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There is a certain RPG everyone on RPGamer is doubtless familiar with,
while having been played by very few of the site's clientele. It was one of
the last titles released in an English version for Sega's long-dead Saturn
console, a game enjoyed by all fortunate enough to have played it for doing
a lot of things differently and none of them poorly. A game with the top
aesthetic aspects possible on the Saturn, which was quite capable of doing
anything the PlayStation could in the hands of the right programmers. A
game manufactured in small quantities by Sega of America, leading to its
current status as an incredibly expensive acquisition on eBay. Does anyone
NOT know the title of which I speak yet?
Having played Panzer Dragoon Saga repeatedly, I feel confident in saying
that its near-mythic status, while inevitably guilty of overinflation, is
far more deserving than most titles that cost far more to acquire now than
they did when new. This is one of several titles that could have competed
successfully with Sony had the Saturn not been essentially dead outside of
Japan by that time anyway. And with that qualifier in place, I state that a
new Panzer Dragoon RPG is what the gaming world could use. The series is
quite small by the standards of video games, with only four titles. And all
of them maintain an astonishing level of quality.
Precisely why Panzer Dragoon Saga is so memorable I need not restate when I
have reviewed it on RPGamer. Speaking briefly of the other titles may be
useful, however. All of them, including PDS, share the characteristic of
being a single character armed with a gun riding a flying dragon, which
shoots lasers from its mouth. All aside from PDS are on-rails shooters,
requiring tip-top reflexes to make it through the gauntlet of enemies.
Panzer Dragoon I displayed, better than anything else, what the Saturn could
do at its 1995 launch in North America. It also managed to be a launch
title which remains enjoyable years later, something all-but-unknown outside
of most Nintendo console launches. Panzer Dragoon Zwei introduced branching
paths and, for a shooter, a fairly involved storyline. It also introduced
the ability to change the form of the dragon being flown. Panzer Dragoon
Orta compelled me to make a purchase even though I did not own an Xbox -
fortunately a friend did. It essentially streamlines the playing mechanisms
of the first two titles, incorporating a couple of new ones such as the
ability to change the dragon's form at any time and a glide function for
moving forward and backward (not without limit) to dodge enemy attacks.
The problem with Panzer Dragoon Orta resides not in any part of the game,
but within Sega's Smilebit development studio (the developer of the title,
as the original team behind the Saturn titles had been somewhat scattered by
Sega studio restructuring). The studio made statements that a follow-up to
Panzer Dragoon Saga was in the planning phase, merely awaiting adequate
sales of Orta to ensure that Sega could afford to undertake the project.
Those sales were not forthcoming; the original Xbox did poorly in Japan and
not many people appear to have bought the game outside Japan. That may not
necessarily be the end, but almost four years have passed since Panzer
Dragoon Orta and nothing has been heard on the subject of more Panzer
Dragoon since. This CANNOT be the end. Panzer Dragoon Saga deserves a
follow-up without question. Perhaps in the form of a new title,
manufactured in adequate quantities, on a system not about to be buried,
Panzer Dragoon's RPG greatness can live again.
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