Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this is a role-playing game in the style of Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior. The game requires a large time investment (around 60 hours) to complete. While the main characters are all virtuous, the villain of the game performs many evil acts including destroying villages on a whim, deliberately infecting people with diseases, and ordering robots to kill themselves. The game also earns its "crude humor" warning from the ESRB with numerous references to "poo." One of the enemy types is a "poo snake" and various enemies leave behind droppings that contain treasures.
Families can talk about what personal qualities make Nene "bad" and Shu and his friends "good?" How did each character demonstrate these respective qualities through their actions? Shu's mantra is to "Never give up" -- is this always a good philosophy to have?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Erin Bell
BLUE DRAGON is, in many ways, a throwback to the earlier games in the classic Final Fantasy role-playing series. This isn't surprising since it was spearheaded by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi and the soundtrack was written by renowned video game composer and fellow Final Fantasy alumnus Nobuo Uematsu.
Blue Dragon has everything you would expect a game with its pedigree to have: beautiful graphics and music, cinematic cutscenes, an engaging (if clichéd) story, varied magic to learn, and plenty of random monster encounters.
The story centers on three children -- Shu, Jiro, and Kluke -- who live in a remote village that suffers regular attacks by a fearsome beast called the Land Shark. Eventually, the three confront the Land Shark and find out that it's owned by an even more sinister villain named Nene.
To thwart Nene, the companions embark on an epic quest that takes them to a variety of towns, dungeons, underground fortresses, forests, and other locales. Eventually, two other characters join the party for a total of five.
Shu and friends all possess the same ability: Their shadows manifest themselves as gigantic blue creatures capable of using powerful magic and skills. Shu's shadow, for example, is the titular Blue Dragon.
The shadows can be assigned different jobs which, when completed, unlock different forms of magic and skills. For example, characters strong in White Magic can cast healing spells to rejuvenate the party, while Black Magic offers powerful attack spells based on elements like fire, water, and ground. There are also fighting classes like Sword Master, Guardian, Monk, and Assassin.
Characters level up by earning experience points from defeating enemies. The endless monster battles required to level up characters can be tedious at times, but it's something fans of the genre are used to. A twist with Blue Dragon is that the monster battles aren't truly random; instead, monsters appear on the overworld map and can be engaged or avoided as the player chooses. The party can even sneak up behind the monsters and attack to gain a first-strike advantage.
You can also choose to engage all monsters within a certain radius at the same time, which is a good way to quickly clear an area of enemies and also grants the party random bonuses and health boosts. Battle is turn-based, and characters can charge up their attacks for added effect in exchange for sacrificing their spot in line.
Blue Dragon doesn't introduce much new to the role-playing genre -- in fact, many of its archetypes and conventions have been seen elsewhere in some form or another -- but it's nevertheless a comfortable, well-paced adventure with characters whose plucky spirit you can't help but become attached to. Clocking in at around 60 hours of gameplay, Blue Dragon will certainly give gamers their money's worth if they're willing to invest the time.
For more of the epic role-playing game experience, check out Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2, or Final Fantasy XII.
Reviewed: 09/28/2007
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentThere's the occasional cheeky reference but nothing explicit. For example, after recovering from an illness, a character says to his wife "Honey, I feel like we could have another child or two! I feel energized!" |
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ViolenceCharacters use magic and physical attacks to battle hundreds of monsters, some of which resemble wolves, butterflies, rodents, and birds. There's a cutscene where you see tiger-like monsters getting riddled with arrows. |
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LanguageOccasional mild cursing like "bastard," "dammit," and "you damn jerk" while confronting key villains. |
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Social BehaviorThe villain, Nene, does numerous evil actions including unleashing the Land Shark on Shu's village for no other reason than he wants to hear the screams of the villagers. These actions are contrasted with the many good deeds that Shu and his friends perform, such as helping to cure a plague-stricken village and freeing a town trapped inside a magical barrier. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoThe towns have cafes and bars in them. |
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Educational ValueTurn-based battle system encourages strategizing, planning ahead, and taking advantage of an enemy's weak points. |
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