Blue Dragon

[Ranis]

Man, this comes out tomorrow and A)I have class all day tomorrow and B)I haven't beaten Bioshock. Why must Microsoft taunt me with 12 games that I want to play all coming out in the span of two months? Can they spare no mercy for my wallet? D=

[Logic]

I can't get past the art style. It is going to take all of my serious RPG friends vouching for this game for me to even WATCH them play it.

[Ranis]

What's wrong with the art style?

[Logic]

What's wrong with the art style?
It reminds me of DBZ (it is the same art director, so I imagine it would) and DBZ happens to remind me of constipation.

I boycotted Dragon Quest 8 for the same reason.

[Ranis]

Well, I just put about four hours into the game, and I must say I see exactly why this game salvaged interest into the 360 in Japan. The main character does remind me of Goku a little bit, but if you like Final Fantasy games, or JRPGs at all, you'll thoroughly enjoy this game.

Oh, and it's three discs long. Hasn't been a multi-disc game since FFIX. I think that's saying something.

[TheBoneSplitter]

It reminds me of DBZ (it is the same art director, so I imagine it would) and DBZ happens to remind me of constipation.

It should remind everybody of constipation! :smallbiggrin:

[Logic]

Well, I just put about four hours into the game, and I must say I see exactly why this game salvaged interest into the 360 in Japan. The main character does remind me of Goku a little bit, but if you like Final Fantasy games, or JRPGs at all, you'll thoroughly enjoy this game.

Oh, and it's three discs long. Hasn't been a multi-disc game since FFIX. I think that's saying something.

Most JRPGs infuriate me. So I doubt I will enjoy it.

[tannish2]

It should remind everybody of constipation! :smallbiggrin:

no, it should remind us of the exact opposite, and the smell that comes with it... a VERY large pile of it

anyway, some more details on this game!

[Ranis]

Okay, here's my thoughts so far.

Characters
Characters are somewhat shallow right now. There isn't much backstory given about them, so basically it's "they're all from the same village, and they're kids." Shu reminds me a lot of Kid Goku, take it for what you will, and his catchphrase is "I'll never give up!"

Storyline
Once again, not all that far, but it also seems to lack depth currently (mind you I'm only 4 hours into the game).

"Let's kill this rock monster that wanders into our village and kills people every so often!!!!"

*cutscene*

"Let's save the world!"

Yeeeahhh.

Battle System
Ah, here we go. This little beauty has brought me back to the old days of Final Fantasy IV. The shadows can learn different class abilities and combine the class abilities of the base class with others that they have learned, making each character's shadow completely customizable. There's also the "charge" system. When a shadow uses a special ability, most of them they can charge to pack in extra or less punch. This may put them voluntarily after the monsters, so you have to really strategize with each of your characters to maximize effectiveness.

Overall
This game focuses less on the very mature themes that Final Fantasy seems to have veered to ever since VII and goes back to Final Fantasy's roots-saving the world and being a hero. The music is phenomenal, and hell, it's three discs long. Been complaining that games are too short these days?

Blue Dragon.

[BR4life]

Also you can see all the monsters on screen before you go into the battles, so you can avoid and use field skills. You can also go into multiple encounters at once which can lead to two things. One: a monster fight, which is were the diffrent monsters fight eachother and let you attack them until one of them is defeted. Two: you get a bonus after each group you fight.

[Inigo_Carmine]

Okay, here's my thoughts so far.

Characters
Characters are somewhat shallow right now. There isn't much backstory given about them, so basically it's "they're all from the same village, and they're kids." Shu reminds me a lot of Kid Goku, take it for what you will, and his catchphrase is "I'll never give up!"

Gametrailers review said much the same thing. Whether its the fault of the game or the translation, the story and characters are extraordinarily mediocre. The graphics are supposed to be top-notch (if you can get past the art style, which i also hate) and the mechanics/character advancement system is supposed to be great too.

This puts it solidly into the "I'll definitely buy this....if I find I'm experiencing a game drought" category for me...and considering that I still have a backlog of last-gen games I'm working on, I think I'll pass on this one myself.

[Midnight Son]

I had heard so many good things about this game, so I was excited to give it a try, but had not actually seen the art style till I was in the store looking at it. Needless to say, I did not buy it. I felt like I was holding a game from 1990. Seriously folks, the graphic capabilities of today's console or computer allow for quite a bit of a more realistic feel.

[Inigo_Carmine]

I had heard so many good things about this game, so I was excited to give it a try, but had not actually seen the art style till I was in the store looking at it. Needless to say, I did not buy it. I felt like I was holding a game from 1990. Seriously folks, the graphic capabilities of today's console or computer allow for quite a bit of a more realistic feel.

Not everything needs to go for a realistic look. The technical prowess of the games graphics is actually impressive imo. I (and apparently others) just have never liked the DBZ look, especially on human(oid)s.

[Ranis]

Gametrailers review said much the same thing. Whether its the fault of the game or the translation, the story and characters are extraordinarily mediocre. The graphics are supposed to be top-notch (if you can get past the art style, which i also hate) and the mechanics/character advancement system is supposed to be great too.

This puts it solidly into the "I'll definitely buy this....if I find I'm experiencing a game drought" category for me...and considering that I still have a backlog of last-gen games I'm working on, I think I'll pass on this one myself.

The lack of character depth would normally definitely turn me off as well (veteran of every FF game here), but I'm still completely satisfied with the game as a whole. Sure it has some flaws, but it's a new game company's first game, of course it's not Game of the Year material. But that doesn't stop it from being a great one in it's own right.

And by the way, I've had the chance to progress some more in the game, and the characters ARE getting more depth, albeit slowly. They have two more discs of develop-ness to go through before I can give a final verdict, but it is happening.


I had heard so many good things about this game, so I was excited to give it a try, but had not actually seen the art style till I was in the store looking at it. Needless to say, I did not buy it. I felt like I was holding a game from 1990. Seriously folks, the graphic capabilities of today's console or computer allow for quite a bit of a more realistic feel.

So unless it looks like it's real, then it's automatically a bad game? Maybe the graphics and color schemes are a bit simple, but I really do think Mistwalker Studios is showing here what Sony forgot last November-game quality chumps everything else. The combat system is complex enough to make the game challenging while being simple enough to pick up very easily. The gameplay is smooth and seamless. Sorry, but if you judge a game because it looks like it's "old" then you're 1) limiting yourself and 2)missing out on some great opportunities.

[Midnight Son]

So unless it looks like it's real, then it's automatically a bad game? Maybe the graphics and color schemes are a bit simple, but I really do think Mistwalker Studios is showing here what Sony forgot last November-game quality chumps everything else. The combat system is complex enough to make the game challenging while being simple enough to pick up very easily. The gameplay is smooth and seamless. Sorry, but if you judge a game because it looks like it's "old" then you're 1) limiting yourself and 2)missing out on some great opportunities.No, a game does not have to look real, but overly cartoonish games tend to distract me from my gameplay. When I'm playing a game, I like to feel immersed in the game. Yes, gameplay is very important, but when you have the capability to make a great game and then make the decision to cartoonize it, you're going to turn a lot of people off, especially when the current graphics engines allow for a much more realistic feel to gaming. If I wanted to play Mario, I'd own a Nintendo. I don't. I own a 360 and I expect my games not only to be well thought out gameplay-wise, but also to have kickass graphics, since the system allows for it.

[Logic]

I own a 360 and I expect my games not only to be well thought out gameplay-wise, but also to have kickass graphics, since the system allows for it.

Same here. If the game is going to look bad, it had better make up for it in gameplay/story in spades. Since no one here is claiming it is one of the best games ever in terms of story and/gameplay, it is not going on my play list.