Breath of Fire IV

"Wow, talk about absolutely amazing."

Breath Of Fire IV is the fourth game of the Breath Of Fire Series. It's easily my favorite of the series and with good reasoning. This game in my opinion really rose above the rest even though Breath Of Fire II was a really good entry into the series. Time for the review to get started.

Graphics:10/10:The Graphics in Breath Of Fire IV perfectly do what they were meant to. Remain 2D. The 2D graphics are excellent and the sprites are really good too. The character designs are also fantastic in Breath Of Fire IV and so are the enemy designs as well. Overall the Graphics in Breath Of Fire IV are fantastic.

Gameplay:10/10:Breath Of Fire IV was a extremely fun game in my opinion. It had good pacing and simply was very entertaining. It's not exactly your typical RPG, but the basics are mostly the same. You will be buying weapons/armor from town. Also resting at the Inn in town as well if HP/MP needs to be recovered. Battles and exploring is done with a four three man party. Now, let me go over the rather unique battle system.

Yes the battle system is still turn based, but with a catch. Remember Final Fantasy X how you could switch party members in the middle of battle? Well, it's exactly like that in Breath Of Fire IV. Battles also have a few different innovations as well. Such as the new combo system. If you time and combine two specific spells at the right time it may turn into a more powerful spell. There's not much else I can say about the battle system though. Let's move onto the difficulty now.

The difficulty in Breath Of Fire IV is quite low. Random battles are usually a joke. Bosses usually put up a decent challenge at best. While most of the bosses and random battles are a joke the final boss certainly isn't. The final boss will put up a extreme challenge. Even prepared players will have a lot of trouble with the final boss. A cool feature of Breath Of Fire IV is you sometimes play as the main antagonist.

Occasionally you get to play as the old Dragon God Emperor Fou-Lou. If you love having extremely powerful party members in your party or controlling one then you'll love his scenarios. Fou-Lou is extremely powerful and does insane amounts of damage and gains several extremely good abilities. So, Overall the Gameplay in Breath Of Fire IV is great. It's a lot of fun and the game has pretty good pacing. Playing as the antagonist is just plain awesome too. Onto the Storyline next.

Storyline:10/10:The Storyline in Breath Of Fire IV is extremely good. The cast of characters is diverse and unique. Each of them have their own attitudes and get at the minimum a fair amount of character development throughout the game. The dialogue is written extremely well too and most of the events in the game were well translated. A great bonus is the antagonist in this game is one of the best in a RPG ever.

Fou-Lou is a very awesome antagonist who gets a extreme amount of development over the game. As mentioned before you will sometimes play as him throughout the game. During his scenarios you get to experience the game from his point of view. Believe it or not though, this antagonist is not completely evil. He actually does help out townspeople who are poor occasionally and solves a few problems that some towns have. His real goal is not completely evil either, but he will stop at nothing to accomplish it. Fou-Lou basically wants to reclaim his throne especially after seeing how corrupt the government is. From his point of view the world has changed for the worse in terms of government and he thinks that humanity itself needs to be wiped out as a result. So, Overall the Storyline in Breath Of Fire IV is amazing. The main cast is interesting and gets good development. The antagonist is extremely well thought of and innovative. Plus, he gets a extreme amount of development throughout the game. Okay onto the Music next.

Music:10/10:The Music in Breath Of Fire IV once again is nailed perfectly. Every song in the game not only fits the current mood, but enhances it. All of the songs in the game I loved and would not mind listening to over and over. Sound effects in the game are fine too. So, overall Music gets a 10/10. So, how is Breath Of Fire IV overall?

Overall10/10:Breath Of Fire IV is one of the best RPG's I've ever played. It has extremely fun Gameplay. The Storyline is extremely well written. Has a great main cast and innovative antagonist. Both main cast and antagonist get tons of development throughout the game. Music in Breath Of Fire IV was fantastic and one of the best RPG soundtracks I have ever had the honor to listen to. So, overall Breath Of Fire IV is just about a nearly perfect game. From Lord_Kefka it gets a 10/10.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 10/09/08

Game Release: Breath of Fire IV (US, 11/28/00)