It has been a full year since I last updated this site, and a lot has shifted behind the scenes. You'll notice the layout is quite a bit lighter today. I have officially removed the Save Crystal Corrupted forums and the YouTube channel. Unfortunately, all of the source files for my Phantasy Star: Prism Edition project were lost a while ago. Losing that data was a heavy blow, and it is largely the reason I stepped away from the site for a year. Along with that, the Demo Disc Dump is gone, and I've removed the Support SCC section entirely because I simply don't want your money.
This clean slate aligns perfectly with where my head is at now. I am actively shifting my focus toward a career in Linux administration. The diagnostic mindset I use daily as a BMW technician translates surprisingly well to tracing logs, testing modules, and quietly fixing broken systems. My daily driver is a machine named Deathegg, running Debian Trixie with the Cinnamon desktop environment. My free time has moved away from game development and heavily into command-line operations using zsh, bash, git, and automating local filesystem tasks through Termux.
I haven't abandoned gaming entirely, though. I still spend plenty of time troubleshooting Wine, Proton, and emulators like OpenMW to get classic titles running perfectly on Linux. I have also made several updates to the Linux-Tested MMOs & Private Servers section. For Dragon Quest X, I am now using Steam to run it, and I highly recommend checking out the DQX Worldwide Discord Server for Linux setup information. I have also added Neverwinter, the official Dungeons and Dragons MMO by Arc Games, to the list. Finally, I've added PSOBB.io to the roster. It is a fantastic Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst private server that features mission and daily rewards, as well as seamless Discord integration, and much more.
There have been quite a few additions to the MMOs I've tested on Linux since last year. Eventually, I might build out separate pages for each server to dive deeper into the setup process and my thoughts on how they play. For now, this is just a running log of what actually works. Being on the list doesn't necessarily mean I play them daily, but if you are curious, my main focus right now is split between Phantasy Star Universe: Clementine and Neverwinter. I also added a link to my Discord profile in the Navigation section and changed the meme in the About Me section to a Phantasy Star IV meme.
On the Phantasy Star front, I had been playing Ephinea PSO through Wine, but a recent update involving DLL files broke my configuration and I haven't managed to fix it yet. That's ultimately what pushed me to transition over to PSOBB.io. I've also officially added Phantasy Star Universe: Clementine to the list. It is a fantastic revival of the PC version, though it is missing the original story missions. This is a casualty of SEGA shutting down the official servers years ago. If you want the narrative experience, you will have to track down the offline console versions. I also updated the Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis link to point directly to the official site instead of Steam.
For the Square Enix titles, I removed my extra setup notes from the Dragon Quest X entry since Adventurer's Abbey now provides everything you need. The official servers for both Final Fantasy XIV and Final Fantasy XI have been added as well. Both run remarkably well on Linux, though FFXI still carries its notoriously tedious installation and PlayOnline setup.
LegacyDDON is a highly ambitious Dragon's Dogma Online private server working to restore the game with a comprehensive English translation. It plays smoothly and looks excellent with the right mods applied. I also added SWG Legends, which successfully resurrects the massive, open-ended universe of Star Wars Galaxies. Finally, Asheron's Call is fully playable via ACEmulator. I spent some time on the Levistras server, and while it is playable, it is a bit finicky on Linux. I never quite got borderless windowed mode functioning properly before moving on to other projects.
City of Heroes: Homecoming makes the list with a very unique backstory. It operates as a fully sanctioned private server, officially permitted by NCSoft following the game's closure. I also included Necromancy Online, a Wizardry Online emulator. It technically functions, but it has been deep in development for years. I keep a loose eye on it in hopes it nears completion someday. On the World of Warcraft side, I added Microbot WoW. It is an intriguing vanilla server populated entirely by AI companions and simulated players to fill out the world.
Rounding out the list, Ultimate Dragon Ball Online is easily the best private server I've found for the old official Korean Dragon Ball MMO. I also threw in Flyff Universe. It is an absolute classic that has survived by pivoting to a browser-based client, though the mobile experience leaves a lot to be desired. Lastly, ROSE Online has been added. It is another vintage, free-to-play anime MMORPG that has managed to stick around and runs perfectly fine on a modern setup.
I have added my profile picture to the About Me section. It was made by Lala Landale, a prominent member of the Phantasy Star community. In a future update, I plan to add an old Python project I wrote that was inspired by her translation of the Phantasy Star: Alisa's Adventure gamebook. Furthermore, I have reorganized the buttons in the Web Links section and added links for the Internet Archive, Chrome, Camineet.net, and Yumpoplala. I am going to try to add at least one new link per update. I am sure it will eventually get to the point where I need to build a separate page just for these links, but I think that will take a while.
This section will now act more like a traditional blog, featuring a bit more writing, extra headers, and images. I have decided to reorganize the archive pages into their own dedicated folders. Doing this keeps the directory structure clean and ensures any graphics used in older posts remain properly archived. I also added a temporary outside link in the Navigation section to Noxium Elysium, an old website project of mine. It will stay up until I can migrate all of my work from there to this server. It is not a massive amount of content, but I am going to preserve the few blog posts from the old site and move all of the Phantasy Star IV information over here as well.
Alisa's Adventure Battle Point Table Randomizer
A couple of years ago, I came across a book while hanging out in the Esper Mansion Discord server. It was the Phantasy Star: Arisa no Bouken gamebook, originally published in 1989. There are two other gamebooks in that series, but this is the one that caught my attention. Lala Landale over at Nurvus Translations created an English version titled Phantasy Star: Alisa's Adventure. You can download the PDF, play it directly on her site, or order a physical copy. The book uses an Action Chart to track Enemy Battle Power and Alisa's Battle Power as you navigate the story.
That mechanic is where my Python project comes into play. I ordered a physical copy from Lala's site and really enjoyed the challenging encounters. It inspired me to write the Alisa's Adventure Battle Point Table Randomizer. I have added a section below with a full description and a download link. I honestly thought the source code was lost. However, while digging through some old digital footprints, I found my old Noxium Elysium site hosted on a GitHub account I can no longer access. The randomizer was still sitting right there. It is pretty useless if you do not own the gamebook, and it is not exactly flashy, but it serves its purpose perfectly. And yes, I deliberately used the v0.1.0 screenshot instead of v0.1.1 for a specific reason.
Phantasy Star Zero Godot
While checking the linktree on the official PSOBB.io Discord server, I found a link to a very interesting project: Phantasy Star Zero Godot by a developer named Kion. There is no official website outside of the GitHub repository, but it is absolutely something I will be keeping an eye on. I actually had this exact idea kicking around in my head for a few months, so it was a surprise to discover someone already tackling it. The build is far from finished and lacks polish, but Kion is actively working on making the combat system more real-time. Currently, there is one playable quest where the character Kai follows you around spouting random nonsense. It supports both keyboard and controller inputs. I recorded a quick gameplay video and hosted it over on YouTube if you want to see it in action. You can visit the project repository directly at https://github.com/kion-dgl/psz-godot.
New Web Links
Added CorBin's Portal the the Web Links section. It is a classic personal homepage hosted on Neocities that fully embraces the early internet aesthetic. Built by hand using Notepad++ and Paint.NET, the site serves as a creative space for the author to share their writing, artwork, and personal logs. It features a great mix of retro web staples like daily music picks, an old-school mood tracker, and dedicated shrine pages for classic franchises like Castlevania, Kirby, and Cowboy Bebop. It is exactly the kind of passion-driven, quiet corner of the web that makes Neocities worth exploring.
Also added Webpage 1990 Colourised. It is a highly nostalgic Neocities site built by a user named Dan to replicate the chaotic, graphics-heavy charm of the early GeoCities era. The site functions as a personal hub for his interests, specifically highlighting his love for Warhammer 40k miniature painting, gaming, and vintage web design. It is packed with classic web elements, including an extensive collection of 88x31 buttons, blinkies, and stamps, alongside a functioning guestbook, a media player, user polls, and an "About the Webmaster" section playfully formatted to look like a vintage MySpace profile. It is a messy, colorful, and fun tribute to the "under construction" era of the 1990s and early 2000s web.
I moved the three blog posts from Noxium Elysium over here to the archive. I also created the Entry Archive Selector using a bit of JavaScript below. I was not a fan of that messy calendar layout. The selector will make it much easier to navigate directly to the date you want. This setup will be universal across all of the archive pages.
Unreal Tournament 1999
Around the year 2000, I was gifted a game for the family PC. I was not really cultured in the way of the series yet, so I went in completely blind after popping the installation disc into the CD-ROM drive. It was Unreal Tournament. It is a legendary, fast-paced arena shooter that focuses heavily on head-to-head multiplayer deathmatches and team-based objective modes. I spent countless nights online stuck in deathmatch, killing (and mostly being killed by) custom player models. Oddly enough, I was never a competitive person. I am a casual gamer and could never truly compete with anyone highly skilled in a first-person shooter. But the mechanics, the map design, and iconic weapons like the Flak Cannon made it amazing anyway.
The developers over at OldUnreal have put together extensive patches for various games in the series, including Unreal, Unreal Tournament 1999 (UT99), and Unreal Tournament 2004. I am focusing on UT99 right now. Their patches fix hundreds of stability and performance problems, add support for modern 3D renderers, and provide incredible native Linux support. The GitHub page gives excellent instructions and provides various download methods for different operating systems.
The single-player campaign and practice modes feature an incredibly solid bot AI system that makes offline play just as engaging. Be aware that if you decide to explore the online community servers, many are definitely 18+. There are a lot of custom models and textures out there, so play at your own discretion. I uploaded a gameplay video to my YouTube channel, but because it is age-restricted, it cannot be embedded here. Visit the OldUnreal website to check out the project for yourself: https://oldunreal.com/.
New Links
I added 88x31 to the Web Links section. This website is a massive archive containing over 6,500 classic 88x31 pixel GIF and PNG buttons. These small badges were an absolute staple of personal websites in the late 1990s and early 2000s on hosts like GeoCities. It is exactly the kind of digital preservation project I appreciate, and I use it to source the link buttons used on this site.
I also added a text link for OldUnreal. This is the central hub for the community development team that maintains the Unreal engine codebase and releases the modern patches I mentioned above. It is an essential resource if you are trying to get these classic shooters running smoothly on modern hardware or Linux distributions.
The Entry Archive Selector has been integrated directly into the Navigation menu, which is now fixed to the top of the website. To improve overall organization, the old layout has been split into several separate pages. I also added a brief site description and a new Previous Entry section to the Index. On the aesthetic side, the mouse cursors have been updated from the PlayOnline Viewer chocobo to a custom Final Fantasy set by THTH at RealWorld Graphics, and the site favicon is now the Dorin portrait icon from my old Noxium Elysium project.
About Page
This new page consolidates the "About Me" section and features a newly written history of my past website projects, detailing my timeline from early GeoCities builds to Noxium Elysium and Instance Zero. I also took the time to expand on my personal background, explaining how my daily work as an automotive technician and dealing with mechanical diagnostics naturally shifted into my current focus on Linux administration and command-line troubleshooting. You can also read about the origin of the "Rykros" handle, which is rooted in classic Phantasy Star lore, along with direct links to my email address, Discord profile, and YouTube channel.
Software Page
The new Software page currently serves as the official host for the Alisa's Adventure Battle Point Table Randomizer. It is a lightweight Python script utilizing the tkinter library that I put together to replace the static Action Chart in the classic Phantasy Star interactive gamebook. The logic dynamically populates a grid to add unpredictability to combat rolls and avoids repetitive stacking, meaning no two playthroughs are exactly the same. Going forward, this page will act as the central repository for any future coding projects or local software I want to host on the site.
Linux Gaming Page
Right now, this page is dedicated to hosting my personal Linux-Tested MMORPGs list, which acts as a compatibility log for getting classic online games running natively, through Steam, or via compatibility layers like Wine and Proton. It currently details both official and private server resources for titles like Final Fantasy XI, EverQuest, and Phantasy Star Universe. I plan to expand this section well beyond just MMOs in the future to cover general Linux gaming information and hands-on technical workarounds. As I add more content, I am sure the page layout will see many design changes.
Web Links Page
All of the 88x31 link buttons and text links have been moved to this dedicated page. I also added a new text link for Chronicle of the 90s by Andy Baga. It is a personal, hand-crafted archive on Neocities heavily focused on retro web culture, vintage media, and nostalgia. It features a "Museum of Early Web Graphics" preserving late-90s clip art and backgrounds, alongside a massive tribute to classic EverQuest complete with personal essays and salvaged screenshots from the 1999 to 2002 era. Between that, an ongoing "Dungeon Project," and detailed classic film reviews, it is a great, quiet space dedicated to preserving digital history and classic media.
I have added a brand new "Special Thanks" section to the About page, alongside a general profile update. You will also spot my newly added progress and certificates from Codecademy! As a quick note, any sites linked on the Web Links page that I have borrowed resources from serve as their own credit, so they will not be redundantly listed in the Special Thanks section.
Linux Gaming: Phantasy Star IV
I am officially moving the Phantasy Star IV content from my old Noxium Elysium archive over to the Linux Gaming page. Just as a reminder, my definition of "Linux Gaming" covers absolutely anything that can be played on a Linux machine by whatever means necessary, which heavily includes console emulation.
I am also incredibly excited to share that I have uploaded my very first completely edited YouTube video! It is a full showcase of the combination attacks in the game. Check out the video below!
Web Links Page
There are quite a few changes to the Web Links page for this update.
DiscoPotato On-Line: I moved DiscoPotato On-Line from the text links section up to the link buttons. I am slightly embarrassed to admit I did not realize they had a link button this whole time! So far, they are the only site I am aware of that actively follows my project on Neocities. Thank you so much, Disco!
Codecademy: I added a text link for Codecademy. This is an interactive online learning platform that offers hands-on coding classes and interactive environments for various programming languages. I have been actively using it in my free time to work through different courses.
uBlock Origin: I added a text link for uBlock Origin. This is a widely trusted, open-source browser extension designed for efficient content filtering and ad blocking. I personally use it in my Chrome browser and it works exceptionally well.
Sprite Database: I added a link button for Sprite Database. This is a massive, long-running community archive of ripped 2D sprites and custom sprite sheets from classic video games. I use them occasionally when I need reference material or sprite sheets for my own projects.
Capowski's RPG-Related Translation Junk Drawer: I added a text link for Capowski's RPG-Related Translation Junk Drawer. This is a fantastic resource site dedicated to fan translations of Japanese RPG materials, including interviews, instruction manuals, and lore books. I use it primarily for their translation of the Phantasy Star Compendium, though they offer translations for various other classic games. A quick warning: the website does not use a secure URL, but it seems completely safe otherwise.
