Blue Dragon Comments by Rob Fahey

Don't let some of these average scores put you off the game, the demo doesn't do the game justice. Give it a try, rent it/borrow it if it doesn't convince you, you might like it.

There have been FOUR games that have been getting RIPPED on lately: Blue Dragon, Lair, Warhawk, and Heavenly Sword.

All four of those games have been receiving reviews that are MUCH LOWER than originally expected.

Warhawk ended up being a disappointment in the reviews.

Warhawk was rated only a 6.5 out of 10 by PSM magazine. Warhawk is called, "A third person shooter that never gets off the ground."

This is NOT a surprise, because Warhawk REQUIRES at least two people to play, and there is NO MODE where Bots can be used in the place of people!!! THAT SUCKS!!!

In Warhawk, the final version of the game ended up where machine guns from people on the ground can actually shoot down the Warhawk... That SUCKS!!! And men on the ground with rocket launchers can shoot the Warhawk out of the sky in one shot... That SUCKS!!! That is why Warhawk is rated so poorly.

That's still better than Lair. Lair only got a rating of 5 out of 10 from PSM, and only 5.5 out of 10 from EGM.

Heavenly Sword is another game that is receiving very "Mixed Reviews."

Heavenly Sword received a rating of only 6 out of 10 from Edge.

Heavenly Sword received a rating of 7 out of 10 IGN, and other 7 out of 10 from IGN UK.

The 6 out of 10 from Edge is a REALLY BIG DISAPPOINTMENT for Heavenly Sword.

anyone who bought this over Bioshock, I laugh at you

also somebody ban Edward Gamer he's a viral Xbox dude.

...

What?


Played BD for a few hours yesterday, rather liked it, 5 seems a little very harsh...



whatever

If you go by Rob's reviews, Enchanted Arms is a better game - or more enjoyable - than Blue Dragon. Now I've played through Enchanted Arms, enjoyed it for what it was, but it's nowhere near as charming and entertaining as Blue Dragon.
I'll let Rob entertain you with the idea that I've never played Blue Dragon. The assumption is quite amusing, and yet another hint at how clueless the bloke is.

Another thing, the guy has precedent, giving 6/10 to DOA4, which has been critically acclaimed by a number of reviews.
It's easy to say that I could just agree to disagree with the reviewer, and I actually do that with most EG reviewers, just pointing out that I have a different opinion of the game.
But Rob's attitude towards MS published games, and his pathetic defense of Sony's strategy in his ridiculours GI.biz reviews, his past involvement with the ThreeSpeech blog, just show him for what he is.

Blue Dragon is nothing more than a time waster for sad people. This game has as much character and charm as one of my turds.

Time waster for sad people?

What is this, AintItCoolNews' talkbacks?

Sheesh.

I must admit, with all the good will in the world, I really can't see how anyone could give Enchanted Arms a 7 and BD a 5 unless there is some kind of bias of sorts going on or maybe Shinji was just infatuated with Makoto but there's definitely something not right here imo...

LED: All that may be true (or not) but why not just ignore his reviews in the future? Clearly you will disagree with him on most things. The world won't be a worse place. Write a reader review about the game and sum up exactly WHY the game deserves higher than that.

TBF, I've stopped reading 99% of all reviews and just skip to the conclusion part. I will never base my purchase on the basis of a review again. Nowadays I only buy games that are highly recommended by other gamers (reader reviews). No hard feelings towards the reviewers but word of mouth is just the best way to know. There have been clear examples of this in the past years.

Odd I enjoyed the BD demo and playing the Eternal Sonata demo after it I thought Eternal Sonata was a bit crap, which was a shame I was looking forward to it.
Maybe I missed something in the Eternal Sonata demo I must give it another shot I found its battle system fiddly.

Hmmm really glad i didn't read this review before i bought this and let it put me off. I've only played a few hours so far and i'm really enjoying it. Graphically its really wonderful....the combat is good so far i think.

The demo did worry me and was a bit confusing and ...well a bit rubbish but.... starting at the beginning and learning about everything from there makes everything clear like you'd expect.

5 is harsh no doubt about it....Again i think its a case of EG trying to show off to the gaming world they can give out low scores to high profile games just for the sake of it.

I'm sure we can look forward to some 6's / 7's when some more of the microsoft big guns come out in the coming months.

Soooo...Bioshock gets 10, but still the hardcore MS zealots are complaining about EG Sony bias?

I pity the Halo 3 reviewer. :s

Soooo...Bioshock gets 10, but still the hardcore MS zealots are complaining about EG Sony bias?

@caligari

Inciting others, aren't you? For shame!
I didn't see anyone mentioned an EG Sony bias at all in this thread until YOU.
I've read that a few people didn't like one reviewer's bias...there's more?

"Soooo...Bioshock gets 10, but still the hardcore MS zealots are complaining about EG Sony bias? "

We are accusing Shinji of having some odd sort of bias, not EG. If Krudster or anyone else had reviewed BD I'd guess the review may have not been quite so critical.
Anyway, it's the view of one person so it matters little, Metacritic is a much better way to judge and they give it 7.9 (based on 20 reviews) so it's all good:)

@caligari: don't listen to those voices in your head man.

@Shinji: can you explain how this loses 4 points on DQ, I didn't get the wealth of differences explaning this from the body of the text.

have you been under a rock or something, this game debuted in Japan 3 months ago and made 360 sales rise 150%, it managed to sell 30K in one month (just that month though, but it did". Blue Dragon is very old news in Japan.

Famitsu scored the game 37/40, so they did like it.

Miguel's damage control alert!!

360 sales rose by that much? So thats 5,000 360's sold in the week Blue Dragon was released.

Doesnt look like it has an ounce of origimality. Hopefully Square will finally do something new with FF XIII.

Taking it with the expectation of a very old-school approach to JRPG, I'm liking it. The world seems kinda empty and some of the characters are off, but I do like the straight to business approach and the no-nonsense combat and character development. And it's pretty as anything.

It's just not setting me on fire like FF VII or FF XII, but an enjoyable stroll to candy-flavored stat-land it is.

We are accusing Shinji of having some odd sort of bias, not EG. If Krudster or anyone else had reviewed BD I'd guess the review may have not been quite so critical.

Heh :) Actually, I'd pondered scoring this a point higher and it was only with Kristan's input that it was decided to go for a 5. I think the game is terribly disappointing and average - Kristan seems to dislike it a hell of a lot more intensely than that :)

@Shinji: can you explain how this loses 4 points on DQ, I didn't get the wealth of differences explaning this from the body of the text.

I'm at a loss there, because I didn't review DQ8 for Eurogamer. Had I done so, I would have marked it far, far lower than the 9/10 it actually received - a review is just one person's opinion, and I guess Simon and I differ very widely on that game. I think they both suffer from being terribly, terribly outdated and from aiming for nostalgia rather than entertainment.

"Doesnt look like it has an ounce of origimality"

A game does not have to be particularly original or (the new 'buzz' word, innovative) to be a good game. No one can deny that 'sequels' tend to be the most anticipated titles, often very good and are the main system sellers to boot i.e. MGS4, Zelda, Bio Hazard, Halo, etc. If RE5 plays just like RE4 with a new story, I'll be the happyest chap in town. Tbh though Vin, I doubt you've got Bluedragon as you're a bit of a Sony Fanboy so your opinion doesn't really count for much...

Shinj, you know I luvz-ya with your cute fanboy ways but c-mon, you gave Enchanted Arms a 7? I mean I've got both games dude, and I just don't see the logic in your scores. I don't think you deserve personal insults to the degree Led has been spouting them but I honestly don't get how anyone could think EA is better than BD:(

And you're alot bigger than Krudster so you probably just bullied him into agreeing with you!

Oi, saying I'm fat is taking it a bit far! :P

I genuinely, honestly enjoyed Enchanted Arms more than this game. What can I say? It's the truth - I thought the battle system was vastly more interesting, and the storytelling held my attention to a degree Blue Dragon simply didn't manage. More than that; Enchanted Arms was largely speaking a tight game that shuffled you from place to place and made stuff happen, whereas Blue Dragon is, by comparison, an exercise in roaming through seemingly endless dungeons not really getting anywhere.

I also don't quite understand how I can on the one hand biased against the Xbox for giving Blue Dragon a low score, and on the other hand, definitely wrong because I gave a higher score than it deserved to, er, another Xbox game... The mind boggles! (I know it's not you making this accusation, Kryon, but you'll forgive me for having a little fun at the expense of the local crazy street-preacher :) )

Well, I can't argue with what you've said, it's your opinion and I guess it's really how you feel about the game so I'll pretend to believe you're not a fanboy in the name of good will but please untie Kristan, let him out of your basement and let him review future 360 games as your views do not help to encourage world piece:P

Oh man, if you think THIS is war, you'd have loved the thread that would have resulted had Kristan reviewed this :)

Krudster - " uh! Mmmm! ehhh..ungh!" (painties duct taped into his mouth)

Shinji - " Muahahaha, I'll port the blame onto you my pretty and tell them that this review was all your fault! Now shut up and get back in the basement!"

Krudster - (Shenmue style) "NOOOoooooooo!!!"

:)

I really don't want to get into this whole LeD/Shinji thingy, but i have to be honest and say that I stopped listening to Shinji a LOOOOOOOOONG time ago in regards to anything 360/ps3 related (don't mind the wii opninons).

But I've seen to much to make me come to my conclusion (no offence).
Edit: Either way, I could care less about this game. It's a j-rpg afterall.

Kryon, you sound like a bitter dickhead, acting like the voice of reason (pfft). Blue Dragon looks like it was developed by a Nintendo employee during his/her lunchbreak. Nothing in it impressed me.

Kryon, you sound like a bitter dickhead, acting like the voice of reason (pfft). Blue Dragon looks like it was developed by a Nintendo employee during his/her lunchbreak. Nothing in it impressed me.

@Vic

Well, that puts your EG xbox360 reviews audition on ice :)

....and try to, at least, be funny next time.

Can't play ANY 360 games as mine "broke" last week, red rings and all that. My bro-in-law's broke yesterday!
How did MS manage to kill our machines around the release date of the Elite!
Back to my trusty creaking,moaning ps2 (5 years and counting). G.O.W 2,Forbidden Siren 2,Bully and DMC 3 oh yes and Tomb Raider A.
I am looking forward to getting my 360 back, shame about this game looked good-ish on demo

biker_bob, sorry to hear of your loss! you must be mega pissed off

It's such a shame as I have been playing video games since the 80's (vic 20 anyone ?) and I trully think the 360 is the best and the most fun I have had playing games, but like you I think it is a disgrace that the machine seems to break down so often. I will stick with MS in the hope they get it right, that and the fact no greta games as yet for the PS3. Glad I kept my PS2 as that is getting lots of use.

@Vic

"Kryon, you sound like a bitter dickhead"

Vic, I find that 'bitter dickheads' often spout bile about games they don't have because it's not available on their precious console of choice and then resort to personal insults if challenged by anyone.

"Blue Dragon looks like it was developed by a Nintendo employee during his/her lunchbreak"

Funny, everyone else seems to think BD 'looks' amazing, it's the lack of orignality that seems to be most peoples problem, oh but you've never played it so you wouldn't know. How about you get back to playing Resistance lol (or one of the many other great PS3 titles you own) and stop bothering the adults, yeah?

/Pats Vic on the head

c'mon...the game deserves at 10/10 for the boss music alone :) .....what an incredible cheese fest of a rock track that is...had me noshing through every major battle. think i heard the lead singer from deep purple supplies the screaming vocals for that one.

"Doesnt look like it has an ounce of originality"

JRPGs never have.

@Dizzy: Untrue.

Oh man, if you think THIS is war, you'd have loved the thread that would have resulted had Kristan reviewed this :)

Wait till you see the comments when the h3 review is released. Whatever will be written and whatever the score will be, it will be a massacre and dwarf the GoW section with ease. ;)

/puts helmet on
/digs manhole
/checks rifle
/awaits fate with grim look on his face

only a few weeks now until that unholy war :)

Upcoming reviews...

Halol 3 - 7/10
Heavenly Sword 5/10

Fun times ahead.

Shinji: clearly you overscored eM because you knew it was coming out on PS3 as well. ;)

This review seems very very harsh, based on other reviews and based on my own time playing it. Probably 8/10 from me.

Does his dislike of the platform colour his reviews? I hope not but, as others have said, other articles he's done suggest so.

Just to say, not accusing him but it does seem a harsh review. Hopefully he doesn't let his tastes colour his reviews and this is just about this game.

Fucking hell, arguing about review scores is as utterly pointless as Console VS Console. It's far, far worse, in fact.

You love a game, it gets a bad review and suddenly the game you previously loved is ruined, WTF?

I hate the internet.

The main problem with this for me is the characters. I could never buy i because I know for a fact I couldn't give two shits about the people I'm playing as and that important in a game like this. I mean come on who the hell wants to play as 3 loathsome children (all game children are loathsome, FACT) and what appears to be a Japanese sports mascot suffering from dwarfism.

^

I dunno, I'd rather play as a cute character than a teen ladyboy but each to his own ;)

Just ordered this, gamestation have an offer on where if you buy any other game it's £20 off. So got bioshock and blue dragon for £60. Not so bad for two brand new games :)

I'm a big old skool rpg fan anyway, so I don't think that will bother be

"Blue Dragon" is "Final Fantasy 5" like "Chrono Trigger".

Ok, I've put in 15Hours into the game so far and I must say, it's the best jrpg I have played in a very very long time. up there with Dragon quest minus the voice acting which could have been better. Other than that, very creative visuals, swift flowing soundtrack minus the boss battles track, and very fun traditonal combat with nice little bits and pieces thrown all over the place making it a very enjoyable experience. I dont care how you spin it, this game isnt worthy of such a medicore review. Get your act together eurogamer, you lost it!

Biker_Bob

Forgive me if you already commented elsewhere, but do you have more than one Xbox console? As Elite a damaged good and getting refunded (sorry to hear about that, its damn shocking) and whilst using EG new live intergration cant help but notice you are still playing on xbox, the latest being today? Or is the console limping along? What was the problem if I can ask?

By the way below thread is for the very few unlucky Xbox owner with severe freezing problems (to do with HDD and moi included) whilst playing BioShock and the solution is found in the thread.

http://www.eurogamer.net/forum_thread_po...

Hmmmm

I never usually disagree with Eurogamer - I find they are pretty much 'spot-on' in their ratings.

BUT

My son really wanted this game, and after buying it for him I find I have been playing it more than he does :P

I really love JRPG's - put 100's of hours into Dragon Quest, FF and Star Ocean and I can honestly say that I would put Blue Dragon up there with them.

I would never stoop low enough to flame someone for their opinion (ie review) of a game, but I recommend that if you like 'old skool' JRPG's give this a try.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the demo is not representative of the full game in any way.

Edward_Gamer said: Warhawk ended up being a disappointment in the reviews.

Warhawk was rated only a 6.5 out of 10 by PSM magazine. Warhawk is called, "A third person shooter that never gets off the ground."

This is NOT a surprise, because Warhawk REQUIRES at least two people to play, and there is NO MODE where Bots can be used in the place of people!!! THAT SUCKS!!!

In Warhawk, the final version of the game ended up where machine guns from people on the ground can actually shoot down the Warhawk... That SUCKS!!! And men on the ground with rocket launchers can shoot the Warhawk out of the sky in one shot... That SUCKS!!! That is why Warhawk is rated so poorly.

The 6 out of 10 from Edge is a REALLY BIG DISAPPOINTMENT for Heavenly Sword.

Selective sources it seems, you say Warhawk got a 6.5 in PSM saying how disapointing it is, then saying that Heavenly sword got a 6 from Edge which also gave Warhawk an 8 the same score as Bioshock.

If your going to leap frog from of sources to sources like that at least be consistent with all of them.

Vic: you're one of the guys that think everything from Japan is cool, right ? Anyways read same video-game charts from Japan, you'll probably feel good, is all those cooking stuff's and spike-haired dudes, fluffy monsters on Wii's..., and if you look real hard you can see a PS3 title debuting at a respectable #543 place, and the crazyness, madness, hyper-cool - no western bull shit.

I've been playing Blue Dragon along with Bioshock and I think EG are way off with this review.

It's an enjoyable game IMO and makes a nice contrast to Bioshock.