Download Phantasy Star II Modernization ROM Hack

+--------------------------+
|                          |
|     Phantasy Star II     |
|                          |
| SEGA Genesis / Megadrive |
|                          |
|      Modernization       |
|                          |
|       Version 4.0        |
|                          |
|   Release:  09-24-2019   |
|                          |
|          - By -          |
|                          |
|        Fauntleroy        |
|                          |
|  [email protected]   |
|                          |
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|                   |
| Table of Contents |
|                   |
+-------------------+

I...........Introduction
II....Setup Instructions
III..............Credits

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|                 |
| I. Introduction |
|                 |
+-----------------+

Thank you for downloading this Modernization hack for Phantasy Star
II, a classic RPG for the SEGA Genesis/Megadrive system. First
released in the United States in 1990, Phantasy Star II was a big
leap forward in gaming technology for its era. It also made bold
design decisions, introducing increased difficulty, darker themes,
subtle social commentary, and science fiction elements not seen in
its predecessor, nor in many other games up to that time.

With all of that being said, however, this great game has not aged
as well as its thematic successor, Phantasy Star IV. IV was
released in the United States in 1995, and although only five years
had passed since II's release, gaming technology had again made
many major advancements, from which IV benefited in dramatic
fashion. II, when compared to IV, seems very slow in its pacing,
too unfair and even cheap in its obstacles, and ambiguous in its
storytelling.

So, this project attempts to remake II to better match the style of
presentation in IV, while also providing greater thematic cohesion
with the other entries in the series.

Here's a quick overview of the major changes to the game that are
introduced by this hack.

Characters
----------

All party members have had their individual specialties enhanced.
Where possible, characters from IV were used as a template to base
these enhancements around.

* Rolf:  Like Chaz in IV. The core of your party. Strong, can use
         the best equipment, and has a great technique selection.
         Even if you didn't have to use him, you would.
* Nei:   Like Rika in IV. Rolf's essential backup. Strong double
         attack, fast, great healing, and solid support techniques.
         Once again: even if you didn't have to use her, you would.
* Rudo:  Like Wren in IV. The tank of the party. The nearest thing
         to unkillable with his high HP, high defense, and ability
         to use the best armors. Has no techniques, but is the only
         party member who can use vulcans, allowing for a multi-hit
         energy (gun) attack. Absolutely essential in the vanilla
         game, and still a very, very strong choice for your team.
* Amy:   Like Raja in IV. No fighter, and quite fragile, but has
         all the best healing techniques. She also has a few really
         good support skills, along with the highest TP max of all.
         She can equip both knives and shots (small guns), allowing
         her to inflict both types of damage in one round. This is
         great against enemies like machines or the kites.
* Hugh:  Like Hahn in IV. Just a tiny bit stronger and less fragile
         than Amy, but a very dynamic party member. Like Amy, he
         can deliver both types of damage by having a knife in one
         hand and a shot in the other. He learns all of the special
         techniques to kill and handicap living enemies, whether
         animals, biohazards, or demons. He also has a good arsenal
         of healing and attack techniques.
* Anna:  Like Alys in IV. Anna is the only character who can use
         slashers, delivering a multi-hit bladed attack essential
         for crowd control. She's fast as lightning, and while her
         technique list is short, it contains a number of essential
         attack and support abilities. Another party member you
         almost have to use in the vanilla game, and still a very
         awesome partner to have around.
* Kain:  Combine Hahn and Gryz from IV and you get Kain. Kain is
         Hugh's counterpart, being the party member who learns all
         the techniques to destroy and weaken mechanical enemies.
         He's good with techniques, but his use of heavy guns and
         the best armors, paired with relatively high defense and
         HP, also make him workable as a multi-purpose tank. In
         short, he's more durable than Hugh but doesn't have the
         same variety of skills, and while less effective than Rudo
         at tanking, he's also much more versatile.
* Shir:  Shir is basically Nei's replacement. Her attack isn't as
         strong, but she's got an amazing set of support, attack,
         and healing techniques. She also has travel techniques to
         help the party escape a jam, especially if Rolf is out for
         the count, and she's freakishly fast. In short, she's less
         durable than Anna, and not as strong of a physical fighter
         as Nei, but she outdoes both of them in terms of speed and
         versatility. And of course, being a thief, she randomly
         steals from shops. :)

Technique arsenals for all characters (well, except for Rudo) were
expanded, and made more unique and diverse. Characters who learn a
basic technique will also learn any Gi, Na, or Sa levels for it.

Rolf and Nei learn their last techniques at Level 35. Amy, Hugh,
Anna, Kain, and Shir learn their last techniques at Level 27. This
way, it's pretty easy to keep everyone at a level where you can
actually use them, and learn all of their skills.

In the vanilla game, some characters like Hugh are kept feeble
because they can't use stronger pieces of equipment. In the hack,
characters can generally use all items of a certain type. So, for
example, Rolf and Hugh can both use all MAIL armors. Rudo and Kain
can use all GEAR helmets. Amy, Anna, and Shir can use all CROWNS,
CAPES, and EMELS.

New party members still start at Level 1, but they come equipped
with the best gear available up to that point. Everyone also joins
with one technique already learned (except Rudo, of course).

All party members default to the Fight command rather than the
Defend command at the start of a battle.

Also, I know that a lot of you like to hack Nei back into the party
after the Climatrol events. To help you out, you'll find that Nei
can use a lot of the late-game equipment used by Amy, Anna, and
Shir, including Shir's unique weapons.


Items & Techniques
------------------

There are TONS of new items, new pieces of equipment, and yes, new
techniques! Most will be familiar to fans of the other games in the
series.

Item prices, equipment stats, technique stats and TP costs, etc.
have been rebalanced.

This is my absolute favorite... Using the Neisword ANYWHERE will
warp you to Lutz's throne. Either planet's overworld, any town,
any dungeon, absolutely wherever.  How cool is that? It makes it
really easy to stock up on Trimates, Star Mist, and Moon Dew and
then quickly warp back to Esper Mansion.

All vulcans (multi-hit guns) will attempt to fire four times. It
won't always happen. Most of the time, one shot will go to each of
the first four enemies in a group, but sometimes, two or more shots
will pile up on a single enemy for big damage.

The technique Eijia was removed, only because Kain ran out of space
in his technique list, since he has some cool new stuff. Actually,
all techniques from II and IV appear in this hack except for Regen
and Eijia!

The Shinb technique is no longer glitched. When successful, the
party instantly escapes from battle. This works in many situations
where the Run command will fail.

The Shift technique can now be cast on any ally, rather than being
automatically applied to the caster.

As described above, Hugh's special biohazard-specific techniques
will work on any enemy that appears to be a living being. Kain's
techniques work on all machines, but they also work on all demon
enemies that aren't living things, like the shadow, fire, and
sword monsters. The Dark Force boss is unique in that it is
susceptible to both types of technique.


Presentation
------------

While the story hasn't been changed, the script was completely
rewritten, top to bottom. I'm really proud of it, honestly! I hope
you enjoy it! And please please please, talk to my NPCs!

Text always goes to the end of the text box before there's a hard
return.

Menu and battle text was changed to be more consistent with that
used in IV. In other words, it's clear and brief.

Menus were resized to properly fit their options. This made most
text abbreviations in menus unnecessary.

Enemy names now use the full 10 characters allowed, rather than
just the first eight, as in the vanilla game.

Many item and enemy names were changed to be more consistent with
other games in the series.

All enemies now give double the meseta and experience points as in
the vanilla game, so while this game will always require grinding,
it now goes by FAST.

The party members are placed above their status windows in battle,
as in IV.

In battle, Rolf now has dark blue hair to match his in-game art
and map sprite, and Nei's ears are no longer purple.

Kain now speaks like a street-smart cockney, rather than being
borderline incomprehensible as in the vanilla game.

The Algo Star System map shown during the Gaila sequence was
updated to show the planet names as they were in the original
Phantasy Star: Palma, Motavia, Dezoris. These are the names used
throughout the hack, along with:

* Algo rather than Algol
* Palman rather than Parmanian
* Dezorian rather than Dezolisian
* Alis rather than Alisa
* Lutz rather than Noah
* Lassic rather than Lashiec
* Altiplano rather than Alplatin
* Gaila rather than Gaira
* Alsulin rather than Alshline
* Laerma rather than Laeruma
* And probably more that I'm forgetting!

Okay, this last one is going to be controversial, but... the towns
of Kueri and Piata switched names. I know, I know, it sounds really
weird, but hear me out. It always bugged me that, in IV, the town
of Piata has moved from the southeastern quadrant of Motavia to the
southwestern quadrant. It makes no sense. Assuming for a moment
that Zema and Uzo are in "more or less" the same place in IV as
they were in II, that means IV's Piata is right around where II's
Kueri would be. So, to resolve the apparent continuity error, I
swapped the two names. I hope it doesn't break anyone's immersion!


Bug Fixes
---------

Hugh is now able to use Gires both in and out of battle.

Incorrect text is no longer displayed when trying to rearrange the
party while Rolf is alone.

The text boxes when examining the entrances to Uzo Island and
Climatrol are no longer cut off.

In the vanilla game, one townsperson in Paseo would recite part of
Lutz's speech if spoken to after the Climatrol events. This strange
behavior is fixed, and in fact, he now gives an important clue
about accessing the four dams.

The middle entry in the Van/Aerotank enemy group can now be found
at the Blue and Green Dams.

The music no longer crashes during Lutz's speech.

A few minor bugs involving stat growth and items were addressed.

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+------------------------+
|                        |
| II. Setup Instructions |
|                        |
+------------------------+

You'll need the 20190924psiipatch.ips file and an unaltered copy of
the Phantasy Star II Genesis/Megadrive English language ROM. Please
don't ask me for a copy of the ROM; I won't provide one.

Recommended ROMs:
* Phantasy Star II (UE) (REV 02) [!]
  * Unmodified ROM CRC32: 904FA047
  * Patch Applied CRC32:  179CCF64

The recommended ROM is sometimes labeled as:
* Phantasy Star II (REV 02)
* Phantasy Star II (UE) (REV02) [!]
* Phantasy_Star_II_(UE)_(REV02)_[!]

PLEASE NOTE: The REV01 version of the ROM should work also, but
some minor glitches may result.

I recommend using the Lunar IPS utility to apply the patch to the
ROM. As of this writing, you can download Lunar IPS here:

http://fusoya.eludevisibility.org/lips/

To apply the patch:

1.) Open Lunar IPS and click the Apply IPS Patch button.

2.) Select the 20190924psiipatch.ips file.

3.) Select the ROM.

4.) You're all set!  It's that easy!

As far as which emulator to use, I personally like Kega Fusion.

Kega Fusion has its own website:

http://segaretro.org/Kega_Fusion

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+--------------+
|              |
| III. Credits |
|              |
+--------------+

I'm the creator of this hack. All of the ideas, for good or bad,
were my own.

However, I never could've completed the hack without some special
assistance along the way.

I have to thank lory1990 for creating the amazing Phantasy Star II
Disassembly document, which made most changes an absolute breeze.
He's created similar utilities for all of the classic Phantasy Star
games, so check them out! He was also extremely patient and
gracious in answer a million questions I had about implementing my
goofy ideas.

Thank you lory1990 for making this project possible!