Old Mystery of the Emblem

Old Mystery of the Emblem title
Old Mystery title

Information

Old Mystery of the Emblem’s primary purpose is to bring the Nintendo DS remake closer to its Super Famicom incarnation. There are many levels of reversion possible, and various patches exist in order to provide customisation for the player.

The most important aim of them all is the mitigation of Kris, the new player self-insert character. Kris’s influence warped the context of many scenes, and though there is only one explicit case of him stealing lines from other characters, his contributions to other scenes only serve to at best distract and at worst detract from them. As a result, any and all lines spoken by Kris or in allusion to Kris in the main story of Old Mystery of the Emblem have been eliminated.

The script changes do not end at the insertion of Kris. Many small details in the original Mystery that served to build the world of Akaneia are removed from New Mystery. One of the most severe removals includes background on the character of Adrah, the founder of Akaneia, and his actions. This process begins with the very first conversation with Lang, removing elements of his backstory, and persists for the entire game. Elements of censorship are present among these cuts, most obvious with the removal of death threats against Yumina and Yubello in the first few chapters. Old Mystery restores all of these missing script details, using the original Mystery’s translation.

Optional Patches

  • No Prologue: Eliminates all but the first of the additional eight tutorial chapters.
  • No Gaidens: Eliminates the side chapters scattered throughout New Mystery, absent from the original. Can be combined with No Prologue.
  • More Standard Terminology: By default everything uses the original Mystery’s names. This adjusts series staple class and item names to their localised versions.
  • FE3 Mechanics: Makes more drastic adjustments to the game to bring it closer to the Super Famicom, including changing items and eliminating reclassing.

Project Status

The script revision is in a complete state. All main story dialogue has been fully compared and adjusted to match the original Mystery. Gameplay modifications have gone as far as is currently possible. Further developments are tied to the release of HeartHero’s FE12 tools (FEU thread here), which are currently unavailable to the public. Optional changes that could be implemented would include adjusting enemy power and placement to match the original Mystery’s and reverting graphics back to their 16-bit forms. Another pipe dream unrelated to HeartHero’s work is the complete elimination of Kris from gameplay.

Gallery

SHEEDA: The others... I don't know... Abel and Est were still fighting the last time I saw them... WENDEL: Originally Garnef was a youth with a strong sense of justice. Wrath and envy led him to ruin. MARTH: How about we go directly south from Menedi and and enter Pales from Adria Peak? The battle preparation screen. The reclass function has been disabled.

Downloads

Latest release (v2.0, released 15th July 2020): Download here

Project script files available here

Patching Instructions

    • Download an FE12 rom from somewhere.
    • Apply the patch using an XDelta tool. There’s some on Romhacking.net and the FE12 translation has a command line version bundled.
    • There are a large variety of patches available in this package.
      First one of the two base patches should be applied.
    • “Old Mystery of the Emblem.xdelta” is applied to a clean Japanese rom.
      “Old Mystery English.xdelta” is applied to v3.01 of the Heroes of Shadow translation.
      The result should be the same either way.