Setting goals

Yes, I’m still here πŸ™‚ A busy January has kept me from jumping back in, so let’s see how February goes. It also means my favourite blogs (all linked on the right) have had multiple updates I need to catch up on.

In thinking how to start off this year I thought about setting goals and how that plays into my gaming habits. I often overwhelm my spare time with a multitude of things, some of which is productive, some of which isn’t. Taking on big projects should be done accordingly, without going overboard.

So, with all of this in mind, I thought I’d make a few goals for this year:

Blog:

  • Update at least once a week; possibly two if I’m being ambitious πŸ˜‰
  • Catch up on some tutes – I have stacks of photos from some Mega Drive 2 mods (including doing the colour mod), Famicom AV mod tute, Saturn Virtua Gun button repair mod and probably a few others I’ve forgotten.
  • Start posting up gaming session images using the video capture thingie I bought ages back.
  • Make some video tutes showing how to hack Phantasy Star: Generation 1 and Generation 2 on the PS2.

Gaming:

  • Play through Phantasy Star 2 in Easy Mode on the Sega Ages Phantasy Star Collection on the PS2.
  • Catch up on downloadable titles on PSN/XBLA.
  • Play more old games, especially Famicom stuff.
  • Get better at Panzer Dragoon Zwei to relive my past glory/skills πŸ˜€

Modding:

  • Finish my Famicom mod (need to swap in a fresh transcoder) and fix the controllers.
  • Replace the dead cart slot in my Saturn.
  • S-video mod my SMS2.

Projects:

  • Rebuild my gutted Taito Space Invaders cocktail cabinet that’s been gutted and sitting idle for well over 12 months.
  • Finally build the huge switchbox I’ve been wanting to assemble for a few years now.

Shopping:

  • Fellow retro gamer Frank might have convinced me to look into getting a Twin Fami owing to its amazing composite video output; will definitely consider it if the composite video mod on my Famicom doesn’t look comparable.

Oh, and those last two projects will be covered in full on the blog πŸ˜€

In addition, there’s also the usual domestic stuff – Wifey has been extremely patient for the last couple of years while I’ve landscaped and irrigated in the gardens, and this year it’s time to start inside the house, so the above will have to be done in conjunction with the house renovations πŸ™‚

Hopefully by putting these down, it will encourage me to actually tackle the issues and not flounder around staring in wonder at the nerdy pile of carts and floppy disks in the nerd room instead of doing something more productive… which happens more often than it really should πŸ˜‰

Is your TV 240p compatible?

I’ve discussed before about using RGB to Component transcoders on old consoles to get the beautiful RGB video signal into something TVs with component inputs can handle. What didn’t occur to me at the time was TV compatibility.

Now, I primarily use an old 68cm CRT TV for my retro gaming, and my beloved Hitachi is kind enough to have component input (one of the main reasons I bought it back in… 2002). However, someone got in touch with me a while back saying they were having issues with playing games from the transcoder through their HD LCD TV. Turns out their set doesn’t support 240p via component, and as the transcoder outputs a 240p component signal, they were out of luck.

At first I thought it was unusual, as I hadn’t had any issues running it on my CRT TV, and our Sony Bravia HDTV (late-2007 model Bravia X) didn’t skip a beat with the unit, either. However, after looking into the issue, it seems they weren’t alone, and Samsung panels in particular seem cranky about working with 240p signals. Bummer.

So, how do you test your panel’s compatibility and what are your options? I’m no expert, but I’d suggest that if you have a Wii, change the Virtual Console to output in 240p and see what happens. Aside from that, I don’t know too many consoles that can do 240p and output component video natively. If you have a Playstation 2 and a set of component cables, you have a couple of choices:

  • Fire up one of the Sega Ages releases that contain Mega Drive or Master System games and change the display settings in-game to 240p. I know this option exists for Phantasy Star Complete Collection, Gunstar Heroes Treasure Box and Monster World Collection.
  • Load up Ico and see what happens (must be running in 60hz, the PAL version will give you the option)
  • All PSone games running out of the PS2 apparently run in 240p also (I’m assuming this only counts for NTSC games, not PAL titles), so give that a try

Props to this thread at HDTV Arcade for the latter two options, as I didn’t realise PSone titles and Ico ran at 240p, I assumed both still ran at 480i or 576i.

So, assuming your TV struggles with a 240p component video signal, what are your options? Thankfully, there are some, but I can’t take credit for that info – Tobias “Fudoh” Reich has an amazing entry on it at Deinterlacing, Scaling, Processing: Classic videogame systems on LCD and Plasma screens. His article has an amazing roundup of equipment and technical info on achieving low-res beauty on HDTVs that get cranky with 240p signals (and while you’re there, you should also read his excellent piece, Scanlines Demystified, with lots of beautiful shots of low res displays), and will hopefully point you in the right direction.

Hopefully this will help others who have encountered the same problem. Mind, none of these workarounds would be necessary if HDTV manufacturers made their devices 240p compatible, so shop around wisely, check to see if your intended purchase will support 240p via component and ask questions of the manufacturer before buying your TV.

Sega Ages 2500 Phantasy Star: Generation 1 FAQ

psg1-cover

There’s no such thing as too much love for Phantasy Star. For this FAQ, I’ll list all the resources I used to finish Phantasy Star: Generation 1, the Sega Ages 2500 remake of Phantasy Star, as well as some hints that the existing guides and FAQs have missed.

First up, your essential resources:

  • Omar PΓ©rez’s Mini-FAQ (GameFAQs): This is your base for the game, as it contains the information to get most of the core items, the sequence to play through the game and all sorts of other goodies. The content up until you go to Dezoris can be a bit light at times (more on filling those gaps is noted below), but once you jet off to the ice planet, it is 110% rock solid. I would not have been able to finish this game without his guide, especially with his constant plugs to use the Collaboration system πŸ™‚
  • Bokokun’s Lists FAQ (GameFAQs): It’s in shift-JIS, so make sure you have Japanese fonts installed. I can read hiragana, katakana and a bit of kanji, so Bokokun’s guide was a godsend in filling in the gaps when my brain wouldn’t articulate everything correctly πŸ™‚ Especially noteworthy is his guide to the Collaboration system, which saved my bacon on the final boss fights.
  • Wolfgang Landgraf’s Phantasy Star: Generation 1 guide. I used his Phantasy Star: Generation 2 guide extensively when I played through that a few years back, and once again he comes to the rescue with detailed maps on every dungeon in the game, translations of items in the store, general hints and full overland maps – his maps of Dezoris were amazingly helpful as I kept getting lost πŸ˜‰
  • Dark Vortex’s (Quan Jin’s) Phantasy Star FAQ (Sega Master System; GameFAQs). For the areas where Omar’s guide skimmed over pretty quickly, all the necessary info was neatly tucked away in Dark Vortex’s FAQ for the original Phantasy Star on the Master System. To be honest, any of the FAQs for PS1 would suffice, I just happened to prefer Dark Vortex’s.

The other thing I did to make life easier was to hack my levels to save on grinding – in the first instance, I bumped Alis to level 60-ish; later on when I amassed the rest of the party, I was pleased to see they all leveled up with Alis even when they weren’t in your party. Later into the game, I noticed in a few battles things were getting a little dicey, so I hacked my characters again to level 95 (or 9,000,000 EXP!) to finish off the game. You’re welcome to grind to your heart’s content, but I’m time poor and as much as I adore the early Phantasy Star games, PS1 and PS2 are too grind-heavy these days. I’ve already done the hard yards back in the day, so I was lazy with the remakes πŸ˜› I’ll be posting an updated guide on hacking the experience levels of the other characters in the future, and will look at uploading a guide to GameFAQs as well at some stage.

So, using all those documents above, you’ll be relatively set. I’d use Omar’s guide as the base, use Bokokun’s guide to help with identifying items and spells, Wolfgang’s guide for dungeon maps and fill in the gaps with Dark Vortex’s FAQ. There are still a few tricks that may step you up, so apart from the obvious (talk to everyone two or three times to exhaust the conversation chains, consult often, keep track of locations being mentioned in green [a working knowledge or katakana and hiragana helps, otherwise use Bokokun’s guide], etc), here are some situation specific details I noted during my playthrough:

Naula Key (Naura no kagi)

Talk to the man at Eppi (village leader), get Hashim’s Key (Hashim no kagi), talk to the village leader again, consult (L1), goto Parolit, talk to Mary (Meari-), and you should get the Naula Key (Naura no kagi) to enter Naula Cave.

Toriada Key (Toriada no kagi)

The Toriada Key (Toriada no kagi) is in the brown house in Gothic. Use it to enter Toriada Prison.

Bortevo Key (Bartevo no kagi)

To obtain the Bortevo Key (Bartevo no kagi), in Bortevo go to the top-right house, talk to Garingu and you should get the Bortevo Key (Bartevo no kagi). Consult a few times prior to getting it as I remember Myau mentions Garingu.

Hapsby

After obtaining the polymetal, you’ll find Haspy by searching the bottom-right house in Bortevo.

Casba Dragon

This one drove me nuts, so here’s how I got the dragon to appear in the dungeon. Goto Casba, talk to the people in there, especially the girl Natalia (Nataria), consult, then goto Uzo and talk to Vivian (Bibian), consult, talk to the rest of the townspeople in Uzo, head back to Casba, talk to everyone and by now you should be getting plenty of people talking about the Blue Dragon in the dungeon. Consult, save then head back into the dungeon, and he should be there. Remember to head to Bortevo afterwards to grab the hovercraft.

Hovercraft

Head to the building next to the save game panel and search it – Hapsby will nerd it up and you can jump into it by pressing R1 when you’re next to the water (saves going into your inventory to active it every time).

Abion/Forgotten Tower and Medusa’s Tower

I found that I did these the opposite order that Omar’s FAQ suggests you do them in owing to what my characters were talking about when using the consult command. I did Abion/Forgotten Tower first and tackled Medusa’s Tower second. I never got around to doing Jara Cave πŸ˜›

Aukuba

Omar notes Aukaba as Twintown; doesn’t really matter, but when all my characters started talking about Aukbara no machi, it confused the buggery out of me. Having only played through Phantasy Star on the SMS once, I had a d’uh moment when I arrived and realised they were one and the same. Go me!

Gaining entrance to the Guaron Morgue

I can’t take credit for this one – Busterbeam over on the GameFAQs board pointed this out ( the original thread is here). To gain entrance to the Guaron Morgue, here’s the full list of what I did: I talked to the two Head Dezorians in Aukuba (they’re in red outfits, each in their own house either side of the town entrance), consulted, went to Guaron, got denied twice, consulted, returned to Aukuba, talked to the Head Dezorian on the left, consulted, returned to Guaron Morgue, and was permitted entry. Thanks Busterbeam!

Getting past the pit in Guaron Morgue

Use Myau’s Report techniqe (also referred to as his trap disarm spell) just prior to the pit in Guaron Morgue that leads yo the Laconian armour. You’ll go straight on top of it and won’t swear at the TV like I did three times before I realiased you had to use his technique πŸ˜›

Ice Dungeon gibberish

This one’s an anomally – using consult after finishing the Guaron Morgue and before heading into the Ice Dungeon, at the end of a conversation Alis exclaims “Ha-a-a [X] [Triangle] [Square] [O] [Triangle] [Square] [O] [X] [X]”. I’ve no idea if this is a fancy cheat or code, but thought I’d note it down regardless.

I think that covers it – again, huge props to the authors of those FAQs, I wouldn’t have even hoped to have made it through Phantasy Star: Generation 1 without your help!

Fan translations for Phantasy Star: Generation 1?

As part of my preliminary hacking of Phantasy Star: Generation 1, I ended up doing some searching for basic info like… how to save the game πŸ˜› (top tip – talk to the terminals in the towns using O to save your game)

Anywho, part of this saw a couple of interesting bits on possible fan translations for the game, including this one from jessethehedgehog on YouTube:

In addition, there’s also a thread on Fringes of Algo where someone as recent as April 2011 is talking about translating the game.

Not sure if either project will get anywhere, but it’s still pretty cool. Shame I don’t have the language skills or the programming ability to help out, as it would be great if G1 and G2 of the Sega Ages Phantasy Star releases received an English translation.

Mind, if Sega of America actually translated them and released them when the PS2 was a reasonably viable machine, or even in the aftermath alongside the likes of Sakura Taisen, a lot of rabid fans would have been extremely happy. If value was a problem, jam them on a disc with all the contents from the Phantasy Star Collection disc. Simple.

Well, it probably isn’t, but the internet is a choice platform for people to voice their opinions with realisation of the amount of work required to achieve such an ask πŸ™‚

Experimenting with hacking Phantasy Star: Generation 1

A few years back I wrote a guide up on GameFAQs about hacking save games for Phantasy Star: Generation 2 on the Playstation 2. I decided I wanted to give Phantasy Star: Generation 1 a whirl since I finally got around to finishing it on the Master System a few years back (via the Phantasy Star Collection Sega Ages release – never finished on the SMS back in the day, it was too hard πŸ˜› Sheer tenacity and the hint book meant I could finish Phantasy Star 2 back in the day though!), but since I’m time-poor I thought I’d kick-start the grind with Alisa/Alis (choose your favourite translation :P). So, I used the experience with the previous save game hacking and applied it to PS:G1 and have had some success.

I’ll actually post up updated tutorials at a later stage for hacking PS:G2 and PS:G1 later on, but if you’re industrious you can apply the theory from my previous FAQ yourself. The only issue I’ve found is that PCSX2 0.9.7 won’t load games, but my old PCSX 0.9.4 works fine; might just be a Windows 7 x64 thing though. Had to add some C libraries to my OS as well (specifically, msvcr71.dll), as MyMC wasn’t working either. I’m using Cheat Engine v6, and it seems to be fine as well.

Just to prove I’m not barking, here’s my game 6 minutes or so in – note the meseta:

And finally, check the Experience and the Level – it’ll take me up to about level 61 after completing my first fight of the game, as that’s how the hacking works:

Anywho, just wanted to share – I’m off to play through the game properly now, not sure if I’ll hack the other characters since Alisa is such a tank now, but probably will down the road πŸ™‚ Well, I probably should since I’ll need the hex values to write up a full guide, like my previous one.