Breath of Fire III

"Nearly perfect score for a classic 2D RPG"

My favorite game of the series (no, I do NOT count Dragon Quarter part of the series), BOF3 is nearly flawless. The reason it's my favorite is the dragon gene system. More about that later. Like the other BOF games you are Ryu, who starts out with nothing, naive, lost in life, not a friend in the world. As you go along making friends and gaining experience you begin to uncover more and more about your unique existence until you realize how much things balance on your shoulders. Then it is up to you and your comrades to make things right again in the world. This is a classic RPG that touts the best in 2D graphics right before RPGs began becoming more popularly 3D. You cannot ask for a more beautiful and engaging 2D RPG! An old schooler's delight.

GRAPHICS
First of all the graphics are 2D sprites with a 3/4 simulated 3D overview, which is nice. They are just beautiful, colorful, well animated, and I love the character and monster designs. Bosses are very cool, detailed and huge. Battle animations are cool & the many dragon transformations will leave you yearning to find every single dragon gene you can. Your other characters as well come to learn transformations and take on other forms as well. The combinations seem endless. If you liked the character designs in BOF 1 & 2 then you will really like 3 (and 4 as well). The design team put a lot of effort in and it shows.

STORY/CHARACTERS
The story is your typical RPG scenario, ''hero must save the world,'' yet you come to know and feel for the characters, making it quite engaging. Your hero's dilemma about being a latent dragon & whether or not he's deserving of existence will keep you interested in his fate right up to the end as he searches for his true identity and attempts to understand his family history as well as his destiny. Like all the Breath of Fire games, this is not really a sequel to the other games. Instead it's just another sort of version of the story, utilizing the same or similar characters & plot you come to know as you play the series. If you do not know any other BOF games then you're not missing out on any story; every BOF game is stand-alone, a separate story unto itself. The coolest part about this one is that you get to see Ryu grow up as he goes through the game, and you really get a feeling of time passing, and getting into an epic adventure. Somehow I got to personally become attached to this game more than usual, and I cannot put my finger on exactly what does it but you WILL get sucked into this adventure. The atmosphere is deep and humor abounds...the translation for this game is 100 times better than 1 and 2.

MUSIC/SOUND
The music makes the atmosphere even more moody & the sound effects, even little things like the campfire crackling & crickets while you're camping, make the experience more ''real'' and enjoyable. I really liked the sounds each of the characters made in battle during certain attacks. The music is always appropriate & I never found myself getting sick of it or wanting to turn it off, like other games will sometimes do if it gets repetitious.

CONTROLS
Typical RPG format, and battles are turn-based. There are no moments of frustration here at all. I played the entire game with a one-handed Ascii controller & I couldn't complain! No annoying camera angles or anything.

PLAY VALUE & REPLAY
Years after my first trip through BOF3, I found myself wanting to replay it, even over other newer RPGs I had in backlog (I am not big on replaying RPGs, either; usually once I beat one I do not go back and replay it). Which is why I'm doing this review now...the game is a classic and deserving, still, of attention. And BOF3 is the ONLY RPG I have ever played for over 120 hours! The sidequests to learn moves off monsters & find the MANY masters to teach you new skills & spells will have you spending a LOT of time outside of the general storyline and it never gets boring or repetitive, with the exception of the frequency of random monster encounters. That's probably the only negative I have; that you run into them so much it becomes a little annoying. Building up & managing a successful fairy village, finding food ingredients to become the king of making Shisu, and learning fishing techniques (the final ones are a real challenge) & what techniques with what bait to catch fish (and other things!) with will have you sidetracked for hours. Not that you could still even rent this oldie, it was beyond rental anyhow; find a copy, anyway you can, and hold onto it because this is a ''keeper'' in any RPG fan's collection. The finale, which I cannot (and wouldn't, anyhow) spoil, is worthy of replay as well, and does NOT disappoint!

DRAGON GENE SYSTEM
Now to the best part of this game. In your travels you find dragon genes which allow you to unlock more and more dragon forms for your hero. There are so many different forms because you can make SO many combinations, you will be looking for battles just to experiment! There are so many I even took notes. And the actual forms from all the different combinations are vast as well, it's not just the same-looking dragon with new skills. Every dragon form has a different sprite, cool battle animations, and attacks/skills unique to that form.

FINAL SCORE
I want to give this game a 10/10 but I give it a 9/10. It is my FAVORITE RPG of all time, and believe me, I've played many. There are only a few tiny flaws that take a point off, mainly the bane of many RPGs, the overly frequent random monster encounters. The frequency of them may have you pulling your hair out at times. The game is so good otherwise in all other points, though, that this aspect bothered me less than it normally does. As 2D RPGs go, Breath of Fire 3 is as close to perfect as you can get. Find a copy, enjoy playing, and cherish it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/26/03, Updated 07/26/03