Jun 252014
 

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Celebrate 20 years of Breath of Fire with this series-spanning tribute to swords n sorcery.

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  23 Responses to “VGMpire 71 – 20 Years of Breath of Fire”

  1. This is awsome,I did not had any other BOF games other than 4,but it is my favourite,I watched the other 3 (1,2,3) on youtube LP’s 5 was not good,but 4 it is my favourite,I hope another one the same as 4 will come,the same gameplay and graphics,and tactics,and everything the same but to be 6 or at least 7,this will bring more fans,and belive me more buyers for the game,I think another Breath Of Fire game that will be the same as 4 ,will be sold in a astronomic way. A Breath Of Fire 4 dedicated fan from Romania. Cheers to all of you,and let’s hope 6 will not be fu**ed up as 5 was.

  2. I was blown away by this episode. I only knew the BoF series by name and reputation but had actually never played the games, and I think Patrick’s sampling here was really good in showing off how distinct each entry is from each other. I think the tracks from BoF were my favorite style, and now I’m gonna see if I can get my hands on the OST! 😀

    Also, speaking of obscure-ish series with great music… Brett, is there any way I could help to make a Zone of the Enders episode possible? There’s only 3 games in the series to date, but all of them have great stuff in it, and it would be cool if there was a chance to highlight some of it ^^

  3. Oh man. This is one of the episodes I have been hoping to hear since VGMpire started. The Breath of Fire series holds a special place in my heart, as one of the core set of RPGs I owned and played constantly when I was younger and had all the free time in the world. Thanks Brett!

  4. Thanks for your comments, guys! Here are some other recommendations from the OSTs that we couldn’t fit into the podcast, but are amazing tracks in their own right:

    Breath of Fire:
    Beginning of Battle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMd6V2MAqEQ
    Gentle Breeze https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnCgHlaa31s
    Distant View https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MjNq2OmVAs
    Dawn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxDwgHjkacg
    God’s Footprints http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13RI_Ek7KTA

    Breath of Fire II:
    The Destined Child https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cx7XvuohDY
    Clean Hit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRNoLkns2eM
    Breath of Fire (an arrangement of the world map theme from BoF1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrzVR52P7vo
    Cross Counter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9tRW05cfYk
    I’ll Do It https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nwgeqoCsnE
    Memories https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WayxBYsgnmU
    A Whale La-La-La https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qJo_Z13d2A
    What it Takes to be a Hero http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbZmgTVbr_w

    Breath of Fire III:
    Escape https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcaJxnocad8
    Chickens in the Night https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2CiHyDA0RE
    The Insane Warriors https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA66zWdKW-I
    Fighting Man https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSQ7M7ABvXU
    DONDEN http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0sRq3FA-tc
    Angels and Dragons http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20skNvgDTJU
    Battle in the Coming Days http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q6ceQ8DG3U
    Self Determination (Final Battle) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH22URxWlRc

    Breath of Fire IV:
    Song of the Plains http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHasR3ftpUM
    Maybe I’ll Even Buy a Sheep https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqHdBa324RU
    The End and the Beginning III https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pgI4z54pFY

    Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter:
    Ranger HQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OGcFYAO_dA
    Going Out to See the Sky http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01sKW4Rppow
    Formidable Foe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wvsc6vsNCs
    Lowest Sector Borough https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCwXOPbYA1o
    Mid Sector Borough https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnkqCRCNkBM
    Maddening Heart http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F5l4ENimvU

  5. Duuuuuuuuuuuuuude I’ve been looking forward to this since you started this show!

  6. Hooray for new VGMpire! The BoF III music was outstanding. Buying the soundtrack ASAP.

  7. Whoa. This was some great music. I’ve heard that battle theme from the first game before in some “Best RPG Battle Music” list. I loved pretty much everything I heard in this episode. I’ll definitely be checking out these soundtracks further. And maybe I’ll give BOF4 a go sometime. I like going back and playing some good RPGs from the past.

  8. Another series I know nothing about. And another series with some amazing music. I wish I had more time in my day to play all of this. You should have Greg and Patrick on more, they know some deep cuts.

  9. Great ep! I like that you’re having different guests too

  10. Kulikowski and Elston, you BOTH make me feel old! ’95 was when I graduated from high school. Kulikowski, Major props for bringing the in-depth knowledge of BOF. The first track(after the intro) definitely had that Mari Yamaguchi sound; it reminded me a lot of certain levels of Ghouls N’ Ghosts and especially Strider. She has this distinctive style that sounds vaguely atonal; her musical phrases sound more like modernist classical music than J-pop or jazz or any of the other stylistic influences evident in her peers.

    That second track(battle track) definitely took cues from Final Fantasy; it was interesting to hear how the BOF music changed as the series went on.

    Great work, guys!

  11. Well, I’ve been looking for some games to download on my new Wii U, and BoF 2 has some lovely music. Great episode!

  12. You guys are way off on the panflute assessment, however.

    http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/020605/panflute-flowchart.gif

    Zamfir was a filthy liar.

  13. Thanks for another great episode! All of these games have fantastic music I had to listen to the episode more than once! Thanks thanks thanks

  14. Breath of Fire is one of those series that meant a lot to me. Final Fantasy obviously was big, but it was big for practically everyone from that time period, not nearly as many people cared about BoF.

    The very first game magazine I ever picked up was a Gamefan (or something like that) on a family road trip. I didn’t own anything but a Game Boy at the time (…I had found a way to play Breath of Fire 1 through less legitimate means) and inside it had something that sold me on the Playstation completely: A preview of Breath of Fire III. At the time, the 2D sprites on a 3D world looked incredible. Breath of Fire III was one of my first PS1 games, and I played the hell out of it. I loved the characters, the story, the ability to turn into so many different types of dragons!

    BoF4 I actually borrowed from a friend. It looked better and cleaner, but somehow it never grabbed me the same way. I enjoyed it, but I didn’t make my RyuDragonwhatever screen name on AOL because of BoF4, I made it based on BoF3.

    As for Dragon Quarter… obviously it was BoF, so I needed it. Yes, it was weird, and needing to restart a few times upset me, but once I beat it the first time I was so happy to just keep playing through it again and again. When I eventually found out that everyone else thought it was terrible, I felt terrible. Ryu, Lin, and Nina all struggling to reach the surface was a story that mattered to me. I cared about the characters, and hearing that nobody else liked it was kind of rough, so thanks, Patrick, for being the first person to mention Dragon Quarter and have praise to offer it (at least that I’ve ever heard).

  15. Great episode about a series I didn’t really know anything about before now. Will definitely look into the rest of the soundtrack now!

  16. I can’t help but notice that you don’t seem to have even mentioned Breath Of Fire 6.

    There’s even some music up in the ‘Special’ section, although not a lot and none of it seems complete.

    • Part of me would have liked to include either the Breath of Fire 6 “Invitation of the White Dragons” theme or the “Love Herb -AIBO-” sample, as I really enjoy those new tracks, but this was meant more as a celebration of the existing games in the franchise, and there was already a huge challenge in selecting the tunes from 5 games to fit a podcast. BoF6 still has a long way to go, having been delayed to Spring 2015.

      Invitation of the White Dragons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKjpClwiPv0
      Love Herb -AIBO- sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0xxasXK_ZY

      In any case, I do encourage everyone to check out the samples I’ve uploaded on YouTube, they’re pretty good. I’m excited to found out who the composer(s) are for BoF6.

  17. I know this is an older podcast so I don’t know if anyone’s still looking at the comments, but the Jazzy music in Breath of Fire III really reminds me of the music from Radiata Stories for the PS2. That game has a lot of really cool, different Jazzy tracks. The town themes in particular come to mind. Worth checking out if you enjoy the BOF III music.

  18. Just noticed I didn’t have timestamps up for this episode, so I’ll post ’em here:

    00:00:00 “The Dragon Warrior” (Breath of Fire – Yasuaki Fujita)
    00:15:11 “Starting the Journey ~ Breath of Fire” (Breath of Fire – Mari Yamaguchi)
    00:16:29 “Battling” (Breath of Fire – Yasuaki Fujita)
    00:17:59 “Fate” (Breath of Fire – Yasuaki Fujita)
    00:21:13 “Secret City” (Breath of Fire – Yasuaki Fujita)
    00:22:26 “Deep Forest” (Breath of Fire – Yasuaki Fujita)
    00:24:36 “Black Dragon” (Breath of Fire – Yasuaki Fujita)
    00:32:09 “Wanderer” (Breath of Fire II – Yuko Takehara)
    00:33:02 “Dying Corpse” (Breath of Fire II – Yuko Takehara)
    00:34:35 “Left Unspoken” (Breath of Fire II – Yuko Takehara)
    00:38:10 “Our Journey” (Breath of Fire II – Yuko Takehara)
    00:39:36 “Crooked Ladder” (Breath of Fire II – Yuko Takehara)
    00:48:35 “Without a Care” (Breath of Fire III – Akari Kaida)
    00:51:20 “Do Your Best!” (Breath of Fire III – Akari Kaida)
    00:52:54 “People, Cats, Birds & Sea Lice” (Breath of Fire III – Yoshino Aoki)
    01:01:11 “Bastard Sword” (Breath of Fire IV – Yoshino Aoki)
    01:02:37 “And Yet the Merchants Will Go” (Breath of Fire IV – Yoshino Aoki)
    01:05:03 “God of War” (Breath of Fire IV – Yoshino Aoki)
    01:16:28 “Lift” (Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter – Hitoshi Sakimoto)
    01:18:36 “Power Supply Building” (Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter – Hitoshi Sakimoto)
    01:28:44 “Pure Again ~Staff Roll~” (Breath of Fire III – Akari Kaida, Yoshino Aoki)

  19. this episode blew my mind! I am a new listener for the show.
    I played 3 and 4 but for some reason I didnt finish either of them…. that God of war track was epic.

    Love the show thanks <3

  20. Off topic – Master of Monsters – uses the same sound engine as Gauntlet IV, and it’s done by Hayato Matsuo under the supervision of Koichi Sugiyama. It’s amazing, go check it out.
    On the topic. I love the BoF series. BoF III was my first real jrpg and the first game I owned on the PS1.. still is one of my favorites. I think you should have mentioned the similarity of certain BoF III tracks with certain Chrono Trigger tracks (Cedar Woods / Secrets of the Forest). Also, I don’t really care about the soundtracks of the first two games. I think they’re a bit muffled, and really not that interesting.. especially the original game. The second game is much better overall, but still nothing too memorable. The things really pick up in the PS1 era. Endings and Beginnings and A Warring God are among the best pieces of video game music in my opinion. I can’t wait to read those interviews with Yoshino Aoki and Akari Kaida.

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