People who enjoy both anime, and japanese RPG's will love Blue Dragon.
Blue Dragon is easily the most enjoyable RPG I've played in a while. The story is not the most mature, or inspired out there, so I understand where the critisism comes from, but it never set out to be. Cutscenes in this game are very remenisant of old school RPGs, as well as lighthearted animes. People that do not like cute animes, or old school RPGs should stay far, far away from Blue Dragon.
Many of the cutscenes in Blue Dragon are very cute, and humorous. The relationship between Marumaro and Zola is absolutely adorable, and provided many of my favorite moments in Blue Dragon. Then, of course, like many old school RPGs, the main character has a love interest. Although, there is a small twist in Blue Dragon that I won't ruin for anyone.
The gameplay in Blue Dragon is very traditional. Although there are a couple of exceptions. Rather than random battles, you can see all of your enemies on screen before choosing to engage them in battle. Instead of equiping weapons to each of your characters, you level up, and customize each of your characters shadows. Each shadow class provides different kinds of magic, such as Barrier Magic, Black Magic, Sword Magic, etc. I found the shadow system to be enjoyable, and was a good change from the standard "buy new weapons in every town." Another thing in Blue Dragon that is different from traditional JRPGs is that you can fight multiple enemies that appear on the map at the same time to gain more experience, and power-ups. Other than the things I've mentioned above, Blue Dragon maintains a very old school RPG feeling throughout the game. I count that as a positive, because I adore many old RPGs.
The graphics in Blue Dragon are very good in my opinion. My absolute favorite thing about Blue Dragon are the enemy character models. Each enemy is unique, and very well animated. Each boss looks amazing, and as the game progresses, they get more and more impressive. The playable characters look great, although they are a little basic in terms of design. Despite that, they are all memorable characters. The attack animations are all top of the line. The spell effects are great, and the corporeals (summons) look amazing. The NPCs do not disappoint, and you will run across many memorable characters throughout your journey. My favorite being Toripo! Each town looks great. They are all unique, and none of them look like eachother. Most of the towns are large, and contain many people to talk to. As for the dungeons, I thought that they were excellent as well. They aren't too large, and they aren't too small. I thought that they were just perfect. Most of the dungeons are unique, and none of them disappoint in the graphics department. Another thing to mention is the cutscenes. Blue Dragon spans three discs mainly because of the FMV. The FMV cutscenes look incredible, and even the cutscenes that use the game engine are well done.
The sound in Blue Dragon is excellent as well. All of the voice overs are done very well in both english and japanese. The music that accompanies towns, dungeons, the map, battles and cutscenes all fit them very well and sound great. None of the music got annoying in my opinion. I thought it fit the mood of the game very well. I've heard many complaints about the boss battle music, and while at first, I found it to be a very odd choice, and I didn't think it fit the game well, it really grew on me. I awaited many boss battles once the music was stuck in my head.
Overall, I think Blue Dragon is a must play for people that love anime, and JRPGs. Even if you don't like anime, and you just enjoy old school RPGs, this is a must buy in my opinion. The gameplay and the storyline is remenisant of many JRPGs of the past, and the graphics are great for this generation, so that makes this game even better than many of the older RPGs I've played.
The bottom line is that this game is excellent, and I am eagerly awaiting the sequel. The only fault I found with this game was that there wasn't enough of it. I wanted more story, more bosses, and more attacks. The sequel could be epic.