (about time) and the man Rasputin was talking to stands next to him, head tilted towards Rasputin as he listens for orders. The camera is positioned from the side, and Rasputin is turned away from Anastasia while his weasel-like co-conspirator is watching Anastasia with his ear inclined slightly towards his boss. It's such good camera work! Rasputin gives the order to kill Anastasia, and the man starts to run. Spooky! He whistles, presumably for back up. I assumed it was going to be other people, but nah - this dude summoned a monster. Luckily, though, Yuri and Karin are walking the streets and the gang makes it in time to help.

Lucia was removed from our party - so we have Yuri, Karin, Blanca, and Anastasia (which is what I was going to switch it to, anyways).

Anastasia gets the final blow, throwing her mystic egg at him - and it does way more damage than I was expecting. So, hell yeah.

In the following cutscene, I notice that one of Anastasia's coat pockets is shaped like a heart. So cute!

Yuri suggests that the gang be Anastasia's body guards until her father returns - and Karin comes up with the logistics of how they'll actually fit in: tutors, a fortune teller, performers, and a new pet dog!

I save the game here because I must go fossil hunting >:) But I'm very excited to continue this part of the game, and I'm thoroughly enjoying playing as Anastasia. I want her outfit, too, but in pink - despite the climate where I am not exactly being the best for it lol.

5/25/2026
We continue as Anastasia, and entering the Winter Palace gives us a cutscene between Kawashima's henchman partner dude that I forgot the name of and Nicolai. It turns out that they are working together? And Nicolai has given him the evil textbook thing that we retrieved earlier.

The cutscene ends abruptly with Nicolai going "huh" and then a fade to black and I can't help but laugh. What the hell was that timing??

We go to Anastasia's room, where we hear more of her plight. She states that, if she were a man, she'd be able to help her father. Yuri comforts her by her informing her that he's half Russian (which I had no clue about) and encourages her not to give up. He says something along the lines of "if the princess gives up, how will people keep faith?"

Following this conversation, a pinkish-purple mist fills the room. The gang recognizes it as Veronica's doing, but they don't fall ill to it. Instead of a proper ball happening, Rasputin has ordered Veronica to put a sleep spell over the entire castle. Anastasia's mother comes in, obviously inebriated by the spell, calling out for Alexei. Anastasia runs up to her mother, asking where her brother is, but her mother pushes her out of the way and continues calling out. Then, she goes near the fireplace, falls down to her knees, and rises back up under the direct control of Rasputin. Speaking through her, Rasputin tells Anastasia that her brother is sleeping in her lap, is very cute, and threatens to kill him in his sleep. Anastasia barks back, telling Rasputin to not dare to touch her brother. Yuri steps in, telling Rasputin that he's coming for him now. Rasputin seems u bothered, relieving Anastasia's mother of his control. The game then cuts to a different screen, prompting us to make a team. I put it as Karin, Anastasia, Yuri, and Blanca - titling it, of course, as "Ana'sBitches." The game puts us in control of Anastasia again, and the twin merchant/dress maker brothers are suddenly in Anastasia's room! I don't necessarily like all of these random adults just piling into her room like this, but it's also funny to think of her room as the basecamp.

We explore for a bit, run into a couple random encounters and stumble into a room with Victor - the man who was sent after Anastasia by Rasputin with orders to kill. We fight him and Rasputin's familiar. The familiar dies quickly but Victor has a pretty hefty amount of HP. I have to use roughly four or five Pure Leaves to keep everyones sanity up (minus Yuri), and Victor is also full of Seal attacks. The familiar also successfully poisoned Blanca and Yuri at the beginning, so lots of healing takes place. I figure out, towards the end (unfortunately), that water class special attacks do the most damage, and Anastasia has a crest for that. So she does the most damage, luckily. We defeat him, receive Night Oil for Lucia, a crest I forgot the name of, and about 5800 EXP for everyone. Woohoo! Everyone but Joachim levels up. Victor, in his own words, "vanishes" and leaves behind a key to the Lion Shrine.

I leave the room, go to the save point located right outside of it, use a tent, and save the game before searching up what equipment to have on for the Rasputin fight.

My googling reveals that there's no fight with Rasputin... yet. The cutscene reveals that Rasputin "admires Napoleon" and wants to confuwer Europe (so he wants to be short?) Yuri attacks, but Rasputin has some sort of force field around himself. He then casts some sort of spell that does something to the Mistletoe Curse that Yuri caught at the beginning of the game, from Nicolai. It low-key looks like Yuri has a heart attack, and he falls unconscious. Karin runs to Yuri, while Joachim and Blanca try to attack Rasputin - but they get thrown back by the forcefield. Lucia stands back by the door and watches (insert joke about women being smarter than men).

Rasputin informs Karin that her hometown has been ruined, and places a spell on Anastasia. Veronica gives the girl a knife and... Is Anastasia going to kill her brother???

But then... Rasputin snaps his fingers and Anastasia's mother screams. She's caught the sight of Anastasia holding a knife above her son, and Anastasia steps back, no longer under the spell. Rasputin blames Anastasia's actions as being the result of the a spell placed on her by the gang.

Yuri, luckily, has woken up. Rasputin orders the guards to arrest them, but Yuri and everyone run for the window. We catch a shot of their shoes hitting the floor, with Anastasia in despair behind them, and for a split second - I think they're going to leave her behind. Luckily, though, we see Joachim's boots, we see him crouch down, and he picks her up before joining the others. Whew!! That was a close one! Surely Anastasia wouldve been killed by Rasputin had they left her behind in the palace. She's better of with Yuri and the others.

We then cut to Roger Bacon and his weirdly shaped head talking about how bad things have been since they've been in Russia. Everyone has taken cover in Edgar's shop. Yuri is resting against the wall, obviously still feeling the effects of his Mistletoe Curse. Karin states that they'll be found if they stay, and Roger reassures that he wants to take them somewhere else anyways. In a mountain range beyond Turkey. He reveals that he wants to find a man named Joavis, a priest - maybe from the first game. The game blatantly talks about colonialism and racism, which is really fucking cool. Joavis had apparently been outspoken against both of those, and was the subject of "attempted silence."

Our mission is clear. We have to go to Gorene Valley, to find the Great Sage Joavis.

We talk to a man named "Pious Hakan," who says that "There are no religious icons here. The people of the valley just picture a god in their mind and pray to that," which is such a cool concept in theory, but how else will people know you were there? It's a neat and somewhat sad idea, though, to be lost within what history of mankind is actually known to the present day people, because you didn't leave behind any physical evidence. It's also kind of cool. Like, you're invisible. You didn't make a mark on the world, but you didn't have to. You lived for yourself, and not anyone else - past, present, or future. Anyways.

We get introduced to a woman who claims to be a maid of King Solomon, king of Israel 3000 years ago (within the games timeline). This is the pit fight concept from the first game! I didn't do it back then, but I might try it out later.

Well, I tried to exit but it won't let you once you've clicked on it. So, I do Beginner Level I.

I beat the first fight, but in the second fight I get a blind ring and lose. Oops.

We meet Jovis, which is rather quick since we've been first introduced to the concept of them. Anastasia somehow clocks the man as blind. He confirms it, and then points at Yuri - which freaks Yuri out and is pretty funny. Jovis states that the God of Wraths Soul is sealed within Yuri by the Mistletoe's Curse, explaining that its presence feels like that of an old friend.

We get a cutscene explaining that Rasputin was once a disciple of Jovis and his friend... Which looks a lot like a certain Albert Simon, aka "Fake Roger Bacon," from the first game.

Which is so neat! I love that the game is tying everyone altogether. Jovis, a friend of Albert, and Rasputin, their disciple, connecting the first and second games together beyond the mere presence of Yuri and characters related to those of the first game.

Jovis explains that the power to stop Rasputin is within Yuri. His friend, Simon, made a soul pact with the God of Wrath, Amon, and tried to reorder the world - which is when Jovis left him. Jovis explains that when Yuri defeated Amon, he gained the power of Amon, and Cardinal Albert Simon's soul was lost within him.

Yuri is the one who puts the pieces together, figuring out who the friend is and clarifying - which Jovis confirms. Jovis then explains that to in order to take control of the power within him, Yuri must undergo a trial within himself. The more he resists, the more the Mistletoe will eat away at his soul - and, there's a "limit" to how much one's soul can take. If Yuri cannot endure, and fails the trial, he will go permanently insane - which is neat callback, in my opinion, to the first game - when Yuri tried to save China and could not handle the power of the demon he absorbed, making him go insane and hide away at the top of Keith Valentine's Blue Castle, where he was found by Alice and the others six months later.

Karin calls Jovis "Father" for a second, when she tells him to let her go with Yuri in the stead of Jovis, even knowing that failure means death. For a second, I'm like - yo that's her dad? And then I remember that religion exists!

I leave the room, save the game, and then head to the altar to meet Jovis and begin the trial. Yuri and Karin lay on the altar, holding hands, and I think for a second - that would've been funny if Yuri had to do that with Jovis. The game then brings up this fact when Yuri tells Karin that there's still time to back out, and she replies with "Maybe you just wanted to hold hands with the old man." Yuri replies with "Bite me," and my own heart confirms that I love this game.

Now! We are in Yuri's heart!!

Maybe I should've done more to level up Yuri's fusions before coming here... Luckily, I saved!

We meet with Jeanne - who I guess died at the beginning? I must've missed that though, because I thought Yuri had just conjured her up as guide to his soul, out of the worry that he WOULD fail her - not that he already did. I also thought that she was Gepetto's granddaughter, but maybe Yuri learned of her death when she showed up as a ghost inside his heart and decided not to tell Gepetto. Maybe, when Yuri and Karin succeed, Karin will accidentally bring up her name around Gepetto, and Gepetto will finally learn of her death? I don't know. I'm curious what the hell I missed, but that was back in April. We're almost in June. Womp womp.

Going to the menu to soul charge Peura from Level 7 to Level 10, I find that out current party name has been set to "Tea for Two," which is cute and rather cheeky on the games part. I like it!

We look into a mirror and have to fight our reflection at some point. Being successful results in us travelling through the mirror, and going into a reversed version of the map that we can't go back on. Luckily, Jovis is in the mirror and will heal us fully (HP and MP) anytime we talk to him. There's also a save point in the reverse-room we are now in.

5/27/2026
Going through the Mirror Castle is a little bit confusing, so I search up a guide to figure out where to get the Glass Key.

Time for Amon! According to the guide, we get some new "swanky" battle music for this fight, and I can't help but agree. It is pretty swanky.

Fighting Amon is pretty easy, and afterwards we go through the mirror and get a cutscene where we see none other than... Albert Simon!

They're in a nice place, with Albert sitting on a bench near a cliff side. Yuri takes the seat next to him, Karin staying behind, and Yuri figured out that Albert's true intention in the first game was to stop Rasputin. Yuri is vulnerable during this conversation, revealing that he doesn't think he can win. Albert reassures him, though, saying that he thinks Yuri is the only one who can. He finishes the conversation by saying that those with power have a duty to stop tragedy in the making, and before Yuri leaves, he asks where this location is. He's somewhere in Yuri's memory, and Yuri tells him that he's in Japan - in a place called Forest of Wind. They say goodbye, and the screen zooms out on Albert while fading to black. Afterwards, we get a cute pop up from the game: You got Amon's soul!

We get a cutscene between Nicolai and Rasputin talking about getting America involved in the war.

Then we cut back to Karin and Yuri, sitting in the valley watching the sunset - talking about saving people and what happiness really means. Jovis was unconscious after they got back, and the people of the valley are praying for his safety. Yuri feels guilty.

Jovis wakes up, but says that he's at the end of his rope. Yuri apologizes, and Jovis says that he needs someone to succeed him. Yuri promises to defeat Rasputin and leaves, telling Jovis not to die on him. Karin stays by Jovis' side, and Jovis tells her how brave Yuri is, taking on the burden that he and Albert bore together. Then, he passes on and Karin cries over his body.

We cut to Russia, where a celebration is being held for the return of the Tsar, Anastasia's father. He seems to be the only one actually worried about Anastasia, which is kind of sad. He plans to talk to Edgar, but Rasputin talks him out of it and tells him to go through with the ball instead. The cutscene ends with the Tsar looking a bit distressed, but agreeing with Rasputin nonetheless.

6/02/2026
We boot up the game and are in Petrograd! I have to admit, I kinda forgot what we were doing...

I go to the alleyway where Anastasia was attacked, what seems like forever ago, and there's a wolf waiting for us! I thought it had a poodle hair cut going on, but it is actually wearing a spacesuit. Talking to the man with the wolf, we find out his name is Goztafssiki and his wolf is R-3. They're planning on invading earth, but Blanca tells them to go home after we win the fight. R-3 only speaks in emoticons, which is really cute and funny. After, Yuri says "Look, if we're done here, let's get going. Who knows what kind of radiation these guys are giving off?" That gave me a good laugh.

I spend some time in the graveyard after Jeanne calls to Yuri, realizing that I've mainly been using Peura and... that's about it. I haven't even unlocked a wind or earth fusion yet, and I'm like 20 hours into the game. I unlock some stuff, level up Amon, and head to the bridge to meet Prince Yusupov - who shows us to the secret passageway that "not even Rasputin knows about." I hope that's true!

Prince Dmitri is waiting for us at the other end of the passageway and... the game hasn't explained why the princes are helping us? I'm assuming they are Anastasia's older brothers, but we have no information about how they feel about Rasputin or the political unrest, so we, as the player, have no idea why they're helping us or what their motivation is. Oh well!

Let's go into the spooky tunnel!

6/07/2026
We make it through the secret passage and save the Tsar's life!

At the end of the cutscene, where Anastasia runs off, telling her mom and dad to get somewhere safe, Yuri reassures her parents that she'll be fine. And then they go "Is... Is Anastasia their leader?" And that shit has me cracking up because hell yeah she is! I literally named my team group "Ana'sBitches."

Rasputin has been outed, runs off, and starts bombing the palace.

We run up to the roof to confront him, but are met with Veronica.

She has instant death as a physical attack move, but I have no Leonardo's Bears equipped.

The fight goes on for a while, and eventually I have to go to work. So, I turn off the game and resolute to beat her tomorrow.

6/08/2026
I boot up the game and don't have to do much work between the last save point and Veronica's final fight. I do make sure to adjust Anastasia's attack ring to get more hits, and I equip everyone with one Leonardo's Bear.

I kill Veronica! Yippee!

We get a pretty hefty CGI cutscene and... a lot happens. Rasputin makes calls upon his soul contract and summons a huge island in the sky (not unlike the first game).

Now, with the power of a god, Rasputin reveals to Nicolai that he no longer cares to become leader of Russia. Instead, he wants to just destroy the whole world (typical badguy plans).

Nicolai is upset with this, swears to take Rasputin down, all while revealing that he's a bastard son of the current Tsar. This means that he's Anastasia's half-brother! The red hair and everything makes sense, now. Going off that alone, he and Anastasia do look related (given that these are PS2 models for a PS2 game).

Nicolai isn't happy with Rasputin, reveals some sort of power that he has, and then I guess the two just agree to deal with each other later: the main priority for them is to defeat Yuri and Co. (or should I say Ana's Bitches?) - which has me wondering, will there be some sort of confrontation between Anastasia and Nicolai?

(Heads up, I'm refilling this account from memory as of 6/22/2026. Some story details here may be wrong. Oops.)