Breath of Fire Review (Super Nintendo, 1994)

While role playing games were nothing new during the 16-bit era several developers with no previous experience in this genre tried their hand at it. This was in the wake of the million selling Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy series, but the results from these attempts to break into the market were a little mixed.  For every Tales of Phantasia (Namco) you had two or three Secret of the Stars (Tecmo). Capcom was at the height of their popularity with the arcade smash Street Fighter II and their classic Mega Man franchise when they decided to throw their hat into the RPG ring. While Breath of Fire wasn’t their first role playing game it was a noticeable attempt to start a franchise.  Despite seeing several sequels Capcom has all but forgotten about the series (with the exception of a new mobile title) but I still look back on Breath of Fire fondly from time to time. The original is misunderstood in my opinion. Today I’m here to take a look at it.

It’s obvious from the opening sequence that the developers weren’t trying to push any boundaries or venture outside of the norm in regards to scenario. Breath of Fire takes place in a medieval world full of magic and monsters. You play as a blue haired youth named Ryu who belongs to a clan of humans with the power of light dragons. Unfortunately their powers are fading, and an attack from the rival dark dragons leaves the lone village in shambles. To make matters worse the most powerful of the light dragons, Sara (who just happens to be the sister of our protagonist) has been kidnapped. Ryu sets out into the world to save her and set things right in the world. The story and lore are compelling, but the execution is what often turns off fans of the genre. There’s very little characterization (Ryu is one of those oh so typical silent protagonists) and the individual members of the cast feature very little dialogue. This was at a time when the Final Fantasy franchise was pushing the boundaries in video game storytelling. The focus here is on vignettes with vast amounts of time wherein the overarching story is in the background. Personally I don’t have a problem with this, but I can understand how some might. One aspect that’s worth touching upon is the fact that humanoid animals co-exist with humans in this world which makes for some incredibly memorable and unique characters. This is a tradition that continued with the rest of the series.

Gameplay on the other hand is extremely similar to early Final Fantasy titles (sans the active time battle system). Breath of Fire features an elaborate world map (complete with large character sprites and different types of terrain) which you must traverse to reach new towns and dungeons. It is here (and within pretty much everywhere that isn’t a town) that you encounter enemies at random. Battles take place on a separate screen showing your characters and opponents, but in a rather interesting twist the play field is diagonal displaying your party on the lower right hand side and enemies just opposite.  It’s not a significant difference, but enough to help this title carve out its own identity. Battles are strictly turn based. You select commands from a list that include attack, defend, magic, item, and run. Gameplay is in the classic style meaning that the action comes to a standstill while you make your selections for each character, and these are carried out only when you’re done. Battles end when all characters in your party run out of hit points or when they’ve whittled away all HP from their foes. It’s very standard far up to this point, but a few distinct and original features help Breath of Fire to carve out its own niche within the overarching genre.

The highlight feature in this title is Ryu’s innate ability to transform into dragons in the midst of combat. You can’t perform this action until a specific point in the game, but it is unlocked just a few hours into the adventure. While in dragon form Ryu’s can only attack, but his power is increased exponentially and each form offers a different element applied to the primary attack. This means that most of these are useful throughout the game as you’ll encounter enemies with a myriad of different weaknesses. Capcom didn’t leave the other characters out in the cold; with specific (and usually well hidden) spells up to three different characters can combine to form a party member with all of their combined stats. This is an excellent feature that before this point I had never seen in a role playing game. The major plus is that this combined form only takes up one of the four party member slots which virtually eliminates any drawbacks. The other characters on their own fit snuggly in the classic archetypes. You have physical fighters, spell users, and everything in between. You’re given reign to select your party from all seven other members which is great.

If there’s one aspect of the game Capcom nailed then it’s definitely the exploration. The world map is huge with a ton of areas to travel to as you search every nook and cranny. In addition each party member has a particular skill you’ll need during your journey. Unfortunately you can only make use of this by having them at the forefront of your party which leads to a lot of switching around.  For example, Bo is the only one of your group that can travel through dense forests, Karn can disable traps within dungeons, the fish man Gobi can travel underwater from specific beaches (effectively doubling the size of the world map), Ox can break walls (often useful in unlocking previously inaccessible areas full of treasure) and more.  This dynamic adds a lot of depth to exploration and is one of my favorite features of this game even if it does cause some repetition. The dungeon designs are also top notch with many branching paths, useful treasures, and unique elements (elevators, moving floors, locked doors, etc.) to keep things interesting. Breath of Fire will definitely appeal to obsessive compulsive fans who love a good treasure hunt.

Breath of Fire is a little on the simple side in terms of graphics. Unlike most other developers Capcom didn’t focus on fancy hardware features such as mode 7 scaling or rotational effects. Instead you have a simple sprite based affair with few bells and whistles, but it’s pretty enough in my opinion. One thing I absolutely love is how colorful this title is. The environments all look incredible and the vibrant scheme adds greatly to the fantasy setting. The most impressive graphical effect is the fact that most of the enemies are animated in battle. While most are very basic (such as blinking or breathing) others swing weapons above their heads and even hop around. Their attacks are also animated which is above and beyond what most developers were pushing in this genre at the time. Even moreso than the graphics the music is truly impressive. No less than four composers were used here, and it shows with a variety of different styles. These guys truly knew how to take advantage of the Super Nintendo’s fancy sound chip and they went with a more orchestrated style for this release. I’ve never seen a Super Nintendo title that can simulate the sound of a real piano as well as this one. This is one of the few soundtracks I regularly listen to.