Blue Dragon - August 24(UK), August 28th (North America)

[diskoboy]

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/28/blue-dragon-gets-dated-august-28th-24th-in-europe/

Finally! A date!

Europe gets it before us. Kind of odd..

[insinion]

Europe gets it before us. Kind of odd..

Show us some love for a change :villagepeople:

[heybtbm]

I can't wait for this game. I've had the soundtrack for a few months now and am about as hyped as you can get. The first real "next-gen" JRPG. This will be cool. The HD gameplay videos on IGN should sell just about anyone on this game.

[carlcarlson]

this might be the game that makes me get a 360. I first read about it over a year ago and have been looking forward to it ever since. I'm glad we finally got a date.

[MarkMan]

This game WAS the reason that made me want a 360 in the first place...

I've gotten a review copy of the game and so far, SO GOOD!!! I'll be posting up a preview/impressions on my site soon... Lovely game.

[diskoboy]

I can't wait for this game. I've had the soundtrack for a few months now and am about as hyped as you can get. The first real "next-gen" JRPG. This will be cool. The HD gameplay videos on IGN should sell just about anyone on this game.
Yeah - I can't wait for this, either.

And I'm NOT a fan of JRPG's. But I'm looking forward to this and Lost Odyssey.

[smork]

I meant to add my impressions of the game in the other thread (about importing Blue Dragon) -- but since this is a newer thread i'll post them here.

I'm right at the end of the first disc (of 3) -- approx. 20 hours in. When I was first thinking about what to say about the game I was going to be mostly negative -- saying how the game wouldn't hold up compared to the PS2 heavyweights such as DQVIII, and it'll sell well mainly on the strength of being the only game of its type (other than the not-good-at-all Enchant Arm) on the 360.

I have to say that recently that impression has changed. The game really starts to open up as you get further in. As I watched later plot developments last night I couldn't help but say "Wow!" There's a really nice atmosphere to the game, Mistwalker has done a wonderful job of making the world seem alive.

Let me talk about some of the negative aspects so far. First is the easy challenge to the combat. I have yet to revive a character, let alone lose a battle. Second, for large portions of the beginning of the game the plot is very boilerplate jrpg -- "Let's save our village". Everything's well done enough for you to continue to want to play, but you can't help but think you've played this before. Third -- the only technical issue I have with the game is the very harsh anti-aliasing used to simulate a shallow depth of field. It works well in many situations, but when in the free-camera third person perspective (maybe 70% of the game) it can blur things near you when you are near walls, which gives me a bit of a headche, probably due to eyestrain. This isn't a major problem as it happens pretty infrequently, but it happens often enough that I thought i'd comment on it. Fourth - NOT a game for achievement whores. At 20 hours in I have.... 15. Points, not achievements.

Now the positive -- wonderful design and artwork. I really like the look and feel of the game. Production values are top-notch. If you like how the characters look in screens then you'll like how they look in motion. Alot of the design is highly stylized -- the one "hot" character you meet later in the game has a face like a Mii, albeit a Mii in hot pants with a big rack. Still, the character models are fun.

The music is quite excellent, too -- EXCEPT for the horrible cock rock of the boss theme. I'm convinced that's put in there to help inspire you to finish bosses as quickly as possible. But it's a minor flaw in an otherwise very impressive soundtrack.

Voice acting is great. The actors do a really nice job conveying emotions. Note this is on the NTSC-J Japanese sountrack, not the English dub. (The recent Asian release has English subs over a selectable Japanese or Korean soundtrack. I haven't checked out the Korean soundtrack, but if the English sountrack is as professional as the Japanese ones than dub fans are in for a treat).

There's really alot of depth to the shadow/skill system as well. Basically each character has a shadow, and that shadow has a selectable class. As you go up in level you get to select more classes. You assign a class to a shadow, this determines the skills available to the character in combat (and, sometimes out of combat). As you level up, your selected class levels up as well, opening new selectable skills. You can switch your class at any time, and so level up many different classes to a moderate level (and have a character capable of many different things) or level up one class only, and have a very strong, say, magic user. Quite flexible, and allows for alot of strategy and control over charater growth.

I also love there's no random battles. You can see all the monters on the field view -- you can run from them, attack one of them, attack many of them -- your choice. But walking along and suddenly getting waylaid by an unseen enemy -- gone from Blue Dragon. Nice.

Overall the game is quite fun and well worth the purchase. I look forward to going further in the game and seeing what's in store! I'll try to update my mini-review as I get closer to finishing the game.

[heybtbm]

Overall the game is quite fun and well worth the purchase. I look forward to going further in the game and seeing what's in store! I'll try to update my mini-review as I get closer to finishing the game.

Thanks for the review so far!

[carlcarlson]

excellent review, thanks for your impressions. it kind of worries me that it took you close to 20 hours to finally start to get into it, but you did play it that long, which says a lot I guess.

[lendelin]

Does someone know how many copies Blue Dragon sold in Japan, and if it helped selling Xbox 360s in Japan?

I'm looking forward to this game. Since its release I heard only positive things about it.

[diskoboy]

Bump

Demo coming on July 20th..

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/07/05/blue-dragon-demo-scheduled-for-july-20th/

[jcalder8]

Sweet I can't wait to try the demo

[Apollo]

Does someone know how many copies Blue Dragon sold in Japan, and if it helped selling Xbox 360s in Japan?

I'm looking forward to this game. Since its release I heard only positive things about it.

Not sure on the numbers, but it definitely helped sell the 360 in Japan, especially considering it was made by the same team that did Chrono Trigger.

[diskoboy]

Not sure on the numbers, but it definitely helped sell the 360 in Japan, especially considering it was made by the same team that did Chrono Trigger.

Trusty Bell gave the 360 a little sales boost, too. I expected it w/ Blue Dragon - I didn't with Trusty..

If MS can keep a steady stream of JRPGs coming - they might finally gain some credibility in Japan.

[diskoboy]

BUMP

Australia gets a date: August 30th. At a whopping $99 - yikes!

[Mad Gear]

Metroid 3, Bioshock and now this all in the same week, ouch.

[heybtbm]

Metroid 3, Bioshock and now this all in the same week, ouch.

I don't know. The decision seems easy to me. The BD demo on XBL just reinforces that. It has to be one of the best demos of all time.

[diskoboy]

I don't know. The decision seems easy to me. The BD demo on XBL just reinforces that. It has to be one of the best demos of all time.

agreed.

[MarkMan]

I feel that the demo doesn't capture the greatness of the full game, so if you liked the demo, you'll LOVE the real game... and if you loved the demo... well yea you get it.

[smork]

I'm going to update my mini-review before the game comes out in Europe & N America. I've just about finished the game (I think am within an hour or two of finishing) and just love it!

I would have finished by now but my 360 thinks it's Christmas and is showing these cute flashing red lights. It's supposed to be back from repair in 2 weeks, though.

Rest assured, though -- BD is well worth picking up.

[LiquidPolicenaut]

I feel that the demo doesn't capture the greatness of the full game, so if you liked the demo, you'll LOVE the real game... and if you loved the demo... well yea you get it.

I hope so. I was SO hyped about Blue Dragon and the demo kinda let me down a little. Is it still fun? Hell yeah, but something was just....off...about the demo. Voice acting, graphics, animation enemies, characters. music (except for the god-awful boss theme...can't believe they left that in there) were all good, but I didn't have that much fun playing it. I actually liek Eternal Sonata better. Im still gonna give Blue Dragon a day-one purchase and hope it turns out like you said. Plus, its one of only two JRPGS on the 360 so I HAVE to get it! lol