CuckFupertino
Banned
Do you have a link to another forum, or more information about how to update said drivers? I was under the impression that any such updates would come with Windows updates, since the driver is built-in to Windows 10.
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Grandia® II Anniversary Edition (PC) |OT| Still Not Vague Enough 15 Years Later
- Thread starter Falk
- Start date
Do you have a link to another forum, or more information about how to update said drivers? I was under the impression that any such updates would come with Windows updates, since the driver is built-in to Windows 10.
bizzarewars
Banned
I was looking forward to giving this game a go since I heard a lot of good things about it, but now I'm thinking of requesting a refund. Can't get a keyboard controls to work properly. Don't know why but for some reason the key I bound up to refuses move up at all, which is strange because the other keys seem to be working fine. Tried resetting to defaults to no avail. Anyone know a fix for this?
It also had particularly awesome boss music.
cj_iwakura
Member
Screens from the other thread, which could be put into the OP(along with maybe character bios?):
And it's easily the best RPG on the Dreamcast, IMO. It's a gem.
You guys can be a bit more aggressive in any Hard Modes you include. It is an improvement over the base game but it doesn't seem to be giving anyone much of a really hard time at the moment.
Updated soundtrack is mandatory for HD Remaster.
You think so? The bosses have definitely been a lot less of a walk in the park compared to the old version. It requires at least knowing how to utilize the magic and skill book systems effectively, at least.
(I'm just past
Cyrum 1st visit
Will get on that later today; was hoping for screenies to put before I just resort to getting off Steam page, as mentioned in OP. p.s. those first two I won't use since it's tweaked with AO and that's a little misrepresentative hahahah
p.s. Skies of Arcadia edges out for best JRPG on Dreamcast for me. Come at me.
cj_iwakura
Member
Signed; go for the jugular. Hard mode should be vicious.
IMO, the better the gameplay, the more you can do with difficulty levels.
Lunar 1 & 2? You can push things, but not too hard.
Any of the Grandias? Go fucking nuts.
Artemis-kun
Member
Just dug my account out of the grave expressly to join in the discussion around this. Loved Grandia 1 and 2, I even had a copy of 1 until... things happened a few years ago, don't ask, but I still have my DC copy of 2! Albeit without case or manual... but still!
Anyway, loving the new version so far simply thanks to being able to play with my PS3 controller instead of the DC one :x that thumbstick was unkind to say the least. All the other bonuses are like gravy to me, heh.
Will admit that hard mode actually does appear to be a reasonably good change to things, and while I still haven't gotten to
yet, so I can't really comment, there is a noticeable boost to the normal battle difficulty. It isn't enough to really make those harder, just enough to make things more complicated. Which, is exactly in line with what the devs have said thus far, so unless the boss battles don't stand up in the long term (which I have no reason to doubt) I'll say the hard mode is definitely a good change to an otherwise largely easy game.
I think the part about this game in particular that makes me fall in love with it again and again, is the fact that the characters all appreciably grow over the course of the game. I mean, they exhibit the kind of character growth and development largely unknown to gaming these days, and make most other characters seem entirely one dimensional, by comparison.
Anyway, gonna head back to it now, just wanted to poke in and say hi to all you other wonderful fans, and join in on things!
Anyway, loving the new version so far simply thanks to being able to play with my PS3 controller instead of the DC one :x that thumbstick was unkind to say the least. All the other bonuses are like gravy to me, heh.
Will admit that hard mode actually does appear to be a reasonably good change to things, and while I still haven't gotten to
THE TONGUE
I think the part about this game in particular that makes me fall in love with it again and again, is the fact that the characters all appreciably grow over the course of the game. I mean, they exhibit the kind of character growth and development largely unknown to gaming these days, and make most other characters seem entirely one dimensional, by comparison.
Anyway, gonna head back to it now, just wanted to poke in and say hi to all you other wonderful fans, and join in on things!
Artemis-kun
Member
As much as I loved Grandia 2, I've got your back on this one.
There was some really good discussion about gameplay and what made Grandia so good a while back. I think at its core, mechanics that allow for encounter design that deals a shit ton of mitigatable, avoidable or outright cancellable damage gives you a sense of accomplishment. A sort of "if I'd stood in fire, I would have died, but I'm smart and didn't stand in fire, so I won" endorphin release that makes you feel like a boss. It's what makes action games and action RPGs like Critical Kingdom Hearts 2 so satisfying. It's what made WoW so addictive for so many millions of people for over a decade. (Think of all the raid bosses with mechanics that could deal nutty damage if you messed up - that made boss kills heckuva accomplishment)
It's also what generally makes turn-based JRPG combat just... so-so. Like for example, in the Final Fantasies of the time, you hit enemy, enemy hits you, and there's not much you can do about it - it becomes a slugging match.
In Grandia, despite being turn-based, you can either sit there and tank every hit, or outright avoid them depending on how you play. Not many other turn-based/command-based games let you do that, or at least, as a core mechanic rather than a few token gimmick "ATTACK WHILE ITS TAILS UP!" bosses. Even the TRPGs/SRPGs.
PumpkinSpice
Banned
I don't remember -- does the DC version have the music loop problem as well?
Artemis-kun
Member
No, it does not.
Nowadays it's also nice to play an RPG where the idea of risqué is limited to this
But jokes aside, yeah, the battle system really makes you take more of an active role even during the downtime. Even though the game is quite easy, you still feel compelled to calculate how each of the characters can use their turn in the most efficient manner instead of the usual "just rush first enemy with everyone, then second, then third" trap that most routine encounters in JRPGs end up falling into.
But jokes aside, yeah, the battle system really makes you take more of an active role even during the downtime. Even though the game is quite easy, you still feel compelled to calculate how each of the characters can use their turn in the most efficient manner instead of the usual "just rush first enemy with everyone, then second, then third" trap that most routine encounters in JRPGs end up falling into.
Alex
Member
Better technology allows for that. Although I feel like the PSone probably still has some of the best JRPGs due to some of the wild creativity attached to full, traditional experiences the disc loading, low ram and other tech restraints were def a problem. No one mentions it nowadays but at the time the leap from FFIX to FFX was insane just in terms of battle and menu pacing.
Problem nowadays is that full traditional JRPGs are few and far between in the face of cheaper Wizardy clones and dungeon crawlers, let alone ones that'll embrace a turn based nature. You're pretty much left with the otaku niche titles which sadly a lot of us just don't want much to do with.
PoweredByHentai
Member
Funny you should mention this. 15 years later and I just realized that Elena might not be as flat as I had thought.
Granted, I've always been a huge fan of Millennia's aggressive personality and because of her amazing cat fights.
On an unrelated note, I am rather pissed that the game doesn't recognize my DS4 or even my Logitech controllers. I really don't want to use a 360 controller to play this.
EDIT:
One more thing, was Father Craius supposed to shoot a magic ball at Millennia? Because I see him charge up the ball and then Millennia slaps empty air to neutralize it.
Artemis-kun
Member
You should give the SCP xinput wrapper a try, says it supports the DS4 and makes your PC think it's a 360 controller. It's worked flawlessly for my DS3 for years, now.
EDIT:
Yes, it's a reported bug.
Yeah, I don't doubt that the siliest things are there simply to hide loading times. (FFT spellcasting animations lol)
It's just a lot of these things could have been tweaked for this PC rerelease (such as "Checking Save Data" taking a full 5 seconds despite the game no longer loading from memory cards, and not automatically going to the latest save on fresh game launch, etc) Not that any of these are in any way gamebreaking or dealbreaking, but they would have been nice QoL touches.
I mentioned FF8 once - As questionable as some of the other FF ports on Steam are, I think FF8 got it right in a lot of ways. While God Mode/free magic draws/etc. might not be for everyone, I think I'd be hard pressed to find people who didn't appreciate the fast forward feature to some extent or another. Square Enix or whichever individual was in charge of calling the shots for the Steam version of FF8 definitely knew the target market they were going for with that port extremely well - probably a bunch of old farts who first played FF8 back in their teenage days (i.e. me) and want to relive that but may have jobs and not the time to sit through it the 'legit' way anymore.
PoweredByHentai
Member
Not terribly fond of using xinput wrappers since they either don't work or break something else.
Also, I just added an issue I might have with the game in my post above.
The other issue I've noticed is that the SFX for magic spells cut out randomly for every attack-all spell. This is most noticeable with the earthquake/volcano spell.
EDIT:
Just saw your edit. That makes me sad.
Artemis-kun
Member
That's fair, though for what it's worth, out of everything I've ever tried to do to get game controllers working nicely on a PC (and I ran the gambit from the last generation), the SCP wrapper is the most straight-forward and seamless thing I've ever found. I haven't come across a single issue in any game, or emulator, I've used it with. Granted, I can't speak to its support for the DS4, not owning one, but it works perfectly in every way with my DS3, even after the move to Windows 10.
Not trying to convince you otherwise, but offering a testimony.
Haven't gotten far enough to get any attack-all spells, but I have noticed the odd SFX cuts, like with the field notification points, so it wouldn't surprise me that that's another bug.
You know, on the topic of bugs, that list of bugs is oddly reminiscent of the original PC port, and seems similar to the PS2 ones, as well. I wonder if there's something common to the porting process that keeps cropping up with this game that just works right on the DC.
PoweredByHentai
Member
I don't remember there being SFX issues with the PS2 version though it has been 15 years since then. =/
I wasn't even aware that there was a PC port back then.
Artemis-kun
Member
Admittedly, I never played the PS2 port at all, since I read enough about its issues that I didn't even want to bother, but before I got my hands on a DC and a copy of Grandia 2, I played the PC port. It was made back in 2000 by Eidos, and there were a swath of glitches in it. Granted, I don't recall the same kind of looping audio issue, I think that's unique to the move to using .ogg files for the sound, but there were all kinds of weird SFX overlaps, spell effects sometimes lingered on screen in battle after they'd finished, with the audio would get locked in a loop around those, sometimes spell animations would lock the game for several seconds or more... can't recall the others, but I do know it made me stop playing at one point and patiently wait for my DC to arrive with a copy of the game to play properly.
OmegaDL50
Member
The SCP Wrapper is what I've been using for few years now or at least for as long as It's been functional with Bluetooth support.
The driver itself does not interfere with any other devices or break anything else on your PC, unlike Motionjoy for example which overrides the default Windows USB stack.
So you can install the SCP driver and plug it in via the charger cable and it will work as a wired controller without interfering with any of your other devices. This is how I play all of my Steam controller-enabled game library.
However if you DO use a Bluetooth dongle and want to sync your PS3 or PS4 controller to it, it is only at this point that you dedicate the SCP bluetooth service entirely to the controller itself. Of course I bought a Bluetooth adaptor entirely for the purpose of using my Dualshock 4 on Windows, so not being able to use a bluetooth keyboard or mouse isn't an issue, however your situation may vary from mine.
There is also DS4Windows which also uses the SCP Driver but has more Dualshock 4 functions, such as the touchpad working as emulated mouse with left and right click functions (great for navigating Mouse only config menus in some Steam games for example) There is also changing the Lightbar into a color coded battery indicator (I set mine up like a stop light. Green means 100 to 70% battery life, Yellow means 70 to 40% battery life, and Red means it's very low and needs to be charged...there are also function keys like programming multiple inputs in a macro as a single button if you like that sort of thing)
I'd say DS4Windows probably the best method of using a Dualshock 4 on Windows for games that use xinput as it's controller API.
Grandia II works well with it with no issue as well (From my experience at least)
The issue with the old PC version of Grandia 2 with the lock ups during spells was because of the FMV overlays was due to poor encoding. One specific fix was to re-encode all of the videos and this would stop that. Of course it shouldn't be expected for fans to create their own fixes instead of an actual patch instead, but I suppose this doesn't matter anymore now that the Steam release is here.
Artemis-kun
Member
This right here is why I'm happy that GungHo is being so responsive on the issues found, and seems to be making the commitment to fixing them. I remember those days, you got what you got, and that was it. Much worse, things were more expensive back then than this release is priced at, so even with the bugs as-is, I was happy to pay the price now, with the promise that things will be fixed in due time. Some argue that they should have delayed the release and fixed things first, but I've been itching to play this for a while now, to the point where I was just about to go through it again on my DC, so I'm glad they released when they did even with the bugs.
encephalon
Member
There's no Japanese language (text) version, is there?
Nope
Steam is pretty weak in Japanese other than as a vehicle to play international games. The interface is barely translated, and most games aren't available in Japanese, even (or especially) big-name Japanese games. At least Ikaruga showed up. Chalk it up to companies stuck in an old way of doing business and used to charging more than digital download rates. This means that Japanese scripts get nixed in international releases so that there's no reverse-importing.
So when are we talking about Grandia II's story and not tech issues? I propose that not only is Millenia more interesting than Elena, Elena's pants are also really stupid. That is all.
Artemis-kun
Member
Just her pants? Her entire outfit is pretty stupid. I'll admit that Millenia is also my fave, but
Tio
texhnolyze
Banned
Tell me more about this hex edit for widescreen.
Artemis-kun
Member
Like, 2 seconds in Google
http://www.wsgf.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15042
Though, given that it requires hex editing the .exe for the game, I would imagine the values would not be the same, since this is an entirely new build of the game from the DC version.
BONKERS
Member
The game has slight graphical upgrades over the original,and runs in a more modern DX11 renderer.
On my 980 at 720p with 8xMSAA It uses around 20% GPU usage with a fixed max clock in 3D mode (meaning it's not downclocking and causing more usage because of a lower clock)
I doubt it will happen
The game was made for 4:3, and too many problems, particularly in battle prevent it from working well.
Based on videos of the DC version emulated in widescreen it doesn't look that good anyway
As much as i'd love a 16:9 Grandia II, I can live with 4:3
Haven't had a single problem here with my wired 360
You and me both sir. If anything add optional higher res sprites
Updated soundtrack is mandatory for HD Remaster.
You think so? The bosses have definitely been a lot less of a walk in the park compared to the old version. It requires at least knowing how to utilize the magic and skill book systems effectively, at least.
(I'm just past, maybe it gets easier with more broken combinations later on)Cyrum 1st visit
Will get on that later today; was hoping for screenies to put before I just resort to getting off Steam page, as mentioned in OP. p.s. those first two I won't use since it's tweaked with AO and that's a little misrepresentative hahahah
p.s. Skies of Arcadia edges out for best JRPG on Dreamcast for me. Come at me.
Maybe an "EXTREME Hard" mode as another option???
Also: I've got both OSTs ripped in FLAC to replace the in game music with but i'm waiting for the SOUND to be patched first.
Danny Dudekisser
I paid good money for this Dynex!
Can I just express how awesome I still think this whole thing is? Yes, there are some bugs that need to be fixed, but it's still just amazing to think that a game like this - a genuine classic - is being rereleased, better than ever, on PC.
Can't wait to see what's next on GungHo's list.
Can't wait to see what's next on GungHo's list.
Totally separate stuff, only thing that's the same is the combat and gameplay systems (though with some changes but the basics are the same)
So feel free to start with this
Northeastmonk
Gold Member
I had this on Dreamcast back when it launched and I built up the courage to buy it for PC just now.
I remember playing Xtreme on PS2 and just hoping I would get another shot at enjoying this game. I didn't like the cover or look of Xtreme.
I remember playing Xtreme on PS2 and just hoping I would get another shot at enjoying this game. I didn't like the cover or look of Xtreme.
BONKERS
Member
Wait until it's patched. I hope they can fix all of the problems.
Here's some screenshots finally
eastx
Member
Even if reworking the visuals for 16:9 is too much, they could still whip up some optional widescreen borders and suddenly the game would look a lot nicer IMO. Rare Replay's borders certainly work great.
Psycho Echidna
Member
Indeed. Since the DC days, this mid level boss tune pumped me up ...
BONKERS
Member
That's not a bad idea TBH