Vay

In the original version of Vay, Japanese players are called upon to find five orbs in order to save a fantasy world. In the Working Designs localization, Western players are called upon to equip gas masks in order to avoid death at the hands of a fairy cursed with "eternal seismic flatulence".

Oy vey.

To do: It looks like there might be some unused spells: along with the used spell names, the US version also contains "FATE", "SAPYLLS", and "KOLAKENI". These don't seem to be used in the Japanese version either.

Unused Cutscenes#

In an unusual move, given the effort involved in making them, several mostly complete (by the game's rather low standards) animated cutscenes were cut from the game. Apparently, this was due to certain events being scrapped mid-development, causing them to no longer fit with the finished plot. None of these have any associated audio.

The first two of these are accessible from the animation test room added in the US version (described below). The last one was uploaded by the developer of the game's mobile port; it's not clear if it's still in the finished game or not.

Watch on YouTubeThis one appears to depict the Sentinel Tree regrowing. As described below, there's an unused map that seems to be related to this event.

Watch on YouTubeShows the party escaping, in awkward fashion, from a volcano.

Watch on YouTubeDepicts, using as few animation frames as possible, a rock levitating out of Sandor and Pottle's path.

Unused Maps#

The game contains quite a few unused maps. Swap one of these with HINEROA.SF to replace the Hineroa Castle map. None of these were translated for the US release.

• TIPMURA.SF – The most interesting of the lot, this is a half-finished town named ティプーヤァむら (Tipuya Village – the English spelling is from the filenames) that was cut from the game, apparently replaced by Korei (Hayhill) Village. While the map seems to be completely laid out with NPCs, dialogue, and shops, the NPCs use placeholder sprites, so it obviously wasn't finished at the time it was scrapped.

• FLD2_1B.SF – The exit from TIPMURA.SF leads here. This is an old/alternate layout for Calzania that includes Tipuya Village, and reveals that Tipuya Village originally occupied the site of Korei Village. This map doesn't seem to be set up correctly, causing graphical glitches whenever it's loaded.

• PIREIHO.SF – A nearly-blank placeholder map. Has a location name of ピレイホーのたに (Pireihou Valley).
• RDSAURA.SF – Another blank placeholder. Has a location name of ローディシアじょう　うら (Rodesia Castle bottom/back). This contains some dialogue that seems to correspond to Reifan/Rachel leaving the party for good.
• SEKAIJYU.SF – Also blank. Has a location name of せかいじゅ (World Tree/Yggdrasil, which was renamed to Sentinel Tree in the US version). This is probably related to the unused cutscene of the tree regrowing. Has some associated graphics which may or may not be unused/unique.

To do: These could all use a thorough lookthrough that I'm probably never going to give them, but I'll try to at least post the dialogue and stuff at some point.

Additionally, there are five test maps for testing the game's enemies:

• MONSTST.SF – Triggers a sequential series of encounters with regular enemies. Defeating them or dying moves on to the next formation. Also forces Sandor's HP to a high value, but doesn't affect his other stats. This and MONSTST2.SF have a location name of モンスターのテスト (Monster Test), which wasn't translated for the US version, resulting in mojibake.
• MONSTST2.SF – Triggers a series of encounters with the game's bosses. Adds Lynx and P.J. to the party, with high HP values like with Sandor.
• MONSTST3.SF – Same as MONSTST.SF, but adds Lynx and P.J. to the party and has a different background?
• MONSTST4.SF – Same as MONSTST3.SF?
• MONSTST5.SF – Same as MONSTST3.SF?

Unused Items#

The game contains a couple of unused items, which were either placeholders or had their names dummied after being scrapped.

To do: How to hack these into the inventory.

To do: Proper access method, documentation, etc.

Regional Differences#

The Official Take#

Well, here we are again, and, unfortunately, we still only have one page for the translation notes. But,[sic]I'll try to make the best use of the space we have and fill you in on VAY, "behind the scenes."

For Vay, quite a bit was changed from the Japanese version to improve the overall game.

• We added spot animation to some of the backgrounds in combat, like moving clouds, flickering torches, and the faces in the castle that move.
• We added two audio events, the "Romrus" and "Wind Elemental" events, where these characters actually speak from the CD.
• Also, at the end of the game, the two closing events were modified from "text only" to "voice enhanced".
• There were also various scenario (plot) changes (like the Gold Vortex) that are too numerous to mention individually.

[Omitted: Two lengthy paragraphs regarding Working Designs' new digital editing system and how much better it will make their lip syncing from now on]

• So, then, I hope this page has been as informative as the one in LUNAR! We'll keep making the games you want as long as you keep buying them. Remember, we're nothing without you.

Well, gee, it's all right there in the manual. Guess we're out of a job here!

Oh wait, looks like they left a few things out. Let's take a look at the details Working Designs deemed less important than their new audio equipment.

Startup#

To do: Comparison video for intro cutscene?

Here's how the game starts in the Japanese version:

• The game initially boots to a SIMS logo.
• Afterwards, the title screen starts.
• Idling on the title screen for long enough causes the intro cutscene to play.
• Pressing Start during the intro cutscene returns to the title screen, while letting it play to completion resets the game.
• Pressing Start at the title screen leads to the main menu.

Working Designs changed this in a very similar fashion to Popful Mail:

• The SIMS logo is replaced with Working Designs' own.
• Afterwards, a "splash screen" has been inserted which recycles the title logo with an added two-part palette fade effect.
• The game then plays the intro cutscene immediately. If no save files exist, this cutscene is unskippable.
• Since the cutscene is now mandatory on the first boot, letting it play to completion leads to the title screen.
• The intro itself is slightly extended:
  • The Japanese cutscene begins with the explosions in space. The US version pads this scene out by first doing a slow pan across a new starfield background, which then cuts rather jarringly to the explosions.
  • At the end of the intro is an "extra scene", produced by copying an earlier frame of Sadoul and playing a voiceover on top of it.
• The title screen is silent in the Japanese version, but plays a new track done by the American staff in the US version.
• If no save files exist, pressing Start at the title screen immediately begins a new game, starting from the initial cutscene.

General Differences#

• The game's internal title was left blank in the Japanese version. The US version fills it in with "VAY".
• Per the above, a few battle backgrounds have additional animations. Aside from the listed examples, the clouds in the "grassy field" background now scroll. Working Designs had a bit of a thing for making clouds scroll.
• The previous references to "voice enhanced" events indicate that text-based dialogue was removed from those places and replaced with voiceovers from the CD.
• The US version adds a "Load" option on the in-game menu to complement the "Save" option.
• In the Japanese version, the Start button can be used to advance all dialogue. The US version attempts to disable this, but botches the implementation: Start still advances text boxes that don't show a blinking arrow.
• Characters regain full HP and MP upon leveling up in the US version, which is not the case in the Japanese version.
• The US version inserts a brief outtake from the English dub's recording sessions at the end of the credits.
• The credits themselves are massively shortened from the Japanese version due to the omission of an extremely long "Special Thanks" section, which originally took several minutes(!) to scroll through.
• The US version adds a soft reset code (A + B + C + Start on Controller 1). This feature doesn't seem to have been thoroughly tested, as using it at certain times (e.g. the title sequence) will crash the game.
• Standard Working Designs script rewrites apply (plus a little more – see below). The English dialogue freely invents, improvises, exaggerates, and omits, and it corresponds vaguely at best to the Japanese text. Many characters, items, etc. have been renamed, such as "Haibelgaa" to "Sandor" and "Nehna" to "P.J." (short for "Prudence Jurissa"). A standout example is Lance, who was renamed to "Lynx" to create a pun on his true identity as "Prince Leopard" (the latter name being retained from the Japanese version).

Cheats#

Animation Test#

Working Designs added an animation test room to the US version of the game, together with a button code to access it. To get to it, do the following:

Enter the secret Lorath Castle vault and stand in this spot at the bottom of the room, below the middle chest. Now, on Controller 2, press A + B + C + Start. This yields the message "Now entering the King's private screening room..." and warps Sandor to the test room.

In this room, examining the walls brings up some very Working Designs–esque descriptions of the game's cutscenes along with Yes/No prompts to view them.

Interestingly, the two scenes in the bottom-right, labeled "Outtakes", are completely unused, even in the Japanese version. They weren't dubbed for the US release, and instead play an extremely nasty buzzing noise throughout.

Though Working Designs went to the trouble of having this feature added to the game (it doesn't exist at all in the Japanese version), the code to access it was never properly released. While Working Designs head Victor Ireland originally intended to release the code to magazines, he decided against it due to the remote possibility of the static noise in the unused cutscenes causing damage to audio equipment. He later attempted to distribute the code "unofficially" on the rec.games.video.sega newsgroup, but accidentally gave out incorrect directions that ultimately left the room inaccessible until the real code was found in 2017. (His claims that accessing the room requires a fully completed save file are also incorrect, though this should be obvious since it's impossible to save after beating the game anyway.)

Save Override#

It's normally impossible to save the game in certain areas. The US version adds a cheat to allow the game to be saved anyway:

• Highlight "Status" on the menu.
• Hold Start, then press and hold Down and Left.
• When the game scrolls down to "Save", press A while continuing to hold the above buttons.

The Save menu will then open. (Note that this isn't a bug – the US version specifically codes in a new check to see if Start, Down, and Left are all pressed when "Save" is selected.)

Plot#

Perhaps bolstered by unexpectedly brisk sales of Lunar: The Silver Star, Working Designs went a little further than normal (by the Working Designs standard of "normal") in their changes to this game. Aside from the usual script rewrites, they went so far as to insert a few extra events into the game.

Sirufa#

In the Japanese version of the game, Sirufa (whose Japanese name, シルフ, would be better rendered as "Sylph") is a fairy who controls the wind. Before recruiting Rachel, talking to her causes the party to "ride the wind" to Coryan, while visiting her after getting Rachel sends the party to Magmal Isle. That's it.

In the US version, Sirufa's dialogue has been rewritten. Now, her wind powers are due to a bet she lost with an unexplained "Thaldar", as a result of which she "received the curse of eternal seimic flatulence." This is then used to create a mechanic whereby, if Sirufa's teleportation is used without having all party members equipped with "Filtration Masks", the unequipped members will be "overcome by the noxious fumes" and remove the rest of the party's masks before dying, causing an instant game over.

The "Filtration Mask" was created by repurposing what was originally the Bronze Helm, an ordinary helmet, in the Japanese version.

Gold Vortex#

In the Japanese version, there's a joke chest in Vaygess. When opened, the game at first claims the chest is empty, then after some waffling reveals there's a measly 1g in the back of it.

In the US version, this happens:

SANDOR: 
Hrmph, it's empty.

         .....? 

Wait a minute...... 

OH MY GOD! IT'S 
A GOLD VORTEX!

IT'S SUCKING ALL
OUR GOLD AWAY!

...and the player's money is drained by 100g every frame until it reaches zero. There's no way to stop the process or get the money back short of resetting (to a not-necessarily-recent save file).

Note that they were proud enough of this game design tour de force to brag about it in the manual, unlike 90% of the changes.

Lynx's Tab#

In the Japanese version, the player has to pay Lynx's 1,000g bar tab in order to recruit him. In the US version, this has been increased to a rather eyebrow-raising 20,000g.

Chests#

To do: Surely this isn't the only one changed?

One of the chests in the hidden Lorath Castle vault contains 1,000g in the Japanese version. This was raised to 1,500g in the US version.

Inns#

In the Japanese version, all inns cost 4g. The US version instead gives every inn its own (much higher) price:

MP Costs#

In its most fundamental alteration to the game balance, the US version radically escalates the MP costs of every spell in the game. The average increase is 366%, with the lowest being Megablast (142%) and the highest Alakazam (1000%!).

Of particular note are the healing spells, all of which are 450-500% of their original cost. Needless to say, it's a lot harder to stay healed in the US version.

Item Stats#

The US version edits the stats of the vast majority of the game's equipment. Generally, the lowest-tier items have been very slightly improved, while all mid- to high-end items are weakened to varying degrees. Though a fair few items are outright better in the US version (like the Tiger Paws, which got a 50% bonus to Attack and Defense plus a massive price drop from 470,000g to a mere 11,400g), many have had their stats slashed by 80-100%, making them near-useless.

There's actually some nuance to the process, though. The later-game items in the Japanese version are overpriced by almost any metric, and buying a full set of equipment will entail heavy grinding. Though the US version makes those items weaker, it also lowers their prices by far more, proportionally, than it lowers their stats (the Odin Sword, for instance, had its Attack reduced by 19% but its price was reduced by 78%). Thus, the equipment is actually a better buy - and generally more reasonably priced - in the US version.

Of course, the generally-weakened equipment and the Defense-boosted enemies mean that ultimately, the outcome is basically the same: grinding, for money in the Japanese version and levels in the US version.

Of special note is the Vay Armor. In the Japanese version, even in its "unactivated" state, it still far outclasses anything else available to Sandor. The US version, however, completely eliminates all its stat bonuses, making it totally useless until it's "activated" - and even then it's far weaker than its Japanese counterpart.

In keeping with standard Working Designs practice, most healing items have inflated costs, such as the Strange Brew going from 300g to 750g.

In the tables below, instances in which a stat changed to make the game harder have been marked in red. The cases where a stat change actually benefits the player are marked in green. Instances in which a stat changed detrimentally by more than 5 points and constituted a change of 50% or greater from the original amount appear in magenta. Items whose stats didn't change are omitted.

Enemy Stats#

Working Designs went a little wilder than usual with the enemy stats. Usually, their versions of games give the enemies fairly standard across-the-board buffs, but this time the alterations are all over the place.

For the early part of the game, regular enemies "merely" get a 10%-20% HP boost and nothing else, with bosses getting additional buffs to other stats. At around the halfway point of the game, most enemies continue receiving the HP boosts, but also get buffs – or sometimes nerfs – to other stats. Around Treefall, though, all hell breaks loose and the stat changes start going all over the place. With seemingly no rhyme or reason, enemies have their HP significantly slashed but their Defense jacked up by a much higher proportion, receive chaotic increases or decreases to EXP and Gold given, and so on.

Though there are a surprising number of stat reductions, ultimately, most monsters get a large increase to Defense. This forces the party to rely more on magic to defeat them, and since the MP costs were so drastically increased, the net effect is to make the game more difficult.

Additionally, most late-game enemies give out only a fraction of their original EXP, making it take much longer to level.

Most of these stats should be self-explanatory, but a few warrant explanation:

• # Spcl. Attacks is how the game simulates MP for enemies. Certain non-standard attack by an enemy decrease this number, usually (always?) by one, and the enemy will stop using special attacks when it reaches zero.
• Act. 1–4 % give the percentage chance that an enemy will perform each of its four assigned actions on any given turn. For instance, the Gelatinoid has Attack assigned as its Action 1 and Flee assigned as its Action 4. The corresponding probabilities for those actions are 85 and 15, so it has an 85% chance of attacking and a 15% chance of fleeing each turn. These four columns always sum to 100. Action 1 seems to always be a standard melee attack, while the remaining actions differ for each enemy type. Note that some enemies actually had extra actions added in the US version, indicated by probability going from zero to something higher.

This table uses the same color key as the item table.

To do: Monsters with additional actions in the US version.