Azel - Panzer Dragoon RPG was published by Sega on 29 January 98 for the Sega Saturn. It is a four-CD release.
Since I have not played the earlier parts of the Panzer Dragoon series, I will be reviewing this game based on itself alone (without any knowledge or experience on its predecessors), and sometimes comparing it with other games in the genre.
Azel features a full 3D environment, in which you fly around on your dragon friend for most of the game; in towns and camps, you walk around on foot. It feels pleasant to fly around, and the simple lock-on interface is nice. The graphics are very good, and so is the music. Since the map can be accessed by a single push of a button, and there is the helpful "navigate system" (you can select an important location that you have been to, and its direction will be indicated on the radar), there is little worry of getting lost. The game has an environment that is both immersing and friendly.
The game story revolves around an ancient civilization, and its powerful remains found around the land, Azel the girl herself being one of the most powerful remains. Naturally, those who thirst for power seek the remains, and our hero must intervene to save the world. The story is presented with beautiful movie sequences (all of which can be skipped at the player's discretion). The opening and the ending are even spoken in the "Panzer" tongue, rather than Japanese (there are Japanese subtitles).
In Azel, you always fight on your dragon (except for the part where you fight on a "floater" vehicle, which is much the same thing). The game has a marginally innovative combat system which is simple yet reasonably fun to play. Battle is in semi-real time: there is a "synchronize gauge" which charges (up to 3) as time passes, and which you expend to perform actions, such as attacks and berserks. You attack with your gun or the dragon's homing lasers; the laser is more powerful and affects multiple targets, but you cannot pick a target for concentrated firepower (such as on a weak spot of the enemy) as you can with the gun. Berserks are the equivalent of spells, as any seasoned RPG player knows them. (Since berserks ignore armor, they are sometimes an alternative to finding the weak spot of an armored enemy; read on.)
Azel has reasonably interesting combat because of its "maneuver" concept. The enemies are always in a single group, and you can move around the enemy to achieve one of four relative positioning (front, rear, and either flank). Many enemies have different efficiency of attack or defense on different sides, so maneuvers are often very important. (The enemy's attack efficiency is shown on your radar, while weak spots in its defense are marked clearly as "weak" whenever you are facing them.) Maneuvers do not cost gauge, but your gauge (and not your enemies') pauses charging when you are maneuvering. Of course, many enemies will also perform counter-maneuvers or change facing.
Another interesting aspect of combat in Azel is the "Type Select" feature of the dragon. Your dragon gains this ability after defeating the first major boss. You can tune your dragon on a two-dimensional scale of defense vs. (maneuver) speed, and attack (laser) vs. berserk. The (2D) scale is divided into five areas, corresponding to five major types, each type with its own "full-gauge berserk" and "skill", both becoming available when your synchronize gauge is fully charged to 3. The exact settings of the scale affect the balance of your dragon's performance in battle: a dragon with defense 180 and speed 20 would be tougher but slower than one with defense 150 and speed 50, though they both fall into the "Defense" type. You can change your type during battle too, but that would cost 1 gauge. Finally, the long-term tendency of your dragon's setting also affects its development.
The result of putting these elements together with the variety of enemies in Azel is that we have an RPG where the combat is simple yet reasonably interesting, and not merely a time-wasting obstacle as in many other RPGs. Maneuvers add an action element to battle, and Type Select is a simple and neat "set-up" mechanism (and a flexible one too, since you can do it during battle). (Some players would have known what game in mind I am comparing this one with, by now.) The semi-real time system also gives some room for strategy, unlike the mindless slashing in some RPGs (even some semi-real time ones). For example, consider fighting against an enemy who is covering his weak side with his strongest firepower. The best strategy would be to hide in a safe spot, wait for the gauge to fully charge to 3, and then maneuver to his weak side and blow him away with 3 continuous bursts in a row.
In battle also, the graphics are beautiful and vivid. Spell effects are good, and executed promptly and swiftly, without giving a feel that you are waiting forever for it to finish (some effects are long, but they are boss attacks which might do 50% or more damage). Battles are fast-paced, and contribute to, rather than distract from, the immersing environment of the game. Controls are fluent, with one-push shortcuts for the two attacks. Your dragon's "Type Select" is also reflected graphically, by your dragon morphing its shape and changing colors on a continuous scale as you change its setting. When you defeat certain major bosses, your dragon gets a "model change", with a new set of graphics, in additional to a boost of its abilities.
The playing time for myself was 20 hours the first time around. That may not be as long as some other RPGs, I know (especially considering the 4 CDs, but we all know that's largely irrelevant, don't we), but that is mostly because this game does not waste time with an overwhelming amount of pointless random battles. The random encounter rate in many areas of the game are very low (and the battles are often short). I welcome this, because fighting the same enemy over and over again gets tiring quickly.
There is a part of the game which bored me: the towns. After a while of flying around on a dragon and battling with entire enemy fleets, finding my way around a complex town and trying to locate the next event checkpoint just isn't that interesting or exciting. ("Bored" might have been an overstatement, though: it might actually have had more to do with forfeit of sleep for Azel and Chaos Seed.)
Azel is a graphically stunning RPG with a pleasant and easily navigable interface. It also has simple yet reasonably interesting combat which isn't overly repetitive. This is a very good game, and is recommended to all players. However, Japanese literacy is, more or less, required if you're playing the Japanese version.
Copyright 26 February 1998 Alan Shiu Ho Kwan
Alan Kwan / tarot@netvigator.com / created 26 Feb 98