An essay I wrote a while back. It does appear on another site, but, since it's entirely my work, I don't see why it shouldn't be here, too. This is also why I'm keeping notes on the storylines of the games as I play them - so it's a little easier to spot links in future.
Warning: The following contains spoilers for the entire Breath of Fire series.
Breath of Fire
The first game appears to be set several hundred, or thousand years before some of the following games.
Breath of Fire II is a direct sequel. The game introduces many basic elements of the Breath of Fire series - the silent hero Ryu, the Wyndian Princess Nina, the Sorceress/Naga Deis (who, due to a translation issue in this game, is sometimes known as 'Bleu'). The final boss is known as 'Tyr', another translation issue. Later, she will be known as the 'goddess' Myria.
This game also introduces the Fishing Mini-Game, and the Manillo species. In later games, the Manillo will be traders. In this first game, Gobi and the rest of his species already show strong mercenary tendencies.
Within the game, saving is done at Dragon Statues, in temples which are liberally scattered throughout the world. These become fewer as time moves on.
Breath of Fire II
The game is a direct sequel to the first
Breath of Fire, and describes the Dragon Tribe living underground - something that is later echoed in
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter. It seems to be set only a few hundred years after the first game. It is implied that Princess Nina and Ryu of the original game married, and are the ancestors of the current Princess Nina and her sister, Mina. This is evidenced by Mina's resemblance to Ryu, and Nina's black wings. When the current Nina is forced to face the 'Guardian', one of her own ancestors, this ancestor is exactly like the first Nina. She confesses to having married an 'outsider' - a member of another tribe.
The game also marks the return of Myria, the 'Goddess' who attempted to conquer the world in the original game. However, the party actually faces her child, not Myria herself.
Deis returns, as a secret character. She will not join the party automatically, as in the previous game, but will appear if she is sought out. She lives in the Temple of Wisdom, in the middle of the desert - where she can also be found in
Breath of Fire III. Unlike Ryu and Nina, she is her original self, rather than a descendant or reincarnation.
This game also marks the introduction of the Warren Tribe, through Katt. Later party members - Rei, Cray and Lin - are also related to this tribe.
Within the game, saving is still done at Dragon statues. However, Dragon temples seem to be far further apart than they once were.
Breath of Fire III
A mural in the town of Dragnier shows the characters from the first game fighting against Myria, and the game generally seems to continue several hundred years after the previous two installations. There is one Dragon Statue left, near a hut in the mountains, and the Dragon God, Ladon, can be found in Dragnier.
Within the world of
Breath of Fire III, the Dragon Tribe are believed to be extinct. In fact, many of them are dead, following the Dragon Wars which took place hundreds of years before the game begins, where Myria instructed the beings named 'guardians' to kill all the dragons in the world, deeming them too dangerous to exist. The Guardians also bear a very strong resemblance to the monsters Myria attempts to unleash upon the world of
Breath of Fire II.
Many species and towns are recognisable from previous games, such as the Wyndians, the Warrens and the Manillos - and, of course, the Dark and Light Dragon Tribes. Many locations are also similar, such as the Desert of Death.
Myria returns once more, again calling herself 'Goddess'. Within the world of
Breath of Fire III, there is little technology. The world is split into two, and your characters spend most of their time on one half - it is believed to be impossible to cross the sea. However, advanced technological artefacts regularly wash up on the shore of the Junkyard. These come from Myria Station, where the party face the final battle.
Ryu and Nina appear once more, along with several new characters. Notably Peco, an offshoot of the Yggdrasil tree which appears in previous games, who may be related to Spar of
Breath of Fire II.
Deis appears once more, although not as a playable character. Instead, she is a master. Again, she appears to be the same character, as opposed to a descendant or reincarnation.
At the end of the game, Myria Station falls apart, with Myria inside it. As the floor she is standing on crumbles, and she falls, Deis appears. She refers to Myria as 'sister' - the first time this relationship is referenced.
The two appear to die together.
Deis and Myria's relationship as siblings explains a lot about the previous games. Deis has stood against Myria for thousands of years, since even before the series began. While Myria has tried to kill Deis countless times - notably, at the end of
Breath of Fire II - Deis has always left Myria imprisoned. It is unknown whether she couldn't kill her sister, or whether she simply wouldn't.
Myria and Deis are both shape-shifters, with abnormally long life-spans. While Myria often surrounds herself with people, Deis tends to be grouchier, and prefers to be left alone, sometimes for hundreds of years - although she does like her admirers almost as much as Myria does.
Deis is known to have no progeny, but Myria's children in
Breath of Fire II look remarkably like the Guardians of
Breath of Fire III. It is unknown why this mutation occured.
Deis and Myria appear to be the only two of their kind. Their origins, and therefore parents, are unknown. It's possible that they are somehow related to the Dragon Tribe - Deis physically resembles Ryu, Sara and Yua, Sara being his sister from the first game, and Yua/Patty being Ryu's sister in the second.
Breath of Fire IV
A thousand years before the beginning of the game, a great emperor created an empire. However, he was not whole; his soul had been split into two. It was foretold that he would return in a thousand years, when the other half of his soul appeared. Now is that time.
Ryu is completely ignorant of this, despite being the aforementioned other half. Later in the game, he discovers that he was summoned to this world from another - perhaps indicating that he is one of the previous incarnations of Ryu, brought back to life. Or that this is another world, apart from the previous Breath of Fire games, and his soul has been called from the other world. Or, perhaps, this world is just another version of the known world, one which has branched off slightly in its evolution.
One can find evidence for these theories by looking to the other characters. Princess Nina, for instance. She seems to mirror the other Wyndian Princesses who share her name, perhaps supporting the alternate universe idea.
Deis also appears in this game, although this is not immediately apparent. Early on, the group are joined by a small creature which seems to be covered from head to toe in armour. It talks of itself in the third person, referring to itself as 'Ershin'.
Later, it is revealed that Ershin actually is a suit of armour, with no body inside it. Instead, it houses Deis. Ershin means 'master', and when the party assumes that the armour is talking about itself in the third person, it is actually talking about Deis.
Like Ryu and Fou-Lu, Deis was summoned from another world. Due to her assumed death in the previous game, this could indicate that the world of
Breath of Fire IV is, in fact the same world as the previous games - with the world Ryu and Deis were summoned from being that of the dead.
In Deis' case, the problem with the summoning resulting in her lacking a body. When she is seen in her dreams, she appears identical to previous incarnations. She also seems to remember Ryu. If one achieves the bad ending, where Ryu and Fou-lu join with the latter in control, she is the only party member who does not attack him. Instead, she defends until the party are defeated.
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter
The fifth game of the series departs drastically from earlier games. However, there are still some resemblances.
Within this game, the entire population have retreated underground. There is a strict hierarchy in effect, with those with low D-Ratios living further underground, farther away from the mythological sky and the cleaner air.
The very existence of D-Ratios is interesting, when once considers the chronology of the series. D-Ratio refers to how much of a dragon one is - literally, their chance of linking with any of the few dragons who still exist. The highest possibility is 1/4 - a Dragon Quarter. Ryu begins as 1/8192, although this can drop through subsequent playthroughs.
It is interesting to note that, in
Breath of Fire II, the Dragon Tribe retreated underground. It is also interesting to consider the existence of the two dragons, and of Origin. And the fact that Lin appears to be a member of the Warren tribe.
Finally, it is never revealed what is on the surface of the planet the characters inhabit - whether it is abandoned, with the entire population underground, or whether it was only a small proportion who retreated.
This is the only game in which Deis does not appear - at least not anywhere Ryu happens to be looking.
