Panzer Dragoon Orta
Encyclopedia
Panzer Dragoon Orta is a rail shooter video game published by Sega
for the Xbox
. The game was released in Japan in December 2002, the following month in the United States, and three months later in PAL territories
. It is the fourth console game
in the Panzer Dragoon series
, after three such games on the Sega Saturn
. Panzer Dragoon Orta was developed by Smilebit, one of Sega's second-party developers (before merging
with Sega on July 1, 2004). This makes it the only Panzer Dragoon game not developed by Team Andromeda, even though Smilebit included many of Team Andromeda's former members.
The game focuses on a young girl, Orta, who has been held as a prisoner her entire life, before being freed by a mysterious dragon
. As she rides on the dragon's back through a post-apocalyptic
world, she must defend herself from the forces of an oppressive and militaristic
Empire, who believe she is the harbinger of their destruction.
Panzer Dragoon Orta was made forward compatible with the Xbox 360 on April 19, 2007. The game was made compatible for all regions; however, there have been multiple reports that the PAL version of the game consistently crashes to the Dashboard after the full-motion video at the end of the third Episode. No fix to this problem has been made available in two subsequent backwards compatibility updates, though there is a workaround solution for this involving unlockables.
attack), but ultimately are in no control to fly about the level. Enemies must thus be defeated before they vanish offscreen as the levels "scroll" by (with the exception of boss
battles, which take place in environments that "loop" until the boss is defeated).
Orta's dragon can morph itself instantaneously between three different forms: the Base Wing (standard class with no weaknesses or strengths), Heavy Wing (offensive class with less mobility), or Glide Wing (nimble class good for shooting down masses of incoming projectiles). Each of these forms can level up by collecting "gene
bases" from certain enemies.
Attacking is performed by holding down a mappable attack button, maneuvering an onscreen cursor over enemies, and releasing the button to fire a volley of arching laser
s at each target. Orta is also equipped with a rapid-fire pistol
, though the game does not make it clear exactly how she obtained it (other than that it was related to the dragon somehow).
At the conclusion of each Episode, the player is ranked based on the number of enemies defeated, score, hits taken, and the time it took to defeat the boss. Each of these is assigned a letter grade from S, A, B, C, and D (with S being the highest). The four grades are averaged together to give the player an overall assessment of how well they performed. This grading also occurs at the conclusion of the game's numerous side-missions (including all seven Episodes of Iva's Story).
, and is told through ten Episodes. The Empire has risen to power again, and has utilized technology from the Ancient Age to create genetically-engineered dragons called "Dragonmares", that they may rule once again with an iron fist. The dragonmares quickly cause widespread chaos and terror, separating the nations and people governed by the Empire.
The player learns through an opening narration that a young girl, Orta, has lived all her life imprisoned in a tall tower in a mountainous region near Yelico Valley. She is kept there by the Seekers, people who fear that she is a harbinger of doom. One night, a pack of Empire-led Dragonmares invade the valley; they destroy much of the city and make for Orta's tower. However, before the Dragonmares can harm her, a mysterious Dragon appears and eliminates them.
Frightened and confused, Orta quickly flees the Valley on the Dragon's back. Evren, a general in the Imperial Army and leader of the attacking Dragonmare Squadron, follows Orta and surrounds her. She is saved again, this time by Abadd, a former Imperial Drone turned traitor. He flies away, cryptically hinting at Orta's importance. Orta asks the Dragon to follow him. In her search, Orta meets Mobo, a friendly but reckless member of the Wormriders. Mobo leads Orta through a river valley and a sea of ash before returning to the Wormriders' village, built upon a gigantic hovering creature called a Lathum. The Empire quickly attacks the Lathum with their capital fleet, and in the ensuing battle to drive them off, Mobo is shot down. Evren's squadron reappears and engages Orta in a fight, and the Dragon defeats them. Though Evren is defeated, his Dragonmare self-destructs in a volatile explosion, sending Orta and the Dragon down to earth.
Though the Dragon is severely injured in the blast, its wings badly torn and useless, it can still run. The Dragon carries Orta across a snowy land long into the night, where its wings regenerate. An Els-Enora, a graceful flying predator, attacks the pair, and Orta wounds it in self-defense. It finally begins to fly away, and Orta sees its children fly up to it. She expresses sorrow for her actions, but Abadd suddenly reappears and kills the Els-Enora and its children with a single laser volley. Orta is hurt by Abadd's emotionless deeds, but is compelled to follow him, as he claims to know information of her birth.
The trio descend into the ruins of a Tower, and from there gain access to the ancient information network known as Sestren. Deep within this network, Orta finds a hologram-like, left behind by her mother, revealed to be Azel from Panzer Dragoon Saga. She mentions that Orta is the child of a drone and a human, implying that Edge, Sagas protagonist, is her father. As the hologram ends, Abadd manifests himself inside the network. He has learnt Azel's secret of reproduction, and intends to use Orta's body to replicate himself infinitely, thereby ensuring that drones will be able to live forever. Orta manages to defeat Abadd's avatar and discovers that he is heading for the Cradle, a gigantic monolithic artifact of the Ancient Age suspended above the Imperial City. Orta orders Sestren that she be transported as close as possible to the cradle.
The Cradle becomes activated and Orta and the Dragon find themselves in an Imperial research facility. After destroying several experiments such as a captured Catharp (found in Episode 3), a room full of dragonmare embryos, and an improved assault carrier Vermana, the facility soon collapses. The pair escape only to encounter the new Emperor in an Imperial defense unit called the Burchusha. The Burchusha is destroyed and the Emperor dies within the explosion. The Cradle, which has been tied by wires break free destroying several Imperial ships and making the Dragonmares go berserk and attack the Empire fleet.
A fight erupts above the Imperial capital as the Dragon heads for the Cradle. The Wormriders, led by Mobo, attack the remnants of the Imperial fleet at the City, leaving Orta to fly towards the Cradle. After finishing off the last of the Dragonmares, the Dragon destroys the Cradle's outer shell. A metallic cocoon-like object emerges from the Cradle's core, and Abadd's voice can be heard from within it. The cocoon erupts into a fearsome dragon, which Orta defeats after a long and dangerous battle. Abadd and his dragon slowly vanish into nothingness as he repeatingly says "Orta...I...need...you." The dragon, severely wounded, flies slowly to the ground and collapses. Orta whispers to it in tears as the credits roll.
In a final post-credits scene, we learned that the Dragon has died, and the war has come to an end. However, the narration explains that the Dragon left behind an heir. The camera pans across a vast and lonely grassland. A baby dragon accompanies Orta as she silently walks toward a range of mountains in the distance, to an unknown destiny.
", a feature returning from Panzer Dragoon II Zwei
, and include a detailed encyclopedia
of the Panzer world, a bestiary
of defeated enemies, an archive of concept art
, extra bonus missions that expand the story of the main game, statistics tracking, a cutscene viewer (including movies from earlier Panzer Dragoon games
), and even a complete port of the original Panzer Dragoon
.
Orta's unlockables are also unique in that they are time-sensitive. Accumulating twenty hours of play time will unlock everything, regardless of other circumstances.
When the conversation turns towards the weaponry of the Ancient Age, one of the Seekers mentions a great weapon hidden in the nearby ruins; whoever hits it would be destroyed, along with everything in a wide radius. Another Seeker gets word of the Dragon, and Iva sets off after it immediately. He cannot catch it, however, and returns to the Seekers' den, where he shocks them by suddenly falling to the ground. It has been a long time since he has taken his medicine, and the Seeker that gives him the pill notes that it is the last one. A Seeker named Emil notices a peculiar amulet
that Iva wears around his neck, and identifies it as a letter container used by nomadic tribes. Opening it, Iva does indeed find a letter to him from his father, who tells Iva that he will be dead by the time he reads it.
Iva's father tells him that Iva carries in his body a virus
, when he innocently drank water from a poisoned well as an infant. Iva survived when his father made a medicine from the internal fluids of a bio-engineered creature. The medicine stopped the virus from spreading, but could not purge the disease completely, as the virus began to evolve into more resistant forms. Iva's father made medicines from more and more powerful creatures, but eventually there existed not a single creature from which a medicine could be made. This led him to join the people responsible for the dragonmares; the pills Iva took recently all came from one. He acknowledges that what he did was ultimately wrong, but he tells him that he continued to make the medicine so that he could be with him for that much longer. He tells him never to give up, that he has faith in him, and pleads Iva to forgive him.
The Seeker colony is suddenly attacked by dragonmares. Iva vows to destroy them all and bring the horrors of his father's work to an end. Iva finds the ancient weapon, shaped like a big drum
, and activates it just as the dragonmares come tearing into the chamber. A giant beam of light shoots skyward from the drum, repelling the dragonmares; Iva is surprised to find himself still alive. The device was not a weapon of mass destruction, but instead a sound generator meant to ward off bio-engineered creatures. The shaft of light makes a great pattern of colors in the sky, and the many soldiers of the Empire and the Seekers lay down their weapons for a moment in awe.
Iva is rescued by the Seekers, and sits quietly with Emil underneath the branches of a great tree. He acknowledges that while humans have a very despicable nature in their tendencies to fight and ultimately kill each other, he is moved that they were yet able to make something so beautiful. He feels tired, and knowing that he may never wake again, he calls out softly to his father before falling asleep, and expresses his gratitude for being able to know the many people that befriended him on his journey.
). The ending song, Anu Orta Veniya ("When the Day Breaks"), was orchestrated by Hayato Matsuo
and sung by Eri Itoh. Kobayashi, Matsuo and Itoh had previously worked for Panzer Dragoon Saga
soundtrack in the same position.
The U.S. soundtrack release for the game was published by Tokyopop
and includes bonus tracks from Panzer Dragoon, Panzer Dragoon Zwei, and Panzer Dragoon Saga. These tracks are not on the original Japanese soundtrack release, which was published by Marvelous Entertainment.
In the U.S. television commercial, the music was composed by Bones Domingo and his song "Violet".
. GameSpot
called it "one of the best traditional video game shooting experiences ever made", and IGN
's review called Orta a potent mix between "a solid storyline, stunning graphics, and great sound", declaring it "the best rail shooter of all time". Most of Ortas criticism was directed at the short length of the main single-player game, and its high level of difficulty even on the easiest settings. 1UP.com
's review noted that "if you can beat it on normal difficulty, then consider yourself a true gamer," and that "it may turn off some with its difficulty".
to commemorate the release of Panzer Dragoon Orta on the Xbox. This quickly became the most sought-after Xbox to date. This Special Edition had a limited production of 999 units.
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
for the Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
. The game was released in Japan in December 2002, the following month in the United States, and three months later in PAL territories
PAL
PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
. It is the fourth console game
Console game
A console game is a form of interactive multimedia used for entertainment. The game consists of manipulable images generated by a video game console, and displayed on a television or similar audio-video system. The game itself is usually controlled and manipulated using a handheld device connected...
in the Panzer Dragoon series
Panzer Dragoon (series)
Panzer Dragoon is a series of video games by Sega, created first by its internal Team Andromeda and later, the Smilebit development team. Aside from the RPG Panzer Dragoon Saga, the games are of the rail shooter genre...
, after three such games on the Sega Saturn
Sega Saturn
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console that was first released by Sega on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe...
. Panzer Dragoon Orta was developed by Smilebit, one of Sega's second-party developers (before merging
Mergers and acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions refers to the aspect of corporate strategy, corporate finance and management dealing with the buying, selling, dividing and combining of different companies and similar entities that can help an enterprise grow rapidly in its sector or location of origin, or a new field or...
with Sega on July 1, 2004). This makes it the only Panzer Dragoon game not developed by Team Andromeda, even though Smilebit included many of Team Andromeda's former members.
The game focuses on a young girl, Orta, who has been held as a prisoner her entire life, before being freed by a mysterious dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
. As she rides on the dragon's back through a post-apocalyptic
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction
Apocalyptic fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction that is concerned with the end of civilization due to a potentially existential catastrophe such as nuclear warfare, pandemic, extraterrestrial attack, impact event, cybernetic revolt, technological singularity, dysgenics, supernatural...
world, she must defend herself from the forces of an oppressive and militaristic
Militarism
Militarism is defined as: the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests....
Empire, who believe she is the harbinger of their destruction.
Panzer Dragoon Orta was made forward compatible with the Xbox 360 on April 19, 2007. The game was made compatible for all regions; however, there have been multiple reports that the PAL version of the game consistently crashes to the Dashboard after the full-motion video at the end of the third Episode. No fix to this problem has been made available in two subsequent backwards compatibility updates, though there is a workaround solution for this involving unlockables.
Gameplay
Panzer Dragoon Orta is a rail shooter: players can control the dragon's position onscreen, and may briefly slow down or speed up (the latter can be used as a potent rammingRamming
In warfare, ramming is a technique that was used in air, sea and land combat. The term originated from battering ram, a siege weapon used to bring down fortifications by hitting it with the force of the ram's momentum...
attack), but ultimately are in no control to fly about the level. Enemies must thus be defeated before they vanish offscreen as the levels "scroll" by (with the exception of boss
Boss (video games)
A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...
battles, which take place in environments that "loop" until the boss is defeated).
Orta's dragon can morph itself instantaneously between three different forms: the Base Wing (standard class with no weaknesses or strengths), Heavy Wing (offensive class with less mobility), or Glide Wing (nimble class good for shooting down masses of incoming projectiles). Each of these forms can level up by collecting "gene
Gene
A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...
bases" from certain enemies.
Attacking is performed by holding down a mappable attack button, maneuvering an onscreen cursor over enemies, and releasing the button to fire a volley of arching laser
Laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...
s at each target. Orta is also equipped with a rapid-fire pistol
Machine pistol
A machine pistol is a handgun-style, often magazine-fed and self-loading firearm, capable of fully automatic or burst fire, and normally chambered for pistol cartridges. The term is a literal translation of Maschinenpistole, the German term for a hand-held automatic weapon...
, though the game does not make it clear exactly how she obtained it (other than that it was related to the dragon somehow).
At the conclusion of each Episode, the player is ranked based on the number of enemies defeated, score, hits taken, and the time it took to defeat the boss. Each of these is assigned a letter grade from S, A, B, C, and D (with S being the highest). The four grades are averaged together to give the player an overall assessment of how well they performed. This grading also occurs at the conclusion of the game's numerous side-missions (including all seven Episodes of Iva's Story).
Plot summary
The main story of Panzer Dragoon Orta takes place several decades after the events of Panzer Dragoon SagaPanzer Dragoon Saga
is a critically acclaimed role-playing video game released exclusively for the Sega Saturn in 1998. It was the third game released in the Panzer Dragoon series , and so far remains the only game in the series that is not a rail shooter...
, and is told through ten Episodes. The Empire has risen to power again, and has utilized technology from the Ancient Age to create genetically-engineered dragons called "Dragonmares", that they may rule once again with an iron fist. The dragonmares quickly cause widespread chaos and terror, separating the nations and people governed by the Empire.
The player learns through an opening narration that a young girl, Orta, has lived all her life imprisoned in a tall tower in a mountainous region near Yelico Valley. She is kept there by the Seekers, people who fear that she is a harbinger of doom. One night, a pack of Empire-led Dragonmares invade the valley; they destroy much of the city and make for Orta's tower. However, before the Dragonmares can harm her, a mysterious Dragon appears and eliminates them.
Though the Dragon is severely injured in the blast, its wings badly torn and useless, it can still run. The Dragon carries Orta across a snowy land long into the night, where its wings regenerate. An Els-Enora, a graceful flying predator, attacks the pair, and Orta wounds it in self-defense. It finally begins to fly away, and Orta sees its children fly up to it. She expresses sorrow for her actions, but Abadd suddenly reappears and kills the Els-Enora and its children with a single laser volley. Orta is hurt by Abadd's emotionless deeds, but is compelled to follow him, as he claims to know information of her birth.
The trio descend into the ruins of a Tower, and from there gain access to the ancient information network known as Sestren. Deep within this network, Orta finds a hologram-like, left behind by her mother, revealed to be Azel from Panzer Dragoon Saga. She mentions that Orta is the child of a drone and a human, implying that Edge, Sagas protagonist, is her father. As the hologram ends, Abadd manifests himself inside the network. He has learnt Azel's secret of reproduction, and intends to use Orta's body to replicate himself infinitely, thereby ensuring that drones will be able to live forever. Orta manages to defeat Abadd's avatar and discovers that he is heading for the Cradle, a gigantic monolithic artifact of the Ancient Age suspended above the Imperial City. Orta orders Sestren that she be transported as close as possible to the cradle.
The Cradle becomes activated and Orta and the Dragon find themselves in an Imperial research facility. After destroying several experiments such as a captured Catharp (found in Episode 3), a room full of dragonmare embryos, and an improved assault carrier Vermana, the facility soon collapses. The pair escape only to encounter the new Emperor in an Imperial defense unit called the Burchusha. The Burchusha is destroyed and the Emperor dies within the explosion. The Cradle, which has been tied by wires break free destroying several Imperial ships and making the Dragonmares go berserk and attack the Empire fleet.
A fight erupts above the Imperial capital as the Dragon heads for the Cradle. The Wormriders, led by Mobo, attack the remnants of the Imperial fleet at the City, leaving Orta to fly towards the Cradle. After finishing off the last of the Dragonmares, the Dragon destroys the Cradle's outer shell. A metallic cocoon-like object emerges from the Cradle's core, and Abadd's voice can be heard from within it. The cocoon erupts into a fearsome dragon, which Orta defeats after a long and dangerous battle. Abadd and his dragon slowly vanish into nothingness as he repeatingly says "Orta...I...need...you." The dragon, severely wounded, flies slowly to the ground and collapses. Orta whispers to it in tears as the credits roll.
In a final post-credits scene, we learned that the Dragon has died, and the war has come to an end. However, the narration explains that the Dragon left behind an heir. The camera pans across a vast and lonely grassland. A baby dragon accompanies Orta as she silently walks toward a range of mountains in the distance, to an unknown destiny.
Bonus Features
Panzer Dragoon Orta has many unlockable bonus features which are opened after certain achievements within the game, such as beating it on a certain difficulty or with a clearing the game with a high shot-down ratio. These features are contained in "Pandora's BoxPandora's box
Pandora's box is an artifact in Greek mythology, taken from the myth of Pandora's creation around line 60 of Hesiod's Works and Days. The "box" was actually a large jar given to Pandora , which contained all the evils of the world. When Pandora opened the jar, all its contents except for one item...
", a feature returning from Panzer Dragoon II Zwei
Panzer Dragoon II Zwei
Panzer Dragoon II Zwei is a rail shooter released exclusively for the Sega Saturn, it was the second Panzer Dragoon game released but it is a prequel of the series. It was developed by Team Andromeda, one of Sega's internal development studios.-Synopsis:...
, and include a detailed encyclopedia
Encyclopedia
An encyclopedia is a type of reference work, a compendium holding a summary of information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge....
of the Panzer world, a bestiary
Bestiary
A bestiary, or Bestiarum vocabulum is a compendium of beasts. Bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals, birds and even rocks. The natural history and illustration of each beast was usually accompanied by a moral lesson...
of defeated enemies, an archive of concept art
Concept art
Concept art is a form of illustration where the main goal is to convey a visual representation of a design, idea, and/or mood for use in films, video games, animation, or comic books before it is put into the final product. Concept art is also referred to as visual development and/or concept design...
, extra bonus missions that expand the story of the main game, statistics tracking, a cutscene viewer (including movies from earlier Panzer Dragoon games
Panzer Dragoon (series)
Panzer Dragoon is a series of video games by Sega, created first by its internal Team Andromeda and later, the Smilebit development team. Aside from the RPG Panzer Dragoon Saga, the games are of the rail shooter genre...
), and even a complete port of the original Panzer Dragoon
Panzer Dragoon
is a rail shooter video game released for the Sega Saturn in 1995; and later released on PC, PlayStation 2, and as a bonus in its sequel Panzer Dragoon Orta for Xbox...
.
Orta's unlockables are also unique in that they are time-sensitive. Accumulating twenty hours of play time will unlock everything, regardless of other circumstances.
Iva's Story
Of particular interest is a detailed set of seven additional Episodes that chronicle the life of Iva Demilcol, a young Imperial boy whose father died in a battle with Orta's dragon shortly after a bitter argument with Iva over the morality of war. Iva is stricken with an unusual disease, and must take a strange pill each day to survive. He aims to find out more before all his pills are gone. Though he manages to make a few friends at the Empire's military academy, he becomes isolated once again when Orta's dragon shoots down his fleet, killing all of his friends. Iva himself only survives when he is rescued and revived by a group of Seekers. After proving himself worthy of the Seekers' trust, however, Iva learns that his father was involved with dragonmares, which shocks and angers him.Amulet
An amulet, similar to a talisman , is any object intended to bring good luck or protection to its owner.Potential amulets include gems, especially engraved gems, statues, coins, drawings, pendants, rings, plants and animals; even words said in certain occasions—for example: vade retro satana—, to...
that Iva wears around his neck, and identifies it as a letter container used by nomadic tribes. Opening it, Iva does indeed find a letter to him from his father, who tells Iva that he will be dead by the time he reads it.
Iva's father tells him that Iva carries in his body a virus
Virus
A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...
, when he innocently drank water from a poisoned well as an infant. Iva survived when his father made a medicine from the internal fluids of a bio-engineered creature. The medicine stopped the virus from spreading, but could not purge the disease completely, as the virus began to evolve into more resistant forms. Iva's father made medicines from more and more powerful creatures, but eventually there existed not a single creature from which a medicine could be made. This led him to join the people responsible for the dragonmares; the pills Iva took recently all came from one. He acknowledges that what he did was ultimately wrong, but he tells him that he continued to make the medicine so that he could be with him for that much longer. He tells him never to give up, that he has faith in him, and pleads Iva to forgive him.
The Seeker colony is suddenly attacked by dragonmares. Iva vows to destroy them all and bring the horrors of his father's work to an end. Iva finds the ancient weapon, shaped like a big drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
, and activates it just as the dragonmares come tearing into the chamber. A giant beam of light shoots skyward from the drum, repelling the dragonmares; Iva is surprised to find himself still alive. The device was not a weapon of mass destruction, but instead a sound generator meant to ward off bio-engineered creatures. The shaft of light makes a great pattern of colors in the sky, and the many soldiers of the Empire and the Seekers lay down their weapons for a moment in awe.
Iva is rescued by the Seekers, and sits quietly with Emil underneath the branches of a great tree. He acknowledges that while humans have a very despicable nature in their tendencies to fight and ultimately kill each other, he is moved that they were yet able to make something so beautiful. He feels tired, and knowing that he may never wake again, he calls out softly to his father before falling asleep, and expresses his gratitude for being able to know the many people that befriended him on his journey.
Soundtrack
The game's soundtrack was composed by Saori Kobayashi and Yutaka Minobe (whose previous work includes the soundtrack for the 2000 Dreamcast RPG, Skies of ArcadiaSkies of Arcadia
Skies of Arcadia, released in Japan as , is a console role-playing game developed by Overworks for the Dreamcast and published by Sega in 2000. Skies of Arcadia Legends, a port, was released for the GameCube in 2002. Legends was also in development for the PlayStation 2; however, the PS2 version...
). The ending song, Anu Orta Veniya ("When the Day Breaks"), was orchestrated by Hayato Matsuo
Hayato Matsuo
is a Japanese video game and anime composer, arranger and orchestrator. He has worked on titles such as Front Mission 3, Final Fantasy XII, the Shenmue series, and Magic Knight Rayearth. Inspired by his mother, a piano teacher, he graduated from the music composition department of Tokyo University...
and sung by Eri Itoh. Kobayashi, Matsuo and Itoh had previously worked for Panzer Dragoon Saga
Panzer Dragoon Saga
is a critically acclaimed role-playing video game released exclusively for the Sega Saturn in 1998. It was the third game released in the Panzer Dragoon series , and so far remains the only game in the series that is not a rail shooter...
soundtrack in the same position.
The U.S. soundtrack release for the game was published by Tokyopop
Tokyopop
Tokyopop, styled TOKYOPOP, and formerly known as Mixx, is a distributor, licensor, and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa, and Western manga-style works. The existing German publishing division produces German translations of licensed Japanese properties and original English-language manga, as well...
and includes bonus tracks from Panzer Dragoon, Panzer Dragoon Zwei, and Panzer Dragoon Saga. These tracks are not on the original Japanese soundtrack release, which was published by Marvelous Entertainment.
In the U.S. television commercial, the music was composed by Bones Domingo and his song "Violet".
Reception
Panzer Dragoon Orta was well-received by critics, attaining a score of 90% on both GameRankings and MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
called it "one of the best traditional video game shooting experiences ever made", and IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
's review called Orta a potent mix between "a solid storyline, stunning graphics, and great sound", declaring it "the best rail shooter of all time". Most of Ortas criticism was directed at the short length of the main single-player game, and its high level of difficulty even on the easiest settings. 1UP.com
1UP.com
1UP.com is a video game website owned by IGN Entertainment, a division of News Corporation. Previously, the site was owned by Ziff Davis before being sold to UGO Entertainment in 2009....
's review noted that "if you can beat it on normal difficulty, then consider yourself a true gamer," and that "it may turn off some with its difficulty".
Limited Edition Xbox
On December 19, 2002, a Panzer Dragoon Orta Special Edition Xbox was released in JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
to commemorate the release of Panzer Dragoon Orta on the Xbox. This quickly became the most sought-after Xbox to date. This Special Edition had a limited production of 999 units.
External links
- Panzer Dragoon Orta at GameRankings
- Panzer Dragoon Legacy