Gamertell

A demo of the new RPG by acclaimed Final Fantasy originator Hironobu Sakaguchi hit the virtual shelves yesterday (July 11, 2007). Blue Dragon was released last year in Japan and is scheduled for an August 28, 2007, release date here in the states. The game was developed by Mistwalker and Artoon, and published by Microsoft Game Studios as an Xbox exclusive. The demo comes to us courtesy of the madness that is E3 2007.

There’s not a whole lot that’s new in Blue Dragon. There’s an interesting tweak to the combat system that allows you to choose between charging your attack or executing it earlier in the battle order. Other than that it’s a pretty standard turn-based RPG. As you can imagine, there’s not a whole lot of explanation of the story line in the demo—apparently the damsel in distress has a bomb for a necklace, which I believe would count as the “conflict” element in the story.

Visually the game puts on a pretty good show. Nothing to write home about mind you, but I don’t think the draw for this game is going to come from the eye-candy factor anyway. What’s really going to sell this one is the care and craftsmanship that has gone into the combat engine and the monster battles. Sakaguchi gets back to his roots enough so you can tell you’re playing a game designed by a Final Fantasy veteran. The monster and boss battles require strategic thinking and careful consideration. It’s more like chess than Doom, if you know what I mean. If you’re a true fan of authentic Japanese RPGs then this one is for you.

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