Breath of Fire II

"A true classic"

Breath of Fire 2 is the sequel to Breath of Fire and improves on the original in just about every way. This game is set a couple hundred years after the first one. Evil is rising over the land and you, as the destined child, must stop it.

Graphics: The sprites are drawn well and the enemies, especially Barubary and Deathevn, look great or even spectacular. The buildings are detailed and add a bit of atmosphere to the game. The backgrounds, however, are a bid bland. The most important visual part of the RPG, the spell, is well represented here. Spells such as Fireball and Bolt X have impressive effects. Unfortunately, the game's overall most powerful spells, the various Dragon spells, aren't that impressive. Overall though, the graphics are great. (9/10)

Sound: The sound in the game is clear and fluid. Some, such as the background music in the game's final segments, is very powerful. When fighting bosses, for instance, the music becomes very low and eerie. However, this power is lessened by the fact that the music, especially the BGM in the caves, can get repetitive over time. The fact that the music changes midway through the game helps lower this repitition, but it is still there. As for the sound effects, on the whole, they are done well. The only problem is that there are only three effects for when you hit an enemy. (8/10)

Control: The controls in the game are nearly flawless. The menus are laid out in an easy to understand fashion, but it is a little unintuitive to make your characters switch position or defense. Moving around is easy to do and the controls to do so are responsive. (10/10)

Story: The story of Breath of Fire 2 deals with a child who sleeps in front of a dragon and then wakes to find himself in a slightly different world. Over time, he grows up and meets with other people. At first, he does menial jobs, but about midway through the game, starts to look at the bigger picture. Overall, the story is excellent and contains many twists and turns. Beyond the usual ''save the world'' scheme, lies a story about religion and fanaticism as well as the nature of evil. (10/10)

Satisfaction: There are many little touches in the game that make it a worthwhile experience, such as the ability to hunt and fish. Each of the original 8 characters have their own individual traits that become necessary in at least one point of the game. Side quests such as getting the lone secret character in the game, Bleu, and to obtain the spell Chopchop, as well as the three endings give the game a greater replay value. However, it is a little annoying at the beginning of the game and at the end of the game. The former because of the long amount of time it takes to level up and the latter because you will be attacked every 10 or so steps. (10/10)

Overall: Even with all these strengths, the game is a little hard to get into at first. However, beyond that inital difficulty lies an incredible game with a great story, which culminates in a powerful (not to mention long) ending. It is definitely a ''must-buy'' game. (10/10)

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/12/00, Updated 08/10/02