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Cameos: part 1
Created by Lance Way and D-Unit
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Classic ships
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While the in-game ships are all new and show the influence from the Southerners, the opening FMV shows ships that have a more "classic" appearance. As you can see in the above picture, these ships are very similar to those of the old Empire. The reason why these ships appear only in this FMV could be explained by the fact that the FMV's were probably created long before the new ship design was finalized. Except for the Vermana, we don't see any new ships like the ones we later see in-game either.
The Imperial ships from the previous games were often comprised of a metal hull suspended below a Float Engine, whereas PDO's new ships tend to be built around their Float Engines, or are even situated on top of them.
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One of the illustrations that appears in the credits sequence (named "Ending 5" in Pandora's Box) shows Imperial soldiers standing beneath a sky filled with Imperial ships. These ships, particularly the closest one, look much more like the old-fashioned ships from previous Panzer Dragoon games than any of the new designs from Panzer Dragoon Orta.
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| Unlike the other old-fashioned ships than can be glimpsed in the game's opening FMV though, these ships do seem to be decked out in the bright colours and ornamental designs of the current Empire, creating an interesting merging of styles.
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Coolias
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Coolias are one of the few mutated monsters in the world that can be easily tamed and domesticated, and consequently they are used by many cultures and peoples as riding animals or beasts of burden. Coolias have appeared throughout the Panzer Dragoon series, and the dragon known as Lagi even began his life as a mutant Coolia pup. The Coolias' appearance in Panzer Dragoon Orta is probably their smallest role to date however, as it would be easy to overlook them as they stand around amidst the chaos of Episode 1's Seeker city.
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Azel and Abadd
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The description of Drones in this game's Encyclopedia states that some of them are "nearly indistinguishable from real humans". Azel, the Drone who co-starred in Panzer Dragoon Saga, would apparently fit into this category quite well while Abadd of course does not. Azel once said that in biological terms, Drones are much closer to the pure-type monsters of the Ancients than they are to humans; while this was not immediately apparent in her case, Abadd literally looks like a humanoid pure-type monster.
Despite not having human aesthetics like Azel though, Abadd is still physically similar to her in some ways. The strange elongated point that he has coming out of the back of his head particularly links his form to hers; this weird point was "disguised" as hair in Azel's case, but it serves no obvious purpose for either of them.
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Baldors
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The Wormrider people ride around on mutated monsters called Baldors, but in Panzer Dragoon Saga these creatures played quite a different role. In the first main area of that game (the valley), wild Baldors appeared as standard enemies; they were evidently a slightly different variety to the ones seen in this game too, as they had two large rows of spiny ridges running along their backs.
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Some of these old-fashioned Baldors do exist in this game however, as a few can be glimpsed in the FMV sequence where Orta approaches the Wormriders' village. The Baldor that Elder Ponta rides on would seem to be yet another variation as well, as it has a single fin-like ridge on its tail.
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| Panzer Dragoon Saga also revealed what Baldor Queens look like, as they appeared in its first main area too, taking the role of sub-bosses. A Baldor Queen was a very strangely shaped mass that suspended itself between the walls of the valley, and they spawned baby Baldors to attack Edge and his dragon.
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Yondo-Worms
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Enormous mutated monsters known as Yondo-Worms pose problems for Orta and the Wormriders during Episode 2. Interestingly, the Encyclopedia description for Yondo-Worms states that although these amphibious worms only exist in this region, "many worm-type bio-engineered creatures are found in forests and deserts". These different varieties of worm have in fact already been seen, as they appeared in the previous Panzer Dragoon games.
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Forest-dwelling worms could be found in Episode 3 of Panzer Dragoon Zwei, where they burrowed out of the ground and flew through the trees to attack Lundi and Lagi. As for desert-dwelling worms, two different kinds of them have been seen to date: one type appeared in Episode 2 of the first Panzer Dragoon game, and the other showed up in the Garil Desert from Panzer Dragoon Saga. The latter kind were apparently harmless however (or rather, they were not aggressive), unlike most worms.
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Golia and Catharp
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Episode 3 of Panzer Dragoon Zwei was set in a verdant forest, and its boss was an enormous pure-type monster called a Golia. The way this huge creature moved was very ape-like, as it loped along using all four of its limbs and it even swung through the treetops at times. Episode 3 of Panzer Dragoon Orta has a creature called a Catharp as its boss, and it seems to be surprisingly reminiscent of that Golia.
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| The Catharp is also a massive pure-type that spends much of its time on all fours, but it looks much more human-like in appearance and proportions than the Golia did. This gives rise to some interesting imagery, as not only does the Catharp look less ape-like than its predecessor, but it rears up onto its hind legs towards the end of the battle, beginning to even walk like a human.
Although it is likely not meant to have any literal meaning, the imagery of these bosses genuinely seems to allude to evolution and the passing of time. This impression is carried on even through the landscape that surrounds each boss; the lush forest of Panzer Dragoon Zwei has been replaced by a post-apocalyptic city, just as the ape has been replaced by the human.
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Lathum
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Like the Baldors that Mobo's tribe ride around on, the enormous variety of mutated monster that their village is built upon - known as a Lathum - has played a very different role in the past. The second main area of Panzer Dragoon Saga was set in a place called the Garil Desert, and a Lathum appeared there as a sub-boss.
In Panzer Dragoon Saga a Lathum was described as being an "enormous mountain of slime and steam" that gave off a horrible smell, and the Seeker known as Gash went as far as to call it the "most disgusting thing alive". The current Empire's opinion of the Wormriders is that they are "disgusting" savages, and it's likely that this is partly because they build their homes on such a creature.
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Didars and Madidars
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Mutated monsters known as Didars can be seen in Episode 5 of Panzer Dragoon Orta, and it seems that they are a close relative of the Stryders that appeared in the Garil Desert from Panzer Dragoon Saga. Both of these creatures have very similarly shaped bodies, and they bound along in the same fashion. As with the Didars and their stronger variant the Madidars, two slightly different kinds of Stryders existed in the Garil Desert: there were normal Stryders, and there were also tougher ones called Stryder Hunters, which had an enormous horn on their heads.
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In Panzer Dragoon Saga alone it seemed that these creatures had evolved and adapted to some very diverse climates, as an aquatic variation of the Stryders could be found on the lake around the ruins of Uru. Dubbed "Neo-Stryders", these creatures' bodies had adapted to let them run across the surface of the water.
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Once again, there were two different sub-varieties of this creature: normal Neo-Stryders and stronger Neo-Stalkers. As Neo-Stryders were meant to be a crossbreed between normal Stryders and a different monster called a Lazara (which also appeared in Panzer Dragoon Saga), it seems likely that this game's Didars are a similar crossbreed.
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Pussa Bubos and Hoppers
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Like the Didars, the enormous Pussa Bubos from Episode 5 also seem to be related to an enemy from Panzer Dragoon Saga: they bear a strong resemblance to the monsters called Hoppers, which appeared in the Garil Desert as well.
The main physical difference between Hoppers and Pussa Bubos was that a Hopper had small "legs" that lifted its bulk off the ground, but in all other ways they were physically very similar. Like Pussa Bubos, Hoppers also spewed damaging projectiles out of the tops of their bodies, which were crowned by floppy "petals" in exactly the same fashion. As both of these creatures are mutated monsters, it seems likely that they have a very similar ancestry.
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Erkists
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According to the Encyclopedia, the Erkists that appear in Episode 5 are a "subspecies of the species called Goraias, which can usually be found near the southern regions of the Imperial Meccania district". Goraias appeared as enemies in Episode 2 of Panzer Dragoon Zwei, which took place near a Meccania outpost. The Goraias' attack patterns were very similar to those of the Erkists, as they burrowed through the ground and leaped out to attack the dragon in more or less the same way.
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| Other variations of these creatures are known to exist, too. In the opening sequence of the first Panzer Dragoon game Kyle was attacked by creatures called Burrowers, which were also extremely similar to Goraias, and which appeared as enemies in Episode 2 of that game as well. The Garil Desert from Panzer Dragoon Saga also featured hidden enemies called Sand Mites, which were yet another variety of this same overall species.
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Sunken ruins
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While this is likely not a direct reference to any earlier games, the ruined pillars that can be seen on Episode 5's left-hand route and the sunken ruins at the end of the area are very reminiscent of the mysterious sunken city from Episode 1 of the first Panzer Dragoon game. Given the known geography of the Panzer Dragoon world it is vaguely possible that the sunken ruins from these two games are meant to be one and the same, (or at least that they are meant to be different parts of the same sprawling ruined city,) but it is equally possible that they are meant to exist in different locations.
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