Breath of Fire IV
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| Breath of Fire IV | |
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| Developer(s) | Capcom |
| Publisher(s) | Capcom |
| Release date(s) | 2003 (PC Version) |
| Genre(s) | Role-playing game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: T (Teen) ELSPA: 11+ OFLC: G8+ |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation, PC |
| Media | 1 × CD-ROM |
Breath of Fire IV (ブレスオブファイアIV Buresu obu Faia Fō?) is the fourth RPG in the Breath of Fire series. It was released for the PlayStation in Japan and North America in 2000 by Capcom. In 2001 it was released in Europe.
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[edit] Story
It should be noted that Breath of Fire IV and Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter do not seem to have any relation to each other or to any other Breath of Fire installment outside of being part of the same series. BoF 4 may take place in a parallel universe, right after BoF 3. Five characters from BoF 3 appear in BoF 4, one explaining she ended up here after an explosion working on an unspecified device, and two other main playable characters have been summoned to this world (and this is one of the key plotlines), although in incomplete form (no body for one, no memories for the other), and the other two appearing near the end as simple merchants on a deserted plateau. It has also been theorized that BoF 4 is a prequel to the series that explains how Dragons first appeared in the world, although there is no concrete proof of this.
Princess Nina of Wyndia, along with her companion Cray, are searching for Nina's sister Elina, who has gone missing. During the game's early stages, their sandflier is attacked by the Sand Dragon. Because the craft has been damaged and can no longer take the duo to their destination, Cray sends Nina out to look for parts, while he stays behind to guard the wreckage.
While Nina journeys to the nearest town, she comes upon a crater, where she encounters a dragon, although one much smaller than the one who attacked their sandflier. Strangely, she feels no fear, but is surprised when the dragon reverts to a young, naked man. Ryu, as that is what he is called, retrieves some clothing from a nearby wrecked merchant caravan, and decides to come along with Nina on her journey.
[edit] Playable characters
- Ryu, just as in every other game in the series, he is a mysterious blue-haired youth who appears before Nina and Cray lacking a memory.
- Nina, Princess of the Fae tribe (winged people) of Wyndia. In the American version, she claims she might be in love with Cray (see trivia section).
- Cray, the chief of the Woren (Tiger) tribe, he has been appointed Nina's guardian by the king of Wyndia. He somewhat resembles Rei from Breath of Fire III.
- Scias, a shadowy mercenary of unknown background with a stutter.
- Ursula, a kitsune general in the Imperial army.
- Ershin (Named "Master" in Japan), a magically animated suit of armor with a mind of its own, it always seems to refer to itself in the third person. It turns out to be a sentient vessel containing (and powered by) the spirit of series mainstay Deis.
- Fou-Lu, the God-Emperor and founder of the Empire. While he's not a party member, Fou-Lu is playable by himself at certain points of the game. Like Ryu, he can transform into a dragon.
 Ryu |
 Nina |
 Cray |
 Scias |
 Ursula |
 Ershin |
 Fou-Lu and Won-Qu |
[edit] Other characters
- Yohm, one of the generals in charge of the Fou Imperial Army. Although he appears to be a shabby-looking, short old man, his fighting strength is incredible. He can summon and control a number of different types of fiendish monsters. He is extremely devoted to his duty as a soldier, and the abilities he uses to carry out his orders are considerable.
- Rasso, a company commander in the Fou Imperial Army. The son of an influential noble family, he is one of the elite and will probably make general someday. A die-hard elitist, he is proud and narcissistic. He has been dispatched to neutral territory in the eastern continent and is conducting a search for something there (particularly Fou-Lu's other dragon half, Ryu).
- Kahn, a large, muscle-bound man who encounters the party 4 times only to be beaten silly. The first time he was working as a body-guard/hired muscle for a rich Manillo the party needed to speak with. The second time is in the Woren village after apprenticing himself to the resident master, only to find that her teachings were inadequate to reclaim his manhood when he fought Ryu and the party again. The third time is when the party reaches the port town and is lead to believe that becoming a man of the sea is what would help him reclaim his manhood...at least until Ursula shoots him off the top of the boat's mast when he challenges them. The fourth time is at the salt sea where he is at his best and is ready to fight Ryu and the party after being brought to the ship by dolphins...only to be dragged back to shore by them after he's defeated one last time. It is optional to encounter him a fifth time where he then grows skeptical about why the party continuously runs into him, only to assume that they idolize him, and thus, becomes willing to apprentice them assuming that they fulfill his relatively easy guidelines of large encounter numbers.
- Yuna, a cruel geneticist whose experiments drive the plot. He was responsible for several incomplete Endless summonings as well as an attempt to create a god. He sadistically tortures some of the NPCs, and there are rumors among fans that he in some way created Myria, but these claims has remained unsubstantiated since there is no official word on whether Breath of Fire IV is or is not a part of the original Canon.
- Mami, an innocent farm-girl who falls in love with Fou-Lu without knowing his true identity. She refers to Fou-Lu as Ryong (A korean word for 'dragon'.
- Elina, Nina's sister and a Wyndian princess herself. Her disappearance is what sends Cray and the rest of the party into action.
- Deis, A goddess inhabiting Ershin's armor.
- Won-qu, A loyal blue dog creature who guards Fou-Lu's tomb.
- A-tur, A loyal orange/yellow dog creature who Fou-Lu sets to destroy the capital.
[edit] Trivia
- The song that plays during the scene of Elina's death ("Pavane for a Dead Princess") is actually from an existing piece by classical composer Maurice Ravel.
- One thing that was never mentioned in the game but was explained in the official source book was that the Dragon Slayer Sword was originally a God whose summoning was botched up by Yuna. Like many other failed summonings where the summoned gods appear incomplete, only the god's head appeared. Yuna then studied the head thoroughly and decided to crush it to pieces and use it to forge a sword. The God's desire to find its body and its hatred are still within the sword, and it tries to absorb the abilities of any god like itself.
- The game has been ported over to the PC, and chould be brought in a german PC mag. The PC port has only been released in Europe.
- Capcom USA provided an English translation for most of the game's text, however for some unexplained reason the end credits were left untranslated in its original Japanese characters.
- A couple of the scenes were edited out from the North American release.
- When the girls have to prove their worth to Zig so that they could sail the seas with men since they considered women as bad luck. Nina and Ursula are forced to spend the night in the dark cellar infested with bugs, rats and ghosts. Nina and Ursula are both scared out of their wits at one time or another and after completing the task, Cray notices that Ursula looked kind of pale and asks if she was sick. Ursula says no trying to keep her self respect. Zig tells them that they did a good job, but still won't let them go. Zig then takes out a paddle and bluffs that if the girls take off their pants and let them spank them, he'll let them come along expecting that the girls would give up then and there. Nina outright refuses but Ursula who couldn't care less suddenly drops her trousers (she still has her undergarments on), and the baffled Zig pleads for Ursula to put her pants back on and agrees that Ursula can sail with them. Ursula then says "If I show you my ass, can Nina come along too?". As she prepares to take her undergarments off, the party rushes to stop her. In the North American version, after completing the task, Zig automatically allows them to go on board (with an abrupt scene-shift), skipping the whole pants-dropping scene.
- When Fou-Lu reaches the capital and is stabbed with the Dragon Slayer by the Emperor, Fou-Lu forces the blade out of his body and decapitates him with it. In the English version, the stabbing part still happens, however, the decapitation part was censored by shifting to another scene. Also removed by this sudden cut was Yuna picking up the Dragonslayer (which is why he has it later in the game) while Fou-Lu ascends to the throne.
- There was a scene that was replaced where Ursula and Nina bathe at a spring while Ryu stood guard. Nina compliments Ursula on how "big" she was, and Ursula embarrassingly responded with "Well, excuse me for being big". Upon hearing this comment, Ryu couldn't help but take a peek at what they were doing, however before he had a chance to see anything, a bullet nearly misses his head courtesy of Ursula and scares him off. Nina comments on what a pervert Ryu is. This scene was replaced with the one where Nina told Ryu that she loved Cray, which was not in the Japanese release as it is not canon.
- Scias' spell Identify, which allows him to see very detailed stats of enemies, was removed from his spell list in the North American Release because Capcom USA didn't want to translate all the text that came with that spell.
[edit] Reception
Breath of Fire IV was well-received by critics, garnering an average review score of 81%, according to Game Rankings.[1] GameSpot's review of the game neither found faults nor found improvements on the standard RPG formula, simply describing it as a solid game.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ "Breath of Fire IV Reviews". Game Rankings. Retrieved on March 9, 2007.
- ^ Shoemaker, Brad. "Breath of Fire IV for PlayStation Review". GameSpot. Retrieved on March 9, 2007.
[edit] External links
- Dragon-tear.net English Breath of Fire fan site with in-depth character information, high-quality artwork, and forums.
- Breath of Fire IV at MobyGames
- Unofficial Breath of Fire IV Site A fan site dedicated to Breath of Fire IV. Includes information and media.
[edit] See also
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Breath of Fire • Breath of Fire II • Breath of Fire III • Breath of Fire IV • Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter |
