Welcome to a new edition of Retro Arena and it is a battle between JRPGs on the Super NES. The 90s were a time when JRPGs exploded into popularity thanks to Square and its Final Fantasy Series. The Fourth Gen is where this began before the genre got taken to higher places after the release of Final Fantasy VII. The first combatant is the original Lufia and it got published in 1993 by Taito. The company is often recognized for publishing Space Invaders and Double Dragon if you wanted to know who they are. Its opponent is Capcom’s Breath of Fire, a traditional medieval JRPG from a studio that rarely developed these types of games. Usually, when a company starts a thing (Nintendo with Mario) other studios are sure to follow with their own clones. However, sometimes when a game tries to emulate we often get second rate quality. Unfortunately, both games are just that, but this doesn’t mean we can’t find some enjoyment out of them. In fact, I experienced Breath of Fire four times in completion and for Lufia on two different play throughs. A big release is never the sole way to enjoy RPGs or any type such as from platformers and fighting. Gameplay Lufia If you are familiar with Dragon Quest, then the gameplay will bear a close resemblance to that series. The gameplay focuses around four characters using traditional fighting classes. Hero is the knight who has a limited list of light based spells and Lufia is the red mage with some black magic. Aguro is the muscle warrior while Jerin is the archer/black magic caster. The simple mechanics let the player choose between icons in battle and how they will use their strategy. There are some problems with the way Taito put the mechanics together and using outdated gameplay from the mid-80s was a mistake. In the Dragon Quest NES titles, Enix always took the Original’s concept and continued applying those dated designs. For starters, none of the party members have auto target and when a monster is defeated, and two characters went for the same enemy the second would miss. It was 1993 and Square Soft standardized the auto target function when they released Final Fantasy III on the NES in 1990. The gameplay mechanics outside the battles does feel limited on several areas. Except for the fighting classes, none of them do anything else but battle traditionally and follow Hero. Now, the bosses I will admit got handle much better than BoF and the player needed to strategize during these fights. Perhaps the life bar might have given the impression these strong monsters felt like tanks. Lufia has several issues to deal with between tedious level design and enemies spamming powerful attacks. Usually, RPGs like Phantasy Star II on the Genesis or the Dragon Quest series on the NES always had these problems. I can't understand why they wanted to follow a dated format and not from Final Fantasy IV or V. With the level design Lufia uses mazes as the core challenge when entering a cavern or dungeon. I had some issues with this as most of the time you are going through these levels trying to obtain the quest item. There is no deviation from the path and aside gather objects from the chests the player faces a boss to get the item needed to progress. As mentioned in the review, the Color Towers puzzle was the only time Taito change anything from the core challenge. The repetitive encounters are another thing that got on my nerves the most. Fortunately, there is an item to reduce encounters from happening and it’s something the B titles always got right. Sweet water and smoke bombs always did the job especially when trying to save the party’s energy for a boss. There was something also missing that I failed to mention in the review since it’s now on my mind. I noticed no weapons have any magical effects or special traits that gives them additional damage. With no elemental effects we see from the major releases does make the gameplay feel bare bones. Even if this is a budget game that doesn't let Taito have an excuse when others have such mechanics. Breath of Fire Knowing Capcom’s inexperience in designing JRPGs, the company obviously took notes from the Final Fantasy series. The typical features like random battles, auto target and each party member having a different fighting class is all here. There were also the transformation spells for Ryu and Karn to use and these became a power needed through the game. Ryu could transform into three levels of a dragon while Karn is able to take a super form by combining two to three party members. Nina and Bleu are the typical mages that provided traditional spells we grew so accustom to seeing. Nina is obviously the white magic user, and I always had her in my party to use for healing. Bleu acts like the black mage and unlike Bo, she has powerful magic that can cause massive damage the more her level goes up. The difference between BoF and Lufia is the spell names as I didn’t need a hint system to know their capabilities. Each character has unique abilities where they are all needed even if a single one is not your personal pick. I have never seen these features used except within a battle such as Locke stealing items from enemies in FFVI. Bo helps navigate through the forest terrain and Karn disables traps for both the chests and opened floors. The developers should have gone further like Square did for FFV and FFVI. Putting in features like stealing or copying the monsters magic from the job system found in FFV would’ve been ideal. Despite the bosses have large defense status in the early part of the game however, weapons like the Earth Key and better yet the FlameRP did wonders. Now, the second screen shows one of the problems in BoF and Jade tells the player to seek some advice on how to storm the castle. The task requires the player to backtrack near Prima and visit an old man and get an item from a tree to progress. It was a design tactic these developers used back then to make this seem like a longer game. BoF’s level design uses a similar format to the other 16-bit RPGs and its rival. The challenge is basically the player tackling a level, facing a boss at the end and retrieving a quest item. The only time this was an annoyance is when one NPC told you to retrieve an item somewhere else. Then the game had you return to the same place. I wondered what stopped these programmers from having Jade just hand the item right there instead of back tracking. Finding the tonic for Nina to cure her amnesia had that same NPC give the thing needed to the player. So, why couldn’t they do the same for the previous task? One of the biggest drawbacks comes from the start as Ryu and the others have weak physical attack stats. It would make the bosses truly seem like tanks and programming them to have high defense points this early was a pain in the ass. That was only a headache at the start, but it does give the false perception this is going be the problem through the main quest. I see why they designed a life bar in as Square Soft did the same thing for Final Fantasy: Mystical Quest. They tried attracting those core gamers that began playing RPGs when FFIV and Mystical Quest came out during the console’s early years. Conclusion: Even though both provided traditional style gameplay and level design, BoF won the round. Capcom managed to take from those Final Fantasy features and apply its format. When a JRPG has auto target, items that reduces enemy encounters and all members were needed to progress then you know the studio did something right. These concepts do seem dated today when considering the progression, the genre would go through from that point on. Lufia was using a tired and old format from the mid-80s since they tried too much to emulate Dragon Quest. There’s no auto target, the levels got designed like mazes and the party’s abilities felt limited to just battles only. Aside the Color Towers, going through these labyrinths style levels were downright tedious with facing a boss and getting a quest item. Graphics/Presentation Lufia Taito’s games are often known for not producing amazing visuals during that time. It’s especially true when Double Dragon was their top series in that regard. The publisher instead used the same visual model that Enix utilizes for the Dragon Quest series. Lufia is not bad looking by any means but using a design from the mid-80s makes the game appear cheap. Every environment from the villages and castle to organic locations like a cavern always had this box design. It’s even worse in the villages when no house is separate from the outside. By 1993 most developers stopped using this concept since like I stated before made the overall design look cheap. It’s one thing for a castle area to have both opened and closed parts, but there’s never a reason for the towns to have such appearances. The sprites were above average and retain their traditional detail seen from other titles. However, Taito took too much from Enix’s ideas as everything in the battles had limited graphics. There were no backgrounds and the enemies got reduced to cheap images. I still did enjoy the monsters having a wonky comical charm to them as seen from the jack o lantern creatures. That shouldn’t stop these artists from producing good designs for the enemies still. Yet, here these designs look very cheap like the artists were in a rush to finish the project. The image here shows a village where the outside and the interior are not separate areas. The presentation was above average, and this was the only area that saw the most development. It opens to an epic intro describing the little backstory of Doom Island and the Sinistrals that summoned the small continent. One thing I mentioned in the review is how well the special effects got produced. Their designs weren’t anything special, but it was enough to showcase the environmental results and magic attacks. The way the Bang and Vulcan spells looked when casted felt impactful and the sound effects only added to that notion. Taito really did a great job with those sound effects from the spells and created a dynamic depiction of what these attacks do. Unfortunately, the OST was a different story and most of the songs came off as if each track got composed on a digital piano. It also doesn’t help for the music to have this tinny sound such as from the Castle theme. I can’t understand how they get this right with the intro theme and the boss battles but produce the rest in an amateurish way. Breath of Fire When buying a Capcom game, we always knew what to expect from their visuals and music. There’s a reason I gave the Graphics/Presentation portion the score it received as BoF went way above the average standard. Each environment reflected the theme the songs stood for from the forest to the dungeons. The tiny details were these developers’ specialty, and they manage to make most of the surroundings lively. A water dropping onto a puddle in the cavern areas adds more to the environment they some would think. Even the lighting added to the ambience as seen in Bleak and the Dark Tower. The battle grounds during the encounters didn’t have the appearance of the usual still background. Once again, those tiny elements really capture each location and even some animation made its way into these war zones. Another quality feature came from the battle sprites since it had the most vivid detail compared to others in the genre. The only JRPGs through the Fourth Gen that had such detail was from Phantasy Star II and IV on the Genesis. Capcom went the extra mile as they created original sprites instead of reusing the overhead ones. Breath of Fire really did capture the right mood with those tiny details and something as a little as lighting did the trick. The Dark Tower near Bleak seen in the first image showcases gleaming orbs and torches glowing with a dark tint present. Of course, we can't forget the backgrounds on those mountain areas that showed off the landscapes in the distance. Capcom also delivered for the OST and whoever they have as the composer is probably a genius. Despite the intro not being a true epic opening, the music really made up for that in many ways. For once, I didn’t have to bear any tinny sounding music as most of the tracks reflected what they meant. In my review, I pointed out how the Castle theme had a reserved tone while dark places like the forest retained that mysterious feeling. Even lesser known places like Bleak, the dungeon themes and the emotional songs helped make the environments and events believable. My favorite feature of the OST is those familiar sound effects and tones I can hear from their other titles. I only found a few issues in this department, and it’s mainly from the presentation of the story. It seemed to lack that dynamic intro and even compared to the Final Fantasy Super NES titles. Of course, there is still an opening with a slight backstory being mentioned. Yes, Sara and Jade battle which for 16-bits didn’t look too bad. However, the presentation seems to not have those strong feelings with setting up the theme of the plot. It’s “you must start your journey and face the evil” without further details to who Sara was and why Ryu is chosen. Conclusion: The clear winner for this round was BoF again as Capcom put plenty of effort into the visuals. Throughout their Super NES lineup, the publisher would produce some of the most recognizable visuals and sounds. BoF might not be the best effort this studio has done when compared to Street Fighter II, Mega Man VII and Demon’s Crest. However, the first entry got many things right and that’s creating broad visuals that went beyond the average standard. With detailed environments and animated battle sprites truly made this a top contender among B titles. Lufia’s issue stems from using an outdated graphical format from 1986. The aesthetics make the domestic areas have a box design and the indoor parts weren’t separate from the outside. There were no backgrounds during the battles, and the sprites had the basic animation. The soundtrack despite not being bad didn’t come close to the dynamic sounding its rival had. When most of the tracks seem like an amateur put them together didn’t help the outcome. Story Lufia The plot is about a descendant of a legendary warrior named Maxim who must face a group of evil beings called the Sinistrals. The story element that made Lufia unique is how its starts at the end of Maxim’s journey from 100 years in the past. It’s not often we see a story begin like this and that helped introduce the backstory and the main antagonists. After the opening, a hundred years have passed since the battle of Doom Island and Maxim’s grandson trains to become a knight. The most annoying element is when the writers don’t give the main hero a defined name especially if they have a personality. It’s one thing for the Dragon Hero or Link to have a mute personality but still have the name you character element. However, for a game like this Hero doesn’t represent us that we see from Link or Ryu based on them almost never speaking. Fortunately, the rest of the cast isn’t like this and have defined personalities. Throughout the plot, Hero adventures with a girl named Lufia who he has grown up with. Along the way they meet a muscle headed knight called Aguro and an elf named Jerin. They all have their comical moments as seen from Aguro’s immaturity or Lufia and Jerin getting into their drama antics. The best surprise came from Daos speaking about the truth regarding Hero's friend being Erim reincarnated after reaching the halfway point. The story is truly average when Lufia was the only character to get any development. Yes, the plot twist works for Lufia but what about the rest of the cast who get stuck with wooden personalities and no development of their own. It really was a nice plot twist despite Erim as Lufia learning to not to commit her evil ways from the past because of growing up with Hero. The writing has plenty of issues when the majority of the plot doesn’t feel so engaging compared to the intro. For starters the whole cast suffers from wooden personalities as if they came from a cookie cutter of already known characters. Hero and Aguro were too busy stating the obvious of their roles and of the situations. Jerin at least provided some comical humor with Lufia between their tiny bickering. Lufia was the only one to receive development when Erim got reincarnated. She also learned to understand emotion of truly caring for those close to her through reincarnation. The Sinistrals were just as bad and conquering the world was their sole agenda. However, I never understood why they wanted to rule the world and cause destruction. So, it’s only because they are evil? On paper, the concept for this kind of story is right there for the writers to use. However, the execution came off lazy and bland to the point it’s basically a cookie cutter format. Breath of Fire For this story it opens differently as the intro explains the backstory about a goddess named Tyr who once caused havoc on the world. Tyr always sewed chaos and division among the many clans especially between the Dark and Light Dragons. Having enough the clans designed six powerful keys and used them to seal the evil goddess away. BoF’s intro wasn’t as epic as Lufia’s but the backstory did get to the point and its simplicity is understood when the main hero is introduced. There is a positive to this and Ryu acts as the silent protagonist. That’s the difference between Hero and Ryu since the writers didn’t force a bland protagonist who hardly represents the player. The cast is much larger featuring several heroes and villains through the plot. We begin with Nina, and she is the princess of Wyndia who acts as the confident member. She does get into a few comical moments with Bleu, but the women’s antics are very forgettable. Most of these characters lacked chemistry and in fact their involvement falls flat. The theme and its story element felt so cookie cutter that I swear Zog was like Goldbez's long last brother. You know like a Morgan Stark type villain where Marvel wants you to forget he existed next to Iron Man. If it wasn't the original ideas then it was the lacking chemistry between the characters. The second image has Nina and Bleu have a comical moment but here's the thing it came off lack luster. There wasn’t a single moment that could make me care if the Light Dragons defeated Tyr and Zog. Their personalities were the definition of wood itself and this is the same average writing we usual come across in these budget titles. That’s another thing about the protagonists as most of them join Ryu because they wanted to even when their side arcs were finished. There also was no backstories or personal struggles they were dealing with before and during the war. Ox and Mogu got written in a way that explains their struggles but even when it’s there the writers never go further. The villains got treated the same way to the point their goals came off generic with little purpose behind them. Cerl was the only one to have a reason to join the Dark Dragons due to humans in one village discriminated against her as a child. However, it’s never explained why Mota was so conflicted and his reasonable side wanted him destroyed as an example. Conclusion: The story portion for these first entries saw the writers execute the themes differently. However, this is a tie as both stories got many things right and wrong at the same time. These JRPGs suffer from wooden personalities for the characters, and the writing reflects that in their dialogue. Nothing ever gets expanding on who the cast was or what motivated them with a couple of exceptions being Lufia and Cerl. Everything just sounds so generic as if the bases of these plots were all they needed. With no character developmental and the dialogue feeling empty between them is the reason both tie in this area. Features/Content Lufia With how much content Square put into their games, it was no brainer where Taito got a couple of ideas from. The length as stated in my review takes anywhere from 15 to 20 hours and a standard usually met in the Fourth Gen. The first entry is slightly shorter than most Final Fantasy Super NES titles, but there are still plenty of features to enjoy. Searching for hidden items has always been a fun feature to engage in for me and you can find some good stuff along the way. There are times that it’s basically junk you would use at the beginning, but the rest are needed later on. Usually, the difficult items to get are found in the Grenoble Cave. The Dragon Egg quest has the player collect eight of these to exchange for equipment and extra status points. It was a little annoying to search around the world in places already visited to find these eggs. However, the exchange more than made up for the annoyance and its satisfying to receive the strongest equipment in the game. The next feature is a personal favorite, and this is the Grenoble Cave quests. The goal is simple, sign up in the Treasure Hunters in Grenoble and descend into the cavern’s many floors and retrieve expensive gold. I also enjoyed how these floors become available as the player progresses through the main adventure. Between finding rare items in the chests and hidden spots made the side quests an essential element. Those 90s JRPGs always had the right amount of content to contend with. I enjoy the features here since the Grenoble Cave's other floors would become available the more you progressed. The Dragon Eggs when eight are collected gives you the options as seen on the first image. Breath of Fire Probably the best thing Capcom does for its lineup is providing plenty of content for the player to contend with. The main quest has nearly the same length as its rival in many ways. The game starts in the typical small town as you make your way across the world. Another thing similar to its rival is hidden items found in the environment and this has always been a pleasure to search for stuff. I was even able to uncover a Steel Bow (a powerful weapon for the beginning) inside a wall in Agua. My only issue is these were often rare like the Steel Bow or the Clogs and most of the time its junk items. The Dragon Shrines found on the overworld were another feature worth searching for. Ryu’s dragon abilities became essential in the beginning since the bosses have ridiculous defenses. The challenges weren’t that difficult to beat as the first dragon spirit can get taken out if you know how to. Here’s a hint and all that’s needed was the FlameRP from Agua while the second shrine’s boss was a breeze. Obtaining these dragon abilities is optional and depending on if you finished all shrines will give a different ending. The best side feature came from Gobi’s barter skills with opening a shop to sell items. On paper, this seems rather useless however, setting up shop in Prima or Tunlan can help get rare equipment. There are three stages to buy these treasures and what makes this worth the patience is obtaining the best equipment in the game. The ThundrRP discovered in the first stage is one of the rarest and hardest to buy from the merchants. Finding such a weapon did make this worth the wait after going through countless merchants who would sell junk. The content has the traditional elements always found in these games and the Metal Slimes give the player an insane amounts of experience points. Its funny because usually a cheat device like Game Genie was the only way to get 9,999 experience points from other titles but Capcom out did that with the Metal Slimes. Gobi's shop was another tradeoff to Lufia's Grenoble Cave and patiently waiting for those rare items like ThundrRP or Cure2 to appear made getting through the tedious aspect of this system worth it. Conclusion: Both JRPGs gave the players a “to do” list in-between the main quest. Lufia and BoF are tied as they nearly had the same lengthy play time between the two. These titles also have the same hidden item feature and the difference is Lufia had more secret stuff to find. The Dragon Egg mission and the Shrines played an optional role where you didn’t have to complete them. In BoF, you will not get the good ending of Tyr being defeated, and she will escape the prison without the heroes knowing. Then we have the Grenoble Cave and Gobi’s Shop that acted as good tradeoff from the other. You could find rare equipment and items in the cavern’s lower levels and buy those hard to get weapons with Gobi. Final Conclusion Even though both had issues with their stories and content while trying to keep up with the genre’s standards, Breath of Fire is the winner. Capcom did a solid job keeping up with Square Soft in the gameplay and visuals department. It all came down to which had the better gameplay and graphics between the two games. BoF retain several elements from the bigger releases in that generation with auto target, common spells and items that reduced the encounter rate. It also helped that each character’s ability is needed to complete the entire game from beginning to end. The visuals in a Capcom fashion captures that broad and define appearance for the sprites and environments. It wasn’t often to see animated sprites during the battles and have their own graphical detail separate from the overhead forms. The reason Lufia lost is due to several issues from repetitive designs and lacking current mechanics in JRPGs. It also didn’t help the levels had the same maze structures to them with the difference being the color. That’s Neutopia II type designs there as even Enix differentiate from the usual concepts in Dragon Quest. When factoring in a generic story where no character really grows or gets explored didn’t give it the edge. Even though BoF also had the same problems as Lufia but the gameplay and graphics being above average more than made up for it. Lufia was doomed from the beginning; the winner is Breath of Fire. Winner: Breath of Fire
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Retro Gamer has over 25 years of gaming experience and played many classics since the Golden Age. She has been an avid fan since the day the NES graced her life and changed it forever.
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