Breath of Fire III is one of My Favorite RPGs

Breath of Fire III was the first PS1 game I bought. I’m not sure why I went with this game, especially since I hadn’t played the other two games in the series. There was just something about it that made me want to play it.

I’m pretty sure I bought this game and a PS1 in 1998, after I turned 14. It was a strange story, my dad drove me to a Best Buy, and I’m pretty sure my brother thought it was for both of us. For my birthday, I received a 13 inch TV and a VCR. Just writing that makes me feel very old.

For most of that year, this was the only game I had, which seemed to confuse some people. There were a lot of rich families in my town, and it felt like every kid got a new video game whenever they asked for one. I had to wait for my birthday or Christmas.

This RPG holds a special place in my heart. I have a lot of nostalgia for it, and it happens to be my favorite in the series. It has been a while since I’ve played it, so let’s dive in and see what it has to offer.

TLDR: A Very Good RPG with a Paint by Numbers Story.

Narrative

I like the story of Breath of Fire III, even if it isn’t all that different from the other stories in the series. It also has several similarities to other RPGs from the 1990s. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as I like that Capcom didn’t make any radical changes to the Breath of Fire lore.

It feels like you’re either playing a continuation of the previous games or a story set in another world that happens to be set up in a similar way to the previous games. In some ways, it feels like you’re watching a cycle of events that repeats endlessly.

I love that we see these characters in two different eras. There is the child period and then the adult period. It’s a small detail that elevates the story and helps it differentiate from the previous two entries in the series a little. It is nice to know that you’re not playing a rehash of the other two games.

This war between the Brood and the Guardians is very interesting. I also like that it doesn’t change things up drastically like the Final Fantasy series does. It feels like a Breath of Fire game instead of a brand new adventure that happens to be a numbered game in a series.

Overall, this is a good but not great story. Some of the characters have interesting arcs, but these are few and far between. I like the game’s story, but I don’t love it.

Gameplay

Breath of Fire III is a turn based RPG where you assemble a party of three characters. While the game doesn’t have a class system, each character feels unique. A few of them are versions of characters that have appeared in the previous games in the series.

My favorite part of this game is the shape shifting feature during combat. A few characters can change into a monster or a dragon. The gene system is awesome! You can mix and match the genes you find throughout the game to make different dragons. It is a very cool evolution of this part of the series.

There are a few puzzles that you need to solve to progress in the game. To complete some of these puzzles, you need to use an attack/action with a specific character. For example, Ryu can swing his sword, and Momo can shoot her gun. Each character can do something like this.

This game also offers a “Master System” where you can have a character act as an apprentice to a Non-Player Controlled (NPC) character. This was something I totally forgot about since the last time I played. It is a cool idea, though.

I enjoy the gameplay in Breath of Fire III, because it is a fairly standard RPG for the 1990s. While it doesn’t break new ground, I don’t think that is much of a problem. It sticks to a formula and does everything very well.

Visuals

I love the graphics in Breath of Fire III! For some reason, I find the graphics to be relaxing. Just about everything is done with the in game graphics, so it isn’t the most amazing looking game on the PS1, but it is a very good looking game.

This is a 2.5D game. It uses an isometric camera angle and lets you manipulate the camera to see behind buildings, trees, and other visual obstructions. You can’t rotate the screen as far as I can tell. This is the worst part of the game for me, and I wish Capcom had given the player more control over it.

I like the character sprites. Capcom did an excellent job of creating continuity in the character designs with the previous games. In Breath of Fire III, the characters look great, and the enemies are spectacular looking. The pixel art is very good, and I like the game’s world design.

The spells and special attacks look awesome! They stand out from the other RPGs from the mid-1990s and help to make this game unique. Even the world map looks spectacular.

The cutscenes and transformations look great, but aren’t as amazing as other games from the same time period. This is one of the weaker points in the game. I like the way the cutscenes look, but I have to admit they aren’t a good as some of the better RPGs on the PS1.

Breath of Fire III is one of those games that looks just as good today as it did back in 1998. Since the 3D polygons aren’t frequently used in the game, this feature helps make the game stand out. Overall, this game holds up much better than the other RPGs I’ve played recently.  

Reviews at the Time

Breath of Fire III received above average reviews when it was released. Only one of them was a little strange, and one of them was baffling but not for the reasons you might think. I looked at four publications this time: GameSpot, IGN, EGM, and Game Informer.

GameSpot gave the game the harshest review out of the ones I looked at. They gave the game a 6.9/10, which was above average at the time. Their biggest issue was that the game didn’t break new ground, which is a little strange. It sounds like they were expecting more from the game, given how other companies were pushing the boundaries of what the PS1 could do.

IGN gave the game a 7.5/10, which was considered “Good” at the time. It sounds like the reviewer enjoyed it, but didn’t think much of the graphics. They also hated the random battles. I always find this criticism of RPGs to be odd, but to each their own.

I’m going to discount the scores for Game Informer’s review of Breath of Fire III. While the title says the article is about the third game, the reviewer and the second opinion review spend most of the time gushing over Breath of Fire IV and how superior it is to the previous game. I don’t understand what happened, but whoever edited this seriously messed up.

EGM had four people review Breath of Fire III, and all of them liked it. The high score from this group was an 8.5/10, and the lowest was 7.5/10. They didn’t have any major complaints about the game.

I think the reviewers got this one right for the most part. This game holds up better than other PS1 RPGs released around this time. It doesn’t have the same visual flair as some of the other games released in 1998 or 1999, but it looks much better than those games that tried to incorporate 3D graphics.

8.5/10. This is one of my favorite RPGs, and one of my favorite games on the PS1. It has some things that help it stand out from a very crowded field, but the story isn’t anything you haven’t played before.

Pros

• Great graphics
• Wonderful Gameplay
• Fun Story

Cons

• None

Conclusion

Now that I’ve played more RPGs, I can see some of the flaws in this game. It is still one of my favorite games on the PS1, but it is by no means a perfect game. I am a little excited to play the other games in the series.

I’m not sure where this game would rank on a list of the best RPGs, but it is one of my all time favorites. It has some very cool things in it, and I like the changes made to the transformation system. It also has great graphics.

The story might be the weak point in the game. I like the graphics quite a bit. Pixel art always manages to stand out from the 3D graphics from the 1990s. They hold up much better in the long run.

If you liked this post, please check out my other posts on retro RPGs, such as Destiny of an Emperor and My Favorite Retro RPGs.