Any Panzer Dragoon fans try Crimson Dragon yet?

[TheBigBB]

I got a XB1 as a Christmas gift, so one of the games I decided to get was Crimson Dragon, which is a $20 download developed by the guy responsible for Panzer Dragoon. I just got to spend a couple hours with it and, while the controls took some getting used to, it seems like a pretty decent game relative to what some reviewers were saying. It seems they patched out some of the annoying grindy things people complained about, and some of the other complaints were just your typical "I suck at games so I didn't like it" kind of bullshit. Oddly, as with some other titles, there is a totally useless option that allows you to buy game items with real money. It's useless because all the items you can buy are VERY easily obtained in huge quantities just by playing the game normally.

 

[brentsg]

I can't get used to the controls so it wasn't a good buy for me.

I definitely have no desire to play it.

 

[TheBigBB]

I can't get used to the controls so it wasn't a good buy for me.

I definitely have no desire to play it.

I almost quit trying after the first 20 minutes over the control scheme because it was so different from what I was used to, but I felt like I should keep practicing because in theory it ought to be a better way to go. In other rail shooters you have to move the "ship" to target things, where in this game you can shoot anywhere you want while moving anywhere you want. In theory this should work better if it can be mastered. I have a long way to go to master it, though. I'm able to get a B rank on the first 3 missions.

 

[Phyeir]

I want to play this game but unless it ever gets ported to PS4, doesn't look to be in the cards.

 

[TheBigBB]

I want to play this game but unless it ever gets ported to PS4, doesn't look to be in the cards.

Yeah, I don't know the story on why it's a XB1 exclusive. I guess MS Studios picked up the bill for it or something. It's too bad they couldn't at least put it on the 360, too. I'm sure the 360 could handle most of the technical aspects of this game.

 

[GohanX]

It was originally supposed to be a 360 Kinect game, so I imagine Microsoft probably bankrolled it. They probably made it Xbone exclusive just because MS hates you.

 

[lantus360]

i bought this game and absolutely loved it. I didn't really have any issues with the control system.

Finished it up a few days ago and wished there was more, but for $20 its a decent game.

 

[TheBigBB]

After playing it a bit more, I am liking it even more and finding the controls to be coming more naturally. I've gotten a lot of S ranks on missions already, so it's definitely not too hard. It also has plenty of features I wish existed in the other games in the series, like the huge number of different weapons.

I've noticed some things that were factually wrong in some of the professional reviews, too. For example, the IGN reviewer spent a lot of time complaining about how it wasn't possible to hover in the free-flight boss battles, but it IS possible. You just slow your dragon down, as the game tells you you can do right on the screen during the first boss tutorial. Slowing down all the way makes you virtually sit still. He also complained about how wingmen are useless, but wingmen are honestly incredibly overpowered. I'm guessing some of those errors were due to issues with the pre-release version which have now been patched.

 

[ggallegos1]

seemed interesting, I plan on trying it out whenever I do invest in an Xbone. for $20 can't go wrong, and its as close to a panzer dragoon game as we'll get these days

 

[Neorebel]

I want to play this game but unless it ever gets ported to PS4, doesn't look to be in the cards.

I'm still waiting for Orta to be ported to PC or any other console

 

[Fuzzytaco]

Was going to get it. However today when I went to turn on my Xbone, I discovered it had transformed into a fancy Xbox badged boat anchor. C'est la vie

 

[Poison Sama]

I've played this quite a bit at the local Microsoft store. I enjoyed my time with it enough to actually buy the game, even though I don't own an Xbox One yet and don't plan to for a while (bought the game through the web store). The controls did take some getting used to for me as well, but they didn't take long to get the hang of. The only sections that are still a bit annoying are the beacon collecting parts. The only major negative point I can think of is the framerate, which is 30fps. I really wish they would have gone the Killer Instinct route and sacrificed resolution for the sake of framerate. But other than that, I think the Destructoid review is pretty much spot on based on what I've played so far:

http://www.destructoid.com/review-crimson-dragon-265767.phtml

 

[Cylotron]

I'd like to get it, but I'm not in the market for an Xbox One(yet anyway)

 

[TheBigBB]

Played all day again and now I'm ranked 22nd overall on the leaderboard. I don't know how much more I can suck out of this game, but I got my $20 worth.

EDIT: Now ranked 6th overall. WTF? Am I good or do other people suck?

 

[Pretty Amy]

Glad you guys are liking it. I personally didn't dig it much (and I did beat it for the record).

By a chance of fate, I ended up playing replaying the 1st Panzer Dragoon and playing Panzer Dragon II Zwei for the first time just a few weeks before Crimson Dragon came out. I think there are legitimate problems with the controls, although maybe not exactly as the reviews called out. Instead, I found that the amount of vertical screen space your dragon has to maneuver is too small. In the old PD games, you could make a figure-8 with your movement in open spaces to dodge enemy fire. In Crimson Dragon, you only have enough vertical space to move in a box:

Secondly the story was pretty bizarre/awful. I was totally confused by the ending. That's not good for a game that spends as much time as it does in the story scenes (with cheap voice acting). Compare that to the PD games which have a very unique and awesome story line.

I did like the idea of upgrading and customizing your dragon, and I think it worked out okay with the rock-paper-scissors element system. I ended up rocking the silver dragon with the super high agility through most of the game. I do wish they had more visual customization for the dragons though. The world designs were cool and the music was very nostalgic for PD. My best guess is that the game was held back by its former Kinect incarnation. With Kinect it makes sense you would have less precision in your movement. Also many of the weapons have gigantic target reticles and work just fine with holding down the fire trigger. I'm honestly interested in seeing what they could do with a sequel built from the ground-up for a controller.

 

[TheBigBB]

Glad you guys are liking it. I personally didn't dig it much (and I did beat it for the record).

By a chance of fate, I ended up playing replaying the 1st Panzer Dragoon and playing Panzer Dragon II Zwei for the first time just a few weeks before Crimson Dragon came out. I think there are legitimate problems with the controls, although maybe not exactly as the reviews called out. Instead, I found that the amount of vertical screen space your dragon has to maneuver is too small. In the old PD games, you could make a figure-8 with your movement in open spaces to dodge enemy fire. In Crimson Dragon, you only have enough vertical space to move in a box:

Secondly the story was pretty bizarre/awful. I was totally confused by the ending. That's not good for a game that spends as much time as it does in the story scenes (with cheap voice acting). Compare that to the PD games which have a very unique and awesome story line.

I did like the idea of upgrading and customizing your dragon, and I think it worked out okay with the rock-paper-scissors element system. I ended up rocking the silver dragon with the super high agility through most of the game. I do wish they had more visual customization for the dragons though. The world designs were cool and the music was very nostalgic for PD. My best guess is that the game was held back by its former Kinect incarnation. With Kinect it makes sense you would have less precision in your movement. Also many of the weapons have gigantic target reticles and work just fine with holding down the fire trigger. I'm honestly interested in seeing what they could do with a sequel built from the ground-up for a controller.

That's true, there is less room for you to move around, though you could still make figure 8s if you wanted. I thought it was cool that the roll actually rolls you way off to the side, though. The story is not that good, but is it really awful? I'm a little confused by the ending, but the creator claims he wants to make more of these games to elaborate on it. I think Panzer Dragoon succeeded more in having a really cool art style and world than actually having an incredible story. I mean, you wouldn't show a movie of the Panzer Dragoon games to your grandmother and expect her to delight in the amazing story. It's really just shooting shit on a dragon's back.

 

[Pretty Amy]

Well except for Saga and Orta which both had a lot more story than 1 or 2 did. Especially Saga. The creator said he'd been interested in doing an RPG sequel to Crimson Dragon. I'm totally down with that seeing as Saga is one of my top JRPG's of all time.

 

[Lagduf]

The story of Panzer Dragoon is there. It's steeped in its own beautiful lore. It's just not heavy handed, and outside of Saga, you almost have to look for it.

 

[TheBigBB]

Well, I'm now the #2 overall on the leaderboards, and I have the #1 score for the game's first boss. Apparently if anyone else does buy the game, I'm now the guy to ask for advice from.

 

[lantus360]

Haha nice I'm on there but ranked something like 250 which I thought was nuts.

 

[TheBigBB]

Haha nice I'm on there but ranked something like 250 which I thought was nuts.

I have all the medals, too, but playing for score is quite different from getting medals and even letter grades. If you do want to get high scores, I'll tell you a couple things: You only get points for killing stuff, and the quicker you kill stuff the more points it gives. You can get a rank of a D and still get the high score; don't need to collect beacons or avoid taking damage. In some cases you need to figure out whether it's best to kill something quickly, or leave it alive when other things might spawn from it. For example, those bug nests in the second area spawn a lot more bugs if you don't kill the nests too soon.