A classic RPG with a unique Saturn port gets new life for English speakers now that a fan has patched the DOS script for Wizardry VI into the Japan-only console release of Wizardry VI & VII Complete.
The patch can be downloaded from its SegaXtreme Resource page where it was uploaded last week. The download comes with two Sega Saturn Patcher files — one regular version and one “enhanced” version with some optional changes — as well as an excellent eight-page readme PDF detailing the many fixes that the patch makes to the original game, not to mention gameplay tips and a walkthrough.
A fan named Remisse began working on the patch in early June before posting a thread on SegaXtreme in July about his intention to insert the original DOS games’ English scripts into the Saturn ports, as SHIRO! reported at the time.
Remisse told SHIRO! that it was worth it to hack the English script into the Saturn version of Wizardry VI specifically for its unique features.
“It’s based on W7’s ruleset, meaning more spells, more traps, and more skills (though most of the extra skills do nothing in 6, unfortunately), and the art style too is very reminiscent of 7,” he said. “And it’s also got a much easier early game, which a lot of new players have notoriously struggled with when playing the other versions.”
Starting with another person’s project to get the DOS English script inserted into the PlayStation port of Wizardry VII, Remisse created a decoder/encoder for the text files in the DOS and Saturn versions, both of which use Huffman-style compression.
“It was tough at the beginning for sure. I had never worked on a rom hacking project before and I didn’t have a clear idea on how to best write my tools or even how to inject new ASM code into the game. Then I got the hang of it I think one month in, and I also got extremely lucky in the sense that other people had already figured out the text compression algorithm, and that tools already existed to edit various parts of the game and fix some of its shortcomings with regards to gameplay. I’m literally standing on the shoulders of giants here…”
— Remisse
As Remisse says in the readme PDF, the “enhanced” patch adds two quality-of-life features. One of them enlarges the minimap, giving it a fully transparent background and brighter tiles.
On the left is the unenhanced map. On the right is the enhanced map, which is larger with a transparent background and brighter tiles.
The other extra feature in the enhanced patch is improved music variety, in which the tutorial theme plays during player character creation and party view instead of the NPC encounter theme.
Both versions of the patch include many fixes and quality-of-life improvements as well as a lot of restored content. According to the readme:
- Restored Content
- The Captain’s Den questline now requires you to follow roughly the same steps as in
the DOS and SNES versions - The Delphi questline now requires you to follow roughly the same steps as in the DOS
and SNES versions - Some narrator lines that were supposed to be shown after unlocking certain chests (and
which weren’t in this port) have been either partially restored or heavily readapted due
to unsolved issues - Many valuable NPC lines that were cut from this port have been restored
- The Captain’s Den questline now requires you to follow roughly the same steps as in
- Fixes
- Fixed the “rest” mechanic not triggering encounters promptly and correctly in the event
of an ambush - Fixed Mystaphaphas’s greeting not triggering when you met him after exhausting his
one-time-only dialogue, which would stall the game until you pressed a button - Fixed the “You detect something” message appearing twice in a row when on the same
tile of the captain’s treasure chest - Fixed Mau-Mu-Mu’s fight not triggering immediately upon approaching him
- Fixed Charron’s dialogue not automatically progressing after paying for transport
- Fixed the game not locking you into the correct ending after a specific event
- Fixed a late-game NPC always saying the same line whether you had a specific item in
your inventory or not - Removed a loud “pop” sound at the end of the exploration and rest tracks
- Added 1 second of silence at the beginning of the tutorial theme so it doesn’t sound
too jarring when it loops
- Fixed the “rest” mechanic not triggering encounters promptly and correctly in the event
- Quality of Life
- All key items have been marked with a ‘!’ symbol to discourage players from mindlessly
discarding them and ultimately getting softlocked - Combat now progresses only when pressing a button, instead of having messages (even
very long ones) forcibly disappear after barely 2 seconds - The game now informs you of NPCs giving you key items
- All key items have been marked with a ‘!’ symbol to discourage players from mindlessly
- Text
- Corrected various typos that were present in the original DOS script
- Corrected some inconsistencies caused by sprite changes introduced in this port
- All dialogues and narrator lines have been reformatted to better fit within the small
dialogue box - This port does not feature a topic selection screen when speaking with NPCs via the
“TALK” command, so I made the executive decision of structuring all such conversations
as single, omnicomprehensive dialogues that combine many of the answers NPCs were
programmed to give in the DOS version. Some inconsequential additions have been
made in an effort to make NPCs sound as natural and in-character as possible
- Enemy names
- DROW ELF –> ELF RANGER
- Item names
- KEY OF DROWS –> KEY OF RANGERS
- UI
- Made the dialogue window border dimmer so it looks less distracting
- Swapped the positions of the characters’ names with their class names while on the
field, and colored the class names
Aside from some pre-existing bugs that the original game had, the readme mentions two bugs that the patch causes:
- If one of your characters attempts a backstab but doesn’t inflict any damage, you may see a blank dialogue box appearing after all the messages describing the action. No text is missing actually, it’s just an extra line break that gets added automatically.
- After waking up in a dungeon cell following a specific story event, the same narrator line will be shown every time you step on a specific tile in the center of the room.
In May 1996, Data East published Wizardry VI & VII Complete in Japan, bringing two of Sir-Tech’s PC RPGs to the Saturn complete with Japanese translations. While it did appear in Sega of America’s 1997 fiscal year brand review documents set for a November 1996 stateside release, it never materialized. That missed opportunity finally has been rectified — partially.
While Remisse originally planned to translate the other half of the collection, Wizardry VII, he now says he’s going to hold off on that for now.
“While this port of W6 is unique enough that even people who’ve already beaten the other versions might want to try this one out, W7 is just too similar to the DOS version while also featuring more bugs, worse performance, missing content and IMHO worse-looking environments,” he said. “I don’t want people to play a half-assed version of an excellent game, but I just don’t feel motivated enough right now to do all the bug fixing and content restoration that I did for W6 once again.”
Remisse isn’t setting aside Saturn translation patches, though.
“Now I’d like to focus on a new Saturn project before tackling Wizardry VII,” he said. “It’ll be either Ronde or Langrisser V, assuming that the authors of the existing translation guides give me permission to use their work.”
This story originally appeared on Sega Saturn SHIRO!