I've been playing Blue Dragon very extensively as I only rented it and want to get as far as possible in the five days I have it. I've already made it to the second disk and am loving the game, and I wanted to share a little of my impressions of it. I already wrote a review for it, and am appalled by Gamespot's low score (especially when compared to Two Worlds, which I also reviewed). Still, since its been my obsession over the past three days there are some additional tidbits I'd like to share.

First, I'd like to say that Blue Dragon bears an uncanny resemblance to the Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest Series. The game could have been titled Blue Dragon Warrior IX and been lauded with much more praise for its innovative take on turn-based battle systems and lack of random encounters. Not only is it animated by the same person that did Dragon Quest VIII, but the enemy design is similar, the only real difference is the slimes are replaced with poos. Now, I've played DQ8 and beat it, completely (as in I've done everything there is to do on that game) and I can tell you Blue Dragon is 100x better. For anyone who has played both would probably agree. Some might miss the "Sexy Beam" though.

The other thing I'd like to share is about Japanese RPGs VS American RPGs. In Blue Dragon, there have already been plenty of times where someone forced me to go somewhere, or just simply stood in my way so I couldn't get in a specific place. If this were an American RPG, and I really was annoyed by those characters, I could just simply kill them and continue on my merry way. I do miss that. Still, as a fan of Japanese RPGs I know this simply means, "Sorry you need to continue in story line". I take note of these places because I'll probably want/need to come back to them later. I guess I'm somewhat used to it. Another difference is that in Blue Dragon, items are hidden in just about everything. In one major town I spent house walking into random peoples houses and simply searching for items and taking everything I found. The people in those houses simply smile at me and tell me some random information I'll never use for anything. This would never happen in Oblivion or and other American ****RPG. In this case I prefer being able to take everything. These witless individuals are just waiting around for me to save the world; they should be bringing any useful possessions they have to me and laying them at my feet. That only happens occasionally on Blue Dragon, but I get a slight Ego Trip every time it does. Consequently, I tend to like the Eastern Flavored RPGs better myself, but I've built up quite a taste for both.

I still feel that Blue Dragon was given a poor review. It seems especially odd when compare to Two World, which is the glitchiest messed up poor looking RPG I've ever played (not to say that it isn't fun). Two worlds did not deserve a higher grade the Blue Dragon! I guess it is just proof that you can't go by the professional reviews for a game. I am glad that I've been able to play Blue Dragon and am debating buying it, the only reason I'm wavering is because I only have enough money for one game and there are so many I want to buy. I hope that anyone reading this that is at all interested in Japanese RPGs will give Blue Dragon a try. It is the best I've played in a long time.