Panzer Dragoon Zwei: maximising score and rank

Panzer Dragoon
1

Hello!

As I mentioned as I introduced myself in Zoah?s forum, I have picked up Zwei again recently with the aim of completing a 1 credit clear run with 100% shot down ratio, the Solo Wing/Type01 dragon by episode 7 and possibly trying to max out my current high score of 1.2 million points. I?ve found one other topic in the forum that mentions high scores and the highest was 600k, but I?m sure I?m not the only one to have passed the 1 million mark.
I was thinking about writing a basic guide/faq/walkthrough which I?d love to distribute through the site, but can?t guarantee that yet.
I?d have a few questions and I?m sure this is the right place to ask

  1. A few years ago (4-5?) I remember a Japanese page with some score posted. Does anybody else know it? Is it still available somewhere?
  2. I have my run pretty much wired, but Episode 3 Route 2 is the only one that gives me some troubles as I managed to get 100% only once as of late. I thought that it could be because sometimes I lock on only 3 of the 4 bits of those enemies quite at the beginning of the level (the ones after the first 4+3 ships). I think I am quite careful when the black ships come and I tend to unleash short berserk attacks when those ?flying fishes? come around, too. Yet, I always seem to miss one or two enemies? any suggestions? I?ve had two 99.8% runs in a row now (100% on all Episodes and just one enemy missed on Episode 3) and it?s quite annoying?

TAGs:
winged death, score, hi-score, maximum, 100%

2

Been a long time but I do remember the area you mean, just too many small things loitering all over for a while, very easy to miss. Best I can suggest is try to berserk at different times just to see what’s left over, but I never did put a full Winged Death run together without cheating a little. Like I knew how each stage was possible and pulled it off once or twice - other than maybe stage 4 route 3 iirc.

Wish I could be of help, I’ve thought about doing just what you are a few times… one day. :anjou_happy:

Welcome and good luck.

3

Hi again,

Well, I managed to pull it off at the 9th cleared game. As I played Episode 3, I delayed killing the boss until it shot that rotating claw. It does appear on the radar as an orange dot so I thought it could be an enemy too. I doubt it really is, but it worked, so don?t knock it. And yes, using even short berserk attacks while fighting the black ships is also a good idea.

I?ve actually decided to investigate buying a video capture card in order to make videos much in the style of those S rank runs of Orta that one can find on YouTube. I really think Zwei deserves some kind of superplay, there are many videos but they are just showing the game.

Ah, I have found that Japanese page, it?s called the Panzer Dragoon Academy. It has a very extensive high-score section with some seemingly physics-defying scores (2 million points for the whole game, 240k for Episode 4 alone, 118 seconds for the boss of Episode 4).

sun-inet.or.jp/usr/dds552/pu … nking.html

The site has a self-submitting scoresheet, which means no proof was required. I?d generally trust the Japanese and I?m well aware of their insane skills, but I sense that most of these scores can be achieved only when using the Pandora?s Box. The score attack section for Zwei mentions some hidden bonuses (most of which I wasn?t aware of) and talks about playing at hard difficulty to obtain higher multipliers, which in itself seems an advocacy of the Pandora?s Box.

sun-inet.or.jp/usr/dds552/pu … score.html

I have asked a Japanese acquaintance of mine to translate some of the bits that google translate couldn?t render properly, so I?ll have some more answers soon if anybody is interested.

Amazing to still find stuff after so many years of play… I guess the final screen of the ending applies to the game itself too :wink:

4

Welcome. I’m not sure if you’ve already read it, but Jeremy Prusak’s Winged Death Guide might be of some use:
thewilloftheancients.com/art … eath-guide

5

While I was making this guide I actually recorded everything as I played each level. When each level was done I would then take the time to write everything out step by step.

Unfortunately, my video capturing software wouldn’t capture Sega Saturn footage for some damn strange reason. I so wanted to upload this as a video guide to Youtube back then! :anjou_sigh:

Well good luck in your endeavour Falcon_of_the_Sun!

Not the best but I’m proud of it! :anjou_happy:

6

Thanks all for the wishes, it’s done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGGCmuGfP20)

For the score,I gotta thank the guys at the Panzer Dragoon Academy because they did a great job at finding out the Pink Bonus hidden in each episode/route. Some of them are obvious, some others are pretty crazy!

Ep 1
Shoot the heck out of the black ship, even ignoring actual enemies. If by the time it disappears once and for all you got to 2000?2, its’s a good result

Ep 2 - Route 2
Just after the fork for Route 2, a Kouhriat with a rider will appear. Damage it, but don’t kill it. Once the first 2 aircrafts will arrive, the rider will get scared and run away from them, towards you. Kill the Kouhriat/rider now to get the Pink Bonus of 10000?3

Ep 3 - Route 2
This one is nearly impossible on normal play and combined with the aim of a 100% shotdown ratio. But basically, if you only attack and finally destroy the two black ships with lock on lasers only, you get a 20000?2 for each. The easy way to see this is to use the Pandora’s box, select a top dragon, a mean laser setup like Heavy or BCG, select Lagi as life/eine so there’s not even the risk of shooting the gun. I’m not sure whether using the berserk is an issue

Ep 4 - Route 3
Very simple, destroy all the bullets/drone that shower you from behind at some point, thus earning a 10000?3

Ep 5
When the “snakes” made of seven cones come out of the ground, hit the bottom/last one of the snake with a lock on laser. You can also lock a few other ones but not the head I think. They will receive the hit without suffering any damage, but you will get a 3330?3 pink bonus, which can be replicated for all 3 snakes.

Ep 6
Just destroy the three paddles of the Shellcoof to get a 10000?3. However, much more rewarding is delivering the final blow to each of them with 12 lasers locked to get 2400?12 on each.

Detailed videos will follow :slight_smile:

7

As promised, here’s a YouTube playlist covering all the 10 Secret Bonuses (i.e. points awarded to you through in pink digits, like boss time and ?12 lock ons) of Zwei.
Enjoy!

8

Certainly. :anjou_happy:

9

When you’re referring to Rank, do you mean the scoring rank (Perfectionist, Winged Death, etc) or the rank difficulty system the game uses?

PDZ does use a rank difficulty, where it’ll switch you between different levels of difficulty if you’re doing very well / doing terribly. It’s most noticable with Episode 7: if you lose to the Guardian Dragon’s second form a bunch of times, it’ll actually skip it on your next playthrough and give you the ending instead. Since this only happens on Easy and below (selectable through Pandra’s box) it’s a sign that rank is a thing.

10

I meant the shotdown ratio rank. The other one you talk about is the ADEC. I never managed to get it to go to 5 during New Game (same you get as you select the highest dfficulty lever through the Pandora’s box), I don’t know if its possible.

11

Heh, I just played a Winged Death playthrough, got 100% on all levels but didn’t get enough points to transform into Solowing. Guess I’m pretty rusty! :anjou_embarassed:

Even today I’m still in awe at the level of creative detail in design, music, atmosphere and just general fun gameplay this game still brings. I’m tempted to play through PDS again…puts game in Saturn… :anjou_love:

12

Damn, I went so close to 1.6 million points going through routes 2-1-3 today.

For a reference, good target scores for each level are:

Ep 1: 90k
Ep 2-2: 140k
Ep 3-1: 200k
Ep 4-3: 140k
Ep 5: 200k
Ep 6: 250k
Ep7: 500k

13

Episode 3 Route 2 is the only one that gives me some troubles as I managed to get 100% only once as of late. I thought that it could be because sometimes I lock on only 3 of the 4 bits of those enemies quite at the beginning of the level (the ones after the first 4+3 ships). I think I am quite careful when the black ships come and I tend to unleash short berserk attacks when those ?flying fishes? come around, too. Yet, I always seem to miss one or two enemies? any suggestions? I?ve had two 99.8% runs in a row now (100% on all Episodes and just one enemy missed on Episode 3) and it?s quite annoying?

14

Can’t help you on that, it’s a freaking pain. I managed to get 100% only twice as part of runs that ended up being Winged Death runs (without ever dying thus restarting a level, whether on purpose or not).
It could be anything. supposedly, the black ships won’t blow up before having released all their enemies. I notice that some of the flying fishes do NOT give a multiplier bonus: you lock on two of them, one will give you 30x2, the other just 30. I have learned which one it is and I gun it down to get 30x2,
Those made up of 4 parts could also be the case, but I always lock on all 4.

Ultimately, 3-2 is just too much of a lottery for my liking: 100% is so random, the pink bonuses are so difficult and random.

As of late I am focusing more on maximising the score and to do that a Skydart is enough, which means I can afford to miss an evo point along the way. And since I have learned to get the blue worm in 3-1, I just ner more points with less risk…