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.

## Gameplay

The *Breath of Fire* series usually puts the player in control of multiple characters in a party, though there are exceptions. The player will build the party's strength by gradually acquiring new abilities and equipment to handle more powerful opponents. As a Japanese role-playing game, a majority of the games involve frequent use of menus to select items, skills and upgrades.

### Battle

The Battle systems of the Breath of Fire series have varied with the majority being menu-based with variants on turn-based combat, although Breath of Fire 6 uses action-based combat systems. Breath of Fire and Breath of Fire II have instanced battles based on random encounters while roaming the world map and dungeons. Breath of Fire III eschewed random encounters on the world map in favor of allowing the player to enter a randomly-generated "!" field map zone where random encounters can be fought. Breath of Fire III also removed instanced battles, opting to start battles right on the existing field map. Breath of Fire IV employed a similar system for initiating world map random encounters, while transitioning back to instanced battles. Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter was the first game in the series to feature free-roaming enemies on the field map. The player can initiate combat with enemies by attacking them or simply bumping into them. Battle commands in the Breath of Fire series typically feature a basic physical attack with the equipped weapon(s), an Ability/Spell or Skill command, and a set of items, although the player may also try to flee from many normal encounters. The characters normally have a HP and AP stat, where HP determines the damage characters can take before they are KO'd while AP determines how many spells or other abilities a character can use. Most games also feature elements and status effects, nuances which can affect the course of a battle, with enemies and allies using them to attack and exploit each other's weaknesses and/or to defend themselves, as well as to prepare for an upcoming encounter.

The *Breath of Fire* series has mostly featured a more basic, traditional turn-based system that does not rely on time, but the player and the enemy party take turns executing commands.

Outside of turn-based systems, the series has featured a simplified action-based combat system with Breath of Fire 6 in which the skills the characters use are similar to traditional skill sets of attacks, magic spells, special abilities and items, but the rate the characters use these abilities depends on the refresh time, with less reliance on menus.

## Growth

### Experience Points

Character growth determines how player characters learn new abilities and boost their stats. The Breath of Fire games use a level based system where characters raise their level through experience points earned in battle to improve stats and sometimes learn new abilities.

Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter introduced an entirely unique system in which players could pool Party Experience from won battles that could be redistributed to characters upon subsequent playthroughs. This allows players restarting the game to level up their characters considerably in the beginning of the game.

### Abilities

A majority of Breath of Fire games feature characters who have defined roles with pre-determined abilities and spells they can learn by leveling up. Breath of Fire 6 introduced a class system where the Hero character can change classes and earn new abilities and skills.

Throughout the series, main protagonist Ryu eventually discovers the power to transform into a Dragon which often can turn the tide of battle, at the expense of AP, or in the case of Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter, an increase in the D-Counter. Thief character Karn from the first Breath of Fire can also unlock the power of Fusion, which allows him to fuse with one or two characters and create a superhuman form with unique abilities in battle and on the field. Breath of Fire II continued this mechanic in the form of the Shaman system which allows a majority of the game's playable characters to fuse with shamans in order to amplify their power and figure.

Breath of Fire III changed up Ryu's Dragon Transformation mechanic with the Dragon gene system, allowing players to combine up to three Chrysm ores in battle to create greatly varied dragon forms.

Breath of Fire IV gave characters Ryu and Fou-Lu the ability to not only transform into a dragon-human hybrid by utilizing a Dragon Gem, but also summon other dragon entities during battle. By using the unique Breath-attack given by a transformation, Ryu will temporarily show the dragon's true form in a cutscene.

In Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter, Ryu only has one dragon form, which he can access by using the D-Dive command he gains partway through the story. The dragon is immune to all damage from all non-dragon enemies and his attacks are replaced by three slashing attacks. In addition, Ryu can D-Charge to increase the damage of his next attack, and use his incredibly powerful D-Breath, which does more damage the longer you hold the button down. All of these attacks cause his D-Counter to increase.

### Masters

Breath of Fire III saw the introduction of the Master System, a special gameplay feature within Breath of Fire III and Breath of Fire IV geared towards ability acquisition. In it, players align their characters with special NPCs and, upon fulfilling specific requirements, gain improved stats and/or skills.

## Equipment

Characters can equip armor, weapons and accessories, where armor provides defensive boosts, weapons determine the strength and type of the attacks used, and accessories provide various supporting abilities or bonuses. Games can deviate from the standard format. Whereas Breath of Fire I through IV and Breath of Fire 6 offer weapon, shield, helmet, armor and two accessory slots, Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter simplifies this to weapon, armor and shield slots.

## Field

Outside of battles the player can explore the field for items, dialog with non-player characters, and for trading in zenny for items and gear. In games featuring instanced random encounters, the party will encounter an enemy randomly while exploring dangerous areas (though abilities to reduce the encounter rate can be learned), while games with free-roaming enemies have enemies appear in the dangerous areas for the player to engage or avoid.

The player can explore dungeons where enemies are fought and treasures and items can be found. Enemies tend to be more numerous in dungeons, and there is often a boss at the end. Other areas are safe havens, notably towns, which contain shops for the party to buy new items and equipment, and often an inn to rest at and fully restore HP and AP. Breath of Fire I - III feature a world map used to traverse on foot, although other modes of transportation come into play, such as Gobi's fish transformation for underwater exploration and Nina's bird transformation for air travel in Breath of Fire. Breath of Fire II retains air travel in the form of the Great Bird and Township, while introducing sea-level travel with Grandpa the Whale.

The World maps of Breath of Fire and Breath of Fire II have random encounters and are crossed to reach other points of interest in the world, often with mountains, forests and oceans and other impassable objects placed to ward off areas the player is not meant to visit yet. Breath of Fire III and Breath of Fire IV also feature world maps, but eschew random encounters, opting instead to allow players to enter exclamation-marked fields with randomly-generated loot and random encounters.