I've owned this game forever, paid full retail for a used copy back in the day, boy does that look like a bargain now! Anyway, years ago I got pretty well along in the game but had moved on to newer things and newer systems. I had my game saved on both the Saturn and my backup memory cart so I felt I was safe to come back to it at any time in the future.
Well, my Saturn went unused for so long the battery died and took what few game saves it had with it. Out of curiosity I tried to load my saves from the RAM cart and found that the cart slot on my Saturn had gone bad, my first experience with a hardware failure ever or since. I got the Saturn repaired only to find out that the files on my RAM cart were corrupted, probably due to the previously bad cart slot since it saves and restored files just fine now.
Anyway, shortly after discovering Racketboy and Sega-16 I committed myself to playing through PDS once and for all. Even though many years had passed, the game seemed wonderfully familiar. I played through disc 1 and disc 2 waiting for those parts of the game which were new. It all seemed familiar, surely disc 3 would be new territory. I got to the tail end of disc three before I got to new territory I could not recall from playing it years before but the story took a wild turn and seemingly almost all the main storylines of the game have been resolved yet now it's time for disc 4 (finally!) and an entire new storyline emerges and new territory is available!
It takes me a very long time to play through a game like this since my gaming time is limited to a few hours each weekend and sometimes I'll go multiple weeks without any gaming. Couple this with my inability to just forge ahead since I am compelled to explore every single nook and cranny and talk to every character possible and I must do every side mission I find and such an epic game can take a long time indeed. The upside to this situation is I get to savor a great game and enjoy it to the fullest and PDS keeps on delivering the goods. I hope to hell it won some kind of award back in the day.
I recently acquired Snatcher and played through it in a few weekends while not playing PDS. I keep reading how Snatcher is such an incredible game, not to be missed. I got through it relatively quickly and found it very linear and for the most part predictable (I think Rise of the Dragon is a superior game within the same genre and on the same system - Sega CD). Snatcher wasn't horrible by any stretch of the imagination, it just didn't live up to the hype in my opinion. PDS on the other hand far exceeds the hype, a rare experience in this hobby.
I so anticipated Panzer Dragoon Saga back in the day that prior to playing it I got the first two and played through them first before starting on PDS so this game has been a serious commitment of time and resources and you know, I don't regret it at all. How often can you say that about a game you've anticipated playing? In fact, since I'm so horrible at shooters, I never could finish Panzer Dragoon Zwei on my own merits so I bought my first game cheating device, a Game Shark, just so I could finish that game and continue on my PDS quest!
Panzer Dragoon Saga has exceeded my expectations. It's one of those rare gems (literally rare) that we gamers can sometimes go years between experiencing. I sure hope the finish is worthy of my praise as I STILL have yet to finish the game but I suspect it will be. Now if I could complete my collecting quest too and find a copy of Panzer Dragoon Mini for my Game Gear my life would simply be complete!
Please share your impressions of PDS if you've been lucky enough to play it (not sure if it's available in emulation) but please don't post any spoilers! This game is just too good to ruin it for myself or anyone else! Are there any other games you've played that exceeded your expectations and/or lived up to the hype?
Panzer Dragoon Saga really living up to the hype
Sigh, I want to play PDS. Unfortunately I don't have a Saturn nor the game. The Saturn's hardware complexity has proven to be very effective at least in impeding some manner of robust emulation, and the code for the game itself has purportedly been "lost" so it's further unlikely to get re-released on a newer console. For a while I was considering picking up a Saturn and modding it, but I'm still holding out on a good emulator so I can play it with a higher resolution and/or anti-aliasing.
Another game that jumps out on me--probably because I just saw the icon on the desktop--was Wizardry 8. Not because there was any hype surrounding it when I went into it, but because in the beginning I was so sure I wasn't going to like it. From the create-your-party setup, to choosing a voice set (Wow, these voices will get old soon.), to the combat system, to the way that enemies level up with you, and so on. I was pretty much down on every game mechanic I came across in the beginning stages of the game. About a week later I had reversed most all of those initial impressions and was up almost every other night pursuing the three key artifacts and persuading the warring races to form an alliance to put a stop to the Dark Savant.
Good times.
[Edit: Somehow forgot to put in the title of game in the second paragraph]
If it's like most great games, it'll have netted lots of critical acclaim and failed at retail. Speaking of which, Planescape: Torment was a game that exceeded my expectations and actually lived up to the hype that many forum denizens (not here) had pumped up with their pompous choruses of "best RPG evar!" and "the best story in a game. period." That's some mega-hype to live up to, and yet surprisingly the game did just that. After I had beaten the game I had to drop every other RPG I had played down one slot to make room at the top of the rankings for Planescape.I hope to hell it won some kind of award back in the day ... Are there any other games you've played that exceeded your expectations and/or lived up to the hype?
Another game that jumps out on me--probably because I just saw the icon on the desktop--was Wizardry 8. Not because there was any hype surrounding it when I went into it, but because in the beginning I was so sure I wasn't going to like it. From the create-your-party setup, to choosing a voice set (Wow, these voices will get old soon.), to the combat system, to the way that enemies level up with you, and so on. I was pretty much down on every game mechanic I came across in the beginning stages of the game. About a week later I had reversed most all of those initial impressions and was up almost every other night pursuing the three key artifacts and persuading the warring races to form an alliance to put a stop to the Dark Savant.
Good times.
[Edit: Somehow forgot to put in the title of game in the second paragraph]
Last edited by Intangir on Thu Jun 05, 2008 12:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
Well, failed at retail is kind of hard to judge since it was released in such small numbers and so late in the Saturn's life cycle. I'm pretty sure all the originally issued copies were sold without any trouble, I certainly don't recall ever seeing any in the discount bins when the Saturn was canned. In fact, I never recall seeing one at NEW retail and eventually bought a used copy from a game store 4 states away (and paid then full retail price for a used game, though it was like new, just without the shrinkwrap).
I only ever had the first disc since it was given away with a Saturn magazine. I went back and played it the other day, and its still as awesome as ever. I WILL own the full game soon. I'm just waiting for the pay day that spending over £100 on one game seems like a good idea.
God damn I hate the internet.
It did well enough to get a couple of print runs and the first two sold out extremely quickly. Towards the end though, you could score copies discounted at Toys R Us for $20 or less as they pushed all of their Saturn stuff the fuck out of the store. Kind of makes me wish I'd loaded up on copies of it and House of the Dead. Hell, I wish I had even bought Shining Force III and Burning Rangers back then... but hey, hindsight is 20/20.Scooter wrote:Well, failed at retail is kind of hard to judge since it was released in such small numbers and so late in the Saturn's life cycle. I'm pretty sure all the originally issued copies were sold without any trouble, I certainly don't recall ever seeing any in the discount bins when the Saturn was canned. In fact, I never recall seeing one at NEW retail and eventually bought a used copy from a game store 4 states away (and paid then full retail price for a used game, though it was like new, just without the shrinkwrap).
I absolutely love Panzer Dragoon Saga and it remains one of my favorite RPGs ever. Hell, even grinding in it doesn't feel like a chore because the battle system is so god damn enjoyable. The pacing is great and it doesn't overstay its welcome (like say, Okami, which is roughly 3 times longer than it needs to be and drags on for-EVER), the soundtrack is second to none, and you really get attached to the characters as you get whisked through the storyline.
A few years ago I wound up recording pretty much all of the story segments and slowly throwing them up on Google Video for other people to check out in case they didn't feel like shelling out $$ for the game on eBay (or in case they wanted to compare emulation accuracy for the game). I'd love to rerecord everything all over again through direct capture from an emulator...and maybe someone could actually splice it together to form a coherent film akin to Kojima's edit of Snake Eater on the Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence "Existence" bonus disc.
Now that would rock.
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lordofduct
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I think otherwise...
I have the erking feeling that if PDS was released when the Saturn was viable that we would have completely different opinion of the game.
Great game, don't get me wrong here... I loved every second of it. Operative word though is second... not minute or hour. The game was far to short... FAR FAR to short. I bet if it was readily available and could be picked up for just a few bucks, I guarantee even today as a retro game people would have the suggestion of "good game, too short". I mean shit, even as a rarity it is proclaimed as to short by a lot of people. Some critics believe it to be an overrated cult calamity in line with movies like "Clockwork Orange" in its level of honour to actual pay off. (and yes I find Clockwork Orange to be an overrated pile of garbage from the younger more perverted mind of Kubrick... blech).
I have the erking feeling that if PDS was released when the Saturn was viable that we would have completely different opinion of the game.
Great game, don't get me wrong here... I loved every second of it. Operative word though is second... not minute or hour. The game was far to short... FAR FAR to short. I bet if it was readily available and could be picked up for just a few bucks, I guarantee even today as a retro game people would have the suggestion of "good game, too short". I mean shit, even as a rarity it is proclaimed as to short by a lot of people. Some critics believe it to be an overrated cult calamity in line with movies like "Clockwork Orange" in its level of honour to actual pay off. (and yes I find Clockwork Orange to be an overrated pile of garbage from the younger more perverted mind of Kubrick... blech).
Too short? Are we talking about the same game? It may not be as long as some of the grindingly long Square RPGs, but I don't think I'd categorize PDS as short exactly. I've probably gotten through some Metal Gear games in less time than I've spent on PDS thus far (and I'm still not done with PDS). Now Snatcher was short by comparison, that's for sure.
Whether a game is overrated is a matter of opinion, but the point of this thread was to state that I feel this game entirely lives up to all the praise it has received and then some. Some "critics" tend to pan anything that seems universally praiseworthy which is either driven by a desire to be contrary for being contrary's sake or due to fundamentally different expectations from the vast majority of the gaming population. I tend to feel it's more often the former.
Whether a game is overrated is a matter of opinion, but the point of this thread was to state that I feel this game entirely lives up to all the praise it has received and then some. Some "critics" tend to pan anything that seems universally praiseworthy which is either driven by a desire to be contrary for being contrary's sake or due to fundamentally different expectations from the vast majority of the gaming population. I tend to feel it's more often the former.
Length really isn't as big of an issue as pacing. Who cares about length when half of the game is spent grinding or when the ol' "dark world" gimmick is thrown in just to pad length? Saga is ~12-16 hours of excellence that never feels like it's dragging. It's doubly interesting and engrossing if you'd previously spent time with the first two games.lordofduct wrote:I bet if it was readily available and could be picked up for just a few bucks, I guarantee even today as a retro game people would have the suggestion of "good game, too short". I mean shit, even as a rarity it is proclaimed as to short by a lot of people.
Perhaps if the game were more readily available (and cheap) then people wouldn't be so critical of its length. Right now a large part of the reason I see people dismiss the game is because $150-$200 for a game of its length just doesn't feel worth it. For the average gamer that's probably pretty true, but imagine how different the perspective would be if the game were available for cheap on a more common platform (either PS1 or as a Sega Ages PS2 rerelease) at $15-$25.
Maybe we'll get lucky and see it added to GameTap sometime this year...that'd drop the price of the game down to an extremely affordable $1.
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lordofduct
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As I already said, don't take me wrong, I love the game. I hope I do if I still own a copy at the value it is right now. I think I've loved this game so much that it over time kinda made me lose interest in RPGs because no other RPG could stand up to the awesome battle system. Actually, I think SEGA has done this to me with most niches of RPGs... I can't find anything that can revoke ShiningForce, Phantasy Star, Grandia, or Lunar from the top of my list (yeah yeah, Game Arts did the latter, and Camelot did the Shining series, but they were released on Sega consoles).Scooter wrote:Too short? Are we talking about the same game? It may not be as long as some of the grindingly long Square RPGs, but I don't think I'd categorize PDS as short exactly. I've probably gotten through some Metal Gear games in less time than I've spent on PDS thus far (and I'm still not done with PDS). Now Snatcher was short by comparison, that's for sure.
Whether a game is overrated is a matter of opinion, but the point of this thread was to state that I feel this game entirely lives up to all the praise it has received and then some. Some "critics" tend to pan anything that seems universally praiseworthy which is either driven by a desire to be contrary for being contrary's sake or due to fundamentally different expectations from the vast majority of the gaming population. I tend to feel it's more often the former.
But yes, I feel it is short. And not in the level grinding, dark world sense. I've played a lot of RPGs in my time, and I've played them for story lines. I just like cheesy little RPG story lines for some reason (well I did, not so much anymore...), but the story line of this game is very short. It just rushes by way to fast. It left me short in the sense when I beat it I really wanted more and the only thing that kept it lasting so long were the two areas I got kinda stuck for a little while (the giant air ship and the underground ruins thing where you don't have your dragon).
It was kinda like Fable in the sense that I had lots and LOTS of fun, but the ending just came out of no where and was like... wait, that's it?