Capcom Edition! Yep, everything is Capcom!
By Video_Game_King 3 Comments
(Even the music! Take that!) Well, not everything is Capcom. The video du jour is Sega, revolving around one of the best games of all time. That out of the way? OK, back to the Capcom. First game up is Shantae. Chances are you haven't heard of it (unless you're one of those guys in Guess that Game who constantly beats my ass with an iron rod), but don't worry, it's a good game. You play as the eponymous half genie (how the hell do genies breed?) on a quest to thwart the evil pirate Risky Boots. What's she trying to do? Create an evil tank using a steam engine! Talk about pure evil! DUN DUN DUNNNNN...
Our next game is Breath of Fire III, a game in a series known for being very, very average. As always, you play a mute, blue-haired boy named Ryu, and as always, you have the ability to transform into dragons during battle. However, unlike the previous games, you get to choose which form you become via a gene system (that apparently has a disgusting gene, raising a few questions). You select up to three genes to combine, allowing you to become a special type of dragon. It encourages experimentation nicely, since you have no idea what combination will create the ultra-kickass dragon. Sure, I knew what it was, but casual gamers aren't going to know, so I won't hold that against the game. However, this is where the well done ideas end. See, Breath of Fire III is filled with a lot of good ideas, but they're just that: ideas. Nothing more. The best example I can think of is the master system. You find masters scattered all over the world, and they offer to teach you their moves and give you stat updates as you level up. However, the moves you get are fucking useless and/or already learned, and you have to go back to the masters to learn the moves. You don't always have that convenience, meaning most of your moves will either be learned at the one point in the story where you're stuck near that particular master or at the end of the game, where you have the liberty to move all over the place. Another good idea? Mixing the dungeon/whatever with the battle scenes, creating a more believable world. Fine in theory, but guess what? The game's isometric! Yes, you know what that means: irreconcilable camera problems! Speaking of the battle system, it's turn based. That's right, no frills or anything, just straight up turn based. Since there's nothing to mention there, let's move onto the story itself. Again, the protagonist is Ryu, and he's trying to...well, that changes constantly in this game. First it's "hang out with friends", then "rescue kidnapped friends", then "find God." In between those last two, he seems to completely f'ing forget they even existed (but more on that later). There's also no major villain throughout the game, even in the end. Sure, Breath of Fire III tries to use that to its advantage, but I'm not fooled. You can't hide your flaws, like useless characters who hate me, or localization issues! I will admit that there are memorable moments, but not a lot of them. Instead, there are a lot of ideas that just didn't make the cut, like the overworld. There are no random encounters, which is good until you realize that Breath of Fire III tries to tempt you into about a billion tiny fields for treasure. However, the treasure is usually crap, and the only reason they're here is because they had to fit random encounters in somehow. There's also the fairy village mini-game which is....goood. Yea, it works, unless you're me. In that case, all your fairies die :(. There's also fishing, which is the opposite of fairy village. It sucks. It's boring, repetitive, and the pay-off is meager. So now that we have the crap out of the way, let's talk good.
The graphics are OK (ignoring camera issues); not good, not bad, just OK. The 2D sprites look good, especially when it uses larger sprites with more detail. However, the 3D doesn't work so well. Most of it looks flat. Very flat. But you probably noticed that in the pictures I gave you before. What you couldn't notice was the music, because these are pictures, stupid. The music really shows its age. That's all I have to say on the music. If you want more, read my future reviews.......OK, here's more: where the hell's the Breath of Fire theme? It never once appears in the game! That's what made Breath of Fire II so freaking great! Screw you, Breath of Fire III! I give you the Severely Lacking Award! Hell, you introduced Teepo ten minutes before the end of the game and acted like it was nothing. You know what? I'll return the favor. Breath of Fire III characters? C'mere! We have a little play to perform!
Teepo said:
*heroes walk into simulated rooms* Hello, friends. I suppose you wonder what I'm doing here.
Garr said:
No, not really. Say, do you know where God is?Teepo said:
Damnit, don't you guys recognize me? Ryu, Rei, don't you remember me?Rei said:
....McNeil?Teepo said:
No, it's me, Teepo! Don't you remember?Ryu said:
No. We forgot about you when we all decided to kill God.Teepo said:
Well, I'm not gonna let you kill God!Nina said:
Fine, we don't need you anyway.Teepo said:
Come on, what about my kick ability? *starts kicking air* Oh, and I have dragon powers!Ryu said:
We already have somebody who kicks. Plus I'm a dragon.Teepo said:
Goddamnit, I'm important to the plot! *gets killed*No, you're not. Get over it.