Blue Dragon Review

Anticipation for this title has been huge, with pre-orders selling out across Japan. Now we see why - Twilight Princess isn't the only classic RPG released this Christmas. Here's why you should be excited for Blue Dragon's English-language release in 2007.

[marcusfenix]

First 1080p game and it isn't basketball or tennis. It is a georgeous game that will actually tax the hardware. LOL The PS3 is weak. The first real next-gen game running in 1080p and it is on the 360, and it is a killer app. Has anyone seen the water effects in this game? By far the best I've seen beside in gears of war.

[specialguest]

if you're gonna be a fanboy and bash the PS3, at least be a smart one...*ahem* like The Mart. Ridge Racer 7 runs at 1080p and 60FPS and it's been out since luanch. also, Lair is the first "real" game to be presented at 1080p.

[marcusfenix]

Blue Dragon is released NOW! I will have it in January, when wil you have Lair? Beside RR7 isn't a graphical showcase anyway, it doesn't even look as good as PGR3. Lair probably won't be 1080p when it is released when it can;t even run NBA 2k7 at a decent framerate at 1080p.

[TheMART]

You need to read better, special one, I expect more *ahem* from such a smart gamer. He says:

"The first REAL next gen game"

And that's what he's right about. RR7 was even worse then RR6 on 360 from a year ago. So that one doesn't count.

Liar isn't out yet.

THe 360 and Blue Dragon is the first next gen game combo doing 1080p like it should be.

If you want it. Not for me 720p is fine for most of us.

[specialguest]

RR7 is not a REAL next gen game? how do you measure what's real next gen and what's not? aside from the tennis and basketball game?

is it the size of the game? no one knows how big the game is. is it the texture? cus Blue Dragon doesn't have hardcore texture. tell me how do you decide?

so it has to be taxing on the hardware for it to be a REAL next-gen game huh? are you a developer? how do you know what's which game is taxing on the hardware or not. for all we know, BD could be either taxing or not so taxing. your arguement of whats a REAL game doesn't hold up.

[Antan]

Come on Mart, thats a very childish thing to say, your better than that.

Anyway Ill defo pick this up when it lands in the UK! From a music point of view, and being a fellow composer myself also, its great to see Mr Uematsu getting some really positive comments. ANYONE who played FF7 (as an example)can appreicate what this guy can do. Very memorable melodies indeed. Looking forward greatly.

[darx]

Your annoying!

[marcusfenix]

And over 50+ hours of gameplay. It is getting high reviews in Japan. I guess since pc games are on multiple discs that makes them cheap and crappy? Get a life and a 360, maybe you will seem more mature.

[Boink]

any game that scored lower than the crappy RR6 on the 360 LAST YEAR. cannot be considered a next gen game, regardless of what resolution it runs on.

[Arkham]

I can't find any sources to confirm that this game is rendered natively 1080p rather than just being upscaled/outputted to 1080p. Can you give me a link?

[MoonDust]

Look cool.

[MicroGamer]

isn't as big as you think if you are sitting at normal tv viewing distance. Unless you have a really large screen and sit right up close, you probably won't notice a huge difference between the two. 720p is going to be good enough for most people and the tv's are cheaper.

[InMyOpinion]

Most games look good on regular 480p as well, you don't HAVE TO play in Hd to experience the next gen graphics. Anyways...Does anyone know how long Blue Dragon lasts? Is it 50+ hrs or what? They never seem to mention this.

[kewlkat007]

Final Fantasy 7 changed my views of JRPG's and I said I would never touch them, but after playing that game, which had a good story, graphics(for its time), and music, I was hooked. Even more so on RPG music Scores...with the likes of

Nobuo Uematsu - Final Fantasy 7
Yasunori Mitsuda - Crono Trigger
Hideaki Kobayashi - Phantasy Star (dreamcast)
Koji Kondo - Legend of Zelda
Hitoshi Sakimoto - Breathe of Fire V

and Others.. So yeah I want this game.

[PS360PCROCKS]

lol no one mentioned the only knocks on this game by CVG...
- Not out in the UK just yet
- Not even announced for the UK yet

classic, this is indeed another AAA title

[Fanboys are gay]

wasnt splinter cell double agent able to run at 1080p, and if it was that was the first console game at 1080p on the 360

[Boink]

can't wait for NA release.

[FirstknighT]

ANOTHER exclusive for the 360 with high reviews! Its good to be a 360 owner!!! :)

[HaKeRsCanRotINHEL]

anyone else getting an illegal media player operation warning when you go to this site? Do tell. FirstknighT your RighT.

[AuburnTiger]

I guess that explains why game needs to be on 3 discs

[NextGen24Gamer]

Are the first games on any console to be native 1080p. Blu Dragon uses 3 dvds due to the HD cut scenes. It has over 50 hours of gameplay and is the first Next Gen JRPG on the market. And it looks like a guarenteed AAA must have title. So now the 360 has four 1080p games on the market. WOW. Thanks Microsoft.

http://i64.photobucket.com/...

[Arkham]

I've been searching but haven't been able to confirm that any of those games (including Blue Dragon) are actually native 1080p games. Aren't they just output at 1080p? Could you refer me to the info?

[Arkham]

So any more information to help me figure this out? I've been using Google and the usual 360 forums but I can't find anything more than "true 1080p" which is meaningless.

[DJ]

Lemme get this straight. So, GT:HD was the first 1080p game, but the 360 guys said "It uses GT4 assets, so it doesn't count." Then they said the PS3 launch titles didn't count because they weren't 'taxing on the hardware' (like they have proof).

PS3 had 1080p titles long before the 360 (we're talking like 15 months prior), but these guys just keep rationalizing and making up excuses. Hell, even Marcus is gloating "Yeah, Lair's 1080p, but it won't be when it's released because I say so!"

I still remember the days when Topgamer said Blu-ray was worthless since not a single 360 game would ever need multiple discs. (stated that MS had some magical compression technique) Of course, now he says the only reason Blue Dragon has multiple discs is due to HD cutscenes, not the actual length of the game (50 hours). Me, I would argue that the game length is what forced the title to be over 30GB (before compression) because there's no information on how much HD video is in the game.

[eques judicii]

GT-HD isn't even out yet... so you can't quite say that it was the first 1080p game... remember when resistance was supposed to be 1080p?? You cannot call a game a 1080p game prior to it going gold because developers will make all sorts of claims and then they might change some. So, yes, splinter cell:DA came out prior to the ps3 launch and thus was the first 1080p game on the "console" market...

just think how many 1080+ games there have been on pc though... man, if my monitor supported it I'd so play half-life in super high resolution...

just to clarify what people have been talking about.. its not the first demoed 1080p games its the first to market 1080p games... but if you factor in PC's all the console games are beat!!

Long live PC!!

[DJ]

If a game hasn't been released yet, it doesn't count. Gotcha. I wonder what kind of excuses they'll think of next.

[Arkham]

Actually that's wrong -- Resistance was never "supposed" to be 1080p, the developers just said they were aiming to try to get it there. You fanboys like to see promises-and-lies where they don't exist.

[eques judicii]

Sony did tout Resistance as a 1080p game.. and yes DJ, a game doesn't count until it is released... remember Fable? remember all the wonderful things it was supposed to do? and then it didn't do them... its called hype, and everyone does it. Remember how the 360 was supposed to work as a dvr?? then it turned out that you needed a windows media center to do that... remember when the ps3 was supposed to have dual hdmi???

This is why you don't count your chickens until they hatch... only 2 games in sony's launch ran natively at 1080p: nba 07 and RR7... so no, I don't count on games until they are released and reviewed... ninety-nine nights was supposed to top dynasty warriors but it blew.

btw resistance was downgraded: http://www.gamecaption.com/...

[takz]

lets try keep on topic this ain't about the ps3 vs x box 360 vs pc or other games for the matter this is about blue dragon. Honestly guys the comments posted here should reflect that. Its starting to get really childish now, why don't we save our 'my console is better' for the console vs console articles. It would be appropriate then its not now. so please give it a rest cause you guys are ruining it for people that wanna know what guys gotta say about this game. Lets not pretend that any of you are saying anything new anyway we've heard u and we get it now lets move on.

sorry about that. Wonderful stuff expected it to be good but hey these days u never know. review just insured me of that.i gotta say I'm impressed. I,m definitely gonna force my bro to get this one. Seems like its gonna be a nice addition to list of great jrpg I've played. damn 3 dvds thats a lot of hours of hours of gaming. I'm saving this one for those lonely nights. It may not be enough to save x box in japan buts its a damn good start, good job guys!