Breath of Fire III

"The highly-awaited sequel to Capcom's best seller RPG finally arrived at the PlayStation"

Capcom's Breath Of Fire III is the sequel to Capcom's best seller RPG, Breath Of Fire II for the SNES. I have played only Breath Of Fire II and i was very excited when i heard that Breath Of Fire III will be arriving for the PlayStation. I saw the sneak preview in Capcom's Street Fighter Zero II for the PlayStation. After a long waiting, it finally arrived.

The first question everyone will be asking is does it live up to the hype as a sequel? I have to say it does. Basically, i was quite worried when i first saw the sneak preview in Street Fighter Zero II. Breath Of Fire move from 2-D to a polygonal enviroment and i was wondering if the polygons would be just as good.

The story continues the epic tale of a struggle between the dragon-clan, Brood and the guardians. You took the role of a member of a dragon-clan named Ryu, the last surviving member of the clan. Enter into his childhood and eventually into adulthood as he tries to explain his roots and the mysteries that is happening around him.

Character in-depth are pretty good and Ryu will get to meet several new friends like a thief who looks like a tiger, a rebellious princess and so on. Basically, the story is just as good as its previous incarnations. However, Breath Of Fire III gave me a feeling that the game somehow ended quite incompletely. Secondly, the story wasn't that original.

The basic gameplays in the previous Breath Of Fire are still there, along with several new concepts introduced in part III. Perhaps, the only thing that is missing is the ability to hunt. The fishing mini-game are still there and perhaps more impressive than before with the ultisation of better technology. An interesting aspect is perhaps the fairy mini-game which requires you to raise a group of fairies that will help you to develop your towns.

Unlike its previous Breath Of Fire, the enviroments are fully polygonal with a mixture of 2-D sprite-based characters. Characters sport a higher detail and look more well-animated than its 16-bit counterparts. At certain places, mostly towns, enviroments can be rotated but at a limited motion, meaning you cannot rotate the camera in full 360 degrees like Xenogears. This is probably the greatest complaint i have. Other than that, the 3-D polygonal enviroments allow very intense exploration.

Combats have changed greatly as well to a realtime engine just like Chrono Trigger. The scene immediately switches when you encounter random enemies. The presentation of the combat menu are icon-based, much like Lufia and Wild Arms. Combats are still turn-based like traditional RPGs. Think of it as something like Chrono Trigger combat but is switched to icon-based interfaces and turn-based. Just like any other normal RPGs, as a character's level increases, the statistics increases and may occasionally learn some new spells/skills.

The first is probably the skill system. Quite similarly to Blue Magic used in Final Fantasy series, all you need is to select the icons and used it on that enemy. If that enemy attacks you with a particular skill, you will get to learn that skill. Another interesting aspect is the master system. Throughout the game, over 10 masters are scattered worldwide. Some are hidden or some requires some special condition. If you let the master take you as a disciple, he or she will impart certain skills to you. Of course, you won't learn everything together at the same time. It takes time too! Probably, the most interesting part is who you choose your master to be, because every master will influence how much your statistics will rise for every level you gain. For example, if a master is good in physical attacks but weak in magics, you will most probably earn incentives for attacks and disincentives for magics when you gain a level.

Just like the past Breath Of Fire, each character has his or her own unique abilities. For example, the tiger is the only one who is capable of unlocking a lock. Also, Ryu is the only one who can transform into a dragon. However, this concept has been modified. You must find dragon genes that are scattered throughout the world. Each genes let the user gain a different ability. You can select a combination of 1 to 3 dragon genes and your combinations may yield a variety of different dragons out. Cool, right?

Unlike any other RPGs, the world map, in my own opinion are much like Super Marios Bros 3. [Did anyone mention Enix's Robotrek for the SNES?] Each place are spread out on an overworld map that sprawled in every direction. Basically, if you have played these games before, you will know what i mean.

The game soundtrack is overally quite good, with several tunes from the past Breath Of Fire. Sound are pretty quite well done and you can hear voices as you cast a spell or use a particular skill.

Overall, Breath of Fire III is an worthy sequel and will not disappoint fans of the series. Replay value are longer than before, with at least 30+ hours at minimum. The reasons why it score a point less than Breath Of Fire II are because of the rotatable camera angle problem and the story wasn't that original. Definitely, any fan of the Breath Of Fire series should be satisfy with part III. An enjoyable game and solid game, i will say! I will definitely recommend it! [But still, i felt that Breath Of Fire II is slighly a tad more awesome than III.]

Story : 8.0/10.0
Graphics : 8.0/10.0
Concept : 9.5/10.0
Music : 7.5/10.0
Sound : 8.0/10.0
Gameplay :10.0/10.0
Replay : 9.5/10.0
Challenge: 7.0/10.0
Overall : 8.0/10.0

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/12/99, Updated 12/16/02