Breath of Fire II

"One of Capcom's first RPG's, and it was a success."

The review is of course in my opinion, hopefully you’ll agree with me. And if you don’t, oh well, we don’t have to fight...

First before I go on, I just want to apologize for all spelling/grammatical errors I do, I’m sorry. Hope you still can read my review without too much effort. I also want to say that the review contains a very few small spoilers, so for anyone that wishes to read the review without knowing it, I warn you before it comes with a ( _ _ _ ). But the spoilers are not disastrous and they won’t ruin the fun of the game, but it’s better than I tell you now, if you’re that kind of player that wants to explore everything and each corner of the game on yourself.
Oh well, it’s time for the review, don’t you think? Here it comes!)

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Breath of Fire 2 was made in 1994, by Capcom, one of their first RPG’s ever. I think they did pretty well. In this review, I only compare this game to other SNES games, not PS2 or Dreamcast games(but I might say something about the other systems, but not compare the game to them there’s a difference :) You’ll see that I sometimes compare this game(and others) to two other SNES games called Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 3, two of the most wide known RPG games for the SNES, and some people think that these are the two best games ever(all consoles). I’m doing this because CT and FF3 is so famous that most people can imagine and compare the games better if they have any guideline to go after.

#Storyline:#
The storyline is about a hero(you name him in the start of the game) that has no parents and is raised by the church in a small town. Then one night his room mate ”Bow” convinces him to escape and travel through the big wild world. A rainy night they escape out in the dark evening. They seek shelter in a cave where they encounter a monster. The foe win easily and they both get smashed away. Then everything’s dark. You come back ten years later, when they both are no kids longer but teenagers. They are working in a small village and they get a mission to retrieve a lost pet. Along the way they encounter a lot of enemies but at last they find the pet and bring it back. After a long day’s journey, they saddle down at the hotel and sleep. During the night, Bow’s asked to steal a treasure for a guy from an evil man that rules the town with his power. Bow goes into the house without telling the hero to steal the treasure, but someone else have already stolen the treasure when Bow gets there! Two guards spot him but he escapes. The other day he’s accused of stealing. You must clear Bow’s name and find the real thief(this takes about 10-15 hours). Along the journey, you find out that there’s something strange happening to the world, some kind of dreadful monsters are about to take over the world and you’re the only one to stop them(sounds familiar?).

The story follows the game all the time, from beginning to the end, developing all the time. In the beginning, the story’s very fun and well done with sections that really bring you into the game, but at the end the story fails a bit and it gets a bit dull. But allover, the story’s pretty good and with a lot of humor, entertaining for both young kids(5 or older) and other people over 15. The game is very soft and the violence is mild, which makes it great for young people but doesn’t disappoint the more experienced player.

Score storyline: 9.1/10

¤Graphics¤
Charming. It’s perfect fitting for the game, and if you’re a fan of fantasy, you might like it. The different characters(nine totally) are all very cute and sweet, but not so cute that it gets ridiculous. The animations look good, both on the characters and the enemies. You’ll face a lot of enemies like goblins, dragons, zombies, animals, monsters, etc, all quite well detailed. Now over to the backgrounds, something you usually don’t notice how much work it takes to make good. They are pretty well done, detailed and fitting. The best thing with the background is that it changes depending in what environment you are fighting in, for example, you’re walking on the fields and is attacked by a monster in the forest. Then the background will be painted like a forest. If you’re attacked in a desert, the background is done in sand. Well done Capcom! The only slack with the graphic is that the special effects are nothing amazing, but they are pretty okay. I mean, what can you expect from the SNES and a 5-7 years(it was done in 93, 94 and released 95 I think) old game? The magic spells you get later on look pretty good but as I said, not really impressive. It seems that the producers used more energy on the characters and the backgrounds than for the special effects and the magical spells. I’ve seen better graphics though(i.e. Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 3, Terranigma, Treasure Hunter G, Star Ocean) But the graphic is well done and pretty decent, nothing to complain about.

Score graphics: 8.5/10

=Music/sound=
Also very fitting. The music is pretty decent and sounds pretty good, and the noises+sounds are pretty good too. If you just play the game and don’t really listen deeply into the music, you’ll enjoy it. But if you’re used to music like Chrono Triggers and Final Fantasy 3, you might get a little disappointed after a while. But don’t worry, the music is good. (Minor spoiler ahead, but not a disastrous one): A very nice part of the game, you can ask a guy you saved to play all the songs from the game, and then you can listen to all and find your own favorite. Very comfortable. RPG’s seem to often have music you’ll get tired of. Since RPG’s require a lot of gaming time(most of them takes 20-40 hours before they are played to death) the music must be very good to keep you satisfied. This is maybe where Breath of Fire 2 fails. The music intends to get a little boring after 6-10 hours, but it will keep you playing if you really don’t think of it. Oh well, totally the music is pretty good but it’s not Breath of Fire 2’s best side.

Score music/sound: 8.0/10

<>Controls<>
By now you know Breath of Fire 2 is a RPG(role playing game) that is focused by storyline more than the controls. So in this game, the controls play a little smaller role and is not so important as it would have been to platform games. Though I think Capcom did a well job with the controls. So then, how do you judge controls for a RPG? Well, you can look to the fighting scenes and how the game moves on. I think the fighting sequences are working fine with the different modes to choose among(like if you’re about to attack, defend, magic etc). In Breath of Fire 2, you’re fighting in a text battle, where you tell the different characters what to do, and they’ll do it. It’s not that you actually control and can play with the members in your party as you want. It’s the same type of controls as in FF3 and CT, not as in Secret of Mana or the Zelda series. Some people like this type of fighting better, some think the other system is an advantage. However, I think Capcom did a good job with it in this game. There are 2 modes you play in this game, you can come into fights(then you use text commandos) and you can play on the field(you move the characters as you want). The different characters have certain abilities so you can move with them on the map. Then the controls play a major role in the game. But as I said, it goes on pretty good without any problems. One word describing the controls for BoF2: Smooth.

Score controls: 8.4/10

|Fun-factor(gameplay)|
You’re now reading the most important sections in any game, no matter what system or type of game it is. If the game isn’t fun, entertaining or interesting, you’ll be pretty tired of it soon and just regret you ever bought it. So a game with splendid graphics and awesome music fails drastically if it’s not fun. Breath of Fire 2 is fun. And definitely worth $20 U.S. or less. The story’s so involving plus that the other sides of the game is pretty well done it creates an entertaining game. The characters are pretty nice and soon when you get to know them, you’ll love the game. One of the major advantages with BoF2 is that it brought a few new ideas for the RPG games, like hunting, fishing, etc. It’s not only the regular RPG where you stock up with items and dive into an endless cave with thousands of monsters to defeat(I played many RPG’s, so I know what I’m talking about). The only real slack it has is that the game is very fun in the beginning, but the longer you come into the game, the more serious and less fun it gets. The great ideas and the superb storyline seem to fade away into battles with monsters and evil troops invading the world. I don’t know, but that’s the worst ”mistake” I think Capcom did when they created this game. But hey, the game is fun and entertaining, so enjoy it!

Score fun-factor: 8.3/10

*Challenge:*
If you see many battles and hours of gameplay as challenge, Breath of Fire 2 succeeds pretty good, almost as final fantasy 3 for SNES. But when I talk about challenge, I mean how hard it is to beat, not how big it is. And I also include how long time it will keep you playing without getting boring.
The game gets pretty easy after a while when your experience points and levels get better, then the enemies won’t stand no chance. And let’s not talk about when you buy armors. The storyline is not so complicated either, so any player no matter what age can play it, and the game doesn’t hold any surprising or hard events so it’s just plain and simple. Now you may think the fun factor score would drop, but actually it doesn’t. Breath of Fire 2’s ”easy in the right way”, you won’t be disappointed. I can tell you that this RPG almost gives FF3 a fight for ”the world biggest game” title(but still ff3 is a little bigger). So stock up with items and get yourself into the magic world of Breath of Fire 2, there is enough to do to keep you playing a long time!

Score challenge: 7.9/10

@Replay value@
Thanx to the fishing and hunting sequences and the cinema scenes, + the few different endings, it lives even longer. Besides, the game is so enjoying that it’s worth to replay. I usually don’t replay RPG’s again(I’m a bit too lazy, plus that I got so many others) but when I do I spot the special things that make it nice to go through again. In Breath of Fire 2, you’ll come to many sequences where you have to choose among things that effect the game. For example(minor spoiler, jump down 7 lines if not interested) you’ll be rewarded with different magic spells that you give to certain characters and then the others won’t get it(perhaps). You’ll also build a town that you can offer to homeless people. For this favor, the different people will offer back different things to you(depending on which guy you offered the house to). Also there are three different carpenters that build different houses and other special things in this game make it definitely ”replayable”.

Replay score: 8.7/10

+Overall+
I really wanted to give this game a 9, but if the truth should be said, it doesn’t really reach up to it. It would have got one if there were less battles and if the storyline was so good as in the beginning through the whole game. The story and the fun-factor is a big + for the game, but the music and the challenge maybe is a small -. But this is a great game, but truly not up to Chrono Trigger and Star Ocean’s class(but there are very very few games that are that good). Breath of Fire 2’s is an ”old school classic RPG” which means that if you don’t really care about graphic and special effects and you’re more into the story and so on, you’ll like this game. No matter what you’re age is.

~Score overall: 8.3/10~

TOTAL SCORE(score from 1-10): 8/10

Storyline: 9.1/10
Graphic: 8.5/10
Music/sound: 8.0/10
Control: 8.4/10
Challenge: 7.9/10
Fun-factor: 8.3/10
Replay value: 8.7/10
Total score: 8.3/10

Last line describing the game: ”One of Capcom’s first RPG’s, and it was a success.”

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/19/01, Updated 03/19/01