Shadow Hearts: From the New World NTSC - Grace v2.5

[zedorfed66 35]

Hi NGPlus community.

It's me again with another difficulty modification. This hard mod is called "Grace" and it's for the NTSC-U version of Shadow Hearts: From the New World. This mod ups enemies' HP, Str, Mag and Agl values. You'll need to be higher level than normal in order to progress in the game. You will receive more exp, cash and soul to help in that. In order to beat the game it's recommended to do all possible sidequests. When you have done all sidequests you should be around 72 levelled. I did the final boss at lv75 but it was hard as hell. You can level up further if you feel it's too hard but it can definitely be done 75 levelled even if you don't use any Seals.

v2.5 has everything modded including the Purgatory special dungeon. Yes, it's finally done! Basically you need to play through the game once in order to get there since you need to take Snaps of the final boss. Purgatory is meant to be entered around 75 levelled and it's recommended to be lvl99 on Curvy Hilda at the 6th dungeon boss so she can survive if the boss uses double attack at start (basically you want Hilda to have 999HP and 87 Pow value). With that said it's recommended to have characters maxed out against Envious Jealousy.

To use this mod you need to patch your game image with the one in the zip file using "ppf-o-matic" tool.

I hope you will like this mod. If you have any questions about anything that has to do with it or just want to discuss it go ahead and comment, I will be here.

 

Here's the download link for the mod:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/o8x8zata9dbl5by/shadow_hearts_ftnw_grace_2_5.zip

 

These are the outdated versions but I will include them here anyway:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/90ho6rce18uiwyr/shadow_hearts_ftnw_grace_2_1.zip

http://www.mediafire.com/file/scmmrcq37uvrh85/shadow_hearts_ftnw_grace_2_0.zip

http://www.mediafire.com/file/blwimlxpba4uorb/shadow_hearts_ftnw_grace_1_3.zip

http://www.mediafire.com/file/ks4gn37thtwcehv/shadow_hearts_ftnw_grace_1_2.zip

http://www.mediafire.com/file/z3vz3v0jpszg43b/shadow_hearts_ftnw_grace_1_1.zip

http://www.mediafire.com/file/0w80mq96ehc8fko/shadow_hearts_ftnw_grace_1_0.zip

Edited January 5, 2019 by zedorfed66
updated files

[zedorfed66 35]

Hi I just released patch 1.1 of this mod that ups the hp of the 3 early bosses (Igornak, Ronwei & Procyon). This is one of the few things that were amiss from what I can see. I will be updating this mod if need be as I go with my New Game+ playthrough of the game.

[zedorfed66 35]

I just updated the mod to v1.2. This patch increases "Chupacabra" & "Kerufe" bosses agility and decreases Kerufe's special damage.

[zedorfed66 35]

I noticed the normal monsters in Las Vegas, Machu Picchu & Vilcabamba were too weak so I gave them a bit more strength and magic power in patch v1.3. The mafia in Vegas remain untouched.

[DrewDragoon 4]

Looking forward to giving this a try. Don't have much to say, except thank you for supporting lesser known games and giving them attention! Shadow Hearts is a great series, even the 3rd game was very fun to play and the additional challenge will only make it much more enjoyable.

[zedorfed66 35]

23 hours ago, DrewDragoon said:

Looking forward to giving this a try. Don't have much to say, except thank you for supporting lesser known games and giving them attention! Shadow Hearts is a great series, even the 3rd game was very fun to play and the additional challenge will only make it much more enjoyable.

Hey no probs. I like to make JRPGs harder. They seem to be the easiest genre out of all games since they're made really easy for some reason. Shadow Hearts series is really great imo. Also check out my Shadow Hearts Covenant mod if you feel like it. Anyway I hope you have great fun with the mod.

[DrewDragoon 4]

On 10/8/2018 at 8:37 AM, zedorfed66 said:

Hey no probs. I like to make JRPGs harder. They seem to be the easiest genre out of all games since they're made really easy for some reason. Shadow Hearts series is really great imo. Also check out my Shadow Hearts Covenant mod if you feel like it. Anyway I hope you have great fun with the mod.

 

Oh no problem and yeah I've already played your Covenant mod hehe I'm kind of a pro lurker. That was quite a while ago though. I wish I could leave a bunch of tips but honestly I thought the overall balance was what I expected. Next time I play it I'll make sure to keep like a thought journal or something for minor things just so you can have more feedback.

 

Gonna try and play Grace 1.3 this weekend. Hard mods are so great because you get to relive the game again in a fresh way, it's almost like a brand new game but familiar at the same time. Wish there were more, so many games I wish had a hard mod haha. Breath of Fire 2, Dragon Quest 8 and Suikoden 2 come to mind. (I know there's a Suiko 1 mod, it's pretty good too) Anyway, I'm rambling... 

[zedorfed66 35]

15 hours ago, DrewDragoon said:

 

Oh no problem and yeah I've already played your Covenant mod hehe I'm kind of a pro lurker. That was quite a while ago though. I wish I could leave a bunch of tips but honestly I thought the overall balance was what I expected. Next time I play it I'll make sure to keep like a thought journal or something for minor things just so you can have more feedback.

 

Gonna try and play Grace 1.3 this weekend. Hard mods are so great because you get to relive the game again in a fresh way, it's almost like a brand new game but familiar at the same time. Wish there were more, so many games I wish had a hard mod haha. Breath of Fire 2, Dragon Quest 8 and Suikoden 2 come to mind. (I know there's a Suiko 1 mod, it's pretty good too) Anyway, I'm rambling... 

Don't worry you're not rambling at all!  I need to go back to my Covenant mod and edit it a bit since I noticed Anastasia gets one shot if Victor happens to crit. This shouldn't be the case with this mod since I made more calculations with the damage outputs and found correct multipliers to apply. The 3 Shadow Hearts games enemies have all kinda similar power levels and I've learned to look at things more critically while modding this one.

[zedorfed66 35]

Hello NGPlus.

I've been doing some precise testing on the enemies' power levels in SH:FtNW and came up with patch v2.0.

This is an important update that buffs random encounter enemies' power (especially magic power). In addition I made 'Jonin' and 'Q The Great' tougher.

Purgatory is still underway. I updated my SH:C mod which halted the progress of this mod. I apologize for that. I will now be focusing on this mod and will be working my way towards Purgatory. Anyway I hope you like the changes I made in this update.

[zedorfed66 35]

Hi guys. Another quick update on the mod. v2.1 tones down Malice Gilbert's madness (agl down) and Jonin's HP is now lower (in line with the other last duels) but his agl goes up.

I'm very close to starting modding Purgatory now. Then again I need to play through it just as much as I mod the enemies so it's gonna take a while.

[zedorfed66 35]

Hey guys. It's me again with v2.5 of the mod. This is an important update that modifies the Purgatory dungeon foes. Yes, Purgatory is finally done! I'm happy I've finally finished it. It was lots of work with trial and error. Another change is slight nerf to Q the Great's Intelligence (now goes with 1.8 x multiplier (same as Strength)). I'm probably going to continue working on the 1st Shadow Hearts game next.

[yano17 0]

Excellent job! Before playing this modified version, I'm thinking of playing the normal version again to remember everything. I love this game, but I don't really like controlling Johnny ... will you be able to make a modification whether you want to control another character in the stages instead of Johnny? I really wanted to be able to play with Shania, but she is only controllable in Garvoy Vallery.

[zedorfed66 35]

16 hours ago, yano17 said:

Excellent job! Before playing this modified version, I'm thinking of playing the normal version again to remember everything. I love this game, but I don't really like controlling Johnny ... will you be able to make a modification whether you want to control another character in the stages instead of Johnny? I really wanted to be able to play with Shania, but she is only controllable in Garvoy Vallery.

Hey, 

I'm not that good I could mod something like that. I would prefer playing as her as well tbh. Hope you like the mod when you're gonna give it a try. I would recommend reading a faq while playing so you don't miss any items since they're hidden pretty much anywhere in this game.

[yano17 0]

In the PAL version of Shadow Hearts 2 there is the "Debug Island" where it is possible to make several modifications, including choosing who to play with. In Shadow Hearts 3 there is also this Debug Island, but I don't know how to access it ... I've already got a faq to help me while playing Grace, I'll start today

[zedorfed66 35]

20 hours ago, yano17 said:

In the PAL version of Shadow Hearts 2 there is the "Debug Island" where it is possible to make several modifications, including choosing who to play with. In Shadow Hearts 3 there is also this Debug Island, but I don't know how to access it ... I've already got a faq to help me while playing Grace, I'll start today

There's some grinding required in each area but I hope you like it regardless. I have started working on a less grindy version of my Shadow Hearts: Covenant mod and may plan to do the same for SH1 and SHFtNW as well if everything goes well.

[Star 0]

Has anyone else tried this mod out yet? Been playing through it and although the first dungeon was hard, I managed to complete it. The Grand Canyon was brutal as hell, however... Enemies didn't give enough xp, yet they hit you so hard and always went first. I had to switch back to the normal game because the grinding would've taken too long just to keep up with the enemies and the boss itself, who was doing 70% of Shania's HP easily per turn at level 11.

Feels like the enemies are a tad bit overturned and the experience granted isn't enough to compensate for this, but it could just be a me problem too. 🤔

Edit: Just tried running through the same dungeon (Alcatraz) on a vanilla disc. Unless it was intended for the hard mod to not grant increased experience and cash, they're both rewarding the same amount, which makes grinding very tedious and difficult with the Grace mod since the enemies are extremely difficult and the payoff isn't there at all. This mod is just too hard for me in general; it takes away from the fun of the challenge entirely with how frequent enemies are going on top of being more durable and hitting much harder.

It was more manageable in the first game, albeit frustrating against bosses, but with combos and doubles it just feels oppressive to play against versus standard enemies, bosses and mini-bosses. I find myself reloading way too frequently (especially since there's no increased experience and cash to help me truck through this difficulty). Thanks anyway for making these mods, even if they're not for me. My only complaint is the increase to enemy's agility, it just feels like too much when it could be slightly instead. It was fun in the first game. =)

Edited February 27 by Star

[zedorfed66 35]

On 26/02/2023 at 9:29 PM, Star said:

Has anyone else tried this mod out yet? Been playing through it and although the first dungeon was hard, I managed to complete it. The Grand Canyon was brutal as hell, however... Enemies didn't give enough xp, yet they hit you so hard and always went first. I had to switch back to the normal game because the grinding would've taken too long just to keep up with the enemies and the boss itself, who was doing 70% of Shania's HP easily per turn at level 11.

Feels like the enemies are a tad bit overturned and the experience granted isn't enough to compensate for this, but it could just be a me problem too. 🤔

Edit: Just tried running through the same dungeon (Alcatraz) on a vanilla disc. Unless it was intended for the hard mod to not grant increased experience and cash, they're both rewarding the same amount, which makes grinding very tedious and difficult with the Grace mod since the enemies are extremely difficult and the payoff isn't there at all. This mod is just too hard for me in general; it takes away from the fun of the challenge entirely with how frequent enemies are going on top of being more durable and hitting much harder.

It was more manageable in the first game, albeit frustrating against bosses, but with combos and doubles it just feels oppressive to play against versus standard enemies, bosses and mini-bosses. I find myself reloading way too frequently (especially since there's no increased experience and cash to help me truck through this difficulty). Thanks anyway for making these mods, even if they're not for me. My only complaint is the increase to enemy's agility, it just feels like too much when it could be slightly instead. It was fun in the first game. =)

I'm sorry about the imperfection of these mods. I wish I had more time for them. I've learned the burden of releasing something unfinished and not being able to finish them. In this mod the exp may be a bit scarce and some other things amiss too. I'm sorry about that.

[Star 0]

Nahhh, it's okay. You have nothing to apologize for! I did enjoy your hard mod for the first Shadow Hearts. I got very far in it, all the way up to the Amon fight. By that time I got bored of the game in general though, since the gameplay becomes stale and repetitive after so long. But thanks to your mod, I truly did enjoy the game much more than previously!!! I do wish the Grace mod worked out for the better, because I do love and enjoy From The New World, but that's okay. I might just do a playthrough and never upgrade my weapons and/or armor.

It's more important to focus on yourself however, and I really do wish you the best!

[Star 0]

Hello,

I've been keeping track of your updates every 2-3 weeks just to see if anything's changed and I saw you were going to start working on SH:FTNW. I was playing with your Grace mod again recently, but gave everyone +2 to each stat with Seal of x via cheats. It made your mod a lot more manageable, and as I kept playing, the increased experience and cash finally kicked in at Roswell. So it's every area/dungeon beforehand that doesn't. Also the Pit Fight was arduous with the hard mod, particularly the fight where you have to defeat the boss using a 32 hit combo while having the enemy airborne. The enemy in question has 70 health instead of 30, so this became a chore.

The mod was quite fun for the most part after using some cheats to make it more manageable, but it was really stressful racing against the enemy's turns because of how immense their Agility was compared to mine. I ended up giving everyone an extra 3 Agility later (on top of the +2, so +5 in total) via cheats to compensate this, which did help a *little* but not too much. I managed though, and got a decent ways through South America. One boss in particular, though, was literally *impossible* to fight. Kerufe already starts with 2 turns, and she begins by casting Gale on herself, so she's just constantly taking 3-4 turns in between 2 of my turns. I had to play on a vanilla disc just to get past her so I could continue the game.

My only feedback/critique is that your mod is quite fun, for the most part, but tuning enemies' agility so high, especially in a turn-based game, is an incredibly risky decision in my opinion. When enemies are tanky, hit hard as a truck, and are also going before you *and* much more frequently, it just becomes more frustrating than it is fun. This was also an issue in the first Shadow Hearts, but was a bit more doable. I ended up losing interest in this one from having to spend too many turns in too many fights healing myself and buffing myself instead of just having fun with the fights; battles were incredibly cumbersome and less exciting due to how fast enemies were.

Whether you are continuing editing this mod or not, I just hope you keep in mind about how much of an extreme difference giving enemies more frequent turns make when they're already made into dangerous threats. If anything, I'd rather they were a little more beefier because magic still one shots most of them.

[zedorfed66 35]

On 28/08/2023 at 2:01 AM, Star said:

Hello,

I've been keeping track of your updates every 2-3 weeks just to see if anything's changed and I saw you were going to start working on SH:FTNW. I was playing with your Grace mod again recently, but gave everyone +2 to each stat with Seal of x via cheats. It made your mod a lot more manageable, and as I kept playing, the increased experience and cash finally kicked in at Roswell. So it's every area/dungeon beforehand that doesn't. Also the Pit Fight was arduous with the hard mod, particularly the fight where you have to defeat the boss using a 32 hit combo while having the enemy airborne. The enemy in question has 70 health instead of 30, so this became a chore.

The mod was quite fun for the most part after using some cheats to make it more manageable, but it was really stressful racing against the enemy's turns because of how immense their Agility was compared to mine. I ended up giving everyone an extra 3 Agility later (on top of the +2, so +5 in total) via cheats to compensate this, which did help a *little* but not too much. I managed though, and got a decent ways through South America. One boss in particular, though, was literally *impossible* to fight. Kerufe already starts with 2 turns, and she begins by casting Gale on herself, so she's just constantly taking 3-4 turns in between 2 of my turns. I had to play on a vanilla disc just to get past her so I could continue the game.

My only feedback/critique is that your mod is quite fun, for the most part, but tuning enemies' agility so high, especially in a turn-based game, is an incredibly risky decision in my opinion. When enemies are tanky, hit hard as a truck, and are also going before you *and* much more frequently, it just becomes more frustrating than it is fun. This was also an issue in the first Shadow Hearts, but was a bit more doable. I ended up losing interest in this one from having to spend too many turns in too many fights healing myself and buffing myself instead of just having fun with the fights; battles were incredibly cumbersome and less exciting due to how fast enemies were.

Whether you are continuing editing this mod or not, I just hope you keep in mind about how much of an extreme difference giving enemies more frequent turns make when they're already made into dangerous threats. If anything, I'd rather they were a little more beefier because magic still one shots most of them.

Hi and thank you for playing my mod. That old FtNW mod is grindfest and you've probably been constantly lower level than intended. I've seen plenty of problems in the past mod as I've worked on it and are working to make it much better overall. But I've also started working on new version for my updated Shadow Hearts 1 mod. The existing updated mod is great as it is but there are some things I wanna better in it. Most notably giving Zhuzhen, Margarete and Keith group damage / party heal to one of their later abilities to make them actually considerable characters to use in later battles/bosses. What a concept, right?!