Indeed, this game could've saved the Saturn from its early death. However, while PDS is revolutionary, it's not perfect.
A young teen named Edge works a quarry expedition site. He often wonders what the world would be like if it wasn't controlled by foul empire. Many doubt that they can't do anything about it though. One day however, a mysterious man invades the expedition site and steals a strange piece of stone, which has a woman body engraved in it. According to legend, this is very important, so many workers, including Edge, get upset and try to stop this man. However, all fail and end up being killed, including Edge. However, Edge is somehow resurrected mysteriously...
Gameplay:
PDS is an RPG, but a different one compared to most typical RPG's. In this game, you will control Edge in small areas by having him lock-on objects. The Panzer Dragoon games were always rail-shooters, and the lock-on shooting elements are present here. You'll use the lock on system to look at items, check your surroundings, and talk to people. When you're on your dragon, you'll not only use your lock-on system to destroy or activate various things, you'll also fly with it. After becoming friends with your dragon, you will be able to fly around all your surrounding environments in just about as any way as possible. Then there's the battle system like the typical RPG fare.
The battle system is a mix between turn-based and real time. There will be a gauge of 3 bars. When one of the bars are full, you can do an action such as attacking with your gun, using you dragon to shoot lasers, use items, do spiritual attacks, ect. You can also move your dragon around in 4 different places during battle to go to a safe place or find your enemies' weak points. Sometimes you will need to vary on your attacks and spiritual attacks, since all your enemies are different and may be defense in some cases. The boss battles are long and a challenge, but keep the action going well. Once you finished with your battles, you are of course awarded with experience points and currency (in this game, it's called Dyne).
When you aren't in base or large environments, you might be in towns or small areas to simply buy items, talk to residents and view some important cutscenes. When you’re at bases and such, there aren't puzzles like you would find in some RPG's. Instead, you might have to do certain actions in order to proceed, such as destroy a generator or deactivate the security system, and so on. You also might have to search around in a town to ask questions too. There's a lot to do in PDS that I haven't mentioned enough.
It's nice that Panzer Dragoon Saga has a different RPG system then you would normally find. Does that make it good? Yes it does, but it's not superb. It's sometimes a bit tedious to do some of the same actions over and over again. However, these flaws are minor, so the gameplay is still interesting to play through.
Graphics:
Panzer Dragoon Saga definitely deserves credit as one of the most impressive looking Saturn games made. Not only are the polygons and texturing solid smooth, the game has a strong artistic feel in some of the environments. You'll be surprised at some of the creative level designs that it feels like walking through an art museum. Special effects including the water details, the transparencies, and the light sourcing all look great. The frame rate, while steady most of the time, does have some occasional slow downs, but they are minor and don't effect the gameplay much. Regardless of this game being outdated by today's standards, it still does graphical tricks that many people thought the Saturn couldn't do.
Sound:
I'm sorry PDS fans, but I'm very picky when it comes to music. While many of the songs fit the situation well and there are a couple songs I enjoyed, it's not the best soundtrack I ever heard overall. But hey, that's just me, the music still fits this game well, and that's all that matters. The voice acting is great, by the way. It's neither in English nor in Japanese. It's instead in a unique fictional language called Panzernese. Regardless, the voice actors put great emotion in their lines. The sound effects are also great and are cool to hear. While I didn't think the audio was outstanding, it does deliver where it counts.
Conclusion:
Personally, I find PDS a bit overrated. Yeah, I had a pretty good time with this game, but it did not change my life. It is innovative in some respects, so I'll give it that. I think people praise it partially because it's a rare Saturn game and it was one the last games released for the US and Europe. And because of that, you'll see this game on sale for more then $100 usually. Is it worth it? Personally, I think not. It is a rare game, but I didn't find it to be superb enough to be worth the money I paid for it. Nevertheless, RPG fans that own a Saturn might as well go hunt for this, since it is the best RPG released for the Saturn as a matter of fact.
RPG Time: 10-15 hours
Pros:
-Unique, innovative gameplay
-Probably the best looking Saturn game made
-Good soundtrack
-Deep stroyline
-Some of the coolest artistic environments made
Cons:
-Rare game, and a rather expensive one too