Invalid characterset or character set not supported Breath of Fire III, a retrospective





Breath of Fire III, a retrospective
December 30, 2018

I remember playing Breath of Fire III when it came out in the US in the late 90s, that game being the first one of the series I ever played. I already knew of the games prior to it and its lore, so I was pretty familiar with it once I booted my PSX and began the adventure. While I never played the first games before it, I felt pretty familiar and nostalgic experiencing the third game, mostly due to the fact that it connects with the first game SO well and it leaves you with this nostalgic feeling about caring for the characters and the setting it takes place in.

I loved the graphical sprites and the 3/4 view of the game, along with the overworld map where you had a choice of entering areas to fight random battles or continuing to another segment where you could enter to progress the game. It also made me a bit sad knowing of the events that transpired since the last game, that being that Ryu was now in a world where he was pretty much the last of his kind, more or less, and that dragons were hunted down mercilessly before the game's time being guided by the malicious, manipulative goddess Miria, the same goddess who was beaten by the heroes of the first game and somehow was able to conquer the world by fooling its inhabitants of wanting nothing more than their safety in exchange of being the sole powerful being who would lead them to her own twisted view of a future.

That reminds me of *another* female antagonist who's view of a caring, protected world was skewed such as Mother Brain in Phantasy Star II, and convince the world that you were the enemy who wanted nothing more than their destruction. Such parallels also include the fact the last setting of the game takes place on an orbital station high above the skies where Miria oversees all.

Another aspect of BoFIII is how established characters have changed and the introduction of new ones, who are pretty interesting in their own way. Ryu as stated is considered the tragic hero and last of his kind in a world where the Brood is all but extinct and hated throughout, Nina does not fly due to her people not evolving wings as in prior games, and Deis comes back as she has before, but does not join your party and is more of a guide than anything else. On the newcomers side we got Rei, a tigerman who's tragic tale forces him to become a powerful weretiger with little control over his actions, Momo, and absent minded genius whose scientific logic overrides anything mystical belief, Garr a mysterious warrior with dark connections to the extinction of the Brood, and Peco, a mutant seedling with an affinity with nature and Yggdrasil. All form part of a journey to discover the mystery of the events behind the fall of Ryu's kind.

Another aspect of this game is just how expressive the sprites are. All react to events and dialogue with such detail that you feel immerse on their scenes. Something that I remember fondly from the likes of Final Fantasy VI no less. Somehow this works a lot better with 2D sprites than with rendered 3D graphics, but I guess that's also because I am a fanatic of animated styles more than realistic ones. Nevertheless it was small details like these that made me fall in love with the 3rd game of the series, even more than any other game before or after it overall.

For the time being I am trying to finish the game on emulation, being that I could not do so when I rented it all those years ago being so close to the end. I intend to make BoFIII another mark of my gaming accomplishments in my life's goals.

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