Panzer dragoon switch is released

So far what I’ve heard is that there’s some control issues (lag on shoulder buttons, aiming is sensitive) and performance problems but those may be fixed with the patch they’re planning in a few days.

Cool but when is it coming out on Steam/PC?

No word yet on the PC release. The shoulder button lag is probably the biggest problem with the remake. Aiming sensitivity can be lowered but actually locking on seems trickier than even the original game.

art of characters/ vehicles: The ships and dragons look generally good

art of the world: Im really not happy with many of the art choices they picked

A lot of the rich browns and destructed colors were completely on purpose and not a technical issue of the timeperiod- Most Saturn / PS1/ SNES / Genesis game were these arcade-y super saturated kid colors of things, panzer was this more grim destroyed bleak world . These super saturated colors are anathema to what it was trying to do

the palettes were very thoughtful and unique, and they just erased them

Episode 3 is maybe the worst offender, that wierd yellow everywhere .
Episode 4 looks like a different ancient ship
Episode 5 isn’t about a forest limitation (as they did this in Zwei and later Saga), it is about flying so high you are above treetops. Like flight sims do this in interesting ways

It really feels like they didnt get the scale down very. Panzer Dragoon 1 alluded to these cities and fortresses and things you couldnt make out clearly, and here it is crystal clear and they are still absent. This isn;t a Switch problem, it is just poor direction . like in the original they couldn’t paint roads or paths, but here they could . Like buildings that didnt connect or make sense due to hard limitaions, they could have made more sense.

1 Like

It also looks like they used an “already made” engine like Unreal Engine, or something. Rather than making and crafting the game completely from scratch. Which is what Team Andromeda did…

I haven’t played the game yet, but just by looking at gameplay and screenshots, everything has that “too shiny” or “plastic” look to everything…

I’m pretty sure it is Unity3d.

You can get away from that shiny plastic look, but it is a default and definitely looks like they cranked it up, again not realizing the low roughness and low metallic was a key part of the original look, not a limitation

What is a bit unfortunate is that it is also a combination of expensive for what you get, and also the lesser of the original 3, that I worry the rest will never get ported. Like non-fans are like “I guess I dont like Panzer Dragoon”, thinking the first game is a summary

Originally when I heard Zwei was being remade I thought it was in the same package and would have been a much better deal

The developers have confirmed the remake is built with Unity.

The game feels a bit unfinished at this point, although we’re expecting a patch soon with enhancements such as the new soundtrack and hopefully some fixes to gameplay and responsiveness problems that can modified without too much work. My biggest issue with the controls is that the lock on targeting feels off.

I agree with the general sentiment about the art direction, but in terms of faithfulness I also think the game is too much like the original in terms of gameplay. The later Panzer shooters refined the gameplay a fair bit, so this feels like a step backward from those sequels; it goes out of its way to play 1:1 like the original. In my opinion they focused on redesigning the wrong aspects.

But as a reimagining of the original, it does it’s job, a modern looking 1:1 recreation of the original with a new art style. I’m glad Panzer Dragoon is back, and I’m sure some people in the Nintendo crowd will like brighter, shinier art style. It is disappointing to fans who liked the Saturn game for the Panzer look rather than the gameplay (I am one of those people and I think Lagi is too); it doesn’t really feel like the game was made for us. But we knew this would be the case since the first E3 trailer, so it turned out much the way I was expecting. That said, I think the later levels feel a bit more like Panzer than Episode 1 since Episode 1 was mostly completed by E3, whereas the later stages were built or completed following fan feedback.

There were some aspects I enjoyed more than the original. The full game is now playable on Easy mode (it’s a hard game, so this appreciated), whereas the original stopped after Episode 4. I liked the reimagined forest level too; the original felt a bit detached like it was more of a background. And finally, the addition of dual analog modern controls actually work really well, and are a working evolution for the series (they are not enabled by default, but I’d argue they should be).

1 Like

Much like Solo I was less interested in a 1:1 remake in terms of gameplay as I think pretty much everyone can agree the sequels were much better in that regard. I was more concerned about the game capturing the look and feel of the original Panzer Dragoon universe. I think it manages to do that at times, not so much at other times. The Imperial capital is visually the most impressive stage in my opinion and also the one that succeeds the most at realizing a vision that simply wasn’t possible in the Saturn days. I found the controls to be not as good as the original game,with more input lag and more difficulty locking on to stuff. Hopefully this can be improved with patches.

The remixed ost by Saori Kobayashi, isn’t in the game yet? What!!!

Its a really good point they were too faithful to the original specific level layout design. Like they could have had optional paths and things , extend sequences and decrease others. It seems like the interior of the building in level 1 is an example they could have even done more with . It sad they didn’t put secret routes or things like that

What is probably hard is being too faithful they recreated too much of flawed game
But if the deviated in ways we didn’t like, they’d be hit on that. I love Zwei so much I could see them taking a lot in the wrong directions.

My issue with the art is that they didn’t take scale further . They didnt allude to things that are people sized and what people do. They couldnt do that on a saturn, but on a switch and better that should all be possible . Like while the Empire city looks better , it is still just these hollow building boxes flta grounds, it doesnt really look like a city capitol or have things of people scale. It doesnt feel like a battle happening in a city

Episode 3 is the same, these boxy gates in the original that dont connect to anything is all they could do, but now there should be nice flourishes making them all make sense, roads, scale of things people deal with, etc . Just making the models a bit nicer isnt really filling out the world they way they could have

I know in PD1 they really dont have a lot of reference reference for any of that, but they could look to Zwei and Saga (or even the OVA) for similar details to fill in those holes.

1 Like

@Lagi_Webmaster and others - did you see this spreadsheet?

A fan is collecting feedback for Forever Entertainment. They have also been collecting feedback on their Discord channel. Please add your issues and suggestions as we may have a chance to change things, if not in patches for this remake, then in Panzer Dragoon Zwei: Remake.

This is funny. I had an account here, but I hadn’t posted anything since I last replayed Orta almost 8 dang years ago. Been playing the remake and saw Panzer Dragoon Legacy in the credits and was like, oh yeah, I remember that place! Even saw some of your names in there, like @Solo_Wing. Very cool. I guess you guys helped out a bit huh?

Anyway, super thrilled this game came to fruition, even if it is basically a prettier 1:1 version of the original. Now instead of just a handful of people on the planet knowing this series exists, hopefully at least several handfuls are now aware :upside_down_face:

Also thrilled Zwei has been confirmed. Never played that before, and I’ve been wanting to forever. No surprise Saga hasn’t been announced. They’ll need more resources than what I imagine they had here. And maybe someday we’ll even get a proper sequel.

1 Like

9 posts were split to a new topic: Panzer Dragoon Saga Remake

Thanks. We did help out a bit; I made another topic about that. I’m glad the mention of Panzer Dragoon Legacy in the credits helped pull you back here.

There’s apparently a big patch coming soon (it’s being tested now) that will likely address some of the issues fans brought up in the spreadsheet. While there’s certainly space to improve the controls and gameplay, I’m doubtful that issues brought up with the art direction will be able to be addressed.

1 Like

I have seen some of the videos and sorry to say I am not impressed. I have played the complete series on my Saturn and continue to play it. The first thing I noticed in the early video is when the dragon does a hard turn it does not quickly flap hard for its change of direction as it did in the original. There is more I would like to say about remakes and will say this one: This is just slapping on new paint on someone else’s original idea and hard work to easy money. Please do not reply with the amount a work it takes to remake a game. As someone who freelanced for game making; doing 3d modeling and animation, most of the hard work is done in the previzualization and conceptualization of the game (i.e. writing, level design, character development and art production). A perfect example of slapping on new paint is Halo Anniversary. My biggest problem with Halo was listening to the grunts telling the player to take point only to die from friendly grenades. This should have been fixed in the anniversary edition. You can tell that the game was made by men, for they still do not know what an anniversary is; Just ask the women…lol. Food for thought for aspiring game makers.