User Reviews (11 - 21 of 38)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

Rent before buy

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: May 09, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I was a bit upset with the way this game turned out when I unfortunately bought the game before trying it out first. The battle system is turn based like a tactics game, and the game in my opinion is quite difficult if you are not used to it at all. If you are a saving fanatic, I would suggest you be aware, cause you are required to use tokens to save. This game takes special care, and needs to be sorta mastered before actually getting the hang of it. But the game still is kinda boring.

Not for the faint of heart

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: January 24, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I got this game for Christmas and looked forward to trying it out. It happened that I pulled a muscle in my abdomen so had a couple of days where I was stuck in a chair anyway... why not spend it playing a game right? Well... My first forray into the game proved frustrating. As everyone else who's reviewed this game has said, the ability to save is very rare. This sets you up for starting the game over and over and over. The information in the book is pretty useless. I still haven't figured out how to use traps which appears to be essential for a good tactical rating.

The storyline is intriguing. The only thing that is getting me over the frustration of having to start over constantly is my curiosity of what is going to happen next.

Having cut my proverbial rpg teeth on D&D many years ago, the "AP" (Action Point) system didn't give me any problems. It makes sense to me that you have the ability to move and strike in the same turn. Basically battle goes like this:

Strike the enemy to engage in battle. Well, it is most advantageous if you strike first because it gives you one extra turn with your leading character. If they strike first, they get to hit you first and make tactics more difficult.

Extra move: Use this move to set your lead character and/or strike the enemy. On some of the more difficult enemies, you'll want to move them back so Nina can put glyphs on the floor.

Battle is turn based from there. Use your AP wisely to move and attack for best damage/defense.

One thing you will need to watch /very/ carefully is for messages on the lower left hand side of the screen. Regretfully, the notifications go by /very/ quickly. There are many of them that have gone off screen before you can finish reading them! This includes things like zombies will regenerate until you kill their "host" or that the creature you're hitting will absorb magical attacks. Even the notice to use the Dragon attacks wisely went by to quickly to read. Even when I was expecting and watching for it!

The D-counter is yet another frustration. I suddenly noticed a percentage on the screen. Thinking it meant I was that much closer to finishing the game I travelled on... imagine my surprise when I was looking around a city for the way out and suddenly finding my character dead and a restart being required! If there was a warning about it, it went by too fast to see. Later I looked in the book that came with the game and while the D counter is mentioned, it doesn't really explain what is going on. They do offer telephone support at something like $5.00 per minute but I feel I paid enough for the game. I actually learned a heck of a lot more about it reading the reviews on this page.

I worked on this game for 3 days and when the D-counter killed me I put it away for a bit. I will return to it because I am curious about how the story ends. However it will be a while. At this point I find it too frustrating to even think about.

I am not a power gamer. Meaning I enjoy the storyline aspects of a game over the min/max power kill. When the warning came up to use the dragon attacks sparingly, I did. In fact, I only used them twice before elevation 700. I used the D-dash twice to avoid bats. They're just a pain to deal with... and there are soooo many of them!

Soooo... to sum my feelings about this game are mixed. Graphics are breathtaking. Ambience (including music) is cool. Storyline is awesome (so far anyway). Frustrations are documentation, notifications going by too quickly and lack of ability to save.

Mixed Feelings

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: October 14, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Oh my, the 5th game of the series. If I do recall, the last two games were phenomenol, both expanding the RPG world as we know it. I can't really say the same for BOF5. Its got the goods, yet its missing some essentials.

Story- BOF5's story is very well done! It involves the character in all the BOF games, Ryu, but this time he is in an underground civilization. No one knows what the sky, nor the feeling of clean air is like. There seems to be no escape from deep tunnels and factories. All goes well until you meet an orphan girl Nina, who turns out to be a (*SPOILER*) created by a mad scientist. You are come face to face with henchman of the Biocorp, and they release a toxic gas that threatens the underground cities. You are forced to team up with Nina, and a thief girl, Rin, and try to escape to the surface before time runs out. (Don't worry, you have as much time as you like)

Characters- Unlike the other BOF games, 5 only contains 3 main characters. Not much conversing between them takes place, so this category is pretty weak. I was disapointed that there werent many characters.

Battle- Battles are exceptional! Capcom has added a new system, where you can move around wherever you desire in real time....well, sorta. As you move, you AP goes down. YOu need a certain amount of AP to do attacks, so the more you move, the less you attack. You can also set traps in battle for your enemies. And each character has there own weapon range. Very well done!

Graphics and sound- Graphics I give a big two thumbs up. They are strange yet awsome, where it looks as though you are looking at 3-d anime, with celshaded coloring. (I call it Ani-cel) There is never a moment where you will be disapointed. But the colors are bland, and no real brightness is here. Music is pretty repetitive as well.

Hard?- This game is very hard!!! I am warning you that you will hate this game if you can't stand these conditions. First, you must use an item called a Save token to save. These are very scarce, and sometimes you get mad where you are playing for 4 hours straight and you die, going all the way back to where you last saved.......OUCH! Second, once you reach a certain point in the game, you have to limit your use of special out of battle powers. The more of these you use, the higher this meter thing raises, and if it reaches 100% you get a gameover. Changing into dragons even raises the meter! (There is no way to reduce the meter) Thirdly, money is very hard to come by. Items and weapons cost way too much! So you might have trouble surviving

Replay- The game so far only offers few minigames. You can raise an ant colony to build your ideal underground town (much like the faerie colony in previous games). Also, if you beat the game and fill out certain conditions, you can raise your soldier rank, allowing you to unlock secret events and areas normally unattainable.

BOF5 is a very challenging game. I really wouldn't recomend it to newcomer RPG players, but rather for extreme people, in hope of the next best thing. Have fun conquering this doozy, I still ahve yet to beat it

The series continues...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 04, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Dragon Quarter is a complex, tightly woven RPG that breaks new ground with its dark, industrial story and fantastically profound battle system. But before you get too excited, dear gamer, read on-all that fiery goodness comes with a stern warning attached. The first key to enjoying the latest installment in the Breath of Fire series is to realize right off the bat that it is nothing at all like any of its predecessors-think of it more as a mutant cross-breeding between Final Fantasy Tactics, Dark Cloud, and Way of the Samurai. It shirks the previous games' traditional town/map/tower RPG structure in favor of one giant underground dungeon broken up by short stints in minimalist, utilitarian, industrial "towns." The plot moves fast, the characters are few, the graphics are dirty, and there's really only one super-hyper-omega-crazy attack to speak of-and even its use is severely limited by the mechanics of the gameplay. Dragon Quarter is nowhere near as brash or bold as Final Fantasy X, nor as drawn-out and hyper-epic as Xenosaga, but it's a unique and special animal in its own brilliantly frustrating way. Breath of Fire's battle system is astonishing-it's surprisingly tactical and deeply strategic. When you run into enemies, you're given a top-down representation of the room layout you're in. Each character has a given number of Action Points (AP) that they can use as they see fit, either to move about, chain together long combo attacks, or store up for the next turn to unleash even more powerful combos. While you have only three characters (swordsman Ryu, magician Nina, and status-altering gunslinger Lin), they play off one another in ingenious ways. Battles often come across as fantasy chess matches, where herding enemies into pockets and corners becomes just as important as casting Ultimate Omega Flare. The game rewards you well (with bonus experience) for smartly played skirmishes, and it forces you to be as conservative as possible with your healing and power-up items. Inventory slots are very limited, and the next town is often a long, long, long ways away. In other words, plan well or die. Actually, you'll probably die anyway-repeatedly, in fact, and by design. Dragon Quarter is structured so that you have to start over three or four times before your characters are good enough to win (yes, from the beginning). For you see, dear gamer, not too far into the game, your main character acquires a certain Dragon-themed super-power. Unfortunately, that power comes with a Spawn-like "countdown" that will, once expired, kill you dead. As in, Game Over dead. What's more, there is no way to reverse the effects. The countdown is accelerated while Ryu is in Dragon form (severely curbing your desire to use it), but the darn thing goes up even when you're just walking in normal form, putting a lot of pressure on you to be as efficient and fast as possible. And even if your accursed inner Dragon doesn't kill you, poor planning and a lack of cash could just as easily do you in, forcing you to begin again with hard lessons learned and new tactics in mind. The forced repetition is easily the most frustrating part of the game, but if you can wrap your head around it, it proves to be one of the most rewarding-on your next playthrough, you'll find new areas, and new cut-scenes show you what's really going on in the game's dark, complex, post-cyberapocalyptic plot. Plus, subsequent playthroughs aren't as tedious as you'd imagine since all of your items and skills carry over as well as any Party XP you've accumulated, meaning you can get back to where you left off fairly quickly. Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter is a small, focused, and pioneering RPG that's quite unlike anything you've played before on the PS2. You'll find yourself hopelessly addicted to the wonderful combat and deep reward structure, but it's likely that the whole "must restart several times" aspect will be a deal-breaker for many. And if you were looking forward to another Breath of Fire quest in the traditional sense, well, sorry. You'll just have to relive Ryu's other past lives on the Game Boy Advance.

Complex story, but not undecipherable!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: April 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The story is pretty mysterious but it makes it worth going forward in this game. The graphics are good and game play is fun and relatively easy to figure out. Good game, good buy!

Breath Of Fire: Dragon Quarter

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: April 18, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I play alot of RPG's and was excited about getting my hands on the newest BOF game. Overall I was not that Impressed with the game. The lenght of the game is relativly short and It got rather boring towards the end. None the less It Is a very hard game, With no way to heal up other than getting potions, It makes It very challenging to stay alive! Dont get me wrong It Is a good game, But It could have been alot better. That's my 2 cents

An underappreciated gem.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: October 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game deserves far more love than it's getting here. From reading about it, I myself hesitated a long time picking it up. Now I'm just thankful that it was still available, as the experience was truly worthwhile. It's true, you will have to play through various parts of the game more than once, but in this case, it's not something that you shouldn't look forward to. Going back, you get extra story elements which really do round out the picture of what your characters (and, by extension, you) are going through. And, of course, it's very cool to be able to lay the smackdown to enemies who gave you nothing but trouble the first time you came across them.

Now, all this talk about dying and losing everything and going back to the start is misleading, at best. The manual itself clearly states that you will be best served using "Give Up" effectively, which will allow you to carry over your party experience and money (Hint: sell any equipment you can't carry over before giving up), all your skills, and anything you had in storage. As long as you don't use your accrued party experience the first time through, you should not have any problem getting through the game in two trips. My first time out, I got very far without using any party experience, and only using the dragon transformation when completely necessary to survive.

It is true, the save system for this game is a bit on the onerous side, and penalizes you more than it should. However, anyone complaining they can only play for an hour or so but have to go to a save point to save their progress simply don't know what they are doing. You can "soft save" at any point in the game. You can leave whenever you want to. It's just that you lose that save as soon as you load a game from it, and continue like you had never saved at all. This particular system would truly be abysmal during a power failure or whatnot, but beyond that, it's only a minor annoyance. I found plenty of save spheres (or whatever they're called) myself, certainly enough to get through the game comfortably. Now, that's not to say I don't think the save feature isn't the worst implemented part of this game--not being able to back up save info onto another memory card is absolute nonsense, IMHO--but it is by no means a deal killer.

What really struck me about this game was that it was deeply personal. Ryu came across a very helpless little girl and determined that, come hell or high water, he was going to help her. That's it. And, of course, Nina is about the cutest little thing you are likely to ever come across in your video game experiences. The rest of the story fed off of and into that very basic dynamic, and was wholly successful. For the story alone, I wanted to finish this game.

It helped greatly that the battle system is top notch, as well, and that the ant farm is a fun and interesting diversion to carry out along the way. And quite profitable, if you work it right!

I can understand how some people might become easily frustrated with the mechanics of this game, but if you can put any preconceived notions aside and play it for what it is (and know you will have to go through some parts at least twice), this is a very gratifying game to play through. I truly would rank it up with some of the best games I've ever played. To give you an idea of what that list consists of, we're talking FFX, KOTOR, Ratchet and Clank, Radiata Stories, Soul Calibur III, Gran Tourismo 4, Disgaea--these are some of the titles I'd rank this one up with. I really can't give it a hearty enough recommendation. Don't let the naysayers put you off--this is truly a worthy title.

As a final word, I would point out that, if you are having too much trouble, there is a great little file save manipulation tutorial you can use to get around some of the most onerous parts of the save system at GameFAQs. I will confess, I let myself run down(?) to 100 percent in my D-Meter, just to see what would happen, and was quite upset when I discovered that I lost half my party ability points and money because I let myself die. The FAQ helped me equalize this disparity, and it was smooth sailing from that point on. I'd like to give the author a medal, for that one, as it compensates for really the only poorly thought out element of the entire game.

Once again, if you are on the fence, as I was, take the plunge. You'll be glad you did. I know I am.

OMG I can't believe this...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 18
Date: June 10, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I'm sorry but this game just put a big tarnish on the BoF series it is the most horrible game I've ever played! I mean it steers completely away from what the old BoF was like and the whole system of having to restart your game countless times is nuts...more frustrating then fun...-4 stars out of 4

good game, not for amateurs.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: August 28, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Firstly, as many of the other reviewers have pointed out, this game is not going to be liked by everyone. It strays far from its roots, and is now both far more challenging, and the battles are far more strategical. The learning curve isn't very good, as this game sort of throws you in at the deep end. However, for decent gamers who want a challenge, and for gamers who like the tactical decision making that is offered with many RPG's, this game is excellent. With the D-counter, using your dragon has to be reserved only for the toughest opponents, as once it gets to one-hundred, your character dies, and the game ends. With this, decisions can become very hard. Do you permanently hurt your character and completely annihilate the boss, or struggle through for the better result. With the dragon usage having punishing effects, as you can imagine, the dragon is incredibly over-powered in this game, and makes you feel awesome when you completely OWN tough bosses. But I have to agree, this game is both tough, frustrating, and not the best in the series. But it is a very rewarding experience! I loved this game.

Really Good But....

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 7
Date: March 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Ok This game was not one of the best breath of fires' but It is my second favorite BoF. If you see these game and expect it to be anything like BoF 3 and BoF 4 then I suggest you rent this game before you buy it... Because this game may not be everyone's favorite. Two Major changes That I can think of and they are: Battle System and D-Counter. Battle System is awesome now the whole battle is based on AP. No more Magic Points. Only Nina can use magic. And the best part is that say your playing the game and you use slash(costs 10 AP) and you have say 150 AP that means you can hit the enemy 14 times including your first hit. D-counter, major problem to gamers unless they're very experienced... Ok well there are two things not to get mixed up D-Ratio and D-Counter. D-Ratio is kinda like a rank and Ryu's is 1/8192 (not sure if thats good or bad) and I'm not very sure if you can lower it... D-Counter everytime you take a certain amount of steps you use up .01% and if the D-Counter hits 100.00% You are dead. Everytime you transform I believe it is 2 or 3%. Everytime you use a Dragon move like Vortex, Hurricane, Twister, u use up 1% D-Counter. When your not in combat and you use D-Dash (Runs real fast knocks enemies outta the way) Your D-Counter goes up .01% real fast. So basically the D-Counter can decide whether you get stuck or you continue... (I'm yet to find out if there is a way to lower it) And I dunno if you can lower it. And if it gets to high your better of starting a new game or you just go out and buy a Codebreaker and then enter D-Counter Always at 0% code... The game is cel-shaded and there are still the Fairies from BoF 3. HINT: IF YOU EVER GET TO A DOOR AND IT SAYS YOU HEAR A VOICE OPEN THE DOOR ANYWAYS IT IS A FAIRY.

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 Next 

Actions