  _______________                          ________                   
 / _____   _____ \                        / ______ \               
/ /     | |     \ \    Nightcrawler's    / /      \ \
\/      | |      \/                     / /        \ \
        | |                            / /      ____\/ /\___  /\_____
        | |  /\___   ___/\ /\___    /\ | |     //--\\  |/--\\ |/----\\
        | |  |/--\\ //--|| ||--\\  / / | |     ||  ||  ||   ` ||    || 
        | |  ||   ` ||  || ||  || / /  | |     ||__||  ||     ||____|| 
        | |  ||     ||__|| ||  || \ \  | |     \____/  ||     ||_____/
        | |  ||     \___|| ||  ||  \ \  \ \          /\\/     || 
        | |  \/         \/ \/  \/  / /   \ \        / /       ||
        | |                        \/     \ \______/ /        ||  
        \ /  (c)2016 All rights reserved.  \________/         \/
         `                                  
***********************************************************************
        Heracles no Eikou IV - Kamigami kara no Okurimono
            Glory of Heracles IV - Gift from the Gods
                    English Translation Patch
                            presented by:

                            Nightcrawler's
                        Translation Corporation
                    http://transcorp.romhacking.net


                    Version 1.0 February 17th 2017
***********************************************************************



Table of Contents

1.0 Information
    1.1 Patch Information
    1.2 Distribution and Licensing Information
    1.3 Copyright Information
    1.4 Disclaimer
2.0 The Project
    2.1 History of the Project
    2.2 Words from the Translator
    2.3 The Team
3.0 About the Game
4.0 Credits of who worked on this Patch
5.0 What you will find in the Patch
6.0 Known Issues in the Patch
7.0 Special Thanks



1.0 Information


1.1 ****Patch Information****

    This patch when hard patched correctly will result in a VALID checksum.

    This patch was created for use on an original ROM that has:

    * NO header
    * CRC32: 920A738E
    * No-Intro (http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/1002/) identified as
        Heracles no Eikou IV - Kamigami kara no Okurimono (Japan), Version 1.0 

    The 'TransPatch.exe' custom patching application can be used to ensure 
    you have the correct ROM and patch, and apply the patch to headered or 
    non-headered ROMs automatically. This is the recommended way to apply 
    the patch for novice patchers.

    The patcher should work on Win95/98/ME/2000/XP/Vista/7/8/10, as well as 
    Linux under Wine. It should be self explanatory to use. You will be 
    asked for your ROM file and your IPS patch file. The program will alert 
    you if any errors are found or upon a successful patching job. 

    An xDelta format patch is also provided for reliable patching in all other
    cases. xDelta patchers are available on all platforms. Popular choices are:
        
    * MultiPatch (MacOS X)  - http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/746/
    * Delta Patcher (Win/Linux) - http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/704/
    * xdelta UI (Win .NET/Linux Mono) - http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/598/

    Patch History:
    
    * 1.0 - December 26th 2016
          - Initial Release
    * 1.1 - February 17th 2017
          - Fixed garbage tiles on weather related commands
          - Fixed all reported grammatical, spelling, consistency issues

1.2 ****Distribution and Licensing Information****

    This patch is licensed under the Creative Commons Deed as:
        
    Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

    This means you are free to share, copy, or distribute the work under the
    following conditions: 
    
    * Attribution:
        You must give appropriate credit and provide a link to the work's
        website.

    * NonCommercial:
        You may not use the material for commercial purposes.

    * NoDerivatives:
        You may not alter, remix, transform, or build upon the work and
        distribute the modified work.
    
    A full copy of the license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) can be found at:

    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
        
    The only files found in the official distribution archive are 
    'readme.txt', 'goh4ev10.ips', 'goh4ev10.xdelta', and 'TransPatch.exe'. If 
    anything else has been found in this archive, this is not an official 
    distribution. Only official distributions may be distributed freely for 
    public use per the license.

1.3 ****Copyright Information****

    Heracles no Eikou is a 1994 trademarked, copyrighted property of Data 
    East Corporation. Nightcrawler's Translation Corporation is not 
    affiliated with the above company in any way. 

    Nightcrawler's Translation Corporation title, melodies, and all logos are 
    not to be used under any circumstances without the expressed written 
    consent of the original creator/s. 

1.4 ****Disclaimer****

    No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the 
    permissions necessary for your intended use. Nightcrawler's Translation 
    Corporation, Nightcrawler, nor any affiliates of the aforementioned shall 
    be held liable or responsible for any losses, damages, injury, and/or 
    legal consequences due to the misuse, or illegal use, of any of the files 
    contained within this archive. 


2.0 The Project


2.1 History of the Project

    The Glory of Heracles IV project has been going on for a ridiculously 
    long time! It was first announced 13 years ago, back in 2003! While not 
    all of those years were active years for the project, many of them were! 
    In the early years progress was slow as it was competing for time with 
    Wozz, Emerald Dragon, and the birth of ROMhacking.net. Soon after those 
    items were completed and out of the way, I was plagued with other long 
    term problems. Persistent medical issues, followed by a bad surgery, left 
    me unable to work much on any projects for long awhile. 

    Eventually around 2010, I started working exclusively on Glory of 
    Heracles. I would say 2010 was the 'serious business' start of the 
    project. I think it got kicked off when DaMarsMan (ROM hacker of Glory 
    of Heracles III) got involved for awhile with some early menu work. That 
    got me re-started on everything else. This also gave shape to several 
    new endeavors during the next few years; such as the TextAngel utility, 
    newer table standard, and a universal VWF project. Although those items 
    have yet to make it to the public space, they were all used in some 
    capacity for Glory of Heracles. Now there is unfortunately less 
    motivation to work on those aforementioned side projects without a 
    project to use them on! Oh well, perhaps in the next 13 years!? 

    Somewhere along the way, our original translator Heart went permanently 
    missing. It seems every translation project has at least one instance of 
    that happening! Nothing new there. Luckily, the project got another kick 
    in the pants in 2013 when nanashi joined the team. Having done the Glory 
    of Heracles III translation, he brought much to the table. He touched up 
    most of the old work, and forged ahead to complete the script for us. 
    He even stuck around after that to endure all of the subsequent project 
    headaches like formatting, consistencies, technical issues, testing etc. 
    The longevity and hell of this project probably scarred him for life!
    
    The project got at least another 2 years of exclusive menu work. The 
    scrolling menu system utilized entire background layers top to bottom 
    and left to right. It was not possible to expand in several cases. So, 
    we had to do an 8x8 VWF. That was the easy part though. The real 
    nightmare started with VRAM management. First, there were over *200* 
    submenus in the game. They could be used in various combinations in the 
    main menu, battle menus, and shop menus. They could be used in different 
    bitplane modes. Sometimes, they could even be used with full sprites and 
    full color game foreground/backgrounds on screen too! Second, because 
    the scrolling effects required entire background layers to be used, VRAM 
    requirements were very heavy. It had to hold more than what was visible 
    on a single screen at all times. Third, there were times where the game 
    used mid-frame HDMA trickery to dynamically change the background VRAM 
    locations to anywhere at different times during the same frame! These 
    things made VRAM management a true nightmare. 

    Even after all that, the super secret gate of hell hacking was about to 
    open! The game already overran NMI (time between frames) in many 
    instances leaving absolutely no time (technically NEGATIVE time) for me 
    to transfer ANYTHING. I had to hack how the overworld and towns loaded. 
    I had to hack how the battles were loaded. I had to hack how palettes 
    were written. I had to hack a host of core game mechanics to buy some 
    time to be able to do some transfers. There were times that I didn't 
    think the project was going to be possible. I pulled out every trick in 
    the book. I spread things out across multiple frames, deferring core 
    game writes, reducing game data VRAM caching, and more. Finally, I got 
    something that just barely worked and ran away as fast as my legs could 
    carry me never looking back! 

    It's been a long road. If I had to do it over again, I'd probably pass 
    and let someone else do it! Ha! However, we know there's no do-overs in 
    life. I took on the project, so all I could do was embrace it 
    and see it to completion. Because, I just don't know how to quit to a 
    fault! 
    
    Once again, I really hope you'll enjoy several more years worth of my 
    passion for and dedication to this hobby and community. I freely and 
    proudly give you the opportunity to play Glory of Heracles IV in 
    English. Thank you to all who have given me words of support, all who 
    have given a helping hand to the project, and the fans of TransCorp and 
    our community. As always, take it, love it, cherish it!

2.2 Words from the Translator (by nanashi)

    I remember my first encounter with this project back in 2005, when I was 
    searching the net for a script of Glory of Heracles 3. GoH3 & 4 were 
    among a bunch of older games I bought used in December 2004 and GoH4 was 
    actually the first I played of the set. It might seem counter intuitive 
    to play the 4th before the 3rd game but that's how I did it (the nicer 
    graphics had something to do with it, probably). 

    I only played Glory of Heracles 3 some months later and that one turned 
    out to be the one to leave me awestruck when I beat it. I wanted to 
    reread its story without having to play through it again and so I 
    started searching the net for a transscript. It was fortunate for the 
    GoH3 translation project that I didn't find the rather complete Japanese 
    replay website for it at first, because otherwise I might not have 
    offered to work on the translation. In return I got to see a diary entry 
    that was cut from the game and there's no better way to get to know a 
    story inside and out than by translating it. So it was fortunate for me 
    as well. 

    DaMarsMan was scouting for translators on Nightcrawler's message board 
    at the time and that's how I first contacted him. I also saw that 
    Nightcrawler was working on the 4th installment but, as I said, I was 
    very invested in the earlier game which I just had beaten. After I had 
    finished the translation for GoH3 and basically dumped it on DaMarsMan, 
    I found employment at NoE and did some professional translation work for 
    a few years. So I wasn't around to help with testing and for checking 
    the editing as the GoH3 patch was nearing completion. That turned out to 
    be a mistake that I wasn't going to repeat, so when I finally joined the 
    GoH4 project in 2013 I was intent to stay on board until the patch would 
    release and I also resumed work on the already finished and released 
    GoH3 patch to iron out some problems I had missed during the original 
    translation phase. 

    GoH3 is a tough act to follow. Although very well written itself and 
    featuring many interesting gameplay innovations, GoH4 always suffers 
    from inevitably being compared to its predecessor. GoH4 doesn't quite 
    hit you as hard as GoH3 did with its plot twist. Instead it features 
    several smaller plot revelations throughout the story that make for a 
    more complex narrative in the end. Which is well paced and just as 
    compelling as the one of its predecessor, and will have you glued to the 
    controller during the final hours of the game. 

    History repeated itself with Final Fantasy VII and its follow up FFVIII, 
    the latter again overshadowed by the former despite its own 
    achievements. Thanks to the critical acclaim scenario writer Kazushige 
    Nojima received for his work on GoH, he was able to transfer to Square 
    where he was asked to write a mysterious story for FFVII like the one in 
    GoH3. And when he wrote FFVIII with a school setting and emphasis on 
    romance, that echoed similar themes in GoH4. That isn't to say that the 
    Heracles games and the FF games feature the same stories. They're quite 
    different in fact. But you can see early versions of characters that 
    would later populate Nojima's FF stories. Like Yunas, a saba breeder you 
    will encounter in Bizerte, a port town in Egypt. 

    She is but one of a hundred (!) playable characters. GoH4's body system 
    is quite ambitious, and an interesting way to let the player choose 
    their own avatars for their mute hero. Of course their backstories don't 
    match the complexity of the main story, but especially in the early 
    locations you can act out some story scenes by becoming the residents of 
    those towns and experiencing their circumstances from each of their 
    different perspectives. Think of them as playable NPCs. Everyone can be 
    the protagonist, for a while. 

    And in case of Yunas, she would later be the protagonist of her own 
    games. Well, the summoner Yuna from Besaid would, but as I pointed out 
    above, Nojima has a habit of further developing ideas and themes from 
    his previous games. You could even say that the different stories are 
    pieces in a puzzle that form a complete picture only when you know them 
    all. GoH4 applies this concept in its 100 playable characters and their 
    little stories. They all resonate with the mute hero's own character. We 
    know very little about him (he doesn't speak, after all), but by knowing 
    them, we get to know him as well. 

    The Glory of Heracles games on NES and SNES are clones of Dragon Quest 
    in an ancient Greek setting. The familiarity of the gameplay is 
    comforting but it's when the formula gets shaken up that GoH makes a 
    lasting impression. This happens in the narrative as well as in 
    gameplay. Both in DQ and GoH, battles are seen from a first person 
    perspective. GoH4 expands on this by dynamically changing this 
    perspective between the different party members. Like DQ, the GoH games 
    feature day and night cycles. GoH4 adds weather, which can be changed 
    during battle to affect its conditions. 

    The original DQ trilogy featured brave heroes that were guided by good 
    kings, telling them their objectives. In DQIII, the young hero and the 
    wise old king would even switch places for a while. A little taste of 
    what awaits the hero, the promise of growing up to become a king 
    himself. GoH4 raises the question of what happens when a youth has to 
    walk in the shoes of a king before he gets to grow up, when he has to 
    give orders instead of receiving them. 

2.3 The Team (Aside from Nightcrawler)

    nanashi:

    It was a treat to be able to have nanashi do the translation because he 
    also translated the script for Glory of Heracles III. This allowed us to 
    stick with same styling and conventions, and give the two games in the 
    series a similar feel. It's rare that you get to do that in the fan 
    translation world. Different games in the same series are often done by 
    different people causing discontinuity in styling and conventions. This 
    can happen in the professional world as well sometimes, but we can all 
    agree it's best if it can be avoided! 
    
    I'm sure nanashi had no idea it was going to take so many years to get 
    the project done right after he signed on. I really commend him for 
    sticking with me and continuing to aid in translation and script support 
    right up until the very end. He was always patient through all of my 
    over-extended life delays and I appreciate that. He had a passion that 
    drove him to put some love into the project and do the very best job he 
    could. I couldn't ask for any more than that. It only encouraged me to 
    continue to do the same and push the project to be the best that it 
    could be. 

    DaMarsMan:
    
    DaMarsMan deserves some mention for his early menu and project 
    organization work. He was also the ROM hacker for Glory of Heracles III, 
    which once more aided us in closely coupling the two games by providing 
    the work for that project. Although he eventually bowed out due to 
    time and technical reasons, much of his early findings and work are 
    still left in the project. It saved me a good deal of time there. In 
    addition, his organized approach to the project while we were working 
    together helped me up my game a bit too. As a result, this is probably 
    my most organized project to date. Never discount the fact that other 
    people can help you with personal growth as well during a ROM hacking 
    project! 
    
    Misty:
    
    Misty once again did some script editing for us after having previously 
    done script editing for TransCorp's Magical Land of Wozz project. Of 
    note in the script editing process was her addition of the Persian 
    dialect to the script. Prior to that, the Persian characters simply 
    spoke in broken English making them seem less educated. After reviewing 
    the intention of the original script with nanashi, it was determined a 
    dialect was a better fit to meet the true intention of the original 
    script. These types of things don't always translate clearly from 
    Japanese. It's also not that easy to add good dialect to a script. 
    She also got us set up on a repository so we could all collaborate 
    better on the script. I'm usually resistive and old school with that 
    type of thing, so I'm glad she took the initiative and set us up! 

    
3.0 About the Game

    
    Glory of Heracles IV is an interesting blend of Greek mythology, 
    Pandora's Box, and the quest for eternal life. Although Heracles is in 
    the title and the game, he is not the principle character. The game is 
    actually the story about some other characters, with Heracles as a 
    secondary intertwined quest. I really expected this game to be a Dragon 
    Quest clone, but I got something much deeper in game play and story. 
    
    The most notable gameplay feature is the body system. You can acquire and 
    inhabit 100 different bodies throughout the game. Each body has its own 
    set of levels, strengths and weaknesses, and unique skills for battle. 
    The body you are in may have an effect on the dialog, solve a small 
    puzzle with other characters for an item, or change behavior during 
    battling. This provides some re-playability as you won't be able to 
    develop and experiment with them all during a single play through. There 
    are too many possibilities. 
    
    There is also a seed planting system, blacksmith system, diary, myth 
    guide, and bestiary. As a result, there are more menus in this game 
    than any other SNES game I've ever seen. Over 200 submenus are used! You 
    will never see them all in your first play through!

    The main plot follows the player, his friend Plato, and Epipha from the 
    mythical city of Atlantis. Their fine professor has been researching 
    possibilities of ever lasting life. Soon after the game begins, an event 
    happens that transcends life as they know it. You will encounter life, 
    death, Pandora's Box, Heracles, and even the gods themselves! You must 
    unravel the mystery of what happened. You must help Heracles in his 
    quest too. You will travel by boat, saba, submarine, and even on the 
    legendary Pegasus! You will journey to the underworld, under the sea, 
    and even to the heavens above! It is a good tale to be had for the 
    16-bit era! The Glory of Heracles awaits you! 
        
        
4.0 Credits


    Here are the people that helped make this translation possible. 
    Be thankful to all. ;)

    Hacking:        Nightcrawler
    Translators:    nanashi, Heart
    Script Editing: Misty
    Beta Testers:   KingMike, Trunkz0r, Erik, MariusB, Princess
    Title Screen:   FlashPV


5.0 What you will find in this patch:


    It's complete now, so you SHOULD find everything 100% translated! 

    If you find any bugs, please report them at the TransCorp message board.

    Easter Egg:

    Unfortunately, due to how many years this project took, I did not do my 
    long standing tradition of adding myself to the game this time. You 
    would be looking in vein. Maybe next time. :) 

    
6.0 Known Issues:


    None


7.0 Special Thanks


    Special Thanks go out to these people for contribution and help 
    in this project.  Without you guys, this patch may not have been 
    possible!

    (in no particular order)

    Additional Special Thanks to:

    Gemini
    TransCorp message board supporters
    ROMhacking.net message board supporters

    I'm terribly sorry if I forgot anyone. I didn't mean to! It's been
    so many years and I'm getting old! : )

