The Xbox 360 has always been scarce in the RPG department, over the past two years there have only been a handful (is there even that many?) of role-playing games on the console and even less have been quality titles. Only one has been a Japanese style game (Enchanted Arms) and so it was very exciting to find out that the game, which boosted 360 sales in Japan, would be coming stateside. Add to that the fact that famed RPG creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, from Final Fantasy excellence, would be doing the project and there is no reason why RPG fans should not be jumping with joy. The game is Blue Dragon and it is only the first in a slew of amazing RPG’s coming to the white box this holiday season (Lost Odyssey, Mass Effect, Eternal Sonata just to name a few). Other than Mr. Sakaguchi, there are a handful of other famous RPG developers to have a hand in the creation of Blue Dragon: one from Dragon Ball and another from the Chrono Trigger series. The first thing that stands out when looking at Blue Dragon is the cartoon-style graphics. Following closely to the look of Japan anime this game has a very kiddy look to it. Some may call it the opposite of Final Fantasy, much more of a Dragon Quest impression. Another first for the Xbox 360 is the fact that Blue Dragon encompasses three entire DVD discs which in itself is pretty amazing. This game is defiantly not for everyone but fans of J-RPG’s should undoubtedly check it out, as it does not disappoint on many levels.
Blue Dragon takes it’s gameplay style from most classic RPG’s out there, it does however take a cue from the newer ones (such as Final Fantasy XII) by getting rid of random encounters and placing all enemies on screen giving you a chance to know who you are about to battle. Once you run into a monster (or they chase you down) the game moves to turn-based fighting and resembles any RPG ever created. I am not saying there is nothing new to this game, there is and we will cover it in a minute. Blue Dragon uses a very linear type of gameplay/storyline. From the beginning of the game the heroes (Shu, Jiro, and Kluke) set out on a specific path and while they do deviate from it on occasion they pretty much follow a set path until the end of the game. This is not your typical western-style RPG such as Oblivion or World of Warcraft, much more like a Final Fantasy or the more recent Enchanted Arms. The story revolves around a couple kids setting out to save their village (and the world) from an evil space alien named Nene. Once inside a space craft a mysterious voice asks the kids to eat an unknown blue sphere and once they do dragon’s burst out of their butt’s and they can actually defeat monsters now. Along the way Shu and his companions (the list grows as the game progresses) do make a couple stops and help some other characters if they need assistance.
The story is played out through a series of CG movies and in-game text sequences, which works really well and has been the standard for RPG since before I can remember. By the end of the game I did feel some connection to the main characters but because of their young age it is hard to really connect with them and care whether they succeed or fail. One thing that is a little different in Blue Dragon is that you really don’t need to waste time talking to all the AI characters to learn the story, it may help get some sweet items but the bulk of the storyline is told in the ways mentioned earlier. This saved a lot of time throughout the game because time can be spent progressing through the storyline instead of talking to each and every character in the game just to find out what to do next. Not only is the story linear but the gameplay is as well. The massive world can be explored at any time, sort of, but for the most part there is only one way to get to where your going and for that matter only one place to go at a time. Some small side quests do exist but this game will take long enough to finish as is, remember it is three discs. Overall the storyline is pretty good and if the characters were easier to associate with Blue Dragon would have been an excellent RPG from this aspect; but it still pulls out a very involved, deep story that will surely please fans of Sakaguchi’s work. Personally I am looking forward to the storyline of the upcoming J-RPG Lost Odyssey, but that’s just me.
Even though your party in Blue Dragon starts off with three characters, throughout the game more will join and leave depending on where you are in the story. Some of these characters are really fun to fight with and others are downright annoying. Throughout the game only Shu (small spiked-hair kid) will be on screen at one time when moving around the world. Once you approach an interactive item or a battle begins all other characters morph out of Shu and the fun begins. The controls are pretty basic when traveling the world: move with the analog stick, attack with the X button, interact with the A button, pull up your menu with the Y button, and attack multiple enemies with the RT button. In-battle character controls are all done with the A button as it is turn based action and everything is done through a menu system. Shu and his buddies can choose to just straight up attack, use magic, use an item, perform a special attack, change formation, or try and flee the battle. Most of these are pretty standard for RPG’s but the formation system is one of the cool features of Blue Dragon. By changing where each of the characters stands you can affect who gets attacked, what their defense level is, and how powerful their own attack is. This feature causes many of the battles with multiple enemies to turn into more of a chess match than a video game fight.
