Breath of Fire (Series)

From Breath of Fire

Breath of Fire (ブレスオブファイア, Buresu obu Faia?) is a console role-playing game series developed by Capcom. It originated on the Super Nintendo in 1993 as Capcom's first foray into the role-playing genre. The series is notable for its recurring characters and ambiguous continuity; though each game is its own self-contained story, the names of the two lead characters are, invariably, Ryu and Nina.

The story commonly involves an adventurer named Ryu who can shapeshift into different types of dragons. Over the course of his journey, he befriends Nina, a girl with wings. At its inception, Breath of Fire took place in a medieval-style fictional world, a frequently-seen setting in western role-playing games. Following the mainstream success of Japanese role-playing games in the 1990s, the series began showing a rise in Asian influences: anime-style characters, post-apocalyptic themes, and an increased emphasis on character development. Despite these changes, the core structure of Breath of Fire remains linear and plot-focused.

[edit] Theme

As in most console RPGs of the era, the main conflict in the Breath of Fire series is the battle between good and evil. Although this theme is extremely common in RPGs, the Breath of Fire series is unique in its treatment of the subject in that the plot is of a decidedly religious nature. In each installment of the series, the main antagonist is a demon or Goddess, often masquerading as a monotheistic deity; the protagonist Ryu, the last surviving member of the messianic dragon clan, must save the humans from their false god. The plot often involves corrupt or misled religious leaders who are eventually revealed to have helped the foe.

Although religion in games is not an uncommon theme today, it was extremely unusual in the 16-bit era when the series first debuted, and the early Breath of Fire games were a pioneer of this trend. While topics of faith had long since been considered fair game in Japan, they were largely ignored by American companies who feared that the subject was too controversial. Typically, when a game which had any religious references in it was ported to an American console, (usually from a Japanese or PC version of the original) all of those references, no matter how small, were edited out (such as the SNES Ultima games). There were even a few cases of games that were denied American releases specifically because they were deemed as being too religious in content.

The Breath of Fire games are also unique in the fact that, while most RPGs are easily recognized as either Eastern or Western inspired (as in Dungeons & Dragons or Anime inspired), the Breath of Fire series has shown clear elements of both cultures. Dragons and enemies from both cultures are usually used, and although the series does have a slightly anime feel to it, the morally ambiguous plots owe much more to the cynical early PC RPGs of America than to traditional Japanese RPGs, which were typically much more black and white in their presentation of good versus evil. The earlier games' official artwork and especially boxart was also of a decidedly western nature (even retaining a slightly western look, although to a much lesser degree in the Japanese releases). However, as the series has progressed its artwork has shifted to a more traditional anime look, and some of the newer games even feature full motion anime cutscenes.

Finally, where as many RPG series tend to re-invent themselves with every game, the Breath of Fire games have retained essentially the same tone and style of gameplay throughout the entire series. Only the fifth game, Dragon Quarter, differs greatly in these aspects from the original. Some changes are introduced with each sequel, as is to be expected. For example, Breath of Fire III blends the semi-medieval backdrop of the first two with a degree of science fiction, eventually revealing itself as a post-apocalyptic world. In addition, the more recent games have replaced the traditional worldmap setup with a more "point and click" based one, similar to those commonly featured in strategy games. Despite these aesthetic changes, the core gameplay remains intact.

Although a timeline for the series has never been explicitly stated, the first three games supposedly occur in a single timeline. If this is true, the original is definitely the earliest of the three, as II and III both refer to its events and/or characters at points. The timing of the second and third games is more ambiguous, but most evidence, including most Wyndians' complete lack of wings in III, points to them having been released in chronological order. Breath of Fire IV s place in the timeline is uncertain because it traces the origins of the two feuding Dragon Clans, some theorize the game to be a prequel, taking place before any of the previous titles. Breath of Fire V is something of a departure from the other games, and Capcom has confirmed that it takes place in a separate universe. Capcom has not made any official statements regarding further sequels to the franchise. However, in an interview, series producer Takeshita stated that Breath of Fire is not dead, but ‘resting,’ and that there are currently no plans regarding production of another game

The character designs have changed little for the core characters. Ryu's character has blue hair, wields a sword and fishes with a rod. Nina's character is a Caucasian-looking blonde female with wings (or clothing resembling wings) who provides magical support. Bleu is (in four of the games) an ageless, enigmatic, powerful magic user resembling a lamia who begins the game in a state of suspended animation.

[edit] Music

In March 31, 2006, the Japanese record label Suleputer released an 11-disc box set of music from every title in the Breath of Fire series