"Unique...finally."

Let me start off by reminding you this is merely my opinion. The beauty of video games comes in the many different genres and playing styles.

That being said, this game was a really good play for me. I'm kind of getting tired of cookie cutter RPGs, where the only aspect of the game is the story. Not saying that a story isn't an important aspect, but I'd just assume watch a movie.

Breath of Fire titles have been sequential up until this one. I believe Capcom chose to give this one a different name because it is so different from all of the other games in the series. Let's dive right in, shall we?

When you start off, you're topless! Good thing you're a guy, huh? In the game, your rank is based off of Base2 numbers. (4/8/16/32/64/128...etc) You are 8192. Haha.

The battle system of the game isn't necessarily unique - but it's rare. More so than turn-based games. You have a set number of AP, and everything you do in combat takes up some AP. This includes moving, which takes up the majority of your AP. You may bide your AP and save up to move to your enemy, attack, then move away again. You can perform combos of 10/20/30 AP attacks, which makes the system all the better.

Before you get into a battle, the enemy either hits you or you hit them. If you hit them, you get an extra turn (whichever character hit the enemy). This is also one aspect of your D-Rank - percentage of initiative strikes. Getting preemptive strikes isn't very difficult - because of the traps system...

Traps. You basically have meat, and an assortment of bombs and other things to aid you in distracting/damaging the enemy. If you're good, you'll never even lose any meat. One may simply throw the meat, wait for the enemy(s) be distracted, then smack them with your sword.

Now that I've described the fighting system, let's move to graphics. This is the main reason I gave this game a 9 in lieu of a 10. The graphics are fairly blocky, and the game gets dark at times. Also your characters look like cartoons, but that isn't all bad. Some of the spells however, look very cool. Speaking of spells....

Characters. You have 3 characters in the game. Ryu, Nina, and Lin. There are no other characters. This gives you a lot of room for customization. You get to play the game like you want - if you want Nina to be a tank, go for it. Your items are able to be customized to your desire. Weapons have a max of 3 10/20/30 AP skill slots. Armor has a slot for a special technique. These include Feint, Steal, Valor, etc. How does one get items? Good question!

The Colony. This was my favorite part of the game. It is a mini-game of sorts, but it's a pretty big part of the game. The Bonus Dungeon, The Kokon Horay, is located here. Basically you hire ants, and they dig and discover rooms for you. Once they discover a room, you can turn it into a shop for Ryu/Lin/Nina, a bank, a newspaper room, and many others. Your D-Rank is also determined by how many floors you complete in the Kokon Horay. Speaking of which...

The Kokon Horay. This is the Bonus Dungeon of the game. You start at floor 1, and you start at level 1. That's right, your characters are level 1 for your duration of the dungeon crawl. Don't worry, when you exit you go back to the original. The way you avoid being thoroughly owned is a part of the game called Party Experience. Party Experience is gained by doing certain things in battle. For example, you get 2% for initiating the battle. Kokon Horay has many useful items, like skills, weapons, and Save Tokens...

Save Tokens. These things are pretty rare, and they also contribute to your D-Rank. Hardcore gamers will go through the game without saving. There aren't a whole lot of save stations, but there is one right near the end of the game. The reason you can go through without saving is...

Game Length. The game is actually fairly short, but the replay value is huge. In fact, I could probably beat this game twice in one day. This is made possible through Party Exp (which carries over into New Game +). Just make yourself level 40 before you even start and the game flies by. The length is sort of a downside, but it isn't too bad, you poor baby.

The Story. What I like about this story is it doesn't resemble anything I've ever played. You and your team are trying to get to the outside world, from an underground type fortress. What I like is there's a depth counter on your PETS map thing. As you progress through the game you get closer and closer. I won't tell you how it's related, but...

The D-Counter. Every time you do anything, your D-Counter goes up a little bit. Once it reaches 100, the game is over. Relax though, I think I finished my first play through at about 30%. You almost have to try to go over your allotted D-Counter limit. Transforming into a dragon, and executing attacks saps your D-Counter. Just be careful.

In conclusion, this is a great game. Go buy it. Seriously, what are you doing here, go. That's it I'm coming over there.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/24/05