History VideoGame / BreathOfFireDragonQuarter

* SlobsVersusSnobs: The CentralTheme, and probably why it didn't do so well when it was first released, but is now [[VindicatedByHistory considered by many to be a classic]], especially in TheNewTens; the ValuesResonance of subtle and not-so-subtle classism is ''[[https://medium.com/mammon-machine-zeal/dragon-quarter-the-powerless-fantasy-e69002dcf2d0 everywhere.]]''
-->The primary idea that Dragon Quarter engages through its play is, quite simply, being poor, and the stress that comes with being poor. Born poor, into a political system that ensures that you live poor, and without a miracle, die poor.
** It even shows the other side of the coin with Bosch's nightmarish childhood; to Ryu, Bosch is the snob who bosses him around and bullies him every time he misses a step, so it's hard for him to realize that the guy making him miserable was forced to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHZNUG3BjSg kill a freaking minotaur]] at the age of nine - or die trying.

* TimedMission: Once Ryu's D-Counter appears after a TasteOfPower, the entire rest of the game has the counter hounding your steps, as hitting 100% nets you the NonStandardGameOver. Walking around gradually raises .01% every several seconds, D-Dash can rack up the counter if you're not cautious, D-Dive and any of its attacks take jumps on the counter, and even ''standing idle without pausing'' will slowly but surely tick it up ever so slightly.

* TimedMission: Once Ryu's D-Counter appears after a TasteOfPower, the entire rest of the game has the counter hounding your steps, as hitting 100% nets you the NonStandardGameOver. Walking gradually raises .1% every so often, D-Dash can rack up the counter if you're not cautious, D-Dive and any of its attacks take jumps on the counter, and even ''standing idle without pausing'' will slowly but surely tick it up ever so slightly.

* TimedMission: Once Ryu's D-Counter appears after a TasteOfPower, the entire rest of the game has the counter hounding your steps, as hitting 100% nets you the NonStandardGameOver. walking gradually raises .1% every so often, D-Dash can rack up the counter if you're not cautious, D-Dive and any of its attacks take jumps on the counter, and even ''standing idle without pausing'' will slowly but surely tick it up ever so slightly.

* MythologyGag: Lin and Bosch names are references to two ''Videogame/BreathOfFireII'' party members (who were renamed "Katt" and "Bow" in the localization).

* NintendoHard: You're able to restart the game multiple times for a good reason; the game is pretty challenging, especially for those not used to turn-based action RPG games. According to [[WordOfGod the creators]], they made the game this because they felt that other similar role playing games were too easy and they wanted to give players more of a challenge.

* DoWellButNotPerfect: This game is very hard for many players, especially if they're attempting to clear it without restarting as many of the bosses will tempt you to want to use the D-Drive. But if the games gets too difficult for any players, they can restart the game, keeping all of the skills they earned in their playthrough while also keeping any items left in storage and any items currently equipped to them. Depending on how far they managed to make it, they will also be treated to a number of new cutscenes. Another good way of looking at it is if you raised the D-Counter too high, you can restart and it will be reset when you receive it again.

* TraumaCongaLine: Bosch's early childhood trauma (definitively Type B) is notable because it provides the fuel for Bosch's eventual VillainousBreakdown.

*** Somewhat averted. [[spoiler: D-ratio is a measure of probability. It's still technically possible for a low-D to merge with a D-Construct, just much less likely than a high-D. Conversely, someone could theoretically be a 1/4 and still ''fail'' to merge. The game simply doesn't address this issue because there is no need; like most good stories, [[MillionToOneChance matters of probability tend to work in favor of dramatic necessity.]]]]

* TooAwesomeToUse: Using Ryus' D-dive to take out the tougher enemies or bosses is very useful, but using it too often is a bad idea since the game will end if the d-counter reaches 100%. Since using D-dive attacks can increase it by 3% with one attack, one should only use it if the d-counter is pretty low or if you're in a tight situation.

* TraumaCongaLine: Bosch's early childhood Trauma (definitively Type B) is notable because it provides the fuel for Bosch's eventual VillainousBreakdown.

* BodyHorror: In ''Dragon Quarter'', Nina is not a princess, but some poor girl genetically engineered into an air purification device. It works by shunting all of the pollution to the girl, thus driving the initial goal of the characters to get her to the (supposedly) clean surface. Oh and she had her tongue cut out because machines don't need to talk.

'''''Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter''''' is the fifth entry in the ''Franchise/BreathOfFire'' series, released for the Playstation 2 in 2003 to generally positive reviews. It's a considerable departure from the previous entries, which were much more traditional eastern [=RPGs=].

Dragon Quarter's most interesting gameplay mechanic is the SOL (Scenario Overlay) system, which encourages you to [[NewGamePlus die and start over]] by increasing your D-Ratio according to what you accomplished during that run while retaining your experience and items. Depending on how high your D-Ratio is, you can see new cutscenes that reveal previously-hidden details, open locked doors to explore new areas, and even get access to better equipment. Making this more relevant is the D-Counter, a timer that starts when Ryu bonds with his dragon and is constantly counting down to his eventual death, speeding up dramatically if he uses any of his [[GameBreaker broken draconic powers]]. While you are allowed to suspend your game through quicksaves, permanent save files could only be created [[FakeDifficulty through the use of rare save tokens]], giving the game an extra layer of NintendoHard difficulty.

!!This series provides examples of:

* AfterTheEnd: The story takes place 1000 years AfterTheEnd, when humanity is driven underground by a HopelessWar that renders the surface uninhabitable.

* BilingualBonus: In addition to the [[YouAreNumberSix dragon names]], the entire game intro is recited [[http://www.dragon-tear.net/forum/printthread.php?t=7402&pp=40 in Russian]]. In a second variant of this, only in German and obscured via the use of [[CypherLanguage Cypher Font]] in the game's opening animation.[[labelnote:*]] :Specifically, it appears to be [[http://www.dragon-tear.net/forum/showthread.php?t=7402&page=2 a bad German translation of the Bible verse Matthew 19:30]]: "(Many of) the first shall be last, and the last shall be first". Quite appropriate, considering the extensive use of Judeo-Christian imagery in ''DQ'' and its theme that an AudienceSurrogate is who ultimately opens the path to the sky.[[/labelnote]]
* BloodFromTheMouth: Happens to Bosch when [[spoiler:he is defeated by Ryu for the last time (with both sides fighting as {{Half Human Hybrid}}s); Bosch asks Ryu to perform a MercyKill on him, and spews blood when Ryu runs him through with his own claw.]]
** Also happens to Ryu when [[spoiler:Bosch stabs him in the throat with his rapier, full with blanked eyes.]]

** In the NonStandardGameover, which you get from pushing the D-Counter to 100%, we see [[spoiler:a silhouette of Ryu twitching violently, before a dragon erupts from his body, rending it to shreds]]. You don't see much, but it's still scary as hell.

* CoolDownHug: Nina gives Ryu one when he's about to [[HulkOut go dragon on]] the scientist who [[spoiler: engineered Nina as a pollution-cleanup device.]]
* CurbStompBattle: It LOOKS like Bosch has just issued you a NonstandardGameOver- and then [[DeadlyUpgrade D-Dive]] activates. Cue extremely justified OhCrap from Bosch.
* CypherLanguage: ''Dragon Quarter'' invented an entire pseudo-Cyrillic script. It turns out [[http://www.dragon-tear.net/forum/printthread.php?t=7402&pp=40 the writers hid many an Easter Egg and even some downright spoileriffic material]] in the artwork and even in-game, even though the script was never used in the game mechanics.
** At least one Japanese fan made an unofficial Truetype font based on the documented character set in the artbook. You can now find it [[http://www.mediafire.com/download/rh727ribav4u04u/DragonQuarter1.9.TTF here]] (the original source is since defunct)

* GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke: A major theme of the backstory of ''Dragon Quarter''. [[spoiler:Genetic Engineering is such an effective WeaponOfMassDestruction, in fact, that scientists in the past managed to create ''[[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragons]]'' as weapons which proceeded to cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. What's left of humanity is still living underground ''over a millenium later''.]]
* TheIlluminati: the Regents are essentially this.

** Elyon: [[spoiler:Refusing to open the door to the sky when he was a Chosen of Odjn. He feared that it wasn't his own decision, and this resulted in Odjn breaking his link with Elyon.]]
** Bosch: [[spoiler:Being defeated by Ryu. Much of this is because Bosch is a WellDoneSonGuy who was pressured to excel and he just can't handle being defeated by a low-D; this leads to a descent from being TheRival to a full-blown VillainousBreakdown.]]

* PuzzleBoss: Hortensia is one, she uses her ability to turn the floor colors, and one of her spells will either hurt or heal the person standing on it depending on the color (she floats, and is immune to either effect)

** Elyon is traditionally a Hebrew epithet for God.[[note]]and a bit of a shout-out to Fou-lu, whom Elyon is an explicit {{Expy}} of.[[/note]]
** Jezuit is a reference to the Jesuit religious order
** Deamoned is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin

** The Regents and major characters not named after theological references, Russian numbers, or direct shout-outs to the earlier games in the series are named after Greco-Roman philosophers and orators. Zeno shares a name with a famous Greek philosopher who (per the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno%27s_paradoxes Other Wiki]]) wrote extensively about paradoxes and the nature of reality, and Hortensia shares a name with an orator who (again, per the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hortensia_%28orator%29 OtherWiki]]) led the Roman Senate to partially repeal taxes on female nobles.

** There's also the intro movie to the game with lenghty segment where Ryu slowly walks forward in heavy rainfall while dragging his sword along the ground: while the last part does offer an explanation where the hell the rain is coming from, it doesn't really match up to his surroundings in the earlier parts.

'''''Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter''''' is the fifth entry in the ''Franchise/BreathOfFire'' series, released for the Playstation 2 in 2003 to generally positive reviews. It's a considerable [[BaseBreaker departure]] from the previous entries, which were much more traditional eastern [=RPGs=].

* LaResistance

* SaveToken: That were extremely rare, to boot, although there was fortunately {{Suspend Save}}s available if you really needed to quit.

'''''Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter''''' is the fifth entry in the ''BreathOfFire'' series, released for the Playstation 2 in 2003 to generally positive reviews. It's a considerable [[BaseBreaker departure]] from the previous entries, which were much more traditional eastern [=RPGs=].

* DarkerAndEdgier: The BreathOfFire games tended to be, overall, lighthearted, even if they had occasional dark spots. This one, not so much.

*** Somewhat averted. [[spoiler: D-ratio is a measure of probability. It's still technically possible for a low-D to merge with a D-Construct, just much less likely than a high-D. Conversely, someone could theoretically be a 1/4 and still ''fail'' to merge. The game simply doesn't address this issue because there is no need; like most good stories, matters of probability tend to work in favor of dramatic necessity.]]

** And at least one Japanese fan [[http://www6.ocn.ne.jp/~nanpoo/dq/img/font/dragonquarter_font.zip made an unofficial Truetype font]] based on the documented character set in the artbook.