Board 8 > Breath of Fire I/II - worth playing?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm working from home, exercising from home, teaching from home - got a lot of free time at home. Last weekend, I booted up my Switch for the first time in a while, accessed the NES collection, and beat Crystalis. I jumped over to the SNES and saw these as the two most prominent RPGs available. What do you guys think - are they worth the time sink? I'm pretty sure the only SNES RPGs I've beaten are FFVI and CT, so they'd be competing against the best (though I enjoyed Crystalis, so I can have a good time with simpler retro stuff).

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1 is kinda rough especially the translation

2 for sure though

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1 no

2 yes

3 and 4 also fun

dear lord 5 is horrendous

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Play 5 for sure it's a unique experience

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5 is the only BoF game that's worth playing.
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1 is one of the the most bog-standard boilerplate JRPGs you will ever play

But its still fine
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1 is really rough. it's very dated.

2 has some cool ideas but it can be a slog to play through. there's lots of issues with encounter rates and balancing, especially the further in you get.

I'd say to play 2 if you are actually ready to play a SNES RPG and not just look at it through nostalgia goggles. it's not something that a lot of people can handle when compared to the convenience and polish of modern games.

there's also a great patch that fixes a lot of translation issues. it's worth looking into this if you're going to play it.

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I will add to the chorus and say don't bother with 1, but 2 is worthwhile

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I couldnt stand the idea of playing either one of them. The first one has a me too vibe to it, and the second ones translation really ruins the experience (along with some design choices).

Yes, both pre 2007

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1 doesn't really excel at anything, but it's good enough.

2 is great.

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I actually just played both of these games for the first time a few months back, however I will say that I played improved hacks of them so my opinion on them may not be relevant. I enjoyed both of them, but they're not FFVI quality or anything. BoF1 is kinda barebones but if you're ok with old timey RPG's then it should be fine. BoF2 also has an old timey feel to it but in a different way.

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Super generic RPGs that aged badly, don't bother

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I really enjoy both of them, but I think BoF2 has a much iffier translation and kind of has aged worse?

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The Utility Man posted...

but they're not FFVI quality

BoF2 >>

IMO

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Two is highly enjoyable, although the translation is kind of weak in places. Definitely recommend Two for hardcore RPG aficionados.

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lordjers posted...

BoF2 >>

IMO

If we were talking about Lufia 2, I might agree, but I just can't place BoF2 that high even though I liked it.

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highly recommend Lufia 2

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Lufia II is fantastic

it's basically if Zelda were a JRPG so it might be up your alley

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2-4 easily

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oh... reading the original post

play Super Mario RPG

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oh yeah Lufia 2 is for sure worth playing

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I love Breath of Fire 2. Wait with Bof1 until you are a fan of the series.


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In the middle of 2 as we speak and my answer is probably no to both.

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1? Eh.....

2? Hell yeah

3? The best in the series by a mile

4? Yeah.. its good.

Dragon Quarter? God no. Epic tier trash. The death of the series.

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Played a bit of the first, and yeah, seems pretty boilerplate. I might stick with it since there's nothing outright bad or broken so far, but it's absent of like... any charm.

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5/Dragon Quarter is a great game as long as you aren't afraid of games that are willing to completely change from what the series was previously

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BoF1 is basically only worth playing if the character designs and music appeal to you. Like I kinda enjoyed it but I like killing stuff with a dragon and a fairy and a lamia

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BoF1 was my first non-pokemon RPG. It's a massive nostalgia game. It's clunky, but overall enjoyable.

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I liked Breath of Fire 1 and 2, but they're both a bit tedious. The music in both of them is excellent.

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I will also agree that BoF I and II have not aged well. I first tried playing them about 5 years ago and they were both very generic and slow paced. The second one was a little better than the first, but not by a lot. There are several other RPGs from the 16 bit era that aged better. I even felt that Crystalis and Dragon Warrior IV aged better than those two BoF games.

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if youre gonna choose only one game from the BoF series to complete you should definitely play 4. even by today's standards it still has a great story and one of the best villains around. and you get to play some of his side of the story too, which makes it even better. and a lot of the mechanics introduced in 3 were further polished in 4.

i know 2 and 3 generally have more fans, but its largely due to nostalgia. there's no doubt in my mind the vast majority of people new to the series playing one of these games for the first time would like 4 the best.

Breath of Fire I is fairly average overall. The plot, cast, and graphics are better in the second game (music might actually be less good though?) and it seems less haphazardly designed but they took out some of the more unusual features (dragon transformations, switching party members in battle, an item temporarily stopping all random encounters that's cheap and buyable early on) and I remember it being much heavier on grinding. All of the first four games have fairly bad pacing, too. I think they seemed better back in the day when options were more limited. III and IV on PS1 are probably better overall than the first two. I should get around to Dragon Quarter just so I can have an opinion on that one.

As for an alternative you'd have easy access to without piracy, IIRC you had a SNES Classic? If so you might wanna go play Super Mario RPG instead. Maybe even Earthbound? It's got some issues but it's certainly a lot more unique. Some people will even tell you Secret of Mana is still good in 2020. I think they're crazy but hey!

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Lopen posted...

BoF1 is basically only worth playing if the character designs and music appeal to you. Like I kinda enjoyed it but I like killing stuff with a dragon and a fairy and a lamia

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AxemRedRanger posted...

As for an alternative you'd have easy access to without piracy, IIRC you had a SNES Classic? If so you might wanna go play Super Mario RPG instead. Maybe even Earthbound? It's got some issues but it's certainly a lot more unique. Some people will even tell you Secret of Mana is still good in 2020. I think they're crazy but hey!

I do! And believe it or not, my main impediment to playing those assuredly better games is that I'm too damn lazy to unbox in Classic right now. With Switch, I'm playing in a second.

Also, the save state + rewind features on Switch make even the most brutal retro game a relaxing experience. I really don't have the time or energy to lose 60 minutes of progress on a 30-year-old RPG, so I appreciate the fact that I can cheese it and just enjoy myself.

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BoF1 report - my party is now at three (Bo recently joined) and I think my game is bugged. I reached the town of Romero and must speak to an old lady to progress, but I can't trigger her necessary dialogue. I looked up a video walkthrough and followed every single step, but still nothing.

The game hasn't been very engaging anyway, so I might just drop it. Thanks for the input, everyone!

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1 is fine for the most part for a boilerplate RPG but the second wind bosses get is pretty bad.

CaptainOfCrush posted...

BoF1 report - my party is now at three (Bo recently joined) and I think my game is bugged. I reached the town of Romero and must speak to an old lady to progress, but I can't trigger her necessary dialogue. I looked up a video walkthrough and followed every single step, but still nothing.

The game hasn't been very engaging anyway, so I might just drop it. Thanks for the input, everyone!

Dammit Switch!

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To trigger the woman at the Graveyard scene you must talk to both the Chief of Tuntar and the girl who tells you about the cleansing water. She can be either upstairs in the mayors house at night or at the graveyard during the day.

guessing this is the problem.

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Dang, you're spot-on! Looks like I push forward.

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Breath of Fire 1 is kind of an introductory RPG I feel. The game is simple enough, and is player friendly to the point where your healing magic always goes first, which makes most of it pretty easy.

Like.. It's the game you use to get your feet wet, not for any specific challenge. Kind of like Fire Emblem 7 in that regard.

Two is a bit of a mess but it's more balanced. I wouldn't say either has anything spectacular story wise though.

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P.S...

Lufia 2 is fantastic, yes.. But Lufia 1 is a borderline terrible game that you should probably avoid unless you really want to finish the overall story... No one had mentioned just how bad 1 is.

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Lufia 1 is ungodly hard and clunky. It really isnt good.

Lufia 2 on the other hand is how you make a second game (even though its a prequel) and vastly improve on the entire formula from the first game to make it fun and exciting.

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Yeah, don't play Lufia 1.

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Play better games. Dont bother with 1 and 2. 3 is my favorite in the series and even that one is borderline above average. 4 is ok but has zero creativity and is just a generic JRPG from the PS1 era. 5 I didnt bother to beat.

Lufia II, I can really vouch for it. Such a joy to play even now.

And if you are looking for standout JRPGs from that era, do yourself a favor and try Phantasy Star IV for the Genesis.

Axl_Rose_85 posted...

And if you are looking for standout JRPGs from that era, do yourself a favor and try Phantasy Star IV for the Genesis.

...which you can play on the Sega Genesis Classics collection. $30 on Switch, but if you have a PS4 there's a deal going for $12.

Uglyface2 posted...

...which you can play on the Sega Genesis Classics collection. $30 on Switch, but if you have a PS4 there's a deal going for $12.

Steal of a deal. That game is definitely worth $30 much less 12

Phantasy Star IV is definitely worth that price. It's one of the all time greats, probably one of the most overlooked ones due to being on genesis. This doesn't come with my earlier "if you are willing to play a dated RPG" caveat. PSIV is just unconditionally good. Even compared to modern games.


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Got through it.

That was... not too bad, though it may have been truly miserable on a SNES. The Switch's internal QoL improvements make aggravating games much easier to tackle.

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Jeepers I feel like it took me 30 hours to get through it. But I did play it the old fashioned way.

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