Breath of Fire IV is my favorite entry in the series, with II and III close behind it. The original . . . ehhhhh, it isn't too bad either, but I find it feels very generic now and I have a hard time sitting through it anymore. There's also Dragon Quarter, but while it is technically BoF V, I tend to think of it more like Unlimited SaGa in that series, which is to say it's more like an interesting idea and failed experiment than a true entry in the series.
Regarding my favorite versions of Ryu and Nina, well, Ryu himself is a rather generic silent protagonist so it comes down to transformations, which makes BoF III Ryu the clear winner as BoF I and IV transformations are extremely meh and mixing genes in III makes you feel a bit like a mad scientist. >: D
In Nina's case, I generally either dismiss or dislike her, with the exception of BoF II where she was a character I actually cared about. Her life kind of sucks and she got me right in the empathy. ; -;
As far as OSTs, Bof IV for me.
Looking at my favorite story, well . . . spoilers ahead, but BoF IV is my pick. (SPOILER) When considering just the overall stories, Breath of Fire II, III, and IV are all probably equally interesting on their own to me, but Fou-Lu and Yuna push the scales towards IV for me. In Fou-Lu's case, you have a character who is, though not particularly nice, a force for good twisted by his experiences throughout the game, and, since the player also experiences all of these events with him, there's that level of connection that other series' antagonists are lacking; he isn't just some evil god in a cave somewhere brewing up evil schemes, he's a savior who thought himself above human pettiness and, in the end, is drug down and crushed under it. That's also part of why I like Yuna so much, despite his relatively minor appearance in the overall story. The man is outright twisted, and while most of the game lends itself more to the notion that humanity is, at worst, a bit irritating and in no way warrants outright destruction, he and his work remain a pretty solid reminder that Fou isn't completely off his rocker. Kidnapping and torture for fun and profit? Yuna's got that. A cannon that rips a person's soul out and fires it like a nuclear bomb at their loved ones? Check. Using a cease fire to nab a rival kingdom's princess on a goodwill mission and mutate her into a grotesque artificial 'God' with the sole intention of inflicting endless suffering on her? Got that one too. Likely the little voice in the Emperor's ear that has encouraged the war that's torn the world apart? Yeah, pretty sure that's him as well. Damn he's good at his job. He provides that excellent rotten core to offset Fou, and together I feel they provide the best lasting antagonists in the series and push IV's story ahead for me.
When it comes to favorite character, I'm kind of split. On one hand, Scias is my hands-down favorite character, combat-wise, in the series, with excellent speed, double strikes, and auto-crits via Shining Blade; he also has a design, fairly simply though it may be, that I love to boot. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure Amarant gets more development to him in FFIX than Scias does during BoF IV, which prevents him from being my run away pick since, awesome though he may be, he's really just an aimless tag along. That brings me to Nina II, who is one of those rare RPG characters I actually gave a damn about while playing the game and I feel she brought a good bit to BoF 2. She's wasn't that bad in combat either, now that I think about it, especially after fusing her with people, buuuut . . . still nowhere near as awesome as Scias.
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