Panzer Dragoon Saga

Panzer Dragoon Saga is a 1998 role-playing video game published by Sega and developed by Team Andromeda for the Sega Saturn. The player controls Edge, a young mercenary who rides a dragon and encounters a mysterious girl from a vanished civilization. It departs from the linear rail shooter gameplay of the Panzer Dragoon series, introducing traditional RPG elements such as random encounters, semi-turn-based battles, and free-roaming exploration. It is often listed as one of the greatest games of all time, earning particular praise for its story, graphics and combat.

About Panzer Dragoon Saga in brief

Summary Panzer Dragoon SagaPanzer Dragoon Saga is a 1998 role-playing video game published by Sega and developed by Team Andromeda for the Sega Saturn. It departs from the linear rail shooter gameplay of the Panzer Dragoon series, introducing traditional RPG elements such as random encounters, semi-turn-based battles, and free-roaming exploration. The player controls Edge, a young mercenary who rides a dragon and encounters a mysterious girl from a vanished civilization. The game is often listed as one of the greatest games of all time, earning particular praise for its story, graphics and combat. It suffered from a limited release in the west as Sega had shifted focus to its Dreamcast console, and worldwide sales were poor. It has not been rereleased and English copies sell for high prices. Two staff members died during development, which director Yukio Futatsugi attributed to the stressful working conditions of the video game industry. After its release, Sega disbanded Team Andromeda; several staff members joined Sega’s Smilebit studio and developed the final PanzerDragoon game, Panzer Dragoons Orta, for Xbox. It can be completed in less than 20 hours, making it much shorter than most RPGs at the time. It features full voice acting and numerous FMV cutscenes. Saga simplifies many RPG conventions. For example, it has few travel sequences and side quests, requires little \”maintenance work\” such as managing inventories or skill trees, and features only Edge and his dragon rather than a party of playable characters.

In one sequence, Edge rides a hoverbike instead of the dragon. Gameplay is divided into three modes: traversing large areas on the dragon, battling enemies, and exploring on foot. On foot, Edge can talk to non-player characters, upgrade his weapons, buy items such as potions, and use a targeting reticle to interact with locks, doors, and other elements. The two primary attacks are the dragon’s laser’s laser, which strikes multiple simultaneously, and Edge’s gun, which focuses damage on a single target and is useful for striking weak points. The dragon’s berserk attacks sometimes inflict powerful attacks, sometimes multiple attacks, and sometimes multiple action gauges sometimes charge. A radar at the bottom of the screen indicates safe, neutral and dangerous areas, with the front and rear quadrants typically posing the most danger. The player can circle the enemy by moving between quadrants to expose weak points and escape dangerous positions. The speed at which the gauges charge is governed by the dragon’s agility attribute; if higher than the enemy’s agility, the player can act more frequently than theenemy, and vice versa. Waiting for multiple gauges to charge gives the enemy more opportunity to attack, but grants the player more options, such as making multiple moves in quick succession. It is the most acclaimed Saturn game, and is considered one of Sega’s greatest games. It was released in Japan in 1995 alongside Panzer dragoon II Zwei, but has not yet been released in the West.