Breath of Fire III

"A fine addition to a growing classic"

Breath of Fire. . .doesn't the name alone ring bells in your head? If it doesn't then leave my presence now.

This lovely series started out a few years back (Was it 94 or 95? My memory fails me.) I saw the game in that store of all stores Toys'R'Us and whilst closely examening the summary on the back my eyes stopped when they mentioned Ryu's ability to transform into a Dragon. (My favorite mythical creature by small circumstance.) I believe the only way to decribe my feelings was that I became aroused in a manner having little to do with video games. Needless to say that RPG (By Capcom no less, although under the guise of Sqauresoft so that people would snap it up without thought as most RPG fans readily when they behold the name of that most holy of game companies.) and I had a wonderful realtionship, and BOF2 was an even more satisfying lover.

When I heard they had made a Breath of Fire 3 for Playstation they had to put me on oxygen and change my pants for me. Well this gave me a reason to get playstation so I snapped up that and the game and a nifty little 2 page memory card by performance. (Beware! Memory cards and controlers not manufactered by playstation have an annoying tendency to malfunction after about 3 months use.)

I was rather pleased with the opening scene which depicted the battle with the Godess Myria from the first game. And so it began. The graphics were lovely and the music was upbeat and fit to each scene seemlessly. The sound effects made me smile (a rarity) little Ryu's brave battle cry as he attacks is just darling (I shudder to say the word but he's awfully cute.) He's a young boy and a complete innocent, with no idea that he is one of the Brood (Dragon Clan for all you old timers like myslef.) much like BOF2 but his realization of what he is happens towards the late beginging of the game and is more dramatic then in BOF2. The unique thing about BOF3 lies in that you watch Ryu grow up.
He is found in the forest by a WereTiger named Rei and another young brood named Teepo who is also unaware of his origin (If this were BOF 1 or 2 he would be considered a Black Dragon.)

You meet several more characters later that fill the description for a BOF game, a ditzy scientist named Momo, yet another princess Nina, a Gaurdian called Gar and a little baby Grassman called Pico (Who resembles a walking union.) Later on you also meet Blue (Under another name that I can't recall) and she tells you that she is Myria's sister! The games story far surpasses the wonderful tales of the original BOF's on the SNES and the battle system is easy to recognize and even easier to use.

The distracting new features include an upgrade on the fishing game from the old games thats quite addicting and the opportunity to manage a fairy village, and the Master/Apprentice system in this game is to die for!
Ryu is himself, he bares a resemblence to his predecesors but is unique in his own way, Capcom is keeping with the traditional MUTE main character.

As for the Wyndian's, I'd like to note that only the members of the royal family seem to posses wings now and they are merely vestigial (For show) without any true function. Too bad, when they bring BOF4 to the shores of poor America I doubt they will have wings at all.

The reason I gave this game an 8 is because, aside from incredible graphics and gameplay, not to mention a wonderful story line the ending (I won't spoil it for you) leaves something to be desired. I like how they keep concentrating on Theological issues though. . .

This game recieves the Deniki stamp of approval and I suggest that if you don't allready have it go and get it. And if you do have it. . .play it again, this one isn't a dust collector the replay value is tremendous.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/17/00, Updated 05/17/00