Breath of Fire

• Release Date: 1994
• Genre: Role-Playing
• Style: Third-Person 2D RPG
• Similar Games: Breath of Fire III (PlayStation), Breath of Fire II (Super Nintendo Entertainment System), Final Fantasy VII (PlayStation), Final Fantasy VII (IBM PC Compatible), Final Fantasy VII (PlayStation)

Game Description

In the beginning, there was a race of beings who had the power to change into powerful dragons. The Dragon Family lived in peaceful harmony, until the Goddess Tyr appeared. Promising to grant their wishes, the separate clans of the Dragon Family started fighting amongst each other, hoping for the power the Goddess had to offer.

One clan, the Light Dragons, realized that something was amiss and sent a warrior to stop the evils. He was victorious and sealed the Goddess into six keys and spread them across the land. The world recovered from the catastrophic battles, and the Light Dragons grew soft. With this softening, they lost most of their powers and lived as men, but the Dark Dragons were biding their time. Soon a leader rose among the Dark Dragons, named Zog. He set out to destroy the Light Dragons and take the Goddess Keys, and resurrect the evil Goddess. Your journey begins with the destruction of your village. . .

Review: Overall

Breath of Fire is a solid roleplaying game, but in an era where games like Final Fantasy 2 and Chrono Trigger were released, it did not stand out as much as some think it should have. The storyline of the game is admittedly a bit cliched at the start, but once one progresses further in the game, the plot begins to complicate a bit and turn for the unexpected. Overall the story is enough to keep you interested, as long as you have a bit of patience until the game's more impacting events take place.

The battle system in Breath of Fire has many aspects similar to other roleplaying games of the time, but also contains a few notable differences. The first of these is the enemy life bar. Each enemy, whether a random encounter, or a boss, has a life bar so one can tell how much damage the monster can take before it dies. Also, some monsters change in appearance slightly when they have been damaged severely, often looking beaten up, or sometimes more angry. This is a good system, but often misleading, as most bosses will continue to fight for a while with a "hidden" reserve of hit points after their bar has been depleted. Also of note is the "Auto Battle" command, which automatically sets the party to attack. This command is quite useful for monsters which have been defeated countless times before, but it is also not the best way to fight monsters one has never seen before, as the game's AI does not always make the best decisions for your characters. Finally, there are certain characters which may gain the ability to morph and combine other party members into themselves, which can create some interesting and often powerful beasts that work well against certain enemies. This is a fun feature to experiment with once that ability is obtained.

The world of Breath of Fire is large, but it can also become tedious. Characters walk incredibly slow through some parts of the game, hitting countless random battles on the way. The best feature of the world is the way characters can interact with it, however. Some characters can break obstacles, dig into the earth, and even swim under the ocean to find new areas, so getting one of these characters can add alot of opportunities. Unfortunately, this also means that one must visit the same locations over and over to use new abilities and see new areas, and it can become tedious after awhile. Thankfully for the player, there is eventually a spell that one can learn to transport from one town to another instantly.

Breath of Fire has its quirks, but it is still an overall good game, especially if you enjoy most roleplaying games. If you are relatively new to the genre, a game like Final Fantasy 2 may suit your tastes better.

Review: Enjoyment

Breath of Fire is an enjoyable game overall, but there are a few places where there is nothing in the game to tell you what to do next, and you are left wondering whether you need to check old locations, or find new ones. The battle system is a good plus though, and the auto-battle command makes it less annoying to fight those same random encounters over and over.

Review: Graphics

The graphics are above average for the era, and there are some interesting-looking places the party can visit. The best graphic features are the combat spells, which make it worth casting each new spell just to see it when it is obtained.

Review: Sound

The music is great, but the sound effects are lacking a bit. Spell sounds are decent but could have probably been done a bit better.

Review: Replay Value

Several months after finishing the game, roleplaying fans will often get the urge to pick it back up and play through again. Those who are not avid roleplaying fans will be satsified with just finishing it once, though.

Review: Documentation

The manual tells you everything you need to know, and not much more. A few more spell or item descriptions would be nice, but in a way it adds to the fun to learn about these on one's own.

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