You don't have to be a hard-core gamer to notice that innumerable--not to  mention impressive--role-playing games (RPGs) have been released for the Sony  PlayStation. Although the fourth installment in the Breath of Fire series  is a fine RPG, it's doesn't quite hold a flame to the best of the aforementioned  alternatives.Breath of Fire IVis a single-player game that continues the story with  these "dragon people," who gave their lives to eradicate the evil goddess and  restore peace in their world. This time around, battle has broken out between  two powerful continents, and the fair Princess Elena has disappeared during a  tour of the war-torn region. The princess's sister, Nina, who reigns o'er the  Windia Kingdom, vows to retrieve her missing sibling. She meets Ryu along the  way, who joins the epic quest.Breath of Fire IV's gameplay is refreshingly simple, with only a few  minor additions to its predecessor's battle system. Most noticeably, a new combo  system lets spells dish out more damage than when cast alone, by working in  conjunction with other spells. As before, Ryu can transform into a dragon or  hybrid half-human, half-dragon creature to gain special attack powers. The party  will pick up other drifters throughout the game, some of whom have the power to  transform.Each town opens up a new set of subquests and minigames (yup--there's another  fishing game here, folks), both of which add longevity and replayability toBreath of Fire IV, although not everyone will appreciate the mandatory  nature of these diversions.Like many Japanese-bred RPGs, the musical score and crisp sound effects are  excellent, but there is very little voice talent in the game. In all,Breath  of Fire IVis a solid, although not fantastic, RPG.--Todd MowattPros:Solid storyEffective battle systemExtraordinary musical scoreCons:Average graphicsSometimes-awkward control and camera angles