A Game To Remember: Panzer Dragoon Saga

It hadn’t occurred to me, until a friend of mine reminded me, that yesterday (April 30th) marked 9 years since Panzer Dragoon Saga was released here in the United States on the already dying Sega Saturn. With 30,000 copies only shipped to the United States, Panzer Dragoon Saga instantly became a title that everyone almost had to own because of the glamour and splendor that surrounded the game aside from its Panzer Dragoon name.

Panzer Dragoon Saga was something different in the RPG genre; as opposed to the traditional turn-based RPG archetype, Panzer Dragoon Saga took the rail shooting aspect of the original Panzer Dragoon games and made it into something that tied into an RPG structure with the player selecting commands that were expected of a rail shooter. Even the game’s soundtrack, considered by many fans to be one of the greatest soundtracks ever composed, managed to captivate the grandoise splender of Panzer Dragoon Saga alongside its epic story of a young man’s desire to redeem his fallen comrades. To this very day, Panzer Dragoon Saga manages to send mixed emotional waves down my spine as it did the very first time I finished it. That’s what some would argue to be the true testament of a great game, and I very much share that same sentiment.

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What do you remember most about Panzer Dragoon Saga? Did you ever own the game? Did you regret never purchasing it? Share your memories about this great RPG.