How long have you been waiting? Four, five months for the release of Blue Dragon? Well, actually it’s closer to eight, but let’s pretend that’s not true. For anyone who’s been desperate to get their hands on Sakaguchi’s RPG, counting down the days, wondering how they’ll survive, there’s no need to fret any further… unless, of course, you’ve been revelling in the anticipation. If that’s the case, you have our permission to do as you please.

We think it’s pretty clear that if you’ve been keeping tabs on Blue Dragon, then you’re already aware that, at its core, it’s an RPG in the truest sense. Turn-based battles, experience points, youthful characters who are far too cocky for their own good; if you love the formula, then it’s all here and does a grand job. However, it’s the elements that aren’t so obvious which will have you singing Blue Dragon’s praises. People are still throwing around choice phrases like ‘taking the RPG genre into a new era’ or ‘an RPG for the 21st Century’ and while hearing such expressions uttered usually results in our eyes uncontrollably rolling back in our heads, we’re man enough to say they’re damn true.

The biggest evolution is the battle system. It oozes strategy and tactical trickery, but the old, and let’s face it, tired system of random encounters has been taken out the back and shot. Taking some inspiration from the PS2’s Final Fantasy XII, every enemy in the environment is visible and just begging to be slain. Furthermore, the ability to activate a field where you can choose how many foes you take on is excellent – it means you can face everything in range or just stick to a single group. Not only does this increase the game’s pace, but it’s far less infuriating than being forced to fight every ten seconds as an invisible adversary challenges you from nowhere; we can’t see a need to ever return to that method (unless, again, that ‘floats your boat’).

And yet, as much as we love Blue Dragon’s aesthetics, as tearfully beautiful as Nobuo Uematsu’s score is, the story failed to hit a true chord with us. When it eventually gets going – the first few hours are filled with pointless, menial tasks – it will spark some curiosity, but the twist of grand proportions we were expecting never came; instead, a mere interesting development stepped up, and it was met with a simple raise of an eyebrow. Considering the spectacles many role-playing games have offered over the years, it was devastating that Dragon’s failed to ignite.

To be fair, though, this could be because of the dialogue. Before we let rip, though, you can always whack on the English subtitles and listen to Shu and co big it up in Japanese. All the same, many of you will want to do away with the text at the bottom of the screen, listen to the speech and immerse yourself in the world. Sadly, to put up with it will require a very strong will. Why the chosen actors were selected is baffling. Clearly Shu is going to have a huge amount of dialogue, so why has he been voiced so poorly? His constant whining and shouting make him almost impossible to relate to, which makes it incredibly hard to enjoy the story. You can be completely engrossed in what’s happening on screen, only for Shu to open his yapper, scream something annoying and suddenly you’re back in your armchair, controller in hand, playing a game. His pals aren’t guilt-free either. Jiro is so arrogant you’ll spend the rest of your life trying to build a machine that’ll let you step into a television set so you can have the pleasure of killing him yourself. Kluke is the least annoying of the three, but that isn’t saying much.

What shocked us more was the level design. Yes, the individual environments are varied – and some are truly stunning – but you hit Blue Dragon’s version of a dungeon and the walls all start to look the same; trying to decipher one area from the next becomes far more troublesome than making your way through it. This unfortunate layout is also why, overall, you’ll never feel as if you’re a part of an ever-changing, expansive world. The dominating blandness doesn’t help, but Blue Dragon never encourages you to explore its surroundings. You get your orders, go about your business and repeat.

We know it sounds as if we hate Blue Dragon, but we really don’t. Despite our personal complaints, it’s a worthy addition to the genre. The combat is first-rate (boss fights are brilliant), it’s almost perfectly paced and it’s structured in a way that makes it difficult to put down. Maybe we were expecting exceptional things, and instead had to settle for great? That doesn’t mean we can’t see past our personal grievances and realise that on a console desperate for this kind of experience, Blue Dragon is, without a shadow of a doubt, a commendable fit.

Simon Miller