Breath of Fire II Endings - Spoiler Free

Good Ending; use Agni to defeat Tyr.

Bad Ending; don't use Agni.

UpaRupa

At one point in Breath of Fire II, your party is sent to catch an UpaRupa.

See?

'UpaRupa' or 'Wooper Looper' is the Japanese name for the Mexican creature, Axotlotl. They are adorably weird, and look oddly like how I imagine the link between humans and our last time as aquatic creatures.

Axolotl!

Axolotl also appear in Final Fantasy IX, in Qu's Marsh.

See?

Finally, the Pokemon Mudkip is also loosely based on the axolotl.

See?

Breath of Fire III, Part 10

I got Momo and Peco back, and spoke to the four kids in Wyndia. Then I apprenticed Rei to Meryleep, went back to Dauna Mine to get Bais and the Coupons. I want to apprentice Peco to Bais, since his levels are lowest, his stats are good, and I want the Chain Formation. It's very handy to have with Rei around - everyone can get extra turns, no matter how much you weigh down the other two.  Unfortunately, I need to find Lee and Wynn first, and for that, I need the damn passport.  I'll just have to try to keep Peco from levelling until then.

Incidentally, I love camping in Breath of Fire III and IV.  I like being able to check in with my characters.  I love the whole 'battle areas' aspect of the world map, too.

I bought some new weapons/armour from Syn City, and then headed to the Plant.

I got a ton of Scale Mail here, which will be sold to fund new weapons.  I also learned Flame Strike, and found the Force Gene.  Then I had to leave for my (real life) exam.

After the exam, I came home and finished out the factory.  This bit reminds me quite a lot of Mamon in the first Shadow Hearts game, crossed with Koudelka (with Repsol playing the part of Patrick).

Interestingly, up until Nina and Momo talk at camp, when Rei is shoved out to spend time with the other males of the party, Rei is always alone in the tent.  After that point, Momo's in there with him, and he seems to be more of a part of the group.  That's sweet.

Momo managed to master Fahl's spells (the only one I needed was Counter), so I put Garr with Bunyan (remind me to head back when he's level thirty).  I found all the triplets, and I intend to put Peco and Momo with two of them, put the game still isn't letting me into Wyndia.  I want that Chain Formation!

...gosh, doesn't Gaist look like DeathEvn?

I finally managed to get Peco apprenticed to Bais, and Momo to Wynn.  Remind me to check back when he's at seventeen, and she's at twenty-seven.

I also got the Faerie Village's culture level to 7, and started up a few shops - Weapons, with speed and ability, and Handyman, with Ability.  I spent some time in Mt. Zublo, levelling Peco up, and advancing the faeries a little more.  Finished with Bais, apprenticed Peco to Lee.

Damn, Peco is powerful.

Breath of Fire III, Part 8

Blogger ate the new bits of some of my posts in the night, so I rewrote them while fighting the thirty battles for Fahl. Apprenticed Garr to him.

Ryu's only one level off learning Bunyan's final skill, so I had him, Nina (who is maxing out Yggdrasil) and Garr (who just apprenticed to Fahl) train for another level in Mt. Zublo. Currently debating who to apprentice Ryu to next. Torn between Yggdrasil and Mygas.

No, I know, he can max out Hondara next. I'm saving Meryleep for Rei, although I suppose Momo could do it, since I've been keeping her under D'Lonzo for the agility anyway. Or maybe put her under Giotto for now, and under Deis later?

Masters only affect how much your stats go up by in future, not what they're at currently, after all. They won't actually lower them.

Also, a note on the Vulcans - Nina's Simoon spell works pretty well at waking them up.

The thing is, I want all my characters to be well-rounded. Perhaps I should just make a list of which stats to emphasize for each one, in order of importance?

Okay.

Ryu; AP needs to be high, and so does Power and Defence.
Nina; Intelligence and AP. Defence would be nice, and so would be HP. Speed, maybe, but she seems fast enough by herself, and I tend to use the chain formation with Rei in the lead anyway. So, Mygas, Yggdrasil, Hondara, Emitai, and Deis.
Momo; Power, AP and Intelligence. So, Deis. Since Deis severely lowers defence and HP, I should work on those early on. So, Fahl for a bit. I also had her master D'Lonzo, for speed, and to get Steal as early as possible.
Peco; Well-rounded. I'm thinking Giotto then Deis and Ladon.
Garr; Defence, Power and HP. So, Bunyan, Fahl, and Hachio.
Rei; Speed and Power. So, D'Lonzo, Meryleep, and then Fahl.

The helped. I should go apprentice Momo to Fahl now. Nina has a few more levels before she finishes Yggdrasil, then she can move to Hondara. Or, maybe she'll stay with Yggdrasil for a while for the defence boost.

Peco can stay with Giotto until Deis is unlocked. Garr is working on getting all of Fahl's spells.

Ryu just finished with Bunyan, and his Agility is looking low, as is his intelligence. His AP really needs a boost, though. I'll put him with Hondara, since I'll be unlocking him in a minute. Hondara will slow down his power-growth slightly, but Ryu can take that hit.

Oooooops. I forgot to speak to Bunyan twice, to get both of the skills I'd unlocked. I had the levels, but because I un-apprenticed Ryu (and then accidentally saved), Bunyan won't count it. Dammit. I'm going to have earn all ten again later.

Oh well, Peco or Garr can do it when I get to level-grinding with the Ivory Dice.

On the bright side, I did remember to unequip all my characters before getting to the end of Angel Tower.  And to give that fucktard Garr a crappy spear.

It seems that Urkan Tapa (and the factory and so on) are the last remnants of "St Eva"'s empire.  It also seems that the Guardians are Myria's children from Breath of Fire II.

I can't be the only one who finds the ZombieDRs the saddest thing ever, can I?  They try to heal their group, and kapowie, everyone's dead Dave.

I also unlocked Emitai after leaving the mine.  I'll apprentice Nina to him once she's done with Yggdrasil.

Breath of Fire III, Part 7

I really like the fishing minigame in Breath of Fire III (and in the other games, but this one best). I also love the hunting minigame in Final Fantasy IX. D'you know what the silly thing about that is? I'm a vegan.

Played through to Rhapala. I've given up working on my post about enemy skills - just refer to this FAQ.

I got bored with training Beyd after he'd managed to get himself countered to death three times.  Luckily, I'd managed to net him an extra 12 or so attack and defence points and another hp, which really helped.

I took Peco to the Lighthouse for the levels, along with Momo, to get the treasure.  This made the lighthouse much tougher than it needed to be.

I love the aussie dolphin, and the English translation.  It's awesome.  I wonder what they did in the original version?

Bit of advice on the Vulcans.  Firstly, you can steal proteins, which are awesome.  Secondly, you will double the experience gained if you use a fire spell on them.  This will, however, make them start attacking you, with horrible spells like Lavaburst (which can be learned).  I generally try to whittle their hp down as much as possible (with frost) before using a firespell on them.  After using a firespell, they also become vulnerable to physical attacks, which helps.

Once you have the fairy village up and running, these vulcans will be where you level up, and even without the Ivory dice, they're pretty handy.  You might be lucky, like I was, and manage to nab a set of Magma Armour as a drop from one of the monsters here.  With that and the Ring of Fire you've got two characters here absorbing flame attacks as HP.

Idea.  I can get the fairies to copy that ring when I come back here to level up.  And the ring of ice.  Be handy to have three or even six of each of those.

Ooh, creepy old man.  I'd forgotten him.

I suppose all the bits about the tower and the brood mean that the ending of Breath of Fire II, where Ryu waited too long, is canon.

Did some fishing to the south of Mt. Zublo, and bought two Wisdom Rings.  They raise your Intelligence by thirty!  Also, got Meryleep. 

Kali's Completion Project Update - Breath of Fire II and III

So, yeah, my file's gone. I've completed the game before, and I remember the three endings and the main plotpoints. I'll just go ahead and move on to III.

My posts will be left tagged with Work-in-Progress. I'll go back and finish them, next time I play Breath of Fire II.

Breath of Fire III is another one I've completed before, complete with best weapons and armour, and all genes found. I don't recall if I got every skill that time, but I will this time. I also intend to get the maximum number of fishing points possible.

My review of Breath of Fire III wasn't very positive. I found it slow-moving and heavy-going, and I recall that I felt it lacked characterisation, in many ways. So, it may be surprising that I'm looking forward to playing it. It may be my least favourite in the series, but being the least favourite out of my favourite series isn't a bad thing, really.

I'm also quite pleased to have found GBemul, which has Gameboy games, and Snessy, which has a number of old SNES games to play. I've found the first game I ever finished, Aladdin, on there, along with Super Mario World, a game I used to play all the time. I couldn't save it then either - it had the same problem as my Breath of Fire II cart, I'm guessing.

Completion Project Update - Disasteriffic

...my GBA has frozen. At the moment, the only option I can see is to reboot it, and if I do that, I really don't want to start over, especially not knowing that this will probably happen again. Probably sooner.

....okay, I turned it off then on again, fast.  My old SNES games, when they wore out, would, occasionally, rarely, randomly save.

YES!  It saved!  Oh my god, I did not expect that to work.

Heeeeeeeeeeeey.

Oh, spoke too soon.  It froze again, and the sound went very odd.  I had to turn it off.  I'll try turning it on again later, see if it's saved, but I'm not holding out any hope there.

The game's available here, but I'm not sure about saving there, either.

Breath of Fire II - Unlimited Cash

To get unlimited cash in Breath of Fire II, you need to get the basic Carpenter into your Township. That is, when sent to fetch a carpenter from Capitan (as part of the main storyline) pick the one in the eastern house, the house that has a relatively "normal" design (judging by the game's other cities). He'll open a kitchen, where you can cook up items into new items. This sometimes fails, so you'll probably want to save at the Dragon Statue first.

Later in the game, when you have five houses (after the first three are built, pay the carpenter another thousand zenny, then walk in and out of town a few times until they're finished), invite Hanz to live in the fifth house. He lives in the house next door to Ryu and Bow's room in Hometown, and he'll open an item shop.

Hanz sells Cond.Ups for 1000 zenny each. The Carpenter will transform three of these into a G.Bar, which sells for 6000 zenny, doubling your money.

I didn't really have a problem with running out of money in the game, but it's nice to have options.

Breath of Fire II - Secret Character

Breath of Fire II has a secret character who you can get as soon as you are able to travel the seas.

From the beachspot south of Hometown, head south, following the coast line.  Keep following the coastline until you curve around to the north, and land there.  You should be on a desert, with brown mountains to the northwest, and the Thieves Tomb visible just past them.  Walk around here until you end up in a secret room.  Be very careful - these battles are way out of your league, if you do this as soon as possible.

The secret room is a little north-east of the beach spot, and is visible if you look very closely.

Inside, you'll meet three spirits.  Speak with them, then head back to Hometown.  There, head to the magic school, and speak to the girls on the second floor.  One of them will join your party.

Breath of Fire II - Wildcat Cafe

Wildcat Cafe is a very strange subquest in Breath of Fire II.

You'll first need to find the cave by the waterfall, southwest of the Witch's Tower and west of Simafort. Once inside, read all the signs and follow the directions. Your party will end up replacing their weapons and armour with napkins, plates, and forks, and rubbing salt and pepper on themselves. Finally, choose "rare".

Your party will now have to face a battle with a Wildcat Chef. Even without your weapons, this doesn't have to be difficult. I used Ryu's FireDragon, and had Katt and Sten attack. Nina didn't even get a turn.

Afterwards, follow the chef into the bar. He'll ask you some questions. Answer no, then yes, and he'll teach someone the ChopChop skill, which is very useful later, for levelling. I chose Katt, personally.  Any other answers will result in a raise of 16hp for all characters.

Breath of Fire II - Fishing for Fun and Profit

A quick way of getting enough money early on to properly outfit your characters in Breath of Fire II.

In Gate, grab the Treepole from the dresser in the church. When you reach Hometown, fight a few battles, then buy eighteen worms, for 72 zenny.

Outside of Hometown, fight a battle or two until the fishing spot to the west appears. Use your worms and the treepole rod to catch as many fish as possible (keep the line as short as possible to reduce the risk of it breaking. I'd also recommend watching these videos). When you have enough zenny, buy the Stickrod,which will make the process much easier. It shouldn't take you long to amass a few thousand zenny, enough to get you through the first part of the game.

Breath of Fire II - Storyline

I'm not going to list items or the names of bosses and things this time, just pure story.

Breath of Fire II begins with a giant eye opening, and a voice saying that it doesn't have enough strength, and pleading with someone, everyone, to pray to God.

Ryu and Gate

Ryu Bateson lives with his sister Yua, and their father, Ganor, a priest of St Eva. Yua runs away at naptime, so Ganor sends Ryu to fetch her. The other villagers talk about the death of Ryu and Yua's mother, three years before, and another, later, occasion, when monsters attacked the village, and Ganor and a dragon held them off. They tell Ryu that Yua often plays up at the back mountain, where the dragon now sleeps.

Ryu heads up to the back mountain. The dragon's claws protect doors to the east and west, while it's head protects the one to the north. There, Ryu finds Yua.

Suddenly, a monster attacks. Ryu tries to fight it off, but he isn't strong enough. Ganor appears, and uses his powerful magic to defeat it, before scolding Yua and praising Ryu.

Yua explains that when she sleeps by the dragon, she sees her mother, and Ganor laments his failure in protecting her. Yua and Ganor leave, and Ryu closes his eyes. He sees a huge eye.

Ryu's mother highly resembles Sara, the sister of the Legendary Hero.

Ryu follows his family back to the village, but quickly finds that no one recognises him, or has ever heard of his family. He heads back to the church, to talk to the priest there, and is given a bed for the night.

The night, the other orphan staying there, Bow, takes the candle and leaves to find a better village to steal from. Ryu decides to stay, initially, but then runs after Bow. The two head out of the village, and it starts to rain.

They head for a nearby cave, where Bow lights their way with the candle. In front of them, they see a weird snakey thing, and Bow insists on following it. They eventually catch up, only to find that it was the tail of a huge monster. The thing flings Bow into a wall, and babbles at Ryu. It asks him if he believes he is the one, the chosen child, and challenges him to prove it.

The monster easily breaks every bone in Ryu's body, but calls him the destined child, and challenges him to open the gate. It says that that is when he will know the strength of God.

It was like waking from a long dream...

But now his father and sister disappeared and no one recognised him.

He dreamt of a horrific demon who ripped his mind and body apart, but it remains just a dream.

Yet the vision remains strong.

Deep waiting in the corners of his mind he hears it calling...

"You are the one" the demon screeches, and he realises that it is true.

In his mind, he sees a tower.

Hometown and Bow

Ten years later, Ryu and Bow have grown up to be Rangers, people who can be hired for any tasks.  Bow begs the guild leader for work, and they are given the task of finding someone's pet.  Bow initially refuses, but agrees when he meets the owner of the animal, Windian Princess Mina.  Hoping that she'll reward him with a kiss, Bow and Ryu head to Mt. Fubi in the south, and to the ruins beyond it.

In Hometown, they find a statue of the old Dragon god, who laments that no one prays to him any longer.  They find another old statue in the ruins beyond the mountain.  On the way to Mt. Fubi, they run into a travelling circus.  The star attraction, the Grass Man, looks sad.  The workers tell them that they're heading to Windia next.

On Mt Fubi, Ryu and Bow fight three harpy sisters, who appear to have been picking off animals and travellers. They also ran into a hunter named Azusa, who'd gotten lost on the mountain while hunting an animal.

In the ruins, they meet an old man, Niro, being terrorised by cockroaches.  They save him, then rescue Mina's pet pig, Suzy, from his cookpot.

Returning to the guild, they find Mina, who thanks them, and ask them to visit her in Windia.  The guild leader pays them their 500 zenny, and, disappointed, Bow suggests that they return to their room.

In the night, a man, Kilgore, appears, to ask Bow to liberate his stolen Magic Hood.  Bow agrees, and decides not to wake Ryu.

The next day, Bow is still missing.  Their lady and the other people in the block have no idea what's happened, but, outside, Ryu hears people talking about Bow being wanted for burgling Trout's mansion.  On his way to the north of town, a blue-haired, bat-winged woman crashes into him.  Eventually, Ryu found Kilgore, who told him that it was his fault, and pleaded with him to save Bow.

Ryu headed back to their room, where Bow was now waiting for him.  Bow explained that he'd been trying to liberate the Magic Hood, but as he made his way through Trout's mansion, a girl with blue hair and bat's wings ran into him.  When he walked down the way she'd come, he found the place ransacked, and the guards right behind him.  The girl he'd seen had taken everything.

Ryu and Bow agreed that they needed to find her, to prove Bow's innocence - but to do that, they had to avoid the guards.  Bow hid in the trash, and Ryu carried him out of town, and all the way to Niro, in the ruins.

When they got there, Bow explained what had happened.  Niro agreed to let Bow stay in exchange for him hunting and repairing the building.  Niro also suggested that Ryu ask about the suspicious woman at Hometown or Coursair, to the east.  Ryu headed to Coursair.

Katt and the Coliseum

In Coursair's church, Ryu met a very charismatic man named Ray, and a doctor named Kay who wanted her own office.  In the bar, Ryu met a man named Poo, who wished someone would build him a house.  He waited in the bar till evening.

That evening, Ryu heard from the other patrons about a girl who would be fighting in the coliseum.  He also found that the tickets were sold out.  A large, odd-looking man named Rand suggested that he ask the lady's opponent, Baba, if he, Ryu, could take his place.  Baba lived in Tag Woods.  Ryu headed to Tag Woods.

Ryu eventually found Baba, who, offended at the suggestion, attacked him.  After being beaten by Ryu, Baba had a change of heart, and gave him his axe.  He also vowed never to fight again.

Ryu headed back to speak to Rand.  When Rand saw the axe, he assumed that Ryu was Baba, and was disappointed at how normal he looked.  Confident in his disguise, Ryu picked up a few herbs at the item shop, and headed to the Coliseum.

Inside, he was told that he needed to attend a final interview with the Dir. HR which turned out to be a battle.  After winning, Ryu went to speak to the manager, Augus.  Augus told him that he'd already decided on 'Baba' torturing and killing the girl, as the audience enjoyed that kind of thing.  Augus told Ryu that they'd be throwing a poison dart at the girl during the fight, and this Ryu''s payment was waiting in his dressing room.

Ryu took the 1000coins from his dressing room, then headed outside to put all his cash in the bank.  He didn't trust these people one bit.

After Ryu had spoken to the soldier in his dressing room, Rand came to see him.  Ryu explained the situation, and Rand agreed to go and buy two antidotes - if Ryu and the girl both took one, neither would be affected by the darts.

There was a flaw in this plan - the girl refused to listen to Rand.  Rand told Ryu to gently knock the girl unconscious and protect her from the poison that way.

As Ryu headed to the battlefield, Augus told his soldiers that he didn't care who the poisoned darts hit - either fighter dying would make a good show.

The girl...didn't have blue hair and bat wings.  Instead, she was a red-headed member of the Woren tribe, named Katt.  Ryu tried to tell her about the poison, but, again, she refused to listen.

Ryu managed to disable Katt, and pushed her out of the way of the poisoned needles., instead getting hit by them himself.  He woke in the inn, listening to her wondering how to apologise to him.

Ryu and Katt decided to join forces, and headed back into the Coliseum to confront Augus.

In Augus' office, Katt and Ryu ran into Rand.  Augus was babbling about God's approval of his "scenario".

"We make you fight each other...and hurt each other...we turn that into a show!  And, the enjoyment of all your warped minds becomes the strength of our God..."

Augus transforms into a monster, and attacks, decided that, if it can't be a show, at least they can be killed in style.

After being defeated, Augus groaned that the seed had still been planted, that they could not stop his God by knocking him down.

Rand asked him what he meant, and Augus laughed.  He told them that God's world was coming.

Rand and Katt decide to stick with Ryu, or "Baba", as they still know him.  Ryu decides that they can both help Bow and Niro, and they all head to the ruins.

At the ruins, the party splits up again.  Rand stays to help with the repairs while Ryu and Katt look for the thief.  Rand mentions that he's heard of a similar person in Hometown's Magic School, so Ryu and Katt head there.

Nina

As Ryu and Katt walked through hometown, they heard an explosion.  Running over, they saw a blonde girl with wings being pestered by a group of thugs who wanted to take her to their boss.  She apologised for hurting them, but said that if they didn't leave her alone, she wouldn't hold back.  Nina headed back inside the magic school, as the men ran away, and Katt, impressed, begged Ryu to let her learn magic too.  He agreed, and they headed inside the school.

From students in the magic school, they learned that Nina's black wings for unusual for Windia, where everyone else had white wings.  They also heard about the Joker Gang, who gathered at Mt. Rocko in the east.

Upstairs, they overheard Nina talking to an instructor, Yoji.  Katt interrupted, and begged Nina to teach her magic.  She told Nina that, if she did, Katt and Ryu would get the Joker Gang for her.

Yoji exclaimed at her braveness, but told her that it was impossible - Katt didn't have time to learn magic to defeat the Joker Gang.

Just then a member of the gang burst in.  He told Nina that they'd kidnapped her sister, Mina, the girl who's pet Bow and Ryu had saved.  Nina followed him.

Ryu realised that, if Nina was Mina's older sister, she must be a Windian princess, too.

Furious, Katt insisted that she and Ryu follow the gang, and rescue Nina and Mina.  The two headed to Mt. Rocko, to the southwest of Corsair.  They headed into the cave surrounded by mountains.  A hood challenged them at the interest, but he was no problem.

Inside, Katt and Ryu found that all of the Joker Gang were related.  They also met a man named Win, who said he only lived in the cave because he was homeless.

They told the guard that the bosses' nephew's name was 'Pain', and he let them through,  However, they failed the next test, and this guard attacked them, along with a poisonous spider.  After defeating him, they headed deeper into the cave.

After knocking out another guard, Ryu and Katt found the boss and Nina.  They hid and watched.

Nina demanded that her sister be returned to her.  Joker brought Mina out, but told Nina that he'd only free her if Nina vowed to become his slave.  He used his men to grab Nina, and keep her from escaping.

Disgusted, Ryu and Katt decided to quietly free Mina.  Katt snuck up behind the one guard holding Mina and knocked him out, before Nina gave her oath.  Joker set his other hoods on her and Ryu, but they were quite easy to defeat, although they did keep calling for backup.  After the battle, Nina hit Joker with a spell, and managed to bury him in rubble.  As Nina was thanking Ryu and Katt, behind her, Joker transformed into a monster.

After the battle, Mina told Nina that she'd left the castle because she wanted to see her.  Both sisters thanked Ryu and Katt.  Ryu and Katt agreed to help escort Mina back to Windia.  On the way out, they grabbed all of Joker's treasure.

When they reached Windia, Mina convinced the guard to let them through.  They had to make their way through the Dead Maze under the castle in order to reach the city proper.

Ryu spoke to the prisoners along the way.  One claimed that a child with dark wings had been born to the Royal family, and that this heralded disaster.  The man next to her told them that the old lady herself had cast a spell to cause disaster.

A nurse, in another part of the maze, told them that she'd once taken care of a dark-winged child, who'd been sent away, as her wings were a bad omen.

A little way through the maze, Mina said, "Nina, everyone will be shocked when we return, won't they?!"

Nina didn't respond.

Another person in the maze told them "According to legend, a person with black wings will ruin Windia."

A little later, Mina said "I wish you could come home...every once in a while."

Outside of the maze, the party ran into guards.  Mina ran into the Queen's arms, while the soldiers questioned the rest of the party.  Mina told them that she'd had her sister bring her back, but the Queen contradicted her, telling them that "Mina does not have an older sister."

Nina apologised, and said "your princess seemed to have been lost, so we..."

Confused, Mina asked what they were talking about.

The Queen asked the soldiers to thank the party and escort them out of the castle.  She added "Mina, you must also thank them."

Outside of the castle, the guard gave them directions back to the east.  Katt asked Nina what was going on, and told her she liked her wings.

As the party walked into Windia proper, they ran into a monkey conducting a magic show.  He convinced Ryu to let him make him, Ryu, disappear.

Katt and Nina demanded that the monkey, who introduced himself as Sten, return Ryu.  He claimed that he couldn't, and commenced flirting with both of them.   Behind him, Nina saw Ryu start to dig himself out of the ground.  As Sten decided he'd like to date both Katt and Nina, Katt saw Ryu and hit Sten with her weapon.  Sten wormed his way into the party, giving his life to Katt, and then they were four.

A few people in town mentioned recent burglaries by a blue-haired, bat-winged woman, who fled west.  The party decided to head to Capitan.

A few other people talked about the Great Bird, a transformation that Windians were formerly capable of.  It was rumoured that the Royal family still retained the talent.  Someone else mentioned a gap to the south, the one the guard had mentioned.  He said a highlander with long arms could probably cross it.  A lady named Barretta in the weapon's shop wished for her own business, while a man in the Inn wished to sell fish.

Outside of Windia, the circus was waiting again.  The workers told them that they were going to Tunlan next.  The Grassman looked even more depressed.

The party also passed a hunting lodge.  They were looking for an Uparupa, for which they were willing to pay 10,000 zenny.  They wanted it to sell to a circus.

One of the hunters told them that, when the owl fruits bloomed, a beautiful girl appeared, so he'd been waiting for her.  He told them that he intended to sell her, of course.  The party continued west, to Capitan.

In Capitan, the party met a travelling salesman named Leminton, and a painter named Locker.  They also learned that, after the well ran dry, all the village's children had fallen in.

The party went to investigate and fell in themselves.  Inside the well, they ran into Ray, from Coursair, who fought off a monster that attacked them.  He explained that the well was infested, and asked them to help.

The party rescued a child, and fought off some of the monsters.  Afterwards, the entire well started shaking.  They hurried back to Ray, who exclaimed that the dam must be bursting.  As they ran to escape, Ray managed to cast a spell to create a barrier, stopping the water.  He asked them to quickly save the rest of the villagers while he held it.  They did so, before heading back to tell Ray.  Luckily, everyone was able to outrun the water.

Outside, Ray asked to be taken to "where the members meet".   The party headed back to the ruins.

Once there, they found that the old house had been repaired, a new one had been built, and the ruins was now called the Township.  Ryu asked Ray to give the blessing to Nina.

The party headed back to Capitan, where a strange girl insisted on borrowing Ryu for a bit.  When she'd got him home, she explained that she and her granny were experimenting with the idea of uniting the power of shamans with other people.  However, Ryu's power was far too strong, and ended up setting the forest on fire.  Afterwards, she explained that this was Ryu's dragon power, and she was surprised to find it still existed in anyone.  Granny also insisted that Ryu now find them a house.  Back at the township, they insisted on taking the one that Bow had built for him and Ryu.  They also ordered Ryu to fetch a carpenter from Capitan.

In Capitan, Ryu learned that the bat-winged girl had taken a boat to the north, to Simafort.  He sent the carpenter to the Township, and the party got on a ship to follow the bat-winged girl to Simafort.

From the harbour, they headed through the nearby woods.  Halfway through, they came to a swamp, with a number of frogs sitting around it.  Suddenly, a voice spoke to them.  A giant frog arose from the swamp and told them he'd had a spell cast on him.  He asked the party to head to Witch Tower in the west, to ask the witch to remove the spell.

The party walked all the way around to the tower, stopping to rest with a man who was camping by the dragon statue.

Inside the tower, the witch made them fight for her amusement before she would open the gate.  After slaughtering three enemies, they were allowed through.  In the next room, they saw two statues, with a person inbetween them.  The person tried to warn them that the exits were closed, and that the witch was twisted and would do terrible things to them, but then he was turned into a statue too.  They saw many of these statues, on their way through the tower.  Finally, they ran into Nimufu, the witch.  She offered to turn the frog back if Ryu became her pet.  Ryu backed away in horror.

Angered at not being liked, Nimufu attacked, saying she'd kill him first, then play with him.

When defeated, Nimufu cried that no one loved her but a frog.  She told them that if a young girl kissed the frog, he'd turn back to normal.   Then she begged them to leave her alone.

On their way out of the tower, they noticed that all the statues were now people.  They also spoke to a water shamen, who had to hurry back to Granny.

Back at the woods, Nina kissed the frog, who transformed into a smaller frog.  He introduced himself as the Prince of Simafort.  While all this had been going on, the Township had been growing stronger.  The party headed back to take a look.  They then explored a strange restaurant that fed the strong and cooked the weak before heading to Simafort.

Once they arrived at Simafort, Jean was denounced as an imposter.  Stunned, the party were told to leave, but were stopped by Petape, the Princess of Simafort.  She told them that their Jean was the real one, and begged them to rescue him.

Asking around the castle, they found that, since "returning", Prince Jean had talked a lot about St Eva, and had been writing hymns about her.  They also found that the King had been acting oddly - he just mumbled.  They also heard about a thief who'd tried to take Simafort's Treasure Sword, who'd been put to work in the palace kitchens.

After defeating the Jailor, they found Jean, painting in his cell.  Jean told them that they could prove his identity with the Royal Ring, which he'd given to Nimufu, because she was lonely.

The party eventually found Nimufu at the Wildcat Cafe, attending a Witch School reunion.   After a little excursion which they all vowed never to talk of again, they had the ring.  Nimufu refused to believe that anyone would give anything so important to her.

Back at the castle, they challenged the imposter, but found that he had a ring of his own.  As a last resort, Petape challenged the imposter to a cooking contest against Jean, and Ryu was dispatched to find the ingredients.  The party headed through the castle dungeon, hunting down the ingredients.  It wasn't easy.  They saw a few of the imposter-Prince's guards die on the way through.

Although Jean cooked well, the Head Chef and the King both proclaimed the imposter-Prince the winner.  Petape appealed to the party to try the food, for a fairer vote.  Ryu tried, but he vomited.

Furious, Petape screeched that she would blow up the castle, and both Princes ran after her.  The Head Chef begged Ryu for forgiveness, and explained that the imposter had threatened him.  He asked Ryu to save Petape, Jean, and the castle.

The party followed them, and soon came across both Jean and Petape, who'd been attacked by the imposter.  The Imposter introduced himself as Kuwadora, transformed into a demon and attacked the party, for knowing the secret of the power under the castle.

Afterwards, the imposter called out to God, wondering how he could lose when he'd been granted special powers.  Then he tried to blow up the castle with the last of his strength.

Jean rushed in, and explained that it wasn't an explosion control - it was the hiding place of the legendary sword.  They'd told everyone it would destroy the castle to prevent burglars, but it seemed no one had informed Petape of this.

As the King thanked them, Petape gave them permission to take whatever they'd like from the castle, which was handy, as Ryu had already grabbed the Legendary Sword.  Instead of saying goodbye, Jean told them he was coming with them.

In Simafort's kitchen, the bat-winged girl was yelling about cockroaches.  The chefs begged the party to take her off their hands, and Ryu readily agreed.  The party headed back to Hometown, and took the thief to Trout's place.

Patty, the bat-winged girl, claimed, as Bow had, that Trout was a thief himself, and she was merely trying to get the items back.  Trout asked Ryu to check the basement for the thieves she claimed were there.  Ryu couldn't find any, and Trout thanked him for exposing the thief and asked him to leave.

Outside, the party ran into Kilgore, who asked them to bring Bow to him, so he could apologise.  The party headed back to the Township to pick up Bow, then back to Hometown.

Kilgore invited them all to dinner, where he asked Bow to steal from Trout's place again.  Ryu agreed to go with him.

Inside, they found a secret basement, which did indeed have a number of thieves locked up, including Patty.  Patty said that she told them so, and that she only stole from bad people.  Suddenly, Trout came back and caught them.  He asked Bow if he would steal for him; when Bow and Patty refused his offer, Trout decided to kill them, and transformed into a monster.

Afterwards, Trout whined that he'd just wanted to be rich - richer than anyone.  Patty gave Bow the Magic Hood before escaping.

Back at his mansion, Kilgore let Bow keep the hood, as a token of his appreciation.  He also wondered if Trout's greed had consumed his soul, and if something terrible was going to happen.  Bow agreed that a lot of strange things had been happening lately.  Ryu agreed that something bad was going to happen, and thought about all the people he'd seen who'd transformed into monsters because of their greed, or love of violence.  In his mind, he saw the eye again.


A young man's day...the voice of a demon...like a bad dream...The destined child.

He saw Gate.


Something...something evil...has begun to stir....this little stir is about to change...the world greatly.

On their way out of Hometown, another Ranger, Sylvia, asked Ryu and Bow to come to the Guild with her, for something urgent.

In Powell, the head Ranger's, office, a group of Rangers were talking about a huge demon they'd been sent to face, something far beyond their capabilities.  When Bow asked, they told him they'd been researching an incident in Gate, where a lot of the trees in the forest had died.  They also heard more about the large Demon, and realised it was the one that they'd faced as children.

The elder told them to look for the Grass Man, who could communicate with trees, and might find out what happened at Gate.  He warned Bow and Ryu not to be heroes.

The party headed south of Simafort, and soon found a hut which offered sight-seeing of the whale caves.  The owner was one of the thieves they'd freed from Trout, and he offered them a free trip.

Inside, they met a man named Maiyoru, and two dolphins, named Tree and Ton.  They explained that the party were inside the mouth of Grandpa the Whale, but Grandpa seemed to have been sleeping a lot lately, and they were getting worried.  It had all started when Grandpa had swallowed a big stone doll.  It was a scary doll that came out in a dream and said "sleep, sleep".

Maiyoru left then, riding on one of the dolphins.  He told the party to come and see him, in his to the west, if they had any questions.

The party headed down to the whale's stomach, until they ran into the stone idol.  The writing on it said that the person who woke it would be cursed forever.

The idol complained that it couldn't sleep, so it would put Grandpa - and Ryu - to sleep forever.

After the battle, the idol thanked them for letting him sleep and disappeared.  Grandpa was still sleeping, though, so the party headed back to his throat and kicked his adam's apple until he woke up.

In gratitude, Grandpa offered to show them around the ocean.  Tree and Ton suggested Tunlan, where the carnival was, and, remembering the Grass Man, Ryu agreed.

Spar

The circus was indeed near Tunlan, and the party headed there first.  They found that the carnival was much more popular in Tunlan, simply by showing monsters that were commonplace elsewhere but rare here.  Although Ryu could understand their speech, they couldn't understand his.

The party also learned that the Grass Man was going to be eaten by a monster, to try to attract more customers.  They went in and found the chief of the Carnival taunting the Grass Man, who responded civilly.  The chief told the party that he'd only stop the show if they were willing to bring him an Uparupa instead.

The party headed to the Uparupa caves, just south of Coursair, to try to catch one.   Along the way, they had to stop by Owl Woods for more Owlfruit.  While there, they took care of the girl the hunters had been talking about.

When Ryu finally caught an Uparupa, he couldn't bear the thought of giving it to the Chief.  The party let the Uparupa go, and headed back to the Carnival, to rescue the Grass Man.

Back at the Carnival, the chief transformed into a monster and attacked them.  Afterwards, the Grass Man let himself out of the cage, and told the party that he'd been waiting for them - or, at least, for people like them, people horrified by the atrocities in the world.  He introduced himself as Spar.

With Spar, the party hurried to the Great Sea of Trees, to the west, to ask the wise tree about Gate.

The Wise Tree told them that the information was buried deep within his mind.  He told them that, in order to find it, they'd need to fetch the Therapy Pillow - or, 'Bolster' - from Tunlan.  However, in Tunlan the party learned that they'd need a musical instrument in order to communicate with the people there.  They headed to Highfort, to the east, to see if they could borrow the famous flute.

When they reached Highfort, Sten told them that it was his hometown.  He told them that he'd never intended to go back.

Inside the castle, a soldier greeted him as Chief Sten, and told him that he'd thought Sten had died at the Goonheim war.  Sten told him that he'd run away, and that the hero of the Goonheim war was Trubo, who'd fought to the end.

The soldier told Sten that Trubo was looking forward to seeing him.  Sten said he couldn't face him, then left, telling the party that they'd need to get the famous flute themselves.  Talking to the other Highlanders, the party learned of Shupkay, a beautiful, bloodthirsty general.  They also learned that the castle had recently become filled with monsters.

Wandering around, the party ended up overhearing a war meeting, where Shupkay talked of taking over the world, and building an incredible weapon.  Realising that they'd heard her, Shupkay dropped them through a trapdoor.

Elsewhere, Sten wondered where Ryu and the others had gone.  He set off to explore.  One of the soldiers warned him about Shupkay.

Along the way, Sten ran into Trubo.  Trubo still held a grudge and challenged Sten to single combat.

After trading a few blows, Trubo revealed that he'd thought Sten was dead, and was angry at him for not coming home.  Trubo said he could forgive Sten leaving him - but not for leaving the Princess.  In his anger, Trubo then broke the bridge they were standing on, and told Sten he could only escape from it by defeating him.

Sten won, and fished Trubo out of the water below.  When he awoke, Trubo told Sten of how Shupkay was now controlling the Kingdom.  She intended to unlock the powers of the castle, using a member of the Royal family - the Princess.  Trubo and Sten decided to split up, and make their way to the Princess.

Eventually, Sten found himself in the Princesses room, where Shupkay was attempting to persuade her to help unlock the power of the castle.  Sten challenged her, but she dropped him through a trapdoor as well.

Sten met up with the rest of the party, and they all made their way upstairs.  Finally, they ran into Trubo, who'd been heavily injured by the security system.  The party smashed it.

Afterwards, Trubo told them that it had been guarding the control room - if they smashed it, Shupkay would be unable to use the castle as a weapon.  He told Sten that he'd take care of it, while Sten and the party rescued the Princess.

Shupkay intended to use a machine which took human emotions and turned them into energy.  She decided that the Princess's despair at seeing Sten killed would be enough, and attacked.

When she was unable to defeat the party - as a monster - Shupkay decided that she would use her own feelings in order to transform the castle into a flying fortress.  Downstairs, Trubo was unable to break the machine, and, upstairs, the party couldn't reach Shupkay.

Trubo had managed to do something, however.  The energy started going backwards, and Shupkay screamed that the castle would explode.  The party and the Princess ran to the elevators.  Unfortunately, they needed to be operated manually, and Sten offered to stay behind.

Afterwards, the Princess, Elforan, gave them the famous flute, and asked that, should Sten appear again, they take care of him.  She hoped he'd return someday.

The party found Sten on their way out.

In Tunlan, the party learned that the Queen was sick.  They'd have to cure her of her obesity before she'd help them.  They also learned of an old Magician, Gedd, who would be able to cure the Queen, if she hadn't banished him.  The party headed northeast, to the island Gedd had been banished to.

Old man Gedd insisted that he would only talk to women.  Luckily, he accepted the Seso-bonded Spar as female.  He still refused to help the Queen...unless, that is, he got a kiss from Spar.

With Gedd, the party returned to Tunlan.  Gedd examined the queen, and told the party that she was turning into a monster due to her greed.  The greed and selfishness in her heart made her vulnerable to demons.

Gedd gave the party a list of items to fetch from his mountain.  The party headed there, and brought back a Mirror and a Mushroom.  Gedd told them that they needed to head inside the Queen, to defeat her fat, and shrank them down with the mushroom. 

Once inside the Queen, the party used the Mirror to communicate with Gedd.  Once they'd finally gotten rid of all the fat demons, Gedd let them out.  The Queen agreed to let Gedd stay in Tunlan, and gave Ryu permission to take the Therapy Pillow/Bolster.  The party headed back to the wise old tree, Gandaroof

Once there, they entered his mind.  They found many memories there, including a prophecy of a dragon who would lead a brave group during times of trouble, and stories of a demon who took over one's soul when a person was vulnerable.  Ryu also learned that the dragon clan disappeared shortly after telling the tree that they had an important mission.

Finally, they ran into a creature that told them he wanted to destroy Gandaroof's memory, because he knew something that was inconvenient to the creature's God.  He also told Ryu that he was the one who'd caused everyone in Gate to forget him and his family.

Ryu destroyed him.

After the battle, the monster gloated that he'd already destroyed part of Gandaroof's memory before disappearing.  Speaking to some of the avatars inside Gandaroof's mind, the party heard of a Dragon who'd lead seven brave warriors to fight a great evil.  Outside, Gandaroof talked about the warrior again, as well as the horror of the devil-god who used such demons to control people.  He talked about a man who'd used the powers of the demon to possess people, but he couldn't remember his name.

Finally, Gandaroof talked about the demon destroying the trees, and people living to the south who would help them fight.

Breath of Fire II - Review

This is a repost of the review I wrote when I first played Breath of Fire II. This was when I was seventeen, so around five years ago.

Warning: The following contains spoilers.

A direct sequel, Breath of Fire II begins roughly five hundred years after the first game finished. The story of the eight heroes who saved the world has been lost to history now. The geography of the world and many of the towns have changed (although some of the name changes may be due to translation issues rather than actual changes - for example, Gant has become Guntz).

Although Ladon the Dragon God is still worshipped by some, the temples have disappeared. The statues are out in the open, seemingly neglected in favour of the new God. The new God is worshipped by the members of the church of St Eva, a group which has grown vastly over the years to become the major religion of the land. Ryu's father is actually a priest of the church of St Eva, although his mother worshiped Ladon.

The story begins with Ryu's father, Ganor, and his younger sister, Yua. Not wanting to take a nap, she runs off into the woods behind the village. Ryu and Ganor find her there, gazing at an enormous sleeping dragon, a dragon whom, as Ganor tells them, helped protect the village years ago, sometime after the attack that killed their mother. Yua tells them that she likes sleeping on the mountain, because her mother sometimes appears in her dreams. Yua and Ganor return to the village, while Ryu remains behind for a while.

When he returns to the village, the story begins to take a dark turn. Yua and Ganor are nowhere to be found. None of the villagers recognise Ryu, and none of them have heard of Ganor or Yua either. The preacher allows Ryu to spend the night in the church, along with another orphan, Bow. That night, Bow and Ryu set off together into the big wide world, neither of them having anything to stay for. They grow up to become rangers, people with various skills for hire.

Various events happen, and Ryu ends up travelling further afield, noticing the taste for violence and death that appears to have grown in popularity. As he and his friends journey, they begin to meet people who seem overcome with greed and violence, people who eventually reveal their true colours as their desires take full hold of them, and they turn into monsters. Ryu and his friends travel onwards, to find out why this is happening.

The characters are far more evolved than those in the first game. Ryu is the same as always; blue haired and strong, using a sword to fight. In this incarnation, he learns healing magic, and is a much stronger and more independent character than he is in, for example, Breath of Fire's III and IV. He can fish, and the mini-game is most similar to that of Breath of Fire III's system. There are very few types of fish compared to later games, although there are Manillos which you can catch with gold like in III. There are also a few treasure chests at very fishing spots, and finding them makes for an interesting short sidequest. Based on speech, this may well be the most personable incarnation of Ryu, excluding V. You also get to learn more of his past and origins than in other games, including playing through a short flashback segment as one of his parents, similar to a sequence in Final Fantasy IV.

As I mentioned, Bow is Ryu's best friend, going back to their childhoods. Although he remains out of your party during the formative parts of the game, he's reasonably useful. He learns white magic as he levels up.

As always, there's Nina, the Winged Princess of Windia. Born with cursed black wings, she was cast out of the royal family at a young age, although she still tries to do what she can for the country. As is explained later in the game, the Windian's lost their ability to fly in the years between the first game and this one, so Nina's wings are purely ornamental. She's taller and older than her ancestor was throughout the first game, but, as always, she has the traditional short blonde hair. She's a black mage this time.

There's also Katt, a feisty red-headed Woren female. Although young and clumsy, she's an important member of your team and provides much of the comic relief, as well as participating in a rather sweet yet tragic romantic subplot. Although she learns some very powerful spells at ridiculously low levels, she won't have the AP to use them until the end of the game, if then.

Rand, similar to Ox from the first game, is another white mage. Although he doesn't learn the advanced spells Bow does (or at least, not at such low levels), he's almost as powerful as Katt or Ryu, making him a more generally useful fighter.

Jean is, literally, a frog prince. He fights with a rapier (Nina's now using a magic ring), and learns black magic, similar to Nina's. Spar is a mutant vegetable, similar to Peco of BoFIII. He learns generally useful spells, such as warp and exit, which are just as useful as they were in the previous games. He's not the only character to learn these spells, however. Sten is a Highlander, and resembles a monkey. When he first joins the part he is shown as a ladies man and a trickster, but upon reaching his hometown more is shown of his personality. He occupies the place of thief in your party. He can't steal, but he does have the quick speed and mid strength attack which marks thieves.

Every character gets their own mini subplot and back story, and although the sheer amount of characters is still slightly overkill, the personality of each of them is much improved over the first game.

There's also a secret optional character, the only one I know of in the Breath of Fire universe.  It's Bleu/Deis, the immortal from Breath of Fire's I through IV, and my favourite character. She's exactly the same as she was in the first game, and I love her just as much. There are also cameos from other ex-teammates, namely Nina, Bo and Karn.

Once more, the battle system is turnbased. The random battles are, once more, annoyingly enthusiastic, although, yet again, auto battle helps (auto battle being a command that enables your party to keep on attacking without any input from you). There's also a new element to the battle system - as well as each character having their own special command (for instance, Ryu has 'guts' an ability that you can use to restore a few HP), certain characters, except for Ryu and the secret character can merge with Shamens, to evolve their powers and possibly change their appearance. This ability has its limits; while shamanized, some characters will not have access to their on screen abilities (such as Rand's ability to knock down walls and Sten's crossing over small gaps) which are sometimes necessary for getting around a map. Also, the shamanization will disappear when the character in question loses more than half of their hit points.

There's also a rather large subquest, similar to the faerie colony and ant colony of Breath of Fire III, IV and V. This time it's known as Township - you get your very own town, and you can recruit people to live there. Some are helpful, some are definitely not, and you have to choose carefully because you only get six houses to fill. You can also unlock the flying Township, depending on certain decisions and actions taken. Doing so will allow your township to fly, and will unlock the best ending.

Speaking of endings, there are three. Once more, it's possible to get them all in one playthrough, although it's far trickier than in the other games. All of the endings are believable, and none are disappointing.

There are many references to the first game, as well as things which could be linked to later games (which are not implicitly stated to be sequels). For instance, the final boss and main antagonist is related to the final boss of the first game. This is also the first game where Baba/Babadel appears. He is later known as Bunyan, and appears in Breath of Fire III and IV, occupying a similar role. The town of Tunlan remains largely unchanged. You still need the Magic Hood (or Cowl) to understand the citizens, and the Famous Flute (or Maestro) to understand them. Their national treasure is the Therapy Pillow, previously known as the Bolster, which can be used to enter people's dreams (a sequence which occurs in the first game with Mogu and the fourth, with Ershin). It's also somewhat ironic that while the previous Queen of Tunlan was obsessed with her looks to the extent that she didn't care about anything else, the current queen is obsessed only with food. The power of the Gills, which are used to walk underwater, are greatly reduced. You can know only use them in shallow water, or for a very short time in deeper water, unlike in the first game, where you could walk around on the ocean's floor to your hearts content. As I may have mentioned, the Windian's power has been reduced too. Their wings are now purely ornamental, and in III they have no wings whatsoever (except for Nina III, of course, a genetic throwback). The Light and Dark Dragon Clans appear to have disappeared, although it can be assumed that they merged together, as they stated they would at the end of the first game. The Thieves Tomb in the Arad Desert still exists, and Karn is now famous for having defeated its secrets. It's also said that Karn is responsible for the new traps and tricks, to test new generations of thieves. The Arad desert has expanded, and it's theorized that it's the Desert of Death from III. There are many other references, which I can't explain without spoilers. However, you can find a long list on Wikipedia if you wish.

I'm not sure what I can say for the summary. It's a great game, and I really enjoyed it, but if you're not an aficionado of the series then chances are, you won't. There's a lot of great features and likable characters, and although the amount of towns is smaller (which, incidentally, makes each one more unique) the world map appears to be larger. All in all, great game.

...there are a few new observations I wanted to add.  Firstly, the whole game feels somewhat...snappier, for want of a better word, than the first Breath of Fire.  The script and translations are also slightly better, with more bits of throwaway conversation and moments of humour.  The general environment has more detail, and you can tell that the series is inching into the nineties.

Breath of Fire II - Manillo Shops and Fishing Spots

A basic guide to fishing in Breath of Fire II.  I've embedded some videos which show you the basics of fishing here.  There are four different kinds of bait you can get, three of which are available in Hometown - worms, urchins, and shrimp.  Different fish go for different kinds of bait.  The fourth kind of bait is Coins, which can be found in some treasure chests, and are dropped (rarely) by K.Goblins near Windia, Mimics near Namanda, and Poltergeists near Simafort.

 There are eight different kinds of fish you can catch, as follows.

Fish	Lure	Description	Use
Sardine	Worm	A small, slim fish that stays close to the surface.  It's blue, if you look very closely.	Heals some HP.
Unagi	Worm	A small slim fish that stays close to the surface.  It's a pale lilac shade, but, again, it's hard to tell.	Heals some HP.
Bait	Worm	A medium sized fish, that lives at a medium depth.	Described as "look[ing] awful".  Reduces HP to 1.
Mackerel	Worm	A slim, grey, fish that lives at a medium depth.	Described as "look[ing] tasty".
Minnow	Urchin	Description	Recover AP.
Tuna	Urchin	Description	Treatment for poison.
Porgy	Urchin	A large fish that stays at the bottom of the sea.  A kind of grey shade.	Use
Snapper	Urchin/Shrimp	A large fish that stays at the bottom of the sea.  It's pink.	Recover bad status.

It's theoretically possible to catch all of these before you head to the Witches Tower, but it's a lot easier to do it with a better rod.  There are four in the game - the Treepole, which young Ryu can take from his chest of drawers in the church, the Stickrod which can be bought in Hometown, the Delux Rod, which you'll be able to find in the bookcase after Petape rescues you from drowning in Simafort, and the Charm Rod (more accurate details once I reach that point).

Certain fishing spots in Breath of Fire II contain Manillos, who will sell you special weapons and items. In all fishing spots, you can find fish, and in some, you can also find treasure.    It's generally best to wait till you've got the charm rod to go for these.  It's possible to fish them up with Coins as bait, it's just insanely hard.  I've mentioned where the manillo and chests are in the list below, and I'll include a more direct list either below that or in another post.

These fishing spots are in the order in which you can reach them.

Near Hometown

This fishing spot is just to the west of Hometown, and will pretty much always appear after a battle in the area. You can catch sardines and unagi here, using worms.

I'd highly recommend buying a lot of worms, and catching a lot of fish here, enough to buy all the good equipment in hometown and the StickRod from the item shop.  Worms cost 4 zenny, while Sardines and Unagi sell for 30 zenny each.

Near Coursair

This fishing spot is just to the northeast of Coursair. You should be able to see it when you're standing near the town.

A lot of people have trouble making this spot appear. Generally, fishing spots will appear after random battles, or after reloading the game from a quicksave (although, admittedly, that may have been an accident - I may not have noticed the spot was there when I saved).  Just be really patient.  I had some luck with it appearing when I fought directly to the west of it, where the land narrows, but, from there, you need to walk all the way south and then back north to reach it.  Using a Smoke might help.  Again, you can find sardines and unagi here.

There is a Manillo here, with equipment from Simafort.  To catch him, you'll need the Coin from Tag Woods.  Be very careful - like with all other bait, the Coin will disappear once the Manillo is caught, or should he escape.  Make sure you have enough zenny to purchase whatever you wish to.  I'd recommend about 5000 zenny per character.   Personally, I spend a happy few hours slowly fighting my way up to Windia, for the levels and the cash, which helped quite a bit.

His stock is as follows;

SilverDR - 1200Z
IronSH - 1200Z
SilkGL - 1200Z
IronML - 1400Z
KnightHT - 790Z

I generally just go ahead and find him after completing Tag Woods, to equip Ryu, who can use everything except the SilkGL.

Northwest of Windia

This one is pretty easy to find.  It appeared right after my first battle in the area.  The K.Goblins in this area sometimes drop Gold, for catching treasure chests and manillos.

You can catch Tuna, Minnows, and Porgies here, all with the urchin bait.  You can also catch Sardines and Unagis, but you're probably sick of those.  There is Bait here too (which is a kind of fish), who like the worm bait.  You have to let it sink a bit.  Porgies are very strong, and difficult to catch with your current rod.  There was also another fish in here (that looked a lot like the Bait, and was probably a Mackerel) which wouldn't bite at all.

If you run out of bait, then head south.  If you put Sten in the lead where you see the broken bridge, and hit 'A', he'll pull you over to the other side, and you can walk back to Hometown to buy some.

North of Capitan

Again, this one appears easily.  You can catch Sardines, Tuna, Unagi, Bait, Porgies, and Mackerels (I think they're Mackerels) here.

East of Simafort

South of the woods to the west of the harbour, where you first meet Jean, that is.  Northeast of W.Cape, east of the hut where you can rest for free.  This is another one that appears easily.

There's only one fish here, the Snapper, who will bite on a shrimp or an urchin, eventually.  I found him pretty easy to catch, when he did.  They sell for 1500 zenny, so it might be worth hunting down a few of them.

South of Wildcat Cafe

Wildcat Cafe being the cave near the waterfall, near Simafort and the witches tower. You can catch several varieties of fish here, which I won't list.  You already know at least one place to find all of them.

You can catch a manillo here, whos stock is as follows;

BusterSD - 2200Z
WiseRB - 3000Z
NationHT - 1800Z

You can easily do without these, especially if you invited Hekeller to live in the Township.


Northwest of W.Cape

There's just a sardine here. I gather there's also a manillo, but I have no gold atm.

Tunlan

GBA Cartridge Problems

I have a problem with my Breath of Fire II cartridge. It won't save.

Or, rather, it will save, but those saves get wiped when my gameboy advance is turned off. Apparently, this will eventually happen to all GBA carts. I gather from a quick google search that these cartridges have some memory inside, which will eventually wear out, and do this (the problem has been fixed with later things like DS games).

Oh hey, this explains why my old Super Marios cart for the SNES stopped saving reliably.

Anyway. The game plays fine, so I have a few options.

1. Buy a new copy.
   It's like £17 on amazon, with shipping, so I'd rather not.
2. Open the case, remove the (soldered in) memory, and solder in a new one.
   Again, I'd really rather not. Bartelmy does not do so well with the hot burny things. Plus, you know, I'd need new memory, and a soldering iron, and to know how to solder....
3. Give it up as a lost cause, and skip to Breath of Fire III.
   I'd rather not. It feels like cheating if I skip it. Plus, I ordered the official guide for III, and it hasn't arrived yet. I want to play it through with the guide (I already did it without one, not that it matters. Bite me).
4. Play the entire game without once turning my GBA off.
   This one is doable. I generally keep my GBA next to my bed, but I can hide it under my bedside table or something at night. I keep it plugged into the charger, so that's not an issue. The game seems to save okay as long as I don't turn the machine off, so quicksaves for the ending also seem like an option. We very rarely get power cuts, and if we did, it wouldn't be an issue, so long as it wasn't off for ten or twelve hours straight.

...so, yeah, I'll be going for option 4. Fun times.

Breath of Fire II - Fishing

I had some trouble with fishing, initially. It's a useful thing to do, early on, as you can sell the fish for what is, relatively, quite a bit of money. Watching this video really helped.

...and so did this one, because hunting is a little weird, too.

Princess Nina Wyndia

Warning: The following may contain spoilers (depending on how you define spoilers).

Over the games of the Breath of Fire series, one can track the evolution of the Wyndian people. My personal theory is that Breath of Fire IV is first, then Breath of Fire, then Dragon Quarter, then II, then III.  At the start of Breath of Fire II, the Dragon tribes live underground, so it makes sense for Dragon Quarter - which involves dragons leaving the underground - to serve as a prequel.  This means that DQ Nina is not actually related to the other Ninas.

In the first Breath of Fire they were able to fly, and transform into birds. By the time of the second game, they have mostly lost this ability. Although they still have wings, they do not fly so easily, and for a Wyndian to turn into a bird requires a great sacrifice - namely that they cannot change back.

In Breath of Fire III, the Wyndian tribe no longer had wings, although the young Princess Nina wore a winged ornament on her back - perhaps a throwback to the time when her people did have wings. The young Princess Nina is shown to save herself from falling, by slowing her plunge to a safe level. When she grows up, she has wings, although she does not fly with them.

Nina of Breath of Fire IV also has wings, and can fly with them, although not quite to the same level as the original Nina. The Wyndian city is built of high towers and windmills, and it appears that not all of the people have wings as they once did. Again, Nina is an evolutionary throwback.

Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter, contains no reference to the Wyndians. Although Nina does have wings, these are a cruel parody. They are a genetic enhancement, created so that she can filter pollution from the air, and into her own lungs.

Chronology of the Breath of Fire series

An essay I wrote a while back. It does appear on another site, but, since it's entirely my work, I don't see why it shouldn't be here, too. This is also why I'm keeping notes on the storylines of the games as I play them - so it's a little easier to spot links in future.

Warning: The following contains spoilers for the entire Breath of Fire series.

Breath of Fire

The first game appears to be set several hundred, or thousand years before some of the following games. Breath of Fire II is a direct sequel. The game introduces many basic elements of the Breath of Fire series - the silent hero Ryu, the Wyndian Princess Nina, the Sorceress/Naga Deis (who, due to a translation issue in this game, is sometimes known as 'Bleu'). The final boss is known as 'Tyr', another translation issue. Later, she will be known as the 'goddess' Myria.

This game also introduces the Fishing Mini-Game, and the Manillo species. In later games, the Manillo will be traders. In this first game, Gobi and the rest of his species already show strong mercenary tendencies.

Within the game, saving is done at Dragon Statues, in temples which are liberally scattered throughout the world. These become fewer as time moves on.

Breath of Fire II

The game is a direct sequel to the first Breath of Fire, and describes the Dragon Tribe living underground - something that is later echoed in Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter. It seems to be set only a few hundred years after the first game. It is implied that Princess Nina and Ryu of the original game married, and are the ancestors of the current Princess Nina and her sister, Mina. This is evidenced by Mina's resemblance to Ryu, and Nina's black wings. When the current Nina is forced to face the 'Guardian', one of her own ancestors, this ancestor is exactly like the first Nina. She confesses to having married an 'outsider' - a member of another tribe.

The game also marks the return of Myria, the 'Goddess' who attempted to conquer the world in the original game. However, the party actually faces her child, not Myria herself.

Deis returns, as a secret character. She will not join the party automatically, as in the previous game, but will appear if she is sought out. She lives in the Temple of Wisdom, in the middle of the desert - where she can also be found in Breath of Fire III. Unlike Ryu and Nina, she is her original self, rather than a descendant or reincarnation.

This game also marks the introduction of the Warren Tribe, through Katt. Later party members - Rei, Cray and Lin - are also related to this tribe.

Within the game, saving is still done at Dragon statues. However, Dragon temples seem to be far further apart than they once were.

Breath of Fire III

A mural in the town of Dragnier shows the characters from the first game fighting against Myria, and the game generally seems to continue several hundred years after the previous two installations. There is one Dragon Statue left, near a hut in the mountains, and the Dragon God, Ladon, can be found in Dragnier.

Within the world of Breath of Fire III, the Dragon Tribe are believed to be extinct. In fact, many of them are dead, following the Dragon Wars which took place hundreds of years before the game begins, where Myria instructed the beings named 'guardians' to kill all the dragons in the world, deeming them too dangerous to exist. The Guardians also bear a very strong resemblance to the monsters Myria attempts to unleash upon the world of Breath of Fire II.

Many species and towns are recognisable from previous games, such as the Wyndians, the Warrens and the Manillos - and, of course, the Dark and Light Dragon Tribes. Many locations are also similar, such as the Desert of Death.

Myria returns once more, again calling herself 'Goddess'. Within the world of Breath of Fire III, there is little technology. The world is split into two, and your characters spend most of their time on one half - it is believed to be impossible to cross the sea. However, advanced technological artefacts regularly wash up on the shore of the Junkyard. These come from Myria Station, where the party face the final battle.

Ryu and Nina appear once more, along with several new characters. Notably Peco, an offshoot of the Yggdrasil tree which appears in previous games, who may be related to Spar of Breath of Fire II.

Deis appears once more, although not as a playable character. Instead, she is a master. Again, she appears to be the same character, as opposed to a descendant or reincarnation.

At the end of the game, Myria Station falls apart, with Myria inside it. As the floor she is standing on crumbles, and she falls, Deis appears. She refers to Myria as 'sister' - the first time this relationship is referenced.

The two appear to die together.

Deis and Myria's relationship as siblings explains a lot about the previous games. Deis has stood against Myria for thousands of years, since even before the series began. While Myria has tried to kill Deis countless times - notably, at the end of Breath of Fire II - Deis has always left Myria imprisoned. It is unknown whether she couldn't kill her sister, or whether she simply wouldn't.

Myria and Deis are both shape-shifters, with abnormally long life-spans. While Myria often surrounds herself with people, Deis tends to be grouchier, and prefers to be left alone, sometimes for hundreds of years - although she does like her admirers almost as much as Myria does.

Deis is known to have no progeny, but Myria's children in Breath of Fire II look remarkably like the Guardians of Breath of Fire III. It is unknown why this mutation occured.

Deis and Myria appear to be the only two of their kind. Their origins, and therefore parents, are unknown. It's possible that they are somehow related to the Dragon Tribe - Deis physically resembles Ryu, Sara and Yua, Sara being his sister from the first game, and Yua/Patty being Ryu's sister in the second.

Breath of Fire IV

A thousand years before the beginning of the game, a great emperor created an empire. However, he was not whole; his soul had been split into two. It was foretold that he would return in a thousand years, when the other half of his soul appeared. Now is that time.

Ryu is completely ignorant of this, despite being the aforementioned other half. Later in the game, he discovers that he was summoned to this world from another - perhaps indicating that he is one of the previous incarnations of Ryu, brought back to life. Or that this is another world, apart from the previous Breath of Fire games, and his soul has been called from the other world. Or, perhaps, this world is just another version of the known world, one which has branched off slightly in its evolution.

One can find evidence for these theories by looking to the other characters. Princess Nina, for instance. She seems to mirror the other Wyndian Princesses who share her name, perhaps supporting the alternate universe idea.

Deis also appears in this game, although this is not immediately apparent. Early on, the group are joined by a small creature which seems to be covered from head to toe in armour. It talks of itself in the third person, referring to itself as 'Ershin'.

Later, it is revealed that Ershin actually is a suit of armour, with no body inside it. Instead, it houses Deis. Ershin means 'master', and when the party assumes that the armour is talking about itself in the third person, it is actually talking about Deis.

Like Ryu and Fou-Lu, Deis was summoned from another world. Due to her assumed death in the previous game, this could indicate that the world of Breath of Fire IV is, in fact the same world as the previous games - with the world Ryu and Deis were summoned from being that of the dead.

In Deis' case, the problem with the summoning resulting in her lacking a body. When she is seen in her dreams, she appears identical to previous incarnations. She also seems to remember Ryu. If one achieves the bad ending, where Ryu and Fou-lu join with the latter in control, she is the only party member who does not attack him. Instead, she defends until the party are defeated.

Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter

The fifth game of the series departs drastically from earlier games. However, there are still some resemblances.

Within this game, the entire population have retreated underground. There is a strict hierarchy in effect, with those with low D-Ratios living further underground, farther away from the mythological sky and the cleaner air.

The very existence of D-Ratios is interesting, when once considers the chronology of the series. D-Ratio refers to how much of a dragon one is - literally, their chance of linking with any of the few dragons who still exist. The highest possibility is 1/4 - a Dragon Quarter. Ryu begins as 1/8192, although this can drop through subsequent playthroughs.

It is interesting to note that, in Breath of Fire II, the Dragon Tribe retreated underground. It is also interesting to consider the existence of the two dragons, and of Origin. And the fact that Lin appears to be a member of the Warren tribe.

Finally, it is never revealed what is on the surface of the planet the characters inhabit - whether it is abandoned, with the entire population underground, or whether it was only a small proportion who retreated.

This is the only game in which Deis does not appear - at least not anywhere Ryu happens to be looking.