The second entry into Capcom's amazing RPG series is even better than the first, and a contender against the FF series.
Hitting the shelves so soon after its predecessor this game could easily have been a huge failure. Not that fans would have been upset about such a quick sequel, but because it could have been such a weak follow-up. However, BoF II not only took all the good things from the original but added a number of new and improved features and visuals to really push it into the gaming stratosphere.
Hitting in the same year as the Square mega-hit, Chrono Trigger, didn't do much to help this game stand out, but for anyone fortunate enough to pick it up, they found a game not only as rife with interesting characters and setting, but with a number of other features that other games didn't have.
This time you start your journey as Ryu (not the same Ryu, but apparently being a dragon means that you have to be named Ryu), an 8 year old orphan who lives in the church in a small village. The introduction starts in black and white, but quickly adds those vibrant colors you can expect to see in BoF games. After finding a cave guarded by a dragon and defending your sister, and hint at who your mother may be, you head back to the village. Soon enough you are being asked to do some sneaking around by a new orphan boy Bow (hmmm, this time Bow with a w, and instead of a wolf, he's a dog.) and you journey off in the night into the cave where you run into one heck of a monster. This time however you are decimated rather quickly and the game then take the time to time warp you ahead abit, re-establishing your root in a new town, with the trusty (?) Bow by your side.
Ok, so the story is pretty similar to the first game, and oddly enough so are most of the characters. You still are traveling around in a world full of people and there animal-esque counter-parts. You still meet Nina, the winged Windian princess, an Armadillo rather than an Ox oddly enough, a Monkey as your thief, and this time your fish friend just come in the merchant variety. However you can also meet a few other characters pushing the cast even higher than the last game and higher than any other rpg outside of FFVI's monstrous roster. And once again each character bring a unique skill to help you in your quest to stop, well whatever it is that you have to stop this time. Also, similar to the form that Karn could take in the last game, this game you will find a number of witches that you can join to your characters (except Ryu, who's dragon spirit is too powerful to accept the merge). If you are lucky enough to find them all, and join the right ones onto the right characters you can cause them to take on more powerful forms (all characters have at least 2, with other having a large number of possible options). Hunting has returned, offering the chance a more free restoratives. Fishing has returned, but the system for it is much better, plus you can see the things you may want instead of dealing with the general randomness of BoF. The combat is laid out much the same, but a new formation system affords you a number of options to use with any possible party configurations. One problem though is that you are limited in not only item slots but also by item stackability, which is somewhat poor. However you do have a very nice banking/item storage system, although you can't really get at it from dungeons, so you have to be prepared no only to bring the enough items, but also not too many, as you don't want to discard things just to pick up others.
Graphically it is quite well done, out classing FF VI, although it does have a more anime look. The color are all very bright, and the details on both characters and monsters are well done. I would have given it a high score, the graphics are not the best on the system or anything, and Chrono Trigger looked better strictly speaking. The sound is also somewhat improved. The music still have much the same style and feel, with some returning themes. However it is the sound effects that really got the polish. Now a number of odd or annoying sounds have been replaced with more realistic ones. However the music and sound, especially the bothersome action noises that characters have can grow irritating rather quickly.
I can't say how many hours I have spent playing this game, but with all of the characters, all the shamn-transformations, and just a great story, I kept coming back to experience it again and again. Truly an instant classic for any RPG fan.