The Shrine

So while you wanna-be's jump all over the current FPS de jour, I'm messin around with Blue Dragon...a title I fully intended to pass on in favour of Eternal Sonata (based on the demo's). MS repair changed fate by sending me a free copy...

The bad so far:

- ONE annoying song for Boss battles, never changes.
- Checking EVERY single searchable spot gets tedious after a while.
- The English voices suck
- The character personalities suck (except for a few of the villians so far)
- Gotta grind at a few points

The good so far:

- Gameplay is surprisingly "fun"
- Game looks very nice
- Tons of side content
- New Game+ is always a good feature for any RPG

The demo didn't do this game justice, imo. It's still flawed, don't get me wrong - but there is a pretty fun old school JRPG to be had here. Now I'm not that far in (just finished the first disc), but since most reviews claim the game starts to get great in the last disc...I think it's a safe bet I'll enjoy the full game.

I don't know if I'd go as far as to recommend people pay full price for Blue Dragon...but if you hated the demo (like I did) consider picking it up used or at least giving it a rental.

Well, figured I'd show the other side of it with a similar review of Eternal Sonata:

The bad so far:

- A bit too linear and formulatic (bosses without any point of a story explanation)
- Taking photos is almost cheating. You can take up to 12 photos and sell them. The selling price for each picture range from 500-1000GP for regular enemies to 7K to 11K GP for bosses. To put that in perspective, most armor and items are in the 50-300 range. Thus, because I can buy super healing items, this is also making the game a bit too easy.
- The gameplay, though great, can get a bit repetitive at times, because of a lack of variety in monsters.
- What the hell is up with the arms having to be stretched out all the time? Everybody with a dress or similar ballooning outfit has to have their hands stand 6 inches away; it looks really unnatural.
- The character personalities suck (except for maybe Chopin)
- Kids...always kids in these damn RPGs

The good so far:

- You play as Frederic Fucking Chopin (as a playable character); complete with an RPG interlaced with elements of his life
- Really like the gameplay and combat engine; mostly active and fast-paced combat; guard system is also reminiscent of Super Mario RPG
- Game increases "Party Lvl" during the game; which basically adds new functionality into the combat engine at the cost of added difficulty. A good way to learn the combat physics and still increase the fun and difficulty.
- Can play with two or three controllers; fun to let the wife play at the same time
- Also has a New Game+ feature

I'm just starting out in the story, so I can't vouch for how good it is. So far, it's typical RPG fare, but there are some interesting elements to it: Chopin (confused about whether a dream is really a dream), magic use is a side effect of a terminal illness, musical elements (like names) are interlaced a LOT in the game. There are some glowing reviews for the game, so I'll stick it out and see how this thing ends.

Kind of makes me wish I'd tried Blue Dragon, but I did try the demo and it looked awfully dumbed-down, to me. And I can't stand it when voice acting is shitty. Maybe I should just wait for Kingdom Hearts III.

I'll wait for Lost Odyssey.

I'll give ya $10 for it :-)

Yer both missing out on a pretty solid game

kali o. wrote:Yer both missing out on a pretty solid game

Are the first 15 hours as slow and dull as all the reviewers are making it out to be? Just curious

I REALLY wanna get Eternal Sonata--the soundtrack seems amazing. It's 60 bucks, though, and I hear it's pretty short...but I'll prolly still order it. Bioshock I'll be getting next month.

I also ordered Persona 3 from Amazon.

kali o. wrote:Yer both missing out on a pretty solid game

I need more than a "pretty solid" game to tear me away from Halo, my second playthroughs of Bioshock and FF12, and the upcoming GH3, Rock Band, and Mass Effect.

Especially when said solid game is a traditionally stale-looking JRPG (a genre I care for less and less as time goes by) with horribly cliched Toriyama art. OMG, the hero is a boy with spiky hair... where the fuck have we seen that before!? Fuck Toriyama. Fuck Akira Toriyama in the ASS...., Chris.

Seriously, I just have no interest in the game, which it's been said (and I agree) is Mistwalker's Microsoft-funded Dragon Quest rip-off, a series I don't care for anyway. Mistwalker's Final Fantasy rip-off, Lost Odyssey, I am interested in but will probably base my purchase on reviews... unless Microsoft sends it to me for free

Zeus wrote:
Are the first 15 hours as slow and dull as all the reviewers are making it out to be? Just curious

Hmmm...possibly. I say possibly because if it wasn't for the interesting gameplay (combat, unlocking shadow classes, etc), the majority of the first disc would have bored me to tears.

The first disc (15-20 hours approx) is mainly a trip to a VERY annoying Devee (the annoying short and squeeky Poke-a-sexual character) village and collecting party members for a quest you don't even really understand at this point (arguably, you don't really even begin the quest proper until the end of the first disc - and it's even vague at that point).

I can see how a reviewer could be slightly more jaded on the beginning of the game than your typical gamer (who would take their time a little more and enjoy themselves).

Black Lotus wrote: I need more than a "pretty solid" game to tear me away from Halo, my second playthroughs of Bioshock and FF12, and the upcoming GH3, Rock Band, and Mass Effect.

Especially when said solid game is a traditionally stale-looking JRPG (a genre I care for less and less as time goes by) with horribly cliched Toriyama art. OMG, the hero is a boy with spiky hair... where the fuck have we seen that before!? Fuck Toriyama. Fuck Akira Toriyama in the ASS...., Chris.

Seriously, I just have no interest in the game, which it's been said (and I agree) is Mistwalker's Microsoft-funded Dragon Quest rip-off, a series I don't care for anyway. Mistwalker's Final Fantasy rip-off, Lost Odyssey, I am interested in but will probably base my purchase on reviews... unless Microsoft sends it to me for free

I don't like JRPGs either (in fact, in some ways this game has cemented my belief that a pre-defined main character just doesn't cut it anymore...give me WRPGs like NWN, TES or hell, even Fable...so I can create my own role). But I think you underestimate this game...it's pretty solid. You also misclassify it...if we are gonna use Square as the reference, Blue Dragon is more like Final Fantasy with a superficial DQ coating. It's epic and cinematic - DQ has never really been that.

With the poor reviews BD got, it'll be in a bargain bin before long. Almost at the end of Disc 2 and am enjoying it - check it out if the price is right.

RentCavalier wrote: I also ordered Persona 3 from Amazon.

I picked up the guide for that and Soul Nomad from Double Jump. Cost me right around what they would have had I bought them at an EB up here, even with the insane shipping charges.

Blue Dragon has been confirmed for DS. It is under development by a different team though, one who developed an Xbox game called Lost Odyssey.

Dutch, please tell me that was some light sarcasm on your part and you know what Lost Odyssey is...of all the Sakaguchi's-nuts-loving posters here, for crying out loud...

Black Lotus wrote:Especially when said solid game is a traditionally stale-looking JRPG (a genre I care for less and less as time goes by) with horribly cliched Toriyama art. OMG, the hero is a boy with spiky hair... where the fuck have we seen that before!? Fuck Toriyama. Fuck Akira Toriyama in the ASS...., Chris.

Yeah, I must admit that Akira is really unoriginal. After all, 3 heroes with spiky hair, and a show that is ABOUT spiky hair? Think of something else, dammit. Hell, even a lot of the characters in Blue Dragon look like the same ones from DBZ.

Akira Toriyama is a hack. He's just an immensely talented, popular hack. Go pick up an issue of Dr. Slump if you don't believe me.

Nev wrote:Dutch, please tell me that was some light sarcasm on your part and you know what Lost Odyssey is...of all the Sakaguchi's-nuts-loving posters here, for crying out loud...

Sakaguchi is the producer and oversees both Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, but they're being developed by separate teams

Black Lotus wrote:

kali o. wrote:Yer both missing out on a pretty solid game

I need more than a "pretty solid" game to tear me away from Halo, my second playthroughs of Bioshock and FF12, and the upcoming GH3, Rock Band, and Mass Effect.

Especially when said solid game is a traditionally stale-looking JRPG (a genre I care for less and less as time goes by) with horribly cliched Toriyama art. OMG, the hero is a boy with spiky hair... where the fuck have we seen that before!? Fuck Toriyama. Fuck Akira Toriyama in the ASS...., Chris.

Seriously, I just have no interest in the game, which it's been said (and I agree) is Mistwalker's Microsoft-funded Dragon Quest rip-off, a series I don't care for anyway. Mistwalker's Final Fantasy rip-off, Lost Odyssey, I am interested in but will probably base my purchase on reviews... unless Microsoft sends it to me for free

he's kinda ugly....and personally all I give a shit about right now game wise is mass effect and virtua fighter when it comes on the 360 in a version that's better than the one the ps3 is getting.....I be glad I waited to buy that one....woo