Breath of Fire II

"Whoever Said Sequels Suck Should Get Shot!!!"

RATINGS:

Graphics: 10/10
Sound Effects: 7/10
Music: 8/10
Originality: 6/10
Control: 10/10
Enjoyment: 9/10
Challenge: 8/10
Replay: 2/10
Overall: 10/10

PLOT:

You taken control of guy named Ryu. The game is set in a world that takes place 500 years after the first Breath of Fire game. Ryu lives in a church run by Father Ganer, his father. Anyways, Ryu's father sends him to go after his runaway sister, Yua. When Ryu finds her, he gets into his first battle, where his father ends up saving his butt. They talk about how Ryu's mom died in saving the village in the past, then they go back home. When Ryu chases after them back to the village, nobody recognizes him, and his father and sister are gone. The church (Ryu's home) is run by a guy named Father Hulk, and Ryu ends up spending the night at the church. Ryu wakes up in the middle of the night where he meets his best friend, Bow. The two set out into the world on their own, and stumble into a cave, where a demon fights Ryu. The demon kills Ryu and Bow, and then game shifts forward 10 years later, where they both have jobs as Rangers. How did they survive, play to find out...

PROS:

The battle system is very excellent. It's Final Fantasy like, so there should be no problem for RPG veterans. The time element in the game is also a plus. The GBA greatly improves on the graphics, and the whole keeping you in suspense thing, plot wise, is great. It makes you want to play more of the game to find out what's going on.

CONS:

I say they could've done a better translation in the game. This game also had the worst Dragon System out of all the other BoF games. This game also isn't that great for those who are religiously sensitive. I myself am not sensitive about my religion, so this review is very fair.

REASONS OF RATINGS:

GRAPHICS:

These graphics are great for the GBA! Not Golden Sun quality, but good none the less. They greatly improve on the SNES port, and they give it more of an anime style on the characters.

SOUND EFFECTS:

Not the greatest sound effects, but they are sufficient.

MUSIC:

Some of the greatest music I've ever heard! I especially like the boss music. Unfortunately, the GBA reduces the quality of the music it had on the SNES version.

ORIGINALITY:

The whole way they introduce the game is original, and so is the plot. But generally it's the same type of Final Fantasy like gameplay, and since it's not the first game in the series, that also hurts the Originality.

CONTROL:

Really extremely simplistic. Enough said.

ENJOYMENT:

The battles are great, and so are the characters and music. The portability of this game (meaning you can take it anywhere with you) and the fact that you can now save anywhere brings up the enjoyment factor on the game over the old SNES version. Unfortunately, it can get boring after awhile, like when you get halfway through the game.

CHALLENGE:

I consider this game a challenge. It's harder than the first one, but this game isn't impossible either (which is a good thing). You might get stuck once or twice in the game, but a thing called the ''Internet'' fixes that problem. The fact that you can save anywhere also reduces the challenge of the game.

REPLAY:

Like almost all RPGs, this game has no replayability factor. I guess you could restart the game if you were bored and want to try different options, but basically once you beat this game, you move on to other games.

OVERALL:

If you're a fan of RPGs, you'll like it. If you're a fan of the FF Series, you'll like it. Capcom really outdid themselves in this game, especially by making it really great on the GBA. This game is also the best in the Breath of Fire series in my opinion.

TIME TO COMPLETE: Varies, at least 30 hours.

RENT OR BUY: BUY!!!!!!!!!!!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 04/22/02, Updated 04/22/02