Andromeda have squared the circle of strategy and action with Panzer
 Saga. It couldn't be anticipated just how well the dragon scenario 
converts to the genre, especially as the visual depiction is so close 
to the shoot 'em ups. Saga has a better developed battle structure 
than Final Fantasy VII, certainly more dynamic, with hardly any 
between-turn waiting. Some of the town scene graphics look a bit rough 
next to FF7, but the airborne confrontations more than compensate. 
Although on rival systems, both titles should be seen on a par.

Two previous Panzer Dragoon games graced the Saturn. Exquisitely 
realised shoot 'em ups, and effective counterblasts against the 
propaganda that scorned the machine's ability to produce stunning 
graphics, their weakness was depth. Panzer Dragoon Saga turns this on 
its head with an RPG that is every bit as visual as its precursors, 
but of epic proportions.  Set in some age after the first two 
adventures, you play Edge, a young 'seeker' of ancient artefacts. 
These powerful objects are also sought by the oppressive empire, and 
by a renegade warlord seeking to overthrow it. Dragged into the 
conflict, Edge is befriended by a dragon, who are a feared, revered 
and persecuted for their mystical status. Four discs of adventure 
await them both.

The core of any good battle RPG is a combat system. 'Saga's is 
intuitive and easy to grasp, but flexible and tactical enough not to 
become tedious. Thankfully so, as encountering monsters is such a 
large part of the game. One novelty is your ability to revolve your 
position around the fight in realtime, taking advantages of weak 
points. The dragon begins to learn all kinds of berserker attacks that 
provide the eye candy later in the game. The huge adversaries and 
exotic locations are often awesome, and the engaging story binds the 
episodic gameplay together tightly.

90%+ of all graphics are generated realtime from polygons, exploited 
in the battles by the most dynamic camera system used in an RPG to 
date. This also holds true for the ground-based sequences, where Edge 
indulges in the traditional shopping and inn-visiting pursuits common 
to many adventures.