Support NeoGAF

[Bebpo]

Such enthusiasm!

I can't wait for a subbed release. The game reminds me of Skies of Arcadia, from a charm perspective.

heh, welll I fully support JohnTV's comments myself. If you like old-school (beeyyooond the old-school of DQVIII and more like the old-school of FFIII DS) then you will really enjoy BD. It's basically like FFIII w/HD graphics. If you're more into FFVI+ era rpgs with characters/stories/puzzles/speedy-gameplay and/or pacing, then it won't be the 2nd coming of rpgs or anything.

I think most Xbox fans will dig it since it seems the majority aren't big jrpg players and haven't played an rpg since FFVI or FFVII. It's nice solid traditional rpg with graphics good enough to impress X360 fans.

 

[devilscallmedad]

How does this compare up to chronotrigger? Would a huge chronotrigger fan dig this ( this fan also usually dislikes other JRPG's )

P.S Why can't i post new topics?

 

[IJoel]

heh, welll I fully support JohnTV's comments myself. If you like old-school (beeyyooond the old-school of DQVIII and more like the old-school of FFIII DS) then you will really enjoy BD. It's basically like FFIII w/HD graphics. If you're more into FFVI+ era rpgs with characters/stories/puzzles/speedy-gameplay and/or pacing, then it won't be the 2nd coming of rpgs or anything.

I think most Xbox fans will dig it since it seems the majority aren't big jrpg players and haven't played an rpg since FFVI or FFVII. It's nice solid traditional rpg with graphics good enough to impress X360 fans.

Well, you sound as if you find it ok. That said, you're just describing the mechanics, as opposed to the quality. So, yes, it's an 'old school' rpg, but how good is it?

Mind you, I'm really just wondering how good it is. I made a note on JohnTV's comment since 'solid', at least for me, it's simply barely bearable, and frankly, I'm expecting more of this title.

Spoiler

Not nifty!?

 

[Bebpo]

Well, you sound as if you find it ok. That said, you're just describing the mechanics, as opposed to the quality. So, yes, it's an 'old school' rpg, but how good is it?

Mind you, I'm really just wondering how good it is. I made a note on JohnTV's comment since 'solid', at least for me, it's simply barely bearable, and frankly, I'm expecting more of this title.

Spoiler

Not nifty!?

Well, I'll wait until I finish disc1 in a few hours and then give some thoughts on the quality. It's definitely above "ok" though, it's a "good" game and if it's a "great" game will vary depending on the rpg tastes of the individual and what they're looking for.

 

[IJoel]

Well, I'll wait until I finish disc1 in a few hours and then give some thoughts on the quality. It's definitely above "ok" though, it's a "good" game and if it's a "great" game will vary depending on the rpg tastes of the individual and what they're looking for.

Ah, that's fair.

To give you a more concrete example, Skies of Arcadia is one of my favorite JRPGs, and while the gameplay mechanics weren't anything outside of the ordinary, the locales, character development, and CHARM, made it what it was.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Ah, that's fair.

To give you a more concrete example, Skies of Arcadia is one of my favorite JRPGs, and while the gameplay mechanics weren't anything outside of the ordinary, the locales, character development, and CHARM, made it what it was.

This is the same reason I'm interested in Blue Dragon. Skies was the last major J-RPG I played, partly because of the random battles. I love skies to death, and imported the godly two-disc sountrack, but it was a little too old-school in the combat department. I basically decided that I wouldn't play an RPG with random battles again.

So if BD can find the right old-scool elements to adhere to, while retaining the characters, art and charming sense of fun a game like Skies had, then I'll be in heaven.

 

[Bebpo]

Ah, that's fair.

To give you a more concrete example, Skies of Arcadia is one of my favorite JRPGs, and while the gameplay mechanics weren't anything outside of the ordinary, the locales, character development, and CHARM, made it what it was.

Hmm...I loved Skies of Arcadia because of the exploration aspect, and the epic nature of the storyline with developed antagonists (the characters were fine too). Also being one of the first real 3d rpgs where you could go to first person and look around made it a pretty big deal. I still remember the part where you're stranded on a small island alone by yourself fondly.

I'd actually relate FFXII closest to SoA IMO as the empire with the judges sorta remind me of the cool empire council knight leaders of SoA, and the huge world to explore in FFXII strikes a resemblance as well (though I prefer flying around from rock to rock in SoA). BD is not really like SoA as SoA had a good amount of cutscenes, character development for both the main crew and the protagonists, big world to explore, whereas BD is like FF1-3 level of character/plot development from what I've seen with 1 real cutscene every 3 hours and then a short "go to the west cave young man!" cutscene every hour or so between dungeons. Also the world, the game, and the dungeons, are pretty linear in a PS2-era (minus DQVIII) style.

FF1 (minus the big world to walk around in while confusedly lost about where you are supposed to go next) is probably the closet game I would relate BD to at this point around 10 hours in. Take FF1, add a bit more story, a deep modern battle system, and HD graphics, and you sorta have BD.

 

[Blimblim]

5 hours in, still looking good

 

[Tenacious-V]

Hmm...I loved Skies of Arcadia because of the exploration aspect, and the epic nature of the storyline with developed antagonists (the characters were fine too). Also being one of the first real 3d rpgs where you could go to first person and look around made it a pretty big deal. I still remember the part where you're stranded on a small island alone by yourself fondly.

OT: This island?

What a fantastic game SoA was. So adventurous and light hearted. Being stranded on that island, and then transforming it was one of the best moments in that game for me. It was like the ultimate success. From that tiny little home rock, to getting a massive unstoppable ship, to building and owning your own island.

I think I'm gonna hook up the DC again and play it again. :lol I just gave myself a ton of fond memories. SEGA make Skies 2 dammit!

 

[Jcgamer60]

OT: This island?

What a fantastic game SoA was. So adventurous and light hearted. Being stranded on that island, and then transforming it was one of the best moments in that game for me. It was like the ultimate success. From that tiny little home rock, to getting a massive unstoppable ship, to building and owning your own island.

I think I'm gonna hook up the DC again and play it again. :lol I just gave myself a ton of fond memories. SEGA make Skies 2 dammit!

I think SOA will always be my all time favourite rpg. There was no rpg this generation that i liked more than that game.

 

[GhaleonEB]

OT: This island?

What a fantastic game SoA was. So adventurous and light hearted. Being stranded on that island, and then transforming it was one of the best moments in that game for me. It was like the ultimate success. From that tiny little home rock, to getting a massive unstoppable ship, to building and owning your own island.

I think I'm gonna hook up the DC again and play it again. :lol I just gave myself a ton of fond memories. SEGA make Skies 2 dammit!

I remember the feeling of sheer glee, taking the elevator up to the top of the center of the island to see the base under construction. The creators knew how cool that was, and turned the camera around so you could see the view rise up slowly.....to the top instead of just turning around and seeing a nice view.

I also fondly remember the scene right before the big battle at the end, when you go around comforting your crew, and finding Aika up there. That moment was so perfect at nailing the emotion of the moment, and summing up everything you'd done so far, with the slow pan over the island with the ship in view. Goddamn that was a great game.

 

[∀ Narayan]

I think SOA will always be my all time favourite rpg. There was no rpg this generation that i liked more than that game.

Likewise. Skies of Arcadia is truly an amazing game.

I remember the feeling of sheer glee, taking the elevator up to the top of the center of the island to see the base under construction. The creators knew how cool that was, and turned the camera around so you could see the view rise up slowly.....to the top instead of just turning around and seeing a nice view.

I also fondly remember the scene right before the big battle at the end, when you go around comforting your crew, and finding Aika up there. That moment was so perfect at nailing the emotion of the moment, and summing up everything you'd done so far, with the slow pan over the island with the ship in view. Goddamn that was a great game.

QFMFT. God damn, how I wish I could just erase those memories and play it again.

 

[Luckett_X]

I really really wish I could play through Skies of Arcadia again without the random battles making me want to bite through my own tongue.

 

[a Master Ninja]

I really really wish I could play through Skies of Arcadia again without the random battles making me want to bite through my own tongue.

I agree, the random battles really harmed an otherwise enjoyable game.

 

[Tenacious-V]

I remember the feeling of sheer glee, taking the elevator up to the top of the center of the island to see the base under construction. The creators knew how cool that was, and turned the camera around so you could see the view rise up slowly.....to the top instead of just turning around and seeing a nice view.

I also fondly remember the scene right before the big battle at the end, when you go around comforting your crew, and finding Aika up there. That moment was so perfect at nailing the emotion of the moment, and summing up everything you'd done so far, with the slow pan over the island with the ship in view. Goddamn that was a great game.

Absolutely! That island was basically the pinnacle of the game. Everything about it was just capturing emotions perfectly. Making all the little upgrades and then putting up the flag . Riding the elevator and watching your island become a full fledged base. There was a real sense of accomplishment. And just like you said, when Vyse goes around to everyone to console them before the final showdown. It was so fullfilling.

 

[nitewulf]

yeah, aside from the exploration aspect which they nailed perfectly, the events pacing was perfect as well in SOA. and these two elements made it a great rpg.
being stranded in that small island (cresent isle?) by yourself is one of my favorite rpg experiences.

 

[Jcgamer60]

being stranded in that small island (cresent isle?) by yourself is one of my favorite rpg experiences.

QFT!!!!

 

[vspectra06]

I photoshopped Blim's pic since it was kind of washed out. I have my contrast settings high on my HDTV, so the game will most likely look similar to this if I was playing it.

Bebpo was criticizing the depth-of-field effect, but I think it makes the game look gorgeous. It's a very good and subtle use of it when compared to Ninety-Nine Nights.

 

[TFIFF]

Do any of you who picked up the bundle want to sell me the faceplate?

 

[duckroll]

See Blim! It's not just me! Someone ELSE thinks Shu's seiyuu sounds like Park Romi too! :lol

Oh and John, I'm really curious as to what you're doing to get the loading pics to show up and what you've been doing in the game before it crashes. It hasn't crashed a single time on me and I've never seen any of the loading images, but now you're making me paranoid about the game! :lol

 

[intheinbetween]

hey duckroll, i'm stuck in the odd paitings village:

Spoiler

i went to the Shu's village and then i beat that wizard, ok.. i didn't know what to do after that, so i headed to that village were the bizarre living-paintings are (it reminded me a lot Zelda Wind Waker..), so i beat that fire-bird and i don't know what to do now because everytime i try to left that village my party split and a message from Jiro appears telling "something" (i don't know any japanese) and asking me something that i presume that's about if i really want to leave the village.. what should i do? did i leave anything to do there or in Shu's village?

 

[duckroll]

hey duckroll, i'm stuck in the odd paitings village:

Spoiler

i went to the Shu's village and then i beat that wizard, ok.. i didn't know what to do after that, so i headed to that village were the bizarre living-paintings are (it reminded me a lot Zelda Wind Waker..), so i beat that fire-bird and i don't know what to do now because everytime i try to left that village my party split and a message from Jiro appears telling "something" (i don't know any japanese) and asking me something that i presume that's about if i really want to leave the village.. what should i do? did i leave anything to do there or in Shu's village?

Spoiler

After you beat the firebird, you keep going to the end corner where one of the chests has the item that the last painting before you left the village told you to help recover for him. Returning it gives you a new spell. After this just go to the place where the bridge broke and use it to climb downwards. Remember, whenever the bridges break, you can use them to climb down on the mountains, so eventually you'll get to the bottom. Hope that helps!

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

I think the only question left is:

How quickly does Mistwalker become a JRPG farm for MS?

I'm not talking buyouts but rather contracts. Blue Dragon 2 is already being discussed. I know Mistwalker just oversees projects but Microsoft knows these games will help it build up marketshare (at least in NA and Europe) even if they don't become mega-hits but rather, say, 400,000 sellers.

5 or 6 JRPG's that sell in that range woudln't earn JRPG genre domination but would help attract more JRPG gamers than the original Xbox did. It would become a viable second console to strict JRPG gamers.

And for future Mistwalker JRPG team ups:

Team Tree
Level 5
Gamer Republic
Game Arts


I would like to also see them take a stab at a Strategy RPG for the 360 but that is another discussion entirely.

 

[clashfan]

How quickly does Mistwalker become a JRPG farm for MS?

I had heard they have a exclusive contract with MS, is this true?

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

I had heard they have a exclusive contract with MS, is this true?

They can work for whatever publisher they want to, as far as I know. The only thing exclusive is their Microsoft published games.

 

[john tv]

Bebpo, comparing BD to FF1 is a little bit of a stretch. It's got way more story than FF1 ever had. The story, characters and world are not really comparable to previous games IMO -- it would be more apt to compare them to Toriyama's manga works (Dr. Slump and Sand Land come to mind for me).

Writing is very clean and witty so far, and while there are a lot of standard RPG cliches, there's also been plenty of original stuff too.

The more I play it, the more I'm liking it. Again, it's not DQ or FF, but for a first entry in what will no doubt become a major franchise for Mistwalker, it's a really, really good start.

More impressions when I'm done. It's really too early to be discussing stuff like this.

 

[duckroll]

17+ hours in, finally hit the first snow area! It's a bit disappointing that while the cutscenes have tons of snow and details that make it look great, when you're actually on the field the ground is snowy but there are no particle effects or anything though. :/

The areas in the game are pretty big and I'm starting to find myself skipping exploring everything the first time round more and more. The fact that pretty much every town and dungeon has a warp point is pretty cool, once I find the warp point and activate it I'm less worried about getting everything the first time round since I can go back and check it out when I'm stronger later on. There are also barriers that you won't be able to break the first time through too, so return trips should net nice stuff. I can break 2 barrier types now! Yay!

 

[duckroll]

I was actually kinda wrong. There ARE snow particle effects after moving around more. So the game decided to punish me for spreading inaccurate information and I died for the first time in Blue Dragon. Then after I loaded my save, avoided that particular enemy and played for about 20-30 minutes... I DIED AGAIN! I think the difficulty is ramping up!

 

[thetrin]

At the point I'm in, the game is really beautiful, but a huge snore fest. I really want to love the game, but as far as Disc 1 goes, it's really really boring. I know the game gets harder, and I can't wait for that. What's really pushing me along at the moment is the fact that the world is so entertaining, and i love doing back attacks and monster fights.

I'm hoping the game's talons sink in through this weekend.

 

[Blimblim]

I've been asked to make another video, so there it is, showing what happens from the crash up to the first boss:
http://www.xboxyde.com/news_3873_en.html

 

[AgentOtaku]

I've been asked to make another video, so there it is, showing what happens from the crash up to the first boss:
http://www.xboxyde.com/news_3873_en.html

...way to go!

looks like I'll be naming my next child BlimBlim

 

[Ginko]

For those who can read Japanese, this link I think says that the game sold 70k (overall). And deducting the 40k that we know already, it means it sold 30k systems, decent, very decent.

http://www.xbox-news.com/

Can anyone please confirm this by going to the link and reading the news in the front page of the site.

 

[Blimblim]

...way to go!

looks like I'll be naming my next child BlimBlim

Why would you do that to a child?

For those who can read Japanese, this link I think says that the game sold 70k (overall). And deducting the 40k that we know already, it means it sold 30k systems, decent, very decent.

http://www.xbox-news.com/

Can anyone please confirm this by going to the link and reading the news in the front page of the site.

Yeah bloke confirmed this in the Media Create topic. It's for the first day only.

 

[Ginko]

As for number of sales of blue dragon first day approximately 70,000 book?
　According to the information offer to XNEWS, number of sales of first day of the blue dragon which is sold on December 7th, including substance bundled edition, seems that is approximately 70,000 book.
　In the software single item among those it is digestibility 58% in approximately 43,000 book.

　Because this is the number only of 7 days which are weekday, as for with just the sale of first week with Xbox 360 title of the domestic market becoming most numerous you are not almost wrong, probably will be.
　200,000 book it probably will put out the Microsoft sale goal, is, but directing to the goal achievement, you can call the favorable starting first.
　Pill Gates, it is information offer [sankusu].

Yeah it's just for the first day, it actually says so in the article.

 

[DCharlie]

more people around the X360 than the PS3 in Yodobashi today - and people unashamedly buying the machine (no paper bags over heads or anything)

i'm sure it's just a blip, but it's so weird when the matrix glitches like this.

 

[Orlics]

more people around the X360 than the PS3 in Yodobashi today - and people unashamedly buying the machine (no paper bags over heads or anything)

i'm sure it's just a blip, but it's so weird when the matrix glitches like this.

Man, buying a 360 over there must be like buying Viva Pinata here. You know you're getting a good product but you just don't want to be seen with it. >_<

 

[duckroll]

Not bad. So Blue Dragon moved 30k Xbox360s on the first day, not bad I guess. I wonder if it's even remotely possible that the week will end at 50k. There's still Friday, Saturday and Sunday to count! Hope hope!

 

[Littleberu]

I hope that Blue Dragon is successful there. That means more great RPG from Mystwalker.

Are Artoon developing this one?

 

[Ginko]

I don't know why I thought the article says the first week, I didn't read it correctly.

 

[Prine]

more people around the X360 than the PS3 in Yodobashi today - and people unashamedly buying the machine (no paper bags over heads or anything)

i'm sure it's just a blip, but it's so weird when the matrix glitches like this.

Fantastic

 

[Piper Az]

more people around the X360 than the PS3 in Yodobashi today - and people unashamedly buying the machine (no paper bags over heads or anything)

i'm sure it's just a blip, but it's so weird when the matrix glitches like this.

I was getting the impression from 2ch that some people were really considering buying the 360 because of Blue Dragon, Lost Planet, and (gasp!) Earth Defense Force(!). There were a lot of dicussion about to get or not to get a HDD as well as how hard to find HDDs. Also, there were posters complaining about how noisy the 360 is (I guess it's just the nature of the 360...)

 

[DCharlie]

so - i hardly played any BD today - so i start again tomorrow night at about 18 hours in - still on disk one.

Wife is a bit ahead of me but has been levelling the ass out of her kage's but is still on around 18 hours and still on the first disk.

it's nice game, enjoying much successful enjoyments.

 

[duk]

70k sold on the first day!

http://www.xbox-news.com/

 

[vspectra06]

Nice to hear the sales.

 

[charlequin]

I was getting the impression from 2ch that some people were really considering buying the 360 because of Blue Dragon, Lost Planet, and (gasp!) Earth Defense Force(!).

Wow! It's not like X360 has any chance to become the #1 system or anything, but if this is the start of a permanent 5-digit weekly sales trend for the Xbox (I don't expect 30k but even 11-12k a week would be a huge improvement) it might actually have some hope as a hardcore system.

 

[GhaleonEB]

more people around the X360 than the PS3 in Yodobashi today - and people unashamedly buying the machine (no paper bags over heads or anything)

i'm sure it's just a blip, but it's so weird when the matrix glitches like this.

Is the 360 still tucked in the back, or did the keep the units up front? I rememer the BD launch pics had stacks of the 360 bundle in prime location.

Lost Planet hits the 21st; that could keep the 360 party alive for just a bit longer.

 

[nelsonroyale]

Im not surpised BD gave the 360 a little boost...I mean its probably a bigger deal to the Japanese than all the previous 360 games released combined...

peace

 

[RumFore]

I'm really looking forward to the US launch but the games surroundings looks so plain and drab. Guess it may be the fact we are seeing videos instead of actually playing it though. More Japanese need to give the 360 and this game a chance. I hope it does well.

 

[PG2G]

They can work for whatever publisher they want to, as far as I know. The only thing exclusive is their Microsoft published games.

I kinda remember hearing they were a bit tied to MS for console development, but I can't remember if it was timed/permanent or contractual or what. Or I could have pulled it out of my ass, hehe.

 

[JMPovoa]

Again, it's not DQ or FF, but for a first entry in what will no doubt become a major franchise for Mistwalker, it's a really, really good start.

With that you mean that it's not of the same quality of present DQ and FF offerings, or that it's just too different from those two?