"I just wanted to be with… you rei and you, ryu… my family…"
after putting more than the hour counter can actually count (it maxes at 99:59) I can finally review this fucking game
there's absolutely nothing that feels quite like breath of fire III it sits right there into the classic JRPG genre and cornucopia of titles and still it's one of the most unique and innovative title in the scope of the genre legacy and its so weird to me that a game filled with love talent and professionality for a game that is sure to leave an impression may it be good or bad but you WILL remember bof3 for something even the most minuscule detail
breath of fire has always been sitting there as one of those really interesting series that I wanted to check out but never really gotten into because of reasons i guess
ive tried bof1 many years ago and it was honestly kind of an underwhelming experience i never finished it because it seriously got to be a fucking chore just after a couple of hours into the game and I can't honestly really say im that excited to get back to it
bof2 was an interesting step up from the predecessor but still it wasn't THAT gripping to make me insanely enthusiastic in continuing the journey so it got dropped really fast im so sorry
now bof3 is the one bof3 is the super hot mysterious guy sitting in the corner that gives you all kinds of emotional ecstasy and turmoil and this is probably now one of my favorite games not only in the franchise but in general as a whole in the wider sense like I'm completely hooked on this I just cannot begin to tell you how emotionally attached I am to the story to the characters and to each and every single aspect of the game
still having the skeleton of the first 2 games bof3 delivers an experience that feels true to the series in itself and yet tries something completely new in all departments
gameplay wise this is the usual jrpg experience youre gonna find everywhere you get a simple battle system you get some party members you level up and you defeat god as usual but of course its done with incredible care and love I cannot overstate enough how good this shit is
the battle system is something that blew me away for how simple it is but also for how customizable it can be when you know what you're doing apart from the usual stuff like leveling up skills shit like that you're also gonna get some nuance that the game DOESNT even tell you about like theres the ability to examine enemies and this will give you some additional skills like the blue mage in final fantasy and you have the possibility to make your party members study under masters now this master mechanic is fucking amazing you can basically change the level progression and points attribution making the character study under a physical master or a magical master you can do whatever you want AND after some levels you can learn some skills from the master itself and thats where it all shines PLUS you can also use some skill ink to move the skill from one character to the other so the possibility of customization is beyond what I was expecting forreal
that being said the battles are pretty uneventful and straightforward if it weren't for another mechanic which is the dragon genes . your protagonist being a dragon breed is able to turn into a dragon and throughout the game you can acquire something like 20 something genes and you can mix them up however you want theres genes with elemental values theres genes that change the attributes of the character and genes that make things that I genuinely don't know because I didnt experiment enough honestly also my ryu build was mainly physical so I didn't have that much AP to do enough dragon breed play
and what's interesting is that most of these have different sprites ??? THATS SO FUCKING COOL UGHHHHH
understandably enough this is actually gonna add a lot to the gameplay which is already pretty rich and that means that you can tackle the main bosses of the game in so many different combinations of abilities skills tactics and party members that the possibilities are rightfully endless you can do whatever you want and the game always rewards a little curiosity here and there
allegedly this was dubbed as one of the hardest jrpgs around and honestly after playing smt3 (which isn't the hardest jrpg by any means anyway) I can tell you that this is a breeze to go through maybe this is the SMT aficionado DNA doing all the work during this game but I didnt have that many issues apart from the final boss which is honestly pretty tough
apart from that maybe the real difficulty spike is during the beginning of the game where you don't really know what is happening and how to actually exploit the main mechanics of the game but after that it's pretty chill not really a surprise because of the BIG difference that makes leveling up (this is no +1 atk the difference is pretty massive and youre gonna finish the game at around level 40 or something and at least as I managed to understand by watching levels go up every level counts)
that being said the exploration aspect is also interesting but it's more about treasure hunting than real exploration the main traveling you will have to do is strictly entwined with the main quest and youre not going to have the entire map available to you until you actually get pretty late in the game and you're gonna get there through the story events so yeah the real exploration is gonna be like scavenging for treasures here and there until you find new equipment new items or even new masters sometimes
there's a fishing minigame which is pretty great I was purposefully ignoring it but a main quest requires you to actually fish so I went there and actually had a lot of fun what the hell I was NOT expecting that but ideally im not one of those "I love fishing minigames" guys so i cannot really give this minigame a rating of course it didn't make me change my opinion on these ones but at least it didn't bring me to mental anguish
and another thing that I didnt actually MIND that much but it made me kind of confused and weirded out is the fact that during the second part of the game which is obviously the climax of the story in itself youre stuck with doing a lot of minigames and a lot of puzzles here and there now as I said I don't think this is inherently an issue but when you're going after the true bad ™ and the games says OK but actually why don't you just do a "getting water from a well" minigame or a "tug of war" minigame or like 10 others like this its actually pretty anticlimactic and it broke down the pacing but whatever this game is still perfect im not gonna say a single bad word about it
another shit that absolutely FUCKS ASS is the art direction and music department
now yknow I'm a sucker for art style and art direction more than I am of graphics because everybody can get a 4k texture or model from the web and put it into your game development engine but most of the people here don't actually know how to work IN FAVOR of these aspects you can't just put RTX on graphics with zero sense of design and call it a day cmon and thats also why sometimes old games shine brighter than some games releasing nowadays NOW PLEASE dont say shit like "UGHHJ BOOMER YOURE SAYING ALL MODERN DAY GAMES SUCK" no im saying either old or modern games with no sense of art direction are doomed to suck AT LEAST in the art department maybe they're gonna be the best fps you'll ever play but I won't be here to praise it one bit
and this game UGHHHH the pixel art is GORGEOUS every single expression and action is animated not only during the cutscene segments but the animations during battles are absolutely fucking insane when you cast a spell with garr his necklace is gonna break and hover around him making a circle and when you cast a spell with momo her rifle is gonna make some fleshy enchanting lights
and the bosses have some bomb ass sprite work and the animation pushes them to their limit like the dragon lord is hot as fuck the gazer blew me the fuck away and then myria being myria she's absolutely gorgeous incredible to the end and to top all of this kaiser dragon form is the hunkiest transformation for ryu like it made me sweat like crazy this guy8
like this is not the best pixel art ive ever seen in the entirety of my life and doesnt even compare to the one in bof4 but the sheer amount of love put into every single character design every single animation every single pixel can be felt through the screen and right in front of your fucking face theres nothing that feels quite like this and it would amount to nothing if it werent for the jawdropping character designs
and also the character portraits in the menu are so cute im sorry I love each and every one of my kids
the 2d sprites also have a 3d background the entirety of the world youre gonna traverse is made up of 3d models that make such a great contrast with the characters this is something that I also saw in xenogears and yknow that game is also gorgeous as fuck the ps1 jrpgs are absolutely out of this world I cannot believe this
all of this accompanied by such a great OST that it still really surprises me by how different and unique it is from the usual jrpg flare you get in other games songs
some people say this soundtrack is not really memorable and I have to both agree and disagree . people when say a soundtrack isn't memorable they probably mean there isn't a strong score in the repertoire and to that I have to agree theres not really a song that shines brighter than the other or a song that's catchier or bouncer and to that I have to say that EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE SONGS IS GOOD SO OF COURSE ITS NOT GONNA BE "MEMORABLE" UGHHHHHHHHHH this score is full FULL of amazing tracks theres not a single track that made me go "ugh this again" and they also have such a nice vibe most of them are jazzy moody tunes with simple and straightforward instruments but also a lot of variety in the genre and every single one of them pumps like they're absolutely fucking incredible this cannot be a coincidence this is masterfully done by a composer that lives and breathes my same air in this planet its pretty insane if you think about it (unless they're that and at that point im really sorry)
so yeah tracks like the main battle theme which is already pretty incredible and the boss battle theme which is absolutely fucking insane honestly I just vibed to the tune every single time tutututuuuuutu stuck in my head for weeks and weeks to come theyre amazing
also theres something so hypnotic about the cedar woods theme I can't really explain it it feels so familiar and so nostalgic at the same time to the point that even if you just encountered rei and teepo they feel like family already and possibly the greatest game over theme ever like this has such a nice vibe to it its amazing and also one of the saddest theme ever created in the universe thrown at you in the most unexpected moments ever and yknow many other different soundtracks that I'm not gonna talk about or else I'm gonna just link the whole ost here ong
so now we're gonna get to the juice of the game and the main reason why I think this is actually such a strong addition to the jrpg catalogues out there
the characters are perfect I care for them I love each and every one of them I absolutely enjoy seeing them smile and having fun and shit like that and to talk about them I'm gonna get into SPOILER TERRITORY SO HERES THE TIME FOR YOU TO GO BACK
ryu is a silent protagonist so there's really nothing incredible to say about him apart from the fact that most of his motivations are pretty straightforward and clear and he's kind of a hotty when he grows up seeing him go from powerless little baby to godslayer is a recurring them in the industry and yet here it's treated with so much care to the point that you also grow up with him when you see how he changed through the timeskip and what the world has come to you suddenly get a sense of scale and responsibility that wasnt present in the time of ryus childhood and still he's an interesting character to explore and its pretty funny to me that the main way to know what ryus thinking is by "talking" with peco and hearing his thoughts about him . probably not my favorite character in existence but it's unbearable to me that this game isn't sitting in the rightful throne of unique jrpgs experiences out there
NSFW WARNING rei is my favorite character in this one and apart from the fact that he's so fucking hot and I want to suck him dry either in human form OR tiger from and I want to be wrecked from the insides out and railed to hell and back and spit in my mouth and called slurs and derogatory terms and left without any power in my legs and also with a myriad of babies in my ass umh what was I even saying oh right rei he's pretty interesting and seeing him go from chill little thief of the hometown to scarred big bro in just a timeskip is devastating as shit and while most of ryus childhood he tried to be a father figure to both teepo and ryu you can actually feel his care for the little guys to the point that in times of danger he protected them in every conceivable way and when you get to the timeskip he's absolutely powerless he's no more the big bro figure to ryu but instead it's ryu trying to save rei from complete madness where the grief for losing teepo consumed his well being to the point that he goes ape shit crazy into weretiger mode and kills people all around . he doesn't really change that much after you get into the party but the striking realisation that he's no more the easygoing cheerful pal of the prologue hurts like he'll he's great and he's design is incredible I want him in my ass
nine may be the second best character of the bunch for me mainly because I love her type of characterisation . when you first get to know her she's the little rebellious princess of the main kingdom of the land with responsibility and honor to think about but she's just gonna leave home and follow ryu and friends like its nothing to my surprise she was also a fairly conflicted character because of her gratitude to ryu but also for her ties to her parents and this actually follows her throughout the adventure with her regretting from time to time her decision and STILL she's incredibly tough she cares for ryu like nobody else around and probably is the main person of the OG gang to defend ryu in front of absolutely everyone and everything she's willing to go to the end of the world for him and this kind of friendship really takes the cake for me . when she grows up its not a surprise to see an accomplished woman who's rightful empowered and outgoing to the point that you're gonna meet her while she doesn't some arrest around the town like ok miss girl do your thing and even though she's grown up she has a bomb body she's hot she's fierce and whatevet the hell she's still that little baby you remember at heart she still cares for both ryu and her parents and this create a great fissure between what she wants to do and what she has to do and THIS KIND OF CHARACTER IS UGHHHHH I LOVE IT plus her entire design is probably the best nina design in the series like the dress the hair the wings
momo is also great im saying that every single character is great because its true she's kind of the comic relief of the bunch and while she IS a fucking clown she's still some of the most charming and easy to love character of the entire circus she's absolutely in love machines due to her ties with her father who was also a mechanic and shes absolutely obsessed with them but this is not the main point of the character her main character issue is the distance that she feels from her worth and her father's worth and this makes for some real depressing moments in her character development that will probably feel close to some of you like it did to me and yet even though she struggles with this she cares for the other guys and always does her best shes a sweetheart I love this woman
garr is an enigmatic character and I can't really put my finger on it he's an angel ???????? yeah pretty weird if you ask me he's built like a dragon and he's…… pretty beefy and hot at that I really want to see his cock if I'm being incredibly honest with you but no hes an angel and the main issue is that he's from a long line of guardian angels whose main mission was to annihilate every single dragon in existence for the peace of the world and thats also the reason why he's gonna join ryu and trick him to kill him in angel tower and this really gives some kind of perspective into the character and also when you get to the town of the guardian you begin to understand that garr is actually hiding something like why is everybody calling him guardian angel and didn't think of saying that to the others but anyway after the timeskip he realises that he's fucking dumb and that ryu isn't a bad guy to begin with he's not gonna get into manslaughter or shit like that and thats when he gets into this redemption arc type of way UNTIL he just sacrifices in the ending like WHYYYYYY GARR WHYYYYYYY UGHHH I wanted to see your dick first the fuck
peco is an interesting one since he's basically a plant and doesn't talk or think or anything UNTIL he does because he's a root of yggdrasil or whatever and that also makes a lot of sense because when you see yggdrasil in the overworld where he can become your master peco is the only single who can talk to him I was suspecting something like this when he began to talk in ryus mind but I didnt think it was actually this anyway hes a nice addition unfortunately I didn't use it at all during my campaign also due to the fact that he has few skills and can't equip most stuff
teepo I'm so sorry … I loved teepo as a kid he's shrewd and charismatic he's a little bro to ryu or like equal age bro and still sometimes acts as a big bro to him too since he's the latest addendum to the party and honestly he's cute he's intelligent and he's the sweetest baby who didn't do anything wrong in his life after the timeskip where you just lose track of him when you meet him again you get to know that he's a dragon too and that he's living in an artificial world as the goddess is asking to and while he's living comfortably in there ryu can't do the same and so they fuck each other up and teepo dies . this is actually insane if you ask me after years of searching for your childhood friend due to dissenting opinions youre either gonna get killed or kill him and even though he's become more mature and more gloomy I feel like he's still the teepo I know at heart I love you
the other characters apart from these guys are actually just addendum to the story like the pegasus guys deis the 2 guys in port whatever that end up fucking the sea guy ninas parents the other guardian who is also HOT AS FUCK UHHHHH guardians are damn hot im sorry so yeah nothing to say about them I want to eiffel tower with the 2 horse guys
the story is actually a highlight too and flows accordingly
the prologue is probably my favorite part of the game where you escape from the mine and get to know the other main characters of the game and create the very first trio you go thieving you go scavenging you live life and make memories until NOT and they set your house on fire and kidnap you
its probably one of my favorite prologues in general it feels reminiscent of childhood as a whole and it has this really specific vibe of big bros trying to help out this stranded little kid creating a somewhat functional family and the found family trope is soooo MMMMMMMMM to me like these people cared for each other and if it weren't for this they would've continued to live together and thats why it makes it even worse to actually confront teepo at the end of the game all of this wouldn't have happened if it weren't for some weird coincidences of fate and a bad luck all around and there's that
after this during the childhood days the main quest will concentrate around trying to find rei and teepo and in the meantime you will get to know the other main cast of the game nina in her steel fortress momo in her ruins and garr during the tournament and this last encounter actually seals the deal to head to angel tower and shit
the pacing in this part of the game is absolutely enchanting back to back to back incredible stuff story unravels and mysteries increase you begin to slowly grow up and grow accustomed to how the world works to how friendship is actually cultivated and to how stigmatised you are for being a dragon something that people treat as either a circus attraction or a menace to society as a whole
the events of angel tower seal the deal for the timeskip and actually kind of make up for actually not really advancing the story for 20 something hours
the timeskip events are weird because youre gonna meet back your friend group soon enough but garr is actually more introspective and actually sorry about what happened nina changed for the better and peco is still peco everything changed you yourself changed but the hatred for the dragon kind is still there and that's why the new mission for these guys is to go directly to god herself and speak to her as to why this is happening
after recruiting rei and doing some more main quests stuff that actually feel like side quests stuff and a LOT of time later you will get to the new continent in the other side of the outer sea and be confronted with the greatest place of the game with a weird name
now little excursus the environments in this game are unmatched everything in the overworld is alive and brimming with life each town has different layouts general aesthetic and vibes the town of the tournament feels like a nighttime casino city ryus village is calm and chill the castle town is overpopulated and so on so forth and that applies to the dungeons too theres not really a dungeon that I can deem as bad at least in the artistic department each one is distinct and beautiful but what I wanted to say is that most of the stuff youre gonna go through here and there is mostly natural when you get to the new continent youre gonna get a stark contrast in which most of the towns and the final dungeon will have heavy machinery hi tech technologyyy and claustrophobic vibes something that doesn't happen in other parts of the game and thats already an incredible accomplishment
the final dungeon is kind of a pain in the ass but I dare you to find a final dungeon that isn't mostly shit so anyway theres this stark contrast between the final dungeon AND where teepo is living which is a Eden full of green and trees and other stuff and this kind of feels even worse to do because this kind of world was something ryu and rei and teepo were trying to achieve together and instead it's the place where you're gonna kill your childhood friend for the sake of your ideals
there's nothing I can say to give justice to this scene its something so fucking powerful you have to experience firsthand and im still kind of sad how things proceeded even though that was to be expected
that being said the final final dungeon with the kind of long and tedious traversing but not AS MUCH as other games honestly this one is pretty chill apart from some weird tricky endgame enemies and the fact that you'll need to heal every 3 seconds
the final boss is nothing TOOOOOO difficult but still difficult and the emotional final confrontation is done SOOOOO well with you speaking with every character and just going there and smashing the face of the bitch ass goddess of the dick and after that garr is gonna sacrifice himself for ryu :*(((((((( garr I'm so sorry I loved you so fucking much and then youre gonna just escape from this fucking place and youre gonna be left with an ending scene where the characters actually have sprites that resemble their clothes in the character art
and thats it this game is incredible
this may not be the most perfect game in existence but it sure managed to not only surpass my expectations but soar the highs of my tierlist to the point that it became one of my favorite games of all times characters are great art is impeccable gameplay is fun and story is unmatched there's literally nothing out there that can emulate the uniqueness that this game oozes from every pore
teepo you will always be in my heart I just wish you could be happy with your family
after putting more than the hour counter can actually count (it maxes at 99:59) I can finally review this fucking game
there's absolutely nothing that feels quite like breath of fire III it sits right there into the classic JRPG genre and cornucopia of titles and still it's one of the most unique and innovative title in the scope of the genre legacy and its so weird to me that a game filled with love talent and professionality for a game that is sure to leave an impression may it be good or bad but you WILL remember bof3 for something even the most minuscule detail
breath of fire has always been sitting there as one of those really interesting series that I wanted to check out but never really gotten into because of reasons i guess
ive tried bof1 many years ago and it was honestly kind of an underwhelming experience i never finished it because it seriously got to be a fucking chore just after a couple of hours into the game and I can't honestly really say im that excited to get back to it
bof2 was an interesting step up from the predecessor but still it wasn't THAT gripping to make me insanely enthusiastic in continuing the journey so it got dropped really fast im so sorry
now bof3 is the one bof3 is the super hot mysterious guy sitting in the corner that gives you all kinds of emotional ecstasy and turmoil and this is probably now one of my favorite games not only in the franchise but in general as a whole in the wider sense like I'm completely hooked on this I just cannot begin to tell you how emotionally attached I am to the story to the characters and to each and every single aspect of the game
still having the skeleton of the first 2 games bof3 delivers an experience that feels true to the series in itself and yet tries something completely new in all departments
gameplay wise this is the usual jrpg experience youre gonna find everywhere you get a simple battle system you get some party members you level up and you defeat god as usual but of course its done with incredible care and love I cannot overstate enough how good this shit is
the battle system is something that blew me away for how simple it is but also for how customizable it can be when you know what you're doing apart from the usual stuff like leveling up skills shit like that you're also gonna get some nuance that the game DOESNT even tell you about like theres the ability to examine enemies and this will give you some additional skills like the blue mage in final fantasy and you have the possibility to make your party members study under masters now this master mechanic is fucking amazing you can basically change the level progression and points attribution making the character study under a physical master or a magical master you can do whatever you want AND after some levels you can learn some skills from the master itself and thats where it all shines PLUS you can also use some skill ink to move the skill from one character to the other so the possibility of customization is beyond what I was expecting forreal
that being said the battles are pretty uneventful and straightforward if it weren't for another mechanic which is the dragon genes . your protagonist being a dragon breed is able to turn into a dragon and throughout the game you can acquire something like 20 something genes and you can mix them up however you want theres genes with elemental values theres genes that change the attributes of the character and genes that make things that I genuinely don't know because I didnt experiment enough honestly also my ryu build was mainly physical so I didn't have that much AP to do enough dragon breed play
and what's interesting is that most of these have different sprites ??? THATS SO FUCKING COOL UGHHHHH
understandably enough this is actually gonna add a lot to the gameplay which is already pretty rich and that means that you can tackle the main bosses of the game in so many different combinations of abilities skills tactics and party members that the possibilities are rightfully endless you can do whatever you want and the game always rewards a little curiosity here and there
allegedly this was dubbed as one of the hardest jrpgs around and honestly after playing smt3 (which isn't the hardest jrpg by any means anyway) I can tell you that this is a breeze to go through maybe this is the SMT aficionado DNA doing all the work during this game but I didnt have that many issues apart from the final boss which is honestly pretty tough
apart from that maybe the real difficulty spike is during the beginning of the game where you don't really know what is happening and how to actually exploit the main mechanics of the game but after that it's pretty chill not really a surprise because of the BIG difference that makes leveling up (this is no +1 atk the difference is pretty massive and youre gonna finish the game at around level 40 or something and at least as I managed to understand by watching levels go up every level counts)
that being said the exploration aspect is also interesting but it's more about treasure hunting than real exploration the main traveling you will have to do is strictly entwined with the main quest and youre not going to have the entire map available to you until you actually get pretty late in the game and you're gonna get there through the story events so yeah the real exploration is gonna be like scavenging for treasures here and there until you find new equipment new items or even new masters sometimes
there's a fishing minigame which is pretty great I was purposefully ignoring it but a main quest requires you to actually fish so I went there and actually had a lot of fun what the hell I was NOT expecting that but ideally im not one of those "I love fishing minigames" guys so i cannot really give this minigame a rating of course it didn't make me change my opinion on these ones but at least it didn't bring me to mental anguish
and another thing that I didnt actually MIND that much but it made me kind of confused and weirded out is the fact that during the second part of the game which is obviously the climax of the story in itself youre stuck with doing a lot of minigames and a lot of puzzles here and there now as I said I don't think this is inherently an issue but when you're going after the true bad ™ and the games says OK but actually why don't you just do a "getting water from a well" minigame or a "tug of war" minigame or like 10 others like this its actually pretty anticlimactic and it broke down the pacing but whatever this game is still perfect im not gonna say a single bad word about it
another shit that absolutely FUCKS ASS is the art direction and music department
now yknow I'm a sucker for art style and art direction more than I am of graphics because everybody can get a 4k texture or model from the web and put it into your game development engine but most of the people here don't actually know how to work IN FAVOR of these aspects you can't just put RTX on graphics with zero sense of design and call it a day cmon and thats also why sometimes old games shine brighter than some games releasing nowadays NOW PLEASE dont say shit like "UGHHJ BOOMER YOURE SAYING ALL MODERN DAY GAMES SUCK" no im saying either old or modern games with no sense of art direction are doomed to suck AT LEAST in the art department maybe they're gonna be the best fps you'll ever play but I won't be here to praise it one bit
and this game UGHHHH the pixel art is GORGEOUS every single expression and action is animated not only during the cutscene segments but the animations during battles are absolutely fucking insane when you cast a spell with garr his necklace is gonna break and hover around him making a circle and when you cast a spell with momo her rifle is gonna make some fleshy enchanting lights
and the bosses have some bomb ass sprite work and the animation pushes them to their limit like the dragon lord is hot as fuck the gazer blew me the fuck away and then myria being myria she's absolutely gorgeous incredible to the end and to top all of this kaiser dragon form is the hunkiest transformation for ryu like it made me sweat like crazy this guy8
like this is not the best pixel art ive ever seen in the entirety of my life and doesnt even compare to the one in bof4 but the sheer amount of love put into every single character design every single animation every single pixel can be felt through the screen and right in front of your fucking face theres nothing that feels quite like this and it would amount to nothing if it werent for the jawdropping character designs
and also the character portraits in the menu are so cute im sorry I love each and every one of my kids
the 2d sprites also have a 3d background the entirety of the world youre gonna traverse is made up of 3d models that make such a great contrast with the characters this is something that I also saw in xenogears and yknow that game is also gorgeous as fuck the ps1 jrpgs are absolutely out of this world I cannot believe this
all of this accompanied by such a great OST that it still really surprises me by how different and unique it is from the usual jrpg flare you get in other games songs
some people say this soundtrack is not really memorable and I have to both agree and disagree . people when say a soundtrack isn't memorable they probably mean there isn't a strong score in the repertoire and to that I have to agree theres not really a song that shines brighter than the other or a song that's catchier or bouncer and to that I have to say that EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE SONGS IS GOOD SO OF COURSE ITS NOT GONNA BE "MEMORABLE" UGHHHHHHHHHH this score is full FULL of amazing tracks theres not a single track that made me go "ugh this again" and they also have such a nice vibe most of them are jazzy moody tunes with simple and straightforward instruments but also a lot of variety in the genre and every single one of them pumps like they're absolutely fucking incredible this cannot be a coincidence this is masterfully done by a composer that lives and breathes my same air in this planet its pretty insane if you think about it (unless they're that and at that point im really sorry)
so yeah tracks like the main battle theme which is already pretty incredible and the boss battle theme which is absolutely fucking insane honestly I just vibed to the tune every single time tutututuuuuutu stuck in my head for weeks and weeks to come theyre amazing
also theres something so hypnotic about the cedar woods theme I can't really explain it it feels so familiar and so nostalgic at the same time to the point that even if you just encountered rei and teepo they feel like family already and possibly the greatest game over theme ever like this has such a nice vibe to it its amazing and also one of the saddest theme ever created in the universe thrown at you in the most unexpected moments ever and yknow many other different soundtracks that I'm not gonna talk about or else I'm gonna just link the whole ost here ong
so now we're gonna get to the juice of the game and the main reason why I think this is actually such a strong addition to the jrpg catalogues out there
the characters are perfect I care for them I love each and every one of them I absolutely enjoy seeing them smile and having fun and shit like that and to talk about them I'm gonna get into SPOILER TERRITORY SO HERES THE TIME FOR YOU TO GO BACK
ryu is a silent protagonist so there's really nothing incredible to say about him apart from the fact that most of his motivations are pretty straightforward and clear and he's kind of a hotty when he grows up seeing him go from powerless little baby to godslayer is a recurring them in the industry and yet here it's treated with so much care to the point that you also grow up with him when you see how he changed through the timeskip and what the world has come to you suddenly get a sense of scale and responsibility that wasnt present in the time of ryus childhood and still he's an interesting character to explore and its pretty funny to me that the main way to know what ryus thinking is by "talking" with peco and hearing his thoughts about him . probably not my favorite character in existence but it's unbearable to me that this game isn't sitting in the rightful throne of unique jrpgs experiences out there
NSFW WARNING rei is my favorite character in this one and apart from the fact that he's so fucking hot and I want to suck him dry either in human form OR tiger from and I want to be wrecked from the insides out and railed to hell and back and spit in my mouth and called slurs and derogatory terms and left without any power in my legs and also with a myriad of babies in my ass umh what was I even saying oh right rei he's pretty interesting and seeing him go from chill little thief of the hometown to scarred big bro in just a timeskip is devastating as shit and while most of ryus childhood he tried to be a father figure to both teepo and ryu you can actually feel his care for the little guys to the point that in times of danger he protected them in every conceivable way and when you get to the timeskip he's absolutely powerless he's no more the big bro figure to ryu but instead it's ryu trying to save rei from complete madness where the grief for losing teepo consumed his well being to the point that he goes ape shit crazy into weretiger mode and kills people all around . he doesn't really change that much after you get into the party but the striking realisation that he's no more the easygoing cheerful pal of the prologue hurts like he'll he's great and he's design is incredible I want him in my ass
nine may be the second best character of the bunch for me mainly because I love her type of characterisation . when you first get to know her she's the little rebellious princess of the main kingdom of the land with responsibility and honor to think about but she's just gonna leave home and follow ryu and friends like its nothing to my surprise she was also a fairly conflicted character because of her gratitude to ryu but also for her ties to her parents and this actually follows her throughout the adventure with her regretting from time to time her decision and STILL she's incredibly tough she cares for ryu like nobody else around and probably is the main person of the OG gang to defend ryu in front of absolutely everyone and everything she's willing to go to the end of the world for him and this kind of friendship really takes the cake for me . when she grows up its not a surprise to see an accomplished woman who's rightful empowered and outgoing to the point that you're gonna meet her while she doesn't some arrest around the town like ok miss girl do your thing and even though she's grown up she has a bomb body she's hot she's fierce and whatevet the hell she's still that little baby you remember at heart she still cares for both ryu and her parents and this create a great fissure between what she wants to do and what she has to do and THIS KIND OF CHARACTER IS UGHHHHH I LOVE IT plus her entire design is probably the best nina design in the series like the dress the hair the wings
momo is also great im saying that every single character is great because its true she's kind of the comic relief of the bunch and while she IS a fucking clown she's still some of the most charming and easy to love character of the entire circus she's absolutely in love machines due to her ties with her father who was also a mechanic and shes absolutely obsessed with them but this is not the main point of the character her main character issue is the distance that she feels from her worth and her father's worth and this makes for some real depressing moments in her character development that will probably feel close to some of you like it did to me and yet even though she struggles with this she cares for the other guys and always does her best shes a sweetheart I love this woman
garr is an enigmatic character and I can't really put my finger on it he's an angel ???????? yeah pretty weird if you ask me he's built like a dragon and he's…… pretty beefy and hot at that I really want to see his cock if I'm being incredibly honest with you but no hes an angel and the main issue is that he's from a long line of guardian angels whose main mission was to annihilate every single dragon in existence for the peace of the world and thats also the reason why he's gonna join ryu and trick him to kill him in angel tower and this really gives some kind of perspective into the character and also when you get to the town of the guardian you begin to understand that garr is actually hiding something like why is everybody calling him guardian angel and didn't think of saying that to the others but anyway after the timeskip he realises that he's fucking dumb and that ryu isn't a bad guy to begin with he's not gonna get into manslaughter or shit like that and thats when he gets into this redemption arc type of way UNTIL he just sacrifices in the ending like WHYYYYYY GARR WHYYYYYYY UGHHH I wanted to see your dick first the fuck
peco is an interesting one since he's basically a plant and doesn't talk or think or anything UNTIL he does because he's a root of yggdrasil or whatever and that also makes a lot of sense because when you see yggdrasil in the overworld where he can become your master peco is the only single who can talk to him I was suspecting something like this when he began to talk in ryus mind but I didnt think it was actually this anyway hes a nice addition unfortunately I didn't use it at all during my campaign also due to the fact that he has few skills and can't equip most stuff
teepo I'm so sorry … I loved teepo as a kid he's shrewd and charismatic he's a little bro to ryu or like equal age bro and still sometimes acts as a big bro to him too since he's the latest addendum to the party and honestly he's cute he's intelligent and he's the sweetest baby who didn't do anything wrong in his life after the timeskip where you just lose track of him when you meet him again you get to know that he's a dragon too and that he's living in an artificial world as the goddess is asking to and while he's living comfortably in there ryu can't do the same and so they fuck each other up and teepo dies . this is actually insane if you ask me after years of searching for your childhood friend due to dissenting opinions youre either gonna get killed or kill him and even though he's become more mature and more gloomy I feel like he's still the teepo I know at heart I love you
the other characters apart from these guys are actually just addendum to the story like the pegasus guys deis the 2 guys in port whatever that end up fucking the sea guy ninas parents the other guardian who is also HOT AS FUCK UHHHHH guardians are damn hot im sorry so yeah nothing to say about them I want to eiffel tower with the 2 horse guys
the story is actually a highlight too and flows accordingly
the prologue is probably my favorite part of the game where you escape from the mine and get to know the other main characters of the game and create the very first trio you go thieving you go scavenging you live life and make memories until NOT and they set your house on fire and kidnap you
its probably one of my favorite prologues in general it feels reminiscent of childhood as a whole and it has this really specific vibe of big bros trying to help out this stranded little kid creating a somewhat functional family and the found family trope is soooo MMMMMMMMM to me like these people cared for each other and if it weren't for this they would've continued to live together and thats why it makes it even worse to actually confront teepo at the end of the game all of this wouldn't have happened if it weren't for some weird coincidences of fate and a bad luck all around and there's that
after this during the childhood days the main quest will concentrate around trying to find rei and teepo and in the meantime you will get to know the other main cast of the game nina in her steel fortress momo in her ruins and garr during the tournament and this last encounter actually seals the deal to head to angel tower and shit
the pacing in this part of the game is absolutely enchanting back to back to back incredible stuff story unravels and mysteries increase you begin to slowly grow up and grow accustomed to how the world works to how friendship is actually cultivated and to how stigmatised you are for being a dragon something that people treat as either a circus attraction or a menace to society as a whole
the events of angel tower seal the deal for the timeskip and actually kind of make up for actually not really advancing the story for 20 something hours
the timeskip events are weird because youre gonna meet back your friend group soon enough but garr is actually more introspective and actually sorry about what happened nina changed for the better and peco is still peco everything changed you yourself changed but the hatred for the dragon kind is still there and that's why the new mission for these guys is to go directly to god herself and speak to her as to why this is happening
after recruiting rei and doing some more main quests stuff that actually feel like side quests stuff and a LOT of time later you will get to the new continent in the other side of the outer sea and be confronted with the greatest place of the game with a weird name
now little excursus the environments in this game are unmatched everything in the overworld is alive and brimming with life each town has different layouts general aesthetic and vibes the town of the tournament feels like a nighttime casino city ryus village is calm and chill the castle town is overpopulated and so on so forth and that applies to the dungeons too theres not really a dungeon that I can deem as bad at least in the artistic department each one is distinct and beautiful but what I wanted to say is that most of the stuff youre gonna go through here and there is mostly natural when you get to the new continent youre gonna get a stark contrast in which most of the towns and the final dungeon will have heavy machinery hi tech technologyyy and claustrophobic vibes something that doesn't happen in other parts of the game and thats already an incredible accomplishment
the final dungeon is kind of a pain in the ass but I dare you to find a final dungeon that isn't mostly shit so anyway theres this stark contrast between the final dungeon AND where teepo is living which is a Eden full of green and trees and other stuff and this kind of feels even worse to do because this kind of world was something ryu and rei and teepo were trying to achieve together and instead it's the place where you're gonna kill your childhood friend for the sake of your ideals
there's nothing I can say to give justice to this scene its something so fucking powerful you have to experience firsthand and im still kind of sad how things proceeded even though that was to be expected
that being said the final final dungeon with the kind of long and tedious traversing but not AS MUCH as other games honestly this one is pretty chill apart from some weird tricky endgame enemies and the fact that you'll need to heal every 3 seconds
the final boss is nothing TOOOOOO difficult but still difficult and the emotional final confrontation is done SOOOOO well with you speaking with every character and just going there and smashing the face of the bitch ass goddess of the dick and after that garr is gonna sacrifice himself for ryu :*(((((((( garr I'm so sorry I loved you so fucking much and then youre gonna just escape from this fucking place and youre gonna be left with an ending scene where the characters actually have sprites that resemble their clothes in the character art
and thats it this game is incredible
this may not be the most perfect game in existence but it sure managed to not only surpass my expectations but soar the highs of my tierlist to the point that it became one of my favorite games of all times characters are great art is impeccable gameplay is fun and story is unmatched there's literally nothing out there that can emulate the uniqueness that this game oozes from every pore
teepo you will always be in my heart I just wish you could be happy with your family