The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
[Let's Play] Breath of Fire 3 - How to condense a JRPG!
Henroid
Mexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
Mexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
Lets Play
The Last Dragon Boy Man God Thing
... working title...
The Last Dragon Boy Man God Thing
... working title...
Henroid here again folks, this time with Capcom's Breath of Fire 3. You may know me from, uh, like a decade here, and my Diablo LP, my had-to-abandon Etrian Odyssey 2 LP, and the long-hiatus Shining Force 2 LP. Okay fine, 1 and a half for 3, but in my defense one wasn't my fault and the other is still in very slow on-my-end production and kinda got not-interesting due to power-playing the game...
But lessons learned! No power playing here! And plus, this game has like a billion sprites, which are kinda my thing by this point. Enough about me. Time for this totally great game. One sec before that though...
When Reading this Lets Play...
Meet Mr. Embed. He's a scarecrow. He'd usually be embedded in a field at a farm, but instead he's embedded here in the thread. Any time you see him, be sure to open up his link for musical treats. It's always music that plays in the moment in-game.
Meet Ms. Chest. When you see her, a list of items found in the following dungeon is found.
I also want to thank the following:
ILOVETODANCELOL - For providing a source for the game's music.
Gamefaqs - For providing some resources, especially the game script which saves me a lot of time.
Spriters-resource - Most sprites used come from sprite sheets provided here.
Capcom - They made the game. So thank you. Please show appreciation by becoming cool again.
What is Breath of Fire 3?
Breath of Fire 3 will be 15 years old this September. Now, it came out in 1998 in the States, and my brother and I were there at the ground floor. The series revolves around characters who share the same name - Ryu. Kinda like Link with the LoZ series. Not necessarily the same dude. And in typical JRPG fashion, in Breath of Fire you're saving the world. Now I'd never read about BoF 3 in magazines back then. Part 2 I sure as shit did and that game looked amazing, though I missed out on playing it when it was fresh and new. But according to Wikipedia, BoF 3 got relatively panned with "meh"s from the review world. One source even said it's just "more of the same" from RPGs.
More of the same? How about you turning into a fucking dragon?
And not just a dragon, but a variety of dragons! "More of the same" my ass! Plus the game is pretty colorful and arty in a pleasant way.
I'll tell you one more thing about the game too, that makes it stand out for me. With regard to approach in its plot and conclusion, it's relatively different from other things I've seen that are cliches in JRPG plots. At least for its time. I can't get into that without spoilers though. I'll explain when this is done.
The story of Breath of Fire 3 specifically focuses on a boy named Ryu who... hold on a second.
Okay anyway, Ryu Roo falls in with a couple out-of-luck kids living outside a farm town. From there, Ryu Roo is constantly put into adventurous situations and discovering his inner-power to breath fire. Or lightning or whatever the hell else you decide he should breathe. Maybe you're content with him swinging his sword! That totally works too. His journey is actually more than adventurous happenstance, but those are plot points! And it's better to see those unfold than have me just say it here and now.
Feature wise, the game has a system of apprenticing under 'masters.' Each master provides you with a share of stat gains and decreases to what you normally would gain on level up. Plus, they teach you spells and abilities. You can also manage your combat formations with your three party members, each formation providing its own benefit and adjusting your strategy. There are mini-games, but damn near all of them are one-offs as the story progresses. The only persistent mini-game is fishing, which provides you with a means of finding items to use, but you can also use the fish as special currency at some shops to get ahold of some equipment.
Oh, the game was re-released on the PSP! So if you seek a means to play it, ta-da, there it is! It didn't really change a whole lot from what I'm aware of. The logo changed (used above), and a duplication bug was removed. Not that it was entirely useful.
The Characters!
Along the way, Ryu Roo meets a few folks that fight alongside him. I should introduce them now!
Ryu Roo
Here's our boy hero. Blue hair is the shared quality of all Breath of Fire Ryus Roos. He's a dragon. Just... gonna get that out there. And like all heroes, he swings a sword. And he's also among the class of heroes who doesn't say a damn thing we can hear. Not quite Gordon Freeman, but his language is beyond text meant for us. You may see me put words in his mouth.
Rei
This here is Rei. He's a cat man person. Unlike Katt, from part 2, he wears pants. And is a boy. He's like a bigger brother to Ryu Roo, the first of friends met. As a person, he sees things in a far simpler manner, all at face value. As a fighter, he specializes in being fast. Not much for muscle or being a caster.
Teepo
The other of Ryu's Roo's forest-made friends. Teepo is an orphaned boy. He's pretty brash and has big dreams about fame and such. Like Ryu Roo, he's competent in swordplay and some magic, only instead of healing he likes to set them on fire or ice.
Nina
Oh right, Breath of Fire, as a series, has another recurring character. And here she is - Nina! Princess of Wyndia. Could you tell? If you had to guess, she's a magic user. And frail. And she really likes Ryu. Roo. Whatever his name is. Surprise!
Momo
Here's the team's professor type. Momo is a young lady who is something of a scientist and technician. Oh right. This game has sorta-technology. You'll see. She has rabbit ears and a bazooka, and is a mixed bag of magic. My personal favorite character.
Peco
And now for my least favorite character, because I can't figure out what the hell he's meant to do really, Peco! Peco is... an onion... monster thing. And he can't speak. Actually though, he's a hit point power house.
Garr
You're either thinking "Oh, that's the muscle" and/or "Is he a dragon demon thing?" Well he is the muscle, but he's... Well you'll see in plot points. He's not a dragon or demon though. Just real scary looking. He's pretty much the guy who makes the plot happen at all though.
Hey you guuuuuuuuyyys
Usually I allow people to give input on things I do in my Lets Plays. This time, I'm going to take a relaxed means of that. In essence you guys have a few episodes to convince me of a team to use for all my doings in the game (exceptions being when I have to bring someone along for content with little choice on my end). Roo always has to be in the team so you guys who have played the game before feel free to convince me of who the other two are and how to build them up.
Warning: I'm strongly leaning toward having Momo no matter what so you're gonna have to fight me on that.
Episode Guide
Just keeping count of episodes and noting where in the thread each resides.
Episode 1 - Ye Olde Introduction - Page 1
Episode 2 - NO TITLE! - Page 2
Episode 3 - The Tutorial Episode - Page 4
Episode 4 - The Most Important Episode Ever - Page 4
Episode 4 - Part 2 - Also Page 4
Henroid on
0
Posts
When magical beings die, their bodies slowly transform into the ore known as
chrysm.
Even the legendary dragons, whose might shook the world...
No one knows how or why the mighty dragons became extinct...
This tale is dedicated to the dragons.
Let's Play...
The first treasure of many. I guess our little dragon carries it in his mouth.
Well, I guess morality systems weren't invented just yet in 1997.
What we have here is failure to communicate.
You can rotate the camera in this game! It's not just to show off "wooo 3D" stuff, it's actually important for finding items and progressing.
Business as usua-
And so the dragon problem was settled, the whelp taken away...
I approve.
Meanwhile I had the time of my life with 4.
At least that isn't until the very last moments of the game. Like literally on the heels of the end of the game.
They must've played some other BoF3. The one I played wasn't about saving the world, like virtually every other RPG in existence. You were out there to find answers, and you'd do it by crossing every impassible barrier the world set before you. The one I played starred a surprisingly expressive mute kid who blindly flailed his sword like a jackass until the princess was watching, at which point he cowboyed the fuck up.
I really like BoF3, easily my favorite in the series. Looking forward to this!
Now playing: Teardown and Baldur's Gate 3 (co-op)
Sunday Spotlight: Horror Tales: The Wine
I love this game so much, despite all its issues.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
This was way before I had interwebs, (non-spoilers) but I got stuck at the very end cause I couldn't figure out how to open a certain door. By the time I figures it out, years later, my PS1 was gone and Zeus knows where the save card went.
So I'm really looking forward to this LP.
Battlenet ID: MildC#11186 - If I'm in the game, send me an invite at anytime and I'll play.
Battlenet ID: MildC#11186 - If I'm in the game, send me an invite at anytime and I'll play.
... Well I was going to save pretty much what you wrote for later but yeah there it is. :P
Anyway, right now I'm considering a team of Roo, Momo, and Garr. That or Rei instead of Garr, but I'm not going to mess with that fussing around of the Chain Formation if I do that. Rei is a weak pansy but I want to see if he can be built up on the right master. Which is to say, Bunyan.
I hate the way Masters permanently affect character stats. Hate. That's mostly why I play FF6 without using any Espers. It's impossible to play BoF3 without using Masters.
</OCD>
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
And BoF3 was the game that taught me why they always put those warnings to not turn off your system while saving. I think it was actually the second time playing through this, but about a third of the way into the game my house had a power outage right when the "SAVING: DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR SYSTEM OR REMOVE THE MEMORY CARD" message was up. When the power came back on, I frantically tried to check the save. ...Corrupted.
But yes, awesome game. And yes, Momo is indeed the best character. Seriously, the description is all you need: redhead bunny-girl scientist. With a rocket launcher.
Meet Mr. Embed. He's a scarecrow. He'd usually be embedded in a field at a farm, but instead he's embedded here in the thread. Any time you see him, be sure to open up his link for musical treats.
Breath of Fire 3 and Star Ocean: The Second Story are tied for my favorite JRPG, and are both near the top of the 'my favorite game, period' list
*salute*
Oh, and expect me to generally pass over any mentioning of leveling up and such. The idea is to keep the plot moving forward in this. Even within the same updates hours may go by between one screenshot and the next. Not that you'll be made aware of it, unless you're watching closely for it. I guess. Not that it's a... uh... thing to hide really.
TOTALLY making a point of this by the way.
BoF3 in particular I feel would hurt too much with its length and endless fetching, despite how much I loved it back in the day.
The answer is always Garr.
You may have to convince me on this. I plan on naturally increasing everyone's agility, as opposed to the "play only to their strenghts" thing which means training under Maryleep for a long while. Just until the stat is between 50 and 60. In Garr's case it may take a while. Agility is way too important in this game, but wasting a battle formation to stick a weak Rei up front doesn't seem like my thing.
Actually though, Garr with Hondura's skills might produce badass results.
Garr, on the other hand, saved me from a wipe on every boss I had him for. I was pretty stupid as far as masters; pretty sure I just popped everyone on whatever the next one was, thinking that stats would balance out in the end.
Much respect for the meat shield.
Truly, games for people of class and refined taste :^:
Awesome. Ryu3's such a great little dude, had more character to him than a lot of RPG leads can manage even with speech.
Now playing: Teardown and Baldur's Gate 3 (co-op)
Sunday Spotlight: Horror Tales: The Wine
I thought he was a tomboyish girl.
(Never finished the prolouge before disc disappeared).
BoF3 and FF7 were my first legitimate entries into the RPG genre. This game is truly a masterpiece.
I said the same exact thing. Reviewers had no idea what they were talking about when this was released. Is this on PSN? I know it's not on XBL.....but it should be on both.
Edit - Also, I think you've inspired me to change my avatar.
Edit2 - God damnit, I can't find animated gifs anywhere. I'll have to make one out of the sprite sheet on the interwebs.
Twitch: KoopahTroopah - Steam: Koopah
Also, bookmarked, eagerly anticipate updates, etc...
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
Twitch: KoopahTroopah - Steam: Koopah
also damn henroid, have we really been around the forums for a decade? that seems like its not a good thing
It's a bit old and clunky but the game is just charming as hell.
BoF4 is good too, and has some of the best sprite work this side of a 2D fighting game.
Oh hell, I didn't know the PSP release was limited. That blows.
Of course it's a good thing. I'm glad there's familiar folks like you still around after all this time.
I'll need your help finding a particular piece of music then. Because it's not part of what is traditionally referred to as the soundtrack (which is essentially all the BGM music mode selection, which doesn't have every song in the game for some reason).