PDS Retroview

[Felix]

Over the Thanksgiving break I had a chance to finally catch up on my gaming. I finally beat the last disc of Panzer Dragoon Saga after basically abandoning it because of school and crew. After my experience with the game, and a couple days of trying to figure out what exactly happened while reading some theories on this site, I can easily say that this game was easily worth every penny I spent on it; and I spent an absurd amount.

Ironically, once the mail arrived today a new copy of Game Informer was delivered. I quickly flipped through it before starting some scholarship work only to notice on one of the back pages a Classic GI Retro Review for none other than Panzer Dragoon Saga. This is what is said:

“Less than 10,000 copies of this third Panzer Dragoon game ever made it stateside, as Sega had already started to shift gears away from the Saturn in preperation for what would become the Dreamcast. Regardless, the panzer RPG was on of the finest of its era - pushing the hardware to it’s limit with graphics and cinematics that were quite simply amazing. Unfortonutely, those 32-bit visuals seem borderline ugly when compared with the artistic masterpieces that are possible with today’s hardware. But, if you’re able to see past the dated look, you’ll discover a tale of remarkable depth and emotions, with a script of stunning clarity, insight, and symbolism. The post-apocalyptic fantasy world is believably harsh, and the heavy weight of the lands history is continually apparent in every aspect of the game. Add in a flexible and challenging combat system (which occurs on dragonback no less) and you’ll start to see why this is one of the most sought after RPG’s for collectors. It’s hard to track down but it’s worth it. This might be the greatest RPG you’ve never played.”

Again, being someone who has only played PDS this year after enjoying the original I downloaded off the internet, and later Orta, I truly believe this game has stood the test of time and in my opinion will continue to do so. GI gave the game a 9/10 when they first reviewed it back in '98 and give it a 8.5 now.

One thing strikes me as puzzling, they have three screenshots of the game on that page, One of which is a CG, however I don’t recall seeing it anywhere in the game?? I’ll try to scan it in later to show.

[legaiaflame]

Yeah I saw that review also. I think it deserved a 9 rather than an 8.5. I personally would have gave it a 10 but thats just me.

[SegaTecToy]

The graphics are not that ugly by today standards. Gamers these days are a bunch of sissies, being spoiled by these new games with great graphics and zero content (thank God there are some beatiful exceptions to this rule).

[system]

One thing strikes me as puzzling, they have three screenshots of the game on that page, One of which is a CG, however I don’t recall seeing it anywhere in the game?? I’ll try to scan it in later to show.

Interesting… it could possibly be a promotional CG image cropped to look like a screenshot; if you get time to make a scan, I’d be interested to have a look.

By the way, it’s good to hear you liked PDS so much in the end; I remember you posted that topic a while ago about whether or not you should buy it, and most of us said that it was just too expensive these days. Afterwards it struck me that I was probably being hypocritical, because I do still own my copy of PDS; I’d rather have it than the money.

[Felix]

After copying some of the movies onto the computer to watch again, that screen shot was in a very small movie after Edge leaves the excavation site. My mistake.