The last installment of the BoF series on the original Playstation and also the last of the series to follow gameplay that is most reminiscient of the first release. (The game to follow this was the last of the series as of this writing and was on the Playstation 2, which had a VERY different style of play involved.)

You will see, in this installment, two familiarly named characters: Ryu and Nina. Ryu is your blue-haired protagonist who seems to be linked to dragons, and Nina is a magic-using princess of a country named Windia (Wyndia).

There is, however, a twist shown shortly enough along–there is a second controllable character linked to dragons, who has awakened from a long sleep, named Fou-Lu. I won’t go into details here about him, but this inclusion makes the game interesting all by itself.

This game features the return of combo abilities in battle, as well as learning abilities from goons you encounter in battles. It also retains the Master system from the last title.

The music, while I personally liked III’s more (largely because it had a huge jazzy feel, no other reason) is still well done, fitting well where it is and not being annoying. The sound effects similarly weren’t choppy or off in their recording that I could detect. Sound and Music: 8/10

The visuals were, in some ways, superior to III. The designers definitely learned from their time spent on III and made things appear less… how to put this? Polygonal. Moving the camera doesn’t show you all of the graphical jagged edges that III would previously (not that it was off-putting, this was pre-PS2, you worked with what you had). Also, the characters’ portraits actually change during conversation to better show emotion with the dialogue. Graphics: 9/10

A lot of people seem to argue as to whether this game or Breath of Fire III are the better of the two in the series. I say to you that both are good in very different ways, and that you should give them both a whirl. They both have very good stories (Though IV felt a tad too short for me by comparison, a personal opinion) with funny characters, though I would nearly suggest that IV’s characters have more humor to them individually than III’s, whose humor comes more overall.

IV’s story is interesting and fresh to the series, and if I had any complaints, it is only that we don’t get to know anything close to the full story of Fou-Lu, which you’ll understand if you pick this title up ;) Try it out!

Complete spanish translation for Breath of Fire IV, for both PAL and NTSC versions.

• SLUS-01324 or SLES-03552