Sweet Nothings

With everything I knew going into this experience, Blue Dragon could have been a huge hit or a monumental miss. There are those of you that are excited with the recent trend of live (not so) turn-based RPG's coming out of the land of the rising sun. I, however, do not celebrate this proposed next step in the evolutionary process. I'm one of the stubborn few that like my RPG's all-slow or all-go, angrily casting away all of the inbetween's that have become wildly popular as of late. For me, Final Fantasy XII was a nearly unplayable disaster that I suffered through, if only out of previous loyalty to the namesake. But I miss meticulously toiling through dungeon's, in complete control of an entire party of loveable, angsty, young heroes for a day, waging encounter upon encounter against various element based creatures in strictly turn based melee's, that I could tweak and plan to my heart's content. Blue Dragon brought on that desire, and admirably satiated it.

There are those reviewers who would have you believe that because Blue Dragon utilizes an arguably aging battle system, that it is drab and laborious. But what Artoon and Mistwalker have been able to achieve with this new title is what many purists of the role playing genre should consider the true next step in Japanese role playing, though it may be a rather small one. But before I address the intricacies of the battle system, I'd like to discuss the world of Blue Dragon.

The characters and artwork of Blue Dragon are all designed by Akira Toriyama, of Dragon Ball and Chrono Trigger fame. While I have never cared for much of anything the Dragon Ball series has had to offer, the world of Blue Dragon is easy to fall in love with. Once you are deep into the quest, you begin to develop a deeper understanding and admiration for Toriyama's minimalistic designs. Each individual character in your eventual five character party will come to hold a special place in your heart. And the game surprisingly doesn't overwhelm the player with hours and hours of spoken dialogue. Much of what is displayed in cutscene's is either necessary to the context of the story arch, or is entertaining enough to hold your attention. I often smiled widely at the comical antics of Shu and his friends, or grit my teeth at their courage and strength. Moments in the game made my arm hair's stand on end, and I felt genuinely as though I was carrying out Shu's tasks with determination. That is most certainly the imprint of a Sakaguchi produced RPG, as I found myself as exhilirated by the events in Blue Dragon as I have been in other great titles in his portfolio, such as Final Fantasy's VII and X. The game and it's world have an undeniable charm, and the Blue Dragon brand has the potential to become phenomonally popular, with animation, toys and various merchandise baring the likenesses of the characters and their simple-yet-engrossing universe seemingly inevitable, even with the title's thus far modest success.

The battle system in Blue Dragon may not be some shocking new variation of turn based role playing, but frankly, some of us prefer it that way. The class system and your ability to change them on the fly to level up individual classes, is much deeper than it appears to be if you take the time to explore your many options. Granted, some players may have difficulty deciding when and how to change classes and exactly how long to level up. But trust me, if you're a toiler and RPG enthusiast that loves to squeeze every item and experience point out of this type of dungeon crawler, you will have no issues organically discovering new and exciting combinations of abilities. And for those of you who care only to power through boss after exhilirating boss, such customization is entirely optional and you will fare just fine without ever switching classes. Which brings me to the inevitable downside of this affair.

Blue Dragon, while offering downloadable additional difficulties (that are tailored for a second go around) is unusually easy for a Sakaguchi affair. If you rummage around the world map, leveling up and finding every item and treasure chest, it won't take long to lap the competition. The ease of battle may come as a relief to some players, but I relish the challenge of a painfully difficult RPG. Granted, for those of you that are as masochistic as I am, there are some "extra bosses" (would this be a Sakaguchi title without them?) that take some serious committment to both find and defeat, and will reward you handsomely for the afforementioned class changing and leveling. Unfortunately, their optional nature is obviously not associated with your success in the main quest. I feel it is appropriate to note, as well, that this game is not necessarily made for adolescents. Strangely, it would be appropriate for such an audience outside of Shu's desire to call his adversaries "bastards". I suppose it depends on the vernacular that is allowed in your particular household. My other major concern with this title is the absolute lack of weaponry. Obviously, your blue avatar is your living weapon, which is novel and quite original. But I was silently hoping before embarking on this adventure that you could somehow equip them with helmets or gauntlets, or that such upgrades may automatically occur upon leveling up.

These concerns are few and minor, and should not discourage any lover of role playing games from giving this wonderful and engaging title a shot. If anything, I am strongly encouraging those same RPG lovers to do themselves a favor of at least renting this title. I can almost certainly assure you that if a little cutesy character design isn't enough to make you throw up in your mouth a little, you will come away pleasantly surprised with this gem. And you will share an inside joke with the few of us that understand the title of this review.

9.5/10