Different Doesn't mean bad, and yes this game is unusual.
The influence from Hironobu Sakaguchi, (the creator of the Final Fantasy series) is obvious all the way through the game, Final Fantasy fans will identify the similarities, and feel at home.
The graphics are fresh, and different from the majority of games you play, but in the case of this game * Different * is a good thing. Don't expect amazing HD quality.
The shadow battle system, takes a well to grow on you, and you may find your self grinding XP points in battle areas to defeat a difficult boss. In that aspect the game is not perfect, and the grinding before bosses can be a bit annoying. Mastering the combat tactics to make battles easy, is a bit hard and takes some practice. Also you have to pay a big deal of attention to the level up menu, to make sure that you ready for the next fight. This is a RPG game for RPG fans, if you don't LOVE RPG's avoid this game at all cost, you will most likely hate it.
Blue Dragon is a Great Adventure, that looks like a kids game, but is design for the * Hard Core * RPG fan.