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»Breath of Fire II
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As with many of the games on the Game Boy Advance, Breath of Fire II is
a port of a popular Super NES game. Not that it’s a bad thing, as it
gives people a chance to relive fond memories of gaming’s past, as well
as making it feel like a new game to those who missed out on it the
first time around. I am classified under the latter, having gone the
Sega route during the SNES vs. the Genesis. Now if only Square Enix
would do a Chrono Trigger port…
Breath of Fire II opens up on our blue haired protagonist as a young
boy. Your father, Ganer, asks you to look for your kid sister, who
appears to enjoy napping under the head of a gigantic, hibernating
dragon, which she says is because she has dreams of her deceased,
angelic mother while sleeping there. This is definitely one chick you
may want to avoid dating during her teen years. Joan of Arc, anyone?
After finding her and being saved from a monster by your father, you
oh-so-wisely decide to take a nap in the same spot your sister does.
When he does so, he dreams of a large, pulsating eye. Surprise,
surprise - it means that you’re the chosen one, and you must defeat a
great evil. While this is nothing new to the role playing genre, the
twist BoFII delivers will shake the world to its very foundation.
After aging a few years, Ryu will actually start out on the journey
proper, meeting a not-so-standard cast of characters to join your
party, which include an anthropomorphic bull, a monkey, a cat, a dog, a
frog, a snake-woman, an outcast angel with off-colored wings and a
grass-boy. You can have up to four of these characters in your party at
once, each with their own unique ability that you will need to progress
in the game. For instance, Jean the frog can transform into a frog and
jump two spaces forward, allowing him to go over rivers, trees and
gaps, while Sten the monkey-man can use his arms to swing the party to
far reaching poles on the world map. Your companions each play an
integral part in the storyline as you visit and battle through their
homelands, all the while learning about their backstories.
The control is fairly straightforward. You can dash using the A button,
or auto dash using an option under the menu (a feature unavailable in
the SNES version). You may use spells, items, and abilities with the
push of a certain button. Battle is nothing new; you are arranged in a
four-person party against staggering odds in turn based combat. Saving
isn’t an issue either, as you may do so on the overworld, or at a
statue in town (which also restores your hit points and mana), which
feel few and far between, although that is true in many RPGs. You can
also do a Quick Save, which allows you to save the game at any point,
although it’s only a temporary save.
In addition to the RPG status quo, you can also hunt and fish in BoFII.
Both require a bit of finesse and patience, though neither are
particularly essential to the story (thankfully). If you are patient
enough, you can acquire some very potent items that will restore HP,
mana, status, and so forth.
There is also an optional side task for you to work on, involving the
small hideout to the southwest of where you start out as adults. As you
progress through the game, this hideout becomes bigger and bigger,
eventually evolving into a full-fledged town, where you can save, rest,
purchase items, and even customize its look and tenants. It’s all up to
the player how they want to recruit these NPCs. The end result is worth
it, if only to say you created your own bustling metropolis.
The graphics found in BoFII have aged well. It’s easy to see why the
GBA is called the second-coming of the SNES when you repeatedly see
ports of classic games from that generation. Granted, it’s the length
of a canyon away from the graphics of The Minish Cap, but the sprites
are nicely detailed, giving us the feeling that you aren’t just
traveling around the world with four stacks of pixels; I enjoy the fact
that I can tell Katt is a cat. The sprites are roughly on par with
those you would find in, say, Final Fantasy VI.
One of the reasons I enjoy 16-era RPGs isn’t for the great storytelling
or the nostalgia; I enjoy the fact that this was the era in which we
finally began to see a breakaway from the generic palettes that towns
had during the 8-bit era. In BoFII, we see the brick and mortar
Highfort for its militaristic might and revel in the aquatic nature of
Simafort and its amphibious inhabitants. Each town has its own unique
graphical style and personality, but do keep in mind that these
graphics are over a decade old.
Unlike the visuals, the sound has definitely suffered a bit. It’s
merely “okay” to listen to, but get monotonous after a little while,
particularly when on the world map. One track that stands out, though,
is the church theme. In every town there is a cathedral to St. Eva, and
it is one of the better in the game. The sound effects include your
typical array of sword slashes, doors opening, and menu items being
selected. It works, for what it is. Nothing too inventive.
For anyone wondering about the replay value, ask this question: why
would you read the same book twice? Generally, people will tell you “to
see if I missed anything” or “to see if it makes sense this time
around“. If you’re one of those people who enjoy reading books (or
alternatively, playing RPGs) into redundancy, go for it. When you do,
you won’t find much different from the first play-through, as there
aren’t any multiple endings or many extras available. You can customize
your town again, but it won’t be very different from the first time
around. You can also try different party combinations. If this is your
cup of tea, go for it. As great as this game was, I’ll move onto
something new, thank you very much.
There is one thing invariably wrong with all of these ports on the GBA,
and other systems, for that matter - it takes time and money away from
developing original titles. However, when I originally picked BoFII up,
it was out of name recognition alone, and is the first game of the
series that I actually played. I missed out on it the nineties, so now
I had an excuse to play it. It was a very fun game, and for that reason
alone, I am grateful for this port.
Article by: Alttp
Posted on: Sep. 3rd, 2006 |
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Review Recap |
| Gameplay |
| Standard RPG gameplay with easily navigated menus, nice battle system, with a winding story that actually makes each of your NPCs major characters at one point or another. |
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Graphics |
| They look great despite their age. Detailed sprites and colorful, easy-to-discern maps make for an enjoyable visual experience. |
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Sound |
| A couple decent tracks, but repetitive and nondescript for the most part. |
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Replay Value |
| If you wish to make up your own rules of engagement in combat, or try a new party, have at it. But for others, the lack of extras kills any reason to play this one again. |
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Comments |
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September 19, 2006 |
damsoul |
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but its an RPG, its not really expected to have any replay value. i loved this game, and i honestly think 25/40 is slightly unfair.
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September 21, 2006 |
damazta |
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exactly, there were no Chocobo breeding/blitzball-type extras in SNES RPGs - a replay value score of 3 is way too harsh
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October 25, 2006 |
ALttP |
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Sorry, this was one of my first reviews that I uploaded that wasn't mine and I accidentally uploaded it as my own. It's actually getahl's.
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