Tokimeki Memorial 4 v0.34: from the title screen in

Patch v0.34 is built. The last post covered the main screen. Since then, the screens around it got finished, and I went back through every skill name until each one sounded right.

This week I also sat down and played the patch myself from a fresh start, which turned up a few things the automated tests never touched. The title menu was still in Japanese, and the cursor on the name entry screen didn't line up with the letters. Both are fixed now.

What's new since v0.24

• The title menu: New Game, Continue, Options, Install, Network and Extras
• Name entry: the ABC grid lines up with the cursor, and both names hold six letters
• Yes and No in the yes/no boxes
• The Options menu and its Text, Command Animation, Screen Design and Sound settings, down to every Back button
• Save and load: the save titles, the descriptions, Play Data and the save summary, which now shows English weekdays
• The phone: the Missed, E-mail and News tabs, the Friends list with everyone's names and jobs, and the names, birthdays and heights on their profiles
• The e-mails and newsletters I've translated so far
• Your classmates have English names
• Shop descriptions, stat hints and system messages
• The battle items, including I Believe in You!, Secret Art, Insight and Null Magic

Naming the skills

TM4 has a skill system, and every skill has a name that has to fit on a small banner. That limit is about 15 letters, so some literal translations had to go.

A few of my favorites:

• Weekend Warrior: your stats rise faster when you spend your day off doing something.
• Bachelor Chef: sometimes you cook for yourself on a day off and get your Condition back.
• Fire Chief: when a bomb goes off, you throw yourself in to keep the damage down. (Yes, this is a dating sim.)
• Chat Sommelier: you grow closer more easily on dates.
• Brains & Brawn: studying doesn't cost you as much Athletics, and training doesn't cost you as much brainpower.
• Mystic Eye of Y: the great Y reveals the secret numbers. I'm keeping this one a mystery.

The heroines have their own skills too. Excellent Elisa, Yu's Grand Finale and Goddess's Grace are some of mine.

What's left

A few spots still have Japanese: the item shop's tabs and the job ads on the phone are pictures that need redrawing, and the Classmates settings screen and the rest of each profile card still need their text. Those are next on the list. After that it's the story: the scenes, the rest of the e-mails and newsletters, and the endings. I've started on the first school scene.

There's no patch to download yet. When there is, I'll announce it here.

Unofficial and made for fun.