Breath of Fire (1993 Video Game) User Reviews

Playing with Dragon Fire!!!

[Foreverisacastironmess123 · 8/10 · 16 June 2019]

This was a very pleasant surprise for me when I first ever played it on the Gameboy Advance port, story and thematically it was functional and quite enjoyable without being especially deep or complex and it never exactly shined in the personality department like a game such as Secret of Mana did, but it was a tale that you could easily get into and consistently enjoy playing right to the end. It had a very diverse array of lovable characters that came in all shapes, sizes and colours, they were also all hybrids of humans and some kind of animal, and they were all a little odd but you cared about and grew attached to them, and overall to me at least it was definitely a solid and satisfying RPG gaming experience, and while it was flawed in some areas, to say it was Capcom's first ever foray into the RPG genre it sure wasn't half bad. Set in a fantasy medieval looking type world, the main protagonist is a young blue-haired warrior named Ryu because Capcom, who embarks on a dangerous quest to rescue his sister from the Dark Dragon clan, an evil militaristic organization who are bringing darkness to the land and are growing in power, fueled by the promises of a mysterious goddess... Ryu hails from an ancient lineage of beings who have the ability to morph into mighty dragons, and he is joined by a motley group of fighters from various races, all of which have grudges to settle against the Dark Dragons and seek justice and retribution against them! The cast of heroes you can choose to use four of in a team are large, but most of them are quite lame and weak in a battle, and you'll probably end up using certain ones no matter what you do.. I always tended to keep Nina the winged princess in my party because she was a great healer, Ryu because of his general great physical attack strength and awesome dragon forms, once she becomes available the ancient snake woman Blue, because she levels up so much faster than everybody else and her most powerful spells are more effective than most physical attacks, and Kain because of his fantastic fusion ability that lets you combine three characters into one, the best result of which being Puka, the deceptively adorable tiny duckbilled dragon that comes packing with a devastating attack! It's all pretty straightforward apart from when you have to carry out rather monotonous tasks in order further the plot that force you to go through a lot of slow backtracking to many places as you walk painfully slow...there is no option to run! Most of the experience necessary to gain in statistical strength and money in order to buy better weapons and armor, will be done while traversing the many twisting caves and dungeons that lay under the green overworld, and fight an endless deluge of monstrosities, and let me tell you, the encounter game of this game is freaking barbaric, I don't think I ever took more then five steps before another damn floating blue bird head, zombie, or killer fly swarm would pop up to attack me! Very monotonous in no time and it will just about make you want to pull your hair out...but, with these early RPG games ya gotta learn to make friends with the grinding aspect because in a way it forms a big part of the enjoyment and appeal. I love the three dimensional layout of the battle screen, it gave a good sense of scale as well as urgency during the boss fights, where, after you bring their health bar down to nothing, they get a second wind, and you have no idea how much energy they have left! I liked how there were symbols for commands, like there was a sword for physical attack and a staff for magic..gave it a distinctive look and feel. So love it or hate it, the first Breath of Fire was an imperfect but solid and satisfying minor gem of the 16-bit era and in my opinion is still well worth the time of getting into it if you've never had the pleasure, I only wish I'd have played it as a kid... Good game! X

Took awhile to really get going good.

[Aaron1375 · 7/10 · 17 February 2008]

One of the first role playing games that I remember playing that had a daytime and nighttime in it, this was an okay game to play. Kind of a final fantasy light. The fact it was night and sometimes day was one of its differences, that and the lead characters ability to turn into a dragon set this one apart a bit. However, at first, the story is very slow going with the only real good story bit coming in the town where zombies attacked at night. The story has an evil dragon empire trying to take over the world and of course your character is the only one who can challenge it. Once you get through a rather drab set of missions the story really kicks off and becomes more fun. Especially, when your character can become a super powered dragon, at this point the game becomes easier. It is a bit hard at first too, which is what really hinders the story as there are a bit to many random encounters. The fights get quicker though near the end as you learn more powerful transformations, in fact the last boss is not a problem if you use the most powerful technique.

More than a game...

[blackchain-370-782609 · 10/10 · 15 May 2012]

I am not an easy judge to please, but Breath of Fire has qualities that have been forgotten in the world of gaming. A story so complex and engaging, it has you hooked from the moment you turn on the console. In the years to follow its release, people forgot about the Super Nintendo, and games on N64 and Playstation would dominate the market, but among my decently extensive game collection, Breath of Fire sticks out as a gem of storytelling genius. For the gamer interested in beautifully crafted stories of adventure, it is my opinion that this game is comparable to Final Fantasy VII! An easy favorite that is deserving of more praise than it has been given!

A childhood favorite

[Rectangular_businessman · 8 August 2021]

I really liked playing this game back then. It was one of my favorite fantasy games, along with Final Fantasy IV and Ogre Battle.

Back then, I didn't knew that this game has more than one ending, so when I ended getting the "bad" ending, I was underwhelmed by it, thinking that it was too rushed and unsastifying.

Unsurprisingly, the "good" ending is the one which gives a proper resolution to the plot.

I think this game deserves a bit more of recognition. It was very fun to play.

Ryu is a manakete

[charlesrollan · 10/10 · 10 October 2021]

Breath of fire is a really good game but is ryu a manakete in this game the game also needs classes.