Blue Wagon

On 06/18/2017 at 11:09 PM by KnightDriver

I played a little bit more Blue Dragon today. Sometimes it feels like it should be called Blue Wagon because it can be a labor of tedious searching of furniture and fighting off minor monster encounters. But it’s not as bad as Suikoden IV, which made me quit it was so annoying; plagued as it was with random encounters that interrupted the flow of play.

I’m at the big city in Blue Dragon and started the first real battle with Nene. I’m in his ship fighting off boss after boss, trying to shut down his motors. I think I’m on the last boss of the ship. Those bosses can be a pain. You have to figure out their weaknesses and exploit them.

I thought that I would have to install all four discs separately as I went along but, no, you only need the first disc to allow Microsoft to download the whole 20 GB game on the hard drive. I was kind of hoping I’d have to wait for another install so I could take a break, but it looks like I’ll be charging along to the finish. According to howlongtobeat.com, the main story should only take about 45 hours. I’m hoping I can do that. I’d like to search every last chest in the game, and hunt down King Poo and all that but, I think, this time, I’ll just head for the end and follow the story normally. I still don’t have the achievement for finishing the game. So I’ll get that at least.

I feel like the game looks better on the XBO than the 360 but it could be my imagination. I mean, it’s not a remaster or anything. It’s the same data. Only it’s running on XBO now. It could be there’s some formula for improving resolution in the emulation software, I don’t know. I’ve heard that can be done. Anyway, the cut scenes look pretty good. The environments seem a little bit empty to me but this is a ten year old game. I forgot to mention this last blog but this is the 10^th anniversary of Blue Dragon as it was released in Europe and the U.S. . It was released about this time of year in 2007 (it was a launch game, Nov. 2006, in Japan).

Next weekend I may have a new rental that will delay my finishing Blue Dragon, but maybe not. Sometimes Gamefly can be a little bit slow and take the full 10 days to receive my previous rental and send a new one. I’m always hoping for 6 or 7 days, and sometimes they make that. Here’s hoping.

Cary Woodham

06/18/2017 at 11:41 PM

If Blue Dragon were a 16-bit RPG, I'm sure I would've played through it.

KnightDriver

06/18/2017 at 11:45 PM

It basically is a 16-bit RPG with just bigger environments. Somehow it feels a little bit over simplified, though. Maybe that's why it didn't do as well as it should have in Japan.

Super Step Contributing Writer

06/18/2017 at 11:56 PM

GameFly is inconsistent for me as well, but I think it's based on which address or post office I use, so not their fault in my case.

06/19/2017 at 08:58 PM

I looked up their distribution centers once. Mine is on the other side of the state from me in Pittsburgh.

I just got a notification that I'm being sent my next game, and I only returned the one I had Sunday night. The last one I returned, though, took a week before they got it. I mailed both by the same post office. Weird. I'm not sure why that happens. Maybe someone doesn't scan the bar code sometimes.

mothman

06/19/2017 at 09:51 AM

Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon were my first two RPGs on 360. I found Blue Dragon to be refreshingly fun after the serious tone of L.O. I don't know how many hours I put in but I do know it was a lot.

06/19/2017 at 08:43 PM

I want to get into Eternal Sonata and Tales of Vesperia.

JRPs on Xbox, there aren't a lot of them. I think I can tackle a project like that.

06/20/2017 at 05:54 PM

There were a couple of real stinkers. Enchanted Arms springs to mind. Stay away.

Here's a pretty complete list of RPGs on 360. Quite a few JRPGs actually.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

06/20/2017 at 10:42 PM

I ain't see no list.

06/21/2017 at 07:56 AM

sure, delete my link so you can make with the jokes. :P

06/21/2017 at 12:00 AM

I played Enchanted Arms. I thought it was ok. Really silly characters. I think I finished it too.

There's always more than I think there are. So much for wanting to play them all.

06/21/2017 at 07:55 AM

Here's the list I said I posted. Snee must have deleted it.

http://www.listal.com/list/rpg-world-xbox-360-edition

06/21/2017 at 09:10 AM

I didn't delete it, I swear!

06/21/2017 at 11:15 AM

LOL, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. When all else fails, blame Snee. :)

J/K, I know you didn't delete it. I forgot to include the link. I do it in emails all the time.

06/21/2017 at 10:26 PM

Well, if I stick to JRPGs that might be 16. Still kind of a lot.

goaztecs

07/05/2017 at 11:00 AM

At first when you were talking about the game I didn't know anything about it, until I looked up the box art. I remember the look of the game because of the art style. It would fall under the games I probably wouldn't play but I do dig the look.

I like that Microsoft will just install the game straight from their site instead of popping in each disc. I'm assuming if you were not connected to the internet you would get the insert disc and hit A to continue.

07/05/2017 at 10:31 PM

I was waiting for that prompt I got on Xbox 360 for the other discs, but it never happened on XBO. The first disc was all you needed in the drive.

PixlBit

Blue Wagon

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