The third entry in the Panzer Dragoon series, it replaced the rail shooter gameplay of the previous games with RPG elements such as random encounters, semi-turn-based battles and free-roaming exploration.

The project was arduous and repeatedly delayed; incorporating the Panzer Dragoon shooting elements with full 3D computer graphics and voice acting, both unusual features in RPGs at the time, pushed the Saturn to its technical limits and strained team relations.

[2][3] On foot, Edge can talk to non-player characters (NPCs), upgrade his weapons, buy items such as potions,[4] and use a targeting reticle to interact with elements such as doors and locks.

In exchange for destroying an imperial base, the Zoah leader gives Edge access to an ancient artifact that grants a vision of Mel-Kava's location.

[8] Sega's president instructed the team to create an RPG to outsell Final Fantasy VII and help the Saturn compete with the PlayStation.

[5] The director, Yukio Futatsugi, said Saga was the most difficult Panzer Dragoon game to develop, as many of its features, such as fully 3D environments, were unusual for RPGs at the time.

[13] Akihiko Mukaiyama, who had worked on RPG series including Sakura Wars, was brought in to design the battle system, replacing the Zwei producer Tomohiro Kondo.

[13] Mukaiyama expected his job to be simple, but found problems with Kondo's prototype: there was no strategic element, as the player had no reason to change positions.

[13] Some staff felt they should create a traditional RPG battle system in which players select commands from a menu, while others wanted to focus on shooting, similar to earlier Panzer Dragoon games.

[2] Like the other Panzer Dragoon games, Saga features a fictional language, Panzerese, which combines elements of Ancient Greek, Latin and Russian.

For Saga, he brought in several new artists: Katsumi Yokota created the character and cover art, and Satoshi Sakai and Ryuta Ueda designed the dragons.

The team did not want a typical energetic anime-style heroine, and instead tried to make her simultaneously appealing and frightening, emphasizing her human and non-human traits.

[5] Although the hardware imposed limitations on the compositions, such as reducing the number of possible loops, Kobayashi felt this helped convey the story's desolate world.

[20] Futatsugi gave Kobayashi tribal music as inspiration, and instructed her not to give it a sense of closure, "leaving things open-ended and with the player wondering what happened".

[20] In January 2018, an anniversary edition, Resurrection: Panzer Dragoon Saga, was released by Brave Wave Productions on CD, vinyl and download formats.

The Ringer characterized Panzer Dragoon Saga as "a game about a world in ruins, produced by a disintegrating development team haunted by heartbreak at a company in decline".

[23] At the height of production, staff slept in the office or caught early-morning trains home to nap, and relieved stress by playing fighting games on a Neo Geo arcade cabinet.

[8] As Panzer Dragoon Saga received almost no marketing in the west beyond limited print advertisements, the localizers sent screenshots to bloggers, hoping to generate word-of-mouth interest.

Electronic Gaming Monthly wrote that whereas other RPGs had players methodically selecting menu options, Panzer Dragoon Saga's system forced them to account for time expenditures and positioning, producing "much more exciting" battles.

Though GameSpot noted occasional slowdown and "rough" textures, he felt the use of techniques such as gouraud shading, transparency and light sourcing created a "graphic level of excellence on a par with anything available on a home console".

The review praised the "fluid easy grace" of the art direction, and the environment design, whose "every exotic location retains a place in your memory".

"[38] Edge praised the extensive FMV cutscenes, whose "cinematic quality ... shames the work of almost every other developer" and created an "RPG of true creative integrity".

[4] Though Edge identified the subtitles as a cost-saving measure, it found this "infinitely preferable to the alternative of B-list actors reciting words they have little feeling for" and felt it kept the story lucid and articulate.

[12] Edge wrote: "It's a tragedy that the Saturn's standing will ensure Team Andromeda's adventure, with a radically different approach to FFVII, will enjoy a fraction of its rival's success.

[1][4][31][33][38] Sega Saturn Magazine felt Panzer Dragoon Saga was too easy, especially the puzzles, but that achieving "Excellent" ranks in combat provided a good challenge.

[6] Reviewing it in 2008, Retro Gamer praised the fusion of action and RPG elements, and wrote: "If you can find and afford it, you won't be disappointed with this seminal title.

"[40] In the 2013 book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die, Jason Brookes wrote that only the cutscenes had aged poorly and that many aspects remained more impressive than modern RPGs.

[8] In a 2008 article for Gamasutra, Kurt Kalata found that while the visual design was "still lovely", the graphics showed the Saturn's 3D limitations, with low-resolution textures, "boxy" character models, frequent slowdown and compressed video.

[13] Though few developers have cited Panzer Dragoon Saga as an influence, the Ringer journalist Ben Lindburgh drew parallels to Horizon Zero Dawn (2017) and the games of Fumito Ueda, particularly The Last Guardian (2016).

[8] Given the opportunity to remake Panzer Dragoon Saga, Futatsugi said he would make it less linear, with an open world, branching player choices and online communication.