"Not for everyone but offers a unique experience worth checking out"

I played the original Breath of Fire game when it came out on the SNES. A friend had bought it and I was the type of kid who had to get it right then and try and beat it before him. Played it and fell in love (with the game, not the friend...). I got Breath of Fire 2 when it came out but I didn't care for it all that much. Fell in love with the third one and it's one of the few RPG's to be replayed by me. Hated the fourth title and now we're on the fifth title in the series. I had initially skipped this title due to really bad reviews. However, a few years later message boards were saying how good it was and well the game was cheap. I started playing it and just fell in love with one of the most unique RPG's I've had the joy of playing in years.

Ryu works for some sort of organization. He and his friend brosch are sent on a mission to recover an item. Ryu meets a girl named Nina and you set off to help her on her journey. It's so very simple but it works oh so well. The game uses a system that upon further playing the game (after restarting) you unlock more cut scenes that explain the plot. This truly adds a lot of replay to the game for those who enjoy a story. The thing with this game is the story is very simple but you keep playing because you want to know what's up there and you want to know what happens. The game has a lot of normal cut scenes even without the unlock able ones. The main characters are likeable and I actually cared about them. Which I don't think has happened for me in a long time.

The graphics in the game had turned me off from the previews but wow, I love them! I'm not a fan of the cell shading but with the character designs, the cell shading looks great. I liked how everyone looked and the last few bosses look awesome. The dungeons are a bit bland as are the towns. Enemies look good and I thought the zombie like ones looked really cool about midway in the way. Dragon transformation is a bit underwhelming to look at but oh well. The ending cut scene looks very anime and just plain ole rocked.

The sound in the game is good all around. I really enjoyed the music; it seemed to bit every mood and situation in the game. Sound effects are a bit weak but there isn't a whole lot in the game to hear. You hear footsteps, growls, yells and all of that jazz. There is very little voice acting in the game and all of it is still in Japanese but with English subs. The voice acting is only used for battle cries and during the entire ending movie. I didn't notice them anywhere else.

The control in the game is very simple. You have full 3d control in the dungeons. Menus are easy to get around. You can attack an enemy by hitting X and it gives you an extra turn. I found the fights to be a bit overwhelming at first. Full 3d movement but you can only move so far due to a circle radius. You can move freely in the level but only so far due to AP and the circle. The fighting menus are a bit much at first but I caught on quickly. Basically it's like this. You can see X, circle and square. Think of them as light, medium and heavy. And each set has 3 more in it. You choose which skills for there for the most part via the menus outside of battle. You need to hold R1 or R2 to open up the morph, items ect menu. It works pretty much like the battle menu.

If you've ever played a dungeon crawler before then you can guess what this game plays like. There is no world map. Think of the game as a giant elevator. You need to work your way from the bottom to the top. The floors are average size. Full of twists and turns, dead ends ect. Enemies are seen before a battle. You attack them to start a battle, or they attack you. Or just touch. Any enemies in the view are in the fight as well. If you're fighting a weak enemy you might kill it in the one hit you strike and a battle won't start. There are about 100 floors but you don't need to go to all of them. The game is fairly straight forward but offers multiple paths.

There isn't a very wide selection of enemies but that's okay. I really enjoyed the battle system. It plays like a normal RPG but requires you to hit buttons to combo the attacks and you need to pay attention because X, Circle and Square are all different types of attacks. Also, the game uses AP but not like normal. AP is magic in the previous games but this time around it's more of an action thing. It costs AP to move around the area, to attack and all of that. Light attacks cost 10Ap, next up costs 20 and then finally 30. It's simple to get the hang of. Nina is the only one to know magic and it's from either weapons or from items you pick up in the game that you can use to teach her. Skills are the same way, and they work the same. Nina only has magic by the way...

The biggest game play fault is the save system. You save by using the telephone type things. They don't appear all that often but there is also a catch. You need a save coin to save and they are super rare. You might find 1 per every 5 levels or so. Thankfully the game offers you a quick save but once you start that quick save it's deleted and the only thing you have is your last phone save so you really need to be careful. The whole save thing had me nervous and I spent about 4 hours at the end without finding a single save coin.

The whole starting over thing is something that needs to be kept in the mind the entire time. See, a lot of stuff carries over like items and what not but I believe levels don't carry over. But skills do I think. Not only does starting over give you more cut scenes but it helps you through the game. See, you can use your dragon power whenever you want. The catch is it can't go over that 100% and the only way to bring it down is to start over. It's an option for when you lose ect. I believe you can't be over 85% by the final boss if you want to beat the game. It all adds a lot of replay value and the game needs it because it's a very short game. About 15 hours give or take a few for a first play through with no restarts.

Breath of Fire: DQ is not for everyone. If you're looking for a unique experience then look no further and it's cheap so it's worth the risk. Fans might hate it but I personally loved it. The story is interesting, as are the characters. Graphics are nice and to be honest the restart system may be cheap but it does add a great bonus for restarting the game a number of different times but one might need to check a guide because some scenes have an odd condition for getting them. Like losing to a specific boss ect,

Story - 8/10
Graphics - 9/10
Sound - 8/10
Control - 9/10
Game Play - 9/10
Replay Value - 9/10

Final Score 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/01/05