Breath of Fire
Reviewed by Tim
Breath of fire is about a young light dragon on a quest to
defeat the dark dragons and avenge his sister. The actual
game isn't nearly as simple as the plot may suggest. While it
doesn't have as much depth some other RPG's. It does have
many feature that make it worth a try.
Graphics B
There isn't much to talk about the graphics. They're pretty
much what you'd expect for it's time. The only real flaw I
found was that the characters lack facial expressions. I
don't think just putting symbols above their heads (hearts,
sweat, etc..) works well. They would work better if they were
each given different poses like in Final Fantasy 3. (Laughing,
angry, sad.) The battle animation helps make up for it though.
Battles look more like real battles and less like board games.
(ie. Final Fantasy with pictures for enemies)
Music and Sound B+
The music is very suiting for the situations and I don't think
there are any music or sounds I found repetitive or annoying.
Also, the battle and map music changes halfway through the
game just so you don't get bored of them. The only reason it
doesn't get an A is because this game needed just a few
more songs for variety.
Game Challenge C+
I don't think this was intended to be overly hard but it could
have been a little longer or had a few side quests. The boss
battles are sufficiently challenging for the most part but some
character skills can make them too easy. The biggest culprit is
the hero's agni spell. As someone once said, once you have this
spell, as long as you have at least two items that completely
restore hit points there isn't an enemy in the world who can
stop you. For those who don't know, agni combines all of your
characters into a powerful dragon who's basic attack does
maximum damage to all opponents. Once it's used, the battle
just comes down to who can hold out the longest and if you
can completely heal yourself, it will always be you.
Game Play-Fun B+
The game is far from perfect but it is fun to play. There are
many plot twists and a few funny and touching scenes. The
story is very unpredictable which also helps to keep you
playing and you don't need to spent hours building up levels.
The fun factor is what makes this game worth the rental.
Frustration
This game does have it's share of annoying features. One is the
way battles work. Instead of bringing up a character's menu when
it's their turn, you enter all of your character's commands at the
beginning of the round then each participant attacks in order of
speed. This can sometimes cause problems, especially when your
fighting an enemy who's faster than you. You end up having to
cross your fingers and hope the enemy won't do something that
will mess up your plan. This feature can also cause over killing
your enemies. For example, say you're fighting a tough enemy
who normally takes lots of hits to beat so you decide to use a
really strong spell to beat him quickly. (Note. I'm speaking from
personal experience here.) But the characters who go before
the spell caster end up getting really lucky shots and they bring
him down to near death before the spell is cast so you end up
wasting a strong spell on a weak enemy. It doesn't happen often
but it does happen. The only other annoying feature is how bosses
always resist death. When you beat bosses they start to die then
a message appears and the boss revives with a new hit point total.
I don't understand why they do this and the biggest problem is that
when they revive, you can no longer see their hit point meter
which also can be a pain.
Replayability C
There is no replay value because of the lack of side quests.
There are 2 endings but the bad ending is harder to get because
you must beat the final boss fairly instead of using agni. There
nothing new the second time around.
Game Value B-
This game is well worth the rental price but don't buy it
because you'll get bored of it after beating it once.
Good or interesting features B+
This game does have some features that every RPG should have.
One the trade-in option in stores. This allow you to buy new equipment
and sell old equipment all in one step instead the usual the
buy-equip-sell 3 step method. Another is the auto battle option.
If you're fighting an enemy you can easily beat, choose auto battle
and your characters will just continuously attack until the enemy
is dead which saves a lot of time. The ability to fuse certain
characters into one stronger one is also interesting.
Overall B
Overall, this was pretty for Capcom's first attempt at an RPG. It's
definitely worth the rental but think twice about buying it.