Translations: Exile on MSX in English

[RHDNBot]

Update By: Szcz

XZR2 for the MSX, already available in English on the Megadrive and Turbo Duo under the name Exile, has been translated by Django of the MSX community. This is the second in a trilogy of RPGs, with the first, XZR, appearing only on the MSX, the sequel XZR2 appearing on the MSX, Megadrive and Turbo Duo, and the third, Exile: Wicked Phenomenon (XZR: Janen no Jishou) appearing only on the Turbo Duo. The latter two were translated by Working Designs, though with some alterations (changing the names of Gods to avoid offending real-world religions) and removal of some drug references, meaning this should enable fans to experience it in a form truer to the original - albeit with cut-down graphics. Let's hope they're working on the original XZR, since as yet no translation exists, it's great fun to play, and it sets the scene for latter games.

RHDN XZR2 Page

Relevant Link: (http://www.passionmsx.org...s/article.php?storyid=357)

[noneother]

I actually did the Turbo CD version just a few weeks (months?) ago. Surprisingly good game, plus the soundtrack is awesome. I'll have to try this version to see how it all started.

[KingMike]

So I heard WD jacked up the difficulty of Wicked Phenomenom so much that not even the testers beat it.

[noneother]

Oh, I read the article on the original page-seems this is only a partial translation. It says that the menus and "some dialogue" was translated. I tried out a bunch of translations by that same guy (Django) a while back, none of them are ever really close to complete-the point seems to be mostly to make them "playable" to non-Japanese speakers. He usually accompanies them with FAQS and stuff too.

Oh, and on the topic of Exile 2-I've been hearing all that same stuff about the difficulty for years and years, but for some reason I can't run the game with Ootake.

[I.S.T.]

So I heard WD jacked up the difficulty of Wicked Phenomenom so much that not even the testers beat it.

I doubt they'd release the game in that condition...

[Starscream]

That there are actually 3 games in this series I discovered myself just a short time ago. Always thought that Exile was the original XZR. For the record, the first 2 games are also available on other common Japanese computer platforms (PC88 etc.).

[Szczepaniak]

So I heard WD jacked up the difficulty of Wicked Phenomenom so much that not even the testers beat it.

This is believable. I had to use Hugo-X's cheat search to boost the base attack/defence by 25 (and increase of 50% of the maximum cap levels), and give myself infinite health for some sections. Even with this, some enemies could kill in one hit and took about six to go down (bosses though dropped after two hits annoyingly, making me think they tweaked each enemy's stats individually). It would need a serious hack to make the game playable.

Screens on the back of the box only go up to the first main boss, and he is almost impossible. I hear the Japanese version is super easy though. Sadly, Wicked Phenomenon isn't very good anyway. The extra characters are unbalanced, the game is short and very formulaic, the villages all look generically the same (some sprite swaps but nothing interesting). And there's no character portraits at all. I'd say the best of the series is Exile (XZR2) and the first game on the MSX, XZR.

Mobygames has some decent screens of the first game:
http://www.mobygames.com/game/msx/xzr/screenshots

It looks much like Exile on the Turbo Duo.

[dapper gent]

So I heard WD jacked up the difficulty of Wicked Phenomenom so much that not even the testers beat it.

I doubt they'd release the game in that condition...

they did. i had to grind to the max level (which is 18) to beat the second boss, and i still haven't beaten the final dungeon to date.

noneother: it works perfectly in magic engine. it's lacking the provocative story that the first two games have, though. instead of fighting caliphs, freemasons and the christian church, you're fighting a legion of generic anime demons who are evil for the sake of being evil.

also, i think everybody dies at the end of exile except for Sadler, and yet they're all back in Wicked Phenomenon, with only an explanation of "Hughes lied, we didn't die, we escaped miraculously"

[Szczepaniak]

Actually, at the end of XZR2 you see Sadler standing in the desert, looking across at his friends. it was never explicitly said they were dead. But yes, the story was very weak in XZR3.