引用

                ePSXe : Works fine .
                pSX emulator : haven't tested .
               

引用

    "Better than 1 and 2 combined!!!"

INTRO

Down in a local Electronic Boutique store I had a choice to get either Breath of Fire 3 or Beyond the Beyond. I'ce already played Beyond the Beyond, but I've never played Breath of Fire 3 nor have I heard of it. The front and back of the game looked cool. I decided that I wanted Breath of Fire 3 so I went down to a local Wal-Mart to get it cheaper ;). Then I brought it home and I played it and I loved it. I'm surprises that I see some reviews that give it a 6. I don't believe it, but I do respect others opinion so I don't mind. Breath of Fire 3 (BoF3) is a great RPG made by Capcom and was made in 1998. At first I was unsure to buy this game because Capcom, mostly known for fighting games, made it so I was worried that it would be bad but Capcom has proven that they can also make great RPGs. In the world of Breath of Fire, BoF3 is the first one I played so this might affect the score. I have played Breath of Fire 1 and 2, but the first one was BoF3. You know the routine for the reviews so I will go in detail as much as I can to tell you the wonders I experienced and the greatness I played none other than Breath of Fire 3.

STORY: (10/10)

The story is awesome. It is another ''Save the world'' type thing, but it doesn't start out that way. I don't want to spoil it for you but I will tell you the beginning and lead of the story. At a mine, many mine workers dug and destroyed walls to uncover metals, jewels, etc. but 2 unlucky souls seemed to have unfortunately ran into a sleeping dragon in a crystal on a day while they were excavating. The two men didn't know what to do with the dragon, but the dragon broke out of the crystal before they could think so they had nothing left to do but fight. The dragon is little, but he manages to kill them and then he travels through the mine. The alarm goes off and the mine workers are all after this dragon. The dragon defeats many guys, but there's just too much and one guy uses a machine to knock the dragon out. The boss tells them to get rid of the dragon an throw him somewhere. A mine worker drives off in a small train with the dragon behind him in a cage. The dragon awakes as the guy is still driving. The dragon bumps back and forth until the cage topples off the train and down a large hill into the unknown. Later, a dream appears and then there is a black out. A tiger human boy finds a little boy hurt and naked at the bottom of a large hill and the tiger named Rei decides to take this little boy home and keep him shelter. Unfortunately, Rei and his friend Teepo are really poor so they are thiefs, but they take care of the little boy, Ryu, and he becomes friends with them. From there the story goes from 3 friends into an epic tale of a young boys journey in search of (well I ain't telling because I don't spoil). Well, there's the story and it's just the beginning. It gets SO much better throughout the game. I know that a tiger human boy thing is weird but I guess that's just how Capcom is. Overall, the story is great.

GAMEPLAY: (10/10)

The gameplay is excellent as well. There are some boring parts for some people, but I only thought one part was long and boring (*cough*, Desert, *cough*). Anyway, you start as Ryu and the maximum people that can be held in one party is three. There is the armor, sword, accessory and helmet system where you can buy items and equipments like in most RPGs. The fighting is fun too. The battles pop up, but in a different way. Before you get in a fight there is a little red arrow flash instead of a popping screen. The enemies life is hidden if it's the first fight with that enemy and when you beat them, there life comes up as a meter. The life isn't a lot in Breath of Fire 3. The maximum is 999, but I never even got that much. There's also a new and unique system in this game and that's being an apprentice for a master. Masters have skills so that when you level up you can learn moves and whenever you gain a level some stats can be raised and others can decrease. The map is very big and instead of walknig around mindlessly, the map is like a map of a country close up. There's roads which you follow and you always know where the next place is. There is no fighting on the map, only in fields or dungeons. If you want me to go a little bit more in detail about the fighting then I will. First off, there are 3 different stances for your party in battles which you can choose in the menu. There's either normal, attack, and defense which I hope you can tell between the three. If not then I'll tell you. Normal means it's just a normal stance. Attack means that your party each have a little bit higher attack, but their defense is a little bit weaker. Defense is when your party each has a little bit higher defense, but their attack is a little lower as well. I choose normal when I play. The menu isn't very big nor complicating. There's items where there are 4 categories for healing items, fishing items and accessories, weapons, and armor. The magic part has 4 different categories as well. Then the rest of it is pretty much self explanatory. The fighting can get annoying after awhile, but most of the battles aren't that hard if your guys are at a good level. That's all I can think of for fighting. Now onto fishing. Fishing is a type of mini game which isn't so mini. All around the world there are different types of rods for catching fish. In most item shops is where you can buy bait and that's all you need. There are a certain amount of fish in the game and not all are easy to catch. This is a brilliant and fun game. The game itself (BoF3) is rather long. I think it took me about 50 hours to beat so if you don't get sleep then you could beat this in 3 days, but I don't think anyone does taht so this will probably take you 3 weeks if you play a lot. It took me about a month and a half. That's it. Overall, Breath of fire 3 is a great and fun game.

CONTROLS: (9/10)

The controls were pretty much perfect, but there was one thing that bothered me at times. No it's not the camera because I rather liked the camera view which is used to get a side view in case there is a wall or something. The camera view is used to get hidden items. Later on in the game you will get a character named Peco (hope it isn't a big spoil..it's in the instruction manual so don't even give me that!), a little onion boy (some funky characters huh?) and the triangle button is an action command. Pecos action is he uses his head to hit things. Well, if he stands directly in front of a stone to hit it, he'll miss. I don't know why he misses but I know it has to do with the angle of the normal camera. Controls are smooth and easy to handle. The buttons are easy as well and everything except what I said above is picture perfect!

MUSIC/SOUND: (10/10)

I enjoyed the music and sounds a lot in this game. Many people complain that it's too repetitive for battle music. Well, every game is like that. There's two different themes of fight; a normal fight and a boss fight in every RPG. So, I don't see how the battle theme gets repetitive because every other one does and no one complains. I liked the battle music. Most of the music in the game appealed to me, but the music I hated the most was the world map music later in the game. It changes and it sounds like crap. All of the music in the game is clear and has a nice ring to it that fits the game well. As for the sounds, they are fine as well. I liked the sounds of Ryu or Nina getting hurt because it sounded kind of real. There isn't much sound variety through the game because there are no voice overs nor is their any voices. The sounds that are available are good. I especially like the sounds while your party camps out (you'll hear about it in the game) because if you've ever gone camping you'll know what I mean. The background sound Fx, like if their was a big crowd you hear muffles of voices, is really good and very realistic. They are clear and they have no static or anything wrong with them. Well, that's all I can really think of for audio. Overall, very nice!

GRAPHICS: (10/10)

The graphics for Breath of Fire 3 are really nice. I liked the 2D look it had that seemed so different then the other RPGs at that time. it has more of an animated or cartoonish look to it and that appealed to me while I was playing this. Everything looks well detailed. Even though the PSX is all pixels and I could see them I still really liked the graphics. The sprites were nice and the coloring of the whole game is just excellently done. When I turn the camera and point it up I see the trees as a piece of paper or a pencil, but when normally looknig at it, it looks real. The characters are all very unique with unique qualities as do the bosses and other enemies. The backgrounds all look detailed and very nice. I can tell that Capcom put a lot of time in this and the elast I can do in return is love it and give it a 10. I wonder what's the most. If you don't really understand what I'm trying to say then I'll sum it up in one sentence. These graphics are really nice and I love them.

CHALLENGE: (6/10)

The game wasn't as hard as it looked. Don't get me wrong, this game isn't easy but it's not as difficult as I thought. The fishing can be really hard an some boss battles are really hard (Idon't want to spoil you, but wait until you see the final boss). As I said earlier, the maximum life value is 999, but I beat the game with about 445 and trust me I fight a lot and I level up all my guys well in every game. So, the game has it's easy parts, but so does every other game. Finding all of the certain types of spells that you'll hear about later in the game is also very hard. That's the only things that were really challenging. There's no puzzles or anything so it's jsut a basic RPG with fighting and leveling up and ..... fishing. Overall, the challenge is average.

REPLAY: (6/10)

Unfortunately, I never played this game again because I personally think RPGs weren't meant to be replayable and that theory goes towards Breath of Fire 3. I never played this game again unless I was fishing because I couldn't catch them all (damn Pokemon! ?). How come you gave it a 6 SCCAN??? you ask. Well, I know a couple of people who have played it over so that proves this game can be replayable, but not for me. If you're really into this game you may find yourself playing this again. Overall, the replay value is average because of my friends but if it was just me, then it would be low.

OVERALL: (10/10)

Breath of Fire 3 is one of the greatest games in my opinion. It has originality, creative and unique characteristics and very nice graphics. Good story too! I absolutely loved every minute I played of this game except..uhh...cough the desert cough, which unfortunately you will encounter at some point but that's just me. There might be some people who like it. To buy or rent? Well, I'd say buy it because of 3 reasons. 1) It's probably much cheaper now (doubt it ;0) 2) This game is really fun and I recommend it and 3) I never nor think people should rent RPGs because you're gonna hve to give it back. That's just me but I would recommend you to buy it. Have a nice day!