Product description
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Breath of Fire IV is a single-player game that continues
the story with these "dragon people," who gave their lives to
eradicate the evil goddess and restore peace in their world. This
time around, battle has broken out between two powerful
continents, and the fair Princess Elena has disappeared during a
tour of the war-torn region. The princess's sister, Nina, who
reigns o'er the Windia Kingdom, vows to retrieve her missing
sibling. She meets Ryu along the way, who joins the epic quest
.com
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You don't have to be a hard-core gamer to notice that
innumerable--not to mention impressive--role-playing games (RPGs)
have been released for the Sony PlayStation. Although the fourth
installment in the Breath of Fire series is a fine RPG, it's
doesn't quite hold a flame to the best of the aforementioned
alternatives.
Breath of Fire IV is a single-player game that continues the
story with these "dragon people," who gave their lives to
eradicate the evil goddess and restore peace in their world. This
time around, battle has broken out between two powerful
continents, and the fair Princess Elena has disappeared during a
tour of the war-torn region. The princess's sister, Nina, who
reigns o'er the Windia Kingdom, vows to retrieve her missing
sibling. She meets Ryu along the way, who joins the epic quest.
Breath of Fire IV's gameplay is refreshingly simple, with only a
few minor additions to its predecessor's battle system. Most
noticeably, a new combo system lets spells dish out more damage
than when cast alone, by working in conjunction with other
spells. As before, Ryu can transform into a dragon or hybrid
half-human, half-dragon creature to gain special attack powers.
The party will pick up other drifters throughout the game, some
of whom have the power to transform.
Each town opens up a new set of subquests and minigames
(yup--there's another fishing game here, folks), both of which
add longevity and replayability to Breath of Fire IV, although
not everyone will appreciate the mandatory nature of these
diversions.
Like many Japanese-bred RPGs, the musical score and crisp sound
effects are excellent, but there is very little voice talent in
the game. In all, Breath of Fire IV is a solid, although not
fantastic, RPG. --Todd Mowatt
Pros:
* Solid story
* Effective battle system
* Extraordinary musical score Cons:* Average graphics
* Sometimes-awkward control and camera angles
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Review
------
Let's face it, the Breath of Fire series has always been
a pale imitation of the RPG mainstays, firmly built on the
unchallenging foundations of mediocrity and predictability -
until now. Breath of Fire IV spins and builds on its traditions
while telling a more compelling story than before, making it
easily the best of the series.
Nina's sister, the princess of Windia, has disappeared. On
Nina's journey to find her sister, Nina discovers Ryu, a
mysterious and silent boy with the power of the dragon. Together
they set out on a globe-spanning quest to find the missing
princess. Meanwhile, the vengeful Emperor Fou-lu is resurrected
and seeks to recl the throne he lost 500 years prior. Nina and
Ryu's quest ultimately crosses with Fou-lu's own, once again
fulfilling the Legend of the Dragons. On their way, Nina and Ryu
will collect the typically bizarre menagerie of characters - a
fist-shooting robot, a well-muscled tiger-man, and an
ever-protective samurai dog, for example. The game maintains some
of the series' personal side quests and silly diversions, but
Breath of Fire IV's largely political story takes place in a more
ed-out and serious world than do previous offerings.
New to the Breath of Fire traditions are an improved battle
system and a new combo system. Like Square's Chrono Cross, Capcom
has smudged the definition of battle turns, letting you command
your characters to attack in any order they choose. While only
three characters can be directly involved in the battle,
additional party members can be switched in whenever needed to
further build your complement of attack possibilities.
Additionally, resting characters will regain temporary ability
points and provide occasional backup, lending the battle system
some interesting strategic ramifications. The coolest new
feature, however, is the combo system. Certain spells can be
chained together to create more-powerful spells - follow up the
earthquake-inducing Burei spell with the fire spell, Pam, and the
two will combine to form Grieve, a ground-splitting volcanic
attack. While combo potions are limited early in the game, more
and more will become available as you progress.
As noted before, many of the Breath of Fire traditions return.
Ryu can of course transform into a number of dragon forms, and
the party can learn a variety of new skills and attacks by
analyzing those of their enemies. Each of your characters can
once again apprentice under a variety of masters, providing you
with additional stat boosts at level up. Unlike before, new
skills are conferred by masters after reaching specified combo
goals - chain enough hits together or inflict enough damage with
a combo, and you'll be rewarded with a new attack. Finally,
medals let you swap learned abilities between your characters for
greater customization.
Breath of Fire IV's biggest drawback is its obsession with silly
minigames. While the standard (and welcome) fishing game is back,
too many events are marred by silly minigames. Want information
out of the old man? Play the "feeding the old man" minigame. Want
to save Nina from a lecherous frog captain? Stack boxes in the
"stack boxes on the boat crane" minigame. While the intention is
understandable, Capcom has used these little gimmicks too often,
cheapening them and breaking up what is otherwise a solid RPG.
Like the series' other PlayStation installment, Breath of Fire
IV mixes 2D sprites and polygons. Both the 2D and 3D aspects of
the graphics have been improved on considerably, sporting more
frames of animation for the former and better textures for the
latter. Breath of Fire IV also has a distinct style, something
the third installment lacked in its 3D adolescence - from the
town architecture to the skillful camera work, the game is
surprisingly polished. Some of the game's bosses do make use of
3D, mostly to ill effect - the personality and detail found in
the 2D sprites is missing, largely due to a dearth of polygons in
the 3D models themselves. The game's sound is a result of
improved efforts as well - sound effects and voices both add to
the battle experience, and the game's music is mellow and catchy.
If Breath of Fire IV is any indication, it seems that Capcom may
have finally settled into the RPG groove it's coveted for so
long. Skillful and interesting gameplay systems, graphical
polish, and a solid story make Breath of Fire IV the RPG Capcom's
been trying to make for years.--Peter Bartholow--Copyright © 2000
GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in
part in any form or medium without express written permission of
GameSpot is prohibited. -- GameSpot Review
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