First Impressions: A new Dragon Child… a new destiny awaits…
Capcom’s flagship RPG series continues on the Gameboy Advance. Only months after the release of the GBA port of the original Breath of Fire, Capcom is readying the release of its sequel, also a SNES classic. Breath of Fire II, in tis original version, was a vastly improved RPG than its predecessor. It begins ominously enough with Ryu, the blue-haired, classically named hero of the franchise returning. Actually, it is neither the same Ryu as in BoF nor is it the same period, as it takes place hundreds of years after the original. Ryu and his sister Yua abide in the village of Gate, and were raised by Pastor Ganer. Yua tells Ryu of the pleasant dreams of the dreams of their lost mother, dreams which always occur when she naps in the fields overlooked by a slumbering Ancient Dragon, guardian of a mysterious cave. Finally, Ryu himself tries sleeping underneath the shadow of the Sleeping Wyrm, hoping for visitations by memories of his mother. Instead, he is disturbed by terrible nightmares of an evil power waiting to rend the world. Ryu awakens alone, and returns to Gate only to discover that he is a stranger to his village. His sister, Yua is missing, as is his father, the Pastor Ganer. A church representing an unknown religion replaces his father’s chapel, and Ryu, considered an orphan, is unwelcome.
Ryu, joined by another orphan, the dog-like archer, Bow, set out upon the world together to seek answers to the mysteries now besetting them. A much more interesting introduction sets the stage for an equally more fascinating game plot. The gameplay is extremely similar to the original Breath of Fire, but contains enough tweaks, improvements, and additions to remain fresh and interesting. Wandering the overworld, dungeons, towns, and castles is still displayed in a traditional Japanese RPG overhead view. Combat is likewise still depicted in an isometric, ¾ view. This time around, the combat animations, character designs, and spell effects have been given a shot in the arm. Once again, it is expected that the font and sprite graphics will be resized for the GBA screen. Capcom was able to accurately recreate the pleasant songs from the original SNES BoF on the GBA, and one can hope that this trend will continue. One thing that drastically needs to improve is the script translation, as it was laughably bad on the SNES. If the GBA port of the original BoF is any indication, we will be receiving a tweaked translation, but not one that is sufficiently professional.
Many gameplay aspects from the first BoF return in an improved form as well. The hunting and fishing features of the original make their appearances in Breath of Fire II, as greatly expanded mini-games. Character specific skills, which include hunting, fishing, easy passage through forests, and shape shifting, also thankfully return. Finally, an expanded system of character merging (similar to Karn’s spells from BoF) has been implemented, where your characters can be spliced with the souls of powerful Shamans. Combat is still traditional and turn based, but the inclusion of formations as well as more varied characters, skills, magic, and attacks all go a long way of making it more interesting than the last time. Finally, new to the GBA port is a similar method of 2-player GBA Link cable support included in the first BoF, where two cartridges will connect and transfer data and items from game to game.
