Shadow Hearts PS2 Lets Play With Imbroglio Difficulty Mod Part 2 (Zhaoyang Village)

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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! :)

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! :)

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...

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.