History YMMV / BreathOfFireDragonQuarter

* FoeYay: Ryu with Bosch.

* TearJerker: Throughout the game, Ryu is forced into confrontations with people he respected, people who were fighting to protect the system that governs the world, and ultimately, all of those deaths are ultimately meaningless. They are fighting to preserve a system that, in many cases, oppresses them and marginalizes them for no other reason than a number they are assigned at birth, a number assigned on criteria that end up being utterly meaningless, as Ryu, by forming a connection with a dragon despite his abysmally low D-Ration, is proof that the very system that the world operates isn't just deeply flawed, but utterly and completely wrong. However, despite all of this, there is no talking these people down. The only way out is through them, and they will throw their lives away fully believing that by supporting this flawed, broken, and ultimately bogus system, they are saving the world. And worse, many will die in despair, fully believing that their failure may doom the world.

* JerkassWoobie [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Destroyer Of Worlds]]: Yeah, Bosch's an entitled jerk, but anyone who's seen all his cutscenes knows this kid is ''severely'' messed up. A particularly disturbing [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHZNUG3BjSg SOL sequence]] shows Bosch killing a Genic five times his size at his father Vexacion's demand - ''before his voice broke.''

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The soundtrack, composed by Creator/HitoshiSakimoto and directed by Creator/YasunoriMitsuda, is one of the few things about the game most people like. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xzf_Ey5th8 Electric Power Building]] has an amazing soundscape, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_5C8JIYmlE Calling from a Distance]] is one of Sakimoto's more unique compositions, with amazing organ and lovely synthed vocals.

* VindicatedByHistory: Reception to the game has warmed up a bit over the years, with people praising its oppressive atmosphere, small-scale plot, innovative NewGamePlus mechanic, memorable soundtrack, and challenging strategic gameplay. Some fans argue that the game was actually a work of genius and simply too ahead of its time.

* ContestedSequel: The game was very controversial on release and remains polarizing; while some people have warmed up to it with time (see VindicatedByHistory below), there's still a split between people who dislike it for radically changing the franchise (including how they handled the dragon mechanic, which is now a dangerous SuperMode that discourages players from using it), and accuse it of being a FranchiseKiller, while others praise it for those same reasons. [[TakeaThirdOption Some think it's a great, interesting game on its own merits but shouldn't have been called Breath of Fire.]]

* VindicatedByHistory: Downplayed. Reception to the game has warmed up a bit over the years, with people praising its oppressive atmosphere, small-scale plot, innovative NewGamePlus mechanic, memorable soundtrack, and challenging strategic gameplay. Some fans argue that the game was actually a work of genius and simply too ahead of its time.

* BrokenBase:
** The game was very controversial on release and remains polarizing; while some people have warmed up to it with time (see VindicatedByHistory below), there's still a split between people who dislike it for radically changing the franchise (including how they handled the dragon mechanic, which is now a dangerous SuperMode that discourages players from using it), and accuse it of being a FranchiseKiller, while others praise it for those same reasons. [[TakeaThirdOption Some think it's a great, interesting game on its own merits but shouldn't have been called Breath of Fire.]]
** Capcom seems to (at least since 2007) semi-officially consider ''Dragon Quarter'' its OldShame as far as the franchise goes -- no promotional material has come out since a few months after its release in Japan; it is the sole game in the franchise never to have had derivative works licensed such as manga or drama albums; it is the sole game never to have had a port from its original system (''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIII'' did have a NoExportForYou PSP re-release and ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV'' did have a Windows port); and all new promotional material for the franchise as a whole (save a re-release of the ''Franchise/BreathOfFire Complete Works'' artbook) has been for ''IV''. This treatment likely is due to the ''badly'' BrokenBase outside of Japan.

* VindicatedByHistory: Somewhat. Reception to the game has warmed a bit over time, with people praising its oppressive atmosphere, small-scale plot, innovative NewGamePlus mechanic, memorable soundtrack, and challenging strategic gameplay. It's to the point that [[http://www.telebunny.net/toastywiki/index.php/Games/BreathOfFireDragonQuarter some]][[http://gamemoir.com/opinions/5-unpopular-games-bold-moves-paid-off/ people]] [[http://www.actionbutton.net/?p=392 argue]] that the game was actually a work of genius and simply too ahead of its time.

* BrokenBase: The game was very controversial on release and remains polarizing; while some people have warmed up to it with time (see VindicatedByHistory below), there's still a split between people who dislike it for radically changing the franchise (including how they handled the dragon mechanic, which is now a dangerous SuperMode that discourages players from using it), and accuse it of being a FranchiseKiller, while others praise it for those same reasons. [[TakeaThirdOption Some think it's a great, interesting game on its own merits but shouldn't have been called Breath of Fire.]]

* JerkassWoobie [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Destroyer Of Worlds]]: Yeah, Bosch's an entitled jerk, but anyone who's seen all his cutscenes knows this kid is ''severely'' messed up. A particularly disturbing SOL sequence shows Bosch killing a Genic five times his size at his father Vexacion's demand - ''before his voice broke.''

GameBreaker: [[GameBreaker/BreathOfFire Has its own page.]]

* GameBreaker:
** The D-Dive ability. Even when taking into account that abusing Ryu's dragon form will eventually cause the D-Counter to rise to 100% and thus end the game, the sheer power behind the dragon form alone is ridiculous. By using the D-Dive sparingly the dragon form can kill any boss in the game, and with the right strategy used, the player can still finish the game with ample percentage left in the D-Counter.
** Alternatively, using the D-Dive to finish fights faster and then, making use of the strange save game mechanic, allowing the Party XP to be carried over (while resetting the D-Dive in the process), and then rinse and repeat, farming large amounts of XP. This can get your characters up to ''at least'' 10 levels over your enemies.
** Lin has an ability ("Shatter!" in the US version) that deals more damage the closer she is to the target. It will easily do damage in the hundreds when she's at a high enough level which is enough to outright kill most enemies.
** There's a minigame with the fairies that allow you to exchange money for two different types of currencies. The idea is you buy low and sell high. One of them has a fairly predictable, but low rate of return. The other is higher risk... But it still follows a fairly predictable up and down curve. As long you check back every 10 minutes, you can earn enough money to max out your credits within an hour.

* CriticalDissonance: Critics generally enjoyed the game and gave it positive reviews. Fan reception, as noted above, was MUCH more mixed, albeit the game's reputation has improved over time as noted below.

** Rin has an ability ("Shatter!" in the US version) that deals more damage the closer she is to the target. It will easily do damage in the hundreds when she's at a high enough level which is enough to outright kill most enemies.

* HoYay: Elyon with Cupid, whom he is implied to have a relationship with.
** And partially the victim of one of two incidents of {{Bowdlerization}} known to have happened with ''Dragon Quarter'', but (compared to the mass censorship in ''IV'') was merely changed to a ''het'' relationship.

* VindicatedByHistory: Somewhat. Reception to the game has warmed a bit over time, with people praising its oppressive atmosphere, small-scale plot, innovative NewGamePlus mechanic, memorable soundtrack, and challenging strategic gameplay. It's to the point that [[http://www.telebunny.net/toastywiki/index.php/Games/BreathOfFireDragonQuarter some]][[http://gamemoir.com/opinions/5-unpopular-games-bold-moves-paid-off/ people]] argue that the game was actually a work of genius and simply too ahead of its time.

* AnticlimaxBoss: Chetyre. One wonders if the real FinalBoss was actually [[spoiler:Dragon-[[HalfHumanHybrid hybrid]] Bosch]] before it. Really, you can't actually lose against Chetyre, unless you don't realize [[spoiler: you're supposed to push your D-ratio to 100%.]]
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The soundtrack, composed by Creator/HitoshiSakimoto and directed by Creator/YasunoriMitsuda, is one of the few things about the game most people like. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xzf_Ey5th8 Electric Power Building]] has an amazing soundscape, and [[https://youtu.be/Y_5C8JIYmlE Calling from a Distance]] is one of Sakimoto's more unique compositions, with amazing organ and lovely synthed vocals.

** Capcom seems to (at least since 2007) semi-officially consider ''Dragon Quarter'' its OldShame as far as the franchise goes--no promotional material has come out since a few months after its release in Japan; it is the sole game in the franchise never to have had derivative works licensed such as manga or drama albums; it is the sole game never to have had a port from its original system (''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIII'' did have a NoExportForYou PSP re-release and ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV'' did have a Windows port); and all new promotional material for the franchise as a whole (save a re-release of the ''Franchise/BreathOfFire Complete Works'' artbook) has been for ''IV''. This treatment likely is due to the ''badly'' BrokenBase outside of Japan.

* FauxSymbolism: Most of the symbolism is from the Kabbalah, including a mockup of the sephirot in its official art with [[http://www.dragon-tear.net/forum/printthread.php?t=7402&page=2&pp=15 appropriate placements]]. Elyon's own name also fits in this imagery set. There's also extensive Christian imagery with several of the regents' names, the name of the org Trinity as well as some other [[http://www.dragon-tear.net/forum/showthread.php?t=7402&page=2 hidden references]].

** There's a minigame with the fairies that allow you to exchange money for two different types of currencies. The idea is you buy low and sell high. One of them has a fairly predictable, but low rate of return. The other is higher risk... but it still follows a fairly predictable up and down curve. As long you check back every 10 minutes, you can earn enough money to max out your credits within an hour.
* HoYay: Elyon with Cupid, whom he is implied to have a relationship with.

* VindicatedByHistory: Somewhat. Reception to the game has warmed a bit over time, with people praising its oppressive atmosphere, small-scale plot, innovative NewGamePlus mechanic, memorable soundtrack, and challenging strategic gameplay. It's to the point that [[http://www.telebunny.net/toastywiki/index.php/Games/BreathOfFireDragonQuarter some]][[http://gamemoir.com/opinions/5-unpopular-games-bold-moves-paid-off/ people]] argue that the game was actually a work of genius and simply too ahead of its time.