I started a thread on X asking whether we would want a Panzer Dragoon Saga remaster from Nightdive Studios (since their studio head said he’d look at it).
https://x.com/PanzerLegacy/status/1796416847375659173
They worked on a bunch a PC-releases, such as the Quake remasters (which I haven’t tried yet).
Not myself, I rather see a remake and one done by SEGA.
Haven’t seen their works as well, so not sure what could come from that hypothetical doing, but answered in Twitter to help with awareness with my two cents
Panzer Dragoon is a work that requires meticulous care in the artistic department, worldbuilding, music, setting and lore, so I always approach any remaster/remake idea with much skepticism and caution
But at the same time any opportunity to show that there is interest and that we want more Panzer Dragoon is good to take, as well as opportunities for people to enjoy these games, the more the merrier
They’re not really known for rail shooters or rpg’s. If it’s an rpg then definitely not. But if a new rail shooter is made I’d rather have Sega get as many scattered members from Smilbit as they can to try and rekindle the magic.
To be clear, if this ever happened it would be a remaster, rather than a remake. Nightdive produces remasters.
You can see a list of some of their other remasters/ports on their site, essentially updated versions of classic PC titles:
Oh, there’s Wizardy 8 on there!
Yep, they’re more in line of what GOG does to classic PC games added to their catalogue, but with added nice to have features like widescreen and such, right?
Also enhanced lighting and such. I see these remasters as an opportunity to bring back older titles without changing them fundamentally.
Which is why I don’t want one. Performance was never an issue for Saga and having the Nightdive treatment will turn Saga into a flash game.
What Saga needs is a full on remake by SEGA done with the same care and attention as how SEGA handled the remakes of Yakuza 1 and 2. I’ll also love to see SEGA remake Skies of Arcadia in the Canvas engine too.
Saga is too good and too special, just to have a simple remaster IMO
Yup, that’s pretty good, making them more accesible for anyone is at the same time a good way for more people to get to experience Saga and see for themselves why is it so special, and to show that there’s interest in the game and it’s worth dedicating more resources to it in the future.
Only caveat of mine would be if the enhanced lighting or such would change it too much (take for exaple the Resident Evil Code Veronica HD version), but even then I think it’s worth it for giving it accesibility.
This is what a remaster of Skies of Arcadia could look like. Go to my comparison picks at the bottom. Playing the game with this texture pack was amazing and breathed new life into the game! This game would benefit from a remaster because it already looked so good to begin with. But a game that’s older like Saga does deserve a full on remake.
The NiGHTS remaster is an example of a Saturn game that was re-released on modern (at the time) consoles.
It was generally well received. Something similar for Saga would be a great way of making it more widely accessible. A remaster wouldn’t prevent a full remake from being made in the future.
Yeah, it looks good, but I love Skies to be remade in the Canvas engine. I think the watercolour look, would look so amazing for Skies and fit it perfectly.
Hopefully, the new SEGA will do a soft reboot for both Skies and Saga like they did for Sakura Wars
It felt cheap and nasty to me Solo and I wouldn’t want that for my Panzer Dragoon Series.
I myself would rather see SEGA remake Saga like Nintendo did for Prime or a reboot like SEGA did for Sukura Wars. Failing that SEGA just make its own Saturn emu and bring the whole Panzer Dragoon Saturn collection as a pack for digital download on the cheap.
The Metroid Prime remake was more of a high-quality remaster though. It just put a new coat of paint on the old code/game engine. Also, similar to what they did to the Shadow of the Colossus remake (that game used the original game engine as well, so not a full remake.) Also, with gameplay tweaks.
I think something like that could work for Saga and it would look really nice like Prime did. But if Sega really did lose the code, they would have to make it from the ground up anyway.
The canvas game engine still looks good, I agree. It would be a perfect fit for Skies. The Valkyria Chronicles series was made by many of the same developers as Skies of Arcadia as well!
I think the trouble is since the Capcom remakes the lines have been blurred a little but I don’t class the PS4 version of SOC as a remaster. To me, it is a remake and it was the PS3 versions of SOC & ICO I would class as a remaster. You can still use some of the old code and logic and it still be a remake which for me is what RARE did with Conkers on the XBox. Its plays the same but the graphics have been remade from top to bottom.
I like a soft reboot for Saga, use the Saturn game with SEGA’s latest tech and engine and just add and change little parts here and there. Test the water to see if people want a AAA big-budget Panzer Dragoon game again.
It is also time SEGA went back to Skies and again do a soft reboot with the Canvas tech which seems perfect for Skies
I would also like for SEGA to bring out a Panzer Dragoon Saturn collection on the PS5 & XBox. I’m sure SEGA is more than able to make its own Saturn emu with a nice CRT filter and just get it up on the Xbox and PS stores
After seeing The Thing screenshots on GOG (Their latest remaster in the works), I absolutely want to see them touch up Saga.
The other thing we have to remember is, Saga and the PD series in general has a very distinct art style. The best we’ve seen it looking imo is PD Orta. Now, do we want the graphics to have a slight artistic style akin to Moebius art, keep it detailed but still have creative flair like Orta, or just slightly realistic like PD Remake?
Seeing how there was a lot of backlash from fans over PD Remake’s use of color and style or lack-there-of, compared to the series art as a whole, this is something any remaster team needs to seriously consider.
But touching up a PS2 or Xbox game looks a hell of a lot better than a 32-bit Saturn or Saturn game. That’s the issue.
Yeah, they could touch it up and it would be extremely detailed. But all of that new detail would be in such a small play space, if that makes sense. Like take the (Valley) Deep Gulch in Saga for instance, with all of the lakes and waterfalls. Now, after the graphical update it would be super detailed… but it would still be literally one long hallway with one underground tunnel.
So, the extra detail wouldn’t add any scope, dimension or breadth to the area. It would still be the same confined space but with extra detail, maybe even more so highlighting the confines of the limited space the Saturn had to work with.
So, what kind of remaster do we want? One that just touches up the textures, staying as true to the original art style as possible or one that tries to add another layer of detail? I don’t see how they would be able to remaster it anyway without the source code…
Or would we rather have a full-on remake that at least expands on the environments?
It’s like when you play a Saturn game or say an Xbox or PS2 game via emu, when you increase the screen res in an Xbox game it looks better when you do the same for a Saturn game it shows up all the flaws even more so, especially over issues over mesh effects and its not like PS1 games look great when you go beyond 480P
I’m not interested in a RSG, Perfect Dark style simple HD master but I want a full big budget AAA remake in the style of what happened with Conkers on the Xbox or the likes of SEGA did with Yakuza 1 and 2.
Panzer Dragoon has always been about the best visuals and lavish budgets from SEGA. I seem to remember Panzer Dragoon being the most expensive game SEGA had ever produced at that time (some mags sad it was the most expensive console game ever made at that time) and Saga budget was said to biggest at SEGA, before Shenmue too.
So I don’t want a simple quick option for the series that’s always been about SEGA giving the team the biggest budget and all the tools it could. Panzer Dragoon and Team Andromeda memory deserves so much more than a simple Night Drive style remaster IMO