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prfsnl_gmr
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Re: June Together Retro 2019 - Now You're Talking My Languag

by prfsnl_gmr Thu Jun 06, 2019 9:52 pm

...aaaaannnndddd....the villainous Cablon has been defeated. That’s it for Phantasy Star Gaiden, a very poorly designed DQ clone I recommend only to people who enjoy mindless level grinding and running away from a gauntlet of late-game random encounters. Seriously, this game is just a slave to the grind. You literally cannot harm certain enemies, regardless of your equipment and statistics, until you are a certain level. Moreover, as you gain levels, less powerful enemies provide you with less experience...but just as much money. (I had the most powerful equipment and all of the spells pretty early in the game, meaning I was grinding solely to gain levels and move to the next grinding zone on the map.) Magic - which should be called techniques, because this is a Phantasy Star game - is completely worthless; so the only way to win battles is by attacking. Buffs and debuts don’t work at all, and any spell of any value costs so many magic points that may be cast only once before you have to return to an inn. The encounter rate is also insanely high, and it is not uncommon to have three random encounters while progressing only three spaces on the map. (After he’s defeated, it’s revealed tat the villainous Cablon was filling the world with monsters. I thought, “Good work, Cablon. You succeeded wildly.”)

The translation’s also a bit silly. The most powerful spell in the game is titled “Adol”, which is also one of the translator’s nickname. (Ys fan, I guess...) The translators also changed the story a bit to suit their preference, and you can read about that on HG101 if you’re interested. (I call them “translators,” not “fan translators,” because I honestly cannot imagine anyone being a fan of this game.)

Up next...more Japan-only Phantasy Star games? Shadow Tower Abyss? Something else?
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BoneSnapDeez
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Re: June Together Retro 2019 - Now You're Talking My Languag

by BoneSnapDeez Fri Jun 07, 2019 2:00 pm

prfsnl_gmr wrote:(I call them “translators,” not “fan translators,” because I honestly cannot imagine anyone being a fan of this game.)


:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Are you still planning on playing Phantasy Star Adventure? That one is...... okay. I would enjoy it more if it lacked combat, I think. At least it has a gorgeous title screen theme in the Phantasy Star tradition.

I got Madou Monogatari I (Game Gear) up and running in English last night. It uses a .rup patch, an extension I had never seen before. Kind of annoying as I needed to whole new utility to do the patching. Anyhow, I'd like to get to that one soon enough, along with one or two more PCE games as well.
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prfsnl_gmr
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Re: June Together Retro 2019 - Now You're Talking My Languag

by prfsnl_gmr Fri Jun 07, 2019 3:11 pm

BoneSnapDeez wrote:
prfsnl_gmr wrote:(I call them “translators,” not “fan translators,” because I honestly cannot imagine anyone being a fan of this game.)


:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Are you still planning on playing Phantasy Star Adventure? That one is...... okay. I would enjoy it more if it lacked combat, I think. At least it has a gorgeous title screen theme in the Phantasy Star tradition.


Oh yeah. Big time. I’ll probably end up skipping Bahamut Lagoon, and play some bad games instead. :lol: Ideally, I’ll get through:

Double Dragon II (TG16)
Panzer Dragoon Mini
Phantasy Star Adventure
Phantasy Star II Text Adventures
Shadow Tower Abyss
Spartan X 2

If all of those go fairly quickly, I may see if I can get through the BS Legend of Zelda games. We’ll see!

I’m also interested in the Puyo Puyo RPG. Let us know what you think of it. I only discovered its existence recently.
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BoneSnapDeez
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Re: June Together Retro 2019 - Now You're Talking My Languag

by BoneSnapDeez Fri Jun 07, 2019 4:02 pm

Madou Monogatari actually came first. Puyo Puyo was like the puzzle spin-off that proved to be more popular.
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alienjesus
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Re: June Together Retro 2019 - Now You're Talking My Languag

by alienjesus Sat Jun 08, 2019 5:37 am

Bogus, did you see there was recently a translation released for madou monogatari 2 on GG too?
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BoneSnapDeez
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Re: June Together Retro 2019 - Now You're Talking My Languag

by BoneSnapDeez Sat Jun 08, 2019 8:38 am

I dunno if Bogus saw it yet, we can ask.

I saw it though! Unfortunately I only own parts I and III. :lol:

So... As far as I know the first Madou Monogatari game was called Madou Monogatari 123, and is split into three "chapters" with the protagonist Arle aging throughout the journey.

So was this then divided into three separate game carts for the Game Gear (and other) ports? Seems like it. Very strange and unprecedented.
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alienjesus
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Re: June Together Retro 2019 - Now You're Talking My Languag

by alienjesus Sat Jun 08, 2019 10:18 am

Whoops! I was typing on my phone and somehow got mixed up!

My bad!
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BoneSnapDeez
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Re: June Together Retro 2019 - Now You're Talking My Languag

by BoneSnapDeez Sat Jun 08, 2019 11:11 am

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Ys IV on PCE totally slays.

This one actually has two translation patches. One for the text and a later one for voice-acting(!!!).

I don't know jack about patching CD-ROM games, but I was fortunate enough to find a disc image with both patches applied.

God-tier game.
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Re: June Together Retro 2019 - Now You're Talking My Languag

by pierrot Sat Jun 08, 2019 11:23 am

BoneSnapDeez wrote:So was this then divided into three separate game carts for the Game Gear (and other) ports? Seems like it. Very strange and unprecedented.

Yes. Essentially, anyway. The original Madou Monogatari was sort of a prototype for Madou Monogatari 1-2-3 that primarily focused on the story that would become chapter 2. I believe the original game was actually only released as an MSX magazine, or Compile fan club disc, and not actually a retail release.

For the Game Gear releases, they split up the chapters, and reworked a bunch of things. The floor maps are different, enemy designs were changed quite a bit to match more with the Puyo Puyo designs, and a rival character named Camille was added to the first chapter. I'm not sure if he shows up in the other two chapters of the GG games. He becomes more of a guardian character in the Mega Drive version of the first game, and the rival role is sort of passed off to another new character, named Lala.


I thought Ys IV was exceedingly "meh," personally, but I only really like Ys III. Dragon Slayer does bump combat way better.
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Re: June Together Retro 2019 - Now You're Talking My Languag

by MrPopo Sat Jun 08, 2019 6:54 pm

Finished Scenario 2 and put some thoughts in Games Beaten. Now I'll be moving on to Scenario 3.
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