To buy or not to buy: Saturn RPGs

[vicrizer]

I bought Panzer Dragoon Saga for around $120 at an indie game store a few years ago; it still had a $20 sticker on it from wherever it had originally been purchased, which was pretty aggravating. It is extremely easy (I only died once, at the end of the game, not paying attention). Luckily I was able to get through it after purchasing a new battery for the internal memory, but those never last, and there isn't much save space. It is definitely a beautiful game, but deceptively short, for a four disc game.

I have Dragon Force and Shining Force III, I think I bought them at $80 and $100 respectively. Unfortunately I have not been able to really play them thanks to memory issues; I still need an Action Replay. I figured they would only go up in value though, so I jumped on the chance to get them. Especially DF since it's practically mint.

[pakopako]

I have Dragon Force and Shining Force III, I think I bought them at $80 and $100 respectively. Unfortunately I have not been able to really play them thanks to memory issues; I still need an Action Replay. I figured they would only go up in value though, so I jumped on the chance to get them. Especially DF since it's practically mint.

Get a memory card instead. I have a dedicated "RPG Saturn" with a memory card and a dedicated "Fighter Saturn" with a PAR. Direct-saving matters for RPGs since you get 10 unique names. (The PAR memory manager lets you save multiple copies of the same file with the same name... but it won't display a time-stamp and it will re-order them in... some order.)

[Betagam7]

I use a memory cartridge for saving my Saturn games. I'd never rely on the internal battery as even with a long life it will always die one day and lose everything.

As for PDS being easy...yes this is true. I think I also only ever died once, however the game never felt easy and at least always gave me the illusion of threat in each of the battles.

I don't know if I agree that it's "deceptively short". Most multidiskers from those days were less to do with length and more to do with fitting on cut scenes. I thought the game was a nice length. I cleared it in 18 hours and 34 minutes with a level 48 Dragon but I played it over a month. Idefinately felt it was worth what I paid for it.

[Retrogamer0001]

Thanks for the advice guys. I just recently bought a like-new copy of Dragon Force on Ebay and I plan on grabbing the rest over the next few months. It will be a lot easier on the wallet if I spread out the purchases, and I definitely agree that these games are investments that will eventually have a nice return. Not only that, but since my goal is to eventually have a well-rounded gaming collection from almost every system, I think these particular games are essentials.

[Jrecee]

Next time I see panzer dragoon saga at kmart for $1 I'll let you know. Looks like a crap game though.

[jfrost]

Next time I see panzer dragoon saga at kmart for $1 I'll let you know. Looks like a crap game though.

I saw them throwing away a batch of those the other day.

[lisalover1]

You really can't go wrong with Saturn RPGs. The ones that were localized were almost all very good, with some exceptions, such as Virtual Hydlide. Unfortunately, with great quality comes a high price tag, and no console illustrates this better than the Saturn. Prepare to shell out a pretty penny for any given localized RPG in the system's library. but you probably already knew that.

[vicrizer]

Get a memory card instead. I have a dedicated "RPG Saturn" with a memory card and a dedicated "Fighter Saturn" with a PAR. Direct-saving matters for RPGs since you get 10 unique names. (The PAR memory manager lets you save multiple copies of the same file with the same name... but it won't display a time-stamp and it will re-order them in... some order.)

I hadn't really looked into this yet because I usually only buy things like that at my local used game stores. I've seen memory cards on rare occasions but I always wondered how well they held up. Considering the internal memory, I figured anything's worth a shot, but thanks for the tip. I only really care about keeping files on the short term, long enough to complete a game while I'm playing it anyway. I've heard PAR allows you to bypass region encoding without having to mod your Saturn but I don't know if that works for backups. But I would have wanted it if I got my hands on a copy of Silvergun at least. I wouldn't be surprised if it was more expensive anyway.

As for PDS being easy...yes this is true. I think I also only ever died once, however the game never felt easy and at least always gave me the illusion of threat in each of the battles.

I don't know if I agree that it's "deceptively short". Most multidiskers from those days were less to do with length and more to do with fitting on cut scenes. I thought the game was a nice length. I cleared it in 18 hours and 34 minutes with a level 48 Dragon but I played it over a month. Idefinately felt it was worth what I paid for it.

Yeah, the game did keep me on my toes. I guess I just felt it was short compared to the length of most RPGs in general, but in truth I'm kind of surprised it was as long as it was too. And yeah, that's true about the cut scenes, especially for a Saturn game. I guess when you pay that much for something you want it to last forever... it's a beautiful game though.

[Purkeynator]

Where is my XBLA Radiant Silvergun? Wasn't it supposed to come out Spring 2011?

[RyaNtheSlayA]

You know, as much as I love the Saturn. It's becoming prohibitively expensive compared to other retro consoles. Even the cheaper first party games run around 20-30 dollars. With better games costing nearly as much as new games. Though, I've managed to play through most of the great games myself so I'm nearly done with it. I've still got Dragon Force, Saturn Bomberman, and Shining Force 3 to play though.