Blue Dragon has this name because of the way the heroes attack in the many turn-based battles. In the game you will never see your actual character do anything, other than run, use items, and talk. The Blue Dragon’s (yes they are actually blue) that come out of the shadows do all the attacks and are the ones whos skills you need to improve. The actual character’s do level up, gain more HP/MP, and learn other skills that will help you in battle; they just don’t actually do any of the attacks. The first time you see a dragon spring up is actually really cool and it is nice to see a new take on this genre of game. Leveling up is done by winning battles, defeating boss characters, and completing tasks. The boss fights in Blue Dragon are actually really cool and each boss goes with the accompanying level quite well (Hydra on water level, etc.). Improving your team of characters is always one of the main aspects of any RPG and Blue Dragon does not disappoint. The ability to use more powerful accessories, magic (white and black), spells, and attacks all become the number one purpose of Blue Dragon. Without improving your heroes it will be very difficult, if not impossible to move through the game. Other than battles there is also a lot of searching that is done throughout Blue Dragon. Searching rocks, trees, treasure chests, and even piles of poop will become a normal occurrence. Gold or items are usually the catch of the day and the gold can be used at the shops to buy more items, spells, or accessories. Each of the levels has it’s own unique feel to it and I rarely got bored with the game. Blue Dragon is pretty much your standard RPG when it comes to the gameplay department, there are a few neat additions here and there but basically if you have played any RPG before you will feel right at home here.
On the opposite side of the spectrum is the graphical look of Blue Dragon. Taking its cues from Japanese anime and American cartoons the game has a very unique look to it. One of the coolest moments throughout the game for me was when time and time again the game would cut from movie to gameplay causing even the most trained eye trouble to tell the difference. The developers even had to add in the word “playable” once the movies ended because they knew players would get confused. The colors in Blue Dragon are what really make it stand out because the game is just so vibrant to look at. All of the character models look really good, and you can tell that the art director/character designer on this game has been in the business for quite a while. At the same time this blessing is also a curse because for older gamers who are not into the Japanamation it may be hard to really get into the story or connect with the characters because of the kiddy look Blue Dragon has to it. Every aspect of this game keeps this type of look; the water, scenery, fire, enemies, and the effects all look very cartoony so there is not really much to say about them. The screenshots out there due justice, for once, to Blue Dragon so if you are turned off by them you will not find this game graphically advanced. Some gamers may look at this game and think, “that looks like crap, is that supposed to be on the Playstation 2” but if you look past the simple graphics there lies a game that is really beautiful to play through.
The main reason for the three discs might have something to do with the insane amount of CG movies that are so graphically polished gamers will only wish that the entire game had that amount of effort put into it. Don’t get me wrong Blue Dragon looks really cool but it is hard to get over the cartoon-style graphics and low quality textures. Blue Dragon was originally created for a Japanese audience so we Americans had to wait for a translation. This dubbed audio was done by a handful of quality voice actors and throughout the game it shows. While it is possible to listen to the original Japanese audio with English subtitles there is so much speaking in this game that I would have to advise against it. The music in Blue Dragon is top-notch stuff and helps move along the story giving each area a unique feel. This goes for the sound effects and the rest of the sounds in the game. Overall the sound of the Blue Dragon is good and I found little to complain about while I was playing.
After the thirty hours spent completing Blue Dragon I felt that the game was good, not great. There is nothing too original here to set it apart from other J-RPGs but the simple fact that there are slim to none other option on the Xbox 360 I can only recommend this game to fans of the genre. We still have a few months until Sakaguchi’s other masterpiece, Lost Odyssey, is released and Mass Effect does not hit shelves until November. I don’t regret one minute I put into Blue Dragon and in reality I had a lot of fun playing it. If you can get over the kiddy graphics and used-up gameplay than Blue Dragon will end up being a fun RPG that can keep you busy until there is another choice. The addition of some more side-quests would have been nice but this is a linear RPG and the developers stuck to that. Don’t bother renting this game unless you have a good 25+ hours to cram into it over the rental period. At the end of the day Blue Dragon ends up being a quality RPG in a genre that is very under represented on the Xbox 360, at least for a few more months.
