Breath of Fire IV

"Could have been better"

Overall, BOF4 is a worthwhile RPG to add to your collection if you already own the better ones, but only if you already own the better ones.

Graphics: B
BOF4 has character and enemy sprites in 3-D environments and bosses. Sprites are the most detailed and have the most frame animations of any game ever created, but are in blocked-in, washed-out colors. This way, even though animations are fluid and beautiful, the sprites still do not look anywhere near as good as in Castlevania:SOTN, Valkyrie Profile, Legend of Mana, or Grandia.

The portraits are the most hideous ever in any RPG except the Vandal Hearts series. The boss/ environment polygons are of a pre-FFVII quality. There are many awful organic dungeons. If you've played Grandia, you know what I mean. The FMV is the nicest animation I've ever seen, all 1 minute 32 seconds of it. Graphics are definitely not the reason to get this game.

Sound: B+
Not as good in melody or orchestra as Mitsuda, Uematsu (not orchestra), or Hiroki Kikuta. The songs are not as catchy as the current RPG's now: Chrono Cross, Valkyrie Profile, or Persona 2. But they are still pretty good. Most have a light-hearted mood, some have a Japanese sound to them. You can play the songs you have heard in-game.

The voices are kept in the original Japanese, and are well done even though I had no idea what they were saying.

Story: B
Kind of short at around 30 hours if getting everything. The first 15 hours are the most boring and aimless thing I've ever played. You just walk around looking for someone's sister that you know nothing about except her name. You just follow clues for 15 hours but get nowhere. It took me several weeks to do this part because I couldn't get myself to play this game. There is nothing to draw you into the game, and no interesting events happen. You meet a character and they join you for absolutely no reason.

But after that, BOF4 gets interesting: dragons, Ursula, Deis, the God-emperor Fou-Lou. I won't spoil it for you, but the story gives you a nostalgic feeling because of it's simplicity and other reasons that I can't really figure out. It has a completely different feel than Chrono Cross, the Final Fanatasies, or Valkyrie Profile, so I can't compare them. The mood is more serious than BOF3, but still lighter than VP or CC.

Gameplay: A
Mini-games! The fairies village is back for you to develop! There are more games like fishing and sandflier racing. The skill and master systems is back, too, better than ever. (You learn skills from enemies and masters and distribute them as you want between your characters) The battle system allows you to have all 6 characters at once, but you choose 3 per turn to act. The rest stay in back and don't attack or get attacked. All get the same exp. Many bosses are challenging without being cheap. Some, but not a lot, of strategy is required in the form of combos.

Would have been an A+ if it weren't for the camera. You are only allowed rotation at fixed intervals, never less than 90 degrees. Much of exploration consists of rotating the camera so you can see where you're going and see treasure chests that would be in plain view of the characters. Obstacles are placed for no other reason than to obstruct your view. You cannot move while rotating the camera, and the camera pauses for a second between rotations, very tedious. Often objects/ exits can only be seen between these increments, so you have to turn the camera back and forth to get the treasure or exit.

You don't have a full world-map, not even a partial one like BOF3 or CC. You get a dots world-map like in Grandia. Dungeons and towns are the smallest in any RPG ever. Most can be completed in 10 minutes.

Localization: F-
Translation is pretty good with a few errors, such as ''enquire'' instead of ''inquire''. BUT, about 7 complete scenes are cut out by Capcom from the English version even though they are not a big deal. At least one of them creates a major plot hole and ambiguities in the story. (Soneil part).

Overall: B/B+ or 7.5
If you're looking for a long, epic, beautiful, and complex game, get an FF, Chrono Cross, Xenogears.
If you're looking for a unique, original, and fun game, get FFT, Tactics Ogre, Valkyrie Profile, or Castlevania.
If you want a light, charming, and simple game, get Rhapsody, or Breath of Fire 3.
If you want a darker, more serious game with great plot, get Xenogears or Persona 2.
If you want an ''old school'' game, get FF Anthology or Tactics Ogre.
If you want a game that is average in all the above categories but excels at none of them, or you already have all of the above, get BOF4.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/04/01, Updated 03/06/01