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.
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 Sword
Once 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 Armor
The 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 Transformations
Ryu 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.
Multiple Endings
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.
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 10:02 PM.
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