Two romhacking projects look to bring quality of life changes and audio options to Sunsoft’s cult-classic Sega Saturn JRPG, Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean .

Albert Odyssey is a rather standard turn-based JRPG affair, with its moment-to-moment gameplay marred by long load times, frequent random encounters, and a lack of overall challenge. These common critiques are exactly what the fan homebrew developer Xhul set out to fix.

Xhul — whose GitHub is here — made their intentions clear with a July 14 post on the SegaXtreme forums : “Not sure if I’m the only one, but I really think Albert Odyssey deserves some improvement.”

Xhul initially set out with a multi-part approach to this improvement effort, which included tweaks to the character Gryzz, adjustments to the load times, and even proposed changes to the tone of the music. Xhul also discussed adding an “MP leech system,” which would address an imbalance between the utility of spells and physical attacks.

“There’s no benefit in using damaging spells at all, since attacks will always do more damage.”
— Xhul

However, by early August, Xhul had adjusted the scope to focus on reducing random encounter rates. The exact values for encounter rates and corresponding reward drops are still being determined, but as of Aug. 10 Xhul was discussing a patch where dungeons would see a “counter increase” for every three steps instead of the original’s every one step, effectively cutting the encounter rate by 66%.

A less drastic cut to random encounters would be implemented for the world map where “counter increases” would come every two steps, or at a 50% reduction. Xhul also said the combat rewards, specifically gold and experience, would be adjusted to 1.5 times the amount seen in the original release.

Reducing the frequency of random encounters would indirectly address the oft-maligned long load times of the game, as there would be less screen transitions across a playthrough.

As of this publication, Xhul is still preparing version 1 of their improvement patch, which will be available once compatibility with KoolFiller’s latest restoration and undub patch has been guaranteed.

KoolFiller’s undub, sound effects patches

That is right, KoolFiller is back at it again — check out SHIRO!’s coverage last month of KoolFiller’s Keio Flying Squadron 2 hack here — with their most recent release, the “Albert Odyssey – Legend of Eldean (USA) – Japanese SFX Restoration + Undub” patch joining the resources page on SegaXtreme on Aug. 9 . This specific patch, which uses patching scripts by Derek Pascarella (ateam) and KnightOfDragon’s Sega Saturn Patcher , allows fans to return the sound effects of the original Japanese release to the North American version of the game.

There are two versions of the patch, each using a different patcher.

“Both patchers restore the Japanese SFX. One patcher keeps the English voices, The other patcher undubs them.”
— KoolFiller

KoolFiller said that there are not subtitles in the undubbed version of the patch, creating an awkward instance near the middle of the game where the player is treated to “17 seconds of silent black screen.” However, KoolFiller has confirmed that the patch has been tested “through to the end” via emulation, specifically the Retroarch Beetle Saturn core.

Xhul and Koolfiller have been discussing their respective patches and are publicly coordinating to ensure that their efforts are compatible.

Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean is the third and final entry in Sunsoft’s Albert Odyssey series, with the first two entries being available on Nintendo’s Super Famicom.  Technically a side-story separate from the events of the first two games, as denoted by the “gaiden” in its Japanese title — Arubto Odessei Gaiden ~ Rejendo Obu Erudn —  this Sega Saturn exclusive was the only game in the franchise to be sold outside of Japan, with publisher Working Designs releasing an English localized version in North America in the summer of 1997.

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Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean was lauded at the time of its release for its beautiful pixel art and soundtrack, the latter composed by the famous Naoki Kodaka of Journey to Silius and Blaster Master fame. These aspects of the game continue to receive praise within retro gaming spheres to this day.

	Rasputin3000
		Archaeologist of many things. Longtime enjoyer of the Dreamcast that found his way to the Saturn in 2016 thanks to its vibrant fan community.