Panzer Dragoon Saga (1998)

Even before my recently sparked interest in the Sega Saturn, I had heard many people sing the praises of Panzer Dragoon Saga. Some hail it as a kind of "hidden gem" candidate for best RPG ever, some describe it as a cult classic. There is no shortage of love for this game in the modern day.

With that in mind, I really prepped myself for my playthrough, going through both the original Panzer Dragoon and Panzer Dragoon II Zwei. I'm glad I did, both of those games (especially Zwei) are fun in their own right, even if they play very differently to this game. They helped set the stage for the world that would be portrayed in Panzer Dragoon Saga.

Panzer Dragoon Saga's greatest strength is its worldbuilding. The setting, the story, the lore, all of these aspects lived up to the hype. These things alone make the game worth playing, and are the main reason that I enjoyed my time with it. The ideas expressed in this game, whether they be through cutscenes, character interactions, or gameplay, are interesting and engaging. This game tackles pretty big questions with its narrative. What it means to be human, the relationship between humans and the environment, the self-destructive nature of revenge. All of these themes were tactfully delved into, something I was particularly impressed by.

But as sometimes happens with RPGs, the description of the thing that you are doing in-game sometimes surpasses the experience of doing the thing. Fighting a giant, possibly sentient airship on the back of a dragon that shoots multiple lasers out of its mouth sounds really cool! Actually doing it? As the great Dr. Steve Brule put it, "Pretty fun, kinda boring."

While I commend the developers for taking on the impossible task of reworking the rail-shooter series into an RPG while keeping a lot of the core elements of that same rail-shooter gameplay, I don't think the battle system is quite as fun as I hoped. It almost reaches novelty territory (though, notably, I never found it annoying to participate in the game's semi-random battles). This along with a pretty dated graphical style is what holds Panzer Dragoon Saga back. It has a lot of extremely cool ideas for its core gameplay that don't get executed particularly well, nor particularly badly.

All in all, I'm glad I gave this game a shot and could see myself coming back to it at some point for a second playthrough if only to try and grab more of the secrets and mull over the themes some more. More generally, I think Panzer Dragoon Saga is worth playing today, though I would caution folks that have heard all of the hype surrounding it to temper their expectations a bit.

Panzer Dragoon Saga takes the rail-shooting mechanics of Panzer Dragoon and creates an incredible journey with unique gameplay, stunning visuals for a Sega Saturn, and a story that while still obtuse manages to weave a compelling journey.

Telling the story of a mercenary who discovers an ancient being buried in an excavation site and a mysterious flying dragon, this story mainly concerns unearthing the mysteries of a long forgotten age and the bio-engineered lifeforms and dangers that lie within. It can get pretty confusing and wonky, but the main path will lead the player through gorgeous ruins, burning jungles, breathtaking towers, and sweeping valleys.

Everything looks so much better under these graphics, even better than Zwei. Free-roaming works fairly well, with the reticle now used to interact with the environment. When in battle, the player enters random encounters and uses a mix of the dragon's positioning from the previous games and using either the single shot, lock-on laser, or special techniques to take down enemies. Rather than a sheer numbers game, the player must aim for weak points and stay in safe or neutral zones to limit enemy attacks. It's very rewarding and even has a rank system that rewards quick and efficient combat.

The game itself is huge for the system. Spanning four discs and loads of FMV cutscenes, the game is a staggering 15 hours compared to its predecessors, allowing it to expand this strange world of desert villages and ancient technology to its limits.

Panzer Dragoon Saga is a fantastic example of what happens when a developer, instead of giving up on a console, pushes it to its very limits and produces a masterpiece.