Breath of Fire IV

"Underrated game with a great athmosphere and battle system"

Breath of Fire games are strange, every BoF-game has characters called Ryu and Nina, Ryu has blue hair and Nina is a blonde Wyndian princess with wings (Wyndia is a land that is also in every BoF game). Other thing in common with different BoF games is the fact that Ryu is a dragon in human form, and he can transform into a dragon.

BoF games seem to be a part of some time continuum, but I guess we gamers have no idea what that is. So basically all BoF games are different from the other except Ryu, Nina, the dragon element and a character called Deis who seems to be the same person in every game. Some think that Ryu and Nina are born once in a while when the world is facing a crisis and well I guess Deis just never dies (confusing huh?).

Ryu also hasn't spoke since BoF I, because he is a mute Japanese RPG character. You are supposed to live the story of BoF IV trough him.

BoF IV was certainly a surprise, a game that received basically no hype turned out to be a very good RPG. It also takes a lot that was good in BoF III to the next level: the atmosphere, the battle system, the graphics and so on.

Story 8/10

Set in a world that seems a mixture of legendary Chinese and Middle-Eastern places and of course that very original BoF style worlds with many funny races that are human and dog/fish (and what not) hybrids.

You get to play as two characters called Fou-Lu and Ryu (duh..) that are both of the dragon breed and seem to have interwined fates. You start the game as The Wyndian princess Nina who is looking for her lost sister with the chief of the Worent (Human/Tiger hybrid) tribe, Cray. Nina and Cray are flying over a huge desert with a sandflier when a Dragon suddenly attacks them and the sandflier breaks down. Nina must go to the closest town to find parts while Cray stays to guard the sandflier. During this trip Nina finds Ryu naked, born to the world as an adult...

...Meanwhile Fou-Lu wakes up in his tomb at the western continent, because ''the time has come.''

Overall the story is very good, but BoF IV concentrates more on the gameplay elements than the story. The story should have been a bit longer, but the gameplay is very good so let's not feel down.

On your journey you will meet many interesting and original characters that will join you. By the way: none of them are entirely human. Some characters REALLY needed more character development.

The whole feel of the game is ''journey'', you travel alot and you can even camp, at camp you can talk to your party and save the game.

Gameplay 9/10

Maybe you have heard of a game called Final Fantasy X, in this game you can swap your characters during battle to make the battles more enjoyable and strategical, you don't lose a ''turn'' when you swap characters. Well guess what, the battle system of BoF 4 is pretty similar and BoF IV is an older game!

You swap characters in mid battle, some of your characters are better in brute strenght than in magic and you must exploit the properties of your enemies accordingly to be succesful in battle. You can also combine spells and skills to make new spells etc.

New skills are learned from enemies and trough the ''Master system.'' When an enemy has a skill you can learn the name of this skill will be coloured blue when used by the enemy. To learn the skill you must simply defend during the same turn your enemy uses the skill.

The Master system is also fun. During the game you meet ''Masters'' who will take you as their apprentice if they see you fit. You learn new skills from the masters when you complete some tasks for them.

Graphics 9/10

Inventive 3D backgrounds and very beautiful sprite characters with fluid animations. The camera is a problem and it takes time to get used to it, but after awhile it doesn't bother you anymore. Battle graphics are quite similar to field graphics except for the backgrounds. Important characters have drawn potraits in text windows with many expressions. Many NPC's (Non-Playable-Characters) also have drawn portraits. Means a lot to me, because you see your characters emotions and faces.

Audio 9/10

The music fits the setting very nicely and the SFX are nice too. The graphics and audio really make for an enjoyable world that you get attached to. Truly the athmosphere is where BoF IV shines

Minigames 8/10

there are more minigames in BoF IV than in most RPG's. They offer a nice change from the usual fight battles and go to villages stuff. The games are nothing amazing, but as minigames they work well.

Though the fishing game, if you bother playing it, offers for at least twenty hours of extra gameplay to get all different types of fish. You can then trade your fish into quality items at shops.

Overall 9/10

BoF IV has a nice athmosphere and a battle system with good graphics and sounds. The story is than most Japanese RPG stuff with tragical themes and the viewpoints of two different characters.

Lifespan 9/10

I played it for 70+ hours getting all the fishes, killing the hardest monster and getting the best weapons for the characters I could get them to, also aquired all the skills from enemies and masters alike. After that there was still some rare items to get, but I gave up at that point. I was very thorough so I never even once died during the time I played, so I guess you could say BoF IV is an easy game. As for replay value you'll probably get back to BoF IV at least once to experience the story and athmosphere.

Buying is recommended

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/06/02, Updated 08/06/02