leaon79s
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Post by leaon79s on Jul 21, 2018 0:27:46 GMT
Another tip: Panzer Dragoon Orta, which is cheap and fully compatible with the Xbox 360 and One/X, includes the first Panzer Dragoon in its entirety (it's unlocked after you beat the game), so that's another way to get it without paying outrageous prices. I own and played it (albeit over a decade ago now). I could be mistaken, but I believe that version is abridged, and lacks the CG cutscenes... Still better off with the Sat original I say. If you think about the whole thing, it is is much easier to become a Hyper Dueler on this forum than to have the actual game. That's why I have been jumping with rejoice when I see some of those games hitting the NS lately. They are finally getting another shot at life. ... If anything at least, they should keep porting them to the NS. I have been having a blast with all the Saturn and Dreamcast releases this year. Why is Sega supporting the old enemy ?? And HyperDuel is nearly 800 now ?!? I thought it was spensive when it was $300...
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Cervantes
Off-Brand Transformable Robot
A former Incompetent Evil Commander (XP: 2423)
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Post by Cervantes on Jul 21, 2018 4:02:31 GMT
leaon79s - Nope, it's the complete version, every cutscene included and intact. And it even runs at a higher resolution than the Saturn original - to be more specific, it's a port of the PC version. As far as I remember, the only differences are in a few graphical effects (I remember the rolling waves of the first level looking better on the Saturn), but besides that, same game, really. So, my comment on the game: everyone knows I love this series, and the first entry is no exception. First of all, it introduced one thing that most on-rails shooters after it didn't really explore (besides its own sequels): it's one of the few that fully embraced the freedom given by 3d graphics by having enemies attacking from every single direction and letting you fully turn the camera 360 degrees around. So, while a game like Star Fox could, theoretically, be made in 2d, Panzer Dragoon was thought as a 3d game from the ground up (one of the reasons why the Game Gear entry is such a disappointment). The 2 different types of attack give some strategy to how you approach the enemies, especially the bosses: it's not just how fast you react and shoot (as in games like Virtua Cop); you really have to think in which situations the shots or the dragon's lasers are more effective, a thing that becomes even more clear if you start paying attention to the score system, which will give you more points for trying to aim at the highest number of enemies before releasing the lasers. It's a really nice mechanic that's also seen in Rayforce/Layer Section/Galactic Attack. So just remembering enemy positions isn't enough: you have to also think about when it's safe to be patient and hold your fire or when you have to quickly shoot everything down (besides knowing which enemies to prioritize when you get surrounded). The dragon's movement is also good, it gives a good impression that you're controlling the rider and not the dragon itself (think of the horse Agro in Shadow of the Colossus). This is an aspect that was greatly improved by the sequels, especially Orta, in which you can accelerate or break and circle the bosses, but even in the first game it already gave a very good feel of riding a flying mount. The comes the art direction. There's a mix of Moebius, Dune, Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicäa, Sega's "blue skies" art style and the general notion of building a world and its story through images. It's just beautiful; in fact, the first level ranks as one of the best looking levels I've ever seen in a game and a great early demonstration of the Saturn's capabilities: the rolling waves, the reflections, the ruins falling apart... Everything is clear and was smartly designed around the polygon limitations. Also, the people doing the animation took their job very seriously: the way the enemies move (think of the huge sandworms) and the dragon flaps his wings or reacts to enemy fire have a lot of detail. Of course, most of these things are taking into account the time period and the fact that this was among the first wave of 3d console games, so there are some obvious limitations and problems (very low resolution, a framerate that struggles to keep constancy, a few rigid animations and movements, some excessively hard sections etc.). There's one area that didn't get old at all: the music. The orchestral scores are epic and the electronic music is also fitting and gives a good variety; most importantly, the music was designed around the levels (or the other way), so it hits the high notes at more intense sections and gets calmer when there are no enemies around. Impressive stuff on the composer and level designers side. Also, the sound effects do a really great job: the dragon's scream when it gets hit and the lasers are especially iconic and very easy to remember. Even though the sequels improved on it in almost every way (besides, maybe, the music, which is the more subjective part of it), the first game gets an easy 5 to me. Hell, even the story is awesome, and this is a genre that doesn't really need to have so much world building - there's so many details that it later getting a RPG sequel was almost a given. Visuals (both on the technical and artistic side), sounds, gameplay and story: it excels in all these categories, especially considering its genre and time of release. Man, I love this series. Later we may discuss the sequels, especially the odd, extremely expensive one (Saga).
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stratogustav
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Post by stratogustav on Jul 21, 2018 6:00:46 GMT
Cervantes is it better than Dragon Drive and Sin & Punishment? Those are major words.
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Armored Core Raven
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Radio: The test is over. From this moment on, you are a Raven!
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Post by Armored Core Raven on Jul 21, 2018 6:26:15 GMT
I've never played Dragon Drive on GameCube as it was a japanese release only, it doesn't look like it would withstand being compared to Panzer Dragoon though, and the N64 Sin & Punishment doesn't have much to compete with against Panzer Dragoon either, and even less so against Zwei or Orta.
Sin and Punishment Successor of the Skies (Star Successor) on Wii on the other hand is a significantly stronger competitor, one of the very finest games Wii has to offer in my opinion, and I would say it at least gives the two Saturn Panzer Dragoon games a run for their money, but even then the Panzer Dragoon series has Orta up it's sleeve, so as a series Panzer Dragoon still emerges victorious with relative ease, at least if you ask me. As good as Sin and Punishment Successor of the Skies is on Wii, it's just not that good.
Though, as far as I'm concerned, Omega Boost beats the ever loving shit out of Panzer Dragoon, Zwei, Orta and SaPSotS combined, and it does it with the power of the original PlayStation only.
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Pimpjira
Guardian Force Shooter
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Post by Pimpjira on Jul 21, 2018 21:40:51 GMT
Panzer Dragoon Orta isn't really cheap anymore, it's $40+. I think the price jumped when it got backwards compatible with X1.
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Balder
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Post by Balder on Jul 21, 2018 22:32:50 GMT
Panzer Dragoon Orta isn't really cheap anymore, it's $40+. I think the price jumped when it got backwards compatible with X1. It was rather expensive even before that. I got it super cheap because the a guy was selling a lot and was getting rid of all his old games without checking its worth.
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Cervantes
Off-Brand Transformable Robot
A former Incompetent Evil Commander (XP: 2423)
Posts: 2,821
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Post by Cervantes on Jul 22, 2018 0:59:21 GMT
Pimpjira - Oh man, that's a bummer. I remember buying it, eight years ago, for less than $10!
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Armored Core Raven
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Radio: The test is over. From this moment on, you are a Raven!
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Post by Armored Core Raven on Jul 25, 2018 6:30:00 GMT
Yeah, I got both my copies dirt cheap, the first back when it was new, I was lucky and got it secondhand at a very good price for the time, and the second it came in a bundle with some other games I got secondhand 4 years ago and the entire bundle was cheaper than the first copy I got so that second copy was silly cheap.
I looked up current prices and I was honestly shocked at how expensive it's become. The cheapest copy I could find now cost just a little more than what a brand new 3DS game costs, not that extreme but for an old Xbox game it's far from a good deal in my opinion regardless what game it is, the other copies cost way above what a brand new PS4 game goes for and one copy in particular was more than twice as expensive than that. It's downright ludicrous. It's not even a rare game to begin with, it's super common, so they literally just inflated the price for it just because! SHAMEFUR DISPRAY!!
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