Microsoft hasn't done a lot of things right in the eyes of the Japanese. Winning over one of the largest gaming markets in the world has been a muddy uphill struggle for the software giant, but that hasn't stopped MS from putting forth a lot of effort in trying. Well, Microsoft's hard work has finally paid off in the form of Blue Dragon, one of the few highly acclaimed games for the Xbox 360 in Japan.
In a press release issued recently by Microsoft's PR agency, it was announced that Blue Dragon has taken some affinity with Japanese consumers and the Japanese media, alike. Kick-starting the launch of Blue Dragon at one of the largest retail outlets in Japan, the Yodobashi Camera Akiba, more than 200 gamers were on hand awaiting the release of the highly anticipated Xbox 360 RPG, Blue Dragon.
On hand at the Yodobashi retail store to unveil the launch of Blue Dragon, was renown model (and gamer) Yoko Horiuchi. She happens to be a fan of the game's artist, Akira Toriyama. Being the first of a two-part epic tale specific for the Xbox 360, Blue Dragon was designed by Square-Enix's Hironobu Sakaguchi. The game follows a young boy as he journeys through a sizable adventure as he masters his "Dragon Shadow". Though it's released in Japan, American gamers need not envy their Eastern gaming counter-parts. The North-American release of Blue Dragon is scheduled to hit retailer shelves sometime in 2007.
I had it all wrong...Blue Dragon is awesome!
I bought this game a couple of days ago, along with Lost Odyssey, while they're on sale in the Xbox Store. I never had a 360 back in the day so I missed out on these games, so I'm glad that I'll finally be able to try them out soon on my Series S.
Yep, Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, and Gears of War were my favorite 360 games back when they first released.
no doubt. To this day it baffles me when this game gets hate. Sure it wasn't as epic as Lost Odyssey, but in it's own right it was a great game.
Lost Odyssey is one of the best jrpgs of that era but got killed because it was bought up and released on the "wrong" console.
Is there a chance that Lost Odyssey will be released on PS5? I really want to play it and Blue Dragon, too.
Great game. The 360 had some really good turn based games back in the day. Absolutely loved Lost Odyssey too. I think they are both Sakaguchi creations.
Correction. Both Blue Dragon & Lost Odyssey (as well as Infinite Undiscovery) started off as in-house developed projects that went third party after MS killed off their Japanese development studios.
Doesn't really have anything to do with what I said though 😂 Sakaguchi wrote them both
This game together with Lost Odyssey, The Last Remenant and Tales of Vesperia convinced me to buy a 360. This game made my 2007 which ended off with mass effect.
Honestly, a fantastic game, especially if you were a fan of old-school JRPGs. I hate that this genre rarely can come back to these roots.
Destructoid: I remember where I was when Blue Dragon was announced. Although I already had an Xbox 360 and was ready for it, some folks I knew bought one just for it given who was involved (Nobuo Uematsu, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Akira Toriyama): as Mistwalker and Microsoft Game Studios made a mad dash to put out more games from Japanese studios on the Xbox ecosystem.
Blue dragon was fantastic. Love that game. It was my biggest reason for getting a 360.
i wanted to play it, but ...
1. its on xbox
and 2. i missed it when it was on gamepass ha.
I thought it was pretty good but I personally I think Lost Odyssey is better
Also, I know a lot of JRPGs are cheesy but damn…this one was amped up to 11.
Lost odyssey lost me when I started to realize my grinding to level up wasn't adding up. So I never picked it up again. I really really despise that.
Then you missed out on of of the best jrpgs ever made.
Did you at least reach the point where Jansen qas singing? 🥰
I really wish Mistwalker would remaster these games... they're too busy with mobile unfortunately.
The Summer Game Fest 2023 revealed a new Akira Toriyama game called Sand Land, and it has more potential for greatness than a new Blue Dragon would.
Imma call bs on this. Sorry a blue dragon sequel would be dope and much needed. While this one I'm sitting here trying to figure out if I'm interested. I'm kinda stuck on vehicular action. That's where it's losing me.
Why can’t we just get both? In this gamer world of ours, it seems like it’s always one or the other. Games like these seem like they would print money for these development studios if they released multiplatform.
...I like Mr. Sakaguchi's development, I must say that Blue Dragon doesn't appear to stir many things up. I mean the DOA-3 caused a sale of about 250,000 Xboxes when it was launched. So far DOA-4 has been a major know-not in Japan because it just couldn't get there, neither have any other Japaneese developed game for the 360. I've just read the latest impressions on blue-dragon at gamebrink.com, and while things are intriguing...they are by no means anything newer than Grandia-3, Valkyrie Profile...and can't even come closer to FF-XII and Rogue Galaxy. So, I guess we'll have to wait and see what's cooking in lost odyssey.
This is definitely a good sign. I am becoming more and more keen on this game with each article. I'm praying this wont end here and Microsoft will take a hint and push for more good Japanese rpgs; the more the merrier. looks like 360 is headed in a good direction with this keep it up!
This is just the stepping stone Mircosoft needs. Blue Dragon is already being planned as a Manga making it more popular. Shohun Jump is already releasing stories on it. Blue Dragon will continue to sell and get big. With Lost Planet a month away in Japan...sales are going to pick up even more!
The only way m$ will sale consoles in Japan is if they change there name to Sony or Nintendo. The 360 is dead in Japan.
should focus more on the countries that actually appreciate its console and quit wasting time + money in Japan.