The reviews seemed harsh, however I bought it anyway.

My normally-non-gaming fiance is now completely hooked on this game, so time is currently split between BD and Bioshock (which creeps her out).

When I first downloaded the demo I thought it was a bit simple, but the full game has totally changed my impressions from the demo. The combat system, classes and skillsets, they are all very customizable and add depth to the game mechanics.

This game is simply brilliant. Graphics, music, charming story.

I know alot of people have become jaded to this style of rpg over the years (they havent evolved much), however anyone who still loves that classic Japanese rpg format owes it to themselves to check this out.

Those who did buy it, what do you think so far? 

Its really that great? so the demo was NOT at all a good impression?

And i will never go by reviews for rpgs, unless its from ign, game informer, game trailers, or a rpg site. Mostly because alot of people dont like jrpgs, even if the game is fantastic, they just dont like them =/

And from those 3 sites, ign 7.9 (decent score, almsot a good one)

gametrailers 7.5 (again they said if you like classic jrpgs you will like blue dragon alot, just the casual gamer wont)

game informer gave it a 9 and both the reviewers admitted they loved jrpgs, so kinda tells you something

I'm actually very interested in a review (preferably from a semi-regular member on this site) if any of you have played it. No offense to our newer/less frequent members but it means more coming from a regular as I know them better.

But honestly I am interested in any review that is written well and saves the conclusions for the end. Maybe it is just me but I really hate when a reviewer tells you how they feel about the game at the start, it changes the tone and I would prefer to read the details and then see if my reaction matches theirs at the end of the review.

I'll be getting the game in the next day or two and will have a review up by the end of the weekend.

I'm very hesitant about this game and writing a review will be interesting for me. I've really soured on JRPGs over the past few years but have very fond memories of old FF games. I'm going to have to remove myself from the equation as much as possible to rate it correctly.

I believe mrstick has made one, its in the gamespot reviews thread, he gave it a really high score, he seems to enjoy it alot, alot of people do.

Im rather interested, it seems alot of people are enjoying this game

Hmm you might enjoy this rocket, if not you could try lost odyssey if you like deep story etc

I'm pretty good at checking my personal biases at the door when I do this stuff so if it's a good game, I'll treat it as such. I'm hoping it's good enough for me to buy it and keep it. I'd like a 60-hour game to keep around to play in between my other games (yeah right, like I have any freakin' time to play the games I like anyway).

lol ya, it should be even more then that, supposedly gonna be online content

My initial impressions of the game are pretty positive. I dont think I would do a full review unless I finished it through, which will seems like its going to take a while. 

Im still on the first dvd (out of 3), but so far the game is absolutely textbook jrpg. Depending on your tastes, this is its main allure for many, yet this can be unappealing for others. Its very linear and very cutesy looking. The puzzles are a no brainer.

Somehow its still addictive. I think just meeting and building up the characters is part of the charm you miss in the demo, where they just preloaded everyone for you to test drive the game mechanics. You can customize everyones classes and skills, so you can build your party the way you want. It might seem (on paper) like it makes all the characters into generic templates, but it doesnt turn out that feeling that way when you play. Everything seems very polished. The eye candy is damn good too. I happen to like the artsy blur background effect, many people wont.

The storyline (which is also very textbook good/evil/revenge) helps pull you in even though youve heard it all before.

 Combat is nothing new but the fact that there are no random encounters is very VERY welcome. Most of you probably already know you can get monsters to fight *each other* if you are close enough to two or more groups when you engage them. This in itself lends some strategy and makes you want to get different combinations together to see if they will brawl. It takes some monotony out of leveling up too, as opposed to the typical 'walk around, wait to get attacked by unseen random foe, gain xp, rinse repeat'. 

 Keep in mind its been a long time since I played a game like this, so maybe I just miss the style. The last games I played along these lines were Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts. I spent MANY hours on Oblivion so I do know the appeal of a Western, total open, totally free, more serious (and damn ugly looking) rpg.

Blue Dragon for me is a grand way to get back into the genre. I'll give an update when we get further in the game, but Im almost positive Sakaguchi and Mistwalker have put enough goodies and moments into the game to make the whole ride pretty exciting.

Actually it was technically artoon that developed the game, mistwalker just watched over
Thats another reason why i feel LO will be better, feel plus was made JUST to make rpg games for mistwalker. And to just make rpgs period why im excited for LO