Preview: Blue Dragon - Impressions
Blue Dragon could be Microsoft's ticket to success in Japan, but will Japanese gamers eat it up or spit it out?
Blue Dragon is Microsoft's ticket to Japan.
If there was a more important title for a console's regional success, it's Blue Dragon, the first Xbox 360 RPG from producer Hironobu Sakaguchi. The game JUST released in Japan and has a good deal of buzz surrounding it, but it will be some time before we have a strong indication of how well it is selling.
From a development standpoint, Blue Dragon has all the pieces to make it a success on Microsoft's console. With a team whose resume spans from Final Fantasy to Dragon Ball Z, the story of Shu, a young boy with a lot of hair gel and even more magical power, should be an interesting one.
He sure is blue, this we do know.
Shu and his buddies have the unlikely power to control Phantom Shadows that give them an immense amount of strength and magic. It's a "save the world" type of plot--as usual--but the dreamlike presentation is nothing to take lightly.
Blue Dragon was playable at the Tokyo Game Show this year, which was a great indication of what the final game was going to be like. But now that the Japnanese version has hit stores, we are seeing some accepting signs.
With a typical RPG structure, Shu and the rest of the warriors will utilize different types of Shadows such as Sword, Assassin, and Power Magic, all of which produce different attacks and abilities. These also level up, so the more you use them, the faster they'll power up. The size of the environments and the levels within them is nothing short of enormous; they are riddled with the remains of ancient civilizations that have been lost and long forgotten.
The Xbox 360 is a great technical platform for this latest RPG
Artistically, Blue Dragon looks like a Japanese RPG and is easily one of the most colorful and vivid experiences that we're going to see on the Xbox 360. The characters looks very anime-reflective and the in-game use of motion blur screams next(new) generation.
Now a year after the Xbox 360's release, Microsoft is yet to see worthwhile success in the Japanese market. Sure, games like Dead or Alive 4, Halo 2, and Dead Rising have hit moderate numbers, but it's nothing Microsoft is ready to boast about. But Blue Dragon should be a good indicator of things to come. Will Japanese gamers see it as a must-have RPG by a famed game designer, or a too-little, too-late attempt from the American software powerhouse to capitalize on a market that just doesn't want it? We'll definitely find out soon.
You can pick up the Japanese version of Blue Dragon at Play-Asia for about $50, but unless you have a Japanese Xbox 360 console, don't bother because it's region locked.
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