Taking place hundreds of years after its predecessor, Breath of Fire II continues the epic saga begun by the original Breath of Fire. A young child named Ryu, the son of the Pastor Ganer of Gate runs off to play with his little sister, Yua in front of the Ancient Dragon that guards a mysterious cave which had once allowed monsters to roam the skies. Yua tells Ryu that when she naps in front of the Dragon, she dreams about their mother, who was long lost...

Deciding to try this out, Ryu falls asleep and instead dreams of a terrifying force that would come and destroy the world. Waking from this nightmare, Ryu runs back to his village and... no one recognizes him! His father is nowhere to be found and all of the villagers tell him to get lost. Where is his sister? His father? He gets taken in by the new (?) minister and meets up with a small dog-child named Bow. The two orphans then run away during the night, to search their fortunes...

So begins the story of the Dragon Child. Ryu will go on and gain new abilities, allies and equipment. Much like the original, Breath of Fire II relies on turn-based combat, but fortunately brings much more to the table. Formations are now very important strategically, as are the equipment and order of your combatants. Later on you'll be able to mix and match abilities with your party members by splicing their souls with magical Shamans, thus creating the ultimate warriors.

Or how about continuing the tradition of hunting and fishing? All characters have a special ability that becomes apparent when they lead the party. For instance Katt and Bow are able to enter the "Hunting Field" where they can attack animals with their weapons (in real time) and receive items like Roasts that heal your party or are salable for a good price (especially early on in your adventure.) Rand rolls up into a ball and barrels down the world map, preventing enemies from attacking. Careful though, because if you hit a wall he'll spin around disoriented and monsters will have the edge. Jean turns into a frog that can cross lakes while Spar can trek through any forest without getting lost.

As of now it's not really known what kind of upgrades Capcom has planned for the remake of this classic RPG, other than the obvious graphical improvements and (hopefully) a new and better translation. We at PGC can't wait to take a trip down memory lane!