I don't know what settings or OSes those people are using...
Your initial report about there being different versions prompted me to download the torrent version. I did have the DD version before, so it was possible that was the source of the display problems. So, I did get that. And, to my surprise the game works perfectly on my system. There's no need to install, and no need to play with activation.
That's totally different to what occurred when I first got the game, both having to crack it and then find that the font was screwed up.
So, I'm not sure what changed between then and now, but I can confirm that if you just double-click the launcher straight from unzipping the archive, you've got a good chance of the game working. It did for me.
And, by the way, both versions where identical, so your earlier assumption wasn't correct. Perhaps it comes down to installing it? I think I automatically tried to install it last time, and this time, I just put the files in a folder manually. That might be the difference.
For now, I'm just going to play a bit more of it, now that I can (without it crashing--a problem with my virtual Jap installation, I think, something to do with sound).