As Pyra mentioned in one of her latest blogs, getting free games and hardware from our sponsors is one of the great perks of being a Frag Doll.  In my case, it’s also a cool perk having a Ben who’s awesome at winning stuff… like two Xbox360s a couple years ago, a copy of Halo 3 before it was available retail, and last week he brought home a copy of Blue Dragon, which he won at a Microsoft thing.  I’ve been itching to take a break from competitive multiplayer titles and have some “me time” for a change.  Blue Dragon seemed like just the thing to take my mind off all the bullets and blood.

Blue Dragon is your typical Japanese RPG.  It is normal to an extreme level. Like all Japanese RPG games, it starts off with a big boss fight that you’re not expected to win… which is weird because if you loose any other battle in the game, it’s Game Over.  Somehow, that doesn’t really make sense.  It has the standard run around each town and talk to people to progress the storyline, and engage in random battles out in the wild to build up your HP, MP and EXP levels.  And then you have some crazy attacks you learn as you go along.  It’s average… very, very average.

It even has your standard JRPG character line-up, which is basically just Freud’s breakdown of the psyche.  You have the Id, named Shu in the game (in Enchanted Arms, his name was Atsuma), who is the balls-to-the-wall selfish me-no-thinky animal-RAWR.  Then there is the Super-Ego, the girl Kluke in your party, who just wants to be nice to everyone.  And lastly we have Jiro, the Ego, who is moderation in all things, as he calms down Shu’s libido and gets Kluke to man-up a little.

One thing about the game that strikes me as odd, is the game start-up menu.  Here, take a look:

It’s white.  That’s it. Just white.  Like they forgot to design a start up menu and said, “What the hell, just leave it like that.” Or maybe they felt like they were being creative, and modern by leaving it completely blank.  Whatever the reason, I find it creepy.

Don’t get me wrong though, even with the game being especially average and a little creepy, it’s still fun.  I like RPG games, and this one has its moments of silliness.  It has some quirky little characters like the Poo Snake, which is a pink bouncy snake monster that looks like those rubber doggie poos you put on your roommate’s pillow. And then there’s the Hermit Crab Poo – Actual quote from the game: “They use poos instead of shells to live in.” I couldn’t help but think back to my childhood, when my brothers and I would play the Poo / Pee Monster game.  The game always began when one of us would have an accident in our pants (which would determine who was “it” and whether we were playing Poo Monster or Pee Monster).  Also, sometimes the carpet would be lava, or poo or pee.  (**Saaaaay… why hasn’t someone made a video game out of that?!?**)

Anyway, back to Blue Dragon.  If you engage in a battle with multiple types of enemies, they drop a little pile of poo, which you have the option to search through; usually there’s gold inside (makes sense to me!).  I’m fond of the battle system.  Most of the time, you actually have the choice to engage in battle or not.  So instead of getting caught at random times, you can advance towards battles or move right past them. 

I just started playing the game (I have 10 achievement points so far), so I can’t give an accurate review on the game as a whole.  But it’s pretty entertaining so far.  Also, it’s a 3-disc game!  Craziness!  If you like Japanese RPGs, then you’ll like Blue Dragon… more so if it’s free.