Blue Dragon: I've got it, what do you want to know?

icruise

icruise

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I have Blue Dragon and have been playing it for around 20 hours (yes, I have a Japanese 360 and can read Japanese). Anyone have any questions about the game?
 
Is it turnbased like the Final Fantasy Series or is it more action oriented like Star Wars Knights of The Old Republic, or full action like Zelda series?
 
I know you're only about 20 hours in, but is there tons of backtracking? Are the encounters random or can you see enemies in the overworld? What current RPG would you liken it to? And is it friendly to those new to RPGs?
 
[quote name='LinkinPrime']Is it turnbased like the Final Fantasy Series or is it more action oriented like Star Wars Knights of The Old Republic, or full action like Zelda series?[/QUOTE]
It's pretty much like Final Fantasy.

[quote name='SteveMcQ']I know you're only about 20 hours in, but is there tons of backtracking? Are the encounters random or can you see enemies in the overworld? What current RPG would you liken it to? And is it friendly to those new to RPGs?[/QUOTE]

So far there hasn't been any backtracking to speak of. You can see the monsters on the overworld, so all encounters (aside from bosses and such) can be avoided, although some monsters guard chests so you need to fight them if you want what's inside. It's actually a lot like a turn-based Final Fantasy XII. It's pretty friendly to non-RPG experts, I would say, but it still has some depth.

I haven't entirely figured out the character development system (you can develop each of your characters as well as their "shadows") but it seems relatively deep. Basically your characters don't have classes, but their shadows sort of do. You can freely switch classes and by choosing a different class for your shadow, you will change how that character performs and the skills that they will learn. There are a lot of "charge" attacks where you hold down a button and try to get hit the sweet spot on a gauge to do more damage (but when you do this it pushes you back in the combat order, so there is some strategy involved).
 
Are the graphics really as smooth and clean as the pictures make them out to be? They are almost Toy Story-esque so its hard to tell if the preview screens are legit or not.

bluedragon2006092000455bg5.jpg
 
That's a cut scene, but the in-game graphics are pretty much as good. It's very impressive. I particularly like the way they made things go in and out of focus depending on how far they are from the camera.
 
[quote name='icruise']It's pretty much like Final Fantasy.[/quote]
fuck! I've been wanting to play this game for the longest time but the fact that its turnbased like FF turns me off. I've always thought for these kinds of games its all about "push button win/push button lose" Might have to rent it to test it out.
 
Well, the music is kind of a mixed bag. Much of it is fine, but in the boss fights there is this terrible rock song with quasi-English lyrics that plays and I cringe every time I hear it. They might change this and some other things for the US release though.

The environments are beautiful.
 
is it as lackluster as it seems? I really think it looks sorta subpar. Why are you so impressed with the graphics? Its simple polygons with simple shading? RB6: Vegas and GoW blow it away.


How about this, is the story good? Anywhere near as good as a Final Fantasy game?

I dont get the hype for this game. Is it just cause its the first real RPG from a legend like Sakaguchi?
 
[quote name='Maynard']is it as lackluster as it seems? I really think it looks sorta subpar. Why are you so impressed with the graphics? Its simple polygons with simple shading? RB6: Vegas and GoW blow it away. [/quote]

How can you even compare those games to something like this? But to answer your question, it looks like you're playing a cartoon (and I mean that in a good way).

How about this, is the story good? Anywhere near as good as a Final Fantasy game?
Click to expand...

Well, that's hard to say. So far it's not fantastic. Kind of cliched, but then again so is Final Fantasy.

I dont get the hype for this game. Is it just cause its the first real RPG from a legend like Sakaguchi?
Click to expand...

Well, yeah. And because it's one of 3 Japanese RPGs on the 360, and the one that seems to make the best use of the next-gen hardware. (Spectral Force isn't likely to make it to the US and doesn't really count since it could mostly be done on a PS2, and I haven't played Enchanted Arms, but I hear it's just OK).
 
[quote name='BREVITY']Are there puzzle elements to the game?

All those discs?! Have you had to change yet? There are like 3 right?[/QUOTE]
I haven't seen much of anything that resembles a puzzle so far, no. And as for the discs, I'm still on the first one and haven't had to change yet. I imagine that they've made it in such a way that you don't ever have to go back and forth between them.
 
How difficult are the achievements?

How long do you estimate it will take you to finish?

Can you customize the characters in a way that their appearance is different, i.e. new armor?

Thanks!
 
[quote name='CAG 79']How is the difficulty?[/QUOTE]
Pretty easy so far. In general, the standard enemies aren't hard at all, and the bosses pose a bit more of a challenge, but they're not hard by any means.

One interesting feature is tied in with the fact that you can choose all of your fights. You can press the right trigger button to show a circle around your character when you're walking on the overworld. You can fight any or all monsters that are in that circle. If you get monsters of different types in the circle, they will sometimes fight each other, which is cool. And even if they don't, you still get a random bonus when fighting more than one group of monsters. There are also some skills that are used on the overworld that I haven't fully figured out yet. This kind of thing adds some strategy and interest, even when you're not in any real danger from the combat itself.
 
[quote name='icruise']Pretty easy so far. In general, the standard enemies aren't hard at all, and the bosses pose a bit more of a challenge, but they're not hard by any means.

One interesting feature is tied in with the fact that you can choose all of your fights. You can press the right trigger button to show a circle around your character when you're walking on the overworld. You can fight any or all monsters that are in that circle. If you get monsters of different types in the circle, they will sometimes fight each other, which is cool. And even if they don't, you still get a random bonus when fighting more than one group of monsters. There are also some skills that are used on the overworld that I haven't fully figured out yet. This kind of thing adds some strategy and interest, even when you're not in any real danger from the combat itself.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for those impressions icruise.
 
[quote name='CAG 79']How is the difficulty?[/QUOTE]


On a scale of 1 to 10 it's OVER NINE THOUUUUSAAAAAAAAAND!!!!!!!!
 
[quote name='Walt Jay']How difficult are the achievements?
[/quote]
I've only gotten a couple of achievements so far. A number of them seem to be of the "do something 100 times" variety, and others are for finding rare treasure or defeating certain monsters. There are also some secret ones, so I don't know what they are for.

How long do you estimate it will take you to finish?
Click to expand...
Hard to say, but at my current rate it looks like at least 60 hours.

Can you customize the characters in a way that their appearance is different, i.e. new armor?
Click to expand...

Nope.
 
[quote name='djkunai']On a scale of 1 to 10 it's OVER NINE THOUUUUSAAAAAAAAAND!!!!!!!![/QUOTE]

WHAT NINE THOUSAND? THAT CAN'T BE, CAAAAAAAAAAAAN IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT????????????

also check post 19 :)
 
[quote name='Maynard']


How about this, is the story good? Anywhere near as good as a Final Fantasy game? [/quote]

HAHA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAHA HA HA!
 
Doe the turn-based fighting ever get boring? Also, do you always have to walk around as Shu, or can you be in the overworld as others in your party?
 
[quote name='djkunai']On a scale of 1 to 10 it's OVER NINE THOUUUUSAAAAAAAAAND!!!!!!!![/QUOTE]

WHAAAAAT?? NINE THOUSAND!?!?!?!?


I hope my body can take it.
 
[quote name='djkunai']What color is the dragon?[/QUOTE]


:applause:


I know you haven't finished icruise, but do you know how long it is?
 
[quote name='Apossum']I know you haven't finished icruise, but do you know how long it is?[/QUOTE]
Well, I've heard people say 40-50 hours, but at the rate I'm going I think it's closer to 60.

[quote name='brian101']if you would rate blue dragon from a scale 1 to 10 what would it be?[/QUOTE]

Probably an 8, but that could change depending on how good the rest of the game is.

[quote name='bobo2k4']Is the story as kiddie as it looks?
[/quote]
Pretty much.

Are there "limit breaks" for each character?
Click to expand...
No.

Better or worse than FF12?
Click to expand...
Worse, but that's probably not a fair comparison. And of course the graphics are much better, assuming you can get past the art style.
 
I'm not sure, and because my Xbox Live account is with the US version of the service, I don't know if I can download them even if there were. I did get an automatic game update the other day though.
 
I have a Japanese 360 also and can only read a few words. Should I bother to import it? Is it relatively easy to play like Super Robot Wars with little knowledge of the language?
 
Well, it's probably not *impossible* to play, but you'd miss out on an awful lot. It's is an RPG after all, with a lot of text.
 
True. Though most RPGs have pretty much the same stories so it can be figured out. Except for the occasional "Go talk to Judy in that town you were in 18 hours ago." That might be a problem. I guess my question is it easy to handle the menus and equipment?
 
a lot of text, you mean it isn't voice acted?
Sacre Bleu!

Anyword on Lost Odyssey? I can't even remember when that is coming out.
 
[quote name='crowbb']True. Though most RPGs have pretty much the same stories so it can be figured out. Except for the occasional "Go talk to Judy in that town you were in 18 hours ago." That might be a problem. I guess my question is it easy to handle the menus and equipment?[/QUOTE]
The game does show you how your stats change with different items equipped, so even if you can't tell what an item does you could probably figure it out. But you get so many items of various kinds that I'm afraid it would be pretty difficult to tell which ones do which (what is an attack item, what cures something, what heals something, etc). Same with the character development. It might be pretty hard.

[quote name='nasum']a lot of text, you mean it isn't voice acted?
Sacre Bleu!
[/QUOTE]
Of course the cut-scenes are voice acted, but the majority of the game is text, just like Final Fantasy or any other RPG aside from ones like Oblivion.
 
Do we know when this is coming out over here? My understanding is it hasn't even been officially announced.

This is my first "must have" 360 exclusive :) I sort of have a hard time believing it's really out over there.

How do the actual battles work? And does selecting stuff from menus get hard because of the terrible d-pad? (Crosses fingers that microsoft releases a fixed QUIET 360 before Blue Dragon comes out)
 
For the people who say this game doesn't look that great, because it's the "same old, same old", that's the whole point. Look at the guys who are involved in creating it. Are they known for breaking new ground? No, they have been living off past glory and successes, and so they do what got them there. Look at Draqon Quest VIII. It did absolutely nothing new, and yet, it was a great game. That's what they are trying to do with Blue Dragon. The game doesn't try to re-invent the RPG, it just tries to do everything every other RPG does, only better.
 
[quote name='VanillaGorilla']For the people who say this game doesn't look that great, because it's the "same old, same old", that's the whole point. Look at the guys who are involved in creating it. Are they known for breaking new ground? No, they have been living off past glory and successes, and so they do what got them there. Look at Draqon Quest VIII. It did absolutely nothing new, and yet, it was a great game. That's what they are trying to do with Blue Dragon. The game doesn't try to re-invent the RPG, it just tries to do everything every other RPG does, only better.[/QUOTE]

Chrono Trigger was pretty ground-breaking at the time.

Honestly, I'd rather they didn't mess around with what's worked for them in the past right now--the 360 is in desperate need of JRPGs, and hopefully this will get the ball rolling. Innovation can wait at this point.
 
Could you pm me most of the Kanji for the skills and if it's action, attack, etc.? Please no translation of the Kanji. If you know a site with some Japanese walkthroughs I'll take that instead. Thanks icruise.
 
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