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Blue Dragon (Xbox360) |OT|

T

Thoren

Banned
dirtmonkey37 said:
So Blim, have you read IGN's latest preview (posted today)? If so, what's your take on their negative outlook on the title, 20 hours in? Do they make valid points? Do you have any points to counter their points? :D

I'm curious to know, because they bring up a slew of things that naturally bug me about JRPG's.

-The empty and predictable story.
-The lack of difficulty (which you commented on above)
-The lack of sidequests

These are starting to frighten me!
Click to expand...

I just read the preview.

1. They said the story was a traditional anime-RPG style story, bunch of kids save the world. Sure its been done a million times but that doesn't mean it cant be done well. They didnt call it empty or predictable either.

2. The preview stated that the game would ship in North America with the additional Difficulty Levels included on the disc. :)

3. No comment here.
 
T

Takuhi

Member
dirtmonkey37 said:
So Blim, have you read IGN's latest preview (posted today)? If so, what's your take on their negative outlook on the title, 20 hours in? Do they make valid points? Do you have any points to counter their points? :D
Click to expand...

Allow me! Since I trashed Milky's write-up on 1Up, only fair I give IGN the credit they deserve. Here's their negative comments:

IGN said:
The pacing in Blue Dragon starts off with a bang, but then falls into a bit of monotony.
Click to expand...

Hmm. I find that overly harsh. There are some dull parts but things really pick up towards the end of the first disc. (Which they do say later, but this makes it sound like the monotony lasts indefinitely.)

IGN said:
The game was nearing the end of the first disc out of three and we had yet to encounter any side quests, room for exploration, difficult battles, or any other sort of distraction. The game holds your hand a bit too much through this portion of the game and it begins to feel a bit drab.
Click to expand...

This is actually pretty fair. There are a few side quests in disc 2 but virtually all of them are in disc 3. And there are a LOT in disc 3. There are indeed few difficult battles in disc 1. Or disc 2. Or disc 3. :p The lack of distractions is an odd comment, since there is the usual amount of RPG mini-games...?

IGN said:
After 20 hours, we've died exactly zero times.
Click to expand...

That's absurd! In the first 20 hours, I died... once. Which is like infinity times more! Hopefully they're right about the hard mode being on the disc in America. And hopefully it will be called "Normal Mode" and the current one will be called "Easy Mode."

IGN said:
As far as the story goes for Blue Dragon, at this stage it adheres closely to traditional Japanese adventures... Perhaps the story still has a few twists up its sleeve for us to find as we continue on through the rest of the game.
Click to expand...

Oh, it does have some twists! But there is no doubt that it is aiming for a "traditional" story. But unlike games that are 100% uninspired cliché, Blue Dragon has fun playing with your expectations and uses what seems like clichés to set you up for surprises.

I'd say this was a pretty fair review. I wouldn't call it generally negative at all—it's clearly written with the standards of review copy, and not preview copy, so I think you have to compare it to other reviews and not their usual fawning previews. It mentions the good as well as the bad, and I think the writer will be very pleased by how the game develops in the latter half.

Here's the link:
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/794/794023p1.html
 
T

Takuhi

Member
Jirotrom said:
Is it like Dragon Quest VIII? If so its a buy no matter what...even though Its already a buy no matter what.
Click to expand...

It is a LOT like Dragon Quest VIII. It's maybe 50% that and 50% old-school Final Fantasy. If you like DQ8 (which I loved) you will definitely like it. The only people I'd hesitate to recommend it to are the people who complain "this doesn't significantly evolve the genre, blah blah blah. After Final Fantasy XII, I can never go back."

Those people can suck it. They aren't true RPG fans if they hate the traditional elements of the genre.
 
D

dirtmonkey37

flinging feces ---->
Thoren said:
I just read the preview.

1. They said the story was a traditional anime-RPG style story, bunch of kids save the world. Sure its been done a million times but that doesn't mean it cant be done well. They didnt call it empty or predictable either.

2. The preview stated that the game would ship in North America with the additional Difficulty Levels included on the disc. :)

3. No comment here.
Click to expand...

1. They never called it empty or predictable. That's just what I interpreted -- essentially my message and their message about the story is the same.

2. The problem with that is, most critics and players like me are going to want to play the game on the "normal" difficulty. I want the experience that was intended for me to have. I hope they do what Tahuki mentioned -- that they pull a DMC3 and change the Japanese version's normal mode to the easy mode and the hard mode to the U.S. version's....

3. Yeah, so no side quests until the latter half of the game(according to Tahuki)....hmm...
 
D

duckroll

Member
Even if the additional difficulties are on disc, will they be selectable from the start? Or will they just be for the New Game+? Considering the fact that IGN is playing a preview copy... you would think they would try out the higher difficulties if it's selectable from the start.
 
B

Blimblim

The Inside Track
duckroll said:
Even if the additional difficulties are on disc, will they be selectable from the start? Or will they just be for the New Game+? Considering the fact that IGN is playing a preview copy... you would think they would try out the higher difficulties if it's selectable from the start.
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure they are simply playing with the Asian version.
 
G

Gibbo

Member
I've spent about 14 hours on this game so far and I'm pretty disappointed with it to be honest. Graphics and music are great... but as far as gameplay is concerned, it falls pretty flat actually. I would go as far as to say that its below average. Firstly, its pretty easy; making it entirely possible to skim through the first few hours just using your normal physical attack. The battle system doesnt get more traditional than this. They do throw in some 'innovative' features like the charge bar and field battle system... but I find them to be more of a hindrance than anything else. Seems like they just wanted to throw those features in so that it would not come across as having too simple of a battle system

Although some of the towns look pretty lovely, Dungeon designs are nothing to write home about. I also kinda hate the fact that they try to extend the game artificially by trying to encourage you to line yourself up against the wall and search for shit. Music is great for the most part save for the battle music. The battle music is jarring to save the least...and don't get me started on the boss music. The latter was a brave attempt at something different which went terribly wrong imo.

Nonetheless, I will complete this game... seeing how i'm a sucker for games with high production values; which this game exudes in buckets.
 
T

Thoren

Banned
Yeah lack of challenge after 10+ hours is scary. It definitely better let us start with a higher difficulty on first playthrough.
 
S

soco

Member
i thought the english voices sounded alright.

however that voice when they hold the stuff sounds like a mix between Cortana, with the same h3 trailer effect, and B'Elanna from ST: Voyager.
 
K

KTallguy

Banned
Takuhi said:
Those people can suck it. They aren't true RPG fans if they hate the traditional elements of the genre.
Click to expand...

Hate is a strong word.

Tired of is a better way to say it. If the game is too easy, it's a real shame though. If the game is too easy and you can just mash attack, what's the point of having battles in the first place?

English VA isn't that bad actually!
 
J

Jirotrom

Member
Takuhi said:
It is a LOT like Dragon Quest VIII. It's maybe 50% that and 50% old-school Final Fantasy. If you like DQ8 (which I loved) you will definitely like it. The only people I'd hesitate to recommend it to are the people who complain "this doesn't significantly evolve the genre, blah blah blah. After Final Fantasy XII, I can never go back."

Those people can suck it. They aren't true RPG fans if they hate the traditional elements of the genre.
Click to expand...

Thank god because DQVIII was my fave RPG that I played last gen.
 
G

GreekWolf

Member
Manager said:
Here's a guy playing it Live, started 1 minute ago, he will be playing for a cuple of hours from the start.

http://ustream.tv/channel/gamemakerman-tv-blue-dragon-live
Click to expand...
This has been GREAT! I'm really loving the dungeon he's slugging his way through right now. The particular Uematsu piece in this area with the thundering pipe organ is already one of my favorites.

I won't watch much more though, don't want to ruin the entire thing.
 
S

Sirusjr

Banned
So I take it the easiest difficulty is quite easier than DQVIII was? I mean exactly what easy game's level of easy is it? I certainly don't mind easy as long as a few bosses are challenging. I prefer rpgs when you don't die at all.
 
G

Gibbo

Member
Sirusjr said:
So I take it the easiest difficulty is quite easier than DQVIII was? I mean exactly what easy game's level of easy is it? I certainly don't mind easy as long as a few bosses are challenging. I prefer rpgs when you don't die at all.
Click to expand...

It is definately easier than DQ8. Like I mentioned earlier, you can simply breeze your way through dungeons using just your physical attack (save for a handful of physical attack resistant enemies). I've only died once in the 17 hours i've played. And that was because I was too lazy to heal 2 of my characters who were infected with poison
 
F

FateBreaker

Member
Gibbo said:
It is definately easier than DQ8. Like I mentioned earlier, you can simply breeze your way through dungeons using just your physical attack (save for a handful of physical attack resistant enemies). I've only died once in the 17 hours i've played. And that was because I was too lazy to heal 2 of my characters who were infected with poison
Click to expand...

...DQ8 was easy?
 
S

Sirusjr

Banned
FateBreaker said:
...DQ8 was easy?
Click to expand...
It wasn't but I wanted to clarify exactly what they meant by easy. DQVIII wasn't exactly hard either though as long as you did enough grinding on the metal slimes. The difficulty was the sweet spot for me so I wanted to know just how easy they meant Blue Dragon was when compared to DQVIII.
 
M

madhtr

Member
Dr. Kitty Muffins said:
Release date in the US is August 28th. I want someone to ask about the changes made in the NA version- even the slightest ones.
Click to expand...
According to the interview Game Informer had with MGS, the only changes was the addition of an English localization, a few of the vocal tracks getting re-recorded in English.

They also said that the difficulty levels would be available out of the box, but apparently there was a bit of discussion if this was true or not.

So, really, I guess I'm not helping a whole lot ^^
 
T

Thoren

Banned
Now that you can start with the harder difficulty, any possible complaint I could think about this game is gone. Bring it on, Mistwalker!
 
MarkMan

MarkMan

loves Arcade Sticks
Started on my review build yesterday, I'm loving it so far... except... for the voice acting lol...

Thank god when you load your save file you can change the voice acting between English/French/Japanese... whew... (Note, Persona 3 has GREAT English va)

Preview/screens/vids soon!

Actually, here are two screens I did last night:



 
T

Thoren

Banned
MarkMan said:
the voice acting lol...
Click to expand...

I hate Shu because I recognize Mona Marshal. She was really a bad choice, I just keep imagining Izzy from the old Digimon anime.

Kluke isn't so bad, she's VA'd by Tara Strong (AKA Rikku).

And I don't know about the rest of them :/
 
F

FateBreaker

Member
virtuafightermaster said:
I really really dont like this game's art style, never was a big fan of Dragon Balls anyway. But will give it a try nontheless.
Click to expand...

I can understand the character designs, perhaps, but man...the art direction as a whole? I guess I'm one of the few who's really impressed by it.
 
R

reriel

Member
MarkMan said:
Started on my review build yesterday, I'm loving it so far... except... for the voice acting lol...

Thank god when you load your save file you can change the voice acting between English/French/Japanese... whew... (Note, Persona 3 has GREAT English va)

Preview/screens/vids soon!
Click to expand...

Do you know if there's a a level difficulty option at the beginning ?
 
K

Kiljaro

Member
200270b.jpg


For those of you who are interested.
 
BrokenSymmetry

BrokenSymmetry

Member
Thoren said:
Kluke isn't so bad, she's VA'd by Tara Strong (AKA Rikku).
Click to expand...

I'm a big fan of Tara Strong, since she voiced Presea Combatir, my favorite character in Tales of Symphonia (the only JRPG I've ever finished).

pic_presea.jpg
 
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