Breath of Fire IV

"It is unlikely for the PlayStation to receive a better RPG..."

Introdution:

Breath of Fire IV is a ''Japanese Style'' Console Role Playing Game. The game is the fourth instalment of the ''Breath of Fire'' series. It is a development by Capcom of Japan, the company behind the most popular ''Street Fighter'' series and the bestselling ''Biohazard''/ ''Resident Evil'' series. Breath of Fire IV is written for the PlayStation console, featuring a single CD-ROM disc. It is compatible with the DUAL SHOCK analougue controller and it requires a single slot on the memory card for a single save file. The game is first published in Japan on 27 April 2000. This review will be based on this original version.

Story:

The Breath of Fire series is about the story of Ryu and Nina, the (reincarnated?) hero and heroine of the game. In the beginning of this game, Nina was on a mission to search for her missing sister, who was last seen in a frontier town on a diplomatic quest. While Nina was travelling across the desert, she met Ryu on the way. Ryu was apparently lost and he did not remember anything about himself. The story begins here, but it soon develops into a much more complicated situation. This game features an alternative scenario with a character called Fou-lou. You will play as Fou-lou every now and then. The whole story is built based on both scenarios.

The story in Breath of Fire IV is excellent. The whole game is presented through several chapters, each has its own strong conclusion. The plot does not have many threads, but this setting actually gives player more to think and digest. The presentation is a well done. You will definitely be surprised each time the truth is revealed.

Graphics:

Despite the absence of any state-of-the-art CG movies, Breath of Fire IV actually features some of the best-looking graphics as a PlayStation RPG. The game features a single anime styled movie as the introduction. All other sequences are presented using the graphics engine of the game.

The game presents field maps using animated 2D sprite characters on fully renderable 3D polygonal backgrounds. This can be compared to games such as ''Xenogears'' (Square, 1998) and ''Wild Arms 2nd Ignition'' (SCEJ, 1999). Despite the limitation of the PlayStation hardware, the polygonal backgrounds are drawn in adequate and smooth details. The animation of the 2D characters is perfect. The characters are colourful and smooth, and their actions are fluid and detailed.

Battle scenes are presented using pre-rendered backgrounds. Characters (and small creatures) are presented using the same 2D animations as they are on the field maps, but large creatures are displayed using polygons. Effects of magic and skills are presented using a combination of the two. Again, the 2D animations are perfectly done while the 3D animations are smooth and adequate. Some 3D effects (such as the effect of dragon breaths) are actually pretty cool.

The game also has many little features to prevent you from getting bored. For example, summon sequences can look pretty cool the first time you watch it, but it can become boring afterwards. This game gives you the choice to skip the sequence at your own choice provided that you have seen the sequence for at least once. This addresses the problem we have seen in many popular titles that feature ''cool'' summon sequences.

On the whole, the game is quite pretty to look at. To give it more credits, the game has fast loading time as well. Everything come out in less than four seconds. It is much more enjoyable playing this game (especially if you have been suffering from the loading times of some recent popular titles).

Sound and Music:

The music department has also done a good job on this game. There is a good variety of tunes, all nicely composed, for the various locations and events. They are all suitably integrated into the game to combine with the mood of the places and the situations. Various sound effects are also added to the game. For example, different characters make different sounds when they walk / run. The game also features a limited voice acting as in many modern RPGs. Characters speak during the anime introduction movie. They also speak / make various sounds during battles - usually when they are attacking, being attacked, or when using magic and skills. In current RPG term, the sound and music department cannot really do any better.

Game-play:

The game-play of Breath of Fire IV is absolutely brilliant. The game offers standard RPG features - exploration and character development as well as mini-games of various scales. There are new features and many improved old features in this game. The total game-play lasts for 50 - 100 hours (depending on how you play the game). It is a reasonable amount of game-play for a RPG.

Game-play - Exploration:

As in many other RPGs, exploration is done through both the world map and the field maps. The world map is getting simpler with each game of the series. In Breath of Fire IV, the world map is a plain and flat map. Visited locations are displayed simply as dots. The locations are joined together with routes displayed as dotted lines. It may be simple to look at, but the world map of this game is actually very nicely presented. As in Breath of Fire III, while you are travelling through the routes between locations, you will get some random ? areas. These areas are optional. You can enter them if you want. A random ? area is usually a small field map with a treasure bag to collect. You can also get random encounters in such an area. Later in the game, these areas may become hunting grounds for your fairy friends. You can help them hunt for food as a mini-game. As in Breath of Fire III, you can also set up campsites at any time on the world map. At campsites, you can rest and save as well as managing your skills. The world map also features a shortcut function for visited locations. You can jump to any previous area simply by pointing a cursor to it. The simple-looking world map, coupled with these many features, is actually of the highest quality.

Field map exploration is standard RPG. There are shops and inns in towns. You can also gather information and get into different events. On the other side of the coin, you walk through dungeons, collect treasures and fight random encounters. You will get different sequences, and encounter in boss fights every now and then. Random encounter rate is quite high, but dungeons in this game is also quite small, so it does not cause too much annoyance.

Game-play - Character Development:

In console RPGs, characters develop their skills by fighting battles, so much of the game-play depends on the battle system. Breath of Fire IV features a battle system that is probably the most innovative in recent RPGs.

Breath of Fire IV has a turn based battle system. You can give commands to any three characters in your party. The characters who have received commands will come up to the front row and the ones who have not received commands will fall to the back row. Characters will then carry out your commands in the same order as your inputs. Back row characters are not totally idle. Some magic effects can affect them. They can also perform ''will'' power actions. At the back row, characters will recover from some bad statuses and temporarily recovers some AP (Ability Point, the equivalent of MP in this game). This system removes completely the necessity of a party system. It also addresses the problem in most RPGs on the PlayStation, in which only three members are allowed in the active party. In Breath of Fire IV, all members are active.

Each character has his / her own unique set of abilities. Most characters have normal physical skills and magical skills, but Ryu the hero can also learn to transform into dragons as well as the ability to summon dragons to his aid. As in the previous title, the party can also learn custom abilities from lore masters and enemies. This system gives you the freedom to customise your characters while keeping their identities defined. The game has also addressed the awkard ''Examine'' system in Breath of Fire III for learning skills. Now, you can learn skills from enemies simply by Defending during battle.

The Master system has also been refined. You will meet many lore masters during your adventure. They will agree to join once you have fulfilled some requirements. When your characters aligned with masters, they will still get bonuses / penalties on their statistics when they gain levels. Your characters will also gain a ''will'' ability from aligned masters. Masters will also teach you their lores (skills) once you have fulfilled increasingly tougher requirements. These requirements are now independent of the levels of the aligned characters, unlike Breath of Fire III. (You do not need to have a character aligned with a master before you can learn skills from him / her.) This setting also solves the problem of the previous title where your character can become ''stuck'' with a particular master for many levels. It is now a much more flexible customisation system.

Perhaps the most unique battle feature in this game is the introduction of a ''Combo'' system. When two or three characters perform special abilities consecutively, there is a good chance that these abilities will join together to become a combo. The idea of the combo feature is for skill enhancement. The game achieve this goal using three special effects: 1. Combination effect, 2. Continuous effect and 3. Added effect. The first effect combines magic of different elements. The second effect increases the effects of skills that belong to the same category. The third effect adds special status effects in subsequent commands. The combo system allows the game to become much more interesting. By combining different skills, you can create your customised attack styles. You can even create combos that do over 100 hits!

The only complaint I have for the battle system is on the random features. Stealing rate and the rate for an enemy to drop an item can be extremely low. Status attacks in this game almost always miss. Perhaps the developer is trying to leave some room for improvements in an otherwise perfect system.

Game-play - Mini-games:

There are many mini-games in Breath of Fire IV. The fishing mini-game that has been featured since Breath of Fire (I) is back in this game. This mini-game has been developed into a very respectable size in Breath of Fire III and was welcomed by most gamers. In Breath of Fire IV, the developer has added even more features in it. It is now better organised and more sophisticated. More importantly, it is now much more fun to play. Many features have been implemented to allow more freedom in different fishing spots and much has been done to give players visual / force feedbacks. This fishing mini-game is also compatible with a special fishing controller.

The town-building ''Fairy Colony'' mini-game is another large scale mini-game. The game is pretty similar to the one featured in Breath of Fire III, but with a few added features. You will help fairies to build a town. Initially small, this town will grow in size as the fairy population grow. Eventually, you will have a lively colony full of working fairies. You can also help your fairy friends to hunt for food. (In fact, the hunting mini-games is not new to the series, it was featured in the Breath of Fire and Breath of Fire II.)

Other mini-games include a sand-boat track race time trial, a warehouse box pushing puzzle, a sheperd game, a sea expedition adventure, etc. They are all fun games to play. In any case, these mini-games are there to enhance an otherwise excellent game into something even more special.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, this game is definitely the best RPG I have played amongst the recent titles. It is unlikely for the PlayStation to receive a better RPG after Breath of Fire IV. Finally, the fantasy is over.

Scores - Story: 9 / 10; Graphics and Loading Time: 9 / 10; Sound and Music: 9 / 10; Game-play: 10 / 10; Overall: 9 / 10. July 2000.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/04/00, Updated 07/04/00