Wednesday 8 July 2020
Wednesday 1 July 2020
Wednesday 24 June 2020
Shadow Hearts From The New World - What Would I Change With The Script And Characters?
*In Progress*
Intro:
It was a game I was always conflicted with. Back when the game came out and I have to be honest despite being a huge Shadow Hearts fan I forgot that it was coming out back then.
It was actually one day when I was passing by gamestop and I saw it brand new sitting in one of their shelves and I picked it up and bought it instantly, I was like oh shit is this real. But yet I actually remembered following it a bit when it was coming out in Japan
in July 2005 in america march 2006 then europe may 2007 which i think sort of killed it along with having learnt it does not feature
yuri and alice then i kinda forgot about it. then when i actually played it, it is a solid game but it was just a huge disconnect
it wasnt even like from koudelka to shadow hearts 1 this felt much more.
but afterall it was mostly a different creative team who made from the new world compared to SH1 or Covenant.
What would I change?
Note the goal is to keep the script as close to the original as possible, meaning even when big changes happen is to keep as compact as possible without having to rewrite the entire story.
Also to have it more connected and inspired by the previous Shadow Hearts titles. The theme and to create possible sequels.
The characters
Johnny --> Halley
Like when the game was going to be set in America so like why did they not use Halley?
He goes over, you can have a time skip and maybe they could not find Edward (Halley's father).And that is what motivated him to open his detective agency.
Lady/Grace --> Lady/Grace
This is the first somewhat big unavoidable change as Grace can't be Halley's sister.
Option 1:
Lady/Grace becomes Shania's sister which I think could be interesting which probably wouldn't take too much editing, certain parts of the story lines would change from Johnny to Shania.
In previous SH games, Alice and Koudelka are keys they are rare exist only once every 100 years, so maybe the experiment was to create a new key rather than to revive the dead.
Option 2: Lady/Grace is complete a creation of malice / not human at all, an attempt to create a new key. It could be written into the story why she looks like Alice as do Killer to Yuri.
Lenny --> Koudelka
Option 1:
Somewhat a natural change, maybe from the events of SH1 she has lost her powers or became weak where she can't fight anymore since Lenny is not a part of the party.
Option 2: Lenny and Natan gets combined and becomes Koudelka so she can be in the party, although quite a bit of adapting would be needed.
Shania --> Shania
Option 1: Becomes Lady's sister so she feels like it is her duty to kill her.
She gets her fusion powers from an experiment (revivial replaced with experiment)
(she was kidnapped along with Lady / Grace)
So she would (somewhat) replace Johnny's original role but differently.
Also Shania will not be a love interest for Halley but maybe a love triangle?
Option 2: Keep as is but maybe Killer replaces Johnny in the sequence during the experiment and he does not remember anything of it.
Natan --> Natan or Take out the character
Option 1: He has guilt over Shania being captured maybe he felt that it was his fault so he has dedicated his life to helping her.
Option 2: Take out his character from the story completely as I feel like his lines could be adapted to other characters and I feel that Shania could be more of a loner.
Other ideas would be to replace Natan with Koudelka or maybe even Margarette.
Frank Goldfinger --> Joachim Valentine
I felt that some characteristics were similar and changing ninja to wrestler is possible and he would be (kinda like) a new character to the cast here, so the lines may not have to be even edited as heavily.
Mao --> Chris (London Rats)
Probably the biggest change a big change but one where it builds a strong connection to the original SH especially through Halley.
I would give her the name Christina and make her Halley's love interest,
I felt Mao wanting to get into acting this could work for Chris maybe she grew up became a beautiful young woman. she got scouted an opportunity but then it didn't go quite right and got mixed in the wrong crowd, certain parts would need heavy edits while others not as much.
Hildegard Valentine --> New Character.
Well if we have Joachim then maybe 2 bats are too many but Hilda's character can be used for a different SH story. Anyways how about a cat person but who can transform into something similar like Mao or a demon cat.
Ricardo Gomez --> Qiuhua Zhen?
Maybe
Adapting the changes
Timeline - 1926 (3 years earlier). SH1 1913 SHFTNW 1929 Halley 28 -> 25
Edward - is missing (To start the events) this helps keeping the script as close to the original
London Rats --> Even though Koudelka promised to take them with her and Halley but they couldn't
due to that they couldn't adopt them. Joshua and Sharon got adopted.
Gilbert - change his reason for coming into the agency, claims to be Lady's father (lie) or searching for Edward etc...
Intro:
It was a game I was always conflicted with. Back when the game came out and I have to be honest despite being a huge Shadow Hearts fan I forgot that it was coming out back then.
It was actually one day when I was passing by gamestop and I saw it brand new sitting in one of their shelves and I picked it up and bought it instantly, I was like oh shit is this real. But yet I actually remembered following it a bit when it was coming out in Japan
in July 2005 in america march 2006 then europe may 2007 which i think sort of killed it along with having learnt it does not feature
yuri and alice then i kinda forgot about it. then when i actually played it, it is a solid game but it was just a huge disconnect
it wasnt even like from koudelka to shadow hearts 1 this felt much more.
but afterall it was mostly a different creative team who made from the new world compared to SH1 or Covenant.
What would I change?
Note the goal is to keep the script as close to the original as possible, meaning even when big changes happen is to keep as compact as possible without having to rewrite the entire story.
Also to have it more connected and inspired by the previous Shadow Hearts titles. The theme and to create possible sequels.
The characters
Johnny --> Halley
Like when the game was going to be set in America so like why did they not use Halley?
He goes over, you can have a time skip and maybe they could not find Edward (Halley's father).And that is what motivated him to open his detective agency.
Lady/Grace --> Lady/Grace
This is the first somewhat big unavoidable change as Grace can't be Halley's sister.
Option 1:
Lady/Grace becomes Shania's sister which I think could be interesting which probably wouldn't take too much editing, certain parts of the story lines would change from Johnny to Shania.
In previous SH games, Alice and Koudelka are keys they are rare exist only once every 100 years, so maybe the experiment was to create a new key rather than to revive the dead.
Option 2: Lady/Grace is complete a creation of malice / not human at all, an attempt to create a new key. It could be written into the story why she looks like Alice as do Killer to Yuri.
Lenny --> Koudelka
Option 1:
Somewhat a natural change, maybe from the events of SH1 she has lost her powers or became weak where she can't fight anymore since Lenny is not a part of the party.
Option 2: Lenny and Natan gets combined and becomes Koudelka so she can be in the party, although quite a bit of adapting would be needed.
Shania --> Shania
Option 1: Becomes Lady's sister so she feels like it is her duty to kill her.
She gets her fusion powers from an experiment (revivial replaced with experiment)
(she was kidnapped along with Lady / Grace)
So she would (somewhat) replace Johnny's original role but differently.
Also Shania will not be a love interest for Halley but maybe a love triangle?
Option 2: Keep as is but maybe Killer replaces Johnny in the sequence during the experiment and he does not remember anything of it.
Natan --> Natan or Take out the character
Option 1: He has guilt over Shania being captured maybe he felt that it was his fault so he has dedicated his life to helping her.
Option 2: Take out his character from the story completely as I feel like his lines could be adapted to other characters and I feel that Shania could be more of a loner.
Other ideas would be to replace Natan with Koudelka or maybe even Margarette.
Frank Goldfinger --> Joachim Valentine
I felt that some characteristics were similar and changing ninja to wrestler is possible and he would be (kinda like) a new character to the cast here, so the lines may not have to be even edited as heavily.
Mao --> Chris (London Rats)
Probably the biggest change a big change but one where it builds a strong connection to the original SH especially through Halley.
I would give her the name Christina and make her Halley's love interest,
I felt Mao wanting to get into acting this could work for Chris maybe she grew up became a beautiful young woman. she got scouted an opportunity but then it didn't go quite right and got mixed in the wrong crowd, certain parts would need heavy edits while others not as much.
Hildegard Valentine --> New Character.
Well if we have Joachim then maybe 2 bats are too many but Hilda's character can be used for a different SH story. Anyways how about a cat person but who can transform into something similar like Mao or a demon cat.
Ricardo Gomez --> Qiuhua Zhen?
Maybe
Adapting the changes
Timeline - 1926 (3 years earlier). SH1 1913 SHFTNW 1929 Halley 28 -> 25
Edward - is missing (To start the events) this helps keeping the script as close to the original
London Rats --> Even though Koudelka promised to take them with her and Halley but they couldn't
due to that they couldn't adopt them. Joshua and Sharon got adopted.
Gilbert - change his reason for coming into the agency, claims to be Lady's father (lie) or searching for Edward etc...
Wednesday 17 June 2020
Shadow Hearts PS2 Lets Play With Imbroglio Difficulty Mod Part 5 (Smuggler’s Boat)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSnL95moNV6JKFXEJ-19A0w
So here is the fifth part of my let's play of Shadow Hearts with the Imbroglio (difficulty) mod.
Link to the patch: here
The mod basically adjusts the stats of almost every enemy and boss in the game, making the game overall much tougher. Even random battles can feel like a boss at times, with mistakes or getting ambushed could be fatal.
My review of the Imbroglio mod for Smuggler’s Boat:
I liked it, not a whole lot to say considering its a smaller area with a good bit of story.
Everything felt balanced, a good challenge and exp gain was good also.
One minor thing although it is actually the game itself rather than the mod is that Alice does not gain levels during Dalian although characters do gain levels off screen other times ie when Alice was captured by Dehuai or when a character is not accessible or a while.
I enjoyed the boss fight vs li li. 1st round yuri was the attacker and alice the healer then in the 2nd round the roles reversed due to li li attacks targeting the whole party. Taking advantage of a boss or monster weakness but then also to know when to be that extra bit careful, I really like it.
Wednesday 10 June 2020
Shadow Hearts PS2 Lets Play With Imbroglio Difficulty Mod Part 4 (Dalian)
Subscribe to my channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSnL95moNV6JKFXEJ-19A0w
So here is the forth part of my let's play of Shadow Hearts with the Imbroglio (difficulty) mod.
Link to the patch: here
The mod basically adjusts the stats of almost every enemy and boss in the game, making the game overall much tougher. Even random battles can feel like a boss at times, with mistakes or getting ambushed could be fatal.
My review of the Imbroglio mod for Dalian:
I really enjoyed the boss Yamaraja: Wind I used Tornado Fusion and B. Tortoise Fang plus Bronze Daggers items. Stuff I never really used normally. Boss fights prior with the mod main thing was to be extra cautious but now tactics are more heavily involved even with me using a fusion to take advantage of the boss's weakness which never really had to be done normally in game (unless if you are like blazing through the game) but here it is vital and I have the sense of that will happen even more with future boss fights. Other notes: exp felt a bit low in this area, it felt barely higher than
Fengtian, it felt strange because I have spent more time in other areas but here it felt like a lot of time just to level up by 2. Also exp for bosses remain the same where I would not really see the harm in getting a bit extra just to feel like you've earned it compared to normal enemies (even if the increase not is less than random enemies but just to make sure that you get more - granted here it has not happened but it will for sure in future areas.) I don't mean to sound critical because I absolutely love this mod as it brought a new spin to the game and fixes a few issues that the original game had. A few tweaks and I would not be surprised if someone just thought it was a tuff retail game.
Note:
A few people had asked what I use so here it is:
I use OBS Studio to record, Shotcut to edit (both of which are free software)
Emulators I use PCSX2 latest dev version with config from Zombeaver's github *Note I removed the no interlacing patch due to it causing flickering at the victory screen*
I also use attract mode with rocketlauncher so therefor I can load config per game which saves the hassle of having multiple of pcsx2 or having to change settings constantly.
Wednesday 3 June 2020
Shadow Hearts PS2 Lets Play With Imbroglio Difficulty Mod Part 3 (Fengtian)
Subscribe to my channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSnL95moNV6JKFXEJ-19A0w
So here is the third part of my let's play of Shadow Hearts with the Imbroglio (difficulty) mod.
Link to the patch: here
The mod basically adjusts the stats of almost every enemy and boss in the game, making the game overall much tougher. Even random battles can feel like a boss at times, with mistakes or getting ambushed could be fatal.
My review of the Imbroglio mod for Fengtian:
Not a huge amount to say, similar to Zhaoyang in the sense of when you just have Yuri and Alice in your party it is very tuff but wasn't as bad as Zhaoyang mainly due to shorter distance to get Margarete in the party and I got luckier with not having as many back attacks. One part I felt here that there was a good bit of grinding to do and having spent quite a bit of time in a smallish area although it wasn't too bad and I did enjoy it as it was a good way to really get into the game and especially the mod. Boss again you just have to be very careful and manage your HP well and you should not have issues just remember prior to the boss you fight a couple of battles. One thing which was my fault I was kind of left short on supplies so I advise anyone playing to stock up before going down to the sewers.
Note:
A few people had asked what I use so here it is:
I use OBS Studio to record, Shotcut to edit (both of which are free software)
Emulators I use PCSX2 latest dev version with config from Zombeaver's github *Note I removed the no interlacing patch due to it causing flickering at the victory screen*
I also use attract mode with rocketlauncher so therefor I can load config per game which saves the hassle of having multiple of pcsx2 or having to change settings constantly.
Wednesday 27 May 2020
Shadow Hearts PS2 Lets Play With Imbroglio Difficulty Mod Part 2 (Zhaoyang Village)
Subscribe to my channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSnL95moNV6JKFXEJ-19A0w
So here is the second part of my let's play of Shadow Hearts with the Imbroglio (difficulty) mod.
Link to the patch: here
The mod basically adjusts the stats of almost every enemy and boss in the game, making the game overall much tougher. Even random battles can feel like a boss at times, with mistakes or getting ambushed could be fatal.
My review of the Imbroglio mod for Zhaoyang Village:
This is were it started to get challenging the random battles were unwinnable with just Yuri and Alice, I have never been so glad to see Zhuzen. Even afterwards you have to be careful with constant healing. Zhuzen's skill Ogre Flamedance is a huge help here especially after leveling up a bit and then you can actually one shot a lot of monsters from the random encounters. One thing that was a bother was getting ambushed with back attacks, here it happened to me 4 times initially while grinding and I was outright killed every time where the monsters were going through 2 cycles and even started a third which felt cheap but once got closer to the recommended level for defeating the bosses here (level 9) I was able to survive getting ambushed and even win the fights. The bosses not a lot to say other than having to be very careful especially with Yamaraja (Earth) but again it felt fair.
For the most part the mod seems well balanced in the sense of it has to be possible to beat but getting ambushed so far has been a pain but of course I could have just been very unlucky too.
Final words
Stay tuned for updates will be uploading once a week with each section (no matter the length).
I have decided I will do various videos about the mod from a summary based on the entire experience like a review and then tips on each individual section including bosses. Timing for those to be decided but I may do like a week after completing Asia section do daily videos or something.
I really want to talk about the mod and even the series itself with my voice in videos but the lets play will remain no commentary. For reasons stated before but also I just wanted to relax and concentrate on playing the game with the mod, it has been crazy with the virus my life situation from not living at home for two months, and currently my work situation a bit all other place and not knowing where my life will be next month honestly I have been stressed so I felt doing recordings with live commentary was too challenging whereas if I pick out clips then do a voice over with notes then I can take as many tries as I want to compared to a live recording.
Thanks for watching! :)
Wednesday 20 May 2020
Shadow Hearts PS2 Lets Play With Imbroglio Difficulty Mod Part 1 (Trans-Siberian Express/Plains)
Subscribe to my channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSnL95moNV6JKFXEJ-19A0w
So here is the first part of my let's play of Shadow Hearts with the Imbroglio (difficulty) mod.
Link to the patch: here
The mod basically adjusts the stats of almost every enemy and boss in the game, making the game overall much tougher. Even random battles can feel like a boss at times, with mistakes or getting ambushed could be fatal.
A few notes:
I will not be doing commentary it was a late decision which I explained an updated post here.
I am not using a guide but I do have a few notes and I have played the game a lot so I have decent memory of playing it. Will be aiming for the good ending as I want to beat Atman.
My review of the Imbroglio mod for Trans-Siberian Express and Plains:
It was good on the express even though it is hard to mess up but you can see a subtle difference which made it a good introduction (not a lot else to say since it is a short section.
Then the Plains it is the real start of this mod, it was challenging but it felt fair, to start you would be defending or curing a lot with Alice, odd time even reviving her but once you level up a bit its more manageable. You learn quickly that the main thing is you always have to stay on your toes a mistake can be costly at any point, that I learnt especially in the graveyard to get the fusion and to defeat the soul to clear the malice those fights were you had to be very careful and manage your hp well
I did actually get a game over once when I was ambushed (back attack) it was the first part of the mod which I did not like as I did not even get one attack I was killed out right in 2 of their turns! It felt cheap being honest. Overall it was a good challenge and it felt quite professionally done as it felt like it added an extra spice to the game which for me is very welcomed... (I may regret those words!)
Final words
Stay tuned for updates will be uploading once a week with each section (no matter the length).
I will most likely do a video review/summary of this mod where I will show unseen clips from my lets play and will talk about.
Thanks for watching! :)
Wednesday 13 May 2020
Will be doing a let's play of Shadow Hearts 1 with the Imbroglio difficulty mod from next week onwards
To start off:
For the past couple weeks I have been configuring and testing.
I was heavily focusing on getting Covenant looking proper but sadly that has not been possible which I partly explained in my last week's post here but also that it seems random at times. First try almost went flawless right up to the first boss then only had a 1 time issue where it showed the wrong character during the judgement ring. But then another time it was almost once every battle including enemies that I already defeated. Then another time during a boss it showed a still of the previous battle. And lastly today when I was recording a test sample to upload it went weird where it showed the midway logo from the video when starting the game during the judgement ring. It is disappointing and honestly I have sort of given up on Covenant as it is too frustrating with the randomness of the issues.
Now onto more positive news I am ready to start my let's play of the first Shadow Hearts game soon.
I will be using a difficulty mod to add some extra spice to it.
Incase if anyone wants to try the difficulty mod please find it:
SHADOW HEARTS NTSC-U - IMBROGLIO V1.2
Other reasons for the delay was mentioned above but also I had controller issues with pcsx2 where the character was not running diagonally, managed to fix it by 1 Under Game Device APIs enable x-input and also disable the other options in that box 2. Adjusting the Dead Zone to 0.000 and the Sensitivity to 1.330.
Then also it was a matter of just testing my headset and what way to record footage and getting the right balance of which I am now quite happy with.
Lastly the previous week I talked about ConsoleClassics and the current status of my project and that I am preparing a site with preconfigured emulators and soon a front end to go with them.
So check out my last week's post: here
One final note remember to check back on this blog every Wednesday (Or Thursday depending on time zone / when I post during the day) for new posts as I may not post updates every week on various groups and forums.
Many thanks and stay tuned! :)
Update:
Plans have changed slightly
Originally I planned to have commentary but I have decided to scrap that in favor
of doing a lets play without it then once i beat shadow hearts i will do like a summary / review of the mod where i will talk then.
Made this choice for various reasons during initial tests the recording all went fine 0 issues.
When I started for real I made a blunder where it did not record my voice but theres more
then afterwards the recording software somehow got messed up and stopped working correctly despite not having changed settings or updated etc...
it was weird it was fine then it was not. so once i got that out of the way and finally got in the game i was frustrated where i wanted to just enjoy the game without thinking
but still recording of course. I felt it was the right choice as damn it is challenging at times with it being tight at the plains then zhaoyang villiage that was a nightmare.
i managed to get through it but still... I have gotten numerous game overs (mainly from zhaoyang village) where i lost progress a few occassions
also it is a long game where i will need to reach level 99 by the end
so i think overall that proved to be a right decision of not doing commentary
sorry for disappointing anyone but i still hope you all will enjoy my lets play and stay tuned to future content on my blog!
many thanks for reading!
Uploads will be per area. train/plains then zhaoyang village etc...
For the past couple weeks I have been configuring and testing.
I was heavily focusing on getting Covenant looking proper but sadly that has not been possible which I partly explained in my last week's post here but also that it seems random at times. First try almost went flawless right up to the first boss then only had a 1 time issue where it showed the wrong character during the judgement ring. But then another time it was almost once every battle including enemies that I already defeated. Then another time during a boss it showed a still of the previous battle. And lastly today when I was recording a test sample to upload it went weird where it showed the midway logo from the video when starting the game during the judgement ring. It is disappointing and honestly I have sort of given up on Covenant as it is too frustrating with the randomness of the issues.
Now onto more positive news I am ready to start my let's play of the first Shadow Hearts game soon.
I will be using a difficulty mod to add some extra spice to it.
Incase if anyone wants to try the difficulty mod please find it:
SHADOW HEARTS NTSC-U - IMBROGLIO V1.2
Other reasons for the delay was mentioned above but also I had controller issues with pcsx2 where the character was not running diagonally, managed to fix it by 1 Under Game Device APIs enable x-input and also disable the other options in that box 2. Adjusting the Dead Zone to 0.000 and the Sensitivity to 1.330.
Then also it was a matter of just testing my headset and what way to record footage and getting the right balance of which I am now quite happy with.
Lastly the previous week I talked about ConsoleClassics and the current status of my project and that I am preparing a site with preconfigured emulators and soon a front end to go with them.
So check out my last week's post: here
One final note remember to check back on this blog every Wednesday (Or Thursday depending on time zone / when I post during the day) for new posts as I may not post updates every week on various groups and forums.
Many thanks and stay tuned! :)
Update:
Plans have changed slightly
Originally I planned to have commentary but I have decided to scrap that in favor
of doing a lets play without it then once i beat shadow hearts i will do like a summary / review of the mod where i will talk then.
Made this choice for various reasons during initial tests the recording all went fine 0 issues.
When I started for real I made a blunder where it did not record my voice but theres more
then afterwards the recording software somehow got messed up and stopped working correctly despite not having changed settings or updated etc...
it was weird it was fine then it was not. so once i got that out of the way and finally got in the game i was frustrated where i wanted to just enjoy the game without thinking
but still recording of course. I felt it was the right choice as damn it is challenging at times with it being tight at the plains then zhaoyang villiage that was a nightmare.
i managed to get through it but still... I have gotten numerous game overs (mainly from zhaoyang village) where i lost progress a few occassions
also it is a long game where i will need to reach level 99 by the end
so i think overall that proved to be a right decision of not doing commentary
sorry for disappointing anyone but i still hope you all will enjoy my lets play and stay tuned to future content on my blog!
many thanks for reading!
Uploads will be per area. train/plains then zhaoyang village etc...
Wednesday 6 May 2020
Shadow Hearts Covenant On PCSX2, My Stance On Emulation, ConsoleClassics And Current Status On My Project
Shadow Hearts Covenant on PCSX2
For a good while despite the game being playable but it was never truly enjoyable due to the judgement ring glitch and to avoid that you would have to use software mode meaning you would not be able to upscale it. Apparently it was back in February that was fixed (I have tested and can confirm it works although 1/2 glitches remain during the judgement ring). You need to have enabled "Disable Safe Features" still takes a few other settings to ensure no other glitch like flickering cut scenes or a different kind of judgement ring glitch. After a couple of hours I was quite happy then I noticed two things. It does not show the correct character during the judgement ring but also enemies that you already defeated, sometimes I went through multiple battles with no issues then other times every move had this issue. I do intend on doing a lets play of the 3 shadow hearts games with the difficulty mods but I will start with the first and do it in order (originally I planned covenant as that was the first SH that I played due to the issues in Covenant). The first Shadow Hearts game works fantastic with what I have so now it is just testing to record as I have limited accessories and with being in lockdown even though I have lots of free time but I can't splash the cash for a mic webcam etc... So it is about what is the best that I can do.
Also let me know if any of you use software to capture footage on pc and if so which one. I used one to capture my project but will need to change to do let's play of SH.
Currently trying OBS Studio and I have a MSI headset, current issue I have is the sound is overpowering my voice (even when reducing the desktop audio in OBS) so I'm trying to find the right balance then I will start doing the lets plays we will see...
My stance on Emulation
I am working on a new blog called: https://emu-waffles.blogspot.com/
Note it is a work in progress but it will have emulators and configuration with attract mode so you grab what you need and enjoy. (Will not provide games)
Please note despite me talking a lot about emulation, I have all the Shadow Hearts games and Koudelka physically. I even have Shadow Hearts Covenant DX! For me emulation is about upscaling and making retro game nice to play today and keeping the consoles that I need to a minimum.
Seriously if I had kept all of the consoles I ever owned I would need a huge house!
Anyways if you do not have access to buy and play Shadow Hearts on ps2 then I would say download and play it because it is important to have more fans. Honestly I would even say that for every game even on newer hardware if the game did not came out in your region or had a limited run and is crazy expensive etc..
Always try to buy the game to support the developers but if it is impossible then go ahead and download it.
ConsoleClassics
So from before we knew there was a cancelled port of Koudelka on steam even if it used emulation still would have been nice and would have had achievements like their other games, Anyways back on topic: I have not heard back from them but I noticed something today, one of their announced games D which was originally a ps1 game was released on steam by Throwback a year later of ConsoleClassic announcement... Which continues to make CC even more confusing.
Current Status on my Project
My project, honestly I have not worked on it much recently partly due to I was returning home but also loosing a bit of motivation. I will do one more version which will demonstrate an extended scene in SH1 and the potential for branching paths and after that I will make a decision.
I am still looking for help for now people who can edit and fix the text and someone who can do character art. Contact me if your interested.
For a good while despite the game being playable but it was never truly enjoyable due to the judgement ring glitch and to avoid that you would have to use software mode meaning you would not be able to upscale it. Apparently it was back in February that was fixed (I have tested and can confirm it works although 1/2 glitches remain during the judgement ring). You need to have enabled "Disable Safe Features" still takes a few other settings to ensure no other glitch like flickering cut scenes or a different kind of judgement ring glitch. After a couple of hours I was quite happy then I noticed two things. It does not show the correct character during the judgement ring but also enemies that you already defeated, sometimes I went through multiple battles with no issues then other times every move had this issue. I do intend on doing a lets play of the 3 shadow hearts games with the difficulty mods but I will start with the first and do it in order (originally I planned covenant as that was the first SH that I played due to the issues in Covenant). The first Shadow Hearts game works fantastic with what I have so now it is just testing to record as I have limited accessories and with being in lockdown even though I have lots of free time but I can't splash the cash for a mic webcam etc... So it is about what is the best that I can do.
Also let me know if any of you use software to capture footage on pc and if so which one. I used one to capture my project but will need to change to do let's play of SH.
Currently trying OBS Studio and I have a MSI headset, current issue I have is the sound is overpowering my voice (even when reducing the desktop audio in OBS) so I'm trying to find the right balance then I will start doing the lets plays we will see...
My stance on Emulation
I am working on a new blog called: https://emu-waffles.blogspot.com/
Note it is a work in progress but it will have emulators and configuration with attract mode so you grab what you need and enjoy. (Will not provide games)
Please note despite me talking a lot about emulation, I have all the Shadow Hearts games and Koudelka physically. I even have Shadow Hearts Covenant DX! For me emulation is about upscaling and making retro game nice to play today and keeping the consoles that I need to a minimum.
Seriously if I had kept all of the consoles I ever owned I would need a huge house!
Anyways if you do not have access to buy and play Shadow Hearts on ps2 then I would say download and play it because it is important to have more fans. Honestly I would even say that for every game even on newer hardware if the game did not came out in your region or had a limited run and is crazy expensive etc..
Always try to buy the game to support the developers but if it is impossible then go ahead and download it.
ConsoleClassics
So from before we knew there was a cancelled port of Koudelka on steam even if it used emulation still would have been nice and would have had achievements like their other games, Anyways back on topic: I have not heard back from them but I noticed something today, one of their announced games D which was originally a ps1 game was released on steam by Throwback a year later of ConsoleClassic announcement... Which continues to make CC even more confusing.
Current Status on my Project
My project, honestly I have not worked on it much recently partly due to I was returning home but also loosing a bit of motivation. I will do one more version which will demonstrate an extended scene in SH1 and the potential for branching paths and after that I will make a decision.
I am still looking for help for now people who can edit and fix the text and someone who can do character art. Contact me if your interested.
Wednesday 29 April 2020
Looking At The Original Shadow Hearts Site
http://shadowhearts.net/
Interestingly enough it is actually still up.
A few changes seemed to have been made over the years.
Mainly on the initial portal site they changed the copyright to Universal Entertainment obviously since they have the ip although in the individual sites it still says Azure Corp.
Also copyright on Shadow Hearts 1 site is 2005 Nautilus.
No mention of the Koudelka game but does mention her character on the Shadow Hearts 1 site.
On Covenant site it mentioned there was a bug (with the game) that could cause a corrupt save and they'd originally offered a service to fix the save, interestingly enough the address points to Universal Entertainment but Aruze Corp done the name change back in 2009. So it seems that they had changed the address and continued the service at least till 2009+ which would be about 5 years after Covenant's original release.
All of the downloads for art etc... still works. I had not came across any problems with any of the sites.
********
Not really on this topic but I have finally returned home due to the virus situation I was actually away for nearly two months. So it is good to be back and now, I have options for making new content mainly thinking of game play videos especially of the difficulty mods for all 3 Shadow Hearts games then who knows. It will take a few days to settle then also updating and configuring my pc just to get the performance right and being able to capture footage and probably will try commentary, so a bit of testing will be needed. Anyways stay tuned! :)
Interestingly enough it is actually still up.
A few changes seemed to have been made over the years.
Mainly on the initial portal site they changed the copyright to Universal Entertainment obviously since they have the ip although in the individual sites it still says Azure Corp.
Also copyright on Shadow Hearts 1 site is 2005 Nautilus.
No mention of the Koudelka game but does mention her character on the Shadow Hearts 1 site.
On Covenant site it mentioned there was a bug (with the game) that could cause a corrupt save and they'd originally offered a service to fix the save, interestingly enough the address points to Universal Entertainment but Aruze Corp done the name change back in 2009. So it seems that they had changed the address and continued the service at least till 2009+ which would be about 5 years after Covenant's original release.
All of the downloads for art etc... still works. I had not came across any problems with any of the sites.
********
Not really on this topic but I have finally returned home due to the virus situation I was actually away for nearly two months. So it is good to be back and now, I have options for making new content mainly thinking of game play videos especially of the difficulty mods for all 3 Shadow Hearts games then who knows. It will take a few days to settle then also updating and configuring my pc just to get the performance right and being able to capture footage and probably will try commentary, so a bit of testing will be needed. Anyways stay tuned! :)
Wednesday 22 April 2020
Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures Hack Your System And/Or Use Emulators!
Well when you are away from home and stuck during lockdown. You only have your switch, so what do I do? Hack it and play Koudelka on an emulator. Or maybe I should've played Super Mario Maker 2 instead! XD
It actually looks pretty good on the switch, performs almost perfectly except for some battle animation moves but with increasing the clock speed slightly for a small boost it does help a tiny bit.
Overall fully playable and if you take away some of the sharp edges and smooth them out, it would have looked really good where I probably could have fooled someone into thinking that it is legit on the switch!
We all probably know emulators for pc like epsxe or retroarch that plays Koudelka perfectly and pcsx2 for ps2 games for playing the shadow hearts games. Speaking of which back in February the judgement ring glitch has finally been fixed as seen here sadly it has not been talked or taken advantage of as much as it should! We can also play ps2 games on ps3 (backwards compatible) too.
What I find the most maybe lets say disappointing and maybe even controversial for us SH fans, is if your ps4 is on firmware 5.05 you can use hacks and play ps2 games by injecting a game into a ps2 classic as seen here it brings that question: Is it that easy? Granted the first two SH games currently do not work this way. To find the right configuration or for sony to update their ps2 ps4 emulation software would be needed. What seen from that video is what an official product would be like, so why not Universal Entertainment? Release the games as psn classics officially PLEASE!
Regarding Koudelka's seemingly cancelled steam release. I have looked at what ConsoleClassics had published on steam which almost all were originally ps1 games. They used an opened sourced emulator pcsx r and adapt it with a loader settings and maybe other changes then have it as a package on steam. It is legal for them to do this, as long as they release the source code for each game they published which they have. It is strange they just stopped doing this because surely releasing games like Koudelka, D and more would make money especially if they have the ips or the very least have deals to do so. It just seemed strange they released games like Actua Golf 3... okay... Not saying not to release games like that but maybe start with ones that need a steam release.
Also if you have previously missed I posted about Koudelka: here
I have updated the post and will continue to do so if I come across any more information or if ConsoleClassics replies, potently very interesting...
Also if you know anything about them please let me know! Many thanks! :)
*Important Update*
From what I have read Urbanscan are behind consoleclassics they bought various ip from companies which is strange and brings the question does Urbanscan own Koudelka ip? It is a bit messy....
It actually looks pretty good on the switch, performs almost perfectly except for some battle animation moves but with increasing the clock speed slightly for a small boost it does help a tiny bit.
Overall fully playable and if you take away some of the sharp edges and smooth them out, it would have looked really good where I probably could have fooled someone into thinking that it is legit on the switch!
We all probably know emulators for pc like epsxe or retroarch that plays Koudelka perfectly and pcsx2 for ps2 games for playing the shadow hearts games. Speaking of which back in February the judgement ring glitch has finally been fixed as seen here sadly it has not been talked or taken advantage of as much as it should! We can also play ps2 games on ps3 (backwards compatible) too.
What I find the most maybe lets say disappointing and maybe even controversial for us SH fans, is if your ps4 is on firmware 5.05 you can use hacks and play ps2 games by injecting a game into a ps2 classic as seen here it brings that question: Is it that easy? Granted the first two SH games currently do not work this way. To find the right configuration or for sony to update their ps2 ps4 emulation software would be needed. What seen from that video is what an official product would be like, so why not Universal Entertainment? Release the games as psn classics officially PLEASE!
Regarding Koudelka's seemingly cancelled steam release. I have looked at what ConsoleClassics had published on steam which almost all were originally ps1 games. They used an opened sourced emulator pcsx r and adapt it with a loader settings and maybe other changes then have it as a package on steam. It is legal for them to do this, as long as they release the source code for each game they published which they have. It is strange they just stopped doing this because surely releasing games like Koudelka, D and more would make money especially if they have the ips or the very least have deals to do so. It just seemed strange they released games like Actua Golf 3... okay... Not saying not to release games like that but maybe start with ones that need a steam release.
Also if you have previously missed I posted about Koudelka: here
I have updated the post and will continue to do so if I come across any more information or if ConsoleClassics replies, potently very interesting...
Also if you know anything about them please let me know! Many thanks! :)
*Important Update*
From what I have read Urbanscan are behind consoleclassics they bought various ip from companies which is strange and brings the question does Urbanscan own Koudelka ip? It is a bit messy....
Sunday 19 April 2020
Future Plans For The Blog, Fan Project & New Design For The Blog!
New Design For The Blog
So to start off with people who have been following the blog since it started might have noticed the looks have changed a bit. I did nothing complex as I want to keep it simple, just added a banner, changed various background colours of the theme and added pages, useful links and etc....
I may make additional changes later but probably not too much.
Fan project
Nothing really much to report. I previously posted a video of a proof of concept of a visual novel with the original Shadow Hearts by using renpy which you can download the project files here, I also talked about making a game using RPG maker.
It all really depends on if I get help or not. Any project even if it is quite easy can still be time consuming especially for 1 person. So each person that I get to help would half the workload.
I will update in the future but right now it is unclear if I'll continue (or if I do it would be too slow without help).
Future Plans
Today the blog as got the highest amount of views! So thanks very much to everyone who read my posts on the blog this was mainly due to posting about the blog on the shadow hearts reddit group page. Near 100 views with only posting a link to the blog on two places, not bad.
Edit: *Update* Yesterday it almost reached 100 views alone and today reachedover 150 all time views! Thanks to everyone who has viewed my blog! :)
I do aim to spread the word more and any help would be greatly appreciated if you can post the link to various places or tweet it etc...
I posted a lot in the initial week mainly to give the blog a push but also to answer many questions people had. A lot didn't know who owns the rights (Universal Entertainment does), what happened to the team etc... Also many saying Aruze Gaming owns the rights which is incorrect as seen here.
I have posted opinions and personal experiences like reviews or what I would like to see etc...
and will continue to do similar things.
Honestly I have started to run out of ideas, but I do hope the fan project can pick up, so I can post regular updates about it (depends on if I get help or not).
Now saying that I still have some but I will start to space them out to 1-2 a week rather than daily.
I have thought of getting other authors to write posts on the blog so if your interested please contact me!
About SNK, Koudelka, Console Classics Cancelled Steam Port Of Koudelka?
For me Koudelka is a bit of odd one.
It was published by SNK (in Japan) developed by Sacnoth but later when SNK went into money problems they were bought out by Aruze but then later SNK Playmore bought back most of its ip back except for Koudelka (I assume) since later Aruze published the Shadow Hearts games as Shadow Hearts was already in development prior to Aruze purchasing their ip.
Main reason why Aruze bought SNK was because of its ip and that they wanted to use them for slot machines etc... They never really nor supported videogames despite them having access to some reasonably successful franchises, so when they done more Shadow Hearts games it was kind of a strange one. For more info check an article by gamespot : here
What was strange was that Koudelka was originally meant to have been a a series of its own so... which is weird as with after the first Shadow Hearts game it really distanced itself from Koudelka with her never featuring again (Only Roger Bacon whom has featured in all games, and a very small tribute of Koudelka). Koudelka did receive a mini manga series which is not canon to the Shadow Hearts series. Also ending of SH 1 had Koudelka and son Halley going to America to find Edward and yet they were never featured in From The New World despite its setting in America.
Koudelka was the foundation of Shadow Hearts with very strong links but... from Covenant and in From The New World you would not really know that Koudelka ever existed and what started SH.
The main guy behind Koudelka was Hiroki Kikuta and he actually left Sacnoth shortly after its release but Shadow Hearts would have been already in development at that time. The torch was passed from Hiroki Kikuta to Machida Matsuzo whom was the art director of Koudelka.
Characters appearing in other games is not uncommon like Chaos Wars which featured a lot of Shadow Hearts characters.
Even if Sacnoth did at one point own the license but once it was absorbed into Universal Entertainment they would hold the rights. I doubt that SNK would although they sued Aruze for using SNK ip property despite SNK buying them back but from what it seems just involved slot machines. Seems that Koudelka is completely abandoned. So sadly probably SNK aren't the ones to contact in hopes for any revival.
What makes the whole thing even weirder that apparently Koudelka could have been ported to Steam which would have been published by Console Classics http://www.consoleclassics.co/?games=koudelka Not a lot of info about the company but they have been almost non existent since 2015 (except for two bass pro games last being in 2017) most likely due to the their games on steam having open sourced emulator files and that was negatively received which might have been the reason why Koudelka never made to steam or something else entirely. Will update as I learn more. I have contacted Console Classics via email and twitter. You can find their steam games: here
I have looked at what ConsoleClassics had published on steam which almost all were originally ps1 games. They used an opened sourced emulator pcsx r and adapt it with a loader settings and maybe other changes then have it as a package on steam. It is legal for them to do this, as long as they release the source code for each game they published which they have. It is strange they just stopped doing this because surely releasing games like Koudelka, D and more would make money especially if they have the ips or the very least have deals to do so. It just seemed strange they released games like Actua Golf 3... okay... Not saying not to release games like that but maybe start with ones that need a steam release.
Console Classics despite having announced a lot of games (even ones that did not get released) there aren't many variations from original publishers, Infogrames published Koudelka outside of Japan. A lot of games CC had on their site are involved with Infogrames in some way. But it is strange because SNK was the original publisher in Japan and with all what I mentioned above, it is a bit head scratching!
*Important Update*
From what I have read Urbanscan are behind consoleclassics they bought various ip from companies whom may have bought ip from other companies! XD So they wanted to make money from the ip they own hence console classics but the links seem to be to Infogrames which is confusing.
All this brings the question do Urbanscan / ConsoleClassics own Koudelka?
(Or some deal was done to allow them to publish Koudelka on steam.)
Koudelka is still listed on their site as one of their games, just never released.
ConsoleClassics updated their trademark and Urbanscan is still active as a company.
Sadly I do not see a way to contact Urbanscan directly but I have tried to contact ConsoleClassics.
The status of Koudelka ip could actually be unknown.
One thing for sure this is a bit confusing!
It was published by SNK (in Japan) developed by Sacnoth but later when SNK went into money problems they were bought out by Aruze but then later SNK Playmore bought back most of its ip back except for Koudelka (I assume) since later Aruze published the Shadow Hearts games as Shadow Hearts was already in development prior to Aruze purchasing their ip.
Main reason why Aruze bought SNK was because of its ip and that they wanted to use them for slot machines etc... They never really nor supported videogames despite them having access to some reasonably successful franchises, so when they done more Shadow Hearts games it was kind of a strange one. For more info check an article by gamespot : here
What was strange was that Koudelka was originally meant to have been a a series of its own so... which is weird as with after the first Shadow Hearts game it really distanced itself from Koudelka with her never featuring again (Only Roger Bacon whom has featured in all games, and a very small tribute of Koudelka). Koudelka did receive a mini manga series which is not canon to the Shadow Hearts series. Also ending of SH 1 had Koudelka and son Halley going to America to find Edward and yet they were never featured in From The New World despite its setting in America.
Koudelka was the foundation of Shadow Hearts with very strong links but... from Covenant and in From The New World you would not really know that Koudelka ever existed and what started SH.
The main guy behind Koudelka was Hiroki Kikuta and he actually left Sacnoth shortly after its release but Shadow Hearts would have been already in development at that time. The torch was passed from Hiroki Kikuta to Machida Matsuzo whom was the art director of Koudelka.
Characters appearing in other games is not uncommon like Chaos Wars which featured a lot of Shadow Hearts characters.
Even if Sacnoth did at one point own the license but once it was absorbed into Universal Entertainment they would hold the rights. I doubt that SNK would although they sued Aruze for using SNK ip property despite SNK buying them back but from what it seems just involved slot machines. Seems that Koudelka is completely abandoned. So sadly probably SNK aren't the ones to contact in hopes for any revival.
What makes the whole thing even weirder that apparently Koudelka could have been ported to Steam which would have been published by Console Classics http://www.consoleclassics.co/?games=koudelka Not a lot of info about the company but they have been almost non existent since 2015 (except for two bass pro games last being in 2017) most likely due to the their games on steam having open sourced emulator files and that was negatively received which might have been the reason why Koudelka never made to steam or something else entirely. Will update as I learn more. I have contacted Console Classics via email and twitter. You can find their steam games: here
I have looked at what ConsoleClassics had published on steam which almost all were originally ps1 games. They used an opened sourced emulator pcsx r and adapt it with a loader settings and maybe other changes then have it as a package on steam. It is legal for them to do this, as long as they release the source code for each game they published which they have. It is strange they just stopped doing this because surely releasing games like Koudelka, D and more would make money especially if they have the ips or the very least have deals to do so. It just seemed strange they released games like Actua Golf 3... okay... Not saying not to release games like that but maybe start with ones that need a steam release.
Console Classics despite having announced a lot of games (even ones that did not get released) there aren't many variations from original publishers, Infogrames published Koudelka outside of Japan. A lot of games CC had on their site are involved with Infogrames in some way. But it is strange because SNK was the original publisher in Japan and with all what I mentioned above, it is a bit head scratching!
*Important Update*
From what I have read Urbanscan are behind consoleclassics they bought various ip from companies whom may have bought ip from other companies! XD So they wanted to make money from the ip they own hence console classics but the links seem to be to Infogrames which is confusing.
All this brings the question do Urbanscan / ConsoleClassics own Koudelka?
(Or some deal was done to allow them to publish Koudelka on steam.)
Koudelka is still listed on their site as one of their games, just never released.
ConsoleClassics updated their trademark and Urbanscan is still active as a company.
Sadly I do not see a way to contact Urbanscan directly but I have tried to contact ConsoleClassics.
The status of Koudelka ip could actually be unknown.
One thing for sure this is a bit confusing!
Why a petition could actually matter this time
https://www.change.org/p/aruze-gaming-shadow-hearts-trilogy-remaster
If you like the Shadow Hearts series please support it by signing the petition.
At time of writing it is currently sitting at 557 signatures which it did not start off badly but has since died off and I hope us fans can find ways to give it more exposure and boost it up.
So why a petition could actually matter this time?
Because numbers matter and with the lack of access to play the Shadow Hearts games then there isn't really anywhere to look. The games are not sold on the latest or even the previous gen hardware. No classics no ports nothing. Only way to play the game officially is with the game which can be pricey at times via ps2 or ps3 (ps2 compatible). Other way unofficially is emulation with downloading the game but even there has problems emulating Shadow Hearts has not really been a smooth experience, this year the judgement ring glitch has finally been fixed (playing on pc with pcsx2) and even then you would need a good solid pc even to handle the original let alone Covenant. and that could have a roll on effect onto content on youtube as if people can't play sh properly then they will probably not make that content.
Machida Matsuzo (the creator behind SH who opened his own studio) Wildrose, we have seen a desire from him to make a new Shadow Hearts game and the will to work with an investor. There are two challenges 1. Of course Universal Entertainment owns the rights. 2. What investor would invest in the series right now? Because there is not enough to back up the series right now.
If the petition managed to get in 100,000s of signatures roughly somewhere inline to the original sales then I think a revival could actually happen.
The challenge for fans and what we must do is keep creating and posting content, growing communities linking them together and hopefully push a petition and see where it goes.
A lot if not most petitions fail but a lot of the times there was access to such product which just did not work out where as here the access died out rather quickly and we are in a different period now where SH can do much better.
If you like the Shadow Hearts series please support it by signing the petition.
At time of writing it is currently sitting at 557 signatures which it did not start off badly but has since died off and I hope us fans can find ways to give it more exposure and boost it up.
So why a petition could actually matter this time?
Because numbers matter and with the lack of access to play the Shadow Hearts games then there isn't really anywhere to look. The games are not sold on the latest or even the previous gen hardware. No classics no ports nothing. Only way to play the game officially is with the game which can be pricey at times via ps2 or ps3 (ps2 compatible). Other way unofficially is emulation with downloading the game but even there has problems emulating Shadow Hearts has not really been a smooth experience, this year the judgement ring glitch has finally been fixed (playing on pc with pcsx2) and even then you would need a good solid pc even to handle the original let alone Covenant. and that could have a roll on effect onto content on youtube as if people can't play sh properly then they will probably not make that content.
Machida Matsuzo (the creator behind SH who opened his own studio) Wildrose, we have seen a desire from him to make a new Shadow Hearts game and the will to work with an investor. There are two challenges 1. Of course Universal Entertainment owns the rights. 2. What investor would invest in the series right now? Because there is not enough to back up the series right now.
If the petition managed to get in 100,000s of signatures roughly somewhere inline to the original sales then I think a revival could actually happen.
The challenge for fans and what we must do is keep creating and posting content, growing communities linking them together and hopefully push a petition and see where it goes.
A lot if not most petitions fail but a lot of the times there was access to such product which just did not work out where as here the access died out rather quickly and we are in a different period now where SH can do much better.
Saturday 18 April 2020
About Aruze Gaming (They don't have anything to do with sh) & Kazuo Okada messy history with Universal Entertainment
Reason why I am posting this is I see a lot of people talking about Aruze Gaming when talking about Shadow Hearts. From what I see/understand Aruze Gaming does not own the ip and has 0 control over Shadow Hearts.
So I decided to post some information about Aruze Gaming, Universal Entertainment and Okada.
Rather than going into full blown details I want to just highlight the key points.
Mainly demonstrating that Aruze Gaming does not have anything to do with Shadow Hearts and that the working relationship with Universal may not be so good anymore.
Following important parts are highlighted in black.
Aruze gaming was a subsidiary of Universal Entertainment.
Universal Entertainment was formerly known as Aruze Corporation (renamed in 2009)
Also in 2009 Aruze Gaming was sold to Kazuo Okada (at the time was ceo/chairman of Universal Entertainment).
Then to more recently, in 2017 Okada was dismissed from Universal Entertainment.
Okada is/was messy situations with the likes of Wynn resorts (whom he half funded / co-founder) from 2008 onwards up till 2018. Mainly due to the allegations against Okada then being ousted from them. After that it was all pretty much due to control etc... Which was messy also because Universal owned a part of Wynn Resorts. Wynn dropped all claims against Okada.
And even in Universal Entertainment parent company Okada Holdings in Hong Kong.
His own family voted him out of that company as well but later Kazuo Okada managed to get support back from his daughter which was enough to get him back in as director.
And she is on the board of directors for Aruze Gaming.
Okada holdings own two thirds of Universal Entertainment.
In 2018 Universal Entertainment sued Aruze Gaming over patents apparently due to all the drama with Okada. Which indicates it may not be all it seems. They seemed to had a working relationship with Universal Entertainment but with the whole situation with Okada it puts Aruze Gaming at risk with the licenses.
In 2019
Kazuo has sued his own estranged wife and son over the removal of him from Tiger Resort.
Interestingly enough there is still an arrest warrant active for Kazuo in the Philippines.
He was earlier cleared of fraud in Hong Kong but not yet elsewhere (where Okada Holdings is situated).
In 2020, Kazuo Okada was ordered by Japanese Court to pay Universal Entertainment money.
From my understanding it is still ongoing with Okada fighting back for control of Universal Entertainment.
But more importantly for us fans of the Shadow Hearts series is that Aruze Gaming do not own the rights nor have control. Universal Entertainment does.
So I decided to post some information about Aruze Gaming, Universal Entertainment and Okada.
Rather than going into full blown details I want to just highlight the key points.
Mainly demonstrating that Aruze Gaming does not have anything to do with Shadow Hearts and that the working relationship with Universal may not be so good anymore.
Following important parts are highlighted in black.
Aruze gaming was a subsidiary of Universal Entertainment.
Universal Entertainment was formerly known as Aruze Corporation (renamed in 2009)
Also in 2009 Aruze Gaming was sold to Kazuo Okada (at the time was ceo/chairman of Universal Entertainment).
Then to more recently, in 2017 Okada was dismissed from Universal Entertainment.
Okada is/was messy situations with the likes of Wynn resorts (whom he half funded / co-founder) from 2008 onwards up till 2018. Mainly due to the allegations against Okada then being ousted from them. After that it was all pretty much due to control etc... Which was messy also because Universal owned a part of Wynn Resorts. Wynn dropped all claims against Okada.
And even in Universal Entertainment parent company Okada Holdings in Hong Kong.
His own family voted him out of that company as well but later Kazuo Okada managed to get support back from his daughter which was enough to get him back in as director.
And she is on the board of directors for Aruze Gaming.
Okada holdings own two thirds of Universal Entertainment.
In 2018 Universal Entertainment sued Aruze Gaming over patents apparently due to all the drama with Okada. Which indicates it may not be all it seems. They seemed to had a working relationship with Universal Entertainment but with the whole situation with Okada it puts Aruze Gaming at risk with the licenses.
In 2019
Kazuo has sued his own estranged wife and son over the removal of him from Tiger Resort.
Interestingly enough there is still an arrest warrant active for Kazuo in the Philippines.
He was earlier cleared of fraud in Hong Kong but not yet elsewhere (where Okada Holdings is situated).
In 2020, Kazuo Okada was ordered by Japanese Court to pay Universal Entertainment money.
From my understanding it is still ongoing with Okada fighting back for control of Universal Entertainment.
But more importantly for us fans of the Shadow Hearts series is that Aruze Gaming do not own the rights nor have control. Universal Entertainment does.
Thursday 16 April 2020
Shadow Hearts games difficulty mods & about the translation patch for Covenant Director's Cut
On ngplus there are difficulty mods for the shadow hearts games by zedorfed66
These are confirmed to work with NTSC not sure about PAL.
You will need to have an iso file of each game and then patch it with mod.
Please note I will not help with links for the iso files either rip your own copy or google is your friend ;)
Links to the difficulty mods:
Shadow Hearts:
http://ngplus.net/index.php?/forums/topic/953-shadow-hearts-ntsc-u-imbroglio-v12/
Shadow Hearts Covenant:
http://ngplus.net/index.php?/forums/topic/269-shadow-hearts-covenant-ntsc-godslayer-v41/
Shadow Hearts From The New World:
http://ngplus.net/index.php?/forums/topic/802-shadow-hearts-from-the-new-world-ntsc-grace-v25/
Have fun! Enjoy! :)
There was also an English patch for Shadow Hearts Covenant Director's Cut which was in progress by Dengarde. Sadly there hasn't been much word for a while and the discord seems to have gone sadly too(it vanished from my account and when I tried the link it was invalid). I tried contacting Dengarde on twitter but unfortunately no response. His twitter: here
Video of it in action below.
These are confirmed to work with NTSC not sure about PAL.
You will need to have an iso file of each game and then patch it with mod.
Please note I will not help with links for the iso files either rip your own copy or google is your friend ;)
Links to the difficulty mods:
Shadow Hearts:
http://ngplus.net/index.php?/forums/topic/953-shadow-hearts-ntsc-u-imbroglio-v12/
Shadow Hearts Covenant:
http://ngplus.net/index.php?/forums/topic/269-shadow-hearts-covenant-ntsc-godslayer-v41/
Shadow Hearts From The New World:
http://ngplus.net/index.php?/forums/topic/802-shadow-hearts-from-the-new-world-ntsc-grace-v25/
Have fun! Enjoy! :)
There was also an English patch for Shadow Hearts Covenant Director's Cut which was in progress by Dengarde. Sadly there hasn't been much word for a while and the discord seems to have gone sadly too(it vanished from my account and when I tried the link it was invalid). I tried contacting Dengarde on twitter but unfortunately no response. His twitter: here
Video of it in action below.
Wednesday 15 April 2020
How about WE do a fan project? The ideas & the possibilities
I have been thinking a while of making a fan project but to do it right a small team is needed.
Passionate fans willing to work together and the more there are the easier it is on everyone.
I would prefer to use the story or the characters at the very least because if not then it would be getting away from what Shadow Hearts is.
- Renpy Visual Novel
I have done a short proof of concept, which I was able to put the script into a renpy game. Extract images from gameplay videos, added two cutscenes and also 1 soundtrack.
To check it out please look: here
I had various ideas, from making a sequel to Covenant of the good ending but with Yuri & Alice knowing what had all happened before but no one else does. Or a remix of the original script where scenes would be extended and choices given which determines good or bad ending.
Also there are a lot of assets for renpy it would start out as a visual novel but there are things to add to give it rpg elements, so there are options.
But of course we can talk about more ideas
- RPG Maker
Maybe we could do something like:
There was actually one fan project as seen in the video but it was never really spread across the web outside of this one video and the original post for the game (game link is dead).
I feel if a group of fans get together we could do something similar and maybe a bit closer to the core of Shadow Hearts in terms of story.
- Any other game engine?
Of course there are others out there with the two I mentioned above I believe they are reasonably simple, there are assets out there which we can use for any project. And I feel that if we go with something too complicated then it would have to be more of a loose spiritual successor and maybe even a commercial project because original characters, script and the workload etc..
The point is more to spread the love of Shadow Hearts, a fan project for free.
Anyone can join even if you do not know much about game developing.
My reviews of Shadow Hearts, Covenant & From The New World
- Shadow Hearts
If i could choose only one game that would get remade I would pick shadow hearts 1 for sure
there is no other game that deserves it more! Why? Simple answer: Yuri & Alice.
After experiencing Covenant I just had to play shadow hearts 1. I wanted to find out everything about Yuri and Alice and it made the issues that this game has vanished as if they were never there!
I was reading every single word of text with the life that Covenant had I almost imagined yuri's and alice's voice in my head! Basing on its story alone i think Shadow Hearts has one of the best stories ever in a videogame, best couple for sure!
So more about the game:
First easy thing to see is that graphics weren't up to standards. Initial cut-scene was unique and I liked it but afterwards you do see it as outdated, it like a mix between ps1 and ps2 graphics.
Although saying that the backgrounds still looked really good.
Character models aren't that great , wished they looked better or were more smooth as some felt a bit rough.
My biggest issue about the game would be the lack of cut scenes I think there were only about 8 of them, for what there was they were mostly good but then there was one with a woman playing a violin which is a bit pointless even if it was nice. I just wished for more Yuri & Alice voices.
The battle system was simple like a traditional turned base rpg but with a new twist called a judgement ring only slight bit I didn't like was that the judgement ring wasn't fully visible.
Soundtrack is great I can't fault it at all either amazing, awesome or beautiful.
I liked the two endings with for getting the good one it is required doing extra stuff. It felt very rewarding as you get some of Yuri and Alice's best moments.
So overall even if the game had some issues (lacked voices / graphics weren't at the standard)
but Yuri & Alice story makes it more than worthwhile and the story may be the best of the series.
My Score 10/10
Shadow Hearts 1 is the most expensive game that I have ever bought!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Shadow Hearts Covenant
I can't say anything bad about the game because its pretty much very close to a perfect game there aren't any major faults. There are only maybe real minor things I could criticise on.
So let's get into it but first of all the good things:
Covenant pretty much fixed the issues that the original had, a better judgement ring which was much more visible. It had customisation options in settings or with power ups etc... which was welcomed.
The additional of combos are good as well although I never felt like they mattered too much except for speed runs or when your under powered.
Crests another great addition and other skills and equipment picked up by side quests.
Very easy to customise party members to heal or increase attack or spells that certain foes in an area are weak too! I would've liked to kept some skills to be unlocked by levelling up which is gone in this game but it is not something that I overly care about.
Graphics another massive improvement from original, from gameplay to many scenes that were just beautiful like wow.
Soundtrack is great too continues from the original just fantastic very unique doesn't feel like typical rpg music.
Long game too which is great you can easily spend 50+ hours in it!
One minor dislike is the multiple endings it is only two questions that make either ending. (Shadow Hearts 1 did it better.)
One of the other things that I like about Shadow Hearts that it is a bit more realistic than other rpgs still fiction of course but having locations or set in time periods I feel that helps to build a connection to the characters.
Overall fantastic story beautiful cut scenes long game great soundtrack.
Is there any more else to say? No its simply a masterpiece
My Score : 10/10
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Shadow Hearts: From The New World
Its not like it was a bad game it even almost improved on every aspect from Covenant quality of gameplay and graphics wise (although odd area looked a bit boring).
Combos felt like they mattered more. It felt like if you weren't at the top of your game at times you can loose.
But it just didn't live up to the previous titles with it's story and characters.
It felt more like a gimick rather than a sequel or a spin off.
The tone was very different, night and day when comparing the original to this game.
Big thing was I didn't overly like the main characters I was just didn't care and was bored of them at times.
I felt more for the baddies Killer & Lady they were better more interesting and more emotion from them, the best scenes of the game had them in it.
Also why wasn't Halley & Koudelka featured in the game when the end of Shadow Hearts 1 had them going to America....
But instead Lenny & Roger Bacon also Joachim... something happened to his voice! A real missed opertunity
Gameplay there was good amount to collect and do, nice sidequests even if they weren't as deep compared to Covenant.
Monster designed was decent enough for the series.
With no Yuri or Alice in From the new world, this game was like missing the heart/soul in the story.
maybe it could have worked if it featured another character from the previous games? who knows...
If it was just based on the quality of the gameplay and graphics it is great but story parts good a lot of others meh...
My score: Story 7/10 Gameplay 10/10
I don't care that I give it two different scores! :P
Does an old game Chaos Wars give us fans hope and is Universal Entertainment willing to sell?
There is a game that featured Shadow Hearts characters which I never played it is meant to be bad but could the game show that there is a slight glimmer of hope? Let's talk about it!
- Chaos Wars
I think Chaos Wars can give fans hope. It was made by Idea Factory which featured characters from Shadow Hearts Covenant: Yuri, Alice, Karen & Nicolai. Granted the story had basically 0 to do with Shadow Hearts as it was a crossover for multiple franchises but regardless a deal had to have happened to allow idea factory to use the characters from Shadow Hearts meaning maybe Universal Entertainment are willing to negotiate. Also the game came out after SH From The New World and Nautilus had practically ceased to exit at that point which maybe can gives fans a slight glimmer of hope. Maybe it is funny that hope
Please note I have not yet played Chaos Wars mainly due to it never being released for pal regions. But I do hope to try it some day soon via emulation. Apparently it is meant to be so bad that its kinda good. I look forward to seeing the Shadow Hearts characters in it.
- Is Universal Entertainment willing to sell?
Chaos Wars was released in NA back in 2008 and it was a good while after when From the new world came out and it used characters from Shadow Hearts Covenant Yuri, Alice, Karen and Nicolai The game was done and published by Idea Factory. So some kind of a deal can be possible since they were willing before. Even though Chaos Wars was in no way a Shadow Hearts game but they still would have needed a deal to be able to use the characters.
Maybe they are waiting for a serious offer. But how do you value Shadow Hearts for someone to buy the rights? Would it be in the hundreds of thousands or a million plus? Honestly I wouldn't be surprised by any amount.
- Chaos Wars
I think Chaos Wars can give fans hope. It was made by Idea Factory which featured characters from Shadow Hearts Covenant: Yuri, Alice, Karen & Nicolai. Granted the story had basically 0 to do with Shadow Hearts as it was a crossover for multiple franchises but regardless a deal had to have happened to allow idea factory to use the characters from Shadow Hearts meaning maybe Universal Entertainment are willing to negotiate. Also the game came out after SH From The New World and Nautilus had practically ceased to exit at that point which maybe can gives fans a slight glimmer of hope. Maybe it is funny that hope
Please note I have not yet played Chaos Wars mainly due to it never being released for pal regions. But I do hope to try it some day soon via emulation. Apparently it is meant to be so bad that its kinda good. I look forward to seeing the Shadow Hearts characters in it.
- Is Universal Entertainment willing to sell?
Chaos Wars was released in NA back in 2008 and it was a good while after when From the new world came out and it used characters from Shadow Hearts Covenant Yuri, Alice, Karen and Nicolai The game was done and published by Idea Factory. So some kind of a deal can be possible since they were willing before. Even though Chaos Wars was in no way a Shadow Hearts game but they still would have needed a deal to be able to use the characters.
Machida the creator of Shadow Hearts, now has his own studio Wildrose. He has showed interest in working with an investor to bring back Shadow Hearts. You can see tweets on twitter, but question is if fans realise that it could take a lot of money to do so.
The important thing is someone serious needs to contact Universal to get them to sell or make a deal. Random fans even with money or good intentions they will not take them seriously...
I think the right solution will be someone or a company who has a good relationship with Universal Entertainment and maybe a deal can be struck there easier but that would probably be quite limited from what we know Wildrose or maybe Marvelous Inc unless if there is more that we do not know of...
The important thing is someone serious needs to contact Universal to get them to sell or make a deal. Random fans even with money or good intentions they will not take them seriously...
I think the right solution will be someone or a company who has a good relationship with Universal Entertainment and maybe a deal can be struck there easier but that would probably be quite limited from what we know Wildrose or maybe Marvelous Inc unless if there is more that we do not know of...
Tuesday 14 April 2020
What I Would Like To See For Shadow Hearts. My Dream, More Realistic or A Compromise
Like many fans I would love to see a comeback but if it ever did what form would it take?
So I made this post to go through the different possibilities.
From dreams to what could be more realistic or a compromise between the two.
While I think the most realistic start to any revival would be psn classics since it would be the lowest costs and maybe even if we fans get together and make lots of requests maybe Sony would want them as psn classics. Or sadly the reality right now that anything else would involve Universal Entertainment selling the rights or making a deal to let someone else make the games.
Game Ideas
When I started this list I had a few ideas but then it grown especially with replaying Shadow Hearts recently and now I have 8/10 ideas, seriously Shadow Hearts could be a gold mine Universal Entertainment what are you doing?
- Prequel to Shadow Hearts focusing on Yuri's dad
From an interview with geekgamer Machida, we saw what plans he had for what would have been the next game which I think would have been great because the original Shadow Hearts had snippets of it in the story with flashbacks but it would have been nice to see that extended as it could connect everything up where it becomes a full circle. But sadly the reality was that we got From the new world instead and Universal Entertainment owns the rights so currently Machida has no control of the franchise.
- Remake of Koudelka
Considerably it's it is a prequel to Shadow Hearts it would be nice to
see it remade and maybe change it's battle system to Shadow Hearts or a mix of the two.
And a chance to add more story elements just to connect the dots more to Shadow Hearts.
- Sequel to Koudelka
It would be nice to have something that connects Koudelka storyline to Shadow Hearts, there is a manga of Koudelka but it is not cannon to SH so it would be nice to have something that is where it leads up to the events of SH1 or this could get combined with a remake of Koudelka which would then add additional content instead.
- Prequel to Shadow Hearts (With Albert Simon as the main character)
It could be a great idea to show more how he changed and what happened but in more detail and his interaction with characters rather than the few scenes that mentions the events in the games would be cool to actually experience it.
- Prequel to Shadow Hearts or additional scenes with Yuri, The Masks and the Mysterious Voice
In the story it was implied Yuri having history with the masks and that the mysterious voice aka Koudelka sent him to various locations. So it can be an idea for another game but granted could be difficult as Yuri was like a loner prior to the events of SH1 and maybe it cant be a full game but certainly a shorter one or more scenes get added to a remake to support this.
If Yuri gets his own game I thought something like Joe Devers The Lone Wolf game system then just add judgement ring mechanics into it, I think that could work quite well.
- Remake of Shadow Hearts
I think it's the best for people who've played shadow hearts before and also to bring in new users to Shadow Hearts the heart of the series is Yuri & Alice I would love to see a remake with cut scenes voice acting and if it was able to improve the battle system from from a new world then it would be mouth watering stuff! This would be my dream! Also have more story like LT Kawashima who actually could have been a playable character as she was found in the game's asset and with modding can become playable.
- HD Remaster of Shadow Hearts Covenant
I think it's already an amazing game like what is there to change or improve?
Very little, maybe the director's cut content in English and trophies. Considering we can't play the game flawlessly on emulators with up-scaling (or as close to as possible) this is a great idea and probably minimal effort compared to rest of the ideas here. Also be an important opportunity to port the game to various systems like the switch for a wider audience and it would be amazing being able to take it everywhere I go.
- Sequels of Shadow Hearts 1 and Covenant (For other characters) (2 ideas)
I think there could've been a sequel of SH1 that follows Halley that takes him through
events after SH and right through to events after sh covenant and maybe even beyond.
Plus great chance to like see characters in SH1 and Covenant and even Koudelka.
I always found it weird when they were doing a Shadow Hearts game based in America but yet...
not have Halley considering the end of Shadow Hearts 1 when he went over there.
My idea for a story of Halley would be a remix of From The New World.
As even though I didn't really like story as in main characters from a new world.
I was actually more interested in the baddies Lady and Killer.
You could replace Johnny with Halley and Lenny with Koudelka then adapt the story.
The way I would have it is it starts initially after SH1 then skip a bit ahead Covenant and then skip ahead to From the new world timeline.
Also if you do a game with Halley why not other characters like Kurando & Anastasia from Covenant? With Kurando you maintain the fusion capabilities.and maybe that could lead up to the finale where everyone joins up.
- Sequel of Shadow Hearts Covenant and Shadow Hearts 1 (Good Endings)
I wonder how it would work a sequel to SH Covenant, Yuri remembers and knows what happens but would other characters like Alice know? Then would Yuri's interaction with Albert Simon be very different? And could he become a party member after that? Would events go quicker and maybe to then also go through events of Covenant as well and make it one explosive finale. Which would be like a proper goodbye to Yuri and Alice's storyline.
What should change?
Personally I would not want to change anything, I would love to see a new game with the same standards on newer hardware but that ain't the reality. Shadow Hearts and SH Covenant didn't have the worst amount of sales but it was done on a Final Fantasy type budget which basically sort of made it fail in terms of profit. So here are my ideas to make a revival make sense financially.
- Should Shadow Hearts be more streamlined/more simple?
Something like Fairy Fencer (which I talked about here) or a mix of the two? In Fairy Fencer F there were no towns to walk around in, just dungeons and everything outside of that was visual novel or map selecting what you want to do. The sales were very similar to Shadow Hearts but due to lower costs it was more successful with that they port it to various systems and maintaining the same amount sales for each system. Granted it wouldn't be exactly what I want but would it be a compromise that us fans could accept if it meant a possible revival.
- Needs to be multiple systems
It needs to be more accessible steam and switch would be my top 2 required options, switch very successful and the games would be portable, steam because would be nice to have the games on pc. Right now I would not say for other systems mainly due to that sony and microsoft are working on their next consoles.
- Would I keep the judgement ring?
I was asked this question if SH ever made a comeback would I keep the judgement ring?
I would prefer to keep it and see what more can be done and maybe even make variations depending if more games came out something similar to Lost Odyssey etc... Although if someone ask me we will make a Sh1 remake with voice acting and loads of cut scenes but it becomes action rpg, I would say do it!
- PSN Classics makes the best sense as a starting point
Liked I have mentioned on previous posts I always believe that starting with psn classics makes the best sense as it is the least amount of costs, gives fans an option to preserve the games/play on newer hardware and also gives access to those who never played Shadow Hearts.
Is a psn classic that simple? Who knows but if you have a hacked ps4 / on firmware 5.05 you can inject a ps2 game into a classic and play it for example from the new world works via this method sadly with the other two games currently don't work but surely if they were getting done officially sony would fix their emulation software to support them.
Other changes?
Difficulty mode options normal or hard, there are difficulty mods for the 3 Shadow Hearts games which seems to work very well but could be cool to an option where when starting the game you can choose the difficulty,
Final Words
That's why I think Shadow Hearts deserves a chance because that's 8-10 possible games or even more. Like if a remake or a prequel of Shadow Hearts is successful then that's hitting gold!
So I made this post to go through the different possibilities.
From dreams to what could be more realistic or a compromise between the two.
While I think the most realistic start to any revival would be psn classics since it would be the lowest costs and maybe even if we fans get together and make lots of requests maybe Sony would want them as psn classics. Or sadly the reality right now that anything else would involve Universal Entertainment selling the rights or making a deal to let someone else make the games.
Game Ideas
When I started this list I had a few ideas but then it grown especially with replaying Shadow Hearts recently and now I have 8/10 ideas, seriously Shadow Hearts could be a gold mine Universal Entertainment what are you doing?
- Prequel to Shadow Hearts focusing on Yuri's dad
From an interview with geekgamer Machida, we saw what plans he had for what would have been the next game which I think would have been great because the original Shadow Hearts had snippets of it in the story with flashbacks but it would have been nice to see that extended as it could connect everything up where it becomes a full circle. But sadly the reality was that we got From the new world instead and Universal Entertainment owns the rights so currently Machida has no control of the franchise.
- Remake of Koudelka
Considerably it's it is a prequel to Shadow Hearts it would be nice to
see it remade and maybe change it's battle system to Shadow Hearts or a mix of the two.
And a chance to add more story elements just to connect the dots more to Shadow Hearts.
- Sequel to Koudelka
It would be nice to have something that connects Koudelka storyline to Shadow Hearts, there is a manga of Koudelka but it is not cannon to SH so it would be nice to have something that is where it leads up to the events of SH1 or this could get combined with a remake of Koudelka which would then add additional content instead.
- Prequel to Shadow Hearts (With Albert Simon as the main character)
It could be a great idea to show more how he changed and what happened but in more detail and his interaction with characters rather than the few scenes that mentions the events in the games would be cool to actually experience it.
- Prequel to Shadow Hearts or additional scenes with Yuri, The Masks and the Mysterious Voice
In the story it was implied Yuri having history with the masks and that the mysterious voice aka Koudelka sent him to various locations. So it can be an idea for another game but granted could be difficult as Yuri was like a loner prior to the events of SH1 and maybe it cant be a full game but certainly a shorter one or more scenes get added to a remake to support this.
If Yuri gets his own game I thought something like Joe Devers The Lone Wolf game system then just add judgement ring mechanics into it, I think that could work quite well.
- Remake of Shadow Hearts
I think it's the best for people who've played shadow hearts before and also to bring in new users to Shadow Hearts the heart of the series is Yuri & Alice I would love to see a remake with cut scenes voice acting and if it was able to improve the battle system from from a new world then it would be mouth watering stuff! This would be my dream! Also have more story like LT Kawashima who actually could have been a playable character as she was found in the game's asset and with modding can become playable.
- HD Remaster of Shadow Hearts Covenant
I think it's already an amazing game like what is there to change or improve?
Very little, maybe the director's cut content in English and trophies. Considering we can't play the game flawlessly on emulators with up-scaling (or as close to as possible) this is a great idea and probably minimal effort compared to rest of the ideas here. Also be an important opportunity to port the game to various systems like the switch for a wider audience and it would be amazing being able to take it everywhere I go.
- Sequels of Shadow Hearts 1 and Covenant (For other characters) (2 ideas)
I think there could've been a sequel of SH1 that follows Halley that takes him through
events after SH and right through to events after sh covenant and maybe even beyond.
Plus great chance to like see characters in SH1 and Covenant and even Koudelka.
I always found it weird when they were doing a Shadow Hearts game based in America but yet...
not have Halley considering the end of Shadow Hearts 1 when he went over there.
My idea for a story of Halley would be a remix of From The New World.
As even though I didn't really like story as in main characters from a new world.
I was actually more interested in the baddies Lady and Killer.
You could replace Johnny with Halley and Lenny with Koudelka then adapt the story.
The way I would have it is it starts initially after SH1 then skip a bit ahead Covenant and then skip ahead to From the new world timeline.
Also if you do a game with Halley why not other characters like Kurando & Anastasia from Covenant? With Kurando you maintain the fusion capabilities.and maybe that could lead up to the finale where everyone joins up.
- Sequel of Shadow Hearts Covenant and Shadow Hearts 1 (Good Endings)
I wonder how it would work a sequel to SH Covenant, Yuri remembers and knows what happens but would other characters like Alice know? Then would Yuri's interaction with Albert Simon be very different? And could he become a party member after that? Would events go quicker and maybe to then also go through events of Covenant as well and make it one explosive finale. Which would be like a proper goodbye to Yuri and Alice's storyline.
What should change?
Personally I would not want to change anything, I would love to see a new game with the same standards on newer hardware but that ain't the reality. Shadow Hearts and SH Covenant didn't have the worst amount of sales but it was done on a Final Fantasy type budget which basically sort of made it fail in terms of profit. So here are my ideas to make a revival make sense financially.
- Should Shadow Hearts be more streamlined/more simple?
Something like Fairy Fencer (which I talked about here) or a mix of the two? In Fairy Fencer F there were no towns to walk around in, just dungeons and everything outside of that was visual novel or map selecting what you want to do. The sales were very similar to Shadow Hearts but due to lower costs it was more successful with that they port it to various systems and maintaining the same amount sales for each system. Granted it wouldn't be exactly what I want but would it be a compromise that us fans could accept if it meant a possible revival.
- Needs to be multiple systems
It needs to be more accessible steam and switch would be my top 2 required options, switch very successful and the games would be portable, steam because would be nice to have the games on pc. Right now I would not say for other systems mainly due to that sony and microsoft are working on their next consoles.
- Would I keep the judgement ring?
I was asked this question if SH ever made a comeback would I keep the judgement ring?
I would prefer to keep it and see what more can be done and maybe even make variations depending if more games came out something similar to Lost Odyssey etc... Although if someone ask me we will make a Sh1 remake with voice acting and loads of cut scenes but it becomes action rpg, I would say do it!
- PSN Classics makes the best sense as a starting point
Liked I have mentioned on previous posts I always believe that starting with psn classics makes the best sense as it is the least amount of costs, gives fans an option to preserve the games/play on newer hardware and also gives access to those who never played Shadow Hearts.
Is a psn classic that simple? Who knows but if you have a hacked ps4 / on firmware 5.05 you can inject a ps2 game into a classic and play it for example from the new world works via this method sadly with the other two games currently don't work but surely if they were getting done officially sony would fix their emulation software to support them.
Other changes?
Difficulty mode options normal or hard, there are difficulty mods for the 3 Shadow Hearts games which seems to work very well but could be cool to an option where when starting the game you can choose the difficulty,
Final Words
That's why I think Shadow Hearts deserves a chance because that's 8-10 possible games or even more. Like if a remake or a prequel of Shadow Hearts is successful then that's hitting gold!
Was Fairy Fencer F Inspired By Shadow Hearts?
Warning SPOILERS!
As I will mention about certain parts of the stories and endings of Fairy Fencer f and the 2 Shadow Hearts games.
Personally each one is just a coincidence but when all put together it seems a bit too much.
Maybe I am reading too much into this but I find it funny that Fairy Fencer F was made by Idea Factory whom made Chaos Wars which featured Shadow Hearts characters like Yuri Alice Karen and Nicolai, which some how I mention them again below.... mmm....
1. The Cover
When I first came across the game just by chance, it instantly grabbed my attention.
Fang looks like Yuri, Tiara looks like Alice and Eryn looks like Karin. If there was ever a anime version of Shadow Hearts it would kinda look like this. Keep note about appearances for later.
2. Similar Bad Guys?
Another character called Sherman sort of resembles Nicholai in his all white get up.
Also very similar roles since he is a bad guy who initially seemed good and that he was like a tool but had other ideas from of who he was working for.
3. Tiara drinks tea / acts British
And Alice Elliot is from London and this already adds together with similar colour schemes.
4. Overall story tone.
It is somewhat similar there is the serious side and the goofy side.
Fairy Fencer would be a very good bit more on the goofy side compared to Shadow Hearts. With no horror elements, so it is more like from the new world in terms of the goofy and sometimes the serious side from Covenant.
But in tone quite similar but different here and there. (A little bit less of this and a bit more than that / different quantities on the scales but roughly the same ingredients.
5. Fairize (fairy fencer f) is similar to fusion (shadow hearts)
what the title says not much to add here.
6. God / Goddess Pulling out swords to get abilities is somewhat like graveyard.
They are both somewhat graves and you gain different abilities in Fairy Fencer F or fusions in Shadow Hearts. Probably the weakest point here but still a tiny tiny bit similar and when you think about the rest, was this point weak after all?
7. Who was needed for a bad guys scheme?
Dorfa wanted Tiara for their scheme which is like in Shadow Hearts part 1
when Dehuai wanted Alice for his.
8. A wish to save your love?
In Fairy Fencer F game about midway through, Tiara dies and Fang's wish was to go back into the past to save Tiara which is pretty much the good ending in Shadow Hearts Covenant where
Yuri makes a wish to go back in time and saves Alice.
9. Feelings between Fang and Eryn compared to Yuri and Karin.
Erin says to Fang that she was falling in love / is in love with Fang
But Fang didn't really say anything like in Shadow Hearts Covenant where Karin said that she loves Yuri but then he doesnt say anything either.
Fang ends up with Tiara and Eryn becomes a mother like figure watching over him.
Eryn develops feelings for Fang but Fang did not feel the same way but still cares for her.
Similar to what Yuri and Karin went through.
Although saying that I don't know what changes you can do in the story
I felt like I didn't do anything to get a specific ending
Only time where you get a choice in conversations is when one night fang was hungry and you get to choose who to disturb
Unless if its about party members or if i have to ignore conversations or maybe even something else
*Also please note that I have not played fairy fencer f advent dark force and there are 3 endings with variations, only played through fairy fencer f once but I may try FFF advent dark force soon.*
As I will mention about certain parts of the stories and endings of Fairy Fencer f and the 2 Shadow Hearts games.
Personally each one is just a coincidence but when all put together it seems a bit too much.
Maybe I am reading too much into this but I find it funny that Fairy Fencer F was made by Idea Factory whom made Chaos Wars which featured Shadow Hearts characters like Yuri Alice Karen and Nicolai, which some how I mention them again below.... mmm....
1. The Cover
When I first came across the game just by chance, it instantly grabbed my attention.
Fang looks like Yuri, Tiara looks like Alice and Eryn looks like Karin. If there was ever a anime version of Shadow Hearts it would kinda look like this. Keep note about appearances for later.
2. Similar Bad Guys?
Another character called Sherman sort of resembles Nicholai in his all white get up.
Also very similar roles since he is a bad guy who initially seemed good and that he was like a tool but had other ideas from of who he was working for.
3. Tiara drinks tea / acts British
And Alice Elliot is from London and this already adds together with similar colour schemes.
4. Overall story tone.
It is somewhat similar there is the serious side and the goofy side.
Fairy Fencer would be a very good bit more on the goofy side compared to Shadow Hearts. With no horror elements, so it is more like from the new world in terms of the goofy and sometimes the serious side from Covenant.
But in tone quite similar but different here and there. (A little bit less of this and a bit more than that / different quantities on the scales but roughly the same ingredients.
5. Fairize (fairy fencer f) is similar to fusion (shadow hearts)
what the title says not much to add here.
6. God / Goddess Pulling out swords to get abilities is somewhat like graveyard.
They are both somewhat graves and you gain different abilities in Fairy Fencer F or fusions in Shadow Hearts. Probably the weakest point here but still a tiny tiny bit similar and when you think about the rest, was this point weak after all?
7. Who was needed for a bad guys scheme?
Dorfa wanted Tiara for their scheme which is like in Shadow Hearts part 1
when Dehuai wanted Alice for his.
8. A wish to save your love?
In Fairy Fencer F game about midway through, Tiara dies and Fang's wish was to go back into the past to save Tiara which is pretty much the good ending in Shadow Hearts Covenant where
Yuri makes a wish to go back in time and saves Alice.
9. Feelings between Fang and Eryn compared to Yuri and Karin.
Erin says to Fang that she was falling in love / is in love with Fang
But Fang didn't really say anything like in Shadow Hearts Covenant where Karin said that she loves Yuri but then he doesnt say anything either.
Fang ends up with Tiara and Eryn becomes a mother like figure watching over him.
Eryn develops feelings for Fang but Fang did not feel the same way but still cares for her.
Similar to what Yuri and Karin went through.
Although saying that I don't know what changes you can do in the story
I felt like I didn't do anything to get a specific ending
Only time where you get a choice in conversations is when one night fang was hungry and you get to choose who to disturb
Unless if its about party members or if i have to ignore conversations or maybe even something else
*Also please note that I have not played fairy fencer f advent dark force and there are 3 endings with variations, only played through fairy fencer f once but I may try FFF advent dark force soon.*
Monday 13 April 2020
What did not work? The challenges for fans wanting a revival
Shadow Hearts series was mostly well received across the board on with the likes of metacritic Covenant had 85 Critic Score and 88 for User Score and all the major journalists or game sites reviewed the whole series positively from many 9 or 10's out of 10.
So why wasn't the series is as successful as it should have been?
Please note that this is a mixture of personal opinion and research.
Was the series a victim of its time? Not the right publisher internationally?
The likes of youtube, twitter and social media in general were in their infant stages compared to today which could have played a big part. And it wasn't backed by a big company (especially for marketing worldwide), if a company like on the scale of square-enix published it (abroad) then it probably would have done much better.
- Shadow Hearts
Shadow Hearts was originally a ps1 game which apparently got shifted over to the ps2 quite late on.
And the release date did not help either as it entered at time of direct competition with Final Fantasy X especially in America when it was only 5 days apart, there was always gonna be one winner.
Two big questions are 1 was shifting from ps1 to ps2 a mistake. 2. Was releasing it so close to FFX another mistake?
- Shadow Hearts Covenant
So why wasn't the series is as successful as it should have been?
Please note that this is a mixture of personal opinion and research.
Was the series a victim of its time? Not the right publisher internationally?
The likes of youtube, twitter and social media in general were in their infant stages compared to today which could have played a big part. And it wasn't backed by a big company (especially for marketing worldwide), if a company like on the scale of square-enix published it (abroad) then it probably would have done much better.
- Shadow Hearts
Shadow Hearts was originally a ps1 game which apparently got shifted over to the ps2 quite late on.
And the release date did not help either as it entered at time of direct competition with Final Fantasy X especially in America when it was only 5 days apart, there was always gonna be one winner.
Two big questions are 1 was shifting from ps1 to ps2 a mistake. 2. Was releasing it so close to FFX another mistake?
- Shadow Hearts Covenant
Covenant was done on such a huge scale it is that quality of a game where I think no one would be surprised if the likes of Square-Enix released it back then. The budget was much bigger and even though it sold a bit better than Shadow Hearts 1 but because it had a bigger budget it did not make any where near what they would have liked. From the result of that Midway didn't want to publish the following game From The New World with some even joking that Covenant was part of Midway's downfall (or maybe not). Did the game also go through some late changes involving Nicolai?
- Shadow Hearts From The New World
Originally the third entry of Shadow Hearts was meant to have been a prequel. But due to Covenant not reaching their goals they wanted to try a different angle. The game is like a polish/reskin of Covenant and with that: There was much less development time (even slightly rushed apparently) and lower costs. But due to fans not caring since it is a spin off and not the greatest of marketing it ended up doing poorly in sales, being the worst performed of the series.
- A lot of reviews were made much later than the original release of the games.
I have seen so many youtube videos, posts of games sites that were posted years later than the release of the game. And looking at youtube likes of SuperDerek and Hellfirerpg done reviews within the last year which got multiple thousands of views. A lot of this kind of attention would have certainly helped the series back then. And some bigger youtubers like Jim Sterling who has mentioned Shadow Hearts multiple times in videos and his views are within the 100's of thousands. A remaster version would have probably done better than the original with social media and the internet being on really different level compared to what it once was!
Access to new players. Did piracy out perform?
Issue to spread the word is that there are only two ways to play the game.
Issue to spread the word is that there are only two ways to play the game.
Owning the original game or emulation and downloading the game / piracy.
There are potently more piracy downloads than actual sales of the games.
I knew a person who uploaded a copy of Shadow Hearts (PAL region) to a certain iso site *cough* ps2 and it done very well in the 10's of thousands of downloads!
The games can be pricey at times. Although they can shift a lot and sometimes you can get lucky.
Price hikes even started prior to from the new world coming out! Shadow Hearts 1 was already starting to go for around 100 euros.
Universal Entertainment have really distanced themselves from videogames.
The original team Nautilus who made the game was disbanded in 2009.
and Universal Entertainment who owns the ip just simply have no plans for the series.
For more info on Universal Entertainment and Nautilus more please check:
https://shadowheartsorigins.blogspot.com/2020/04/who-owns-ip-of-shadow-hearts-what.html
The gaming paradox
What Shadow Hearts needs is more fans but then for getting more fans there needs to be new content but then for new content there needs to be more fans! XDI knew a person who uploaded a copy of Shadow Hearts (PAL region) to a certain iso site *cough* ps2 and it done very well in the 10's of thousands of downloads!
The games can be pricey at times. Although they can shift a lot and sometimes you can get lucky.
Price hikes even started prior to from the new world coming out! Shadow Hearts 1 was already starting to go for around 100 euros.
Universal Entertainment have really distanced themselves from videogames.
The original team Nautilus who made the game was disbanded in 2009.
and Universal Entertainment who owns the ip just simply have no plans for the series.
For more info on Universal Entertainment and Nautilus more please check:
https://shadowheartsorigins.blogspot.com/2020/04/who-owns-ip-of-shadow-hearts-what.html
The gaming paradox
What fans are currently doing?
A lot of fans are doing great things like making a petition that started off great (but sadly died down quickly) hopefully it can pick up again soon.
People who talk about the series on blogs a lot like jcrcomicarts etc...
Lots of youtube videos some of which perform pretty well.
There was a fan game a couple of years ago called Shadow Hearts: Revenant but sadly it was never pushed it was only on the rpgmaker forum and one youtube video which I came across recently and unfortunately the link is dead, I have contacted the user posted comments so hopefully it'll be reup'd
zedorfed66 from ngplus made difficulty mods for the Shadow Hearts series you need an image game file and patch it. There is Dengarde who was doing a translation patch for the DC edition of Shadow Hearts covenant although it is still on-going and I haven't heard any updates in a while.
Also even translation patches for the original game, I came across a Russian one which was released about 2 years ago.
I feel that a lot of people do not have the information of the series, many not knowing who owns the ip etc... And hopefully some of the posts that I've done on this blog can help and shift the focus into making something happen.
What fans can do?
I think it is always good to contact Universal Entertainment to put that bit of pressure (without going ott/spaming). But due to their stance of having no plans for the series we as fans need to do more.
I think it would be a good idea to contact Sony to push for a classic, honestly I feel that there is no chance for a hd remaster or new games going through Sony as it would involve them doing a deal to make the games or buy the ip rights the numbers don't match up for Sony do that. But a psn classics I think it is possible and could be a start to revive the series.
How about we form a team to make a fan game, something like what Thorfax13 tried to do with Revenant but this time to give it a bigger push on social media and youtube.
Make a game with the likes of RPG Maker or do something different and make a Visual Novel game.
Because to spread the word of the series and to give it a push there needs to be new content as if not well then there nothing much to do sadly.
When Wildrose releases a game show them your love!
Machida Matsuzo the creator of Shadow Hearts still has a huge passion for the series and would love to do something for the series. But unfortunately he is not in a position to make that kind of decision because of Entertainment Universal liked mentioned owns the ip and Wildrose would need an investor or a publisher to help do any deal to buy the rights. But main thing we can do is support Wildrose and hope they can get to the level needed to do something special!
Never give up!
Lastly keep making blog posts and keep making videos. Likes of the difficulty mods could be a good chance for making new content to watch.
Last words
I never mean to be negative, if it was just up to me I would love to see a remake of the 1st game, a prequel and more right now but thinking with a business mindset it needs to make sense financially and sadly right now it does not. I think with classics it will make the best sense, it is the least amount of work/money needed, lowest risk to take and they would probably make money, a good way to test the waters to see public interest, preserves all the games even fans who already have the game would most likely still want to buy them and could spark interest in the community for more videos and content. Most importantly of course if classics do very well, it would be the start of something more. Entertainment Universal can then get someone to make games like Wild Rose etc... or to port them to other systems. Maybe another company like Sony may want to buy/keep it exclusive etc... Who knows. It is sad not knowing what if or what could have been... Hope the series will be revived someday!
People who talk about the series on blogs a lot like jcrcomicarts etc...
Lots of youtube videos some of which perform pretty well.
There was a fan game a couple of years ago called Shadow Hearts: Revenant but sadly it was never pushed it was only on the rpgmaker forum and one youtube video which I came across recently and unfortunately the link is dead, I have contacted the user posted comments so hopefully it'll be reup'd
zedorfed66 from ngplus made difficulty mods for the Shadow Hearts series you need an image game file and patch it. There is Dengarde who was doing a translation patch for the DC edition of Shadow Hearts covenant although it is still on-going and I haven't heard any updates in a while.
Also even translation patches for the original game, I came across a Russian one which was released about 2 years ago.
I feel that a lot of people do not have the information of the series, many not knowing who owns the ip etc... And hopefully some of the posts that I've done on this blog can help and shift the focus into making something happen.
What fans can do?
I think it is always good to contact Universal Entertainment to put that bit of pressure (without going ott/spaming). But due to their stance of having no plans for the series we as fans need to do more.
I think it would be a good idea to contact Sony to push for a classic, honestly I feel that there is no chance for a hd remaster or new games going through Sony as it would involve them doing a deal to make the games or buy the ip rights the numbers don't match up for Sony do that. But a psn classics I think it is possible and could be a start to revive the series.
How about we form a team to make a fan game, something like what Thorfax13 tried to do with Revenant but this time to give it a bigger push on social media and youtube.
Make a game with the likes of RPG Maker or do something different and make a Visual Novel game.
Because to spread the word of the series and to give it a push there needs to be new content as if not well then there nothing much to do sadly.
When Wildrose releases a game show them your love!
Machida Matsuzo the creator of Shadow Hearts still has a huge passion for the series and would love to do something for the series. But unfortunately he is not in a position to make that kind of decision because of Entertainment Universal liked mentioned owns the ip and Wildrose would need an investor or a publisher to help do any deal to buy the rights. But main thing we can do is support Wildrose and hope they can get to the level needed to do something special!
Never give up!
Lastly keep making blog posts and keep making videos. Likes of the difficulty mods could be a good chance for making new content to watch.
Last words
I never mean to be negative, if it was just up to me I would love to see a remake of the 1st game, a prequel and more right now but thinking with a business mindset it needs to make sense financially and sadly right now it does not. I think with classics it will make the best sense, it is the least amount of work/money needed, lowest risk to take and they would probably make money, a good way to test the waters to see public interest, preserves all the games even fans who already have the game would most likely still want to buy them and could spark interest in the community for more videos and content. Most importantly of course if classics do very well, it would be the start of something more. Entertainment Universal can then get someone to make games like Wild Rose etc... or to port them to other systems. Maybe another company like Sony may want to buy/keep it exclusive etc... Who knows. It is sad not knowing what if or what could have been... Hope the series will be revived someday!
Who owns the ip of Shadow Hearts? What happened to the original team?
They confirmed that they hold the rights, Aruze was renamed to Universal Entertainment back in 2009 same time when the developer Sacnoth/Nautilus was absored/dissolved into them.
Aruze Gaming was a subsidiary of Universal Entertainment which was sold again back in 2009 so Aruze Gaming does not own the rights, don't let the name confuse you. For more info regarding Aruze Gaming please check out: this
Universal Entertainment currently have no plans to do anything with the Shadow Hearts series.
The last time they did anything with the ip was back in 2015/16 when they revised their slot machine of Shadow Hearts Covenant.
Koudelka was developed by Sacnoth (Later renamed to Nautilus after SH1) it was published by SNK but when they went into went into money problems they were bought out by Aruze but then later SNK Playmore bought back most of its ip back except for Koudelka. For more info regarding SNK and Koudelka please check out: this
Koudelka was developed by Sacnoth (Later renamed to Nautilus after SH1) it was published by SNK but when they went into went into money problems they were bought out by Aruze but then later SNK Playmore bought back most of its ip back except for Koudelka. For more info regarding SNK and Koudelka please check out: this
Liked mentioned the developer Nautilus was dissolved back into 2009 and the employees of the dev team basically mostly went to feelplus (who made Lost Odyssey) and Marvelous (Marvelous owns Xseed who published Shadow Hearts From The New World in America).
There were also a few who went to Mistwalker (Who was also involved in Lost Odyssey) and then there is Matsuzo Machida who opened his own studio Wildrose.
There is a big question on how is Machida's relationship with Universal Entertainment.
There is a big question on how is Machida's relationship with Universal Entertainment.
Because if it was just up to Machida he would make a prequel or at the very least a spiritual successor of which he would probably change enough where he would not need Universal's permission.
Even if Universal Entertainment would be willing to do some kind of a deal with Wild Rose, Universal will certainly not fund it. So the challenge for Machida would be to find an investor.
This is not a situation like Alan Wake etc... where the rights will return to the developer since the original team was dissolved into Universal Entertainment so they are in full control of what happens with the Shadow Hearts series.
Honestly I did not plan to make this post today, but with getting asked these questions I felt the need to do this especially for the petition and for the fans who are interested.
I may make more posts in the future (About the challenge for fans and what did not work) or at the very least edit this to add more info, I hope that you all enjoyed this! Thanks for reading!
How I got into Shadow Hearts
It was around Christmas, I got a DS system and I wanted to get the latest Fifa at that time.
I went to Xtravision which was just across the road from where I used to live.
There were some really good offers on everything including games. I think it was maybe the start of their closure. Anyways Fifa was 14.99 buy one get one half price, so I basically looked around didn't really see anything then I just randomly saw Shadow Hearts Covenant and I picked it up and that was the second game for the offer. I also picked up some Simpsons on dvd as there were similar offers for dvds too.
I find it funny that was how I got which is probably my favourite game and believe me I ended up playing Covenant by far more than I ever did Fifa!
I think Covenant was a great way to get into Shadow Hearts even some of my friends whom I met later who liked the series also began with Covenant.
It is certainly the best of the series in terms of a mix of story and gameplay.
I went to Xtravision which was just across the road from where I used to live.
There were some really good offers on everything including games. I think it was maybe the start of their closure. Anyways Fifa was 14.99 buy one get one half price, so I basically looked around didn't really see anything then I just randomly saw Shadow Hearts Covenant and I picked it up and that was the second game for the offer. I also picked up some Simpsons on dvd as there were similar offers for dvds too.
I find it funny that was how I got which is probably my favourite game and believe me I ended up playing Covenant by far more than I ever did Fifa!
I think Covenant was a great way to get into Shadow Hearts even some of my friends whom I met later who liked the series also began with Covenant.
It is certainly the best of the series in terms of a mix of story and gameplay.
Sunday 12 April 2020
Happy Easter Everyone! :D And My Other Plans For This Blog!
Happy Easter Everyone! :D
Hope everyone stays safe and calm and be able to enjoy the day during these times!
Take care!
My other plans for this blog.
Is mainly being a fan site for Shadow Hearts.
I will post reviews for each game. Talk about the current situation from: IP holder, possibilities for any revival of the series and the challenges of it, any news and overall opinion pieces or posts with anything to do with Shadow Hearts. So I hope everyone looks forward to my future content!
Hope everyone stays safe and calm and be able to enjoy the day during these times!
Take care!
My other plans for this blog.
Is mainly being a fan site for Shadow Hearts.
I will post reviews for each game. Talk about the current situation from: IP holder, possibilities for any revival of the series and the challenges of it, any news and overall opinion pieces or posts with anything to do with Shadow Hearts. So I hope everyone looks forward to my future content!
Saturday 11 April 2020
More info about the Shadow Hearts Origins Project Assistance Needed, Q&A!
*This post is still in progress*
Making this post just to expand the info on a possible project and to answer questions.
This is to go over ideas. The easiest options to the more difficult. The plus and the negative on what we can go with etc...
Don't treat my ideas as the only ideas. I am open to anything and if a team is formed, I would want everyone to be equal. Please let me know what ideas or concepts you have!
Ideas for the fan game.
I had various ideas, my preference would be to use the Shadow Hearts characters as I feel that it bring the most interest. I fancied looking at Shadow Hearts 1 for various reasons, I came across the script online and with that I feel that it brings some options
Option 1- Extended Story Of Original SH
(Choices/Sidequests to save Alice) (Longer scenes etc...)
An extended version with using the original script, base of the story will be the same but extending it with fanfics etc... Then adding choices or side quests which could determine Alice's fate.
This would be a reasonably easy option, since the script is on gamefaqs and can be adapted to renpy liked seen in my poc with renpy or can do it with rpg maker.
Option 2- Sequel of SH Covenant (Good Ending)
Or make it where it almost acts like a sequel as if Yuri went back in time and maybe have it like only he and (maybe) Alice remembers what happened.
We could start of with a base of the original script and make changes where needed, which may be easier than writing an entire new story.
The amount of work needed depends on what we go with for backgrounds (example I captured images from gameplay of SH 1) if we go too far off the beaten path then we would need to make all original backgrounds etc...
Option 3- Something else but involving SH characters
This could be a sequel or a prequel even a crossover with another franchise who knows. Anything is possible here. More work would be required from script for a story to possibly assets but a group can be formed together then this is more than possible.
Option 4- Loose spiritual successor
Very similar to #3
I feel that it may take things away from the objective of trying to show people what SH is. To make a game which
Type of game.
I feel that there are two options rpg with rpg maker or a visual novel with renpy.
1- Renpy (Visual Novel)
I have done a proof of concept with renpy here. Primarly it would be a VN but we can add and make a rpg game. Plus side is we can finish it as a VN first then add the rpg later.
Renpy supports windows, android, ios and browser. (plus whatever else it adds via updates).
2- RPG Maker
Came across some SH sprites here which can be used for any project.
Something we can make would be like: this
It may be a lot of work if we need to make original assets but there is a lot out there already so I would have to look through what we can use. Or if someone can make sprites and maps etc...
Supported platforms depends on what version we go with all supports pc and possibly android. Yes there is rpg maker for consoles but they have too many limitations compared to the pc program.
NEED ASSISTANCE.
Need help. I am happy with the progress that I have done so far but there is still a massive amount to do especially for one person. Where as 1 person helps with editing the script that is half the work load 2 in thirds 3 in quarters and so on. But also to make this into something special, something of quality the extra help is certainly needed.
If anyone is interested in helping please contact me or leave a comment below!
I can show what is needed to be done.
I tried to cover a lot of things below but if have any additional questions or like to know how to help please contact me!
****************************
*Following below outdated I am more talking about a VN below.*
****************************
Need to do:
- Fixing the script
I got the script from gamefaqs and I managed to get it working with renpy.
Main issues are that in the script there were line breaks in middle of sentences and when a character talks and also only the first line when a character talks is assigned to that character, following lines aren't so will need to do that manually simple but very time consuming just for 1 person to do.
There are also the emotion symbols which needs to be sorted as those are in lines like (h) etc...
don't want to delete them but separate them (to be in their own lines) initially then decide what to do later.
- Background art work.
Main idea to extract images from video of gameplay. The images I extracted so far as a test looks good and with emulators or upscalers it can enhance the picture quality so I find this very interesting.
Granted a good bit hdd space is needed and time to go through and put things in is time consuming but it is simple enough to do and is possible. (Extracted images from video with vlc media player).
- Soundtrack.
Simply take the original soundtrack and put it in. Only decision to make is mp3 or flac. Flac could be better quality but the size of the game would massively increase.
- Videos.
I may consider adding the original cut scene videos from the game into the project as it would probably be quicker and look better and would not need backgrounds for those scenes since it is in the video and would add consistency with the rest of the project as I would not want backgrounds from video and from gameplay mixed in.
- Resolution.
When making a project in Renpy, I need to choose the resolution. There are 3 options but where I am conflicted at is 600, 720p or 1080p. A lot involves in the decision: quality, simplicity, file size, additional artwork and compatibility for as many devices as possible that renpy supports.
Recommended is 720p by renpy, but the video footage I am using to extract images is 1080p so may have to either go with 1080p, resize every image that is used or find another good quality video in 720p.
- Character art work.
What would really but the fresh quality touch on the project would be to have character art to show when a specific character is currently talking like most visual novels. Granted this part everything would have to be done from scratch and is a lot of work not far from 100 characters (Includes non important ones). This is a really important goal as it is linked to quality of the project but not my initial goal. Help would be greatly appreciated with this.
- Renpy cookbook.
Anything that renpy can do, any script that someone made if it fits then I will try to add it. There are very good possibilities like achievements, world map, battles, shops and more. Granted 1st goal would be to get it working as a visual novel script being perfect etc... then I will look into this.
- Playable platforms.
Android, IOS, Browser and PC. (If renpy adds more platforms in future updates then those will be supported too).
- Extending the story and creating choices
I have seen some fanfic that extends certain scenes in the normal story which I hope to include. Also I want to introduce choices at some point which would probably affect the outcome of Alice etc..
This is maybe one area careful planning is needed.
- Feedback & Ideas
I want ideas from anyone anything will be taken in consideration. I have my ideas but sometimes other idea and feedback are really important and to think of what is possible.
Also if you have any questions please ask!
- I will contact Entertainment Universal soon.
I will contact them to see their stance on fan games, just to make sure they will not take it down later.
(I don't see this as an issue since the franchise has been left for over a decade and it is not competing with anything). I will focus on the intro to possibly show it as a demo.
But maybe also to see down the line if it becomes a really good project to maybe make it official for android and ios as it would be a great way to promote the franchise.
- What would happen if a PSN Classic or a HD Remaster gets announced down the line?
The likeliness of that happening is a different conversation but if it does then it would very most likely affect the project since it contains the original script. Although saying if this project would play any part in that happening later on (by bringing the community together and spreading to reach more people) then I consider it to be a huge success even if it has to be taken down in the future.
The goal like mentioned is to spread the love for Shadow Hearts. I would certainly not consider it to be a waste of time, I just have to mention this just in case.
- Donations
I will never take donations for this project, I do not own the ip. It will be free, it is a fan game / remix.
Also I hope to form a small team to make it a team effort rather than just myself.
Even the download link/s will always be free no pay or annoying ads, only thing I may change is the download host as I would like to track downloads to see how well it does once it is in more of proper playable state in order to show how much interest there is in the Shadow Hearts franchise in the hopes of showing this and revive the series.
Making this post just to expand the info on a possible project and to answer questions.
This is to go over ideas. The easiest options to the more difficult. The plus and the negative on what we can go with etc...
Don't treat my ideas as the only ideas. I am open to anything and if a team is formed, I would want everyone to be equal. Please let me know what ideas or concepts you have!
Ideas for the fan game.
I had various ideas, my preference would be to use the Shadow Hearts characters as I feel that it bring the most interest. I fancied looking at Shadow Hearts 1 for various reasons, I came across the script online and with that I feel that it brings some options
Option 1- Extended Story Of Original SH
(Choices/Sidequests to save Alice) (Longer scenes etc...)
An extended version with using the original script, base of the story will be the same but extending it with fanfics etc... Then adding choices or side quests which could determine Alice's fate.
This would be a reasonably easy option, since the script is on gamefaqs and can be adapted to renpy liked seen in my poc with renpy or can do it with rpg maker.
Option 2- Sequel of SH Covenant (Good Ending)
Or make it where it almost acts like a sequel as if Yuri went back in time and maybe have it like only he and (maybe) Alice remembers what happened.
We could start of with a base of the original script and make changes where needed, which may be easier than writing an entire new story.
The amount of work needed depends on what we go with for backgrounds (example I captured images from gameplay of SH 1) if we go too far off the beaten path then we would need to make all original backgrounds etc...
Option 3- Something else but involving SH characters
This could be a sequel or a prequel even a crossover with another franchise who knows. Anything is possible here. More work would be required from script for a story to possibly assets but a group can be formed together then this is more than possible.
Option 4- Loose spiritual successor
Very similar to #3
I feel that it may take things away from the objective of trying to show people what SH is. To make a game which
Type of game.
I feel that there are two options rpg with rpg maker or a visual novel with renpy.
1- Renpy (Visual Novel)
I have done a proof of concept with renpy here. Primarly it would be a VN but we can add and make a rpg game. Plus side is we can finish it as a VN first then add the rpg later.
Renpy supports windows, android, ios and browser. (plus whatever else it adds via updates).
2- RPG Maker
Came across some SH sprites here which can be used for any project.
Something we can make would be like: this
It may be a lot of work if we need to make original assets but there is a lot out there already so I would have to look through what we can use. Or if someone can make sprites and maps etc...
Supported platforms depends on what version we go with all supports pc and possibly android. Yes there is rpg maker for consoles but they have too many limitations compared to the pc program.
NEED ASSISTANCE.
Need help. I am happy with the progress that I have done so far but there is still a massive amount to do especially for one person. Where as 1 person helps with editing the script that is half the work load 2 in thirds 3 in quarters and so on. But also to make this into something special, something of quality the extra help is certainly needed.
If anyone is interested in helping please contact me or leave a comment below!
I can show what is needed to be done.
I tried to cover a lot of things below but if have any additional questions or like to know how to help please contact me!
****************************
*Following below outdated I am more talking about a VN below.*
****************************
Need to do:
- Fixing the script
I got the script from gamefaqs and I managed to get it working with renpy.
Main issues are that in the script there were line breaks in middle of sentences and when a character talks and also only the first line when a character talks is assigned to that character, following lines aren't so will need to do that manually simple but very time consuming just for 1 person to do.
There are also the emotion symbols which needs to be sorted as those are in lines like (h) etc...
don't want to delete them but separate them (to be in their own lines) initially then decide what to do later.
- Background art work.
Main idea to extract images from video of gameplay. The images I extracted so far as a test looks good and with emulators or upscalers it can enhance the picture quality so I find this very interesting.
Granted a good bit hdd space is needed and time to go through and put things in is time consuming but it is simple enough to do and is possible. (Extracted images from video with vlc media player).
- Soundtrack.
Simply take the original soundtrack and put it in. Only decision to make is mp3 or flac. Flac could be better quality but the size of the game would massively increase.
- Videos.
I may consider adding the original cut scene videos from the game into the project as it would probably be quicker and look better and would not need backgrounds for those scenes since it is in the video and would add consistency with the rest of the project as I would not want backgrounds from video and from gameplay mixed in.
- Resolution.
When making a project in Renpy, I need to choose the resolution. There are 3 options but where I am conflicted at is 600, 720p or 1080p. A lot involves in the decision: quality, simplicity, file size, additional artwork and compatibility for as many devices as possible that renpy supports.
Recommended is 720p by renpy, but the video footage I am using to extract images is 1080p so may have to either go with 1080p, resize every image that is used or find another good quality video in 720p.
- Character art work.
What would really but the fresh quality touch on the project would be to have character art to show when a specific character is currently talking like most visual novels. Granted this part everything would have to be done from scratch and is a lot of work not far from 100 characters (Includes non important ones). This is a really important goal as it is linked to quality of the project but not my initial goal. Help would be greatly appreciated with this.
- Renpy cookbook.
Anything that renpy can do, any script that someone made if it fits then I will try to add it. There are very good possibilities like achievements, world map, battles, shops and more. Granted 1st goal would be to get it working as a visual novel script being perfect etc... then I will look into this.
- Playable platforms.
Android, IOS, Browser and PC. (If renpy adds more platforms in future updates then those will be supported too).
- Extending the story and creating choices
I have seen some fanfic that extends certain scenes in the normal story which I hope to include. Also I want to introduce choices at some point which would probably affect the outcome of Alice etc..
This is maybe one area careful planning is needed.
- Feedback & Ideas
I want ideas from anyone anything will be taken in consideration. I have my ideas but sometimes other idea and feedback are really important and to think of what is possible.
Also if you have any questions please ask!
- I will contact Entertainment Universal soon.
I will contact them to see their stance on fan games, just to make sure they will not take it down later.
(I don't see this as an issue since the franchise has been left for over a decade and it is not competing with anything). I will focus on the intro to possibly show it as a demo.
But maybe also to see down the line if it becomes a really good project to maybe make it official for android and ios as it would be a great way to promote the franchise.
- What would happen if a PSN Classic or a HD Remaster gets announced down the line?
The likeliness of that happening is a different conversation but if it does then it would very most likely affect the project since it contains the original script. Although saying if this project would play any part in that happening later on (by bringing the community together and spreading to reach more people) then I consider it to be a huge success even if it has to be taken down in the future.
The goal like mentioned is to spread the love for Shadow Hearts. I would certainly not consider it to be a waste of time, I just have to mention this just in case.
- Donations
I will never take donations for this project, I do not own the ip. It will be free, it is a fan game / remix.
Also I hope to form a small team to make it a team effort rather than just myself.
Even the download link/s will always be free no pay or annoying ads, only thing I may change is the download host as I would like to track downloads to see how well it does once it is in more of proper playable state in order to show how much interest there is in the Shadow Hearts franchise in the hopes of showing this and revive the series.
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