The graphics are nice, but nothing extraordinary. They’re much more appealing than they should be thanks to the game’s rock solid frame rates. The frames are always up and constant, providing a pleasant viewing experience for the eyes. In terms of sheer graphical prowess and design I’d say that it lacks a few paces behind
Dark Cloud 2 but way ahead of the abysmal
Legaia 2. Strangely enough the game seems to have a sort of
Resident Evil thing going to it thanks to the fixed camera angles that you’ll encounter from time-to-time.
The use of written text as opposed to spoken words in today’s RPGs is big no-no in our book and sadly,
BoFDQ commits this deadly sin. Better make sure to put on your reading glasses because you’ll be doing a whole lot of it. Only a few lines are spoken and those times don’t last too long. To make matters worse the text box used to display the text can only display a few lines of text so you’ll find yourself having to click to advance text much more often then you might like.
The use of text also detracts from the game in that it lacks the character and emotion that is conveyed through spoken word. How am I supposed to sympathize or even empathize with someone if I can’t hear and feel their emotion? It also adds an air of ambiguity to the characters themselves as they don’t seem to be as fleshed out as they could have been.
There also seems to be a lack of variety in the game. Many of the locales look similar to each other, lending the game that sort of cut and dry feeling. We also wish that the game would have featured more characters as the small handfull that you're dealt is pretty sparse, especially in comparison to the competition.
Barring that you can put up with the SOL system,
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter just might be the game for you. It’s a lot less engaging than
Dark Cloud 2 but it has enough unique facets and features to differentiate itself from it. It’s a worthy game in its own right that should be experienced by anyone who is a fan of the genre.
B-
For an avid fan of the series, Capcom’s Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter is basically the antithesis of everything they have known. That’s not such a bad thing though as you’ll soon learn. Just remember, when you’re playing Dragon Quarter, be prepared to be SOL.
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