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The Breath of Fire series' 20th anniversary

Tizoc

Member
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Hardcore Gaming 101 entry

Right so 20 years ago, the 1st BoF game was released in Japan, and some months later in the US in the same year.
The series from 1-4 at least, are your typical turn based jRPG games, although 3 is considered the best in the series (I personally like 4).
The BoF series feature distinct similarities in each game: The main character is called Ryu, there is always a female winged human character called Nina, the main character has the ability to transform into dragons.

The last mainline BoF game was released on the PS2, titled Dragon Quarter and featured a system similar to how in Dead Rising, you could restart the game with your previous stats and abilities. There were some Mobile games released in Japan only between 2003-2008.

Availability wise, BoF 1 and 2 were re-released on the GBA but sadly have weak translation.
BoF 3 was released on PSX and PSP, but neither ver. are available on PSN.
BoF 4 was released to PSX and PC, the PSX ver. is available on US PSN and is also Vita compatible.
BoF 5 was released on PS2, but has yet to be on PSN.

There are no plans to released a new BoF game, although I personally wouldn't mind an official retranslation/re-release of BoF 1 and 2 on Handhelds and TouchPhones.

As stated previously I personally like BoF 4 mainly as it was my first BoF, but would like to put time into the other games were I had the chance (I did play BoF 1 and 2 on GBA but the translation turned me off sad to say).

Speaking of BoF4, the English released changed or removed a few elements, such as Scias being drunk in the Japanese ver., and removing a few scenes in the Japanese releases.
Interestingly enough, it's cover art for both the Japanese and English release are similar.

Does anyone know who the main artists on the series are from 1 through 5?
 
Capcom: What's Breath of Fire?
Capcom knows. They added Breath of Fire characters as cards for H&H mode in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and Nina was just added as a card in the Onimusha Souls game with a redesign. Nina was also featured in Capcom's recent calendar (1-2 years ago).

Edit: OP, Tatsuya Yoshikawa is the character artist for all 5 games in the Breath of Fire series.

Edit2: A quick plug for Breath of Fire II Nina to appear in a future Capcom fighting game:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=30577516&postcount=12480
 
I actually own that art book. There's so many great pieces of art, every time I open it up I end up wanting to pick up a game again.

I grabbed Breath of Fire V for cheap at my local Book Off last week actually. Love the Japanese box art! Fabulous game too, though I know that's not the popular opinion.

 
I love Breath of Fire 2, 3 and 4. 1 and Dragon Quarter not so much. The latter two were a little too difficult for my taste.

The games themselves are pretty standard JRPGs, but I really appreciated how all the party members had overworld skills. It sounds like something really small, but considering how few other RPGs ended up doing something like this, it still left an impression on me.

I'd definitely like another entry, but considering how silent Capcom has been over the years, I'm not holding my non-firey breath.

Does anyone know who the main artists on the series are from 1 through 5?
The series' artist is Tatsuya Yoshikawa. He's done quite a few of Capcom projects. Definitely worth looking into the artbooks if you can.
 

Tizoc

Member
I actually own that art book. There's so many great pieces of art, every time I open it up I end up wanting to pick up a game again.

I grabbed Breath of Fire V for cheap at my local Book Off last week actually. Love the Japanese box art! Fabulous game too, though I know that's not the popular opinion.

Nice! I own the PS2 PAL ver., which I believe has a 60 Hz option. Couldn't play much of it last time I did due to other games ^_^;
 
Damn, though this was an announcement of some cool celebration products or even a new game. My naive heart will break one of these days.
 

Tizoc

Member
Damn, though this was an announcement of some cool celebration products or even a new game. My naive heart will break one of these days.

I'd settle for a re-print of the artbook, published by Udon. Hope their upcoming Artbooks sell well enough for them to publish ones for other Capcom series.
 
I only played the 2nd one on SNES.

I got far but my save file was erased when the game glitched on me.

I never played the game again.
 

urfe

Member
I'm so pissed that I can't play BoF III on my Vita (Japanese PSP version doesn't work on it).

Mediocre series that I loved.
 

Broach

Banned
I...sad... ;(


Does yoshikawa still work at crapcom?
Love his artworks

Last Ranker was the most recent game he worked on I think.

That game got quite a bit of Breath of Fire staff on it, while it was developed by imagepoech and published by Capcom.

I think it's sorta kinda a spiritual replacemnt to Breath of Fire?
 

Arthea

Member
I'm so pissed that I can't play BoF III on my Vita (Japanese PSP version doesn't work on it).

Mediocre series that I loved.

mediocre? that so sad
I think that after 5th installment, they simply lost direction like blind kitties. Would like me a new BoF, not on handhelds, sorry but no.
They made something BoF related on iOS this gen, didn't they?

I liked BoF1 more than 2.

Really?
that's hardly possible, second is first only much better.
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
If they can't make a new BoF, they could at least "remake" BoF I and II, like new sprites or making it 3D.
 

Shahed

Member
For being a big JRPG fan, I've never played a Breath of Fire game. I really should get around to it at some point. I own 4 in PSN I believe
 
A nice timely reminder that we'll probably never get another game in the series. Fuck you capcom.
Sigh this, I know Capcom doesn't have the RPG team to bother with this series anymore but I so want another game to the series. I mean what person doesn't want to play a game series where the main character transforms to a dragon T_T. Capcom just give Camelot a go on the series, they're willing to revive it T_T
 

Jacobbles

Member
Breath of Fire III (PSP) is on the EU PSN and comes highly recommended. I've been playing it on my Vita lately and so far it's a really solid JRPG. It's quite cheap too!

I really should go back and play the other ones at some point.
 

Ricker

Member
I actually own that art book. There's so many great pieces of art, every time I open it up I end up wanting to pick up a game again.

I grabbed Breath of Fire V for cheap at my local Book Off last week actually. Love the Japanese box art! Fabulous game too, though I know that's not the popular opinion.


The only one I never played,hearing about how hard it was scared me off...

And how can you have a 20th anniversay anime portrait without Momo(in the OP)... ;)
 

Chairhome

Member
if you really liked 1-4, there is a chance, you won't like 5th (Dragon Quarter). I didn't.

I'm getting that vibe from the other posts in this thread, haha. Its weird though, I remember hearing a lot of people liking Dragon Quarter on NeoGAF.
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
What I like about BoFI-III is that they revolve around
going against the main god, who has protected them over centuries. I like the one especially in III where Myria has good intentions and has fully protected the world from harm by sacrificing the Dragon clan. It's either you kill her and set the world free from her protection, or be under her forever.

IV is a bit different, but it's
certainly more grim than the other BoFs. I mean Elina's legs transforming into a grotesque organ tree thing and the sacrifice of Mami, a good and loving person, who was tortured and sacrificed for the Carronade.
.
 

cackhyena

Member
I'm getting that vibe from the other posts in this thread, haha. Its weird though, I remember hearing a lot of people liking Dragon Quarter on NeoGAF.

It was so refreshing. If you've had enough time away from the more formulaic first 4 entries, try Dragon Quarter out, if possible. Loved it. The music alone was so good.
 

Arthea

Member
I'm getting that vibe from the other posts in this thread, haha. Its weird though, I remember hearing a lot of people liking Dragon Quarter on NeoGAF.

It's one of those games that people like, when fans of series hate :)
I don't really hate it, just don't think it is a BoF game.
 

Durante

Member
The games themselves are pretty standard JRPGs
Dragon Quarter is anything but standard though. And one of the best JRPGs of all time, way ahead of the curve.

I'm getting that vibe from the other posts in this thread, haha. Its weird though, I remember hearing a lot of people liking Dragon Quarter on NeoGAF.
That's because people on GAF have exquisite taste.

But seriously, Dragon Quarter does so many things so much better than most JRPGs before (and after) it. It's like the Ultima 7 of JRPGs in terms of how far ahead of its time it was.
 
Sigh this, I know Capcom doesn't have the RPG team to bother with this series anymore but I so want another game to the series. I mean what person doesn't want to play a game series where the main character transforms to a dragon T_T. Capcom just give Camelot a go on the series, they're willing to revive it T_T

I'd be willing to bet that a new breath of fire for the 3DS could do very well for itself. At this point i've given up hoping and just settled for replaying the old games from the franchise because i know it's as good as dead.
 

redlemon

Member
I'm getting that vibe from the other posts in this thread, haha. Its weird though, I remember hearing a lot of people liking Dragon Quarter on NeoGAF.

Dragon Quarter is really good (It's the only breath of fire I've actually played) but it's easy to be put off by the fact that it's designed so even if your really good you still have to play it twice at the very least. I use cheats back in the day to beat it but I wouldn't mind going back and doing a legit run of it someday.
 
Why isn't IV on PSN (or was it III?)? I've been wanting to play III and IV for a long time now, but one of them being on PSN and the other one not really killed my mood since I like playing games in order.
 

Aeana

Member
I didn't like Dragon Quarter the first time I tried it. Expectations definitely got in the way. I went back to it some years later and fell in love, though.
 

luokyl

Member
I first played Breath of Fire 1 and thought it was incredibly boring.

And then BoF2 came along and blew my mind a little. That kind of deep story was something I'd never seen before (I was young!).

Never got into BoF 3 or 4 though, gave them a try but could never get into it.
 
Why isn't IV on PSN (or was it III?)? I've been wanting to play III and IV for a long time now, but one of them being on PSN and the other one not really killed my mood since I like playing games in order.

IV is on PSN, but III isn't. Those two are my favorite in the series, though III ranks a little bit higher for me than IV. Finding Teepo at the very end then having to choose what to do always bummed me out. =[
 

Syril

Member
The series' artist is Tatsuya Yoshikawa. He's done quite a few of Capcom projects. Definitely worth looking into the artbooks if you can.

Funny enough, the character designer for the first game was actually Keiji Inafune, which explains this piece of artwork.
bof1-misc01_zps37027790.jpg

Yoshikawa replaced him as illustrator during development.
 
A new Breath of Fire game, on 3DS for example (to keep it relatively cheap to develop), would be really cool to see. Sadly I think they're done.
Breath of Fire 2 and 4 are my favorites, then 3, then 1. Never got into Dragon Quarter, but I will eventually.
 

Ledsen

Member
Dragon Quarter is anything but standard though. And one of the best JRPGs of all time, way ahead of the curve.

That's because people on GAF have exquisite taste.

But seriously, Dragon Quarter does so many things so much better than most JRPGs before (and after) it. It's like the Ultima 7 of JRPGs in terms of how far ahead of its time it was.

Indeed. Dragon Quarter was a brilliant breath of fresh air. The art, the music, the save system, the dragon meter, every aspect of the game contributed towards one common vision. "Cohesive" is the word I would use to describe it. Rarely do you see such clearly realized game design in today's genre-melding melting pot of "everything but the kitchen sink" design philosophy.
 
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