Breath of Fire IV

Breath of Fire IV is the fourth main game in the Breath of Fire series. It was released in 2000 for the PlayStation. Illustrations were done by Tatsuya Yoshikawa.

PlayStation - Breath of Fire IV Intro

Characters

• Ryu - the main silent protagonist, able to transform into a man-dragon hybrid. He is on a quest to discover his true identity, being unaware to know who he was when Nina discovered him near a caravan wreck. His main ability is Slash, useful for cutting off vines and hunting animals for food. As he collects more Dragon Crystals, he gains more dragon forms. His signature dragon forms are the Aura and Kaiser Dragons. His main element is fire. He can still fish through fishing spots around the world map.

• Fou-Lu - the player gains control of this mysterious character at several points of the game, on his trek to recover the Fou Empire from his long slumber. It is then revealed that he is the other half of Ryu's complete being and the main antagonist. He also aims to find Ryu and merge with him. He is extremely powerful and among his signature dragon forms are the Tyrant and Astral Dragons. His main element is water.

• Nina - the princess of Wyndia, accompanied by Cray in search of her missing sister Elena. Her ability is to fly up temporarily, gaining view of the map from a higher POV, which is useful in many of the game's "searching" missions. Her skills with magical wands as well as healing and support skills are unsurpassed. Her main element is wind. If in the inactive party, she can heal some HP for active members who are low in HP.

• Cray - a member of the cat-human hybrid Woren tribe, Cray is Princess Elena's lover. His brute strength allows him to swing his heavy clubs with crushing force. His skill is the ability to push boulders, jars, or crates around. His main element is earth. He can also take the hit for his allies who are low in HP.

• Ershin - a robot with a red cape who speaks oddly. Her armor allows her to walk along the hex without harm. Later in the game, it is revealed that the being inside Ershin's metal shell is actually the spirit of the egoistical deity Deis. Her ability is ram, which allows her to shake apples from trees, smash breakable objects, etc. She is the only one who has access to all the elemental spells. Her attacks have awesome power but has the tendency to miss often.

• Scias - a silent mercenary hired to guard Ryu and Nina when Cray was on trial. He is a dog-human hybrid who stammers when he talks, but his skill with swords is a force to be reckoned with. He later tags along with the party in order to investigate his superiors. His main element is water. Once at critical HP, he concentrates and further increases his damage output.

• Ursula - an Imperial General whose original mission was to take Ryu and his party to the Emperor, but later joins the party herself upon discovering the Empire's evils. Her main element is fire. She is an adept hunter and a skilled markswoman using a variety of guns, which she can use to hunt for animals. When knocked out, she has a percentage chance to revive herself immediately at 1 HP.

• Momo - (cameo)

• Rei - (cameo)

• Teepo - (cameo)

Plot

Just as in previous games of the series, Breath of Fire IV follows the adventures of a young man named Ryu, heir to a lost civilization's ability to transform into powerful dragons, who must team up with several other skilled warriors to combat an awakened immortal emperor from ascending to godhood and destroying the world of man.

Story

The story of Breath of Fire IV begins with a search team consisting of Nina, princess of the Kingdom of Wyndia, and Cray, a warrior from the plains-dwelling Woren clan, who are scouring towns along a great desert for information on the whereabouts of Nina's sister Elina, who went missing several weeks earlier on a diplomatic mission. Happening upon a crater left when a strange object landed from the sky, Nina confronts a large dragon who transforms before her eyes into a young man. Remembering nothing other than his name, Ryu, Nina surmises he must have amnesia and persuades him to help her search for her sister. Meanwhile, across the world in the western Fou Empire, the ancient Emperor Fou-Lu rises from his burial chambers, declaring it is time to conquer the world. In his vulnerable, newly-awakened state, he is attacked by Yohm, a general in the modern Fou army who is privy to Fou-Lu's long-prophesized resurrection, and who aims to kill him before carrying out his plan. Fou-Lu is defeated in the struggle, and escapes by jumping into a nearby stream.

Elsewhere, Ryu and Nina travel to a town blighted by an evil miasma known as "hex", where they meet Ershin, a mysterious person clad in full protective armor who leads them through the poisoned side of town. Re-uniting with Cray, the team makes their way west to gather more information. Traveling across a large dam, they narrowly escape a flood and make their way to Kyria, where an eccentric mayor has set up traps everywhere to route out intruders. Transversing through a nearby wooded area where a monstrous boar lives and then onward through a cavernous tunnel, the group arrives in Synesta. Obtaining a lead to Elina's whereabouts after detaining a nearby thief, they travel to a sand-flier wharf to the north containing a ship that can travel over great distances of desert, and set off for the western border.

Development

Breath of Fire IV was developed by Capcom's Production Studio 3 shortly after their work on Breath of Fire III. Series scenario writer Makoto Ikehara once again developed the game's script, deciding to take the series in a new direction after the previous three-game story arc. Though the game takes place in an alternate world, several references are made to past games in the series, including cameo appearances by the characters Momo, Rei, and Teepo from Breath of Fire III, and recurring enemy monsters from earlier titles. Because of a hectic programming schedule, some planned features of Breath of Fire IV were not included in the final version of the game, including an extended ending sequence involving the death of Yuna.

The English language version was marked by a very rushed localization process. Due to Capcom USA's financial difficulties at the start of the new year, Breath of Fire IV was produced for North America in a period of only seven months, and released just in time for the 2000 holiday season. The result left a few portions of the game untranslated, including the title graphic and ending credits sequence, with only the former being corrected for the PAL region release the following year. One of Scias' skills, Analyze, which would giving the player detailed statistics on enemy monsters during battle, was omitted completely to avoid translating the accompanying dialog. Some spell and dragon names were rendered in Korean rather than English to give them a more exotic feel, a procedure that was not used in the original Japanese version.

Censorship

The English translation of Breath of Fire IV was censored in several ways during its translation from the original Japanese version. Some instances of harsh language were toned down for North American and European audiences, as well as a few frames of suggestive animation during dialog or story sequences. A scene involving Fou-Lu decapitating Emperor Soniel is cut from the end of the first royal palace sequence, with the English version having him instead killed off screen. A scene with Nina and Ursula bathing in a pond as well as a scene involving Ursula dropping her pants to "prove her womanhood" to skeptical sailors was removed entirely from in the North American and European versions. References to Scias' alcoholism are also absent, with some of his slurred speech patterns being replaced with a stutter.

All instances of editing were brought to the attention of Makoto Ikehara, who detailed them in an interview in the Japanese art book The Graphics of Breath of Fire IV in August 2000.

Gallery

Cray

Scias

Box Art

Japan

U.S.

Europe

PC

Merchandise

OST

Artbook

Guidebook

Prima Strategy Guide

The Unfading Ones - The Arukai Dragon Novel

Manga Vol. 1

Manga Vol. 2

Manga Vol. 3

Manga Vol. 4

Anthology Comic

• Wallpaper

External Links

• Official Breath of Fire IV website (PlayStation) (Japanese)
• Wikipedia article
• BoF wikia article