Had to think about this one for a while, 2 1/2 weeks max.
Many games go under the radar from many fans and companies. Many just become forgotten. But thanks to a friend, Iāve experienced a game that Iāve never thought I would enjoy fully. That game is Panzer Dragoon Saga, a game released on the Sega Saturn in 1998. It had a rough development cycle, being made while the Sega Saturn and Sega themselves were spiraling down due to the commercial failure of the Saturn. But thanks to people on the internet, the Sega Saturns Emulation is fully stable as the games rom can be found online.
Panzer Dragoon Saga starts at a dig site in the mountains, while mercenaries are guarding the area. In it they find a Girl surrounded by stone, but not long after they get attacked by their employers while they all get picked off one by one. All but one are alive, a young adult named Edge, after being shot off a cliff, Edge is awoken in ruins surrounded by gray ancient plates. He gets attacked by creatures of a by-gone age but a strange dragon saved you as you escape the ruins, venturing out to get your revenge and save the girl they took.
Right of the bat, you go straight into the gameplay, clean and simple. The only things you have to focus on is your dragonās HP, SP, and any Status effects it has. There is no equipment like armor and the like, just whatever attachments Edgeās gun youād like to put on it. To attack you have to use an action gauge (3 bars) to attack with your gun or the dragonsā many attacks. At one point in the game you will have access to many moves that does different kinds of effect to buffing, debuffing, Healing, AOE attacks, Shields, ect. At a certain point in the game the Dragon will be able to transform into 4 other forms, Attack, Agility, Spiritual, and Defense, each form can be chosen by via a slider so you can go either a balance Dragon or go one sided with your dragon.
There are items & intractable objects in the world of PDS so itās best to explore as much as you can. Honestly itās recommended due to this games length, itās only 12 hours long minimum, Iāve personally hit 13 hours due to me just wondering around areas & looking for certain items that can help me with later fights. I recommend looking for items called āD Unitsā, there are 12 of them in total. I wonāt say what they do but itās a neat bonus for finding them all.
The story and look of Panzer Dragoon Saga are amazing especially its world. The Sega Saturns from what I heard wasnāt the best with 3D compared to N64 & PSX1, but ultimately these environments were amazing to look at. Nothing honestly compared to other games around the time, the detail in certain landscapes were impressive, Granted there are some pop in but it might just has to due to the emulation since it isnāt running on OG hardware. Final Fantasy never did 3D fully mainline till FFX, and Xenogears only did 3D for the environments rather than the character models. PDS does both and itās insane how a console that canāt do 3D very well processes all of whatās going on screen. Yah, ļæ¼other games like MGS1 & Mario 64 are full 3D but idk for this game it feels different.
The Story isnāt the most ground breaking Iāve witnessed but itās has some twists that Iāve wouldāve not predicted. I wonāt say what they were but there were moments where my jaw dropped and I just sat there like āDAWG WHAT!?ā Till I went back to processing what Iāve seen. With the story being so short, itās plot is way more focused than other games after itās released, which is super refreshing in certain cases. For Edge and Azel being the main characters, they are pretty endearing, they arenāt to crazy as characters but their interactions all the way up to the end of the game fits the gameās end with a nice bow.
Overall, Panzer Dragoon Saga became one of my favorite games of all time. Iāve never had an experience quite like it, but sadly I donāt believe weāll have something quite like it again. After itās release, Sega was already setting its sights on the Dreamcast as their financial situation gets worse. While PDS isnāt the sole reason for it, it was non the less not very favorable sales wise. While itās JP version only produced 100K copies, its US versions only produced 25k and worse its EU version? Only 1,000 copies making it extremely rare in said region. It can sit around for 1,000$ to 2,000$ minimum compleat as parts of it go for 200$ to 300$ and thatās only for the US. Due to the restructuring Sega was doing they disbanded Team ļæ¼Andromeda ļæ¼and folded them into Smilebit. Thankfully the game did get a sequel in the form of Panzer Dragoon Orta, taking place after PDS.
If you want to play the game in full I highly recommend getting an emulator for it (Mainly Retro Arc) since Saturn emulation has been smoother the past few years, there is a guild on the Wiki iirc. And if you are one of the few that are waiting for it to come to current Gen home consoles, tough shit. We donāt know the full story but due to the restructuring for the Dreamcast release and after the company restructured again after the Dreamcast died and moved onto game making. The source code is most likely lost or destroyed since there has been no attempts to rerelease it in some shape or form.
With all said and done, with it being one of my favorite games Iāve played this year, I give it unironically a 9.5/10 to a 10/10. I donāt think Iāll have the same experience that I had with this game with any other game moving forwards, but Iām glad to say that this game found a home in my head and heart. And Iāll fight for it whenever Sega tries to remake it or remaster it if they ever find the source code or have another studio help them create it from the ground up.
Ty Team Amdromeda and Sega for creating such an amazing experienceā¦