It's been months since we played through the final Japanese version of Blue Dragon and, thankfully, not much has changed for the US version. According to Microsoft's Hees Kyung, the company "strove hard to stay faithful" to the original version while implementing changes under the blessing of the game's original creative staff in Japan - such as reworking the tone of the character dialogue to help make characters such as the young know-it-all Jiro easier to relate to while preserving the ... » Read More

7 Mar 2007

Blue Dragon - updated impressions

360 Preview | Blue Dragon

American audiences have had to wait a long time for Blue Dragon. Japanese gamers - the select few who own Xbox 360s, anyway - have had the RPG since last year, but we're still contenting ourselves with a handful of screens and videos. Well, the wait is finally over... for an announced release date, that is. Blue Dragon will hit US shores in late August. Once it's here, however, the content will keep coming. When we sat down with famed creator Hironobu Sakaguchi at the Game Developers ... » Read More

19 Jan 2007

Blue Dragon - hands-on

360 Preview | Blue Dragon

That was an adventure. While we won't go so far as to assign a score just yet - hey, it's the Japanese version, and we're still waiting for an official US announcement - we've played through the entirety of Blue Dragon and have come out impressed by what Microsoft has brought to the table. Blending the hyper-traditional gameplay of the early 1990s Final Fantasy installments with the slick, detailed graphics the 360 can produce, it's a compelling blend of old and new. That's a neat trick, given ... » Read More

22 Sep 2006

Blue Dragon - impressions

360 Preview | Blue Dragon

There's a lot of discussion about sucking in Japanese 360 gamers by putting RPGs on the system. But why should we care? Oh, right - they'll come out here, too, and when a lot of money is spent making high-quality games, we win (even if Microsoft loses). Case in point: Blue Dragon. It's a quality game, and though it's far from any sort of revolution in role playing, it's a cute game with a lot of personality and it's going to keep you busy for a good long while. What's there to complain ... » Read More

11 May 2006

E3 06: Blue Dragon first look

360 Preview | Blue Dragon

By now everyone's tired of hearing about the uphill battle the Xbox 360 has in Japan. But the upshot of it is the amazing games Microsoft is creating to try and lure Japanese gamers into the fold - after all, what's good for them is good for us too. Blue Dragon is the first to come from Mistwalker, a studio formed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the original creator of Final ... » Read More

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