September 10th, 2007 4:13 pm

I promised my two readers that when I was over 10 hours in to Blue Dragon I would post some impressions. As of last night I am just under the 13-hour mark. I looked on Game FAQs to see how close I was to finished with the first disc. At least “chapter” wise, I am just a little over half done. There are three discs and the game is reportedly 50+ hours long. Yikes I have a long way to go.

I guess I’ll start off by saying I understand, and to a point, agree with some of the criticism the game has received. Being 13 hours in I’ve had very little variation in gameplay. I guess what’s driving me to keep playing is the fact it’s been said that the game supposedly picks up immensely on the second disc. The problem with that is with Oblivion GOTY coming out this week, Eternal Sonata next week and then Halo 3 the week after, I’m worried I’ll never even get to the second disc, let alone finish the game.

Anyway, here are some pros and cons.

Pros

• Very easy (so far, at least)
• Traditional JRPG gameplay
• Great graphics (I think they’re fine, some people think they look washed out. I’m not a graphics whore).
• Plenty of extra items and gold to find if you want to take the time to look for them
• Class system gives you limitless ways to customize your character
• Backtracking is easy with the help of “warp devices”
• Plenty of opportunities to level up

Cons

• Very easy 
• Story initially moves at a very slow pace, leaving out some details
• The dialogue, especially from the lead character Shu, is downright cheezy and annoying
• Boss battle music is also very annoying
• Nothing new on innovative
• Some slow down occurs in battle (it’s nothing that hinders your ability to fight, however)
• Save points are few and far between

In all honesty, if the game was harder and/or more repetitive I probably would have traded it already. The fact it can be easy has kept me going just to see what’s next. It’s definitely not a great game by any stretch of the imagination, but I think it shows signs of brilliance that hopefully could be explored if there ever is a Blue Dragon 2.

Problem is, many people don’t seem to be playing the game.

• Gaming