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| 14 | + <h1>Drakengard is not as bad as everyone says, but it is not that good either</h1> |
| 15 | + <p>I played Drakengard after so many years and wow... it diffidently was something.</p> |
| 16 | + <h2>A little background first:</h2> |
| 17 | + <p>I love the games Yoko Taro and his team (Keiichi Okabe, Akihiko Yoshida and all the other brilliant artists behind these works of art) created. All of it. I played Nier, NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139..., Nier Automata, watched the Anime, read the Nier Automata Manga and played and loved Drakengard 3 the most (Best game in the Drakengard/Nier game series!). I also played all three of the Voice of Cards games. The only thing I have not played is the Nier Reincarnation because, I may be a fan of their games but I am not stupid, and well... Drakengard.</p> |
| 18 | + <p>The synopsis online is it is bad, samey, makes you go mad or even "Just watch the cutsceness bro" as if that is a valid excuse not to look at the game. Next time I read the Blu-ray cover and consider the movie watched or what? After many years of knowing about it I decided to invest the time again to play it. Yes I tried already in the past, twice but the first time was way to long ago and I did, like most, instantly turn it off, the second time I was feeling not well and it was a bad idea playing a game like this at the time. The way I look at games, shows, movies and art in general has changed and so I finally wanted to see what this game is about. I do these sorts of "experiments" relatively often (currently not so much because my hole life is work, real-life and game-dev all the time, nearly no time for gaming) like playing obscure old games, playing classic or hidden gems I missed when I was younger, play way to many indie game one after the other or a hole series back to back. This is also how I ended up actually playing the Serial experiments game for the PS1 (The JS fan remake).</p> |
| 19 | + <h2>My thoughts about the Drakengard after playing it:</h2> |
| 20 | + <p>I never have seen a game that executed its vision so strict and without any regard for fun. The game is about war and it must drive the player mad it seems like was their mission. Well done I guess. The music on its own is... something, but mixed in the game it fits and works so SO well and dose things to break the 4th wall indie games only started doing a little while a go.</p> |
| 21 | + <p>The story is Yoko Tare through and through. Heavy topic, sometimes handheld well, other times less well, story goes so off the rails so much you could think you are in north America because not rail is in sight anymore (Sorry, bad joke).</p> |
| 22 | + <p>The main character controls like a brick and so many aspects are never explain, stuff like that you can control the camera on the pause screen, the flames of the dragon are controllable while doing a strong attack, there are like 7 different type of attack and all are executed with square or triangle, every weapon has its own spell or even that you can summon partners.</p> |
| 23 | + <p>ALL characters in this game with no exception are flawed and completely unlikable, intentionally. Most topics are very on the nose or so in the background you miss them entirely, except if you search for them by playing levels way longer then sensible and triggering combat dialog's.</p> |
| 24 | + <p>Is it a good game? NO! Is it good art? Well, it is special in every way. It is neither rushed nor is it lazy. It is competently made and with intention. To quote "ConstantlyCaden" "Can Games be Bad on Purpose"? That is what I thought playing this. So much seemed strange to be done like it was but everything has its reason. I will probably never understand what drives a group of developers to push their vision through like this but you created what you envisioned I guess. Sadly it is a time waster when played vanilla and cheated it can only be played if you know what you are bout to play.</p> |
| 25 | + <p>Would I recommend it? No. It is hard, way to long (somehow not stretched except for the side quest to the end. Kill, short cutscenes, kill and so on with not real level design nor need for the cutscenes) and has topics not everyone can handle. Also: I cheated with double exp, played in easy mode, especially later used Fast forward 200% in repeating sequences, sometimes 400%, never died because I made SaveStates like every 10 minutes and cheated all weapons at the end to get to the 100% joke Ending. I did not even use any other weapon then the starter one. If you play the game normally it is way to hard, unforgiving, timewastey, you MUST grind especially to the end like crazy (we are talking at least 30 hours here in free expedition mode, which I also never touched) to even be able to fight, ask "Logan Welchman", they can tell you how bad it is to do a vanilla playthrough of this game, to quote again "... I Genuinely regret doing it ...". I, on the other hand, had fun with all the cheats listed and knew what I had coming.</h2> |
| 26 | + <p>I used many cheats, and often the websites a badly archived or not achievable because of bot protection. So I will list cheat codes here with their sources.</p> |
| 27 | + <ul> |
| 28 | + <li>PCSX2 v2.4.0 on Linux</li> |
| 29 | + <li>I used the widescreen 16:9 Patch, Vulkan, Aspect Ration "Fit to Window", Crop of 1px on all sides, at 8x scale, BlEnding Accuracy "Medium", Post processing - TV Shader "Scanline Filter" (Else the game has many effect not looking like they should, this only helps, not fixes them)</li> |
| 30 | + <li> |
| 31 | + I used the following cheats (The core once, weapon cheats or health cheats for later parts are in the "pcsx2_cheats_collection" only, if I list everything here I will make this unnecessarily long): |
| 32 | + <br> |
| 33 | + <br> |
| 34 | + <ul> |
| 35 | + <li> |
| 36 | + <br> |
| 37 | + In the "9679D44C.pnach"-File in the cheats folder: |
| 38 | + <br> |
| 39 | + <br> |
| 40 | + gametitle=Drakengard (NTSC) SLUS_207 |
| 41 | + <br> |
| 42 | + comment=Ported by InfiniteNine from PAL code by ElHecht |
| 43 | + <br> |
| 44 | + // https://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-PCSX2-Ultrawide-Eyefinity-Patches |
| 45 | + <br> |
| 46 | + <br> |
| 47 | + // 20:9 |
| 48 | + <br> |
| 49 | + patch=1,EE,002fd034,word,3c013f25 // 00000000 hor fov |
| 50 | + <br> |
| 51 | + patch=1,EE,002fd040,word,4481f000 // 00000000 |
| 52 | + <br> |
| 53 | + patch=1,EE,002fd044,word,461ec602 // 00000000 |
| 54 | + <br> |
| 55 | + patch=1,EE,002640a4,word,3c0143fb // 3c0143a0 renderfix1 |
| 56 | + <br> |
| 57 | + patch=1,EE,00129fc0,word,3c014471 // 3c014420 renderfix2 |
| 58 | + <br> |
| 59 | + </li> |
| 60 | + <br> |
| 61 | + <li> |
| 62 | + <br> |
| 63 | + In the "SLUS-20732_9679D44C.pnach"-File in the cheats folder: |
| 64 | + <br> |
| 65 | + <br> |
| 66 | + gametitle=Drakengard [SLUS-20732] [9679D44C] |
| 67 | + <br> |
| 68 | + // https://github.com/xs1l3n7x/pcsx2_cheats_collection |
| 69 | + <br> |
| 70 | + <br> |
| 71 | + [Kills Worth 2] |
| 72 | + <br> |
| 73 | + author=xs1l3n7x(pnach)/CheatDevicePS2(codes) |
| 74 | + <br> |
| 75 | + description=Kills Worth 2 |
| 76 | + <br> |
| 77 | + // Kills Worth 2 |
| 78 | + <br> |
| 79 | + patch=1,EE,2013985C,extended,24420001 |
| 80 | + <br> |
| 81 | + </li> |
| 82 | + </ul> |
| 83 | + </li> |
| 84 | + <br> |
| 85 | + <li>A KDE Window rule that forces the PCSX2 window to be borderless and forced into position and size so I can in use 21:9 ultrawide. For 1440p this is "3200x1440" with a left offset of "305" on 5120x1400 btw.. Displays of the size "3200x1440" do not exist actually, but you can then just center it on a wider displays.</li> |
| 86 | + </ul> |
| 87 | + <h2>Playthrough:</h2> |
| 88 | + <p>Below I list the flow on how I played. The game dose a surprisingly good job in telling in the Verses descriptions what to do where and next but I could not find any flow path online so I will do one. Your playthrough most likely will differ a little if you somehow are able to meet requirements the first time in a level (Like it did a 20 minutes requirement for one Verse by accident LOL). It will then unlock both possible paths directly. If the later path is actually beatable this early idk.</p> |
| 89 | + <ol> |
| 90 | + <li>Play once -> Ending A.</li> |
| 91 | + <li>Then start Chapter 7 Verse 4 and win in under 4 minutes |
| 92 | +then Chapter 9 Verse 1, Verse 2 And Verse 3 will continue. Win in Chapter 9 Verse 3 also in under 4 minutes and Chapter 9 Verse IV, Verse V, Verse VI and Verse VII will continue -> Ending C.</li> |
| 93 | + <li>After that you unlocked Chapter 9 Verse 4, start Chapter 9 Verse 4 and Chapter 9 Verse 5 and Verse 6 will continue -> Ending B.</li> |
| 94 | + <li>Then start Chapter 4 Verse X, it will continue with Chapter 4 Verse XI and Verse XII then go back to the menu.</li> |
| 95 | + <li>Then start Chapter 3 Verse 9 then go back to the menu.</li> |
| 96 | + <li>Then start Chapter 2 Verse 8 and beat it in under 20 minutes and it will continue with a replay of Chapter 2 Verse X and then follow up Chapter 2 Verse XI, Verse XII, Verse XIII and Verse XIV.</li> |
| 97 | + <li>Then go to menu and start Chapter 2 Verse V, it will ask you if you want to go somewhere, say yes and Leonard's Regret Verse 1, Verse 2, Verse 3, Verse 4, Verse 5, Verse 6 and Verse 7 will follow.</li> |
| 98 | + <li>Then go back to menu and load Chapter 3 Verse IV and it will ask you if you want to go to the Sea, say yes and it continues with a Chapter 3 Verse IV replay and then goes directly into Arioch's Madness Verse 1, Verse 2, Verse 3 and Verse 4.</li> |
| 99 | + <li>Then go back to menu and load Chapter 4 Verse VI and it will ask you if you want to go somewhere, say yes and it continues with Seer's Prayer and the Verse 1, Verse 2, Verse 3, Verse 4, Verse 5, Verse 6, Verse 7, Verse 8, Verse 9, Verse 10 and Verse 11.</li> |
| 100 | + <li>Then go back to menu and load Chapter 10 Verse 1 it continues with Chapter 10 and Verse II.</li> |
| 101 | + <li>Then go back to menu and load Chapter 10 Verse 2 it continues with Chapter 10 Verse 3 and Verse 4.</li> |
| 102 | + <li>Then go back to menu and load Chapter 11 Verse 1 it continues with Chapter 11 Verse 2, Verse 3 and Verse 4.</li> |
| 103 | + <li>Then go back to menu and load Chapter 11 Verse 1 and find “Manah” (Play the level to the end and don't go to the door, walk back and on floor 2 you find the true exit. I killed every enemy, idk. if that is a requirement) to be able to play Chapter 11 Verse II then start Chapter 11 Verse II to play with Chapter 11 Verse II, Verse III, Verse IV and Verse V.</li> |
| 104 | + <li>Then go back to menu and load Chapter 12 Verse 1 it continues with Chapter 12 Verse 2, Verse 3, Verse 4, Verse 5, Verse 6, Verse 7, Verse 8, Verse 9 and Verse 10 -> Ending D.</li> |
| 105 | + <li>Now the hardest part, either collect all weapons in the game (With a guide and/or unbelievable and unhealthy amounts of motivation) or, the more sensible option, cheat them by enameling all weapon related cheats from the "pcsx2_cheats_collection", then start a movie in one of the Chapters and after the game saved go back to the main menu.</li> |
| 106 | + <li>Then load Chapter 13 Verse 1 it continues with Chapter 13 Verse 2, Verse 3 and Verse 4. For Verse 3 you should use slowdown or get good in the Mini-Game -> Ending E.</li> |
| 107 | + </ol> |
| 108 | + <p>This is everything. I know, very different to usual entrys, but I wanted to document this. This game is just a work of art to strange and unique to not mention it.</p> |
| 109 | + <br> |
| 110 | + <h2>Sources:</h2> |
| 111 | + <ul> |
| 112 | + <li><a href="https://github.com/xs1l3n7x/pcsx2_cheats_collection">https://github.com/xs1l3n7x/pcsx2_cheats_collection</a></li> |
| 113 | + <li><a href="https://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-PCSX2-Ultrawide-Eyefinity-Patches">https://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-PCSX2-Ultrawide-Eyefinity-Patches</a></li> |
| 114 | + <li><a href="https://youtu.be/SmrnXQ3kBts">https://youtu.be/SmrnXQ3kBts</a></li> |
| 115 | + <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drakengard">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drakengard</a></li> |
| 116 | + <li><a href="https://youtu.be/9kzAvVmgIuA">https://youtu.be/9kzAvVmgIuA</a></li> |
| 117 | + </ul> |
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