Think you know the Breath of Fire series? Think again.
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter is one of those RPGs that comes along and tries to change the landscape of the genre and it's own series. Thankfully, Capcom had their thinking caps on and managed to pull it off! While many of the common RPG and Breath of Fire elements still exist in this game, Capcom sought to make something fresh and new. With BoF they bring new meaning to the term reply value by creating a game in which there are no continues, no resets, and no second chances. If you die, and you will, you will be forced to 1) choose between starting over at level 1 with certain stats and inventory intact, or 2) start from your last save point with all of your items (but not weapons), money (aka zenny) and any unspent party XP taken away from you.
Sounds like number 2 is the easy choice correct? Well not necessarily... starting the game over with all your zenny, party XP, and items intact can allow you to build your character up to levels that were not attainable during the first time through the game, thereby making it easier to get through the areas that gave you problems in the first place. If you had chosen option 2 a really tough enemy would still be really tough when you got to him/her again, but it would undoubtedly save you lots of time if you managed to pull it off. No matter what you choose though, you will be treated to various "SOL" (scenario overlay) scenes and sequences that you did not get to see the first time through. This brilliant piece of the game pie adds new meaning to the term replay value and helps quell the anger that builds when you realize you've just died and have to go back a few hours in the game, if not all the way to the beginning.
As for the rest of the game, you've got your standard RPG/BoF story. Young troubled ranger, Ryu, lives deep in the earth where some ancient disaster has driven the human race who no longer remember how they got there, gets involved in a plot to save the girl, Nina, and overthrow some evil organization/group. He also seeks to escape deep Earth and find the surface and sky that is rumored to exist by those a little wiser than he is.
The graphics are without a doubt pretty and one of the better uses of cel-shading I've seen to date. There aren't any overly flashy summons or magic spells, but what you do see is eye candy none-the-less. The indoor environments are especially impressive because of the fact that they are just that: indoor environments. The artists could have done alot less and gotten away with it, but they did everything they could to give each area some character. You never really feel like you are running through the same room over and over and over again.
The battle-system is one of the best I've come across in an RPG in that they added some real-time aspects to the already common turn-based battles. The biggest difference from your typical RPG fare is that it provides you the freedom to move around within a certain radius depending on your characters "move" stat and ability points ("AP"). You may go a whole round of a battle without attacking an enemy because you used all your AP just walking halfway across the room to get to him. It adds some strategy to the battles in that you have to make very wise decisions regarding the usage of these points. They also added a combo system by providing each character with three types of attacks on three different levels. Each level is progressively stronger, yet can be less accurate, than the last, and use more AP than the level before it. You can string together the various attacks for combos and with each change in attack you will earn an extra 10% to your damage totals.
The music is one of the high points of the game and I never get sick of it like I have in a few of the FF titles, but I do have one comment for Capcom: where's the voice? I was very disappointed that the only voice I can even remember hearing is some random guy in the beginning talking about the prophecy of the dragon, but he wasn't even speaking English... it just sounded like he was mumbling some old medieval times German or something. With so much room on a DVD and with the amount of money they pour into some of these games you'd think every game within certain genres should have voice - and this is one of them!
There is not much in terms of side-quests but the one that does exist is pretty fun. At some point you will be given access to an ant colony where you can hire ants to dig deeper into the Earth. Along the way they will find rooms that you can turn into special weapons shops, skills shops and even a bank. When they dig to the bottom of the colony they will come across a dungeon with many levels that you can access. Each level down presents a tougher battle than the last, and you have to start from level 1 (don't worry - you'll get your level back when you leave the dungeon), but the rewards can make your life alot easier as you can earn skills and weapons that you cannot find in the regular game.
In the end, despite it's few minor flaws and the sometimes frustrating "Scenario Overlay" restarts, BoF is still one of the best RPGs available for the PS2 and one of the better RPGs out there period. Just remember not to throw the controller at anything fragile the first time you die 10 hours into the game.
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