A World I Will Never Forget - Breath of Fire IV

[Quaidis]

Unfortunately, Breath of Fire 1 has the dubious position of being the only computer game ever to have made me feel physically sick, so I was never able to get very far in it.

I'm having some doubt here on either the game you played or if you made a numerical typo. BoF 1 was never released for the computer (only 4 was, legitimately), and it had the exact same elements as all other 'look down' rpgs that came out back then. If anything, it had the same map, layout, and fighting style as 2, just a little more old-school.

I'd understand you getting ill if this were a game from, say, the Spyro or Doom series. But I have no conceivable idea of how you got sick from one game and not the other when both are too much alike.

First of all, it wasn't a numerical typo; I played the original BoF and its sequel. I refer to any computerised games as "computer games" rather than "video games", and I know that BoF wasn't far removed from 2, but there was something about the interface in the SNES original that fucked my head up badly.

I haven't really got a conceivable idea on what exactly the problem was, because there should have been no reason for me feeling unwell, but that's the way I felt.

Perhaps the rom was jerky or you were too close to your computer screen. I've often gotten headaches from accidentally staring transfixed at the computer monitor not on computer games, but my work. It usually happens in a dark atmosphere with an exceptionally bright monitor.

 

[NewClassic_v1legacy]

Buy it? What crazy universe where late life PS1 games are easily available do you live in?

Anyway, you missed one of my personal favorite aspects of BOFIV, the Mini Games, there's a mini-game for EVERYTHING, from fishing to haggling with an information broker. I loved this aspect of the game, it made the "by the numbers" combat a non issue and makes this one of my favorite PS1 titles.

Honestly, I was spending all of my time in this review going out of my way to not get long winded, so I ended up clipping hedges on parts I could've gone into more detail on, especially the side stuff like the learnable skills, the Fairy Village, the dragon forms and upgrades, and the mini-games.

 

[GloatingSwine]

Rei from BoF3 makes a comeback in 4 and is Nina's 'partner' as brought up in the review. Everyone likes Rei (and all incarnations thereof). How can you not? He is a large cat-guy.

Apart from both being Woren (The name for the tiger people in the Breath of Fire world), Rei in Breath of Fire 3 and Cray in Breath of Fire 4 couldn't possibly be more different as characters. The only character who is actually the same person throughout all of the games is Deis.

First of all, it wasn't a numerical typo; I played the original BoF and its sequel. I refer to any computerised games as "computer games" rather than "video games", and I know that BoF wasn't far removed from 2, but there was something about the interface in the SNES original that fucked my head up badly.

The interface was all changed for the GBA version. Though Breath of Fire 1 is by far the weakest in the series (and is actually pretty simplistic even for a SNES RPG), and other than as a devoted fan of the series it's not really worth much consideration.

 

[Samurai Goomba]

Eh, I played the original and BoF2 a little and didn't care for them, but I've heard good things about BoF4.

Still, I LOVED BoF: Dragon Quarter. As mentioned, Sakimoto's work on the music is really incredible, the game has a great sense of progression (I always felt like I was working towards a goal and getting closer and closer with every step I took), the levels are very atmospheric and vary quite a bit stylistically, the characters felt very human and the Antz minigame was both hilarious and addictive. Oh, and yeah, the battle system is amazing. Alongside Chrono Trigger, it's probably the best RPG battle system I've ever seen.

 

[pigeon_of_doom]

I ended up clipping hedges on parts I could've gone into more detail on, especially the side stuff like the learnable skills, the Fairy Village, the dragon forms and upgrades, and the mini-games.

While I have no idea how large a part those things have in the game, was it really worth leaving out? I understand you were trying to avoid being long winded, but it just doesn't strike me as an ideal attitude towards games that have as much content and deep combat systems as the typical RPG tends to have. As I haven't played the game, I can't comment on anything you may have missed out, and what you've written about is done well, but I'm not sure how good an overview of the entire game it is. The people who've actually played the game who've posted comments seem to think the review was good, so I'm probably imagining issues because it's not as long a review as I tend to like.

Good review, and I thought the first paragraph especially was fantastic, except perhaps the last line. "Drudging through the desert landscapes" has an unheralded negative connotation that seems completely at odds with the rest of the paragraph. Was "drudging" really the best verb choice? Or have I just completely missed the point?

 

[scotth266]

A decent review: it doesn't flow as well as some of your other ones, but it's still pretty good.

I'm interested in this game now, and with the hilarious discovery that my brother's PS3 can play PS1 games, I might give this title a shot.