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[Breath of Fire] BoF 6: Capcom Destroys Another Beloved Franchise!
Grove
Los AngelesRegistered User regular
Los AngelesRegistered User regular
Breath of Fire IV is a jrpg developed by Capcom and released on the PS1 in 2000. It's the fourth game of the BoF series and in my opinion the best.
It also happens to be coming to PSN in less than a week! 8-16-11
So here's a thread celebrating one of my all time favorite JRPG's.
Characters:
Ryu is the main character of the story. A warrior with amnesia who is found in the desert by a princess after she and her bodyguard are attacked by a dragon. Ryu is a silent protagonist who has the mysterious ability to transform into dragons.
Nina is a princess from the kingdom of Wyndia on a mission to find her missing sister. A powerful magic user who aids Ryu as they both try to uncover the truth behind her sisters disappearance and Ryu's unique powers.
Cray is Nina's bodyguard and member of the fierce Woren tribe. Hot tempered but loyal, he is the big bruiser of the cast. He also is in love with Nina's missing sister.
Scias is a reserved mercenary and master swordsman. He's willing to do most things for money, but not everything. Powerful and agile in combat, yet quiet and unassuming. He's always been a favorite of mine and his attack animations are fantastic.
Ershin refers to a mysterious armor that joins Ryu's party. It has a strange personality but is a loyal companion that holds its own secrets. Ershin starts off slow but is a powerful warrior with many amazing abilities.
Ursula is a fiery soldier of the empire that joins Ryu in his quest. She wields a gun and a quick tongue while aiding Ryu and friends in infiltrating the empire.
Fou lu is the games protagonist and antagonist. He is a god who has been awakened after centuries of sleep and can control and turn into dragons much like Ryu. The player will control Fou lu at regular intervals during the game, but his quest is on the opposite of the world from Ryu...
Gameplay:
It's a traditional JRPG with a few twists. 6 party members can be in battle, though only 3 participate. However you can swap anyone out mid battle and the back row fighters can be healed and protected from attacks/status changes. There is also an apprentice system wherein each character can study under a master. These masters are spread out all over the world and give various stat boosts.
There is an interesting combo system involving magic. More powerful spells can be combined based on a set order and unique attacks can be created. Ryu and Fou lu can turn into dragons and unleash devastating attacks. There are also 7 dragon summons to find to aid your quest. Each party member has special abilities and attacks unique to them.
There is also a fishing mini game which grants huge item bonuses and a faerie village that will again turn out amazing items.
Misc:
The art is amazing in my opinion. I love the character designs. The battle music is fantastic and the story is great. If you can get your hands on the artbook it's really outstanding.
The game is being released on PSN Aug. 16 for $9.99 I believe. Totally worth the price.
If you're looking for a solid, well made JRPG look no further. It's an amazing game with a great adventure. A lot of people like BoF III but for me IV is without question the best. Both are great.
Intro Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM2ITOQvzpsSelling PS3 & 360 Madcatz TE Stick
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I have to say that BoF IV has some utterly beautiful spriteart
Yeah I think it was on the PS2. I never played it but I heard it departed from the series quite a bit. I think it also had some death gimmick or something. I liked 1-3 and loved 4. Watched some videos on 5 and wasn't impressed.
I might look into BoF4, it's been a while since I played a good jrpg.
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The sprite work in IV is fantastic. The enemies are great.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
I'm determined to buy it on PSN, put it on my PSP, and play the hell out of it.
I definitely remember the awesome music and combat animations.
It's also easily one of the very best looking PSX games in terms of art direction.
The combat is an evolved version of BoF III, with some interesting twists in terms of comboing moves together to create interesting and powerful attacks/effects, and being able to use your entire party at once in combat by switching out the front lines.
I recommend this game.
Pretty amazing.
awesome game. wish there was a 360 port .
Yeah and the PSP version is loading loading loading loading
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
Also yeah I think Ershin can randomly fire from the back row and Ursula can replicate used items if my memory is correct.
And most of Scias' weapons have double cut which is awesome when combined with his high agility.
Love that there are two different main battle themes for Ryu and Fou lu.
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter is one of the best games ever made. It's drastically different than BoF1-4 though.
I don't think I ever finished BoF4. My main recollections of it are that it's basically BoF3 with a different plot and characters (which isn't a bad thing). A few things are better, a few things are worse, and the 2D art remains great.
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire,
Then I forgot that I'm unemployed again.
Also, most saving is temporary so you can't cheat death and death is an important part of the game. So if you like death having a purpose, this is the game for you.
I'm glad I am not the only person that has this opinion.
No cheating death but there are a bunch of different exploits you can take advantage of.
The dual storyline (though you don't really spend THAT much time with Fou-Lu) is fun too, and gives you good backstory and plot without it being boring cutscene.
You had a percentage that went up every time that you used the dragon abilities, but it increased very slowly otherwise
Once that hits 100% you died (which is likely to happen the first time around)
Also, regarding the ending,
Never played 4, never heard or saw much about it beyond the character designs, to be honest
Do the PSX games include the dragon transformations and character combinations that were in the SNES games? As a kid, I loved the idea of the main hero being able to become a dragon, and Karn's ability to fuse party members together into ultra warriors was awesome.
I remember back in the day, that I had I bought BoFIV after rage quitting and trading in Dragon Quest VII. Doing so was one of the better decisions I had ever made.
Though, part of my wonderful feelings for BoFIV could possibly be because I hated DQVII so much.... Eh, well, regardless, BoFIV was good times.
I believe you're more limited in how often and for how long you can be a dragon than in the first three, and there is no fusing.
Hmm. Those things seem like series staples to me. How can they call it a Breath of Fire game without them?
... what?
All kidding aside, the fishing minigames from BoF 3 and 4 are more fun than any game in the actual fishing genre, and better executed, plus more-entertaining than many whole games of other genres.
And now for Breath of Fire IV bullet points!
- In Breath of Fire III, the story is very lighthearted,, whereas Breath of Fire IV goes the opposite route down a pretty dark path.
- Four is more refined in all aspects: music, graphics, combat and other game mechanics, etc. It does however, lack the detailed world map of previous games. It sports a literal cartographer's map with all places represented by waypoints connected by pre-defined paths.
- This map still retains the encounter system from BoF III where while moving around Ryu may get a ! overhead. You can then choose whether or not to enter a generic "field" which always has monsters appropriate to the region plus a bag of loot to find.
- Difficulty is pretty spot-on. The final dungeon is the hardest of all, and does not pull any punches. It's also a fantastic maze while not being unrecognizable or pulling any stupid tricks. It's simply big, full of nasty monsters, and not straightforward.
- The dragon system is less intricate than three's gene-splicing and staying in dragon form; you "ascend" into "dragon-god" form where you still look like Ryu but with red wings. You're powered up in this form, but still not an actual dragon. From the ascended state it's more akin to BoF 1/2 where selecting a breath attack from your moves turns you into the specified dragon type only while you execute that move.
- There are also dragon summons where you can call on various dragon gods, one of which was obviously the inspiration for Jhen Mohran in Monster Hunter Tri (I'm pretty sure they had the same designer).
- Formations from BoF III do not return; instead the character-switching system from BoF I is back! Your full party if available in every battle, three at a time. You can freely switch out active and reserve members in mid-combat to optimize your available abilities every turn. Reserve members slowly recover AP (magic points), and are immune to most damage and status ailments.
PSN: theIceBurner, IceBurnerEU, IceBurner-JP | X-Link Kai: TheIceBurner
Dragon's Dogma: 192 Warrior Linty | 80 Strider Alicia | 32 Mage Terra
I remember playing this game, beating it and then trying to get all of the rare drops. I never did get the Goo King Sword, but I didn't think it was much better than the best 2-hit sword Ryu could use because of the 2-hit component.
Steam: TheArcadeBear
Breath of Fire 3 has the most sophisticated dragon system. You get various dragon genes and by using them in different combinations, you can turn into different dragons (a few of which will combine all of your active members into a single giant creature temporarily). While you're a dragon, your stats change, and you gain access to various spells/abilities, but you have to spend AP each turn to maintain the form.
Breath of Fire 4's dragon system is kind of like a simplified version of 3. The whole dragon gene combining system is gone, but the actual dragon transformations are handled similarly to 5.
Breath of Fire 5's dragon system is the one that's best integrated into the story. You know how in most Breath of Fire games, his dragon ability is supposed to be this awe inspiring power that threatens the entire world, but in gameplay terms, it's just another spell? In Dragon Quarter, you get the real deal. In dragon form, you can destroy even bosses with incredible ease, but the amount of time you can be a dragon is limited over the course of the entire game (indicated by a % meter) and if you exceed that amount, it's game over. I think it's a genius idea - you're supposed to be afraid of the dragon power and only use it in emergencies if at all - but many longtime fans of the series hate it.
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire,
BoFIV: The dragon system required you played Minigames to unlock points to upgrade forms. This could be good or bad depending on how much you enjoy the minigames.
BoFV: "In Dragon Quarter you weren't necessarily dying over the course of the game
You had a percentage that went up every time that you used the dragon abilities, but it increased very slowly otherwise
Once that hits 100% you died (which is likely to happen the first time around)"
This is completely false. Getting 100% D-meter erased your save file and you were SoL. You died simply by dying. The dragon form was a get out of jail free card as it could literally 1hit even the last boss. The problem was it was very limited in how often you could use it and abuse of it would quickly see you hitting 100% and losing your save file. Same with the D-Dashing through enemy encounters and such. BoFV was very much the survival horror of RPGs wherein you spent a lot of your time deciding how far your current supplies could get you.
It was a fantastic game though and I may have to LP it now just to show off how damn great it is. (Or maybe I should LP all of them. I've been considering it, so this thread popping up is kind of motivational.)