Breath of Fire IV

 PlayStation
  • Publisher: Capcom
  • Release Date: Nov 28, 2000
  • Also On: PC
User Score
8.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 104 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 87 out of 104
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 104
  3. Negative: 6 out of 104
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  1. shiroyukiJP
    Feb 10, 2014
    8
    I think Breath of Fire 4 is one of the MUST PLAY Games for any RPG fans out there; no matter what kind of preference in RPG that you may have.

    The story is engaging with each timeline built to maintain a good suspense. The theme is about the world of Gods sent to sentence humans life. Element of Dragons is put inside which i think fits perfectly with the story with exception that i    I think Breath of Fire 4 is one of the MUST PLAY Games for any RPG fans out there; no matter what kind of preference in RPG that you may have.

    The story is engaging with each timeline built to maintain a good suspense. The theme is about the world of Gods sent to sentence humans life.
    Element of Dragons is put inside which i think fits perfectly with the story with exception that i personally do not like the graphic of it and i think the design of the dragon is sub-par.
    Besides that, the battle gameplay is engaging and has its fun, especially once you get further in the story. There are mini-games that could fill in the game nicely.

    Though i am not a big fan of BOF, as rpglover, i think BOF4 should be one of your top lists to play no matter what age you are at. What i like the most about BOF4 is its concept in the story and how well-planned the story progress.
    Its design and art concept is sufficient enough to express a world of its own

    A must play!

    P.S. There is no games or movies that deserve a "10" in this world because i do not believe in a perfect creation. There is always flaw no matter how perfect a game may be created. As long as there is flaw, there will be lots of improvement to look forward into. That is why it is my policy to never rate a "10" for any games/movies.    … Expand
  2. VendonJura
    Sep 27, 2018
    10
    Breath of Fire 4 is my 2nd favourite Breath of game. I loved it allot and spent many many many hour playing it. I even had a race with my nephew with lvling Fou-Lu as high as possible. We had allot of fun and I rlly wish to play this game again as a HD Remastered version for PS4 or PC.
  3. notacarebear
    Jan 15, 2016
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Bad rpg, they should have labeled as puzzle game or fishing simulator, which is the best part of this game by the way. You will wonder, while you battle against the obnoxious control system before anything else, why you are grouped with a winged girl that picked you up and started a journey with a completely unknown guy to who the **** knows where, or with another unknown guy half naked with a tail (the design!) or with a dog following you around without any ****** introduction to who this *** this dog is, and a robot that helped you get through the hex (you got it, who the **** knows why) and followed you along to create the most embarrassing clown fiesta ever. Good graphics and musics for the ps tho. Dialogues are the typical "huh" "ggggh" "heh" japanese mediocrity. This waste of 700mb is why capcom decided to focus on fighting games.… Expand
  4. MarkL.
    Dec 1, 2003
    9
    The best game for the playstation there is no competetion even final fantasy 6,7,8,9 arent as good.
  5. WesG.
    Feb 1, 2006
    5
    Amazing sprite graphics do little to redeem this incredibly slow-paced step backwards for the Breath of Fire series. Much of the gameplay is made up of dIsjointed wandering from one pointless mission to the next, with no cohesive storyline to drive the action. The battles are very pretty, but with the multiple dragons of past BOF games gone, much of the appeal is lost. Add boring, Amazing sprite graphics do little to redeem this incredibly slow-paced step backwards for the Breath of Fire series. Much of the gameplay is made up of dIsjointed wandering from one pointless mission to the next, with no cohesive storyline to drive the action. The battles are very pretty, but with the multiple dragons of past BOF games gone, much of the appeal is lost. Add boring, familiar characters to the mix, and you've got a waste of time and money. Get Breath of Fire III instead.… Expand
  6. KevinD.
    Aug 2, 2006
    10
    Its got everything I love about japanese rpg's, beautifuly drawn sprite graphics, a wonderful score & fantastic gameplay. A proper gem of a game.
  7. JuanchoP.
    Dec 5, 2005
    10
    its the best game ever. I finished it over and over and over again. about 7 times already and i never get bored doing it!
  8. TroyJ.
    Nov 16, 2003
    10
    Breath of Fire IV is by far the best RPG for playstation. If your looking for an RPG far thats beatting the hell out of Final Fantasy, than BOF4 is the game to put a cold day in hell for Final Fantasy. The story, the battle system, the graphics, ect, are all 9/10 or 10/10.
  9. StuartJ.
    Jul 12, 2004
    9
    A brilliant rpg with a great story and memorable music but it isn't nearly as good as final fantasy 7,8,9 and 10.
  10. Lazlo
    Jul 14, 2007
    10
    No matter how good it's predecessors (or antecessors, if you will) were, this game trounces them all. If you want a game that makes the FF series cry in shame, then look no further for legendary graphics and gameplay that will strike deep within you and hold you forever.
  11. Superfluid
    Feb 9, 2013
    9
    Awesome. I'm only 10 hours in and I am absolutely loving it. I have no complaints except the ocassionally janky camera angles. Awesome battles, deep but simple gameplay, awesome graphics, decent story. It has it all.
  12. iKen
    Apr 13, 2020
    9
    Played on PlayStation.
    Gameplay: GREAT.
    Story: GREAT.
    Graphic: GREAT.
    Music/Sound: GREAT.
    Dialogue: GREAT.
  13. Kai82
    Jul 10, 2021
    10
    It became my favorite game in the Breath of Fire franchise. It won me over with its gameplay, humor and story. However they made some changes compared to the previous games in style and worldbuilding which is not for everyone but I enjoyed these (and compared to the later Dragon Quarter it is not even worth mentioning). Also a lot of mechanics are improved in comparison to the prequels.It became my favorite game in the Breath of Fire franchise. It won me over with its gameplay, humor and story. However they made some changes compared to the previous games in style and worldbuilding which is not for everyone but I enjoyed these (and compared to the later Dragon Quarter it is not even worth mentioning). Also a lot of mechanics are improved in comparison to the prequels. Lets start at the beginning: The Breath of Fire franchise was a long running and cherished RPG series from Capcom. Not as popular as Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest back then but good games that had a fan base. This game is gameplay wise the best in the series, has a fun story with good characters and an art style that aged very well for PlayStation times. Story: A long time ago the western continent had multiple problems and countless fights erupted into a war. To solve the endless struggles they tried to summon a (dragon) god from another realm to unify the empire and bring peace and stability. While the summoning was flawed a god named Fou-Lu entered the world and was able to unify the lands into the so called Fou Empire. However Fou-Lu felt that he was weakened by the flawed summoning and rested in his tomb while the world moved on. Many years later the western Fou Empire is in a state of interrupted conflicts with the eastern continents Alliance. When a boy named Ryu mysteriously appeared before Nina the princess of Windia the events of the game start to unfold as Fou-Lu awakens from his slumber and Ryu’s journey will decide the future of the world. This is the set up for the story. It has the best and most interesting story in the franchise. There are countless philosophical themes, worldviews and plots in play. You will deal with things that have impact on a personal scale up to a huge political scale. Also the humor and characters enhance the experience. Characters: You have the staples of the franchise in play with Ryu and Nina. Both are present in all games and are favorites. The rest of the cast I wont spoil as this would / could be a mayor no go for others. I will say that I like their stories, struggles and motivations. There is a lot of character development here for your party members even with some good surprising twists. Even after many years I remember some scenes, jokes and character moments. Gameplay: This is a strength of the game as the mechanics work well. It is a turn based RPG with good mechanics. Your party of 3 battles the enemies while the other characters are in the back. You can switch between them to adapt to combat situations during battle and outside of. It has an interesting combo system that I truly enjoyed. Elemental spells can be combined to crated more devastating effects like for example fire and wind create an explosion or wind and water lightning.
    Multiple spells / abilities of the same element increase the effect or status boost / debuffs can be applied multiple times (at a lesser potency). There is a lot to experiment with as many and different tiers of spell exists, some combinations are devastating and maybe there are some character connected ones ;-). Back from the prequel is the ability to learn some of your enemies spells / skills. It is improved because you don't need to examine an enemy just guarding. Also the number of useful skills has increase. There are also masters that teach you skills if you fulfill their requirements and have benefits at leveling up. (For example more power and defense but less magic and mana points). Each master has also a proficiency ability that she / he shares like getting more money or automatically finish enemies that are critically injured. This can not make a fighter out of a healer but gives you an edge. As staple the fishing mini game, village building an other mini games return. Beware there is a game point meter (forgot the exact name) which has an effect on your main characters unique abilities. Also there is a lot to explore in the game. This altogether made it the best game in the series for me. Presentation: The graphics look hand-drawn and aged amazingly well. It is not my favorite style but it won me over at the end and I praise the game. The soundtrack is also my favorite for the series and is amazingly well done. I encountered no bugs in the game too so that I say there is no misstep here. For the style they go more for Chinese Empire vs western setting which can anger hard core fans. Some advice for new players: Keep the numbers of items in your inventory as high as possible (you will know later why). Learn abilities from masters and enemies to play with combos. Get the game points above 60000 at the end game for a beneficial effect (Hope I remembered the number correctly) and explore the world carefully as there are hidden areas, items and secrets. Overall this is a somehow hidden gem in a now forgotten or barley (possessive) talked about series. The characters, gameplay mechanics, story and setting make a great experience.    … Expand
  14. Barnes1987
    Mar 6, 2017
    10
    This is one of the best games on the original Playstation, It blew me away when i first played it and is still very playable to this day. Highly recommended!
  15. SuperSourSauce
    Nov 1, 2017
    7
    Capcom needs to bring Breath of Fire to Steam. Sound and visuals are the best part of BoF IV. The weaker of the two PSone games, but that's like saying the Carrera GT is the worst Porsche. You'd still gladly drive it.
  16. eded9999
    Sep 1, 2023
    7
    This will be a long one, cause this was one of my favorite PS1 games and it was the very first RPG i played in my life.

    First thing to clear is; this game suffers from all the well known JRPG problems of its age: Slowness, no customization on character (no costumes, armors doesn't reflect on characters appearance, not even the weapons) annoying random encounters and the most important:    This will be a long one, cause this was one of my favorite PS1 games and it was the very first RPG i played in my life.

    First thing to clear is; this game suffers from all the well known JRPG problems of its age: Slowness, no customization on character (no costumes, armors doesn't reflect on characters appearance, not even the weapons) annoying random encounters and the most important: painful EASINESS, which IMO is the biggest flop of this game, cause it affect others thing the game do well, like gameplay.

    The story is mid, the whole idea is good, there's some good moments, twist or revelations, but ultimately fails to have you emotionally involved in the long run. I liked the ending, for the most part, but Yuna should have died.

    So, with bad things clear out, here is why i still like the game:

    1. I like the the way it does turn base combat, with commands executing in a kind of simultaneous way, this allow the Combo System, which i love.
    2. I love the Master System, it's like an In-game-rewarded "trophies/achievements" system.
    3. One of my most beloved role on Final Fantasy is Blue Mage, this game is the reason why. Here, Blue Mage is a universal mechanic for all characters.
    4. Love the music, it's not as good as FF, but is very good.
    5. This is probably the only RPG where i like the whole roster.
    The rest is just a bunch of little things and quirks i like about the game, like how the money in this game have value, a lot mini games, the faeries thing, etc.

    I just which the game were harder, all those nice mechanics and quirks are ultimately worthless because the game is WAY too easy, it's just a walk until you reach the very last locations (The Tomb, Capital and Final Castle) that help to make the game feels boring, your are never in peril, i finish the game with only 1 game over (against the last boss and mostly because I thought it was scripted to die) I wish that final area difficulty was the default from the beginning. It also lack some end game dungeon/area where you can use all the things you master. The game let's you play after the last save, but there's no real reason to do it, since you already kill 99% of enemies.    … Expand
  17. Leontorres7
    Nov 13, 2018
    10
    Legendary game, play it, this game changed my life for good, all I have for this game is LOVE.
  18. zaozabot30
    Jan 22, 2023
    8
    Gorgeous pixel art mixed with 3d environments with hand drawn textures. Intriguing story and smooth soundtrack. Remarkable characters weaved into a complex world. There are some problems with getting lost in compact cities due to 360 camera control and battle system isn't great fun, but otherwise must play for a jrpg fans.

Awards & Rankings

19
#19 Best PS1 Game of 2000
15
#15 Most Discussed PS1 Game of 2000
6
#6 Most Shared PS1 Game of 2000

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 10 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 10
  3. Negative: 0 out of 10
  1. CNET Gamecenter
    80
    With an excellent story line, interesting characters, dazzling visuals, and distinct soundtrack, Breath of Fire IV is well worth the time of any RPG fan who's looking for a mature gaming experience.
  2. Antagonist
    90
    Beautiful sprite-based graphics and an interesting experience system offset a confusing story and bland battles in this retelling of the tale of Ryu.
  3. PSX Nation
    83
    Fans will love its cruelty toward the good guys, but newcomers will want to rent to see if its reliance on "Tomba"-like skill collecting and fishing carry it over its rough spots.
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