"This is to the BoF series what Crono Cross was to Crono Trigger."

It is to the Breath of Fire series what Crono Cross was to Crono Trigger… for better or for worse. Perhaps the most accurate description I’ve heard of this game was Vagrant Story meets Xenogears, but that still doesn’t come close to capturing all of the composite elements. So lets get down to it.

Graphics: 8

The graphics in BoF:DQ are to anime what Kingdom Hearts was to cartoons. Cell shading is used on the characters to make them look like a 3D anime, and the two CG cutscenes (Yes, two, one at the beginning, one at the end, no more) demonstrate this beautifully. People have complained about their “painted on” look, but I think it adds to the anime feel. I guess if you had to compare them to another game, Fear Effect has to be the one that comes to mind most directly, at least as far as the way the characters are drawn and animated. The backgrounds are another matter though, consisting of a series of dark dungeons you have to traverse, and all are rendered with painstaking detail and depth. There is no such thing as a plain flat surface, everything is rendered with such realism that you’ll wonder if it’s actually a game. You can even see between Nina’s shoulder and the strap of her gown, as well as the skin underneath the partly transparent clothing (Don’t worry, no important body parts are visible.) The character designs fit as well, matching the anime look of the game. The characters’ movements are for the most part silky smooth and fitting, but occasionally the game will go into “video mode” and look like something off a video-tape. Facial expressions, while vivid and expressive for what they are, are limited. Ryu makes the same face several times throughout the game when something painful happens to him, and Nina’s variety of expressions is even less, which hurts a character who conveys emotion solely through her eyes and body movements. Still, those expressions present are well done and do much to convey the desired emotions. In battle, things tend to run more smoothly. The attacks are well thought out, and Nina’s spells are all unique and pretty spectacular. No complaints here.

Sound: 9

Were it not for the repeated voice clips, this probably would have gotten a ten. Occasionally during the game Nine or Ryu will give grunts or coughs in certain cutscenes, but they’re repeated several times during that same scene. They could have at least recorded two or three different ones of each so they don’t repeat the same thing over and over. Aside from that, there’s nothing wrong with the sound. On the contrary, the music is quite beautiful (Though the music for the EndSector Borough is a complete ripoff of a Final Fantasy song) and does much to enhance the mood of the game. There’s also some voice acting in Japanese (Which is a trend I’ve noticed with Capcom of late, they don’t dub their games much anymore. Megaman X6 and BoF 4 had the same thing done to them) but since I don’t speak Japanese, it’s impossible for me to rate the voices. I like the ending song though.

GAMEPLAY (Because of the complexity of the different gameplay elements, the Gameplay section will be divided up into several sub-sections)

Battles: 10

Let’s start with battles. They’re kind of like Grandia+Vagrant Story+Xenogears. Everything is in “Turn based real time” (Honest, that’s what the box says) What this means is that the game encompasses all the 3D space and maneuverability you could want, but each character can only move when their turn comes around. You can avoid battles on the field by avoiding enemies (yes, you can see them) and you can even set traps for them if you want to. Once you initiate battle, the game switches to a slightly overhead perspective of the room you’re in and battle begins. In battle, you’re still free to wander around the entire room if you want. Or even multiple rooms depending on how they’re put together. As far as commands, there are three “strengths” (a-la Xenogears) but you get to decide what attacks you want to use from the available list and assign them to three buttons within each of the strengths. This means you have up to nine attacks at a time you can chain together in massive combos. Of course, if you have multiple weapons, you have more than nine attacks (You can switch between weapons pretty much at will mid-battle) but they have to be on the same weapon to combo together. Nina’s spells operate the same way, allowing you to blow enemies away with a string of magic attacks that would make Gandalf the Gray blush. Combos also give your later attacks percent bonuses (Presumably as much as 80% if you manage to cycle through every attack on a nine slot weapon) This is all limited by an AP meter, which depletes as your character moves and/or attacks.

D-System: 10

The Dragon System requires a section all its own. Once you unlock the powers of the Dragon, a “D-Counter” appears in the upper right hand side of the screen. As you walk, fight, anything, it will slowly climb toward 100% percent in increments of 0.01. At any time Ryu can transform into a draconic form at the cost of 1 or 2 %. When he’s a dragon, he’s almost invincible. Little can actually damage him, and even less can kill him. However, every attack Dragon-Ryu makes increases the D-Counter, and if it reaches 100%, it’s game over. And there’s no way to bring it back down again. Still, despite being severely limited, it’s quite powerful if you’re in a jam or desperate. It can do massive damage and the “D-Breath” attack can take out any boss in one turn (Though it will rack up the D-Counter like CRAZY) You don’t want to use it too much, but when you do, you’re unstoppable.

SOL System: 10

Next up is the SOL system. You see, instead of letting people save anywhere, making the game as easy as most RPG’s these days, Capcom’s decided to add a more adventurous aspect. There are two kinds of saves. A hard save, which requires a Save Token used at a Telecorder. This is your permanent file and the one you can go back to if you die. And a soft save, which has been described as “an extended pause.” It saves your data any time and quits the game, but next time you load it, the data will be deleted like it never existed. This adds a bit of challenge to the game, but also offers a unique gameplay opportunity right from the save options. There an option called “Give Up” in the menu, which will allow you to either Restore at your last Hard Save with some of your experience, Zenny, weapons, and skills intact. Or Restart at the beginning of the game with everything except your items and experience intact. Doing this also opens up special “SOL” cutscenes, which adds tremendous replay value to the game, counterbalancing its 10-hour completion time quite nicely. There are also doors that will only open when your D-Ratio is high enough, adding even more replay value once you beat the game once or twice.

Side-Quest: 6

Finally, there’s the Fairy Town mini-game. Yes those happy naked fairies are back, but this time, since there’s no forest for them to live in, they direct a colony of ants, and want your help you make them prosper. Train them up, dig out new rooms for new jobs, and start a thriving business that would make any capitalist proud. Careful management can yield great cash returns, and there’s even a hidden dungeon deep within the colony for you to have the ants excavate. However, managing them so often can get tedious, because they have a tendency to fall dead pretty fast, forcing you to replace them and start over with trying to make decent profits. You can also buy very powerful equipment, special skills that can only be purchased here, invest your money in a bank, listen to the game’s music in the Sound Test, run a newspaper, start a cafeteria, start a review board to judge your progress in the game, and a whole slew of other things. It’s an amusing diversion and can yield some nice rewards, but ultimately the tediousness of replacing your ants every hour or so can wear thin FAST. Thankfully, this isn’t required to complete the game.

Story: 10

You are a ranger grunt, a “Low-D” who is destined to live out his unremarkable life, until he meets up with a wondrous new companion who he doesn’t even know is a companion. When he meets Nina, a quiet girl from seemingly nowhere, he vows to save her by taking her to see the sky. You see, the world was destroyed over 1000 years ago, so mankind was driven underground. But it’s growing more and more polluted every day, and now it’s time to reemerge on the surface. This is the start of the game, and its plot does a good job of winding toward the climax. You really feel for Nina, and accomplishing your task becomes genuinely important. Even better, on successive replays, the story will be further expanded through additional cutscenes, many of which bring more questions than they answer. I have absolutely no complaints here.

Overall: 9

At 5-10 hours for someone who knows what they’re doing, it’s not a very long game at all. But like any good adventure game, it can keep you coming back over and over to find new secrets, see new cutscenes, manage the ants, and achieve the elusive 1/4 D-Ratio. A spectacular game, and a real departure for the series. The replay value is off the charts, and keeps even me coming back a second, even third time. A must-have for anybody who likes deep, involved games.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/26/03, Updated 02/26/03