Title - "Breath of Fire"
Alternative title(s) - N/A
Genre(s) - Role playing
Platform(s) - Super Famicom and Game Boy Advance
When a typical gamer thinks of Capcom, two genres usually will jump to his or her mind: fighting and action. They don't realize that Capcom can make games of other genres. One genre they covered back in the old days was role playing and no, it is not a "Street Fighter" role playing game, though there were talks about it. Their first role playing game is a game called "Breath of Fire".
"Breath of Fire" came out for the Super Famicom in 1993 and elsewhere a year later. There is also Game Boy Advance port that came out last year if I recall. Now, I bet that there are people wondering why do they see Squaresoft. That's because when Capcom decided to bring the game outside of Japan, they feared that if they released the game outside, it would not get much attention. So, to counter this fear, they asked Squaresoft to release the game for them. Gee, any role playing game with some involvement from Squaresoft will get the attention of people outside of Japan instantly and people outside of Japan were on the game like video game players on a "Street Fighter II" machine.
You play the role of Ry
, who is part of the light dragons clan. Your village is not only destroyed by the dark dragons, but your sister is kidnapped as well. So, you set your journey to save your sister. Along the way, you'll discover more about yourself and you will run into people.
Fun - 8
Even though it is like a typical role playing game, the characters do have interesting abilities. Capcom wanted to do something new and they did. There are activities that various characters can do in the world. There aren't many flaws here overall. One that easily jumps to my mind is that you are left wondering when will you gain that level up you need.
Life - 9
The side games help this game a bit, but that's about it.
Story - 10
Capcom may not be known for its story, but you know what? Even though it has elements we've seen before, their first role playing game had a good story. Enough said.
Audio - 8
The music is sort of a mixed bag. While a theme like Windia's is good, a theme like the battle theme could have used some work. The sound effects are a different story. I like them.
Control - 10
Again, the menus will take time, but you should get around them.
Art - 10
"Breath of Fire" has one of the most interesting trade-offs in terms of graphics. Well, two actually. The first one is that instead of words, it uses pictures for commands. Yeah, it may be a bother for some people including myself, but I managed to get around with it. The other one, which is overlooked, is that your characters don't have winning animations, but the monsters look good and you see people like the clerks bow to you to show their gratitude after you visit them. Yeah, it's no "Final Fantasy VI" or "Chrono Trigger", but it shouldn't be. Plus, this title came out before those two.
Overall - 9
People have different views of this game. For a role playing game from a company that doesn't make them, this is pretty good from my point of view. Maybe it is one of the most underrated games ever in my opinion. Of course, I know that this could have been better overall. Still, if you haven't tried this game out by now, why not give this a shot? Capcom has taken a risk and in the end, I say that they should do this more often, especially in making more role playing games.
+
This is a nice start of a non-Squaresoft role playing game series and it has many interesting changes from your typical role playing game.
-
Some natural role playing elements are executed poorly.
Date of creation - 12/14/03
Last update - 8/11/04