It kinda looks like it was - but why would the Tower’s destruction be necessary in order to access Sestren? And how come access to Sestren is so easily accessible in PDO, when such an option wasn’t available in PDS? Perhaps that teleporter in PDO would not have worked if the Tower of Uru wasn’t destroyed?
Anyway, here is the clip of the Tower on its so called death bed - in the aftermath, it looks like a melted tree stump.
According to the English script at least, Azel chooses to destroy the Tower once Edge goes through the “gateway” so that the Sestren Exsis can’t escape into the outside world:
When you leave for Sestren,
I will destroy this Tower.
Sestren will not be able to escape.
By “escape” I’d expect that she meant “flee” rather than “break free”, but I guess that’d be debatable. It’d make a fair amount of sense if the Sestren Exsis actually could exist in the outside world though, as the dragon-program itself pulled roughly the same trick.
This sort of area was discussed at one point in the past, and I think the main plot-explanations that people came up with were:
A) At the time of PDS, the Seekers didn’t know that Sestren could be entered through structures other than Towers; or they knew that other entrances existed, but not where any of these specific structures were; or Azel wouldn’t be able to open any gateways that weren’t in a Tower, as she was designed to interface with Towers. (Or looking at it the other way around, the writers simply hadn’t envisioned that there would be other ways to enter Sestren.)
B) The PDO Episode 6 ruins were meant to be a Tower, which still had its internal defense systems running even though the Towers as a whole were no longer being operated by Sestren. (PDO’s Encyclopedia states that “most” of the Towers went inactive at the end of PDS, rather than all of them.)
As far as I can remember neither of those explanations could be ruled out storyline-wise, as they both seemed to make a fair amount of sense…
Was the Tower of Uru a ‘main tower’ or something? Because Sestren Exsis could have easily escaped to another tower.
It is entirely possible that the towers were linked on a network structure that made certain towers more important than others (a “node” arrangement perhaps). So, when the Uru tower went bang, it shut off a lot of the others. There are probably towers that humans haven’t discovered yet.
Yes, that part doesn’t obviously add up. One explanation might be that the Sestren Exsis couldn’t operate the gateways itself, and that the only danger of it escaping into the outside world came when Azel “opened the door” to let Edge into the network. (On the other hand, I guess it’s always possible that the idea of Sestren escaping was added in translation, too.)
On the “Tower Distribution” map that appeared in one of the Azel guides, the Tower of Uru is shown as a large red dot while the other (unseen) Towers are small black dots. This might just be confirming that it’s the Tower we actually see in Panzer Dragoon Saga, though:
[quote=“Lance Way”]On the “Tower Distribution” map that appeared in one of the Azel guides, the Tower of Uru is shown as a large red dot while the other (unseen) Towers are small black dots. This might just be confirming that it’s the Tower we actually see in Panzer Dragoon Saga, though:
panzerdragoon.net/maps/image … on_map.jpg[/quote]
That is ALOT of towers.
We didn’t even see half of them!
Bump. 
Yeah… I’m assuming these towers all became inactive when Sestren was deactivated or whatever…? If not, the world still ain’t safe!
What is supposed to have happened to the Panzer world in Orta? I heard something about a huge crack in the surface or something. Spoilers welcome!
If you don’t mind spoilers, here’s an entry from Panzer Dragoon Orta’s in-game encyclopaedia that should give you a good idea:
< The Great Fall >
A period of great change, the world was
in upheaval with the fall of the former
Empire.
According to the official Imperial records,
in Imperial Year 119, the fleets of Arwen
and Zastava, led by the traitor,
K. F. Craymen, attempted a coup of
the throne.
After wiping out all the satellite regions
of the Empire, Craymen and his men
activated the ruins near Lake Ul in
the northeast section of the Continent.
Consequently, a great many
bio-engineered creatures emerged from
the ruins and ran rampant, causing
further damage to the Empire’s remote
cities and regions.
It is said that the Seventh Emperor
himself, deeply affected by the death of
many of his subjects, rose to challenge
the ancient ruins by using the power of
the imperial fortress, Grig Orig.
His Majesty sacrificed his own life to
eradicate the foul creatures that resided
within the ruins, and even disabled many
of the surrounding ancient ruins with
his valor.
To honor this heroic act, the present
Empire has declared an annual
"Guardian Festival" in which all subjects
of the Empire are required to fast for
the full four days and four nights of
the festival.
Over the next decade following
the destruction of the ancient ruins,
the Continent’s topography and climate
began to change radically.
Cartographers had much difficulty
keeping up with the ever-changing
landscape, and maps were constantly
being rewritten.
Floods caused by the melting of
the polar regions resulted in large areas
of land being swallowed by water,
earthquakes created vast canyons and
gave birth to new mountains,
and the difference in temperature
between the various regions of the land
grew further and further apart.
Various studies show that the total
human population of the Continent
deceased to less than half of its former
glory during this period of turbulence.
Modern historians have dubbed this era
"the Great Fall."
The immense tragedies that befell
the Empire have been engraved into
the minds of the people, and is generally
regarded as the time of greatest
turmoil that man has ever known since
the fall of the Ancient Age.
Still, in this era of upheaval, reports of
attacks by bio-engineered creatures
gradually decreased, and the world
appears to be recovering from
the Great Fall.
Scholars claim that the ancient ruins
themselves played some role in
maintaining the world’s climate
and ecosystem.
By destroying a great portion of them,
the world’s delicate balance was skewed,
and chaos ensued.
Moreover, due to the fact that Craymen
was a member of the Imperial Academy
at the time of his rebellion,
the Academy regards this fact with great
shame, and has abolished the position of
"Examiner," which was the rank that
Craymen held, as well as the act of
appointing Academy officers from among
commoners.
Although we’re told that “most” of the Towers are inactive, I think the implication is that without Sestren to operate them, even the ones that are still online are no longer doing anything negative to the world.
Thanks, Lance! That’s helpful.
[size=9]Make your 1337th post a good 'un, remember![/size]
