Future Sega Steam Port Suggestion #3: The DRAGON FORCE Series

[atlantean]

This entry will be regarding one of the greatest lesser-known gems in Sega's long line of amazing RPG properties: Dragon Force and Dragon Force 2. But first, a little back-history.

The Saturn is easily the most underrated console in the history of the videogame industry, and its handling was where Sega, who had reached their peak in the marketplace with the Genesis, began to lose their way. After a surprise early launch that left the system with no new games aside from a handful of launch titles to play for almost half a year...an unmitigated disaster of marketing...the world's first primarily polygon graphics-based console lost any advantage it might have had in beating Sony's new PlayStation to the market. Sadly, it would be far from the last gross mistake Sega would make with the Saturn and its library of fantastic games and particularly its RPGs and SRPGs...mistakes that would set the table for their eventual exit from making consoles. From a 3D Sonic project that never got to retail to falling-outs with some of their most valuable in-house development teams (Camelot for example), things just fell apart for the once-great company. Their amazing RPGs and the gamers who craved them got practically no respect; Shining Force III only saw the first of three Scenarios make it here, and the amazing 4-disc Panzer Dragoon Saga only printed 3,000 copies for the US market.

In fact, were it not for the efforts of the now sadly defunct localization developer Working Designs, the Saturn would likely never have earned its reputation among Western gamers as such an awesome system. Consider the list of titles made or licensed and manufactured by Sega in Japan which they didn't deem worthy to bring to the West themselves, which Working Designs allowed us to experience in our own language: Dragon Force, Shining Wisdom, Magic Knight RayEarth, Iron Storm (made by SystemSoft Alpha but distributed by Sega in Japan), and Albert Odyssey. Working Designs had been largely responsible for what success Sega's initial foray into disc-based media, the Sega CD had before that, having translated GameArts' LUNAR: The Silver Star, LUNAR 2: Eternal Blue, Vay, and Silpheed. Working Designs was actually well into developing LUNAR: Silver Star Story and ThunderForce V for the Saturn when there were some apparently heated disagreements between the two companies. The final straw, from what I've read, was when Sega slighted them by placing Working Designs' booth in an out-of-the-way, back corner of the E3 show floor, and the dagger was dealt to the Saturn's...and in large part Sega's...future; they abandoned support for the Saturn and instead translated those games for the rival PlayStation.

I took the time to recount all of this upfront in the hope that it will give current gamers some perspective on the inner workings of the gaming industry during the early to late 1990s, as well as to why Sega's empire crumbled so rapidly. At the time most of us who were fortunate enough to own a Saturn and experience all of those incredible games were just glad to see them localized; little did we know how deep the problems ran at Sega, or how little time there was to appreciate their contributions as a console maker. Now that they're no longer making and supporting consoles, the entire industry is lesser for it.

Ask most Saturn owners which title is their all-time favorite on the system and you'll likely hear one of two games mentioned: Shining Force III: Scenario 1 and Dragon Force. The latter's mixture or turn-based and RTS game mechanics with insane micromanagement have never been seen before or since. Its epic onscreen battles between armies of up to 100 units on each side filled the screen with sprite-based combat (while inferior to the PlayStation in terms of handling polygons, the Saturn could do sprite-based operations better).

For those who are unfamiliar with Dragon Force (and you SERIOUSLY should look up the game on YouTube or GameFAQs if that's the case to get up to speed), it is a rare Saturn game whose visuals actually haven't become dated, no doubt in part due to the fact the characters and armies were all sprite-based and oozing with character. I showed it to a friend who'd never seen it and he wouldn't play anything else until we'd completed one of the 30-40 hour campaigns. You basically pick one of eight selectable leaders (six are available in the initial playthrough) to raise armies, conquer the entire continent, and eventually stop an evil god from being resurrected.

Starting with a core of loyal generals, you begin expanding outward, defeating enemy generals and occasionally a rogue. Some generals, like a Dragon-man you find in a cave or a vampire you meet in a dark castle, are hidden or must be acquired by meeting certain criteria. Every so often the game pauses for an Audience where you reward your generals with additional units for their armies (keeping in mind that each general can only field one type of unit at a time), fortify your castles to increase the capacity of armies they can hold (very important for defending them), and interviewing prisoners. With each prisoner interview you offer them the opportunity to join your army as a new general, and though they may initially refuse, eventually most of them will do so. The thing is, as you move across the continent capturing territory, castles, and enemy generals, Audiences become longer and involve tons of micromanagement. You will acquire DOZENS UPON DOZENS of generals for your army, and each must have his/her army built up and maintained regularly. Fail to reward a rogue and he or she may leave your forces and you'll have to fight them all over again. Some generals are steadfastly loyal after swearing allegiance to you; others will betray you regardless of how well you treat them. Over time you'll develop an understanding of the personalities you're dealing with and how best to keep them happy.

Beating the other seven leaders unites the continent and brings about the game's final challenges as the dark god's greatest generals are unleashed and must be defeated. Some are literally invincible early on and all you can do is retreat your armies until you manage to satisfy the criteria to make them vulnerable.

The battles are Dragon Force's biggest draw. The opposing generals face each other across a large battlefield set in the environment you happen to be in (jungle, desert, inside a castle, etc.), their armies in front of them. Once the battle commences, you can issue simple orders to your troops to do things like take a defensive stance, move forward cautiously, throw caution to the wind and melee, defend your general, send a group around the opposing army's flank to attack the enemy general, and so on. As for the generals, they have special attacks which consume special move points (the number of points increases with a general's experience, allowing them to use special attacks more times). The special attacks range from waves of force thrown from your sword that carve through the enemy army and damage their general, to melee attacks against only the general to screen-filling magical attacks (typically used by Mages).

The units are varied and have an extended Rock/Paper/Scissors aspect that requires you to pay careful attention to your force's composition as well as that of the enemy army. Zombies are nasty against almost everything but Mages light them up. Samurai are roughly equivalent to Soldiers in having no big strengths or weaknesses, but they're the only unit type that can stand up to Dragons. Cavalry can cross a battlefield swiftly and trample footsoldiers. Archers are weak to just about everything else except Harpies, which they can mow down with their arrows. And so on. Watching up to 100 of your troops clash onscreen with up to 100 enemy units never gets old, and if things look bleak you can exercise the better part of valor and retreat.

Dragon Force 2 expanded upon the original with even more unit types (plus the ability for each general to field two types at once on the battlefield), but sadly it was never brought westward. There's an ongoing fan translation, but the project's sheer size is daunting and may never see completion. It's a sad shame that even the original Dragon Force has never seen enough exposure to get the audience it richly deserves, which is why I've written this post. Can't hurt to ask, right?

With EIGHT 30 to 40-hour campaigns and storylines that tell things from each leader's perspective (which gives a clearer picture of the machinations at work), a Steam port of Dragon Force and/or Dragon Force 2 would literally consume many gamers' lives. Its sprite-based graphics have aged surprisingly well and would need little or no tweaking to give it a broad appeal to modern gamers. This series is one of the greatest SRPG franchises ever, and also one that most Western gamers have yet to experience. Hopefully someday that will change.

[Ogami]

Sigh. I love both Dragon Force games but its something that has no chance in happening. Ever.
First the games are way to old to attract any reasoanable user base on steam. Both games are low resolution, pixealted and just OLD looking. Even the PS2 version of Dragon Force 1 that updated the artwork quite a bit looks terrible dated nowadays.
Also Dragon Force 2 would have to be completly translated, something which wasnt even worthwhile when it was new.
It would be absolutly stupidity from SEGAs point of view to invest large amount of money to translate such an old game.
People where bitc*ing about the pixelation in Valkyria Chronicles already, what do you think would most of them say to something like Dragon Force.

I know its tempting to name a lot of classic games that got overlooked in their time or never released in the west for SEGAs next Steam games release, but i think we have to be realistic.
SEGA wants to earn money with those games, not invest large amounts to even bring them here.

Most likey we will see ports of games from the 360/PS3 generation which can be easily ported and still appeal to a large demography on Steam. Games like Bayonetta, Vanquish, Resonance of Fate or the Yakuza series.

[atlantean]

Thanks for the responses, guys. While I share your beliefs from a logistics and practicality perspective, the reason I've been writing these posts is to hopefully let Sega know there are still fans here who remember their great RPG franchises very fondly as well as to give Steam users the opportunity to voice their own opinions and/or support for them as potential projects. There's no harm done by asking, and in marketing there's supposedly a "guideline" that a single person taking the time to express interest in a product equates to roughly 500 people who would buy it if it was made. And hey, right now Sega's interest has to be piqued since Valkyria Chronicles' Steam sales have absolutely blown away all their expectations; their ears may just be a bit more open to hearing the suggestions of fans right now.

And please keep in mind that whatever project we're referring to (Dragon Force, Shining Force, or whatever), it doesn't necessarily have to be a direct port or HD remake of an existing game; Sega could choose to create entirely new entries in the series that are specifically tailored to modern hardware. I'd buy an all-new Skies of Arcadia adventure, an all-new Shining Force, and on down the line, and many, many other gamers would as well.

If direct ports (speaking with regard to the visuals here) are ever made for Steam of Sega's long-lost Saturn titles, it might be cheaper and more practical for them to simply do them as a compilation as they have so many times with the Genesis. A relatively inexpensive compilation like that would likely sell like hotcakes as well as help to give Sega a barometer on fan interest in reviving certain properties. Saturn games were on CDs but many if not most never approached filling a CD's 600Mb capacity, so from a storage capacity/media standpoint it's very doable.

Again, there's no harm in asking. And if we remain silent, it's pretty much certain that nothing will ever happen anyway, so why not give it a shot, right?

[Smoker]

Dragon Force was my FAVORITE Sega Saturn game. Does the boss of working designs still have the master copy? I think he's still translating games to PSP under another company.

Also the Ages version of Dragon Force was higher res.

[atlantean]

@Smoker,

Last I heard Mr. Ireland was heading up Gaijinworks as their President. Their projects to date have been nowhere nearly as ambitious as Working Designs' were back in the day, but if you'd like to try contacting them you might check their website. Who knows, if he learns of the fan interest in Steam ports of those old Sega titles, he might be interested; it couldn't hurt to see anyway.

[[sMil3]]

I would sell my kidney for a new Shining Force/Panzer Dragoon Saga. I still play them on my Sega Saturn from times to times....
Unfortunately,we wont probably ever have Panzer Dragoon Saga again,since they lost the code -.-''

[Videogamer25]

Like a lot of folks, the Genesis is the only Sega console I was ever lucky enough to own, and it seems odd to me that unlike the Genesis, Sega hasn't tried releasing packs of games for the Saturn and/or Dreamcast. Provided that they have the necessary software on hand (if they don't already, quite a few pieces of software exist on PC for both systems that they could probably license/modify for cheap...I want to say that they actually did just that for Genesis packs on PC a long time ago, actually), all they have to do is decide what titles to include and release. With a release like that, they don't need to have the original source code, just the rights to the games they want to include.

Probably the biggest hurdle with the Saturn is that they'd have to secure licensing from whoever owns the rights to Working Designs back catalog (Gaijinworks, or maybe Monkey Paw?) to include Dragon Force and a number of the other gems in the library in one of these collections. Even without any special licensing agreements, we could at least see the fabled Panzer Dragoon Saga get a release this way...

[Paikia]

I love Dragon Force! I still have my Saturn just for that game. I'd really love to have it released on Steam, and Dragon Force 2 even more, assuming they ever translate it to english!

[[sMil3]]

Originally posted by Videogamer25:

Even without any special licensing agreements, we could at least see the fabled Panzer Dragoon Saga get a release this way...

They dont have the code,they would need to do a whole new game. And I dont see them doing that,unfortunately :/

[Viper]

Come get my money Sega

[Videogamer25]

Originally posted by コントロールを失う:

Originally posted by Videogamer25:

Even without any special licensing agreements, we could at least see the fabled Panzer Dragoon Saga get a release this way...

They dont have the code,they would need to do a whole new game. And I dont see them doing that,unfortunately :/

A lot of times (ie. with the various HD remakes on the PS3/360) that's the case, but Sega has the unique situation in this case of owning both the rights to the game AND the hardware. What this means is that they can write (if they don't already have it) a program that starts with an "e" (think the forum TOS said something about not mentioning it by name...) that pretends to be the Saturn hardware and then run the game's binary code (if they somehow don't have it on-hand I'm sure they can track down a copy of the Saturn discs...) through that. Generally these programs can do upscaling and post-processing to make the games look at least a little better than they did originally (ie. the image smoothing and resizing options in their Genesis packs), although they're not on par with a true HD-remake.

As I stated in my previous post, Sega has been doing this with the Genesis (I'd imagine they lost the code for half the games in all those Genesis packs a decade ago...) since the late '90's, and it seems odd to me that they wouldn't continue to "milk the cow" and do the same for the Saturn and Dreamcast (or maybe even the Master System). They'd have to secure licensing rights to games published by other companies to release them in this manner, but anything they internally developed and published like the Panzer Dragoon games are fair game at minimal cost to them (just develop the software to run the existing games on modern PCs and release a pack for a modest price).

This option wouldn't be as nice as a proper HD remake or sequel, but at least these classics would be available with at least a minor facelift and at a low price for both the diehard fans from back in the day and those that missed them at the time.

[Cap.Souza]

there guys, I'm very dragonforce fan, I have to this day the SEGA SATURN just because of a few games, including the dragon force, the STEAM launch, I buy now!

[Snardbuckett]

im not sure porting would be the way to go ... ide love to see a remake of these games honestly Nippon ichi Software could probably pull this off.

[OraOra]

I know this is an old post, but I don't think it should die out just yet!! I have a lot of high hopes for seeing this game on steam (might have to take it into my own hands if things get dire >:)... DF could definitely be marketed as an indie game (Hyper Light Drifter for example has similar graphics) for those who don't know much about it origins and if you were to update the Domestic Affairs menu to make it more user friendly (tabbed menus vs. whole new screens opening up :P), update the graphics just a bit to make it less..... pixely (for lack of a better term (basically just clean up portrait artwork and refine edge work)) and work on the unit pathing just a bit, it could be a phenomenal game.. I personally think it's already one of the best strategy games I've ever played. I wouldn't add a bunch of tutorials or anything like that... (part of what made it fun was figuring all the stuff out (advantages, disadvantages, etc.) but basic tips and descriptions on abilities and formations would've been nice starting out. (E.G. Don't forget to search your castles... I hope most if not all players could probably figure it out from there). I don't know I hope this reaches someones ears :(

P.S. In case anyone was wondering I do have a ROM which is DF 2 in english, so it is out there (I got it from a friend of mine). most of you prob already know that but WTH... :D

[KirbyJayN]

DF and the SF games are my favorite rpgs of all time.

[[sMil3]]

Originally posted by atlantean:

Ask most Saturn owners which title is their all-time favorite on the system and you'll likely hear one of two games mentioned: Shining Force III: Scenario 1 and Dragon Force.

Lies. Shining Force 3 and Panzer Dragoon Saga were my favourites :p.

Also, honorable mention to Guardian Heroes.