History VideoGame / BreathOfFireIV

The fourth game in the long-running JRPG series ''Franchise/BreathOfFire'', released on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation in April 2000 in Japan and November 2000 for North America.

* BonusBoss: Angler, a mutated fish monster in North Chamba. It is far from the most difficult opponent, and defeating it reveals a new fishing spot.

* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: Mami's death is the DespairEventHorizon that throws Fou-Lu to being a full-blown WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds; the death of the Chek summoners is the DespairEventHorizon that throws Ryu into a HeroicBSOD that unleashes the Kaiser Dragon.]]

** In a backhanded salute to this, the manga adaptation of ''IV'' apparently has Fou-Lu speaking in what amounts to Ye Olde Butcherede Japanese, as opposed to the original {{Keigo}}.

** And then there's General Yohm's order to use the Carronade against Fou-Lu himself: The revelation that they used [[spoiler: Mami]] to power it was TheLastStraw that pushed Fou-Lu [[KillEmAll over the edge]].

* TraumaCongaLine: Poor Fou-Lu. First, the Empire doesn't want him to reclaim his throne, so they send General Yohm to pursue and kill him. Repeatedly. A cute boar he befriends makes a sacrifice of itself to open an escape path for him, while the only person in the world he may have had any love for is taken prisoner by Imperial forces, [[spoiler: then tortured and used as living ammunition for the Carronade]], before Fou takes a ''direct hit'' from the Empire's magical superweapon. No wonder he wants to KillEmAll.

** A [[https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/7192/ romhack]] was eventually released that restored the removed scenes as well as Scias's original drunken slur and his DummiedOut [[EnemyScan Identify]] skill.

** An enemy called Trunked regenerates 15,000 HP ''per turn'', but is (quite fortunately) harmless, existing solely to practice combo attacks on. There's an even "stronger" variant, Trean, that regenerates ''[[UpToEleven 30,000 HP per turn]]''.

* NiceHat:
** Yuna, Soniel and Fou-Lu, in a ProjectedMan when he first appears to Ryu. Depicted in the official artbook, and especially in the manga.
** The cover for Volume V of the manga has fun with this in giving [[http://i.imgur.com/PVRAjtf.gif both Fou-Lu and Ryu]] matching Nice Hats.
** All this is a remarkable example of ShownTheirWork. [[note]] As it turns out, the hats are rather similar to those worn by (in particular) Ming and Tang Dynasty Chinese court officials and Korean royal court officials. [[/note]]

* MeaningfulName: Ryu is constantly referred to as the "Yorae Dragon" by the other Endless. Following with the localization convention of transliterating Japanese kanji into Korean hanja, 如來 (yŏrae in earlier romanizations, yeorae using the Revised Romanization method) is the Korean translation of a Pali word, Tathagata. It is a word used by Gautama Buddha to describe himself and other buddhas in lieu of personal pronouns. It roughly translates to "One Who Has Thus Come/Gone," describing how the Buddha has broken from the endless cycle of samsara (or impermanence) to attain nirvana. [[spoiler: This relates to Ryu's final act in the story after he absorbs Fou-Lu: He breaks the power of the Endless (save Deis), rendering them into mortals and freeing them from an endless life of passive observation.]]

* BattleThemeMusic: Two, actually (for the Eastern and Western continents respectively).

** The manga adaptation turns this UpToEleven in a major borderline StuffedIntoTheFridge moment. [[spoiler: Including Mami's literal last words being "An-chan", a term roughly equivalent to "dear" which she uses as an affectionate term for Fou-Lu, and the sound of her [[MementoMacGuffin hair bells]] after the Carronade fires making it very obvious what happened...]]

** The first puzzle you encounter in Fou-lu's Tomb, where you have to remotely guide three colored blocks leading to a bead (which acts like keys in this dungeon); a second set of colored blocks are needed to reach Ursula's [[InfinityPlusOneSword Electrifier]].

* AForrmYouAreComfortableWith: The Endless have vaguely humanoid avatars that they use to properly speak to Ryu.

** Ice Peak sees the party guiding some sonwballs to make a shapeshift bridge to the exit as well as some items.
** The first puzzle you encounter in Fou-lu's Tomb, where you have to remotely guide three colored blocks leading to a bead (which acts like keys in this dungeon); a second set of colored blocks are needed to reach Ursula's [[infinityPlusOneSword Electrifier]].

** Cray's Ludian escape is a OneTimeDungeon, and near the end is a merchant for the ChainOfDeals sequence required for the Master Marlok. Fortunately, that item is not a PermanentlyMissableContent; the EndgamePlus allows you to still complete the sequence through a secret merchant.

** One mid-game boss, "Ight", feels like a HopelessBossFight, unleashing powerful attacks that can [[TotalPartyKill wipe the floor]] with you in a single turn. But the moment Ryu is knocked out, he instead transforms into the Kaiser dragon, and kills the boss in two turns flat. In other words, both sides took a curb-stomping in the '''same fight'''.

* GreenHillZone: The green forested areas around Ludia and Wyndia.

* MixAndMatchCritters: The Wind Dragon which is combination of a dragon, an elephant and a whale.
** Pretty much ''all'' the [=NPC=] dragons/Endless fall into this category; [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that each dragon is the PhysicalGod of a specific element or force.

** Despite being able to transform since shortly after being introduced (specifically, the same time Fou-lu wakes up), Ryu's Dragon transformations go unnoticed for a long while. This includes the battle against Ymechaf at the top of Kyoin Tower, where Rasso was the one who realizes the truth. For that matter, he also notices this even if you ''didn't'' use Meditate in that battle.
** Plus the fairies even call him a Dragon and give him the nickname of Dragon Boy.

* TheEmpire: The Fou-Lu Empire, created by the God Emperor Fou-Lu some 400 years ago, which has been in a ForeverWar with the eastern continent which has multiple nations on it.

** Two separate sidestory games in ''IV'''s universe exist (''Breath of Fire IV - The Sword of Flame & the Magic of Wind'' and ''Breath of Fire IV: Faeries Light Key'') along with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone_games_of_the_Breath_of_Fire_series two other Gaiden Games]]: A SpinOff of the fishing game from ''IV'' (''Breath of Fire: Dragon Fisherman'') and a "Great Dalmuti" / "Millionaire" / "President" / "Asshole" game featuring characters from ''IV'' (''Breath of Daifugo'').

* KarmaHoudini: One of the game's most infamous aspects is that the villain who was to blame for nearly everything bad that happened, apparently was never punished. There is a bit of background behind this, which can be read in the main entry. [[note]] The long and short of it being that the game was rushed out before the ending was fully completed and the comeuppance was never shown (but was planned). However, the manga wasn't under the same constraint, and yet it still played this trope straight... [[/note]]

* KingInTheMountain: Subverted to the point of deconstruction. In essence, Fou-Lu would have been the Fou Empire's prototypical KingInTheMountain if TheEmpire had kept up its end of the bargain. Instead, Fou-Lu's entire storyline in the game can be best described as "What Happens When a Country's Government Sees the Return of Its KingInTheMountain as an UnwantedRevival". [[TimeForPlanB It goes poorly for all involved]].

** In the manga adaptation, [[spoiler: Mami's bells are a MementoMacGuffin a second time during the BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind between Fou-Lu and Ryu (leading from the BadEnding to the GoodEnding). Fou-Lu literally breaks down sobbing upon being confronted by Ryu... Whilst Ryu holds Mami's bells in his hand.]]

* MaximumHPReduction: If someone was downed in battle and didn't get revived, they would be brought back with 1 hp and have their max health reduced. Also, there's a move called Disembowel which inflicts HPToOne at the cost of reducing the ''user's'' maximum HP until the next time they rest at an inn.

* AchievementsSystem: The later Masters have final tasks that requires extensive knowledge of the game's mechanics to fulfill. These range from a high combo count (Kyrik; 70+ hits), mastery of the FishingMinigame (Gyosil; 9,500 points) and especially one about inflicting massive damage in a single[[note]]non-combo[[/note]] hit (Bunyan; '''12,000''' damage).

* BigBad: [[spoiler: The man responsible for almost everything behind the scenes, including Elina's abduction, is actually Lord Yuna.]]

* BonusBoss: Angler, a mutated fish monster in North Chamba. It is far from the most difficult opponent (and reveals a new fishing spot upon its defeat).

* DerelictGraveyard: Sandflier Valley is obviously filled with wrecks of Sandfliers.

* TheWorfBarrage: The first Dragon Summon you obtain, is ineffectual against the first BossBattle you have to face shortly after this.

* AdaptationDistillation: The manga adaptation, mainly because it averts the HeroicMime trope. Arguably still, something is missing in IV when it doesn't go with the [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic soundtracks]].

** North Chamba, the first major dungeon of the game, is a Hex-infested town. Miasma pollutes the ground that the party has to travel on the rooftops.

** Despite being able to transform since shortly after being introduced (specifically, the same time Fou-lu wakes up), Ryu's Dragon transformations go unnoticed until Rasso comments on it to himself and then aren't noticed by the rest of the party for a while.
** Rasso even realizes that Ryu's a Dragon if you don't use Meditate in the battle against Ymechaf on top of Kyoin Tower.

** General Yohm's suicide after finally conceding to Fou-lu. The camera swerves around in just the right angle to obscure his body.

** The [[DefendCommand Guard command]], aside from the obvious, now takes over for the previous game's Examine command in learning enemy skills. Meanwhile, Examine itself (now working as an EnemyScan) doesn't use up a turn.

** Both Nina and Ershin have an ability that has a chance to trigger when they're in the back row, supporting the front line characters: Nina will heal the front party, while Ershin can independently attack in anyone (even an enemy's) turn.

* PermanentlyMissableContent: In Chiqua late in the game, the Merchant Fu Chuman will ask you to fetch one of three rare items in order to get past a roadblock. One of these "items" is the Flawed Gem; if you give that to him, you'll have to say goodbye to Ryu's Mutant transformation.

* RingOut: One minigam where Nina fights one of the Shikk sailors by pushing each other over the mast of a ship.

* ShamefulShrinking: Ursula and Scias try to hijack a sandflier (long story). The merchant who owned it is Marlor, who gave the party a dressing down (before deciding to lend them the money to buy their own), causing the members of the party who did it to shrink.

* StoneWall: Two types of enemies found at the Abandoned Village, the Trunked and the Trean, have a TON of HP and defenses and HP regeneration, but will not attack the party. The perfect punching bags for practicing Combos.