Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

12 more pages down, Paseo, Arima, Oputa, Zema, Kueri, Piata, Magic cap dialogue, Zosa, Aukba, Ryuon, Musk Cats with Magic Cap, and Roron, in that order.

Esper Mansion is the next section. I wonder where Tyler and Neifirst are...

I stayed up WAY too late last night writing down some ideas for the story itself, and I think I've got a great way to implement the game all the way up to Lutz. It'll be new even for you PS vets. I think everyone will enjoy the twists I've added to it. I'm completely thrilled by some of the ideas I've come up with, but I'll keep them to myself.

This probably will involve more than 50% of the script, but it will be worth the work. I can't say how long that'll take, but I'm likely going to be finished decoding the text in two more days since there's 16 pages left. The only things outside those pages left to find are: the text to the LETTER, the BIOSYSTEMS button in the Library, and the character descriptions at the house.

If I had to estimate my total progress on this hack, I'd say I'm 80% finished, though it made be more than that.

About 11 more pages finished, there should only be 6 or 7 pages to go. I found a couple of unused lines due to pointer errors. I hope to fix them:

the Earthmen, "Thanks to the Mother Brain which we created, Algo prospered.

(This one might be used, but I can't find it,) maybe a citizen of Mota after Climatrol: "Good grief! We now have to worry about the lake getting flooded."

Uzo: "Rolf and the others! Is this Uzo mountain?"

This one is used in Nido, but I can't believe how terrible it is: Teim, "I'm Teim, daughter of Darum. My father promised me he would come and help me, so I'm waiting here to meet him." WHAT ABOUT THE GAZILLION BLASTERS AROUND YOU??? I guess Teim is stronger than the entire party since she can fight off those critters and wait patiently for her dad to show up.

Well, I hope to finish the text tonight. I see why there are so many pointer errors, because the text is all out of order. In between Mother Brain speeches, the Nei statement if she chooses not to fight Neifirst is wedged in there. Then there will be a comment from an Esper, followed by half of the Earthman's speech. I have everything but half of the ending, the Gaila computer and Tyler, the house character descriptions, and the Nei death sequence if she didn't beat Neifirst.

The $ Avenger wrote:This one is used in Nido, but I can't believe how terrible it is: Teim, "I'm Teim, daughter of Darum. My father promised me he would come and help me, so I'm waiting here to meet him." WHAT ABOUT THE GAZILLION BLASTERS AROUND YOU??? I guess Teim is stronger than the entire party since she can fight off those critters and wait patiently for her dad to show up.

Wasn't she abducted and being kept there until her father could pay the ransom for her? (which is why he's up at the bridge north of Paseo, blocking the way so he can ge money) Been awhile since I've played, though.

Yeah, that's right. Maybe she didn't know about all of that, though? She seemed shocked to learn that he had become a bandit.

the Earthmen, "Thanks to the Mother Brain which we created, Algo prospered.

The Earthmen say this if you answer "No" to the first question they ask.

I guess Teim is stronger than the entire party since she can fight off those critters and wait patiently for her dad to show up.

Ah, the old invincible NPC thing. I hate when a game includes something like that. I was playing a game earlier this year that was full of cases like this.

The $ Avenger wrote: I guess Teim is stronger than the entire party since she can fight off those critters and wait patiently for her dad to show up.

The bandits put her there and she hasn't moved from that spot. The monsters can't attack her unless if she moves.

Thoul wrote:Yeah, that's right. Maybe she didn't know about all of that, though? She seemed shocked to learn that he had become a bandit.

Yeah, I don't see how she could have found out that he was hanging out exclusively at the north bridge given she was locked up in Nido.

The Earthmen say this if you answer "No" to the first question they ask.

Ok, good to know where it is.

Ah, the old invincible NPC thing. I hate when a game includes something like that. I was playing a game earlier this year that was full of cases like this.

There are too many holes in the text to this game. It deserves a major overhaul. You find out you were going to Dezoris from Tyler when no one ever mentioned it.

Shinuzzo wrote:The bandits put her there and she hasn't moved from that spot. The monsters can't attack her unless if she moves.

That's sadly true given the gameplay mechanics. But would Biomonsters really just leave her there?

Ok, I finished decoding the text. Evidently the character descriptions at the house are stored as tile data since they weren't in what I decoded, not could I find them via searching, so we're stuck with those. With my limited grasp of the pointers, I can extend some of the statements that are cut off in the game, but the one I can't fix is the guy in Paseo post-Climatrol that talks about the Neisword.

Since I'll be busy the next couple of days, I'm trying to get more things ready for implementation: the character level-up data, the tech database, the techs at level up, the monster groups, and the rest of the monster stats typed in over the next couple of days. When that's done, the only things left to do are create and implement the sprites, and create and implement the new text. That'll be close to V1.0, as it will have all the battle mechanics finished. Hopefully I get that all accomplished by Tuesday.