Panzer Dragoon (series): Difference between revisions

{{quote|"The fate of the world rests on the wings of an armoured blue dragon..."|''opening narration to Panzer Dragoon''}}

 

 

Far in the distant future, mankind colonized another unspecified planet ([[Wild Mass Guessing]] makes it likely it's Mars), thanks to harnessing the power of [[Terraform|Terraforming]] run by [[Artificial Human|Artificial Humans]] from giant Towers that spit out streams of artificial creatures. Then the [[Precursors|people who actually knew how to work the things, the Ancients]], put themselves to sleep for a couple thousand years to wait for the terraforming to complete itself and left everyone else to fend for themselves.

The games which comprise this series include:

 

* ''Panzer Dragoon [[Gratuitous German|Zwei]]'', a prequel released for the [[Sega Saturn]] in 1996, gives more insight as to the origin of the blue dragon from the first game. A mutant [[Horse of a Different Color|Coolia]] is spared by a boy named Lundi from the ritual killing of all mutants, as he couldn't bring himself to do the deed, especially when he noticed the Coolia in question had the especially rare mutation of ''wings''. Adopting it as his own under the name "Lagi", Lundi attempts to teach it how to fly on the outskirts of town one day, when suddenly a flying Tower destroys his home in a blinding flash, leaving the two with naught but the desire to take revenge. ''Zwei'' introduced the Berserk Meter (which could unleash a [[Limit Break]] attack on everything in sight), and the concept of dragon evolution; Lagi had various forms which it would mutate into at the end of each stage, according to score and play style, with a perfect run yielding the series' iconic blue dragon. The music also had a more ethnic feel to it than the orchestra/techno feel of the original game; the series would continue to use this style in later entries.

* ''Panzer Dragoon Saga'', also known as ''AZEL: Panzer Dragoon RPG'', is an [[Eastern RPG]] released for the [[Sega Saturn]] in 1998. It tells the story of Edge, a boy who finds an [[Artificial Human|artificial]] [[Girl in a Box]] named Azel at the dig site he's assigned to protect, only to be double-crossed and killed by the Black Fleet, [[The Empire]]'s elite soldiers. Led by a man named Craymen, they claim the girl for their own in their rebellion against the Emperor, who has gone mad with power and intends to harness the Towers for his own nefarious purposes - but to do that, he needs Azel. Edge is revived and rescued by a strange, but powerful dragon, who seemingly has its own agenda concerning the Towers; together, they set out to exact revenge on Craymen, unwittingly thrusting the pair into the conflict between the two factions. The game was praised for its very unique art direction, eclectic soundtrack, interesting combat engine (for an RPG, mind you), engaging story, and gameplay that managed to avoid many (although not all) of [[The Grand List of Console Role Playing Game Cliches|the more common RPG tropes]]. Only a handful of copies of the game were made, as the Saturn was on the way out to pave the way for the [[Sega Dreamcast]]. It remains highly sought after to this day, and [[Crack is Cheaper|commands extreme prices on online markets]]. As such, having a copy's considered a badge of honor for Saturn owners.

* There's also the [[Sega]] [[Game Gear]] [[Spin-Off]] ''Panzer Dragoon Mini'', which takes the series and creates a [[Fun Size]] variation. ''Mini'' was basically ''Panzer Dragoon'', minus the rider, but with extra "cute" added in place.