Panzer Dragoon Orta

2 hours and 14 minutes on normal and level 6 is kicking my ass. It's kind of sneaky the way you don't start out the next level with full energy (I assume this has something to do with your rating for the previous level). I'm still getting the hang of using the heavy wing, as I tend to stay with the base and glide wings mostly.

This game is gorgeous and incredible to play. I'm loving every minute of it.

BTW: Did anyone see Extended Play tonight? They gave Orta a 5 out of 5 (as they should). They also showed the original in Pandora's Box and to me, at least, the graphics looked cleaner and smoother.

It seems to me the PD in PDO is cleaner, but the framerate is a bit below the Saturn rev and the sound isn't quite as clear. Still nice though. To think, I still remember how amazing this game looked when I brought it home after the surprise US launch of Saturn. How far we have come.

Also IIRC I know PD and maybe PDZ didn't refill your life at the beginning of each new level.

Something odd to try- in level 7 when your in those areas with no enemies (think they're called memory cells), shoot the columns with the gun and do the same with those orb things. One time I got a message from some guy who sounded like Mobo, the message was something like, "I'm (some name starting with a B), and I'm riding this creature from a 1000 years ago". Bizarre.

Some thoughts- more than any other Xbox game I've played, Orta hurts from me seeing pics of it in the mags (the ones that were super hi-rez). Seeing the big landscapes look all grey and drab sucks (and I'm playing in 480p).
All the gorgeous ships and clouds in the fourth level made me think of how much I want a Skies of Arcadia sequal on Xbox or GC.
The clouds in the 9th level reminded me of the world in Ikaruga.
Last boss is real purdy.

So, in order to take out the purple lasers on the final boss you lock on to his body or the lasers? And do you release it before they fire, or after? Im having a little trouble with him on normal.

To beat the last boss:

You pretty much lock onto his body before anything flies out. Then you'll hear sort of a screech, and you'll see the lasers start flying out of his body, that's the time to release and you should be able to get them all. After you get the hang of it, he goes down pretty easy.

Finally beat this on normal just now and all I can say is, OUCH.

I had no idea how badly the original Panzer Dragoon had aged. I applaud Smilebit for giving us this piece of gaming history as an extra but damn!

Would it have them killed to smooth out the frame rate a little bit? The game was damn near unplayable because this. Trying to play the original Panzer after Orta is like going driving a Pinto after you've been behind the wheel of a Mazeratti. You can drive it just fine, but damn does it hurt. Gonna take some serious boredom to play through that one.

The original Panzer on the disc "looks a little smoother" than the Saturn game because its based on the pc version.

Woot!

Just finished it on normal with an overall B average.

Not to shabby. Now its time to knock out easy with all "A's", then to move onto the sub-scenarios.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Melf
BTW: Did anyone see Extended Play tonight? They gave Orta a 5 out of 5 (as they should). They also showed the original in Pandora's Box and to me, at least, the graphics looked cleaner and smoother.

---

Yeh I saw it... Extended Play is usually pretty annoying but they did a nice job on the review. It had me drooling, that's for sure... it was nice to see them give the game such a good score. Sometimes their scores ben be a bit strange. :p

Anyway, I am sure the episode will be repeated 500 times in the next few weeks. At least on Tech TV Canada where Extended Play is on 8 times a day. :p

Well, I've got 2 scenerios with Iva left, and I'm on the 5th level on Hard mode... having too much fun with this game :)