Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom: Phantasy Star III General Improvement

The purpose of this hack is to mitigate many of the flaws of Phantasy Star III in order to create an overall play experience more similar to that of Phantasy Star II and Phantasy Star IV. This is done through minor adjustments to the presentation, using the naming conventions from the other games, increasing the number of lore references to the other games, and more. Please see the readme for complete details.

The script was also significantly expanded in order to fill some holes in the story, address gaps in logic that otherwise go unexplained, and add more flavor by way of new non-player characters.

We're currently on version 1.2, the third release of this hack. 1.2 corrects a few minor bugs and makes small changes to the presentation. The primary content is largely unchanged from 1.1.

Thank you to everyone who tries this hack! Despite how it may sound, this patch is very much intended as a love letter to a favorite game.

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| Phantasy Star III |
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| - General Improvement - |
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| Version 1.2 |
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| Release: 03-07-2022 |
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| - By - |
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| Fauntleroy |
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Phantasy Star III has problems. Like... lots of problems. It was one of my favorite games as a kid, but even then, I knew it. I say this as someone who loves the game. Like, really, really loves it, and always has.

Some of the problems are technical. Shop contents don't always make a lot of sense. Who can use what equipment types, while generally consistent, has a lot of weird exceptions that you would never figure out without blind trial an error. (Lena can use the Hunting Helmet? Why?) Technique Distribution is insanely overpowered. Laya can equip the most powerful emel, but can never use it in practice, since her weapons are two-handed. And so forth.

And others are more related to the story, lore, and presentation. Nial and his sons never go to Draconia or Azura. In fact, Nial's quest, unlike Ayn's, is essentially just an abbreviated version of the third generation. This all smells like a lack of time and planning, and not original intent.

So, this patch tries to smooth out some of those issues to create a more "complete-feeling" or polished experience. An overview of everything that was changed is below.

GENERAL:
* Technique, item, and enemy names were made more consistent with other games in the series.
* There are lots of new items!
* Needler weapons are no longer present.
* Shop and treasure chest contents are generally better.
* Some treasure chests were relocated. This means the only missable chests are at the Island Cave and in the dungeon of Cille Castle during the First Generation.
* Landen Dungeon +2 chests
* Landen-Aridia Tunnel +1 chest
* Techna Dungeon +2 chests
* Azura Dungeon -2 chests
* Aridia-Frigidia Tunnel +1 chest
* Mystoke Dungeon +1 chest
* Aerone Dungeon -1 chest
* Dahlia Dungeon: chests near entrance moved further inside
* Lashute Dungeon -6 chests (only Dark Force's chest remains)
* Two secret bonus chests are out there! (they're together)
* No more dummied enemies! Every enemy can be encountered, although some remain obscure.
* Battle text was made consistent with that of Phantasy Star IV.

WORLD:
* NO MORE EMPTY HOUSES! Every house has a shop and/or an NPC in it.
* There are lots of new NPCs with lots of new text. Castles and towns feel a lot less empty.
* There are more instances where NPC dialogue changes after events. Party members will sometimes comment on what was said.
* Most NPCs at the "home base" in the Third Generation say new things once the full party is assembled.
* People at Mystoke and Laya's Temple say new things during the Adan and Aron quests.
* Adan and Aron now get access to the Aridia-Draconia tunnel, so it's possible to get all treasure chests, for completionists.

CHARACTERS:
* Party member starting equipment is generally much better.
* Graphical updates were made to the map sprites for Ayn, Alair, Laya, Sean, and the Kara of Ayn's world.
* Some adjustments were made to who uses which Technique groups.
* All of Wren's guns hit an entire row of enemies, except for his initial equip.
* The Kara of Ayn's world is much stronger all around.
* Who can use what equipment was made consistent across all character types.
* Knives = main characters, Lena/Sari, Laya/Gwyn
* Swords = main characters
* Claws = Mieu
* Shots = Wren
* Staves = Lyle/Ryan
* Slashers = Thea/Kara
* Bows = Laya/Gwyn
* Helmets = main characters
* Ribbons = Mieu
* Headgear = Wren
* Bandanas = Lyle/Ryan, Thea/Kara
* Crowns = Lena/Sari, Laya/Gwyn
* Mail = main characters
* Vests = Mieu
* Armor = Wren
* Robes = Lyle/Ryan, Thea/Kara
* Capes = Lena/Sari, Laya/Gwyn
* Shields = main characters, Lyle/Ryan
* Emels = Lena/Sari, Thea/Kara, Laya/Gwyn
* Barriers = everyone except for Wren
* Jewels = everyone
* Boots = everyone
* Hirza Boots = Mieu, Lena/Sari, Thea/Kara, Laya/Gwyn
* Shune Boots = Mieu, Lena/Sari, Thea/Kara, Laya/Gwyn
* Garda Boots = main characters, Wren, Lyle/Ryan
* Knife Boots = Mieu

Here are a few things you might not love. If not... sorry!

* This patch doesn't prioritize lore from the original Japanese version.
* Item names, Technique names, and menu text are IN CAPS because that's how all the other Phantasy Star games did it back in the day.

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| Setup Instructions |
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You will need the 20230307psiiipatch.ips file as well as an unaltered copy of the Phantasy Star III Genesis/Megadrive English language ROM.

Dump Name Phantasy Star III - Generations of Doom (UE) [!]
Phantasy Star III - Generations of Doom
Phantasy Star III - Generations of Doom (USA, Europe)
Filesize 786432
CRC32 C6B42B0F
MD5 82C7BC027685CC8FC6C9E077BEB1A75A
SHA-1 59D4914E652672FD1E453C76B8250D17E8CA154E

After the patch is applied:
CRC32 701298A5
MD5 D5E3A23DDD6782815276A3DE5AF175D9
SHA-1 DD55C450D04859958B4421280061C6037F6B3A07

Please do not ask me for ROMs; I will not provide one.

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 20230307psiiipatch.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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| Credits |
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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.

First, I have to thank lory1990 for creating the Phantasy Star III Disassembly document, which makes 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.

Second, the changes to the sprites were thanks to Peaches, who had already done all the heavy lifting for her own hack, Phantasy Star III Bugfix. She was very gracious in allowing me to use elements from her work in my hack.

Thank you both for making this project possible!

Database match: Phantasy Star III - Generations of Doom (USA, Europe, Korea)
Database: No-Intro: Genesis (v. 20210226-213851)
File/ROM SHA-1: 59D4914E652672FD1E453C76B8250D17E8CA154E
File/ROM CRC32: C6B42B0F