Breath of Fire 4

Ah, the Fourth installment of the Breath of Fire series. It's finally here, BUT...! Was it worth the wait?

I had been waiting for this game for a long time. So when I was waltzing through my local Blockbuster Video, I saw it, and the next thing I knew it was in my hands. After paying the rent fee, I sped home and threw it in my Playstation without glancing at the instructions. Here's what I thought of it.

First, this game is about Ryu, who once again, can transform into dragons. He's trying to figure out who he is, yet again. The story first involves a search for Nina's sister, but then it soon evolves into something much greater, involving Nina, Ryu, Ershin (A strange woman who wears armor), Scias (A mercenary who was hired to watch over the party), Cray (The leader of the Woren Tribe (AKA Cat People) and Nina's companion), Ursula (A woman toting a magic gun), and Fou-Lu (An emperor that has risen from the dead).

When I saw the anime intro, I was expecting it to be in english, but Capcom needed to put more work in it. They shouldn've translated it! The title screen was almost completely japanese as well and I was afraid I had somehow gotten an import copy. After that, much to my relief, the language was completely english. The 3D enviornments were horrible, as I noticed when watching the opening. The sprite cahracters, however, were perfectly drawn. The battle effects were nice, except for a bit of pixelation in some spell effects. The camera angles were frustrating as well. Overall, the graphics needed a small tune-up.

The music was GREAT! I was expecting repetitive songs and other things like that, but I got a surprise when I heard the musical score. The battle theme was good (Both Ryu and Fou-Lu battle themes), the victory theme was good, same with the boss theme. The world map theme, however, needed a boost. The minigame theme was one of the only musics that got repetitive. But we need a translation! caughanimecenimacaugh. Other than that, the music overall was perfect for the game.

The controls were a tad frustrating. The akward camera angles left me searching for the place to find Sandflier parts for at least half an hour. We need a free-following camera! The other controls are fine, just positioning yourself can be frustrating. It can be hard to get yourself jst right so you can get that item or read that sign. Battle controls are simple, yet effecive. It's easy to choose what spell to cast or who to attack. It's alse simple to switch party members from the front to back rows. The world map controls are simple because there are only a few things to do on it. Overall, the controls could be a lot better in this game.

Ah, the gameplay review. The storylne is greatfrom beginning to end. The combat system is ingenious, leaving the option to learn advanced abilities from enemies. Only isntead of a completely different command to learn abilities, the game usus the "Defend" command to both reduce damage AND learn abilities. The out-of-battle abilities are simple, yet effective. For example, Nina can fly up and look around so you can see everything that's around. Overall, this game was worth the wait and should land itself in any RPG player's collection. While not quite as good as BoF2 in storyline, it surpasses BoF3 in almost any way.

RATINGS (Out of 5)
Graphics- 4.0
Sound- 4.5
Control- 4.0

Overall Gameplay- 5.0

Every aspect of this game was improved a truckload since BoF 3...namely, playing the game isn't painful anymore. I'm a huge fan of the series (played it since the first, loved them all, even if after 2 hours or so the game got repetetive), but this game still lacks in several ways.

1) Control is...less than stellar. Poor camera angles, rigid movement (8 principle directions, not free range like FF series games), and awkward speed changes make it hard to move exactly where you need to be to read that dang sign.

2) Graphics - The sprite animation is incredible, but the 3d graphics this game posesses just hurt my feelings. If Square can make leaps and bounds, you can too, Capcom!

3) Fishing - Capcom made this way too hard in this game. They kinda perfected the system in BOF3 and then decided to butcher it again for 4, I suppose.

On the bright side, the game has several plusses:

1) All the mini games are really fun, worth your time, and actually beneficial towards the flow of the game. Thank God.

2) The music and plot get increasingly more complex, linear, and sensical as the series progresses.

3) YOU CAN SKIP THE ANIMATION SEQUENCES FOR LONG SPELLS! Square, take notes! This makes the game SO much less painful to play.

Yes, this game has stayed my favorite in the year I've had it, though I only got the idea in my head to write this review now.

Quite simply put, this game is marvelous. It may have sub-Square graphics and the controls may annoy some at times, but it has everything else an RPG needs, and in abundance. These aren't going to be in any particular order.

1. Dragons: Dragons are wonderful. Most RPGs still only involve them as monsters to defeat, or just someting you ride around. Here, you *are* the dragon. (Yes, I know that's technically a spoiler, but if you can't figure out that Ryu is a dragon before you even open the game, that's sad.) The other dragons in the game are more than just mindless tools, as well. Capcom also wasn't afraid to give each dragon their own completely unique design.

2. Soundtrack: The soundtrack for this game is nothing short of phenomenal. Every last track fits perfectly with the setting it's used in, blending in perfectly as if the scenery itself created the music. But most of the tracks are also excellent to listen to by themselves, particularly the opening track and the main theme, Endings and Beginnings. If you can, I'd recommend finding an import of the OST.

3. The opening itself: Beautiful sequence with beautiful music, and beautiful voices. To everybody who thinks Capcom should have translated the voice acting, I say NO! Subtitles might have been helpful, but even if you could find good enough American voice actors, their voices just wouldn't... fit. The opening is very Japanese, and English dialogue would have simply shattered the mood. Besides, nobody can compare to Ryu and Fou-Lu's voice actor.

4. Story: Everybody who's said there is anything unoriginal about the storyline has no idea what they're talking about. Without giving too much of the plot away, this game is a captivating story about finding who you are, and reconciling deep hatred you bear. Through the Ryu/Fou-Lu plot switches, the game shows how subtle differences in circumstances can make a world of difference in how a person turns out. For this reason, I also disagree with those who dismiss the side quests as distractions from the story. The side quests *are* the story. This game isn't about some grand hero who's destined to save the world. This game is about it's characters, which brings me to...

5. Characters: It beomes obvious quite quickly that this game differs from the others in the series in it's efforts to make every character important. Even though Ryu is still the main character, he in no way takes all of the focus of the game. Nina serves as the narrator in this game, and in fact is the first character you meet, not Ryu. Fou-Lu has his whole story of his own ordeals. Every single character makes a contribution to the whole, forming an exquisite tapestry. Every character seems like they could be a real person, and there are several moments in the game that are just the most touching scenes I've ever seen in a game, with the possible exception of Breath of Fire II.

6. Miscellaneous: Minigames are great. I've spent entire days just fishing, trying to get whales. (I managed to get 2.) Battle system is excellent. The inclusion of all the characters in the battle is also an indication of how important each and every one of them is. Both the skills system and the combo magic system are easy to learn, and quite useful. (And the skill system is a vast improvement over the one in III.) As has been mentioned countless times, YOU CAN SKIP THE SUMMON SEQUENCES! YES! Of course, who could forget the fairy village? Not only are the little creatures extremely amusing, but they can be incredibly useful at times as well.

This game is competely worth whatever you may have to pay for it.