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Panzer Dragoon Gameplay || Nintendo Switch Trailer

Hudo

Member
I hope that there will be a physical version... (I know the chances are slim but I still can hope, right?)
 

Kazza

Member
I hope that there will be a physical version... (I know the chances are slim but I still can hope, right?)

I think that this is the kind of thing that Limited Games is likely to pick up (especially a 1&2 double pack), so I think there's a good chance.
 

cireza

Banned
I am a huge Panzer Dragoon fan, and I am personally not satisfied with what has been shown. If you remove the original tune, then the game fails at reproducing the first level. It does not feel like it from the first second you look at it.

To me, the developers have not understood the key elements that creates the identity of the first stage.

First key element : the color
What you see on Saturn is blue. A light blue sky, reflected in an infinite clear sea.
In this remake, nothing is blue. It is all yellowish.

Second key element : the reflection
Saturn has a huge focus on reflection. The water is clear and everything reflects heavily. Even if this was driven by hardware constraints, it is still a strong identifier of the level.
In the remake, the sea appears way to dark and the reflection is not satisfactory.

Third key element : the amount of background
Saturn you feel like you are flying over a sea. What do I see in the horizon ? The sea.
In the remake, everything is bloated with rocks and stuff. What do I see in the horizon ? Stuff, I can't see far away.

A strength of the Saturn is its ability to make infinite playfields, where you can look at the horizon. It is a key element defining the console and Panzer Dragoon. It needs to be there from the very first stage.

Other elements :
To my personal tastes, I believe that the sea should be much more still. It moves quite a lot in the remake.
Geometry : I feel like they took a lot of liberty around the architecture of elements. Not a big fan of the new stuff.

Gameplay-design :
The remake does not expand the playfield to the widescreen presentation. Everything appears staked in the middle of the screen, the player does not have to move the cursor much. They need to make everything more ample. Enemies should be more scattered.
 
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-Minsc-

Member
My basic reaction when watching the direct.

"Panzer Dragoon? Wasn't that game really popular in some circles? Wasn't expecting to see this here at all."
 

Kazza

Member
I only noticed the first part of this Digital Foundry episode, so it was a nice surprised when Panzer Dragoon made an appearance towards the end:




Hopefully, the remakes will nudge John to produce the second part to his excellent Panzer Dragoon DF Retro episode:

 

Kazza

Member
A nice response to fan feedback from one of the producers:



Full twitter thread below:

We got a lot of feedback on the trailer and the gameplay video, that's awesome. I can't reply to everyone but just few insights. Small thread

Please keep in mind that, while hardcore fans are extremely important for us, our goal is also to increase the audience of the game, if we want to see more Panzer games. We have to re-imagine a game which is 25 years old and had some limitations back then.

We will have to make choices, about gameplay and art direction. And there are many people involved with their own opinion at Forever, MegaPixel Studio, TA Publishing and of course Sega

Something else is extremely important: trying to get some distance with our nostalgia, because something we loved back then may be not possible anymore.

We had some feedback saying that we should remove backgrounds elements because in the original game it was only a big sea with almost nothing, but it can't be our direction, as players request nice and detailed backgrounds today.

Lastly, I want to ensure you all that we are doing our best, and we may be able to communicate some great news in the upcoming weeks for you, old fans

Anyway, thank you for you support guys, past three days have been crazy, and full of emotions, the Panzer Dragoon community is the greatest and we are starting an awesome journey together!

He also pretty much confirms that this game will be multi-platform:

 

Kazza

Member
We had some feedback saying that we should remove backgrounds elements because in the original game it was only a big sea with almost nothing, but it can't be our direction, as players request nice and detailed backgrounds today.

Although I thought the stage looked a little over-cluttered the first time I saw it, I think his point is probably true. iirc, stage 2 was a desert stage, so it'll be interesting to see what they do with that.
 

Kazza

Member
While he's paying attention, could someone with a twitter account please ask him nicely to include emulated versions of 1 and 2? It would be cool if they had a Pandora's Box unlockables feature like Orta had.
 
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Gandara

Member
Looks like they are trying to strike a balance to appease the fans who love the series and hopefully attract new ones in the process.

I'm really excited to see what they do with Panzer Dragoon Zwei as that was my first game I got when I bought the Saturn.
 

cireza

Banned
Looks like the producer is a French guy.

We had some feedback saying that we should remove backgrounds elements because in the original game it was only a big sea with almost nothing, but it can't be our direction, as players request nice and detailed backgrounds today.
This is a major issue for me. Panzer Dragoon is supposed to have huge empty lands, that's just how it is. A lot of games are released nowadays with vast lands and that's not a problem at all. Why do they feel the need to put so much stuff ? It does not look like a sea anymore.

The guy who posted the blue rework of the stage is awesome, glad someone made this. It looks so much better.

They should allow to select the time of the day. In Saga, some places would be traveled at different time of the day. This would be a good and fun solution, it would add replayability.
 
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Something else is extremely important: trying to get some distance with our nostalgia, because something we loved back then may be not possible anymore.

We had some feedback saying that we should remove backgrounds elements because in the original game it was only a big sea with almost nothing, but it can't be our direction, as players request nice and detailed backgrounds today.
The art direction should try to strike a balance between the sparseness of the original Panzer Dragoon and the needs of modern game players. From the video available, the stage has gone from a sunken city in a wide-open sea to ruins situated in a ravine or between two bodies of land. The end result comes across as more graphics simply for the sake of more graphics.

Based on the initial videos and the producer's above comments, I won't be surprised, if these remakes just aren't to my taste.
 

Naked Lunch

Member
Panzer Dragoon is one of gaming's greatest hidden, underrated treasures.
Im a huge fan. I own the entire series including a US copy of Saga.
Straight away seeing a noname developer handling the remake is a major red flag. The trailer just seemed off - and the art style is lacking. Orta actually looks better to me. Im willing to give it a shot - but just handing the game out to some random whatever dev doesnt sit well with me for a series this legendary.
 

Daniel Thomas MacInnes

GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
E6X0bRtl.jpg


"Last night's Panzer Dragoon trailer was the worst episode ever. As a loyal viewer, I feel they owe me."
 

Daniel Thomas MacInnes

GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
ONLY after Sega makes with the Shining Force III remaster and bothers to bring over the second and third chapters with it.


Thankfully, there is now a fan translation for the entire Shining Force 3 trilogy, It's really fantastic and I don't understand why Sega couldn't just pack the title with a Saturn emulator and sell it on digital platforms. If they did so, I'd buy a copy in a heartbeat.
 
Because you only criticize the exclusivity because it's not convenient for you, when in reality it's made it more compelling for you to purchase one.

I wasn't saying that exclusivity is a negative aspect, not at all. It's troublesome to buy a Switch in the potential event that these releases remain exclusive on it, for reasons i haven't planned to share, because they're trivial, i think they aren't needed to further elaborate on the simple fact that it's troublesome.

The reality of the situation is that neither of us should care about one another's convenience, because we're strangers. And you don't define what's compelling for me to purchase. What makes you think that it's made it more compelling for me to purchase one?
 

spookyfish

Member
The opening “movie” for this game on Saturn legit made me verklempt. It was sooooooo good (for the time). One of my favorite Saturn memories, and I have tons.
 
Still excited for this even if they have to spruce up the graphics.

I don't think they wish to intend to copy it like for like as at the end of the day, they want the series to succeed so it's a tough ask to appease both old and new fans.

If they can even stretch the game so that there are more levels that can be fit into the original vision, then that would be fantastic!

Hopefully SEGA give the team the original creators to ask them a bunch of questions to keep the vision of the games and series.
 
Thankfully, there is now a fan translation for the entire Shining Force 3 trilogy, It's really fantastic and I don't understand why Sega couldn't just pack the title with a Saturn emulator and sell it on digital platforms. If they did so, I'd buy a copy in a heartbeat.

Oh holy hell, I wasn't aware of such a thing! I'll look for it post-haste.

Hopefully they have a Panzer Dragoon Saga rip as well--these are two of the top five RPGs (4.3 really...repeating of course) from that era (KOTOR I and II, Morrowind) IMO and while I can play the other three whenever I want (thanks PC and Microsoft Backwards Compatibility!), the other two have been missing.
 
As an actual former sega saturn owner it always bemused me how overrated this series was.

42.

It took 42 friggin replies to reach this point. I mean it's good people like the game and all but fucks sake man, this game wasn't ever THAT good. It's a typical on rails shooter with some cool aesthetics. It's a game that can be beaten in like 3 hours. And dont think the comedic value of yet another port being announced for the Switch (a multi decade old one at that) isn't lost on me.
 

Skyfox

Member
Day one. This was a special experience for me as I was lucky enough to have close access to this game when I was younger.

The poster here who compared it to Star Fox is on to something. I remember playing Star Fox over and over as I did this game. Star fox had beautiful music from a similarly magical composer (who sadly never worked in the industry ever again). I was blessed with the joy of playing this fresh from launch. The intro had such life. 🎺

The Saturn’s hardware design was as beautiful and fanciful as this game.

The makers in these instances were the visionaries of an entire entertainment generation.

Can not wait!
 
Folks--go grab Orta and play it on an XBO:X if you haven't already. The game is gorgeous and, save for fuzzy rendered cut scenes, is better than the day it releases on the original XBox.
 

Komatsu

Member
Playing Orta on glorious 4K was 20% of the reason why I got a XB1X. It is still an absolutely stunning game.
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
42.

It took 42 friggin replies to reach this point. I mean it's good people like the game and all but fucks sake man, this game wasn't ever THAT good. It's a typical on rails shooter with some cool aesthetics. It's a game that can be beaten in like 3 hours. And dont think the comedic value of yet another port being announced for the Switch (a multi decade old one at that) isn't lost on me.
I mean, rail shooters can be cool regardless of length and aesthetics (they're basically 3d shmups, how long do those take to complete, or even side scrollers like Metal Slug, do all of these suck, what a narrow minded view).

Panzer Dragoon was never typical considering the 360 degree aspect of it made it pretty unique.

The game's clearly not a port, could you be more ignorant of what you're trying to discuss?

I guess the only comedic value left here is posts like yours. Oh no, people like what I don't, whether that's a console or a game or whatever I gotta act superior over that fact. Meh.
 
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Kazza

Member
42.

It took 42 friggin replies to reach this point. I mean it's good people like the game and all but fucks sake man, this game wasn't ever THAT good. It's a typical on rails shooter with some cool aesthetics. It's a game that can be beaten in like 3 hours. And dont think the comedic value of yet another port being announced for the Switch (a multi decade old one at that) isn't lost on me.

I ended up buying FIFA rather than the original Panzer Dragoon back in the day due to the its shortness, but now my priorities have changed (less time and more money), so shortness in a game is something of an asset as for as I'm concerned. That said, Orta is a short game too, assuming that you can play through the whole thing without dying, but I actually found it pretty tough to begin with, so I think I spent around 15 hours with it before I managed to complete it. Orta has a surprising amount of depth for a rail shooter, and having be aware of enemies coming from 4 different angles while trying to decide which of 3 dragoon forms is most appropriate at any given moment is pretty overwhelming at first.

They mentioned updating the gameplay. I wonder how complex/difficult the final version will be? All the same, the music, art style, atmosphere and gameplay of the Panzer games are so amazing that a short length will just encourage repeat plays.
 

phil_t98

#SonyToo
Although still not 100% confirmed, the developer said on twitter that it wasn't going to be a Switch exclusive (see a few post earlier in this thread), so I think Xbox/PS4/PC is pretty much a given.

Thats cool, i have a switch but would much rather play it on xbox to be honest
 
Thats cool, i have a switch but would much rather play it on xbox to be honest

Ditto. My OCD doesn't like a series of games spread across multiple consoles (if I can help it). I'd much rather have all the Panzer Dragoon games on my XBO:X than one on Switch, another on the XBO:X, another somewhere else...
 

cireza

Banned
This post sucks ass.

You never heard of an arcade cabinet?
Irony, how does it work ? Did you even read the post I am responding too ? Or the entire thread ?

Scroll up a little, you will see other posts from me...
 
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Pejo

Member
I'm actually loving the developer feedback. The fact that they're putting color filters in is a real sign of good faith. They're in a tough position trying to please everyone, but it sounds like they are up to the task. I'm just happy as hell that we're even getting Panzer Dragoon again.
 
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