Panzer Dragoon

Saga

Panzer Dragoon Saga, known in

Japan as Azel: Panzer Dragoon
RPG,[a] is a 1998 role-playing
video game developed by Team
Andromeda and published by Sega
for the Sega Saturn. The third in the
Panzer Dragoon series, it replaced
:
 the games' rail shooter gameplay
with RPG elements such as random
encounters, semi-turn-based
battles and free-roaming
exploration. The player controls
Edge, a young mercenary who rides
a dragon and encounters a
mysterious girl from a vanished
civilization.

Panzer Dragoon Saga

:
 European cover art

Developer(s) Team Andromeda

Publisher(s) Sega

Director(s) Yukio Futatsugi

Designer(s) Manabu
Kusunoki

Artist(s) Katsumi Yokota

Composer(s) Saori Kobayashi

Mariko Nanba

Series Panzer Dragoon

Platform(s) Sega Saturn

Release JP: 29 January

:
 Release JP: 29 January
1998
NA: 30 April
1998
PAL: 5 June 1998

Genre(s) Action-
adventure, role-
playing

Mode(s) Single-player

Sega felt an RPG was critical to

compete against the PlayStation
and Final Fantasy. Development
began in early 1995 alongside
Panzer Dragoon II Zwei (1996).
:
 The project was arduous and
repeatedly delayed; incorporating
the Panzer Dragoon shooting
elements with full 3D computer
graphics and voice acting, both
unusual features in RPGs at the
time, pushed the Saturn to its
technical limits and strained team
relations. Two staff members died
during development, which the
director, Yukio Futatsugi, attributed
to stressful working conditions.

Panzer Dragoon Saga is the most

:
 acclaimed Saturn game, and is
often listed among the greatest
games of all time, earning praise for
its story, graphics and combat. As
Sega had shifted focus to its
Dreamcast console, Saga had a
limited release in the West, and
worldwide sales were poor. The
Andromeda artist Katsumi Yokota
attributed the low sales to the
creative spirit of the team, who
were not interested in creating a
mainstream product. Although it
became a cult classic, Panzer
:
 Dragoon Saga has never been
rereleased, and English copies sell
for hundreds of US dollars. After its
release, Sega disbanded Team
Andromeda; several staff members
joined Sega's Smilebit studio and
developed a fourth Panzer
Dragoon game, Panzer Dragoon
Orta (2002), for the Xbox.

Gameplay
Unlike the other Panzer Dragoon
games, which are rail shooters,
:
 Panzer Dragoon Saga is a role-
playing video game (RPG).[1] The
player controls Edge, a young
mercenary who rides a flying
dragon. Gameplay is divided into
three modes: traversing large areas
on the dragon, battling enemies,
and exploring on foot.[2] On foot,
Edge can talk to non-player
characters (NPCs), upgrade his
weapons, buy items such as
potions,[3] and use a targeting
reticle to interact with elements
such as doors and locks. When the
:
 player explores on the dragon, this
reticle is used to fire lasers to
activate triggers or break
objects.[4] In one sequence, Edge
rides a hoverbike instead of the
dragon.[5] The player travels
through environments including
canyons, deserts, forests, and
subterranean ruins.[6] These are
accessed from the map screen, and
new areas are added as the game
progresses.[2][3] Campsites serve
as rest areas and save points.[3]
The game features full voice
:
 acting[3] and numerous FMV
cutscenes.[2]

Saga simplifies many RPG

conventions. For example, it has
few travel sequences and side
quests, requires little management
of inventories or skill trees and
features only Edge and his dragon
rather than a party of playable
characters. It can be completed in
less than 20 hours, making it much
shorter than most RPGs at the
time.[7]
:
 Battle system

Edge and his dragon in combat, with the enemy's weak point exposed. Note the
combat menu on the left, radar indicating safe and dangerous zones in the center,
and the three action gauges, one depleted, in the bottom-right.

Panzer Dragoon Saga uses a

random encounter system, in which
battles are triggered at random
intervals as the player rides the
dragon.[1] Battles mix real-time and
:
 turn-based elements.[4][8] Three
"action gauges" charge in real time;
when a gauge fills, the player can
perform an action, such as
attacking or using items.[1][8]
Waiting for multiple gauges to
charge gives the enemy more
opportunity to attack, but grants
the player more options, such as
making multiple moves in quick
succession.[4][5] The speed at
which the gauges charge is
governed by the dragon's agility
attribute. If this is higher than the
:
 enemy's agility, the player can act
more frequently than the enemy,
and vice versa.[1]

The player can circle the enemy by

moving between quadrants[9] to
expose weak points and escape
dangerous positions.[1] A radar at
the bottom of the screen indicates
safe, neutral and dangerous areas,
with the front and rear quadrants
typically posing the most danger.[1]
Changing position temporarily
stops the gauges.[4] Enemies may
:
 also change position to force the
dragon into vulnerable areas.[2]
Weak points can sometimes be
attacked only from dangerous
areas, and enemy attack patterns
may change mid-battle, forcing the
player to adapt.[5]

The two primary attacks are the

dragon's laser, which strikes
multiple targets simultaneously,
and Edge's gun, which focuses
damage on a single target and is
useful for striking weak points.[1]
:
 Edge's gun can be upgraded with
power-ups including three-way fire
and the "sniper" modification,
which deals additional damage to
weak points.[1] The dragon's
"berserks", the equivalent of magic
spells in other RPGs, can heal,
boost the dragon's attributes, or
inflict powerful attacks. Berserks
require berserk points and
sometimes multiple action
gauges.[1][4][5] Certain enemy
attacks change the dragon's
status: "stun" prevents it from using
:
 its lasers or berserks; "stop"
prevents it from changing position;
"poison" slowly drains its health
points; "pain" slowly drains its
defense attribute; "slow" increases
the gauge charge time; and "bind"
prevents all but the first gauge from
charging.[10]

Players can morph the dragon to

change its attack, defense, agility
and spiritual attributes. Boosting
one attribute diminishes another;
for example, boosting the attack
:
 attribute reduces the spiritual
attribute, which increases the cost
of berserks,[3] and boosting agility
fills gauges faster but lowers
defense.[3] Certain berserks are
only available in certain dragon
configurations,[1][4] and the dragon
learns some types of berserks more
quickly in different forms.[10] After
battle, the player earns a ranking
based on their performance. Better
rankings reward the player with
more experience points and
items.[10]
:
 Plot
Edge, a mercenary hired by the
Empire, guards an excavation site
filled with artifacts from the Ancient
Age, a vanished civilization.
Fending off an ancient monster, he
discovers a girl buried in a wall. The
site is attacked by the mutinous
Black Fleet, who seize the girl, kill
Edge's companions and shoot
Edge. Edge survives, escapes with
the help of a mysterious flying
dragon, and swears revenge on the
:
 Black Fleet leader, Craymen.

Edge rescues Gash, a member of

the Seekers, a scavenger group.
Gash directs him to a nomadic
caravan, where he learns the
location of the Black Fleet. Edge
defeats the fleet on his dragon, but
learns that Craymen has already
reached the Tower, an ancient
structure of tremendous power. He
fends off an attack by the girl from
the excavation site, who has sworn
allegiance to Craymen and rides an
:
 enormous dragon called Atolm.

In the town of Zoah, Edge meets

Paet, an engineer who offers
information about the Tower in
exchange for artifacts. Searching
an ancient vessel for parts, Edge is
captured and tortured by imperial
soldiers but rescued by Gash. Paet
reveals that the Tower can be
reached via the ruins of Uru; there,
Edge and the dragon are attacked
again by the girl and Atolm. After
the battle, Edge and the girl are
:
 separated from their dragons and
fall into an ancient underground
facility. They form a truce to escape.
The girl explains that she is an
ancient bio-engineered lifeform
named Azel, created in the facility
and designed to interface with
ancient technology. After Edge's
dragon rescues them, Azel warns
Edge that she will kill him if he
crosses Craymen's path again. She
leaves on Atolm.

Craymen surprises Edge in Zoah

:
 and requests his help fighting the
Empire. Paet tells Edge he can find
the Tower by deactivating Mel-
Kava, an ancient machine that
obscures the Tower's location with
fog. For destroying an imperial
base, the Zoah leader gives Edge
access to an ancient artifact that
grants a vision of Mel-Kava's
location. Edge and the dragon
destroy Mel-Kava, clearing the fog,
but are attacked again by Azel and
Atolm. They shoot down Atolm and
rescue Azel as she falls.
:
 The Emperor's flagship, Grig Orig,
destroys Zoah, but the Black Fleet
intervenes before Edge and the
dragon are killed. At the Tower,
Craymen tells Edge that the Tower
is one of several that manufacture
monsters to combat humanity's
destructive forces. He needs Azel
to activate the Tower and destroy
the Empire before they can use it
for themselves. Imperials arrive and
capture Edge and Craymen. After
the Emperor forces Azel to activate
the Tower, monsters emerge and
:
 kill Craymen, the Emperor and their
men. Edge and Azel escape on
Edge's dragon. At the Seeker
stronghold, Gash explains that the
Tower will destroy humanity if it is
not deactivated. He believes
Edge's dragon is the prophesied
Divine Visitor who will be
humanity's salvation. Edge and the
dragon battle rampaging monsters
and destroy the infested Grig Orig.

Edge rescues Azel from monsters

in the Uru facility, where she has
:
 returned to contemplate her
purpose. They infiltrate the Tower,
and Azel prepares to transfer Edge
and the dragon into Sestren, the AI
network that controls the towers.
She confesses her love for Edge
and he promises to return. Inside
Sestren, Edge and the dragon
defeat the network's "anti-dragon"
programs. The dragon reveals that
it is not the Divine Visitor but the
Heresy Program, a rogue Sestren
AI; the real Divine Visitor is "the one
from the outside world" who has
:
 guided Edge, and must now
destroy Sestren to free humanity
from the Ancient Age. Edge and the
dragon vanish. Gash awaits Edge in
a desert. Azel, searching for Edge,
asks directions across treacherous
land.

Development

Panzer Dragoon Saga was one of the last games Sega released for the Saturn.
:
 In March 1995, following
completion of the original Panzer
Dragoon, the producer, Yoji Ishiji,
suggested making an RPG to
explore the Panzer Dragoon world,
as this had been praised in
reviews.[7] Sega's president
instructed the team to create an
RPG to outsell Final Fantasy and
help the Saturn compete with
PlayStation.[11] Sega's Team
Andromeda studio split into two
teams: one worked on Saga while
the other developed a shooter
:
 sequel, Panzer Dragoon II Zwei.[12]
Saga had a staff of about 40, twice
that for Zwei. Both teams used the
Zwei engine and the 3D modeling
software Softimage.[4]

The director, Yukio Futatsugi, said

that Saga was the most difficult
Panzer Dragoon game to develop,
as many of its features, such as
fully 3D environments, were
unusual for RPGs at the time.[4] He
said that every element was made
"from whole cloth".[7] The engine
:
 had to support free exploration,
battle sequences and real-time
morphing and shading, pushing the
Saturn to its limits.[4] Futatsugi said
it would have been impossible to
develop on the PlayStation, as he
felt Saturn's "cloudier" palette
gives the Panzer Dragoon series its
atmosphere.[5] The team used no
graphics libraries and programmed
everything from scratch.[11]

Battle design
:
 Akihiko Mukaiyama, who had
worked on RPG series including
Sakura Wars, was brought in to
design the battle system, replacing
the Zwei producer Tomohiro
Kondo.[11] Mukaiyama expected his
job to be simple, but found
problems with Kondo's prototype:
there was no strategic element, as
the player had no reason to change
positions.[11] Some staff felt they
should create a traditional RPG
battle system in which players
select commands from a menu,
:
 while others wanted to focus on
shooting, similar to earlier Panzer
Dragoon games.[11] Mukaiyama's
compromise was to allow players to
use a menu or trigger commands
immediately with button
shortcuts.[11]

The battle system went through

several iterations as the team
struggled to combine the shooter
and RPG genres.[11] The
positioning system developed from
an initial concept of fighting
:
 enemies for space;[4] this system
was initially free-roaming, but too
slow.[11] Mukaiyama simplified it by
having the player move between
quadrants around the enemy,
which better simulated flying and
allowed the artists to create
dramatic camera movements.[11]
The gauge system added further
strategy, giving more options to the
player.[11]

The dragon's morphing ability was

added to compensate for the lack
:
 of a large cast of playable
characters with different skills
common in other JRPGs.[4] The
team estimated that having the
dragon morph in real time would be
too difficult to implement, but a
programmer surprised them with a
working prototype.[12]

Reworking the series' shooting

gameplay into an RPG took about a
year.[13] Once the team had settled
on the core action of locking on to
targets, such as enemies and
:
 NPCs, the rest of the design
followed.[13] After the battle system
was finalized, development
proceeded smoothly and some
staff were moved to help complete
Zwei.[4]

Story

Rather than create a "save-the-

world" story with a large cast,
Futatsugi concentrated on a small
number of characters who the
player would be "really close to",
:
 which he felt would make the story
meaningful.[5] Although Edge is not
a silent protagonist, Futatsugi
minimized his dialogue outside
cutscenes to focus on Azel's story,
who he felt was the most important
character.[5] Early versions had
Edge as an imperial soldier who
defects, and Craymen had an
extensive backstory explaining his
motivations for betraying the
Empire; both were cut for time.[12]

Saga features full voice acting. By

:
 contrast, the Final Fantasy series
did not feature voice acting until
Final Fantasy X, released three
years later.[7] Sega estimated that
the script amounted to more than
1,500 pages of Japanese
text.[14][15] Like the other Panzer
Dragoon games, Saga features a
fictional language, "Panzerese",
which combines elements of
Ancient Greek, Latin and Russian.
Saga only features Panzerese in the
introduction and end sequences,
with the rest of the dialogue in
:
 Japanese.[9] The Japanese voice
acting was subtitled rather than
dubbed in English.[2]

The localizers were given

incomplete translations and little
supervision, and so inserted their
own story interpretations,
embellishing details and creating
names for monsters.[7] One of the
localizers, Chris Lucich, read
several dark fantasy novels for
inspiration, hoping to create a "dark
post-apocalyptic feel”.[7] The
:
 biggest change was in the
depiction of the relationship
between Edge and Azel.[7]
According to Futatsugi, the
romance is obvious in the
Japanese version from a Japanese
perspective, but would have been
lost on a Western audience, as
emotions are expressed more
directly in English.[11] Lucich said
later that Saga featured one of the
first meaningful love stories in a
video game.[7]
:
 The team wanted to keep some
elements open to interpretation[11]
and hoped to "leave space for
players' imaginations" by not
revealing everything about the
world.[12] In Kusunoki's
interpretation, Edge dies at the
beginning of the story when he is
shot, and is brought back to life
temporarily by the player; when the
game ends, Edge dies again.[11]

Art
:
 The art director, Manabu Kusunoki,
had been the main character and
art designer for the previous Panzer
Dragoon games. For Saga, he
brought in several new artists:
Katsumi Yokota created the
character and cover art, and
Satoshi Sakai and Ryuta Ueda
designed the dragons.[11] They
resisted creating "spiky-haired"
characters similar to those of Final
Fantasy VII or Resident Evil, which
were popular at the time, and
competed to create unique
:
 designs.[11] The team credited the
animes Nausicaä and Neon
Genesis Evangelion, the Star Wars
films and the comic artist Jean
Giraud as influences.[11] The
dragon's unconventional design
came partly from the need to
morph smoothly between different
models.[11]

Azel underwent the most revisions.

The team did not want her to be a
typical energetic anime-style
heroine, and instead tried to make
:
 her simultaneously appealing and
frightening, emphasizing her
human and non-human traits.[12]
Yokota said: "She couldn't just be
cute; there had to be something
edgy about her. I struggled with
questions like, what does it mean to
be cute? What does it mean to be
human?"[11] He spent months
refining Kusunoki's design, creating
dozens of concepts.[11] One early
design had a hole in her torso.[12]
Azel's oversized jacket, belonging
to her master Craymen, was
:
 inspired by British mod fashion,
which Yokota had seen in the 1979
film Quadrophenia. The team felt
the jacket conveyed her identity
and allegiance to Craymen and
symbolized his protection.[11]

Soundtrack

The Panzer Dragoon Saga

soundtrack was composed by
Saori Kobayashi and Mariko Nanba
and arranged by Hayato Matsuo. It
includes South American, African,
:
 Celtic, classical and new age
influences.[16] The Verge
described it as blend of traditional
European and Middle Eastern folk
styles with science fiction-like
synthesizer sounds.[17]

Rather than using prerecorded

music, the soundtrack is mostly
generated via pulse-code
modulation by the Saturn's
hardware, as with Zwei.[4] Although
the hardware imposed limitations
on the compositions, such as
:
 reducing the number of possible
loops, Kobayashi felt this helped
convey the story's desolate
world.[7] The orchestrated ending
theme, "Sona Mi Areru Ec Sancitu",
features lyrics in Panzerese.[16]
Futatsugi gave Kobayashi tribal
music as inspiration for the theme,
and instructed her not to give it a
sense of closure, "leaving things
open-ended and with the player
wondering what happened".[11]

A soundtrack album was released

:
 by Marvelous Entertainment in
February 1998.[16] In January
2018, an anniversary edition,
Resurrection: Panzer Dragoon
Saga, was released by Brave Wave
Productions on CD, vinyl and
download formats.[18] It features
rearranged and rerecorded
versions of the original soundtrack.
As the original sequencer data no
longer exists, Kobayashi recreated
the music.[17]
:
 Team

Director Yukio Futatsugi

In comparison to the small,

cohesive teams that had created
Panzer Dragoon and Zwei, the
Saga team was large, and many
staff did not know each other.
:
 Yokota described the team as
"avant-garde and anti-
establishment".[11] Kusunoki
recalled "endless disputes",
particularly between experienced
Panzer Dragoon developers and
those new to the series, who
wanted to explore new ideas. The
project was delayed several times,
creating the impression that it was
struggling, and went through
several directors.[11]

Mukaiyama found that whereas

:
 game development is usually
driven by designers, the Saga
programmers and artists had their
own opinions. The programmers
wanted to build on the technically
sophisticated shooting of Zwei,
whereas the artists wanted to
explore the potential of 3D to
showcase their characters. He said:
"Their visions for the game would
collide ... It was a constant battle ... I
didn't think there could possibly be
a solution to satisfy both parties. It
took about a year, and a lot of
:
 mistakes, to find a solution."[11]

The development strained the staff.

The Ringer characterized Saga as
"a game about a world in ruins,
produced by a disintegrating
development team haunted by
heartbreak at a company in
decline".[7] Sega lacked experience
managing large teams; it was the
largest team Futatsugi had
managed,[11] and he recalled
pressure to "domineer" over the
staff.[7] Sega's expectations for
:
 Saga were high and the team faced
intense pressure.[19] At the height
of production, staff slept in the
office or caught early-morning
trains home to nap, and relieved
stress by playing fighting games on
a Neo Geo arcade cabinet.[7]

Two staff members died during

development: one from a
motorcycle accident, which
Futatsugi attributed to stress, and
another from suicide. Futatsugi
said it was the most difficult project
:
 he had ever worked on, and that "all
we could do was carry on and
finish the game – it was out of my
hands".[19] He was close to the
staff member who died from
suicide, and was affected by the
loss for a long time.[7] Mukaiyama
became depressed; he said the
project was "the hardest thing I
ever experienced in my entire
life".[11] Nonetheless, Futatsugi felt
it had benefited from having
"someone who plays the bad guy
role, someone who acts a little
:
 selfish, acts a little forceful to the
team to achieve specific goals ...
Having team members that will
support that kind of bad cop is
necessary, and if they don't exist
then you can't get those kind of
results."[5]

Release
Panzer Dragoon Saga was
released in Japan in January 1998
as Azel: Panzer Dragoon RPG.[20]
North American and European
:
 releases followed in April,[10]
making Saga one of the last Saturn
games published by Sega outside
Japan.[9] It spans four CDs.[9] In
the UK, the first disc was released
as a demo with Sega Saturn
Magazine; in 2010, GamesRadar+
named it one of the greatest demos
of all time.[21]

Sega planned Saga to compete

with the PlayStation RPG Final
Fantasy VII, believing that having
the best RPG would win the
:
 console war, and aimed to sell 1.5
million copies.[22] It was planned for
release in the same year as Final
Fantasy, but was delayed to 1998
to avoid competing with Grandia,
another Saturn RPG.[22] Final
Fantasy VII sold almost 10 million
copies, but sales of Saga
worldwide were poor.[7][23]

In the west, where the Saturn had

been a failure, Sega had shifted
focus to its next console, the
Dreamcast, and retailers were
:
 reluctant to stock Saturn games.[7]
One of the Saga localizers, Chris
Lucich, said it was a "strange
transitional period" for Sega of
America, which had shrunk from
more than 2,000 employees to
200.[7] Sega initially produced only
20,000 North American copies of
Saga. After these sold out in two
days, a few thousand more were
produced. In Europe, only around
1,000 copies were made.[7]

As Saga received almost no

:
 marketing in the west beyond
limited print advertisements, the
localizers sent screenshots to
bloggers, hoping to generate word-
of-mouth interest.[7] Sega allotted
around only ten copies to the press
and focused on hardcore game
media, feeling other outlets would
not be interested.[11] As no
mainstream outlets had Saturn
consoles, Sega had to provide
them and then retrieve them to give
to other outlets.[11] IGN's Levi
Buchanan characterized the
:
 release as an example of the
Saturn's "ignominious send-off" in
the west, writing: "Sunset Saturn
games like Panzer Dragoon Saga
and Burning Rangers demanded
far better launches. The way these
games were slipped into retail with
zero fanfare and low circulation was
insulting to both hardworking
developers and Sega fans."[24]

At the request of the producer Yu

Suzuki, who was developing the
Dreamcast RPG Shenmue (1999),
:
 Sega held a meeting with the
developers to discuss why Panzer
Dragoon Saga had failed.
Mukaiyama said Sega was
"confused" by the failure.[22]
Yokota felt it would have sold
poorly in any situation, as the team
were not interested in creating a
mainstream product.[11] The
localizer Matt Underwood
speculated that Saga's post-
apocalyptic setting, the "polar
opposite" of Final Fantasy, had
been off-putting to players.[7]
:
 Reception
Reception
Aggregate score

Aggregator Score

GameRankings 92% (7 reviews)[25]

Review scores

Publication Score

Computer and Video [10]

Games      

Edge 9/10[2]

Electronic Gaming 9.5, 9.5, 9.5,

Monthly 10/10[26]
:
 Game Informer 9/10[27]

GameRevolution A[25]

GameSpot 9.2/10[3]

Next Generation [28]

     
RPGFan 94%[25]

Sega Saturn
96%[1]
Magazine

According to the review aggregator

GameRankings, Panzer Dragoon
Saga is the most acclaimed Saturn
game, with an aggregate score of
92%.[25] In 2007, Game Informer
wrote that "critically, the game was
:
 a smash hit, lauded as one of the
year's best, and generally
considered the Saturn's finest
title".[29]

The battle system received

particular praise. Electronic
Gaming Monthly wrote that
whereas other RPGs had players
selecting menu options, Saga's
positioning system forced them to
strategize, producing "much more
exciting" battles.[26] GameSpot
described the system as a
:
 "revelation" with more strategy and
challenge than traditional turn-
based systems, and menus that
"become more and more intuitive
with every counter". Edge praised
the range and design of enemies as
"consistently superb",[2] and Sega
Saturn Magazine praised the depth
and quantity of boss encounters.[1]

The graphics were also acclaimed.

Though GameSpot noted
occasional slowdown and "rough"
textures, he felt the use of
:
 techniques such as gouraud
shading, transparency and light
sourcing created a "graphic level of
excellence on a par with anything
available on a home console". He
praised the "fluid easy grace" of
the art direction, and the
environment design, whose "every
exotic location retains a place in
your memory".[3] Computer and
Video Games and Sega Saturn
Magazine agreed that Team
Andromeda had created visual
effects that matched other home
:
 consoles.[1][10] Next Generation
described "some of the most
beautiful locations ever seen in an
RPG ... it's almost unbelievable that
they could come from Saturn."[30]
Edge praised the extensive FMV
cutscenes, whose "cinematic
quality ... shames the work of
almost every other developer" and
creates an "RPG of true creative
integrity".[2]

GameSpot likened the sound and

music to the quality of Hollywood
:
 productions.[3] Though Edge
identified the subtitles as a cost-
saving measure, it wrote that this
was "infinitely preferable to the
alternative of B-list actors reciting
words they have little feeling for"
and that it kept the story "lucid"
and "articulate".[2]

Several critics considered Saga a

worthy rival to Final Fantasy VII and
lamented that it would reach a
smaller audience. Computer and
Video Games wrote that if it were
:
 released on PlayStation it would
"fly off the shelves".[10] Edge wrote:
"It's a tragedy that the Saturn's
standing will ensure Team
Andromeda's adventure, with a
radically different approach to
FFVII, will enjoy a fraction of its
rival's success."[2] Mielke
concluded: "Saga, in its own way, is
so much more than Square's
ultimate RPG. It is a worthy
successor to a series that with
each installment has grown in
stature and scope. It is flawlessly
:
 executed, limited only by the
hardware (and barely that at all)
and medium."[3]

Criticism focused on the short

length.[1][3][26][30] Sega Saturn
Magazine felt Saga was too easy,
especially the puzzles, but that
achieving "Excellent" ranks in
combat provided a good
challenge.[1] Computer and Video
Games noted that, like other
Panzer Dragoon games, Saga
rewarded players for full
:
 completion, with "astounding"
bonuses.[10]

Many publications praised Panzer

Dragoon Saga as one of the best
RPGs of the year and one of the
best on Saturn. GameSpot
concluded that it was possibly the
year's best RPG,[3] and Game
Informer called it "easily" the best
Saturn RPG.[27] The Electronic
Gaming Monthly reviewers
unanimously commended it as one
of the best RPGs of all time and
:
 awarded it the "Editor's Choice
Gold Award".[26] Sega Saturn
Magazine described it as "a
monumental effort, a work of art,
and quite clearly a labour of love",
and the best Saturn adventure.[1]

Retrospective

Retrospective reviews have been

positive. In 2007, Game Informer
called Panzer Dragoon Saga one of
the greatest games ever made, and
praised the use of dramatic camera
:
 angles and animations to make the
battles "very cinematic even by
modern standards".[29] In a 2007
article, 1UP rated it 9/10, describing
it as "the greatest RPG you've
never played" and one of the "most
unique" RPGs, and praised the leap
from shooter to RPG.[5] Retro
Gamer praised the fusion of action
and RPG elements.[31]

In 1001 Video Games You Must

Play Before You Die (2013), Jason
Brookes wrote that only the
:
 cutscenes had aged poorly and
that "many aspects of the game
impress above and beyond even
many of the RPGs produced
nowadays".[6] He, 1UP and Retro
Gamer all praised the story's
restraint and lack of cliché.[5][31][6]
In a 2018 article for The Ringer,
Ben Lindburgh praised the
complexity of the characters,
saying none were "truly heroic".[7]
He wrote that the implementation
of Edge's dragon as an "intimate
computer companion" drew
:
 parallels to the later games of
Fumito Ueda (Ico, Shadow of the
Colossus and The Last
Guardian).[7] John Szczepaniak,
the author of The Untold History of
Japanese Game Developers, wrote
that no game story had impressed
him more and that the primitive
graphics assisted the sense of an
ancient, alien world.[7]

A 2008 Gamasutra article was

more critical, finding that while the
visual design was "still lovely", the
:
 graphics showed the Saturn's 3D
limitations, with low-resolution
textures, "boxy" character models,
frequent slowdown and
compressed video. He wrote that
the FMV cutscenes, while well
directed, were inferior to those of
Square RPGs and illustrated the
Saturn's shortcomings compared
to PlayStation. He also agreed with
complaints that the game was too
short and lacked difficulty.
Nonetheless, Kalata concluded that
Saga was "still thoroughly
:
 entrancing" and that its battle
system made it "completely worth
it".[9]

Panzer Dragoon Saga was named

one of the best games of all time by
Computer and Video Games in
2000, Electronic Gaming Monthly
in 2001 and 2006, IGN readers in
2005,[32] IGN in 2007[33] and G4
in 2012.[34]1UP placed it #1 in its
2005 list of cult classic games,[35]
and Game Informer ranked it #1 in
its 2006 list of the "top 10 rare
:
 RPGs you need".[36] In 2008, IGN
named it the greatest Saturn game,
and wrote: "Panzer Dragoon
Saga was the swan song to end all
swan songs ... This dark, solemn
game [is] wholly unique. It is the
gem of the generation."[37] The
following year, in its list of the
"Greatest Gameplay of All Time",
IGN named Saga the "best game
no one played".[20] In 2017, Jeff
Grubb of VentureBeat said Saga
was arguably the best Sega game
and expressed hope for a
:
 rerelease.[38]

Legacy
Sega disbanded Team Andromeda
after Saga 's completion and
reassigned some staff to Smilebit,
which developed the final Panzer
Dragoon game, Orta (2002), for
Xbox.[39] Meanwhile, Ueda worked
on Jet Set Radio (2000), Sakai
worked on Phantasy Star Online
(2000) and Yokota worked on Rez
(2001), all for Dreamcast.[11]
:
 Futatsugi left Sega and joined
Konami.[19]

English-language copies of Panzer

Dragoon Saga sold for hundreds of
US dollars as of 2018, with factory-
sealed copies selling for over
$1,000. According to The Ringer,
"Its scarcity has conferred a cult-
classic status that's become part
of its appeal ... To play it is to enter
an exclusive, clued-in club."[7]
Japanese copies are far cheaper,
but have no English translation and
:
 cannot be played on Western
Saturn consoles.[9]

Panzer Dragoon Saga has not

been rereleased.[5] In 2009, the
game-downloading service
GameTap said it had non-exclusive
rights to distribute it, but as Saturn
emulation is difficult, there was not
enough demand to make it a
priority.[40] According to Futatsugi,
Sega has lost the source code,
making porting it difficult.[5] Given
the opportunity to remake Saga,
:
 Futatsugi said he would make it
less linear, with an open world,
branching player choices and
online communication.[7] In another
interview, he said he would
consider telling the story from
Azel's perspective.[11]

Notes
a. Azeru –Pantsā Doragūn Arupījī–
(Japanese: アゼル –パンツァード
ラグーン RPG–)

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