Panzer Dragoon Phanta
Panzer Dragoon Phanta is the sequel to 2008's Panzer Dragoon Zeta, developed exclusively for the Apple iTwin. While the game's plot itself has nothing to do with the plot of Zeta (with a couple of exceptions that tie the worlds of the two games together somewhat), the gameplay, a mix of JRPG mechanics and rail shooter action, is nearly identical to that of Zeta. The protagonist is a young man named Spir who inhabits a world where the boundaries between life and death have broken down. Ghosts have begun invading the world, waging war on the living, and Spir and his ghostly dragon Phanta must purify the world and re-establish the balance between the world of the dead and the world of the living. Like its predecessors, Panzer Dragoon Phanta is a rail-shooter first and foremost, in which the player patrols the skies on their dragon, shooting projectiles at various enemies with a variety of different weapons and techniques. Much like Zeta, the player can gain experience points and treasure for killing enemies, with both Spir and Phanta able to gain levels and increase their statistical parameters. Unlike Zeta, Spir does not have a partner in battle. He must fight alone, but is able to assist Phanta in combat, attacking with his own weapons while also commanding Phanta to attack enemies as well. Spir has his own separate life meter, and when he rises to attack an enemy, they can damage him, though when Spir is safely shrouded within Phanta's shield, his health points are safe (for the most part). If either Spir or Phanta have their life points depleted, it's a game over. The barrier between the living and the dead is a major part of the game's combat mechanics, with attacks capable of harming either the living or the dead, but not both, making the game function somewhat like Ikaruga in that the player can freely switch their attacks to utilize either Life Energy (which harms the dead) or Death Energy (which harms the living). Both Life and Death have their own separate equipment and techniques, so in a way, the player is gaining stats and stockpiling equipment for four different party members: Spir/Life, Spir/Death, Phanta/Life, and Phanta/Death. The world of Panzer Dragoon Phanta is much less technologically advanced than the world of Zeta, with the environs and landmarks somewhat resembling those of 19th century Japan. There are some ancient ruins that suggest a technological past, but for the most part, the world consists of pre-industrial technology with a few small exceptions here and there. Even though Spir fights alone, he does meet quite a few allies along the way, including a physically powerful old man with a tragic past, a ghostly but beautiful young woman who might hold the key to Spir's true identity, and an energetic and somewhat brash young man who has made a career out of killing ghosts but seems to get into trouble more often than not. Panzer Dragoon Phanta has a similar story structure to Zeta, with a total of 18 main missions and 14 "major" side missions, along with around 100 minor side missions. The main storyline of Phanta isn't quite as epic or as lengthy as that of Zeta, but the game world is bigger and there are a lot more side quests that can be performed, making for a larger game overall if players are willing to go off the beaten path. Panzer Dragoon Phanta features improved graphics over Zeta, with marginal gameplay improvements mostly related to quality of life issues and not necessarily a major evolution in gameplay itself. Saori Kobayashi returns as the game's composer, with a more subdued, melancholy musical score than that of Panzer Dragoon Zeta, owing to the game's more intimate scale and its storyline and world, which heavily deal in life, death, and the afterlife. The game's English dub is once again performed by a number of talented actors, with Christopher Daniel Barnes as the voice of Spir.
The game's first few missions are fairly straightforward, with Spir and Phanta hunting down increasingly dangerous ghost creatures, as the player learns about the nature of life and death in this mysterious world. The afterlife seems to be leaking into the world of the living, and so death is rarely permanent, with ghosts coming back to haunt and attack the living, though some ghosts can live side by side with the living. It's speculated that some kind of ancient being is claiming the souls of the dead, picking and choosing which ones it keeps for itself and which one it sends back, and the open rift between the living and the dead is allowing this being to take control. Mission 6 reveals that Spir might in fact be dead and that his dragon, which was previously believed to be a ghost, might actually be alive and also might be the key to closing up the rift. Spir makes it his new mission to find this rift, but it won't be easy, as a powerful warlord who himself is dead is attempting to stop Spir from completing his mission in order to keep from being sent back (partially because he fears that Hell awaits him when he is permanently killed, and partially because he believes that his lost love is still somewhere in the world waiting for him). The warlord, whose name is Nekuma, becomes the game's primary antagonist, and launches a powerful ghostly invasion of the living world, hoping to claim as many souls as he can for himself. Meanwhile, Spir finds himself caught between his worldly conflict with Nekuma and his attempt to find the ancient being controlling the souls of many of the dead. He believes that this being is the one who tore open the rift and who seeks to rule both the living and the dead. He's able to hunt down a spiritual avatar of this being, a woman named Yamiko, a woman who, like Spir, is trapped between the world of the dead and the world of the living. As Yamiko tries to aid Spir in finding the ancient being that her soul is bound to, Nekuma's armies continue their campaign. As Nekuma kills more and more people, more chaos is sewn across the land, with some souls coming to rest, other souls joining Nekuma's army, others being claimed by the ancient being, and a few remaining free to roam the planet, becoming either monsters or human ghosts, depending on their willpower and state of mind at the time of their death. Though Spir opposes Nekuma's armies, the two rarely clash on the battlefield personally, and when they do, Nekuma always spares Spir. At the same time, Yamiko never allows herself to come into contact with Nekuma. Eventually, in a late-game mission, there are numerous revelations: Yamiko is Nekuma's mysterious lost love, and the two are revealed to be Spir's parents. Spir himself is actually "alive", in a sense: he's not a ghost and he's not dead, but the ancient being, known as The Arbitrage, has a claim on Spir's soul. The only reason the Arbitrage has been unable to take Spir for himself is that Phanta, a dragon that once belonged to the Arbitrage, gave up his own life to protect Spir's soul, and is now spiritually bound to him. Spir was conceived at the moment of Nekuma's death via assassination, and in his dying moments, Yamiko gave up her soul to try and save him, an action that tore open the rift that allowed the Arbitrage to come into the world and allowed the barrier between life and death to weaken. Spir learns that he is able to restore this barrier, but in doing so, must give up the lives of his mother and his dragon and must also give up his soul and that of his father. However, if Nekuma provides enough souls to satisfy Yamiko's debt, he can save both the lives and souls of Yamiko and Spir, while giving up his own soul. Mission 17 culminates in a grand battle in which Spir and Nekuma battle. Spir defeats his father, but refuses to let the Arbitrage claim his father's soul. He tries to stand up to the Arbitrage, only for himself and his mother to have their souls taken into the Realm of Death, along with Phanta. Mission 18 begins with a scene in which Spir encounters a mysterious stranger in the Realm of Death, a beautiful young woman who turns out to be Lenexa (from Panzer Dragoon Zeta). It's revealed that while there are many different universes for the living, the dead of all universes end up in the same place (which explains the small connections to Zeta found within the game). Lenexa helps Spir to reunite with Phanta, then tells him that the Realm of Death used to be much more pleasant until the Arbitrage corrupted it, and that once the imbalance between life and death is fixed, the souls of the dead will be able to move on, even those who have committed unforgivable acts. Lenexa holds the line against the corrupted forces of the Arbitrage to give Spir and Phanta time to escape, and they fly through the Realm of Death to free Yamiko's soul just as Nekuma arrives to try and free it as well. Yamiko is able to use her life spirit to protect Nekuma from having his soul torn apart by the Arbitrage, freeing Spir and Phanta to do battle with it themselves. They must battle their way through endless armies of dead and corrupted souls to reach the Arbitrage itself, and after defeating it, the barrier between the realms of the living and the dead is re-established. Yamiko and Nekuma's souls are able to move on (and they're shown floating past Lenexa's soul as well). Spir, who is not technically dead, must say goodbye to Phanta, and is then able to pass through the barrier just as it closes, re-emerging in the realm of the living. However, as a consequence of spending so much time in the Realm of Death, he loses his memories. He wanders for a bit before being found by a familiar face, a woman who Spir helped earlier in the game. Spir doesn't remember her, but feels warmth as she guides him back to her village to begin his second life.
Panzer Dragoon Phanta is released on March 20, 2012, nearly four years to the day after the release of Zeta. The game is quite well received by critics, averaging in the high 8s/low 9s, though it's not seen as being quite as revolutionary or as memorable as Zeta. It does generally do better in reviews than the slightly disappointing Dragonwar, and achieves stronger sales overall (though this is only when North American AND Japanese sales are taken into account, as Phanta does somewhat worse than Dragonwar in North America alone). Phanta helps to establish Panzer Dragoon as one of the premier franchises in Apple's lineup, and also solidifies the series' formula as a mix of rail shooting and RPG-like gameplay, though the original "rail shooter only" format may continue to be seen in spinoff titles. Seen as one of Apple's most important games of 2012 (and one of the last great iTwin games before the iTwin's successor is revealed), Panzer Dragoon Phanta isn't quite a mainstream hit, but it definitely pleases the fans, and like fellow March 2012 dragon title Dragonwar, pushes the iTwin close to its technical limits.
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Fresh off the success of Panzer Dragoon Phanta, the latest game in Apple's hit shooter/RPG series which has already sold half a million copies in Japan, series creator Yukio Futatsugi says that he's hard at work on "at least two" future Panzer Dragoon projects. With one of these games expected to be a next-generation follow up to Phanta, rumors swirling around the other game are centered on two potentially groundbreaking ideas. The first of these ideas centers around a remake/reboot of the original Panzer Dragoon, a rail-shooter focused game built around next generation technology that could take full advantage of Apple's new "Virtua" motion control system to allow the player to put themselves in the mind and body of a flying dragon. That sounds interesting, but the other idea could be even more revolutionary: a fully online Panzer Dragoon MMORPG. Such a game would serve as a companion to Apple's wildly popular Phantasy Star Online series and could feature an even bigger, more epic world in which players roam the skies in massive dragon swarms, battling truly enormous foes.
Speaking of Apple's next generation online plans, it's almost certain that Apple will soon reveal Phantasy Star Online 3, expected to be a flagship game for the iTwin's successor. Phantasy Star Online 2 was a hugely successful launch title for the original iTwin and still has the largest player base of any console MMORPG, with total sales of more than three million copies. Apple is expected to change the formula for their next MMORPG, perhaps making the game more of an open world experience. Phantasy Star Online 2 allows players to roam the galaxy and travel from planet to planet, but the game's environments are fairly cramped when compared with those of other games in its genre. With the expected capabilities of the new Apple console, Phantasy Star Online 3 may well open up these enormous worlds to create environments rivaling those of games such as World Of Warcraft or Final Fantasy Online.
Apple has yet to reveal more details about its expected MMO collaboration with Capcom, which seems to have stalled since being announced nearly two years ago. The game is still expected to be a massively multiplayer online experience featuring cutting edge graphics and gameplay, and while it's still expected to be a launch title for Apple's next generation console, it also wouldn't be surprising to see another delay for the game, which has experienced several delays already. RPGs are expected to be a major focus of Apple's strategy going forward, particularly with its next generation console. While some of these games will feature online gameplay, a number of sprawling, single-player epics have also been hinted at, including the next Phantasy Star game, the ninth in the series. It's also rumored that Apple may revive the old Shining Force series, and is also looking to collaborate with Game Arts on an old-school RPG intended to call back memories of the old Lunar games.
The one RPG connection Apple hasn't been able to make has been with Squaresoft, which continues to produce titles exclusively for Nintendo consoles. Though there's been rumors that Squaresoft may work with Google on games for its upcoming Nexus console, no similar news concerning ports of Final Fantasy titles to the iTwin or its next generation successor has been announced. While nothing official has come to light, sources close to Squaresoft say that a combination of "creative differences" and misgivings about the iTwin's technical capabilities scuttled the idea of a Final Fantasy XII iTwin port. With the iTwin successor expected to be somewhat closer to its rivals in terms of power, these misgivings may become a thing of the past, which leaves the question of why Squaresoft continues to avoid producing titles for Apple's consoles despite the iTwin's success in Japan (and the recent success of the Gemini as well). Perhaps if the news about Squaresoft producing games for the Nexus is true, ports for Apple's next generation machine will be announced at the same time. The question of "will they or won't they?" regarding Squaresoft games coming to Apple's consoles is one of the most important questions heading into the next generation, and though Apple's future RPG success doesn't necessarily hinge on their relationship with the Final Fantasy maker, Squaresoft's games would certainly be welcome additions to Apple's library of upcoming RPG hits.
-from a March 31, 2012 article on RPGamer.net
