Blue Dragon reviews so far are slightly lower than ultimate

[Dragonsoul]

Blue Dragon has some reviews out for it already. They are good but not as good as we hoped for.

Blue Dragon (xbox360: 2007): Reviews (http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360/bluedragon)
82% from 16 critical reviews, 78% from 18 user votes

http://gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/927950.asp
82% from 14 critical reviews, 79% from 57 user votes

Something along the lines of Final Fantasy XII or a console Zelda game would get a score in the high 80's or low 90's. I think the critical reviews don't like the character design, game pacing, and lack of innovation in the game. I'm disillusioned by these developments, although I had earlier removed Blue Dragon from my "to buy" list because it appears to be aimed to a younger audience to my preference. I'm hoping that Lost Odyssey gets higher reviews when it comes out. What are your thoughts on this topic? :D

[Skyblade]

It's an X-Box game. What did you expect? Sure, it's gotten some hype because of the people working on the game, but if you people simply realized that no great games ever come out for the X-Box alone, you wouldn't have gotten your hopes up.

[LunarWeaver]

I think the reviews are really great for the game. In the 8.0 range means it's great for the genre. It was always supposed to be the hardcore J-RPG that Xbox needed, and that's exactly what it is. I'm still hyped for it, and I don't even own an Xbox, oohohohohoho!

[Rase]

It's an X-Box game. What did you expect? Sure, it's gotten some hype because of the people working on the game, but if you people simply realized that no great games ever come out for the X-Box alone, you wouldn't have gotten your hopes up.
Yes, that makes total sense.

Oh, wait.


Anyway, from what I've seen you're mostly right as far as reviews go Drgonsoul. The main issue I've read are some annoying characters and the general lack of any great innovation, along with the fact that battles drag out due to having to watch the same like, 10 second animation of the shadows swiping the air over and over again. I personally haven't played it, but from an aesthetic viewpoint (visuals and music) it looks great to me.

[Slothy]

It's as traditional a JRPG as you'll find these days it would seem which is what I expected, and why I never cared about the game, and still don't. I lost interest in more traditional JRPG's quite a while ago. I was playing them when they were still quite new, and even innovative. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be either of those things. I'll save my money for the games that really wow me with stuff I've never seen before.

I also have to say that I find the character design in this game unimpressive. I love Toriyama's older designs, but these are just bland. It's the same stuff he's been doing for years, but it seems like he just went through the motions on this one.

[LunarWeaver]

I also have to say that I find the character design in this game unimpressive. I love Toriyama's older designs, but these are just bland. It's the same stuff he's been doing for years, but it seems like he just went through the motions on this one.


I like Toriyama's stuff and I enjoyed his Chrono Trigger and Dragon Quest VIII peeps, as well as the Dragon Ball junk. But I must agree that these seem like he didn't even try at all. They're all just his usual eyes and a shirt with a different color. None of them really stand-out even remotely from things he's already done D:

[Madame Adequate]

I was never too interested in this, or Lost Odyssey. Or Cry On. They never seemed like they'd be anything special.


It's an X-Box game. What did you expect? Sure, it's gotten some hype because of the people working on the game, but if you people simply realized that no great games ever come out for the X-Box alone, you wouldn't have gotten your hopes up.

What the Hux are you babbling on about?

[Amundusias]

Did it get a Famitsu score yet?

[Rase]

Did it get a Famitsu score yet?
Famistu gave it a 37/40. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Dragon#Reception)

[Karellen]

I don't see why people care about Famitsu scores. Keep in mind these are the same people who gave Children of Mana 36/40.

Blue Dragon looks like a decent enough game but it doesn't surprise me that it's being criticized for being pretty basic. After playing Final Fantasy XII, I imagine a lot of people are going to view anything turn based as rather rudimentary. Someone needs to make another game like Final Fantasy X to remind people why turn-based combat still has something to offer.

[tidus_rox]

I'm definatley getting it, however 3 dvds? That will take ages to finish...

[Dragonsoul]

It's as traditional a JRPG as you'll find these days it would seem which is what I expected, and why I never cared about the game, and still don't. I lost interest in more traditional JRPG's quite a while ago. I was playing them when they were still quite new, and even innovative. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be either of those things. I'll save my money for the games that really wow me with stuff I've never seen before.

I'm curious, what are your thoughts on Lost Odyssey? I want that game!!

The reviews are high for Blue Dragon but those three main flaws drop the score down to pretty good from "ultimate styles". FF XII, Zelda: TP, Oblivion, and KH2 from 2006 all got "ultimate styles" reviews. Blue Dragon is very high. Mainly we have to consider the three main flaws: game pacing, character design, lack of innovation; and also consider whether or not you are part of the target audience for this game. By the way Artoon developed this game along with Mistwalker, Artoon isn't extremely high quality, which makes me wonder why they were chosen to help in this big time project.

Yea Blue Dragon accomplishes a goal of being a great Traditional rpg to help out Xbox 360 in that genre, with some minor flaws though. I probably won't get Bioshock or Blue Dragon but both appeal to me a bit, I'll rent both, still busy with FF XII. I don't worry too much about a Famitsu score, just look at the aggregate critical rating from metacritic.com/games and gamerankings.com, instead of focusing too much on one magazine/website. Also, don't worry too much about it being on 3 dvd's, the length in hours of this game is fairly normal, I think it was 50-75 hours right? FF XII is 100/150/200 hours depending on if you do the main quest, all but 2-3 sidequests, and all sidequests. Oblivion varies from 15 hours to 350-400 hours. Blue Dragon isn't super long, it's about normal length. I'd prefer something longer though. I'm hoping that Mass Effect's length goes something between 70 and 120 hours.

Let me clarify the thread. The reviews for Blue Dragon are high, but three flaws in design make the score pretty good instead of being "ultimate styles", such as FF XII, Oblivion, Zelda: TP, and KH 2 from 2006. On the other hand, Bioshock appears to be getting extremely high reviews, three 100's already and a 99 from metacritic.com/games site for it, with only four reviews given! Many people did user votes on that game and it has a score in the 90's for percentage.

Comparing Blue Dragon to Bioshock is weird since it's not in the same category of rpg(Traditional vs First person shooter with rpg elements).

Let's compare Blue Dragon to Shin Megamei Tensei: Persona 3, Wild Arms 5, .hack//G.U. Vol. 3:Redemption, and Eternal Sonata. Those are the other top traditional console rpg's released at the start of this season. We are pretty sure that Blue Dragon will sell higher than Persona 3 but I have two questions...

1. Which will sell higher, Shin Megamei Tensei: Persona 3 or Eternal Sonata?
2. Which will sell higher, Wild Arms 5 or .hack//G.U. Vol.3:Redemption?

:)!!!

[JKTrix]

I don't understand why you keep diverting your own threads to talk about other games. That kind of makes all your threads eventually melt into the same topic.

Anyway, Blue Dragon is o-k. When I first played it a year ago, it was all in Japanese so I didn't really know what I was doing. I thought it was pretty basic, but pretty cool. Now that I've played it in English (and had a year's worth of more gaming experience), I see that it's basically the same old JRPG stuff.

There are a few nifty ideas in there. Monster Fight is actually pretty cool, where you can get wild beasts to fight/kill each other. You can change the 'job' of your shadow, carrying over any skills you already learned. The Corporeal attacks are very spectacular, but I can imagine them getting repetitive if you only get the one attack (unless they're unlocked way later in the game). The demo I played in Japan had a sky ship battle as well that played like Panzer Dragoon.

Bottom line though, it doesn't do anything particularly special or 'next-gen', which is likely what some people who were looking forward to the game were expecting.

[Raebus]

Lets join the camp that will or won't buy games based on someone elses opinion. WHAT DO YOU SAY, GUYS? WE COULD CALL IT CAMP..NOTBASEDONOUROWNOPINION?!

[DK]

78-80% is a perfectly fine score, as far as I'm concerned, and I'm still looking forward to the game. While most people seem to be getting swept up on a tide of wanting all sorts of ghetto new shiet in RPG's, I'm still much more a fan of traditional style jRPG's and so I'm hopeful that Blue Dragon will pretty much be what I've been craving for a while. :monster:

[Madame Adequate]

78-80% is a perfectly fine score, as far as I'm concerned, and I'm still looking forward to the game. While most people seem to be getting swept up on a tide of wanting all sorts of ghetto new shiet in RPG's, I'm still much more a fan of traditional style jRPG's and so I'm hopeful that Blue Dragon will pretty much be what I've been craving for a while. :monster:

I think FFXII amply highlights the risks of ghetto new shiet. In fact it always seemed to me that the hype about Blue Dragon was precisely because it looked like it was going to be some epically old-school JRPG.

[Slothy]

I think FFXII amply highlights the risks of ghetto new shiet. In fact it always seemed to me that the hype about Blue Dragon was precisely because it looked like it was going to be some epically old-school JRPG.

I disagree. I've played traditional JRPG's. Dozens in fact, and I'll take RPG's that are offering a new gameplay experience over just about any ultra-traditional one. I'm just tired of games that are either too afraid to try something new, or totally incapable of it. Maybe I'm a little conceipted in that regard, but I suppose playing hundreds of games over the last 17 years can have that effect on you.

[edczxcvbnm]

Blue Dragon sucks. I downloaded the demo and here is my biggest problem with the game.

It is SLOW! It is like they took the effort to make the game boring and never ending. I like faster paced battles. There is no reason for :skull::skull::skull::skull: to be so slow now and days. The story looks like a standard anime/JRPG which is fine by me but the slowness of it all is just murder. The demo gives you and hour or till you beat the demo. I beat the demo in 40 minutes while avoiding all but 2 battles and the boss battles. This :skull::skull::skull::skull: is just slower than crap and I can't stand it.

[DK]

78-80% is a perfectly fine score, as far as I'm concerned, and I'm still looking forward to the game. While most people seem to be getting swept up on a tide of wanting all sorts of ghetto new shiet in RPG's, I'm still much more a fan of traditional style jRPG's and so I'm hopeful that Blue Dragon will pretty much be what I've been craving for a while. :monster:

I think FFXII amply highlights the risks of ghetto new shiet. In fact it always seemed to me that the hype about Blue Dragon was precisely because it looked like it was going to be some epically old-school JRPG.

I concur. I understand the need for change and all that, especially in a series as long standing and running as Final Fantasy, just the changes in FFXII were mostly dire, imho. FFXIII actually looks like it may be done a lot better though, which is nice to know.

But yeah. I enjoy trad RPG's and I'm sure many people still do as well, so it's nice to be getting something out of it.

[Dragonsoul]

The other poster has a problem with the game pacing. Please give us more details, I heard something about a ten second delay while shadow swords in the air attack or something, what is that? What do you think of the lack of innovation and the character design?

I'm annoyed with my lack of internet, I'm trying to move and set up internet in a new place. I was hoping that somehow I could get the Blue Dragon demo from EB Games/Gamestop, or from a website, or in the mail from some company. Apparently I have to sign up for internet and use my Xbox Live account(which I need to setup). I wonder if I'll get to play the demo, since I don't know people nearby me who are playing this game.

I earlier had a poll asking people if they'd buy Bioshock or Blue Dragon, maybe I'll bump it up to see what happens. Currently I'll rent both but probably won't buy or beat either. :) Persona 3 by the way probably arrived in the mail today(rental) for me, I'm excited!

Hehe, yea I often talk about other games in my threads for another game, I got a lot of interests, I should stay focused on the Blue Dragon topic. Blue Dragon reviews are pretty good, I'm still concerned about the three main flaws.

[Roto13]

Lets join the camp that will or won't buy games based on someone elses opinion. WHAT DO YOU SAY, GUYS? WE COULD CALL IT CAMP..NOTBASEDONOUROWNOPINION?!

Oh, do you have enough money and free time to rent or buy and play every single game ever? You're so lucky. I have a job and a life, though, so I have to rely on the guidance of popular opinion a bit.

Not that the game is getting terrible reviews anyway. 80% is pretty respectable.

[Nifleheim7]

I have just read the review in Edge#179.
I know that many people think of this magazine as elitist,but personally i find 90% of it's reviews speak the truth.
The last paragraph of the review goes like this:
"Ultimately,if you were to remove the famous names from blue Dragon,it would undoubtedly receive only quiet attention.It's too rooted in tradition and too uninspired in it's exploration of convention.Even the shine of it's exciting and varied battle system dulls after 20 hours or so as the game settles into a tiring grind.Without characters to care for or a story compelling enough,only the most dedicated genre faithful will make it through Blue Dragon's three discs."

Score:6/10

[DK]

So it's basically a Dragon Quest game with a decent battle system? :monster:

[Nifleheim7]

^Personaly,i liked DQ's VIII story,characters and battle system a lot.:)

[Ashley Schovitz]

It still doesn't make sense to me that it's on the 360. In advertisements they put in Hironobu, Toriyama, and Uematsu's names and Chrono Trigger on there, but most of these people that are familiar with their names have PS2's As most people who have played FF have really only played the new school wioth the PS and PS2 era as it's harder now to get the old school games. I've only played one which was IV that Chrono Trigger was in also so it would've made more since to release it for PS3 or the Wii instead of the 360.

[Roto13]

I think they just wanted to cash in on the lack of competition of JRPGs on the Xbox 360.

[Madame Adequate]

I think FFXII amply highlights the risks of ghetto new shiet. In fact it always seemed to me that the hype about Blue Dragon was precisely because it looked like it was going to be some epically old-school JRPG.

I disagree. I've played traditional JRPG's. Dozens in fact, and I'll take RPG's that are offering a new gameplay experience over just about any ultra-traditional one. I'm just tired of games that are either too afraid to try something new, or totally incapable of it. Maybe I'm a little conceipted in that regard, but I suppose playing hundreds of games over the last 17 years can have that effect on you.

I fully understand your sentiments. Whilst I'm happy to play an unoriginal game done well, I'm no fan of a static industry, and innovation is something important to me. But what we want doesn't necessarily echo what other folks want; however much gamers might talk about innovation and originality, when you get some big, established names working with a solid, well-known system, it garners attention.


I have just read the review in Edge#179.
I know that many people think of this magazine as elitist,but personally i find 90% of it's reviews speak the truth.
The last paragraph of the review goes like this:
"Ultimately,if you were to remove the famous names from blue Dragon,it would undoubtedly receive only quiet attention.It's too rooted in tradition and too uninspired in it's exploration of convention.Even the shine of it's exciting and varied battle system dulls after 20 hours or so as the game settles into a tiring grind.Without characters to care for or a story compelling enough,only the most dedicated genre faithful will make it through Blue Dragon's three discs."

Score:6/10

I find Edge to be a pretty fair magazine for the most part. Of course I don't agree with everything, but they're really not ones to pull punches if they think something isn't good.


So it's basically a Dragon Quest game with a decent battle system? :monster:

... this concept is alien to me, Dan my friend. Please elaborate? :p

[Dragonsoul]

I have another question. All those who have interest in Blue Dragon(traditional japanese console rpg), what do you think of it's main competitors this fall: Persona 3, Wild Arms 5, .hack//G.U. Vol.3: Redemption, Eternal Sonata, and Lost Odyssey? Those are the other top traditional japanese console rpg's coming out this fall, I wonder what you think of them.

I'll rent Blue Dragon, probably won't beat it or buy it. I have the same feelings about the other games I listed, except for Lost Odyssey, which I will buy on the day it comes out and beat it too 100% completion. I'm currently renting Persona 3, and so far it's about as good as Rogue Galaxy. The strength an hour into the game is the story, characters, and voice acting. It's always great when you can say that the story is the best part of the game. Story, characters, and music is what the top rpg's are remembered for.

Blue Dragon appears to need a better story and characters, but how good is the music? :)

[Ishin Ookami]

Being a fan of the TRADITIONAL style of RPG gaming, I really really really hope this gets ported to the PS3. Basically it seems like Sakaguchi has officially thrown down the gauntlet to square, and putting the title on the oppositions system is his way of heating up the competition.

I've never gotten the complaints people have about old school RPG gaming. I personally don't give a crap about fancy cinema's or emo game characters. Just give me a good story, characters that are likeable, a cool rpg world, and good gameplay and I'm happy. Considering the team I fully expected Blue Dragon to be old school in execution, and thus I expected the western world to not be quite as keen on it as the Japanese were.

Once again, if you're reading this mistwalker, get over the competitive spirit and please put this on PS3.

[Rengori]

As much as the lack of innovation I've been hearing about would turn me off, the endless dungeon-crawl-orgy that is FFXII would make this seem refreshing.

But I don't have a 360 so it doesn't matter.

[JKTrix]

Blue Dragon *belongs* to Microsoft, being published by Microsoft Game Studious themselves. (Unlike Enchanted Arm, which did have the 'Only On Xbox' sticker but was published by Ubisoft.) It's highly unlikely it'll be going anywhere else. Blue Dragon was/is a key part of Microsoft's effort to penetrate Japan and they pumped money into Mistwalker for their development.

Mistwalker isn't owned by Microsoft, but Microsoft 'owns' both of the 360 games that are coming out from them. They aren't going anywhere.

It's true that people who are most familiar with the names behind the game already own PS2s and such, and that's exactly what they were aiming for. It was a combination that, based on legacy, couldn't fail in Japan. And it didn't fail. It didn't do super good when compared to other franchises, but it's been the best-selling 360 game by quite a margin. In its launch week, it sold over 80,000 copies (http://www.gamebrink.com/media-create/news/741-Media-Create-Sales-For-12041210-2006.html) which is relatively excellent--especially considering it launched against a freakin' Gundam game (which I own, and is awesome).

So while it wasn't exactly a blockbuster in Japan, it was definitely a hit for the 360.
--------------

As for the other games, I'm playing Persona 3 now and don't feel the need to play any other console JRPG for the rest of the year. It's fresh.
I will buy Blue Dragon. I wasn't a fan of the .hack series. I never touched Wild Arms before, but I might get V just because of this (http://www.siliconera.com/2007/08/08/wild-arms-v-and-the-10th-anniversary-edition/). Eternal Sonata is pretty, but the gameplay didn't really click for me. I'll probably buy it next year after I recover from the banruptcy that will happen after this 'holiday' season. Lost Odyssey looks fairly graphically impressive, but the gameplay doesn't look like anything special either.

While I may not be looking forward so much to Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey or Eternal Sonata, I do want more Japanese-styled games on the system. So, my way of telling the companies I want more of them is to buy the games. If I can afford it.

But yeah, Persona 3. Full stop. My JRPG of the year.

[Dragonsoul]

It appears you are only excited about Persona 3, not any other Jrpg this fall. White Knight Story, FF CC 2, and Dragon Quest Swords come out next spring, what other top console traditional Japanese rpg's come out next spring also?

Are you the one who recommended Persona 3 to me after I showed only slight interest? I am renting it and it is great! The strengths are the story, characters, and voice acting. The voice of one of the two main girls(not the class president but the younger one) is very good! It's great and about as good as Rogue Galaxy and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivon but since my standards are extremely high, I will not buy it or beat it, and the only two new rpgs I will buy this fall are Lost Odyssey and Mass Effect.

I'll play it for an hour or two more today and then mail it back so I can get in the mail a rental of Bioshock! I use the gamerang.com online video game rental by mail service, and it's great, it's the #1 ranked service of this type from toptenreviews.com article on the services.

Rentals each week:
Aug 14 - Persona 3
Aug 21 - Bioshock
Aug 28 - Blue Dragon
Sep 3 - Wild Arms 5
Sep 10 - .hack//G.U. Vol.3: Redemption
Sep 17 - Eternal Sonata
After this I will rent some older top PS 2 and Xbox 360 rpg's, which ones should I rent?

[JKTrix]

Persona 3...The strengths are the story, characters, and voice acting.

What do you think about the gameplay? That's one of the major things that sets it apart from the standard turn-based boring JRPG stuff. If you hit an enemy's weakness, you can go again right after. If you keep exploiting the weakness, you can go through an entire fight without giving the enemy a chance to react. The weakness isn't always a magic element, some are weak to certain types of non-magic attacks. And, if you exploit the weakness well enough and get all the enemies on the screen 'down' (but not dead), you perform an 'All-out attack' with all of your party members for some fairly big damage to all the enemies. In a game that seems so dark and serious, the all-out attack is pretty humorous.

Are you making friends with people at school and other places? Besides being an almost separate game in itself, establishing friendships and getting closer to people allows you to obtain and create different and more powerful Persona.

Naturally, more Persona means you get more abilities. Some Personas will actually resonate with each other, giving you a combination skill between them. Additionally, if you have a lot of Personas you can fuse them together to create a more powerful one. If you have Social Links that relate to the created Persona, they will receive a substantial EXP bonus--most likely automatically gaining several levels.

I can't agree that this is 'about as good' as Rogue Galaxy, but everyone has different perspectives. I've already played this game for a bit longer than I played Rogue Galaxy, which didn't do much to hold my interest.
-----------------
There aren't any other 360 RPGs worth having. Enchanted Arm was ok for its time, since it was the only RPG on the system. It's decent, but you have "extremely high standards".

I'm sure most other people on the forum can tell you about PS2 RPGs, so I'll leave it to them.

[Dragonsoul]

By the way I rented Oblivion before Persona 3, it was my first rental. I bought the game and the strategy guide actually, then realized I didnt' have time and interest to play it for 150-200 hours this fall and stopped playing it.

Those gameplay elements are pretty cool. You can exploit weakness, and do an "All out attack". This "All out atakk" shows wacky cartoon stuff like "Wham!", "Bam!" and "Kapow!", which is great! It looks like a Batman or Looney Tunes thingie.

I made friends with Kenji, who is a Magician Social Link. I want to join clubs also. I like the Persona and Social Link combination.

The story, characters, and voice acting in Persona 3, but the other aspects of the game are ok mainly. They are: Movie graphics(anime), character design, monster design, level/area designs, music, sound effects, controls.

The menus are pretty good though. The Battle system has pros and cons to it also. Sometimes seems basic but sometimes good. The game appears to be innovation and appears to have a long time that you will play the game in hours.

It has some great advantages, but I'm wondering how the reviewers appear to ignore some of the flaws of Persona 3(which I listed) in the reviews. Are they ignoring them or am I the only person who is concerned about this? For example the level design in Tartarus is extremely basic from what I've seen.

I'm really impressed by the story, characters, and voice acting mostly. Also, I wish the main character talked.

The game is pretty good, I rented it, but I won't beat it or buy it, limited time and money for me. I turned it in and will get Bioshock in the mail shortly. I'm three hours into the game and I'm supposed to explore Tartarus. Please tell me, in a spoiler tag, what happens in the next couple hours of the game as far as the story goes. I want to know more information! :)

Also, how come the characters commit suicide by shooting themselves in the head right before doing a magic attack? :)!!!

[JKTrix]

Slight spoiler, but The Evoker is not a real gun, just a device to 'evoke' or summon the Persona. The Persona is seen as someone's inner being, so perhaps having the Evoker shaped like a gun is something to help break the barrier of consciousness needed to summon the Persona. They're not committing suicide, just getting themselves in the right state of mind for the Persona to come out.

Perhaps someone who is skilled enough could summon their Persona *without* the Evoker.

Tartarus is a randomly generated dungeon. That part of the game is a dungeon crawler, but there are a few elements to it that keep it from being boring/tedious like other games of its type. Sure, the level design is a little basic (can't do too much with random generated dungeons on the PS2 I suppose), but you never spend much time on each floor. You can usually find the stairs to the next level pretty quick. Every 5 levels, there's a boss stage that changes the pace. After a little while, you or one of your party members will get tired, encouraging you to stop playing that part of the game.

Imagine if you had to play in Tartarus for hours on end, without those elements. That would be boring, despite the better-than-most battle system. The level design isn't a flaw, just a limitation of the style of game they chose. Besides, Tartarus is the school. There generally isn't too much variety in a school.

If you played until the Full Moon, you'd see some variety though...

[Dragonsoul]

Great! What happens in the storyline please in the next two hours? :D