A repost of the review I wrote for Breath of Fire III. Again, this was around five years ago.
Breath of Fire III begins with a strange young dragon, who is found in a mine. Panicking, the dragon makes its way to the exit; unfortunately, it is caught, and caged. While being transported, the dragon manages to rock its cage to such an extent that it pulls itself off the vehicle being used to transport it.
Shortly after this, Rei, an orphaned boy who lives in the woods, finds a young boy, with no memory (or clothes) lying unconscious near a cage. This is your main character, Ryu, and this is where Breath of Fire III really begins.
Rei, Ryu, and another lost orphan, Teepo, live happily in the forest, until, after drawing unwanted attention to themselves, they are attacked and separated. Ryu begins to search for his lost friends, and soon discovers many things that change the objective of his quest.
It soon becomes apparent that, unlike in earlier Breath of Fire games, the Dragon Tribes - both Light and Dark - no longer exist. A large part of the plot consists of finding out why this is. It seems, from various hints given, that this game is a direct sequel to the previous games, although the time frame involved means that the world bears very little resemblance to that of the other games.
The plot isn't as strong as in other games in the series, and to be honest, that begins to drag the game down. If you've played the other games before, and consider this a sequel, you may feel drawn forward in order to discover why the world changed the way it did. However, this means that, during much of Ryu and his friends angst ridden conversations over the claimed evilness of the dragons and the mysterious events of the past, you may find yourself screaming at the screen. If you don't consider the game a direct sequel, you're more likely to accept things at face value, which means that certain other parts of the plot lose their poignancy.
Although the plot is dragged out more, I feel that the characters are not as developed as they could be. In Breath of Fire II, most of the characters had home towns and secret pasts which they had to face throughout the game, giving them more depth. Five out of six characters in this game are orphans, and only two out of the six have hometowns.
Your main character is, obviously, Ryu, the blue-haired swordsman. At the start of the game he seems to be around ten years old. About a third of the way through, several years pass, and Ryu is suddenly in his late teens or early twenties. Unfortunately, the older version is nowhere near as attractive as Ryu of Breath of Fire II, and has even less personality. As always, Ryu doesn't talk, and with no personal history whatsoever, he's not an overly endearing character. There's nothing to dislike about him, but then there's nothing to like either. As well as his obligatory Dragon transformations (about which, more later), Ryu learns some fairly useful healing magic, although the high AP cost related to the dragons means you won't want him as a main healer.
Nina, the blonde Wyndian Princess is another recurring character. Again, I don't like this version as much as previous incarnations, either. As a child she's sickeningly girly, and as an adult, somewhat annoying. She does, however, learn some fairly useful black magic, and the skills system allowed me to fill her inventory with spare healing and stat raising spells, too.
Rei, the young man who rescued both Ryu and Teepo is an interesting character. Early in the game, he's stronger and more agile than the other characters you can access. However, as an adult, Ryu surpasses him in almost all aspects. Although it's never commented on in the game, it's rather sad to see Rei, the boy who looked after Ryu and Teepo, who was once your strongest character, become a shell of his former self as an adult. He's a member of the Woren tribe, like Katt from Breath of Fire II and Cray from Breath of Fire IV. Throughout the game, he will probably be your fastest character, and he always has the rather useful "pilfer" ability, allowing you to steal from and damage monsters, much like the mug ability in the Final Fantasy series.
Momo is another interesting character. She's a red-haired engineer, who comes in useful at various parts of the game. She's also able to shoot through walls, which help you find some pretty interesting items throughout the game. Engineers occupy an odd place in Breath of Fire III's world; the only machines are rebuilt ones that come from some mysterious place across the ocean, so most of Momo's work is fixing machines, rather than building them. Momo also has a tiny robot named Honey, who makes herself useful in a variety of ways throughout the game.
In battle, Momo's another healer, and she also learns some useful stat boosting spells. She'll probably be your main healer throughout longer dungeons, since you may wish to save Ryu's AP for bosses.
Garr is a character made purely for strength. He's big, he's mean and he's ugly. He enters your party in an unusual way, and although he's a large part of the storyline at first, I found I'd almost forgotten him by the end of the game.
Peco, on the other hand is much more interesting. A mutant onion (yes, a mutant onion), Peco is normally neglected by players, which is a real shame, because, when used right, he can gain the highest HP and defence of anyone in your party. He's also an integral part of the plot at the end of the game. And he's cute, too.
The game play of Breath of Fire III has changed a lot since the previous games. The world map is unusual. There are no random battles. Instead, sometimes a '!' will appear above Ryu's head, signalling a random battle field, a small area which includes random battles and an item. It's possible to ignore these completely, when running through areas, or to purposefully hunt them down when levelling. This can mean that your characters end up underlevelled, but the joy of having no random battles offsets that. That's also handy because there's no airship, flying Princess, or similar device within the game, although there is a complicated underground transporter system unlocked fairly late. The battle system itself is almost identical to Breath of Fire II, although there are far more choices with regards to formations. You are also only allowed three characters out of your six in battle at once. The drop rates are annoyingly low compared to some other games, and the exp/zenny to enemy difficulty ratio is a little too low early in the game.
Somewhat annoyingly, the camera angle in Breath of Fire III is offset slightly; it faces north-west. Since your character can only move in the four standard directions (you can't use analogue, only d-pad) this can make movement awkward. Another another feature is that you can only save while camping, or at an Inn. Camping itself is, however, a useful feature, as it allows you to replenish your whole party's HP and AP, much like save points in Final Fantasy X and X-2. If a character has died in battle, however, and was not revived by the end of it, their maximum HP will remain lowered until they rest in an Inn.
The amount of towns and the size of the world in this game is much smaller than in previous incarnations, which allows each town to have a more unique feel to it.
This game includes many ways to strengthen your characters apart from levels and equipment as in the previous games. Players are now able to apprentice under Masters, who will affect how their stats rise when they level up, and who will teach them their spells. Two of these masters are Ladon, the Dragon God, and Deis, the recurring character, and my favourite in the Breath of Fire universe. Although Deis isn't an active member of your party this time, she does play a role in the plot.
Another way to strengthen your characters is by learning skills from enemy monsters. This rather resembles the blue magic in the Final Fantasy series, except, in this case, any character has to a chance to learn various skills simply by guarding when the enemy uses it. Each character can have several skills at once, or skills can be moved between characters. This is useful, as it allows you to use characters in new ways; for instance, by giving Nina all the healing skills I found, I was able to use her as a spare healer as well as the attack mage she was designed to be.
Ryu and another companion also have the ability to transform into new forms. Ryu, as always, is a dragon. In this game, you can collect eighteen different Dragon chrysms, and, in battle, combine up to three of them in various ways, to tailor your forms to the enemy. This costs AP to set up, and more AP each turn to stay in that shape.
Another character also has the ability to transform, but this is far more risky, as, although the character is immensely strong, they are also berserk in this form. A third character can use a certain skill to control them, but since that is only in effect as long as the character remains alive and doesn't transform themselves (so you can't designate Ryu) it does have limits.
Breath of Fire III's graphics aren't amazing, and I doubt they were anything too special at the time. The characters look a little more polished than FFVII, but the backgrounds are far plainer and less exciting. Some effects, particularly in battle are rather interesting; for instance, there are no separate battle screens, the battle merely starts exactly where the characters are standing, almost like in FFX-2. Sometimes this means things can be difficult to see, such as when there are walls in the way. Ryu's dragon attacks can be impressive too (although none are as interesting as his final Dragon in BoFII), as are the other transformations in the game. The attacks of the final boss stand out too, particularly one which involves her stomach swelling to resemble pregnancy, before exploding outwards in a shower of red tentacles. Gross, but very cool.
This Breath of Fire is the first to include the Faery village subquest which appears in both sequels. Basically, you need to tell the faeries what to do in order to create a successful town; set some to hunting, some to building houses, then have some of them research jobs. The jobs are the most useful part, and the main reason for helping the faeries. There are six merchants, which carry some of the best pieces of equipment for your characters, as well as such things as a Casino (which allows you to win some rather good prizes) and a music store, which allows you to listen to the various game music whenever you like. The most useful part of the village, in my experience, is the Copy Shop. You can ask faeries to copy an item in your inventory. Although the success rate isn't amazing, you can keep resetting until you get the result you want, and by completely abusing this system (ie, with such items as the Ivory Dice, which doubles the experience and zenny given by enemies) you can raise your characters to amazing levels or simply get rich by copying and selling expensive items.
Breath of Fire III also greatly expands on the fishing mini-game from Breath of Fire I and II. There are many fishing spots, many more types of bait and rods, and much more skill to it. There are also Manillos which will trade you some pretty good items for certain fish, and the game keeps track of the size and types of fish collected, adding a competitive aspect. You gain points for catching fish of certain sizes, and gain a rank based on that. Although long and ardourous, the fishing game is also absorbing and enjoyable.
There's also a section of the game that involves a battle tournament, much like those in other games such as Tales of Symphonia, and Final Fantasy VII to name a few. Unfortunately, it isn't expanded beyond a plot-related section.
In summary, I didn't enjoy this Breath of Fire as much as the previous or even later games. This is the game where a lot of the features and concepts used in the later games originated, but the drawn out plot and lack of interaction between the characters means that it suffers quite a bit. All in all, this is probably my least favourite of the Breath of Fire series, which isn't to say that it's a bad game. Just that the others are better.
Warning: The following contains spoilers.
Breath of Fire III begins with a strange young dragon, who is found in a mine. Panicking, the dragon makes its way to the exit; unfortunately, it is caught, and caged. While being transported, the dragon manages to rock its cage to such an extent that it pulls itself off the vehicle being used to transport it.
Shortly after this, Rei, an orphaned boy who lives in the woods, finds a young boy, with no memory (or clothes) lying unconscious near a cage. This is your main character, Ryu, and this is where Breath of Fire III really begins.
Rei, Ryu, and another lost orphan, Teepo, live happily in the forest, until, after drawing unwanted attention to themselves, they are attacked and separated. Ryu begins to search for his lost friends, and soon discovers many things that change the objective of his quest.
It soon becomes apparent that, unlike in earlier Breath of Fire games, the Dragon Tribes - both Light and Dark - no longer exist. A large part of the plot consists of finding out why this is. It seems, from various hints given, that this game is a direct sequel to the previous games, although the time frame involved means that the world bears very little resemblance to that of the other games.
The plot isn't as strong as in other games in the series, and to be honest, that begins to drag the game down. If you've played the other games before, and consider this a sequel, you may feel drawn forward in order to discover why the world changed the way it did. However, this means that, during much of Ryu and his friends angst ridden conversations over the claimed evilness of the dragons and the mysterious events of the past, you may find yourself screaming at the screen. If you don't consider the game a direct sequel, you're more likely to accept things at face value, which means that certain other parts of the plot lose their poignancy.
Although the plot is dragged out more, I feel that the characters are not as developed as they could be. In Breath of Fire II, most of the characters had home towns and secret pasts which they had to face throughout the game, giving them more depth. Five out of six characters in this game are orphans, and only two out of the six have hometowns.
Your main character is, obviously, Ryu, the blue-haired swordsman. At the start of the game he seems to be around ten years old. About a third of the way through, several years pass, and Ryu is suddenly in his late teens or early twenties. Unfortunately, the older version is nowhere near as attractive as Ryu of Breath of Fire II, and has even less personality. As always, Ryu doesn't talk, and with no personal history whatsoever, he's not an overly endearing character. There's nothing to dislike about him, but then there's nothing to like either. As well as his obligatory Dragon transformations (about which, more later), Ryu learns some fairly useful healing magic, although the high AP cost related to the dragons means you won't want him as a main healer.
Nina, the blonde Wyndian Princess is another recurring character. Again, I don't like this version as much as previous incarnations, either. As a child she's sickeningly girly, and as an adult, somewhat annoying. She does, however, learn some fairly useful black magic, and the skills system allowed me to fill her inventory with spare healing and stat raising spells, too.
Rei, the young man who rescued both Ryu and Teepo is an interesting character. Early in the game, he's stronger and more agile than the other characters you can access. However, as an adult, Ryu surpasses him in almost all aspects. Although it's never commented on in the game, it's rather sad to see Rei, the boy who looked after Ryu and Teepo, who was once your strongest character, become a shell of his former self as an adult. He's a member of the Woren tribe, like Katt from Breath of Fire II and Cray from Breath of Fire IV. Throughout the game, he will probably be your fastest character, and he always has the rather useful "pilfer" ability, allowing you to steal from and damage monsters, much like the mug ability in the Final Fantasy series.
Momo is another interesting character. She's a red-haired engineer, who comes in useful at various parts of the game. She's also able to shoot through walls, which help you find some pretty interesting items throughout the game. Engineers occupy an odd place in Breath of Fire III's world; the only machines are rebuilt ones that come from some mysterious place across the ocean, so most of Momo's work is fixing machines, rather than building them. Momo also has a tiny robot named Honey, who makes herself useful in a variety of ways throughout the game.
In battle, Momo's another healer, and she also learns some useful stat boosting spells. She'll probably be your main healer throughout longer dungeons, since you may wish to save Ryu's AP for bosses.
Garr is a character made purely for strength. He's big, he's mean and he's ugly. He enters your party in an unusual way, and although he's a large part of the storyline at first, I found I'd almost forgotten him by the end of the game.
Peco, on the other hand is much more interesting. A mutant onion (yes, a mutant onion), Peco is normally neglected by players, which is a real shame, because, when used right, he can gain the highest HP and defence of anyone in your party. He's also an integral part of the plot at the end of the game. And he's cute, too.
The game play of Breath of Fire III has changed a lot since the previous games. The world map is unusual. There are no random battles. Instead, sometimes a '!' will appear above Ryu's head, signalling a random battle field, a small area which includes random battles and an item. It's possible to ignore these completely, when running through areas, or to purposefully hunt them down when levelling. This can mean that your characters end up underlevelled, but the joy of having no random battles offsets that. That's also handy because there's no airship, flying Princess, or similar device within the game, although there is a complicated underground transporter system unlocked fairly late. The battle system itself is almost identical to Breath of Fire II, although there are far more choices with regards to formations. You are also only allowed three characters out of your six in battle at once. The drop rates are annoyingly low compared to some other games, and the exp/zenny to enemy difficulty ratio is a little too low early in the game.
Somewhat annoyingly, the camera angle in Breath of Fire III is offset slightly; it faces north-west. Since your character can only move in the four standard directions (you can't use analogue, only d-pad) this can make movement awkward. Another another feature is that you can only save while camping, or at an Inn. Camping itself is, however, a useful feature, as it allows you to replenish your whole party's HP and AP, much like save points in Final Fantasy X and X-2. If a character has died in battle, however, and was not revived by the end of it, their maximum HP will remain lowered until they rest in an Inn.
The amount of towns and the size of the world in this game is much smaller than in previous incarnations, which allows each town to have a more unique feel to it.
This game includes many ways to strengthen your characters apart from levels and equipment as in the previous games. Players are now able to apprentice under Masters, who will affect how their stats rise when they level up, and who will teach them their spells. Two of these masters are Ladon, the Dragon God, and Deis, the recurring character, and my favourite in the Breath of Fire universe. Although Deis isn't an active member of your party this time, she does play a role in the plot.
Another way to strengthen your characters is by learning skills from enemy monsters. This rather resembles the blue magic in the Final Fantasy series, except, in this case, any character has to a chance to learn various skills simply by guarding when the enemy uses it. Each character can have several skills at once, or skills can be moved between characters. This is useful, as it allows you to use characters in new ways; for instance, by giving Nina all the healing skills I found, I was able to use her as a spare healer as well as the attack mage she was designed to be.
Ryu and another companion also have the ability to transform into new forms. Ryu, as always, is a dragon. In this game, you can collect eighteen different Dragon chrysms, and, in battle, combine up to three of them in various ways, to tailor your forms to the enemy. This costs AP to set up, and more AP each turn to stay in that shape.
Another character also has the ability to transform, but this is far more risky, as, although the character is immensely strong, they are also berserk in this form. A third character can use a certain skill to control them, but since that is only in effect as long as the character remains alive and doesn't transform themselves (so you can't designate Ryu) it does have limits.
Breath of Fire III's graphics aren't amazing, and I doubt they were anything too special at the time. The characters look a little more polished than FFVII, but the backgrounds are far plainer and less exciting. Some effects, particularly in battle are rather interesting; for instance, there are no separate battle screens, the battle merely starts exactly where the characters are standing, almost like in FFX-2. Sometimes this means things can be difficult to see, such as when there are walls in the way. Ryu's dragon attacks can be impressive too (although none are as interesting as his final Dragon in BoFII), as are the other transformations in the game. The attacks of the final boss stand out too, particularly one which involves her stomach swelling to resemble pregnancy, before exploding outwards in a shower of red tentacles. Gross, but very cool.
This Breath of Fire is the first to include the Faery village subquest which appears in both sequels. Basically, you need to tell the faeries what to do in order to create a successful town; set some to hunting, some to building houses, then have some of them research jobs. The jobs are the most useful part, and the main reason for helping the faeries. There are six merchants, which carry some of the best pieces of equipment for your characters, as well as such things as a Casino (which allows you to win some rather good prizes) and a music store, which allows you to listen to the various game music whenever you like. The most useful part of the village, in my experience, is the Copy Shop. You can ask faeries to copy an item in your inventory. Although the success rate isn't amazing, you can keep resetting until you get the result you want, and by completely abusing this system (ie, with such items as the Ivory Dice, which doubles the experience and zenny given by enemies) you can raise your characters to amazing levels or simply get rich by copying and selling expensive items.
Breath of Fire III also greatly expands on the fishing mini-game from Breath of Fire I and II. There are many fishing spots, many more types of bait and rods, and much more skill to it. There are also Manillos which will trade you some pretty good items for certain fish, and the game keeps track of the size and types of fish collected, adding a competitive aspect. You gain points for catching fish of certain sizes, and gain a rank based on that. Although long and ardourous, the fishing game is also absorbing and enjoyable.
There's also a section of the game that involves a battle tournament, much like those in other games such as Tales of Symphonia, and Final Fantasy VII to name a few. Unfortunately, it isn't expanded beyond a plot-related section.
In summary, I didn't enjoy this Breath of Fire as much as the previous or even later games. This is the game where a lot of the features and concepts used in the later games originated, but the drawn out plot and lack of interaction between the characters means that it suffers quite a bit. All in all, this is probably my least favourite of the Breath of Fire series, which isn't to say that it's a bad game. Just that the others are better.
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