My PC-98 translation projects

[Nikokaro]

ThanK you, which emulator i can run it?, i imported hdi file to neko project ii but it just black scren.
sorry for my bad english

https://gang-fight.com/projects/98faq/
After you load the .hdi file you have to reset the emulator, and you will see the (jpn) ms-dos operating system start first, and then the game will also start.

 

[ManhKun]

After you load the .hdi file you have to reset the emulator, and you will see the (jpn) ms-dos operating system start first, and then the game will also start.

thank you, i find out that i using old verson of emulator

 

[BabaJeanmel]

Just pushed an update for Yu-No that fixes a crash in Ayumi route. If you encounter any other one, don't hesitate to tell me so I can get it fixed ASAP.

 

[BabaJeanmel]

Rance 2 has now entered last testing phase. It might be released just before 2023 ends, we'll see

Here is the roadmap for next year:

- Night Slave full TL
- Big update for "Jewel BEM Hunter Lime" (with loads of corrections)
- Toushin Toshi script port (last AliceSoft script port doable with our current toolset)

And afterwards, I have different options to consider...

 

[BabaJeanmel]

Happy new year! Rance 2 is now released, enjoy! Download it here.

 

[Nikokaro]

Happy new year!

Happy New Year to you too, and thank you for everything.

 

[BabaJeanmel]

I just pushed a small update for Rance 2. It corrects a display bug when you go from a party of 3 back to a party of 2, and optimizes the filesize. Previous saves are not compatible, so don't bother updating if you're in a game and are close to completion.

Post automatically merged: Jan 5, 2024

In the same fashion as Rance 2, updates have been pushed for the three other AliceSoft ports (DPS, Little Vampire, Rance 1). The script remains unchanged, but they still are 30% smaller now. Using this technique will allow us to work on more complex games such as Rance 3 without risking memory overflows
You don't need to update if you don't want to lose your saves, the script being unchanged. Nevertheless, it's still nice for real hardware owners with small HDDs

 

[Nikokaro]

Hi chief and sorry to bother you. Have you or anyone on your team ever looked at this title?
http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2018/11/game-308-cobra-mission-panic-in-cobra.html?m=1
Incredibly I had completely forgotten about it, despite being considered a cult title in its time. Graphics and colors a bit poor, but plot, dialogue, and gameplay very compelling (at least that's what they say).
Did you know it? Would it be possible to port it from ms-dos to PC-98?

 

[BabaJeanmel]

It's a Xentar situation, but even worse. Basically, the game was partially reprogrammed and re-written, so the English scripts don't correspond 1:1 to the Japanese version. Plus, the data format is pretty horrible in all MegaTech games (Xentar, Cobra Mission, Metal & Lace and Power Dolls). There's only one script file, that is basically a big "blob" with text being organized inside in a pretty random way. Find out where each dialogue line goes, considering the script vasly differ from the original, would be a very tedious, time-consuming and difficult task. It's not worth it IMO. A full retranslation would unironically take less time and be more accurate to the original intent.

Also, to add another problem, I'm not even sure the data format for PC-98 Cobra Mission has aleady been looked into. So that would mean hacking the game from scratch to figure out how to modify the script.

After I'm done with Night Slave and Toushin Toshi, the plan is to do some maintenance updates for Yu-No and Lime, than port Rance III. It probably will take a few months as it's a rather large game. Afterwards, my next project will most likely target something we already have tools for. Probably either some Elf or AliceSoft stuff, but we'll see

 

[BabaJeanmel]

Night Slave's first pass is now over the 50% mark. Testing is a bit difficult (I've redone the first missions quite a few times ^^), and there are some bugs to iron out for the in-game text, but other than that everything's going on pretty smoothly.

I hope to have it ready by march/april.

 

[BabaJeanmel]

Night Slave is now in proofreading phase. ValleyBell is also investigating a couple bugs present in the original game to see if they can be fixed.

Patience, people. You'll be able to ditch the horrible Retronomicon version pretty soon

 

[BabaJeanmel]

While Night Slave is being tested, proofreaded and debugged, here are a couple screens for Toushin Toshi. There still is part of the hacking to finish, and ATM only the menu/camp/item data has been reinserted, but nevertheless I'd say it's already 10% complete.

 

[BabaJeanmel]

Some progress on Toushin Toshi (about 70% done now). All hacking issues have been masterfully fixed by Alpharobo.

And Night Slave is almost completed. All event and h scenes have been proofred, a couple graphics-related mistake are fixed, and only a short bit of in-game text needs revision. You won't have to wait too much longer

 

[BabaJeanmel]

Night Slave is now released! Get it here.

 

[remax]

Hi ! I tried to download your new Shangrlia 2 patch (1.1) : https://gbatemp.net/download/pc-98-shangrlia-2-english-patch.38290/

but it looks to me it's the same patch than the 1.0 version. Can you check, please ?

 

[BabaJeanmel]

Whoops! Corrected, thanks for noticing

 

[BabaJeanmel]

And... Toushin Toshi is finished, too! Get it here.

 

[Siveon]

Congrats! I really should get around to trying something from AliceSoft one day. Probably not much of Rance.

Have you guys taken a look at Farland Story 7? Think it's the last of the series on PC-98 to not have a TL.

 

[BabaJeanmel]

I was pretty reticent in trying Rance at first, but I had an interesting discussion with SpeedyNoelle (aka AmelieDoree, you might have seen some of her videos about bishoujo games on youtube) about it, and she convinced me to give the series a try. Turns out it's a great series, despite all the controversy surrounding it. Rance, as a character, is written to be the exact opposite of the typical JRPG hero such as Ys' Adol, and if you think of him as the parody he's meant to be, it actually works surprisingly good. Of course, even if the sexual aspects are mostly written as dark comedy, this kind of humor is a bit difficult to defend nowadays. But the series has a lot more to offer, including great character development, and a surprisingly rich lore.
I'll give you the same advice I got at the time: try playing Toushin Toshi first. If you find the first one to be a bit too archaic for your tastes, give the second one a shot, it's actually a very nice dungeon RPG, and even if there might be some fucked up erotic elements, at least the hero is pretty much a nice guy ^^
Anyway, if you don't like these games, it's okay. They're pretty divisive for a reason. But i'd say they're worth a try.

As for Farland Story 7... Sorry, but they're not really my cup of tea. I played the six first episodes during lockdown, and did 5-6 maps of the seventh game before giving up. Apart for the great cast of characters and the gorgeous animations, they're too barebones for my taste.

 

[Nikokaro]

As a fan of tactical-rpg games, my favorite titles are Kichikou Rance and Sengoku Rance; both are strategic conquest games, the former more crude and simplistic (16bit graphics), the latter more extensive and more graphically beautiful and colorful. Both with numerous demented, quirky and funny characters, with compelling plot and quite a lot of freedom of movement and choice. Sure, there are a few annoying and disgusting hentai scenes (e.g., a repulsive static bukkake scene involving a seemingly underage character ), but you just have to skip them quickly so as not to be upset. Indeed, it is a shame to overlook these Alicesoft masterpieces because of a few disturbing scenes, devoted specifically to the satisfaction of some perverted Japanese white-collar workers.