Breath of Fire II

"Everything the first one should have been and more."

Ah! Breath of Fire II, the first rpg I ever bought, after playing Mystic Quest I got so hooked with the rpg genre that I wanted to play another one very badly, when I went to the shop the only rpg I found was Breath of Fire II, it looked quite similar to Mystic Quest so I bought it. But don’t think I adore this game so much because it was my second rpg, I am writing this “attempt” of review a lot of years after having played, and now that I have played most of the rpgs around there, I can still say that this one of the most memorable.

Story 10/10:
A million times better than the first one, with good twists, more events, and, well too good to be comparing. What I liked the most about it is the ending, very beautiful and highly emotive, if you have already played Breath of Fire III then probably you already know (this game’s story is continued in the third installment), but if you haven’t be sure to play this one first.

Graphics 10/10:
Wow, they sure were improved, the graphics are simply amazing!, they have the same feel from the first one but this time they are like a little bit smaller but with a level of detail that is outstanding, and the battle graphics look better than ever, simply incredible, I think that Breath of Fire II has some of the coolest battle graphics in a Snes rpg, with incredible animations, massive spells and summonings, superb effects when it comes to cast magic, and terrific enemies with great designs and big and imposing bosses.

Music 10/10:
The music works in the same way than before, during the towns, combats (for the battles we have two really cool battle themes), and some other places the music is terrific, but during the dungeons everything gets worst (just little). However, there is a lot more variety in this second part, and the composition are extremely beautiful. Not Final Fantasy or Super Mario RPG quality, but truly excellent.

Gameplay 10/10:
Again, like the previous one, but way, way better, far from the monotony of the first part, and with lots of new (and amazing) improvements.

The controls, menus and everything work in the same way than before, exactly in the same way, only that our companions have new abilities to use in the map and things like that. About the battle system, during the combats aside from the magic spells each character has skills, special movements to heal, fool the enemy, hurt it, etc.

One of Breath of Fire II’s beat features is the possibility to experiment with your characters, you can make them acquire new powers or even completely changing their appearance. To do so, first we have to look for an old women that will act as some kind of sorcerer, the we have to look for her daughters, that are shamans with different elemental abilities, and that are the ones that combined with our friends will make them acquire new abilities. In the back cover of the game (which I still have in perfect conditions by the way) it says that there are more than 160 of combinations, honestly, I think that there are not even 10, maybe it is possible to obtain more power by only using some shamans, but what it is interesting about them is the possibility to change our friend’s appearances, so after having found their new shapes there is no point on continuing with this process, or a least that is what I think. This new feature is great certainly, the only think I don’t like about it is that we can’t change Ryu’s appearance, too bad.

Another superb feature is the possibility to build your own town, and there are even different styles to choose from, I have found two, an Arab design and another one that is like most of the houses in the game, some kind of medieval style, with bricks and that things. Also, depending on the style the way your village is organised changes. We always, no mater what, acquire our town, but the style depends on the people we recruit to go live in the town, it is like in Suikoden only that in a much more primitive way (which is kinda obvious by the way).

The only thing that annoys me is that if you die during a battle, you will start again from the last save point with the half of your money, with the half of all the money you have been collecting during the whole game, that is totally unfair, I can’t remember if in the first one was this way too, but should have been corrected. Aside from that Breath of Fire II’s gameplay is perfect.

Replay Value:
Higher than in the previous one, and while still this is not a game that shines because of it, the secrets it has are extremely important, the few secrets Breath of Fire II has are much more interesting than the ones of a lot of games with tons of things to discover, because in this game we have a secret character, and a second ending that due to the things we have to do to obtain it, you will be quite amazed. And we can’t forget about the new improved versions of the fishing and hunting mini game, this time they look and are much better than in the previous game. Finding all the shamans also adds replay value, because they are hidden, as well as finding all the fusion between characters.

Characters:
Not only the best ever in a Breath of Fire, I think this game has some of the best looking characters ever made in a video game, at this moment I can only think about two or three games with characters as good looking as the ones of this game, and the fact that they are not as well developed as they should have been is the worst thing about the game. I don’t know what happened with the guys that made the artwork for this game, what were they doing when Capcom made Breath of Fire III? (and mainly where in the world were they in Dragon Quarter), it seems that Capcom decided to hire some new designers for Breath of Fire II’s sequels, and if we compared the result with the ones of this game, they are without doubt the most nauseating ever made, which is not true, but that gives you a good idea of how good these ones were, some of the most memorable characters I can remember. I want them back!!!

Final thoughts:
Breath of Fire II is truly what the first Breath of Fire should have been, this sequel has everything the first one had only that one million times better, much better plot, much better and fortunately non monotonous gameplay, much better graphics and music, the best characters ever in a Breath of Fire... an all time classic that some people just can’t understand. For hardcore rpg fans, this game is a must.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 02/27/04, Updated 02/27/04