Breath of Fire I is one of the first (the first?) RPG published by Capcom. They all make you play as Ryu, a member of the Dragon clan who must conquer evils gods before they get the Goddess Keys and wake her up. The story is more direct than Breath of Fire II, but that latter game was overall more interesting.

Graphic: 7/10

The graphics in this game are below average for the time as they never make use of 3D.

Nevertheless, they are still pretty decent. The overworld map is nicely drawn and detailed. Trees look realistic, differences in climate yield differences in landscape AND how cities look (unlike Phantasy Star III, where the desert city is quite green) and poisonous marshes are purple, signaling it's not water good for drinking. Speaking of water, the Tantar region is dried up before you get the Stone Robot and it shows even in the cities where there is no water flowing (by the way, you can see water flowing on the world map). At times, there are also animals that pop out after battles and you can hunt them. Deer and birds look credible enough while boars (?) are just a chubby teddy bear. Finally, there is a neat distinction between day and night (which can influence what happens in a town) seen mostly only in the Dragon Warrior series. You can even change it instantly with the right objects, which I preferred to the “accelerated” change from BOF II. There are even two instances where you step into a World of Dreams, with a very psychedelic background.

Cities are nicely detailed and citizens interact decently with you. They have, like your characters, human proportions and don't look like a blob of pixels as in Final Fantasy. They also have more variety than in Final Fantasy: people in Winlan have wings, people in Tuntar look like wolves and people in Gant look like oxen. Although shops and houses suffer from the usual disproportions (the inside is much bigger than the outside), they are nicely detailed with lots of drawers to look for treasures and furniture beyond the usual bed seen on the NES games. The lighting is also realistic: Auria holds the light key, making nights quite bright, whereas the Bleak area has the Dark Key, making everything pitch black 24/7, which influences battles (monsters are usually fiercer at night).

Dungeons are also nicely detailed and have more elements than BOF 2. Indeed, you can see (and hear) stalactites leaking, the heat of the lava surrounding you (the Dwarven World in FF IV doesn't) and the fog inside forests (they also look darker because of the trees, unlike most other RPGs).

Battles are in many ways better than Final Fantasy. Both allies and foes attack each other directly rather than just seeing the former swing their weapons and the latter flash to signal their attack. Each character attacks differently since they have different weapons; Ryu's attack with a boomerang looks impressive for the time. Finally, unlike Breath of Fire II, you can ALWAYS see the enemies' life gauge, which is especially useful when fighting bosses. However, all but one of them have “second breaths”, so it's hard to evaluate exactly WHEN they will die.

Finally, magic is well done for the time and some spells look like they are coming from the caster’s fingers. Healing “looks” more and more restorative as it increases in strength, Bleu's spells and well-done too and Karn's transformations look impressive (so does their attack, especially the little-dragon like one). However, until you get the two final dragon transformations, I thought this could have been improved a little. The dragons are elemental even at level 2 (unlike BOF 2), but they are merely pallet swaps from each other and you can only see them from the back – BOF 2 had a ¾ perspective and dragons moved a little more.

Music: 7/10

While not legendary, the soundtrack has some pretty good tracks.

Its main strength comes from its variety. Indeed, there are more tracks for village, world maps and dungeons than the average Final Fantasy. There is one for an ordinary village that sounds peaceful, one for very happy villages (Auria, where everything is made of gold and when you rescue the oxen people in Gant) and another one when a village is ruined/is under siege that sounds sad enough. There are also five unique themes for Scande (where the Dark Dragons reside, which sound very dramatic), Tunlan (that, despite not sounding life-like, boasts an epic orchestration), Winlan (which doesn't sound as epic as the one in BOF 2) Bleak (a city of thieves) and Arad (a city in the desert that has a realistic “Arabic” beat to it).

The overworld themes (three of them, although the first one gets repeated at the end of the game) do sound good but not as good as BOF 2's. The latter, to my ears, had overworld themes that matched the mood when it changed (a “renewed hope” when Bow is in the clear and an epic one when Nina is about to get the power of the Great Bird). In BOF 1, they simply mark the distinction between the various parts of the game without really translating the mood of the moment. Granted, the first overworld theme matches the start of Ryu’s quest as he quits his village. And the underwater theme has a magical feel to it.

Furthermore, there are also more dungeon tracks for dungeons than most RPGs. There is a theme for forests, three different dungeon themes and a final dungeon theme. It was much better than BOF 2, which had the same, short-looped track.

Finally, battle tracks are just average and not as epic as Final Fantasy. The second ordinary theme sounds less joyful than the first one and I think it was good. The boss battle theme creates a good dramatic mood, and the “major boss” battle theme sounds very dramatic – too bad there wasn't a distinctive one for the final boss like Final Fantasy.

Sound effects are average but could have been improved. Especially for the early dragon transformations, I felt like the spells sounded the same; it's not as distinct as Final Fantasy. The same thing goes for attacks with a weapon; except for the bow and the boomerang (which sounded realistic), they all sound pretty similar. Finally, I find the status-inducing effect to be annoying (like someone who can't whistle)

However magic was nicely done. Cold spells sound very icy, lightning spells sound thundery (and have an interesting sound effect before it strikes the enemy that sounds like a curse), earthquakes shake the whole screen and more advanced explosions produce realistic booms. However, fire spells just sound like someone is blowing it with their mouths; FF did it better.

Addictiveness: 8/10

This game has quite a bit to offer. As you gain more members in your team/as those members evolve, you gain access to new places previously inaccessible. Karn can pick locks, Ox can destroy weak walls, Bo can cross forests, Mogu can dig holes and Nina can fly – that latter ability is crucial in order to get important equipment (and further dragon powers) that will lead you to the ultimate dragon power.

Speaking of dragon powers, they are hidden inside various temples throughout the world. Most of the time, you will have to fight (solo) to get them. Make sure to have enough healing items, especially for the first fight. Can you find them all and get the *good* ending?

Karn can also transform and all of his morphing is well-drawn, especially battles. Although his powers are completely optional, they can help you during your fights as his new form is much stronger. It combines various characters together, giving him an interesting shape. His first form combines with Bo and Gobi but takes Bo’s dominant shape, another one takes Ox’s dominant shape and makes him much stronger, which will lead to the ultimate form that combines every male but Ryu together. Its attacks is either the little dragon, er, spewing air or rolling in a ball towards the enemy which can do up to 999 damage.

Story: 8/10

You play Ryu, a member of the White Dragon family. Right at the start of the game, the Black Dragon Clan attacks your village of Drogen; you are outnumbered! Fortunately, your sister Sara turns the villagers to stone so they can withstand the fire engulfing the village. She sacrifices herself and surrenders to Jade, Emperor Zog's main general. He says he's looking for the Goddess keys, which can summon the evil Goddess Tyr.

After everyone escapes and the fire is put down, everyone reverts to flesh. The elders say that this fight isn't theirs, so Ryu moves forward and goes to stop Zog's quest to gather the Goddess keys and summon Tyr.

Unlike many modern RPGs, your quest is very clear from the very beginning: you must gather all keys before Jade and his minions do (you get your first one on your second quest). In comparison, BOF II started to enunciate the “real” quest after you freed Bow and explicitly stated it after the World of Dreams.

Although the story is pretty linear (with some moving around to exchange many objects for the one you're looking for) until a major plot twist after getting the keys, I found the story to be interesting. Ryu's main quest for the keys, along with his quest to get Agni, is done well enough to catch your attention.

Depth: 7/10

Although not as deep as FF IV and VI (or even BOF II), characters do get some development. Nina wants to protect her kingdom and goes on a quest (although she must accept royal guards' assistance), Bo wants to help the Tantar region getting rid of the Dark Dragons, Ox wants to pacify the world so his child will grow in a peaceful world and Karn simply wants to be the best thief. As for Gobi, he just wants to reclaim his business license and have his dues from the team paid (although he simply wants to explore the world). Despite not saying much, you do see Ryu’s progressive transformation to the ultimate dragon.

There are also two distinct endings, which are determined by whether or not you use the ultimate dragon power at the appropriate time. I found that detail to be done better than BOF 2; there was overall less to do in order to get the best ending in that game. It's a good difference from Square games, which always show the same ending all the time – the only Square game with a “different” ending was Super Mario RPG, where you could get a different firework in the end-of-game parade.

Difficulty: 4/10

I didn't think the game was very difficult.

With proper leveling up (and treasure finding), solo Ryu isn't too hard to move around the world (although getting those dragon powers can prove to be a challenge). The game gets easier and easier as you get more party members, and they are able to cast magic (outside of battle) even when they are dead! That was quite practical during my speedrun as Nina could resurrect people even if she were dead. Plus, Rudra and Agni, the second and the strongest dragon powers, make boss fights a real joke. In my speedrun I was able to defeat Jade and Rudra entirely on auto-fight, without ever interrupting my attacks, while I stood for eight rounds straight against the Goddess.

The dragon transformations are also very easy. You just need enough magic points to transform; once you are, you don't spend any magic points like the PSX BOF. Should you want to change dragon form, you just need to buy enough acorns to restore your energy. That was a very useful feature; in BOF 2, ordinary magic-healing items depleted your hit points, and those that restored 100 AP were either well-hidden in treasures or you had to cook them which took way too long.

Speaking of buying, many stores sell marble 3, which completely stops random fights. But since you are using an emulator, you don't even need those. Simply stop one step before a random fight (except in Mogu's dream; you need them) and wait a few moments before walking again.

One of the main difficulty is about your equipment. Some pieces, while giving you more defense or attack, are much heavier and will slow you down. Plan ahead if you want to fight before your foes do.

Some mini quests, while not hard, are tedious to complete. In Auria, you will need to buy gold bars, so you need to fulfill people's requests in order to get enough money. That was a pain in my speedrun as I had to sell most curative items I had so I would skip a few of those.

Finally, although it’s minor, enemies at night tend to be stronger. It’s practical for level grinding, but make sure you have enough healing items.

In short, Breath of Fire I is a good game every RPG lovers should try. The graphics and music are relatively good, the plot is nicely done and has a few twists and there is a lot to discover. Plus it's not too hard to fight monsters once you find the strongest dragon form – for level grinding, you just have to find those golden jellies around Bleak or around the Obelisk towards the end of the game.