Guys,
The more I work my notes, the more I have the impression I am making it obscure so I am now sharing my text.
And I hope you can help me, by correcting wrong english, sharing your ideas, telling me where it can be improved.
I now want to have something online soon and start phase 2, ie contact gamer communities and also “influent” people so they read it as widely as possible.
Thank you for your help.
First of all, let me start this saying this petition is not about requesting a remake or port of existing PD games. There is already a petition with this intent, which I personally support too. I also want to thank panzerdragoonlegacy.com whose team does a fantastic work to keep the PD torch alight.
But I think today, with current technology in the video gaming industry, the Panzer Dragoon World deserves a complete new story of its own. A reboot.
Regardless of how many signatures/supports this project will get, the present effort is also meant to raise awareness - among developers - on the potential and the strengths of such a project, should it be seriously considered. Not only would it be supported by the original PD fans (who are millenials and now adults, hence might have “a bit” of money to support this) but also among the newer generations who could support the project massively if the “demos” are ambitious and convincing enough. Yes, since PD was first released, we now have crowdfunding platforms…
Let me tell you why Panzer Dragoon World is a mine of gold.
Let me detail why we need a new Panzer Dragoon game:
1/ It has a fantastic story background and a huge potential…
…for sequels or prequels (the world of the ancients).
For any old PD game fan, it is well known that… we don’t know all we would like to. And this was most likely intentional. But for sure, there is still a lot to tell about panzer dragoon world and story. Whether before, after or in parallel to the events described in the existing games because the story is so rich.
It also has a unique bestiary, a unique charm and mystery in the environments it pictures. And this is one of the key elements we would need back in a new game. It even needs to be expanded and explored more as one of its core strengths.
- Due to the story it describes, this new game could tell us more about the ancients ? It would have a lot of technology and would be a sort of Sci-fi game telling us what happened before the PD games events ? Panzer Dragoon Origins ?
- Or a game on the future after existing PD games ie after Orta ? Panzer Dragoon Evolution ?
- Or tell a story in parallel as only 1/5th of the world is shown in each game ? Panzer Dragoon Chronicles ?
Imagine playing a hunter or a seeker exploring PD world on the back of a Koolia for rare items (flowers, insects…), walking its world by foot, having skills to defeat monsters without dragon at start, exploring its world, its cities, infiltrating…Or maybe the player would be a scientist, exploring ancient ruins for old artifacts, drones… ? You would make a plane before the dragons saves you when it crashes ?
Maybe a soldier from empire who would turn renegade ? or maybe all of this ? I am sure creativity could come up with something brilliant.
With current generation of platforms, an open world would probably be obvious (and I would personally love it). Exploring imperial capital would be great ? Maybe in the future, new powers would have been discovered from the ancient relics ? This open world approach has somehow been brilliantly initiated in Panzer Dragoon Saga.
One of the important things in an open world is to create striking moments iso that the player remembers some special times he had even when he was free roaming. And this is what Zelda BOTW did so well. We need this sort of consistency and depth in a new PD game.
Now, back at the gameplay, imagine the hero has gained special skills which allows him to control wildlife of PD world. Then the fights against wildlife would not be based on killing but on controlling their spirit ? You would then gain experience for this kind of skill and progress ?
The real enemy would be the empire (again ?) or a new one ? and you could only kill these enemies, not wildlife ? You could control wildlife to help you in fight.
Until something happens to one of those heroes and the dragon is back (but you don’t get it from the start).
You could explore dungeons, which would be ancient sites where you would discover technology & knowledge about the world as it has become.
These are purely suggestions I make to show what a reboot of the series could bring. I am not pretending those are the best ideas, they are humbly some of mine and the fans, and I am sure a team of professionals would have some fresh and fantastic ideas too !
Moebius did some fantastic illustrations which were used for PD series. We obviously need a new series of drawing and illustrations, a bit like the Zelda series recently. It helps building a strong artistic world.
Obviously, this new story would not require to have a previous knowledge of existing PD games. It would be self sufficient and in the same time could be an invitation to re play the older games (and here, a port or remake of those games could be mean more revenue for SEGA).
2/ It had one of the most beautiful and unique technical & artistic direction
When watching a film like Avatar, I had reminiscence of iconic PDS places like Uru lake, the forest and all such colorful places in the game. Also the way TORUK flies reminded me of PD dragon, they are not cliché fantasy world dragons, they look more swift.
It also had those vivid and vibrant colors which reminded me of URU and those similar places: forests, deserts, snow, sea, mines.
The game had so much impact on me, that more than 10 years later, that’s the kind of thoughts I had when watching Avatar. And this doesn’t happen often.
- Why it can be the “make the difference” reboot:
Metroid only became so popular after several episodes, major success coming with first episode of the Prime trilogy.
Make an open world, re think fighting system, maybe similar to Zelda with simple fights being open and boss battles being ‘centered’.
Once you have cleared an area, or have gained experience/a certain level, you could play/unlock “routes” and play those routes as in the rail shooter original games. But this would be an option for the nostalgics mainly.
Also, one of the great things I liked when playing the first Assassin Creed was the eagle jump. I immediately though “this is so cool”. “Imagine you’d be able to do this in Panzer Dragoon but instead of falling in a haystack, the dragon would come to pick you up in the air !”
You’d somehow call the dragon when jumping from the cliff, mentally or with a sound.
Imagine an open world, where you can explore land but also travel quite high in the air for epic battles
Experience matters more than technics as confirmed and seen in Zelda botw. The latter game confirmed its unique mystery was part of it success. We don’t need ultra sharp graphics/textures, we need a well designed, a consistent and well finished story, an immersive environment, a hero we like to play. The interface in Zelda was great also because minimalistic, you were not drown in icons on map and so on.
This would be a good technical practice to respect PD beatiful world design.
3/ It also means one of the most beautiful OST for a game (PDS)
Music matters so much and it has always been so unique and authentic since PD Zwei (for me the music in first PD was a bit out of tune against the world it depicted but that’s just personal statement here).
The composer since PD Zwei, Saori Kobayashi, proved with her Terra Magica album that she still has so much talent and more ideas to compose on the PD theme. The Terra Nova was not composed for a game but the PD world was for sure the theme.
Listen to Horizon if you still doubt it.
Saori always has talent to translate the aerial elements into her music, with her keyboards. Also the martial battle atmosphere into martial rhythms…
You immediately know the music you hear is (for) Panzer Dragoon.
And Saori said it herself, she wanted to explore more elements than aerial elements with this record. Those elements we also need to explore in a new game !
Should there be a new PD world, should Saori be on board.
I personally purchased the Terra magica physical album. Do not hesitate to show love by supporting this artist via the link http://store.bravewave.net/album/terra-magica. You have the options of physical or digital music there.
4/ Because SEGA needs new iconic franchises and so do we
And when I say new, you will think Panzer Dragoon isn’t new ! And you’re right ! But this is why we need a hard reboot. So that the new generation of gamers can enjoy this fantastic world that is PD.
See what is currently being done with games like ZELDA BOTW and MARIO ODYSSEY, SONIC, METROID PRIME4. Those games are rebooted, there is a methodology that was used to define what was going to be kept from the original series, and what was going to be changed.
Well, I think the same methodology needs to be applied for PANZER DRAGOON.
We need an open world game, with RPG elements. At least we need something more profound than a rail shooter.
They may be technically great, they will only interest a fraction of players.
And I will be honest, if we didn’t have PDS, I wouldn’t be here with this petition.
SEGA needs to revitalize this franchise so it can become iconic.
We need a new game which creates bond with the player and keep you really engaged. A rail shooter game is an intense experience but once you finish it, you usually forget it quickly. Happened to me with PD 1 & 2 but that changed forever with PDS.
5/ The game would be fantastic on the NINTENDO SWITCH
Ok, I know some of you might see this as controversial. I am not asking for an exclusivity but I still think the game would be great if you could fly your dragon on the go as well as being able to play it home.
I am confident this would be a system seller.
But the best option would be for as many players to have the chance to play it, so an all platform (MICROSOFT, SONY, NINTENDO…) availability would be cool.
As a fan of the series, I would buy any console if ts became exclusive, but exclusivity is probably not the best option.
Why not offering exclusive dragon skins or bonuses for each platform/console.
Now how do we fund this game ?
Well, a partnership between SEGA, NINTENDO (and its XENOBLADE TEAMs) could work. Mutualise some of the Zelda team + older Andromeda team members + fresh blood + Xenoblade team ?
Or maybe team up with UBISOFT ?
Financial risk could also be minimize with a crowdfunding campaign ?
It could also be a mix and be partially supported with crowdfunding and corporate investment. What we would need is at least a small technical/artistic demonstration. I am sure it would then be supported massively.
But this demo is necessary for the new generation of players, to convince them.
It has been 20 years now since PD SAGA, we need it back.
With current technology, the potential of an open world with such a rich world seems terrific and gives goosebumps
