New Breath of Fire?

[Raww Le Klueze]

Region specific releases on PSN bug me so much. Doesn't it defeat the point of something being like...global?

It has to do with licensing. Most companies didn't really have a European office when PS1 was the big thing so they licensed their games out to other companies for distribution in the EU. Since Australia and New Zeland also use PAL they got the scraps of the EU releases with the same strings attached.

Because of these licensing issues it becomes harder to put games on the EU PSN because more than one company owns the right to sell the game and they can't decide who's supposed to get the lion's share, and in some cases the other company no longer exists so it's uncertain how to re-aquire the rights for distribution.

Capcom in particular was very bad at getting their own games out in Europe so that's the reason it took forever to get Resident Evil and we still don't have any other than the first. Complicated issue made simple: some companies simply don't own the rights to their own games.

[Antimatzist]

I got up to the last save point but ran up the dragon ratio to much and had to use the SOL system, what a rip that only your party experience carries over as if it wasn't annoying enough with out that!

Your items in the storage do also carry over... I never had problems witht he dragon ratio as I used the dragon forces not so much. Also, there is a very good spot for EXP grinding with the SOL-System which makes the game a joke.

[gilgamesh31]

Hmmm interesting, do tell us of this secret spot?

[gildedtalon]

what dragon forces? I still don't get this D-Counter thingy. Mind explaining?

Also what is D-Ratio? What skill increases this D-Ratio that gets you game over?

[gilgamesh31]

The D-Counter is a special game play system featured in [Breath of Fire:Dragon Quarter]], regulating the player's usage of dragon transformations. Basically, the D-Counter is a timer going from 0% up to 100%. However, once the D-Counter reaches 100% before a certain event in the game, the game is over and one has to SOL Restore or SOL Restart.
The following actions raise the D-Counter:

- 0.01% per every about 20 steps
- 0.01% per turn in battle
- 1.0% for D-Diving (i.e. transforming into the Dragon Form)
- 2.0% per turn in battle in Dragon Form
- 1.0% per Vortex (weakest dragon attack)
- 1.25% per enemy hit by Hurricane (medium dragon attack)
- 1.5% per Twister (strongest dragon attack)
- 2.0% per every D-Charge (increasing Ryu's attack power)
Additionally, Dragon breath and D-Dash also raise your D-Counter, but the longer you use these attacks, the more it raises.

So basically turning into a dragon is not encouraged unlike the previous games. On my first run, i used the D-Counter to kill bosses really easily and got as far as i could before i reached 100% and then used the Sol restart option, which carries over your Party Exp, any items you've stored in the locker and any armour/weapons/shields your party has equipped.

The saving in this game is just really stupid as well, save points are really far away from each other sometimes forcing you to play for hours before you see one and then you have a limited amount of save tokens, whats the point? The USA got an easier version with quick saves and duplication cheats so they probably didn't have much of a problem with it but i have to have at least a couple of hours free to play this game. Im going to try and finish the game tonight i'm hoping the endings going to blow my mind or i might have to put it back on Ebay!

[Hirathien]

The ending in Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter wasn't really my cup of tea. But then again, it might be more than one as it was in the third and fourth.

[gilgamesh31]

BOF DQ SPOILERS:
Wow! that ending went nowhere, no twist or anything just a plain old achieving what you set out to do kinda letdown. I am glad i played it to make up my own mind about it but i have to agree with the naysayers on this one, the worst things were that you only have three characters (wheres the variety?) and the lack of different environments, its just dark corridor after dark corridor, an ice cave, back to another dark corridor, it was so tedious. The game does have some redeeming features such as the battle system as i mentioned before and the storyline (until the ending) was intriguing, also i thought that the enemies/'bad guys' where all designed well. I prefer the endings of the previous games although they are all a bit short, BOF isn't known for its good endings.

BOF 3 SPOILERS:
I like the ending in the third game because its open ended, Deis and Myria are gone, Yggdrasil brings new life to the desert and the remaining companions continue on with their journey. I prefer that ending then if they had of shown, say Nina being welcomed home and Ryu being forgiven by the King, Rei still arguing with Momo due to the sexual tension, and everyone going back to their normal lives like in alot of RPG happy endings.

BOF 4 SPOILERS:
I like this ending only because i believe the theory that this game takes place before the first three. Yuna is left alive and goes on to create other endless like Myria and Deathevn, Wyndians all still have wings that function, there is no great ocean that divides the continents yet (because Myria hand not made it yet, there is only a mud sea in its place much like how she described there was in 3) and it shows the origin of the Dragon Clan. The bad endings funner though, Fou lu's a badass.

[Antimatzist]

Hmmm interesting, do tell us of this secret spot?

It is before.. ok I dont remember the name. It's this boss sequence where you fight 3 bosses in a row. Save before that, store your important items and beat the bosses fast in the first round with dragon powers to get maximum exp. Sol reset to the last save aaaand repeat.

I really like the ending, I think it was really cool. I think most of the other BoF games get pretty lame near the end.. BoF IV e.g. I don't know why but thats how I feel.

[Rooks]

HAHAHA Guess what I just found while cleaning my closet everyone! An original Breath of Fire II Strategy Guide. Published by Prima Guides before they had the money to print of magazine paper or in color apparently. Also, it appears that Prima had another author besides Elizabeth Holinger, who knew? Maybe I'll replay BoF II using it just for old times sake.

[Ved]

Oh man! I loved BoF 2! I'm jealous, does it have all the art and stuff in it?

[Rooks]

Up, all the art. The front and back covers are color of course, but the inside is black and white, printed on a rough pulp paper lol. I guess they just did not have the money for the magazine-style plastic pages.

[Hirathien]

They might have had money for it, but a more luxuriously made guide usually costs extra. Who'd buy these? Only gamers would buy a guide. Doubt people shelled out too much cash just for a guide.

Now? They got all kinds of flashy stuff, but that also makes the guide more expensive. And, I guess they can get someone to buy the guide because they like to look at the pictures inside of it.