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 Normally when you hear of Capcom, you think of fighting or action games. So it was an unusual move in April of 1993 for them to release an RPG made in house. The team they put together was an interesting mix of game veterans and new faces who would later go on to become icons in their field. Many RPG's at the time were bland looking, text heavy, and using a basic soundtrack. But Capcom would put their usual heavy artistic flair in their designs and musical scores. Many of these concept art designs are around today, and I'll be sharing them in the videos and this post. While I don't intend to 100% the game, I will try to show off as much as possible including some secrets in the game. It was also re-released later on the GBA, but I'll be playing the SNES version since the differences are minor, and the music's better in this one. Spoiler Policy Breath of Fire 1 is fairly old and while I expect many people to have given at least one of the games in the series a go, there are some who might have not seen it yet so lets not spoil anything please! Plus I'd like to do runs of some of the following games later and rather not have those events revealed. Not even in tags guys. Please. Playlist #1 - Home Wreckers #2 - Of Traps and Toads #3 - Shaken not Stirred #4 - Birds of a Feather #5 - Off to see the Wizard #6 - Our Chief Concern #7 - Castles in the Sky #8 - Domo Arigato Mr Stone Robo #9 - Cash for Gold #10 - Chupacabra #11 - Tomb Raider #12 - First Intermission #13 - Everyone Loves a Twin Key #14 - Calamari Army #15 - A Fish Tale #16 - Olly Olly Oxen Free #17 - Second Intermission #18 - Wake Up Call #19 - Liquid Snake #20 - Fishing for Answers #21 - Honey, I Shrunk The Dragon #22 - Shock Therapy #23 - Battle Royal #24 - Pull Yourself Together #25 - Can You Dig It? #26 - The Weather Dominator #27 - Dream Sprites #28 - It's About Time #29 - Cerl's Story Arc #30 - Air Miles #31 - Kneel Before Zog #32 - Sibling Rivalry #33 - The Emperor of Balls #34a - This is the End? #34b - This is the End #34c - This is the End! #35 - The Wrap Up The Art and Music of Breath of Fire 1 thiswayliesmadness fucked around with this message at 11:27 on Apr 7, 2020 |
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Jan 6, 2019 06:25
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Revealed Concept Art Box Art      Character Art         GBA Portraits         Fusions     Misc. Characters    Monsters     Bosses           Dragon Forms    Goddess Keys       Music The Dragon Warrior White Dragon A Powerful Emperor Blood Relation Quickening Black Dragon A Brave General Premature Death Fate Starting The Journey Beginning of Battle Victory Song Sorrow Memories Skyscraper Day and Night Profit Dejection Small Hermitage Strong Fortress Ancient Ruins Culvert Gentle Breeze Deep Forest Emergency Swimming Distant View Song and Dance Secret City Sand Palace Dawn Trade City Music City Flying The Final Level True Ending Great Achievement A Road Battling Expedition The Empire God's Footprints Return thiswayliesmadness fucked around with this message at 05:20 on Mar 19, 2020 |
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Jan 6, 2019 06:25
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BoF4 has higher ratings, but 3 will always be my favorite in the series. I mentioned it in the sandcastle, but I'd like to do an LP of 2 and 3 soon after this one.
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Jan 6, 2019 20:14
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Episode #2 - Of Traps and Toads We start up our adventure, go through the basics, hunt with an intimidating stare, and get a ton of concept art. One piece of art I had planned on using this time but hadn't, was the advertisement I quoted in #1.  There, in red letters so it pops out is: "Brought to you by Squaresoft, the makers of the Final Fantasy series". Compare the size of the Capcom Logo to the Squaresoft one. The legal gobbledygook in the bottom right does mention it's a licensed product of Capcom's, but put it between the Nintendo and Squaresoft jargon so it's harder for your eye to catch. Let me know if you're a fan or not of me speeding up the random battles. New Music Beginning of Battle Victory Song Sorrow Memories Skyscraper Day and Night
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Jan 14, 2019 10:06
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Episode #3: Shaken not Stirred Nanai has been occupied by the Dark Dragons so we'll need to sneak into the city. Then we descend deep into the earth to stop the quake machine and have a brawl with the boss. I discuss Capcom's music designers at the time, 'Alph Lyla', and we unlock a few more music tracks. Sadly, some aren't in good spots to get a good listen (eg. Strong Fortress plays on the first floor of the temple where there's nothing to explore or loot to get), but we'll hear them again later! New Music Profit Dejection Small Hermitage Strong Fortress Ancient Ruins Scalding Coffee posted:Cutting out the walk out of empty dungeons would be best. I don't believe it's something we'll have to deal with again for quite awhile, but I'll keep that in mind! thiswayliesmadness fucked around with this message at 15:52 on Jan 21, 2019 |
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Jan 21, 2019 10:14
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Scalding Coffee posted:Can you get back to the town and check the other floors of the palace? Do you mean the first floor of the Temple in Nanai? It had two side rooms with a table and a fireplace and is otherwise pretty bare. I was hoping they would have had something there as an excuse to show it off. And we can't go back to the town now. That explosion literally flattened the town and we'll just walk over it now... Scalding Coffee posted:Almost level 10 and you don't have any other attacks yet? Our hero will remain a somewhat basic beat stick for a bit, despite the level gains. However, we will gain access to a new weapon soon that gives us some versatility. And that key we picked up has a use in battle. It would get into spoiler territory, so you'll have to wait a bit to see our main character really shine.
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Jan 22, 2019 03:45
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Torrannor posted:Thunder does 20 damage and the LPer always healed when Ryu got under 20 health, so there was in fact no danger. There was one point I was at 20 hp exactly and rolled the dice he wouldn't kill me. Worked out as you could see, but gaining a few levels or grinding for better armor would have helped some. That boss isn't too bad if he rotates his attacks or does the melee a lot. He healed more than usual that fight which made it so tough, but bolt spam would probably be worse. A full stack of 9 herbs for safety is never a bad idea this early. Simply Simon posted:But this game came out after Final Fantasies 4 AND 5, both of which are insanely far better about having sensibly designed bosses with gimmicks that don't require you to grind at all, give you at least two party members at the start, a bunch of tactical options... I'm going to talk about it in Episode 5 but two things really inspired Capcom to make Breath of Fire. They were pretty buddy buddy with Squaresoft, so it's not surprising they used some base elements from their games. When I bring up the second one, I get the feeling a few game mechanics might click for some viewers. Or a few groans. Simply Simon posted:Yeah, that is an absolutely idiotic design decision as well. Why even have the bar at all, then? Most RPGs don't bother if they want to keep players guessing. Or they tell you for normal monsters but not bosses. It was their attempt at trying something new, and the 2nd health bars certainly have their flaws. I guess it was to make base enemies more predictable while you never knew if that next swing would finish the boss. Some behavior changes happen too like the knight boss doing more damage. And glad you've been enjoying! I'll admit I'm still learning a lot about editing, but having fun as I go. My connections being a bit slow but update will be up in a few hours!
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Jan 28, 2019 13:29
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Episode #4: Birds of a Feather After we visit Winlan, we switch over to their princess for an adventure of her own! Lots of travelling today so it's a longer episode, but we visit an homage to George Romero, get an important item for later, and see how bird people do in combat. New Music Culvert Gentle Breeze Deep Forest
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Jan 28, 2019 21:06
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Simply Simon posted:There is so many of them oh my God And the forest isn't set to the highest encounter rate either! Oddly, each character has their own exp table. Nina's is built to skyrocket her to level 7 when she's on her quest. After that she literally has the worst exp table out of any character. It dips lower than Ryu's at levels 22-48 for some reason, and then goes nuts again. But overall, Nina's levels will be few and far between each other. If I had more free time, I'd graph out those exp tables since so many of the numbers feel like odd choices. Scalding Coffee posted:Most games would give you that broken attack item much later in the game where it is less than useful. This is admitting that early encounters suck. Note that the game doesn't tell you to use the key in battle. Most curious players would give it a go sooner than later I'd hope, but I get the feeling the game expects you to know about it by the time you hit the forest. I'd also be higher level if I was doing the normal player things like trying to mess with hunting animals too early or just trying to figure out where to go. But I shouldn't make excuses for the early fights. Many of them really do suck. Early 1993 gaming!
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Jan 30, 2019 05:05
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Episode #5: Off to see the Wizard After pausing outside the Wizard's tower last episode, we start climbing this maze of stairs taking on two of his henchmen as well as the main man himself! But he's got a trap prepared for just this kind of situation... I discuss how Wizardry 5 ended up being the inspiration to create Breath of Fire, and we find a brand new weapon! Realized a little late, I hadn't included the concept art for the boss general we had a drawn out brawl with. Which is a shame since he's so happy to see us!  New Music Emergency
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Feb 4, 2019 21:00
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Just a quick reminder about the spoiler policy. I know it's an old game many have played, but I'd like to keep it fresh for the new comers.
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Feb 4, 2019 21:02
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Scalding Coffee posted:I think the high encounters are to get you more healing items (and stones) if you were too cheap to buy enough. Until you beat that soldier, your levels didn't seem that impressive and you got two levels from two bosses that gave you a bunch of stats. Jason Sextro posted:I've always kind of wondered if that was added in to make the Nina segment easier, since it really does. I have Nina use that key when she's not healing for a long, long time. If you spend a bit of spare time in the tower, you're likely to have a few c.stones, herbs, and even life's saved up, making the boss much easier. The key and Nina go hand in hand really; Her attack power doesn't keep up with enemy defense soon, so a static 30 damage magic hit is better than a 7 damage stab. While I did say it can be used unlimited times, it's technically 1/round of combat. Night10194 posted:I gotta say, it's kind of neat to see the generic NPC soldiers actually join the party and help. I was seriously amazed the first time I played and soldier 3 dropped me off, then -didn't- proceed to fly away or just stand by and wish me luck (which he soon does anyways).
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Feb 6, 2019 20:16
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Simply Simon posted:I think you could start cutting out encounters entirely instead of bothering with the speedups. The tenth time you see a group of two bugs and a spider wiped out with an E.Key and attack before they get a hit in really drags, imho. Appreciate the advice! I was tempted to do something different in the tower with all the fights going on. I think next time I hit an area with high encounters that are pretty samey, they'll just get pulled. Good news is, the encounter rate is much more reasonable next episode and we get a wave of new enemies. Plus you'll likely appreciate my 'Previously' segment coming up. Jason Sextro posted:But that's the authentic Breath of Fire experience! Although I would say this period when none of your hitters are very hard hitters is probably the worst part. Pretty much this. To kill enemies right now I have 3 options: Fight, use the key, or random item drops. If they gave us a high encounter area after we had our next party member instead, it would have been more tolerable.
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Feb 8, 2019 20:22
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Episode #6: Our Chief Concern We're travelling east today to help out a pair of villages who have had their water supply cut off by the Dark Dragons. More of the races are shown as we get to see members of both the Forest and Iron Ogre clan. And our journey through "The Forest of Despair" reveals hidden secrets... While there isn't any new music, you get a ton of new art including my new side bars from the GBA European/Asian release:
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Feb 12, 2019 08:53
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Episode #7: Castles in the Sky Our return to Romero finds the zombie problem has escalated and we need to locate a cure. Helping their chief out of this situation rewards us with the tablet, which allows us to explore the floating tech tower of Agua! An ancient guardian within guards a treasure we need...
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Feb 19, 2019 07:01
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I like how Romero's problem grows over time instead of being a one and done. And it's a decent nod to the director. It's not the only town that changes too... Most items you buy from the item shop will stack up to 9 before you have to start a new one. Weapons, armor, and most everything else won't stack at all. Which is a little annoying since things like elemental stones can start making inventory management a pain. All the hats I found really started clogging it as well, but I plan on doing selling between episodes.
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Feb 20, 2019 04:00
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Episode #8: Domo Arigato Mr Stone Robo We take our key over to the stone robot, activate it, and blow up the rocks blocking the trapped water. Draining the lake opens up the Lake Shrine where we can get the ring for the Chief of Tantar as well. There's even a wedding we get to watch! What could possibly go wrong? New Music Swimming Distant View Song and Dance thiswayliesmadness fucked around with this message at 11:08 on Feb 27, 2019 |
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Feb 26, 2019 19:22
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Not sure how that got so misaligned. I'll have a new version up tonight.
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Feb 26, 2019 19:52
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Work ran long today, however the proper edit is now up! That was an embarrassing little error, but we're starting to get to the meatier parts of the game so hope people enjoy. Episode #8: Domo Arigato Mr Stone Robo
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Feb 27, 2019 11:11
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Episode #9: Cash for Gold The shrine we ran into last episode helps our hero unlock his hidden abilities! Faeries curse a woodcutter. And we find a city made out of gold where people will pay us large sums to do chores (while we rob their homes).
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Mar 5, 2019 10:05
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That is a possibility! Stools were originally myconids while fungus was gelnid, and the sprite difference is the mushroom cap vs the "gel balls" cap. I love old mythology. We're so used to stories having a lesson or purpose. Or you can just tell stories about how everything is going to screw with or outright kill you.
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Mar 7, 2019 07:17
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Episode #10 - Chupacabra We travel east and discover the neighboring region is trapped in eternal night. Our gold bar is traded for a piece of ice. And we venture out into a vast desert where a city is having it's livestock eaten. New Music Secret City Sand Palace thiswayliesmadness fucked around with this message at 19:33 on Mar 12, 2019 |
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Mar 12, 2019 19:25
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Scalding Coffee posted:I forgot it was the adult form of the dragons and not the whelp. It sure took a while to get the power and Ryu got the advanced form off the bat. The three forms we have originally translated as Fire/Snow/Thunder Puppy. This actually is (what comes to be known as) the whelp form, despite how much damage it does, as well as how it looks. We got those at about the 1/4 to 1/3 mark of the game, and it takes far longer than I'd like to get access to the next tier up. Torrannor posted:It is. In stark contrast to BoF 2. The series has some trouble finding the right balance between having the dragon forms be overpowered or underpowered. This is so very true. Without getting too spoilery; BoF2 chipped off some of the rough edges with it's system. BoF3 was innovative but swingy in power. Dragon Quarter threw the baby out with the bathwater and made your form so 'over powered' you can get a game over from using it.
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Mar 14, 2019 05:56
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Episode #11 - Tomb Raider With the fife in hand, we're able to enter the trap laden Krypt to find Karn. What treasures and secrets will we find buried within?
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Mar 22, 2019 17:43
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Sorry for the delay on this episode. Had a family member pass away and was hard to get in the right head space. Should be back up to speed on the next one!Scalding Coffee posted:Turns out there was more to the earthquake device that destroyed Nanai. By playing the waiting game, you get a couple more messages before the game kills you. Beyond the "I will awaken soon" quote? I waited awhile in my test run but have a save near there I can check.
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Mar 22, 2019 17:46
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Episode #12 - First Intermission Now that we've got Karn, we go on a tour revisiting old locations to grab a ton of treasure, including some very powerful gear. We check out how Camlon's rebuilt and see how the series fishing mini-games started.
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Mar 31, 2019 18:34
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I almost think someone forgot to put one of the breakable walls in Agua to block off that Dragon Shrine. Though that would have only roadblocked us for a few more episodes... You also have to know to search the dragon statues, which isn't too obvious. The life armor is the only thing that's really insane at this point; It's high defense and walking heal will combo well this early. The Icy Dagger puts Karn on par with our fighters for regular attacks (his crit rate is another matter), but he'll be getting an ability that will shift him into more of a... support role. Lightning is more common than fire at this stage, so the Flame Shield is just a defense boost. Not to mention spells can pierce our defense, so some enemies will still be a pain. Torrannor posted:Ah yes, fake urgency in video games. No sense of immediate danger for somebody would stop me from solving side quest or going treasure hunting, either! She's been in that safe for who knows how long. What's the worst that could happen? I'm really just saving time. I'd have to do this next part right after opening the safe anyways. thiswayliesmadness fucked around with this message at 05:59 on Apr 1, 2019 |
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Apr 1, 2019 05:56
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Episode #13 - Everyone Loves a Twin Key We climb a pair of towers today to get a set of matching goddess keys, rescue the girl from the safe, and try to catch a boat out of town.
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Apr 8, 2019 18:25
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Episode #14 - Calamari Army We blow open an entrance to the Dark Dragon base so we can steal a ship from them. But a pair of brotherly sea monsters will stand in our way. And our fishy friend manages to cause a few problems...
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Apr 15, 2019 18:30
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Episode #15 - A Fish Tale Our adventures as Gobi take us to the bustling trade city of Prima where we learn about his past and explore the shops. We're soon sent to retrieve some goods from the nearby industrial city of Gant, but it seems almost all the townsfolk are gone... Character limit is 4 letters for names. Vote over which you like. I'll let people leave ideas till next video. New Music Dawn Trade City
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Apr 21, 2019 18:45
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Episode #16: Olly Olly Oxen Free With Ox's people held hostage by the Dark Dragons, we head off to storm another base and end up meeting a familiar boss. Karn's potential begins to be unlocked and I show how dangerous the flame rapier really is.
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May 1, 2019 19:38
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Torrannor posted:Karn's fusions really are one of the reasons he's a fan favorite. There's practically no reason to use a non-fused Karn anymore, unless you need a particular party member's skill and you don't have it in the fused form. The cut scenes defusing Karn is very annoying since you usually don't notice it right away. At least it's cheap to re-fuse and Karn isn't using his AP for much else. What really irks me is how BoF2 has this same issue. The worst being the cut scene right before the final boss... TheKirbs posted:You can't use the ultimate dragon form with a fused Karn. Oof... It's admittedly one of the biggest weaknesses of fusion and I don't think they point that out either. My own personal sad story had me playing all the way to the top of the wizard's tower. I then got distracted by another game and finally came back a month later. Instead of going left to fight the boss, I accidentally went right, fought to the constantly spawning enemies, and eventually walked out the front door. Scalding Coffee posted:Having two characters able to transform makes Ryu less of an OP character finishes all the tough fights. Outside of Dragon Shrines, I don't think there's a real "dragon" Dark Dragon for a very long time. I really want to say that the frog/squid/etc. transformations actually are supposed to be odd dragon forms. The behemoth form in BoF3 always reminded me of frog boss in an odd way.
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May 5, 2019 06:42
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Episode #17: Second Intermission We travel the world with Ox's wall smashing to grab more hidden goodies, including a broken boomerang. We learn the secret of weaponizing giant birds and let them lead the charge against the Dark Dragons. But what is this weapon they've been working on?
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May 12, 2019 18:42
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Nina doesn't have an exit spell in this game sadly. She does have a warp spell to travel to a town, but that's locked into being cast on the world map only. I sort the flame saber to the top for the next episode. I really should have done that sooner.
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May 12, 2019 19:21
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Episode #18: Wake Up Call The ancient city of Wisdon has been sealed for centuries, and we're the first living soul to enter in a very long time. There are still many Guardian spirits about though. And some have been tasked with guarding the Sorceress's deep slumber from intrusion.
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May 19, 2019 22:06
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Episode #19: Liquid Snake Our party descends deep into the undersea volcano to place the Ancient Egg in just the right location. And just in time, as the Dark Dragons begin their all out assault on Prima! However, the sorceress Bleu hears our pleas and joins the battle in person!
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May 24, 2019 07:35
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Torrannor posted:How many episodes ago did we get the dragon whelp forms? Isn't it time that we get better versions? (I last played BoF 1 20 years ago, I absolutely don't remember when we get other dragon forms.) We got our whelp forms waaaay back at the start of Episode #9; Right after the Stone Giant jumped into the volcano. I've actually passed by the next dragon shrine (it's hidden off to the left between the 'Gate' Dark Dragon base and the GrimFowl Forest), but the guard there won't let us in without showing him an ancient artifact we don't have yet. You're right though. We're more than due for new forms and that will change *very* soon. A lot of the naming conventions they went for are unusual. Part of the reason I like showing off enemies original Japanese names. As someone mentioned in the comments, even how they handled elemental damage is odd. Scalding Coffee posted:They really have a thing for fixed damage attacks. I am guessing the 3.5 and 5.5 are quake spells? Which is interesting since so many of the damage calculations for melee and such include a lot of random adjustments. Magic resistance and magic damage in general seems to be done in a much more basic manner. 3.5 and 5.5 are indeed quake spells! 3.5 does the exact same thing as our earth key (30 damage to all enemies), while 5.5 hits all enemies for 50 damage.
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May 24, 2019 20:30
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Jason Sextro posted:Also, Bleu is goddamn awesome. On the one hand, it's a shame it takes so long to get her, but on the other hand, she already makes the game fairly trivial when she joins the party, so it's maybe for the best? Piercing magic attacks are just so powerful in this game, and now we have a character that specializes in them. Bleu kicks all kinds of rear end and will likely be in the party a majority of the time now. There is a combat shift later where melee shines more, but that's much later. The experience table is all kinds of odd. There are a few moments it curves uniquely for character's story events expected levels, and many characters run into that artificial leveling wall. Like Jaxon Sextro mentioned, Bleu hits one of these at 41: Level - Experience Needed 39 - 80,000 40 - 90,000 41 - 100,000 42 - 200,000 43 - 300,000 Once you hit 41, you've got one hell of a grind to start climbing past that point. The good news is she learns her last spell at 40. The bad news is that her stat gains between 41-48 are at their peak during this arc. I've used Nina as an example before, and she hits an odd level wall too: Level - Experience Needed 43 - 228,000 44 - 238,000 45 - 248,000 46 - 260,000 47 - 773,000 48 - 832,000 Nina's been with the party longer so she has more experience in general, but they still curved her to peak at a higher level than Bleu. And that lock out at level 47 is just *nuts*. Grind 3x the amount experience you've gained so far to get past that hurtle...
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May 24, 2019 22:13
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Episode #20: Fishing for Answers The Guild Leader returns Gobi's license and sphere, allowing him to turn into a giant fish for transporting the party around. We discover Tunlan, only to be unable to communicate with the native populace. But hidden near their vault is the top tier fishing rod, which allows us to pull up ancient treasures. Another Dragon Shrine is found, and we challenge the keeper within. New Music Music City thiswayliesmadness fucked around with this message at 03:48 on May 30, 2019 |
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May 30, 2019 03:44
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The fishing in BoF3 is my ideal fishing mini-game. The rewards are great, the fish you can catch are neat, and you'll revisit areas later to catch rarer fish. BoF2 has a decent system, but getting items from it can be very frustrating. Which goes for a handful of things in that game. It's definitely an improvement from BoF1, but things like the chimes mini-game consumed too much of my time in a bad way. I wish there was a bit more substance to the fishing in this. You can fail bringing up the items/slab/fish, but just dip your rod back in and try again. Torrannor posted:I swear I had no idea that we would get the next dragon forms this episode, I was just annoyed that we still hadn't progressed past the whelp forms. So we'll probably get a new Karn fusion somewhat soon, now that I'm writing about it 
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May 31, 2019 04:17
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