Part 1: The Game Begins
In 1995, when Sega unveiled their disastrous surprise launch of their new Saturn console, one of the few games available was a 3D rail shooter called Panzer Dragoon. Featuring challenging, exciting gameplay in the vein of Space Harrier, the original PD's main appeal was its unique art direction, which combined an odd mix of "organic technological" creatures & settings with a great soundtrack and deft storytelling to create a wholly original and compelling universe.Undaunted by the myriad mistakes that had been committed in the design, marketing, and production of the Saturn which were causing it to get mauled in the marketplace in comparison to the PlayStation, Team Andromeda (Sega's internal development team responsible for the original) produced a prequel in 1996 called Panzer Dragoon Zwei. Zwei expanded on the gameplay of the original quite a bit, introducing a dragon that grew in both size and power during the course of the game, a "berserk gauge" that you could build up to unleash powerful attacks, and a branch system to allow the player some direction in the course the game took. Zwei maintained the series' eerily beautiful art direction and soundtrack while expanding on the Panzer universe's mythology further.
As the Saturn's life was winding down in the spring of 1998, Team Andromeda was putting the finishing touches on the English translation of its masterpiece, Panzer Dragoon Saga - which, instead of a rail shooter like the previous games, was actually an RPG. Magazines like EGM gave PDS rave reviews before it was released, and Panzer fans eager for a continuation plunked down pre-orders. However, Sega was stinging from the failure of the Saturn in America and only produced 6,000 copies for its initial launch, causing many retailers to fail to meet all of their preorders. Eventually, another 24,000 copies of the game were produced, but because of the game's universal praise and its continuing scarcity, Panzer Saga still routinely goes for over $200 on eBay.
Fortunately, since I was one of the lucky 6,000 Americans who walked out of a game store with a copy of PDS on its launch day back in May 1998, you don't have to worry about that any more. My new video capture device is working, and I replaced the internal battery in my Saturn so I don't have to worry about losing my data.
Let's do this thing.
Now first, you're going to have to go to YouTube and watch the opening cinema. Not only is the freaking thing over 8 minutes long with a lot of dialog, you also get to hear some of the amazing soundtrack, not to mention the language Team Andromeda created for the game's major cutscenes which was a mixture of Ancient Greek, Latin and Russian (the majority of the voice work in Saga was in Japanese). When you're done that, come on back.
as you are.
Anyway, while on foot the lock-on cursor is Edge's tool to inspect the world around him more closely.
In gameplay terms, Near lets you do the actual interaction with most objects, while Far will usually give you a more descriptive passage regarding the object (or, in the case of a conversation between NPCs, will allow Edge to listen in).
Before we end up getting closer to those inviting box-like structures, let's check out the decor.
Hm, the one on the left contains something called a "Shell Plate"...how about the one on the right?
, Edge aims, squeezes the trigger, and...*click*
*click* *click*
But what the heck was the source of the bolts? Edge hears a loud swooshing noise behind him, and something big goes divebombing past the ledge he's standing on, too fast to see. He peers over the ledge, and then all of a sudden,
That's all for this first installment. Due to the heavy plot nature of the game and the fact that so few people have actually played it, I'm currently obsessively screenshotting just about everything, including every line of dialogue. If folks want more/less detail, more/fewer screenshots, and more/less commentary, let me know and I'll try to change my style as I go along. And don't worry, the next update is going to have a lot more gameplay shots and descriptions for those of you who've always wondered how Panzer Saga actually played.
Also, this isn't going to be a strictly conventional Let's Play. Since I'd like to keep updates coming somewhat regularly I'm going to be playing well ahead of where I am in the thread, and IIRC, PDS is reasonably linear anyway. I'll take comments and feedback into account, but there probably aren't going to be any posts where I say "Okay guys, I'm at this point now. What do I do next?"
Finally, I'd just like to say how big a fan of the Panzer games that I am. Team Andromeda and Smilebit went the extra mile in creating the three Saturn games and Orta for Xbox, and they were all excellent games that had everything a player could want - great graphics, music, sound, and gameplay. But it was the art direction and storytelling that really sucked me in - I don't know how they did it and I can't adequately describe it, but the Panzer universe is one of the most intriguing and believable alternate settings I have ever come across in any medium.