Yukio Futatsugi Wants to Make 'Crimson Dragon Saga'

By Solo Wing

In a recent interview with gamesTM, Yukio Futatsugi told the magazine that after Crimson Dragon is released he wants to make an RPG sequel.

You read that correctly. Futatsugi wants to make a spiritual sequel to Panzer Dragoon Saga.

If and when a sequel is made, Futatsugi wants to expand the gameplay just like he did from Panzer Dragoon and Panzer Dragoon Zwei with their RPG sequel, Panzer Dragoon Saga. The game would also drop the Kinect controls of Crimson Dragon in favour of physical controls. Futatsugi goes on to compare his Crimson Dragon RPG idea with Panzer Dragoon Saga:

[S]ome points would be similar, but Panzer Dragoon Saga is 15 years old. Of course we can’t make an open-world RPG on an Xbox Live game development budget, but I want to make a game that feels like an open world, but has a very focused story. So I want to combine them using different thinking to make a Crimson Dragon RPG.

This is exciting news for Panzer Dragoon Saga fans, and we can only hope that Crimson Dragon sells well enough to make such a game possible. GamesTM goes on to quote more of Futatsugi:

“Because Crimson Dragon was designed as a multiplayer game, we couldn’t have a single character focus,” Futatsugi continues. “But in Crimson Dragon RPG we would have a strong main character,” Futatsugi says. “In the shooter, players learn about the world and who the enemies are. If I make a ‘Crimson Dragon Saga’ it would directly connect to the ending of the first Crimson Dragon. The shooter is just a prologue to the bigger story. So if you want to see a Crimson Dragon RPG, you should get the original Crimson Dragon so you can see the story. And if I make a Crimson Dragon RPG, I don’t think it’ll have turn-based battles. It’ll be like the original shooter with action-RPG elements.”

Crimson Dragon Saga? I like the sound of that!

Issue 125 of the magazine contains a full interview with Futatsugi which discusses the making of the Panzer Dragoon series. The site lists the feature as titled “The Retro Guide To…Panzer Dragoon”.