Breath of Death VII | a Review
originally published on 18/04/2024;
Hello everyone, I am the witness of Cthulhu’s rescue of the world, G.E.M.Simov, a man so befuddled and yet familiar with this developer that I’ve come back to haunt their dreams and tell YOU about “Breath of Death VII”.
Simple review details - I rank games on an out of 10 basis, granting up to 3 points in 3 categories, as well as a last, single point from my own self, depending on my experience with it.
Gameplay
This is a JapaneseRolePlayingGame (JRPG) and as such it features a number of things that might already be known to the reader, for they are associated with the JRPG genre for mostly bad reasons.
One of those is the overwhelming necessity to grind. JRPGs present the Player with a set of Player Characters that they can make use of, while also presenting the Player with enemies who are easily dispatchable, yet, based on location (bound to the progression of the game’s story) grow considerably stronger and, thus, are harder to deal with. The solution to that problem, as it is intended, is to spend hours fighting the weaker enemies, so that one might amass wealth and experience points (which are used to gain levels, thus growing stronger) so that the tougher enemies up ahead can be dealt with.
Now, if the situation was one that featured enjoyable gameplay that was not just fun to engage in, but also engaging, that would nearly fail to be a problem. However, due to the fact that this game’s combat system is a turn-based, squad-based pseudo tactical mess, which takes a lot of time to deal with and leaves the Player with a lot of dead time on their hands - time that must pass but can not be used for the doing of anything, because the enemies and allies are going through their attacks - we have a problem.
For due to the fact that the Player is forced to grind, the Player must engage with the combat system repeatedly and constantly, for obscene amounts of time. That is not good, because the combat, itself, is problematic, due to the fact it takes away agency from the Player and grows old very quickly, as in the process of grinding the Player wants to spend as little time doing the grinding as possible, so there is no tactical engagement and/or mental stimulation going down.
Simply put, JRPGs are known for taking too long to get through, due to the fact that they require large swathes of time spent grinding - engaging in repetitive combat that is exclusively performed as a chore, and thus provides 0 entertainment.
The issues with the JRPG genre are many and plentiful, but I have already explained them in my review of “Cthulhu saves the world” - the previous game of this developer - and, seeing as I have already done the work of critiquing this game’s gameplay, although in another review, which is nearly equivalent to putting “Cthulhu saves the world”s gameplay in this game, I figure it is totally reasonable for me to urge the reader to go read the review I’ve written on “Cthulhu saves the world”.
However, seeing as that is a nasty copout, I will make an effort to list the issues that plague this game and the attempts made to remedy them. The usual way a JRPG handles its combat is by having normal attacks and special attacks. The special attacks require a resource, the normal attacks do not. Naturally, special attacks are a lot stronger than normal attacks, but due to the fact that they require something, they are not that good an option when it comes to grinding.
Well, BOD (Breath of Death VII, but since there are no other Breaths of Death it will just be Breath of Death) introduces a mechanic that awards the Player’s party - all the Characters in it - with MP (the resource needed for special attacks and spells) whenever they win. The amount of MP is higher in direct proportion to the number of Rounds that have taken place. If only 1 round has gone off, the amount of MP restored is going to be as high as possible, thus allowing, potentially, the use of special attacks in grinding situations.
However, that does not really work. The amount of MP restored is very trivial, and on top of that, whenever a Character levels up (gains enough experience to level up) they do not restore their MP, they only get their HP up to its maximum. That means the Player is forced to use normal attacks or consume potions (exhaust resources that cost money) or go to town to replenish their MP whenever they need to, which is also problematic, because it takes a lot of time.
Thus, this mechanic is barely noticeable, and is not something worthwhile. HOWEVER, fortunately for the Player, winning a combat encounter restores all of the Characters’ HP, meaning that if the Player can reliably win encounters in a zone, they can just turn their brain off and set up an auto-clicker to press the confirmation button. Grinding made easy!
Other means through which combat is made more interesting - seeing as there is going to be grinding, how about we make meaningful, challenging fights more impactful? To achieve that, BOD introduces a combo system, which allows for the accumulation of combo points and their subsequent expunging via a special skill which does more damage based on the number of combo points, or has an increased effect based on the number of combo points that were generated.
In theory, this does help by adding more stuff that needs to be considered when dealing with an enemy, but it does not vastly change the way the game works. Lastly, there are united attacks, which work exactly like they did in “Cthulhu saves the world”, being very powerful abilities that take up the turns of two characters, rather than just one. Again - those are neat, but they do not really change stuff up.
What is different from the predecessor is the fact that there is, potentially, infinite leveling. The Player, upon reaching the experience threshold to reach a new level, is given a choice between two options. In “Cthulhu saves the world”(CSW), that ceased at a certain point, as did leveling. In BOD, however, there is no end in sight - the Player gets to level beyond level 40, whilst also receiving the “option” to choose between 10 in all stats or 10 in all stats. At least there is something!
Again, however, why can I not get the other bonuses for leveling? The ones I skipped out on - would it have been that hard to just add them after, say, 5 levels of getting the same bonus? It feels as though it’s not as cool as it could be, and I don’t see why I can’t get these bonuses when I’m getting other bonuses that are just as powerful, if not more-so. 10 in every stat is a lot, I must inform the Player, and as a result of that I suppose it’d be reasonable to replace that option with one of the previous, not as powerful options.
Regardless, the game suffers from the same issues as CSW. Grin incredibly hard to succeed, get overwhelmed by the insane amount of time one must dedicate to dealing with the game’s grinding, be saddened by the lack of exploration in the areas that are presented - such as CAVE with 1 treasure chest at the very end, or CAVE with 2 treasure chests and a boss fight, or VILLAGE with nothing but hints in it.
The game likes wasting the Player’s time by forcing them to go through thousands of combat encounters. The game also likes wasting the Player’s time by forcing them to go through vast, empty levels that will yield no reward, whilst sporting objects that can be interacted with, but which objects do not provide anything of value to the Player and are instead part of an elaborate joke about having to check every object in a JRPG because it could contain something useful.
Lastly, it should be mentioned that there are three modes of play in this game. There is the combat mode, already spoken of in decent detail, there is the MAP mode and there is the Zone mode.
The MAP mode serves as a means of traveling from 1 location to another. There are no intractable objects in MAP mode, safe for entrances into Zones, and enemies can attack the Player’s Party at will, transitioning the mode of play to combat.
Then, the Zone mode serves as the main means of playing the game, presenting a more detailed environment with intractable objects - chests and non-Player Characters, as an example. In certain Zones, there are no enemies who could attack the Player’s Party. Others feature just that kind of thing.
The main issue is that there is no means of avoiding enemy attacks. They occur at random and there is nothing the Player can do to not get dragged into combat mode, which is rarely an issue, since the Player needs to constantly keep killing enemies to level their Characters up and to be able to deal with the enemies the game throws at them, but when one is already at the preferred level, this only makes Zone exploration - which relies, heavily, on backtracking and wandering about labyrinthine corridors that are more reminiscent of mazes than anything else - time consuming.
Yet another aspect of this game that just eats up the Player’s time - that’s not good.
Overall? BOD is simply a very generic JRPG that does nothing to avoid the problems of JRPGs, not meaningfully, at least, and as a result of that is a very unpleasant experience, when it comes down to playing it. 1/3
Presentation
BOD is a game made with some version of RPGMaker. As a result of that, it looks like old school JRPGs, which means it employs graphics made out of incredibly low resolution pixel art, same-y assets and an overwhelming over-reliance on nothing in particular.
It is definitely evocative of games like Chrono Trigger or the older Final Fantasies, but it does not have that which they had. Instead, it has what can only be described as generic, with the exception of the fact that every friendly NPC is some type of undead.
Let me reiterate - the visuals, the audio and even the tutorial are simply the epitome of generic. The audio - music and sound effects - are passable, but only barely, with almost all of the songs sounding as though I have heard them somewhere else. The visuals are so indistinguishable from one another, and so brightly colored, that navigating MAP mode becomes burdensome for the eyes.
One of the things this game does recently well, with its presentation, is the use of the game's dialogue, in a witty, fourth-wall shattering manner, to tell the Player how to play. Well, the game does not tell the Player everything they need to know, but the very basics are covered by it.
Additionally, combat sprites and dialogue portraits are reasonably good, in regards to the artwork, though they are also impeded by the incredibly low fidelity that is pursued.
Alas, all that fails to add up to something impressive. 1/3
Story
Surprisingly, this game takes place in the distant future, following a war turned nuclear, leaving behind a world in which the undead dwell. Unfortunately, the forces of Evil have come to terrorize this new civilization, and a hero is needed… The Player Character, and the Main Character, is named DEM. He will be the hero.
DEM is a silent protagonist who starts off trying to save a village from a pillaging band of trolls. As soon as the game starts rolling, it is made clear to the Player that, much like with “Cthulhu saves the world”, one of the developer’s earlier works, there is going to be a very thin veil instead of a fourth wall. The game’s tutorial directly speaks to the Player, and DEM reacts to it. It is not a single instance, and the fourth wall continuously gets shattered.
In addition to that, the game makes overwhelming use of references - in the opening cutscene one can find a reference to Fallout - war never changes and all that.
Well, DEM beats the trolls and is then forcefully joined by a Ghost, after which they get going in search of ancient artifacts to uncover the fate of the world - quite interesting as a concept, considering that the world was ended by nuclear war. They are later joined by a Vampire with similar ambitions to those of the Ghost.
Unfortunately, the interesting concept is buried under attempted satire that presents itself as a caricature of the way JRPGs tell stories, which makes it somewhat cringeworthy to experience it. Naturally, there is not all that much story to be had, what with there being a reasonably limited number of NPCs and an even more limited number of possible interactions with them, but what is present is relatively coherent and even slightly competent.
There is not much to be said of the characters, other than the fact that they are caricatures. The world, though, and the overall story that is being told is not badly done. The world’s boundaries are established, things are set up prior to their introduction and there is payoff for pretty much everything that occurs… Though the story is very middling. 1/3
Legendary Point
Does this game get the legendary point, so craved and wanted by all and none at the same time? No, although the concept was pretty neat. 0/1
Conclusion
3/10. A teeny tiny JRPG that’s nothing special. If you’re a big fan of JRPGs, maybe give it a try. If not, don’t.
I do not think it fit for the wall of shame, so in the bag of mediocrity it goes, to be buried and forgotten.