Breath of Fire II

aka: BOF2, Breath of Fire II: Shimei no Ko, Long Zhanshi 2
Moby ID: 6222
SNES Specs
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Description official descriptions

Ryu was a young boy who has memories of a strange village far away and a magical doorway which sucked him through. However those are only distant memories. Ryu and his best friend Bow are apprentices in the Ranger's Guild. As adventurers they take on posted jobs needed by the townspeople. However it isn't long before one job goes awry and Bow is accused of stealing a valuable item. In order to clear his friend's name and find the meaning of his dreams, Ryu will explore the world, eventually discovering the meaning of his dreams and hidden abilities inside himself.

Breath of Fire II is a role playing game. The majority of game is played from a top-down map, however battles are seen from an isometric view. Ryu will form parties from among 8 other characters, each with their own set of skills and powers that will help him discover the truth behind the mystery.

In the GBA version, you can use a link-cable to link to friends and exchange weapons and items to defeat the higher evils. And with the inclusion of the community system, you can build and maintain your own city while you are fed up of exploring.

Spellings

  • ブレスオブファイアⅡ・使命の子 - Japanese spelling
  • 龙战士2 - Simplified Chinese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Game Boy Advance version)

17 People (14 developers, 3 thanks)

Manual
  • Hanshaw Ink & Image
Marketing
Creative Services
Package Design
Translation
Public Relations
Special Thanks

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 80% (based on 40 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 54 ratings with 4 reviews)

Grim, sad and dark but still maintains good sense of humor

The Good
Breath of Fire starts off, when your little sister disappears again, and you go looking for her. The girl is found next to a dead (or perhaps just sleeping) dragon. After a brief cutscene, you start sleeping in the same spot. When you return to the village, no one remembers you, and your home has turned into a church...spooky. It gets even spookier in the night, when you and your thief friend go outside and confront a demon.

This game, even though it has no blood, gore, nudity or the f-word, is very mature. The religious overtone, grimness and overall sad atmosphere, combined with a few scenes that would not be out of place in a horror movie, all add to a great adventure. Oddly, it also has animal-type characters, bright colors and other "childish" stuff... maybe they did not want to explore the deepest reaches of grimness?

The game also contains a number of jokes, mostly pretty dark humor. Or is priest named father Manson really that funny? I'd say that it is hilarious.

The Bad
The audiovisual side of the game is pretty bland. The graphics are nowhere near Chrono Trigger, and music is, with a few exceptions, mostly annoying.

In certain places you absolutely need to have some character leading the party to advance. Sometimes this is very hard to figure out and can lead into a lot of frustration.

Also, the "shaman" system for a boost in stats is almost useless. If the changes made were permanent-unless-canceled, they would have been a lot better. Now the "shaman bond" gets cut if you go too low on HP or die, and due to the nature of the game, that happens often.

The Bottom Line
Pretty good early RPG, and clearly intended to mature audiences. While a bit easy, it is still long enough.

SNES · by Aapo Koivuniemi (41) · 2002

Dark, brooding, almost a little on the morbid side but thoroughly engrossing for the most part

The Good
The storyline has a more mature feel to it than most games of this type and many of the graphical elements and situations are surprisingly effective at creating a dark, brooding, almost horror movie-esque atmosphere in parts. The gameplay is challenging enough to maintain interest and the storyline flows nicely with added humorous elements to keep the plot from decending too deeply into the darker regions it threatens to bog-down into in parts.

The Bad
The graphics, while good, are nothing special, neither during in-game play nor during the infrequent cut scenes. There will undoubtedly be little challenge to more experienced gamers here and the usual cutesy elements creep in somewhat too often in jarring contrast to the rather morose storyline. The music too is frankly...annoying...but bearable.

The Bottom Line
Put simply, this is a good game, not up there with the best of its kind but certainly recommended to all who like this genre of gameplay. Some of the more mature themes (dead mothers, missing children, yadda...) means this may not appeal to younger players (and is kinda depressing at points to older players!) but playing is an enjoyable and rewarding experience.

Game Boy Advance · by Nick Falco (2) · 2004

Overall fun but...

The Good
I loved the plot. It was nice and deep and complex. I also loved the indicator that let you know the mood of the person you were talking to. This is a good idea on a system like a SNES because you don't have facial expressions. I also liked the characters. They, like the plot, had a good depth to them. Some may not seem so at first but as you learn more about their story you learn how deep some of their personal plots go.

The Bad
My main gripe is this: in the first Breath of Fire, when Ryu became a dragon he was a dragon for the whole battle. The problem was the last dragon spell was so strong (999 hit points) that you were near invulnerable. In Breath of Fire II, they tried to compensate for that but they overcompensated. Now your dragon spells are 1 shot only. If you want to hit them again with a second dragon blast, you will need to recast the spell (if you have the magic points). This makes the game very difficult, later. Also, sometimes you will need to have a certain character in the front of the party when walking, to achieve certain things. It can be difficult to determine who needs to be in the lead.

The Bottom Line
A sequel to Breath of Fire with a great plot. It also has great characters who themselves have deep plots. The overall plot is complex and engaging. It is, unfortunately, much harder later in the game than it needs to be due to the changes made in the dragon spells.

SNES · by LepricahnsGold (142748) · 2005

[ View all 4 player reviews ]

Trivia

1001 Video Games

The SNES version of Breath of Fire II appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

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Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 6222
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Kartanym.

New Nintendo 3DS added by Charly2.0. Wii U added by Michael Cassidy. Nintendo Switch added by Rik Hideto. Wii added by gamewarrior. SNES added by Unicorn Lynx.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, fooziex, paul cairey, FatherJack.

Game added April 20, 2002. Last modified June 18, 2023.