"This game innovates an already awesome series."

Breath of Fire is one of the greatest RPG series in the world. It is to be placed next to Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, and Mana RPG series because of this.

Graphics -9/10-
The game takes place underground in a desolate place with bad air. The graphics say that pretty well. There are dull lights, broken furniture, and abandoned rooms. All of this coupled with the amazing cel-shaded techniques make for a fantastic environmental blast. The environments range from Lab's, Tracks, Ant Farms, and Ice Caves, to Industrial cities, Power plants, exquisite mansions, and another one, to awesome to say. A lot of people have complained about the cel-shading but it really works to an amazing extent here. Everything is perfectly detailed, and looks as if I was really toiling in the underground shafts of the future looking for a better life. The only thing I have a problem with is the dullness of the zoomed-in pictures. Like, every now and then, they show Bosch's or Ryu's face up close, and it looks very shabbily shaded.

Sound -9/10
The sound is great, it really puts you into the whole ''Oh my god, I just met this girl and fell in love with her'' personality. It's dark, gloomy and overall, awesome.
There are around 16 tracks, which is pretty good for a short game like this. But with the same un-motivated battle music, it gets a little dull.

Gameplay -10/10-
The gameplay is perfect. I'm serious. You got your weapons, your defense mechanisms, and the best strategy battle system I've seen since Ogre Battle 64. I did find the weapon and defense selections a little bare, but usually, they're there for increasing your attack and that's it. Like I said, it's a short game, and this selection fits the length perfectly. Each weapon has it's own set of slots where you can put the techniques you learn into the 10, 20, or 30 ap slot. (See Below)

The Battle System
Great. You get a set amount of AP. Let's say...60. Ryu has 3 sets of techniques, normal attacks which cost 10 ap, special attacks which cost 20 ap, and super special attacks that cost 30 ap. You can combo them in any increasing order, like 10-10-10-10-10-10, or 20-20-20, or 10-20-30, or...yeah. Like that. You also get a space of movement (a circle), where you can move around, but it costs a lot of ap. So sacrifice to better your lives. I can only find one problem...it's *@#%$ DIFFICULT! But, if you can handle other games, give this a shot. It's a little difficult for those who grew up with Final Fantasy or the new PS2 games, but hang in there, it's all worth it.

SOL
Very innovative. You can restart at your last hard save (you must use disposable tokens to hard save), but with a few losses (your levels, items, and personal experience), and a few gains (party experience, money, items in your item locker). Party experience is the experience that you get as a group, free to spend on anyone to increase their levels. If you SOL restart however, you keep your party experience, so you can level your starting characters very effectively.

Dragon...
Yes, RYU (and only Ryu) can turn into a dragon. But, there is a big minus. D-Counter. It's a counter in the top right side of the screen. The more you use your dragonic powers, the higher it goes. And when it hits 100.00%, your game is OVER. Powers consist of a one hit explosion costing 1.00%, a Hurricane group attack, a 2 hit bombardment, and a power-up maneuver. All of those ranging in the 1.00-2.00% range. There is also a constant barrage technique consisting of Dragon Breath, the longer you hold ''O'' down, the more damage it does, and the more the percent guage runs up. It's a give/take relationship.

Story 9/10
Standard RPG affair. Guy loves girl, something happens, Guy must help girl, guy turns into a dragon and beats the #@$% out of anything that moves. The story is well-told, with really cool characters. (Cupid, Ryu, and Bosch) Anyway, the story has a few sub-stories. Lin and her colony. Ryu trying to save Nina. Bosch trying to direct his revenge on Ryu for being so strong and being chosen despite his decrepit D-Ratio, and the whole fall of the underground society. So, yes, 9/10

Overall
10/10. Using my superior tilting technology. The gameplay is just too good to make it a 9. You can replay it over and over again whenever you want as well, with more rewards (more story scenes). There is also the optional Ant-raising mini-game, it's fun, and a good money-maker. I'd say this game is worth a buy with it's excessive replay value. I can't outright recommend it to everyone because it's quite difficult and quite strategic. It's a good addition to those RPG's like Arc the Lad, Star Ocean, Xenogears, and Phantasy Star. It's a great dungeon crawler, up there with Diablo and umm..good dungeon crawlers. Happy trails and I SERIOUSLY hope you buy this game, it's made me very happy, and it's one of my favorite games of this generation!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/07/04