As a fan of the BoF series I didn't touched the fifth game until a few games ago. Jumped right in without reading any info except for the D-Counter/D-Ratio and SOL system. Instantly decided to get through without any retries/restarts and without using the dragon power. It took me around 17-20 realtime hours (I sped up some combat animations because they are too long sometimes) to get to the final boss with around 23-25% D-Counter. It was no easy walk since I meticulosly vaccumed all rooms for items, chests and enemies, made frequent trips back to ID and sell equipment instead of throwing it away. I also invested a lot into the fairy village and was prized with chance to buy some nice extra combat skills and Bara shields for every character, which cut half of all incoming damage (very helpful and not that pricey for 15k each). Carefully calculating my moves, dropping lures and bombs at right spots, building up right equipment and skill sets before every battle took a lot of time and mental effort. This game is not a dungeon crawler, JRPG or a rougelike, but a very obfuscated puzzle piece. Really enjoyed the game, despite it's nervousness. If you take a calm approach and just never use dragon force, the D-Counter becomes not unimportant. However the changes to the gameplay and setting are so extreme, that it is not surprising that Breath of Fire series just literally died with fifth installation and Capcom was unable to revive it till this day.
It's another "weird thing" about this game that Ryu, who is normally silent and...kind of a reactive protagonist if we are honest with ourselves, is more active in this game and now can speak. Meanwhile, Nina, who tends to be very pro-active and talkative in other BoF games is suddenly an almost mute girl, and while definitely carrying her weight and being active in some scenes, she's more getting led along by Ryu on their way to the surface.
I remember hyping this game to my friends before it got released. A friend actually bought it when it released but the next day he came over to my place and asked if I wanted to buy it from him, saving him the buss money to return it to the gamestop. Needless to say, he could not jive with it. I bought it off him and it became one of my favorite RPGs on the PS2.
Quoting the whole thing because this needs to be engraved somewhere. "How do you feel about turning into a dragon? Oh you like the power fantasy? Have you ever thought about the consequences? Maybe turning into a dragon is a bad thing!" This is such a great distillation of what you were saying. Alienating the fanbase by pursuing a more thought-provoking project. Elevating the work above and _out of_ its ostensible purpsose. Not evil or wicked or bad or a lie, just no longer what it was. I have never played Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals. I, like many others, spat at it from such a distance that I could not comprehend what it *was,* only what it _wasn't._ And I feel bad that the Lufia series is dead, like I helped kill it. I enjoyed this review a lot, it was well done. This is a game which really needed the emphasis on atmosphere that you gave it. Holding off on the restart mechanics was well paced, I knew a little bit and was kind of uncomfortably anticipating it a couple times but that's not a complaint. You used it well to expand on the experience. I was moved by your storytelling during the final boss. Thank you!
Thank you for making the video. I loved breath of fire one and two as a kid, but didn't play 3-4 because I owned a N64. As an adult, when I bought the PS2, I was overjoyed at the tone of dragon quarter, and loved playing it, but saw at the time that not very many people were even picking it up. Now, it's nice to see a video on this forgotten game that served as the capstone on the series, and your experiences with it.
Regarding the difficulty and limited inventory, yes it was partially inspired by Resident Evil but the main source was actually an NES game that inspired Resident Evil made by Capcom. The game is Sweet Home, a horror survival rpg based on the movie of the same name. Each party member had one item slot with an item that defined their role. You could and have to split your members up to solve puzzles and such while considering who to bring together. It was a challenging game but with mechaincs that was tight in design.
I like this video. This is my first time seeing your work. It's probably inspired me more than any media I've seen to want to maybe try this at some point. Hope that helps!
This game would probably have gotten compared to roguelikes if they had been as mainstream genre back then and probably been slightly easier to accept for critics and fans :O Either way wild that to see full story, its assumed you fail and be forced to restart
Thank you for making this. I was so mad at this game for ending one of my favorite childhood series, but as an old fart I'm open to exploring what was once left unseen. Honestly though, seeing the few snippets of the older games makes me want to replay them, so I might just do that!
I remember hearing about this game and it's dragon% mechanic ages ago, always wondered about what it was like. Thank you for filling in a pothole in my past.
Solid video :D definitely the kind of content I enjoy. I remember playing this game when it came out. Having loved the previous entries I was excited… but quickly turned off. I’m really glad you took the time to go through this game in detail, so thank you :)
i had a friend growing up into this game i completely understood him when he said this is a great game but not a good breath of fire game i got into it at 3 and played the first two afterwords then i played this i thought it was a good game but i agreed with him its nota a breath of fire game
This was one of those games I rented on the weekend several times, and it became probably my favorite RPG on the PS2. Such a weird, bleak world, totally tonally different from every BoF game that came before it, filled with unconventional and barely explained mechanics. It's amazing that it even exists.
For what it's worth I thought this was an excellent video. BoF is a broad blind spot for me and this made me want to play this one in particular despite now knowing what its lategame looks like, entirely because you expressed the game's tension points and vibe so well.
Never heard of this game or series before in my life, but your video was wonderfully paced and I felt like I was experiencing the ups and downs of the plot with you. Don't get yourself down, this was quality content.
I played this when it released and made it to the elevator and the fight with transformed Bosch but maxed the D-gauge and failed. It left an impression on me, getting so close to the surface but failing at the penultimate fight. My game disk broke in half somehow and I never got another chance at it so it is cool seeing how it turned out here.
This was actually the last game i ever bought on the ps2, and what a banger to end on. I'm sorry that i wana say 70% of the hate was thrown by Breaht of fire fans who wanted more of the same but this was such a great game, and it aged soo wonderfully too
BoF DQ has the same issue that Chrono Cross did... solid games on their own that would have been much MUCH better received and liked had they not used loved brands/IPs and instead came out as a new IP/name.
For those who might be interested in this game I would recommend watching the 100% speedrun of the game and keep a eye on the gauge. For those who may wanna know more about the series it comes from then check out breath of fire 4 & 5. Then the earlier games if you like the style. Would also recommend checking out suikoden 1-5 too. Preferably 1, 2, & 5
For me, it was the limited saves that killed the game for me as I couldn't play for very long stretches of time back in the day so the available saves just were not enough for me to ever be able to clear the game.
You know what this was kind of cool to see a dragon quarter video I absolutely love this game for its kind of cyberpunk dystopia I feel this game is a little underrated
It's so odd that this game would've been praised now by its audience if it came out now. Sure it still has elements about it that people wouldn't like but that can be said for other titles that was lucky enough to come out at the right time. Dragon Quarter sadly was ahead of it's time
Ryu was extremely likable in this game. I love how he was very normal and kind. He’s just trying to do right. Nina is adorable and her story breaks my heart. I played this game when I was a lonely teen so I was able to look past the time sink but now I would be very frustrated at the unrealistic expectations.
2:58 That is exactly the two seconds you'd want to post of Chaos Legion to show what it's all about. Because Blasphemy's Assist is just too good to not use.
this game, eppesically with the widescreen hack on PC with higher textures *not screen stretch* the rougelist 100 floor dungeon at the bottom is one of my favorite rpg expreinces of all time, people didn't give this game a shot it has to be playyed way different than a normal game
I really loved Dragon Quarter, such an underated gem. It was mindblowing to realize that this game was released in 2002, yet it aged way better than Shin megami tensei Nocturne(2003) and Persona 3(2006)., the devs truly nailed dungeon crawlers in their first attemp. it's a shame that no one has tried to evolve and expand its concept, it has a lot of potential.
I've always been of the opinion that this should've be the start of its own series. A Mega man X to Mega man, type of thing. I figured that's why it Dropped the "5" from its western release.
The whole concept/design of the game is something that alienates most people. Roguelikes and similar games is a concept a lot of people don't really understand and won't try to understand. RE4 turning into more of a TPS is still easy to understand and get into. It's a real shame that people didn't try to understand the game.
@@robertnomok9750 The previous BoF games were easy (especially 4) while this one actually challenges the players and does new things. Saying that, the previous games were pretty casual so the newest game not being that would alien a lot of the audience. It's not what the core audience of the series wanted.
@@dallahan7879 Sure but that is a sad thing. Im bored to death with bof3 and rest of them aint better. DQ on the other hand is one of the few games I replayed 10+ times.
Even back then. I had so many cookie cutter JRPGs on my brly that this game blew me away. Still one of my favorites. Japanese agreed as they have good taste too and want something new. Sadly the west did not agree and wanted more medieval grasslands fantasy.
If they didn't call it breath of fire, and also released it on pc instead of consoles, I think it would have done so much better. Breath of fire players were expecting a jrpg, and console gamers were not used to rogue like games. I think this is really what killed it. I personally love it, but even I was disappointed that BoF V wasn't a cute sprite based 2d rpg.
I friggin hated this game. I'm glad you played through it so I could see what it was supposed to be. Seeing how it was supposed to go totally validates me dropping the game. This is not what I look for in a Breath of Fire game.
Dragon Quarter epitomizes the phrase: "It's a good game, it's just not a good xxxx game." I sincerely think Dragon Quarter was a better game than anything else in the Breath of Fire series, and it affected me more strongly and I went back to it more often than any of the others. But I can absolutely understand why someone who was a fan of BoF 1-4, and wanted another game like that, would hate Dragon Quarter.
and you kinda glossed over the main reason why this game can be cheesed to hell and back... the caveat of that extra exp mechanic Once you "die" you can opt to start over and take a portion of the exp with you... push as far as you can go and berserk yourself into a game-over and the next run you start with SO much exp you can lvl your main char into oblivion and just kill any and all bosses with your basic attack no problem. The only times you need your dragon form is to kill 2 bosses as they remain on 1 hp if you don't use your dragon form. It's a fun game but the devs obviously didn't think to much on what would happen when a player familiar with NG+ mechanics would play this game if they include that NG+ system as part of the core mechanic because you can save ALL of that exp up for a devastating NG+ (It carries over between runs too). Step 1: on your first run don't spend any of that extra exp AT ALL Step 2: get as far as you can Step 3: NG+ Step 4: repeat steps 1~4 until you're sick of it Step 5: Dump all that exp into Ryn on your next game Step 6: congrats, the game is now laughably easy to the point I killed the final boss with 1 basic attack at 0.01% counter
I think the biggest issue of this game... Was not informing people about new game plus. I had played it when it first came out and I just got frustrated trying to get past the 'death clock' where I started trying to maximize my turns and actions trying to race the clock to reach the surface growing ever more frustrated trying to figure out how anyone was supposed to beat the game... Only for years later to then be told you were supposed to lose and that let you start New Game Plus... To carry over your stats and stuff... Rather than trying to finish the entire story in a single run. It was than single run mentality and the fact I didn't know about New Game plus that made me despise the game as I thought you only had one run and that new game plus was locked behind being able to beat the game.
tbf you **can** beat it in a single run, its unlikely to do so if its the first time you've ever played the game but its not actually impossible. (Naturally, If you already experienced with the game then beating it in a single run on a clean save is almost a cakewalk)
I think the zooming effect during combat is supposed to give every hit some weight with as limited animation as possible. I mean it kiiiiiinda works, but the zooming is so intense that it doesn't convey the weight of combat and can trigger motion sickness and headaches. Its way too sudden and hard.
Eh I feel like it was more of a 70-30 split with the 70 being the fans who hated this and the 30 people who liked it. I think Dragon quarter should of been it's own separate media and Breath of fire should of stuck to it's similar formula. I miss having my three party members running together on screen- overworld abilities that were more than just boxes, more unique party members, cities and towns and cultures! BOF should of been on par with FF and I'd love for a comeback- where they can get more modern ala shadow hearts but not too out there. I think that was the problem. Now the problem is getting the company to EXPLORE the series and make new titles.
Breath of Fire was never on the same scale as Final Fantasy, you are deluded if you think that. Capcom stuck to 2D where Square was pushing 3D. Final Fantasy really never stayed the same and had fans complain with many entries for that reason. Granted never anything big or changed battle system much until they did. Sometimes it wasn't that bad and then we got FFXIII. Capcom will never try and compete in JRPGs again, not without making it another ARPG that does what everything else does on the market; meaning it won't be Breath of Fire. Look at that mobile game they did. Shadow Hearts killed itself with To the New World, a truly crap entry and bastardization of what that series was supposed to be. Covenant strayed enough but still kept to feeling the same, but not that last entry. Dragon Quarter was going 3D and wanted to try something new. I liked it from someone that played most the games except first one at that time. I didn't like it because it was so hard at first and quit twice, but came right back. DQ took the approach due to the setting. You talk about exploring towns and such, but that's on the surface, you're in a subterranean world. People would complain seeing much of the same thing and wouldn't feel confined. The tension of trying to make it to the surface is alleviated with a world map when the small settlements and rest stops suited it better. People don't realize that the series wasn't selling the best and people kept wanting them to do something new, updated it despite the last entry doing just fine. With the PS2 they had a reason to experiment and see what they could do or at least, tell a specific story a certain way instead of play it safe. I think if fans had given it a chance they would have returned to what they did best in another entry, yet they forget Capcom shuts IP down that don't sell.
@@blumiu2426 Friendly reminder to boost your point, BOF3 Is considered the 'golden goose' of the series. It also was on a single disk and competed against games like FF7 sort of. But even it I think just barely crossed a million worldwide or something like that. I don't think DQ did even that. But then again, I have a story... I remember trying to buy this game before emulation. It was so fucking hard. I am in a part of America where it is smaller and games are just not that huge here. Trying to play DQ for the first time was an experience, until I had scratched the top. So, I spent a while to find one. Fast forward about a year and a half later and during my last year or so of braces, I found one copy at a gamestop that just happened to have it (where I went to the dentist, I often took a 2 hour drive to get there because my town did not have a braces dentist or whatever.) I got it, and I beat it. I never forget that I ended up getting a d ratio of like, 1/4098 or something close. I thought that meant I Had to beat the game 7 more times or something to get the 'dragon quarter'. I loved it, it was like Demon Souls. However, unlike Demon Souls (which saw success for its difficulty.). Dragon Quarter...did not. I can kind of get why. Fans looked at it and it was way different then other RPGS. You either went turn based like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, or you went real time like Elder Scrolls...never this 'awkward' combination of both. People want to use the dragon form, until they realize it kills them so that was probably a huge deal breaker. The story is one of those thing you love or hate.I actually loved it because of how dark it was, despite the things you have to find out in multiple playthroughs such as... 1. Nina is a government experimented, a literal slave with too low of a D-Ratio in the future caste system to give a shit about. She used to be able to speak, but looks like the doctors removed that from her. 2. Trinity is technically a terrorist organization, but only in the sense that the games politics are not black and white since we see Cupid visit Mebeth and it seems as if he personally knows Elyon. So they are somewhere between freedom fighters like revolutionaries and actual terrorists. 3. Probably the most interesting thing. Dover exists. How and why? Well, if you somehow manage to beat Kokon Horay, it just seems to be chilling with these metal rods protruding out of the body. You also see these same rods in the dead corpse of Odjn, so it is likely they are the same material. And considering Bio-Corp did have Odjn's corpse just lying around after 1000 years or so.... I can only conclude the War on the Surface was so bad, that the dragons that did survive (the few that we see) were likely too mortally wounded to continue on or found hosts to continue their legacy with. Dovor however, was the first. He did not have a host. And it is definitely odd in hindsight. But it is part of hte mystery. You can either call this a plot hole, or a lore piece that you can theorize about. Take your pick. Also, as for the 'samey' look you mentioned in passing, I have to admit, it is kind of annoying. I have been high replaying this and sometimes the dungeons just look too samey and I get loss in lol. The obvious answer is "well they are all underground and they probably reuse materials!" which, okay fair enough but the game's design is very samey. And it is not like a roguelike where the dungeons will be randomly generated, no the DQ dungeons are made by hand, so if you speedrun this game, it is not unusual to just run through it because of what it's layout is, floor per floor. Anyway, yeah fans did not like this game. I think it has a use case alongside 3 and 4 to be studied. I think 3 and 4 have more traditional story RPG elements a game developer, or wannabe one like me can enjoy. 5 doesn't have that. For better or worse, the story is fairly simple, just layered. And 5 is best studied on the gameplay and atmosphere front, ironically. Also one last thing. Yeah fans often want a game to be 'innovative' until it is not. I mean, Elden Ring is basically Demon Souls 5 or 6 or whatever I stopped counting and gamers still eat it up. Dragon Quarter is a cautionary tale of game design over-ambition. Just because you made a unique, well balanced game, does not mean it will sell well. It sucks, but it is a fact of life. People do not like change, especially with things they like, such as a gaming franchise..
@@blumiu2426 Reading comprehension must be optional today, I siad "Should have" and with proper use of funds and so on- they could make something on par with the quality. Everything is not about high quality realistic animations, they themselves are saying that FF15 and 16 didn't do well as do many of the fans. But for example Persona doesn't have these issues and is doing well to the point that Square even acknowledged them multiple times. They could of had to capability to be as good imo. weather you agree or not.
As much hate that dragon quarter gets, its one of a kind and one of the most memorable games I have played. I originally tried to beat as a kid but gave up and went back to it 10 years later and finally beat after learning the mechanics and appreciating it. So in a sense this game kinda represents the growth and maturity I had experienced myself.
i bounced off hard from this game. The jump in difficulty, the stark departure in world and tone, how the whole D-ratio worked and how the game expected the player to replay a few times... none of that jived with me.
Sounds like a fascinating game that, yeah probably shouldn't have been called Breath of Fire. I'd try it if the franchise weren't dead and gone. As for the video itself? It's the fifth or seventh video I've watched on this channel, and I think it's going somewhere. The channel, not the video. Hopefully. In before 3k! Let's see where this ride goes from here!
Sorry, but no, you're WRONG. Good game, bad game, weird and interesting game, it doesn't matter because THIS is NOT Breath of Fire. I don't care what the director's vision was, whether it was good or bad or poorly executed, when you make a game in a series, you have an obligation TO that series, to not fuck it up. Innovation is one thing, but completely ripping up the formula and doing your own thing is UNACCEPTABLE. MAYBE Dragon Quarter stands on its own merits and tells its own story. I'm mature enough to admit there's even a good chance that it does, but that does not matter because it is wearing Breath of Fire's skin and pretending to be something it is clearly NOT. You can't advertise a steak dinner and then serve veggie burgers while telling everyone, "Well it's still food and WE call it steak!"
You know the guy that directed Dragon quarter also directed 3 and 4? And is the main writer of every game since 2? Look you might disagreed, but he had more rights to change the series to his liking than anyone else
@@rudidellama3718 And we, the fans, have every right to tell him this isn't what we wanted and to reject it based on that. It doesn't matter HOW good it is, if it's not what we wanted and what we expected, we're not going to like it!
@@anthonyseeger3458 Cant really say that killed the franchised since we never got a official reason; Dragon Quarter could've being a traditional Breath of Fire and still died, honestly I put the blame more on Capcom than anything else
i just want this franchise to get a fucking remaster , like why is 3 and 4 not on ps5 for the psp and ps1 games ? it would be so nice if they just budled all of them on one consle . maybe they could just reboot it all togather and give the it so dam love. fuck capcom u can remake resdient evil forever but u cant bring back ur one rpg u own.
A game well over a decade ahead of its time, and would be celebrated as a classic had it been released in the '10s. A game that manages to still feel modern in the '20s and I'll never forgive the BoF fanbase for complaining about it so hard it killed the franchise because not only is it the best BoF game, it's one of the best games of all time and deserved *so much more* than to be lambasted for not being yet another ultra-mega-traditional copy/paste of a formula that hadn't changed for 4 games straight (that's an exaggeration, of course the series evolved as it went on, but something about "it's a great game, just not a good Breath of Fire game" really grinds my gears, because as you say, not only was it the director's vision, but it's quite possibly the *most* Breath of Fire game). Since you asked for feedback, I thought you did one of my favorite games justice. I see a lot of your older videos are shorter, and I really hope you continue to embrace this longer-form content. It's hard to do a game justice in less than an hour and this length lets you really did into the game. This one even could have been longer, I'd have loved to see you expand on the differences you see in further playthroughs as your d-ratio gets higher.
If this game was released as its own thing, I'd have no complaints. I might even like it. But as long as you're wearing Breath of Fire's clothes, that comes with certain expectations that it UTTERLY failed to meet. You don't get to come along and just say what Breath of Fire SHOULD be and unilaterally change it, then expect fans of the original four to just be fine with those changes. Neither you, nor the director, are entitled to unquestioning support from the fans. YOU DO NOT KNOW BETTER than the people who loved the series for what it was.
PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DO A REVIEW OF OTHER GAMES IN THE SERIES THERES NOT A TON OF NICE CRITICAL VIDEOS ON IT PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE-
31:27 THIS was the worst offender that made me NOPE this game when it came out, despite having loved 3 and 4... Make it cost resources, even a ton, but don't limit it... 😕
When I was a kid I didn’t have much money for games but manage to buy this one thinking it’s a long RPG title like it’s previous games. Such a sad waste of money.
So you tube recomended me this vid just now. Prize be the almighty algorithm. *sees the mouse avie* So is this Cancer Mouse YT channel when it isn't bothering CV11?
Yo, your thumbnail has the same line, the same logo placement, and even the same goddamn font as MandaloreGaming. You just slapped on a gradient for the line, moved the logo a bit to the left, and added bold to the font. Cmon my dude.
As a fan of the BoF series I didn't touched the fifth game until a few games ago. Jumped right in without reading any info except for the D-Counter/D-Ratio and SOL system. Instantly decided to get through without any retries/restarts and without using the dragon power. It took me around 17-20 realtime hours (I sped up some combat animations because they are too long sometimes) to get to the final boss with around 23-25% D-Counter.
It was no easy walk since I meticulosly vaccumed all rooms for items, chests and enemies, made frequent trips back to ID and sell equipment instead of throwing it away. I also invested a lot into the fairy village and was prized with chance to buy some nice extra combat skills and Bara shields for every character, which cut half of all incoming damage (very helpful and not that pricey for 15k each). Carefully calculating my moves, dropping lures and bombs at right spots, building up right equipment and skill sets before every battle took a lot of time and mental effort. This game is not a dungeon crawler, JRPG or a rougelike, but a very obfuscated puzzle piece.
Really enjoyed the game, despite it's nervousness. If you take a calm approach and just never use dragon force, the D-Counter becomes not unimportant. However the changes to the gameplay and setting are so extreme, that it is not surprising that Breath of Fire series just literally died with fifth installation and Capcom was unable to revive it till this day.
It's another "weird thing" about this game that Ryu, who is normally silent and...kind of a reactive protagonist if we are honest with ourselves, is more active in this game and now can speak.
Meanwhile, Nina, who tends to be very pro-active and talkative in other BoF games is suddenly an almost mute girl, and while definitely carrying her weight and being active in some scenes, she's more getting led along by Ryu on their way to the surface.
I remember hyping this game to my friends before it got released. A friend actually bought it when it released but the next day he came over to my place and asked if I wanted to buy it from him, saving him the buss money to return it to the gamestop. Needless to say, he could not jive with it. I bought it off him and it became one of my favorite RPGs on the PS2.
Quoting the whole thing because this needs to be engraved somewhere.
"How do you feel about turning into a dragon? Oh you like the power fantasy? Have you ever thought about the consequences? Maybe turning into a dragon is a bad thing!"
This is such a great distillation of what you were saying. Alienating the fanbase by pursuing a more thought-provoking project. Elevating the work above and _out of_ its ostensible purpsose. Not evil or wicked or bad or a lie, just no longer what it was.
I have never played Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals. I, like many others, spat at it from such a distance that I could not comprehend what it *was,* only what it _wasn't._ And I feel bad that the Lufia series is dead, like I helped kill it.
I enjoyed this review a lot, it was well done. This is a game which really needed the emphasis on atmosphere that you gave it. Holding off on the restart mechanics was well paced, I knew a little bit and was kind of uncomfortably anticipating it a couple times but that's not a complaint. You used it well to expand on the experience. I was moved by your storytelling during the final boss.
Thank you!
Thank you for making the video. I loved breath of fire one and two as a kid, but didn't play 3-4 because I owned a N64. As an adult, when I bought the PS2, I was overjoyed at the tone of dragon quarter, and loved playing it, but saw at the time that not very many people were even picking it up. Now, it's nice to see a video on this forgotten game that served as the capstone on the series, and your experiences with it.
Regarding the difficulty and limited inventory, yes it was partially inspired by Resident Evil but the main source was actually an NES game that inspired Resident Evil made by Capcom. The game is Sweet Home, a horror survival rpg based on the movie of the same name. Each party member had one item slot with an item that defined their role. You could and have to split your members up to solve puzzles and such while considering who to bring together. It was a challenging game but with mechaincs that was tight in design.
I like this video. This is my first time seeing your work. It's probably inspired me more than any media I've seen to want to maybe try this at some point.
Hope that helps!
The best Dragon Quarter review I seen so far
This game would probably have gotten compared to roguelikes if they had been as mainstream genre back then and probably been slightly easier to accept for critics and fans :O Either way wild that to see full story, its assumed you fail and be forced to restart
Thank you for making this. I was so mad at this game for ending one of my favorite childhood series, but as an old fart I'm open to exploring what was once left unseen. Honestly though, seeing the few snippets of the older games makes me want to replay them, so I might just do that!
I remember hearing about this game and it's dragon% mechanic ages ago, always wondered about what it was like. Thank you for filling in a pothole in my past.
Man, hearing the name Shadow of Rome brings me back. The arena fights in that game were insanely fun.
To me it's Chaos Legion... God there was so much good about Chaos Legion that got ignored... ~_~
Solid video :D definitely the kind of content I enjoy. I remember playing this game when it came out. Having loved the previous entries I was excited… but quickly turned off. I’m really glad you took the time to go through this game in detail, so thank you :)
i had a friend growing up into this game i completely understood him when he said this is a great game but not a good breath of fire game i got into it at 3 and played the first two afterwords then i played this i thought it was a good game but i agreed with him its nota a breath of fire game
This was one of those games I rented on the weekend several times, and it became probably my favorite RPG on the PS2. Such a weird, bleak world, totally tonally different from every BoF game that came before it, filled with unconventional and barely explained mechanics. It's amazing that it even exists.
For what it's worth I thought this was an excellent video. BoF is a broad blind spot for me and this made me want to play this one in particular despite now knowing what its lategame looks like, entirely because you expressed the game's tension points and vibe so well.
Never heard of this game or series before in my life, but your video was wonderfully paced and I felt like I was experiencing the ups and downs of the plot with you. Don't get yourself down, this was quality content.
I played this when it released and made it to the elevator and the fight with transformed Bosch but maxed the D-gauge and failed. It left an impression on me, getting so close to the surface but failing at the penultimate fight. My game disk broke in half somehow and I never got another chance at it so it is cool seeing how it turned out here.
somehow 👀
I love dragon quarter. Good work 👏. I wish we had a remake or remaster to play.
This was actually the last game i ever bought on the ps2, and what a banger to end on. I'm sorry that i wana say 70% of the hate was thrown by Breaht of fire fans who wanted more of the same but this was such a great game, and it aged soo wonderfully too
This is dang good analysis. Thank you for making this video!
BoF DQ has the same issue that Chrono Cross did... solid games on their own that would have been much MUCH better received and liked had they not used loved brands/IPs and instead came out as a new IP/name.
This game has so much nostalgia for me, I've never completed it as a kid, but I love it nonetheless.
I am a simple ferret: I see Fuzzy Key review a game and I watch the review.
No furries here. Go away
Yeah This is Scalies territory. Go away furry
For those who might be interested in this game I would recommend watching the 100% speedrun of the game and keep a eye on the gauge.
For those who may wanna know more about the series it comes from then check out breath of fire 4 & 5. Then the earlier games if you like the style. Would also recommend checking out suikoden 1-5 too. Preferably 1, 2, & 5
I think you meant BOF 3 & 4, Dragon Quarter here is the 5th...
Bro , i realized 20min into the video that this was not mandalore gaming 😮 good video
For me, it was the limited saves that killed the game for me as I couldn't play for very long stretches of time back in the day so the available saves just were not enough for me to ever be able to clear the game.
you can save & quit anytime you want, at least you can in some versions
I'm starting to think I dont know how to Pronounce Borch.
I'm not watching you because you know how to pronounce stuff
You know what this was kind of cool to see a dragon quarter video I absolutely love this game for its kind of cyberpunk dystopia I feel this game is a little underrated
@@mak4715 you should hear him say Ramen 😂
Bosch?
In my top ten favorite games of all time.
Never heard about this game, but Jane Doe's dad is cooking with the editing
love the shadow hearts reference.
Oh yeah, I've been waiting for this one
It's so odd that this game would've been praised now by its audience if it came out now. Sure it still has elements about it that people wouldn't like but that can be said for other titles that was lucky enough to come out at the right time. Dragon Quarter sadly was ahead of it's time
Love this and Chaos Legion 🙌😁 looking forward to your PE2 video
Ryu was extremely likable in this game. I love how he was very normal and kind. He’s just trying to do right. Nina is adorable and her story breaks my heart. I played this game when I was a lonely teen so I was able to look past the time sink but now I would be very frustrated at the unrealistic expectations.
2:58 That is exactly the two seconds you'd want to post of Chaos Legion to show what it's all about. Because Blasphemy's Assist is just too good to not use.
Holy shit! Thanks for this!
this game, eppesically with the widescreen hack on PC with higher textures *not screen stretch*
the rougelist 100 floor dungeon at the bottom is one of my favorite rpg expreinces of all time, people didn't give this game a shot it has to be playyed way different than a normal game
🤨🤨🤨
...proofread before posting, please
Well worth the wait! This is like a delicious cheese to chew on during meal time, indeed
I really loved Dragon Quarter, such an underated gem. It was mindblowing to realize that this game was released in 2002, yet it aged way better than Shin megami tensei Nocturne(2003) and Persona 3(2006)., the devs truly nailed dungeon crawlers in their first attemp.
it's a shame that no one has tried to evolve and expand its concept, it has a lot of potential.
Would say that but age pretty nicely
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter is a game that I think needs a full on remake
I loved this weird game. New game plus and finding out there were more cutscenes on a restart
I've always been of the opinion that this should've be the start of its own series.
A Mega man X to Mega man, type of thing. I figured that's why it Dropped the "5" from its western release.
It had the 5 here in EU.
The whole concept/design of the game is something that alienates most people. Roguelikes and similar games is a concept a lot of people don't really understand and won't try to understand. RE4 turning into more of a TPS is still easy to understand and get into. It's a real shame that people didn't try to understand the game.
basicly filthy casuals were too afraid to try this game
@@robertnomok9750 The previous BoF games were easy (especially 4) while this one actually challenges the players and does new things. Saying that, the previous games were pretty casual so the newest game not being that would alien a lot of the audience. It's not what the core audience of the series wanted.
@@dallahan7879 Sure but that is a sad thing. Im bored to death with bof3 and rest of them aint better. DQ on the other hand is one of the few games I replayed 10+ times.
Even back then. I had so many cookie cutter JRPGs on my brly that this game blew me away. Still one of my favorites.
Japanese agreed as they have good taste too and want something new.
Sadly the west did not agree and wanted more medieval grasslands fantasy.
Great video! can easily see how it could have been 30 minutes longer
You profile pics attracted me to this review 😊
If they didn't call it breath of fire, and also released it on pc instead of consoles, I think it would have done so much better. Breath of fire players were expecting a jrpg, and console gamers were not used to rogue like games. I think this is really what killed it. I personally love it, but even I was disappointed that BoF V wasn't a cute sprite based 2d rpg.
I friggin hated this game. I'm glad you played through it so I could see what it was supposed to be. Seeing how it was supposed to go totally validates me dropping the game. This is not what I look for in a Breath of Fire game.
I owned this game and never beat it because it didn't feel like the other Breath Of FIre games. Now i regret not knowing where the hell it got off to.
Dragon Quarter epitomizes the phrase: "It's a good game, it's just not a good xxxx game."
I sincerely think Dragon Quarter was a better game than anything else in the Breath of Fire series, and it affected me more strongly and I went back to it more often than any of the others. But I can absolutely understand why someone who was a fan of BoF 1-4, and wanted another game like that, would hate Dragon Quarter.
Best survive rpg game
and you kinda glossed over the main reason why this game can be cheesed to hell and back... the caveat of that extra exp mechanic
Once you "die" you can opt to start over and take a portion of the exp with you... push as far as you can go and berserk yourself into a game-over and the next run you start with SO much exp you can lvl your main char into oblivion and just kill any and all bosses with your basic attack no problem. The only times you need your dragon form is to kill 2 bosses as they remain on 1 hp if you don't use your dragon form.
It's a fun game but the devs obviously didn't think to much on what would happen when a player familiar with NG+ mechanics would play this game if they include that NG+ system as part of the core mechanic because you can save ALL of that exp up for a devastating NG+ (It carries over between runs too).
Step 1: on your first run don't spend any of that extra exp AT ALL
Step 2: get as far as you can
Step 3: NG+
Step 4: repeat steps 1~4 until you're sick of it
Step 5: Dump all that exp into Ryn on your next game
Step 6: congrats, the game is now laughably easy to the point I killed the final boss with 1 basic attack at 0.01% counter
Well yea if you wanna cheese it because you cant learn the mechanics go ahead bud
No one forces you to do it. You can win at the first try and without ant farm. But for other people who likes meta progression you have that as well
I think the biggest issue of this game... Was not informing people about new game plus.
I had played it when it first came out and I just got frustrated trying to get past the 'death clock' where I started trying to maximize my turns and actions trying to race the clock to reach the surface growing ever more frustrated trying to figure out how anyone was supposed to beat the game...
Only for years later to then be told you were supposed to lose and that let you start New Game Plus... To carry over your stats and stuff...
Rather than trying to finish the entire story in a single run.
It was than single run mentality and the fact I didn't know about New Game plus that made me despise the game as I thought you only had one run and that new game plus was locked behind being able to beat the game.
tbf you **can** beat it in a single run, its unlikely to do so if its the first time you've ever played the game but its not actually impossible. (Naturally, If you already experienced with the game then beating it in a single run on a clean save is almost a cakewalk)
We love a rat that knows how to game
I think the zooming effect during combat is supposed to give every hit some weight with as limited animation as possible. I mean it kiiiiiinda works, but the zooming is so intense that it doesn't convey the weight of combat and can trigger motion sickness and headaches. Its way too sudden and hard.
The restart system is basically a forced new game+.
You should return to this when you get 1/4 and unlock the full story.
Kinda rough that it takes so much work to do that though.
Eh I feel like it was more of a 70-30 split
with the 70 being the fans who hated this and the 30 people who liked it.
I think Dragon quarter should of been it's own separate media and Breath of fire should of stuck
to it's similar formula. I miss having my three party members running together on screen- overworld abilities that were more than just
boxes, more unique party members, cities and towns and cultures! BOF should of been on par with FF and I'd love for a comeback- where they can get
more modern ala shadow hearts but not too out there. I think that was the problem. Now the problem is getting the company to EXPLORE the series and make new
titles.
"Should have", not "should of" 😉
Breath of Fire was never on the same scale as Final Fantasy, you are deluded if you think that. Capcom stuck to 2D where Square was pushing 3D. Final Fantasy really never stayed the same and had fans complain with many entries for that reason. Granted never anything big or changed battle system much until they did. Sometimes it wasn't that bad and then we got FFXIII. Capcom will never try and compete in JRPGs again, not without making it another ARPG that does what everything else does on the market; meaning it won't be Breath of Fire. Look at that mobile game they did.
Shadow Hearts killed itself with To the New World, a truly crap entry and bastardization of what that series was supposed to be. Covenant strayed enough but still kept to feeling the same, but not that last entry.
Dragon Quarter was going 3D and wanted to try something new. I liked it from someone that played most the games except first one at that time. I didn't like it because it was so hard at first and quit twice, but came right back. DQ took the approach due to the setting. You talk about exploring towns and such, but that's on the surface, you're in a subterranean world. People would complain seeing much of the same thing and wouldn't feel confined. The tension of trying to make it to the surface is alleviated with a world map when the small settlements and rest stops suited it better.
People don't realize that the series wasn't selling the best and people kept wanting them to do something new, updated it despite the last entry doing just fine. With the PS2 they had a reason to experiment and see what they could do or at least, tell a specific story a certain way instead of play it safe. I think if fans had given it a chance they would have returned to what they did best in another entry, yet they forget Capcom shuts IP down that don't sell.
@@blumiu2426 Friendly reminder to boost your point, BOF3 Is considered the 'golden goose' of the series. It also was on a single disk and competed against games like FF7 sort of. But even it I think just barely crossed a million worldwide or something like that. I don't think DQ did even that. But then again, I have a story...
I remember trying to buy this game before emulation. It was so fucking hard. I am in a part of America where it is smaller and games are just not that huge here. Trying to play DQ for the first time was an experience, until I had scratched the top. So, I spent a while to find one.
Fast forward about a year and a half later and during my last year or so of braces, I found one copy at a gamestop that just happened to have it (where I went to the dentist, I often took a 2 hour drive to get there because my town did not have a braces dentist or whatever.)
I got it, and I beat it. I never forget that I ended up getting a d ratio of like, 1/4098 or something close. I thought that meant I Had to beat the game 7 more times or something to get the 'dragon quarter'. I loved it, it was like Demon Souls. However, unlike Demon Souls (which saw success for its difficulty.).
Dragon Quarter...did not. I can kind of get why. Fans looked at it and it was way different then other RPGS. You either went turn based like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, or you went real time like Elder Scrolls...never this 'awkward' combination of both. People want to use the dragon form, until they realize it kills them so that was probably a huge deal breaker. The story is one of those thing you love or hate.I actually loved it because of how dark it was, despite the things you have to find out in multiple playthroughs such as...
1. Nina is a government experimented, a literal slave with too low of a D-Ratio in the future caste system to give a shit about. She used to be able to speak, but looks like the doctors removed that from her.
2. Trinity is technically a terrorist organization, but only in the sense that the games politics are not black and white since we see Cupid visit Mebeth and it seems as if he personally knows Elyon. So they are somewhere between freedom fighters like revolutionaries and actual terrorists.
3. Probably the most interesting thing. Dover exists. How and why? Well, if you somehow manage to beat Kokon Horay, it just seems to be chilling with these metal rods protruding out of the body. You also see these same rods in the dead corpse of Odjn, so it is likely they are the same material. And considering Bio-Corp did have Odjn's corpse just lying around after 1000 years or so.... I can only conclude the War on the Surface was so bad, that the dragons that did survive (the few that we see) were likely too mortally wounded to continue on or found hosts to continue their legacy with. Dovor however, was the first. He did not have a host. And it is definitely odd in hindsight. But it is part of hte mystery. You can either call this a plot hole, or a lore piece that you can theorize about. Take your pick.
Also, as for the 'samey' look you mentioned in passing, I have to admit, it is kind of annoying. I have been high replaying this and sometimes the dungeons just look too samey and I get loss in lol. The obvious answer is "well they are all underground and they probably reuse materials!" which, okay fair enough but the game's design is very samey. And it is not like a roguelike where the dungeons will be randomly generated, no the DQ dungeons are made by hand, so if you speedrun this game, it is not unusual to just run through it because of what it's layout is, floor per floor.
Anyway, yeah fans did not like this game. I think it has a use case alongside 3 and 4 to be studied. I think 3 and 4 have more traditional story RPG elements a game developer, or wannabe one like me can enjoy. 5 doesn't have that. For better or worse, the story is fairly simple, just layered. And 5 is best studied on the gameplay and atmosphere front, ironically.
Also one last thing. Yeah fans often want a game to be 'innovative' until it is not. I mean, Elden Ring is basically Demon Souls 5 or 6 or whatever I stopped counting and gamers still eat it up. Dragon Quarter is a cautionary tale of game design over-ambition.
Just because you made a unique, well balanced game, does not mean it will sell well. It sucks, but it is a fact of life. People do not like change, especially with things they like, such as a gaming franchise..
@@alessandrobaggi6129
Yes cause people are coming to youtube comments for prefect grammar, Let me roll my eyes at your stupidity 9.9
@@blumiu2426 Reading comprehension must be optional today, I siad "Should have" and with proper use of funds and so on- they could make something on par with the quality.
Everything is not about high quality realistic animations, they themselves are saying that FF15 and 16 didn't do well as do many of the fans.
But for example Persona doesn't have these issues and is doing well to the point that Square even acknowledged them multiple times. They could of had to capability to be as good imo. weather you agree or not.
What game is that at 52:11?
As much hate that dragon quarter gets, its one of a kind and one of the most memorable games I have played. I originally tried to beat as a kid but gave up and went back to it 10 years later and finally beat after learning the mechanics and appreciating it. So in a sense this game kinda represents the growth and maturity I had experienced myself.
i bounced off hard from this game. The jump in difficulty, the stark departure in world and tone, how the whole D-ratio worked and how the game expected the player to replay a few times... none of that jived with me.
Underappreciated game 👏
Sounds like a fascinating game that, yeah probably shouldn't have been called Breath of Fire. I'd try it if the franchise weren't dead and gone.
As for the video itself? It's the fifth or seventh video I've watched on this channel, and I think it's going somewhere. The channel, not the video. Hopefully.
In before 3k! Let's see where this ride goes from here!
Sorry, but no, you're WRONG. Good game, bad game, weird and interesting game, it doesn't matter because THIS is NOT Breath of Fire. I don't care what the director's vision was, whether it was good or bad or poorly executed, when you make a game in a series, you have an obligation TO that series, to not fuck it up. Innovation is one thing, but completely ripping up the formula and doing your own thing is UNACCEPTABLE.
MAYBE Dragon Quarter stands on its own merits and tells its own story. I'm mature enough to admit there's even a good chance that it does, but that does not matter because it is wearing Breath of Fire's skin and pretending to be something it is clearly NOT. You can't advertise a steak dinner and then serve veggie burgers while telling everyone, "Well it's still food and WE call it steak!"
You know the guy that directed Dragon quarter also directed 3 and 4? And is the main writer of every game since 2? Look you might disagreed, but he had more rights to change the series to his liking than anyone else
@@rudidellama3718 And we, the fans, have every right to tell him this isn't what we wanted and to reject it based on that. It doesn't matter HOW good it is, if it's not what we wanted and what we expected, we're not going to like it!
its also killed the fucking franchise and now we will never get another one , or even a remsterd of it cuase capcom hates this franchise.
@@anthonyseeger3458 Cant really say that killed the franchised since we never got a official reason; Dragon Quarter could've being a traditional Breath of Fire and still died, honestly I put the blame more on Capcom than anything else
I'm smoking some dank right now:)
This game was so good which it was rereleased
Really enjoyed your review, so much so got me to subscribe and watch more of your videos, hope you check out the other Breath of Fire titles!
good rat
i just want this franchise to get a fucking remaster , like why is 3 and 4 not on ps5 for the psp and ps1 games ? it would be so nice if they just budled all of them on one consle . maybe they could just reboot it all togather and give the it so dam love. fuck capcom u can remake resdient evil forever but u cant bring back ur one rpg u own.
A game well over a decade ahead of its time, and would be celebrated as a classic had it been released in the '10s. A game that manages to still feel modern in the '20s and I'll never forgive the BoF fanbase for complaining about it so hard it killed the franchise because not only is it the best BoF game, it's one of the best games of all time and deserved *so much more* than to be lambasted for not being yet another ultra-mega-traditional copy/paste of a formula that hadn't changed for 4 games straight (that's an exaggeration, of course the series evolved as it went on, but something about "it's a great game, just not a good Breath of Fire game" really grinds my gears, because as you say, not only was it the director's vision, but it's quite possibly the *most* Breath of Fire game).
Since you asked for feedback, I thought you did one of my favorite games justice. I see a lot of your older videos are shorter, and I really hope you continue to embrace this longer-form content. It's hard to do a game justice in less than an hour and this length lets you really did into the game. This one even could have been longer, I'd have loved to see you expand on the differences you see in further playthroughs as your d-ratio gets higher.
If this game was released as its own thing, I'd have no complaints. I might even like it. But as long as you're wearing Breath of Fire's clothes, that comes with certain expectations that it UTTERLY failed to meet. You don't get to come along and just say what Breath of Fire SHOULD be and unilaterally change it, then expect fans of the original four to just be fine with those changes. Neither you, nor the director, are entitled to unquestioning support from the fans. YOU DO NOT KNOW BETTER than the people who loved the series for what it was.
Video good.
This game was so weird and different compared to the 4th game I think it's one of the main reasons I started smoking pot
PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DO A REVIEW OF OTHER GAMES IN THE SERIES THERES NOT A TON OF NICE CRITICAL VIDEOS ON IT PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE-
Gasp!
Rat!!!!
?
I didn't like dragon quarter. But it was better than the mobile shit
So...... the origins of cancer mouse eh?
31:27 THIS was the worst offender that made me NOPE this game when it came out, despite having loved 3 and 4...
Make it cost resources, even a ton, but don't limit it... 😕
When I was a kid I didn’t have much money for games but manage to buy this one thinking it’s a long RPG title like it’s previous games. Such a sad waste of money.
you have imposter syndrome because you're copying me duh
So you tube recomended me this vid just now. Prize be the almighty algorithm. *sees the mouse avie* So is this Cancer Mouse YT channel when it isn't bothering CV11?
Yo, your thumbnail has the same line, the same logo placement, and even the same goddamn font as MandaloreGaming. You just slapped on a gradient for the line, moved the logo a bit to the left, and added bold to the font. Cmon my dude.
Remove the red line with the word "review" I thought mandalore posted and started watching accidentally.
Oh no… oh no no no no no 😂😂😂😂