Breath of Fire IV

"A game that is good.... but does it lead the series to a new era?"

The game could have earned a 10 if the things it lacked were improved.

Graphics- The towns are relatively SMALLER than most BoF game's towns- but this can be a positive thing as you don't spend a half hour of your time looking through the town trying to find that jewel, person, or whatever else you are seeking. In BoF3, every terrain I walked through felt so rugged and a bit shaky at times- in this game- it is just much more wonderful.
7/10

Music- I favored the music in BoF3 a bit more than BoF4's... though I hated it for the first few minutes of the game, through time, it kind of grew on me. There was the soft, light beat of music on the Eastern Continent, while on the west, as the action grows, the music's intensity increases. The boss music at first I grew bored at- but when I heard it the next to last time- I could not help but remember the past battles I had fought- and I treasured the music dearly. The music is a combination of light and hard tunes.
8/10
Gameplay- Speaking of combinations... you can make moves known as combos in battles now!! That's right! A new feature to the BoF series has been added- and I must say- it adds to the innovation. Of course, I felt they could have made things a BIT more realistic- such as making an ice and fire combo to create a chain reaction explosion (for that happens in real life)- but- I can see that Capcom worked very hard in trying to make the combo system a success- and that is something they should be respected for. There must be tons of combos in the BoF4 world- only a few I have discovered myself so far. Just when you think that the combo system was unrealistically well developed- they add yet another new feature in the battle system!! That's right folks- a two in one package! ALL your party members are now in the fight!! However, just note that there is a front rank and back rank. The front rank consists of three people as does the back rank. The front rank is the one who takes the dealing of damage from the enemy and attacks. What is unique about the back rank is that they can take the place of ANY character in the front row (even Ryu) when the time has come for you to choose your next moves. The back rank does not get attacked at all.... but can be healed with an all heal spell such as Vitalize. If you want, you can cast might on a character with them safe in the back row. Better yet, if a character dies, they are sent to the back row and you can revive them there- when they wake up an enemy can't attack them!! Magic and Attack and balanced pretty well. Now here comes the negative aspect of the battle system- the dragon transformations. The dragons have the same DESIGN... they look EXACTLY the same... the gene system was taken out from BoF3- which lessens the variety of dragon types. The only difference that can be seen between the dragon transformations are their special moves and breath attacks- not to mention their HP value and attack. Now the last aspect that is in need to be mentioned is of course, the fable CAMERA VIEW. The camera view has been greatly improved and you can- in most cases- spin it in a 360 degree circle (similar to Xenogears). This makes it easier to see and manuever through areas. In some areas, the camera is unavailable or put in a 90 degree angle limit. Overall, the camera is more of a friend than foe.
9/10

Replayability- Thumbs UP! Definately.... people complain about TOO MANY MINI-GAMES!!! I must say- I agree... many mini games... but the pts you get from them give you something in return- stronger dragons!! Yes, you heard right- your dragon can have 9999 HP if you gain ENOUGH game points- you can replay most mini games and collect a greater value of game points which is very good. Another area that can be enjoyable is the unforgettable resting event- fishing. Fishing is much more unstandable and you have a databook which tells you if you have caughten the max. pts possible for that fish- which saves you the trouble of running around guessing which fish has reached its max or not. The last major replayable factor of this game is GAINING SKILLS. Though it is not required, it is fun to collect the skills and see you have them all- plus some abilities are helpful early in the game to make some powerful combos. You can learn skills from MASTERS as well- they are quite helpful as they boost your stats (some very high), and you learn what they have to teach you by accomplishing certain tasks- plus you don't HAVE TO be apprenticed with them to learn it- you just have to do what they want you to do in order to gain a new skill from them. Oh- and another helpful tip- when you guard- you can learn a skill from an enemy- that's a two in one. Guarding a learning a spell at the same time- kind of better than examining with no defense in BoF3.
10/10

Story - The story basically unfolds with two characters, Cray and Nina, searching for Elina, the missing Wyndian Princess, as they are on their way, they are attacked by a sand dragon. After the crash, Nina, determined that she is strong, heads out to search for the parts in the near town of Seria while Cray waits. On her way, she meets the mysterious man, Ryu, and seeing him as lost, they decide to go to Seria together to search for parts AND try to find out anything about Ryu. The story then unfolds from there.... although it gets interesting- some character development can be seen missing, and that is a staggering blow to this game.
7/10

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