| Breath Of Fire 4 The third instalment was a classic but still lacked certain things that kept it a far distance away from the RPG crown. It didn't have a story up to the standards of say Suikoden or the Final Fantasy series, although it was still a decent read and also it didn't have many things that other RPG's already didn't apart from having the option to turn into many different dragon forms in battle, which was the only real difference in combat to most other traditional RPG's and the master system was pretty original as well. But BOF4 is closer to the crown then the series has ever been before, not bad but does it make strong opposition for the current RPG leaders? BOF4 has everything you have come to expect from a BOF game with Ryu and Nina once again returning but in a different story a bit like actors playing different roles, the city of Wyndia also makes an appearance and not to forget the dragon transformations which in ways aren't as great as BOF3 but more on that later, oh and that fishing sub game also makes a welcome return. One of the most surprising aspects of BOF4 is the visual style which has a much more realistic appearance then the previous games, characters still appear cartoon like but this time they have a little more anime in them. The towns are detailed but not quite as good looking as BOF3 its also pretty tough to guide your characters round many of them because the rotatable camera doesn't always do what you tell it to do and this was the first real problem I found with BOF4, but thankfully the camera is easier to use in dungeons. The graphics have moved on a lot since BOF3. In the first town you come across on your epic quest you will almost be thrown straight into a sub game where you have to keep feeding a man to get information out of him, being careful not to give him too much by watching two meters, this is just the first of many sub games you will encounter throughout the game, other examples include chasing chickens into a cage and digging for machinery parts. These mini games are either very easy or stupidly hard and many are entertaining! Sadly the start of the game is a bit over the top with sub games, there�s just too many! But thankfully you do get a rest later on. The story of BOF4 is less simplistic and much better then BOF3 and starts out with Nina searching for her sister with Cray a Rei (who is from BOF3) look-alike but their vehicle is damaged while on the way, Nina then sets outs to seek out parts to repair it but instead finds main hero Ryu and that�s how the incredible quest begins. (SPOILER) Early on in the game you get to control the main bad guy character Fou Lou who has risen from the dead, the story follows both Ryus and Fou Lou's actions throughout and its pretty cool seeing the perspective from both the light and the dark sides. Combat is once again random but has a few changes. For a start you have the option to switch between the six-team members while in battle to recover AP (which allows you to use magic) or to bring one to the front row with more effective magic against that certain enemy. Most of the characters have actions that they only can perform from the back row like Ershins cover fire and Nina�s cheering (which recovers all three in the front rows hp) This new feature is a welcome new addition to a combat system which needed some new ideas. Now about the dragons. Ryu can now summon dragons to aid him in battle, these rival even Final Fantasy�s summon spells in looks but thankfully you only have to watch the lengthy animations once, after that a press of the X button will skip them and go straight to the thing you want to see most which is mass damage, you only can summon each dragon once then you must rest at an inn to be able to call it again. Page 2 |
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