[Axiphel]

To me the narrative isn't saying 'God is evil or you're dumb for believing' but it's asking the question 'do you actually know what you're believing in?'. The people in the game sure didn't.

[Bregalad]

May I add at this point, totally unrelated to anything else in the thread, a little comparison/contrast chart for you guys.

Breath of Fire 1 - = = = - Breath of Fire 2
Hero has cape.................Hero has no cape

This alone summaries how BoF1 is vastly supperior 

You go into a                   I dunno, God is
person's dreams              evil and screw you
to save their life..............for praying?

On BoF2's behalf, you go inside a whale, which is as cool as going into someone's dream.

Bleu's neckline................Katt's lack of pants? :/

Bleu is here in both games.

[Spooniest]

Breath of Fire 1 - = = = - Breath of Fire 2
Hero has cape.................Hero has no cape

This alone summaries how BoF1 is vastly supperior 

If you notice, his 'cape hand' changes depending on which way you're facing. Not even Zelda 3 bothered to give Link a two-directional sprite. Super Metroid would've been Nintendo's outing on the SNES which opted for such detail...

This means that BoF1 and Super Metroid have something in common. The case just gets deeper for your argument, Bregalad...

Edit: Hrngggghhhh why do I say things...no his sprite doesn't change depending on which way you're facing. I'm replaying it now Me and my big mouth

[KingMike]

May I add at this point, totally unrelated to anything else in the thread, a little comparison/contrast chart for you guys.

Breath of Fire 1 - = = = - Breath of Fire 2
You go into a                   I dunno, God is
person's dreams              evil and screw you
to save their life..............for praying?

Did you play like even 75% of the way through BoF2?

Spoiler:

That happens there, too. Though at the least BoF2's single dream world is shorter than either of BoF1's and yet they let you exit it before finishing it too.

[Spooniest]

Did you play like even 75% of the way through BoF2?

Eh, probably not. I make no claim of being fair or unbiased in any of this.

[Recca]

I also agree that Breath of Fire 1 is overall better than the second one (in terms of characters, story line and of course music). Then again, the Breath of Fire series gradually spirals downwards in my opinion. Every sequel seems to be worse than the previous one. So, from best to worst, that would be the following: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. The first one is the best and the second one is pretty good too, but the other three don't quite appeal to me. Well, I suppose that the third one is alright, but that's about it. One other thing worth mentioning, is that everyone is pure blooded in the first game and each character has a unique ability. This was something that was lost in the other games, namely the ability to transform for Ryu and Nina.

As for the story line in the second game, I think that the so called "God" is actually a demon/devil that's tricking people by pretending it's holy to absorb their energy. I believe that it also teaches people not to blindly follow or obey any religion or priest. In other words, people need to find and realize the truth for themselves. Similar, but not quite the same to the evil trickster Goddess in the first and third game.

[KingMike]

Also in Spoony's comparison between the first two games.

Spoiler:

Breath of Fire 1: Ryu kills his sister.
Breath of Fire 2: Ryu saves (what his implied to be) his sister.

[Bregalad]

ne other thing worth mentioning, is that everyone is pure blooded in the first game and each character has a unique ability. This was something that was lost in the other games, namely the ability to transform for Ryu and Nina.

In BoF2 everyone can transform, Ruy has dragon and the other shaman transformations, also beating the game without using any of that would be a challenge. In BoF3 Ryu can still transform into a dragon, I'm pretty sure this is the "trademark" of the series, removing that would make a game non-Breath of Fire, just like removing Airships would make a Final Fantasy game non-Final Fantasy, or removing slimes would make a Dragon Quest game non-Dragon Quest.

I don't remember Nina transforming in BoF1 in battle, do you mean the bird transformation outside of battle ? Gobi transforms as well.

So, from best to worst, that would be the following: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

I didn't play 4, but so far I mostly agree. In some regards 3 is better than 2, and 5, although being horrible gameplay-wise, has a great soundtrack (I can't say so much of 2...)

[FAST6191]

I always found the character of the Abrahamic boss god to be bad writing (an all seeing, all knowing, all powerful, infinitely capable being without concept of time, distance, pain/suffering, nor energy, yet apparently humans are in that image and said being seems broadly ambivalent to said pain and suffering, as well as needing love despite demonstrating none on their part), to that end I guess if you are going to include such a concept as a tenet of your game (rather than maybe an in game work or something) you inherit some bad writing and that is not a good start.

[Recca]

I don't remember Nina transforming in BoF1 in battle, do you mean the bird transformation outside of battle?

Yes, that's what I meant. Nina loses the ability to transform into the great bird in the other games since everyone after the first game is no longer pure blooded. Although Ryu can still technically transform into a dragon in the other games, it's still not quite the same. In Breath of Fire 2, he uses up all his AP for one powerful attack. Whereas, in the first game, he can stay transformed into a dragon thoughout the entire battle, dealing tons of damage each turn (especially with Agni - 999 damage per turn). So in other words, the Breath of Fire 1 characters are better than the ones in the other games.

Ryu in the first game for example would easily beat the ones from the other games using his dragon transformations. He might even be a better swordsman than the other ones as well. Ox also seems stronger than Rand (being able to shake trees by punching them as well as the ability to move heavy objects thoughout the game). Nina is more useful as a healer/fighter than a mage and Karn is the only actual human you get to use in the whole Breath of Fire series as far as I remember. Not to mention the fact that his fusions are better than the shaman ones in the second game which defuse when a character is low on HP or during certain cutscenes.

Being able to swap out characters any time, even during battle was also an original and useful perk. I don't understand why Ryu can't transform into Agni when Karn and the others are fused, but whatever. Being able to run a store with Gobi was pretty original as well for an RPG during the time. I believe that's how you get Ox and Nina's best weapons. And last, but not least, saving at the Dragon Lord temples in the first game was quicker and more convenient than having to use the churches in the second game, since not every town has a dragon shrine. It's also pretty ironic since they're considered to be enemies that worship a false demon god.

[Axiphel]

I'm pretty sure the reason they can't turn into birds in BoF2 is because of some cursed prophecy having to do with Nina from BoF1 marrying Ryu. None of the Wyndians can turn into birds and I doubt they are all mixed race.

[Azkadellia]

No. They can turn into birds. They just have to face a trial in which they're tested to see if they can handle it. But there's a downside; once they turn into birds, they forget about being human and everything.

[Axiphel]

I don't think that's something multiple people can do. Seems like they pass it down to one person and maybe that person eventually dies and their spirit passes it on to someone else.

[Spooniest]

I don't think that's something multiple people can do.

Exactly what she said.

[Axiphel]

Exactly what she said.

Except she didn't say exactly that at all...

[KingMike]

No. They can turn into birds. They just have to face a trial in which they're tested to see if they can handle it. But there's a downside; once they turn into birds, they forget about being human and everything.

I'm guessing that was still part of the curse.
In BoF1 they could freely transform back and forth (such as the soldiers who bring Ryu to fight the Wizard after he poisons Nina).
Although why they don't fly there directly instead of walking, I don't know.

Spoiler:

Nina's story in BoF1 is a little confusing. So the "child" Nina (pink dress) is amnesia? A time-traveler? I know that only "adult" Nina (the blue dress one in Tunlan) can fly. Why there are two Ninas is the part I don't understand. The two soldiers that initially join her should be able to fly, yes? Actually yes they should, because how they even learn about the wizard was one of the two poisoned soldiers using its last life force to fly back to warn the others.
Was adult Nina sent back in time for unknown reasons by Cara (or Karla, in Japanese. I guess they changed her name since they didn't want to give a demon a real human name? Then again, she was once a non-evil human.)

[deadlyblossom]

I don't know what you are referring to.

Spoiler:

Are you talking about how Ryu and Nina in BoF1 got married in the ending, causing the BoF2 Nina to get the cursed black wings?

Just BoF 1 Ryu/Nina that caused BoF2 Nina to have Black Wings due to Dragon Clan DNA?

You got proof show me proof that the BoF 2 Nina can turn into a dragon killing any Capcom god like St Eva and the same goes for Ultron Sigma.

[Axiphel]

I'm guessing that was still part of the curse.
In BoF1 they could freely transform back and forth (such as the soldiers who bring Ryu to fight the Wizard after he poisons Nina).
Although why they don't fly there directly instead of walking, I don't know.

Spoiler:

Nina's story in BoF1 is a little confusing. So the "child" Nina (pink dress) is amnesia? A time-traveler? I know that only "adult" Nina (the blue dress one in Tunlan) can fly. Why there are two Ninas is the part I don't understand. The two soldiers that initially join her should be able to fly, yes? Actually yes they should, because how they even learn about the wizard was one of the two poisoned soldiers using its last life force to fly back to warn the others.
Was adult Nina sent back in time for unknown reasons by Cara (or Karla, in Japanese. I guess they changed her name since they didn't want to give a demon a real human name? Then again, she was once a non-evil human.)

Nina got all timey wimey'd by the Time Key when the party was trying to save Carmen from being frozen in time. So she got sent into the past where she fell in Tunlan.