Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter

The Breath of Fire series of games known as being an RPG having turned based game play and in a fantasy setting. Capcom wanted to try something different which came to be Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter. It was also a turned based RPG but more in a strategy type way. The story was set in a kind of post-apocalyptic setting where the game is set underground. Because of this fans viewed this as changing Breath of Fire too much. Is the game really that bad or is it because it was different people ignored this game?

Story

You are a boy(default is named Ryu like the other Breath of Fires) working for the government as a soldier that is low ranked (1/8192). Ryu and his buddy Bosch is summoned to escort a cargo via train. They go through the area to get to where the train is and finally escort the cargo. Thinking it would be an easy mission and no one would actually attack them they run into trouble. Ryu becomes separate with Bosch and the cargo opened. The cargo was a girl named Nina(surprise surprise) being taken away. Ryu tries to save and protect Nina while getting back to town.

Without spoiling story, it is very mysterious. Since the government controls where people live in the game no one knows what or who they are. No one knows what is at the surface. The tone of the story is very dark and lifeless not to say that is a bad thing because it is in a post apocalyptic setting.

The way the game tells the story is by cutscenes. Although some of the cutscenes are locked unless you beat the game or restart(more on that later). This limits some of the story to people who just want to beat the game.

Overall the story is very unique and in a different tone from the other Breath of Fires. The only thing that makes it a bit bad is the limiting of the story by having different restrictions to see them.

Gameplay

The new combat system called Positive Encounter and Tactics System (PETS) is a “combined real time and turn-based combat” system. When controlling your character you can move, attack, wait or do a combination. What limits you from doing actions is called action points (AP). AP increases as you level up. AP can be saved for the next turn if you want (believe me you will) up to double the AP you start with. I will discuss the actions you can do.

Moving, you can move around the maximum AP you can. You can use some of the AP to move then attack then move back to a safe distance. Some actions your characters can do are to push or to pull in enemies which I think is important to use all the time.

Attacking, actions cost 10, 20, or 30 AP depending on what level the skill is. Of course the higher level the skill is the more damage it will do. There are also combos you can do by doing skills in order. Like if Ryu uses Side Slash(level 1) + Vertical Slash(level 2) it will combine into a 2 hit attack that does damage in a cone.

To engage in battle in Breath of Fire V, you either get hit by the enemy and go into battle or attack the enemy and go into a battle with a extra turn(AP resets after you are done with this turn). You can make the battles easier to do by setting traps and guiding the enemies into them. For example, if I put a piece of meat down with a explosive trap near it and attract the enemy into the meat making them eat it and making the trap explode. If they fall for a trap they will have decreased damage when you engage with them. You can use this to your advantage on stronger enemies.

One aspect of the game that could be confusing is the D-counter. At one point of the game you become a dragon. You can use the dragon for normal battles but will increase your D-counter. If your D-counter reaches 100% you will get a game over and start over. To counter not getting it up to 100% you don’t use it unless you need to. There are parts of the time that pretty much screams for you to use the dragon, but you can beat all battles without it if you are patient enough. You can also increase your D-counter by dashing (it stuns enemies for a second) so don’t do that.

Beginning of the game playthrough


Replayability

Breath of Fire V is pretty much designed for multiple playthroughs. You get more scenes by restarting the game or going back to your old saves. You get a new rank when you beat the game(a lot of factors from getting the best rank) and also by beating the game you get more scenes. You can do a dungeon where you start at level one and get a lot of goodies if you get through it. There is an ant colony similar to fairy village where you manage ants to build shops and find more space for the ants to live.

Bonus Dungeon(couldn’t find a video for ant colony )


Graphics

The graphics are cel-shaded in an anime kind of way. The faces could have been better, but the environments are very well done and shows how polluted the world is in Breath of Fire V. There is no voice acting or lip syncing Other than that the graphics aren’t something to write about it but personally I don’t think you should factor graphics to any video games.

Music

Music’s tone is mysterious and industrial like. The game also has a lot of gloomy time music. Since this is post apocalyptic it fits very well. Battle music changes at the second half of the game which is a good change of pace.

One of the dungeon music

One of the boss music


Conclusion

Although this game is nothing like the other Breath of Fires I think this game is worth a playthrough if you like strategy RPGs. Also the game is considered pretty hard if you rush at a thing which is true. If you try this I recommend trying to understand all the mechanics in the game to fully play the game. Just don’t buy the game thinking it’s like the other games.

Nice review, but why'd you post it in the forums?
You know official reviews only get edited in on the main site right?

LOL I seriously didn't know I could post it on the main page. I'll go ahead and add my reviews later.

Haha yeah man, the forums are only for Game Reviewer Applications.
I look forward to editing your review on the mainpage