Breath of Fire

"An okay start to the series."

Breath Of Fire is a very hated game by RPG fans. It's not much of a surprise it is though. It had a lot of flaws, but at the end of the dark tunnel there were a few rays of hope. Read on to find out my opinion on the first Breath Of Fire game in the series.

Graphics:6.8/10:The Graphics in Breath Of Fire 1 are not bad. They aren't close to amazing though. The main problem is most of the dungeons look rather boring. They use the same designs too often. Character designs are pretty solid, but could be better. Enemy designs are okay, as well, but could be better. Spell animations need improvement as well. Overall the Graphics are okay, but not so amazing.

Gameplay:7/10:Breath Of Fire 1 is a very traditional RPG. Go from town to dungeon. Upgrade equipment and rest at the Inn at towns. Then proceed through the next dungeon. Battles and exploration is done with a three man party. Most of the time battles are pretty easy and so are bosses. A few bosses in the game will give players problems, but not much besides that. A cool twist is out of battles characters get their own abilities for exploration and puzzle solving. As with most RPG's every character has advantages and disadvantages. I couldn't say there were really any overpowered characters.Well now that I've talked about the good things let's discuss the problems with the Gameplay.

As mentioned before, no characters are really overpowered. Rather, the problem is most are underpowered. Nina for example is only useful for healing. Aside, from that she can't really do anything and she dies easily. Karn starts out pretty solid, but later on due to being a thief his damage falls behind. Now, the major problem with Breath Of Fire is Ryu's Dragon transformations. At first they are pretty cool. They allow Ryu to turn into a Dragon to boost certain stats and give him new abilities. Giving players a slight advantage in boss fights mostly. Later in the game it becomes ALL about Dragon Transformations. Very late into the game you'll be able to gain the ultimate dragon transformation. It transforms all party members into one huge dragon. With max HP and a high amount of defense and capable of doing 999 damage every hit. Due to this boss fights later on lose all strategy. It's just like watching the Dragon and boss trade blows over and over. Then healing when the Dragon Transformation has low HP. To make problems worse, if you don't get this the bosses will require insane amounts of leveling to defeat. Overall Breath Of Fire 1 has a lot of problems, but is still a decently fun game.

Story:4/10:The Story starts out with the Dark Dragon Clan kidnapping a member of the White Dragon clan. After, that point though there is hardly any Story development. Characters in the game hardly talk as well. So, basically the plot in Breath Of Fire is nearly non-existant.

Music:8/10:I liked the style of the Music a lot. While no songs were particularly amazing I loved the style of them. Overall a solid, but not close to amazing soundtrack.

Overall:7/10:Breath Of Fire is a okay start to the series. It was a decently fun game with a few Gameplay problems. The music was good, but not amazing. I did like the style of the Music a lot though. The Graphics needed a lot of improvement though. The Storyline was pretty bad and there is hardly a plot in the game aside from the opening. So overall Breath Of Fire 1 is a decent game.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/18/08

Game Release: Breath of Fire (US, 10/10/94)