page_title: Panzer Dragoon Saga
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: Panzer Dragoon Saga / Development
caption_attribution_description: English: A US Sega Saturn console, shown with type 2 controller.
context_page_description: Panzer Dragoon Saga, known in Japan as Azel: Panzer Dragoon RPG, is a 1998 role-playing game published by Sega and developed by Team Andromeda for the Sega Saturn. It departs from the linear rail shooter gameplay of the Panzer Dragoon series, introducing traditional RPG elements such as random encounters, semi-turn-based battles, and free-roaming exploration. The player controls Edge, a young mercenary who rides a dragon and encounters a mysterious girl from a vanished civilization.
  Sega felt an RPG was critical to compete against the PlayStation and Final Fantasy. Development began in early 1995 alongside Panzer Dragoon II Zwei. The project was arduous and repeatedly delayed; incorporating the series' shooting elements with full 3D computer graphics and voice acting, both unusual features in RPGs at the time, pushed the Saturn to its technical limits and strained team relations. Two staff members died during development, which director Yukio Futatsugi attributed to the stressful working conditions of the video game industry.
context_section_description: In March 1995, following completion of the original Panzer Dragoon, producer Yoji Ishiji suggested making an RPG to explore the Panzer Dragoon world, as this had been praised in reviews. Sega's president instructed the team to create an RPG to outsell Final Fantasy and help the Saturn compete with PlayStation. Sega's Team Andromeda studio split into two teams: one worked on Saga while the other developed a shooter sequel, Panzer Dragoon II Zwei. Saga had a staff of about 40, twice that for Zwei. Both teams used the Zwei engine and the 3D modeling software Softimage.
  Director Yukio Futatsugi said that Saga was the most difficult Panzer Dragoon game to develop, as many of its features, such as fully 3D environments, were unusual for RPGs at the time. "No matter what aspect of the game we worked on, we had the challenge of making it entirely from whole cloth," he said. The engine had to support free exploration, battle sequences, and real-time morphing and shading, pushing the Saturn to its limits. Futatsugi felt the game would have been impossible to develop on the PlayStation console, as the Saturn's "cloudier" palette gives the Panzer Dragoon series its atmosphere. The team did not use any of Sega's existing graphic libraries and programmed everything from scratch.
caption: Panzer Dragoon Saga was one of the last games Sega released for the Saturn console.
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D5100", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS5 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2012:08:10 09:46:53", "Image ExifOffset": "216", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "994", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7202", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/250", "EXIF FNumber": "18", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:08:05 06:40:11", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:08:05 06:40:11", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "995723/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "166797/20000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "43/10", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "79/50", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "65", "EXIF SubSecTime": "40", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "40", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "40", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4780", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2600", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[2, 0, 2, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "97", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "3454842", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[55, 300, 9/2, 28/5]", "EXIF LensModel": "55.0-300.0 mm f/4.5-5.6"}