Download Phantasy Star Generation: 4 - A Relocalization ROM Hack

Phantasy Star Generation 4 - Relocalization/Retranslation
Version 5.2 Final-ish

Coded/Written/Edited/Extra Programming by Chris Hatala -- "GhaleonUnlimited"
Additional editing by Squirrel2
Original programming and programming assistence: lory1990 & BGE (French PSIV translator)

These patches include PSIV bugfix by lory1990

Please send bugs/glitches/comments to
hatalawriting at gmail dot com

Project URL (pics, PS resources): http://PSIV.GamesDoneLegit.com
Also located there: "Found in Fanslation" podcast interviewing people translating PS and SEGA games and resources into Western languages.

Posted to Romhacking.net August 2020.

NOTICE TO ALL WHO CREATE THEIR OWN GAME CARTRIDGES
**Please do not burn this to a Genesis/MD cartridge AND sell it for personal profit. Please respect the spirit this work was done in, as well as SEGA's copyrights.
I will include instructions on how to burn this to an actual copy of Phantasy Star IV on the project website (I recommend getting a Japanese copy cheap on eBay to do so).
**Please see below for more details.

New in Version 5.2
-Removed a few lines deemed a bit out there for the Purist patch
-New automated edit+compare of all versions of the script checked against default script. Fixed more small typos.
-Thanks to RHDN user Red Soul, made a few minor dialog changes to both patches.
-Including a "how to ROMhack classic PS games" doc on doing your own edits even if you have no programming skills.

New in Version 5.0
I realize I might have inadvertently caused some confusion to users by way of my preferences as a localizer. So I'm renaming the patches so you can most easily choose which suits your tastes. 
-"Purist" patch now has almost no added NPC color and levity beyond what's in the original game.
If you tried the patch and found script to have too much editorializing for your taste, now you can enjoy the project's added story/lore/dialog, along with the fixed grammar and awkward lines from the original game.
-"Recommended" patch renamed to "Working Designs" (but it's still preferred to the author)
-"No Joke" patch renamed to "Purist"
-Added patch edition: "Purist + Japanese character names" (Lyla, Fal, Pyke, etc.) (Available upon request!)
-Including a technique/skills guide for those new to Phantasy Star, since in-game descriptions are not possible to add
-Including a map of Motavia, translated into English, since the in-game map I've re-added to the game isn't that helpful.

New in Version 4.6 - Final-ishish
*Capitalized "Algol Solar System"
*Changed one of Rudy/Chaz's earliest lines
*Very minor edits

New in Version 4.5 - Final-ish
*Rewrote characters' opening conversation. Some of Alys's dialog is straight from one of my mentors, but it's hard to convery loving sarcasm in text, so I made Rudy's/Chaz's interactions with Alys a bit less harsh.
*Reworked a few pieces of dialog in story moments.
*A couple linebreak fixes
*A couple typo fixes

New in Version 4.4 - Final-ish

-Added "NO JOKE" edition patch, which varies as follows:
*Removed most color/editorialization added to NPC lines
*Softened/blanded a few Alys lines at the beginning
*Removed a few added/colored character moments
I feel differently than some do about what the writing in videogames and also localizations should be strive for, and have felt this way since the '90s. 
I did this project for personal amusement, but when I released it and got more feedback, I respect that not everyone has to share my viewpoint.
I don't want people to miss out on the enhancements to the PS universe and story because they didn't like a few jokes at the beginning, so I figured giving players both options is best.
If you try the recommended and don't like some of the writing, play this to still get all the fixed PS references, more accurate translation, and improved story dialog.

In all patches:
-Allowed Raja & Rune to equip a few more shields (Plasma Field, Power Shield). Most players will never make use of these items in normal play, and there's no in-game reason these two cannot equip them
-Changed music for Anger Tower to "Pain"
-Changed music for Sacred Sword Cave to "Mystery-Planet Field"
-Added addtional "Guard Robe" to one of the final towers
-An optional boss fight at the end of the game was made slightly harder (but it's still super easy).
-Added overworld "Map" item, stored in 1st chest of the game, which was removed from final version of game but remained in the code
-Added "Spiral Slicer" weapon that was deleted from final version of game but remained in the code
-Very minor line-break & typo fixes


New in Version 4.2 - Final(?)
-By request, made last solar Ring equippable for your extra party member (but it isn't required to wear)
-Changed Gryz's job from "Motavian" to "Agent". Your race isn't a job, and he obviously has a connection with Grandfather Dorin. "Agent" calls back to Rolf/Eusis in PSII, too.
-Made Guard Shield equippable by all non-Android party members to make it useful for the endgame
-Fixed bug that screwed up all the dialog at the end of "Man with a Twist"
-Slightly upped stat boost of all Rings. (One character's was much upgraded to make them more useful for endgame)
-Made long dash character replace all double hyphens (--)
-Very minor grammar changes
-Tweaked some monster skill names "Bdl Slash-->DoublSlash"
-Added "Phantasy Star Generation:4" to intro so you know what you're playing. The Title Screen is all encrypted graphics, so I can't figure out how to mod them correctly
-Edited intro so last line isn't cut off before you can read it

New in Version 4.0 - Final(?)
-100+ more typo/line break fixes after playing through the game yet again
-Fixed Sound Test text glitch that screwed up item names
-Tweaked Gyuna dialog to make him more readable
-Tweaked ending/key story dialog
-Tweaked some punctuation to more accurately convey the character's emotion.
-Tweaked ending text to match music as well as possible.
-Tweaked a few jokes (changed "emo" to "goth", for instance, to better describe the character in question)
-Long dash (--) implemented as single character that's still longer than a hyphen (-) thanks to Squirrel2. 
(Yes, they are different puntuation marks with different uses.)
-Fixed typos in intro that were in the original ("spiralling") and rearranged a few lines in the intro, too.
-I forget what version this was from, but all end-game items that read "NOTHING IS KNOWN ABOUT THIS ITEM" now have a brand-new description.
e.g. 
Palma Ring: Emanates with the regal blue-sapphire of Palma.
Silver Fang: Ancient claw with the power to destroy evil.
"Guard"-class stuff is described as made of "planar" (which was end-game equipment in PSIII).
-Fixed typos in spell names
-By request, added patch option to use classic spell name with "Gen 4 Recommended" patch
There's no one right way to represent the spells in English because of the original English translation being so random.
The "SEGA AGES" follows the spell names from the fan-translated Playstation 2 remakes as well as possible (characters permitting).
The default is mostly original English spell names with minor editing for only the worst-translated ones (e.g. Arows--> Arose, Rimit--> Limit, Regen-->Revrs , short for Reverser)
In the default patch, NaThu is changed to "Glanz". "Grants" (a mistranslation of the spell) is featured in PSIII's ending as a powerful technique, and it's also in Phantasy Star Online. "Glanz" is the proper translation of the Japanese katakana. So I did the best of both worlds (I thought), making the three techs Tsu/GiThu/Glanz. Again's there's no good way to reconcile all the different ways PS technique names have been translated into English in different games.

New in Version 3.5
-More typo fixes
-A few glitch fixes (jailbird girls' dialog being messed up)
-A few lines not displaying properly
-Squirrel2 finished comprehensive edit of whole script

New in Version 3.21
-Bugfix in 2nd TALK party conversation of the game, reintroduced from an old version.
-"?" character added for "fianc?, fianc?e, and prot?g? thanks to Squirrel2 !
-A few more typos/linebreaks fixed. Hopefully a "final", played-through-by-multiple-people patch will be available in the next month.


New in Version 3.1
-Ton of typo fixes
-Tons of new NPC dialog
-Revised ending text-speed scroll thanks to BGE and Squirrel2
-Revised story cutscenes
-Added project credits to ending thanks to BGE & Squirrel2
-Added new lory bugfixes
-Added asterisk (*), double quotes (? ?), and colon (:)
thanks to Squirrel2
TO DO:
Not much else I can think of.
Need to replay whole game again to catch linebreaks/typos


New in 2.0
-Author played through entire game and fixed many typos/line breaks, made many small script edits.
-New ending script (it had been written but not implemented in-game by accident, until now).

KNOWN ISSUES/TO DO: 
-Add individualized dialog depending who is in your party for the final "TALK" menu converstation
-Add title-screen & credits text to reflect "Generation 4" romhack.
-Accompanying Word doc of new script / editor's notes is no longer totally up to date with final game script


New in 1.48
Fixed a textbox break on a Raja pun, fixed minor typos, and fixed some item descriptions.

New in 1.45 
Added Acacia and ShadMirage monsters back into the game
Very minor text fixes.

New in 1.40
Did a comprehensive edit over entire script. Cleaned up grammar, punctuation, some missing words, and added/adjusted a few lines.
Did more comparison to Japanese text and adjusted script accordingly.
Hopefully got rid of all instances where text boxes cut off.
Restored Raja's "punchline" delivery to how the Japanese version handled it.
Restored a few minor PS series references (cats not being able to open bottles, for one instance).

New in 1.30
Fixed a game-breaking glitch in which the player couldn't advance the story past Meese.
Fixed "Torndagger" not appearing properly
Fixed glitch in which two-word weapons and items didn't display the second word when object was found in battle. 
(e.g. "Laser Found!" instead of "Laser Claw Found!")
Many typo fixes
Some new story dialog, many toward the end of the game.

New in 1.20 

-The game has been played through by me and lory1990 (PSIV bugfix & disassembly creator) up to when you arrive at the next planet. So text should be pretty clean to that point.

-Fixed glitch where change arrow after "Attack" and "Defense" weren't appearing in status menu.

-Many more typo fixes.
-A few additional dialog lines and editing.
-Fixed the glitch (I think) after Raja's pun that was present in the original English version, when he first talks about Garuberk Tower.

1.10
Fixed many typos and conversation boxes.

Also, The Gen 4 version of the patch now already includes the bugfix patch by lory1990 in a better way. There should be no risk of our patches interfering with each other.

The SMS/Classic version does not include the bugfix patch to keep with the "stock" version of the game.



Part 1: How to get the Phantasy Star Generation 4 patch to work

This only works on the final U.S. version of the game.

There are 2 patches depending on your preference! See project page http://PSIV.GamesDoneLegit.com or RHDN project page (just search for "Phantasy Star Generation" to find it)

How to patch:

1 Download LunarIPS (https://www.romhacking.net/utilities/240/)
2 Download my PSIV patch ZIP file (all apart of this readme!)
3 Open LunarIPS and click APPLY PATCH
4 Select the IPS file labeled PS GEN4.IPS
5 Select the Phantasy Star IV file that you obviously have made from your own Genesis cartridge or digitally purchased legally.
6 Play!


Part 2: Which version of Phantasy Star Generation 4 should I play? (THIS IS OUTDATED -- see RHDN Page)

? ?Gen4? best matches the SEGA AGES Playstation 2 remakes, and also is the recommended version of this patch regardless
? ?SMS? was made for posterity, to best tie PSIV to the original English versions of PSI - III on Master System and Genesis/Mega Drive.

They?re both mostly the same, but the SMS patch links some things back to SMS PSI, such as the Rune & Kyra?s magic spells are the same as the super-boring magic spells in PSI (Flaeli is ?Fire?, Binda is ?Rope?, etc.).

When I first played PSIV, I had no idea that Rune was supposed to be using the same spells as in PSI, because the names are so different. 

Flaeli is the ?correct? translation, but it didn?t link up with an English-speaker?s PSI experience.

The names of past PSI characters keep their English SMS PSI names in that patch, as well as a few items/weapons (Star Dew ? Star Mist to be consistent w/ Gensis PSII, etc.)

The SMS patch also maintains ALL CAPS for the items, monsters, menus and messages, because it matches the other SMS/Gen/MD PS games.

The main Gen4 patch uses Proper Casing (vivify93?s Proper-Caser mod was the springboard for this project) everywhere, and has a few extra connections that match the original Japanese versions & English fan-made Generation 1 & 2 translations.

I?ve been playing videogames since Atari, and I mostly just play retrogames now - despite being such a big fan of videogame history, I think the Gen 1 & 2 remakes are the better games to play now. They have much better characterization, the 2-D artwork is great, and I think they?re the definitive way to play Phantasy Star.

So because a real PS Gen 4 is never coming it seems, I wanted to finally polish PSIV to be the best bookend to what I consider the best story in classic gaming.

Obviously it isn?t perfect, and we won't agree on every interpretation of the universe, naturally! But if it makes you play through PSIV again, or for the first time, and basically enhances your love of PS at all, then I?m happy!

I hope you find some enjoyment out of it.



Part 3: Credits 

Thanks to Apathetic Aardvark for releasing the English script dump.

Thanks to The Cutting Room Floor PSIV Translation comparison btw May/Aug '94 & Final English, with commentary on the original Japanese.

Thanks to kahran042 for releasing Japanese phoenetic translations of proper nouns in PSIV.

Biggest thank you of all to lory1990 for creating the Disassembly of the classic PS games, which was the only way I could even begin this project in the first place.

And thanks to Squirrel2, who put dozens and dozens of hours into in-depth editing and bugtesting. This wouldn't be nearly what it is today without him.

Thanks to vivify93 for being the first to get back to me when I was trying how the heck to get this started, and for being a limitless resource of PS knowledge and good will!

And thanks to SEGA for making the best games ever and for being cool to the fan community about stuff like this. 

Thank you for downloading this, or at least reading the readme!

If you enjoy the classic PS games, please please please try the SEGA AGES remakes now that they're in English! Thank you to all the folks who worked so long and hard to make that a reality!

And also, if you like PS, remix the music, draw art, write fan fiction, mod the games, or just tell people about them. They're so underappreciated!

Copyright stuff

This is my first hack, so I don't really know what I'm supposed to put here other than I have no affiliation with SEGA (outside of being an unpaid brand ambassador!) or Phantasy Star and do not own any of the content in the game, etc. You can do whatever you want with this hack. Just link to the romhacking.net patch page  if you want to share this or share the new script or talk about the changes. Do not distribute ROMs. This hack only contains an IPS file to be applied to a legally obtained ROM.

NOTICE TO ALL WHO CREATE THEIR OWN GAME CARTRIDGES
Please do not sell this content in any form, especially in the form of burning this to a Genesis/MD cartridge and selling it.
This is illegal: You're making money off of both the hard work of the devs who made the game and also me. This project was explicitly meant to be enjoyed for no greater cost than owning a real or digital copy of Phantasy Star IV.
We are allowed legally I believe to burn it onto a cartridge for personal, non-commercial use only if you already own the game. Get a friend's or use YouTube to learn how. You'll have fun and it's very rewarding, and once you have the equipment and learn how to do one, you can put all your favorite hacks on real cartridges!
If I see this being sold anywhere, I will kindly ask you to respect the author's wishes and remove it from your store. 

If you choose not to, will report you to whatever authority (etsy, ebay, SEGA, whoever) can convince you not to.
Otherwise, you can do whatever you want with this hack. Just link to the romhacking.net patch page if you want to share this or share the new script or talk about the changes.
Do not distribute ROMs. This hack only contains an IPS file to be applied to a legally obtained ROM.


-- Chris Hatala , ?GhaleonUnlimited? -- hatalawriting at gmail dot com
http://PSIV.GamesDoneLEgit for more info!