Product Description

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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5082 in Video Games
• Brand: sony plastation
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Platform: PlayStation
• Dimensions: .33 pounds

Features

• Solid story
• Effective battle system
• Extraordinary musical score

Amazon.com Review
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

• Average graphics
• Sometimes-awkward control and camera angles

GameSpot 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 reclaim 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 fleshed-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.

Customer Reviews

The Fourth Installment
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

A huge leap from previous games in the series
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.

My favorite RPG for over a year.
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.