In 1996 Sega Released Dragon Force, a unique anime styled Strategy RPG wargame hybrid to critical acclaim. Dan the Mega Driver looks back on the game that could be consider the Soul of the Sega Saturn.
This game was the whole reason I begged my mom for a Sega Saturn back in 1996. I remember having an army as Fandaria with each general having 100-200 wins and less than 10 losses across the whole country (I only used the top 12 generals and just kept recycling captives). The boss music was my cell phone ringtone for years(heard here against Gaul @ 13:45). Thank you so much for taking the time to share this with everyone!
really enjoyed that dude - i can see how it'd get its hooks into you and must give it a proper go. think back in the day i didn't think i'd fancy it - but you really don't get a sense of it til you see it moving and that nutcase level of sprites in action and the magazines couldn't quite pull that off... cheers for a cracking vid!
There is a small community for this game on discord that is somewhat active to this day (with someone using their free time to try and "rebuild" the game on PC with a few new things). There is always some conversations in regards to the game, there are speedrunners (hello :) ) but most importantly, there is so much love for this game. It deserves all the exposure it can get and it is a brilliant masterpiece that deserves to be played. Its own backstory, the game's troubled development, how it ended up being finished, how Working Designs westernized (as in, localized by removing all Japanese references and jokes and replaced them with many American popculture and obscure references instead) the game for people outside of Japan... all these things are so good to talk about and it legitimately makes makes me so happy to see this being talked about. Thank you so very much for making this video public.
Nice review Dan. I was working in another video game store in 2002 when this game was traded in by someone. I'd always wanted it after seeing it in my Saturn magazines and I think the guy saw my eyes light as he questioned if it was worth more than the £15 the till system offered. At that time it probably wasnt worth much more, but I played it cool, he traded it in for £15 and I got it on staff discount for £13 heh. Wasn't quite my Saturn swansong back then, but after playing it, it became a another Saturn classic for me. Fortunately I still owe that same copy. Good times.
I've played it for a little.bit but not fully sat down with it yet. Watching this has made me want to really sit down with it as it is an excellent game. Great vid Dan!
To be fair, Dragon Force 2 wasn't anywhere near as good as the first game. Graphics, art style, gameplay and (arguably) story were all a step down from the first
if you used the mages or archers, had then on standby, and tried to use special moves that prevented the enemies from attacking.. your ranged attackers would wipe out the enemies easily
Still have and play my copy, and I would say that Shining Force III, Dragon Force, Guardian Heroes, and Panzer Dragoon Saga would be the soul of the SS (though at least one of these did get a newer release GH on 360)
I think the Soul of the Saturn is Panzer Dragoon Saga. Overly ambitious. Over acheived. Perfectly executed. Under appreciated. Sold poorly. Development struggles. Competed against the top dog and did everything it's chosen rival did, and even though everyone thinks its rival is better, it actually did it better. That explains both the Saturn, and Panzer Dragoon Saga.
I played Dragon Force on the Saturn back in 1997-1998 and had a blast with it, it's unique battle system, appealing visuals and open ended structure are highlights and its sequel is even better. That said, I think we should clarify a few things that are both technicalities and gameplay-wise. It's true that there are many sprites in the battles, but even the PS1/N64 could easily replicate it with minor or no performance hiccups. This is due to the sprites being clones of one another, so there's actually 4 unique characters, being the leaders and one of each type of monster/soldier in the field. This helps tremendously since the RAM won't be taxed and actually the CPU will have to handle most of what's happening, and remember the PS1 CPU is a single chip, but it's faster than a single SH-2. Gameplay-wise, once the player realizes the best monster/position (which is basically being idle waiting for the enemies to come at you), there's little excitement to experience and/or starting the game with other factions/nations. I do recommend the PS2 SEGA Ages release, because it's faithful to the original but has better resolution for reading the text and much better artwork/soundtrack, though it's only in Japanese so far and I recommend setting the filtering to nearest to get rid of the forced bilinear filtering. Dragon Force II, on the other hand is much more impressive technically. Still, I'll leave a recommendation for this PS1 game that mixes both the Shining Force and Dragon Force formulas, Brigandine (I recommend the upgraded Grand Edition), you have a similar structure from DF to conquer the continent with a chosen faction, but its battles are tactical, much like Shining Force, you choose three leaders that control beasts in the battlefield.
Marmite Force. Love it or hate it. I understand why the game suits the Saturn like a glove, but personally, I can't touch the thing because of the confrontational subject matter. Fortunately, there are other games that showcase where the Saturn shines : Puyo Puyo Sun, Bust-A-Move 3, Magic Knight Rayearth, Batsugun, Grandia, Rayman and even Virtua Fighter 2.
What's so confrontational about the subject matter? It's a bland fantasy setting. Great game but there's nothing special about the setting or subject. Tactics Ogre games have full blown governments & political systems that carry the plot. I could understand that being confrontational due to how realistic the writing is, but for Dragon Force? What is there to be offended by?
Agree. This is the best game of the 90's. Just think if this game had online netlink capabilities. With the right marketing and support this would have been a beast that will have several sequels built from instead of one sequel. Working Designs knew what they had with this one and they did an honorable service to bring it out west, too bad they were a niche brand that could have used Sega support for promotion. Another hidden gem that needs to shine.
I think it's the first Saturn game I sought out because of how attention-catching it was, so it probably is the soul of the Saturn, at least for RPG fans. It was a great game for sure and by comparison Shining Force 3 never had the fanfare of Shining Force 2 (I got far into Shining Force 3 but dropped it; I mostly liked it though and would like to go back and finish it as well as try out the other two episodes) and Panzer Dragoon Saga always seemed too mythical and out of reach in terms of price and availability. I will say though that personally, my favorite Saturn game is probably Shining the Holy Ark. I just didn't expect to like it as much as I did and it does so many little things to feel more immersive and dynamic than most first person dungeon crawlers (the fairy helpers, the extra animations for different crit levels, the different ways that enemies make their appearance, etc.). It also has great music from legend Motoi Sakuraba and an art style that is charming without being too cutesy.
The best RPG real time action tactics to date. To me Final Fantasy Tactic is childplay compare to Dragon Force. If this game were to be on Modern systems, I would buy it again.
😂 Well some might say Wein as the cover star, Leon could do a good job, Tieris with her Sega blue hair, Junon with her Sega black armour. I'd go with Gongos myself, erratic, unpredictable but passionate and lovable, that's your Sega cover star!
@@SEGAGuys Wein is the main character, this is easy to understand since in the final battle each member of the force has a designated rival (like Junon & Leon vs Scythe), when you take someone else as leader, Wein simply switches his place against Madruk with the chosen leader (eg: Junon vs Madruk => Wein & Leon vs Scythe). But as i see it, the true mascot of the game would be Harsgalt, The game name refer to him after all... Yoh, who would prefere Astea and might not be the only since she was on one of the disc.
