Panzer Dragoon Orta
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| Panzer Dragoon Orta | |
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| Developer(s) | Smilebit |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Platform(s) | Xbox |
| Release date | JPN December 19, 2002 USA January 14, 2003 PAL April 21, 2003 |
| Genre(s) | Rail shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen (T) |
| Media | 1 DVD |
Panzer Dragoon Orta is an Xbox video game developed by Smilebit. It is the sequel to the Panzer Dragoon game series for the Sega Saturn, and is the fourth game in the series.
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[edit] Game info
[edit] Developer
Panzer Dragoon Orta is the only Panzer Dragoon game to be developed by another company than Team Andromeda. Smilebit, an internal development team at Sega (their previous games include Jet Grind Radio for the Dreamcast and GunValkyrie for the Xbox) created the game. However, Smilebit included several former members of Team Andromeda, which was also one of Sega's internal developers. In the credits a special thanks is dedicated to "Team Andromeda".
On July 1, 2004, Smilebit merged with Sega.
[edit] Compatibility
Panzer Dragoon Orta was developed and released for the Xbox console. A backwards compatibility update released on April 19, 2007 allows this game to be played on the Xbox 360. Since the release of the update 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 level. No fix to this problem has been made available in two subsequent backwards compatibility updates.
[edit] Plot summary
The main story of Panzer Dragoon Orta takes place several decades after the events of Panzer Dragoon Saga, and is told through ten Episodes. The evil Empire has risen to power again, and has utilized technology from the Ancient Age to create genetically-engineered dragons, Dragonmares, that they may rule once again with an iron fist. The Dragonmares cause widespread chaos and terror, separating the nations and people governed by the Empire.
In a mountainous city near Yelico Valley, we discover that a young girl, Orta, has lived all her life in a tall tower, as a prisoner to a society known only as the Seekers, who fear that she is perhaps a harbinger of their doom. Orta lives alone, having no knowledge of who she is, where she came from, or even who her real parents are. But one fateful night, the Empire and the Dragonmares come tearing through the valley, destroying anything - and anyone - that gets in their way. They make for Orta's tower, and break through the walls. As the Dragonmares are about to kill her, the Legendary Dragon of Destruction appears, quickly dispatches Orta's foes with its Arrows of Light, and rescues the frightened girl.
[edit] 1: City in the Storm
Orta quickly flees the Valley, riding on the Dragon's back. Much of the town has been (or is being) destroyed by the Empire. Evren, a general in the Imperial Army and leader of a Dragonmare Squadron, follows Orta, but eventually loses her amidst the heavy rain. The Empire sends swarms of small airships towards Orta, but she shoots them down with the help of the Dragon's homing Arrows of Light. The two fly through an underground sewer system to try and lose its numerous pursuers, but once the pair reemerges at ground level, they are attacked by an assault carrier, named Vermana - this gunship is the first "boss" of the game. Orta's Dragon damages the ship to the point at which it cannot fly, and makes her escape once again. She is quickly found, this time by a squadron of Dragonmares. Just as quickly, however, they are shot down by Abadd, a mysterious figure riding an imposing Dragon mount. He flies into the darkness, and Orta calls out to the Dragon to pursue him.
[edit] 2: Altered Genos
The next morning, Orta and her Dragon fly through a breathtaking river valley, trying to find where Abadd went. Orta meets Mobo, a member of the Wormriders. They are hunting a Yondo Worm - a gargantuan creature leaping in and out of the water. Orta reluctantly decides to help Mobo; in doing so, she is ambushed by a pair of the colossal creatures. She manages to defeat them both with the Dragon's help, but is now separated from Mobo. The dragon flies through a cliffside tunnel, where Orta must fight off the area's natural manta-like predators. The Dragon soon flies away from the cliff, presumably having spotted Mobo once again. He has gotten himself into trouble, again: he is now hunting an even more dangerous and bizarre creature: an Ikrakav. Orta manages to defeat the creature by exploiting a weakness in its back. Mobo, however, notices the similarities between the Dragon and a Dragonmare, and falsely believes Orta's mount to be Imperial. He accuses her of being involved with the Empire's schemes, and the episode abruptly ends.
[edit] 3: The Fallen Ground
Orta's dragon now flies through a gray field of ash, and is quickly attacked by Mobo. After being defeated easily, he realizes that Orta is not in fact an instrument of the Empire, and allies with her once more. The two fly through the mysterious plains and its many caverns. Mobo seems to know a great deal about the area, mentioning it was one the site of a great battle that happened many years ago, in ancient times. They soon run across one ancient weapon of the war that is still functioning - it is called a Catharp, a strange, skeleton-like, quadrupedal machine that stampedes over the battle site firing projectiles at anything flying close to it. After defeating the bizarre machine, Mobo takes Orta to the village of the Wormriders. Their village is on the dorsal side of a Lathum, a gigantic hovering creature.
[edit] 4: Gigantic Fleet
Peace and quiet is short-lived, however: the Empire attacks the villages with an enormous airship fleet. Orta and the Wormriders take action and battle right through the fleet, amongst blazing machine guns and many volleys of missiles. They come to the Empire's mothership, a vessel at least a few miles in length, and Mobo is shot down in the ensuing fight. Orta flies along the side of the gigantic ship, dodging cannon fire and destroying the airships that come at her. The Dragon eventually blasts a hole through a section of the ship and flies inside, making its way to the very top of the ship. After defeating a gigantic guardian statue at the end of the ship, Orta is once again pursued by Evren's Dragonmare Squadron; she must now finish them off for good. Evren dies, but her Dragonmare mount erupts in a huge explosion, sending Orta and her Dragon falling into the snowy fields far below.
[edit] 5: Eternal Glacies
The Dragon is severely hurt - its wings are badly torn and useless - but it can still run, and with amazing speed. The Dragon carries Orta across the frozen plains, fending off the bizarre creatures that inhabit the wilds. At nightfall, the dragon crosses a huge stone bridge over the sea, but it is ambushed by an Els-Enora, a graceful flying creature. The dragon dodges the endless streams of projectiles the creature fires at it. The Els-Enora destroys a large section of the bridge ahead, hoping to quickly end the fight, but the Dragon's wings fully regenerate just in time. The rest of the battle takes place in the air, and Orta nearly kills the great beast, when it retreats. Orta sees smaller creatures fly up beside it and realizes that the creature has a family. Orta expresses sorrow at the creature, but just then Abadd appears, killing it and its entire family with a volley of lasers. Orta is shocked and angered, but Abadd claims it was simply to ease the family's suffering. Orta reluctantly follows Abadd once again, into a large tunnel ringed by mountains.
[edit] 6: Legacy
Orta enters the colossal tunnel system but is quickly ambushed by a gigantic machine: an Atish (it is worth noting that this stage is unique in that it begins with the boss battle, then proceeds to the rest of the stage as normal). After destroying the tunneling machine, she follows Abadd through a network of smaller tunnels, each with its own bizarre defense mechanism: some tunnels quickly collapse, others have rapidly closing doors, and still others have bizarre electrode-like creatures that fire bursts of energy at intruders. All the while, Abadd encourages her to follow, saying that Orta is coming to a place that contains the entire recorded history of the world, and that she will find out a great deal about herself. Abadd flies away, and Orta flies deeper into the ancient tunnels, clearing more highly advanced levels of security and opening clearance gates. She comes to an empty tunnel, and is greeted by a voice in Panzerese: "Welcome home, Master."
[edit] 7: Forbidden Memories
The next level takes place inside an advanced computer, with an organic yet skeletal tunnel system and a distorted, liquid-like background. Orta fights various scanning mechanisms and is transported through several memory cells, defending herself against bizarre, computerized worm-like creatures. Eventually the Dragon manages to find its way to a huge hallway-like structure, where Orta is shown a holographic recording of her mother: Azel from Panzer Dragoon Saga. Azel tells Orta that she, Orta, was created using DNA from Azel and Edge (the protagonist of Panzer Dragoon Saga). Orta fights an odd computerized rendition of Abadd - it is unclear whether this is Abadd using the entity as a forms of communication, or if the thing is actually Abadd himself. After "defeating" the entity, Orta is transported back into the physical world - into the sublevels of the main city of the Imperial Army.
[edit] 8: Imperial City
The Imperials are horrified at the sudden appearance of the Dragon in the interiors of their City, and order every possible mechanism capable of defending itself to do so. Orta fights off cargo trains, gunships, and even a large amount of Dragonmare Embryos before a rematch with the docked Vermana Assault Carrier. After wrecking the ship a second time, Orta flies upward, destroying any Imperial she sees. The Dragon flies higher and higher, dodging massive amounts of falling debris from the damage she caused, and through closing blast doors. She comes to the very top of the city - a huge, hollow dome ringed with massive spires. Here she fights the Imperial Defense Unit, Bacharsuha - a very formidable mechanized machine with numerous limbs, cannons, guns, and missile launchers. Orta destroys the ship by taking advantage of three small weak spots at the top of the ship. She has no time to waste, however - the Empire has launched the Cradle, a strange structure from which the Dragonmares are birthed. Orta quickly finds Mobo - he is alive, and is leading a great battle against the Empire.
[edit] 9: Showdown
Orta fights through the ensuing battle, pursuing the Cradle as it soars through the warped skies. She is attacked by a squadron of ten Dragonmares - twice the size of Evren's squad. After emerging victorious from the fight, Orta arrives at the Cradle; it erupts, and from its center comes Abadd...
[edit] 10: The End of Destiny
A final fight in the post-apocalyptic heavens with Abadd, in three stages. The first stage is a shell surrounding a cocoon-like egg, shooting beams of green energy. Orta must shoot off the spikes and damage the "cocoon" to proceed. After this, the cocoon explodes, and Abadd emerges atop an even bigger dragon than the one Orta followed earlier. As this form accumulates damage, the wings fall off, leading to stage three - a wingless, serpent-like dragon capable of shooting deadly Arrows of Light. These lasers have been the subject of question from many who have played the game, because the attack is seemingly impossible to dodge. The way to counter the attack is to target the maximum number of spots on the dragon's tail as is possible, then firing the Dragon's homing Arrows of Light - the lasers will then meet each other in the air and explode.
Defeating the final form leads to a cutscene - Abadd materializes into a shower of particles, with his last words, "I...need...you...", echoing into nothingness. Orta's dragon slowly flies to the ground, dead. Orta is in grief over its death and then the credits roll. Not all is lost, however; after the credits, Orta is seen walking through a grassy field - alongside her is a baby dragon.
[edit] Soundtrack
The game's soundtrack was composed primarily by Saori Kobayashi with a few tracks by Yutaka Minobe (who also co-composed the soundtrack for the 2000 Dreamcast game, Skies of Arcadia). The ending song, Anu Orta Veniya, 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, published by Tokyopop with a catalog number of TPCD 0221-2, also includes bonus tracks from Panzer Dragoon (composer: Yoshitaka Azuma), Panzer Dragoon Zwei (composer: Yayoi Wachi), and Panzer Dragoon Saga (ending song, Sona mi areru ec sancitu). These tracks are not on the original Japanese soundtrack release, which was published by Marvelous Entertainment with a catalog number of MJCG-80116.
In the U.S. television commercial, the music was composed by Bones Domingo and his song "Violet".
[edit] 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. These features include:
- A detailed backstory of Orta and of the Panzer world in general
- An Encyclopedia containing 3D models and detailed descriptions of all of the game's creatures and machines, friend and foe alike
- Artwork and Concept Imagery
- A handful of "Sub-Scenario" missions that test the player's skill
- An extra series of missions set during the course of the game but told from the eyes of Iva Demilcol, the son of an officer of the Imperial Army
- Detailed statistics tracking, tallying your total play time, accuracy, and a one-word description of your "play style"
- "Box Game" mode, which allows the player to replay any level with whatever parameters he or she chooses (e.g. invincibility, playing dragon mounts from past games, etc.)
- A port of the original Panzer Dragoon
- Cinematics from past installments of the Panzer Dragoon series
Additional Note: All bonuses are unlocked after twenty hours of gameplay. This was often exploited by players who found that if they selected Sub-Scenario 3 ("Enemy Attack") and left it running, the game would loop and eventually accumulate the needed time.
[edit] Limited Edition Xbox
- See also: Xbox special limited editions
On December 19, 2002, a Panzer Dragoon Orta Special Edition Xbox was released in Japan 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.
[edit] External links
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