History VideoGame / BlueDragon

A multimedia series, beginning as an {{RPG}} for the Xbox 360, developed by several of the people behind the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series and the artwork of the ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' franchise. It's basically Creator/AkiraToriyama, Hironobu Sakaguchi, and Creator/NobuoUematsu's attempt at a ClicheStorm, after seeing how cliche {{RPG}}s had become.

A sequel/spin-off was produced for the Nintendo DS called ''Blue Dragon Plus'', which is a strategy RPG in [[HeroesUnlimited which nearly all of the supporting cast from the first game also gain Shadow magic powers and join the main party.]]

A final third Action-RPG DS game, ''Awakened Shadow'', starring another customizable hero/-ine, was released worldwide. After literally everyone gained Shadow Magic in ''Plus'', it's disappeared from the world and the player character has to help Shu and friends bring it back. Its single player mode suffered, to say the least, from a focus on multiplayer and an overall lack of polish; although it is a nice alternative [[NoExportForYou to]] ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheTempest''.

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!!Includes examples of:

* SuddenlyVoiced: All the Shadows can talk, whereas in the games they remain silent, only retaining their animal roars.

* ABoyAndHisX: Or a group of children and their {{Living Shadow}}s.

* {{Expy}}: In the anime, Legolas ([[Literature/LordoftheRings No, Not that Legolas]]) is an expy of [[Manga/DragonBall Hercule (Mr. Satan)]].

* ABoyAndHisX: Or a group of children and their {{LivingShadow}}s.

* ABoyAndHisX: Or a group of children and their LivingShadows.

* AlternateContinuity: For the anime, the characters' appearances are mostly the same as they are in the game, except for small details like Jiro's hair being gray instead of black, if not much else... The entire story is almost completely different from the one in the games, with many changes to the first game's base plot of "Nene terrorizes the world's towns for his own amusement" (for example, unlike the games, Shu and Jiro ''aren't'' childhood friends, starting off as rivals as soon as they meet, Zola is introduced almost immediately instead of midway through the plot, and Nene's army includes human soldiers).

* SigilSpam: That spiky-circle logo on Ancient stuff turns up ''everywhere''.
* SleepModeSize: [[spoiler: Deathroy, a.k.a Destroy.]]

* SmugSnake: Nene, who never loses that [[SmugSmiler infuriating grin]].

** Awakened Shadow's final boss, [[spoiler: Last Slavery]] is a fusion of the main character's [[spoiler: shadow self and the Chimera Shadow versions of the party's shadows.]]

* LawofOneHundred: Unlocking the boss fight with [[spoiler: [[Bonus Boss Destroy]] ]] in Awakened Shadow requires you to feed him 100 seeds.

* TheMole: [[spoiler:Zola. She hates it and prefers Shu and company.]]
* MoneySpider: Oddly enough, some monster encounters justify this - the money comes out of their poo after you beat them, implying they ate other people with valuables and are literally pooping it out everywhere.

** FusionDance: Two of Awakened Shadow's bosses do this such as Demon King Destroy, and [spoiler: [[FinalBoss Last Slavery]] ]] are a result of this.

* InteractingWithShadow: Pretty much the entire story.

% At some point, we may have to overhaul the page or create two other pages for Blue Dragon + and Blue Dragon: Awakened Shadow.

* Awakened Shadow introduces Door Bosses which serve as these, with [[spoiler: Destroy and Arcane Dragon being the hardest ones.]]

* Once you beat Awakened Shadow, you'll unlock the New World which is much harder than what came before it.

* FusionDance: Two of Awakened Shadow's bosses do this such as Demon King Destroy, and [spoiler: [[FinalBoss Last Slavery]] ]] are a result of this.

* BiggerBad: [[spoiler: Nene's "pet/friend", Deathroy, not only turns out to be the bioweapon Destroy, but also had a deep-seated grudge against the Ancient.]]

* YouHave48Hours: Disc 2, [[spoiler: rescuing Kluke from the clutches of Nene and his collar in under an hour, otherwise a bomb will go off, killing her. Inverted through Nene's Xanatos Gambit; the party's NiceJobBreakingItHero led them all to their demise.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:The ''other'' [[VideoGame/ChronoTrigger game]] created by [[Franchise/FinalFantasy Hironobu Sakaguchi]] and [[Manga/DragonBall Akira Toriyama]]]].

* {{Pastiche}}: The first game is quite obviously a loving homage to classic [=JRPGs=], particularly (thanks to the pedigree) the ''Franchise/DragonQuest'' and ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series.

[[caption-width-right:350:The ''other'' [[VideoGame/ChronoTrigger game]] created by [[VideoGame/FinalFantasy Hironobu Sakaguchi]] and [[Manga/DragonBall Akira Toriyama]]]].

[[caption-width-right:350:The ''other'' [[VideoGame/ChronoTrigger game]] created by [[VideoGame/DragonQuest Hironobu Sakaguchi]] and [[Manga/DragonBall Akira Toriyama]]]].

* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: In the first game, Nene sends progressively stronger [[MechaMook Mecha Robos]] at the heroes, making one wonder why he didn't just ''start'' with these stronger Robos at the outset. [[spoiler:Then he reveals his [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy scheme]] at the end of Disc 2, justifying this trope.]]

** Nene is also more or less one of King Piccolo from DragonBall.

* ShoutOut: Zola's Killer Bat makes one to ''Franchise/DragonBall'' during their LimitBreak. You'd expect it to look more like its namesake, but instead Killer Bat turns out to be a giant, white, tailed ape (with Bat's head and wings) that attacks by firing energy beams at the foe, not unlike Vegeta's giant ape form in ''Manga/DragonBallZ''.

* {{Bowdlerization}}: Done in the US version of the anime, regarding Bouquet, most likely because of her age. Remember girls: If you're under eighteen and your breasts are too big, you aren't allowed to have them!

* CensorBox : [[GagBoobs Bouquet's]] blue "dressing" in the anime dub. Audiences are not pleased.

* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Whenever you beat up Nene, he comes back with better Mecha Robos.

* TookALevelInBadass: Quite a lot of the characters. Most notably [[spoiler:Nene when he manages to cure his illness.]]

* MediumAwareness: [[spoiler:Nene]] is GenreSavvy enough to [[spoiler:trick you into spending the first two discs of the game LevelGrinding his Shadow for him]].