Playstation 2 - Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter

Format
Playstation 2
Publisher
Capcom
Developer
Capcom
Country of origin
Japan
Genre
RPG

Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter

By David Rasmussen
27th Aug 05

The one drawback of the summer is that there is few games to recommend.
This year is no exception.
Apart from Medal of Honor : European Assault, Psychonauts, Destroy All Humans, Darkwatch (review coming soon) and one or two more (not coming to memory at this moment) there has not been a glut of great gaming! Worse, some games I thought would be great turned out to be duds. Yes, Namco, I do mean you and your terrible Arc the Lad : End of Darkness game! I hate you!

Not to mention you might be in a bit of a budgetary bind and might be looking for a few bargain games to check out. Worry not, this week I have two selections from a few years ago that should be quite affordable for your gaming budget in the here and now. Two RPGs that should be in the affordable range right about now. Breath of Fire : Dragon Quarter and Okage : Shadow King.

This, of course, is the review of Breath of Fire : Dragon Quarter.
It’s been a few years since this one has come out, and with the notable exception of the GameBoy Advance (which has released two Breath of Fire games to date) there has been no new releases of Breath of Fire since Dragon Quarter. That, by the way, is too bad, especially since this game has something most RPGs I’ve played don’t, a reason to play the game over and over again.

The world is not in it’s happy place… which seems to be the general theme of these games half of the time.
Humankind lives out their lives deep beneath the planetary surface, the world seemingly dead… except we know better since a majority of the Breath of Fire series takes place on the surface of the world!
Anyway these people don’t seem to know there’s a world up there (and those who do know ain’t telling nobody about that “World”), and they’re living in this technological class rift (where those with a low “D Ratio” (genetics) live deep below where the air is polluted and slowly becoming uninhabitable, while those with high D Ratios live nearer to the “surface” where the air is fresher and cleaner).
You play a grunt with a low D Ratio who works for the “law” of the underworld, a group known as the Rangers. However it looks like your organization is not so much the law as they are the “keepers” who hold a tight grip over the “world”. You wake up to the truths of your “world” when you find yourself saving a girl with wings, and joining forces with another girl who works for a so-called “terrorist” organization in the “world” known as TRINITY.

It seems you two have something in common, mainly keeping the girl (Nina) alive.
As for your old friends at the Rangers? Don’t expect to be turning towards them for assistance anytime soon. Your old “friends”, it seems, wants her dead. And, yes, that also includes your former partner (the annoying blonde with the high D Ratio) who has now become your enemy since it looks like he’d rather kill you than allow the girl your protecting to keep on living.

What about the girl? Well it seems she is a disposable asset that was made to “clean” the below air of pollution, but you ain’t so happy on her being an expendable asset so you quest to bring her to the “light” of the surface where the air is pure and she’ll survive… oh, why are you so in the know about the sky? Seems while you were on the way to pick Nina up for transport (you were to guard her though you didn’t know you were being sent to guard a “her” in the first place) you met a dead dragon corpse and that dragon’s spirit is now housed in your body. It’s name is Odjn, and apparently it’s some sort of “Destroyer”… oh, and it wants to go to the sky (the above world)… and it’s killing you.

When it merges with you it gives you the gift of it’s immense power, but it’s a pity that gift is a sharp two sided sword that cuts you as badly as the enemy. While you can use one gift endlessly (the ability to run) the other gifts come at a cost. When you tap into the dragon’s power you transform, and that’s when the meter on the upper right comes into play. As you watch it, the meter grows with each attack you make.
Once the meter reaches 100% you die, simple as that.
So you have to not touch the meter, and not use the power… which is a slow death anyway since the meter slowly crawls upwards regardless of whether you are using the power or not… which you will.

Once you reach a certain level you’ll have to fight these impossible to beat things called “Dark Rangers”, and the only way to overcome is to use your power… then there’s your old boss and your old partner who also need that extra touch… let’s just say you won’t beat this game the first time out.

Which brings me to the unique aspect of Breath of Fire : Dragon Quarter, the ability to play the game over and over again. As you reach the limit of how far you can reach the first time out (which should be at the doorstep of the high spot where your enemies have been plotting your downfall since halfway through the game) you have the option to “opt out” and “give up”. Once you do that the game saves again at the start, with some of your stats, weapons, and powers you earned during the game, that and everything you did with your “colony” (you’ll see) will remain intact which is another plus towards helping you go farther each time you set out again from the beginning). When you start again the game is abit harder to play, but it is also filled with new cutscenes and a longer story (and you have more and more to work with so it all evens out).

Yes, each time you “give up” the game becomes harder, which means it’s important to go as far as you can go in each game. That way you build up your Group XP points and it means you start each time with more experience and more levels, and probably better and better gear with each “opt out”.
That and the “colony” you make (accept a gift from a friendly fairy should you meet one) will be another asset towards your goal of completing this game… but that is something you’ll learn about as you play.

Combat, which could just as well have been retarded (I.e. Arc the Lad : End of Darkness) is intelligent (hooray for this game). The combat is most definitely NOT the sloppy hack/slash of Arc the Lad : End of Darkness, this is more like Twilight of the Spirits (but better).
Everything is controlled by the AP meter. Movement (which has it’s own “sphere of influence” as to how far you can move each round), and attack skills (10, 20 and 30 AP units burned depending on the skill used) are all powered by this AP meter. So a careful monitoring of your movement/attacks is necessary to win. But when I say attack I don’t just mean the standard hack/slash!
Combos can be formed here, as in REAL combos and not those “combos” like in Colosseum : Road to Freedom. Yeah, while it takes abit of work to master it can pay off big time.
As you strike once you quickly hold down the L2 or R2 button to bring up the next menu, and tap the corresponding button. This way, with the more AP you have, the more attacks you can string together forming larger and larger combos. Very nifty. However sometimes the ability to do combos doesn’t come up, and combos can be broken when fighting multiple creatures and one of them drops (you fall out of your combo once you ax one of the enemies even if your attacking multiple enemies).

You have a set team of three. Yourself, Nina (the girl you save) and Lin (the Trinity girl who starts as an “enemy“ but quickly becomes a friend.). Each of you have your own unique weapon and skill.
You have a sword, and all your skills are blade geared.
Nina is good at magic, and has both offensive and defensive abilities to call into play (and sometimes she wields a weapon that looks like plumbing shaped into the form of a staff)..
Lin likes her guns, and is the best for range attacks since her gun can reach farther than your sword.
While you can’t join your attacks together to form more powerful attacks (ala Twilight of the Spirits) you can team up and take out enemies with strategy. With abit of thought you should be able to make short work of whatever stands in your way.

Buying things in this game is simple. Simply find the blonde sisters who help you with items, weapons, information and analyzing things. Analysis is done on weapons that can’t be identified (“?” weapons).
There’s more, lots more, but that’d take too long and you can read all about it in the instructions.
The game isn’t as simple as Twilight of the Spirits’ two button system, but it is also way more deep and intelligent gameplay than End of Darkness so that’s a plus.

And then there’s the bonus!
Along the way you’ll free a fairy who’ll give you a fairy drop. You’ll use this to travel back and forth from this place called the “colony”, where giant ants live. You’ll hire these ants, have them dig tunnels and find chambers, and make places like a restaurant (where you’ll make money as a beginner player), a bank (to save your money), a concert hall (where you can hear all the music from the game), a newspaper (for hints and clues), and much much more. Again this is a long explanation but you’ll be able to understand it once you read the instructions and try it out yourself, so don’t worry about that (you‘ll have no problem mastering the maintenance of the colony once you get into it and start putting it to good use. Just don‘t forget to keep depositing money into the colony‘s funds to keep it running!).

As far as RPGs go this is one worth checking out. It’s got a unique style, the gameplay is rather intelligent (no rushing about willy nilly), there is incentive to play the game over and over (since it’ll unlock new cut scenes that details out the story more and more, and it’s the only way to beat this game), and considering you should be able to find it now for a good low price I can’t see why you wouldn’t be checking this out!

A good game at a good discounted price? You can’t go wrong there.
Ok, breakdown time.

Breath of Fire Breakdown Quarter
What’s Hot?
I don’t know if the Breath of Fire series is your cup of tea or not, but even if you’ve only had a chance to play the not too recent GBA Breath of Fire games then you’ve had a taste of this series. And, to me at least, that taste should give you a desire to try out this PS2 version which (yes) is good.

And heck since you should be able to get it now for a good discount I can’t see the downside to this.
The gameplay is fairly solid, there’s nice music, graphics and gameplay not to mention there’s a very good reason to play this over and over (repeat gameplay value) so there’s a lot going for this game.

What’s Not?
I can’t think of a thing bad to say about this game. It’s not Final Fantasy franchise wise, but it’s a solidly done game from a pretty good franchise that deserve a pick up. And since you should be able to find this game now for a good low price I don’t know why you wouldn’t give it a fair shake!

Moments to Remember?
I could write a long blog just on what’s memorable about this game… but you don’t want to read that, so just trust me when I say there’s lots to remember here.

What to Ignore?
Hmmm -- I guess nothing. Nothing pops to mind about this game that is worth waving a warning flag over so why sweat the small stuff over this game? So I have no warnings for you. None.

Overall?
It’s a good game that has lots of stuff in it, a nicely done combat system, and plenty of reason for replaying this game over and over again. And, yes, there’s also the fact you should be able to find this game for a good low price. What is there not to love about Dragon Quarter? Give it a try! You should like it!

-- David Rasmussen 27th Aug 05

Playstation 2 Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter Images