As of lately we all have been hearing of how Blue dragon has been a major dissapointment to some, while others have called it decent, to a good jrpg. Still to most of the world, it has been a dissapointment so before we go judging the other games being watched over by mistwalker, i think we should look at the differences and what other people have to say.

Ill try to hit the main points, but ill probably miss alot, and i mean alot.

Blue dragon-Blue dragon is a game being developed by ARTOON, and this is where the major difference comes in, most people have knowticed that Artoon also developed the great and fantastic game of Vampire Rain. This is where i believe Blue dragon may have gone down, being developed by not the most experienced group. Artoon was also making said Vampire Rain and others while the production of Blue dragon was taking place, so i believe they had other things on mind when making it.

When Blue Dragon was introduced, it was said to have been made to help save 360 in Japan, and that was mostly its primary purpose. You can see this by the fact that the mouth synch was done in Japanese instead of American, also by the color and design of the worlds. I believe this game was ment to appeal mostly to Japan, and also to the few Americans/others that desire a true Jrpg. You can also see this by the fact that Famatsu (however you spell it) etc gave it very high scores, and while on average Western reviews have given it low scores. You can also tell by the boss music, which was completely made to appeal to Japenese gamers.

Lost Odyssey-Game being developed by the People at Feel Plus, a group made just to help mistwalker. Its comprised of over 100 people, and 20+ being former SE employes. Supposedly, Feel plus is currently putting all efforts into this title, currently not making any other titles that anyone knows of. Feel Plus has been saying that this game is going great, and they say it really is looking good. Also Sakaguchi also is saying that most of his attention is going into Lost Odyssey, even while blue dragon as being made.

I Also believe that Lost odyssey will be much more of a Jrpg turn based combat that will appeal to more western gamers then Blue dragon, evidence of this is in the story, and this is a major difference i see in BD and LO. LO story is def more mature, and based on more human emotions, and seems much more appealing. The story is also being written by a Award winning story writer from Japan and also sakaguchi himself. Another example is how the Mouth synch is supposedly put into english instead of Japanese, unlike blue dragon. This i think shows MS wants rpgs for western gamers as well. The graphics in LO also prove to appeal to more western gamers, given a much more realistc effect and being very much more real, and, my opinion, alot better looking. Everyone else in it really just seems to appeal more to western gamers, then  BD does.

Cry On-another game currenlty under development under mistwalker. Not much is know except ive heard its much more of a action jrpg then anything, I mentioned this game because like LO, we cannot judge it to early

I wrote this because i have seen quite a few posts from here and other sites on how LO and other projects will be "failures" to many just like BD. I dont see this and why i posted this so we know the difference. When SE produces a RPG that is a failure, doesnt mean the next new IP they create will also be considered a failure. We do not know if LO will be any good, it could turn out bad, but we cannot judge it so fast, just because BD did not as well as everyone hoped.

I would really like everyones imput, and opinions. Also tell me if im wrong. I would love to hear arguments why you think etc. There is alot of stuff i left out, and i mostly just hit the main ones, but im missing alot so feel free to add.

I would somewhat agree with your analysis.

Blue Dragon was primarily created for getting a quick, easy, dedicated X360 JRPG fanbase in Japan by moneyhatting alot of big-name people (Gooch, Uematsu, Toyriama). It did 100% of what it needed to - get a bigger X360 base in Japan, and expand it from beyond the DOA and Western freaks there. Which it did. However, I do think that Blue Dragon is still a very important title for the West too - with it's cartoony graphics and such, it's attracting a fanbase that the X360 has never seen before in the West. Blue Dragon certainly doesn't cater to normal hardcore western gamers. Even if it doesn't sell unbelievably well, the base it sells to, aren't your typical gamers, and are really going to help the X360 reach much higher sales than the Xbox ever had.

Lost Odyssey - As far as I've ever read, Lost Odyssey is garnering ALOT more hype and love from East and West. Even the developer quotes I've seen as of late are saying the game is incredibly good. As far as my understanding is, they are expecting LO to vastly out-sell Blue Dragon in Japan, and there's been enough buzz for the game (#10 on the Famitsu charts), to show Lost Odyssey will grow the X360 userbase moreso than even Blue Dragon did. And likewise, as you've said, will grow Eastern userbases as well. The game has more West-Centric tones to it (than Blue Dragon), and will translate to strength there.

Now, Cry-On is a mystery. There's no real information about it, outside of tat my understanding is that the game is going to be told in mini-stories, and be very emotionally charged. However, outside of that, it's a mystery. However, it'll probably do well if LO continues growing the fanbase.

Realilistically, what Mistwaker is doing is trying to just throw out alot of new IPs (via MS's money), and see which ones hit and miss. IMO, Cry-On will probably do the worst (maybe Blue-Dragon type sales, but far less hardware impact). But for MS, they are really gaining a huge new userbase in Japan by sending Mistwaker the money they need.



And again, I will re-iterate that I absolutely love Blue Dragon. I hope it sells 100k+ first week. It'll be real interesting to see how it does versus Two Worlds.

As a Jrpg Blue dragon is pretty great. All the reviews from western sites so far seem to take issue more with the genre than the game. It reminds me of the PA strip. http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/09/05

It seems strange to let people who don't like the genre review the game. Would you get someone who doesn't like american football or sports games to review madden?

Most of the reviews I played basically seemed like they were saying ''Why isn't it oblivion? Turn based is stupid, why is it linear? Why can't I customise my character.'' It just seemed more like they took issue with the genre rather than the game.

Bd does some things really nicely. Being able to make opposing monsters fight each other. The leveling system is fantastic, it really rewards you for mixing classes, as opposed to often where if you try multiple classes you just end up being weak in all of them. I think if people like traditional jrpgs they will love BD. If you expect it to be like oblivion then of course you will be dissappointed. It's more like the dragon quest series.

Blue Dragon is by no means a failure, nor did it perform below Microsoft's expectations. As a matter of fact, according to Sakaguchi, it has sold about 300,000 copies, when Microsoft was only expecting 200,000.

http://www.consolemonster.com/newspost.php?id=0000001499&vo=23

http://www.gamersyde.com/news_4539_en.html

And this is before it even launched in NA or EU, so I'm sure Microsoft will have made some money on this title. Reviews are mixed, some people loving it because of its style and classic JRPG feel, while others are crucifying it for the exact same reasons. Can't please everyone it seems.

Lost Odyssey definitely looks more in line with the type of JRPG that appeals, not only in Japan, but also in EU and NA. I'm looking forward to hearing more about this title, hopefully at TGS. Arstechnica got a chance to get hands on at X07 in Canada, and they were impressed, saying it is on pace to be one of the better games of the holidays: http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2007/08/29/x07-our-private-demo-of-lost-odyssey

Cry On is the only title I don't know much about. Cry On and Infinite Undiscovery. But, with Mistwalker (Cry On) behind one, and Tri-Ace (Infinite Undiscovery) behind the other, it's a great thing for RPG fans. Tri-Ace is the dev behind the Star Ocean series.

Agreed fully, id love to hear why you like it so much if you got the will and time mrstick, i want it to do good (tech it already is cause of japan) cause im on the verge of buying it, but i dont want just another rpg that i have to push myself to finish (ff 12)

Edit: i see you already wrote one in another post, so nvm thanks

Sounds promising, and again i agree, why i like people commenting =)

TTo be fair, their issues with Enchanted Arms was far more valid than Blue Dragon.

Comparing Blue Dragon to Enchanted Arms is like comparing Oblivion to Two Worlds. Yes, they're in the same genre of gaming, and have many similar traits, but one has the big-budget polishing, and the other does not.

With Enchanted Arms, I easily finished the game in 3-4 days. I think my total completion time was around 30hrs and had the majority of the golems. I'm at 9hrs on Blue Dragon, and I don't think I'm more than 10-15% through the game.

When i mean failure (not to me its not) but to some for not "impressing western reviewers" and having "high review scores", in money terms, its not even close to failure like you said, it pushed huge in Japan.

And i cant wait for Lost odyssey as well, sad part is we dont know much, yet im really craving it. I want to know details about the battle system like kick ass limit breaks, maybe some sort of summons, special moves etc. The story looks like one of the best.

And yes with Japan alone BD has been a success, if it can sell 500k in US. and UK it will be complete, and i mean complete success

@ dolla, ya i cant wait for undiscovery, i really enjoyed star ocean

I was all psyched up to purchase BD. Ive never played a turn-based game before and I am a western gamer at heart. So as western game scroes came out i decided against it, i might get it cheap next year. Its a bit risky paying full price for a genre thats new to you.

That said, i may start with Lost Odyssey, because the story and graphics would compensate if I didnt like the gameplay (though not enough, if i buy it and realise i dont like the turn-based system ill be so dissapointed)