These beasts change game play, fighting, and the storyline considerably. It's almost as if before you got them, you were wearing blinders without noticing, and then, once they are removed from your eyes, you see the world in a whole new light.

It's hard to explain the features exclusive to Blue Dragon without spoiling the story line, so I know this might be a little vague, but I don't want to ruin the game for you.

Let's start with the world map, shall we? You know in most RPGs, you're walking around in the big world map, and the plot leads you to traverse back to a place you've already been, usually forcing you to back track for hours through areas you've already been through, just to get a new item or to talk to a new guy to push along the plot (not to mention a crafty way of extending the length of the game)? Blue Dragon doesn't want to piss you off like that, It has a warp system! Hoo-frickin'ray!

Once you've been to an area and have used a warp key, you can travel back to that area at any time you wish. This is a lifesaver. It's hardly an innovative feature, but it's one that RPGs usually ignore, making some games so ridiculously monotonous that it feels more like work than an enjoyable moment in your game. I was relieved to see that Blue Dragon threw that tradition in the trashcan.

That leads me to another pet peeve in RPGs. You know when you're walking around in an RPG's world map and monsters pop out of thin air and attack you with no warning, and zero way to avoid the battle? Well, not in this game. Monsters wander around the map just like you do, and this opens up new ways of attacking and being attacked.

You can avoid battles if needed, because you can actually see where the monsters are (Other RPGs take note), and if you do decide that you want to tear the monster's a new one, you have several new ways of doing it. Thanks to analog controls, you can push gently towards the enemy, sneak up behind it, and attack him without the monster realising you are there, giving you a huge advantage in battle - not to mention an achievement if you do it 100 times. Who would have thought an RPG would take on Splinter Cell elements?

Also, you don't have to fight just one monster at a time like you do in most games. If you push the RT button, you can bring up an attack ring, and select multiple monsters to fight at once. These monsters might help each other and attack you, or they will start a "Monster Fight," kill each other, allowing you to obliterate whatever is left after they fight. It's such a simple little addition but it works so beautifully. Fighting in this fashion makes enemies seem to have their own personality, and differentiates the hundreds of enemy types considerably.