Panzer Dragoon Orta

[env963]

I just won a Xbox (original) on ebay. I feel like a little kid in a candy store. I have had Orta in my possession for like 2 years now, with no way of being able to play it. I love the panzer dragoon series....

[Assman]

Cool! That's a frickin' awesome game. The amount of unlockables is ridiculous, plus you can play the original Panzer Dragoon (after you unlock it).

[Duane Dibbley]

I recently got an Xbox just to play Orta as well. It is a pretty great game. I think Zwei is still my favorite of the PD shooters, but Orta is solid in its own right. It incorporates some elements of Saga to the shooting mix, which add a bit of challenge. Plus, the game is just plain gorgeous. I highly recommend getting an Xbox component cable, if one wasn't included in the auction.

Also, one bonus of the unlockable PD1 is Zwei/Orta-style analog control. If you ever tried playing PD1 with the Saturn 3D control pad in analog mode, you will know how wonky that was.

[Jerkface Killah]

That's a funny coincidence. I just got my Sega Saturn Mission Stick in the mail today and started playing Panzer Dragoon for the first time. Damn that game is hard. I really wish it had checkpoints, and apparently you can't save between levels. Lame. Other than that, great game. I have Orta too but haven't given it a proper play. Congrats on the new Xbox. Now you need some other classics like Psychonauts and Ninja Gaiden Black to name a couple.

JFK

[env963]

Analog control on Panzer dragoon...ooooooooooh

[Duane Dibbley]

I've never played PD with a mission stick, but it seems like it would be a lot harder than using the d-pad. When I try playing it using the 3D control pad, the view centers when the analog stick is released. From Zwei onward, the cursor stays put when the analog stick is released. Plus, it just seems like moving the cursor with the mission stick would be awkward.

[env963]

Ive never tried Panzer dragoon 1 or 2 with a 3d analog controller. hmmm try that sometime this week...

[Hatta]

When I try playing it using the 3D control pad, the view centers when the analog stick is released. From Zwei onward, the cursor stays put when the analog stick is released.

I don't have a 3d controller, but it sounds like the behavior in PD1 would be the most intuitive. If the cursor's on the left of the screen, and I want it in the middle, all I'd have to do is move the stick to the middle. With the behavior you describe for zwei, to get the cursor back to the middle, I'd have to move the stick past the center and to the right and release it at exactly the right time. Seems like it would be really easy to overcorrect, and there would be lag because of the time it takes to move the stick from far left to center.

Maybe it plays better than it sounds like it would.

[Gamerforlife]

Watching someone play Orta for best rank and shot down ratio is like poetry in motion. Awesome game. Very polished, classy effort from Sega.

[Duane Dibbley]

Maybe it plays better than it sounds like it would.

It does. It's hard to describe. Basically, in PD1, the aiming cursor is fixed to the absolute position of the analog stick. From Zwei onward, the cursor movement is relative to the movement of the analog stick.

Also, since PD1 came out before the 3D controller was a twinkle in Sonic's eye, the PD1 analog control expects that you can move the stick in a square. Unfortunately, the 3D control pad can only move the analog stick in a circle, so there is at least one point in the game where there are missiles coming at you from the corner of the screen that you cannot shoot down. I suspect that the mission stick does not have this issue.