Suikoden Card Stories 
English Translation Patch v1.00
September 14, 2013

by Pokeytax

Table of Contents

1. Installation and Disclaimer
2. Translation Notes
3. Hacking Notes
4. Credits
5. Version History
6. Mini-FAQ
	a. Getting the Best Ending
	b. A Secret Character
	c. Link Mode
	d. Basic Tips
	e. Advanced Tips
	f. Critical Choices




==============================
1. Installation and Disclaimer
==============================

This patch is an .xdelta file, meant to be applied to a .gba version of the
game. Any of several patching utilities will work - I use the simple xdelta UI
by KaioShin at http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/598/

You need to obtain a .gba file, the Japanese version of the game, yourself. I
can't help you out.

Simply run xdeltaUI.exe, choose the patch, "Source File" (your .gba file), and
"Output File" (whatever you want the new patch to be), and press "Patch".

I hope that you consider supporting Konami for producing this game! At this
point, buying a used copy of Suikoden Card Stories will not benefit Konami.
Purchasing a Suikoden title on PSN is a great way to show your support for
classic Suikoden, and an electronic purchase makes sure they get most of the
money, but I'm sure Konami would appreciate your purchase of any Konami title
through any method.  Considering the original release of Card Stories sold fewer
than 10,000 copies, they could use the help. It should go without saying that
this is a noncommercial fan translation released under fair use, that all
Suikoden copyrights and trademarks remain the sole property of Konami, and that
this translation is only licensed for use in the absence of an official English
release of Card Stories.

====================
2. Translation Notes
====================

This is a "tool-assisted" translation into English; I have limited knowledge of
Japanese, and I made liberal use of Google Translate. Ordinarily that would
result in quite a mess, but the game's script isn't highly stylized and the plot
closely follows Suikoden II, so I was able to follow the action.  Also, I'm not
completely hopeless at Japanese.  Still, this is far from a perfect translation;
a lot of recent fan efforts have set the bar very high!

The translation isn't literal, but it shouldn't stray far from the original, at
least not intentionally.  A few people felt I was misinterpreting some lines,
and they were right, so while I fixed those, be forewarned.

The original, incorrect translations of names like the Zodiac Sword (Star Dragon
Sword) and Mathers (Mazus) have been retained.  In addition, some cards are
bugged in the game and do not function as their card text would suggest.  (For
example, the card South Window War should prevent all characters with the links
H & I from being played, but this restriction only applies to the player, not to
the AI.)  These translations have been adjusted to match gameplay.

================
3. Hacking Notes
================

Most of the game's text is Shift-JIS, except for two large banks of
Huffman-compressed Shift-JIS.  This patch uses a VWF 8x11 font based on the
existing Roman font, stored internally as ASCII + 0x60.  This allowed the use of
twice as many letters in the same VRAM as the original 11x11 characters.  The
hack doesn't massively overhaul the routine to write the whole alphabet into
VRAM, as the real bottleneck is the number of objects in OAM.

For this release, some limited sprite text welding has been implemented in order
to better fit text and generally make stuff work right.  It's still dotty in
places because a lot of old wiring remained, but it's an improvement over the
last release.

You may encounter occasional sprite glitches, but they should go away when you
back out of the screen and return.

==========
4. Credits
==========

Thanks to the hardworking team at the Suikogaiden Translation Project, led by
Rin-Uzuki and later Raww Le Klueze, which inspired me to pick this up. Don't
forget to check out Suikogaiden Vol. 1 & Vol. 2!

I heavily referenced Zaltabor's translations of cards for the initial
pass-through - it sped things up considerably.

ARMIPS (http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/635/) and No$gba 
(http://nocash.emubase.de/gba.htm) were very useful tools for this project;
thanks to Kingcom and Martin Korth, respectively.

==================
5. Version History
==================

1.00: Patch Complete
- Except for the attract mode animation, all Japanese text has been translated
  and all game features enabled.  Dummied content was restored, allowing 100%
  completion.

0.81: Time to Relax
- Some minor upgrades; game is now completely playable.  Forward progress on the
  patch is suspended, although I'll still take major bug reports.

0.80: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
- Enough improvements to release a new version. Battle text tweaked and the
  second & third tutorials repaired.  The Cafeteria and Recipes in general
  remain a disaster area and are best avoided.

0.751: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
- Reverted to 0.70 to get around a stupid crash I should have fixed. Rebuilding
  back to 0.75.

0.75: Crash Fixes
- Several more memory allocation bugs fixed. Slowly getting the shops
  displaying prices better.
- All enemy names and recipe names translated. This should significantly reduce
  or eliminate the crashing in dungeons.

0.70: Corruption Fixes
- Horrible memory allocation bugs causing corrupted savestates and inability to
  edit the deck fixed. Also a few minor bugs.

0.41: April Fool's!
- Initial release 4/1/2012. Playable to the end with a lot of savestating, but
  many bugs/crashes/mistranslations.

===========
6. Mini-FAQ
===========

a) Getting the Best Ending

There are three endings to the game.  The more Ending Points you have, the more
you gain access to.  You gain and lose Ending Points based on the responses you
choose.  The "correct" choices are at the end of this mini-faq.  They're very
generic and will not spoil you, so feel free to refer to them.  If you are
following along and find you've missed one, don't worry, you can afford to skip
a few - but be warned, it's difficult to get the best ending simply by trusting
your instincts.  There's always New Game +, though!

b) Link Mode

Link Mode is "weakly supported" (i.e. the text is translated, and it could
theoretically work, but I haven't tested it because setting it up is a pain).

c) A Secret Character

In the original Japanese release, it was impossible to fully complete the game,
due to one missing card.  That character was apparently intended to be
distributed through special events and promotions, like Mew for the original
Pokemon.  But, the abysmal sales of Card Stories in Japan meant nothing ever
materialized.  

However, this card is fully functional, there are hints about this character in
the original release, and there was even a complete cutscene dummied out.  This
character is now enabled, and it should be possible to get a 100% card file.
Happy hunting!

d) Basic Tips

- Mission and Facility cards let you determine the rules for a fight, but they
won't help you win.  Reducing the number of these in your deck will let you draw
more characters.  Later on in the game, using high VP missions helps you further
cut back on Mission cards.

- When you play a mission, or when your opponent plays one, you want a hand full
of characters.  So if you've drawn extra facilities or missions, or even lousy
characters, consider discarding them until you have your best squad.

- When you clear a mission, the character you station very rarely returns to
combat.  There's no mechanic where they have to defend the mission.  However,
that character cannot be played for the rest of the game, because they're still
considered in play.

- For that reason, it is critical that you station cards you won't need later.
Ideally, station cards you only have one of in your deck; then, station cards
that are weak, or cards you only have two or three of.

- To use a Unite, play the character WITHOUT the UNITE text on their card first.
You then get a free play of the character WITH the UNITE text.

- Cards that discard characters from play, especially characters of your choice,
are generally very effective.  Cards that return cards to your deck generally
aren't.

- At the very beginning, you will be short on leaders.  You may want to swap out
some weak followers and facilities or missions for any leaders you can find.

- Fleeing a random battle in a dungeon before it starts only costs a little
potch.  But once it starts, even though you get unlimited continues, there's no
way to escape except winning.  So either save states frequently or be careful
about picking fights.

- If you can manage to trade five cards in at the Training center, you'll get a
bonus card as a reward.  However, be careful about trading your strongest cards
along the way!

e) Advanced Tips

- Occasionally, having an appropriate card in your deck will trigger an event
and affect how many VP you need to win.  For example, Sierra and the Star Dragon
Sword are good to bring along against Neclord.

- In dire situations, consider forgoing missions and facilities altogether and
trying to piggyback on your opponent's mission cards instead.  If you have
failed the fight already and know what missions your opponent will be playing,
sometimes it's easier to try and beat them at their own game.

- The exception to stationing only weak cards is stationing cards that provide
bonuses to other cards.  Riou is a great card for you early on, but if you clear
a mission and station him, all Alliance characters get +1 ATT for the rest of
the game.  If you station Jeane, your characters with Runes get +1 ATT (and if
you put her on the Rune Shop, they get another +1 ATT!).

- You can also try to station cards that are giving you fits, if you have your
own copy.  If you get your Seed stationed on a cleared mission, you don't have
to deal with him for the rest of the game.

- In general, despite attempts by the designers to make all the cards
interesting, the game strongly favors cards with high base stats.  Unless they
directly remove your opponent's characters, cards with low ATT/MIL/BLD become
increasingly outclassed as the game progresses.

- It becomes difficult to build facilities later on, because usually they take
two or three turns to build, two turns to destroy, and your opponent moves
first.  In later expansions, they fixed this by making Facilities much harder
to scrap, but you're stuck with the game the way it is.

- 1 VP ATT missions suffer in a similar way; the head start your opponent gets
matters a lot thanks to the low clear condition.  Additionally, once you begin
needing 4-5 VP, stationing characters can be a severe disadvantage.  Someone
with 2 1 VP missions and 2 Facilities cleared has four characters tied up for
3 VP.  Playing and winning Take L'Renouille gets you 3 VP for only one
character.

- In the main story, you're going to be seeing a lot of MIL missions.  So even
if you're playing an ATT or facility focused deck, you need a reliable way of
dealing with these, because... 

- Unfortunately, Highland cards are some of the best in the game, and you spend
most of the storyline fighting the Highland Army.  Solon Ghee, Han, Culgan,
Seed, and Luca are all extremely difficult to deal with.  Even though Rina
offers 0 MIL in a military mission, getting rid of one of those five is still
usually a good play.  Shu's healthy MIL and ability to return a card to hand are
extremely powerful.

- Matches where you have to earn an overwhelming number of VP (more than 5) can
be very difficult to win without running out of cards.  Instead of trying to
earn VP, you may want to add a few cards like Barbara or Warehouse to your deck
and play a careful defense, trying to run your opponent's deck down first so
they lose.  Playing decoy Facilities that take your opponent two or three cards
to destroy can help, since they don't grant any VP.

f) Critical Choices

These are the "correct" choices, in order.  You need to get maybe 80% right in
order to access all endings.

"Let's go home."
"No way!" (twice, but not three times)
"Come with me."
"I wanna go home."
"He's here."
"If I can help..."
"If I have power..."
"It's not your fault."
"I'm fine."
"Let her go."
"I can't run away."
"And Jowy?"
"We beat them?"
"Sure."
"Unforgivable!"
"I don't think so."
"I understand."
"He did."
"Step aside."
"..."
"Find Jowy!"
"But, I can't."
"Let's go."
"But... I...!"