Panzer Dragoon Saga

The Good
The RPG game stands out from the rest because of how they delivered every single aspect of the game. It feels very well thought of. The story alone, is very interesting and mature. Imagine that the developers even made a new language for the game even though it is rarely used.

Visually, its beautiful every where you look. The graphics looks smooth and eye-candy is everywhere. Though it is not as impressive as looking at the original Panzer Dragoon for the fast paced graphics, but the over all look is amazing. What strikes me is that when the console RPG style of the game comes in, it has a unique way of representation that I have not seen anywhere. Most console-RPG games are turn based and everything seems like its standing still, but here you are moving all the time. It is still turn-based but it is great to look at because it keeps the game alive and on the move.

The music is very fresh to listen to. The new age style is so unique to the ears that you'd want to listen to it over and over again. It is very fitting the the new world that your playing and it gives a sense of touch to it. The voice acting is great, even though I don't understand Japanese, you can feel their emotions through their voices. I can't expect more than that.

The game itself is very similar to other console-RPG games but in the game you feel more free, since you can fly almost anywhere. Flying feels so fast and exciting. It feels more graceful than previous Panzer Dragoon games because those games were action games than anything. What is unique in this game is that when in combat mode, it is important to consider your position which is either, front, left, right or behind your opponent. This really matters because of the strength of damages which can affect any opponent even you. Also at some point in the game you can change your dragon to some specific attributes like more magic, strenght or defense. This affects his way of attack.

This is a unique game, which is fun and exciting all the way. The story is great and straight forward and no side stories that distract you from the main concept. This game is an experience by itself.

The Bad
I wish it had a longer gameplay. For 40+ hours of gaming it seems very short.

The Bottom Line
This game is unique RPG experience. If you like console-RPG games, this one is one game that you can't miss out.

The Good
Released in 1998, Panzer Dragoon Saga, was to be the final chapter of the series. It was also the last hurrah for the Sega Saturn.

The Panzer Dragoon series, created during the Saturn’s reign. Were “on the rails” shooters. In which a chosen human gets to ride a dragon, and do battle with a corrupt Empire, all set in and interesting and highly detailed post-apocalyptic world. Utilizing the dragon’s laser attacks as well as the human’s gun, you take on all sorts of enemies, not unlike the arcade classic Space Harrier. Each stage ends in a huge boss battle, some ten years before fan boy favorite “Shadow of the Colossus”. The second game Panzer Dragoon Zwei, added RPG like elements such as the dragon being able to level up.

With Panzer Dragoon Saga, or Panzer Dragoon Azel, as it’s known in Japan,(I think the English title is better-MM-) the next step was taken, and it became a full fledged RPG.

In Panzer Dragoon Saga, you assume the role of Edge whom is currently stationed as a guard out in the frontier. Edge wants to join the academy at the Imperial City. As fate would have it Edge has a far greater destiny ahead of him. An Imperial officer, Craymen, has gone rouge. He attacks the installation that Edge is guarding. Killing all of his friends and his mentor. Craymen also makes off with a strange girl found among the ancient rubble at the excavation site.

Edge is found and rescued by a dragon. With his new found power he knows what he must do, he must destroy Craymen and exact his revenge. Yet nothing is what it seems in the world of Panzer Dragoon.

The story of Panzer Dragoon Saga, is filled with lots of twists and turns, and new revelations that always manage to keep things interesting. The game also manages to tie in the previous games into the overall story arc. From finding a journal detailing the events of Panzer Dragoon Zwei, to exploring some of the same areas. And finding the ruins of the first empire encounter in Panzer Dragoon.(Who says that it is better when an RPG franchise uses a new universe each installment?-MM-)

There are two ways to explore in Panzer Dragoon Saga. When on your dragon you are free to fly around the areas in 360 degrees. No more rail restrictions. Dragon control is very fluid, either with the standard Saturn controller or the 3D controller. You also do battle on your dragon more on that later. You also get to explore on foot. In which you visit towns, talk to NPCS, find items, etc. You can also investigate just about everything around you picking up tidbits here and there about the fascinating world of Panzer Dragoon.

Combat is done while riding your dragon. There is no on foot combat, as interesting as that would have been. In battle you can shoot Edge’s gun, fire lasers from the dragon, or try to get a better position on your enemies thus gaining a tactical advantage. Just as you could in the previous games. The berserk system has changed the most. In previous games you had to wait for you bar to fill before you could unleash your attack. And there was only one berserk available. In PDS, you have BP or battle points that can be used for the special attacks. And there are many available. Some earned by leveling up, others must be earned doing quests. Or in one case by being nice to your dragon, thus bonding with it. You will want every berserk you can get a hold of, as they will be very useful during boss fights or if you happen to get surrounded by tough monsters.

As in Panzer Dragoon Zwei, you can also change dragon forms. In PDS you can do this when ever you need to. You also get your dragon form upgraded every few level ups.

Some forms will give you an advantage in combat. Making fights somewhat strategic. Furthermore some enemies are immune to certain effects like shots from Edge’s gun this also adds some strategy.

PDS is not a very long game, only about 20-25 hours. But I find this preferable to RPGS that take 80 hours and upwards as the shorter RPGS have more replay value. Some callous reviewers have said that PDS is to easy. My question is what genre have they been playing? As very few JRPGS are difficult. Furthermore, I have played countless RPGS and had a spot of trouble with some of the later bosses in PDS, so I am thinking that this individual did not even finish PDS. Probably some fan boy loser…but I digress.

The graphics in Panzer Dragon Saga are very good. Everyone always says that the Saturn could not do 3D, yet take one look at this game and tell me that again. This game looks better than most Playstation 3D games! The only real weakness in the draw distance, not uncommon in the 32 bit era.

The voice acting is good in PDS. The only downside is that it is only in Panzerese and then changes to Japanese. Showing just how much depth Sega put into the Panzer Dragoon world, they even created a langue for the game, not unlike city speak in Bladerunner, Panzerese, is a mix of German, Portuguese, Chinese, and so forth. After the opening the game switches to Japanese, if Sega would not spend the cash for English voices, than I wish that they would have kept it entirely in Panzerese, as it helps create the illusion of an otherworldly place.

As I have come to expect from the Panzer Dragoon series the music is great. Simply is one of best scores every done from and RPG. No clichéd RPG themes here. Just beautifully composed music. And the battle theme does not get annoying like in many RPGS.

The Bad
I don’t now if this a valid complaint, but the fact that Sega no longer makes these games really pisses me off. There is so much they could do, like set a game in the heart of the empire. Or a game that takes place before the apocalypse.

How did this game franchise not sell the Saturn? Yet claptrap like Resident Evil sold the Playstation, it makes no sense.

Back to the game, my main complaint has to be that the game is not done fully in Panzerese.

The Bottom Line
Overall, Panzer Dragoon Saga is one of my favorite JRPGS. Even if it is not a “real” RPG, whatever that means. And it is a fine ending to the franchise, with Panzer Dragoon Orta as a epilogue of sorts. Panzer Dragoon Saga has everything that JRPGS fans claim that they are looking for in the genre. It also was a fitting end for the Saturn as it ended with a bang, just as it started.

The Good
Panzer Dragoon Saga is my favorite video game of all time and will likely remain so. This ultra rare game from the Sega Saturn was released in limited numbers so only a few people got a chance to experience its majesty, but it may very well be the single greatest game of all time. Panzer Dragoon Saga was released only a short time after the ever popular Final Fantasy VII, but in my opinion, Panzer Dragoon Saga utterly demolishes that game. Where Final Fantasy VII was mechanical, Panzer Dragoon Saga was vibrant, featuring beautiful imagery and otherworldly themes. Where Final Fantasy VII's animation and movies looked like puppetry, Panzer Dragoon Saga featured fluid characters with brilliant voice acting. Both games are dramatic. However the drama in Panzer Dragoon Saga really shines forth. The story is deep yet easy to comprehend. Edge is a vastly more interesting main character than Cloud of Final Fantasy VII. Edge is undoubtedly the hero of the game and a good guy, yet he's also not perfect. At first he is motivated by revenge but then finds a quest far bigger than his personal needs. He also suffers torture, emotional anguish, and many internal conflicts. In essence, he is a flawed, fleshed out character. He has become real to me where many other RPG heroes struggle to achieve the same effect and wind up looking like a mass of bad dialogue and terrible cliches. Many of the other characters in this game are also just as fleshed out, even the main villain, who blurs the line between noble and evil. Even the background characters you meet seem like real people and not just random, recycled polygon models.

The battle system is another element that makes this game so great. Personally I find it to be far more refreshing than most RPGs' "press button and wait" battle systems. Panzer Dragoon Saga blends the classic dragon flying and blasting of the first two shooters with RPG elements and an improved version of Final Fantasy VII's time bar system. Like Final Fantasy VII, you have to wait for a charge bar to fill up before you can take action. This time around, though, you have three bars and can achieve a variety of effects depending on how many bars you fill up. However the real meat of Panzer Dragoon Saga is in its revolutionary positional system. You can choose to maneuver your dragon to one of four points around the enemy at any time you wish, giving this game a strategic element most RPGs don't possess. The field is always changing, so maneuvering is a must. The trade-off for changing positions is that your charge bar stops filling until your dragon is back in place. Another side of the battle system I like is the ability to customize your dragon. You can morph your dragon to change its stats to suit your need and watch as it changes shape in real time to one of hundreds of different shapes.

Even though the first two games were shooters, they've always been about awesome, otherworldly vistas and artistry and themes about war, biotechnological terrors, and mysterious, sometime ominous histories. It was only natural that the series progressed into an RPG format, as it is in this genre where the universe really shines. The innovative battle system and brilliant writing are only merely pieces of a much larger tapestry. Describing the whole experience is nearly impossible. No game is perfect, however, and if there are flaws, it's that the game is literally the shortest and easiest RPG I've ever played. The battles are breathtaking and challenging, to be sure, but are hardly ever deadly enough to kill you. And most players will probably finish this game within the space of twenty four hours, even when finding all the secrets. There are also precious few random battles, the curse and the core of most RPGs. However, these are small nitpicks when the overall game is this sweeping, epic, and beautiful. Personally I found the brisk pace of the game made it easier to concentrate on a story that was just the right length. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that Panzer Dragoon Saga may very well be the Star Wars or The Lord of the Rings of video games.

The Bad
Panzer Dragoon is literally too short and too easy for this generation's RPG players. I found this aspect made it easier to be sucked into the story, but others might prefer a game with drawn out battles and oodles of mini-games, weapons, and items.

The Bottom Line
A loving swan song to fans of the series and the perfect way to flesh out what was already a vibrant and engaging universe. In my opinion, it's the greatest videogame creation of all time.

The Good
Panzer Dragoon Saga occupies a somewhat unusual place in the long list of Japanese RPGs. It is a part of a series, but not role-playing series - its two predecessors were rail shooters. As such, it focuses largely on dramatic presentation and visual flair - and doubtlessly succeeds there.

This game was often called "Saturn's Swan Song". It was made for a console that was already sentenced to death, and only a few copies of it were released outside of Japan. This must have contributed greatly to its status of a cult classic.

The game has some of the best graphics of its era, and certainly the best I've seen on the Saturn. Every location is reasonably detailed, with some superbly crafted, imaginative areas that come to life with their breadth and vivid colors. It is enough to take a look at the sea ruins at night to fall in love with the game's graphics.

Many games claim to be "cinematic", but Panzer Dragoon Saga really deserves to be called that. Excellent camera work, orchestrated background music, and surprisingly good voice acting leave almost nothing to be desired. The game is not just a collection of pretty pictures: with its visuals it conveys drama and emotions. Even simple navigation is rendered more pleasant because of the lovely vistas spread beneath our dragon. All this graphical splendor is complemented by well-directed, theatrical full-motion videos that advance the story.

The game is set in a sort of post-apocalyptic environment, where a new, still primitive culture is trying to gain access to the Ancient Civilization with its strange devices and powerful weapons. It is an interesting setting - neither a medieval fantasy nor sci-fi, but something between. The plot seems incredibly sparse at first, but this laconically told story succeeds, in a way, more than its overblown, melodramatic brothers of the Final Fantasy order. There are sad moments and an overall feeling of pervasive melancholy, which gives the story a certain dignity that was all but shattered by the overwritten, overacted Japanese RPGs of its time and beyond.

It's needless to say that controlling a flying dragon and being able to change its altitude is much more fun than just moving around a character on the ground. The battles are dynamic and fast-paced thanks to the limited ability to move around.

The Bad
Panzer Dragoon Saga may have all the eye candy in the world, but as an RPG, it is not satisfactory in any way. In fact, its role-playing elements are so weak that you hardly notice them. Much of what happens in the game are semi-automatized procedures with beautiful views and cutscenes.

There is no party management or character management in general in this game. You have only one character to control in the entire game, who uses only one weapon and doesn't wear any equipment. There is virtually nothing you would expect to see in a RPG here, except automatic leveling up, a couple of weapon enhancements to equip, and a choice of spells for your dragon.

When this simplicity is coupled with an utter lack of challenge, you begin to feel the game is playing itself. There are a few secret items and two non-mandatory dragon transformations, but they don't mean anything. Who needs the super-powerful Light Wing dragon model if your current dragon is overpowered anyway? The supposedly interesting dragon class feature is an almost useless gimmick, since it is perfectly possible (and even easier) to complete the game while staying a "normal" dragon.

Even easier than the battles is the navigation. The game is totally linear - you can only jump from location to location on the world map, and the areas themselves are small and straightforward. You should never care about being lost, unprepared, underpowered, trapped by too many enemies, or running low on supplies. In short, Panzer Dragoon Saga can take such a good care of itself that I'm surprised they didn't just make a movie out of it.

The game's world is small and almost empty. There is one (!) real town in the entire game, and there is barely anything to do there. There are hardly any characters to talk to. Also, the game is very short - completing it in ten hours or so is not uncommon. I understand all those reductions must have occurred due to hardware limitations. But if that was the case, why bother designing an RPG in the first place? This game clearly wanted to be a rail shooter just like its predecessors. Perhaps fans of that genre will be satisfied by its "streamlined" gameplay, but it's the death sentence of role-playing.

The Bottom Line
It's easy to see why Panzer Dragoon Saga has gotten glowing reviews everywhere - it looks great and you can ride and fight dragons in it. But if you are looking for anything resembling depth and flexibility in your RPGs, this game isn't going to cut it.

The Good
One of the last games I bought on Sega Saturn before the system quickly disapered in 1998 and probably the best game I ever played.

I never really taken much notice of the two previous 'Dragoon' games, although I played them they never really gripped me as much as the last game - Panzer Dragoon Saga.

Saga is an engrossing game, the cut scenes are absolutely fabuloues that drags you in further into the rich world that Team Andrommeda have created over the previous 2 games.

Everyone goes on about the graphics, although good, it is how the story is told that make this game stand out. The growing friendship between the teenage human Edge and the mysterious drone girl Azel grips you and some of the scenes are quite moving and strangely haunting...

Also comes to mind is the soundtrack...amazing!

The Bad
Being one of my favourite games of all time it is hard to find fault with this game.

I did find some parts of the game dragged. One part that comes to mind is the tunnel level where Edge and Azel are on a hover craft, the level seems to go on forever and with little in the way of scenery it does become a little boring - which games should NEVER be.

As mentioned, its hard to find fault in such a gem!

The Bottom Line
Video game story telling at its best!