Check out the full three-minute intro in the movie player on the right.
Import Review: Anticipation for this title has been huge, with pre-orders selling out across Japan. Now we see why - Twilight Princess isn't the only classic RPG released this Christmas. Here's why you should be excited for Blue Dragon's English-language release in 2007.
Full intro to Blue Dragon
Cinematic footage
3:11Over three minutes of the intro to Blue Dragon
Full intro to Blue Dragon
Cinematic footage
3:11Over three minutes of the intro to Blue Dragon
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Full intro to Blue Dragon
Cinematic footage
3:11Over three minutes of the intro to Blue Dragon
Blue Dragon finds the perfect balance between linearity and excessive freedom - it doesn't embarrass you by holding your hand, and yet it doesn't just leave you alone crying in the supermarket. Hironobu Sakaguchi (the FF creator and Blue Dragon mastermind) is as good a parent as Shigeru Miyamoto.
The game's artwork is all drawn by Akira Toriyama. He's famous in Japan (and among the worldwide geek fraternity) as the crayon-wielder behind Dragon Ball, the Dragon Quest games, and legendary SNES RPG Chrono Trigger. Bizarrely, though, Blue Dragon's characters look like Nick Park creations. There's even some Park-ish humour: lead character Shu declares that the game's troupe of three playable characters should "Set out on a great adventure," when Kluke (the only female member of the trio) suggests, "Are you just saying that to sound cool?"
Blue Dragon runs in 1080p (if you have the pricey kit), but even in 720p (the not-quite-so-pricey kit we're playing on) it looks good enough to give our retinas an anatomy-defying orgasm. There are huge wilderness areas with lovely elemental effects on show, contrasting with intricately designed villages, towns, and bulbous spaceships. It's a world full of rich colour - but more importantly, it has a consistency that's rarely seen outside of Nintendo's finest Zelda games.
The great thing is, Blue Dragon has the looks and it has the gameplay. The battle system is a work of twenty years' fine-tuning, assuming that Sakaguchi still remembers what he got up to in the '80s. There are skills to learn, accessories to acquire (and these affect the attacks at your disposal), and levels to be upped.
Beyond the core battle system, which is perfectly playable and never tedious, there are even a few concessions made for the sake of Blue Dragon's overall balance. Instead of opting for random battles - which, having experienced them probably a million times or more, we can no longer abide - Mistwalker has very kindly enabled the player to choose when to fight. All potential enemies can be seen and, if necessary, avoided. Or you can run towards them, gung-ho, and fight for your life. (But Kluke might ask whether you're just trying to be cool.)
The game also has a wonderfully clever system that lets you draw various types of enemy into a single battle. Choose your opponents carefully and it's possible to find creatures that will turn against each other, leaving you with very little work to do.
Blue Dragon's hook, and the explanation of its title, is that shadow spirits accompany the game's three main adventurers. And those spirits are blue. Very blue. And Shu is guarded by a Dragon Shadow. (Kluke has Phoenix Shadow, a bluebird; Jiro, the other member of the trio, has Shadow of Minotaur, a blue cow.) Once you're beyond Blue Dragon's initial stages, these guardian spirits take care of all the hard work in battle. It's your job to direct their actions.
Blue Dragon isn't merely an endless succession of battles, though. There's actually a great amount of stuff to see and do - three full DVDs' worth, no less. There are more than 500 treasure chests to search for, and they all contain valuable items, so the incentive is there to explore Blue Dragon's world. (It's so pretty, anyway, that there's no reason you wouldn't want to explore.) The 'c' word should also be mentioned: yes, cutscenes. There are plenty of them here, but unlike so many other RPGs that have bored us brain-dead with their movies, Blue Dragon's cutscenes are entertaining, relevant, and well acted. Each character has a distinct voice, and the voice acting is all first-rate. (Which actors Mistwalker will hire to voice the English-language version remains to be seen.)
There are also plenty of occasions when real-time gameplay elements are combined with battles. Pulling levers, for example, can block passages that enemies are about to infiltrate, but you'll have to tap A rapidly to close those doors in time. Enemies get through and difficult battles commence. Everything is tied together so tightly in Blue Dragon, you'd think the game might suffocate. It doesn't.
Blue Dragon's pedigree - Toriyama's artwork, Sakaguchi's design, and music from Nobuo Uematsu (aka Final Fantasy soundtrack composer extraordinaire) - is almost tangible. The game reeks of class. It probably won't be enough to save the Xbox 360 in Japan, but we're already looking forward the Blue Dragon's announced sequel.
Blue Dragon is an instant classic of an RPG. You'll be hearing a lot more about this one in the future, mark our words.
Uppers
- Beautiful, dreamy visuals. Looks like warm milk - Sounds like a classic FF game - Finely balanced gameplay - Huge challenge spread over three DVDs - Downloadable items due in the coming months
Downers
- Not out in the UK just yet - Not even announced for the UK yet
// Screenshots
Fight with a Poo Snake!
Gameplay footage
0:51Poo Snake has no friends...
Fight with a Poo Snake!
Gameplay footage
0:51Poo Snake has no friends...
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I think this could be good, if we ever get it, but realisticly it'll not come close to mass effect in terms of scope and next gen features. Defo get mass effect first. Can't wait.
Strange, i never saw any Final Fantasy fan moaning about swapping through the 3 discs in FFVII or VIII, and i never moaned about swapping 11 disks for monkey island 2 on the amiga, so 3 dvds to swap between is nothing to me.
Remember blue-ray bigger storage means automaticly better games, dosnt it? Na didnt think so.
This game is really a work of art and anime. Fun to play, cutscenes that are meaningful and nice to watch. The game play is very well balanced and has very good flow to it. Character modeling is top. I can't think of anything bad. I've just started into the game and it's just polished all around. I like the feature where you can search just about any object for items. Just a fun game to play. I'm playing zelda and blue dragon at the moment and blue dragon has more overall appeal. It's good to see something with real visual appeal and also solid gameplay and strong content. Another good addition to the child becomes man becomes savior of the world genre.
Shouldn't this have got a 10 if the only thing wrong with it is the fact it hasn't been realeased in the UK?
Nah i would of dropped 2 marks myself just because its been released in Japan first where they don't care much for the 360. I know they want this to start pulling the Japanese towards the 360 but i dont think they will crack that market. Just my opinion
Does anyone else think that the Kid looks like Gohan from Dragon Ball Z? I know the art was done by the same people but not with tracing paper. Looks cool though.
i have nothing negative to say at all about the game but i have to make mention to the fact that 360 fanboys have been saying that games do not need storage greater than 1 dvd.
i have nothing negative to say at all about the game but i have to make mention to the fact that 360 fanboys have been saying that games do not need storage greater than 1 dvd.
just a question, since it has 3 dvds, how much will it cost? will it cost as much as 3 games or just the usual price of a single game? hope it'll not be overly expensive though...
just a question, since it has 3 dvds, how much will it cost? will it cost as much as 3 games or just the usual price of a single game? hope it'll not be overly expensive though...
This game looks quite good, i'm hoping to get a 360 around March time when i have the funds after my Wii buying recently. This will be one title i will probably pick up.
Who gives a s**t about having to change a disk? We've been doing it for years, it's no hassel, seriously can't believe that's the best thing people can come up with against it
I just finished typing out a 7 or 8 paragraph long email to Square-Enix over my disappointment in where they were taking the Final Fantasy series - the new ones being further and further away from the perfection that was VII - and then upon a Wikipedia search of Nobuo Uematsu (who I respect more than any other modern composer) I find some links to Mistwalker and this little gem: Blue Dragon. It reeks of Chrono Trigger reborn onto a new platform, and the aroma couldn't be any sweeter.
My only complaint is the stated 40-hour time to beat it. I remember a FFVII save taking WELL over the 99:59:59 timer limit after raising a whole stockyard of Gold Chocobos, hehe. Here's to hoping for side quests enough to drown away the rest of my life.
Cheers, Sakaguchi-san, Toriyama-san and Uematsu-san.
The reviewer seems to like the genre and BD creaters alittle to much actually review it, wheres crititism. if this game doesn't deserve a 10 say why otherwise people won't know wiether to trust you or not!
Anyway, why does this game NEED 3 discs? if its only 40 hours long even if theres alot of textures, dialog and character models it still should'nt amount to that. What takes up all this data?
LOL the best criticism they can come up with is 'aint out in the UK yet'!!! this game looked imense anyway but now its just confirmed. Balls to all those people who say computer games cant be art, most of them arent but this looks beautiful
Hahahaha, funniest thing I've read in ages, now thats a come back!
Fair play!
Lets see, you play ooooh approx 15 hours straight through on say one disc, then you swap a disc. Yes can manage that one.
Ok pop pickers, heres 2006 yr end Pop trivia quiz,
1) What available game in the good ole USA or Far East actually uses more content of a DVD-9 on the PS3?
2) What part of the RSX VPU actually out performs ATIs little baby inside the 360?
3) Does the PS3 or 360 read discs faster?
4) How many multi format games are better on the PS3 over 360?
5) Is the CELL better at Multi Tasking Threads or is Xenon, example A.I.
6) List 10 PS3 exclusives, now list 10 360.
7) List once upon a time PS3 exclusives to be ported to the 360.
8 ) List once upon a time 360 exclusives to be ported to PS3.
9) Which console (360/PS3) can perform 4xAA with HDR and not take a performance hit.
10) Which console has an operating operating system that allows for Multi Tasking.
Answers on a post card please.
Come on, man... I thought you were above this.
And I (God forbid) have to agree with Scyzer/daedalus... I thought the demo was p**s-poor. Reviews seem pretty mixed for this thing so I guess you either love it or hate it.
I wasn't overly impressed with the demo either. Maybe it was simply because it placed you right into the game with no explanation of who you were or why you were there, but the areas all looked the same to me. Combat was a bit of a pain too, but again that might just be because I had no idea what half of the abilities did to use them at the right time.
Wasn't planning on getting this one anyway, but I like to try new stuff. Mass Effect still top of my list
I still can't get my head around the fact that pushing right on the left thumbstick moves the camera left which means the x axis is inverted! It is totally counter-intuitive.
For this reason alone I will not be buying this game. I never even left the first room of the demo such was my irritation with this control system.
The terrible 360 Sonic did this too. One question... WHY?!
I still can't get my head around the fact that pushing right on the left thumbstick moves the camera left which means the x axis is inverted! It is totally counter-intuitive.
For this reason alone I will not be buying this game. I never even left the first room of the demo such was my irritation with this control system.
The terrible 360 Sonic did this too. One question... WHY?!
That is one thing I couldn't stand on FF12 on PS2, you couldn't invert the camera x-axis so had to get used to the opposite of what you wold normally do, after a while you did, but then you go and play other games and it totally screws you up.
Is it that hard to let people customise how to control the game/camera? Nope not at all.
Generic Japanese RPG Clone #3554646 has been released but because it's on the 360 and not the PS2 as 3/4 of them we must rate it good and present it as a fresh new game everyone should buy. That way it might boost the Japanese sales a little or make the 360 fanboys happy they now have their own Final Fantasy to root for, even though Final Fantasy on the PS2/3 has not been worthy of rooting for lately (well, longer than just lately) anyway. Fun.
Been lookin forward to this for ages. Question is do i get this or Mass Effect 1st??
Oh I'd get mass effect definately. I'm a hard core RPG player and fully expected to love this. But I can't. It is simply devoid of personality and is insufferably dull - a huge, huge disapointment given the talents involved. CVG could not have called this one more wrong. Look around the net at the other reviews that are now starting to surface, now we can play the UK versions... most reviewers agree with me, this is a huge dissapointment. Not fit to even clean the shoes of most PS2 RPG's - go there for traditional RPG fun.
I wont be buying this, the demo was a bit of a chore, plus I think it's out around the same time as Eternal Sonata which I would prefer investing the time in playing. It has to be said though that game does have some quality music in it, that was some jangly choon on one of the dungeons.
Although this game will be hailed as a next gen masterpiece having just read the Edge review has made me wonder about its credentials. Edge tend to be very harsh on games and have got it wrong a few times, but i trust their reviews more than any other magazine. Check it out if you are in two minds about which games to buy this Christmas.
Blue Dragon deserves to be rated as an excellent RPG, because that is what it is!
I agree with CVG and all of the other websites that say Blue Dragon truly is a great game.
I've noticed that a couple of reviews have compared Blue Dragon to Final Fantasy, and rated it as if it was a "Final Fantasy," style game. But that is NOT the correct way to be rating Blue Dragon. We need to remember that the creators of Blue Dragon have said all along that Blue Dragon is supposed to have a "Dragon Quest," style atmosphere.
I think there is no doubt about it that Blue Dragon achieves its goal of being an awesome RPG with a "Dragon Quest," style atmoshere. The popularity of Blue Dragon in Japan PROVES this!!!
We need to remember that the #1 game in Japan is Dragon Quest. Sales figures for Dragon Quest are ALWAYS higher than Final Fantasy in Japan. That is the reason why 90,000 people in Japan bought an Xbox 360, just to play Blue Dragon on the day it was released. ALL OF JAPAN was out of Xbox 360 systems for about 10 days because of Blue Dragon. The next shipment was 35,000 systems, and ALL of those sold out, too!!!
Blue Dragon has LITERALLY caused the sales of the Xbox 360 to DOUBLE in Japan! So, there is no doubt about it that Blue Dragon is popular in Japan, because they LOVE the Dragon Quest style games. And if you like those style RPG games, then you will LOVE Blue Dragon, because it is an AWESOME RPG that is so fun!!! Just play the demo on Xbox Live to see for yourself.
Heavenly Sword is another game that is rated very poorly by Edge. Edge rated Heavenly Sword with a score of only 6 out of 10.
But the thing that makes me know that Heavenly Sword deserves to be rated that poorly is because IGN rated Heavenly Sword with a score of only 7 out of 10. IGN UK also rated Heavenly Sword with a score of only 7 out of 10.
Heavenly Sword may be getting those "Mixed Reviews," but it gets worse for the Playstation 3. None of the games are living up to the hype.
Warhawk also ended up being a disappointment in the reviews.
Warhawk was rated only a 6.5 out of 10 by PSM magazine. Warhawk is called, "A third person shooter that never gets off the ground."
This is NOT a surprise, because Warhawk REQUIRES at least two people to play, and there is NO MODE where Bots can be used in the place of people!!! THAT SUCKS!!!
In Warhawk, the final version of the game ended up where machine guns from people on the ground can actually shoot down the Warhawk... That SUCKS!!! And men on the ground with rocket launchers can shoot the Warhawk out of the sky in one shot... That SUCKS!!! That is why Warhawk is rated so poorly.
That's still better than Lair. Lair only got a rating of 5 out of 10 from PSM, and only 5.5 out of 10 from EGM.
Heavenly Sword is another game that is rated very poorly by Edge. Edge rated Heavenly Sword with a score of only 6 out of 10.
But the thing that makes me know that Heavenly Sword deserves to be rated that poorly is because IGN rated Heavenly Sword with a score of only 7 out of 10. IGN UK also rated Heavenly Sword with a score of only 7 out of 10.
Heavenly Sword may be getting those "Mixed Reviews," but it gets worse for the Playstation 3. None of the games are living up to the hype.
Warhawk also ended up being a disappointment in the reviews.
Warhawk was rated only a 6.5 out of 10 by PSM magazine. Warhawk is called, "A third person shooter that never gets off the ground."
This is NOT a surprise, because Warhawk REQUIRES at least two people to play, and there is NO MODE where Bots can be used in the place of people!!! THAT SUCKS!!!
In Warhawk, the final version of the game ended up where machine guns from people on the ground can actually shoot down the Warhawk... That SUCKS!!! And men on the ground with rocket launchers can shoot the Warhawk out of the sky in one shot... That SUCKS!!! That is why Warhawk is rated so poorly.
That's still better than Lair. Lair only got a rating of 5 out of 10 from PSM, and only 5.5 out of 10 from EGM.
What's your point? If you agree that Edge reviews are harsh but accurate then whether or not you think heavenly sword is good or bad it should be considered as good as blue dragon which got the same score. Are you saying that blue dragon is rubbish cos that's what your post implies.
If you're unsure as to whether to get this or not, you might be interested to know that Gamestation are selling it online for £20 when you buy or pre-order a new title.
So add it to your Halo3 or GTAIV pre-order (or whatever you like) and revel in the outright "bargain-ness" if nothing else.
I thought the demo was poor, the combat was boring and samey as well.
the demo didnt do this game justice IMO
the game is a really good experience...the combat being samey and boring is prolly to the fact that you dont like JRPGs,they are nearly all the same type of combat
i just finished disc 1 with 20and a half hours on the clock
voice acting,graphics,music,cut scenes are all fantastic...and if you dont like the voice acting you can always change it to the original japanese with english subtitles
Well it looks pretty good, from what I've seen, but I've never been into the FF style of gameplay...it's too... well... cheesy..so not sure if I'll like this.
voice acting,graphics,music,cut scenes are all fantastic...and if you dont like the voice acting you can always change it to the original japanese with english subtitles
Can't believe we're talking about the same game. The characters are weak and dislikable in the extreme. The music is insufferable - especially the dreadful american 'yeah - lets go rock' track that assaults your ears every time a tough boss type battle occurrs, and the plot is dreadfully trasparent. I have phyisicaly cringed at some of the scenes and music in this release, despite being a huge fan of previous works. If you are worried about 'cheese' (and I can stomach soem pretty cheesy games) then stay well away from this. A more obvious dialogue and plot would be hard to find.
Graphically its OK, though certainly not a benchmark title - but creature designs are good enough and are animated well. The battle system has its moments, but does lack variety - the class system for the creatures can only give so much variation. I can only repeat my warnings. Those who know and enjoy this style of game, may well find they've seen everything this game has done, far better elsewhere. Those that have not enjoyed this style of game in the past, will find nothing here to convince them they've missed out. I'm normally a fan of CVG having been around long enough to remember the very first issue ( and believe me, that really was some time ago now.) They really needed to do a better job with this though - reprinting a half baked review of the jap version for a euro release is a poor effort and represent s alack of care for its readers. Get more opinions before you spend your hard earned on this....
I absolutely love this game. Been playing it for over 40 hours now and still totally engrossed, there is so much to see and do that it can be daunting at times. FF7 used to be my fave ever rpg but this game has well and truly knocked it off it's perch. Trust me, if you are a fan pf rpg's then you will adore this game. 10/10 from me.
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, UK BA1 2BW England and Wales company registration number 2008885
- Beautiful, dreamy visuals. Looks like warm milk
