Blue Dragon
Added June 15th, 2005 by Dakota Grabowski
Blue Dragon is one of the most anticipated Xbox 360 titles, for me at least. Hironobu Sakaguchi is watching over the production of the title and I have full confidence that it will be a stunning RPG. Sakaguchi was last seen on the Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within movie as an executive producer and writer for the film. Since then, he has been absent from the video game world and from Hollywood too. Now, he is back and has a few new projects in store for the next generation of gaming. Sakaguchi took a break, due to as he detailed it he “felt like he was empty inside”. From this feeling of emptiness, he drew up the name “Mistwalker”, which ironically is his studio’s name. Sakaguchi isn’t going into this new project alone; he has a talented support staff making Blue Dragon the best it can possibly be. Let’s look over each staff member and see what they have accomplished in the past.
Takuya Matsumoto:
Programmer for NIGHTs: Into Dreams (Sega Saturn game) and Ristar (Genesis game). Recently was a designer on Blinx 2: Masters of Time and Space (Xbox game). He will be helping massively market this game. He is known for launching Final Fantasy VII into the RPG beast it was in sales. Also speaking of Blinx 2, Artoon is handling the development of Blue Dragon.
Manabu Kusonki:
Credited with the Panzer Dragoon series (several platforms), one of the most highly regarded Sega franchises.
Akira Toriyama:
Known for his innovative humorous manga which started with ‘Dr. Slump’ series. He is also known for Dragon Ball which was created in 1984. He has also been on projects to create lead characters for games such as Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger, and Tobal No.1. He’ll be tackling the designs for the lead characters in Blue Dragon.
Nobuo Uematsu:
If you played any Final Fantasy game (not including Final Fantasy X-2 or any handheld game) you’d know him right off the bat due to his music. Uematsu has created every soundtrack from I to XI and is well known as one of the best composers for video games. With winning “Song of the Year” awards for his song “Eyes on Me” in Final Fantasy VIII at the 14th Annual, Japan Gold Disc Awards in 1999, you can credit him as being one of the most beneficial additions to the team helping to complete the Blue Dragon package. The soundtrack for Blue Dragon is said to be relying on exotic piano music so it should be a dandy.
Now about the game. It will be your classic turn-based RPG. Sakaguchi intends on including action elements to freshen up the fighting but nothing has been detailed yet on the battle system. Puzzles and mini-games will be included like any other typical RPG. We are told that they will be scattered throughout, so look for several of them within the game.
The setting will be placed within a planet that is abundant with ancient ruins from a past civilization. The main character is a boy named Shu who is only 16 years of age. A few of his friends will be tagging along on his adventures such as Kluke and Jiro. There is drama between the three as Jiro has feelings towards Kluke and feels Shu is his rival trying to earn Kluke’s affection. The rest of the cast is completed by Zora, a 20-year old mercenary who doesn’t place any type of trust in anyone, and Marumaro, who is only 14. Marumaro is from the “Devi tribe” and he expresses himself through his awkward dances.
The villain throughout the story is Nene, an ancient human who is plotting to bring chaos by means of magical powers that are thought to be forgotten. To stop him from such crimes will be Shu and all his friends he meets along the journey. Shu’s ability to change shadows will allow him to solve the mysteries of the ancient ruins that no one could ever open.
Programmer for NIGHTs: Into Dreams (Sega Saturn game) and Ristar (Genesis game). Recently was a designer on Blinx 2: Masters of Time and Space (Xbox game). He will be helping massively market this game. He is known for launching Final Fantasy VII into the RPG beast it was in sales. Also speaking of Blinx 2, Artoon is handling the development of Blue Dragon.
Manabu Kusonki:
Credited with the Panzer Dragoon series (several platforms), one of the most highly regarded Sega franchises.
Akira Toriyama:
Known for his innovative humorous manga which started with ‘Dr. Slump’ series. He is also known for Dragon Ball which was created in 1984. He has also been on projects to create lead characters for games such as Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger, and Tobal No.1. He’ll be tackling the designs for the lead characters in Blue Dragon.
Nobuo Uematsu:
If you played any Final Fantasy game (not including Final Fantasy X-2 or any handheld game) you’d know him right off the bat due to his music. Uematsu has created every soundtrack from I to XI and is well known as one of the best composers for video games. With winning “Song of the Year” awards for his song “Eyes on Me” in Final Fantasy VIII at the 14th Annual, Japan Gold Disc Awards in 1999, you can credit him as being one of the most beneficial additions to the team helping to complete the Blue Dragon package. The soundtrack for Blue Dragon is said to be relying on exotic piano music so it should be a dandy.
Now about the game. It will be your classic turn-based RPG. Sakaguchi intends on including action elements to freshen up the fighting but nothing has been detailed yet on the battle system. Puzzles and mini-games will be included like any other typical RPG. We are told that they will be scattered throughout, so look for several of them within the game.
The setting will be placed within a planet that is abundant with ancient ruins from a past civilization. The main character is a boy named Shu who is only 16 years of age. A few of his friends will be tagging along on his adventures such as Kluke and Jiro. There is drama between the three as Jiro has feelings towards Kluke and feels Shu is his rival trying to earn Kluke’s affection. The rest of the cast is completed by Zora, a 20-year old mercenary who doesn’t place any type of trust in anyone, and Marumaro, who is only 14. Marumaro is from the “Devi tribe” and he expresses himself through his awkward dances.
The villain throughout the story is Nene, an ancient human who is plotting to bring chaos by means of magical powers that are thought to be forgotten. To stop him from such crimes will be Shu and all his friends he meets along the journey. Shu’s ability to change shadows will allow him to solve the mysteries of the ancient ruins that no one could ever open.
There is even more good news to talk about. Sakaguchi stated that online won’t be a main feature in the game but would explore ways to use the Xbox 360’s online service. Whether through Xbox Live Marketplace or Download Content, it still remains to be seen. Let’s cross our fingers that both will be thoroughly explored.
Blue Dragon will have a certain cartoon look to it. Many have already begun comparing it to Dragon Quest so you can guarantee the look is definitely a plus. The idea of the game starts with shadows and centers around five heroes who can control “phantom shadows”. The “phantom shadows” will reflect around the characters’ personalities like alter-egos and they can shape them into other forms to battle. The shadows can take the form of dragons, tigers, bats, phoenix and several others that are so far unannounced. The shadows will move according to how the character moves, so if the character jumps into the air, the shadow will follow suit and do the same.
Control of the shadows and their forms will be similar to how the Final Fantasy Tactics job system worked. Being able to change to benefit in combat and learn new abilities will assist tremendously. Speaking about the job system, Blue Dragon will also sport one for the main characters to allow several switches throughout the transition of the game. A few have been spoken about and currently only the swordsman, assassin and power magic types are available. There will be hundreds of skills featured within so job changing is recommended to attain the best out of your character.
Blue Dragon will have a certain cartoon look to it. Many have already begun comparing it to Dragon Quest so you can guarantee the look is definitely a plus. The idea of the game starts with shadows and centers around five heroes who can control “phantom shadows”. The “phantom shadows” will reflect around the characters’ personalities like alter-egos and they can shape them into other forms to battle. The shadows can take the form of dragons, tigers, bats, phoenix and several others that are so far unannounced. The shadows will move according to how the character moves, so if the character jumps into the air, the shadow will follow suit and do the same.
Control of the shadows and their forms will be similar to how the Final Fantasy Tactics job system worked. Being able to change to benefit in combat and learn new abilities will assist tremendously. Speaking about the job system, Blue Dragon will also sport one for the main characters to allow several switches throughout the transition of the game. A few have been spoken about and currently only the swordsman, assassin and power magic types are available. There will be hundreds of skills featured within so job changing is recommended to attain the best out of your character.
More will be revealed as we near the Xbox 360’s launch date. This could be the first project to make it out of Mistwalker, but it’s looking that Lost Odyssey might be the one to go gold first and reach retail stores. Sakaguchi has stated that at least one of them will be out within a year of the Xbox 360’s Japan launch date. Supposedly, the second one will make it out two years following. Blue Dragon has all the markings for a great RPG and with a highly regarded staff on board, I have no doubt it will be intriguing.
