Breath of Fire II

"A major improvement from the first game, but still has a while to go before it's excellent"

Breath of Fire II is the second game of the four game series. It was a major improvement over the first in my opinion, but it still has its problems. This port of the GBA did enhance it a little, but it the upgrades are nothing groundbreaking really. So, onto the review.

Graphics:8/10:The Graphics aren't too bad. They're pretty decent, but really I've seen far better Graphics on the SNES before. Character designs are fine. Area designs could use a little more work in my opinion. At times areas looked bland or often repeated boring patterns. Enemy designs are pretty good and boss designs are extremely impressive. Purely the quality of the Graphics though does not come close to pushing the SNES's full Graphical capabilities. Graphics score a 8/10. Now, for Gameplay.

Gameplay:9/10:Breath of Fire II is a RPG. Battles and exploration is done with a three man party. Battles are randomly initiated. As with most RPG's you follow the common pattern of going from town to dungeon. Upgrading equipment, buying items and resting at the Inn in town. Then triggering the next Storyline event if needed or just moving onto the next dungeon. Progressing through the dungeon and usually fighting a boss at the end. Beating the boss and then most likely exiting the dungeon and moving to the next town. Exploration outside of towns/dungeons is done in a old-school World Map way. You walk across a map to locations and get a few vehicles over the course of the game. Now, allow me to talk about the minor upgrades this port brought and the difficulty balance.

The minor upgrades are the translation is better and the menus in battle look more stylish. Plus, enemies give a little more EXP/Gold from battles. As for the difficulty balance in Breath Of Fire II. It begins rather fairly challenging, but as the game proceeds on gets dramatically easier. Even the end of the game was easy and the final boss put up little of a fight. Not too much else to say about the difficulty. Now, let me get into my two minor problems with this game.

One is that at certain points your forced to use certain party members. Fortunately the game makes these areas a little easier to be nice. My other problem is the game at times does drag on a little. Overall though the Gameplay received a major upgrade from the first game. So, Gameplay gets a 9/10. Now, onto the Storyline.

Storyline:8.5/10:The Storyline in Breath of Fire II is FAR BETTER then its predecessor. There is more character development, a actual plot and decent dialogue. The scene direction is pretty good as well too. In Breath Of Fire II the Storyline is that Ryu and Bo as kids sneak out of their hometown and go into a cave. There they encounter a ferocious beast named Barbury who annihilates Ryu and Bo. However, they were not killed miraculously. You then learn a little backstory to the overall plot in the game. Now, as for why the Storyline needs more work.

In my opinion the problem with the Storyline occurs towards the end. Character development kind of takes a backseat to the main Storyline towards the end of the game. Plus, most of the characters have rather boring personalities to begin with and could be a little more interesting. Overall Storyline gets a 8.5/10. It was a major improvement over the first game though. Last is Music.

Music:8/10:The Music is better then in Breath of Fire 1. Not by much, but it's better. Still though, the Soundtrack is no masterpiece or close, but it is good. So, Music gets a 8/10. So, how is Breath of Fire II overall?

Overall:8/10:Breath of Fire II is a improvement over the first. Storyline was a lot better. Music was better and the Gameplay was better. Plus, the Graphics were as well. It has its problems, but Breath of Fire II is well worth a playthrough. Overall it gets a 8/10.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/04/08, Updated 08/12/09

Game Release: Breath of Fire II (US, 04/16/02)