"Breath of Fire 3" - part 2

The heart and soul of most RPGs is the story. Many fans of the genre will argue that it’s the story that compels them to continue on through the lengthy 40+ hours of game play. Long before I was able to write in cursive or even tie my shoe laces for that matter, critics proclaimed that RPGs were the equivalent to watching a movie in which you had complete control over the actions of the heroes. In today’s gaming market, RPGs have less of a stranglehold on the cinematic department, in fact most games factor in story before beginning development. However, we mustn’t forget that RPGs were the brave pioneers of strange frontiers well over a decade ago and it was their impact that shaped the paradigm of things to come.

“Breath of Fire 3” is no light-weight in the story department, although at first glance it can come off as a bit unimpressive when compared to other classics being released at the time such as “Final Fantasy 7”. Many have dismissed “Breath of Fire 3” as nothing more than junk food fiction. The characters are basic and even return to a primitive level of old-school game design which seemed to be the very anti-thesis of the Playstation era model. For those who look deeper and see past the subtle narrative imperfections, what will be revealed is a clever title that screams the word “epic” in every sense of the word.

As is par for the course, “Breath of Fire 3” has the player in the shoes of the eponymous Ryu, a blue haired silent protagonist who just so happens to be the last remaining dragon on earth. Given the unusual situation Ryu finds himself in, he of course sets off on a quest of discovery to learn a bit more about himself and a little bit about the nature of the world in which the story unfolds.

From a very myopic vantage point, this all sounds cliché and generic, and that’s partially because the game IS a redundant retelling of several tired role playing themes. What set “Breath of Fire 3” apart from the rest though are its tone and the way it subtly shifts focus as the player progresses.

From the beginning, the character controls Ryu as a little boy and in these early adolescent hours of play time he comes across as a timid, vulnerable, and completely directionless. When in battle he swings his sword in a cowardly way, he is reluctant to engage in anything that may potentially be dangerous, and he’s a completely believable and sympathetic character for doing so.

Ryu starts off as an orphan who only manages to survive because he is discovered by two other orphan boys who take him in and show him the ropes of rogue survival tactics. While living with the boys named Rei and Teepo, the audience is treated to a capricious little misadventure revolving around the unethical yet ultimately harmless actions of a group of childhood thieves. Not willing to completely commit itself to this ethos and as a slight foreshadowing to the audience of things to come, there are decidedly dark moments that call into question the moral ambiguity of law, the balance of nature, and the things people do in order to survive. Despite these lukewarm proceedings, the game plays it all fairly tongue-in-cheek, perhaps in an effort to soften the player’s emotions in time for the first major plot twist to occur.

After several hours of goofing around and experiencing the world through the eyes of an innocent scoundrel, a harsh repercussion emerges as a direct result of their earlier actions. The boys are attacked and left for dead with only Ryu being discovered the following day. Suddenly the world becomes dangerous. In the blink of an eye, the world goes from limitless joy to crushing despair. Being burdened with the difficult realization that it was his own actions that caused this catastrophe, Ryu must walk away from this tragedy fully aware of the fact that his presence in the world will alter the lives of those around him. Never the less, persistent in his belief that they are still alive and well he sets off to find them; alone but none the less wiser.

This first stage of the adventure is structured to give the player a sense that things will change and to remind them that they are in for a grandiose quest. By starting off with the young Ryu and having the player live through the aimless stages of youth it allows the game ample time to set the stage for dire reasoning to thrust the hero into action.

As Ryu takes for the road in search of his friends his dragon powers slowly begin to manifest themselves. Suddenly, the journey to uncover the whereabouts of his friends takes a back seat when his secret dragon heritage can no longer remain concealed. He becomes an enemy to the world and the target of many people who would use him to gain fame and fortune. But he is not alone.

As he wanders from location to location he discovers new friends who do not judge him for what he is. Other kind spirits who want to help him learn the truth about his powers and why the dragons went extinct in the first place.

The adventure continues in this fashion well up until the end of the game, but it does so at a remarkable pace. With each new locale and destination set before the adventuring party, new discoveries and mysteries unearth themselves that surround the unusual circumstances of both Ryu’s Dragon ancestry and the people of the world in which they live.

Surprisingly, the game spans a time of about 10 years from start to finish. Unlike a lot of stories that focus on a very narrow time frame, “Breath of Fire 3” gives the player the sense that you are actually playing through the characters’ entire lives. By beginning with innocence and slowly compounding the plot with additional layers of complexity and having that mirror the actual development of the characters as they age and mature naturally causes the player to become deeply and emotionally invested in their outcomes.

To punctuate the brilliance of the story’s architecture, the game bombards the player with hints of things to come and constantly feels a need to question the actions of all sentient beings, including the gods, and force them to confront the decisions they make. In no ways is “Breath of Fire 3” a story that a person can play from start to finish and walk away from without having their own ideology be challenged.

The final confrontation of the game is cleverly bitter sweet. Regardless of the outcome, the player is faced with the painful knowledge that what they have done will in fact hurt the world, while still insisting that it was in fact the right thing to do all along. Rarely are stories able to produce such an interesting dichotomy of conflicting interests, yet here it is. For what it’s worth, “Breath of Fire 3” succeeds because it knows what it’s asking of the audience. The game is well aware of the unusual request it demands from its player, but it also knows how to make you care. By having the player experience the entire life of Ryu, from fledgling naïve boy to battle-hardened determined adult, the player is given every reason to empathize with Ryu’s plight and fully support his decision while simultaneously calling into question their own moral standards.