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| Source // Hardcore Gaming 101 |
There are two titles from the Panzer Dragoon series on this 1001 list, and I've been unable to play both. Panzer Dragoon Orta is the latter title to try, and while it is available for purchase for play on both the Xbox 360 and Xbox One, I have been put off doing so from what I've read about the game.
That's not exactly a good start to a post in a series about playing as many of these video games as possible, in as original a way as possible. It's not like it's priced ridiculously, either, and I have definitely spent more money on things that I've gotten less out of than this, potentially, and yet here I am umming and ahhing over it.
Let's see what it's all about, and work out where to go from there.
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| Source // Microsoft |
Frustrations
So I've seen the first twenty minutes or so of Panzer Dragoon Orta, where we learn that a young girl has been held captive for some reason, and her prison cell gets busted open by a bunch of drones riding on dragons. Or maybe the dragons are the drones, I forget. The weird-looking dragons blow open the walls to her cell, intent, it seems, on killing her, but in a slow, dramatic fashion where they'll inevitably be picked off by another, more heroic dragon. Which they do.
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| Source // Hardcore Gaming 101 |
The still weird looking heroic dragon takes the woman upon its back and flies off into an on-rails shooter that involves all sorts of weirdness.
I don't think it's the idea of an on-rails shooter that puts me off, but as genres go, it's not one that I find myself attracted to, either. This one has you ride dragons, which is different, I'll grant you that, and they're shooting homing lasers and whatnot from their mouths, which you don't tend to see dragons do...
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| Source // Hardcore Gaming 101 |
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| Source // Hardcore Gaming 101 |
You have a variety of attacks available to you, from a straight-up laser gun to homing attacks, and can launch them in any direction you swing the camera, using the helpful radar to point in the right direction. I don't know how easy that all is to control, but seeing as you're not flying a dragon, it shouldn't be too hard.
Oh, you are flying the dragon? Just around the screen, and not around the level. Gotcha. Might be bonkers hard then, I don't know.
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| Source // Hardcore Gaming 101 |
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| Source // Hardcore Gaming 101 |
Every now and then, a set-piece catches your attention, be it a fancy location or a boss battle, but your focus ought to be on whether you've got the right wings for the situation. You can swap them (or maybe your entire dragon, not sure) so that you are more manoeuvrable, or hit harder, and it's apparently the type of game that demands you get good at knowing the right approach to a given situation, especially at harder difficulty levels.
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| Source // Microsoft |
From what I read, Orta is not a game worth playing for its story. Lots of it is delivered by the kind of text that doesn't explain itself too well, and I hear that it's all over the place in terms of what it is trying to tell you about at any point, taking you one way only to find a more exciting thing to talk about somewhere else, and bringing you over there until it tires of that story thread too.
Couple that with the opinion that the game ends with nothing spectacular and feels a little rushed, and you might understand why I hesitate to drop time and money into it.
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| Source // Hardcore Gaming 101 |
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| Source // Hardcore Gaming 101 |
Fun Times
But having said all that, in some places, Orta looks pretty nice, though I don't know how much that's down to later consoles making it look better. What is 'Xbox One Enhanced' when it comes to Panzer Dragoon Orta?
I don't mean nice in terms of character design; that's still weird whether it's in HD or not. It might be the type of weird you're interested in, but I'm not sold on it myself. Can't argue that it looks unlike a lot of other games out there, though.
Final Word
I obviously need to stump up the money to find out first hand how Panzer Dragoon Orta is as a video game, but as a story, I was getting bored with the videos within twenty minutes. As a genre, I'm not keen, but not saying no.
What can sway me? That you can unlock a bunch of stuff through playing it, including the original Panzer Dragoon? That'd be good if I were interested in Panzer Dragoon, and incredible if it was also on the 1001 list, but it's not the case. A sale? Would be nice, yeah, but how low would it need to go?
This game is on the list for a reason - it must be - but to watch it clearly isn't going to tell me why, and wanting to play it to find out why isn't an idea that appeals to me. I'd say 'watch this space' and hope that I come back to it at some point, but I don't know if I ever will.
Will that mean I've missed out on something special? Eh. I've missed out on hundreds of something specials without ever knowing, I'm sure another one wouldn't hurt.
Fun Facts
Maybe this will sway me: The unlockable content will be accessible after clocking up twenty hours of game time, regardless of your skill level. If you can't unlock something, just play the waiting game. So, what interests me enough to buy the game and play it for twenty hours? What indeed...
Panzer Dragoon Orta, developed by Smilebit, first released in 2002.
Version watched: Xbox, 2002, via Xbox One Enhanced (RajmanGaming HD)