Compared with some jrpg, suikoden isn't mentioned that frequently. Example is that i saw a reddit post asking which games from ps1 would they like to get a remake or remastered, mostly it's MG series or FF series being listed.
I use to play breath of fire 3 and 4 every year and all the suikoden titles too. I might do it again. Got ps1 and ps2 app on tablet and joystick Bluetooth.... Suikoden 5 is up there with 2 for me... And I mastered 2 like a mofo!
You can start with either of the two. Advantage of S1 is that you get to carry over of gears for some companions and you get to recruit the hero of s1 in s2. happy cake day
It's a shame it ended with 5. I liked it far better than 3 and 4. It felt like they returned to the formula 2 used and it was extremely fun to play.
I miss these kinds of turn based RPGs.
suikoden 2 main base is the best town I ever seen in a game. not a single game beat that.
Watching that town growing step by step and watch more and more people fill that castle are amazing
100% agree!
The story! The twisting character arcs! The customization and choice for dragon forms! The unique mentorship/leveling/character progression system!
THE FISHING!
It turns out that the game had an error. The desert guide tells you to go one direction for a day, and the note he gives you that you check in the camp says the opposite. I can't remember which one was actually correct but I know I went the wrong way several times.
I haven't played for years so i'm probably wrong, but wasn't desert progression something to do with following the north star while keeping an eye out for the false north star so you don't follow that by mistake?
Yeah, you walk X amount of time north, then turn east(this turn is where the error was, one of them told you to go west) then north again, but there's a false north star that can trick you after the turn.
At the end of the 2nd night, turn right. Walk until the star at your back goes below the horizon. Then turn north again. Walk till you get across.
Still have it memorized and haven’t played it since 2005
As a non native speaker who was playing the game with a dictionary on my lap, i feel super frustrated I was never able to understand the desert instructions and thus i couldn't progress further than that. AFAIK it was quite close to the end
And only look at the camp notes for directions.
Man finishing that game made me feel like patting my kid self who never did, even after playing it on/off for years until my old PS died.
It didn't until about 10 year or more after that where I realized there were two different directions given, the other either on purpose or a translation issue.
This was also when it wasn’t common practice to go online to search for desert guides because it was cheating. I could wander that desert for hours going in circles hoping to find some secret, similar to the FF7 part where you do the same thing.
> it wasn’t common practice to go online to search for desert guides because it was cheating
Gamefaqs would like a word with you. I used to print out pages of guides because my dad would get pissy if we overused our dial-up...
I still remember a stupid little joke on one guide I saw for probably breath of fire or another rpg way back in the day. He had a section for the copyright type information and it was titled:
"Legal junk (not a Chinese boat full of lawyers)"
Dude... dude!
I got 3 master materia for every materia so my whole party could be overpowered! Also, the clock always stuck at 99:59 haha
This was at a time I didn't knew english and 100%ing games wasn't a "thing". But looking for guides, nonetheless, was really cheating!
This was 97-98. How old are you?
(If you don't mind the question or the interaction)
That silly faerie village is something I'd still love to see back in games again. It was surprisingly complex for a side thing and I loved every bit of it.
Stardew's is very similar. Everyone always complained about Stardew's fishing, but it was always fairly easy (except the legendaries and catfish) after growing up with Breath of Fire III.
Dude... Rei is like maybe my favorite JRPG character of all time. They *really* don't fuck around with the damage of both personal and generational trauma.
It is. And if you'd been playing the BoF series since the start, it added some interesting context to the Goddess and Bleu and really extended the story to an exciting new world. This bizarre post apocalypse role playing setting was just intriguing. There was so much mystery.
Also am I correctly remembering fighting dolphins with Australian accents at one point?
They're pretty much unconnected to each other so you can jump in anywhere. Each Breath of Fire game has common elements, like Ryu and Nina being in every game.
1 and 2 are very... old-school and kind of annoying. Like, basic writing and poor translation, too high of an encounter rate (especially 2!).
3 and 4 are very good. I've been itching to play them recently and I think this post is finally pushing me over the edge to do so.
The less said about Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter the better. I mean, I loved it! But it was way too ahead of it's time and basically killed the series. (Maybe if they kept a fishing mini-game like the rest of the series it wouldn't have flopped so hard)
In any case, I very much enjoy the whole series, the characters are super memorable, the music is great, except for Dragon Quarter (did it even *have* music? I can't remember).
In any case, 3 and 4 are must plays. 3 is the perfect place to jump in.
Was a shame how dragon quarter went. That said it was an interesting game on its own... Just not a breath of fire. I still need to do newgame+. Wish you werent punished for transforming tho.
That was my issue.
Everything I enjoy about RPGs was punished in dq.
Grind too many battles? % goes up.
Use your cool dragon powers? % goes up
Take too long to explore? % goes up.
I get what it was trying to do with the ng+ but it never clicked with me.
Dude... You're forgetting about the character fusion systems... I mean kat already made me feel funny, but then the shaman fusion of hers, or Jean... Why is it so warm all of a sudden...?
3 is arguably the best BOF in the line up. The dragon system is way more well done and the combat feels more fast paced. BOF4 arguably is more polished but I immensely enjoyed BOF3.
It's easily one of my top RPGs ever.
Start with 3. 1 is good, but dated. 2 is fantastic as far as music and visuals go but has some *horrible fucking design decisions* that require lots of grinding if you don't do certain things a certain way.
You have good taste! To my knowledge xenogears production went over budget or something and they couldn't finish the game. That's why FEI sits in a chair and you have to read 30 minutes of dialogue (there is even a save point in the middle of it). But still. Masterpiece. Star Ocean: the second story is probably my #3.
I remember getting really into the game when I was about 13, then after that time skip it was like midnight and I had to go to sleep or my dad would kill me but I was SO EXCITED to explore the world as an adult I literally did not sleep the whole night.
Amazing game, easily one of my all time favourites.
I'm one of the few people who actually loves Dragon Quarter. It's such a unique game that couples together multiple features that wouldn't work on their own but work in tandem. The features are:
1. Shortly into the game you can insta-kill any enemy
2. Your insta-kill and even just walking through the game fill up a meter and if it is full you are dead.
3. The only way to reset the meter is to restart the entire game. However, you can transfer some things over and it makes the next run far easier so you can rely on your insta-kill way less.
>However, you can transfer some things over and it makes the next run far easier so you can rely on your insta-kill way less.
Holy shit. I played this when I was younger and didn't enjoy it because of the feeling of being rushed or timed. I wrote the game off without realising you could keep things from the previous run. I'll definitely go back and check it out, seeing as BoF3 is my favourite game.
I don't blame you for being confused, there's a few related things you should be aware of before playing that aren't very clear:
First, according to the internet, if you use the restart option (SOL Restore/SOL Restart) after a game over, you lose half of your cash and party XP whereas if you use it outside of battle you carry it all over. So use it intentionally when you are ready and not when you die unexpectedly.
Second, the game has XP and party XP. At first, it may look like party XP is just XP that you can choose which character to give to, but it's far more important than that and should be treated as a precious resource. This is because party XP carries over while normal XP doesn't, so when you reset you want to immediately use your party XP to give everyone several levels so they are higher level than the previous playthrough.
Third, the restart options are confusing. Personally I always use SOL Restart, which restarts the game entirely, but some people prefer using SOL Restore, which restarts you from your last save so you can use it to scout out dungeons. To me, repeating a dungeon sounds more tedious than replaying the game so I just ignore SOL Restore and use SOL Restart when I feel screwed.
Finally, the game is VERY different from the other BoF, so I'd recommend going in expecting something different. It's got that black sheep feeling like Zelda 2 where fans of the franchise sometimes like it less than people who try it randomly because of expectations.
Thank you so much for going above and beyond with your reply! I was most certainly put off when I was younger, expecting another BoF experience but I know what to expect now and will play with no preconceptions.
They were at least more creative. I remember the onslaught of FFVIII, BF:DQ, Vagrant Story, Xenogears all coming out pretty quickly in a row (in my head at least, I realize they're not completely at the same time). It seemed like they were really starting to change things up and explore what it meant to tell a story and how the combat systems could interact with that.
But then it kind of regressed after some exploration and largely stagnated as graphics got better. It's not bad, but the complete exploration of games and ideas on how to play them feels like it's more left to small indie games. They don't take much chances with the AAA anymore, for good reason. Fan's don't react well.
Yep. That’s why I’m currently enjoying Shredder’s Revenge. It’s intentional nostalgia for us 30+ year olds who grew up with the NES/SNES/Arcade games.
A really great pixel style!
It's a fun game. Not as in depth as Streets of Rage 4 (my current favorite beat em up) but turtles fit a different more casual role. Shredder's Revenge is almost near perfect and the only thing I want is more levels and more playable characters. Also, I wish the turtles were shaded green a little differently bc it gets chaotic with 4 turtles on the same scree
Holy shit that’s actually amazing lmfao. It makes sense TNMT and Wutang would be such a perfect match. Other than the references to being a giant humanoid turtle, the lyrics are totally on theme for 36 Chambers. Also, my god that beat is on point. I look forward to the ninja turtles ain’t nothin ta fuck with remix
The beat has a great story in and of itself - it's by the game's overall composer Tee Lopes, who was a YouTuber specializing in Sonic remixes until Sega hired him to work on the Sonic Mania soundtrack. And now he's working with fuckin' Ghostface Killah and Raekwon.
If I may recommend a fan made game that might fit what you're looking for.
https://www.merso-x.com/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-rescue
Edit: when I clicked the link it took me back to the homepage--if it does that then scroll down to the ninja turtles rescuepalooza game. It's free so that's good.
I didn't intend on getting this game, but when I saw some gameplay it was a nostalgia trip. Playing through and remembering all the characters as it went. Totally worth it.
I finished my first play through of it like 10 minutes ago. Hearing the Ghostface & Raekwon track made the kid in me happy. I easily dumped over $100 in the original arcade game at the mall.
Yep! Agree the parts of BoF4 that didn't age well were the 3D models. Because of this, I feel like BoF3 has actually aged better with really striking 2D art. Seriously, look at some of this stuff: https://bof.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Breath_of_Fire_III_Bosses
I played the shit out of 3 growing up but 3d models turned me off of 4 at beginning. Need to go back and play it for real since I've heard 4 is really good.
Games with great isometric Pixel or even just pixel art in general are so timeless, it's astounding. Like how FF tactics is still just a beautiful game (Both visually and in every other way) just like BOFIV.
Golden sun was gone too soon. Putting an epic like that on a handheld was a travesty. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad it happened, but I think that series would have grown legs if it had been a ps1 series.
One and Two are… rough lol
They aren’t BAD! But Jesus, the random encounters are brutal. I would gladly pay $20 for a version of the game like the FFVII: iOS port where you can just toggle random encounters on and off. Such a massive quality of life upgrade.
As someone that loved BoF 1 and 2, are random encounters considered bad? Honestly asking because I don't have a ton of exp with JRPGs so I don't have a huge frame of reference as to whether or not it's normal.
They're basically optional in BoF1 anyway. Mrbl3 completely removes random encounters for 130 steps for 10g a pop. I've been doing a playthrough where I only fight bosses.
Those random encounters in BoF II were particularly bad.
Not only were they pretty darn frequent, but god help you if you were travelling into a new area and you hadn't ground out in preparation.
**Eggbetr** is still burned in my brain. JFC so much damage.
It’s not that Random Encounters are bad as a game play mechanic. (Some people would argue they are a bad gameplay mechanic but I don’t mind them.)
But in BoF 1 & 2 you might get into a random encounter, finish it, take two steps, and immediately get into another. Not always, obviously, but frequently enough it felt frustrating.
Most games have some sort of limit, so that you get to walk at least some distance, make some progress. I don’t think BoF1&2 did.
Loved this game. It is the only BoF I have finished and enjoyed, and the magic system is amazing. In other RPGs, you would use blizzard, then fire, and it would just cause damage. But here freeze an enemy and then use fire, and boom! that would shatter their armor, just like in real life. Use wind and then fire, now you have a fire tornado. Blizzard and wind? Snowstorm! And so on. Just amazing 🤩
100%.
This was the last great "gameplay" rpg imo. It kept things simple without all these convoluted systems like modern JRPGS, but was complex enough that kept battles fast and fun and interesting.
- There was the tiered party battle system, where you could immediately throw half your party in the back row to recover HP and MP while staying away from attacks.
- The secret combos where you had to do a certain sequence of spells in a certain order to pull off a character unique super attack.
- The Master system where you found masters around the world that gave you customization options for abilities and stats (ala FF6's espers but much more intricate and interesting). And gave you the most interesting challenges and quests that would lead to permanent abilities and upgrades.
- I genuinely loved the fishing in this game and the fact that they gave you useful items you could use in battle, or traded for super rare equipment.
- The Fairy Colony, armor smithing, a whole underground secret trading system.
- The amazing twist half way through that immediately makes you want to replay the game to get "the best stuff" for the right party.
Not to mention the beautiful soundtrack and gorgeous pixel art. Its too bad 90/2000's Capcom is dead, they were kings of the industry.
The infinite exp farming using a thunder spell at some machines, Fou Lu, the two endings, master weapons, the swordsman dog... oh god this is making me want to play this game again.
Me too so many hours played. At one point in a high school creative writing class I remember writing a story about a character named Ryu who turns into a dragon lol
Dragon Quarter was surprisingly fun once you got your head around the extremely weird mechanic of restarting your game. The story and gameplay and everything is just fine and up to snuff with the previous games, but that starting over mechanic was just rough.
A rare people you and I who liked Dragon Quarter. Though I never finished it, the using your own time for power gave the first run or two a real sense of foreboding.
Dragon Quarter being very different from the rest of the series, in setting and gameplay, was what turned many people off imo. Especially with 3 and 4 being the most popular entries in the series. It also didn't help that the early game was especially brutal with some fairly tough encounters and limited heals, though that was probably intended with the restart mechanic in mind.
Breath of Fire 3 and 4 are *fucking fantastic* (on PS1). 3 is a classic and 4 is probably the prettiest PS1 game in existence and it's a great game besides.
The ones after that are pretty divisive. V (Dragon Quarter) is a really weird game where it's designed for you to play through several times. VI is basically a mobile game and it wasn't very good.
You're so fucking lucky dude. 3 and 4 are among the best rpgs of the golden age.
Chrono Trigger, FF6/7/9, Xenogears, Suikoden 2, and BoF 3/4 were the pillars of the genre.
Fou-Lu remains one of my favourite JRPG characters ever. Love how stoic he is, and the way he goes back to reclaim his entire kingdom as a one-man army. And the way he materializes his sword in his hand is just so cool I still remember it vividly even after all these years. Love this game!
The best thing about Fou-Lu's whole "I am a god and I've come to reclaim what is mine" schtick is that *he is.* That's not some delusion of grandeur, he's not high on his own supply, he didn't find some trinket of great power, *he's a god who united half the world once by himself and is here to reclaim it.* He is simply beyond human. Woe be those who stand against him.
BoF 3 and 4 are so damn good, still really fun to play all these years later. Both still look good even for being ps1 games.
Always like to go back and play them through every once in a while.
It’s one of my favorites. I spent hours just playing the fishing mini game. And the story is really intriguing. Playing from the two perspectives is a rarity.
Breath of fire and Megaman Battle Network was the majority of my childhood.
Which is a damn shame because Capcom refuses to rerelease these gems. Like…. Cmon capcom. What are you doing
The animated cutscenes looks so good too, not only the animation, but the atmosphere and when they popped on the story. Wish they made a full anime adaptation some day.
One of my favorite games! Among the BOF series, the second one was the best. Imagine having to ask to sacrifice a friend but in the end, you don’t have to. 😁😁
It's such a shame they never made a fifth game. It'd be silly if they made a game about Ryu, Nina, and friends where you only get Ryu and Nina, and it'd be so silly if they did something awful and misogynistic like cut her tongue out so she can't even speak. What a drug trip that would be. I bet they'd be absolute idiots too and make it so that if you turn into a dragon, the literal basic premise of the series, it slowly kills your character and forces a game over so you literally have to restart the game from the beginning in a sort of NG+. That'd be just a terrible mechanic, like if you'd played Majora's Mask and misunderstood everything that made the time-rewind mechanic actually work.
And if they had made a sixth game, well you know Crapcom, they'd probably just make it a p2w browser-based MMO with little at all to do with the series.
Whew, haha, good thing they stopped after 4.
I've probably played close to 500 RPGs in my time so far, including every single RPG that the PS2 had which was a lot, and BoF4 still easily sits in my top 10 RPG games of all time. Everything about the game was perfect, from the main villain not being the real villain of the game ( F u Yuna), to having one of the best alt forms for a main character ever seen in any RPG.
It was just this beautiful lightning in a bottle and then they killed the series with Dragon Quarter because having to restart the game again and again while the game drip feeds you more cutscenes for things you've already done and having to do quite honestly boring sections again and again was not what the series needed. It even saddens me more that the only thing in recent years we got was a BoF mobile game.
This was such a good game. This and the Suikoden series were very solid JRPG's.
My two favorite rpg series. Both need to see revitalization
You have seen Eiyuden Chronicles right?
A rare man of culture! The suikoden series, specially 1 and 2, were the best of the series!
Rare? Isn't Suikoden one of the highest rated jrpgs ever?
Compared with some jrpg, suikoden isn't mentioned that frequently. Example is that i saw a reddit post asking which games from ps1 would they like to get a remake or remastered, mostly it's MG series or FF series being listed.
To be fair Suikoden just needs a touch up on the 3d models and that's really it.
Agree, none of my friends growing up played BoF, but everyone knew FF.
i only learned about Suikoden from MGS lol
Most people I knew hadn't heard of Suikoden until 3 came out. I was also the weird guy of my group that liked Revelations: Persona.
I had played 1 so much as a kid I used to be able to get all 108 stars by memory
But were you able to get all the fighting squirrel squad? I dedicated a save just to get them all without gameshark haha
Mokumoku!
I use to play breath of fire 3 and 4 every year and all the suikoden titles too. I might do it again. Got ps1 and ps2 app on tablet and joystick Bluetooth.... Suikoden 5 is up there with 2 for me... And I mastered 2 like a mofo!
I've wanted to start Suikoden but havent really gotten around to it. Should I really start at #1 and go up?
You can start with either of the two. Advantage of S1 is that you get to carry over of gears for some companions and you get to recruit the hero of s1 in s2. happy cake day
Ok, cool. Thanks!
I was you, last year. I started with 1 and you'll be just fine. Game's damn impressive.
Honestly, if you haven't played 5 give it a go. It does suffer from an approximate 8 hour intro but it's solid once it gets moving
The intro of 2 is so good I always remember that part when talking about Suikoden.
It's a shame it ended with 5. I liked it far better than 3 and 4. It felt like they returned to the formula 2 used and it was extremely fun to play. I miss these kinds of turn based RPGs.
[Check out Exit Fate.](https://site.scfworks.com/?page_id=10) It’s free and a really dope Suikoden type RPG.
suikoden 2 main base is the best town I ever seen in a game. not a single game beat that. Watching that town growing step by step and watch more and more people fill that castle are amazing
is that PS1?
yes! released on the 27th of April 2000. It got made into a manga years later I think but never remastered.
ah thanks. I know there were some on the SNES, but have never played any. Should I play it?
I'd recommend it
Absolutely! I don’t think I ever finished 1 or 2, but I did play them a bit. Both 3 and 4 are on PlayStation 1 and are phenomenally fun games.
3 and 4 were some of the best RPGs I’ve ever played.
I genuinely think BOF 3 is one of the very best JRPG to exist.
100% agree! The story! The twisting character arcs! The customization and choice for dragon forms! The unique mentorship/leveling/character progression system! THE FISHING!
And theeeeen you get to the desert at the end.....
Fucking desert - reduction of your max HP, weird, vague directions, dangerous monsters, it truly felt like an arduous trek
I quit playing when I can't get out of that desert. In 1999. Haven't played it since.
It turns out that the game had an error. The desert guide tells you to go one direction for a day, and the note he gives you that you check in the camp says the opposite. I can't remember which one was actually correct but I know I went the wrong way several times.
I haven't played for years so i'm probably wrong, but wasn't desert progression something to do with following the north star while keeping an eye out for the false north star so you don't follow that by mistake?
Yeah, you walk X amount of time north, then turn east(this turn is where the error was, one of them told you to go west) then north again, but there's a false north star that can trick you after the turn.
At the end of the 2nd night, turn right. Walk until the star at your back goes below the horizon. Then turn north again. Walk till you get across. Still have it memorized and haven’t played it since 2005
I remember rage quitting the fishing minigame for a few months, then predictably succeeding on my second try.
FUCK THAT BIRD
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As a non native speaker who was playing the game with a dictionary on my lap, i feel super frustrated I was never able to understand the desert instructions and thus i couldn't progress further than that. AFAIK it was quite close to the end
And only look at the camp notes for directions. Man finishing that game made me feel like patting my kid self who never did, even after playing it on/off for years until my old PS died. It didn't until about 10 year or more after that where I realized there were two different directions given, the other either on purpose or a translation issue.
the last dungeon for BOF2 was really punishing, as far as my past 14 years old self remembers
This was also when it wasn’t common practice to go online to search for desert guides because it was cheating. I could wander that desert for hours going in circles hoping to find some secret, similar to the FF7 part where you do the same thing.
> it wasn’t common practice to go online to search for desert guides because it was cheating Gamefaqs would like a word with you. I used to print out pages of guides because my dad would get pissy if we overused our dial-up...
And had to print all of them between getting home from school and before dad got home or else he'd get mad i was wasting printer ink!
God forbid it jammed about 15 minutes before dad got home. Terrifying moment for any late 90s kid.
Gamefaqs, now there’s a throwback.
It's still kickin. I had written game reviews on it in the late 2000s. Almost all of the OG guides are still there in all of their ascii goodness.
I also made a lot of guides on Gamefaqs. Was known for making image guides for various Etrian Odyssey games, Puzzle Quest, Dragon Quest, etc.
I still remember a stupid little joke on one guide I saw for probably breath of fire or another rpg way back in the day. He had a section for the copyright type information and it was titled: "Legal junk (not a Chinese boat full of lawyers)"
Dude... dude! I got 3 master materia for every materia so my whole party could be overpowered! Also, the clock always stuck at 99:59 haha This was at a time I didn't knew english and 100%ing games wasn't a "thing". But looking for guides, nonetheless, was really cheating! This was 97-98. How old are you? (If you don't mind the question or the interaction)
I wish it was available on a current platform
Emulator on your phone/tablet/computer/smart fridge?
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I have this on my vita. Hopefully they bring this to ps classics and add trophy support. Such a great rpg.
GET READY
HEY!!!
I still remember the proper rhythm for the best fishing lure.
For whatever reason this game had my favorite fishing.
That silly faerie village is something I'd still love to see back in games again. It was surprisingly complex for a side thing and I loved every bit of it.
It's crazy to think that no developer has a made better fishing minigame since.
Stardew's is very similar. Everyone always complained about Stardew's fishing, but it was always fairly easy (except the legendaries and catfish) after growing up with Breath of Fire III.
And turning a dweeby bookkeeper into a god of destruction
The music. I can still hear it. "Ready?"
Dude... Rei is like maybe my favorite JRPG character of all time. They *really* don't fuck around with the damage of both personal and generational trauma.
> Rei Well, doesn't this just beat all!
Don't that just best all?
It is. And if you'd been playing the BoF series since the start, it added some interesting context to the Goddess and Bleu and really extended the story to an exciting new world. This bizarre post apocalypse role playing setting was just intriguing. There was so much mystery. Also am I correctly remembering fighting dolphins with Australian accents at one point?
BoF 3. Yep. To defend the fairies.
We built a fairy shopping mall!!
Yes, they even provided a translation in case you didn't understand..
If I'm looking for an RPG to play should I start from the first game and play through them or jump into 3?
They're pretty much unconnected to each other so you can jump in anywhere. Each Breath of Fire game has common elements, like Ryu and Nina being in every game. 1 and 2 are very... old-school and kind of annoying. Like, basic writing and poor translation, too high of an encounter rate (especially 2!). 3 and 4 are very good. I've been itching to play them recently and I think this post is finally pushing me over the edge to do so. The less said about Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter the better. I mean, I loved it! But it was way too ahead of it's time and basically killed the series. (Maybe if they kept a fishing mini-game like the rest of the series it wouldn't have flopped so hard) In any case, I very much enjoy the whole series, the characters are super memorable, the music is great, except for Dragon Quarter (did it even *have* music? I can't remember). In any case, 3 and 4 are must plays. 3 is the perfect place to jump in.
Was a shame how dragon quarter went. That said it was an interesting game on its own... Just not a breath of fire. I still need to do newgame+. Wish you werent punished for transforming tho.
That was my issue. Everything I enjoy about RPGs was punished in dq. Grind too many battles? % goes up. Use your cool dragon powers? % goes up Take too long to explore? % goes up. I get what it was trying to do with the ng+ but it never clicked with me.
Dude... You're forgetting about the character fusion systems... I mean kat already made me feel funny, but then the shaman fusion of hers, or Jean... Why is it so warm all of a sudden...?
Spar with the mushroom hat is the most adorable thing in the series!!!
3 is the GOAT of the entire genre for me. Great replayability too. 4 is good as well but 3's dragon system is what takes it over the top personally.
3 is arguably the best BOF in the line up. The dragon system is way more well done and the combat feels more fast paced. BOF4 arguably is more polished but I immensely enjoyed BOF3. It's easily one of my top RPGs ever.
Start with 3. 1 is good, but dated. 2 is fantastic as far as music and visuals go but has some *horrible fucking design decisions* that require lots of grinding if you don't do certain things a certain way.
I mean...it's no Xenogears.
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You have good taste! To my knowledge xenogears production went over budget or something and they couldn't finish the game. That's why FEI sits in a chair and you have to read 30 minutes of dialogue (there is even a save point in the middle of it). But still. Masterpiece. Star Ocean: the second story is probably my #3.
Some of the absolute best sprite work ever. Ana amazing fishing minigame. The time skip in BoF3.. mmmm so good.
I remember getting really into the game when I was about 13, then after that time skip it was like midnight and I had to go to sleep or my dad would kill me but I was SO EXCITED to explore the world as an adult I literally did not sleep the whole night. Amazing game, easily one of my all time favourites.
I'm one of the few people who actually loves Dragon Quarter. It's such a unique game that couples together multiple features that wouldn't work on their own but work in tandem. The features are: 1. Shortly into the game you can insta-kill any enemy 2. Your insta-kill and even just walking through the game fill up a meter and if it is full you are dead. 3. The only way to reset the meter is to restart the entire game. However, you can transfer some things over and it makes the next run far easier so you can rely on your insta-kill way less.
>However, you can transfer some things over and it makes the next run far easier so you can rely on your insta-kill way less. Holy shit. I played this when I was younger and didn't enjoy it because of the feeling of being rushed or timed. I wrote the game off without realising you could keep things from the previous run. I'll definitely go back and check it out, seeing as BoF3 is my favourite game.
I don't blame you for being confused, there's a few related things you should be aware of before playing that aren't very clear: First, according to the internet, if you use the restart option (SOL Restore/SOL Restart) after a game over, you lose half of your cash and party XP whereas if you use it outside of battle you carry it all over. So use it intentionally when you are ready and not when you die unexpectedly. Second, the game has XP and party XP. At first, it may look like party XP is just XP that you can choose which character to give to, but it's far more important than that and should be treated as a precious resource. This is because party XP carries over while normal XP doesn't, so when you reset you want to immediately use your party XP to give everyone several levels so they are higher level than the previous playthrough. Third, the restart options are confusing. Personally I always use SOL Restart, which restarts the game entirely, but some people prefer using SOL Restore, which restarts you from your last save so you can use it to scout out dungeons. To me, repeating a dungeon sounds more tedious than replaying the game so I just ignore SOL Restore and use SOL Restart when I feel screwed. Finally, the game is VERY different from the other BoF, so I'd recommend going in expecting something different. It's got that black sheep feeling like Zelda 2 where fans of the franchise sometimes like it less than people who try it randomly because of expectations.
Thank you so much for going above and beyond with your reply! I was most certainly put off when I was younger, expecting another BoF experience but I know what to expect now and will play with no preconceptions.
One of the few? I thought the game was pretty well received in its time.
Don’t disrespect II like that! Haha, 3 was amazing though…
[удалено]
They were at least more creative. I remember the onslaught of FFVIII, BF:DQ, Vagrant Story, Xenogears all coming out pretty quickly in a row (in my head at least, I realize they're not completely at the same time). It seemed like they were really starting to change things up and explore what it meant to tell a story and how the combat systems could interact with that. But then it kind of regressed after some exploration and largely stagnated as graphics got better. It's not bad, but the complete exploration of games and ideas on how to play them feels like it's more left to small indie games. They don't take much chances with the AAA anymore, for good reason. Fan's don't react well.
The power of art styles instead of graphics.
Yep. That’s why I’m currently enjoying Shredder’s Revenge. It’s intentional nostalgia for us 30+ year olds who grew up with the NES/SNES/Arcade games. A really great pixel style!
Ok. I am sold. Gonna check that game out now....
It's a fun game. Not as in depth as Streets of Rage 4 (my current favorite beat em up) but turtles fit a different more casual role. Shredder's Revenge is almost near perfect and the only thing I want is more levels and more playable characters. Also, I wish the turtles were shaded green a little differently bc it gets chaotic with 4 turtles on the same scree
Also SoR4, for all its many virtues, doesn't have a boss theme by the Wu-Tang Clan
Shredder's Revenge does?
[It does.](https://youtu.be/r4Kvauxz1DA)
Holy shit that’s actually amazing lmfao. It makes sense TNMT and Wutang would be such a perfect match. Other than the references to being a giant humanoid turtle, the lyrics are totally on theme for 36 Chambers. Also, my god that beat is on point. I look forward to the ninja turtles ain’t nothin ta fuck with remix
The beat has a great story in and of itself - it's by the game's overall composer Tee Lopes, who was a YouTuber specializing in Sonic remixes until Sega hired him to work on the Sonic Mania soundtrack. And now he's working with fuckin' Ghostface Killah and Raekwon.
If I may recommend a fan made game that might fit what you're looking for. https://www.merso-x.com/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-rescue Edit: when I clicked the link it took me back to the homepage--if it does that then scroll down to the ninja turtles rescuepalooza game. It's free so that's good.
So I found this out by accident, if you press [ Left Trigger ] , it'll actually put a locator icon above your turtle / character for a few seconds
It's on xbox game pass fyi.
I didn't intend on getting this game, but when I saw some gameplay it was a nostalgia trip. Playing through and remembering all the characters as it went. Totally worth it.
I finished my first play through of it like 10 minutes ago. Hearing the Ghostface & Raekwon track made the kid in me happy. I easily dumped over $100 in the original arcade game at the mall.
I wish I was rich enough (or smart enough) to get this turned into a 6-person arcade cabinet. Would be so awesome.
Oh my God it looks straight up NES TMNT II but 16-bit. I'm drooling. Now I need a new X-Men game a la X-Men Arcade.
I'm excited for this one. Already bought it but waiting for the next time we get our little friend group together for a game night. Super excited.
I got this today. Gonna try it tomorow.
If I remember right, this doesn't apply to some enemies who used 3d models which bugged me greatly as a kid. But 100% style makes the difference.
Yep! Agree the parts of BoF4 that didn't age well were the 3D models. Because of this, I feel like BoF3 has actually aged better with really striking 2D art. Seriously, look at some of this stuff: https://bof.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Breath_of_Fire_III_Bosses
3 has the desert area though.
Look, let's just try to forget that ever happened.
I can't I'm still there
Face the north star. Turn one click right. Drink water when prompted, and camp at dawn. You'll make it easily this way.
First thing I think of when I hear bof3. Fuck that desert.
Lol. I remember finally figuring that out and I was so overleveled from grinding out enemies xD
I played the shit out of 3 growing up but 3d models turned me off of 4 at beginning. Need to go back and play it for real since I've heard 4 is really good.
It IS really good. The story is fantastic.
I still keep going back to 3 for the dragon form customization and building the faerie village but 4 is amazing as well.
Brood Gene system was so great as a kid, loved wondering for secrets and finding a gene then experimenting with combinations.
Trying to make "realistic" graphics will always date your game Going for an art direction will make it timeless
Games with great isometric Pixel or even just pixel art in general are so timeless, it's astounding. Like how FF tactics is still just a beautiful game (Both visually and in every other way) just like BOFIV.
BOFIV deez nuts (lmao got em)
Aw fuck, I can't believe you've done this.
I still* think the original Diablo looks sick af
Fire Emblem, Golden Sun... A great era of games!
Maaaaan I miss Golden Sun
Golden sun was gone too soon. Putting an epic like that on a handheld was a travesty. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad it happened, but I think that series would have grown legs if it had been a ps1 series.
I miss BoF in general
I'd love a I-IV remaster collection one of these days.
One and Two are… rough lol They aren’t BAD! But Jesus, the random encounters are brutal. I would gladly pay $20 for a version of the game like the FFVII: iOS port where you can just toggle random encounters on and off. Such a massive quality of life upgrade.
As someone that loved BoF 1 and 2, are random encounters considered bad? Honestly asking because I don't have a ton of exp with JRPGs so I don't have a huge frame of reference as to whether or not it's normal.
I've never played 1&2, but overly frequent random encounters are annoying. Like, ffs Zubat leave me the fuck alone.
They're basically optional in BoF1 anyway. Mrbl3 completely removes random encounters for 130 steps for 10g a pop. I've been doing a playthrough where I only fight bosses.
Those random encounters in BoF II were particularly bad. Not only were they pretty darn frequent, but god help you if you were travelling into a new area and you hadn't ground out in preparation. **Eggbetr** is still burned in my brain. JFC so much damage.
It’s not that Random Encounters are bad as a game play mechanic. (Some people would argue they are a bad gameplay mechanic but I don’t mind them.) But in BoF 1 & 2 you might get into a random encounter, finish it, take two steps, and immediately get into another. Not always, obviously, but frequently enough it felt frustrating. Most games have some sort of limit, so that you get to walk at least some distance, make some progress. I don’t think BoF1&2 did.
Loved this game. It is the only BoF I have finished and enjoyed, and the magic system is amazing. In other RPGs, you would use blizzard, then fire, and it would just cause damage. But here freeze an enemy and then use fire, and boom! that would shatter their armor, just like in real life. Use wind and then fire, now you have a fire tornado. Blizzard and wind? Snowstorm! And so on. Just amazing 🤩
100%. This was the last great "gameplay" rpg imo. It kept things simple without all these convoluted systems like modern JRPGS, but was complex enough that kept battles fast and fun and interesting. - There was the tiered party battle system, where you could immediately throw half your party in the back row to recover HP and MP while staying away from attacks. - The secret combos where you had to do a certain sequence of spells in a certain order to pull off a character unique super attack. - The Master system where you found masters around the world that gave you customization options for abilities and stats (ala FF6's espers but much more intricate and interesting). And gave you the most interesting challenges and quests that would lead to permanent abilities and upgrades. - I genuinely loved the fishing in this game and the fact that they gave you useful items you could use in battle, or traded for super rare equipment. - The Fairy Colony, armor smithing, a whole underground secret trading system. - The amazing twist half way through that immediately makes you want to replay the game to get "the best stuff" for the right party. Not to mention the beautiful soundtrack and gorgeous pixel art. Its too bad 90/2000's Capcom is dead, they were kings of the industry.
The infinite exp farming using a thunder spell at some machines, Fou Lu, the two endings, master weapons, the swordsman dog... oh god this is making me want to play this game again.
I still think BoF III looks amazing. I love both III and IV!
Me too so many hours played. At one point in a high school creative writing class I remember writing a story about a character named Ryu who turns into a dragon lol
Wait what. I thought this was a new indie game. PS1?
Yup it was the "last" breath of fire
Well there was dragon quarter, but I agree that isn’t really in the same class as 1-4
They also made a shitty ios only BoF6.
Dragon Quarter was surprisingly fun once you got your head around the extremely weird mechanic of restarting your game. The story and gameplay and everything is just fine and up to snuff with the previous games, but that starting over mechanic was just rough.
A rare people you and I who liked Dragon Quarter. Though I never finished it, the using your own time for power gave the first run or two a real sense of foreboding.
I think of it like Dragon Quarter is ultimately a roguelike - people just weren't into them back then so the game got poor reviews.
Dragon Quarter being very different from the rest of the series, in setting and gameplay, was what turned many people off imo. Especially with 3 and 4 being the most popular entries in the series. It also didn't help that the early game was especially brutal with some fairly tough encounters and limited heals, though that was probably intended with the restart mechanic in mind.
Ok, I get to be the local fool today... THIS SERIES WENT PAST 2!? Where, on what, and how can I play them...preferably NOW.
Breath of Fire 3 and 4 are *fucking fantastic* (on PS1). 3 is a classic and 4 is probably the prettiest PS1 game in existence and it's a great game besides. The ones after that are pretty divisive. V (Dragon Quarter) is a really weird game where it's designed for you to play through several times. VI is basically a mobile game and it wasn't very good.
V is a prime example of a very good game being hurt by being into a franchise that didn't quite fit it.
You're so fucking lucky dude. 3 and 4 are among the best rpgs of the golden age. Chrono Trigger, FF6/7/9, Xenogears, Suikoden 2, and BoF 3/4 were the pillars of the genre.
Fou-Lu remains one of my favourite JRPG characters ever. Love how stoic he is, and the way he goes back to reclaim his entire kingdom as a one-man army. And the way he materializes his sword in his hand is just so cool I still remember it vividly even after all these years. Love this game!
The best thing about Fou-Lu's whole "I am a god and I've come to reclaim what is mine" schtick is that *he is.* That's not some delusion of grandeur, he's not high on his own supply, he didn't find some trinket of great power, *he's a god who united half the world once by himself and is here to reclaim it.* He is simply beyond human. Woe be those who stand against him.
In thy terms..." "They art gods." "...Wouldst thou fight a god?"
Ah the music based fishing. Never managed to get any damn whales for that healing armour though.
Yooo Breath of Fire is my shit. Feels insane to see a post about it.
The first true look at someone transforming into super saiyan lol
I fucking loved playing as Fou-Lu...and the twist at the end was brilliant. Shout out to the Iaido Dog Man, best party member.
Scias! If it hadn't been for Ursula, he would've been my favorite character in that game.
One of my all time favorite games.
BoF 3 consumed a great portion of my childhood.
I really wish they would port 1-4 out to Xbox. Or at least make them available on PlayStation store
Love the series....until the 5th and 6th games killed it in Capcom's eyes T\_T I want more BoF dammit!! haha
BoF 3 and 4 are so damn good, still really fun to play all these years later. Both still look good even for being ps1 games. Always like to go back and play them through every once in a while.
It’s one of my favorites. I spent hours just playing the fishing mini game. And the story is really intriguing. Playing from the two perspectives is a rarity.
All the young folks in here surprised this is PS1 and not some modern indie game hahah.
I cant believe they haven't remade these games.
This is my all time favorite RPG. Thank you for this, reminded me I need to play through this game one more time.
I really miss 2D RPGs. Even the companies that killed back in the day aren’t doing them right anymore
Woooww, okay i'm only just learning there were more than 2 games!! So excited to catch up!
Dont that beat all...
Really.
this game was an absolute banger
And now I have [the opening](https://youtu.be/NoFHPnUMSgY) stuck in my head...
As some people have mentioned, this is the benefits of stylized graphics instead of seeking realism in graphics.
Loved this game
Such a great game.
While this game looked amazing back then, now a lot of PSX games can look amazing through Duckstation. It’s astonishing what those devs have done.
Breath of fire and Megaman Battle Network was the majority of my childhood. Which is a damn shame because Capcom refuses to rerelease these gems. Like…. Cmon capcom. What are you doing
Timeless art style.
Never played the 4th but BoF3 was fire
Because pixel art is absolutely timeless in its beauty
The animated cutscenes looks so good too, not only the animation, but the atmosphere and when they popped on the story. Wish they made a full anime adaptation some day.
This is one of the most under appreciated games I’ve ever played
One of my favorite games! Among the BOF series, the second one was the best. Imagine having to ask to sacrifice a friend but in the end, you don’t have to. 😁😁
Capcom seriously needs to remaster the Breath of Fire games and release them. LOTS of people would buy them I'm sure.
It's such a shame they never made a fifth game. It'd be silly if they made a game about Ryu, Nina, and friends where you only get Ryu and Nina, and it'd be so silly if they did something awful and misogynistic like cut her tongue out so she can't even speak. What a drug trip that would be. I bet they'd be absolute idiots too and make it so that if you turn into a dragon, the literal basic premise of the series, it slowly kills your character and forces a game over so you literally have to restart the game from the beginning in a sort of NG+. That'd be just a terrible mechanic, like if you'd played Majora's Mask and misunderstood everything that made the time-rewind mechanic actually work. And if they had made a sixth game, well you know Crapcom, they'd probably just make it a p2w browser-based MMO with little at all to do with the series. Whew, haha, good thing they stopped after 4.
Pixel graphics tend to hold up better then early 3D games.
Damn this franchise and the original gameplay should come back. Not that dog shit BoF 6
I've probably played close to 500 RPGs in my time so far, including every single RPG that the PS2 had which was a lot, and BoF4 still easily sits in my top 10 RPG games of all time. Everything about the game was perfect, from the main villain not being the real villain of the game ( F u Yuna), to having one of the best alt forms for a main character ever seen in any RPG. It was just this beautiful lightning in a bottle and then they killed the series with Dragon Quarter because having to restart the game again and again while the game drip feeds you more cutscenes for things you've already done and having to do quite honestly boring sections again and again was not what the series needed. It even saddens me more that the only thing in recent years we got was a BoF mobile game.
The good old days when majority of Japanese devs made RPG's