Today is another exciting, action filled issue of Identity Crisis. We turn to the Gameboy Advance system, and dive into one of my favorite games of all time, Breath of Fire. The first game is a franchise of five games so far, the first two for Gameboy Advance (originally on SNES), the third and fourth for Playstation, and number five for Playstation 2. The game is a RPG with turn-based fighting and dealing with my favorite creatures, dragons. For a little introduction to the game, a boy named Ryu, part of the Light Dragon Clan, had his hometown attacked by the Dark Dragon Clan and his sister kidnapped. Ryu is on a search for her, and meets many helpful allies on his way.

    A minor part of the game that sets it apart from any other would be the main character's race. If you first read that sentence you may react negatively, but Ryu is part human part dragon. This enables Ryu to have non-human powers, more specifically the power to change into a dragon. The world in which the game is set has never seen a human change into a dragon. The result, reactions from others ranging from facination to fear. Equipment and magic attacks are also affected; Ryu cannot learn any other offensive magic than his dragon transformation ability.

    A more important detail of Breath of Fire is the characters you meet along the way of Ryu's journey. They all have their own special powers and problems. They join Ryu for their own reasons and they even have their own races themselves. By the end of the game, you have quite a variety of people and powers to use strategically. In all, it shows the variation in the towns and worlds in the game.

    The last part of Breath of Fire is problem each town seems to have. As Ryu goes to a new area, he is confronted with another problem he must solve in order to continue. These events also tie into each other and make the story accumulate into the end of the game. It keeps you fighting, curious, and wanting to know more. It’s just one more reason to separate Breath of Fire 1 from all other games.

    When Breath of Fire was made, they didn't need to incorporate these components into the game. If Ryu was just an ordinary human, the game might loose the importance of its title. The game wouldn't be too highly affected, but the interaction with others is another story. If Ryu met only humans in his journey, the storyline would be the same but the fighting strategy created by the player would adapt. This again isn't very much of a change; the worst closure would be a cheap fantasy realm. The effect of loosing the complications in each town and village would result in decomposition of the entire story. It would most likely end in the game not being popular.

    So in the end, Breath of Fire, the story of a dragon boy who is trying to get his sister back, is supported by three things. Ryu being a dragon, the characters being of different races, and the sequenced problems in every town. Together these three minor and major parts make Breath of Fire one of my favorite games to play. I recommend this game to be checked out for a test, so if you are ever interested, you can check it out. See you all next Monday at the next issue of Identity Crisis.