Breath of Fire Turns 30.
Felt I needed to give a proper shout out to one of my fave childhood JRPG series. Breath of Fire has turned 30 last week on April 2nd. Figured I would make this thread and do a mini overview of the series for people. Why? Because I'm bored and need a break from FFXIII. Enjoy.
True beauty exists in things that last only for a moment.
Current Mood: And it's been a long December and there's reason to believe. Maybe this year will be better than the last. I can't remember all the times I tried to tell myself. To hold on to these moments as they pass...
So the question none of you are asking is: "What is Breath of Fire, WK?"
It's a quirky epic JRPG series Capcom made when the genre exploded in the 90s. The game was the brain child of a few interesting peeps. Mostly Yoshinori Kawano, who is better known for his works on Mega Man Legends, Mega Man Zero, and Dead Rising franchises. Tokuro Fujiwara, who is better known for his work with Ghosts in Goblins, Strider, the Disney Afternoon series, and every Capcom side-scroller that ever kicked your ass in the arcade. Finally, we have Makoto Ikehara, who ended up being the real daddy of the franchise since he was the main writer for almost every entry in the series, and eventually moved onto being its main director for III-V.
The interesting thing about BoF is that Capcom isn't known as a major RPG powerhouse like Square, Enix, Atlus, or Falcom. Up until 1993, Capcom was better known for their arcade scene with games like Mega Man, Fatal Fight, Strider, Bionic Commando, and of course, Street Fighter. So to say BoF gets unconventional is a bit of an understatement. But unlike, say, Earthbound/Mother where series creator Shigesato Itoi purposely subverts genre conventions, BoF feels like it's trying to be a genuine conventional JRPG, but one made by people who don't really play the genre. It creates something that is unique and stands out among the riffraff of the genre.
BoF falls into the schizo-tech side of the genre, along with Final Fantasy. Swords and Sorcery for sure, but robots, futuristic flying cities, teleporters and other Science Fiction conventions are just as common place. The series is not without its own unique tropes, though. Every game centers around a blue haired boy named Ryu, who has the power to transform into a dragon. He is always joined by a winged blond girl named Nina, and the games are set in a world full of anthropomorphic races. Ryu also likes to fish.
The series has six numbered titles, though counting spin-offs (all mobile) there are actually ten games in total for the franchise. The first three games make up the loosely connected Myria Trilogy, all featuring a similar setting and history. Starting with the fourth game (though some of the fanbase debate this to this day) the series begins to move into more one-shot settings that are vastly different from the established lore of the trilogy. The exception seems to be BoFVI, which, while unfinished, seemed like it was trying to be a real prequel to the Myria Trilogy, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
So let's talk about the recurring elements:
Ryu is the name of the blue-haired protagonist of the series. He is always a different character in each game. He is usually the protagonist, but this changed in the last numbered installment, where he's an important NPC instead. Ryu is usually considered a silent protagonist, but that only applies to half the series; he actually speaks a lot in the first, fifth, and sixth games in the series. Hell, he even gets some dialogue in the fourth entry as well. Ryu's primary character trait throughout the franchise that all incarnations embody is compassion. Ryu usually doesn't fight for his own sake, but rather starts his journey because someone else is in trouble. He's not always the bravest, and he's not always the leader of his group either. But the story does tend to eventually revolve around the fact the boy can turn into a dragon. Sometimes this power is a blessing (BoF1/6), sometimes it's a terrible curse for him (BoFIII/V), and sometimes it's a mystery for him (BoFII/IV). Of course, turning into a giant dragon has its perks in an RPG and likewise, Ryu is often your main offensive muscle for the team. The series usually gives everyone a special ability that can be used on the World Map or in dungeons. Ryu can usually swipe his sword to cut things, but most of the time, he has the power to fish.
Nina is usually the main heroine of the series, and like Ryu, they're never the same person. In fact, only once in the series has two Ninas from different games met each other. Nina follows some traditional tropes of usually being a princess and a spell caster. Where she breaks some trends is that she's rarely the healer, only fulfilling the role once in the series on purpose. Usually she's your hard hitting Black Mage. Nina is usually related to the city of Wyndia, a city state created by the Wing Clan, which is basically a race of human like beings with bird wings. Occasionally, the race has the power to transform into a bird that acts as the series flying vehicle. Nina tends to be one of the first allies Ryu obtains, and in the games where he's a silent protagonist, she usually winds up speaking for him. Her dungeon map skill varies from game to game. In the first two, she's connected to the Great Bird that serves as the game's airship. In III, she can cast spells needed to hit targets from far away and works with magic based puzzles. And in IV, she can fly up to give you a better view of the map. In a twist on series tradition, Nina is the mute character in BoFV, though for twisted reasons.
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The Dark Dragons
Minor spoiler alert, but no matter which BoF you play, you're eventually going to encounter a Dark Dragon who serves as a foil to Ryu's Light Dragon persona. Some entries are very straightforward about it like BoF1 where the conflict deals with the Dark Dragon clan full force, or in BoFIV, where Fou-Lu serves as Ryu's darker counterpart. Other entries save it as a last minute plot twist like in BoFII and III. And some entries like BoFV try to do both. As mentioned before, these characters often serve as a foil to Ryu and help reinforce the main themes of the series and the particular entry. They often tend to be fan favorite characters as well. Expect them to usually be overpowered and great at ass kicking.
Another recurring figure in the franchise is the lazy but powerful sorceress Deis, known as Bleu in the SNES translations. Unlike Nina and Ryu, Deis is often the same character due to her status as a Goddess and her knack for sleeping for several millenia between entries. Though it is still up to debate if the one from BoFIV is the same as the one from the Myria Trilogy. She does still tend to have the same personality of being pretty arogant, a huge tease, and a total badass to boot. Her true form is unknown, but her favorite involves her medusa-esque serpent body form. She has appeared in all but one entry in the series, BoFVl Dragon Quarter being the lone exception, though staff interviews mentioned she was planned to make a cameo before it was cut due to the game's rushed production.
The title given for the various races that inhabit the setting. There are technically 25 Clans in the series, ranging from regular humans, Mole people, wolf people, and Fish people. There are only six clans that are worth talking about, since they tend to have important characters in them throughout the series instead of just one entry.
The Wing Clan
As already mentioned, the Wing Clan is basically a race of humans with bird wings. They are often associated with the Kingdom of Wyndia, and they tend to be a stuffy European style aristocracy that often cares more for how they are seen by others. Wyndia usually serves as a sort of Big Good in the political landscape of the series, but they also tend to raise rowdy princesses that don't like following the rules. Magic is their kingdom's forte. They are the only race from the first game that has managed to have a party member in every game, including the one they don't technically exist in. They have a very close history with the Dragon Clan for better and for worse.
The Woren Clan
Introduced in the second entry, and being a mainstay since. The Woren are basically a race of Tiger People. They are a strong warrior race who usually specializes in speed. Oddly enough, only one entry every gave them a national background. In IV, they are shown to have the qualities of indigenous tribal communities like the ones seen in North America, Mongolia, and feudal Japan. In the other entries, they are usually a rare race, with only a handful shown ever. It's even a plot point in the second game. While they can use magic, they are not especially good at it. The race is very loyal and tend to be one of the most steadfast companions.
The Grassrunner Clan
Also known as the Kemonomimi clan. Grassrunners are basically a race of humans with canine like features, including foxes. Of course, this rule only applies with female members, the males tend to be very much dog people. They were also introduced in the second entry and have been a prominent race in every entry since. In fact, they are one of the few clans to survive and see BoFV. They are also a pretty potent race with decent magical ability. Much like their animal sake, Grassrunners have never been shown to have their own society or national identity, often being heavily integrated into other tribe societies. They are sometimes mistaken for being members of the Forest Clan (Wolf People) but they are two distinct clans oddly enough. They tend to always be hunters who prefer long range weapons.
The Manillo Clan
This one is an oddity. While they have only once ever been a party member in the series, they are easily one of the most distinct races seen throughout the series and tend to stay prominent thanks to the fishing mini-game where they serve as special vendors you can sell fish to. They are a mercantile race that use their natural physical advantages and the oceans to build powerful capitalist merchant guilds. Greed does not even begin to describe this race and their love of money. With all that said, they are not a powerful race in combat, preferring to use coin to do their talking.
Faeries
Not a traditional clan, but a very prominent figure in the series starting with the third entry. Chances are, if you've glanced at artwork from the series, you'll see this race of mischievous nuisances. In a bit of a twist for the non-SMT JRPGs, the Faeries of BoF hold up closer to their European origins of being tricksters who look down on humans and cause problems. They even exist in their own world, which is where their purpose kicks in. While BoFII began the Village building mini-game, it's the Fairy Village most longtime players will remember most. Usually they are in dire straights for one reason or another, and it's up to Ryu and his crew to manage these pains in the ass to build a functioning town.
The Dragon Clan
Also referred to as the Brood. They are a powerful race of dragons who can take human form. Their power is enough to rival the series various deities, which makes them a threat to everyone and often the cause of a lot of conflict within the series. In the first game, the clan managed to split into two different clans, known as the unoriginal Dark and Light Dragon Clans. Despite only being a plot point in the first entry, Ryu always has a dark counterpart he ends up having to face in every entry. Interesting enough, Ryu tends to be an oddity among even his own clan due to his ability to change his elemental and physical properties of the type of Dragon he wants to be. The strongest Dragon within the clan is known as the Kaiser Dragon, and it's usually Ryu's ultimate form, with some exceptions. The Dragon Clan also has their own patron deity in the form of Ladon, the Dragon God, h serves as a save point in many of the entries but he is shown to actually commune with mortals. The Dragon Clan often resides in a city state called Dragonier, which is often not translated right in the series.
Finally...
Themes
Breath of Fire is a series that concerns itself with a few themes, such as free will, racism, and the relationship between people, religion, and god. But the most central theme of the entire series is the Nature of Power. Every entry deals in some ways with the problem our hero has to deal with due to the overwhelming power they possess. The series dwells on ideas such as "Is power necessary?", "Can Power be used for good or only evil?", "Why do people pursue power when it often only brings suffering?" and other philisophical trapings. I feel this is one of the elements that really separates BoF from other RPG series is that it really sticksa to this main theme throughout the series, giving it a unique identity in a sea of other anime inspired RPG series.
Last edited by Wolf Kanno; 05-04-2023 at 11:02 PM.
True beauty exists in things that last only for a moment.
Current Mood: And it's been a long December and there's reason to believe. Maybe this year will be better than the last. I can't remember all the times I tried to tell myself. To hold on to these moments as they pass...
3 was the best for me. It was my childhood and i rmb I got stuck in the desert for so long until gamefaq came to my life
So our journey begins in 1993, at the time of Japan, RPGs were in a 16-bit Golden Age with the release of Dragon Quest V and Final Fantasy V the previous year. The genre was huge, and Capcom wanted in. At the time, they had become kings of the arcade scene thanks to Street Fighter II (91), Final Fight, and Ghouls and Goblins. On video game consoles, Capcom was also dominating, with Mega Man having its fifth entry as well. So with RPGs on the rise, Capcom decided it was time to take a stab at it, but what kind of RPG would an arcade focused developer make? Yoshinori Kawano (Designer), Tokuro Fujiwara (Producer), and Makoto Ikehara (Scenario Writer) are often credited as the main creator's of the series. Graphic design was handled by Mega Man veteran Kenji Inafune, and Tatsuya Yoshikawa handled promotional design (basically all the character art shown in the manual or commercials). The music was handled by Capcom's resident "house band" Alph Lyla, which was composed of future composing veterans Yasuaki Fujita, and Yoko Shimomura. So this game has an interesting pedigree going for it, but as I said in my Blog about this title, BoF1 ended up being a bit of an odd duck for the genre and the series itself.
The Story
Thousands of years ago, a mighty Goddess Myria (Tyr in the Woolsey script) appeared before the various clans of the world, promising great power through her wish granting. This caused a rift within the Dragon Clan, whom was the strongest of all the clans of the world. Thy split into two factions known as the Light and Dark clans and started the Goddess War over Myria's power. The conflict devastated the world until finally a member of the Light Dragon clan managed to seal Myria away using six Goddess Keys, which the hero bestowed to different clans and villages to protect. Unfortunately, the war, caused a major rift between the Dragon Clans and they remained separate. The Light Dragons chose a form of self exile for the crimes they committed during the war. They chose to seal their powers away, so they could never be tempted to use them for war again. The Dark Dragons on the other hand were demoralized by how bad the Dragon Clan's standing with the rest of the clans had fallen thanks to the war, and they vowed to restore the clan to its former glory one day.
In the modern day, the war is mostly forgotten, and Myria is but a myth. The Light Dragons have deteriorated to a handful of people who live peacefully in the small village of Dragonier. The Dark Dragons ha built themselves a mighty empire based in Scande. The Dark Dragons have begun a military campaign to conquer all the clans and obtain the six Goddess Keys. Everything was going great for them, until they chose to attack the Light Dragon clans. The second in command of the forces, Judas (Jade in the Woolsey script) attacks the village. The villagers are mainly powerless except for a girl named Sara who ha powerful magic ability. She transformed the villagers, including her brother Ryu, into stone, so they would survive the fires; and then battled Judas, who defeated her and took her captive. When the stone spell wore off, Ryu is beside himself with worry about his sister, and chooses to go on a quest to rescue her. Ryu soon discovers that the isolation of his clan made them unaware of the sheer terror the Dark Dragons had plunged the world into. Before he knows it, as he helps one kingdom after the next to fend off the Dark Dragons, he is now leading the main offense to defeat them. He even undergoes the trials of the Dragon God Ladon to unseal his natural dragon powers and earn the right to use the clan's greatest power, Infinity. (Anfini in Woolsey script). On his journey, he meets many friends and allies, and together they fight off Judas, and his Four Devas, and their master Zorgon (Zog) who wishes to restore the Dragon Clan as the most powerful of all clans using Myria.
Game Design
Usually when it comes to game design of JRPGs, especially ones from the 90s, there are two schools of thought on the design. Either Dragon Quest which contains: tiered abilities and equipment with set parameters that become the focus of getting stronger, First-Person perspective battles, episodic stories where all locations have their own unique problem and characters, cutesy art design, upbeat music, silent protagonist and an overarching conflict that ties all the story bits together. The other school of thought is Final Fantasy: Third-Person Perspective combat, heavier emphasis on stats and levels to get stronger, a more proactive antagonist who might have henchmen, but is always present throughout the plot, a more melodramatic soundtrack, heavier emphasis on cool graphics, more character driven narrative with locations serving the overall narrative than being episodic stories within the narrative, and generally a more fleshed out main character or POV character who is separate from the player. There are of course some exceptions within even the main series of both franchises, but I find most games in this decade pull from one of the two schools. Lufia is a prime example, with the first game being heavily inspired by Dragon Quest, while Lufia II takes more cues from the Final Fantasy camp. Breath of Fire tries to split the difference. Mechanically speaking, the battle system takes most of its cues from Dragon Quest, with spells having very strict tiers of usefulness and equipment often being far more important for power than levels. The story itself is also more from the Dragon Quest camp, with each town and kingdom having its own unique troubles and problems the team has to resolve before moving onto the next location. What makes it feel more FF is the fact the game has such a large cast, that many of these places involve resolving a story issue for the playable cast. Likewise, the battle system may be pure DQ, but the game takes its visual cues from FF's design with a third-person perspective and a heavier emphasis on fluid sprite design. Enemies also split the difference, with early and iconic enemies like Goo and Beak being on the cutesy side of things, whereas bosses and late game enemies fall more into monstrous and nightmare fuel design. Of course, with Inafune as the min graphics designer, occasionally something very Mega Man inspired slips through as well, but that's more of a treat than anything.
Musically, Capcom up to this point is very much an arcade powerhouse, so the music is much more punchy and upbeat, but BoF manages to have a nice mix of standard arcade fare with an occasional intimate dramatic piece. The game's opening is very dramatic for something from Capcom. Overall, the series music is very upbeat and triumphant sounding, and this is par the course for the franchise in general until the PS1 era.
The characters are interesting, if a bit one and done in some places. Characters like Gilliam, Builder, and Mogu only really get attention in their introduction sequence. Danc has a whole subquest that adds to his mystery, but he and Manillo largely stay relevant throughout, since they often serve as comic foils in the story. Nina's introduction is one of the more bombastic in the game as the perspective switches to her being the only playable cast member along two knights from her kingdom. She also gets an odd rivalry with Deis, and eventually gets a funky side quest towards the end of the game that involves time travel. Ryu waffles between being a silent protagonist and being an actual character. Unlike the more popular Ryu's from the series, he has a bit of dialogue, but unlike the two Ryus who drop the silent protagonist shtick, he's surprisingly quiet for most of the game as well. This helps make the cast standout a bit better, especially compared to some of DQ's cast, but the party feels a little one-note and undeveloped compared to their peers in Final Fantasy IV and V. It's likely due to the cast being a bit on the large side, making it hard to give everyone constant screen time.
Gameplay
With all that said, Breath of Fire still manages to have elements that make it unique to other games. Easily the coolest thing about BoF1 is how alive the world map feels. Day and Night cycles with different enemy spawns, fishing spots for Ryu, and animals that Gilliam can hunt. One of the unique traits of BoF is the Field Ability mechanic. Almost every character has a unique field ability that can be used on the World Map or in dungeons and towns to help unlock secrets, or give you items to help strengthen your team. Ryu can fish and Gilliam can hunt to net you additional healing items. Nina and Manillo become the resident flying and sailing transport vessels, Mogu can dig around certain spots in the map to find treasure. Danc can break locks and dodge traps, and Builder can move heavy objects and break down weakened walls. Danc alone can break the game if the player bothers to backtrack a little, as he can net you mid-to-endgame gear by backtracking and using his skills to unlock all the sealed doors you kept stumbling upon before he joins. Manillo also has a secret mini-game where he can open up shop at a few bazaars in towns and can sell or buy unique gear, including most of the party's final weapons and armor. There is an interactive element to the world that is surprisingly missing in bigger franchises like DQ and FF, and that helps to keep BoF feeling unique.
The other unique element is Fusion, which is strangely a major gameplay, and sometimes story element in almost every Breath of Fire except VI. Danc, the lone human of the party, has a strange power to fuse with other party members, which gives him a massive boost to his stats and allows him to often eclipse even Ryu as the most powerful character. That is, until Ryu learns Infinity form and can fuse the whole party into one powerful godlike entity. Once fusion enters the gameplay sphere, you've effectively won the game, as nothing is really going to stand much of a chance against your party.
The Characters
Ryu
A member of the Light Dragon Clan, Ryu is a formidable warrior and the second member of his clan to regain their draconic powers. He begins his journey to find his sister and eventually decides to help bring down the Dark Dragon Clan. He mainly uses swords, but the DQ inspiration also allows him to use boomerangs which are surprisingly his best weapons since they have stupidly high attack power and can hit all enemies on the field. His field ability is fishing, which let's him fish in shoals, lakes, and wells for fish that can be used as healing or status restoring items. He can also ind the dragon equipment with this ability which he needs to enter the various Dragon Shrines to undergo the trials to unseal his powers. In battle, Ryu's unique ability is to transform into a dragon, usually of an elemental property, to fight for the rest of the battle as. He begins with Dragon Pups which are weak, but cost powerful single target elemental spells, his second tier are their dragon forms with better stats and elemental breaths that strike all enemies on the field. He eventually unlocks his two ultimate forms: Kaiser and Infinity. Kaiser is a powerful non-elemental form, while Infinity is the ultimate fusion form of Ryu with his party. This form maxes out his stats and is required to obtain the game's best ending. Ryu is a mainstay for any good party. His stats in his dragon form are based on the one-time AP cost to transform, so you're often best left keeping him in his Thunder Pup/Dragon forms until Kaiser and Infinity are unlocked. The lone exception to the Holy Dragon form, which does grant him better stats than the Thunder Dragon, but due to his breath attack only working on undead, it's mostly useless.
Nina
She is the tomboyish princess who begins her journey when she sneaks into a Dark Dragon stronghold to obtain a cure for her father who was poisoned by the Dark Dragons for not cooperating and bending the knee to them. She is a bit unique among Nina's in the series for being a pure White Mage type character (most are Black Mage) and being the only Nina to use a rapier instead of a more magic orientated weapon like a staff. She's not a strong fighter, but many of her weapons can cast magic in battle making them useful in other ways. As the best team medic, Nina almost never leaves the battle field. Her field map ability is the Great Bird transformation of her Wing Clan, that allows her to transform into a... well Great Bird that serves as the global airship of the game. Nina has some odd relationships in the game, having a minor rivalry with Deis, an having a subtle crush on Ryu. It's heavily implied in the sequel that Nina ended up with Ryu after the game which sets up the tragedy of her descendants. Her other unique feature is the fact she has two separate sprites and portraits in this game due to a minor quest at the end of the game.
Gilliam (Bo in the English script)
The stoic Forest Clan hunter, Gilliam is oddly the least developed character in the game, which is weird because he's the third character who joins you. Joining the party during the Stone Robot quest line when the Dark Dragons terrorize his village and his neighboring village to get their hands on their sacred relic. Gilliam meets up with Ryu and Nina when they are rescuing the village chief. Gilliam gets a bit of a bad rep from some players due to the game failing to tell you which equipment is cursed and causes him to take double damage. Gilliam uses bows, but many of them are two-handed, preventing him from using shields. He can also cast low level black magic, making him the first team spell caster. His field abilities allow the party to walk through forests on the map if he leads the party and he can hunt animals that spawn on the world map between battles. Gilliam is also the only party member used in every one of Danc's fusion forms. His name is a Monty Python reference because his best friend getting married in the game is called Terry.
Danc (Karn in English)
An orphan and a master thief trying to prove he's the greatest thief in the world. There is a unresolved subplot concerning him that deals with his ancestry as he belongs to some ancient order that specializes in the power of fusion. Danc is first met in a prison cell in the town of Auria. The team later seek him out in the Thieves Tomb where Danc is seeking the treasure to prove he's the greatest thief in the world. Danc is probably the most well known and controversial character in BoF1. The major controversy for him is his design, which had to be heavily edited in the English version. See Danc is black skinned, but his actual design looks more like blackface since Japan for some reason tends to draw black characters like 1930s racial stereotype. So he gets a race lift in the English version. The other controversy concerning him is how much he breaks the game once he joins. See Danc specialties are opening locks and escaping traps. A patient player would backtrack to several of the doors they couldn't open before, but for some strange reason, the devs put some seriously powerful gear in these places including the best armor in the game. The other issue is that while Danc is speedy and lightly armored normally, his fusion forms dramatically boost his power and he ends up being the strongest character in the game barring the Infinity Dragon form. Danc pretty much never leaves the team once he joins. He's actually a pretty fun character though, having a lot of banter with Manillo and often expressing the most personality outside of the legacy characters. He's oddly missing from the BoF1 mural in BoFIII. Danc is also unique in the fact that he's the only human character to ever join your team in the games that heavily focus on the Clans. His heritage is also never brought up in the sequels, though some fans speculate he's a shaman, but we'll discuss that when we get to BoFII.
Manillo (Gobi)
A member of the merchant Manillo Clan, which h weirdly shares his name with. Manillo is a greedy hustler of a fish a man even for his shrewd, money minded clan. He's currently exiled from his homeland and denied his clans power to transform into a giant whale like fish due to his past dealings upsetting the natural economic order. He takes a shine to Ryu's team, seeing them as an opportunity to make some Zenny and fill his pockets. He eventually winds up back in his clan and winds up saving the town from the Dark Dragon clan. It never stops him from trying to make a quick buck with his wheeling and dealing. He has a hilarious relationship with Danc, who is honestly offended by his greed hilariously enough. Manillo is quirky character overall with a strange design compared to other characters. He doesn't get critical hits, but instead does multi-hits which is essentially the same thing mechanically but just an odd literary quirk. He's pretty useless as a fighter unless he's underwater, in which case he can use his Aquaman style powers to summon fish to strike down his enemies. His field abilities include the power to walk underwater, the ability to turn into a whale the team can ride on which functions as a submarine, and he can open shops in bazaars to trade items. Manillo wind sup being a fairly important character for gameplay reasons, especially the bazaar mini-game. Otherwise, he's mainly useful as fusion fodder for Danc. His race is one of the most recognizable in the series.
Builder (Ox in the English)
A member of the Iron Ogre Clan, which is a race of Bull/Cow people. Buider's Clan specializes in blacksmith work and building things. His village gets raided and the women are all captured to force the men to work for the Dark Dragons. Builder makes a break for it to seek help from the Manillo Clan but nearly dies on the way. The party saves his life and then helps him rescue his pregnant wife. Builder is meat shield more or less, with limited healing magic and big hammer to smash. His main field ability is to push heavy objects and smash broken walls. His fusion with Danc allows him to take this skill up to 11. He's an okay party member but joins around the time the best team becomes available, so his use is limited. Like Gilliam and Manillo, he's best being used as fusion fodder for Danc.
Deis (Bleu in the English version)
A mysterious and powerful sorceress who once helped the heroic Light Dragon who saved the world during the Goddess War in the past. Dias is arrogant, lazy, and short-tempered. The team find her sleeping in a temple dedicated to her and have to face her spirit servants just for the honor to speak with them. Once awoken, Dias decides to join the team to kill some time and gets more invested when she realizes Myria might get involved. There are some major story revelations about her in the sequels, but I'll gt to that when we get to those games. Deis is weird in that she doesn't really have any field abilities. She's also the team's resident black mage, but unlike other mages in other series, Dias is unique in that she gets massive stat boosts from leveling up and actually levels faster than most of the team. She'll hit Lv. 40 (average level you want to beat the game) long before anyone else is close to it. Her magic repertoire is nothing to sneeze at either and she gets enough AP reserves to cast them throughout the dungeon and then some. She has a strange rivalry with Nina, whom she likes to tease mercilessly. She also has a bad habit of going over the top when using her magic to get out of situations, often leading to major property damage. Along with Ryu, Nina, and Danc, she's the final member of what most fans consider to be the best team build in the game.
Mogu
A member of the Dirt-Eating Clan, his tribe was attacked and imprisoned in order to help the Dark Dragons excavate the ruins of Myria's former fortress. Mogu was a bit of a leader of the clan that could unite them, so Judas' Deva Sigmund (Mote) trapped him in a dream world where he divided up his personality. Once restored, Mogu joins the team and helps them reach Scande. His digging skills are also needed to reach the inside of Myria's fortress as well. Mogu is easily the biggest afterthought of the game. He's the last to join, is fairly weak, and his only use is for a few quests used to pad the endgame. He's also one of the few characters not useful for fusion. H does get some great stat boosts after Lv. 50, but it's honestly not worth the effort. He's the other character besides Danc not featured in the mural in BoFIII, and his cameo version in that game also happens to get killed as well along with Gilliam in that game's opening. I wonder if Ikehara has something against him. His clan doesn't appear much in later installments either...
Sara
Ryu's sister and the Priestess of the Light Dragon Clan. Sara is the only member of the clan who possesses any of the powers of her clans birthright, being a powerful mage and capable of transforming into a powerful White Dragon. She saves her clan with her quick thinking, but ends up gettign cpatured and brainwashed by Judas. She can occasionally break free of his hold, but it doesn't last long. She begins a series tradition of battling a former friend who can also turn into a dragon for the series. Fun fact though, there is an item called the Dragon Heart Song that the player can acquire to use on Zorgon to cut his life in half, but if you save it for the fight with Sara, it will knock her health down to 1hp. She's also one of the few bosses that doesn't have a second phase. In the manga adaption of the story, Sara is less brainwashed and more in love with Judas, who himself is written to be more of a anti-hero in that version.
The Devas
Judas's personal servants who are loyal only to him and help his plans to usurp Zorgon, they serve as minor antagonists against the party throughout the game similar to Golbez's Archfiends. Interestingly enough, they don't appear to be mmebers of the Dark Dragon Clan, and are instead part of some monster race that is helping them. Kyura (Cort) is a mad scientist who specializes in biological engineering and making mosnters out of people and plants. He's terrorizing a village that protects the land bridge needed to reach the western continent. Sigmund (Mort) is some sort of dream demon that can alter a persons psyche through their dreams. He trapped Mogu in such a world and later the party must face him within his own dream world to defeat him. Carla (Cerl) is the most tragic of the bunch. She was an orphan in a village where she fell in love with her childhood friend Alan. When her mosnter heritage became apparent, she was chased out of town and wandered alone until Judas found her. Now she has a grudge against the townsfolk from her home village and uses the Time Key to get her revenge. Her story is honestly one of the highlights of the four. Goda, is the strongest of the four and most loyal to Judas. There isn't much to him besides that, except for the fact that his mosnter form is basically Stone Man from Mega Man 5.
Judas (Jade in English)
The second in command of the Dark Dragons, and like his namesake, he's plotting behind the scenes to take the Goddess Keys for himself and usurp Zorgon. Judas winds up being the main villain of the story, but even he seems to be manipulated by Myria behind the scenes when the dust settles. As mentioned before, he's more of a anti-hero in the manga adaption with a Romeo/Juliet style relationship with Sara. The most interesting thing about Judas is that he appears throughout the game as as a cloaked figure who gives the party clues on how to proceed further. He ultimately manipulates Ryu into not only collecting all of the Goddess Keys for him, but also in defeating Zorgon. Judas also continues a weird trend among the Dark Dragons. Despite turning into dragons cutscenes, only one member of the clan actually transforms into a dragon when you fight him. The others turn into weird monsters instead. Judas included who turns into some kind of creature that wouldn't look out of place in Metroid. This has led some clans to speculate that the clans close association with Myria, and the revelations she was manipulating them behind the scenes had tainted the clan and made them more demonic. On the other hand, considering what future installments classify as "dragons", it could just be that Capcom has a very loose interpretation that wouldn't look far fetched in Mesopotamia.
Emperor Zorgon (Zog)
This beef-cake version of Kain Highwind is the leader of the Dark Dragon Clan who seeks to restore the clans glory to the world. He's pretty much the cause of all the game's problem before his subordinate makes it all worse. Though he only has like two scenes in the game, he leaves a lasting impression. Helps he's a graceful loser who sees Ryu, another member of the Dragon Clan, defeating him as still accomplishing his goal to restore the clans reputation, even if he did have to play the villain. Unlike other despots with backstabbing minions, Zorgon doesn't seem to be aware of Judas' treachery. He's also the only member of his clan who turns into a dragon for his fight, becoming a massive dragon so large that only his head is seen in the fight proper. He's a one note villain, but pretty fun regardless.
Myria
The evil goddess herself. While I've talked extensively about DQ and FF's influence on BoF1, I never spoke about Shin Megami Tensei's influence. Myria's initial design is a dead ringer for Alice from SMT1. While it may seem a coincidence since creepy blonde girls is sort of an established trope that predates both series, I still like to think someone over at Capcom was sliding this in as an Alice reference. Myria hides behind a facade of being a scared little girl who has godlike powers that evil people are fighting for, but transform into Infinity and she'll quickly show her true colors and transform into an eldritch horror that will make Lovecraft proud. Sadly, Myria is also a bit one note in this entry, and her final boss fight is fairly boring if you have Infinity. Myria gets more interesting in the third entry but like Dio Brando, she has a tendency to cause issues when she's not even directly involved either as we'll see in the sequel.
Misc.
Kaiser
A recurring "ultimate" dragon form within the series. This game debuts the series staple, though he won;t obtain his more ionic form until the sequels. He was named Rudra in the English script, likely because of the five character limit for names. He's pretty cool in this game but hardly the game breaker he will become in the sequels. His breath attack involves summoning a Macross missile storm of fireballs shaped like mini-dragons to pummel all the enemies for non-elemental damage
Infinity
A recurring power within the series, though one that changes its properties almost every game for some reason. In this game, it is a power that allows Ryu to fuse with all of his power members to become a godlike creature that can match Myria's power.
The Royal Sword
A recurring "Ultimate Weapon" for Ryu, the weapon tends to give Ryu the biggest pure damage boost in the game. The Royal Sword of this game was called the EmpireSD in the English translation and can be found behind Judas' throne just before the final battle. Unlike other incarnations of the sword, this weapon is very light weight and casts a mid-tier fire spell.
Life Armor
Based off the Loto Armor from Dragon Quest, Life Armor is the game's usual best armor with great defense and the ability to restore HP while walking. It also tends to give some status protection as well. The armor is found hidden behind a pillar in the floating tower that Myria is sealed in. While you visit this tower early, half of the tower is blocked by locked doors. Once Danc joins, you can reach the top and find this armor as well as a mid-tier weapon for Danc himself.
Cameos
One of the fun things about Capcom is that they often like to sneak in cameos in their other games. Breath of Fire is no different.
Arthur
It's no surprise that he makes a cameo seeing how the game's producer is the creator of Ghosts and Goblins. Arthur mainly shows up as a portrait hung up in various houses in the game.
Stone Man
As mentioned earlier, Infaune managed to sneak in a Mega Man themed character by basing Goda's monster form on Stone Man.
Chun-Li
Of course Capcom wasn't going to miss the chance to sneak in one of the most popular characters from one of their most popular franchises. Chun-Li appears twice in the game. The first time is in the thieves village of Bleak where a con man asks you to place money on the table and then turn around so he can perform a trick. You have to refuse to turn around twice and then look the third time he asks, Your party will see a different room where Chun-Li is performing her Lightning Kick. The second cameo is easier to miss and only happens in the Super Famicom/SNES versions. If Ryu equips the Broken Sword during the final battle with Myria (made easy by the fact Infinity doesn't factor in his weapon) then she'll appear in Dragonier during the ending using her kick to destroy rubble in the village ina blink and you'll miss it scene.
Music
Breath of Fire is not a series I would say is well known for it's musical scores. With that said, Bretah of Fire had a pretty strong group working on the music and it's easily one of the more underrated scores in the series. Here's a few bangers to lsiten to.
Blood Relations ~ PrologueNext time, we'll discuss the game's sequel Breath of Fire 2, and watch as Capcom starts to put more effort into their fledgling RPG series.
White Dragon ~ Sara's Theme
Fate
Beginning of Battle (Main Battle Theme)
Secret City
Ancient Song and Dance
God's Footprints
Black Dragon
Return
SNES_BoF_Ending.png
Last edited by Wolf Kanno; 05-28-2023 at 08:04 AM.
True beauty exists in things that last only for a moment.
Current Mood: And it's been a long December and there's reason to believe. Maybe this year will be better than the last. I can't remember all the times I tried to tell myself. To hold on to these moments as they pass...
We need to sticky this thread. Awesome nostalgic info.
I'd love to see Capcom try their hands at a new BoF. With a traditional turn-based combat system or something similar. With Square abandoning turn-based combat in their flagship RPG series, it seems ripe for the picking for Capcom to fill that void w/ their own flagship RPG series.
And yes, I know Square is still putting out turn-based RPGs and Capcom has Dragon's Dogma for its action combat RPG. But none are "flagship". It'd be cool if Capcom countered FF by reviving BoF. Given how Capcom is nailing everything and has earned back an extremely high degree of goodwill from gamers, NOW IS THE TIME FOR A NEW BREATH OF FIIIIIIIIRE!
- Dr. Cheesesteak
I feel the first step here would be for Capcom to acknowledge BoF even exists. I don't know if they're tracking how much players check out the game on Switch, but with the PlayStation entries still MIA on modern consoles, I don't know if there is any real demand from fans for the series. Even if the chose to reboot it, I doubt they would leave it turn-based. I imagine we would get a new combat system that will be closer to ARPG. Not like Dragon Quarter wasn't heading in that direction anyway.Originally Posted by cheesesteak
It would be interesting to see Capcom at least give us a collection or something. I mean the first two games desperately need better translations, and as mentioned before, the three PlayStation efforts are locked on older systems.
I'll try to get BoFII's entry up soonish.
True beauty exists in things that last only for a moment.
Current Mood: And it's been a long December and there's reason to believe. Maybe this year will be better than the last. I can't remember all the times I tried to tell myself. To hold on to these moments as they pass...
They've acknowledged it recently in the TEPPEN mobile game with a bunch of cool new artwork and I've seen a few posts cropping up over the internet showing off BoF inspired NPCs in the story mode for Street Fighter 6.
I'm just not sure Capcom currently has the right people on board to really do anything with the franchise, or any real interest in reviving it when they can put out a Resident Evil remake or Monster Hunter spin-off that they know will sell.
BoF 3 is one of my favourite games so with any luck there will at least be some kind of remaster or re-release of that and BoF 4 for modern consoles some day...
I was laughing because SF6 had a rival character named Bosch, and apparently the currency of Metro City and Street Fighter is Zenny. So I see sly references here and there.They've acknowledged it recently in the TEPPEN mobile game with a bunch of cool new artwork and I've seen a few posts cropping up over the internet showing off BoF inspired NPCs in the story mode for Street Fighter 6.
I'm just not sure Capcom currently has the right people on board to really do anything with the franchise, or any real interest in reviving it when they can put out a Resident Evil remake or Monster Hunter spin-off that they know will sell.
BoF 3 is one of my favourite games so with any luck there will at least be some kind of remaster or re-release of that and BoF 4 for modern consoles some day...
The frustrating thing about BoF is that unlike some other dead franchises out there, several of the core creators still work at Capcom, so it's not like they don't have people to make one. I'm wondering if BoF6 ruined Capcom's confidence in wanting to work on the series, but that shouldn't stop them from at least doing a collection or remaster. I don't think anyone's clamoring for a BoF1 remake, just the ability to access the PlayStation era titles on modern hardware, and maybe a proper translation of the first two games.
True beauty exists in things that last only for a moment.
Current Mood: And it's been a long December and there's reason to believe. Maybe this year will be better than the last. I can't remember all the times I tried to tell myself. To hold on to these moments as they pass...
I had not even looked up who was still working at Capcom, so this just makes me even sadder.
It's the perfect time to capitalize on a long dormant RPG franchise, too. With the 2.5D stuff being released, series like Persona, Xenoblade, etc, being big hits, the apparent 'Second Golden Age of Final Fantasy' with all the hype surrounding the franchise at the moment. Heck, even Konami are re-releasing Suikoden I & II this year and the director of those games is working on a spiritual successor to that series. Live A Live got a 2.5D Remake, yet Capcom can't package and put out a BoF collection?
The least they could do is sell off the franchise to another studio, or license it out and let someone else have a crack whilst still making some money off it.
So in 1993, Capcom released the original Breath of Fire, and to their surprise, it did really well. So this being Capcom, they grabbed what they could have of the original team and immediately set them off to work on the sequel, which they managed to do in one year, as Breath of Fire II came out in 1994. Tokoru Fujiwara returns as producer, Yoshinori Kawano returns as the main designer, but apparently was the sole designer this time around as Yoshinori Takenaka chose not to come back, and Makoto Ikehara was brought back to be the sole writer this time. Likewise, Inafune did not return as the main artist, and instead, the illustrator, Tatsuya Yoshikawa took over the duties as the series main artist.
The music of the original was handled by the company's in-house musical artist/band Alph Lyla, but they got placed on other projects, so Yuko Takehara was added to the team. She was a relative unknown at the time, largely composing music for the Final Fight series and a few of Capcom's licensed games, like The Punisher arcade game and Disney's Aladdin for the SNES. Her biggest fan loved title before this one was Mega Man 6. But she is actually best known for all of her scores in the Capcom Vs. franchise, being the composer all the way back to the original Street Fighter vs. X-Men game. So Breath of Fire II is a bit of a weird title in her resume, but honestly I feel she does a better job creating a fun score here. Capcom also hired J-Pop star Mio Watanabe to write a theme song for the game's commercial called Owaranai Ai (Unending Love), which is actually a pretty killer track with lyrics told from the perspective of Mina Wyndia.
Besides the amount of work done in such a short time with a smaller staff, the real interesting thing about BoF2's development is how it pushed Ikehara and Yoshikawa into the forefront of the series. These two are largely responsible for the franchise in general. Overall, BoF2 is a direct sequel from the first game, with several references to old locations from the first game. But despite all that, BoF2 doesn't really re-use any assets from the first game. Everything is band new from backgrounds, monster sprites, new character sprites, and spell animations. The quality difference is honestly staggering, and while we've seen some huge turnarounds before with FFIV vs. FFV also being a year difference, even those titles still have some basic overlap. I wouldn't be surprised if Capcom probably had the team start work on the sequel during the final development stages of the first game.
The biggest sore spot for this title is its infamous translation. The first game had been handed over to Square to translate and release in the Western markets, but someone at Capcom decided that this wasn't good for them, and opted for them to translate the game in-house instead. Here's the thing, Capcom has never had a great track record for translating their games, often changing elements for little rhyme or reason. The other issue is that the whole reason they asked Square to handle the translation of the first game was because the studio was unequipped to translate something as long as an RPG. I mean, they can barely translate their arcade titles. So to say the translation is a botched job is an understatement. While it is decent enough to remain mostly intelligible, it has so many weird issues that it has reached meme status in modern times. Not helping anything is that the game's opening has this text scroll that is actually in English in all versions, and it's actually on point. The ending credits are also weird because Capcom followed the protocol of the time and didn't list actual development credits. Instead, the game lists every story chapter of the game and all the important characters featured in there. What makes this weird is that they retain their actual Japanese names, so characters like "Katt" are listed in the credits as Rinpoo Chaun. Granted, the name changes are often a result of the SNES's stingy character limit for dialogue boxes. But for some reason, the devs chose to shorten everyone's name to four characters or fewer in English, despite some characters retaining five character names.
Set a few hundred years after the first game, the Dragon Clan has disappeared from the annuls of history and new clans have flourished to rebuild the world after the Dark Dragon War. In a small mountain village called Gate, a young boy named Ryu lives with his younger sister Yua, and their father Ganer who runs the St. Eva church of the village. Several years ago, when Yua was but a baby, demons had attacked the town, pouring out of the caves of the mountain that stood nearby. Ryu's mother died that day, and would have likely claimed his family's life as well if not for the mysterious appearance of a white dragon that destroyed the demons and then fell on top of the mountain to sleep. Its body covering the cave entrances the demons came from and sealing them up. Yua likes to sleep by the dragon, as she often has dreams of her mother that she never met. When Ryu tries to sleep nearby, he has a terrible dream of a demon calling him the Destined Child. When Ryu wakes, he finds that his father and sister have disappeared and no one in the town remembers Ryu or his family. Believing him to be an orphan, he is sent to the church where he meets an orphan Grassrunner named Bosch Doggy, who sneaks into churches to steal their stuff. Striking a quick camaraderie with Ryu, Bosch talks him into leaving with him for the next town. The two are caught in a storm and escape into a nearby cave, where they encounter a demon called Barbaroi that attacks the two and leaves Ryu with some PTSD.
Ten years later, the game picks up in HomeTown (I'd use the Japanese name, but it is equally stupid and on the nose, apparently Ikehara missed the point of immersion) where Ryu and Bosch have grown up together and work as Rangers, a mercenary service that does everything from monster extermination to house cleaning. The two are tasked with hunting down the pet of a visiting princess named Mina Wyndia, who frequents the town to visit the magic school. Fearing the pet wandered towards the monster filled mountain pass nearby, the two look for the beast, only to face off with a group of Harpy sisters that are responsible for all the missing pets. With no luck finding Mina's pet, the two camp out in some old ruins nearby, which is home to an old man named Niro who managed to capture a pig for his supper. Ryu discovers a collar taken from the pig that reveals the animal is in fact Mina's pet. Rescuing the pig Suzy and a job well done, the two return home when a stranger knocks on their door that night. When Ryu wakes up the next morning, he discovers the town guards are in an uproar looking for Bosch. Apparently, he had broken into the mansion of a local noble named Trout Barm. Returning home, Ryu finds Bosch hiding out and reveals he was asked by another noble, Kilgore, to sneak into Trout's mansion to steal back an item that Trout had stolen from him. Not resisting a chance to use his old thieving skills, Bosch accepts the job, but botches the mission when he gets to the vault and discovers another thief with bat wings named Patty has beaten him to it. Now blamed for a crime he didn't commit, Bosch ends up taking residence in the abandoned ruins with Niro while Ryu sets out on a quest to capture Patty and clear his best friend's name.
From here, Ryu's journey has him meets many new friends and allies including Rinpoo, the series first Woren Clan (Tiger/cat people) member who works as a gladiator at a nearby Coliseum, where her boss is getting ready to have her murdered to up the entertainment value. Her friend Rand, a member of the Shell Clan (Armadillo people) who ran away from his country home to find excitement in the big city. He investigates a girl who goes to the magic school of the Hometown, but discovers she is Mina's estranged older sister who was exiled from their home due to her black wings. They encounter a traveling con monkey from the Highlander Clan named Sten, and finally help a prince named Tapeta from the Creeping Clan (Frog people) who was first placed under a curse by a witch, and then later discovered an imposter had taken over his kingdom. Ryu also gets dragged into an experiment using special people called Shamans, who have the power to fuse themselves with people to draw out their power. Ryu instead discovers he has the mysterious power to temporarily transform into a dragon. Throughout the journey, Ryu encounters the spread of the St. Eva faith, as well as people transformed into demons who serve some dark god they are waiting to be resurrected. One of these people turns out to be Trout himself. With Bosch's named clear, the two are asked to investigate the rapid death of a forest near the town of Gate, but access is difficult without the help of someone from the rare and mysterious Grassmen clan that has connections to the World Trees scattered throughout the lands. The Grassman in question is a being named Aspara who guides them back to the demons and their connections to the St. Eva church. Ryu finally discovers what happened to his family ten yeas ago, and even discovers the truth about his mother and his connection to the lost Dragon Clan.
While the plot has a bit of a run around, with Ryu always seeming to be sidetracked by some nonsense, the plot of BoF2 is a step up from the more generic plot of the first game. While evil churches are a dime a dozen in JRPGs, this was one of the first ones to reach the West, and surprisingly didn't get censored by Nintendo of America. The cast is more fleshed out, with each character having more spotlight time. Likewise, the hub town of Township (the ruins Bosch and Niro stay in) allows the player to chat with the party between story beats to hear their insights and also expand their characters a bit more. The bad guys also have more nuance despite sticking to all being chaotic evil,but at least they get more screen presence that Dark Dragon General #59 being the boss battle. The game also has a more well developed supporting cast like Patty, Ray, Niro, Mina, the resistance forces, Rand's mother, and Tepata's sister. BoF2 feels more memorable overall. BoF2 also lays the humor in thick. The first game had it's moments, but was largely a serious business type deal. BoF2 is filled with wacky scenarios and and eccentric characters. Swimmer Castle alone is just one giant gag quest where Ryu and company are trying to help Tapeta reclaim the throne from an imposter, that everyone knows is an imposter but just don't really care, including Tepata himself who would rather be an artist and lover than a prince. The game is a riot. Yet at the same time, the narrative is much darker than the first game. The opening prologue of Ryu's childhood is downright sinister and some of the demon commanders are ruthless and far more malicious than the villains in BoF1. The last few chapters of the story after the Grassmen Quest are largely tragic and heavy on the drama. The game even features three endings, with one being a bit of nightmare fuel when you think about it, and the main ending a player is likely to get being absolutely tragic. The plot jumps back and forth between these two extremes which is a bit of a hallmark for Ikehara's writing style.
On the gameplay front, BoF2 is a massive overhaul, feeling much denser and being more aligned with traditional RPG design in some ways, while retaining the fun quirks that set the original apart from the rest of the pack. If BoF1 was borrowing heavily from Dragon Quest, BoF2 is taking its cues from Final Fantasy IV. In addition to field abilities, every party member now has a unique skill to use in battle that gives the player more options and expands the character's usefulness. Likewise, the overall mechanics are much richer with better use of resistances, item drops, new status effects, and more complex algorithms for game mechanics in general. Hunting has been overhauled, with the original game having animals appear on the over-world map that could be interrupted by random encounters. Instead, grasslands appear that can be entered to show a hunting field where the player can hunt with Rinpoo, Bosch, or Deis a their leisure unless there is a bear or Gonghead present. Fishing has also be turned into a more skill based mini-game with Ryu requiring different baits to capture different fish, a stamina gauge to see if the lien will break, an more nuances like using Coin bait to capture Manillo merchants who open up shops. Not ot mention some fishing spots have treasure to be excavated.The overall balance of the game has also been fixed with game-breakers like Danc's Fusion forms and Ryu's dragon transformations being retooled for better balance. Ryu's dragon transformations function more like FF's Summons with the damage algorithm being determined by how much AP Ryu currently possesses with his his Dragons doing max damage when he has full AP. This was a controversial change to say the least, and I think only BoFV's dragon mode is more divisive. But on the other hand, it greatly fixed some of the balance issues from the first game. Danc's fusion magic is no longer restricted to one character, instead the game introduces the Shaman System. There are six elemental Shamans in the game that you can recruit and use at a facility in the Hub town to garner stat boosts and even transform the characters into super versions of themselves. there are restrictions of course with Ryu and Deis being unable to use the system, likewise characters have elemental affinities that mean they'll never be able to fuse with certain Shamans. Likewise, the Shaman forms are neutralized if a character is knocked down to 25% of their max health or are killed. Even more annoying, and an issue not fixed from the first game, is that cutscenes that require the characters will often remove the fusion form as as well, with a notorious one being in the games final dungeon. One of the best gameplay additions to the title is Township, a side quest where Ryu and his allies transform the ruins from the game's beginning into a full fledged town. Its probably one of the first incarnations of this mini-game in the West, but it offers a ton of replay value with three different town designs with their own unique strengths. You get six houses to find residents for, but there are a total of four residents that can potentially take the house, meaning you have to choose six people out of twenty four options and they can really make this game easier or more fun depending on your choices. Residents range from ones that open various weapons shops, a guy who teaches magic, a cat only Rinpoo can talk to, people with access to secret hunting and fishing spots, someone who allows you to customize the game window, another who lets you listen to the soundtrack, and even some people who don't do anything. It's easily one of the most fun parts of the game and it's even the secret to getting the secret happy ending.
One interesting element of the game is that since it's made as a semi-direct sequel to the first, you get to revisit some locations from the first game like the obnoxious Tune Land, and the series staple of Wyndia, but there are some interesting secrets as well if you compare the maps of the two games. The Sky Tower still exists in the game, but is now mostly under the sea, the small St. Eva Church where people are being brainwashed and kidnapped to the Church's main city is located in the area where the Ruins of Scande would be. Most fun of all is that Gate is located in the same spot as Dragonier which serves as a very subtle clue to some plot revelations later. Deis' home is also in the same general area along with the Thieves Tomb that Danc confiscated and reworked in between games. The game has some in-story nods to the first game as well with Nina's backstory being heavily influenced by things, and references to the Dark and Light Dragon clan split, and of course Myria gets named dropped as well.
The other oddity of BoFII is its legacy among the series, specifically within the Myria Trilogy. Part of this may be due to the game's faster than usual development, but BoFII has quite a number of unresolved plot elements or inconsistencies between the second and third game that is never cleared up. Perhaps Ikehara was unsatisfied with the way the story turned out, which may have influenced the next game, which pulls more from the first game, while ignoring a lot of the stuff in the second game. Among fans though, BoFII has a pretty big fan base within the series. It also launched some fan favorite Clans like the Woren, expanded on popular game features like fishing and hunting, and even introduced the series staple town building mechanic. Despite it's meme worthy bad translation, the game still hits hard and there are still die hard fans who will tell you that Nina and Rinpoo from this game are the best representatives of their respected clans. It's an interesting game due to the fact that its rare to see a long lasting franchise like this not get completely supplanted by the PSX generations entries unlike other franchises. Only FF and DQ really managed to pull this off.
So here's a rundown of the game's cast:
Ryu Bateson
Special Skill: Guts ~ Chance to restore a percentage of your health.
Field Skill: Fishing
Element Affinity: None
The orphaned and series first true mute protagonist, Ryu Bateson is unique in the series in that he not only has a last name, but he's the only Ryu for whom we meet his whole family through the story. Ryu is also the only Ryu in the series to not be a full member of the Dragon Clan, being half-human on his father's side. This is often why fans make the excuse for his dragon transformations in the game, saying his human side prevents him from maintaining the form longer than a few seconds without serious consequences. He actually gets access to a few healing spells and has a lot of customization options. Ryu also has the highest Guts rating, which allows him to survive a fatal attack and get back up with 10% of his health. He is also one of two characters that can Counter Attack among the party. This Ryu is probably best known for his kind nature and the fact he's involved in a bit of a love triangle between Nina and Rinpoo. He's also known for his Dragon Tear necklace which allows him to know the intent of people based on the color his pendant changes to. Ryu is also known as the Destined Child, by both the Dragon Clan and the Demons. It's never really stated where this legend of a destined child originates, but both groups agree that part of his destiny is to open the sealed gates of Infinity where Deathevan rests. Though the Dragon Clan adds that Ryu would defeat and re-seal Deathevan as well.
Bosch Doggy (Bow in English)
Special Skill: Shot ~ Either does one damage or instant kills a non-boss enemy/ Spray ~ Deals regular damage to all enemies on the field.
Field Skill: Hunt
Element Affinity: Light and Dark
Bosch bis Ryu's trouble-making best friend who's inability to quit his thieving ways kick-starts the plot. He's a bit of a skirt chaser and has a massive crush on Mina Wyndia. He also knows all this and spends a good chunk of the game after he is allowed to join you trying to make up for all the hardship he's given Ryu over the years. He's the team's best healer with access to all the healing magic and even defensive spells. He gets some unique weapons as well like one that hits all enemies and another that allows him to attack twice. He's not much of a fighter outside of his Fusion form. That form boost his overall stats and changes Shot to Spray. Sadly, it requires both the Light and Dark Shaman to use which means denying you some of the other uber powerful transformations in the game. So I'm not a fan. He's a quirky character for sure whose only other issue is the fact he's sidelined for the first third of the game.
Rand Marks (Suppose to be Land, but you know Japanese with L/R sounds)
Special Skill: Wake ~ Does light damage to a party member allowing him to wake them up from sleep or unconscious states.
Field Skill: Roll ~ Picks up the party and rolls into a ball that allows the team to travel without enemy encounters.
Element Affinity: Earth
Rand is a simply guy and the team's big brother/dad figure. He's always looking after people, especially the rambunctious Rinpoo. He has an overbearing mother who owns a farm he used to work on, but Rand grew bored with that life and ran away from home to see the excitement of city life. He eventually found work at the Colosseum where he met Rinpoo. He is the team's other medic, but he doesn't get defensive magic or the final healing spells, but he does get a unique earthquake spell and he's a much better fighter than Bosch. Rand is a monk style fighter with high stats in everything but speed. He;s also a decent mage with better AP growth than some characters, making him prime for customization options. His fusion form requires the uber powerful Earth Shaman and while it doesn't offer much in terms of new skills, the added boosts to his already impressive stats makes him one of the few fused forms that isn't going to go down easily from an enemy's lucky strike.
Rinpoo Chaun (Katt in English, her name is also likely meant to be spelled as Lin Pǔ)
Special Skill: Dare ~ Makes Rinpoo the target of enemy aggro, also drops her defense. Keep ~ Charge for one turn and then attack an enemy with damage between 200-300% more power.
Field Skill: Staff Strike ~ Breaks obstacles and can be used to hunt animals as well.
Element Affinity: Dark
Rinpoo is a fan favorite airhead brawler who is often the butt of many jokes. Rinpoo works as a gladiator for Augus' Colosseum where she's often sparring with local lumberjack Bunyan for top spot. Ryu and Rand discover Augus is planning on killing her in Ryu's fight with her which prompts him and Rand to try and save her. She is very kind, but also very simple, something she is painfully aware of. She is a member of the rare Woren Tribe of whom their numbers seem to be dwindling which becomes a plot thread later on when the party encounters Tigger, leader of the resistance and a romantic rival for Rinpoo's affection. She gains a massive crush on Ryu if you make the right choices in the game. She managed to teach herself the three best spells in the game which she can learn ridiculously early in the game, but due to her abysmal AP stats, he can't cast any of them until very late in the game without some side quest shenanigans. She is the game's fastest (well almost) and physically strongest characters, and also the only other character that can counterattack besides Ryu. This is balanced out by her low health and terrible defense. Her special skill is also nigh useless until you get her Shaman form. Rinpoo is an amazing fighter, which is likely why she's incompatible with all of the Shamans until you acquire the Dark Shaman in the final dungeon. Course her fused form is one of the strongest in the game so...
Nina Wyndia
Special Skill: Willpower ~ Regenerates AP with her chance of success depending on the difference between her current and max AP / Banish ~ Forces random encounter enemies to flee from battle.
Field Skill: Float ~ can dodge most pitfalls by flying / Summon the Great Bird ~ Summon the global airship
Element Affinity: Wind and Light.
Probably the most famous and beloved Nina in the series. This Nina was banished from her home due to being born with Black Wings. According to Wyndian superstition, Black Wings are a sign of misfortune, and if one were to be born from within the royal family, they would bring calamity to the Clan. Unable to bear killing their daughter, Nina's parents instead banished her from the kingdom and faked her death. She resides in Hometown where she is the best student in the magic academy. Nina is pretty melancholic because of all of this, but does her best to protect her homeland and her beloved sister Mina. It turns out her Black Wings are caused by a genetic quirk due to a certain ancestor getting it on with someone outside of her Clan. Nina is the party's premier black mage, learning all of the offensive spells and even some debuff magic. Her Willpower skill allows her to regenerate AP meaning you can fire off spells with impudence. Like Rinpoo, she can fall in love with Ryu if you make certain choices in the story. Nina is also one of the few characters that has an intermediary form for fusion that cause her to have a color swap of her sprite. These tend to give her good boosts. Her fusion form is an angelic form with big boosts to her stats. She loses her awesome Willpower skill for Banish, which makes enemy encounters flee. Considering how high the encounter rate gets by end game, it's more useful than you think.
Sten Legacy
Special Skill: RIP/Play Dead ~ Sten plays dead so he won't be targeted in battle.He can still attack in this state. Switch/Sweh ~ Changes the enemy group encountered in battle.
Field Skill: Reach ~ Sten can stretch his long arms and carry the party across chasms as long as their is a pole to reach.
Element Affinity: Fire and Wind.
A smooth talking, womanizing con monkey. The party meets Sten outside of Wyndia where he performs a magic show that makes Ryu disappear so he can spend more time with Rinpoo and Nina. They and a I were not amused. In truth, Sten is actually a famous hero of the Highlander Clans mercenary forces who is dealing with survivor's guilt from the last battle he was in. Using the cover of his supposed death in the battle, Sten is now wandering the lands, making money with parlor tricks and chasing anything missing a Y-Chromosome. Course his past eventually comes back to haunt him and you'll discover he's in a bit of his own love triangle involving a princess and his best friend Trubo. Sten is a jack of all stats type, focusing mostly on speed. He's a decent fighter and learns some good offensive magic, but he lacks AP and his attack power is lacking behind Ryu, Rinpoo, and Rand. He has better defense than Rinpoo but not by much, so he sort of loses his niche not long after he joins. The issue is that he's one of a handful of characters who gets a solo section of the game, so beware of not leveling him up. His fusion form is pretty cool, and the potentially first ultimate form you'll unlock since both the Fire and Wind Shamans are earned through the narrative. It boosts all his stats, but he loses his field ability. It's special skill is useful for item farming from specific enemies. Someone on the dev team must love this guy, because his field ability is the only one that has use all the way to the final dungeon, with several quest lines utilizing it. He's one of the weaker characters game play-wise IMHO, but he has the most utility of any party member.
Ekaru Hoppe de pe Tapeta (Jean in English)
Special Skill: Jab ~ Attacks all enemies on field, but does less damage with each additional enemy on the field / Chop ~ charge for one round and either miss or instant kill all non-boss enemies on the field.
Field Skill: Giant Frog Transformation ~ Changes to a giant frog and carries the party over water. Reduces encounter rate in this form.
Element Affinity: Water and Holy
Tapeta is the laid back prince of the Creeping Clan, who would rather spend his days painting, making fine cuisine, or serenading his crushes with his singing. When the party meets him, he has been transformed into a giant frog thanks to his recent crush, the boy-crazy witch Nympho Manic. Breaking the curse allows him to keep the transformation, but when he returns to his kingdom, he discovers an imposter is masquerading as him, and the only person who seems to know is his sister Tepate. Even Tapeta doesn't seem to care as he never really enjoyed being a prince anyway. Later we discover his whole clan is laid back like this with most of the residents knowing the other guy was an imposter, but not really caring. Tapeta has a reputation as one of the worst party members, but he's honestly a bit of a lethal joke character. His magic is a weird Hodge podge of debuff spells, instant death magic and one lousy ice spell. In fact his most useful ability is Warp, which most players use to take him back to Township and replace him with someone better. But instant death magic is actually really good in this game, and he's one of only two party members who learns both spells. His attack power may be less than Sten's, but his critical hit rate is higher due to his better luck stat. Likewise, Tapeta has some funky weapon options that have some unique elemental properties and stat boosts. His fusion form is a powerhouse as well, with a great random encounter clearing attack, and better stats for dealing with endgame nasties. He's honestly one of the better characters to bring to the final dungeon. Course, I may just have a soft spot for the frog.
Aspara Gus (Spar in English)
Special Skill: Nature ~ Calls upon nature to help Aspara in battle (think geomancer skills)/ Sleep Powder ~ Sprays the enemy field with sleeping powder to put asleep, sometimes backfires on the team isntead / Bud ~ Sacrifice one turn to power up and spend the next four turn doing 2x damage to random enemies.
Field Skill: Forest Walk ` Let's you walk through forests on the map. Talk to World Trees
Element Affinity: Dark, Earth, and Water
Aspara is first met early in the game if you decide to venture into the traveling carnival tend and pay the zenny to see the show. They are the main attraction of the event, but when the party learns they need a Grassman Clan member to help them commune with a World Tree to se what's happening at Gate, they return to the carnival to get their help, only to learn the ring master is going to feed him to a monster instead to get better sales since no one cares about seeing a Grassman anymore. After saving their life, you learn that they could have escaped at any time and the whole quest to save them was a test of character to see if someone outside the clan was worthy to help them with the sinister forces affecting nature. Their clan are logical only with no real wonder of emotions. Aspara is the last story character to join your team an at first, feels like a major let down. They primarily learn buff/debuff magic with a few healing and elemental spells to round them out. Their stat pool is terrible, with most of their stats going towards HP/AP, and Wisdom (Mag. Def.). This leaves them feeling a bit underwhelming when they join. Not helping matters is how useless Nature is, since it only works in four environments and most of the post recruitment dungeons are in built or unnatural environments. So hat's the point of this character? Aspara is pretty much here to make the Shaman system look cooler and to annoy the player by how much potential the game doesn't live up to. In addition to an intermediary form like Nina and Sten, Aspara has three completely unique fusion forms. Their first form is the infamous Mushroom Nymph, which is honestly more popular than their base form. It is magic focused and changes Nature to Sleeping Powder instead. Their Snap Dragon form works like most party members Fusion forms, being a jack of all stats improvement and even keeps their Nature skill. Their most interesting form is the Seedling form, which likely served as the inspiration for another character in the next game. This form boosts their defense and attack power and gives them the Bud skill, which sounds useless unless you're in a boss fight. So you get some cool customization options here. Aspara is also one of the best characters to teach some of the potential spells in the game to. Partly because they have the AP to use it well, and partly because their base attack power and weapon pool is not great, so teaching them magic can offset this.
Deis (Bleu in English)
Special Skill: Shed ~ Restores all health for free, but inflicts Def. Down on her for the rest of the battle.
Field Skill: Char ~ Uses magic to kill all hunt targets on the field. Only gives you Charcoal as an item.
Element Affinity: None
Deis is actually a hidden party member you can recruit in this game. Unlike the first game, she is completely optional and doesn't factor much in cutscenes. She still gives you her thoughts in Township, but most of the time she would rather sleep. You recruit her by finding her old home in the desert near the Thieves Tomb Turns out she woke up and wandered off somewhere to learn about the world. Returning to the Magic Academy in Hometown, you can discover that she's infiltrated the school disguised as a regular student. Deis is a bit of an oddity as a party member. She starts off in her mid-thirties range and starts with all of the mid-tier magic, debuff spells, and the Death spell. She'll learn all of the game's final spell in the next four to five levels, meaning she'll likely be tossing Bolt X spells long before Nina can properly. The real clincher here is that Dies' stats are funky. You see, most characters get the bulk of their stat before Lv. 50, and then the increases after that are incredibly negligible. We're talking like getting five to eight extra point per stat between Lv. 50-99. You're better off using the cooking service to make stat boosting items. The exception to this rule is Deis. It's unknown if this is a bug, but Deis will get huge stat gains all the way to the final level. Hell she's start hitting the cap on most of the stats when she reaches lv. 60 and by Lv. 99, she has more health and AP then Aspara and Rand. So she's quite a beast. The only real issue here is that she shares her niche and equipment pool with Nina, and there is only one set of their ultimate armor and weapon, so you'll have to decide who to bring, unless you're weird like me and use both.
The Other Important Characters:Mina Wyndia
Nina's younger sister and the source of Bosch's infatuation. Though she knows that Nina is her blood related older sister, she is not in the know about her exile or the superstitions surrounding her sister's black wings. She plays quite a bit of a role in the early game surrounding Ryu's first Ranger mission, and later when she gets kidnapped and is responsible for Nina joining the team. She doesn't appear again until later when Nina returns to Wyndia to undergo the trial to awaken her Clan's birthright of the Great Bird power. It seems that due to breeding outside of the clan, in addition to creating the black wing situation, it has also weakened the clans ability to use their Great Bird power as well, and turning into the bird is now a one way process that strips the person of their personality and makes them just a giant bird. After discovering the truth of Nina's situation and feeling bad about her ignorance of her sister's hardship, Mina ends up doing the ritual instead of Nina. This scene is so powerful, that it's the basis for the Japanese commercial for the game, and the pop idol song I mentioned earlier is more or less written from Mina's perspective. She's also the only non-Nina from the Wing Clan to gain character art in both the original and GBA port. So yeah, she's pretty popular in her own right.
Patty the Thief
A talented thief who likes to steal from bad people and prove her skills. Her most obvious physical feature is her bat like wings, which are bit of her trademark until her name is found. She is the cause of the original situation with Bosch when she beats him to Trout's treasure. The whole first third of the game is quest to find and capture her which ends in Swimmer's Castle, where she was caught and forced to help harvest the bugs and worms used for their food. She is later rescued from Trout by Bosch and Ryu who decide that Trout is the real enemy here. It is later revealed that she's the primary benefactor for the Resistance that is fighting the St. Eva Church and all her loot she steals is used to fund them. The party encounters her again in the Thieves Tomb where she gets caught in a trap but manages to escape with the tomb's main treasure anyway. Finally, it's revealed that she has a strong connection to the town of Gate and the Dragon sleeping there. Though never confirmed in the original game, but in later supplement materials. Patty is actually a teenage Yua, and thus Ryu's sister. Though neither Yua or Ryu ever discover the truth.Babadel/Bunyan
Though a minor character in this game, this guy is mainly here because he's sort of a legacy figure in that he appears again in the next two sequels. Babadel is called Baba in the English script and then renamed Bunyan in the sequels. He's a lumberjack who likes to fight. Ryu has to beat him so he can take his place at the coliseum so his role is pretty one-note in the game. He does appear in Rinpoo's intro sequence where you get to see the two fight.
Tigger
The only other member of the Woren tribe we see, and likely the basis for the Weretiger form in BoFIII. Tiga is the leader of the Resistance who has a fear of small spaces due to a childhood trauma. He's infamous among BoF veterans for his duel where he's an unwinnable fight that for years was rumored to be winnable. It's not, his HP i a funky number the game registers as infinite and he can only be killed by hacking the game. You don't get anything for it either. He ends up becoming infatuated with Rinpoo and almost convinces her to leave your team to help his, but eventually he realizes that he really has feelings for his subordinate Claris. His final moments in the game are both badass and terribly tragic.
Gigli Ziz & and the Shamans
The old Shaman with a new generation to research. It's unknown if Gigli is blood related to the other shamans or not, or simply if the Granny moniker they call her by is just used for affection by her students. She sends the Fire Shaman Sana to Capitan to find a schmuck to help with their experiments. Course Sana likes cute boys, and her proposition sounds much more like something Vice would arrest you for. Regardless, testing the fusion process on Ryu accidentally awakens his draconic powers and end sup burning their home to the ground. Undeterred, Gigli forces Ryu to set up their new home in Township. From there, the party begins to find the other shamans and send them to se good old Granny. Sana is the Fire Shaman and joins with Granny. Seso, the Water Shaman, is found turned into stone at Nympho's castle and will be freed once the party deals with the witch. Spoo, the Wind Shaman, is found in the Sky Tower and is the cause of the heavy fog in Fog Valley. Seny, the Holy Shaman is captured in Bando. You can either use a trick to reach her cell on the first trip through (stand on the switch for five minutes) or you can return after the evens at the Grand Cathedral and find her in the first cell. Solo is the Earth Shaman, the only one who looks different from the others, and the only missable one. When the party is tasked with going to Namanda to pray for a good harvest, the player needs to donate 2000 Zenny before they leave. After the events at the Grand Cathedral, the party can return to Rand's mother's farm to find her in the fields. Shin is the Dark Shaman and found by entering the final dungeon through one of the side entrances instead of the main one once the dungeon is accessible.
Nympho Mani
A boy crazy witch who scares most men. Her only real admirer is Tapeta to her disgust. She transforms people who upset her into stone, including a certain Shaman. Even after being defeated, she still plays a role in Tapeta's story line where the party has to reach the Wildcat Restaurant to meet her and discover she was trying to find a boyfriend to bring to the school reunion being held there. She's one of the more amusing side characters, even if her circumstances are pitiful.Gandaroof
The wisest and oldest of the World Trees, Gandaroof is being attacked by the demon Aruhamel to lose his memory which can be used to stop the demon invasion. He sends Aspara from the Grassmen tribe to find a valiant hero who can save them. He's a precursor to Yggdrasil, who plays a much larger role in the sequel. His memory dungeon is also a callback to the memory dungeons in the first game. His name is meant to be Gandalf and is a reference to the famous wizard.
Ganer Bateson
Ryu and Yua's father and a member of the St. Eva Church. He was stationed in the small town of Gate when he met the mysterious Valerie and fell in love. When the town was attacked by demons, Ganer fought them off but lost his wife. He then spent the next few years raising their children. While Ryu slept in the prologue, a dream demon invaded the town named Aruhamel, who captured Ganer and then erased the towns memories of the him and his family. He was then placed in a machine that drains life-force energy under the Great Cathedral of St. Eva. For the next ten years, his powers were drained to supply Deathevan with sustenance. Blinded and broken by the ordeal. He meets Ryu and his party ten years later when they infiltrate the basement. Begging to be killed, the player is given the option to save him by slowly dismantling the machine or killing him to make the fight easier. Saving him is needed to obtain the Golden Ending.
Valerie
Ryu and Yua's mother, and the wife of Ganer Bateson. Valerie is a member of the Dragon clan that live in the hidden city of Dragonier that lies under the city of Gate. The Dragon Clan, long since dedicated to stopping the birth of Deathevan into the world, sends Valerie to discover why the demons in Infinity are growing stronger and helping Deathevan to be born. Instead she falls in love and starts a family in Gate while still investigating the cause of the demonic power. She soon realizes that her son Ryu may be the Destined Child. When the demons attack Gate, she realizes their power had grown too strong and they were able to breach the seal her clan placed on Infinity. So she transformed herself into a dragon to reinforce the seal, but at the cost of keeping her in this form and sleeping forever. Despite being asleep, her magical powers allow her to sill occasionally communicate as she does with Yua through dreams, likewise she was able to keep track of Ryu's accomplishments as well.
Kaiser and Infinity
The return of both these powers. Kaiser get s face lift and takes on his most iconic form that he'll carry for later installments. His design gets the cool full wings and his head gains a more western full faced form than the very serpentine one from the first game. The form is granted when Ryu battles Ray to a battle to the death. The form max damage to all enemies on the field and his breath attack is much nicer version of the one seen in the first game.
Anfini is still considered the ultimate power of the Brood, but it doesn't create some badass fusion form in this one. Instead it has the power to bring the dead back to life based on the connections Ryu has with them. You gain this power by undergoing a trial in which Ryu is tasked with sacrificing one of his teammates. Choose wisely...
Villains:
Trout
A rich noble living in Hometown known for his greed. The theft of an item he stole from Kilgore kicks off the entire story. He was transformed into a demon by Deathevan due to his extreme greed. His boss fight even introduces the iconic Pilfer skill where he likes to steal Zenny from the party. He can actually be fought by Bosch alone if you make certain choices, or Ryu can help as well.
Aruhamel
A dream demon enlisted by Deathevan to help with the eventual invasion. Aruhamel is responsible for the people of Gate losing their memories of Ryu and his family as well as Gandaroof's memories of the demons themselves. He is finally battled in Gandaroof's memory dungeon where he reveals the truth about what really happened at Gate.
The Demons
An army of supernatural creatures that can feed on people's vices to transform them into monstrous creatures. Some demons are natural born like Aruhamel, but others like Trout, Augus, and Joker were once humans whose avarice allowed them to transform into the dark army. The demon race is different from monsters in that they are born from the malice of Myria herself. The creatures strive to give energy to their dark god Deathevan, who shall lead them to conquer the world and let the demons run amok. The nature of demons appears to be inspired by Shinto beliefs in the power of strong feelings that can be used to transform people into yokai or vengeful spirits.
Habalq V
The founder of the St. Eva Church. He is secretly a demon in disguise who uses the promise of eternal happiness to get people to pray to his master Deathevan. He is also Father Halq, the man who replaced Ganer as Gate's priest. He is a powerful sorcerer whose true form is a Mindflayer like entity. He found Ray Bradoc as a child and raised him once he discovered his true nature. Though he appears late in the story, he's responsible for a lot of the horror that plays out in the game's final chapters.
Ray Bradoc
A wandering priest of the St. Evrai Church. In truth Ray is a pretty good guy who is unaware of the true nature of his faith's goals. He encounters Ryu several times over the course of the story, even teaches one of his teammates magic. Sometimes they are allies, sometimes they are at odds. When Ray discovers the evil intentions of his foster father, Ray finally reveals to Ryu that he's a member of the Dark Dragon Clan, who had been orphaned and raised by Habalq V. Using his draconic powers, he allows Ryu to unlock the power of Kaiser. He is our next in line for the series tradition of fighting another member of the Dragon Clan, who is actually a friendly fellow.
Barbaroi
The demon who haunts Ryu's nightmare and attacked him and Bosch in the cave as children. Barbaroi is monstrous demon who loves nothing more than battle. Despite all that, he's also one of the smartest and most noble of the demons. Sparing Ryu's life as child to fulfill his destiny to open the gate to Infinity. He also praises Ryu if you choose to duel him alone and win, offering up a hint to a great treasure nearby. His cool design and tough boss battle makes him a fan favorite among the demons. Interestingly enough, his name is Greek for Barbarian.
Deathevan
The god of the St. Evrai Church and the source of demon kind. He initially takes the form of a human man named Evan, of whom the church is founded on. But his true form is a monstrous creature that pays homage to Myria's boss form from the first game. Deathevan was born from Myria's malice against the Dragon Clan and the world for rejecting her. He is the cause of the reunification of the Dark and Light Dragon clans, who discovered his existence and chose to seal themselves up in Infinity with Deathevan so they could monitor his growth and keep his spawn from causing too much damage. Due to initially being more spirit than flesh, the dragons are waiting for Deathevan to incarnate in physical form so that they can defeat him. Unbeknownst to them, Deathevan's servants reached the surface world and formed the St. Eva Church in order to foster the negative feelings to feed their god and power him up. Seeing the surge in demons, they send Valerie to the surface to investigate what is going on. Deathevan is arrogant and completely ignorant to the feelings of others, being perplexed by Ryu's party opposing him and then completely outraged when they dare strike him, but then defeat him as well. Deathevan is a major loose end within the Myria trilogy, and the subject to a whole number of fan theories and speculations. You see, Deathevan is implied to be one of those immortal types that can perpetuate as long as evil exists, yada yada type deals. The ending of BoFII revolves around the fact that he can't really be permanently put down, so sealing him is the only solution. The issue is that BoFIII, the finale of the Myria Saga pretty much doesn't even acknowledge his existence. This has lead some fans to speculate that people forgot about him and his race and thus he's still growing stronger under the surface, and even though Myria has been dealt with once and for all, he would return instead. Others theorize that he may have been re-absorbed or dealt with by Myria herself when she returned. The issue is we don't know.
Misc:
Royal SwordOnce again, this weapon is Ryu's strongest sword in terms of raw damage, and once again, there is debate on whether it's Ryu's best weapon since the Dragon Blade gives +5 to most of his stats. On the other hand, the weapon has crazy high attack power (160 compared o the Dragon Blade's measly 125). The weapon casts S.Boom when used as an item, and BoFII begins the trend of making the weapon's association as Electric elemental with it's lightning spell and innate electric elemental typing. The sword is easily missed because it can only be found in a treasure chest located on a small strip of land northeast of where Township normally lies. You need Nina's Great Bird ability to land there since the Township can't fit, meaning you have to acquire this weapon before reaching Gate, the final town in the game. Secondly, that chest is stupidly heavy, so you'll need the Charm Rod to even be able to fish it out of the spot. This Rod can be found in a dresser by a small Inn outside of the Holy City of Evrai, which you won't be able to reach until nearly the end of the game.
Life ArmorThe strongest Armor in the game, and unlike the first entry, Sten and Jean can wear it too. It sill regenerates HP like Loto's Armor from Dragon Quest, but here the armor has a few hangups hat make it not as good as it could be. It has natural Holy defense, but Holy is the only elemental type most enemies don't use, so it's a waste. Likewise, the armor has a weight of 30, which makes it the fourth heaviest armor in the game and likely to significantly drop the agility of whoever wears it. As opposed to the Dragon Armor that has 2 less defense, resists fire, and has a weigh of 0; we can see that the Life Armor isn't quite as good for Ryu or even Sten. Jean on the other hand is a pretty decent choice since his Agility is abysmal anyway. This Armor can be obtained in a fishing spot located between Gate and the cave where Baruabry attacked child Ryu and Bosch. Like the Royal Sword, you'll need the Charm Rod to even stand a chance of lifting it out of the ocean.
Dragon TransformationsRyu will gain his ability to transform into Dragon Whelps due to a story event, and his ultimate Dragon form of Kaiser is attained in a similar way. What some players may not know, and lord knows I missed this myself my first playthrough is that Ryu has a second set of dragon transformations hat allow him o change into the adult forms of the Whelps. They work the same way as all other dragon forms and heir attack is set to a specific threshold that gets weaker the less AP Ryu has when he transforms. What some people don't realize is that the forms are bugged and are all non-elemental despite their names. This is both a curse and a blessing as all three forms are basically the same, so just use the one who has your favorite animation, but this also means you don't have to worry about wasting the attack on a boss with the elemental defense. On the other hand, this also means the Whelps have a little more longevity, because if you happen o know the bosses elemental weakness, then the Whelps end up doing comparable damage.
To obtain the Dragon Forms, you need Jean and his giant Frog transformation. Use it to climb the waterfall near Simafort and you'll discover a cave with a mysterious man connected to the Dragon Clan who will grant you the form. What's amusing about this is that Simafort is the literal next location you visit after obtaining the Whelp forms. So you can actually acquire the better transformations and never even touch the Whelp forms.
Breath of Fire II begins the trend of giving the games multiple endings based on choices you make and quests you complete. The game has three endings. Spoiler warning.
Multiple Endings
The Bad Ending - Tell the Dragon Clan you're not ready o break the seal to stop Deathevan. Ryu's party gives a slight reprieve from Deathevan's influence but Ryu waits too long and the seal is broken by force in a later generation. With no Destined Child o save them, Deathevan transforms the world in a hell on earth for demon kind.
The Normal Ending - Battle Deathevan without completing the Township quest. Ryu and the party manage to kill Deathevan, but as Ryu leaves the entrance to Gate, he realizes Deathevan can't be permanently put down, so instead Ryu takes a chapter from his mother's playbook and permanently transforms into Kaiser and enters a deep permanent sleep resting on top of the mountain that seals Dragonier and Deathevan to seal it away forever. Your party you brought for the final dungeon will then react to Ryu's choice and Katt and Nina will both have gut wrenching admissions to the sleeping Ryu if you brought them along and maxed out their Dragon Tear meters.
The Golden Ending - Complete the Township quest line by exploring the well in Township to discover a strange device at the bottom of it. You then need to recruit Eichichi from the optional town of Guntz by telling her about the machine. She will come to the town to study it. When the party raids Evrai, you'll encounter a blind and weakened Ganer in the basement, who is hooked up to a machine and being drained of his life force. He asks the party to kill him, bu if you destroy the machine instead, you can rescue him and bring him back to Township. Eichichi will then discover that the device in the basement is similar to the one at Evrai, and Ganer will volunteer o use his life force in the machine that allows it to fly, giving you a different global airship. Finish the game as normal as to get the normal ending. Before Ryu can make the sacrifice to seal away Deathevan, Ganer takes control of Township and crashes it down on top of the mountain, sealing Deathevan in Ryu's place. From here Ryu is allowed to continue living a peaceful life with his friends.
References and Cameos:
- The obvious is the return of Deis who is a hidden party member in this game.
- The monstrous Chiroru creatures that have taken over Capitan and possessed the villagers are an obvious reference to Alien and the face huggers.
- Danc and Gilliam can be found on Monster Island.
- Monster Island itself is a reference to the same island made famous in the Godzilla franchise. The giant versions of the monsters usually start with an A initial that is suppose to mean Atomic.
- Gandaroof is meant to be Gandalf, and a homage to the characters. In fact, many of the supporting cast are named after famous characters from other Sci-Fi/ fantasy novels.
- The teacher at the Magic School is called Yoji, but his Japanese spelling is the same used for Yoda in the Star Wars films.
- All of the members of the Resistance are named after the cast of Winnie the Pooh.
- Nina from Breath of Fire 1 makes a cameo a herself and for actual plot reasons in the Ft. Wyndia story arc.
Next Up: Ryu is a good dragon!
Last edited by Wolf Kanno; 02-09-2024 at 11:02 PM.
True beauty exists in things that last only for a moment.
Current Mood: And it's been a long December and there's reason to believe. Maybe this year will be better than the last. I can't remember all the times I tried to tell myself. To hold on to these moments as they pass...
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