The Breath of Fire series is developed and published by Capcom with its first installment Breath of Fire being the only one published by another company, Square. The series is often categorized as a traditional turn-based RPG. The only exception to this is the series' fifth installment, Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter. It is still a turn-based RPG, but much more experimental in its approach.
There are a number of themes that persist through the series. The main protagonist is always a blue-haired boy named Ryu with the power to turn into a dragon (or dragons). He is usually one of the last of his kind. There is always a winged girl named Nina with the power to cast magical spells that joins your party. Deis, an ancient blue-haired sorceress with the lower torso of a snake and the upper torso of a young woman is another reoccurring party member. Unlike Ryu and Nina, she is missing from Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter. Reoccurring plot themes revolve around evil religious organizations and killing the gods. Minigames involving faeries, as well as fishing are also series mainstays.
Though there are some hints at a single time line for the series (excluding Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter), each game is a self contained story that can be played on its own with no penalties to the player for jumping in at whichever title in the series they feel.
The series has sold over 3 million units world wide1
