The Fishing in Breath of Fire

In the first Breath of Fire, fishing is barely a system: equip a rod and bait, find a spot at a cliff or lakeside, and take your chances. Its purpose is treasure as much as food. The best rod, found in Tunlan, extends the reach to wells, and the wells hold unique equipment, including a dragon sword, that cannot be bought at any price. RPGFan's later summary of the original is the whole mechanic in one phrase: the simple "use the fishing pole in the well" methodology.

Breath of Fire II makes the pastime a field skill. Fishing spots announce themselves with a jumping fish, and sit alongside a second system, hunting grounds, where Bosch fires his bow at game hidden in wobbling bushes; both are Ryu's and Bosch's field specialties. It is also where the Manillo first appear: fish merchants discovered through fishing, in this game and both PlayStation sequels, selling rare and early equipment from the water. The era's translation leaves its fingerprint here too, in a menu option the English version renders as "Equip lod/bait."

Breath of Fire III builds fishing into a system with its own literature: named spots across the world map, six rods, five kinds of bait, twenty-three kinds of fish, size records and ranks. The masterstroke is the Coin, a bait no fish will touch except the Manillo, who must be caught to be traded with, and who takes payment in fish rather than zenny, rare equipment priced in whales and spearfish. RPGFan's review called the fishing one of the best parts of the game, and the series never dropped it again while it remained itself.

The thread's shape is the series' shape in miniature: a small, loved system, refined for a decade by the same studio, briefly independent, and then set aside when the series reinvented itself and stopped.