Breath of Fire III / YMMV

Alternate Character Interpretation:
- Peco: As they reveal themselves as Yggdrasil during the end game, it can be assumed that the Mutant and Peco are one and the same person. Clues are Peco's anger in their first appearance as something went wrong and their frustrated expression towards Momo's explaination. Another clue are the voices the party heard near at the Yggdrasil tree, as they found Peco there after reuniting with Momo.
  - In the same vein, Peco may have feigned stupidity first to resign themselves to their new fate, another reason may have been later to fool Myria, in order to catch her offguard.
- Myria: Is she a totalitarian villain who just wants to control humanity, or a Well-Intentioned Extremist who has spent her life working to protect humanity from the Brood? It doesn't help that the game heavily implies that Myria is actually the same goddess Myria from the first Breath of Fire, making the idea that she's genuinely altruistic that just much harder to swallow.
  - Then again, if Ryu and Nina are widely accepted as reincarnations of their past selves, who's to say Myria isn't also? After all, the Orbital Station is already full of creatures seemingly engineered from genetic sampling. If Myria is a source of various kinds of energy as NPCs claim (though according to game dialogue any magical being slowly fossilizes as chrysm when it dies so she's not the only source of that one), then the ancient people would have had good reason to clone her and teach her that she had a responsibility to help support life.
  - Given that life seemingly starts to return to the desert in the Fin card, was the desertification problem caused (even partially) by Myria herself, and if so how aware was she of it? The fact that she deliberately cut off the Yggdrasil network (which is implied to be the cause of life returning after her death) either speaks to her deliberately causing the very problem she claims to be protecting humanity from, or her short-sightedness and desire for control ended up exacerbating the situation.
Arc Fatigue: Arc Stall example after the timeskip, when Ryu finally decides to find Myria. It leads to loads of Fetch Quests and mandatory minigames, that have to be done in order to progress. Then there is the Desert of Death...
Rei: Don't this just beat all...
Awesome Art: All sprites are hand-drawn, with an insane amount of detail and commitment to making every frame on model but expressive. This is generally considered one of the game's better points.
Broken Base: Is the jazz-styled soundtrack a cool and unique break from the common orchestra or rock soundtracks of JRPG's, or is it ill-fitting, boring and just downright grating?
Catharsis Factor: Balio and Sunder are the source of much misery for the heroes for most of the childhood chapters of the game. To see them finally be put in place by Garr (who, aside from being the first adult NPC that doesn't betray you to them, also proceeds to join your party) is very satisfying.
Complete Monster: Mikba is the head of the crime syndicate responsible for the conflict of the first half of the game. A powerful crime lord, Mikba's numerous operations include trafficking and murder, with many towns under his iron fist and helpless under his wrath. When Ryu's family gets involved with him, Mikba sends his two enforcers to burn their home and murder them despite being children, and later allows his men to run his many operations, not caring about the damage caused. When his empire began crumbling because of Nina and Rei, Mikba cowardly leaves his men to die, before later attempting to kill Rei and Ryu's party when he received power from Myria, turning into a demonic monster as he brutalizes them.
Game-Breaker: Has its own page.
Goddamned Bats: Jellyfish and piranha. They're the Com Mons in the Fishing Minigame, almost useless as items, and almost every fishing spot is littered with one or both. They both take to all the lure types (with the obvious exception of the Coin), so expect to repeatedly hook these nuisances instead of some of the rarer fish you were trying to find.
Harsher in Hindsight:
- The revelation that Momo's father used to conduct experiments on chrysm ore in order to resurrect his dead wife; it makes the sight gag of finding his Porn Stash a little unsettling.
- The next game reminds us exactly why a royal entourage is so dangerous with one of Wyndia's princesses getting kidnapped by the enemy empire and experimented on. This casts Queen Sheila's treatment towards Nina in a more sympathetic light.
Low-Tier Letdown: Nina in this game is probably her weakest incarnation in the series. She has low overall stats compared to other characters, her odd levels make it difficult to game the Master system as easily, and magic scales much more poorly than physical attacks. Even in her supposed niche, offensive casting, she's outclassed by Momo. Most players simply use her to learn Master skills then leave her on the bench.
Magnificent Bastard:
- This incarnation of the goddess Myria is a draconic ruler who truly wishes for peace and order no matter what she has to do. Witnessing humanity destroy itself with over-advancement and the expansion of the Desert of Death, Myria detached most of world in an isolated island, trapping it in her design where it's kept static under her rule away from potential destruction. Fearing the Brood for their destructive power, Myria created the Guardians to massacre them, before sealing away her remaining adversaries. Successfully manipulating history in embracing her architecture, by framing her adversaries as evil, Myria maintains her sanctuary for decades until the appearance of a surviving Brood name Ryu who she observes and later makes numerous attempts for his life including turning his own adoptive brother against him. While ruthless and smothering, Myria's true ambition is preventing potential catastrophe who till the end only did what she did out of misguided love.
- The Weretiger Rei is Ryu's adoptive brother who after believing him dead goes in a bloody crusade against the crime syndicate who took him away. Formerly a petty thief, Rei along with his brothers ended up in trouble after being fooled to steal from their Mayor, not knowing his connection to the underground. Beaten and left for dead, when Rei recovered and was unable to find his family, Rei changed, becoming cold and vengeful before observing his enemies for years to plan retribution. Dissecting the syndicates, Rei launched his plan to kill every key member, transforming into the Weretiger to go on a rampage, dismantling the group up to their leader Mikba. Reuniting with Ryu in his crusade, Rei decides to stay with him to atone for not being there for him and the destruction he caused in pursuing vengeance.
- Garr is a seasoned warrior who hides a sly mind under his massive exterior. Once human, Garr became a Guardian under Myria's name to slay the Brood after being convinced of their threat. Wandering the world, Garr ends up encountering Ryu and upon learning he's a Brood hatches a plan to continue his mission. Convincing Ryu's group to follow him claiming Ryu's life is in danger, unaware Garr intends to kill him, he tricks them into reaching Angel Tower, where Garr isolates himself and Ryu before attempting to kill him. Losing the battle and realizing that he shouldn't have been able to defeat the Brood, Garr spends the next few years to find Ryu to learn the truth about Myria and the massacre in a journey of redemption. After learning Myria's deception and earning forgiveness, Garr resolves himself to protect Ryu and free the world from Myria's manipulation even at the cost of his life.
Narm: After beating the Mutant boss, he tearfully asks you to destroy him in a scene with appropriately heartwrenching music. You destroy him by flipping a switch which has a conveyer belt move him into lava. The thing is, there are two switches, one which heads toward the lava, one that heads away. You can (either accidentally or intentionally) hit the wrong switch as many times as you want, which drains all of the pathos from the scene.
Popular with Furries: Garr has gained a fair amount of attention from the Furry Fandom due to his design and very muscular build. Though in a really ironic twist, he's often assumed to be a dragon by them...despite being a dragon slaying gargoyle-like Guardian in canon. Oops?
Scrappy Mechanic:
- Who is the best designated healer in this game? Ryu, meaning you have to choose either using up or conserving AP to treat your party in dungeons, or when you want to Transform in an upcoming boss, respectively. Stocking up on healing items is an alternative, but then there's another problem...
- Ammonia only restores KO'ed characters to 1HP. Chances are, your enemies (especially bosses) would wind up just knocking them out again before you can act. This instantly turns one of the early post-Time Skip bosses into That One Boss because Rei, forced into your party for that fight, starts the battle knocked out. The boss in question is scripted to always attack him so reviving Rei (already well-known as a Fragile Speedster) would become a taxing chore.
Sidetracked by the Gold Saucer: Fishing, especially now that the game introduces Manillo merchants, who offer awesome rewards in exchange for fish that function as Disc One Nukes. ^note
Suspiciously Similar Song: Deis' theme sounds suspiciously like Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger". Falling Green is a dead ringer for Chrono Trigger's Secret of the Forest. The Game Over theme is basically Chrono Trigger's Windy Scene's first notes repeated over and over.
That One Level:
- McNeil Manor, the second major dungeon of the game, can be really taxing for first-time players. It is explored in two major parts (the grounds and then the interior). The grounds serve as a Stealth-Based Mission with a Fetch Quest and two Mini Bosses, but it's the interior that will really cause you trouble. You only have two party members for this part, and more Mini Bosses will litter the halls. There are two resting areas, but the first and most-accessible one is near the entrance, and the second one is in the attic, near the very end of the dungeon. Meaning that if you require healing, you'll have to backtrack to the first one a couple of times, falsely extending the actual exploration length.
- The Desert of Death is an infamous example, not helped by the poorly translated directions in the English version. However, even by knowing where to go, you still have to deal with the dehydration (which lowers the characters max HP if you run out of the water canteens) and the random battles (which may cause Ryu to face the wrong direction after it ends). Then, at the end of the desert, a boss fight occurs without warning.
Unfortunate Character Design: Ryu's child sprite, whose hair fans have unfavorably compared to a blue-colored stool.
Vindicated by History: One of the biggest issues with detractors of the game, was the jazzy based soundtrack. Many fans claimed the music wasn't fitting and kept them from engaging in the story as they were used to the epic orchestral soundtracks of other role-playing games, including the other games in the series. Fast forward over a decade and Jazzy, Pop-based soundtracks have become quite normal in these types of games and have gotten a lot of praise from fans. Turns out, Breath of Fire III's soundtrack was ahead of its time.
Woolseyism:
- Some of the Dub Name Changes fall into this: The lumberjack Babadel was renamed like legendary lumberjack Paul Bunyan, the traitorous Zurusuru was renamed like the Norse Mythology's Trickster God Loki, the generic-named Great Wise Tree and Dragon God were given mythological upgrades into Yggdrasil and Ladon and the crystal/fossil pieces found around were switched from "Ghost" to "Chrysm".
- Kansai Dolphin became Australian Dolphin instead, and served up one of the game's Funny Moments.

YMMV / Breath of Fire III

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