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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.

The weakest installment of the Breath of Fire series

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: September 02, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Despite teasing players with potentially intricate themes, such as political subterfuge, rebellion, and betrayal, the story - lynchpin of any great RPG - of Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter never strays too far from its premise. Where plots are generally uninteresting, it is left to the characters to enrich the experience by allowing players to identify with them through the course of their development. Unfortunately, beyond the fact that Ryu actually has a personality in this installment, the characterization is as shallow as a wading pool. Once each of the three characters has established their role (and you guessed it, there are only three), the story drags towards an uninspired conclusion...

Players will reach that ending in 15-20 hours, or perhaps twice that amount, depending on their tolerance for repetitive dungeon crawling and agonizing play mechanics. If innovation means taking traditional turn-based combat and throwing most of it out of a window, including all of its good qualities, then Dragon Quarter has accomplished just that.

The combat system is very limited. Ryu can only do sword attacks, none of which is anything spectacular; horizontal, vertical, and diagonal slashes, some enhanced by fancy effects, comprise his entire repertoire. Nina can only do magic; the usual arsenal of fire, ice, and lightning spells. Rin can only do gun attacks that with the exception of a few, all look the same, but have a variety of strategic effects.

Roaming bland dungeons and engaging in tedious battles comprises the whole of Dragon Quarter's gameplay. Still, there a few details that need to be mentioned. One of the defining elements of the Breath of Fire series is Ryu's ability to transform into a dragon. It is also often the most exciting part. Unfortunately, consistent with the rest of Dragon Quarter, that ability is watered down, unimpressive, and does very little to ease the player's suffering.

In terms of visuals, the game's objective seems to be adequacy, but never to venture as far as to be awe-inspiring. The character models are bland and, the animation isn't even noteworthy. The backgrounds are either sterile corridors reminiscent of hospitals, gritty metallic platforms, or at their best, lavish medieval-style halls. This lack of diversity creates a feeling of insufferable redundancy.

Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter is one of the most boring, trite, unfulfilling gameplay experiences in recent memory. Beware of a game that advertises "healing potions" on the back of the box; it may just be that such a trivial element is actually a highlight next to the rest of the features.

Horrible!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: June 16, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game could be great, but there are so many things WRONG with this game.
You have some dragon ability thing, and if you use it too much it's game over.

In the battle you have certain points to move and fight, you constantly get pushed back by monsters rendering the hero useless in fight, the monsters also have millions of HP making the fights slow.

The graphics are ugly and too dark.

The bosses are annoying, they have a shield which makes beating them take a very long time. And every boss have this shield.

The save system was the worst though, I >>need<< to turn the game off and save whenever I want to since I have a dog who needs my attention and needs to be walked. But you are literaly FORCED to play at least an hour to get to a Save Point, because it takes such a long time to kill monsters. I also don't want to play a game this long!

To Save, you have some "Save Tokens", if you run out, you have to make a restard and loose all your stuff. There are also not enough Save Tokens placed in the game, only 1 by each area. I also accidently threw the Save Tokens away because they are placed by all the other stuff in your back-pack, then I couldn't find any new ones because there are NONE near the ending of the game - URGH!

Just Horrible

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: April 14, 2007
Author: Amazon User

By far this is the worst Breath of Fire game I have ever played. I couldnt even finish the game, because I was so frustrated with so many flaws in the game. It has possibly the worst start of any game I have ever played, so that didnt help, but even once I got past that majority of the game was just a waste of my time, so I stopped playing and went to my local gamestop and sold it and bought another game. Plain and Simple do not buy this game unless your a video game collector who collects the breath of fire series, but other then that its not worth wasting your time on.

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.

Could have been fun, but...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 10
Date: February 28, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I was excited for this game.
I love RPGs with the FF fighting style, but the lack of saving points in the beginning frustrated me to the point of taking it out of my PS2 and throwing it across the room after I had to start from scratch twice. Am I lame? Maybe. But it wasnt an exciting game to begin with. Dont waste your time with this one !

So... mind numbingly... boring

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 10
Date: February 04, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Wow. I wasted a whole hour of my life on this. When I first played it, I watched the opening and thought "This has to own.) I was dead wrong. The music score is terrible, the combat system reeks, and the enemies are so unamagitive. To start it off, all Breath of Fire own, not this one. The music is boring and repetitive. Enuogh said. The combat is ike this: Run, X, any attack (All the animations are the same.), repeat. I only played and hour worth, and I couldn't stand it it was so boring. All in all, avoid at all costs.

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.

A soon-to-be classic that snuck under the radar...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: November 14, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is a fantastic game. It is one of the best games Capcom has made in the last five years. Now before I start telling you why I think it is good, you need to know that this is not like the other Breath of Fire Games. Although technically this is still a turn based RPG, there are some real interesting innovations that make this game unique.

First of all, the game is the most challenging Breath of Fire. I have played 1, 2, and 3, and this is definitely the most challenging. That is, until you figure out the system, and learn how to work the game in your favor. It is still the most challenging, but the challenge can eventually be managed.

The enemies appear on-screen and you lay traps to weaken them before battle! It is a new and creative system. Depending upon how well you fight, you get bonus experience, which is called Party XP. So if you fight cleverly, you can level up more quickly.

The Dragon Form has changed. There is no MP. Now you have a Dragon Counter. Every time you turn into the Dragon, 2% is added to the counter, that goes to 100%. If the counter reaches 100%, then it is automatically Game Over. You must figure a way to win without bringing him out too often. This in itself is a challenge. At first I resented it, but now I realize that it is a great additional challenge to the game as it is set up.

Also, the Dragon Form is obscenely strong in this game. You can kill even the end boss in Dragon Form with only 15-20% of the counter.

The music is good. The plot of the story is really good. You must escape from an underground nightmare, challenging every authority figure in an oppressive, subterranean world. You can restart the game over with your Party XP and acquired skills and beat the game more easily. You also have a great challenge ahead of you: earn the Dragon Quarter, the ultimate D-ratio.

Yes, this Breath of Fire is different from the others. However, in almost every instance that is a good thing. This is one of the best video games on PS2, period. Not only that, but in terms of price it's slipped under the radar and is selling at a low price. If you have the cash to spare, this is the one you want.

This game needs alot of attention i just do have the time!!!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 6
Date: June 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I am sure breath of fire is a great game but!!!! as for me i just don't have the time, u have to start-over at least 5 times to actually end this, to collect all the, items (sword ect.... )i only made it to 3 times then i said to myself hey!!! try something that take 8 to 12 hours i hnave that kind of time anyhow the story is very interesting i am sure it will have the fans, i for one like the game but this the first game i started and did not end, i really don't to play a game too long thats just wrong!!!!! Dragon quarters is a good RPG it's no Zelda but it has appeal, maybe one day i'll pick it up and say what the heck but as for now i prefer to play Matal Gear ha ha ha laterz gamers..........

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