Blue Dragon for Xbox 360 Reviews by Gamers

Hironobu Sakaguchi, the man who gave us Final Fantasy, has once again had his vision brought to American audiences, only this time it comes to a Microsoft console exclusively. Sakaguchi isn't the only well-known designer to put his stamp on Blue Dragon, either. Akira Toriyama, known for his work with Dragon Ball, provided the character design. Nobuo Uematsu, whose previous credits include Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VIII, composed the music. But is this all-star cast enough to finally give Microsoft's Xbox 360 an answer to Final Fantasy? Unfortunately, it looks like the wait continues. ''''While Blue Dragon is by no means a bad game, it fails to reach the lofty expectations that have been placed on it. The pacing and story are unlikely to resonate with American audiences the way more adored RPGs do. And while the turn-based combat has an interesting skill system, it isn't enough to allow one to overlook the game's shortcomings. Still, as traditional and old-fashioned as Blue Dragon is, it is at the same time somewhat unique just because the Xbox and Xbox 360 libraries have been so thin in this genre. If you've been waiting and pining for a good JRPG on a Microsoft console, your prayers have been answered. Just don't expect a game on par with the classics.''''When we say Blue Dragon is traditional, we mean it. The character design looks just like everything else Toriyama has done and the turn-based combat is the same style of action you've been playing for years. In fact, there is very little you can point to in Blue Dragon that hasn't been done multiple times over before. Shu, Jiro, and Kluke begin the tale as children who quickly become gifted with a magical power. Along the way, they're joined by a cat-like creature and a rogue-ish lady to do battle against a great evil. Very familiar, indeed.''''''When combat begins, your team lines up against a party of enemies and takes turns attacking with the help of magical shadows. For RPG fans weaned on the likes of the Elder Scrolls series, Blue Dragon's mostly linear design and turn-based combat will feel tedious and limited. Others will enjoy the laid back nature. In the end, the combat is exactly what you would expect out of a game like this. But it's what goes on outside of battle that adds a level of interest to Blue Dragon.''''First, there is the skill system. Each shadow can be assigned to one of nine classes that range from the traditional white magic user to the also-traditional monk, each of which can be leveled up individually. As you progress through the game, the originally limited number of classes each character has access to expands as does the number of unlocked skills. Things get fun when you realize you can assign skills related to one class to your shadow even after switching to a different class. With enough skills unlocked, you can mix and match the best parts of each class to boost your effectiveness in battle. ''''It's nothing that hasn't been done before, or better, but the class and skill system is fun and a nice carrot to keep you hooked on improving your characters. It does have a couple drawbacks. The first is that you can easily make your party much stronger than the enemies you'll face through the majority of the game, the end being the exception, on the standard difficulty. The other is that it completely removes any bit of individuality your party members have. Though they all begin with different classes equipped and available, it doesn't take long before you can make every character exactly the same. Even with these limitations, the skill system is solid enough to make improving your party engaging and enjoyable. '' ''The skill system also plays into another cool part of Blue Dragon. Random encounters don't exist here, removing one of the frustrations that fans of JRPGs have had for years. You will see enemies wandering the environment, allowing you to choose whether or not you want to get into a fight. Mistwalker went one step further and added field skills to be used outside of combat and a way to engage multiple wandering enemies at once. There aren't a huge number of field skills, but the ones that are there are a nice touch. There's one that allows you to stun enemies, making surprise attacks a simple affair. Another let's you wipe out lower level enemies entirely without fighting them. You don't get any experience points or gold for using it and it costs magic points, but it does give you a couple of skill points (needed for leveling up your shadow) for each kill. With a number of achievements centered on getting your shadows to level 99 in every class, this is a fantastic addition. ''''But if you do want to fight enemies, you can take on multiple sets at a time rather than entering and exiting battle over and over again. This is done by pulling the right trigger to pause time and bring out a ring. All enemies within this radius can be fought in a row, with experience and status bonuses along the way. Get two baddies that don't like each other in the ring and you can even make them fight each other, taking the pressure off of Shu and the gang. We didn't find ourselves making use of this combat ring too much, but it did come in handy on more than one occasion and it's a welcome addition that adds a bit more involvement to the game.''''The major problems with Blue Dragon come at the front of what can easily be a more than 50-hour game experience. Because of limited disc space, Blue Dragon spans three DVDs. Some have questioned Microsoft's choice in media, because games such as Blue Dragon illustrate the limited space on a DVD. Blue Dragon has more immediate concerns raised by its multi-disc status; the first DVD is downright boring. ''''The amount of time you have to invest in Blue Dragon before the payout occurs is excessive by any measuring stick. The presentation of character development, skill acquisition, and interesting side quests is skewed heavily towards the latter third of the game. For the first 10-15 hours Blue Dragon offers linearity, characters you know little about, and little in the means of interesting action or combat. It's not a far stretch of the imagination at all to think that a great number of gamers won't make it over this first hump. The pacing just isn't one that will hook anybody early on and likely won't resonate with a good portion of the American audience. You won't be alone if you're 5-10 hours into the game scratching your head as you wonder when the fun starts.''''Is the payoff worth the time? Yes and no. By the end of the third disc, the world of Blue Dragon opens. The requisite airship is introduced and players are encouraged to go back and re-explore areas they've previously been to. The optional side quests at the end of the game are fun and present the only real challenges in the game. High-level enemies can be found, new towns and islands become available to explore, and a good number of previously inaccessible chests holding goodies present enough new and fun reasons to delay the inevitable end of the game. Even the Corporeal attacks, Blue Dragon's version of summon spells in which the shadows take physical form for massive damage, don't appear until this latter portion of the game. This is what you've been waiting for. ''''The concept isn't new for RPGs, in fact it's almost quaint at this point, but Blue Dragon is traditional if nothing else. Though the first disc is a bore, as things open up and more challenges are offered, Blue Dragon becomes very enjoyable. Invest the time and you'll find a game worth playing to its conclusion.''''So there's a nice amount of bonus content at the end of the game that will likely bring a smile to anybody who has trudged through the slow start. The story, though, doesn't keep up. Sakaguchi, credited with the tale, took no risk and so there's very little reward. A few predictable plot twists are tossed in at the very end, but the rest of the saga is straightforward and immature. That's not to say that it's immature in the sense of the game being rife with poop jokes (even though it is). It's immature in the sense that the story feels shallow and undeveloped.''''Even the dialogue leaves little room for subtlety as every last detail is laid out (and repeated) in terms a four-year old could understand. The motivations run as deep as Shu's, "I won't give up!" He really won't give up. Why? Because he won't, that's why. The character development is equally weak. At the end of the game, you feel like you truly know the main characters, but that's only because it's painfully obvious that there isn't much there.''''Though the characters don't have much in the way of meaningful conversation, the lines are at least delivered fairly well. On the North American translation of Blue Dragon, you can choose between Japanese, French, or English dubs. The English is at or above the quality of most solid anime voice work; though you'll surely wish you didn't have to hear the grating voice of the cat-like Marumaru. He's just as bad in Japanese. The character was designed to be annoying, so there's no way around it. It's also worth noting that there's an annoying voice that informs you when the game is playable, when enemies have lost sight of you, and other such common occurrences. You can turn it off, which is a nice option for extended grinding sessions.''''The music in Blue Dragon is even more of a mixed bag. Those extended FMVs must take up a lot of space, because despite there being 3 DVDs of content, the same song is used in almost every boss battle. And it gets more annoying every time you hear it. The rest of the music is sometimes good and sometimes bad, but on the whole it easily fades into the back of your mind as most soundtracks on long RPGs tend to. Thinking back on the experience, the only memorable song is the boss fight track. The rest serve their purpose of mildly stimulating your ears and then fading away. They don't detract from the game, but they also don't add anything substantial.''''The reason for the three discs isn't that this game is packed with more to do than you've ever seen before. In fact, open world RPGs have far more area to explore and items to find. The multiple DVD necessity comes from the boatloads of FMV sequences packed into Blue Dragon. Switching discs every ten hours or so isn't really a big deal and the visual quality of these cutscenes is quite high, making these one of the more attractive parts of the title. Even if the story that goes with the visuals isn't all that engaging, you'll likely find yourself paying attention just to look at the crisp imagery. ''''The rest of the graphics weren't given the same level of polish. For a game published by Microsoft and one of the company's great hopes for expanding the worldwide audience, Blue Dragon doesn't run particularly well. Slowdown, especially as you ride around in your Mechat airship, comes and goes. Screen tearing during spell effects is a constant occurrence. Blur effects are everywhere, sometimes going a bit too far. It seems as if the designers wanted to toss as many new graphical tricks into the game as possible without stopping to think about how it would run. ''''When it does run smoothly, though, Blue Dragon is a great-looking game. The party members aren't particularly original in design, but the enemies are varied and goofy enough to be entertaining. If you liked what you saw in Dragon Quest VIII, you'll like the design here; it's quite similar. The environments, too, have their moment. The way the light sparkles off of water is just one example of the nice pieces of visual flair scattered throughout Blue Dragon. ''

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