While this game was overall somewhat of an improvement over the original, the fact that it was SOOOO overlong and tedious with random battles makes it almost worse in my mind. It barely looked any better than the first one, and was absolutely more difficult (and not for good, fun challenge type reason). I appreciate the Shaman system, and some of the improvements to the aesthetics, but in the end it feels like the story just didn’t quite the characters justice enough to have them be meaningful. Not terrible, but still not great.

Score Breakdown

“The Tale”
Story- 7
Pacing- 4
Characters- 6
Originality- 7
Linearity- 7
Length- 5
Epicness- 8

“The Presentation”
Visuals- 7
Display- 8
Music- 6
Sound FX- 7

“The Mechanics”
Ease of Use- 5
Innovation- 5
Replayability- 3

Breath of fire is a mid 90s turn based RPG which set the scene for many aspects of RPG play that can still be seen in games today.
Much like a child born to a mother who had a healthy addiction to unhealthy crystal meth, when this game was born it had all the parts necessary for the game of the year but sadly they were all in the wrong place and not quite proportionate to the rest of the body… I mean game.

In an RPG, and especially Japanese ones, the story is all a little flip-flop and vague but it is never the less still there. BoF fits nicely into this category by giving you an epic plot within five minutes involving dragons, chosen ones and long lost family members and immediately drops it in favor of finding a lost pig and visiting the circus for eight solid hours.
Imbalance in the leveling system twinned with the Japanese love of never ending leveling makes playing this game a bit like trying to binge-watch an anime series you know nothing about. About four hours into the game/series you start to realize that you have made a terrible mistake. Sheer boredom sets in and the only reason you don’t stop is that you really want to know if the next town sells the better fishing rod so you can finally catch the fourth largest fish on the… well you get my point. Plot development is more of a rumor than a reality. And when it finally does occur you had better fucking remember the three word sentence someone un-important said in that town which is your ONLY clue where to go and will never be repeated. If you miss it, however, well fuck you. Enjoy grinding backwards and forwards between vast expanse of the maps with endless random encounters that you can’t escape from, looking for the guy with an axe you need or some shit.

Conclusion: In conclusion I can only say that this game should be avoided but at the same time I feel like we all would benefit from playing it a little. It would teach us that no matter where you go in life you are going to be shat on by random encounters, incompetent NPCs and imbalanced game play, but it’s nostalgic and charming and nothing can compare with the joy felt and finally nailing that fucking fish you have been after since level 2.