Quarter (GLODIA) Memorial

[D--]

http://www.quarter-dev.info/

This site has a lot of uncommon GLODIA games, the original makers of Emerald Dragon before its rather thorough raping on SNES.

Of particular interest is Die Banwhelt (BW_DISK.LZH). The game kicks serious ass if you're a fan of Super Contra's overhead levels. The whole game is like one gigantic contra overhead level, and you have to find access cards to open doors, solve puzzles, collect ammunition, etc.

I used to have a map dumper for the game, but I haven't seen it in a while. Given how complicated some of the stages are, a map is a big help. If you have a fast computer, use XM6 to emulate it, otherwise, Win68kHighSpeed (google for teh win).

Zavas and Vain Dream are pretty good games too. If you like Emerald Dragon, play Vain Dream. It is another RPG created with the same engine.

[byuu]

I'd like to try the FM-TOWNS Vain Dream, assuming a disk for it is ever found... :/
Is Vain Dream as insanely hard as Emerald Dragon was?

[D--]

You thought Emerald Dragon was hard ...? There's not even a level-up cap for Atrushan or Tamryn. I've pumped them to level 180 before the last fight. Granted everyone else sucks, and you need to find an AI exploit to keep Zandig from frying them since if ANYONE DIES the game is over ... But other than that it's not too hard.

Vain Dream's difficulty is about the same.

I recall, back in the day, having seen Vain Dream on WinMX or Winny while doing searches for FM-TOWNS stuff. Granted I only saw it twice, and never managed to get it either time since Japanese people don't understand the concept of "sharing"--at least as it applies to "file sharing."

Maybe if you leave your computer on for 3 years, you'll complete the download It seems to be the only hope. No one at any of the PC emulation sites had the disk. I can't believe the GLODIA games are the ONLY ONES where there is no function on the CD-ROM itself to create a new boot disk ...

[byuu]

WinMX was purely a file trading network in Japan. Why do you think the Japanese were the only ones to come up with extensive hacks to WinMX and OpenNAP servers to force you to share quotas of data (even 80gb+ of files, with minimum file sizes of 100mb/file), and hack their share slots down to zero, so nothing gets transferred unless they allow it?

I learned how to trade with them, though. And I hacked the hell out of that program myself to do it. You basically queue the file you want from them, and then they'll browse your file list, and if they see something they like, they'll queue it on you, and then start your transfer. If you don't start theirs in 30 seconds, they kill your transfer, add you to their ignore list, and sometimes message you calling you an asshole or mother fucker.
One in twenty of them will kill your download if they finish first, and two in three will throttle your download speed so that you can't finish your download before you finish your upload.
And just think: I got Rhapsody of Zephyr like this. It took me two goddamned weeks, and since piece of dogshit CD burning software doesn't verify ISOs burned correctly, I delete the ISOs because I'm out of hard disk space, and then find out the CDs have errors galore.

[D--]

Winny wasn't a whole lot better. I got stuff by then just by being a stealth ninja bandwidth assassin and queing their file every 20 goddamn seconds since it has no block feature. Eventually, this would succeed because they had to go to sleep at some point.

[byuu]

Yep. I got countless files while they slept. At least, from the ones who didn't have the 0 minimum transfers hack.

The saddest thing ever, though: every now and then, someone would queue a file and start downloading it. Me, being nice, would let them download it. Then they message me, asking me to please download a file from them. I reply telling them that I don't mind if they download it from me without exchanging a file. So they immediately cancel their download and go away. It's like the idea of sharing is so evil, they run for their lives.
It wasn't my Japanese, either. I believe I had someone fluent tell me how to say that, since it came up quite a bit.

[thimble]

Of particular interest is Die Banwhelt (BW_DISK.LZH). The game kicks serious ass if you're a fan of Super Contra's overhead levels. The whole game is like one gigantic contra overhead level, and you have to find access cards to open doors, solve puzzles, collect ammunition, etc.

Die Bahnwelt is spectacular.  Thanks for the link.  

For those interested in Die Bahnwelt's story, there is a partial English translation available courtesy of Radical R.  
http://members.lycos.co.uk/ticktock/

The opening (OPEN.XDF) and the music room (END.XDF) are fully translated.  

This was done a little over two months ago.  Last I checked, Radical R was asking for an end save in order to attempt the ending before the in-game scripts.  Here is the thread pertaining to this:  
http://fullmotionvideo.free.fr/forum/viewtopic.php?t=103

My favorite track from the game is entitled City Forecs of Waste.  So far, that is.  

These appear to be all of the Glodia titles for the NEC PC-98.  

Alvaleak Boukenki (19xx)(Glodia)
Bible Master (19xx)(Glodia)
Bible Master 2 (1994)(Glodia)
Different Realm (19xx)(Glodia)
Emerald Dragon (19xx)(Glodia)
Etemible (19xx)(Glodia)
Ragnarokkr (1994)(Glodia)
Vain Dream (19xx)(Glodia)
Vain Dream 2 (19xx)(Glodia)
Zavas (19xx)(Glodia)
Zavas 2 - The Prophecy of Mehitae (1993)(Glodia)


You can find the PC-98 versions of Vain Dream one and two and Different Realm here.

http://fullmotionvideo.free.fr/download/


I have yet to get the Vain Dream games working since they are .dcp files.  I might do that after finishing Die Bahnwelt.  

I too recommend Die Bahnwelt.  It is very easy to get into.  

Some tips (although most will not need them):

Alt = menu bar
Everything else is already configured for your controller.  
Every save room fully recovers your health and even if you cannot get to a save room, you are always slowly auto regenerating HP.  
As far as I can tell, every enemy is defeatable.  Some just take a LOT of shots.  
Try to defeat all stationary or unique enemies.  Some doors will not open until you do.  

[D--]

Vain Dream and Emerald Dragon do not work on PC-98. They are actually PC-88 disks and rely on some obscure backwards compatability that never works. Get the PC-88 disks instead if you want to play.

If you want to see all GLODIA's releases over the years, check http://vaindream.com/GLODIA/soft.html

I have everything on this list with the exception Different Realm, Vain Dream on FM-TOWNS (which I own, but the system disk is broke so I cannot play) and Bible Master on FM-TOWNS.

Alvaleak Continent kind of sucks. It's like Shining in the Darkness.
Bible Master isn't very good, but I strongly recommend II if you like SRPGs
Etemipuru is so-so.
Ragnarokkr is OK, but a nightmare to get working.
Vain Dream is good, II is pretty lame.
Both Zavas games are good.

If you're interested in games made by some of the early GLODIA developers, also track down Alshark (horrid graphics but fair game) and War Torn Versnag, both for X68000.

[thimble]

Got the .dcp and .dcu files working.  Used VFIC to convert them to .fdis:

http://nav.to/vfic/

I suppose Vain Dream II was left in .dcu format to run readily on Neko Project II.  

Vain Dream and Emerald Dragon do not work on PC-98. They are actually PC-88 disks and rely on some obscure backwards compatability that never works. Get the PC-88 disks instead if you want to play.

Both of these games definitely have graphics becoming of the PC-88.  However, the link I provided above goes to .dcp files of Vain Dream that only work as .fdi files.  You can convert them to .d88 files, but they will not be playable.  What I am trying to get at here is: What do you mean by the fact that Vain Dream and Emerald Dragon do not work on PC-98?  Do you mean they do not work on the PC-98 hardware?  

But I am most likely assuming things incorrectly.  Just because it is a .fdi file, does not mean it actually works on the PC-98; it just works with the emulator.  








As for Emerald Dragon, I am wondering if I should just try and track down the FM -TOWNS version or play the Super Famicom translation when it is released.  I know the Super Famicom and PC-Engine versions are terrible when compared to all other versions of the game but I also know that Emerald Dragon supposedly has an excellent storyline.  Perhaps knowing the bit of retained storyline from the FM-TOWNS to Super Famicom version might be better than playing this game and not really knowing what is going on at all?  

Damn, that came out a bit offensive and I did not mean for it to.  I'll understand if no one answers that question (i.e. why would someone go through the hard work to translate it in the first place!?).  I'll pose a more inadvertent question.  For those of you who played the FM-TOWNS version of Emerald Dragon and understood the storyline, which is better, the gameplay of the FM-TOWNS version or the storyline of the FM-TOWNS version?    





By the way, is it true that in Zavas 2 - The Prophecy of Mehitae it takes about 30 minutes to an hour to create your character?

[D--]

No. It does not take 30 minutes. Though it is pretty damn long ...

Emerald Dragon on FM-TOWNS has identical gameplay and story to the X68000 one: the graphics and music are just much, much better. I would consider it better than the SNES one in both graphics and gameplay. The PC-Engine is your next best option. Though they mucked with a lot of the game's story, it still plays like Emerald Dragon. The SNES one was royally fucked around with to try and add lots of melodrama and to make it look like every other console RPG with the same washed-out pallettes Squaresoft uses. As for why the SNES one is translated and none of the others are: no one would hack any of them.

That's interesting about Vain Dream on PC-98. I always assumed it was just totally unplayable, because even when I turned the disks into FDI format, the game crashed on the GLODIA logo and it just kept scrolling. I just assumed it must be some emulation glitch due to the game being a hack-job port off the PC-88 version to capitalize on both systems. I'm sure it runs fine on a real PC-98.

[thimble]

I was able to find every version of Emerald Dragon but the FM-TOWNS version.  I tried the Sharp X68000 version.  That is much more refined than the PC-98 version I was playing.  It also seems a bit harder too.  I think I'll go back to it once I have finished Die Bahnwelt.  

That X68000 version came with six disks.  I managed to get all of them to work except the ending disk, visual disk 1, and visual disk 2.  I think perhaps the ending disk cannot be played until I beat the game and the data disk asks me for the ending disk.  I have no idea for visual disks 1 and 2.  

Thanks for having the patience to answer my questions.  

[KingMike]

As soon as I try to run Ex68000 (emulator), it immediately sets the resolution to something my monitor (if not my cheapy GeForce 2 card) doesn't support. So, I have to restart XP in VGA mode (resets resolution to 640x480, so at least you can see again). Any suggestions to avert this (short of buying new stuff)?

[thimble]

As soon as I try to run Ex68000 (emulator), it immediately sets the resolution to something my monitor (if not my cheapy GeForce 2 card) doesn't support. So, I have to restart XP in VGA mode (resets resolution to 640x480, so at least you can see again). Any suggestions to avert this (short of buying new stuff)?

I highly suggest you use XM6 or Win68K just as the thread starter suggested.  

Here

This compares the main emulators.  EX68 may be faster than Win68K but its game compatibility is much less than that of Win68K.  Try both XM6 and Win68K to find the emulator for you.  And no, even if you had a better graphics card, you would still have problems running some of these games with EX68.  That is because EX68 is not as compatible with the latest X68000 TOSEC as the other two are.  Die Bahnwelt is part of that new TOSEC.  

Also, Win68K is more compatible with your computer in general.  Just tried Akumajo Dracula with EX68.  Ran VERY slowly on default settings.  Works fine with Win68K.  

[D--]

ex68 is a tank full of shit and always has been. It is a bad emulator all around and whoever told you to use it should be shot. Winx68HighSpeed is a far faster emulator, and it ceased development more recently than Ex68. The best is XM6, which is still in development, but requires a very fast computer. It has nothing to do with TOSEC--all that is, is an indexing service.

With Emerald Dragon, you never boot any disk but the system disk. As you play, it prompts you to insert the visual disks or data disks in the second floppy drive for cut scenes. Man ... didn't you ever use computers before CD-ROMs?

[thimble]

ex68 is a tank full of shit and always has been. It is a bad emulator all around and whoever told you to use it should be shot. Winx68HighSpeed is a far faster emulator, and it ceased development more recently than Ex68. The best is XM6, which is still in development, but requires a very fast computer. It has nothing to do with TOSEC--all that is, is an indexing service.

Oh.  I was assuming things based off of that entry on that website you first provided.  For Die Bahnwelt, it listed Die Bahnwelt (バーンウェルト)
WinX68k Emulator Version
I got quite an odd screen with XM6 on default settings when playing that game.  Adding that to the fact that the original Die Bahnwelt disk had to be changed more than usual for it to work on any emulators at all, I incorrectly assumed that the newer the added TOSEC, the less compatible older emulators would be.  I agree, EX68 is just terrible.

With Emerald Dragon, you never boot any disk but the system disk.

What about the opening disk?  That boots on its own.  Just as the opening and ending disks for Die Bahnwelt do.  I was wondering if the ending disk for Emerald Dragon was either a music room or a real ending disk, and this answers my question; it is a real ending disk.  

As you play, it prompts you to insert the visual disks or data disks in the second floppy drive for cut scenes.

That's a question I regret asking.  I would have just found it out for myself as I played along.  

Man ... didn't you ever use computers before CD-ROMs?

Yes, but the only other instance wherein I used such to play floppy games was for the Amiga.  All the games I played for that had you insert all the disks at once.  Unless you don't consider the Amiga a computer, in which case the answer is still yes but no to using any floppy disk games.