4/5 ★ – CartridgeDust's review of Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter.

I harbored a dream that this was the Nier: Automata of the PS2. That dream came true, mostly. Odd and experimental and controversial, Dragon Quarter was at least a decade ahead of its time. From my playthrough as a kid, I remembered the strange structure of the New Game+ system that demanded replays of increasing difficulty to unlock parts of the story, a kind of genetic ancestor to Nier: Automata. I'd forgotten, however, the particular emphasis on survival and the bleak tone and unforgiving difficulty of the first run through the game. The developers wanted failure to feel real, wanted the protagonist's slow decay to feel stressful. The history of this subterranean world and its dragonblood quotient caste system are veiled in a mystery through which the player only occasionally glimpses. The plot remains grounded and human: Ryu finds a stranded little girl, a genetic experiment, and is baffled when foes and allies alike try to hurt her, deciding to fight his way up to the fabled sky to save the girl's life. I'm really enamored by the combination of this straightforward plot with a mysterious, rich setting, and I'm really impressed by the ambiguous, hopeful, melancholy ending - especially the FAR ahead of its time way the climax of the game weaves game mechanics and HUD into the story. Just in general, the way gameplay is woven into plot, story, and setting is really clever and effective. Characters really express themselves in combat; Lin's highly technical marksmanship, Ryu's terrifying transformations. I fantasized about what kinds of story content might be locked behind additional replays and, finally getting my hands on the game as an adult, I eagerly plumbed the depths. In the end, though, the subsequent replays did more harm than good to my appreciation of the game. The unlockable scenes are interesting, but not worth the hassle. There's not nearly enough meat on the game's PS2-era bones to justify three or four playthroughs, and my third playthrough sank into a frustrating slog. Where Nier: Automata's "replays" blossom and expand, Dragon Quarter's drag and decay. And yes, this was a much older game, and a true innovator in its day. I admire that. But on its own merits, it doesn't harness the full potential of its structural strangeness the way Nier: Automata does. I'd totally forgotten that the soundtrack was one of Sakimoto's. It's unmistakable to me now. He does a wonderful job wedding his spritely orchestral idiom with the dark tech grunge of Dragon Quarter's world. A few tracks sound like they were lifted from Final Fantasy: Tactics but the most remarkable pieces of score are the ones which fully embrace the darker futuristic aesthetics. The game plays beautifully & compulsively, especially on the first run, and it's layered with lots of wonderful details. The simple plot lands perfectly, and the world living behind it lingers in the imagination. Yes, it stumbles in the implementation of its most innovative features. But damn if the developers didn't take risks and reach high, and that, plus the genuine emotional core, is going to stay with me the longest. I loved Dragon Quarter as a kid, but I think I finally appreciate it as an adult.