No, I am not going to do impressions of Blue Dragon characters, no matter how much you beg me to say "I won't give up". Instead, I just wanted to post a few opinions I have on this game.
I picked this game up today, and played it for exactly two and a half hours. The thing is, it still felt like I had just begun in terms of story.
As for character development, there was plenty of that, and of course, that is where i feel this game shines. BD features a class system similar to the Final Fantasy series. Unlocking and then leveling up new jobs is a huge part of the game.
Graphically this game is simply amazing. From the awesome character designs of Akira Toriyama to the dramatic camera angles during battle, the game looks simply amazing. Except one thing... As awesome as the character models are, I feel their lack of real time expression (not in cutscenes) kinda takes away from the emotion of what's happening. Don't tell me for a second it isn't possible, there have been plenty of games to do it. But really, that is my only graphical gripe.
The music is what you would expect from Nobuo Uematsu. It really doesn't dissapoint me at all as a fan of his work. But on the other hand, I wouldn't necessarily call it award winning either. It suits the game, and it doesn't distract. It is beautifully composed, but many times it seems like I've heard the song before in another game... and this isn't Uematsu's fault one bit, it's his niche, and he's good at what he does.
As for the story, well it hasn't advanced a whole lot for me in the time I've played, but that may be mostly due to me exploring every rock and tree stump for cash or exp, and grinding a bit. The English voice acting is FAR better than, oh say...Enchanted Arms (Makoto lol), but I still feel the Japanese voices sound the best.
Combat in this game is simple but addictive, a trademark of Sakaguchi-san. Really, all in all, this game really shines because of the people involved in it's creation. It doesn't feel like it was treated as standard fare. It's very well produced, and so far a very clean game.
My only other gripe so far is that the 3 disc set came stacked. Yeah, stacked. I was lucky to not have any scratches, but I know of people who weren't so lucky. Oh well, US always gets the screwjob in the packaging department...just look at Bioshock.
Overall, I am happy I picked this game up. It is a definate buy for RPG fans.
