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RTTP: Deadly Premonition - The Best "Bad" Game Ever.

What's the best way to play it?
I have a PS5, switch, and I'm pretty sure my shit laptop can run it.
Of those options, Switch. Specifically digital on Switch.

The PC version, even with all of the enhancements people have tried to make, is still quite bad. Also, if your laptop is shit, it probably isn't good enough to run it on RPCS3, which is technically the best way to play the game.

Also, if you do get the Switch version, be sure to buy it digitally, not physically. Funny enough, the game was ported to Switch by two different developers. One for physical, one for digital. The physical version of the game received no post-release patches or updates. The digital version however, did receive patches and updates. The Switch recognizes the physical and digital versions of DP1 as two separate games, so the patches for the digital version cannot be applied to the physical version, as they're two different builds of the game. It's fucking weird.
 
I thought the Switch version was completely busted and that the 360 version on console is the overall best?
Not completely busted, it's playable. More playable than the PC version. Specifically the digital version of DP1 on the Switch. But the 360 version is the best overall.



The physical version of DP1 on the Switch was done by Aksys, the digital was done by ToyBox. The physical version is stuck on version 1.0.0 and never received any patches. The digital version I believe was patched up to 1.0.3. They're two separate builds of the same game done by two different developers lol.
 
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Krathoon

Member
I may stick with the PC version and see if the crashes drive me nuts.

Of course, the Switch version is $30. It was originally a $20 game.
 
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I may stick with the PC version and see if the crashes drive me nuts.
It's not just crashes unfortunately, there's a bug during chapter 9 on the PC version that can brick your whole game: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps3/943433-deadly-premonition-the-directors-cut/faqs/63463

The bug manifests itself by how you played through chapter 8. So if you didn't play "correctly" and you get to chapter 9 and you run into this crash, there's no way past it.

This is a major problem that affects mostly PC and Switch players but may
also happen on both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions although I have
not heard much of this bug on them. Even so I should assume that all versions
are capable of this problem.

This is how the bug manifests itself:

You play to the end of Chapter 08 then leave the game. When you go back and
try to Resume it crashes during the loading of the beginning of Chapter 09.
Every time you try to Resume it will keep crashing over and over again. You
can do Replays of the previous chapters as much as you want but you cannot go
any further in the game and your run-through is ruined.

As I did research I found that most of the complaints were coming from PC
owners as this bug was more pronounced there. Some people found that by
changing certain compatibility settings would fix the issue. However, the
Switch version doesn't allow for that. Some people said that the problem was
that the save file got corrupted but I don't think so.

One of the other complaints about the game was that if you tried to skip
cutscenes from the exterior of [Muses Gallery] you can cause the game to
crash. That to me was a clue on how this bug worked.

I believe that there is some bad data within the assets for the exterior of
[Muses Gallery]. When you are outside of it you won't have any problems but,
when the game does a cutscene using those same assets, there is some
instability and if you try to skip that cutscene then you can cause the game
to crash. Not all of the time though but you can greatly increase the chances
of one to happen.

There are two types of cutscenes: pre-rendered and dynamic. The opening movie
and your first introduction to Francis are pre-rendered and are just movies
to be played. Dynamic is when the game generates the cutscene on the fly
using the game engine and assets.

The cutscene at the beginning of Chapter 09 takes place at the exterior of
[Muses Gallery]. When the game loads up it will load up the assets of the
[Gallery] and begins the process of starting the Chapter. However, during
this process and because of the bad data, the bug is triggered and the game
will crash citing "bad data" before the cutscene is started.

And, since the game loads up the same way each time, the bug is triggered
each time and you cannot continue.

The workaround for this bug is play into Chapter 08. Turn off Auto Save (if
you have it on), make a manual save at a [Phone] well away from the [Gallery]
and before going there, and play all the way through to the end of Chapter 09
without saving or allowing the game to save. Once you reach the end and are
asked to save then make one. Once you get past this Chapter then you should
be okay for the rest of the game.

It also important to point out that when you get to Chapter 09 you should not
skip the opening cutscene as well as the cutscene that plays when you get in
a vehicle with Emily.

In addition, there are other cutscenes involving the [Muses Gallery] exterior
that need to be noted:

>>At the end of Chapter 07 just after you get to the [Hotel].
>>The middle of Chapter 08 when you arrive at the [Gallery].
>>Partway through Chapter 12 when you arrive at the [Gallery].

Those cutscenes should not be skipped either to prevent crashing issues.

I will make special notations in Chapters 07, 08, 09, and 12 so you can be
aware of these cutscenes and when to make saves.
 
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Krathoon

Member
Ok. I think I have the 360 version laying around somewhere.

Edit: Ah ha! I got the PS3 version. I may just run the game in an emulator.
 
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Krathoon

Member
Of course, my copy of RPCS3 is so old that they broke the updater.

It turns out that you can manually update it by pasting the current version over your old version.
 

FoxMcChief

Gold Member
well, if you still can't figure out whether or not you liked it, i'm thinking that means you liked it. otherwise, you wouldn't've given a fuck & just moved on. I'd suggest a replay...
Not necessarily true. I think at that point, I was trying to play everything I purchased. Only recently have I started putting down games that I wasn’t enjoying.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
It is a shame the the quality control was pretty awful on this game. It is kind of a gamble playing it.

Here's the thing, the QC on the original release is somehow a league better than all later ports lol. Not sure if they were given a pittance of a port budget or what .. but the X360 version is the most stable version, both in terms of general performance and/or crashes of all the console ports (and the PC too).

Everyone has this idea that Deadly Premonition is that really buggy game that people still like because most of their exposure is from the PS3 or Switch version. It's a damn shame, TBH.
 

FoxMcChief

Gold Member
That’s basically how I feel about Death Stranding. I beat it. And I like weird. Still dunno.
I’m playing that game right now. I’m knocking on the door of entering the third map.

I’m playing the game exclusively on my Portal while I have sports on the tv. I think I like it just enough. But man, once meeting Heartman, I think the story is now starting to get really stupid.
 
I’m playing that game right now. I’m knocking on the door of entering the third map.

I’m playing the game exclusively on my Portal while I have sports on the tv. I think I like it just enough. But man, once meeting Heartman, I think the story is now starting to get really stupid.

The final boss type stuff makes it worth seeing through. It’s definitely backloaded. But I definitely quit doing side missions early on.
 

Krathoon

Member
I was reading that the extra scenes in the Director's Cut contradict the sequel. So, you might as well just play the original 360 version.

Madness.
 
I was reading that the extra scenes in the Director's Cut contradict the sequel. So, you might as well just play the original 360 version.

Madness.
It's kind of a mixed bag.

The PS3 version, which is the Director's Cut, has extra non-canon scenes, but a plethora of QoL improvements over the 360 version. But the 360 version crashes less than the PS3 version.

The Switch version is technically the 360 version, but with all of the QoL improvements from the PS3 version. So no non-canon scenes. But the Switch version is also prone to crashing, plus the digital and physical versions of the game were made by two different developers; the digital version being the most stable.

Technically the best way to play the game is on RPCS3 or Yuzu. You should be able to play either version on a high-end PC without crashing, and with all of the QoL improvements. But Yuzu especially requires a very beefy PC to run at a constant 60 fps.
 

Krathoon

Member
Now, are the missing textures in the PS3 version pretty minor?

I am not certain what they are talking about. It makes me wonder if it was an emulator problem.
 

Bridges

Member
I disagree.

I believe Swery was well on his way with D4...

It's a shame it will remain incomplete.

What was released of D4 was incredible. It really had potential to surpass Deadly Premonition. If it weren't episodic it probably still would've bombed, but at least we'd have had a complete game.

Since then it seems like Swery has a shoestring budget with White Owls. The games were always jank but they've taken a massive step back, it's such a shame
 

bender

What time is it?
Lightning in a bottle that Swery still hasn't been able to replicate.

Not even a bad game, genuinely one of the best of the last 20 years.

LyN.gif
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Now, are the missing textures in the PS3 version pretty minor?

I am not certain what they are talking about. It makes me wonder if it was an emulator problem.

No, PS3 (and Switch) has texture and pop-in issues that weren't in the original release. It's not the emulation's fault.

Right from the start, you can see the PS3 version doesn't have any 'textures' on the river, trees also look less sparse (or just flat out different), there's other incidental things like this through out the game. I guess if this is your only exposure to the game, it's not that big of a deal. The DC also removed the green tone filter that the original game had, this might be subjective but I've played the original so much that looking at it without the filter just feels odd to me.

At least with emulation, you're fixing the biggest problem the PS3 version had, the absolutely fucking terrible frame rate which would hover between 10 to 20 fps in places where little to nothing is happening.

Side by side comparison of the two:

 
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Krathoon

Member
I think I have a 360 copy of the game laying around somewhere. I am debating on getting the XBox one copy or playing it in an emulator.

I kind of already have enough copies of the game.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
I think I have a 360 copy of the game laying around somewhere. I am debating on getting the XBox one copy or playing it in an emulator.

I kind of already have enough copies of the game.

Xenia emulation for the game is broken. Lots of bugs and glitches. That emulator is nowhere near as refined as RPCS3.

My personal recommendation is playing the Xbox version on either Xbox One or Series, if that is an option.

Time stamped a video where this guy made extremely detailed comparisons of all versions with their pro's and con's.




qSqXqtq.png
 

Krathoon

Member
I have been digging through my containers trying to find my 360 copy. I must have really tucked it away.

I could not find it. I just went ahead and got the digital copy. Enough of that.
 
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