I've heard a lot of praise for this series of games, but I have not yet played either title. Which one is the best game to get into at this point and time? If all of them are great I may get each one. I'm trying to just build a collection of really good games so I can finish one game and move on to the next best game on my list.
I remember having played the Dragon Quarter part without having played any of the previous and there was something that quite didn't add up for me sometimes, so if you're new to the series like I was, I think you better start with the vol1 game, and then follow up!
Personally I fell in love with Breath of Fire III. Graphics were amazing, music was atmospheric and the gameplay addicting. Plus funny dialogs and puns here and there made it a great game. Sadly as most offline RPGs, it can turn to be quite unbalanced if you decide to farm mobs for items or money cause nothing scales with your levels.
Sadly I missed out on these games because I never had the right console I wanted to play the III one so badly, but I didn't have a Playstation 1 I had a Dreamcast and when I finally got a PS1 I totally forgot about the game and spent most of my time playing games like Grand Turismo 2.
Like with any gaming series, I'd start from the 1st one and work my way up towards the newer releases. Sometimes it's important for the story.
It's a really good series though I would say it always has been some kind of a underdog in comparison to Final Fantasy and others.