History VideoGame / BreathOfFire

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[[caption-width-right:300:Splendid fellows, [[LegacyCharacter all of him]].]]

''VideoGame/BreathOfFire'' is a long-running console EasternRPG series from {{Capcom}}. Each entry can largely be considered a SpiritualSuccessor to the previous entry, with stories that are only tenuously connected and recurring gameplay elements and mythology. Each game features:

* A blue-haired [[TheHero hero]], at first unnamed but later established to be "[[AProtagonistIsRyu Ryu]]," after the Japanese word for "dragon." He always has the ability to change into a dragon, though the mechanics differ from game to game.
* A [[WingedHumanoid winged]] [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses princess]] named Nina. She's always a skilled [[WhiteMagicianGirl mage]] rather than a fighter.
* Worlds where humans live side to side with [[PettingZooPeople anthropomorphic]] moles/dogs/any other animal, as well as the occasional anthropomorphic plant. Bizarrely, they [[HotSkittyOnWailordAction can all interbreed.]]
* Enough psychological drama to make your head spin.
* Laughably bad translations, at least for the first few games.
* Also in the first few games, really, ''really'' weird dungeon design. The first few games had levels that included the inside of a giant robot, the mind of a tree with Alzheimer's and the stomach of an overweight queen (which must be flattened by killing all the monsters that have infested it). Yes, really.
* ''Lots'' of {{Eldritch Abomination}}s for monsters. Generally speaking, you'll start out against the usual monster fare with some differences and, by the end, you'll be taking on giant pulsating brains with fangs or giant demons with multiple, draconic-headed tentacle-like appendages coming out of every part of their body.
* A connected storyline between games, albeit separated by hundreds or even thousands of years at a time, though only for the first three games. There's still some arguments about the fourth, mostly over whether it comes first or last in the series, and [[AllThereInTheManual the game's official artbook]] states that the fifth is not connected, story-wise, to the others.
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!!The games are as follows:

* The original game, ''VideoGame/{{Breath of Fire|I}}'', focuses on Ryu's quest to save his sister and the world from BigBad Zog, who aims to release Tyr, a goddess of temptation and strife. It was localized by SquareSoft rather than Capcom, the game's makers, resulting in a translation that really wasn't as bad as it could have been. However, Square's translators changed a lot of names seemingly at random, making some of the connections between games vague.
* [[VideoGame/BreathOfFireII The second game]] features Ryu as a young boy who, after nodding off to sleep one morning, finds his family has vanished and no one else recognizes him. Flash to adulthood, where Ryu must clear his buddy's name after he is caught breaking inside a vault. Seems like small potatoes, but it gradually unravels a big-time conspiracy involving the world-spanning Church of St. Eva, which has some massive evil plans, indeed. While the translation was rather shoddy, a high-quality [[http://www.romhacking.net/translations/1384/ fan translation]] exists.
* [[VideoGame/BreathOfFireIII The third game]] is the series' first foray onto the PlayStation and into 3D. We once again follow Ryu as he ages from a child to an adult, eventually learning he is the [[TheChosenOne savior]] of his people, the Brood. Once again, the game's antagonist is a religious figure.
* [[VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV The fourth game]] has a switching POV: moving back and forth between a new Ryu's journey to discover his lost memories and the resurrected GodEmperor Fou-Lu's quest to regain his empire. It is significantly darker than its predecessors: focusing very much on the political tension between two nations, the relationship between humans and gods and [[DespairEventHorizon the process]] by which a WellIntentionedExtremist can become an outright villain.
* The fifth game, known as VideoGame/BreathOfFireDragonQuarter, is the only one for the PlayStation 2, and a radical departure for the series, both in gameplay and setting. Ryu attempts to escape a grimy, DieselPunk-inspired [[BeneathTheEarth underground civilization]] with Nina in tow, despite the surface world being declared off-limits. Standing in their way is Bosch, Ryu's ex-partner and bona fide ImplacableMan. Interestingly, the story is a little bit different [[NewGamePlus every time]] you start over.
* Capcom announced in August 2013 that a 6th installment of the series is coming out in 2014. Unlike the others, it will be released for smartphone, tablets, and Windows [=PCs=]. While it's up in the air about the multiplayer online features, Capcom has stated there's a cross-platform feature that allows one to save and resume across multiple platforms.

A manga adaptation of the fourth game of the series was recently produced by Comic Blade Avarus (the final chapter was published in January 2010, with the final volume compilation printed 10 May 2010) and has been licensed in French and Chinese.

Also notable about the series is Capcom's apparent "[[TheUnfavorite hate]]" of the series, being one of the few (and most prominent) to not appear in the CapcomVsWhatever line.

The [[Characters/BreathOfFire character sheet]] is up and running; please put any character-related tropes there.

Not to be confused with Adron e'Kieron's Breath of Fire Battallion (light cavalry, all of whom are powerful sorcerers) in ''[[Literature/{{Dragaera}} Five Hundred Years After]]''.

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!!This series provides examples of:

* AcronymAndAbbreviationOverload: The first two games in particular suffered from this quite heavilly.
* AllInARow
* AllThereInTheManual: In the case of ''IV'' and (to a slightly lesser extent) ''DQ'', a fair amount of the world's background info only exists in the Official Works artbooks.
** The first game has also a timeline detailing most of its backstory, from the origin of the universe to the current in-game war.
* AlternateUniverse: Two, possibly three, universes exist as follows:
** ''I-III'' are canonically in the same universe, [[NonLinearSequel separated by hundreds if not thousands of years per game.]]
** ''Dragon Quarter'' is (per [[WordOfGod Word Of Capcom]]) in an AlternateUniverse unrelated to other games.
** The position of ''IV'' is best described as controversial.[[note]]Arguments for AlternateUniverse, AlternateContinuity, and two separate arguments for being in the "I-III Verse" (as both {{Sequel}} and [[AnachronicOrder Prequel]]) have all been made by the fandom. No [[WordOfGod Word Of Capcom]] exists as to which is the correct interpretation, either.[[/note]]
* AmericanKirbyIsHardcore: The box cover art in ''I'' and ''II''. Mind you, the Ryu in ''I'' could give Conan a run for his money.
* AProtagonistIsRyu: A textbook example, and quite likely a co-Trope Namer with [[StreetFighter a certain other Ryu in another Capcom franchise]].
* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: ''II'' and ''III'' are the prime offenders; the rest of the series averts this trope.
* ArtShift: All art in the series is don by Tatsuya Yoshikawa (who also did character designs for Devil May Cry 4), but starting with ''III'' the art makes a break from large-eyed, colorful characters draped with jewel-encrusted clothes, to characters with smaller, more natural faces, muted colors, and a greater emphasis on a UsedFuture look.
* BackFromTheDead: Tyr/Myria in ''I'' and ''III''; thought KilledOffForReal in ''I'', came BackFromTheDead in ''III''.
** Arguably Fou-lu in ''IV'', but more of an explicit subversion of KingInTheMountain.
* BelligerentSexualTension:
** Rei and Momo in ''III''.
** The manga adaptation of ''I'' turns Ryu and Nina into something like this.
* BigBad:
** ''I'': Zog appears to be this at first, but it turns out that [[spoiler:Tyr/Myria]] was the one pulling the strings.
** ''II'': [[spoiler:Deathevan, the spawn of the previous BigBad, and deity of the religious movement.]]
** ''III'': [[spoiler:Myria reprises her role, but is painted in a far more sympathetic light this time around.]]
** ''IV'': GodEmperor Fou-lu, the EvilCounterpart of protagonist Ryu. [[spoiler:Turns out he really isn't that bad at all. Lord Yuna, however, more [[MadScientist than]] [[ManipulativeBastard qualifies]] for the role, the [[KarmaHoudini bastard]].]]
** ''Dragon Quarter'': [[spoiler:Bosch and Chetyre appear to be equal contenders for the title, but most would probably go with the latter.]]
* BigCreepyCrawlies: All over. Giant cockroaches, giant ants, giant ''humanoid'' bees, giant ''humanoid'' flies, giant ''fire-breathing'' leeches, etc.
* BilingualBonus: In ''III'', the names of the ghosts in [=McNeil=] Manor in Japanese are references to business concepts.
** Also in ''III'', most characters related to the port city of Raphala are references to fishing terms, fishing lures or actual fish.
** In ''IV'', names rendered in kanji were [[http://www.dragon-tear.net/forum/printthread.php?t=7371 renamed to their Korean hanja readings]] for international versions. The puns still stay intact.
** Also shows up in ''DQ'' in a manner combining names and Russian counting.[[note]]Origin = Math term for 1, Odjn a transliteration for Russian ''adin'' "one", Dover a mangling of Russian ''dva'' "two", Chetryre being a straight transliteration of Russian ''chetyre'' "4", and so on.[[/note]]
** Most of the CreativeClosingCredits in ''II'' are so chock-full of western culture references that it probably went over most japanese's heads.
* BlindIdiotTranslation: Somewhat in ''I'', and much much worse in ''II''. In the former, this was largely a result of farming out the English translation to Square (who engaged in mass {{Woolseyism}}); in the latter, this was the result of Capcom doing it in-house during a period where their non-Japanese localisation in general had much to be desired...
** Bizarrely, unlike many other [[UpdatedRerelease ports of RPGs to the system,]] the GBA ports of these two games ''did not re-translate anything at all''.
* BossInMookClothing: The series' recurrent example is the [=GooKing=], ever since ''II''. Other well-known examples are the Archmage and Berserker from ''III'' and the Rider from ''IV''. Technically, they're not Bosses, but ''they should be''; they're some of the most powerful enemies in the series!
* {{Bowdlerized}}: A RaceLift and a few minor edits in ''I'', mostly subverted in ''II'', a [[ShesAManInJapan gender-swap]] with ''DQ'', and more than made up with in ''IV'' (to the point fans wonder if the group handling ''IV's'' internationalization was slipped the old Nintendo Guidelines by mistake). Check their respective pages for more detail.
* BreathWeapon: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Well, obviously...]]
* BrokenBridge: ''I'' and ''III'' have a few literal examples (''I'' in special is littered with them). There are also other examples in the other games, like the Imperial Causeway in ''IV''.
* CainAndAbel: [[spoiler:Myria and Deis. Becomes explicit in ''III''.]]
* TheCameo: Every game after the first has cameo appearances from previous game's party members: ''II'' has Karn and Bo, ''III'' has Mogu, Gary (Gill in japanese, short for Gilliam/Bo), Worker (japanese name Builder/Ox), Bow and Jean; and ''IV'' has Rei, Teepo and Momo (which doubles as a master). ''DQ'' has [[TheCameo its cameo]] in a bit more obscure form--the puppet-girl instructors from ''IV'' show up as the game's merchants.
** And yes, all of these count as [[MythologyGag Mythology Gags]] if not blatant [[ContinuityNod Continuity Nods]].
* CantDropTheHero
** Averted in ''I''; once you have at least five party members, it is possible to switch Ryu out of the main fighting party.
** Also averted in ''IV'', with the threshold dropped to four.
* CapcomVsWhatever: An extremely rare subversion of this trope. PowerStone shares the same neglect.
** The closest the ''VideoGame/BreathOfFire'' series has EVER come to any Capcom crossover game whatsoever is with a background screen showing characters from ''III'' in a hidden bonus level of [[StreetFighter Pocket Fighter]], Ryu and Nina cards (from ''IV'') in the extremely obscure game ''SNKVsCapcom: Card Fighters Clash'' (a ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh''-esque game which was the final console release for the equally obscure [[ConsoleWars NeoGeo Pocket]]), Ryu and Nina cards (from ''Dragon Quarter'') in the NintendoDS ''SNKVsCapcom: Card Fighters DS'', and multiple "license card" cameos in the upcoming ''Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3'' (the "license card" operates in "Heroes and Heralds" mode, and is a ''Card Fighter''-esque method to unlock abilities). There has been no appearance or mention of VideoGame/BreathOfFire in any other CapcomVsWhatever game, not even games like ''VideoGame/NamcoXCapcom'' and ''VideoGame/CrossEdge'' where a cameo would actually have made sense.
** Mind you, it's probably because these games usually have another [[StreetFighter Ryu]]...
** According to [[http://twitter.com/Ryota_Niitsuma/status/28520257938 a tweet by Ryota Niitsuma]] (a member of the Marvel vs. Capcom staff) [[http://www.dragon-tear.net/forum/showpost.php?p=253996&postcount=15 there were initial plans to include characters]] from ''VideoGame/BreathOfFire'' in ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3'', but these were dropped due to "the game being geared towards Western audiences". The developers were apparently ''very'' interested in specifically placing Fou-lu from ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV'' in ''Marvel vs. Capcom 3'' and apparently would like to include this in a future CapcomVsWhatever.
*** The closest they were able to get to the above was sticking a Fou-lu card in the aforementioned "Heroes and Heralds" mode of ''Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3''; the other cameos include the first Ryu, the second Nina, Myria from ''III'', and Lin from ''Dragon Quarter''.
* ChainOfDeals: Present in the first four games, but ''especially and painfully'' so in ''I''.
* {{Combos}}: There's a "Super Combo" Skill in ''III''; in ''IV'' onwards, its part of the gameplay.
* CharacterLevel
* ComicBookAdaptation: Quite a number of them, actually--two separate manga adaptations and an official sidestory for ''I'' and a manga adaptation for ''IV'' that are actually directed by Capcom, and a mess of others:
** The original ''VideoGame/{{Breath of Fire|I}}'' had no less than ''two'' manga adaptations, ''[[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/breath_of_fire_ryuu_no_senshi/v01/c001/1.html Breath of Fire: The Dragon Warrior]]'' and ''Breath of Fire: Princess Of The Wings''. The first is a {{Shonen}} manga which is a fairly straight (if [[CompressedAdaptation heavily compressed]]) adaptation, while the second is a {{Shoujo}} sequel set after the end of the game.
** In addition, an officially directed SpinOff sidestory of ''I'' exists (''Breath of Fire Part 2: Little Adventurer'') [[spoiler:involving Ryu and Nina's child and Gilliam's child.]]
** The ''IV'' manga ''Utsurowazarumono: Breath Of Fire IV''; "Utsurowazarumono" is a term meaning roughly "The Unchanging Ones" and is usually translated in English-language adaptations as "Endless") is a straight ComicBookAdaptation with additional material from the artbook. It's also an example of the FleetingDemographicRule, and the final volume was released in time for the 10th anniversary of ''IV'''s release in Japan.
** Note here that these are only listings of ''Capcom-directed'' adaptations (aka stuff Capcom had an active hand in providing material for). There are also [[http://www.dragon-tear.net/newnmk/?it=bof/bofbooks.html multiple]] Capcom-''licensed'' but not Capcom-''directed'' manga including:
*** An anthology-comic for ''IV'' (which has both serious and parody stories).
*** Multiple {{Yonkoma}} collections for ''III'' (one) and ''IV'' (two). Yes, Capcom ''loves'' its Breath of Fire-related {{Yonkoma}} treatments (considering they also okayed the "Behind The Cover Comic" yonkoma in the Comic Blade Avarus manga).
*** At least one Capcom-directed comedy manga (Capcomic) also has occasionally had [=BoF=]-related comics.
** And yes, for the record, all of these are [[NoExportForYou Japan-only.]] Fortunately, there is [[FanTranslation scanlation]] for some of this material available, mostly of the earlier mangas, the Comic Blade Avarus manga adaptation of ''IV'', and some material from the ''IV'' anthology comic.
* ContemptibleCover: The infamous, ''ConanTheBarbarian''-esque box art for the international releases of ''[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/57/BOF1boxartt.jpg I]]'' and ''[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/ba/Breathoffire2_box.jpg II]]'' respectively.
* ContinuingIsPainful: of two different flavors:
** In ''III'' and ''IV'', characters who remain KO at the end of the battle are revived at 1 HP but suffer a 10% cut in their maximum HP that can ''only'' be restored by staying at a bonafide TraumaInn. Unfortunately, if it happens repeatedly the effect accumulates....
** Choosing the "SOL:Restore" option in ''Dragon Quarter'' lets you try again from the most recent SavePoint ... only without whatever items you were carrying when you actually saved your game there.
* ConvenientQuesting
* CounterAttack: In ''I'', it was mostly an ability used by a few characters like Ryu and Karn's Puka form. From 'II'' onwards, Counter attacking becomes universal for both allies and enemies.
* CriticalHit: Under various names ("Crit", "Toasted") before setting on "Critical".
* CrystalDragonJesus: ''II'' has this in spades and ''IV'' has an arguable case with ''Eastern'' religions (particularly Taoism, Buddhism and pre-Taoist shamanic practices) rather than Christianity. [[spoiler:It can even be argued that the Yorae Dragon itself is portrayed as a Crystal Dragon ''Matreiya'' (Buddha of the future) and ''all'' the Endless are portrayed as literal Crystal Dragon Taoist Immortals. For that matter, Fou-lu is a literal Crystal Dragon Founding Divine Emperor.]]
* DeathOfTheOldGods: 'II' has the old animist dragon gods being forgotten in favor of a new [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not-Catholicism!]] monotheistic religion [[spoiler:which is really a PathOfInspiration serving an EvilGod]].
* DefendCommand
* DemotedToExtra: Bleu/Deis was demoted game by game: An important party member in ''I'', an OptionalPartyMember in ''II'', a Master in ''III'', a NPC in ''IV'',[[note]]though her soul resides in Ershin[[/note]] and completely absent in ''Dragon Quarter''. Of course, she was always ridiculously powerful whenever she was available... There were plans to originally put Deis in ''Dragon Quarter'' per [[WordOfGod Word Of Capcom]]. [[spoiler:As noted above, this even made it to the early concept art stage before the character concept was essentially replaced by Lin.]]
* DevelopmentHell: Arguably, the entire series has essentially been in DevelopmentHell since 2003 or so, and particularly any plans for a ''VideoGame/BreathOfFire VI''.
** Camelot Games in particular (who has done game development for Capcom and is best known for the ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' series) has in particular expressed interest in writing a new ''VideoGame/BreathOfFire'', but Capcom isn't biting at their offer.
** In a different flavour of DevelopmentHell, the {{PSP}} port of ''III'' ended up as a NoExportForYou (though region free and easily imported) for North American audiences thanks to Sony Entertainment US's port requirements.[[note]]Which call for at least 20% new content; SEUS essentially declared the {{PSP}} port of ''III'' didn't have enough "new" content to be released in North America[[/note]] Of note, no other division of Sony Entertainment has this strict of a rule on console ports...
** There are also licensing issues surrounding ''I'' (for which Square did the translation) which may complicate any further remakes and ports.
** Even ''cameos'' related to ''VideoGame/BreathOfFire'' seem to be stuck in DevelopmentHell, as noted in the CapcomVsWhatever listing.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Most notable in ''I''-''III''. (In ''IV'', technically [[spoiler:both Ryu and Fou-lu are [[PhysicalGod Physical Gods]] (technically, halves of the ''same'' god) and Ryu's initial weaker state is because he's the "younger half" of the LiteralSplitPersonality]]; in ''Dragon Quarter'', [[spoiler:both Ryu and TheRival Bosch end up being possessed by [[WeaponOfMassDestruction Dragons Of Mass Destruction]].]]
* DiscOneNuke: Surprisingly in ''IV'', the Burn spell. Have Ryu learn it, and you can have easy-spamming access to the game's famed {{Combo}} magic. It ''will'' save your noggin a couple of times.
** In ''I'', there are a couple: An item obtained after the second boss allows any character equipped with it to deal 30 damage to the entire enemy party; most characters can't do anywhere near that much damage to one enemy, let alone the entire enemy party. Likewise, the flame rapier, but instead of giving a good attack boost, it can be used as an item in battle, to do ''90 Damage'' which is far more than Nina would ever do by stabbing someone with it. Only two other things around that stage of the game even come close--one's a spell that costs a lot of MP for that point, the other is the Hero's Dragon form.
** In ''II'', the level 2 Dragon spells can be obtained as soon as you first recruit Jean (and right before his story plot, where he becomes unavailable).
** An expert use of [=Sol:Restart=] in ''Dragon Quarter'' would allow your party to have a hefty amount of ExperiencePoints at their disposal.
* TheDragon: The first four games have a notable one: Jade in ''I'' ([[spoiler:atleast before he takes over]]), Ray in ''II'', [[spoiler:Teepo]] in ''III'' and Yohm in ''IV'' (explicitly noted as such in the manga adaptation).
* DubNameChange: Every game in the series has had this happen to a greater or lesser extent with ''I'' and ''IV'' having the most extensive. (Of note, this seems to be a common curse among ''all'' games produced by Capcom and released internationally.)
** In ''I'', a partial list includes renaming of Deis to Bleu, Gilliam to Bo, Builder to Ox, Danc to Karn, Manillo to Gobi, and that's just for starters. (Most name changes are largely due to both space restrictions and outsourcing of the translation to Square and can be considered legitimate examples of {{Woolseyism}}.)
** In ''II'', Boche to Bow,[[note]]The Japanese name would be shouted-out in ''DQ'' with Bosch and the English name is a shoutout to Bo in the first[[/note]] Rinpoo to Katt,[[note]]The Japanese name was also in part shouted-out in ''DQ'' with Rin/Lin[[/note]] Tapeta to Jean, Aspara to Spar, plus several other name changes. Unfortunately, [[TranslationTrainwreck Square can't be blamed for this one]]...
** In ''III'' Pecoros to Peco, Garland to Garr, Babaderu[[note]]Shout-out to an enemy name in ''II''[[/note]] to Bunyan, plus several other characters, enemies, items and dragon forms. The majority of changes were to [[http://www.dragon-tear.net/forum/printthread.php?t=7333&pp=40 preserve puns or jokes or to localise them]].
** In ''IV'', a ''partial'' list includes Master to Ershin,[[note]]In an attempt at a multilingual spoiler; "Ershin" is Chinese for "two souls"[[/note]] Babaderu to Bunyan, ''all'' NPC dragons to the Korean hanja readings for the kanji noting what kind of dragons they were, multiple town names from Japanese kanji readings to Korean hanja readings, other things being changed to Korean readings or even random Korean words, multiple dragon forms having names changed...[[note]]The Japanese versions made use in part of names from Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky"[[/note]] The list is so extensive, it's better if you just take a look at it [[http://www.dragon-tear.net/forum/printthread.php?t=7371&pp=40 here]]. The extensive DubNameChange treatment of ''IV'' has also led to issues regarding translation of its ComicBookAdaptation. The English FanTranslation has generally gone with the {{Dub Name Change}}s; the licensed French version of the manga may also be going with the DubNameChange names.
** In ''Dragon Quarter'', there aren't a whole lot (especially compared to the rest of the series!)--but notable ones include renaming Members to Regents and DB's to Genics (the renamings, for once, seem to be restricted to classes rather than characters).
* DuelBoss: A lot! Usually either for an EstablishingCharacterMoment or because Ryu needs his EleventhHourSuperpower.
* DummiedOut: Plenty of stuff has been found burried within the code: ''I'' has unused items, spells and locations; ''II'' has unused spells; ''III'' has unused spells, voice clips, a few items and a chunk of unused dialogue; ''IV'' has unused spells and some items, one of which was a bonus from a japanese magazine.
* AnEconomyIsYou
* EliteTweak: Started with Shamans in ''II'', then progressed to the Master/Skill System from ''III'' onward.
* EverythingsDeaderWithZombies
* ExperiencePoints
* FacialMarkings: Every game in the series has this going on to an extent, as would be expected with the proliferation of PettingZooPeople in this series.
** Ryu in the original ''VideoGame/BreathOfFire'' has a red tattoo-like image of a dragon on his forehead.
** All of the Woren/Furen in the series, with the exception of Lin (who is a CatGirl rather than a tiger) in ''Dragon Quarter'' have tiger-like stripes on their face.
** All of the HalfHumanHybrid "warrior" or "trance" forms of Ryu and his respective draconic antagonists have facial markings.
** ''Dragon Quarter'' in particular is chock full of examples ''not'' directly related to PettingZooPeople proper:
*** Nina has a tattoo on her forehead. [[WordOfGod Word Of Capcom]] is that this is a brand indicating she has such a low D-ratio that she's legally considered a lab-rat.
*** Bosch develops a particularly frightning version [[spoiler: when he forces the lab researchers to graft the remains of Chetyre on him; literally half his face ends up turning black with greenish circuitry-like marks.]]
*** Elyon also has extensive, "Dragon Hybrid"-esque FacialMarkings and horns. [[spoiler:These are stigmata from an ultimately failed link with [[WeaponOfMassDestruction Odjn]]--in fact, in one conversation he has with Odjn afterwards, half his face is covered in black with ''red'' circuit-like marks, and Elyon notes that even the remnant of that link is killing him.]]
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Ultimately subverted as a game mechanic for ''Dragon Quarter''. You can only win by [[spoiler:driving your D-Counter up to 100% in the final battle.]]
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: ''II'' and ''IV'' in particular has a ton of these.
** The Fou Empire in ''IV'' is explicitly a fantastic version of imperial-era China (most likely the Qin Dynasty) or imperial-era Korea.
** Arguably, Ludia in ''IV'' is a FantasyCounterpartCulture to a northern European country (possibly Victorian England).
** The traditional Woren culture (and Worent in particular) is a fantastic mish-mash of several Native American cultures, particularly of Southwestern peoples like the Hopi and Dine/Navajo.
** Wyndia in ''IV'' may be meant as a Netherlands {{Expy}}.
** The [=PabPab=] are a fantastic equivalent of isolated indigenous peoples, particularly the Aka "Pygmy" people.
** [=SimaFort=] in ''II'' takes itself as a counterpart to France, specifically noted by the clan's natural skills (cooking and art) and their GratuitousFrench.
** [=HighFort=] in ''II'' seems a pseudo-counterpart to Germany, and helps drive the point home with the german-sounding names their habitants have.
* FantasyWorldMap: All games but ''III'' and ''DQ'' have an in-game world map which fills up as the party travels through it.
* FanTranslation: ''II'''s translation was rather poorly done, with bland dialogue and many references removed. So a [[http://www.romhacking.net/trans/1384/ retranslation patch]] was made, rewriting the script from the ground up and adding some features the original lacked, such as a dash button. It also restored features the german translation (which served as its base) removed, such as the ability to buy items in bulk.
** Scanlation has also been done with much of the material in official artbooks and manga adaptations, particularly the manga adaptation of ''IV'' (largely because, of course, the artbooks were [[NoExportForYou Japan-only]] and the manga has not yet been licensed in English).
* FastForwardMechanic: The main character has a spell to do this.
* FishingMinigame: A series staple starting with ''II'', although fishing also existed as an automated process in ''I''.
** ''III'' in particular has been heavily enamoured of this trope, even using it for ThemeNaming and extras. The fishing minigame in ''III's'' re-release for PSP actually unlocks concept art that has never been published (even in artbooks). Characters were named for fishing lures and one town was even named after a lure manufacturer.
** ''IV'' actually had its fishing minigame ''released as a GaidenGame for Japanese cell phones''.
** ''DQ'' is exceptional in being the sole game in the series that doesn't have a fishing game of any sort. This was not for [[ExecutiveMeddling want of planning]], though.[[note]][[WordOfGod Word Of Capcom]] even states a fishing minigame was in the works up until only three weeks before ''Dragon Quarter'' was released in Japan and was cancelled due to deadlines[[/note]]
** This trope eventually was treated to an AffectionateParody in an official Capcom "comedy manga" featuring all four Ryus (''Dragon Quarter'' was not yet released) engaging in an ice-fishing contest.
* FissionMailed:
** ''II'' has one in its prologue.
** ''III'' has the {{Hopeless Boss Fight}}s against Balio and Sunder and Garr respectively.
** ''IV'' has Fou-lu's Hopeless Boss Fights against Yohm, and technically the BadEnd of the game qualifies as an unusual variation. [[spoiler:You get to control the Infini Dragon who proceeds to destroy your entire party. It's strongly implied that Infini proceeds to go on an [[OmnicidalManiac Omnicidal]] RoaringRampageOfRevenge against humanity.]]
** ''Dragon Quarter'' actually elevates this to an overt game mechanic. You've tried to keep the D-Counter from going to 100% (lest Ryu's DeadlyUpgrade devour him from within)...and in the final battle with Chetyre [[spoiler:you MUST get your D-Counter over 100% to win, something involving Odjn erupting in [[Franchise/{{Alien}} chestburster]]-esque fashion from Ryu's ruined body.]]
* FiveRaces: ''I-IV'' actually have long-running examples of this that tend to be common across the series. ''IV'' in particular [[http://www.dragon-tear.net/newnmk/?it=bof/bof4ssmisc.html documented some of this]] in its [[AllThereInTheManual artbook]] (in one of the ''very'' few bits never formally incorporated into the ComicBook Adaptation).
** Mundane: Humans, Shell Clan (armadillo people), quite possibly Manillo (explicitly so in ''IV''), arguably the Creeper Clan (frog people).
** Fairy: Wyndians (the actual fairies are more an example of Fairy/Cute); some would argue Endless in ''IV'' fit here (or in "High Men" or a combination of the above).
** Cute: The fairies, the [=PabPab=] in ''IV'', quite possibly the entire population of Chek (in a combination of Cute/High Men), Highlanders.
** Stouts: The Woren/Furen, Grassrunners (particularly in ''IV'' in a combo of Stout/Mundane), the Earth-Eater Clan (mole people in what is probably the closest analogue the series has to dwarves proper), the Metal Ogres (ox people).
** High Men: Dragons in ''I''-''III'', Chek's entire population, the Guardians.
*** FiveTokenBand: In III, you have Ryu, a dragon who looks like a human - or not, because in III, the Brood are humans that turn into dragons, not dragons that turn into humans - Momo, a kitsune-type creature, Nina, a Wyndian, Garr, a Guardian, and Rei, a Woren.
* FullyDressedCartoonAnimal: Quite a few - notably, everyone in II and I, Rei and to a lesser extent Momo and Nina in III, everyone in IV.
** BarefootCartoonAnimal: Garr in III.
* FurryFandom: Look at [[http://www.dragon-tear.net/images/bof/BoF_giliam.jpg Bo]], [[http://www.dragon-tear.net/images/bof/BoF_builder.jpg Ox]], and [[http://www.dragon-tear.net/images/bof/BoF_mogu3.jpg Mogu]] in ''I'', [[http://www.dragon-tear.net/images/bof2/BoF2_tiga.jpg Tiga]] in ''II'', and ''your entire party'' in ''[[http://www.dragon-tear.net/images/bof2/BoF2_group.jpg II]]'' and ''[[http://www.dragon-tear.net/images/bof3/1129851930367.jpg III]]'', and not come to this conclusion.
** While ''IV'' wasn't quite as hard on this, it did have Scias. ''Dragon Quarter'', however, was pretty well de-furred. This is mostly because they take place on different worlds than the first three games. The rare furries that are in ''DQ'' tend to be [=NPCs=].
* FusionDance: Danc/Karn [[spoiler:and, ultimately, Agni]], in ''I'', the Shamans in ''II'', Balio and Sunder in ''III''.
* {{Gamebreaker}}: Needless to say. Check individual work entries for details.
** The Kaiser transformations are {{gamebreaker}}s in nearly every entry, particularly in ''III'' and ''IV''. Once you get these dragons under your control, WHOAH.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: A ''lot'' of it in ''II''. Aside from the fact that pantsless Katt parades around baring her naked ass at all times, Nintendo's standard rules of NeverSayDie, no religious references (practically the theme of the whole game), no mention of blood, no mention of sex (the fire shaman is practically propositioning Ryu in their first meeting), and other censorship methods typical of Nintendo games released at the time were all thrown completely out the window here. A pity the translation was horrid.
** Of note, ''II'' is actually considered a highly historic game despite its BlindIdiotTranslation for precisely this reason; it was the first video game ever released that broke multiple taboos Nintendo USA had on releases (in particular, its rules regarding religious depiction and "adult situations"). Possibly the first game that went into detail re: religion to the level ''II'' did (outside of Japan) would be ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' for the Playstation--and even ''then'', religious references in games were still considered a third rail, at least in the US.
** Arguably, the very name of the NewGamePlus system in ''Dragon Quarter'' may be an example of this. It's ''officially'' known as the Scenario [=OverLay=] System, but [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar its initials of S.O.L.]] are also ''very'' symbolic of the exact sort of "scenario" the S.O.L. system would be most likely to be used...
* GlobalAirship[=/=]GetOnTheBoat: ''I'' and ''II'' have been rather original in these regards: ''I'' has [[spoiler:Nina turning into a Great Bird]] and [[spoiler:Gobi turning into a giant fish]], whereas ''II'' makes use of a whale, [[spoiler: the Great Bird]] and a ''flying city''. Dropped off since ''III''.
* GodIsEvil: Subverted. Several of the evil "gods" throughout the series are either a) actually demons in disguise ([[spoiler:as in ''BreathOfFireII'']] or b) {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s who crossed the DespairEventHorizon ([[spoiler: ''BreathOfFireIV'']]).
* GodIsGood: Ladon, the Dragon God, is shown throughout the series to be very real and very much an awesome guy; usually being a wacky combination of BunnyEarsLawyer, CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass, TheDumbledore, GrumpyOldMan and TheObiWan.
* TheGoomba: The "Goo"-type enemies have been the series' starting {{Random Encounter}}s since the beginning; though their appearance and name debuted in ''II'', with the first game having eyeless versions named "Slimes".
* GottaCatchThemAll: in ''IV'', less catching, more like ''recruiting'' [[spoiler:the Endless.]] Obtaining them all, in addition to the dragon genes, allows Ryu to actually control the [[{{Gamebreaker}} Kaiser dragon properly.]]
** The genes in ''III'' may also count, although they aren't required storyline-wise.
* GuideDangIt: Present in most of the games: The requirements to obtain the dragons in ''I'', the requirements for the best ending and certain shamans in ''II'', gene combinations in ''III'', etc.
* HealthDamageAsymmetry
* HelloInsertNameHere
* HeroesPreferSwords: Every Ryu is a sword-user. The one exception is in ''I'' where Ryu also has the option to wield boomerangs, complete with a different attack animation.
** Many players tend to forget about swords once the first Boomerang is available, and continue using it until the next, and use that one until the last one. Sure, hitting 1 enemy for 150 will do more than the boomerang's 100-120, but if you have 5 enemies, 5x100 is a lot more than 150 on one enemy.
* HeroicMime: Nina in ''Dragon Quarter'', and Ryu in all of the other games, though avoided in other adaptations like manga and audio cds. Subverted in ''I'', where Ryu ''will'' occasionally put in a line or two of dialog, and in ''IV'' when Ryu speaks [[spoiler:after fusing with Fou-lu.]]
** Ryu "speaks" several times in ''III'', but only in his own mind, most often while "talking" to Peco, who is an ''actual'' silent character [[spoiler:except when Yggdrasil's speaking through him.]]
** There are also a couple points in the first two games where Ryu speaks, both of which happen in segments where you don't control in him. The first game is a point where you control Nina and hear Ryu mutter stuff in his sleep, and in the second is in a flashback where you control his mother, and Ryu speaks normally like everyone else.
* HitPoints
* HopelessBossFight: Another well known staple from the series starting in ''II''. Barubary's first fight and most famously Tiga in ''II''; Balio/Sunder's first fight and Garr in ''III''; Ight and Fou-Lu's first time as a BossFight in ''IV''.
* HyperactiveMetabolism
* InescapableAmbush: A few rooms in ''Dragon Quarter'' will lock, fill the room with DemonicSpiders, and [[MusicalSpoiler change the music]] to a sinister theme. ThisIsGonnaSuck.
* InevitableTournament: ''II's'' Colloseum contest and ''III's'' Arena/Genmel tournament.
* InUniverseGameClock: Day/Night cycles are implemented in ''I'' and ''II'', and are used in a few story-related events like entering Nanai in ''I''. It was dropped since the third game.
* InfinityPlusOneSword: Every game has one...and it's usually ''not'' the weapon the game hints at.
** In ''I'', there are two: The first, and the most-known, is the Tri-Rang, and has to be ''the'' easiest InfinityPlusOneSword to obtain in any RPG: Wait until you can fly, and just land in a certain spot[[note]]Namely, the base of the left tower on a northern island[[/note]] and hit the "A" Button. It really is that simple. The other, a hammer, is found in the last dungeon, by checking some random pillar. It isn't the stats that's the greatest thing about this weapon; it is the fact that it ''casts Comet when used as an item in battle''. (You can also get Ryu's strongest sword weapon, the Emperor Sword, by checking a pillar in the room before the final boss. Not nearly as powerful as the Tri-Rang, but still stupidly easy to get.)
** In ''II'', The game's InfinityPlusOneSword is fished out of a certain fishing spot. The catch, is that you most likely need the best fishing pole, and you need flight to reach it.
** In ''III'', there are two: One is a RandomlyDrops from a very hard enemy that almost always runs away unless you know what to do; the other is dropped by an extremely powerful monster. The good news, is that the monster ''always'' drops said weapon. The bad news, the monster can easily kill you in a couple hits.
** In ''IV'', the InfinityPlusOneSword is gained through a complex fishing side-quest.
* InexplicableTreasureChests
* InformedEquipment
* JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind: Frequently and often a major plot point in ''I''-''IV''.
** Portrayed especially tragically in ''III'' [[spoiler:regarding Teepo.]]
** Ends up as frank BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind in ''IV'' [[spoiler:when the party frees Deis from her wards inside Ershin.]] In the manga version of ''IV'' (and in a story in the ''IV'' anthology comic) [[spoiler:the changeover from BadEnding to GoodEnding also occurs via JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind. ''Infini's'' mind.]]
* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: Presently the case for ''Dragon Quarter'' (the only game in the franchise that so far has never been re-released), FanTranslation ''I'' with the non-{{Woolseyism}} names, FanTranslation of ''II'', ''III'' in North American markets.
** Arguably the ''entire franchise'' was in this state in North America for the better part of 8 years, save for ''I'' and ''II's'' [=GBA=] ports and ''II's'' Wii Virtual Console re-release (the last game in the franchise was released in 2003 and, thanks to SEUS, the remake of ''III'' ended up being NoExportForYou). ''IV'' saw re-release on PlayStationNetwork as a "PSOne Classic" in September 2011, but has never had a non-PSN re-release in North America; ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIII" has still not seen a North America re-release, not even as a PSOne Classic. Fortunately, the PSP Euro version of ''III'' is playable on North American PSPs due to the lack of region encoding.
** The Comic Blade Avarus ComicBookAdaptation of ''IV'' is technically in this state in non-Francophone, non-Cantonese territories and is only available in English and Portugese via FanTranslation.
* TheKingdom: Wyndia/Winlan in its various incarnations in ''I''-''IV''.
* KleptomaniacHero
* KnightTemplar: Vexacion in ''Dragon Quarter'' qualifies in that he believes he is upholding the order of the CrapsackWorld in destroying Chosen of the [[WeaponOfMassDestruction D-constructs]]. [[spoiler:He forces his son Bosch to engage in gladiator-style fights against dangerous [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke Genics]] ''around the time Bosch would be learning the alphabet''.]]
* LastChanceHitPoint: Ryu in 2, Everyone (with unique quotes) in 3. Possible in DQ via equipping the Valor skill.
* LastOfHisKind: Not even attempted in ''I'', where there are plenty of living dragons left. Played with in ''II'' and ''III'', where Ryu appears to be the last living dragon, only to find the rest of his race hidden within a [[HiddenElfVillage secret village.]] The dragons in ''IV'' and ''Dragon Quarter'' are more individual [[PhysicalGod Physical Gods]] than a "race" per se, so their low number isn't as significant.
* LaughingMad: Fou-lu in ''IV'' [[spoiler:after realising that Mami had been used as Hex Cannon ammo [[GoMadFromTheRevelation and going stark-raving mad as a result]]; it is even more disturbing in the manga adaptation.]]
** Arguably a second instance in the Japanese version of ''IV'', again involving Fou-lu [[spoiler:in the bowdlerised scene where he decapitates Soniel.]]
** In ''Dragon Quarter'', Bosch descends into this as time goes by [[spoiler:particularly after he has Chetyre's remains surgically grafted onto him.]] Bosch was also [[WellDoneSonGuy considerably broken beforehand]], though.
** Rei, of all people, [[spoiler:after learning that Ryu was alive and well after all those years they've been apart.]]
* LegendaryInTheSequel: Many of the games will [[ContinuityPorn reference]] previous titles. III has a picture of the heroes from I, [[http://www.dragon-tear.net/images/bof3/bof3mb_7.jpg complete with halos]] and [[ArtisticLicenseHistory characters you don't remember]].
* LivingMacGuffin: Nina in ''Dragon Quarter''. [[spoiler:Ryu's quest to open the path to the sky is because Nina took a lung-filter-full of poison gas and as a result is choking to death in Sheldar's air; the only air left pure enough for her to breathe is on the surface.]] And this started [[spoiler:after Trinity essentially tried to rescue/kidnap/Gundamjack Nina, leading eventually to Ryu's [[PhlebotinumRebel defection from the Rangers]] in a crisis of conscience.]] And poor Nina [[spoiler:was essentially a FlawedPrototype of what amounted to a ''human air-scrubber filter''--the "production models" being ''headless clones of her in PeopleJars''.]]
** Both Elina and Ryu would count in ''IV''. The game starts out with Nina and Cray trying to find the Wyndian crown princess Elina (who went missing when trying to broker a peace treaty with TheEmpire). The party stumbles upon Ryu, who eventually becomes a LivingMacGuffin once it's revealed he is a PhysicalGod and the LiteralSplitPersonality of Fou-lu.
*** In the manga adaptation of ''IV'' [[spoiler: ''Fou-lu'' of all people ends up being a LivingMacGuffin for Ryu. Ryu's characterisation is much'stronger in the manga than in the game.]]
* LukeIAmYourFather: Exemplified in ''II''. Ryu, [[spoiler:the dragon on the mountain behind Gate is your mother, and the old man you saved from (or fried on) the eye machine is your father.]]
** And also in the revelation that [[spoiler:Deathevans is Myria's spawn.]]
** In ''IV'', [[spoiler:Ryu gets the "Fou-lu is your other half" speech from Deis earlier in the game, and later on gets an "I am your [[strike:father]] LiteralSplitPersonality so let's have a SplitPersonalityMerge" speech from Fou-lu near the end.]]
* LuckStat: Only used in ''I'' and ''II''.
* MadScientist: Cort from ''I'', Dr. Palet from ''III'' and Lord Yuna from ''IV''.
** Elyon is implied to have a touch of this in ''Dragon Quarter'' as well. [[spoiler:Nina's "wings" (and the room full of headless Nina-clone PeopleJars) are a failsafe in case the path to the sky isn't opened; Elyon is dying and the situation re Sheldar's air is becoming increasingly desperate.]]
* MarketBasedTitle: In Mandarin and Cantonese territories, VideoGame/BreathOfFire is known as 龙战士 (Dragon Warrior). And yes, they went with this with the ComicBookAdaptation treatments as well, both in officially licensed and FanTranslation versions, likely because a transliteration of "Breath of Fire" using hanzi would have been nigh unintelligible.
* MeaningfulName: Plenty, and usually in both original and english. Just for starters, we have: Ryu = "dragon" in Japanese, Bo uses ''Bo''ws, Ox is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin while Builder is his [[TheBlacksmith his dayjob]], Mogu is [[BilingualBonus Mogura = "Mole" in japanese]], Sten comes from the japanese rendering of Extend (''Ekusutendo''), Rand Marks and Aspara Gus are [[PunnyName self-explanatory]], etc...
** Fou-Lu's pseudonym in ''IV'', Ryong, seems to be the Japanese pronunciation of "dragon" in Korean.
** Ershin[[note]]"Two souls" in Chinese[[/note]] in ''IV'' is one of the PropheticNames. In the Japanese version, there's a pun that attaches the name Master to her, which is localized as the translation of Ershin in the Fou Empire's language.
** Deis ALSO is one of the PropheticNames--and one which was only revealed as prophetic in ''III'' and ''IV''.[[note]]"Deis" is essentially a feminisation of "Deus", meaning "God". Yes, Deis' name literally means "Goddess".[[/note]]
** In the Japanese version of ''I'', the BigBad's right-hand is named Judas. [[TheStarscream He should have reconsidered hiring him.]]
** Elyon in ''Dragon Quarter'' counts in this, especially if you consider some of the Kaballah imagery.[[note]]"Elyon" is a traditional Jewish name for the Most High, or in other words, ''God''; appropriate, seeing as WordOfGod said he was originally meant as a Fou-lu Expy.[[/note]]
** Vexacion in ''DQ'' as well [[spoiler: at least if you ask his son Bosch about the matter... or the Chosen he killed before Ryu.]]
** Won-qu and A-tur (Fou-lu's foo-dogs or guardian lions) in ''IV'' arguably are symbolically named.[[note]]In traditional placement of foo-dogs or foo-lions, one (usually the male) represents "Un" and one (usually the female) represents "A". These together represent "Aum" and are an expression of infinity in Buddhism (a rough equivalent of the Christian concept of "the Alpha and the Omega"); the game even follows the Japanese tradition of having a pair of a dog ''and'' a lion.[[/note]]
* MeditationPowerup
* MoneySpider
* MushroomMan: One of the fusions in ''II'' turns Spar (an androgynous plant man) into a cute mushroom girl.
* MultipleEndings: All installments tend to have a "good" ending and a "bad" ending. ''II'' also has a "meh" ending.
* MythologyGag: Nearly every game in the franchise after the first has this to greater or lesser extent (though to be technically correct, only those occurences in ''Dragon Quarter'' and possibly ''IV'' count as Mythology Gags). Of note, with a single exception, these tend to be examples based on the ''Japanese'' names and tend to be lost in the [[DubNameChange international localisation renamings]] Capcom is infamous for.
** The most notable examples include Bunyan/Babaderu in ''III'' and particularly ''IV''[[note]]In the Japanese version, the MythologyGag started out in ''III'' as a ShoutOut to a previous enemy in ''II'', and in ''IV'' both the Japanese name and DubNameChange are references to the character in ''III''[[/note]] and Bosch and Lin's names in ''Dragon Quarter''.[[/note]]Shout-outs to Boche/Bow and Rinpoo/Katt in ''II'' respectively[[/note]]
** A blatant ContinuityNod example with Bow's DubNameChange in ''II''.[[note]]Which is a reference to the previous game Archer's DubNameChange, Bo.[[/note]]
** The Dragon Tear from ''II'' is the basis of an item MythologyGag in ''III'' and ''IV'' (depicted as a [[PublicDomainArtifact magatama Ryu wears]] in ''IV'').

* NakedOnArrival: Done twice with Ryu from ''III'' and done once with Ryu from ''IV''. Also done by Deis (AKA Bleu) in ''III'', who then [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beats the snot]] out of [[TheBigGuy Garr]] without bothering to get dressed first.
* NamesTheSame[=/=]OneMarioLimit: Aside from the in-series examples...there's both another Ryu that is [[NinjaGaiden a ninja]], and [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment a Ryu]] that is a [[StreetFighter martial artist.]] The latter ''also'' came from ''{{Capcom}}''
* NeverTheSelvesShallMeet: [[spoiler: Averted in ''I''. You can encounter a girl that looks just like Nina, but with blue clothing, when you first visit Tunlan. Later, there is a mishap involving the [=TmKey=] (one of the Goddess Keys that essentially acts like a TimeMachine artifact capable of making time dilation/compression fields), and Nina gets sucked into a time vortex, and the rest of the party is thrown to Tunlan. Apparently the girl that looks like Nina ''is'' Nina, but with [[EasyAmnesia amnesia]]]].
* NoExportForYou: The PSP-port of ''III''. Maddeningly, even though it was ''translated into complete English for an European release'', Sony's US division requires a content increase of 20% for a rerelease; so even though it was originally intended to be released Stateside, Sony [[NoExportForYou gave them the shaft...]]
** Two GaidenGame sidestories to ''IV'' plus two other ''IV''-related spinoffs (a port of the FishingMinigame and a Great Dalmuti/Millionaire game with [=BoF IV=] chars) never have been released outside Japan for the same reason (Japanese smartphone only).
** The Windows port of ''IV'' was, similar to the PSP-port of ''III'', only released in Europe and Asia. This, unlike the situation with the PSP-port of ''III'', was apparently Capcom's decision.
** ''VideoGame/BreathOfFire'', as a series, does have a [[http://www.dragon-tear.net/newnmk/?it=bof/bofbooks.html decent amount of written spinoff material]] (in the case of manga adaptions of ''I'' and ''II'', this even goes into ExpandedUniverse territory, and definitely so with the [[AllThereInTheManual artbooks]] in later games). And pretty much with the exception of game playthrough guides, every bit of it is Japan-only.
*** The ''sole'' exception is with the Comic Blade Avarus manga adaptation of ''IV'', which has a licensed Chinese translation via Tong Li Publishing (as of September 2009) and a [[http://www.ki-oon.com/?what=serie&id_serie=68 licensed French version]] published by Ki-oon (as of February 2010). Needless to say, hope is springing eternal there will eventually be a licensed English version as well, and there is an active effort by the English-language [=BoF=] fandom to get potential licensees interested.
* NoHeroDiscount
** Small aversion in the first game: one of the first things you do in the game is rid Camlon of the monster that has taken over their castle after the Dark Dragon attack. If you return later in the game, the inn only costs 1 G. Of course, by then there are places you can go like Arad and rest for free; the real reason to head back to Camlon is to see the statue they have erected of you in the middle of town out of gratitude.
* NonhumanSidekick: Bow in ''II'', but there are almost no really "human" characters in the entire series, including Ryu himself, until ''Dragon Quarter''.
** [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman If you think about it]], they're almost ''all'' human, as there seems to be a stable social mix of them in almost every society in the series. Bow is essentially human too.
* NonStandardGameOver
* NoStatAtrophy
* {{Novelization}}: ''III'' and ''IV'' have novelisations. Unfortunately, as with practically all merchandising material for ''VideoGame/BreathOfFire'', these are [[NoExportForYou Japan-only]]; even worse, there is no known FanTranslation.
** The ''III'' novel (''Breath of Fire III - Childhood Chapter'') focuses largely on events from the early part of the game.
** The ''IV'' novel (''Breath of Fire IV: The Unfading Ones - The Arukai Dragon'') is a fairly straight {{Novelization}} in roughly the same way the manga of ''IV'' is [[spoiler:in that both the novel and manga are heavily Ryu-centric in characterisation.]]
* OneTimeDungeon: Nanai and the dungeon beneath it are destroyed after you leave. Neither Mogu nor Mote's dream dungeons can be re-entered once you complete them. The Goddess' Tower is also destroyed [[spoiler:after Jade releases the Goddess]].
* OneWingedAngel: With about four exceptions, ''every single boss'' from at least ''I''-''III''. Since quite a few of them were known to throw vicious [[PlayerPunch Player Punches]] before you finally got to fight them, taking down yet another generic giant monster that happens to have their name on it this time instead of the evil tormenting form you're used to can be somewhat unsatisfying.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Each dragon form you can take has a different appearance, as well as move set and strength. The Myrmidon form is essentially a HalfHumanHybrid, while the Kaiser form is a (golden) Western dragon.
** The Dark Dragons in ''I'' generally play ''very'' fast and loose with the definition of "dragon". [[spoiler:Most look like dragon/insectile hybrids.]]
** This extends to the NPC dragons in ''IV'', based largely on ''Eastern'' dragons. [[spoiler:Each dragon is an Endless, a PhysicalGod of an elemental force. These often tend to look decidedly ''un''draconic, with the Sand Dragon resembling a cross between a ''{{Dune}}''-esque SandWorm and a flying fish and P'ung Ryong/Raui resembling a cross between an elephant, a [[GiantFlyer flying whale]], and an Eastern dragon. They only get ''weirder'' from there.]]
** Also played with in a different fashion in ''Dragon Quarter''. [[spoiler:In this AlternateUniverse, dragons were genetically engineered [[WeaponOfMassDestruction Weapons Of Mass Destruction]].]]
* PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling: The Pagoda Island in ''I'', Monster Island in ''II'' and, with proper preparation, Mt. Zublo in ''III''.
** Also, in ''I'', at one point the hero winds up in an area all alone, allowing him to get an entire party's worth of EXP by himself, fighting enemies that aren't all that hard to defeat. This also happens ''again'' later on, except Ryu and Nina are together.
** Going on a similar point as the above, going to a certain floor of the desert dungeon before going into the sea, you have 4 people in the group. Finding 3 gold slimes on that floor gives more EXP than the best EXP fight in the game (except for the monster gold slime which is far too rare), so you could level Ryu, Nina, Bo, and Karn to Level 99 faster than you could level the entire party in the last dungeon.
** In ''IV'', you can use the same XP splitting exploit, by having Ryu learn [[DiscOneNuke Burn]] and having him go to the dungeon in the plains before he is supposed to. Since entering the plains causes Ryu to be solo, you can split him up from the rest of the party any time at your leisure. [[BoringButPractical Burn]] costs almost nothing to cast, and the enemies there are weak against it, to boot.
* PettingZooPeople: Interesting in that in ''I''-''IV'', the people lose their animal characteristics and become more human-like.
** All the same, though, in the first four games it is actually easier to list what kinds of PettingZooPeople do ''not'' appear in the games. If anything, it's more of a transition from flat-out furries to kemonomimi.
** ''[=BoFII=]''[[LampshadeHanging Lampshades]] this in that you actually recruit Spar ''in'' a petting zoo.
* PlantPerson: Spar/Aspara in ''II'', Peco in ''III''.
** Taken to extremes with Su Ryong/Kenki and Cho Ryong/Taapu in ''IV'' who are literal plant ''dragons'' (of trees and grass, and by extension, forests and grasslands, respectively).
* PoweredByAForsakenChild: The Hex Cannon/Carronade in ''IV'' uses people who are kidnapped and tortured to the point of insanity as the literal [[HumanResources warheads.]]
** Portrayed in especially tragic means (both literally and figuratively) [[spoiler:in Mami's torture and death. [[This is ''especially'' so in the manga adaptation of this scene. In fact, the author of the English FanTranslation explicitly has commented on the emotional impact of translating this section.]]
* PowerCopying: Learning skills from enemies is a staple since ''III''. ''Dragon Quarter'' presents a variation, where some (if not most) of the characters' skills are stolen (as actual items) from enemies.
* RandomEncounters
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Every game in the series has at least one.
** ''I-III'' has Deis. Definitely in the "thousands of years old" range by ''III'', per at least [[http://www.dragon-tear.net/newnmk/?it=bof/bof1time.html some timelines]] potentially ''far'' older. There's also Tyr/Myria.
** ''IV'' has Fou-lu (canonically 600 years old and also a case of ImmortalityBeginsAtTwenty) and everyone who lives in Chek besides the Abbess (everyone living there is implied to at least be an adult, if not truly ancient individuals, but all look around seven years of age).
** ''DQ'' has Elyon (canonically 1000 years old despite looking in his mid-twenties, mildly averted[[note]]as Elyon is dying...hence why [[RussianReversal IN SOVIET SHELDAR DRAGON RIDES YOU]] despite being a [[AudienceSurrogate low-D]] who normally hasn't a chance to be a Chosen[[/note]]) and Cupid (who looks in hir early teens but is nearly as old as Elyon per [[WordOfGod Word Of Capcom]]).
*** It is also implied heavily that [[http://www.dragon-tear.net/newnmk/?it=bof/interview.html all of the Regents fall under this trope]]. Confirmed "far older than they look" Regents or former Regents include Mebeth,[[note]]A former Regent when Elyon was younger[[/note]] Vexacion,[[note]]Who has been apparently killing Chosen ever since Elyon became head Regent[[/note]] and Deamoned.[[note]]Who is actually confirmable as being ''older'' than Elyon; he was the former head Regent, but lost one of his eyes to Elyon when the latter was a Chosen of Odjn[[/note]]
* RecurringElement: Quite a few; see the description.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath : [[spoiler:Cerl]] in ''I'', [[spoiler:Jade and Sara]] in ''The Dragon Warrior'' manga, [[spoiler:Ray]] in ''II'', [[spoiler: Garr and Gaist]] in ''III''.
* ReviveKillsZombie: Starting in ''III'', healing spells will also deal damage to undead enemies. Case most damningly proven when, in ''III'' or ''IV'', you encounter a group of zombies lead by a [=ZombieDr=]. Beat up his comrades enough, and he'll cast the game's most powerful group-healing spell to get them back on their feet. Needless to say...[[CrowningMomentOfFunny doesn't quite work as intended.]]
* {{Rival}}: [[spoiler:Bosch]] in ''Dragon Quarter''; also a borderline {{Archenemy}}.
* RodentsOfUnusualSize: Giant cockroaches have been in every game on the series sans ''DQ''. In ''III'', there were [[GoddamnedBats Giant cockroaches that can jump several hundred feet in the air and crush you flat upon landing.]]
** Subverted in ''I'', as they were normal sized, ''you'' were the small one; and ''IV'', when Nina is shrunk by some faeries and battles a normal-sized swallow.
** For {{NPC}} examples, ''DQ'' allows you to recruit ''ants'' as grunts in the fairy colony.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Except in ''II'' (where Nina is exiled) and ''DQ'' (where she's not a princess), all other Ninas are quite pro-active when it comes to do something.
** ''I'': Nina takes the initative to obtain the cure for her father's poison.
** ''III'': Nina is sent to handle the investigation and arrest of [=McNeil=] and takes the initiative to deal with the situation at the Chrysm Crop plant.
** ''IV'': Nina takes the initiative to find her missing sister Elina, who went to broker a peace treaty with [[TheEmpire the Fou Empire]] and put an end to their 600-year-plus cycle of running Hot and UsefulNotes/{{Cold War}}s.
* SandIsWater: Dragons can swim through it, in fact.
* SealedEvilInACan: [[spoiler:Myria/Tyr]] in ''I'', and [[spoiler:[[strike:Hell]] Infinity]] in ''II''.
* ShoutOut: The ending credits of ''II'' gave full names or at least first name and surname initials to ''every'' character in the game ever, {{NPC}}s included. The great majority of these were references to people and characters from just about anything: Other Capcom games, real people, TV characters, music bands, etc. Bizarrely, many of them were references to western people that were ''not'' added by translation. In fact, the game is filled with reverse cases of BilingualBonus moments that its original Japanese audience probably never figured it out. To name a few:
** The name "Tiga" is a [[BlindIdiotTranslation bad romanization]] of "Tiger", but the credits show that there's an extra "g" in his name. [[Franchise/WinnieThePooh Yes, that one.]] In fact, the entire [[LaResistance resistance]] [[ShoutOutThemeNaming is named after Disney characters.]]
** There is a woman in the first town that has a peculiarly slightly-darker skin tone than the rest of the area's {{NPC}}s, her name is Whoopi. According to the credits, her last name starts with a G.[[note]]As in Whoopi Goldberg[[/note]]
** The monster Algernon, as well as its two allies who fight with it, are shout-outs to the book "Flowers for Algernon" and its writer Daniel Keyes respectively (the latter cases being respectively scrambled and a SdrawkcabName in Japanese in the game).
** One of the weirdest {{shout out}}s in ''III'': Balio and Sunder's FusionDance, Stallion. He not only resembles a certain [[Series/{{Ultraman}} Kaiju hero]], he attacks ''and'' moves like one, too.
** In probably one of the more obscure examples, the manga adaptation of ''IV'' has shout-outs--to an earlier, Capcom-licensed ''VideoGame/BreathOfFire IV'' anthology comic published in 2000.[[note]]The final page of chapter 19 as well as portions of chapters 25 and 27 are a straight ShoutOut to the ''[=BoF=] IV Anthology'' story "Across The Nightmare", and a good portion of the Kaiser Dragon sequence in the manga is a ShoutOut to the ''Anthology'' story "Ryu to Yobareshimono" ("One Who Is Called A Dragon").[[/note]]
** Another manga-related shoutout, this time from the [=GBA=] re-release of ''I''; Jiiku/Sieg and Rai's names are shout-outs to the characters Sieg and Raifel from the ''Princess Of The Wings'' ComicBookAdaptation of the (original) ''VideoGame/BreathOfFire''.
** In ''IV'', the names of the monsters Rasso summons can be lined up to spell "Joy Mecha Fight", an obscure [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_Mech_Fight Famicom game released by Nintendo]].
** It's been suggested the name of the Kaiser Dragon is ''itself'' a ShoutOut to the [[http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1951-1953-kaiser-dragon1.htm Kaiser Dragon classic car]].
* SidekickExMachina
** Subjected to overt AffectionateParody in the "[[{{Omake}} Behind-The-Cover Comic" ([[{{Yonkoma}} yonkomas]] contained UNDER the dust covers) of Volume III of the manga adaptation. Ryu actually calls Rasso out as [[CampGay OKAMA]]. Ryu tends to be prone to this in the "Behind The Cover" yonkomas. In one of the "Behind The Cover" comics in volume 5, Ryu also ultimately calls ''Fou-lu'' out as "Ikemen" (translated as "Cool Guy") in a remarkably similar manner.
* SoleEntertainmentOption: At first, there appears to be only the Contest of Champions to take people's minds off of things (and after the TimeSkip it ceases to run). But after the TimeSkip, Ryu's journey takes him to [[WretchedHive Syn City, the "illegal" town]], which seems to have an active red-light district. The implication is that the citizens of the world have the world's oldest pastime to entertain themselves. (Let us ignore the {{Squick}} factor of there being only one hooker and instead extrapolate the existence of others!)
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The goddess Tyr/Myria, depending on which of the first 3 games you're playing.
* SpritePolygonMix: ''III'' notably had this. ''IV'' too, but the art styles were better matched.
* StandardRPGItems
* StandardStatusEffects: Common in all games are the classics like "Poison", "Sleep", "Confuse" and "Paralyzed". Then there's others like "Curse" (''I'', ''II'' and ''IV''), Silent (all but ''I'') and "Euphoria" (''IV'').
* SweatDrop: Used to comedic effect in ''II''. Hitting certain [=NPCs=] and objects in ''III'' and ''IV'' will cause them to react in this way.
* SummonMagic: The dragon system in ''II'' and ''IV''; faeries in ''IV''.
* ThemeNaming:
** Literally the only ones not fitting into this is Vexacion (who is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin) and Mebeth (a Japanification of "Theatre/{{Macbeth}}").
** ''IV'' had a lot of fun with this in general for setting up ''Stealth Punchlines''.
*** The first syllable of the names of the children in the Synesta orphanage spell out (in Japanese) a phrase reading roughly "I'm just lining up all these kid's names..."
*** As noted in the ShoutOut entry, Rasso's summons (giant hulking animated suits of armor) spell out (in Japanese) "Joy Mecha Fight".
** ''III'' had many of its faeries named for various types of fly-fishing lures.
** ''III'' also had a not-terribly-obscure-in-its-own-country ShoutOut with the original names of Kukuys (Kukurusu) and Doan. This is a reference to the ''MobileSuitGundam'' episode "Cucuruz Doan's Island", and was likely renamed in the English version because this episode at is still in KeepCirculatingTheTapes mode (reportedly the episode [[http://gundam.wikia.com/wiki/Mobile_Suit_Gundam_Episode_Guide#Episode_15:_Cucuruz_Doan.27s_Island has never been translated to English on Tomino's direct order]] as he feels "Cucuruz Doan's Island" was substandard and essentially filler).
** ''I'' has one with Bo's japanese name Gilliam and the son of his tribe's chief, Terry. Put them together and you get Creator/TerryGilliam.
** Extensively in ''DQ''. Check that entry for details.
* TimeSkip: Following the prologue in ''II'' and halfway through ''III''.
* ToiletHumour: In ''II'' and ''IV''. Made even more impressive in that in both cases, these are essential parts of the ''plot''.
** Including a dungeon in ''II'' entered ''by jumping in a toilet''.
** In III, there's a scene where Sunder is surprised while he's taking a leak.
** And in ''IV''...well...let's just say to reforge the King's Sword, there's a fetch quest. Involving meeting up with fairies and obtaining ''[[SolidGoldPoop fairy turds]]'' as a material component to alloy with the steel in the sword. [[OnlySaneMan Scias]] is horrified.
* TokenHuman: Ryu isn't completely human, but he's close enough to pass as one and believe he's completely human until his dragon clan powers are awakened.
** He's often a HalfHumanHybrid, so is technically this trope. In V, the rare furries were [=NPCs=]. In I and II, they were mostly nonhumans, but there was Karn/Danc in I. III had a tiger, a WingedHumanoid, a Kitsune-type creature, and an angel who seemed to be equine with avain elements, with an onion as the TeamPet. In IV, it was kitsune, dog, tiger, WingedHumanoid, and RobotBuddy.
* TookALevelInBadass: Happens to Ryu when he gets to transform into a dragon. Peco in ''III'' gets the ability to [[spoiler:breath ice and fire!]] On top of that, he also [[spoiler:undoes the BigBad erasure of you whole team!]]
** Also happens to Ershin in ''IV''. She gets a whole new set of powerful spells mid-way through the game.
** Arguably in ''Dragon Quarter'', though in his case it's the result of a DeadlyUpgrade.
* TransformationSequence
* TurnsRed: Every damn boss in ''I'', as well as a few in ''II''. The final boss of ''I'' has almost three times as many HP ''after'' she TurnsRed.
* TwoBeingsOneBody: In ''I'' and ''II'', fusion is a very powerful technique to temporarily create strong characters. In ''III'', the Fusion Gene creates a similar effect, and there's also Balio and Sunder, who use this to transform into the only form you're ''[[HopelessBossFight supposed]]'' [[HopelessBossFight to beat.]]
* UndergroundMonkey
* UnstoppableRage: Ryu in ''II'' [[spoiler:when he breaks from Deathevans' crystal cage after he kills the whole party, and then rushes at him ignoring the demon's attacks and slices him up good]]; Rei in ''III'' [[spoiler:after losing his "family" Ryu and Teepo]]; Ryu's first transformation into the Kaiser Dragon in ''IV''.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Plenty of characters and clans have the ability to shapeshift into other forms. The various dragon forms of Ryu are the best example.
* WarpWhistle: The Warp/Shift spell (Hyuuru in japanese) in all games but ''III'' and ''DQ'' (''IV'' has it as a map skill rather than spell, though). ''III'' makes due with teleporters spread all over the world for easy transportation.
* WeBuyAnything
* WrapAround: The world from ''I'' and ''II''. ''III'' and onwards limited themselves with a flat map with unrecheable borders.
* TheWorldTree: Gandaroof from ''II'' and Yggdrasil from ''III''. There are also several "lesser" Yggdrasil spread over the world in both games.
* TheXOfY
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Examples of both the "Plausible" and "Impossible" subtropes, and something of a tradition in the series.
** In ''I''-''IV'', Ryu has blue hair. Justified and quite plausible, in that [[spoiler:he's at least a dragon in the first three, and a dragon ''god'' in the fourth]]. Bleu/Deis ''also'' qualifies for identical reasons.
** Ryu in ''DQ'' has dark blue-black hair instead.
** There are also other characters with odd-colored hair, including Teepo's purple and Mikba's green from ''III''.
*** Of course, given the [[PettingZooPeople nature of the various races in the series]], odd hair color is a fairly ''minor'' thing. Blue hair's a fair bit less strange than, say, [[PiratesOfTheCaribbean fish-people.]]
----

** ''IV'': Nina takes the initiative to find her missing sister Elina, who went to broker a peace treaty with [[TheEmpire the Fou Empire]] and put an end to their 600-year-plus cycle of running Hot and {{Cold War}}s.

* A blue-haired [[TheHero hero]], at first unnamed but later established to be "[[AProtagonistIsRyu Ryuu]]," after the Japanese word for "dragon." He always has the ability to change into a dragon, though the mechanics differ from game to game.

* The original game, ''VideoGame/{{Breath of Fire|I}}'', focuses on Ryuu's quest to save his sister and the world from BigBad Zog, who aims to release Tyr, a goddess of temptation and strife. It was localized by SquareSoft rather than Capcom, the game's makers, resulting in a translation that really wasn't as bad as it could have been. However, Square's translators changed a lot of names seemingly at random, making some of the connections between games vague.
* [[VideoGame/BreathOfFireII The second game]] features Ryuu as a young boy who, after nodding off to sleep one morning, finds his family has vanished and no one else recognizes him. Flash to adulthood, where Ryuu must clear his buddy's name after he is caught breaking inside a vault. Seems like small potatoes, but it gradually unravels a big-time conspiracy involving the world-spanning Church of St. Eva, which has some massive evil plans, indeed. While the translation was rather shoddy, a high-quality [[http://www.romhacking.net/translations/1384/ fan translation]] exists.
* [[VideoGame/BreathOfFireIII The third game]] is the series' first foray onto the PlayStation and into 3D. We once again follow Ryuu as he ages from a child to an adult, eventually learning he is the [[TheChosenOne savior]] of his people, the Brood. Once again, the game's antagonist is a religious figure.

* The fifth game, known as VideoGame/BreathOfFireDragonQuarter, is the only one for the PlayStation 2, and a radical departure for the series, both in gameplay and setting. Ryuu attempts to escape a grimy, DieselPunk-inspired [[BeneathTheEarth underground civilization]] with Nina in tow, despite the surface world being declared off-limits. Standing in their way is Bosch, Ryuu's ex-partner and bona fide ImplacableMan. Interestingly, the story is a little bit different [[NewGamePlus every time]] you start over.

* AmericanKirbyIsHardcore: The box cover art in ''I'' and ''II''. Mind you, the Ryuu in ''I'' could give Conan a run for his money.
* AProtagonistIsRyu: A textbook example, and quite likely a co-Trope Namer with [[StreetFighter a certain other Ryuu in another Capcom franchise]].

** Ryuu "speaks" several times in ''III'', but only in his own mind, most often while "talking" to Peco, who is an ''actual'' silent character [[spoiler:except when Yggdrasil's speaking through him.]]

* LastOfHisKind: Not even attempted in ''I'', where there are plenty of living dragons left. Played with in ''II'' and ''III'', where Ryuu appears to be the last living dragon, only to find the rest of his race hidden within a [[HiddenElfVillage secret village.]] The dragons in ''IV'' and ''Dragon Quarter'' are more individual [[PhysicalGod Physical Gods]] than a "race" per se, so their low number isn't as significant.

* MeaningfulName: Plenty, and usually in both original and english. Just for starters, we have: Ryuu = "dragon" in Japanese, Bo uses ''Bo''ws, Ox is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin while Builder is his [[TheBlacksmith his dayjob]], Mogu is [[BilingualBonus Mogura = "Mole" in japanese]], Sten comes from the japanese rendering of Extend (''Ekusutendo''), Rand Marks and Aspara Gus are [[PunnyName self-explanatory]], etc...

** According to [[http://twitter.com/Ryota_Niitsuma/status/28520257938 a tweet by Ryota Niitsuma]] (a member of the Marvel vs. Capcom staff) [[http://www.dragon-tear.net/forum/showpost.php?p=253996&postcount=15 there were initial plans to include characters]] from ''VideoGame/BreathOfFire'' in ''MarvelVsCapcom 3'', but these were dropped due to "the game being geared towards Western audiences". The developers were apparently ''very'' interested in specifically placing Fou-lu from ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV'' in ''MarvelVsCapcom 3'' and apparently would like to include this in a future CapcomVsWhatever.

As of 2013, [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial there are no plans for a 6th game, and rumors that if it were made, it would be a online social browser RPG are little more than exceedingly depressing speculation]]. A manga adaptation of the fourth game of the series was recently produced by Comic Blade Avarus (the final chapter was published in January 2010, with the final volume compilation printed 10 May 2010) and has been licensed in French and Chinese.

Capcom has put up a website for ''[[http://www.bof6.jp/pc/ Breath of Fire 6]]'' coming out for smartphones, tablets, and PC. [[SugarWiki/AndTheFandomRejoiced You may now rejoice]]

** One of the weirdest {{shout out}}s in ''III'': Balio and Sunder's FusionDance, Stallion. He not only resembles a certain [[{{Ultraman}} Kaiju hero]], he attacks ''and'' moves like one, too.

** The position of ''IV'' is best described as controversial.[[hottip:* :Arguments for AlternateUniverse, AlternateContinuity, and two separate arguments for being in the "I-III Verse" (as both {{Sequel}} and [[AnachronicOrder Prequel]]) have all been made by the fandom. No [[WordOfGod Word Of Capcom]] exists as to which is the correct interpretation, either.

** Also shows up in ''DQ'' in a manner combining names and Russian counting. [[hottip:* :Origin = math term for 1, Odjn a transliteration for Russian ''adin'' "one", Dover a mangling of Russian ''dva'' "two", Chetryre being a straight transliteration of Russian ''chetyre'' "4", and so on.]]

* DemotedToExtra: Bleu/Deis was demoted game by game: An important party member in ''I'', an OptionalPartyMember in ''II'', a Master in ''III'', a NPC in ''IV'' [[hottip:* :though her soul resides in Ershin]], and completely absent in ''Dragon Quarter''. Of course, she was always ridiculously powerful whenever she was available... There were plans to originally put Deis in ''Dragon Quarter'' per [[WordOfGod Word Of Capcom]]. [[spoiler:As noted above, this even made it to the early concept art stage before the character concept was essentially replaced by Lin.]]

** In a different flavour of DevelopmentHell, the {{PSP}} port of ''III'' ended up as a NoExportForYou (though region free and easily imported) for North American audiences thanks to Sony Entertainment US's port requirements[[hottip:* :which call for at least 20% new content; SEUS essentially declared the {{PSP}} port of ''III'' didn't have enough "new" content to be released in North America]]. Of note, no other division of Sony Entertainment has this strict of a rule on console ports...

** In ''II'', Boche to Bow[[hottip:* :the Japanese name would be shouted-out in ''DQ'' with Bosch and the English name is a shoutout to Bo in the first]], Rinpoo to Katt[[hottip:* :the Japanese name was also in part shouted-out in ''DQ'' with Rin/Lin]], Tapeta to Jean, Aspara to Spar, plus several other name changes. Unfortunately, [[TranslationTrainwreck Square can't be blamed for this one]]...
** In ''III'' Pecoros to Peco, Garland to Garr, Babaderu[[hottip:* :a shout-out to an enemy name in ''II'']] to Bunyan, plus several other characters, enemies, items and dragon forms. The majority of changes were to [[http://www.dragon-tear.net/forum/printthread.php?t=7333&pp=40 preserve puns or jokes or to localise them]].
** In ''IV'', a ''partial'' list includes Master to Ershin[[hottip:* :in an attempt at a multilingual spoiler; "Ershin" is Chinese for "two souls"]], Babaderu to Bunyan, ''all'' NPC dragons to the Korean hanja readings for the kanji noting what kind of dragons they were, multiple town names from Japanese kanji readings to Korean hanja readings, other things being changed to Korean readings or even random Korean words, multiple dragon forms having names changed[[hottip:* :the Japanese versions made use in part of names from Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky"]]...the list is so extensive, it's better if you just take a look at it [[http://www.dragon-tear.net/forum/printthread.php?t=7371&pp=40 here]]. The extensive DubNameChange treatment of ''IV'' has also led to issues regarding translation of its ComicBookAdaptation. The English FanTranslation has generally gone with the {{Dub Name Change}}s; the licensed French version of the manga may also be going with the DubNameChange names.

** ''DQ'' is exceptional in being the sole game in the series that doesn't have a fishing game of any sort. This was not for [[ExecutiveMeddling want of planning]], though[[hottip:* :[[WordOfGod Word Of Capcom]] even states a fishing minigame was in the works up until only three weeks before ''Dragon Quarter'' was released in Japan and was cancelled due to deadlines]].

** In ''I'', there are two: The first, and the most-known, is the Tri-Rang, and has to be ''the'' easiest InfinityPlusOneSword to obtain in any RPG: Wait until you can fly, and just land in a certain spot[[hottip:*:Namely, the base of the left tower on a northern island]] and hit the "A" Button. It really is that simple. The other, a hammer, is found in the last dungeon, by checking some random pillar. It isn't the stats that's the greatest thing about this weapon; it is the fact that it ''casts Comet when used as an item in battle''. (You can also get Ryu's strongest sword weapon, the Emperor Sword, by checking a pillar in the room before the final boss. Not nearly as powerful as the Tri-Rang, but still stupidly easy to get.)

** Ershin[[hottip:* :which means "two souls" in Chinese]] in ''IV'' is one of the PropheticNames. In the Japanese version, there's a pun that attaches the name Master to her, which is localized as the translation of Ershin in the Fou Empire's language.
** Deis ALSO is one of the PropheticNames--and one which was only revealed as prophetic in ''III'' and ''IV''.[[hottip:* :"Deis" is essentially a feminisation of "Deus", meaning "God". Yes, Deis' name literally means "Goddess".]]

** Elyon in ''Dragon Quarter'' counts in this, especially if you consider some of the Kaballah imagery.[[hottip:* :"Elyon" is a traditional Jewish name for the Most High, or in other words, ''God''; appropriate, seeing as WordOfGod said he was originally meant as a Fou-lu Expy.]]
** Vexacion in ''DQ'' as well [[spoiler: at least if you ask his son Bosch about the matter...or the Chosen he killed before Ryu.]]
** Won-qu and A-tur (Fou-lu's foo-dogs or guardian lions) in ''IV'' arguably are symbolically named.[[hottip:* :In traditional placement of foo-dogs or foo-lions, one (usually the male) represents "Un" and one (usually the female) represents "A". These together represent "Aum" and are an expression of infinity in Buddhism (a rough equivalent of the Christian concept of "the Alpha and the Omega"); the game even follows the Japanese tradition of having a pair of a dog ''and'' a lion.]]

** The most notable examples include Bunyan/Babaderu in ''III'' and particularly ''IV''[[hottip:* :in the Japanese version, the MythologyGag started out in ''III'' as a ShoutOut to a previous enemy in ''II'', and in ''IV'' both the Japanese name and DubNameChange are references to the character in ''III'']] and Bosch and Lin's names in ''Dragon Quarter''[[hottip:* :shout-outs to Boche/Bow and Rinpoo/Katt in ''II'' respectively]].
** A blatant ContinuityNod example with Bow's DubNameChange in ''II''[[hottip:* :which is a reference to the previous game Archer's DubNameChange, Bo.]]

** ''DQ'' has Elyon (canonically 1000 years old despite looking in his mid-twenties, mildly averted[[hottip:* : as Elyon is dying...hence why [[RussianReversal IN SOVIET SHELDAR DRAGON RIDES YOU]] despite being a [[AudienceSurrogate low-D]] who normally hasn't a chance to be a Chosen]]) and Cupid (who looks in hir early teens but is nearly as old as Elyon per [[WordOfGod Word Of Capcom]]).
*** It is also implied heavily that [[http://www.dragon-tear.net/newnmk/?it=bof/interview.html all of the Regents fall under this trope]]. Confirmed "far older than they look" Regents or former Regents include Mebeth[[hottip:* : a former Regent when Elyon was younger]], Vexacion[[hottip:* :who has been apparently killing Chosen ever since Elyon became head Regent]], and Deamoned[[hottip:* :who is actually confirmable as being ''older'' than Elyon; he was the former head Regent, but lost one of his eyes to Elyon when the latter was a Chosen of Odjn]].

** There is a woman in the first town that has a peculiarly slightly-darker skin tone than the rest of the area's {{NPC}}s, her name is Whoopi. According to the credits, her last name starts with a G [[hottip:* :as in Whoopi Goldberg]].

** In probably one of the more obscure examples, the manga adaptation of ''IV'' has shout-outs--to an earlier, Capcom-licensed ''VideoGame/BreathOfFire IV'' anthology comic published in 2000.[[hottip:* :The final page of chapter 19 as well as portions of chapters 25 and 27 are a straight ShoutOut to the ''[=BoF=] IV Anthology'' story "Across The Nightmare", and a good portion of the Kaiser Dragon sequence in the manga is a ShoutOut to the ''Anthology'' story "Ryu to Yobareshimono" ("One Who Is Called A Dragon").]]

As of early 2012, there are no ''official'' plans for a sixth entry into the series (although there are persistent rumours). A manga adaptation of the fourth game of the series was recently produced by Comic Blade Avarus (the final chapter was published in January 2010, with the final volume compilation printed 10 May 2010) and has been licensed in French and Chinese.

* The original game, ''VideoGame/{{Breath of Fire|I}}'', focuses on Ryuu's quest to save his sister and the world from BigBad Zog, who aims to release Tyr, a goddess of temptation and strife. (Great idea.) It was localized by SquareSoft rather than Capcom, the game's makers, resulting in a translation that really wasn't as bad as it could have been. However, Square's translators changed a lot of names seemingly at random, making some of the connections between games vague.

* [[VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV The fourth game]] focuses on Ryuu's journey to find his lost memories, culminating in a showdown with his platinum-haired [[EvilCounterpart doppelgänger]] who believes that the only way to solve the world's problems is to [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters rid it of people]] and start again. (Never heard [[FinalFantasyVII that one]] before.)

* LivingMacGuffin: Nina in ''Dragon Quarter''. [[spoiler:Ryu's quest to open the path to the sky is because Nina took a lung-filter-full of poison gas and as a result is choking to death in Sheldar's air; the only air left pure enough for her to breathe is on the surface.]] And this started [[spoiler:after Trinity essentially tried to rescue/kidnap/GundamJack Nina, leading eventually to Ryu's [[PhlebotinumRebel defection from the Rangers]] in a crisis of conscience.]] And poor Nina [[spoiler:was essentially a FlawedPrototype of what amounted to a ''human air-scrubber filter''--the "production models" being ''headless clones of her in PeopleJars''.]]

* [[VideoGame/BreathOfFireII The second game]] features Ryuu as a young boy who, after nodding off to sleep one morning, finds his family has vanished and no else one recognizes him. Flash to adulthood, where Ryuu must clear his buddy's name after he is caught breaking inside a vault. Seems like small potatoes, but it gradually unravels a big-time conspiracy involving the world-spanning Church of St. Eva, which has some massive evil plans, indeed. While the translation was rather shoddy, a high-quality [[http://www.romhacking.net/translations/1384/ fan translation]] exists.