1UP Panzer Dragoon Article

[marurun]

Panzer Dragoon Saga uses the Saturn in some ways not originally intended, like using the sound chip to help stream game data from the CD. Of all the Saturn games to emulate, that one would not be an easy one.

As for Orta, I haven't played it but I watched some of the footage. It looks fun and in the tradition of the originals, but it does appear to be missing some of that spark. That and the dragon's lock-on laser shots look kinda crappy, even compared to the original. Still, I'd really love a chance to play it.

And yes, I believe there is something more the the "lost source code" issue, but I believe that by saying the source code is lost he may not be lying. Maybe it was stolen, or maybe there was a gaff and it was destroyed, or maybe there was some tension in the team that means the source code is indeed around but either costly or politically/personally complicated to get hold of.

[RadarScope1]

Thanks for the link. That was a great write-up, especially for someone like me who's never played a PD game. I really like post-mortem interviews with producers and devs.

The atmosphere of these games sounds exactly like something that would press my buttons. I really believe that less can be more with games, as the producer said, because you tend to use a bit of your imagination and are drawn in a little more. Shadow of the Colossus and Ico come to mind in that way.

Orta is on my short of Xbox games to snag once I get a 360. I didn't even know the original was easter egged on there. Would the PD fans here say that Orta is a pretty fair representation of the series?? I'm probably not getting a Saturn anytime soon so this will be as close as I come for now.

And yeah, bummer about the source code. I think any of the original trilogy would be cool to see on XBL, PSN or Game Tap.

[Kagi]

Orta is what got me into Panzer Dragoon despite having a saturn for 10 years now. I really enjoy it. Smilebit made the game pretty difficult (which I also like) kinda like Gunvalkyrie (practice makes perfect). The game is beautiful and the story is good too. After you beat the game on a certain difficulty or play for so many hours the orginal Panzer is unlocked. It's definately good but like the article says it feels more like a long demo of what it could be. Zewi is the next logical step in the series. I'm still working on beating that game. And of course once I'm done with that I'm moving on to Saga which I played the first 20 minutes of and it definately seems like a great RPG. Such a shame that FFVII gets all this attention for remakes and blah blah blah, when the Panzer series could really bennfit with some re-releases.

[kinn]

Such a shame that FFVII gets all this attention for remakes and blah blah blah, when the Panzer series could really bennfit with some re-releases.

So true. But I think new Sega will look at sales of Orta and just say its not worth it.

As for a Saturn emulator, did'nt Sega buy out an emulator (Girigiri I think)? I remember hearing that Sega used that to release Saga for their online download service or something in Japan. Anyone know what I'm talking about here? Or is my brain making up stuff again

I loved the music in PD1 and Saga. Wish more games had music like this.

[racketboy]

yeah, Sega bought GiriGiri for an online PC distribution thing in Japan. Not sure if it really caught on. It was later hacked and re-used in the emulation scene until the other Saturn emulators got better.