Drakengard

Drakengard

Game general and emulation properties: Languages supported: Region NTSC-U: Serial numbers: SLUS-20732 Release date: March 2, 2004 CRCs: 9679D44C Windows Status: Playable Linux Status: ? Mac Status: ? Region PAL: Serial numbers: SLES-52322 Release date: May 21, 2004 Windows Status: Playable Linux Status: ? Mac Status: ? Region NTSC-J/C/K: Serial numbers: SCAJ-20020 SLPM-55080 (Ultimate Hits) SLPM-65266 Release date: September 11, 2003 September 4, 2008 (Ultimate Hits) CRCs: BFB0DFBE Windows Status: Playable Linux Status: ? Mac Status: ?

Developer(s): Cavia Inc.
Publisher(s): Square Enix (JP, US, AU), Gathering (EU)
Genre: Action, RPG
Wikipedia: Link
Game review links: GameRankings: 65/100, Metacritic: 63/100
Game description: Conflict has erupted between the Empire and the Union. Caim, a Union warrior, teams up with a dragon to unravel the mystery behind the Empire's sudden rise to power. In Drakengard, you must guide several characters, including Caim and his dragon, as they engage and destroy enemies on multiple battlefields. Fly high on the red dragon, and dispatch airborne opponents with powerful dragon fire and special attacks. You can even engage in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy, while using each character's set of magic abilities and weapons.
The game is the first installment of the Drakengard series and features a mixture of ground-based hack-and-slash, aerial combat, and role-playing elements which have become a staple of the series. The story is set during a religious war between two factions—the Union and the Empire—with the war tipping in favor of the Empire. The player controls Caim, a deposed prince of the Union, in his quest for vengeance against the Empire. Wounded in battle while protecting his sister Furiae, he is forced to make a pact with a red dragon named Angelus. As they journey together, they join with Hierarch Verdelet on a quest to prevent the Empire from destroying magical seals that keep the world in balance: Furiae acts as the central seal, and her death will drop the world into chaos.

Test configurations on Windows:

Environment			Configurations			Comments	Tester
Region	OS	CPU/GPU	Revision	Graphics	Sound/Pad
NTSC-J	?	Intel Core2 Duo E8400 @ 3.00 GHz ATI Radeon HD 5770	0.9.9 (r5139)	GSdx (r5135)	SPU2-X (r5139) LilyPad (r5112)	BIOS: Japan v02.00, None Voice Sound real time rendering movie.(In NTSC-J, Japanese version). None 2D Graphic Illustration real time rendering movie.(In NTSC-J, Japanese version). There are glitches on the videos and some spells with internal resolutions above the native.	Shingox
PAL	Windows 7 Professional x64	Intel Core i7-4790K @ 4.00 GHz NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970	1.2.1.r5873	GSdx 0.1.16 SSE41	SPU2-X 2.0.0 LilyPad 0.11.0	BIOS: Europe v01.60 - Full boot does not render any character models (no player character or enemies), making the game unplayable. Fast boot renders everything and runs fine with a consistent frame rate, though there is a minor screen glitch in cutscenes where the bottom letterbox flickers white.	KnightRay XLIV‎
NTSC-U	Windows 8.1 Pro	AMD Athlon II X4 630 @ 2.80 GHz AMD Radeon HD 7950 @ 3 GB	1.3.1 (git r529)	GSdx SSE2 (r529)	SPU2-X (r529) LilyPad SCP (r5875)	Requires a fast CPU. This game doesn't have any glitches but it lags horribly. You can set VU to 1 without problems but go any higher and the game lags and you can't enable EE hacks as the game uses it all up. Regardless though it is almost playable(40FPS without hacks).	Crazysteve88
NTSC-U	Windows 7 Ultimate x64	Intel Core i5-4570 @ 3.20 GHz NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 @ 2 GB	1.3.1 (git r743)	GSdx 0.1.14	SPU2-X 2.0.0 LilyPad 0.11.0	BIOS: USA v02.00, Undub version works fine on modern hardware, with minimal speedhacks. Some audio pops within the FMVs, gameplay has no issues.	OhioGoysmash
PAL	Windows 7 Ultimate x64 (SP1)	Intel Core i5-2500K @ 3.70 GHz NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 @ 2 GB	1.5.0 (dev-1678 gcfb8013)	GSdx 1.1.0 AVX	SPU2-X 2.0.0 LilyPad 0.11.0	BIOS: Europe v1.90. A self-made widescreen patch for the PAL version. Stable 50 fps, in turbo mode the game can run at 80-100 fps with EE 1. With 100% game completion found only 2 minor issues: glitchy graphics at the "game over" screen and with special attack of a "Broken Dogma" weapon.	Xymjak
NTSC-U	Windows 7 Ultimate x64 (SP1)	Intel Core i5-4670K @ 3.40 GHz AMD Radeon R9 280 @ 3 GB	1.5.0 (dev-1977 gdf32564)	GSdx 1.1.0 AVX2	SPU2-X 2.0.0 LilyPad 0.12.1	BIOS: USA 2.30, Initially the game started off really slow. Frame rates didn't go higher than 40 FPS during the very first cutscene (which was basically nothing but a text screen with a voice-over), that even dipped down to 10 FPS. Once the first level loaded, the FPS went up again to near stable 60 FPS. (It was fluctuating between 58~60). I can't say for sure what caused the bad performance during that first cutscene. Other than that, I have yet to notice any major issues.	Ryudo
NTSC-U	Windows 10 Pro x64	Intel Core i7-4770 @ 3.40 GHz NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080	1.5.0 (dev-2011-g16904d5)	GSdx 1.1.0 AVX2	SPU2-X 2.0.0 LilyPad 0.12.1	BIOS: USA 2.20. Played up to Chapter 2. Minor issues with ghosting and interlacing can be resolved with trying different interlacing methods and using skipdraw:1. Occasionally some very minor audio stutter during cutscenes. Some cutscenes are not centered, but this might be due to a widescreen patch. FPS steady at 60.	Anon
NTSC-U	Windows 10 Home x64	AMD FX 8350 @ 4.00 GHz AMD R9 380 @ 4GB	1.5.0 (dev-2339-g1292cd505)	GSdx 1.1.0 SSE4.1/AVX	SPU2-X 2.0.0 LilyPad 0.12.1	BIOS: USA 2.20. 100% Completion. Used widescreen hacks and no major glitches encountered. Some slowdown, mostly in the early area of the game. Very Playable!	Lockedinacoffin
NTSC-U	Windows 10 Pro x64	Intel Core i7-3770K 4.4GHz NVIDIA GTX 1070 8GB	1.5.0 (dev-2711-g8307cfc54)	GSdx 1.1.0 SSE4.1/AVX	SPU2-X 2.0.0 LilyPad 0.12.1	BIOS: USA 2.20. 100% completion. Rare frame-drops in some aerial missions or when using combo attacks, always recovered shortly after. Very minor visual glitches in level completion screen and death screen. Other than that, stable 60FPS.	BillyCool
NTSC-U	Windows 10 Pro x64	AMD Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7GHz NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 8GB	1.5.0 (dev-3135-gafd5ceef7)	GSdx 1.1.0 SSE4.1/AVX	SPU2-X 2.0.0 LilyPad 0.12.1	BIOS: USA 1.60. So far only tested up to Chapter 3-6 has been tested, Game runs just about perfectly there are some minor issues such as the screen going black with blue lines upon dying and restarting the level after that death. In the air missions when there are too many explosions going on at once the audio will produce some garage.	meleeman
NTSC-U	Windows 10	Intel Core i7-4790 @ 3.6 GHz AMD Radeon RX 570	1.6.0	GSdx32-AVX2 1.2.0 (default 1.6)	SPU2-X 2.0.0 (default 1.6) LilyPad 0.12.1 (default 1.6)	95-100% speed, usually fullspeed with rare slowdowns. Appears to be some kind of garbage or corruption after fmv's play or when skipped.	Nyahello
NTSC-U	Windows 10	Intel Core i7-4790 @ 3.6 GHz AMD Radeon RX 570	1.7.0 (dev 1187)	GSdx32-AVX2 1.2.0 (default 1.7)	Default (core 1.7)	Hardware modes are GPU heavy maxing out the GS thread, while Software rendering maxes out the EE thread even with MTVU. Game speed can drop as low as 70% depending on how many enemies are on screen, and averages around 90%. The EE timing and VU1 kickstart manual gamefixes can improve the speed slightly (5-10%). EE cyclerate reduction causes internal slowdown.	Nyahello

Trivia

• Original names: ドラッグオンドラグーン (SLPM-55080) & (SLPM-65266)
• Also known as Drag-on Dragoon (JP)

Known Issues

Red screen on death does not render in HW mode renderers

• Status: Active
• Type: Minor
• Description: The red screen that should render once the character dies, does not render when running the game above the native resolution in HW mode.
• Workaround: Enable HW hacks and go to advanced settings and hacks. Here enable the Frame Buffer Conversion hack, and then set the HalfPixel offset option to Special(texture). Now set Round Sprite option to Full and this should make the red screen render properly.

This hack is a bit costly in performance and to have a good audio experience even if your hardware is unable to maintain fullspeed, make sure that the Synchronizing Mode is set to Async Mix in the Audio plugin settings. You can access this setting from Config> Audio(SPU2)> Plugin settings.

Vertical lines on using the charge attack in HW mode renderers

• Status: Active
• Type: Minor
• Description: On using the charge attack(Square button, Square Button and hold Triangle button), a set of vertical lines appear on the screen when running the game above the native resolution in HW mode.
• Workaround: Enable HW hacks and go to advanced settings and hacks. Here enable the Merge Sprite hack, which should fix this issue.

The gallery

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  Drakengard (SLUS 20732)

	Drakengard (SLUS 20732) (U)