Breath of Fire series

[BoneSnapDeez]

Just finished the GBA port of the first game, I played the SNES original about three times when I was younger. Mechanically it's solid, but kind of boring in parts. It suffers from "town, dungeon, town, dungeon..." syndrome and the overall plot isn't interesting enough to hold everything together. That said, there are some flashes of brilliance: I love the character designs and the music is fantastic.

I played the second installment a few years back and thought it was excellent. Yes it's famous for it's horrendous translation, but the gameplay is vastly improved when compared to the first game. Sure it's not as epic as FFVI/Chrono Trigger/Earthbound, but I'd place it on the second tier of SNES RPG classics along with Lufia 2, Secret of Mana, Terranigma, etc...

I actually own parts III, IV, and V (Dragon Quarter) but have never touched 'em! Any thoughts on these? I know Dragon Quarter was pretty controversial for various reasons.

Anyone else dig these games? We'll probably never see a sixth installment...

[o.pwuaioc]

I got started on BoFIII, but set it aside to finish FFIX first (still working on that...). From what little I played (about 3 hours in), it was really fun. After I finish FFIX, I want to play all the BoF games in a row, from the first through IV (I don't have V, I didn't even know it existed).

[brunoafh]

I love Breath of Fire.

BoF III is my favorite entry in the series, it feels like a classic SNES RPG with ramped up visuals and audio. Good tunes, great battle system, awesome art, decent characters, and a fairly entertaining story. For some reason (probably the music and the battle system) I just love it though. II comes close but I like III more.

BoF IV, I started but never finished. Seems like it has a great cast and story, but for whatever reason (I think I was juggling too many games) I dropped it. I'll no doubt go back to it someday though, as it seemed great.

BoF V, is greatness. You just have to look at it "outside of the box". The game design is very unorthodox and as a result it's going to be hit or miss for most players, but for me it was a home run. One of the best PS2 RPGs in my opinion and without doubt one of the most innovative. Ignore the controversy and just go into it looking to form your own opinion. It really is great, and I wish there would be more RPGs that took risks and tried new things like BoF V did.

[Jmustang1968]

I've only played the snes BoFs. I enjoyed them and think 2 is the more polished one.

From what I've read and heard, the general consensus is that 3 and 2 are the best. 1 is solid but shows its age, and 4 is the worst of the series. 5 is considered a strong game, but doesn't feel like a breath of fire game and is just a good rpg that happens to share the name.

[Dylan]

I've played I and II. One isn't bad, but overall it's really basic and rather easy. Two is great, it really fleshed out the BoF world and is overall an improvement in just about every way. In particular, I loved the Shaman system for advancing characters. The only real issue I had with II is that sometimes the regular random encounters towards the end of the game could drag on. I'm definitely looking forward to playing III someday.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I'm looking at screen shots online and part III looks absolutely gorgeous. In fact, it looks better than part IV which came out a couple years later on the same system.

Looks like these will be good summer games for me.

[TheSSNintendo]

I've played the first three BoF games, but never finished them. Have BoF for the GBA, BoF 2 for SNES, and I've gotten quite far before in BoF 3.

[Godot102]

I have a lot of trouble getting into these games. I really wanted to like them too but I keep getting bored. I've played both the second and the third but couldn't manage to finish either...

[Xeogred]

BoFIV is pretty much one of my top favorite JRPG's in general. The story was extremely awesome. Throughout most of the game, you switch perspectives off and on to the main antagonist character and see his journey up to the end as well. He's evil, but human as well, I always remember this one scene where he wakes up after being defeated or something and is in the care of some family in a hut. Just a really dimensional character and story. The music is some of the best as well, super nostalgic stuff even though I've only played it once, and I absolutely loved the graphics (BoFIII looks great too). It also has probably the darkest alternative game ending I've ever seen.

Opposite of bruno, for whatever reason I never finished BoFIII though. I remember getting stuck several times with some trial and error stuff or something, and the storyline felt very lighthearted in comparison to IV from what I played,but maybe it changes later. I only got about 10 hours in and Ryu was a kid the whole time for me, I know he grows up later in the game.

I've definitely been meaning to play the original two someday. Someone said it elsewhere, but a Together Retro on one of them would probably be a great idea.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Someone said it elsewhere, but a Together Retro on one of them would probably be a great idea.

That was me.

But yeah, although it's not a perfect game I think the first BoF would be a good Together Retro pick. Relatively easy to find, simple control scheme, extremely easy to emulate for those who don't wanna pay for it (you can use a keyboard since it's completely turn-based), and it's one of those games that flew under most people's radar.

On at side note, during the ending credits of Breath of Fire it says SPECIAL THANKS: BONE. How did they know I was playing it?!