Breath of Fire II

"Certainly a Fine RPG, but it is not a masterpiece"

The Breath of Fire series is a great one. Personally, I have not had a chance to play the first, and my first Breath of Fire game was the 2nd. I must say that I didn’t expect much from the game, yet I found it quite interesting.

Graphics:

I think the graphics are quite nice. In normal view, when you’re exploring, most of the graphics are sprites with bright colors making it easy to understand. Meanwhile, the graphics changes totally when you’re engaged in battle, for example, the background adapts to the dungeon/area you’re in, and there’s a different artistic style which depicts your characters while fighting. Also, I like the dragon animations and the special effects that occur when you use some of the special characters’ moves (I don’t intend to go on and describe what special characters are, because it would probably one of the game’s coolest features).
However, the graphics never look really complex or detailed to the point that other games are, and I haven’t seen any mode7 type graphics which I see in other RPG games such as FFIII, or Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, etc. Mode 7 is when the SNES uses a scaling type of graphics engine, so it seems as if the background is moving in a different way, so the game looks 3D. The most obvious game where you see this is Mario Kart.

Rating – 8.5

Audio:

I can still remember some of the nice tunes that were in this game. The music was nice, although unfortunately some of them got quite tedious and repetitive, but I must say they were orchestrated quite nicely. There aren’t some extraordinary musical compositions that I can really remember, but the audio was well made, and the sound effects did their job. What you would expect from a sword that slashes, or a dragon that breathes fire is all there.

Rating – 8.5

Gameplay and Lasting Appeal:

In brief, you are a boy called Ryu who has special dragon morfing powers, and your job is to save the world like many other RPG’s. However, what characterizes Breath of Fire from the other RPG’s is that you can make your own town midway through the game, and as you go along, the town develops into a better city. It also depends on who you hire throughout the game. Then, you also gain some vehicles naturally to move around. The battle system is quite fun, and there’s also a random factor called “guts” where if your character dies, and if his guts was high enough, there is a random chance that your character will revive from death in that instant.
There are many things to do, and there are special ways to temporarily transform some of your characters. There are also mini-games that you can do, one of them is fishing. There is also hunting and some others.
All in all, this game is well made, it might get slightly boring at times, especially when you get stuck (and you will get stuck), but other than that, it is all a rewarding experience.
However, as for the lasting appeal, after you beat the game (which should take you around 30-40 hours), the only thing you can do is try to replay the game and make a better town and obtain better items. However, I seriously doubt that you will play this game twice and beat it twice.

Rating – 8.5/9

Rent or Buy?

If you can rush RPG’s in a day or two, then I would suggest a rent, however, buying this game is highly suggested, especially for those who are fans of RPG’s, and classic RPG’s.

Even though I gave mostly 8.5-9 on this game, I rate it as an 8, because I don’t believe this game has the qualities to be considered a stellar 9 game. It definitely is a good RPG, but is not up there with the legendary RPG’s such as Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, etc.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/04/03, Updated 07/04/03