A guide/faq to rs3 hack bokuno/aabeta is a Romancing SaGa 3 hack. It adds content from other SaGa games such as characters, events, bosses, item, etc. Basic difference between the hacks it that aabeta is focued on system/gameplay changes and it's finished while bokuno has more updated sprites/graphics, some events are more detailed and it's getting new version around every month. New version will usually add some new event. For download links Bokuno: There's link in this video description that's usually updated within 2-3 days after new update is released. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNUXtMmZ_og&list=PLlyjSLv9ootL_85-ShNmqi9OmF_gHferr aaBeta: EDIT !!CONFIRMED FOR BROKEN PATCH, USE REGULAR AABETA!! I have prepared aabeta patch with additional stuff, but I'm not sure if it's 100% functional. If you want to give it a try, get it here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/85t5n8di1t380qv/aabeta_patched.zip If you don't want a risk and prefer to use clean version, get it from japanese uploader: http://ux.getuploader.com/romancingsaga312/download/5/%E3%81%82%E3%81%82%CE%B2.zip If you want easier hack experience, you can use these patches: http://www.mediafire.com/download/ua09h40aigw9g6q/easy_patch.zip read the README file! JP Wiki links Bokuno: http://www.wikihouse.com/bokuno/index.php?FrontPage aaBeta: http://ux.getuploader.com/romancingsaga312/download/26/%E3%81%82%E3%81%82%CE%B2wiki%28%E4%BB%AE%29v2.zip Hot to patch game First, get the Lunar IPS. Then find the Romancing saga 3 JP rom ver. 1.1. Start Lunar IPS, "apply ips patch", select ips file then rs3 rom. If you downloaded clean aabeta, then choose the ips with big file size. Emulator Snes9x can run the game, but the best emulator is actually uosnes version from May 2010. http://toriniku.sourceforge.net/ (links are near bottom) For both emulators, you must disable the BlockInvalidVRAMAccess. In Snes9x you have to open config file and set it to FALSE, uosnes has it in options. Also, if you decide to use uosnes, I think it works better if you set the compatibilty with Windows XP. Also make sure that volume is always set level 1. (*) uosnes might need GraphicWindows checked, but I don't remember if it's on by default. Will check later (*) **Hack System features** Both Hacks Spark Magic You spark magic the same way as techs. When you obtain magic, you get basic spell built in and use to spark first magic. Custom Magic Custom magic has it's own level. It's also an important faction in dealing damage. Magic Level Save If you decide to use another magic, your level is saved and you can go back to using it anytime. Combination Magic If you have the necessary 4-5 spells equipped, an additional magic will appear in battle. It can't be learned/mastered in any way. In clean aabeta, you will need combination skill for that. Regen LP in INN Formation Details In formation screen, you can hold START button to see formation details. Icon details: Shield - Damage received is halved Sword - Physical attribute damage increased (expect for shooting) Bow - Physical attribute damage increased (shooting only) Crystal Ball - Magical attribute increase White Shoe - Speed Up Black Shoe - Speed Down Sword+ - Additional effects Shield S - Special Defense properties FT - Fast Trick DA - Delay Action You can also hold A button on someone to see his detailed defenses. Change Formation during fight If you press B button you can choose which formation you want to change during the fight. You lose 1 turn as a result of that. Crown (60) (not in clean aabeta) You get Crown after getting 60 WP/JP Sound Test You can listen to any music in game in settings menu. Main Hero Change You can change your main hero to anyone you have in party. aaBeta - NPC is in Pidona port. (might be buggy) Bokuno - NPC is in Westia. New Game+ After you beat game and see credits roll, reset your game with emulator (MUST be reset, not turn off). If you start new game from there, it will count as game already beaten. You should see added scene with Darque, then proceed with prologue as usual. To count the game as beaten, you have to finish the game with defeating Saiva(aaBeta) or Saruin/Saiva(Bokuno). New Game+ gives you access to boss house, which lets you fight most of the bossess in game anytime you want (you can also run away). It's located in Willminton. Some items will change the bosses you can fight. Item list: -ビルキース Extra Battles -タイニィフェザー Evil RS1 Lords -翼のお守り SF1 Last Bosses -骨十字 Three Gods -蛇香 Other Dragon bosses -クイーンの証 Dread Queen -魔女の瞳 True Noble Devils -牙のお守り Destroyer -ブラッディソード Dantag 2nd form -海風貝 Dantag 3rd form -both of above - Dantag 4th form -ピドナジュエル Seven Heroes combined Also in both games Darque will appear so you can use him. aaBeta will carryover all your items to your new game+ game. Bokuno does other things in new game+: easy access to level 3 treasure maps, auction house, friend teleport and other smaller stuff. Also remember that you can fight Saiva only on new game+ in bokuno. * aaBeta only * Combo System In battle, you can see that attacks have some letters on them (A, D, T, S). To initate the combo attack, you must attack in order A→D→T→A... and so on. Attacks with S can't be comboed. Also your attacks can't be interrupted by enemy. So, the conclusion is that if you want to abuse combo system, you have to Dragon formation. Also, important thing is that the combo attack will have types of last attack used. For example, if enemy has Self Burning and you finish with attack that has fire type/attribute then combo deals 0 damage. Enemies can combo their attacks too (it's rare). After combo attack there might be additional attack, but I never bothered figuring it out. I can tell for sure that 5 man combo attack will always have after attack. Detailed Weapons Types Weapons in aaBeta are more divided. This also means that some techs can be used by more than one weapon (some even by four weapons). Example http://i.imgur.com/kkAEJN4.png Here's list: -Sword: Sword and Curved Sword -Big Sword: Big Sword, Giant Sword and Katana -Axe: Axe and Great Axe -Club: Club and Staff -Foil: Foil and Dagger -Spear: Spear, Halberd and Trident -Bow -Gun -Martial Arts Combination Tech In aaBeta, you can combine techs the same way as magic. Separate Evades Menu There is separate evade menu. If you learn one evade, you don't have to master it. Alternation You can use command to swap position in formation during fight. If you use it on same character, then it will be the swap with 6th member. You can't swap wtih 6th member with your Main Hero. (*) not tested: I think when you swap with 6th member you will recover some hp/wp/jp. (*) Mode Change You can change modes your character fights in. Default is Normal Mode with no changes. Attack Mode: All status x1.35, Defense x0.75 Defense Mode: Defense x1.25, All status x0.75. Deflect/Auto Deflect activation rate increased. Trick Mode: All status and defense x0.875, WP/JP cost x0.75 SF2 Roles SF2 Roles are incorporated as custom magic. LP Break There's a chance that you will lose LP when attacked even if it's not killing blow. This won't happen if you have 1 or 0 LP. LP Consumption If you don't have enough WP/JP for tech/magic, you can use your LP instead. Guts When you get hit with killing blow, there's a chance that you will survive with 1 HP. Based on Will stat. If your LP is 1, then the chance of occuring is increased. Skills You can obtain the skills in game after the battle. They are located in evades menu and will give you various bonuses. Obviously you can't master skills. Note: Skills are in clean aabeta, but you can apply skill removal patch. Skill list: Weapon level skills - Up to level 5, increases your weapon level by "Skill level"x2 -Cut (斬): Increases Sword/Big Sword -Strike (打): Axe/Club -Pierce (突): Spear/Foil -Shooting (射): Bow/Gun -Martial Arts (体術): Martial Arts Magic level skills - Same as weapons -Souryuu (蒼龍) - Wind Magic -Asuka (朱鳥) - Fire Magic -Genbu (玄武) - Water Magic -Byakko (白虎) - Earth Magic -Taiyou (太陽) - Sun Magic -Tsuki (月) - Moon Magic -Amplification (増幅) - Custom Magic With the above you can of course go over level 50. Note that effect is only visible in battle. Two separate skills with different levels don't stack, only the one with highest level is chosen. Auxilary level skills - Up to level 4 -Defense (防御) - Increases defense -Shield (盾) - Shield/Guard activation rate increased -Block (ブロック) - Evasion/Counter techs activation rate increased -Guts (ガッツ) - Guts activation rate increased -Resistance (耐性) - When receiving attack from enemy, probabilty of stats lowering/negative status effects occuring is decreased -Disorder (障害) - When attacking enemy, probabilty of stats lowering/negative status effects occuring is increased Other Skills -Physical Mastery (物理マスタリ) - All weapon levels increased by 8. Individual weapon level skills are disabled if you have this skill. -Magical Mastery (術法マスタリ) - All magic levels increased by 8. Individual magic level skills are disabled if you have this skill. -Tech Expert (技の達人) - WP cost decreased by 2 -Magic Expert (術の達人) - JP cost decreased by 2 -Combo Rate UP (連携率UP) - Increases combo chance -Divination (占い) - Item Drop probability increases -Penetration (貫通) - Changes the activation rate of enemy Magic Shield to 1/4 and Barrier to 1/2 -Haggling (値切り) - Changes the buying/selling prices to your favor (Class patch only?) -Vigilance (警戒) - Your formation won't collapse even if you dash at the monsters (Class patch only?) The 3 skills below are not in aaBeta patched (they are always active), but they are in clean aabeta -Tech Synthesis (技合成) / Magic Synthesis (術合成) - Necessary if you want to use combination tech/magic -Auto Block (オートブロック) - Auto Deflect/Auto Counter is enabled Skills drop at random, but some bosses have fixed skill drop. (*) not tested: I think level of skill dropped depends on how strong boss is, not random (*) Classes (NOT in clean aaBeta!) What was called Job (I think) in original is now expanded here. Clasess will give you stats bonuses, built in skills and other neat stuff. Class ranks: Initial, Basic, Intermediate, High, Special. Special class is only avaible for some characters and it's the strongest one. You can change the classes in Pidona port NPC (same NPC as main hero change). Mystics can't change class. To change the class, you need Jewels. They drop randomly from monsters. Jewel Bunk can be exchanged for 5 Jewels at Tifar NPC. Costs: Basic - 2 Jewels, Intermediate - 4 Jewels, High - 7 Jewels, Special - 10 Jewels. Unlocks: Intermediate after 1 Abyss Gate sealed, High after 4 Abyss Gates sealed, Special after defeating Destroyer. T260G/Coon(Riki) Mechanics T260G will get different techs/magic when you equip him with items. You can also change form in the place where you recruited him. Coon/Riki will get tech/magic when he defeats a foe (it has to be Coon/Riki!). To change form, you need a certain set of tech/magic. Some of them can only be obtained from the bosses. ************ These playlists are very useful for event playthrough. aaBeta https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3D8491527194907C Bokuno https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlyjSLv9ootL_85-ShNmqi9OmF_gHferr If you don't feel like watching videos then I will at least list some easy to screw up events -Make sure you recruit Barbara during delivery event (when bandits can attack you if monsters are weak). She holds Amethyst. (both hacks) -You can't do bandits event if Vampire event starts (both) -Also vampires will swarm Stanley so make sure you don't need anything from Stanley (both) -Talk to Avi (Taftan Mountains) at the start of the game and he will give you Tiny Feather for your bravery (both) -The event where you talk to Poet in one of treasure caves near Adyllis requires your MC to have below 255 HP. (aabeta) / before you beat Dream Devil or go to East (bokuno). Note that in bokuno location is different -When you are doing Ginny/Red events, do not talk to old guy (aabeta) -Obviously you want to get professor's pet before you start the Kidlant monster event -Do Kidlant monster event before Paul returns (both?) -Not sure, but there might be some HP limit on Jamil event, do it early (aabeta) -Part of Diana and Albert event needs to be done between 256~512 HP (aabeta) -In Dream Devil event, to get dream gem you just have to send/drop it to warehouse (both) -Asellus event can be easily screwed: Can't find Podol and Snow Town before you start Asellus event and you have to pass the dream gem before your MC has 512 max HP. (aabeta) /I think even the 512 HP condition was deleted from bokuno but that's recent change I haven't tested -Dragon Eye event needs Gwayne so don't defeat him before you complete the event. Also make sure you take Sif from Ice Lake before your MC has 512 HP. (both) -You have to defeat Nachtzwieger before doing Elemental Lords event (aabeta only I think) -When you rescure Fairy during the show, you MUST get the Angel Wings in the other tent! (both) -You need to get Thunder Magi before you see any abyss gate. To get Thunger Magi, you have to complete first two trade/bussiness mini game missions and then talk to guy near Fullbright. (both) -Before getting 512 HP, you also have to defeat Queen in Vanguard and talk to the old man in Pidona (above Muse house). It's part of Ants event. (both) -Part of Emelia event needs 2nd Zweig Tournament so you can't seal 4 Abyss Gates before that. (both) I tend to have problems with this event so it might be a good idea to do all Emelia events in one go. -You must defeat Byunei with Gwayne! (both) -Elemental Lords will go back to normal after you finish Last Trial (both) ***************************************************************************