Reviewers Rants: Breath of Fire III

When I was young I had the pleasure of watching my older brothers play Breath of Fire and Breath of Fire II, as the youngest of three brothers, I didn't expect much more than to watch, and I was okay with that idea for the most part. I enjoyed the story, the art, the characters, and the gameplay. Each game was a masterful addition to the JRPG world (before there was any real difference between RPGs and JRPGS). As I grew older, I grew up to want to play those same games, but as we didn't own those games and the rental store had long since sold their copies, I decided to play Breath of Fire III.

 

Breath of Fire III was a Capcom masterpiece in the same realm as Resident Evil, Street Fighter II, and most great RPGs of that time. In fact, it came around during a major era in the history of video games. The boom of 1998, the same boom that brought us Half-Life, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid, StarCraft, Banjo-Kazooie, Grim Fandango, Resident Evil II, Spyro the Dragon and many more. A regular golden age of gaming that led me to playing one of my favorite games ever made.

 

Now, to preface this, I use the words "one of my favorite" because, well, I don't have any one TRUE favorite. Instead, I have a sizable list of things that I can call my favorites for one reason or another (indecisive much, am I right?). To the inevitable question of, "why are you talking about Breath of Fire III all of a sudden", the answer is quite simple. I started playing it again. Easily, this should be my eighth full playthrough, and with that, I thought I would commemorate my eighth time through this great story by reviewing the game on my new blog. So, here we are!

 

Breath of Fire III places us in the role of Ryu, our titular hero (and if you have played the other Breath of Fire games) the cyclical, reused hero who's mysterious past and ancestry gives him the magical power to transform into a dragon. Now, in Breath of Fire III we are introduced to Ryu as a whelp of a dragon trapped inside a purple crystal with two miners preparing that section of the mine for expansion. After being awakened by a blast from explosive charges, Ryu proceeds to defend himself and escape the mine (killing nearly everyone in his way), but before he can make it to the exit, he is stopped, captured, and packed into a cage for transport. After escaping from the train, Ryu meets Rei and Teepo, two orphan ruffians/thieves who are scraping to get by in a small village.

 

To save this from becoming some lengthy recap of the story of Breath of Fire III, I've decided to forego continuing the long explanation of why this game's story has influenced me as a writer. Breath of Fire III offers a rather well done Hero's Journey with a cycle of growth and change, discovering who Ryu is as well as delving into the relationships he forges along the way with his teammates. The fact that the story is compelling enough to drive you forward from low to high to low and back again makes Breath of Fire III a spectacularly well-written story.

 

The graphics are relatively great considering the lack of a true 3D visual as most pieces are simply intricately hand-drawn sprites that have been rendered into the game in an isometric perspective. The artwork is stunning and creates a real desire to explore the world as you experience everything the story has to offer. Each character and monster is given majorly identifying points that make them each immediately recognizable, Ryu has his blue hair, Nina has her pink dress, Momo has her rabbit ears and mortarboard, Garr is literally a giant dragon-looking beast with wings, Rei has his long ponytail and braid, Teepo's purple hair, and let's not forget Peco's onion body. Naturally, these are just the main characters, the NPCs are just as recognizable, such as the Unicorn/Stallion brothers Balio and Sunder are easily some of the most memorable villains ever.

 

Now, of course we can't talk about a game without talking about its gameplay. That would be just silly. Combat is an absolute joy to deal with in most cases as your command menu is split up into 6 different buttons: Attack, Guard, Inspect, Item, Magic, Run, and Charge. All of these, minus Charge and Escape, can be accessed by either a simple double-press of the D-Pad or by pressing over to that option and hitting X. The magic system is beautifully animated, even if magic itself is incredibly underpowered in most cases. Ryu's Dragon forms are all intricately crafted works of art on the battlefield, the gene system is a beautiful way to integrate elements into the dragon world, and the fact that you can learn skills from enemies to use against them on top of the skills you learn from levelling up under the tutelage of masters is an ingenious way to build a game with this much detail.

 

The game itself wasn't received with massive appeal and approval, but was still regarded with some high praise. Most critics giving it a higher than average rating, and in that I agree. The game, while nowhere near perfect is worthy of high praise. The implementation of soothing Jazz style music in the soundtrack, the masterful artwork, and the compelling story draw you into every moment of the game.

 

Some people might say that Breath of Fire IV is the better of the two, and I would agree in most situations, but Breath of Fire III has always had a special place in my heart. From watching my brothers play its predecessors to playing for hours and experiencing every aspect of the game that I could, Breath of Fire III is a great timeless RPG that I can still play with eager joy and excitement.