Februrary 20th 2011 edit: This patch is very old. This topic was split from the main community help thread.
This is a little late in coming, but... here's a patch to play with.
Download patch for the original version (Japanese original and Asian Japanese original releases)
Download patch for the reprint versions (Mega Hits and PlayStation 2 The Best releases)
How to patch:1) Rip your game DVD to ISO format with
ImgBurn (do not use any other formats!).
2) Extract the contents of the 7z file to a directory, like say, C:\ToD2. Move the ISO you just ripped to that directory as well. Rename the .delta patch file if you want to make it shorter.
3) Run patch.exe. Follow the prompts. If everything went well, it'll take a few minutes to create the patched ISO.
4) Burn the ISO to a writable DVD and play it in your
modded PS2. You can also try the PCSX2 emulator, but it doesn't run the game very well and has serious issues that break some of the game features.
Alternate step 3 for more advanced users: Command line usage for Xdelta3 is:
xdelta3 -d -s inputfile patchfile outputfile
Remember...
this is a pre-alpha. Anything and everything is subject to change in the future. Not everything planned for the main release is available. If you're expecting something of final quality, you're insane.
Known issues1) The font size for skill names is tiny and probably unreadable on SDTVs or barely readable on HDTVs. Not fixable until I have access to a good debugger.
2) Character sprites/portraits in the menu may flicker at times. Harmless, but annoying.
3) "New Recipe" appears as "New R" in the cooking menu. Attempts have been made to investigate the cause, but this won't be fixable without a good debugger, either.
4) Grammar for some messages (especially in the cooking menu) might seem a bit funny. The string concatenate routines are still very much tied to the Japanese grammar so it's difficult getting these to sound natural.
5) The number of characters allowed for renaming a custom recipe is rather limited. Don't rename if you can't fit the new name within 12 characters.
6) Continuing with a save based on the Japanese version will have a couple minor issues: 1) Your recipe names will still be in Japanese, and 2) The last names for characters with last names will appear to be blank. This is because these the game stores these things in the save file. This issue will not affect new games started with the patched version.
7) "Preview" on the title screen will crash a patched Mega Hits / PS2 The Best game. This is because the patch literally transforms the these reprint copies back into the original version, but without the files belonging to the preview. The code to access the Preview option is still in the game, so the option still appears. Nothing can be done about this right now. Including the files required for the preview would add 150MB+ to the patch file.
8) Some slot name descriptions are longer than the window (and the screen) allows. I'm trying to find a solution into repositioning that stuff...
I'm hoping this will be of use to people wanting to contribute to the project. Seeing things in context could help a lot.
Author