Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Release: 12/10/95 Genre: RPG
Breath of Fire was as traditional as RPGs can get. But it made an impression thanks to its fascinating world and pixel art. It was surprising that Capcom did not release it in the West themselves but Squaresoft picked up the tab and reaped the benefits. Not wanting to make the same mistake twice Capcom published Breath of Fire II themselves. As a sequel it aims to do everything its predecessor does but better and in many respects it succeeds. But the game’s localization leaves a lot to be desired. The gameplay saves this one. While it cannot compare to late generation efforts like Chrono Trigger Breath of Fire II is still a good game.
Set thousands of years after the first game, Breath of Fire II follows another youth named Ryu. One day after sleeping behind his village he returns to find that no one remembers him and his family is gone. He runs away with a thief named Bow and the two grow up to be rangers. In the ten years that pass a new religion devoted to the Church of St. Eva begins to sweep the world. While they appear benevolent St. Eva and its followers are not all they seem….
The story is a bit more involved this time however you will have to deal with the game’s shoddy localization. Breath of Fire II was one of Capcom’s first major translation projects and it shows. There are typos, grammatical errors, mismatched commands, and odd turns of phrase everywhere. There are even times you are given the wrong directions to continue the story! While the overall translation is bad the story still has its high points. Character personalities still manage to shine through which automatically makes this a step up over the first game. The cast is likable and while the general plot is clichéd it is still enjoyable.
Breath of Fire II features just as colorful a cast as its predecessor. Just like that game each character possesses a distinct skill except time they all have field skills as well. Bow’s hunt skill is a great source for cash and healing items early on. Jean’s frog form can help access later areas early on for good gear. For those that hate random battles Rand can roll into a ball to speed up travel and avoid combat. Some of these skills are mandatory for progress like Sten and his extendable limbs or Katt’s ability to break rocks. Everyone has a chapter in the story to keep them relevant to the plot making the entire party feel valued.
The combat system has seen upgrades as well. Like the field skills the combat skills are all distinct. Ryu alongside Katt is the only one that can counterattack. His guts skill restores HP and can save him from death. Jean can attack the entire enemy party with chop making him one of the best characters. Spar’s Nature power can be a help or hindrance depending on the terrain while Nina can restore AP using Will. There are different battle formations to play with but I will be completely honest, I never bothered using other than the default. The best system in the game however is the Shaman system.
Shamanization is the ultimate realization of Karn’s combine skill from BOF. By finding the six shaman scattered around the world you can fuse two of them to a character. This can produce four results: failure, minor success which has a small stat boost, major which changes their palette produces a large stat increase, and the best one, perfect. A perfect result creates an entirely new form with unique powers. Some characters have as many as four new forms. There are a total of 196 combinations which is insane. Only the dragon gene system from the following game is better. My only gripe is that you don’t reap the full benefit of shamanization until the end game.
One area I do wish the game had improved is in its pacing. The overall pace is slow, from movement speed to the plot. But more than anything else the encounter rate is far too high. There are times you can barely take three steps before the next battle! Sure with the right setup random battles end quickly. But I do not think anyone would object to a more balanced approach. Unfortunately as much as I don’t like it you need them. Breath of Fire II is heavy on grinding unfortunately as experience and zenny come slowly. This was a problem in the original as well but I feel it is more pronounced here. All of these are problems the later Gameboy Advance port fixes but it is sad that you have to deal with them in the original version.
Breath of Fire II is much harder than most RPGs because of some of the problems I have outlined. The game is tuned high and unfortunately leads to a large grind. It does not help that some of the party members that you are forced to use do not become useful until later in the game. Although Capcom have wisely removed the second wind bullshit every boss had in the original it just means the bosses have more health now. They are a slog as a result. The shaman system kind of alleviates this. But as I mentioned before you don’t get to see the true benefits of it until late in the game. I like a good challenge like most but only when it feels natural and fair. The slow pace of……everything only serves to make the difficulty feel artificial. Sadly Capcom would not learn from this.
In Closing
Even with its shoddy localization Breath of Fire II is a good game. The town creation and shaman system are fun to play with and once its story gets going it is enjoyable enough to motivate you to the end. It is not as good as other late generation RPGs like Lufia 2 or Final Fantasy 6 but that is a high bar. It does not need to be to be worth a purchase.
