Customer Reviews

Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I've always loved the BoF series, and this is a rather drastic departure from it. About the only thing in commmon w/ the other BoF games is Ryu and Nina. Also this game is pretty hard and seems like it's always out to get you, as items are expensive and you need items to save. When i first played this game I hated it. I got 3 hrs into it and quit. Out of boredom i gave it another go and found it a very enjoyable game.

The battle system is one of the funnest I've played in an RPG in a long time. The story is great, and the ending is one of the best I've seen in a long time. And a New Game+ system doesn't hurt either. You can spend a hundred hours trying to get and do everything. (i've gone through it twice and still missing a lot)

Everyone says that you need to restart over and over again, when actually you don't. If your not very good (no offense) and use the dragon powers a lot, then yeah, you will. The dragon form is 'sposed to be a last resort, and should be used as little as possible. It's not that difficult to make it through in one run w/o restarting (although it does help).

Although this game has a steep learning curve, I'd recommend it to the hardcore RPG fans. People who are used to having their hands held through out a game should stay clear. Give it a try and try to learn it's systems and you should find a very enjoyable and rewarding game.

Breath of Fire - Dragon Quarter is a challenging RPG that features gorgeous graphics, especially in the cut scenes. You also learn a lesson about power and consequences.

The game is very Final Fantasy-like with a character running around a map, solving quests and learning things as he builds up skills. Your party here contains up to three characters. This is a futuristic world where humanity is living underground. As in every story from Metropolis on forward, it's the dregs of humans which are living down at the lowest levels. They are so far from the surface that they don't believe there is a real "sky" up there.

Like many other RPGs, when you clear a dungeon, the enemies stay dead. That makes sense to me :) It does mean, though, that you can't "bulk up infinitely". You are given a certain number of potential XP and have to best develop your character based on that.

When you become advanced enough, you gain the ability to turn into an uber-dragon. You might think this would make the rest of the game easy. But with great power comes great responsibility, or so says Spiderman. The balance here is that using that power hastens the end of the game. If you wimp out and just use your dragon powers too much, the timer counts down and the game ends.

Some people complain because they get their hands on that dragon power and want to just use it to blast through the harder levels. But the whole point of the dragon power is that it is an ultimate power that should only be used for the final bosses. If you can't resist using that power all the time, then you pay the penalty. I think it's a brilliant lesson and find it fascinating that a number of gamers aren't understanding it.

The characters and plot are very well done, and really get you to understand how trapped and doomed the "lower classes" are. The cut scene graphics are great anime style, and the in-game graphics are quite nice too. The music varies from area to area and really gives a sense of the atmosphere in the game. I enjoyed both the roaming-around gameplay and the battle gameplay as easy to understand but full of strategy. Battle especially gives you a lot of customization so you can tweak your characters to best match your gameplay style.

Yes, this is NOT an easy RPG. People who try to take the 'easy way out' (i.e. dragon blasting everything) will not be able to finish the game. Players who try to race from start to finish will simply not finish. But players who put in the time to customize the characters, and who work on developing their skills, will find an amazingly fun RPG that is quite replayable. Each time you finish the game, you can restart with even more ability to explore the world.

Well recommended for serious RPGers!

Breath Of Fire Dragons Quarter has to be the most complex and difficult RPG I have ever played. It's the only game in the series I have tried, and I decided to play it as I am a fan of RPG's in general, but I wasn't prepared for such a steep learning curve. Maybe if you know the series you will find it easier, but I spent the whole first section of the game having no idea of what I was doing. It doesn't help that the game manual is very hard to understand, I was referring to it all the time, but seldom found answers to the questions that were confusing me.
Basically, the game plays like a standard RPG, with strings of dungeons, interpspaced with "towns". You only have three playable characters (except for the first mission) so you can concentrate your level building quite easily. The battle system itself is quite cool, as it requires that you take into account positioning and distance in all your strategies. Players can run around on the battlefield at will within a specified range, but it consumes points that would otherwise be put towards combat, so you will be playing very tactically a lot of the time, which I found a lot of fun. You have to learn different skills as the game progresses, and then attach them to your weapons and armour to use in battle (a bit like "Materia" in Final Fantasy 7). But the attacks that you dish out only prove really effective if you use the games "combo" system, and it was this that I really struggled with. In addition to this, the many different types of weapons and armour on offer have a bewildering range of benefits and drawbacks that make assembling a selection of "best" equipment impossible. Again, it's all really poorly explained in the manual, and highly confusing to understand. However, there is an even bigger drawback to the game, in my opinion, which is the Dragon Counter. Once you reach a certain point in the game, the lead character takes on the ability to assume a hugely powerful dragon form, which potentially makes every battle a pushover. The drawback? Once you get this ability, a timer appears in the corner of the screen for the rest of the game, counting towards 100. Any use of the dragon form speeds up the counter drastically, and the penalty for reaching 100 is Game Over-permanently. Yes thats right, if you use the power too freely or take too long to play, your characters will die and you have no choice but to restart the whole game from the beginning. There is no way to stop or reverse the counter, and once you get towards the last stage of the game where the final bosses can only be beaten with dragon form attacks, if you don't have a pretty large chunk of counter left over, you simply can't finish the game. Its a hugely unfair and crippling mechanism to have, and one that almost made me give up even after I had worked really hard to get a long way into the game. Think you can just do lots of levelling up to become invincible even without resorting to the dragon? Sorry, this is a linear game...there are no random encounters and no way of revisiting dungeons that have been cleared. Plus, saving is done by means of consumable save tokens, which are far too scarce, as are the save points themselves, so just making it through a lot of the stages is hard enough. To make the game so difficult and then make you scared to save because you are getting low on tokens is just plain mean.
I'm being very negative here, but let me add that I did enjoy some aspects of the game. The graphics look great, and the plot is intriguing, with characters that are very believable. Hmm...I've not left the game with many plus points there!
In conclusion then, a fine looking game with dynamic battles and a good storyline, crippled by a massive penalty for using the best skill in the game. I suppose in accordance with the plot, in which the dragon form is literally eating the players life away from within, it makes sense that there should be a steep price for using its power, but this is too much. There is a restart system to soften the blow in which you retain certain attributes and gain access to new areas when you restart (the instructions say you will get more out of the game by playing it over several times), but that's not good enough for me. I worked hard and replayed many sections to be able to make it to the end credits just once, and I don't feel much like going through it again. Be warned.

This is a fantastic game. It is one of the best games Capcom has made in the last five years. Now before I start telling you why I think it is good, you need to know that this is not like the other Breath of Fire Games. Although technically this is still a turn based RPG, there are some real interesting innovations that make this game unique.

First of all, the game is the most challenging Breath of Fire. I have played 1, 2, and 3, and this is definitely the most challenging. That is, until you figure out the system, and learn how to work the game in your favor. It is still the most challenging, but the challenge can eventually be managed.

The enemies appear on-screen and you lay traps to weaken them before battle! It is a new and creative system. Depending upon how well you fight, you get bonus experience, which is called Party XP. So if you fight cleverly, you can level up more quickly.

The Dragon Form has changed. There is no MP. Now you have a Dragon Counter. Every time you turn into the Dragon, 2% is added to the counter, that goes to 100%. If the counter reaches 100%, then it is automatically Game Over. You must figure a way to win without bringing him out too often. This in itself is a challenge. At first I resented it, but now I realize that it is a great additional challenge to the game as it is set up.

Also, the Dragon Form is obscenely strong in this game. You can kill even the end boss in Dragon Form with only 15-20% of the counter.

The music is good. The plot of the story is really good. You must escape from an underground nightmare, challenging every authority figure in an oppressive, subterranean world. You can restart the game over with your Party XP and acquired skills and beat the game more easily. You also have a great challenge ahead of you: earn the Dragon Quarter, the ultimate D-ratio.

Yes, this Breath of Fire is different from the others. However, in almost every instance that is a good thing. This is one of the best video games on PS2, period. Not only that, but in terms of price it's slipped under the radar and is selling at a low price. If you have the cash to spare, this is the one you want.

Oh my, the 5th game of the series. If I do recall, the last two games were phenomenol, both expanding the RPG world as we know it. I can't really say the same for BOF5. Its got the goods, yet its missing some essentials.

Story- BOF5's story is very well done! It involves the character in all the BOF games, Ryu, but this time he is in an underground civilization. No one knows what the sky, nor the feeling of clean air is like. There seems to be no escape from deep tunnels and factories. All goes well until you meet an orphan girl Nina, who turns out to be a (*SPOILER*) created by a mad scientist. You are come face to face with henchman of the Biocorp, and they release a toxic gas that threatens the underground cities. You are forced to team up with Nina, and a thief girl, Rin, and try to escape to the surface before time runs out. (Don't worry, you have as much time as you like)

Characters- Unlike the other BOF games, 5 only contains 3 main characters. Not much conversing between them takes place, so this category is pretty weak. I was disapointed that there werent many characters.

Battle- Battles are exceptional! Capcom has added a new system, where you can move around wherever you desire in real time....well, sorta. As you move, you AP goes down. YOu need a certain amount of AP to do attacks, so the more you move, the less you attack. You can also set traps in battle for your enemies. And each character has there own weapon range. Very well done!

Graphics and sound- Graphics I give a big two thumbs up. They are strange yet awsome, where it looks as though you are looking at 3-d anime, with celshaded coloring. (I call it Ani-cel) There is never a moment where you will be disapointed. But the colors are bland, and no real brightness is here. Music is pretty repetitive as well.

Hard?- This game is very hard!!! I am warning you that you will hate this game if you can't stand these conditions. First, you must use an item called a Save token to save. These are very scarce, and sometimes you get mad where you are playing for 4 hours straight and you die, going all the way back to where you last saved.......OUCH! Second, once you reach a certain point in the game, you have to limit your use of special out of battle powers. The more of these you use, the higher this meter thing raises, and if it reaches 100% you get a gameover. Changing into dragons even raises the meter! (There is no way to reduce the meter) Thirdly, money is very hard to come by. Items and weapons cost way too much! So you might have trouble surviving

Replay- The game so far only offers few minigames. You can raise an ant colony to build your ideal underground town (much like the faerie colony in previous games). Also, if you beat the game and fill out certain conditions, you can raise your soldier rank, allowing you to unlock secret events and areas normally unattainable.

BOF5 is a very challenging game. I really wouldn't recomend it to newcomer RPG players, but rather for extreme people, in hope of the next best thing. Have fun conquering this doozy, I still ahve yet to beat it

This game deserves far more love than it's getting here. From reading about it, I myself hesitated a long time picking it up. Now I'm just thankful that it was still available, as the experience was truly worthwhile. It's true, you will have to play through various parts of the game more than once, but in this case, it's not something that you shouldn't look forward to. Going back, you get extra story elements which really do round out the picture of what your characters (and, by extension, you) are going through. And, of course, it's very cool to be able to lay the smackdown to enemies who gave you nothing but trouble the first time you came across them.

Now, all this talk about dying and losing everything and going back to the start is misleading, at best. The manual itself clearly states that you will be best served using "Give Up" effectively, which will allow you to carry over your party experience and money (Hint: sell any equipment you can't carry over before giving up), all your skills, and anything you had in storage. As long as you don't use your accrued party experience the first time through, you should not have any problem getting through the game in two trips. My first time out, I got very far without using any party experience, and only using the dragon transformation when completely necessary to survive.

It is true, the save system for this game is a bit on the onerous side, and penalizes you more than it should. However, anyone complaining they can only play for an hour or so but have to go to a save point to save their progress simply don't know what they are doing. You can "soft save" at any point in the game. You can leave whenever you want to. It's just that you lose that save as soon as you load a game from it, and continue like you had never saved at all. This particular system would truly be abysmal during a power failure or whatnot, but beyond that, it's only a minor annoyance. I found plenty of save spheres (or whatever they're called) myself, certainly enough to get through the game comfortably. Now, that's not to say I don't think the save feature isn't the worst implemented part of this game--not being able to back up save info onto another memory card is absolute nonsense, IMHO--but it is by no means a deal killer.

What really struck me about this game was that it was deeply personal. Ryu came across a very helpless little girl and determined that, come hell or high water, he was going to help her. That's it. And, of course, Nina is about the cutest little thing you are likely to ever come across in your video game experiences. The rest of the story fed off of and into that very basic dynamic, and was wholly successful. For the story alone, I wanted to finish this game.

It helped greatly that the battle system is top notch, as well, and that the ant farm is a fun and interesting diversion to carry out along the way. And quite profitable, if you work it right!

I can understand how some people might become easily frustrated with the mechanics of this game, but if you can put any preconceived notions aside and play it for what it is (and know you will have to go through some parts at least twice), this is a very gratifying game to play through. I truly would rank it up with some of the best games I've ever played. To give you an idea of what that list consists of, we're talking FFX, KOTOR, Ratchet and Clank, Radiata Stories, Soul Calibur III, Gran Tourismo 4, Disgaea--these are some of the titles I'd rank this one up with. I really can't give it a hearty enough recommendation. Don't let the naysayers put you off--this is truly a worthy title.

As a final word, I would point out that, if you are having too much trouble, there is a great little file save manipulation tutorial you can use to get around some of the most onerous parts of the save system at GameFAQs. I will confess, I let myself run down(?) to 100 percent in my D-Meter, just to see what would happen, and was quite upset when I discovered that I lost half my party ability points and money because I let myself die. The FAQ helped me equalize this disparity, and it was smooth sailing from that point on. I'd like to give the author a medal, for that one, as it compensates for really the only poorly thought out element of the entire game.

Once again, if you are on the fence, as I was, take the plunge. You'll be glad you did. I know I am.

I got this game for Christmas and looked forward to trying it out. It happened that I pulled a muscle in my abdomen so had a couple of days where I was stuck in a chair anyway... why not spend it playing a game right? Well... My first forray into the game proved frustrating. As everyone else who's reviewed this game has said, the ability to save is very rare. This sets you up for starting the game over and over and over. The information in the book is pretty useless. I still haven't figured out how to use traps which appears to be essential for a good tactical rating.

The storyline is intriguing. The only thing that is getting me over the frustration of having to start over constantly is my curiosity of what is going to happen next.

Having cut my proverbial rpg teeth on D&D many years ago, the "AP" (Action Point) system didn't give me any problems. It makes sense to me that you have the ability to move and strike in the same turn. Basically battle goes like this:

Strike the enemy to engage in battle. Well, it is most advantageous if you strike first because it gives you one extra turn with your leading character. If they strike first, they get to hit you first and make tactics more difficult.

Extra move: Use this move to set your lead character and/or strike the enemy. On some of the more difficult enemies, you'll want to move them back so Nina can put glyphs on the floor.

Battle is turn based from there. Use your AP wisely to move and attack for best damage/defense.

One thing you will need to watch /very/ carefully is for messages on the lower left hand side of the screen. Regretfully, the notifications go by /very/ quickly. There are many of them that have gone off screen before you can finish reading them! This includes things like zombies will regenerate until you kill their "host" or that the creature you're hitting will absorb magical attacks. Even the notice to use the Dragon attacks wisely went by to quickly to read. Even when I was expecting and watching for it!

The D-counter is yet another frustration. I suddenly noticed a percentage on the screen. Thinking it meant I was that much closer to finishing the game I travelled on... imagine my surprise when I was looking around a city for the way out and suddenly finding my character dead and a restart being required! If there was a warning about it, it went by too fast to see. Later I looked in the book that came with the game and while the D counter is mentioned, it doesn't really explain what is going on. They do offer telephone support at something like $5.00 per minute but I feel I paid enough for the game. I actually learned a heck of a lot more about it reading the reviews on this page.

I worked on this game for 3 days and when the D-counter killed me I put it away for a bit. I will return to it because I am curious about how the story ends. However it will be a while. At this point I find it too frustrating to even think about.

I am not a power gamer. Meaning I enjoy the storyline aspects of a game over the min/max power kill. When the warning came up to use the dragon attacks sparingly, I did. In fact, I only used them twice before elevation 700. I used the D-dash twice to avoid bats. They're just a pain to deal with... and there are soooo many of them!

Soooo... to sum my feelings about this game are mixed. Graphics are breathtaking. Ambience (including music) is cool. Storyline is awesome (so far anyway). Frustrations are documentation, notifications going by too quickly and lack of ability to save.

I was a bit upset with the way this game turned out when I unfortunately bought the game before trying it out first. The battle system is turn based like a tactics game, and the game in my opinion is quite difficult if you are not used to it at all. If you are a saving fanatic, I would suggest you be aware, cause you are required to use tokens to save. This game takes special care, and needs to be sorta mastered before actually getting the hang of it. But the game still is kinda boring.

I would have to say that this game was definitely a relief from the other breath of fire games. I was skeptical at first but the games ingenuity and innovation won me over in a short time. The game contains many innovations for the series and in general for all rpgs. It has a scenario overlay system where the more times that you beat the game the more additions to the story you get. The first time through however the story is not lacking. If you like to read through a game and not play it however it might not be for you. Most of the game is playing time now movie time like other recent games. For the skilled gamer, the game is not so hard the first time as long as you keep yourself stocked with items and using tactics instead of brute force. What adds to this need is the use of D-Counter which slowly raises throught the game. If you are conservative, you will beat the game with a little above 80% with the understanding that the difficulty level the first time around is such that you need to save the counter for the end of the game. It was definitely fun that towards the end of the game the counter is very close to 100%( the game ends when u reach 100% ) and it adds a lot of suspense in the end. The game also does not have random enemy encounters but a set amount of enemies so you cannot train your characters until lvl 99 to beat the game like all other rpgs which I found very refreshing to play a game with a set difficulty level.

The story is simple, no plot twists and hundreds of characters to keep your mind on, but enough to keep you playing and wondering what will happen. You start the game as Ryu, a low class grunt in the government. with a ranking of 1/8192 to start with, you are of the lowest kind. However, if you do a good job on your first time throught the game, the ranking raises dramatically. Additional plays through the game are not a hassle since you keep all of your equipment and abilities and your party experience to level the second time through.

The game was difinitely enjoyable and worth playing a few times through. It is one of the better games I have played in a long time. The difficulty level is alright,not too easy but definitely not hard either. If you are in for something new in a game then this game is for you. Any rpg fan should consider giving this game a try. The music is great on its own, the game is one that you start playing and have to play all of the way through.

Dragon Quarter is a complex, tightly woven RPG that breaks new ground with its dark, industrial story and fantastically profound battle system. But before you get too excited, dear gamer, read on-all that fiery goodness comes with a stern warning attached. The first key to enjoying the latest installment in the Breath of Fire series is to realize right off the bat that it is nothing at all like any of its predecessors-think of it more as a mutant cross-breeding between Final Fantasy Tactics, Dark Cloud, and Way of the Samurai. It shirks the previous games' traditional town/map/tower RPG structure in favor of one giant underground dungeon broken up by short stints in minimalist, utilitarian, industrial "towns." The plot moves fast, the characters are few, the graphics are dirty, and there's really only one super-hyper-omega-crazy attack to speak of-and even its use is severely limited by the mechanics of the gameplay. Dragon Quarter is nowhere near as brash or bold as Final Fantasy X, nor as drawn-out and hyper-epic as Xenosaga, but it's a unique and special animal in its own brilliantly frustrating way. Breath of Fire's battle system is astonishing-it's surprisingly tactical and deeply strategic. When you run into enemies, you're given a top-down representation of the room layout you're in. Each character has a given number of Action Points (AP) that they can use as they see fit, either to move about, chain together long combo attacks, or store up for the next turn to unleash even more powerful combos. While you have only three characters (swordsman Ryu, magician Nina, and status-altering gunslinger Lin), they play off one another in ingenious ways. Battles often come across as fantasy chess matches, where herding enemies into pockets and corners becomes just as important as casting Ultimate Omega Flare. The game rewards you well (with bonus experience) for smartly played skirmishes, and it forces you to be as conservative as possible with your healing and power-up items. Inventory slots are very limited, and the next town is often a long, long, long ways away. In other words, plan well or die. Actually, you'll probably die anyway-repeatedly, in fact, and by design. Dragon Quarter is structured so that you have to start over three or four times before your characters are good enough to win (yes, from the beginning). For you see, dear gamer, not too far into the game, your main character acquires a certain Dragon-themed super-power. Unfortunately, that power comes with a Spawn-like "countdown" that will, once expired, kill you dead. As in, Game Over dead. What's more, there is no way to reverse the effects. The countdown is accelerated while Ryu is in Dragon form (severely curbing your desire to use it), but the darn thing goes up even when you're just walking in normal form, putting a lot of pressure on you to be as efficient and fast as possible. And even if your accursed inner Dragon doesn't kill you, poor planning and a lack of cash could just as easily do you in, forcing you to begin again with hard lessons learned and new tactics in mind. The forced repetition is easily the most frustrating part of the game, but if you can wrap your head around it, it proves to be one of the most rewarding-on your next playthrough, you'll find new areas, and new cut-scenes show you what's really going on in the game's dark, complex, post-cyberapocalyptic plot. Plus, subsequent playthroughs aren't as tedious as you'd imagine since all of your items and skills carry over as well as any Party XP you've accumulated, meaning you can get back to where you left off fairly quickly. Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter is a small, focused, and pioneering RPG that's quite unlike anything you've played before on the PS2. You'll find yourself hopelessly addicted to the wonderful combat and deep reward structure, but it's likely that the whole "must restart several times" aspect will be a deal-breaker for many. And if you were looking forward to another Breath of Fire quest in the traditional sense, well, sorry. You'll just have to relive Ryu's other past lives on the Game Boy Advance.