Games - Breath of Fire

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	Games - Breath of Fire

Breath of Fire (ブレスオブファイア) is an RPG series by Capcom. It is also a name given to a variety deliberate breathing techniques, and is related to the practices of Yoga and "Aerobic Breathing".

This page concerns the role playing game. Each game is set on the same world, merely after the previous one. As such, there are many changes from game to game, except for certain characters that are in almost every game.

Currently there are five games in the series:

Breath of Fire
Breath of Fire II
Breath of Fire III
Breath of Fire IV
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter

Theme

As in most RPGs, 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; the protagonist Ryu, the last surviving member of the messianic dragon clan, must save the humans from their otherworldly foe. The plot often involves corrupt or misled religious leaders who are eventually revealed to have helped the demon.

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, such as the SNES game Terranigma. In fact, it is likely true that Breath of Fire II was the first American console RPG to have its plot center around a religious conflict.

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 features a more sci-fi inspired setting compared to the semi-medieval backdrop of the first two. 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. The result is that whereas games in other series such as Final Fantasy are often completely different in style from one game to the next, often to such an extent that the only recongnizable characteristic is the title, the Breath of Fire games are instantly recognizable as being what they are.

Although a timeline for the series has never been explicitly stated, the first three games clearly occur in a single timeline. 1 is definitely the earliest of the three, as 2 and 3 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 3, points to them having been released in chronological order. 4's place in the timeline is uncertain, although fans have long theorized that it could occur before any of the other games, telling how dragons first appeared in the series's world. Breath of Fire 5 is something of a departure from the other games, and Capcom has confirmed that it takes place in a separate universe.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Breath of Fire ]

Games - Breath of Fire

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