"Breath of Fire V - The Astonishing Sequel"

Introduction
Breath of Fire V - The Astonishing Sequel

Hello everyone, its been a long time since I wrote another review and I decided to do so again when I realized there was a pretty small amount of reviews for this game. I must be the first few who bought it then. (^_^) Anyways, the Breath of Fire series has been quite a long saga that was produced a couple of years ago by our survival-horror fan game company, Capcom. In addition to all that new features, it's on your brand, sparkling PS2! Expect wonderful cell shading graphics, better gameplay and a whole new adventure for you. Read on people.

WHAT'S NEW?

Whole lot of things. The first few introduction screens on the main menu should portray to you the ol' time anime style prologue. Eager to find out more? Hit on the Start Button and click a New Game pal. Input your name and get ready to begin. On first impression, graphics are pretty cool but after a while, you'll notice a slight flaw in the main character's head. His eyes are humongous, ya? Also, they have a weird shading blend that its pretty hard to describe. However, it's not that disturbing, just maybe you'll sulk when cutscenes pop up. Other than that, the overall graphics are really cool and cell shading is definitely one of the good choices to make.

Breath of Fire V is highly detailed and very careful of a lot of things. In most of the time, a battle sequence brings you to a place somewhat different from the location you're currently at. But in BOF V, you are brought to exactly where you last stepped, and all the traps you laid would be still there at the exact same spot. What's there to say? This game has a really huge memory space to even input these little nifty things, and that's a good move. One major difference between BOF V and many other good games on the PS2 is that it lacks dialogue speech sounds. In FFX, Onimusha 2, Vice City and many more, all of them have a speech bank. BOF V lacks this quality, and it feels somewhat weird from all that silence.

PRACTICE SURVIVAL SKILLS

Forget all that ol' time RPGs where you are buried in money. Forget the time where you can hurl 99 potions at one time. Instead, expose yourself to a whole new strategic environment of BOF V. This time, Capcom emphasis on thinking skills. You do not rush out to a Mama Nugget without even planning your moves. There are also traps to be laid. You can distract enemies and plan for a smaller amount of enemies to face you in battle. Remember, look before you leap. Zennys are limited, you get a puny pathetic amount of money after each battle, and you need to save. Besides that, Capcom introduces some funny method of restricting players from saving too often. There's something called a Save Token this time. They are VERY rare, and not to mention that they are the only ones that can secure you a fix save spot. You can always live on with the other method, which is the instant save one. However, it isn't as good as it sounds. Whenever you save, you boot out of the game immediately. And when you load back, the temporary save file disappears. Ah? Scary ah? Maybe Capcom done something right, but they shouldn't have restricted to such a scary state. It's still manageable, however. There's still the GIVE UP button, which should only be used as a last resort. If you think about it, it is challenging, eh? But do not be afraid, plan your moves well, cross your fingers, get Lady Luck beside you, and it isn't that hard if you think about it.

D-RATIO? WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT?

The story boots of with our hero, Ryu working as a lowly Ranger in a facility. He's called a grunt, which is mainly someone with a ridiculously low D-ratio. However, it builds up when you complete the game. So that's would be later. Other than that, it's basically the same old thing. There are some pretty cool plot twists, but overall it has a good story. You'll still get to see Nina! She has a new look, and still has those two wings stuck at her back. Don't underestimate her though! She's the fastest of the party, and probably one of the best with her hindering spells.

RESTRICTIONS ARE THE DEVILS!

As I mentioned before, Capcom has really limited the game to the high standards. Besides having limited permanent saves, you also have a restriction to your tremendously god-like dragon form. There will come a time where you will be able to transform to that state, but I won't reveal it because of something called Spoilers. Anyways, Breath of Fire V introduces something evil called the D-Counter. Besides limiting your other form's powers, it urges you to be quick. Forget about going back and forth, now with that D-Counter, you'll need to be nimble. Every few steps you take, the D-Counter increases by 0.01%. Yep. It doesn't look like a significant amount, but it will build up, I tell you. Also, there will come a time where you just have to use the Dragon Powers. Here's where the D-Counter rockets up. Almost every single little thing you do with the Dragon, the D-Counter shoots up even faster than a popcorn machine making popcorns. Oh, so what, you say. When the D-Counter reaches a hundred percent, the cube explodes and game's over. Yeah, that's what. So make your choices well, do not use the dragon unless it is utterly necessary...

Oh yeah, if you ever use the dragon, just remember. You're invincible. Why? Your one single breath does as much as damage as how long you keep the button pressed! Yep. However, meanwhile, the D-Counter shoots up, so be careful.

GRANDIA MEMORIES...

For those who played Grandia either on the Dreamcast or on the Playstation 2, you will experience a certain link between the battle systems. However, I would say that Grandia has a better system, but Breath of Fire isn't that bad itself. Instead of the usual fixed position where each character has a shot at hitting the enemies, now everyone is placed in where they are at before the battle starts. Then, the character or enemy, which acquire the extra turn starts, and the usual stuffs begin. The fastest character begins the fight, and followed by the next and the next. Also, forgot about MP and all that stuffs. Every single thing you do, even scratching your nose, costs AP. Moving around costs AP, though this doesn't affect the Dragon. Attacking costs AP, and stronger attacks cost more AP. Magic also costs AP, and the distance of how far the magic goes affects some.
The attacking format is somewhat like Chrono Cross, though it's far more detailed. Every now and then, you'll pick up a skill item, which one of your character can learn. There are level 1, 2 and 3 skills. Level 1 moves cost 10 AP, 2 costs 20 and so on. To get combos, you must link the attacks. Like level 1 attack, followed by 2. Or 2, followed by 3. Something like that. If you're lucky, you may get a new attack that varies and does more damage than the usual. Its pretty cool, but finding these new moves is not easy. So, be prepared to experiment for a certain period of time. All in all, the battle system is just average.

CAPCOM...GOOD JOB?

Another astonishing game produced by Capcom! Breath of Fire V is truly a wonderful game, though it has some minor flaws that Capcom should fix it in their next game, if there is ever going to be the next one! Fans of the previous series will not fail to fall in love with this game, yet again. To sum everything up, Capcom has done it again! Good job.

Results
Gameplay: 8/10
Could be improved.
Graphics: 10/10
Excellent. Bar none!
Audio: 7/10
WHERE'S MY SPEECH SOUNDS!?!?
Story: 9/10
Replayability: 9/10
Buy Or Rent: BUY
Sure buy for fans of the previous game. For RPG gamers, give this a shot.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/08/03, Updated 03/08/03