![]() ![]() The first two Panzer Dragoon titles were on-rails shooters, which meant they were much like Space Harrier - a game where the player flies towards the foreground on a predetermined path, tasked with shooting down as many projectiles or enemies that fly at the screen. Its first game: Panzer Dragoon, a standout for Saturn not tied to an existing arcade or console franchise. ![]() 1, the uniquely named Team Andromeda spun off to ramp up development of Saturn-specific software. W i th staff initially a part of Sega’s Consumer Software R&D Dept. To understand what made Panzer Dragoon Saga so anticipated, it helps to know what came before it. This is one of those stories.įor this story, former Panzer Dragoon Saga character designer Katsumi Yokota filmed himself sketching heroine Azel. As you’ll learn firsthand from the people who were there, not all legends have a happy ending. In the story that follows, you’ll learn about how this peculiar RPG - designed to be a solitary, avant-garde counterculture experience - wound up becoming the Sega Saturn’s last great hope. In order to pull off the exponential, ambitious growth of the Saga concept, Team Andromeda founders Yukio Futatsugi and Manabu Kusunoki had to grow the staff. Panzer Dragoon Saga pivoted sharply from its predecessors, taking the unusual step of shifting from the on-rails shooter category. However, given their fast-paced action setting, there was little time to dive deeper into the series’ fiction outside of their atmospheric CG cinematics. Taken at face value, Panzer Dragoon and its much-improved successor, Panzer Dragoon 2 Zwei, offered just enough mythos to compel players to work through each game’s handful of beautifully realized stages to completion. While 2002’s Panzer Dragoon Orta (developed by ex-Team Andromeda members who later joined another studio, Smilebit) kept the series going later, it was the role-playing game Panzer Dragoon Saga that ended up becoming the standout. Over the course of three initial games - Panzer Dragoon (1995), Panzer Dragoon 2 Zwei (1996) and Panzer Dragoon Saga (1998) - Team Andromeda continued to mine this simple yet compelling premise: that of a rider and his dragon facing off against a mysterious empire. Part Space Harrier, part Dune, part Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Panzer Dragoon filled Sega Saturns around the globe with evocative 3D shooting action featuring a blue dragon and its rider. Its debut game was the on-rails shooter Panzer Dragoon. If you ever get a chance to check it out, visit us in flavor country.It was Team Andromeda - an internal R&D team at Sega of Japan - that first revealed the potential of the Sega Saturn. hell they haven't done anything close in the 25 years since.Īlso did i mention how the art and music is incredible? because it is. square could never have done what sega did in 1998. the team set out to 'beat' final fantasy vii and they absolutely clobbered it. the game is quite literally all killer no filler. long load times were the thing i expected the most and it was one of the pleasant surprises about it. you are in and out of battles fast - the game loads up cutscenes and gets you back in the game quickly too. thankfully, there a very small amount of those sections in the game and they're pretty easy and story-based.Īnd the load times: they were basically nonexistent. the sega saturn d-pad wasn't made for that kind of movement, so azel is extremely tanky on foot. The only parts that don't hold up are when you're running around the town. the game is 20 hours long if you stretch it and do the two side quests the game has to offer. the art style and music is fantastic and the story will stick with you. the battle system was only slightly reused for skies of arcadia's ship battles - but those are slower. what stood out to me was that the fmvs were fully voiced (as was most of the game).
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