Breath of Fire series plot analysis
By Lawrence E. Cowden
!!!!DISCLAIMER!!!!
This is merely a plot summary of the games in the Breath of Fire series
by Capcom. This is not a walkthrough! If you need step-by-step ins and
outs of the games check out one of the many walkthroughs found on sites such
as Gamefaqs.com. For simplicity I'm just gonna say Ryu and his party unless
there are specific points in the game where you either aren't using Ryu or
are forced for whatever reason to carry a certain character. I'm not going
to break each and every dungeon down. I'm not gonna say "Ryu took a left
down a corridor then a right", I'm gonna say "Ryu made his way through the
dungeon and fought the boss".
Also just another heads up I'm not going to go in great detail about
boss fights. We all have our own ways of dealing with these bosses and I
don't feel like saying "Ryu spammed Shadowwalk while Rei assisted with War
Shout" on all my BOF3 boss fights. "Ryu and his allies overcame their
difficult challenge" is about as in-depth as I'll go unless you have to use
a certain move to win.
Also I want everyone to understand something: the "Observations" remarks
are just that, observations. They could be wrong, its entirely possible.
They are just things I noticed while playing. The "What We Know Now"
section is facts about the games' universe that we know for certain based on
events over the course of the game. If I'm wrong about something by all
means let me know and back up your claim with evidence.
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Table of Contents
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-Introduction
-Version History
-Before I
-Breath of Fire I
-Plot
-What We Know Now
-Observations
-Frequently Asked Questions BOF1
-Inbetween I and POW
-Breath of Fire Princess of Wings
-Inbetween POW and II
-Breath of Fire II
-Plot
-What We Know Now
-Observations
-Frequently Asked Questions BOF2
-Inbetween II and III
-Breath of Fire III
-Plot
-What We Know Now
-Observations
-The War In-Depth
-Frequently Asked Questions BOF3
-Breath of Fire IV
-Plot
-What We Know Now
-Observations
-Prequel or Alternate Reality?
-Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter
-Plot
-What We Know Now
-Observations
-Frequently Asked Questions BOF5
-Special Thanks
-Credits
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Introduction
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Hello all. My name is Lawrence E. Cowden and welcome to my Breath of
Fire plotline analysis. This has been a pet project of mine to keep me
occupied while out at sea (thank god for emulators). It was a lot of fun to
make though I'm sure there's small parts here and there I overlooked on
accident. I ended up doing three playthroughs of BOF1, two of BOF2 (not a
big fan of this one to be honest), three for BOF4, and over the course of my
life I think I've done BOF3 over twenty times. Seriously folks that game is
on point. While I've played through BOF5 a couple times I wasn't playing it
while writing this and as such they only have a light touch on them in the
"Observations" and "What We Know Now" bullets. Without further ado welcome
to my plot analysis of the Breath of Fire series and I hope you enjoy.
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Version History
--------------------------------
-v0.8 11/27/2011: Analysis for BOF1-3, first submission to GameFAQs,
rejected...:(
-v1.0 12/16/2011: Analysis for BOF1-4, touched up some grammar errors I
caught, redid margins, second submission to GameFAQs.
-v2.0 07/23/2012: Analysis for BOF5, analysis for BOF:POW up to chapter 6,
added some FAQs I've seen popping up in various forums
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Before I
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"When the Dragon family was at the peak of it's power the Goddess of Desire
appeared. The Goddess, Tyr [whom we would all come to know as Myria]
granted wishes. The Dragons fought each other for her power. Tyr
encouraged the fighting and watched the war between the Dragons escalate.
When the world was at the brink of destruction a warrior stepped forward.
The warrior battled Tyr with his seven companions and locked her up using
six keys. These "Goddess Keys" were scattered throughout the world and
hidden away. The Light Dragons balanced the power of the clans and peace
reigned again." -Taken from the intro of Breath of Fire I.
According to BOF:POW (covered elsewhere in this analysis), there was an Ice
Dragon Clan that Myria feared. Whether these were part of the Brood's civil
war or not remains unknown. But if we look at the timeline I'd argue that
the Ice Dragon Clan was not part of that civil war and they were dealt with
beforehand. From the above text we get the impression that as soon as the
Brood civil war happened the Light Dragon hero emerged and defeated Myria.
There wouldn't have been any time for Myria to go into a lengthy
confrontation with another Dragon Clan.
Some time after the first defeat of Myria but before BOF1 the Light Dragons
sealed off their powers. Zog rises to become Emperor of the Dark Dragon clan
and uses his army to collect the six Goddess Keys that the Dragon Warrior
used to seal Myria/Tyr. Unaware that the Light Dragons had voluntarily
sealed their
powers he makes his move...thus begins Breath of Fire I.
--------------------------------
Breath of Fire I
--------------------------------
PLOT:
-----
Wake up warrior! Disaster has struck! We need the power of the dragon!
These are the words our hero Ryu hears as he wakes up to find his village
set ablaze. Ryu and the other villagers take refuge in a room protected by
magic. Sara rushes in to tell that the Dark Dragon clan is behind this
attack. The village Chief, Esma, says that Zog, King of the Dark Dragons
vowed to conquer the world and his first target is the Light Dragon clan.
The villagers decide to fight back instead of waiting to die but Sara stops
them as they are too weak to contend with the Dark Dragons. One by one Sara
turns the villagers to stone so that they will be protected from the flames.
Sara is taken by Dark Dragon soldiers to their commander Jade who justifies
his actions by saying he's just following orders. Sara's power easily
overwhelms the weaker soldiers but Jade proves a challenge. Jade informs
Sara that his side has the "Goddess Keys". Sara finally manages to land an
attack on Jade but he is unharmed. Jade defeats Sara and leaves her to an
unknown fate.
Back in the safe house, after some time has passed the petrification wears
off and the villagers are safe. The villagers want to go fight for Sara and
their pride while the Old Woman begs against it saying the Light Dragons
have renounced their powers. Ryu takes it upon himself to go fight for his
sister and the world. Ryu gets some supplies and leaves Drogen. Ryu makes
it to a city called Camlon which has also been destroyed by the Dark
Dragons. The Dark Dragons have taken another city called Nanai and flooded
Camlon castle with monsters. Ryu takes out the monsters and the demon Frog
in the castle to help with the people's liberation. The King of Camlon
tells Ryu that the Dark Dragons have what is called "Quake Control" and that
it's hidden in the Nanai dungeon. Ryu sets off on his next attack.
Nanai stands but is occupied by the Dark Dragons. Ryu sneaks in at night
and gets into the dungeons to search for the Quake Control. The hidden
labyrinth housing Quake Control is now easy feat to trek. The underground
caverns are plagued with monsters and hangs above a lake of lava. Ryu finds
the Quake Control and a Knight plotting to use it for world domination. Ryu
kills the Knight and takes a key from the Quake Control which inadvertedly
reduces Nanai to rubble. The King's servant arrives to bring Ryu back to
Camlon. The King accepts the loss of Nanai and tells Ryu to travel to
Winlan where he can find a way to a new part of the world.
Ryu arrives in Winlan and tries to meet with the King. Nina, the young
princess of Winlan, tells the handmaiden to take Ryu to a guest room as the
King has been poisoned. Nina is trying to keep this a secret from the
townspeople in order to prevent a mass panic. Nina leaves the castle to
search for the remedy by herself and makes her way to the Aura Cave in the
west. There she gets accompanied by two Fae Soldiers who don't dare let her
go on this dangerous quest alone.
After trekking through the cave Nina and her bodyguards come to the town of
Romero. The townspeople speak of missing girls and zombies roaming at
night. After aquiring a map Nina heads for Karma Forest to reach Karma
Tower. Inside Karma Tower waits Morte guarding a staircase. Nina and her
bodyguards easily dispatch the wraith and proceed higher into the tower. On
another floor Nina finds another wraith, this one called Mortea, blocking
her path. She eliminates the nuisance and contiues forth. On the next
floor Nina finds three women begging for help as they've been used as lab
rats for the wizard's poisons. Nina and her bodyguards eventually come to a
large eerie room with an enormous pot of a boiling red substance. The evil
Wizard confronts the intruders and releases Xeon Gas, a poison to the Fae
clan, and subdues them. One of the Fae soldiers acoompanying Nina manages
to escape back to the castle for help. The soldier transforms into a large
bird to flee but is shot down by three black dragons. Luckily he made it
back to Winlan to inform the guards of Nina's plight before he died.
Ryu learns of what has transpired and offers his assistance. The Fae fly
him to Karma Tower and he begins his mission. Because Ryu is not of the Fae
he is unaffected by the gas and can walk around comfortably in it. Ryu
battles the Wizard one on one and prevails. Ryu grabs the Remedy and helps
Nina back to the castle. At Winlan Nina gives her father the remedy and he
is miraculously healed. With the King healed Nina joins Ryu on his quest to
defeat Zog and the Dark Dragons.
Ryu and Nina make their way past Winlan further east to a town called
Tantar. The village of Tantar has a dried up river due to the Dark Dragons
blocking the source. A saw recieved from the local blacksmith allows Ryu
and Nina to chop down a tree blocking the entrance to the Forest of Despair,
where the Dark Dragons are said to have a base. The ugly forest is shrouded
with thick fog and infested with undead fiends. Still though, this is not
enough to stop Ryu and Nina from reaching the Dark Dragon fortress located
within. The Forest Fortress is well guarded and wrought with trap doors but
this is no significant hinderance to the heroes. Ryu and Nina find the
Chief of Tuntar under heavy guard, but not heavy enough. The Chief is
easily freed and he leads them to a weapons vault. In an unexpected turn of
events the Chief traps the heroes in a cell instead. A twin headed beast
named Pog is unleashed upon the two. Pog is defeated and a wolf-man archer
named Bo releases the two from their trap. Bo had rescued the real Chief
during the distraction caused by Ryu and Nina and the fake reveals himself
as a Dark Dragon General. The General isn't even a challenge for the three
warriors and retreats.
The trio make way for Tuntar to deal with the rock blocking the river. The
Chief of Tuntar recommends using the Stone Robot to move the rock, whose
secret can be found in Agua. In order to get to Agua the party must first
go to Romero, the town plagued by zombies at night. The Chief of Romero
will onlyhelp the team if they can rid their town of zombies. The trio
learn that they need "cleansing water" to purify the soil and prevent the
zombie's reanimation. After aquiring a water jar the trio leave for the
Cleansing Water Cave in the west. After a short trip to Cleansing Water
Cave the trio get the necessary water to purify Romero's soil. With the
zombie problem solved the Chief gives Ryu, Nina, and Bo the Tablet, an item
needed to get into Agua Tower.
Ryu uses the Tablet to gain entrance to Agua Tower by causing the floating
land to descend. The large metal doors granting easy passage through the
tower are conveniently locked so Ryu and his team must travel through the
maze like obstacles to reach the top. At the top of Agua Tower Ryu finds a
mysterious glowing orb. Ryu discovers the orb houses one of the goddess
keys and the creature Wisp guarding it. Wisp lives up to it's role as a
protecter of a goddess key providing Ryu with one of his first challenges.
Though mighty Ryu and his party beat Wisp and he rewards their efforts with
the second goddess key. With the KngKey in hand and the ability to activate
the Stone Robot Ryu and his party head back to the Tuntar area.
In a quarry beyond Tuntar the Stone Robot rests. Ryu and his friends
eagerly explore the mechanical wonder and to their surprise find the General
from Forest Fortress. The General and his henchmen are easily brushed
aside. Ryu activates the Stone Robot and the mechanical beings heart pumps
"blood" throughout it's systems. Nina commands the robot to take them to
the lake and destroy the makeshift dam and release the river. With a
brilliant laser the Stone Robot reduces the large rock to dust.
The trio return to Tantar as heroes and on the Chief's urging they go to the
Lake Cave to search for a mysterious ring. In the damp depths of Lake Cave
Ryu, Nina, and Bo find the ring and return it to Tantar. When the trio
return to Tantar they learn the secret of the ring: a wedding band to unite
the two villages. Terry and Amelia's wedding goes off without a hitch and
the two villages are as one. Ryu and his party must leave the newlyweds and
plan to use the Stone Robot to get to a port town but the evil General has
commandered it. The General orders the Stone Robot to level Tuntar and in a
flash of light the village is decimated. The Robot mysteriously stopps
responding to all commands after Tuntar is destroyed and Ryu uses the
oppurtunity to sneak inside.
The Robot is now infested with monsters and is pulsating an evil reddish
glow. When the group reaches the control room the General reveals his true
form as Gremlin, a green demon of great power. In his transformed state
General Gremlin is significantly more powerful than he previously was but
his atrocity could not go unpunished. Ryu, Nina, and Bo once and for all
killed the evil General Gremlin and took back the Stone Robot. Stone Robot
begins to move again and walks into a nearby volcano. To the heroes shock
the robot commits suicide by diving into the lava, it's final words to the
group being "good-bye"...
After the lava cooled the group traveled south and sought refuge for the
night at a temple to Ladon, the Dragon God. In the temple the priest tells
Ryu that he needs to undergo training to break his seal. Ryu tackles the
challenge alone: defeat the dragonic being Talon. Talon is defeated in the
duel and congratulates Ryu by awakening his latent dragon powers. With the
first step towards his ultimate power taken Ryu leaves with Bo and Nina for
the south.
After passing through the North Cave, Ryu and his party arrive at a
magnificent city of gold called Auria. To their shock they are immediately
arrested and imprisoned as intruders! In the cell with them is another
vagrant lying in bed. The thief wakes up and helps the team out by picking
the lock allowing them freedom from the iron bars of the cell. The party
leaves the cell and explores the city. In a large mansion a man named Ross
paces back and forth. Ryu needs a boat to Scande and Ross needs someone to
save his daughter, the two naturally come to a mutually beneficial
agreement. Ross's daughter is trapped in a safe and in order to find a
reliable safe cracker the party heads for Bleak.
Past Bleak Cave lies the city of Bleak, a wretched hive of scum and
villainy. Bleak proves resourceful though as the party learns of an ace
thief named Karn that could break into Ross's safe and leberate his
daughter. Problem is Karn is supposedly in Krypt, even worse the only way
to get there is with an Icicle that an old man in Bleak won't part with for
free. Ryu gives the old man a Gold Bar for the Icicle and the party happily
leaves Bleak.
Thanks to the Icicle received in Bleak the party can disperse the immense
heat of the dessert and travel safely. The group crosses through Arad Cave
to the town of Arad, a settlement just before the ruins Krypt. Arad is
populated by several short individuals clad in yellow cloaks. The leader of
the Arads knows how to get into Krypt but won't give the necessary item, the
Fife, to Ryu unless Ryu destroys the Sand Worm. Ryu, Nina, and Bo make
short work of the Sand Worm and get the Fife needed to enter Krypt and
retrieve Karn. Navigating through a dungeon wrought with traps and false
floors the party finally comes to EyeSpy, guardian of the treasure room.
EyeSpy, however strong he might have thought he was, paled in comparison to
the might of the Dragon Clan and was swiftly destroyed. Inside the treasure
room Ryu triggers a trap which floods the room with water. Luckily for the
team Karn arrives just in time to save the day, as well as insult the team's
intelligence. Karn says that in order to crack the safe and rescue Ross's
daughter he requires a certain book. Karn joins the team so that they might
find the book together. In a large room with several caskets Karn disarms
the traps one by one and discovers that one of the caskets is the book, a
book that congratulates the thief on their ability to bypass traps. Karn is
elated at his mastery of the craft of thievery but Nina cuts it short
reminding him about Auria and Ross's daughter.
Back in Auria Karn works his magic and picks the locks to Ross's safe to
free his daughter. Ross's daughter reveals that she was trying to keep the
Light Key safe from the Dark Dragons whom Ross had promised it to. For
whatever reason Ross's daughter won't release the Light Key until Ryu has
the Dark Key, found in Dark Tower near Bleak.
The team makes it to Dark Tower where Karn's abilities immidiately prove
useful. On the second level the party runs into an old man who will only
give his treasure to the "legendary hero" if the group's worth can be proven
by climbing to the top and defeating the ghost. At the top of Dark Tower
rest Cloud, a ghost with powerful magical ability. Cloud is defeated, the
party receives the Dark Key, and they also get the Mirror from the old man
as a reward for their feats.
With the Dark Key in hand the land surrounding Bleak is touched by daylight
and the party returns to Auria. Back in Auria Ross still plans to give the
LightKey to the Dark Dragons for fear of his daughter's safety. Ryu raises
the mirror and an image of Alena, Ross's wife, appears to talk some sense
into him. Ryu goes to the top of Ross's tower and retrieves the Light Key,
promising Ross's daughter to defeat the Dark Dragons. At the port in Auria
a Knight and Archer of the Dark Dragons block access to Ross's boat. The
duo manages to escape death from Ryu but not before sinking Ross's ship.
Ryu and his team think it best to go around a penninsula to get to the Dark
Dragon's camp for a surprise assault but in order to do so they require
gunpowder to blast a boulder in the way. Gundpowder that a passerby Manillo
named Gobi just happens to have for the price of another gold bar. Ryu
parts with a second bar to obtain the needed gunpowder. Past the North Cave
lies the Dark Dragon's camp. Ryu and his party invade annihalating all who
oppose them. On the ship Ryu encounters a high ranking Dark Dragon Squid.
Squid is killed vowing that his brother will take revenge for him. With
Squid dead Ryu and his party grab Ross and his ship's Captain and commandere
the Dark Dragon's Ship. Before the ship can set sail for Scande Gobi runs
up requesting to hitcha a ride as far as Prima.
En route to Scande the ship is boarded by the Dark Dragons squad led by
Octo, Squid's brother he mentioned. Gobi leads the team to the store room
filled with gunpowder. Octo corners the team but is defeated, setting off
the gunpowder with his dying breath. The team jumps into the sea and washes
up on a small island. Gobi goes to retrieve Gills for his four non aquatic
aquaintances by taking all the money they have and "loaning" one million
gold. In Prima Gobi is scolded for losing his license and is informed that
the only Gills around are in Gant. In Gant a large ox-like man asks Gobi to
transport goods to Prima as the Dark Dragons have kidnapped several of their
males. Gobi delivers the goods to the Guild Owner in Prima and is rewarded
with Gills. Suddenly explosions are heard and a member of the ox-like
people from Gant is lying in a bed unconscious being stalked by a demon
trying to take him to the Nether World. Gobi "negotiates" payment for going
to retrieve Ryu to handle the threatening ghost. Now able to breathe
underwater thanks to the gills Ryu and his team make for Prima and dispatch
the ghost Morteo. Ox wakes up and tells of his village's plight, the Dark
Dragons capturing their metal smiths and forcing them to build a terrible
weapon. Before going to invade the Dark Dragon fortress the team takes a
minute to go and aquire powerful items and abilities to aid them in their
upcoming battle, namely unlocking Karn's ability to fuse and a Boomerrang
sealed in Krypt.
Once ready the group storms Nabal Dungeon. Ox makes the trip significantly
faster by using his raw strength to crash through walls and obstacles. In
the prison room the party runs into the officer leading the Dungeon, Toad.
Unfortunately, after killing Toad, Ryu, Ox and the party learn that several
prisoners including Ox's wife were taken to Nabal Fortress with the secret
weapon that was constructed. Taking some advice from one of the prisoners
Ryu and his team head for a small hut in the south to consult a man
regarding entrance into Nabal Fortress. The team finds the old man tending
his goat and trades the Boomerrang for info regarding how to send Grimfowls
into a rage, a rage that could be used as a distraction to infiltrate Nabal.
Following the old man's advice the team causes a distraction using Grimfowls
and their eggs to get into Nabal. Once inside the team runs into the
General of the castle and his SlimeX henchmen. SlimeX is killed and the
General leaves with the weapon to destroy Prima. Fortunately the Iron Ogre
women have been freed including Ox's pregnant wife. The group leaves for
Prima and the Guild Owner tells them to go to Wisdon for the sorceress's
help.
The group enters Wisdon, the moving village above Arad, and delves into it's
catacombs in search of the sorceress. When the team comes upon a large
temple they find the sleeping sorceress guarded by Wisp, Cloud, and Myst.
The guardians challenge Ryu to test him and once he passes they awaken Bleu
the sorceress. Bleu gives Ryu an Old Egg and tells him to place it in a
volcano.
Undersea north of Prima the party comes across the Sea Volcano and throws
the Old Egg in. After the egg is in the Volcano Bleu joins the party and
everyone goes to Prima to wait for the Dark Dragons. The Dark Dragons
attack and theTyphoon Bug hatches from the Old Egg to annihalate the Dark
Dragon navy. The fighting resumes underwater and the General of Nabal
Pincher tries to kill Ryu's team and fails. Pincher claims to be able to
take everyone to the grave with him and the area begins to shake. Meanwhile
at Zog's throne room he discusses current matters with Jade, his second in
command that attacked Ryu's home. Jade swears to defeat the Light Dragon
interfering with their plans and leaves. Jade's four lackeys Cerl, Goda,
Cort, and Mote are sent to find the remaining Goddess Keys before the Light
Dragon does. Back in Prima the Guild Owner thanks Ryu and his party for
their help and Gobi, who has retrieved his license and sphere that allows
him to become a large fish, officially joins the entourage.
The group leaves Prima and makes way for the city Tunlan, a city where the
local language is music. Unable to communicate the group explores and is
unwittingly thrown in the castle dungeon. They manage to find a way out and
leave the city. After spending some time exploring and gathering
information and stronger powers (namely new dragon powers for Ryu) the team
finds the town of Gust. After Karn learns a new fusion technique the party
heads north and gets introduced to the poisonous flowers. In a laboratory
behind the flowers the group finds Cort, one of Jade's men, who shrinks them
all with a spell. After being shrunk the team flees to a mousehole where
they help the local populace get their food back from roaches in exchange
for a cure. The group advances and confronts Cort again who sics his
servant RugaX. Once defeated RugaX becomes the missing villager from
Gust Nicholie. The party leaves the Lab and finds Frog Oil to make a remedy
for Nicholie. Afterwards the party goes to destroy the FlowerX. After
destroying the plant Cort leaves and the party goes to check on Nicholie.
Nicholie has become Ruga again but Bleu manages to fix him. To repay his
debt Nicholie fixes the bridge so that Ryu's party can move forward.
Unfortunately at the bridge Cort arrives to make one last attempt to defeat
Ryu and fails.
With Cort dead the party can finally make it across the bridge to Scande.
On the way the party notices a Dirt-Eater poking her head out of the ground.
Ryu and his team follow and find Gramor and learn about Mogu who was
imprisoned inside his own mind after being beaten by Mote. The party heads
for Tunlan to retrieve an item that will allow them to enter Mogu's mind.
Fortunately before leaving Gust the party received the Maestro from a
villager that allows them to communicate with the Tunlans.
In Tunlan the party learns the Princess is in love with Zog and wants to
give him the Time Key. In exchange for Ryu's help changing her mind the
Princess's caretaker will give up the Bolster needed to enter Mogu's mind.
The Princess won't listen to reason and in order to grab the Time Key before
she can give it away Ryu spies on her to learn the combination to the safe.
Chaos ensues as Ryu tries to get the Time Key and Cerl arrives unseen to
steal it for Jade. The Princess is left to her own folly and the party
receives the Bolster needed to rescue Mogu.
Once returned to Gramor the party enters Mogu's mind and learns that his
courage is missing. The group comes to the North Tower in Mogu's mind in
search of his courage. The party comes across Mothro, a being that is
completely indestructable even for a dragon. In order to fell this foe
Mogu's senses need to be rejoined and the search begins anew for courage.
The group returns to the town in Mogu's mind where they learn a bridge has
been constructed leading to the area courage should be located. In a cave
to the south a depressed courage is found. After a pep talk one by one
Mogu's other emotions arrive and merge to one Mogu. With Mogu on the team
the group returns to the North Tower and confronts Mothro. After killing
Mothro Ryu and his party leave Mogu's mind as he awakens.
With the problem in Gramor solved the party continues it's journey to
Scande. Past the Spring Cave lies the snowed over city of Spring. Spring is
in a predicament as the tower Spyre to the south manipulates the weather and
has left Spring in a freezing cold. Ryu and his party head for Spyre and
thanks to Mogu they are able to enter. The higher levels of Spyre are an
amalgam of seperate types of environments stacked one on top of the other.
Atop the tower the team tries to grab the key only to have Mote arrive and
banish them to an alternate dimension inhabited by several of Mote's
victims. In Mote's dimension Ryu finds Mote deep within a tower. Mote is
practically untouchable until his conscience arrives to even the odds. Mote
is killed, his prisoners released, and Ryu receives the Sky Key. Using the
Sky Key Ryu is able to put a stop to the unnatural winter plaguing Spring
and release the town from it's hold. Also now Ryu and his party can access
the Waterfall Cave as the waterfall is no longer frozen over.
The team arrives in Carmen, a city where all but one of it's inhabitants
remain motionless, frozen in time. The one unfrozen resident points Ryu and
his party to their next destination, Tock in the east. Tock Tower is a maze
of movement panels that Ryu and his party navigate to reach the top. The
party learns that Cerl is the one who stopped time in Carmen when they reach
the top of Tock. When Cerl and Ryu's party peer into the current state of
Carmen Cerl sees Alan, the lone non-frozen inhabitant. Cerl hesitates but
eventually traps the heroes in a time/space distortion, separating them.
When Ryu makes his way to Carmen he learns that Cerl and Alan were once
childhood friends. Alan and the party leave for Tock to try and reason with
Cerl. Ryu and his party climb Tock once more and find Alan pleading with
Cerl. Cerl rejects Alan and attacks Ryu's party. Cerl begins to lose the
battle and creates another distortion to age the Carmen townspeople. Ryu's
team is separated again and Cerl locks herself in the South Castle. Ryu and
Nina return to Carmen to regroup and get an insight into Cerl's past of
being ostracized by the townspeople of Carmen. Alan says that in order to
bring Cerl to her senses the heroes should get the fruit from the Holiday
Tree. At the castle the scent of the fruit makes Cerl lower her guard
and Ryu's team is able to enter. Cerl gives up without a fight and the
heroes retrieve the Time Key. Goda arrives and brands Cerl a traitor. Cerl
attempts to hold off Goda while the heroes leave. Alan arrives at the
castle to help his friend but when he enters the castle vanishes. The team
returns to Tock with the Time Key to restore time to Carmen. Nina goes to
the pedestal to use the key which getsw stuck. Though Carmen is restored
Nina gets pulled into a time/space distortion and dissapears.
The group chases after Nina and find themselves materialized outside of
Tunlan. In Tunlan the heroes find something most disturbing, Nina is alive
and well but aged into adulthood and amnesiac! A cloaked figure appears
before the party and tells them of a famous doctor that lives in Carmen.
The party retrieves the necessary ingredients for the doctor's tonic and
brings the medicine to Nina to restore her memory. Nina memory is restored
and she rejoins the group, now capable of becoming a large, majestic, white
bird.
With Nina's newfound powers the heroes are at long last able to get access
to the Dark Dragon city of Scande. The Dark Dragons have filled the town
with slave laborers and rule with an iron fist. Ryu's team fixes an
elevator and makes their way for the top of the main tower in the heart of
the city. Inside the party runs into a mysterious cloaked figure again,
similar to the one from Tunlan. The group is told to retrieve the D.Hrt
weapon needed to slay any dragon from Tunlan. The party makes a quick
detour to Tunlan to retrieve the D.Hrt which ends up being a peculiar song
that Ryu, being a dragon, is disturbed by. The Tunlan musician somehow puts
the D.Hrt song in a bottle and Ryu's team races back to Scande. At the
highest peak of the tower the party comes face to face with Emperor Zog.
Zog praises Ryu and says the he makes the dragons proud. Zog continues to
say how he feels the world should be united under one ruler, him. Without
wasting anymore words Zog transforms into a massive dragon and Ryu's most
difficult challenge begins. After an intense battle Zog is killed and he
leaves Ryu the dying of wish of building a new world for the Dragons.
The floor collapses beneath Ryu and the party falls to the depths below.
After some time Ryu is awoken by a familiar voice, his sister Sara is alive!
Sara thanks Ryu's companions for aiding him and requests the Goddess Keys so
that they may be destroyed. But it was a trick! Sara gloats that it was
all too easy and reveals herself to be a servant of Jade who also happened
to be the man in the cloak aiding Ryu on his quest. Jade informs Ryu of his
mind control spell over Sara and teleports to Agua to release the Goddess
Tyr. Ryu and his friends are left to die in the dungeon but are luckily
saved by the enslaved Dirteater tribesmen. Scande is now deserted of Dark
Dragons and the party makes way for Agua.
Once again the heroes scale the heights of Agua only to arrive too late,
Jade has released the Goddess Tyr from her imprisonment. Ryu and his allies
give chase but come to an invisible barrier. Sara, who tells that the mind
control spell slips in and out of control, destroys the shield and lets Ryu
pass before her mind isn't hers again. Unfortunately Ryu and his party
don't leave fast enough and are forced to fight Sara in her dragon form.
Sadly, Sara's strength left Ryu and his team no choice but to kill her in
order to survive. Sara draws her last breath and tells Ryu not to fret over
her loss thanking him for releasing her from Jade's control. Climbing
higher into the treacherous tower the group comes once again face to face
with Jade. Jade claims to be all powerful now and banishes Ryu and his team
from Agua.
When Ryu wakes up he finds himself in his hometown of Drogden being cared
for by the elders. Nina explains that Ryu has been out for three days and
that Sara somehow managed to save them all from beyond the dead. Karn comes
rushing in telling how Jade has risen the Obelisk and the party makes haste.
Ryu takes time before the final battle to master one last dragon form: Agni.
With Agni in tow the party makes way to their final confrontation at the
Obelisk.
The first enemy Ryu and his team face in the Obelisk is Goda, the one
remaining from Jade's personal henchmen. Goda's stone form proves no match
for Ryu and the team advances further into the Obelisk. Evntually Ryu and
his team arrive at Jade's throne room. An impressed Jade offers Ryu a
position in his empire promising his own town or two. Ryu flat out refuses
and a dissapointed Jade attacks after transforming into a horrible monster.
Ryu unleashes the full power of Agni on his most hated foe and the battle
begins. Jade falls before the awesome might of Agni but is undaunted. He
dies saying he knew it was his destiny to lose the moment he revived the
Goddess. He bids Ryu farewell and leaves them to face Tyr.
Below Jade's throne room lies a large open space. In this space a dainty
little girl sits waiting. When approached she asks Ryu's team if they want
a wish granted and restores their health and weariness from the previous
battle with Jade. When the heroes decline a wish and draw their weapons Tyr
knows the time has come to defend herself. Strangely she does not fight
back against her attackers. She simply erects a barrier and weeps. The
fighting stops as Tyr pleads for her safety. Tyr denies doing anything
wrong and asks Ryu to be her friend. Ryu cautiously begins to accept when
Sara's spirit appears and tells Ryu that the power of Agni will force Tyr to
reveal her true self. Ryu transforms into Agni and Tyr reveals her true
self as a horrifying and grotesque monster. The ultimate battle between the
Light Dragon and the Goddess of Destruction commences. Ryu's teammates are
all but powerless in this battle of behemoths. After an intense battle Tyr
is destroyed vowing to return one day. The battle zone ground collapses
underneath the heroes and they begin to fall from the heights of the
floating Obelisk. When it looked like it was the end for Ryu and his
friends the Fae, transformed into giant birds, came just in the knick of
time to the rescue.
At Winlan Sara appears one last time before Ryu congratulating his victory
and saying her goodbyes. The Dragon Lord also appears before Ryu to
congratulate him and rejoice in the birth of a new legend. Ryu's companions
cheer and celebrate as they return to the world ravaged by war to repair it.
One by one Ryu leaves his companions to their old lives and journeys off
into the sunset alone.
WHAT WE KNOW NOW:
-----------------
-Tyr/Myria has been defeated a second time by the Light Dragons.
-The Dark Dragons have been defeated and their campaign ended.
-Everytime a crisis threatens peace a hero emerges from the Dragon Clan to
save the day.
OBSERVATIONS:
-------------
-First and foremost you'll notice I left out that bit of going to get the
I.Claw towards the end of the game. I was already exhausted with this game
by that time and having to go do a side quest just to get into the final
dungeon pissed me off. In fact you'll notice I left out a lot of side quest
crap mostly because no one in the game tells you where to go, you're just
expected to know which bugged the hell out of me when writing this.
-This is probably the most ridiculously easy game in existance. Once you
start picking up your dragon forms you can run over everything in the game
with no challenge whatsoever. Myria/Tyr's "true form" is only fightable
once you get the Agni dragon form and should you choose to use it you'll be
doing max damage possible while taking very little yourself. I only had to
heal once during that entire fight. And as for regular random battles
Karn's fusions are the equivalent of Ryu's dragons in boss fights.
-Here's something to think about. Nina2 learns from Nina1's ghost that
because of her love for Ryu1 the Fae were weakened. At the end of BOF1 Ryu
pulls a lone hero act and walks off into the sunset like a badass. I
question whether or not Ryu1 and Nina1 got married like a lot of fans like
to say. I personally don't think anything happened between the two. You
don't get to know Ryu1 that well because of his limited script so it's
impossible to say for sure whether Nina1's feelings were reciprocated.
-The zombie infested town Romero is named after George Romero, mastermind
behind the "Dawn of the Dead" movies.
-Just something to note here, the majority of the Dark Dragons you fight
don't actually transform into dragons. Zog is the only Dark Dragon you
fight that becomes a legit dragon every other General or soldier becomes
like a goblin or fish or something. There's obviously more dragons than
just Zog, you see about six of them during your first dungeon with Nina.
Just wonder why the other Dark Dragon soldiers you fight don't transform
into a dragon.
-So why exactly did Gobi think it's be a good idea to have a fight in a room
filled with gunpowder?
-......How exactly do you put a song in a bottle? That's what the chic at
Tunlan did with the D.Hrt...I'm perplexed... Speaking of the D.Hrt I just
wanna point out how you never HAVE to use it...ever. It will sit in your
item slot for all eternity if left alone. Really pisses me off I had to
take that detour in Scande for a useless item.
-There isn't a whole lot to say about the story in BOF1. Everything that
happens over the course of the game is pretty straightforward without a
whole lot of room for questions. I do appreciate how the farther you get the
more time was taken in some of the characters, specifically Cerl and Mote.
Those two got more attention than some of your main heroes.
--------------------------------
Frequently Asked Questions BOF1
--------------------------------
Q: The Breath of Fire manga contradicts you on certain points. So what's
right?
A: For those of you who don't know there were four BOF comics (yeah, I call
them COMICS, got a problem with that?). A BOF1 retelling, a post-BOF1 side
story involving Ryu1 and Nina1, a post-BOF1 story involving Bo and Ryu's
sons, and a BOF4 retelling. Obviously in said comics Ryu talks which lets us
get to know him a ton better. Also a romantic relationship between Ryu1 and
Nina1 is confirmed. However, the BOF1 retelling goes against the game at
several points. For starters Jade and Sara are lovers. Not only that but
Jade was under hypnosis by Myria to be evil. Ryu's final dragon form isn't
Agni either, it's a beastly suit of armor that lets him do super saiyan
stuff. And Myria never feigns innocence, she comes off as an evil little
twirp from the get-go. It's for these reasons and a few others found in the
comic that I choose to ignore it. When two sources of information differ
from each other like that I choose to go with the original material, the
game.
Q: Is Agni supposed to be the Kaiser?
A: BOF establishes in later games that the pinacle of the Light Dragon power
is the Kaiser/Infinity. It's unknown whether or not the name Agni was
intentional and Kaiser/Infinity hadn't been thought up yet or if this is just
a translation issue (keeping in mind the name Rudra for Ryu's other form.
The two are Hindu deities). I think it's kind of obvious that Agni is
supposed to be the equivalent of Kaiser/Infinity and this can be chalked up
to it being the first game in the series and a lot of the norms you see later
on hadn't been quite established.
--------------------------------
Breath of Fire Princess of Wings
--------------------------------
--------------------------------
Inbetween I & POW
--------------------------------
It's been two years since the defeat of Myria. The world has once again
found tranquility. The heroes have left for their homelands and returned to
normal life once again...
Plot:
-----
Chapter 1 - Nina reflects on the battle against the Dark Dragon Emperor Zog.
She recalls the heartpounding fear, the strife, the pain, bost most of all
she recalls the strength of herself and her companions. She remembers his
defeat only to realize it wasn't really the end! The children wait with open
ears for the next part of the tale but Nina teases that it's a secret. She
makes a deal with the children for chores and homework in exchange for the
next part of the story. A little girl comments that her papa says Nina and
Ryu looke perfect together causing the Wyndian princess to blush. She
responds with an earnest, "We'll just have to wait and see". Two Wyndian
knights, Sieg and Rafiel, arrive and catch their princess goofing off instead
of attending her own lessons. The children ask why someone who helped save
the world still needs lessons on swordsmanship but Nina let's the jeers go.
One of the children asks about Ryu. Apparently Ryu has not been around to
see the Princess lately, almost as if he'd been ignoring her. The children
tease that maybe Nina isn't "busty" enough. Nina hits the child on the head
and begins to fly off earning the hearty laughs of the Wyndian knights.
Far off, in the open ocean, a lone ship drifts along on their path. Suddenly
the seas become chaotic. Once the seas calm the captain of the boat sees a
large iceberg. From the iceberg two beings erupt from the ice and attack the
boat. In the industrial city Gantz the Iron Ogres are in a stir as several
of their kin encased in ice drift onto shore. Suddenly a large being clad in
armor confronts Ox. The warrior calls himself Zazan of Ice Dragon Clan.
Zazan quickly freezes Ox with no problem.
As Princess Nina sleeps at night she has a dream. She remembers a time after
their adventure ended. She finally has a moment with Ryu. Unsure of when
she'd see him again she tries to tell him something. Ryu interupts saying he
as something to say, that girls should be more busty... Nina wakes up with a
startle (next to her Ryu embroidered pillow) only to notice unseasonable snow
outside her window.
Outside in the Imperial Capital Ryu is in battle against another warrior
hailing from the Ice Dragon clan named Kruce. Kruce is surprisingly
overpowering Ryu and encases the Light Dragon in a large ice structure.
Meanwhile all over the world Gobi, Karn, Mogu, and the others are fighting
the power of the global ice age being ushered in by these new foes. Back in
Wyndia the King and his men are assessing the situation when Nina breaks in.
Nina's plan is to gather the team together once again to solve this mystery
however the King informs his daughter that Ryu has fallen to the cold wave.
Nina decides to leave for the Imperial Capital herself. The King is not okay
with this and orders his men to apprehend his wayward daughter. Sieg places
Nina under house arrest and locks her in her room only for her to escape
through a window. Rafiel is one step ahead of Nina and stops her outside her
room. The two battle and after a heartfelt speech from Nina Rafiel allows
her to pass to go save Ryu if she can with her healing magic on the condition
Rafiel accompanies her. Below the excitement Kruce has arrived and makes
short work of the Wyndian Knights. Kruce reveals their goal of world
domination through a new ice age and gloats that he left the Light Dragon
hero Ryu in a pillar of ice in the Imperial Capital. Nina swears to kill
Kruce while Kruce promises to stain her white wings crimson red.
Chapter 2 - Sieg, Rafiel, and Nina hold their ground against Kruce. Several
other Wyndian Knights are involved in the battle as well but fall quickly
before the Ice Dragon sorceror's might. The trio hack and slash their way
through Kruce's icy hordes. Kruce stands impressed and says he looks forward
to meeting them in person and vanishes, being just an illusion the entire
time. Nina offers to heal the wounded but they tell her to save her energy
for Ryu and make for the Capital. With the soldier's in good hands Nina,
Sieg, and Rafiel make way for the Imperial Capital.
Through a magic mirror Kruce spies on the "insects" while waiting for the Ice
Dragon King to awaken. Nina and her companions are weary of the lack of
opposition on their current trek and Sieg explains his fears that the Ice
Dragon Clan is a far greater enemy than they believe. The King's men had
found scriptures telling about the Ice Dragon Clan being the greatest thing
Myria feared. The scriptures go on to say that in order to seal the Ice
Dragons deep in the southern seas she halved her own powers. Nina comes to
the conclusion that by destroying Myria, her and her companions must have
broken the seal on the Ice Dragons. Rafiel chooses to look at things in a
more positive light while Sieg is afraid of an enemy that Myria couldn't kill
twice as strong as she was when she fought Ryu. Between the fear and
confidence of their coming trial all three agree on one thing: they must get
to Ryu.
Below the Fae trio a postal serviceman is pinned down by Kruce's ice
aborations. Nina, Sieg, and Rafiel easily best the beasts and the Postman
says he has a letter for Wyndia's Princess. Nina accepts her letter and
opens it learning it's from Ryu. In the letter Ryu tells how he's not going
back to Wyndia for a while as he's working on restoring the Capital wrecked
by Zog's Dark Dragon army. Nina blushes as she reads, "The best medicine for
me is your smile!". After having some fun with their embarrassed member of
royalty Rafiel theorizes that Ryu may have been defeated because he was
exhausted from all the hard work. With newfound invigoration Nina soars into
the sky faster than Sieg or Rafiel can keep up. Rafiel muses to himself that
the world's strongest may not be an Ice Dragon King or Ryu but instead a
woman in love.
The party rests and Rafiel flies off for recon duty. Sieg remembers Nina's
mother and her illness. Upon learning of her mother's illness a young Nina
ran away from home to learn healing magic. When she returned she tried to
use her newfound power to heal her mother but couldn't. Even at this failure
Sieg still stood impressed that the young princess could learn such magic in
a short period of time. Suddenly Sieg feels an incredible pressure moving
towards their position. Kruce arrives and launches an assault on Nina and
Sieg. Sieg fends off his adversary but eventually falls victim to Kruce's
spell of freezing half of Sieg's blood. Sieg tells Nina to run but she
refuses and tries to fight off Kruce's demons on her own. All seems grim,
Sieg is down and Nina is at the mercy of Kruce's demons when from no where a
fire arrow destroys the creatures. Bo has arrived! Kruce looks at this new
opponent as Bo smirks.
Chapter 3 - Kruce wonders how Bo escaped the frozen wasteland the Ice Dragons
left Tuntar as. Sieg makes a new stand overpowering the spell of Kruce's and
the battle becomes three versus one. Bo pressures Kruce and manages to land
a critical blow with his fire magic. Through their teamwork our heroes
finally manage to wound Kruce. In retalliation Kruce erects an large frozen
pyre to take refuge in. Zazan arrives on the battleground and jeers his
brother for being injured by such beings. Bo tries to shoot Zazan but Zazan
deflects the arrow. Kruce prepares an attack to kill Nina, Bo, and Sieg but
Zazan stops him. Zazan tells Kruce of the impending ceremony to revive the
Ice Dragon King and says he shouldn't dirty himself with the blood of Nina
and her companions. Kruce leaves with joy and Zazan takes over the battle.
Bo opts to tackle this opponent himself so that Nina and Sieg can get to Ryu
and the Capital.
Bo's flame has less effect on the heavily armored Zazan than his previous
enemy. Bo and Zazan battle furiously with neither able to topple the other.
With his cunning Bo exposes an opening on Zazan and blasts the Ice Dragon
with a powerful fire spell. Nina and Sieg come across a large crater in the
ground and find Rafiel's sword lying in the middle. Immediately overcome
with worry Nina lifts it. Rafiel appears shortly after unscathed looking for
wherever he "lost" his sword. Sieg berates Rafiel for not being around
during the fight with Kruce and Zazan but Rafiel tells of his own battle
against an army of Ice Dragon minions until he was saved by the "boss lady".
The three run into Rafiel's "boss lady" Deis and explain the current
situation. Deis says not to worry about Bo, as he's the type of guy who
wouldn't die even if he was killed. Deis teases Nina about Ryu and joins the
entourage bound for the Capital. Nina senses danger looming and Deis
applaudes her keen senses. Another army of Ice Dragon soldiers are charging
the four heroes. Deis simply laughs and casts another unbelievable spell to
turn the army into a crater in the Earth.
Chapter 4 - Deis marvels at her handiwork while the others are stunned. Nina
lectures Deis on the danger explosive magic has on the environment but Dies
laughs it off saying it's her favorite kind. Rafiel and Sieg decide to focus
their energy on protecting the princess from this point forward rather than
battling Ice Dragons directly as they have a powerful mage on their side now.
Kruce sees the show from his faraway position and deduces that Deis must have
joined the group heading for the Capital. Kruce begins making plans for the
security of the ceremony to ressurect their king, as Kruce will be
defenseless during this process. First on his agenda is to eliminate Deis.
The road to the Capital is wrought with Ice Dragon soldiers that only end up
falling prey to Deis' incredible power. However the great sorceress is
growing tired of these constant nuisances. Nina and Deis talk about
teleportaion magic and how it for some reason can't take them to the Capital,
Kruce must have done something they theorize. Kruce arrives to break up the
calm and try his hand at killing Deis. The two great mages engage in a
magical battle. Deis targets not Kruce, but his pride by using the same
spells as him. Deis enjoys herself but decides to end her opponent with a
powerful explosion spell. Deis'and Kruce's spells lock on each other and
struggle for dominance. The two cannot move from their position during this
struggle so Nina, Sieg, and Rafiel protect Deis from Ice Dragon minions in
the meantime. Suddenly an arrow destroys an Ice Dragon creature and Nina
smiles believing Bo has arrived. Unfortunately, while that arrow was shot
from Bo's bow it was Zazan pulling the string. Zazan claims that he's killed
Bo and has the bloodstains on the bow to prove it. Deis is momentarily
distracted by this shocking news and gets overwhelmed by Kruce's magic. With
Deis defeated and now unnaccounted for Kruce and Zazan turn their attention
to Nina and her Wyndian knights. Nina calms herself and begins to pray.
Kruce mocks the girl but as he's about to deliver his final blow the three
Fae vanish.
Nina had managed to teleport herself, Sieg, and Rafiel inside the Capital.
The two question how Nina was able to perform this feat and Nina says she
didn't think about the Capital, she only thought of Ryu. When the three look
behind them they see a large ice structure with none other than Ryu
imprisoned inside.
Chapter 5 - Nina tries in vain to free Ryu from his prison. Sieg and Rafiel
attempt to help their princess but none of them can free Ryu and Rafiel
breaks his sword. Nina attempts to use her strongest healing spell but is
again unsucessful. Sieg tries again to break the ice but is caught by an icy
javelin that pierces his abdomen. Kruce and Zazan stand at the entryway.
Kruce gloats that the two don't even need to kill the trio to revive their
King, but as they happen to be around they consider it an added bonus. Kruce
casts another spell to attack Nina with and Rafiel takes the hit. In doing
so though, Rafiel got close enough to grab a hold of Kruce's hand. Kruce is
undetered and impales the Wyndian on a large ice blade. Sieg and Rafiel
fight the two Ice Dragons in vain to buy Nina the time needed to rescue Ryu.
Nina tries desperately to free Ryu. She looks back to see her two knights
fall dead at the hands of the Ice Dragons. Kruce launches four of his frost
javelins and skewers Nina's wings, pinning her to the large ice prison.
Zazan steps forward to finish of the princess when the ice suddenly shatters.
Ryu has freed himself! Ryu apologizes to Nina for the horrible journey she
had to undergo and Kruce stands awestruck.
Chapter 6 - Ryu draws his blade and bears his aura at his foes. Kruce stares
in awe at the person before him. Kruce knows this isn't the same warrior he
fought before. Zazan steps forward with confidence. He jeers Ryu saying the
young man should be shaking in his boots after his previous loss. Zazan
charges to make his attack. With one slash Ryu cuts deep into Zazan, killing
him. Kruce casts a barrage of icy spears at Ryu. Ryu's sword charges and
with another slash Ryu launches a large, fiery dragon at his enemy. The
dragon spell tears through Kruce's spell and submits the Ice Dragon.
Ryu and Nina have a moment to themselves. She tries to greet Ryu with a
smile but it hurts to do so. Ryu says it's alright and carries the princess
in his arms. Nina looks over and sees Kruce move. Kruce raises a hand into
the air and shoots a beam of light into the sky and dies. Ryu and Nina see
no affect the light may have had and proceed outside. Gobi rides up with a
portable hospital and Deis and Bo in tow. Nina is relieved to see Bo alive
as he scoffs at the gesture of himself being killed. Gobi gets out the
medicine to fix Nina's wounds and the princess regretably informs Deis and Bo
of the death of their comrades. The moment of peace is soon shattered along
with the ground as a tall tower shoots up from the depths below. Nina
realizes what is happening as the Ice Dragon King steps out into the light
for the first time in many centuries.
Chapter 7 and 8 - As soon as the translations are finished this will be
updated!
WHAT WE KNOW NOW:
-----------------
-There is an Ice Dragon Clan.
-Myria was only at half power when Ryu and his party defeated her as she
exhausted herself sealing away the Ice Dragon's years ago. (So what, this
means I'd have had to heal twice as Agni?)
OBSERVATIONS:
-------------
-BOF:POW doesn't do a whole lot for the universe. In terms of anything that
affects the other games there really isn't anything. POW is it's own self
contained story that only borrows from BOF1. The only real revelation that
would apply to the other games is that there is a confirmed third Ice Dragon
Clan beyond just the Light and Dark. But they get picked off in this so it
really isn't a big deal. It pairs Ryu1/Nina1 together so 'shippers are
pleased with that. Otherwise, it's just the next adventure Ryu and his
friends had.
-Ryu1 gets personality and a little bit of depth in this. He's playful,
hardworking, jovial, adventurous, and somewhat flirty. Also the author
almost blatantly tells the audience Nina1 is madly in love with Ryu1.
Granted the majority of this story is about Nina1, as Ryu1 doesn't really do
anything until about 3/4 of the way through it, but the author gave us a
little bit of insight into him. Was this the character Capcom was trying to
portray? I dunno, but it's all we got.
-Nina1 kinda has an unhealthy obsession with Ryu1. She has pillows with his
face embroidered on them...kinda creepy. But then again I'm sure all you
'shippers and nerds out there will argue "But that's just love!". Well...it
was written by the Japanese and they kinda go into unhealthy veunes with
young love. Inuyasha anyone? C'mon you know I'm right.
-So, according to BOF:POW, when you beat Myria/Tyr in BOF1 you beat her at
half strength. So what does that mean for Myria as of BOF3?
-This kinda screws with Myria's motives in a way. Until reading this comic I
was lead to believe that Myria thought little of the Brood until the Light
Dragon Clansmen kicked her keister. According to BOF:POW the Ice Dragons
terrified Myria to the point she took immediate action and sacrificed half of
her overall strength just to seal them away.
-I keep going to this in parts of the analysis, but IF BOF4 is a prequel then
the existence of the Ice Dragon Clan might mean that each of the former
Dragon Gods could have had their own Dragon Clan possibly. Well maybe not
all, because someone had to have started the Dark Dragons as Fou-Lu is no
more.
--------------------------------
Inbetween POW & II
--------------------------------
This time gap is the only one we have a definite time frame for. Nina 1
says that she's Nina 2's great, great, great, great grandma. BOF2 takes
place six generations after BOF1 so roughly 150 years. Some time between
the two games (probably about 60 years or so prior to BOF2) the Church of
St. Eva has risen to world wide power and the Dragon God Ladon has started
to slip. There are still a few tribes that praise Ladon such as the
Highlanders of Highfort. You'll still find some statues of Ladon's image
here and there but gone are the temples replaced by Churches praising St.
Eva.
The Fae clan has begun to lose much of their power, specifically the ability
to turn into a giant bird, due to the romance between Ryu 1 and Nina 1. The
Brood/Dragon Clan have fallen off the radar of the world as well. Though
not endangered in the world as much as they are in BOF3 they are still
significantly fewer in number as they were forced underground to protect the
world from Myria's "son", Deathevan. As far as the world was concerned the
Dragon Clan was long gone by this time. On the plus side the Light and Dark
Dragon Clans put aside their differences and formed one unified tribe in
Dologany.
A few years before the start of the game's course of events Valerie leaves
Dologany to seal the passage to Deathevan. She's given the "Tear of the
Dragon" to aid her up above. In Gate Valerie met Ganer in the church and
they fell in love at first sight. Valerie continues to search for what is
giving Deathevan power but takes some time out to get married and
inpregnated, twice, by Ganer. When the seal cracked open and demons started
emerging Valerie left behind her family and transformed into a dragon to
strengthen the seal.
--------------------------------
Breath of Fire II
--------------------------------
PLOT:
-----
The story begins with a young blue haired boy being called downstairs by his
father Ganer to go and find his sister Yua. When Ryu finds Yua she's
playing near a giant dragon. The two get attacked by a monster which Ganer
saves them from. Ganer walks away with Yua who tells Ryu to take a nap near
the dragon so that he might be able to see thier mother in a dream. When
Ryu awakens and returns to the town no one recognizes him or knows of him.
He goes to the church which takes him in for the night and meets a young
Grassrunner, an anthropomorphic beagle, named Bow. Bow steals some candles
and leaves with Ryu following. They enter a cave and discover a large
purple tail. The two children decide to follow it and come face to face with
a large demon. The children are easily swatted away and the scene fades.
When we next see Ryu and Bow ten years have passed and they've gotten jobs
as rangers in Home Town. A job comes in calling for assistance in getting a
lost pet back for a woman named Mina. At first Bow is uninterested in the
job but after seeing the attractive young girl that needs help Bow quickly
changes his tune. Ryu and Bow travel to the mountain south of Home Town and
run into a trio of harpies named Palo, Peach, and Puti. The duo defeat the
harpies and make their way to a run down hut beyond the mountains. Inside
the hut Ryu and Bow save a homeless old man's life and retrieve the pet pig
Suzy. With the pet pig returned to Mina she returns to her home in Wyndia.
That night Bow gets a visit from a man named Kilgore and goes to Trout's
residence to steal a Magic Hood. Ryu wakes up to find Bow in need of his
help as he's now a wanted man. Bow explains that in the middle of his
attempted theft a blue haired woman with bat wings had already stolen the
Magic Hood. Men come to take Bow but Ryu manages to sneak him to the run
down hut by hiding Bow in a garbage can. Bow stays with the old man, Niro,
to both hide and help fix up the hut while Ryu goes to find the real thief
and clear Bow's name.
Ryu travels to Colisseum following word of a strange female fighter. In
order to meet this woman he must first get into the fights, which he does by
defeating Baba and presenting his ax. In the arena Ryu meets Augus, the
owner, who plans on poisoning the female fighter for a more "entertaining"
show. Ryu informs a Shellback he met in Colisseum named Rand of this plan
and Rand gets some antidotes. Ryu takes one and Rand tries, and fails, to
get the female fighter to take hers. The fight commences and Ryu defeats
the female fighter, a Woren named Katt. The poisonous darts start flying
and Katt is struck. Ryu and Rand confront Augus after taking Katt to the
inn to rest. Ryu and Rand defeat the transformed Augus and Katt joins the
party.
The party returns to Niro's house so that Rand can help with the carpentry.
Ryu and Katt go to the magic school in Home Town on rumors of a girl with
wings there. When they investigate they meet a Fae woman with black wings
named Nina. Members of the Joker gang arrive and tell Nina they've
kidnapped Mina and demand Nina's presence at their hideout. Ryu and Katt
make their way to the Joker's hideout and save Mina. Joker transforms into
a demon and is soundly defeated by the combined strength of Ryu, Katt, and
Nina. The trio escort Mina back to Wyndia where Nina gets a cold reception.
The queen dismisses Nina, Ryu, and Katt from the castle. In the city the
group meets a Highlander named Sten. After a failed attempt at picking up
Nina and Katt Sten joins the party. The party heads for the town Capitan
where several children and adults have dissapeared in the well. With the
help of an emissary of the Church of St. Eva called Ray the group saves the
town and defeats the monster in the well. The party takes a carpenter from
Capitan to Niro's house to take care of things. On their way back to
Capitan the party finds a hut north of town where an old lady and a young
woman reside. The old woman tries to unite the girl in red, Sana, with Ryu
in shamanic magic but ends up unlocking his latent dragon powers. Back in
Capitan the party takes a boat to cross the ocean.
In the new land they traverse a forest and find a large frog under a spell
by a witch. The party goes to the Witch's Tower and battles Nimufu. Upon
their victory Nimufu tells the party how to break the spell, a kiss from a
beautiful woman. Nina reluctantly kisses the frog who becomes...a human
sized frog...named Jean. Jean takes the party to Sima Fort, his home. In
Sima Fort he announces his glorious return but is instead arrested as an
imposter. Jean's sister Petape asks the group for help in exposing the
imposter Jean and clearing her brother's name. The party goes to the Wild
Cat Restaurant where they get the royal ring from an inconsolable Nimufu.
Back at Sima Fort the imposter Jean has his own fake royal ring and a
cooking contest is started to determine who is the real Prince Jean. When
the cooking contest ends with the imposter's victory Petape gets angry and
goes to the lower levels of the castle, the imposter following. In a
special room of the lower levels Jean and Petape are knocked out but not
before a switch is activated causing the room to shake violently. The
imposter Jean transforms into the demon Kuwadora and is defeated by Ryu and
his party. The switch, as it turns out, merely opened a door to a treasure
of the royal family. Jean's true identity is clarified and he decides to
follow Ryu and his party as thanks for the assistance. Ryu and his team
find the woman with bat wings locked up in Sima Fort and take her back to
Home Town to clear Bow's name. Bow is given dinner as an apology from
Kilgore for getting him into the predicament. Kilgore tells Ryu and Bow
that something is still not right with Trout and asks again for Bow to
assist him by getting evidence of Trout's crimes. Ryu and Bow sneak into
Trout's home and find that he has several people locked up in his basement,
including Patty, the girl with bat wings. Trout finds them and becomes a
demon which is killed by Ryu and Bow. The two free all of Trout's prisoners
and Patty leaves for places unknown.
The group discusses the chain of events since Bow's hiding and they talk
about the ominous feeling they have of things to come. The forest around
Gate is destroyed and Bow and Ryu investigate as no other ranger has the
courage to. They are advised to get the "Grass Man" to talk to the trees
for information who is being held in a carnival near Tunlan. The team gets
help from a whale named Grandpa to reach Tunlan. The carnival director,
M.C. Tusk, refuses to let the "Grass Man" go and transforms into a demon.
after beating M.C. Tusk they free Spar, the "Grass Man", and talk to the
tree Ganadroof to get guidance on the coming darkness. Ganadroof
unfortunately, is inhabited by a demon attacking his memory. In order to
help the tree they need a Therapy Pillow from Tunlan. To add more to the
problem the people of Tunlan only speak a language of music and a flute from
Sten's home of Highfort is needed.
The group travels to Highfort where it's residents are surprised to see Sten
alive as he was supposedly killed in a battle in Goonheim. Sten leaves the
group to be alone and Ryu's team explores the castle. Ryu's team comes in
on a war meeting led by a Genreal Shupukay where they are discussing an
ultimate weapon. Ryu's team is dropped into a prison area through a trap
door and Sten encounters an old comrade of his named Trubo. Sten and Trubo
fight with Sten as the victor. The fight destroyed the bridge though and
Sten and Trubo are left at the bottom of the castle. Sten and Trubo split
up. Sten reunites with Ryu and the team and confront Shupukay who is
planning to sacrifice the princess to activate a terrible weapon. Ryu and
Sten defeat the demonic Shupukay and save Herfarann. The castle begins to
crumble and again Sten leaves everyone thinking he's died. The princess and
Trubo are less convinced this time around and ask Ryu to keep Sten safe.
Ryu takes the needed flute from Highfort and run into Sten as they're
leaving. Sten rejoins and they head for Tunlan. In Tunlan they find that
the Queen is severly overweight and needs a doctor's help. The team
retrieves the doctor who shrinks them down to fight the monsters in her
system. Once the monsters are taken care of the Queen regains her weight
and as a show of thanks Ryu is given the much needed Therapy Pillow. With
the Therapy Pillow the team is able to enter Ganadroof's mind and get at the
demon, Aruhamel, attacking his mind.
After restoring bits of Ganadroof's memory he tells them to go to Farm Town
where they meet Daisy, Rand's mom. Daisy is taken by the Church of St. Eva
and in order to get to her they need to fly. In Wyndia Nina passes a test
to get the mark of the wing and has a conversation with Nina from BOF1 where
she reveals that her love for the Ryu from BOF1 caused a weakening in the
Fae race. The groups rests for the night and Mina sneaks into the room at
night to steal the Mark of the Wing. Mina ends up becoming the Great Bird
instead of Nina after a tearful goodbye and a promise to call the bird she'd
become "Mina".
The group flies to Evrai. After speaking with a woman named Claris in Evrai
the group tries to leave but are caught in the town by an unknown force that
won't allow them to leave. The once lively and joyous citizens are
depressing, zombie-like individuals. Claris helps Ryu and his team escape
the city and tells them to go to Cot Land. In Cot Land the group meets Tiga
who becomes immediately infatuated with Katt and proposes. Katt leaves the
group and Ryu takes the rest to get the treasure from Thieves Fort needed to
fund the attack on Bando, a treasure which they find Patty already looking
for. Once in Bando Ryu and his team fight Father Manson who transforms into
Necroman. Once the group leaves the dungeon Katt and Tiga have disguised
themselves as a nun and Father Manson and plan their attack on the Grand
Church at Evrai.
Ryu and Tiga's resistance sneak past the guards of the church and listen to
Habaruku's sermon. Habaruku discovered Claris in the town and has brought
her forth as an example to the rest. Habaruku is able to read Claris'
thoughts and outs Tiga and their hideout. Claris' love for Tiga is unveiled
and Tiga realizes his own feelings. Attempting to save her he is killed
alongside Claris by Habaruku. Katt reunites with Ryu's group and they go to
confront Habaruku. Ray appears and battles the group. Ray transforms into
a dragon revealing that he too is of Ryu's clan. Ryu's party is powerless
against the dragon Ray until Ryu awakens a new dragon form: Grand Dragon.
With one mighty strike Ryu defeats Ray. After his defeat Ray says that in
order to awaken the Grand Dragon in Ryu matching his strength through combat
was necessary. With his last words he reveals where Rand's mother is and
wishes Ryu luck in defeating St. Eva. The party finds Daisy and Habaruku.
Habaruku leaves and causes the floor to cave in behind him, luckily though
Rand was able to break the wall in Daisy's cell so the party could follow.
As the party climbs the tower Rand's strength is again needed to break a
wall down. Unexpectedly a section of the wall slams into Rand. Rand's
strength is enough to save himself but he can't let go of the wall
without being crushed to death. Rand tells Ryu and the party to go on
without him so they don't have to watch him die. As they leave Daisy
arrives and saves her son at the cost of her own life. Rand regroups and
the party goes farther into the church. The party manages to catch up with
Habaruku who has his lizardmen archers fight Ryu in his place. Ryu and his
party defeat the archers and chase Habaruku farther into the church. In the
final room of the church Ryu and his party find an old man strapped to a
large machine. The old man demands to be killed so that "he" will not
awaken. Ryu and his party free the old man from the machine but cause the
foundations to crumble as a result. The old man teleports them to Town Ship
where he is revealed to be Ryu's father Ganer.
Ganer tells the story of what happened after Ryu was saved in front of the
dragon. Aruhamel erased the memories of all the villagers intending to
force them into the service of his God. Ganer was defeated by Aruhamel and
was placed in the machine Ryu found him in. Ryu and his party leave Town
Ship for Gate where they discover the villagers setting a bomb so that they
can kill the dragon and get into the cave. The charges open up the cave and
demons come swarming from the entrances. Father Hulk pleas with Ryu to
bring Patty to Gate, who is supposed to be knowledgable about the dragon.
The party travels across the world to end up finding Patty attempting to
steal from Town Ship. Ryu tells her of the seal being broken and she leaves
with urgency. Back in Gate the dragon warns everyone to leave as it is
weakened. Father Hulk reveals himself to be Habaruku and tells that his God
is what is being sealed by the dragon. Habaruku plans to kill Patty as only
the life of a Dragon Clansman can break the seal. The dragon saves Patty's
life and Ryu and his party fight the transformed Habaruku. Habaruku is
defeated and the dragon says that the demon will remain sealed for now.
However, the demon could come to life at any time. The dragon leaves it to
Ryu to either fight the demon now or wait for it to emerge on it's own. Ryu
chooses to confront the demon now and the dragon reverts to a blue haired,
human woman. The woman gives up her life to open the seal to allow Ryu and
his party in. Ryu and his party delve deep into the dungeon and discover a
town deep within. An old man greets Ryu and refers to him as the "Destined
Child" and tells him he is in Dologany, home to the Dragon Clan. Ryu and
his team are taken to see the Elder of the town who are given the story of
the defeat of Myria.
Apparently after Ryu from six generations ago defeated the Goddess she left
behind something referred to as "it". "It" was like a scar on the world and
swallowed people's fears, desperation, hatred, jealousy and other negativity
and grew. The Dragon Clan knew that "It" would grow powerful one day and
become the world's enemy. "It"'s name was Deathevan and it spread
throughout the world bearing no true shape. Deathevan was sealed until the
day it could take ashape and be destroyed. The Elder concludes by telling
Ryu that even though the Church of St. Eva is no more Deathevan must still
be stopped. Before Ryu leaves the old man that met them first reveals that
his daughter, Ryu's mother, Valerie still believes in him.
Ryu enters the tower holding back Deathevan and finds a room dedicated to
the power of the greatest strength of the Dragon Clan: Anfini. Ryu is told
that he must sacrifice a friend to attain this power but refuses. His heart
proves strong enough and he gets the power of Anfini anyway. Ryu and his
party travesrse the final dungeon and find themselves in a pitch black room.
A voice taunts Ryu in the unknown. The party discovers the source of the
voice as none other than Barubary, the demon that Ryu and Bow encountered as
children. Ryu finally defeats the monster from his childhood and as
Barubary dies he warns that strength alone isn't enough to beat Deathevan.
Ryu and his party pass through the final trials of the labyrinth and meet
face to face with the man called Evan. Evan refers to Ryu as Nikanoru, a
word for dead beings, and states his intention to rise to the world above
and "bless" it. One by one Evan shatters Ryu's friends before his eyes.
Ryu's rage ignites and he uses the power of Anfini to combat Deathevan.
Mid-fight Ryu's friends are restored and rejoin him to face the final menace
of their long journey. After an arduous battle Ryu and his comrades
vanquish Deathevan. Deathevan dies without understanding why humanity wants
to survive. Ryu and his friends happily return topside to Gate but
something still weighs on Ryu's mind. Evil has not dissapeared it's just
weakened and Ryu knows this. Ryu was prepared to seal the road to Dologany
with his dragon form just as his mother had when from above the flying city
Town Ship crashed down, sealing the cave. Ganer praises Ryu for his
willingness to do his duty in sealing the cave but also berates his
son that he did not raise to hurt his friends. With the depths sealed off
Ganer tells Ryu that in order to keep Deathevan from returning Ryu and his
allies should spread their will of justice throughout the world. With those
words in mind Ryu sets off.
WHAT WE KNOW NOW:
-----------------
-The Dragon families joined together in Dologany.
-Tyr/Myria is MIA. It is unspecified whether she is in a state of
hibernation or deceased waiting to ressurect.
-The Fae/Winged Clan are weakening.
-The Dragon Lord/Ladon's religion is failing.
-Deathevan is defeated, possibly still alive, and the Church of St. Eva
disbanded.
OBSERVATIONS:
-------------
-BOF2 is wrought with mistranslations and spelling errors. The above
analysis is the general flow of events but it's entirely possible that due
to a mistranslation here and there some names/places are screwed up. I know
Baba is supposed to be Bunyan, but Baba is the name I got from playing
through the US release of the game so that's the name I'll use. The ending
credit roll has almost completely different names and spelling for many of
the characters, so again I've gone with what I got in the playthrough. It's
infuriating.
-The Fae at least had their wings during the time of BOF2. By BOF3 I only
counted MAYBE 2 that still had wings.
-I like this Nina the most out of the other four. She so different than the
others. Nina1 was your stereotypical strong heroine fighting for the
future. Nina3 and Nina4 were more or less the same, both had personal
issues regarding living lives according to someone else's wishes and broke
out on their own with the help of Ryu. Nina5 is just a damsel in distress.
Nina2 on the other hand shares the strong female persona like Nina1 but gets
brought back down to Earth by the tragedy of her "curse". She was ostracized
by her people and exiled. I felt that much better for her towards the end of
the game when she made up with her family because she was in such a sad
state. I even like her different relationship with Ryu. Nina1 obviously had
feelings for Ryu1 even if it's debatable that anything happened between the
two. Though it's never blatantly stated there's some handwaving in that
direction for Nina4/Ryu4 and Nina3 and Ryu3 go out of each other's way
several times to support each other. Not Nina2 though. She never really
comes on to Ryu2 or relies on him for anything. She's her own woman and
doesn't need to be saddled down with a guy and I gotta respect her for it.
Now obviously she did get with SOMEONE to continue the family line for Nina3
but I'm not convinced it was Ryu2 like a lot of fans like to believe.
-In case you're losing sleep over it here's the deal with Ray: as a child he
was orphaned and taken in by Habaruku. He was raised in the teachings of
the Church of St. Eva though was never fully convinced by it. Somewhere
along the road he discovered his dragon powers and fought for St. Eva. In
Dologany you find out Ray is a decendant of the Dark Dragons led by Zog in
BOF1. Personally I get kind of a Golbez vibe from him, like his whole plan
was to piss off the hero to make him strong enough to tackle the real evil
out there.
-If you're curious why Valerie and Patty/Yua are the only Brood with wings
it's because the underground Brood in Dologany had been near Deathevan for
so long it started to alter their appearance, namely the wings.
-In Ganadroof the old men will reference the BOF1 team.
-Just me or was Deathevan a rather easy final boss fight? I took the guy
down at level 38 with little problem. I had more of a challenge just making
it to him than he himself.
-For those of you who couldn't figure it out Yua is Patty (why the name
change it never says), the dragon in Gate, Valerie, is Ryu and Patty's mom,
so the family is Ganer and Valerie as parents with Ryu and Patty as the
kids. Bateson is their family name according to the ending credits.
-I'm under the impression that BOF2 is an attempt at trying to fix the ease
of BOF1 by doing everything in the exact opposite. BOF1 was incredibly easy
with a ridiculously overpowered Dragon form system. BOF2 will make you
waste all your AP and medicines before you get halfway to the boss of the
dungeon and had a Dragon system that worked more like the summons in old
school Final Fantasy games. BOF2 did a lot of things better than BOF1 in
terms of plot and characters but its on the complete other side of the
difficulty spectrum when it comes to gameplay.
-I can't help but wonder if humans are a blank slate of sorts in the BOF
world. Valerie was a Brood and had children with the human Ganer but the
kids ended up being Brood. Also makes me wonder if Nina2 and Nina3 have any
latent Brood powers due to the lineage if in fact Nina1 and Ryu1 did marry
and procreate.
-You never even get to SEE the Anfini dragon form, biggest blue-balls in the
whole BOF series. Thanks for nothing Capcom.
--------------------------------
Frequently Asked Questions BOF2
--------------------------------
Q: How can you say Nina2 and Ryu2 don't get together!?
A: Easy. And you'd be surprised how many people feel like I've skinned a
kitten alive because of this. The counter-argument to my observation always
goes something like this: "Well if you get a bad ending and Nina is in your
endgame party she says how she can't lose someone she cares about." Okay,
what if you go for the good ending and don't have Nina in your endgame party
like me? There's none of that to be found. And which is the canon ending?
I'd imagine the good ending is canon, so does Nina say anything when Ryu
decides not to hibernate at the cave?
And even if one could prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that Nina2 loves
Ryu2 the biggest problem is Ryu2 himself. Ryu2 is a silent protagonist. He
doesn't even get much in the way of physical expression like Ryu3 and Ryu4
get. He's a blank slate and it's completely impossible to tell his feelings.
Thus leaving the best outcome of a completely one-sided emotional investment
on Nina2's part. Capcom is the only one that knows for sure and I doubt
they'd go back and drop this in an interview some time soon. And bear in
mind folks, I'm stating this as an opinion, not as cold hard fact.
Q: But its so obvious...
A: No it's not, stop reading your vampire books.
Q: You keep calling them Brood, but the game calls them the Dragon Clan, why?
A: If you never played BOF3, "Brood" is another name for "Dragon Clan". It's
easier to say, easier to type, and sounds way more BAMF.
Q: So what IS Spar's gender?
A: I like to think Spar is genderless, he's just a plant. But his shaman
fusion will turn it into a girl. Because of this most players lean on it
being female.
--------------------------------
Inbetween II & III
--------------------------------
BOF3 takes place quite a long time after the second game. We don't have a
definite number of years but I'd place it anywhere in the span of a
millenium give or take a couple hundred years. Enough time has passed that
all land across the ocean from the continent housing Wyndia has become a
harsh desert. The two major religions throughout the BOF series, the
followers of Myria and followers of Ladon, have almost completely ceased.
Only two of the familiar statues of Ladon's image can be found and Myria's
religion is merely one village in the Urkan region. Technology had advanced
to an era of super science before Myria had her way with it. Even in the
flourishing continent robotics and fossil fuels in the form of "chrysm" are
in study.
Easily the biggest event in this time frame was the genocide of the Brood
about 400 years prior to the games course of events. At some point the
Brood came to the surface from Dologany and Myria revived herself. Myria's
first order of business was to create the four Guardians to wage her war on
the Brood. In said war the Brood don't even put up a fight, they just sit
there and take it. The Guardians are considered great heroes to the
worshippers of Myria. Not all of the Brood were slain though. A handful of
them elected to take Myria's mercy and give up their powers and live off
scraps on the edge of the desert, and an even smaller amount choose to hide
deep underground the town of Dragnier keeping their powers. At least one
Brood female manages to remain in the present day Dauna Mines and births her
child, Ryu, there.
Another major change in the world is the condition of the Fae clan, the
winged race of humans from Wyndia. The once winged race has been grounded
with the loss of their wings. Only members of the royal family still
possess traces of their lineage.
--------------------------------
Breath of Fire III
--------------------------------
PLOT:
-----
Our story begins in the Dauna Mines where two miners have discovered a young
dragon whelp "dead" inside a giant slab of chrysm. When they use dynamite
to break apart the chrysm the whelp wakes up and attacks, charring both
miners. The whelp wreaks havoc in the mine before being knocked unconscious
by the teamwork of a few miners. The whelp is on his way to be transported
somewhere when it escapes the confines of the train.
In Cedar Woods a Woren named Rei is trying to catch his next meal when a
loud crash scares off his catch. Upon investigation Rei finds a naked child
being hounded by a couple of currs. Rei easily dispatches them and takes
the boy to his home. Rei lets the boy rest in his young partner Teepo's bed
and the two leave to find food. In his dream a man with long purple hair
spouts a message of hate to Ryu, calling everyone else weak and pathetic
while another angelic woman comes to comfort him. Ryu wakes up and makes
his way to McNeil village where Rei and Teepo are...aquiring...food. Rei
and Teepo decide to make Ryu the third member of their gang and scrounge up
some armor for him to wear. Rei and Teepo take Ryu to Yraall Road to
"work". They send him to mug a big and burly man named Bunyan who is not
amused by this attempted robbery. Rei and Teepo decide to go rob Bunyan's
house while he's out but end up getting caught. Bunyan sends Rei to Mt.
Glaus to take care of something while he has Ryu and Teepo help him around
his house. When Ryu and Teepo finish their chores they go to Mt. Glaus to
catch up with Rei, whom they find in a cabin. Rei understands why Bunyan
sent him alone and says that he can't use "that" now that the boys are
there. The following morning the trio is attacked by the Nue, a monster
destroying crops and livestock in McNeil. The trio drive it off and pursue
it to a cave. The Nue is killed and a sad truth is discovered: the Nue was
gathering food for it's dead cubs.
The trio return to their home and are welcomed as heroes in McNeil. A man
named Loki approaches the boys and convinces them to steal the taxes
collected by Mayor McNeil and disperse them to the town. At first the job
proves simple, the guards are lazy and actually help the trio break in.
Once inside though Ryu and Teepo find that the manor is haunted by the
ghosts of all the McNeils. One by one Ryu and Teepo defeat the ghosts of
the McNeils and meet back with Rei to steal the tax money. When the gang
confronts the living McNeil the ghosts of the defeated ancestors appear and
merge to form Amalgam. Amalgam is beaten, the money is taken, and McNeil is
left cursing the group. The following day the trio is treated like villains
again and the town is in an uproar about the money. Bunyan informs the
group to watch the backs and lay low for a while. When the trio return to
their home in Cedar Woods they find it in flames with two anthropomorphic
unicorns responsible. Balio and Sunder lay waste to Ryu, Rei, and Teepo and
leave them for dead.
Ryu awakens in Bunyan's house who tells Ryu that his friends are most likely
dead. Ryu decides to search for his friends and begins his search by
traveling to Wyndia, the big city Teepo dreamed of. In order to get to
Wyndia Ryu must cross Mt. Myrneg. On the mountain he runs into Balio and
Sunder again who try to kill him once more. Ryu's dragon powers save him
but he is still captured by Balio and Sunder who plan to collect a reward
for bringing in a dragon to Wyndia. When presented to the King of Wyndia
Ryu is back in his human form and all three are thrown in prison for trying
to con the King.
The young princess of Wyndia, Nina, comes down to the dungeon saying she
feels sorry for Ryu and lets him go, along with Balio and Sunder. The twins
kidnap Nina only for Ryu to rescue her. The two escape the castle through
the underground catacombs and head for the city. Ryu and Nina get a
possible lead on Teepo that takes them through Eygnock road, where they are
again captured by Balio and Sunder. The kids are taken to the Arena and put
under the guard of Fahl. Ryu and Nina easily escape the inebriated Fahl and
head up Mt. Boumore. Balio and Sunder catch up to the children on the
mountain but they escape yet again and find themselves at a Tower used for
scientific study.
Inside the Tower the group meets Momo and her mechanical partner Honey.
Momo joins the party and helps them escape from Balio and Sunder's men. The
group takes a rest at a Coffee Shop en route to Wyndia where they find out
the road is blocked and meet up with a man named Palet. Palet is the
manager of the Plant that Momo's father helped build and they are in need of
Momo's genius. The Plant has recently been finding mutant plants in their
crops, one in particular that doesn't want to be disposed of. In the Dump
the trio discover the mutant plant is intelligent and hostile. The trio
reluctantly dispose of the mutant but in return get it's child. An onion
that they name "Peco". With the problem at the Plant solved the trio plan
to be smuggled back into Wyndia to avoid Balio and Sunder's guards on the
roadsides. However Palet betrays them and they are trapped in Arena again.
The nefarious twins devise a plan to allow Ryu and two of his friends to
participate in the fights in an effort to win big betting on him. Ryu and
his team battle past hardened warriors, a scheming mystic, and finally a one
on one with the champion Garr. Garr easily defeats Ryu and as his prize for
the tournament demands Ryu and his allies be left in his care. The twins
make one final attack on Ryu and his friends by fusing together to create
Stallion. Stallion is defeated and the entire team goes back to Wyndia. In
Wyndia a banquet is held to honor Nina's safe return and the king grants
Ryu's team passage through the checkpoint. With Honey's "assistance" Nina
runs away from home to join Ryu in his journey.
Across the bridge Ryu and his companions come to the port city of Rhapala.
The malfunctioning lighthouse is causing problems getting the ship back to
port so they can cross the sea to get to Angel Tower. Ryu and his team want
to the problem solved but theres a competition for the heart of the
guildmaster's daughter Shadis. Beyd must defeat Zig to prove his strength
and fix the lighthouse to prove himself worthy. With Ryu and Nina's
training Beyd beats Zig. Unfortunately Beyd was badly injured and cannot go
to the lighthouse. Ryu and his team opt to go in his place and discover the
sabotage done by the Faeries. A monster has been plaguing the Faeries and
demanded the lighthouse turned off so it could sleep. The monster at first
appears as a friendly dolphin but quickly reveals itself as a vicious
creature. Ryu, Nina, and Momo defeat the monster dolphin and save the
village. Unfortunately though the ship still hasn't returned. Instead of
taking the ship or the impassable road blocked by magma the group instead
decides to go THROUGH the volcano to get to the other side. The volcano
proves a treacherous trial filled with magma pits, poisonous gases,
monsters, and the psychotic Gisshan capable of summoning two gigantic
monsters aptly named Scylla and Charybdis. After a difficult fight Gisshan
and his pets are defeated and the group takes refuge at Urkan Tappa, Garr's
home.
Garr visits with Sudama the Patriarch of their city. Sudama assumes that
Garr has returned with his intuition of evil left in the world proven wrong
and allows him to enter the tower to make his final amends. Angel Tower is
infested with various demons and spectres and riddled with puzzles. Amidst
all the danger Garr manages to lead the party to a large underground
chamber. Garr requests privacy and the rest of the party leave he and Ryu
all alone in the gigantic room. Garr informs Ryu that he was once involved
in a war against the ultimate evil in the world: the Brood. He goes on to
say that this underground room is a tomb filled with the remains of all the
dead Brood. Garr attacks Ryu in an attempt to finally complete his
lifelong mission of eradicating the Brood presence from the world. Ryu's
mighty dragon powers prove too much for Garr to contend with and he is
defeated. Garr questions how the Brood were butchered in the war if a child
was capable of beating him and the spirits of the dead Brood in the room
begin to have an affect on Ryu as he erupts with power and becomes a
new dragon: the Kaiser. Ryu's power causes the inner sanctums of the tower
to crumble at their feet. Ryu finds himself surrounded by darkness, taunted
by various forms and voices. And then....it all fades to black...
Seven years have passed and once again the Dauna Mines are plagued by a
dragon. Garr attacks the dragon and manages to subdue it, causing the
dragon to revert once again to Ryu. Garr begs forgiveness from Ryu and
admits doubts of his actions during his holy war against the Brood. The
mine is wrought with darkness and evil spirits trying to kill the duo. One
spirit in particular is that a very angry Brood. The spirit tries to
convince Ryu to murder Garr but, of course, Ryu refuses. Ryu and Garr
defeat the Dragon Zombie and are visited by the spirit of a blue haired
woman with wings. She says that the aparition they just vanquished was not
a dragon, calling Ryu a "true" dragon. The duo leave the mines with a
warning of a monster on Ogre Road and make their way back towards Angel
Tower. On Ogre Road Ryu and Garr are attacked by the vicious Weretiger, the
monster terrorizing the area. After a beating by Ryu and Garr the Weretiger
flees and the two continue on their path. When they get to Yraall Road they
find it blocked off by Wyndian soldiers saying until an investigation
into McNeil Village is over no one can pass.
A chat with the innkeeper of McNeil Village leads to Ryu and Garr hunting
the tiger, chasing it to Cedar Woods. In Cedar Woods Ryu and Garr find the
place Ryu called home with Rei and Teepo. Ryu gets a hunch and approaches
the house alone. There he finds a face he thought he'd never see again,
Rei! The two are overjoyed to see one another though neither can mention
any sighting of Teepo. Rei says how he traced Balio and Sunder back to the
black market in Sin City and has since been relentlessly attacking them.
Rei departs telling Ryu that he can't let them get away with attacking his
family all those years ago. Ryu and Garr frantically return to the village
and find Loki maimed by Rei. At the manor Mayor McNeil has been arrested by
none other than Nina, princess of Wyndia. Garr explains everything Nina's
missed and the three go to Sin City to wrap up Nina's case. The trio find
Sin City wrecked, dead and near dead bodies are strewn about. A survivor
tells how "the tiger" was looking for their boss who had travelled north to
the checkpoint. With haste the trio make for the northern checkpoint and
find Rei attacking Mikba, the don of the organization. Mikba transforms
into a demon and fights Ryu's team. Mikba's powers are great, capable of
rivaling the stregnth of a Guardian, the Weretiger, and even a dragon. But
even that grand strength wasn't enough to overcome Ryu and his team and
Mikba was killed. Rei decides to go with Ryu to ask his own questions to
God and joins the team once more.
The team makes way for Wyndia but takes a detour to the Plant Momo works at.
Ryu and Garr are blamed for Nina's dissapearance seven years ago and Nina
wants them to solve the problem at the Plant to earn prestige in Wyndia.
The team finds Momo working to solve the crop problem at the Plant. Momo is
extatic to see everyone again and rejoins the party. At the nearby
Yggdrasil tree the final member of the team, Peco, is located and they go
into the compund under the Plant. The lower levels are like something out
of a sci fi movie. Equipped with conveyer belts, computers, and automated
doors this place seems far to sophisticated for the rest of the world. Four
passwords are needed to enter the final room and through irradiated rooms,
mutated slugs, and electronic puzzles four passwords are found. Ryu, Momo,
and the team find Director Palet conducting an experiment to bring his
mother back to life, an experiment started by Repsol, Momo's father's,
attempt to bring his dead wife back to life. Repsol stopped the experiments
for moral reasons but Palet continued. Palet uses a serum and turns himself
into a giant mushroom. Though formidable Ryu, Momo, and their team emerge
victorious and stop Palet's experiments, returning the Plant to normal.
With the black market broken up and the mystery at the Plant solved Nina
decides to take the group back to Wyndia for the passport. Still unsure of
showing Ryu's face around though she brings in Rei to be the hero that
helped her. At a celebratory dinner a guard comes in and exposes Rei as an
ally of Ryu. Nina and Rei escape from the castle by using a teleportation
device in the castle basement with Honey's aid. Fortunately Rei recieved
the passport in time allowing the team to travel to the Rhapala region.
With the roadway on Mt. Zublo cleared the group is easily able to get to
Angel Tower.
At Angel Tower Garr prays to his God hoping to see him but instead gets
another visitor. A nude woman named Deis appears instead telling him to
release her in order to meet God. Deis tells them that Guardian Gaist is
the key to releasing her and vanishes. A quick investigation at Urkan Tapa
reveals Gaist's location beyond the Tidal Caves. The town called Cliff lies
beyond the Tidal Caves. Ryu and Garr meet with Gaist who agrees to free
Deis on the condition he can speak with Ryu alone. Gaist tells Ryu that the
Guardians started the war by hunting the Brood and goes on to say that he
couldn't take it anymore and fled. Garr councels Ryu who goes back to
confront Gaist's test. Gaist transforms into a large, devlish figure and
engages Ryu in battle. Though strong, Gaist pales in comparison to the
awesome might of Ryu's Brood powers. Gaist dies and the seal on Deis is
released.
The freed Deis is...firey...and lays into Garr with both verbal and physical
reprimands for the slaughter of the Brood. Deis tells Ryu and his team to
meet with her at the base of Mt. Zublo for further guidance. In Mt. Zublo
Deis is back to her true form and opens up Ryu's "Dragon's Eye". The Eye
points Ryu to the north across the ocean. Needing a ship the party tracked
Beyd down to Junk Town on business. In Junk Town the ship is still under
repair and the guild can't fix it quickly. Luckily for Beyd Momo is there
to help and she gives Ryu a list of parts to get from Steel Beach. Garr
passes a test to prove the strength of the team and they are allowed into
the freighter to search for parts. Once all the parts are found the team
rushes back to Junk Town to give Momo what she needs. The boat is fixed and
Ryu, Beyd, and the team take it back to Rhapala. Along the way a large and
mysterious, black, iron-clad ship is seen. Back at Rhapala Zig offers to
pilot the boat to the other continent and the group gets underway. The
small ship is incapable of crossing the ocean and the group is forced to
return to Rhapala. A rumor of the Legendary Mariner is traced to a town
called Parch. The Mayor is at first disgruntled due to eating so much fish
in Parch but after getting some home-cooking called Shisu the Mayor tells
the group where they can supposedly find the Mariner. The party finds the
Mariner, Kukuys, who tells them the only way to cross is via the Black Ship.
Momo tries to stop the Black Ship by firing on it but the ship quickly
proves it's nautical dominance. Momo's second plan is to ram the ship and
it surprisngly works. Onboard Momo manages to get the ship's computer to
take it back to it's homeport on the other side of the ocean.
After several days of travel and an encounter with nasty sea creatures the
team makes it to Kombinant. The people of Kombinant are more like drones
than people and the surrounding landscape is barren and devoid of life. The
party passes through the Steel Grave, a junkyard of machines and technology,
to further explore the new world they've entered. Past the Steel Grave lies
the Colony. Immediately Ryu and his team notice a large satellite dish atop
the compound. Inside the team finds a teleporter akin to the one found in
Castle Wyndia. Momo gets the teleporter working again and the group uses it
which to their surprise takes them back to their home continent. Momo
aligns the antenna for the teleporter at Steel Beach and the team uses it to
travel to Dragnier.
Ryu and his party are graciously greeted upon entering the desolate town of
Dragnier. Griol, patriarch of Dragnier, celebrates the return of the dragon
prince with a large banquet. The residents of Dragnier are all Brood that
gave up their power and fled to the wastelands so as not to be found by the
Guardians. Later that night Griol tells Ryu that they can lead him to Myria
once he's awakened his full powers. When morning rises the elder of the
Brood, Jono, wishes to meet with Ryu. Deep beneath the city Ryu and his
team meet with Jono. Jono explains to Ryu the history of their people's war
with Myria, and about the first battle against the Goddess fought by BOF1
Ryu and his team, forever immortalized on a mural against the wall. Jono
speaks to Garr about his religion, specifically about their doctrine to
never speak the name of the Brood or Myria, claiming that no one will ever
truly know of the struggle unless they are willing to speak up. Jono goes
on to tell Garr that while some of the Brood may hate the Urkans and the
Guardians he does not, calling the war fate. Jono tells Nina about the
Brood and Myria saying that the Brood just may have been too dangerous to
leave unchecked. He tells her that Myria feared that power and sought to
eliminate it though that doesn't necessarily mean Myria was good and
the Brood were evil. After getting a final kiss from a pretty lady, Nina,
he tests Ryu by sealing his Brood powers in a battle to the death. Jono
transforms into a mighty dragon and attacks. Even with the odds stacked
against him in this insane trial Ryu manages to overcome and awaken the
power of Infinity: Kaiser.
Up above in Dragnier, Griol tells Ryu that the Goddess lies beyond the
Desert of Death. Horis is sent with the team to aid them in their travel
across the vast desert. At the edge of the Factory Horis sets up a base
camp that Ryu and his team can return to if necessary. The Desert of Death
lives up to it's name. Plagued by monsters and under an unforgiving sun the
group struggles to make their way. At the edge of the desert one final test
awaits: a monster called a Manmo confronts them. Unfortunately for Manmo
it's standing somewhere it shouldn't, between Ryu and the sweet relief of
the Oasis. The Manmo is destroyed by the weary travelers and they press on.
At the end of their trial disaster strikes in the form of Nina falling out
due to heat related injury. Ryu has no choice but to kill their Rakda to
give Nina the necessary nutrients to make it through alive.
The group arrives at Oasis and the leader of the town Fa'ah nurses them all
to health. Fa'ah directs the team to the ruins of Caer Xhan and the team
makes haste. Caer Xhan is a city unlike anything Ryu and his party had ever
seen. Looking far too modern for their world the group is awestruck by
their futuristic surroundings. The group manages to activate the platform
to take them high in the sky to Orbital Station: Myria where they enter yet
another futuristic environment.
The team must first navigate through the lower levels of the station to gain
access to the main interior. The team successfully treks through the
maintenance level and opens the passage way to the main lobby area. The
team next explores an experimentation area of sorts looking for a keycard to
get further into the station. The group manages to find the key however
it's in a cage with a sleeping beast called Chimera. The team shuts off the
sleeping gas pacifying the beast and attempts to get the key. As one would
expect the Chimera wakes up and attacks only to fall to Ryu's blade.
With the Keycard in hand, along with some special ammunition for Momo's
cannon, the group moves to the next section of the Station which is a
wilderness-esque area. The trip is fairly uneventful through the overgrown
and untended environment. Eventually Ryu and his team come to an ominous
hallway with an elevator at it's end. The elevator takes the team to a
place called "Eden", and true to it's name is a venerable paradise with
green meadows, a quite river, peaceful trees, and chirping birds decorating
the landscape. But the biggest surprise was yet to come. After a quick
exploration Ryu and Rei were finally reunited with Teepo! As happy as Rei
is to see Teepo his jubilation is cut short by Teepo's new superiority
complex. Teepo explains that after the attack on their lives by Balio and
Sunder he learned that he too was Brood. Eventually he was picked up by
Myria and has since come to believe that his race is an evil race that must
be destroyed. Teepo's powers allow him to trap Ryu within his own mind.
One by one Ryu looks into the hearts of each of his friends and sees
their truth: Nina's search for her own identity, Rei's search for an answer
regarding his and other's unnatural power, Momo's insatiable curiosity
regarding the Techno Age, and Garr's shaken faith. When Ryu comes across
Peco, Peco shockingly speaks and comforts Ryu by telling him that all that
is about to happen is his choice and that, while great, the Brood were not
strong enough to save or destroy the world. Finally Ryu comes in contact
with a vision of himself that tries to convince him to side with Myria. Ryu
disregards the illusions and confronts Teepo who continues to chide him.
Teepo again tries to talk Ryu over to his side and fails, unleashing a demon
called Arwan to destroy Ryu's Brood powers and seal him within his dream
world. Ryu makes short work of Arwan and returns to Eden. Teepo, in his own
twisted way, believes Ryu is fighting against the good of the world for his
own selfish reasons and has decided he must die. Teepo transforms into his
dragon form: the Tyrant, Dragon Lord, a monstrous dark dragon of immense
power. Teepo's power is massive but is ultimately defeated by Ryu's Kaiser
strength and the combined might of his allies. Teepo believes he's proved
his point by this latest display of violence and dies saying how all he
wanted was things to go back to the way they were when he, Rei, and Ryu were
a family in Cedar Woods. Ryu takes the keycard of Teepo's and leaves his
body to rest.
Teepo's key allows the team access to the most secure areas of the Station
via the main lobby. A winding tunnel with several dead end forks leads the
group to a series of containment rooms housing clones of very familiar
enemies of the past. After defeating the gauntlet of old foes the team
makes their way to the heart of the Station. After a long explanation of
Myria's holiness by her holographic servants the team finally comes face to
face with the Goddess Myria. Myria justifies her slaughter of the Brood by
saying their power was too great for her fragile world to handle. Myria
goes on to explain that she is "mother" in a sense to the rest of the world
and all should allow her to take care of them. From the destruction of the
Brood to the restriction of technology Myria justifies all this so that she
can preserve all life. The team rejects this notion and state their loyalty
to Ryu and their desire to be allowed to live free of Myria's interventions.
Myria warps Ryu's allies away with the intention of erasing their memories
of this experience but Peco, now speaking as Yggdrasil brings them back.
Peco/Yggdrasil and Myria converse about the fate of the world and Ryu is
left with the decision to live with Myria as Teepo did or die. Through his
and every one of his friends reasons, like Nina's belief in Ryu and Rei's
anger at Myria for Teepo, Ryu opts not to give up his power and fight for
the future without Myria. Myria is unpleased with this turn of events and
reveals her true form as a horrific demon. The final showdown ensues and
Myria's powers are incredible. Her magical knowledge, her raw strength
alone, and her other satanic abilities push Ryu and his team close to the
edge of defeat. But, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance Ryu,
Rei, Peco, Garr, Nina, and Momo overcome this insane obstacle and win.
After the battle Garr bids his friends farewell and enters the stone sleep,
his death, as his mission is finally at it's end. The Orbital Station
begins to collapse around Ryu and the others and they make a hasty escape.
Myria reflects on her defeat and the ill future she sees for the world when
Deis arrives. Deis tells her sister Myria that even though she went too far
in certain areas, namely the genocide of the Brood, she shouldn't worry
about her "children's" future. Deis stands next to Myria as the Station
explodes around them.
Ryu, Nina, Momo, and Rei are left to head back to civilization and to the
new world they've all helped create while Peco stays behind to begin life
anew on the ravaged continent across the sea.
WHAT WE KNOW NOW:
-----------------
-Myria and Deis might be dead.
-The majority of the Brood/Dragon Clan were wiped out in a genocidal
campaign ordered by Myria.
-Ryu is the last remaining Brood/Dragon Clansmen with the ability to
transform.
-The Fae/Winged Clan have almost completely lost their wings.
-All four Guardians are dead.
-At present the continent west of the main one is wrought with dessert and
wastelands though Peco is seeing to it's revival.
-Without Myria technology has the ability to advance.
-The Black Market Mikba ran has been disbanded.
-The Dragon Lord/Ladon's religion has almost completely dissapeared.
-Myria's religion is limited to Urkan Tapa.
OBSERVATIONS:
-------------
-I want to say I'm very pleased with Ryu's character in this game.
Sure he still doesn't talk which makes it incredibly difficult to really get
to know his character but the addition of his physical responses to
situations lets us get to know him a little better than the other two Ryus
we've dealt with.
-When you take a good look at it you don't explore too much of the world in
BOF3. Much of the good continent is blocked off by checkpoints, impassable
mountains, or vast forest. So even though you may not go to Sima Fort or
Highfort or Tunlan that doesn't necessarily mean they aren't around anymore.
-BOF3 marks the beginning of Ryu and his rival character being polar
opposites of each other.
-Take a GOOD look at the McNeil mansion. Just me or does the layout pay
homage to the Spencer Mansion from Resident Evil?
-So why WAS Garr with Balio and Sunder? He was a holy crusader who has been
around for at least 400 years why would he associate with a gang of thugs?
-Garr and all the characters central to the war will use 400 years and 500
years ago interchangeably. 400 years is the one I saw used most often so
that's what I've gone with for the purposes of the analysis.
-I'm really curious about the Old Man you fight in Mt. Zublo. Granted he's
crazy but he says he's fighting for "those buried in the tower" which would
of course be the Brood. I at first thought maybe he had some Brood heritage
but at the end of the game when he's shown in the flashback of super powered
beings I'm thinking he has more to do with Myria's side. The answer I'm
leaning towards is that he's in the same category as the villains in BOF2,
beings who for whatever reason had their hearts swallowed by the current
deity's powers.
-In case you're wondering this is the kill record of the Guardians:
Garr 299
Gaist 234
Gatz 201
Gaw 198
-I know the Guardians all say the Brood didn't put up a fight but I can't
help but think some had to have resisted. That Dragon Zombie is pretty damn
pissed off and says there are other spirits crying out for vengance. The
Guardians had to have encountered at least a little bit of resistance.
-Boy that woman with wings Ryu and Garr run into in the mines sure reminds
me Valerie! I'm under the impression that's supposed to be Ryu's mother in
spirit.
-So you can find teleportation devices, relics of the technology Myria
limited, on the prosperous continent. I think it's safest to say that
scientists like Momo were the ones who hooked them up and couldn't figure out
what to do with them from there. It seems ridiculous to assume that
technology flourished on the good continent as well and no one has any
records of Myria's intervention.
-I really want to meet the person who was able to move up the main deck of
the Black Ship in the Ammonites fight. Seriously that feat is harder than
beating Kingdom Hearts 1 Sephiroth...
-Okay so this bugs the hell out of me, the Orbital Station is supposed to be
Myria's house of sorts though there's all this living space and equipment
lying around for teams of researchers or something. So did Myria commandere
the station or what? And how friggin' long was Chimera asleep for anyway!?
-Myria and Deis MIGHT be dead. I say "might" because even though they were
at the base of an f-ing huge explosion Myria has been killed once and
ressurected already. And Deis does enjoy her naps. Just saying if BOF6 is a
continuation of the BOF1-3 timeline don't be surprised to see her again.
She's been like Ganon to Ryu being Link.
THE WAR IN-DEPTH:
-----------------
So the big story in this game is the Great War between the Brood and
Myria so I guess I should give that it's own section.
You could say that this war began way back in the time before BOF1 when
the unnamed Dragon Warrior and his seven allies (500$ says two of the names
were Ryu and Nina!) fought Myria who was relishing in the carnage of the
Brood's civil war. The Warrior and co. fight and defeat Myria by sealing
her off using the Goddess Keys. Some years later Myria has the Dark Dragons
doing her dirty work and the shit hits the fan. Cue BOF1.
It picks up again between the times of BOF2 and BOF3 (note that in BOF2
you're not fighting anything Myria threw at you intentionally, during this
time she's dead or in hibernation or whatever). Myria comes back and among
her first decisions, based on revenge or genuine fear of the Brood power, is
the mass genocide of the Brood. I may have missed something but the story
doesn't specify whether this is before or after she cut off the desert
continent from the rest of the world and moved some of it's inhabitants to
the flourishing continent. I want to say that since Garr and the other
Guardians had never been across the ocean this war was after the separation
of continents. The war kicks off when Myria creates her four Guardians and
sends them on their death march.
[On the subject of the split continents I want to point out something
that irritates me. Myria says that she came in and made the ocean to split
up the two halves of the world. But in BOF1 and 2 the world is already
split into two continents pretty much. Take a look at the world maps if you
don't believe me. BOF1 takes place on one continent, though the placing of
certain places like Tunlan isn't consistent, and BOF2 takes place on two
continents split apart by a vast ocean. My point is that there's ALREADY an
ocean separating them. The desert may have originated on the eastern
continent but the west was already protected by "Myria's" influence. So my
guess is that Myria is just taking credit for something the planet already
took care of. Also this desert would have consumed Farm Town, Sima Fort,
and that big forest with Ganadroof just to name a few famous spots.
Truthfully though...would anyone want Jean's legacy to live?]
During the war the Brood don't even put up a fight. One by one they
allow themselves to be murdered by the Guardians for fear that if they had
actually fought back they could cause a catastrophy to the world. Deis is a
continuous nuisance to the Guardians as she constantly shows up and more or
less bitches them out each time, as she tends to do. It's never said
whether or not she actually gets hands on in the war at all but I'm guessing
she didn't. I'd imagine the Guardians would have tried to kill her if she
tried to hide them or anything and as there's no mention of any battles
against Deis I can only assume they got tired of her being...well...her and
sealed her in Angel Tower.
After the war was over Gaw and Gatz let themselves enter the stone
sleep. Gaist left before the war was over and secluded himself in Cliff
becoming a disgraced Guardian in the eyes of the Urkans. Garr never felt
that his work was completed and stayed awake for 400 more years to ease his
mind that the evil Brood were all deceased.
All was not lost for the Brood however. A handful of the Brood gave up
their power and left for the village now known as Dragnier. An even smaller
number remained underground to conceal their powers from Myria's prying eyes
in two specific areas: the Dauna Mines and Dragnier. Jono held onto the
power of Infinity beneath Dragnier and Ryu's mother birthed him in the Dauna
Mines. Somehow Ryu was encased in chrysm and the rest is the game.
--------------------------------
Frequently Asked Questions BOF3
--------------------------------
Q: So what's the deal with Myria in BOF3? Is she truly evil or is she just
an overprotective mother of sorts?
A: I see this question pop up a lot in BOF forums. Let's start from the
beginning:
Way, way, way back in the day the dragon clan was in a civil war over
Myria/Tyr's BS. She loved it and watched the Light and Dark Dragons kill each
other. Eventually Deis, a Light Dragon, and 6 other heroes came in and
whooped Myria/Tyr and sealed her with the Goddess Keys.
Cue BOF1, the Dark Dragons release Myria and Ryu, a Light Dragon, has to go
beat her again. This time instead of sealing her Ryu and his party are under
the impression she's dead. In reality she's either in hibernation or actually
is dead and is waiting to resurrect herself. I also want to note here that
when you face Myria/Tyr on this occasion she heals your party and comes off
at first glance a crying little girl before showing her true colors as a
coniving bitch. She's been deceptive from the beginning.
BOF2 happens and bears a whole lot of nothing other than Ryu beat Myria/Tyr's
"son" happens.
Pre-BOF3 Myria comes back. Here's where things get debated. I've always been
under the impression that Myria/Tyr removed the only obstacle standing in her
way from total domination, as no other race had the power to match her. As
for whether or not her heart was "in the right place", you can say so. She
really did want to be the God of a world and a God needs something to be God
over. It's just the Brood have a history of wrecking her face.
I can totally agree when people say Myria has an "overprotective mother"
complex. However I think it's naive to say she eliminated the dragons ONLY
because she thought they were a "danger" to the world.
Q: Towards the end of Ryu's dream world, when he overcomes Teepo's illusory
Ryu Teepo says "It seems you count Yggdrasil amongst your companions". What
did he mean by that?
A: Peco, from what I've come to understand from my playthroughs, is an
extension of Yggdrasil's influence. Peco is Peco yet can be used as a
spiritual medium for Yggdrasil. It's why Peco is the only one to talk to the
trees and why you found him sitting around near one post-time skip. It's
kinda like Peco get's possessed by the aura/energy/essence/spirit of
Yggrdasil.
Q: Hey I've found Mogu! Does this mean BOF3 takes place sometime close to
BOF1?
A: Not in the slightest. Capcom has a habit of hiding Easter Eggs in their
games for dedicated players to find. You'll also notice in the Contest of
Champions before you fight Garr Chun Li and Sakura in the stands. Doesn't
mean anything.
Q: What are the differences in the PS version and PSP version?
A: Not much, here's a quick list:
There is an extra fishing mode and picture gallery.
The PSP version features game data sharing.
The Stallion boss has changed.
The Myria carries an Ivory Charm instead of Napalm.
The item dupe glitch does NOT work in the PSP version.
Q: Can you beat Balio and Sunder in Cedar Woods?
A: No. No. A hundred times more no. Anyone who says they accomplished this
feat is a dirty liar. Delete them from your Facebook. For more in depth
knowledge into the matter I would like to direct you to this link:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/psp/928759-breath-of-fire-iii/faqs/18685. The
author, DavidK519, wrote up an outstanding walkthrough which has a section
covering the subject.
Q: What about the Tyrant Gene?
A: It doesn't exist either. From what I understand the myth was that you
could somehow take Teepo's Tyrant Gene after you kill him. I couldn't find
any specifics on it but rest assured it's another false rumor.
--------------------------------
Before IV
--------------------------------
600 years ago the land was divided into several nations. Nations that all
wanted to murder each other. The people of the land prayed and Fou-Lu came
in and settled all the conflict by uniting them all under the first Fou
Empire. After this was accomplished Fou-Lu was exhausted, as he was not a
complete deity. So he went into a deep hibernation until the time Ryu would
emerge and he could make himself a whole God, cue the game...
--------------------------------
Breath of Fire IV
--------------------------------
PLOT:
-----
"It all started on the third day after we left the castle. That morning,
we had entered the Great Desert on our sandflier. We were heading toward
the town of Synesta. It was the last known location of my sister Elina.
Synesta lies on the edge of the desert. All we had to do was cross the
desert...", Nina thinks to herself as Cray, her Woren companion, pilots the
sandflier. In the following morning the duo look for shade to escape the
desert heat when they are suddenly attacked by a dragon hidden in the sand.
Cray tries to take evasive maneuvers but the sandflier is ultimately crashed
and wrecked. Fortunately Nina and Cray survive unscathed. Cray tells Nina
of some towns near their location. Nina leaves to look for parts while Cray
reluctantly stands guard over the sandflier.
With the King's Sword in hand given by Cray for protection, Nina makes her
way south to the town Sarai. Not too far into her journey Nina comes across
a merchant running for his life as his cart and cargo lie at the bottom of a
crater. Nina trips into the small crater and comes face to face with
another dragon. To Nina's surprise the dragon is docile and does not attack
her. The dragon hovers in the air and vanishes, leaving behind a nude,
young man. Shocked Nina immediately asks the man to search the cart for
some clothing. Nina learns that the young man, known as Ryu, isn't another
merchant working on the cart and has no memory of anything up until seeing
her. As Ryu has no idea where he is or where he's going Nina convinces him
to join up with her for the time being and allows him to use the King's
Sword.
In order to get to Sarai Nina and Ryu must first pass through a series of
cliffs. The move along safely until Nina trips and falls from the heights.
Ryu immediately springs into action hoping to sprint down the cliff fast
enough to catch Ryu only to see Nina floating down gently using her wings.
Nina thanks Ryu for his attempted heroism and the two camp in a cave.
Elsewhere a brilliant beam of light erupts from an ornate tomb. A blue
wolf-like being and a white haired young man step outside. The blue wolf
refers to the man as "Majesty" and wonders where the celebration and preists
are at for his lord's revival. The white haired man is unbothered by this,
saying that they are merely mortals. The white haired man senses a power
far off somewhere in the world. The man orders his servant wolf, Won-qu, to
guard the place of their rest and leaves for the capital. Making his way
through the grounds the man is confronted by two soldiers who are on lookout
for a Dragon of Doom said to bring ruin to the empire appearing that night.
When the soldiers say they'll slay the dragon the white haired man is amused
and chides them as mere mortals. The man summons a dragon and eliminates
the soldiers. The white haired man eventually makes his way through a trail
and encounters a small, elderly man. The old man greets the white haired
man as the God Emperor Fou-Lu. Fou-Lu berates the old man for sending
soldiers to slay him knowing full well who and what he is. The old man
simply says that times have changed and summons a beast called Kham to
attack the God Emperor. Fou-Lu transforms into a godly dragon to combat
this foe and swiftly vanquishes the beast. Though victorious Fou-Lu has
not regained his full strength after his long slumber and is forced to flee
telling the old man that he will come back for his empire. The old man has
his troops set fire to the forest in an effort to kill Fou-Lu before he can
reach his full power. Fou-Lu makes it to a suspended rope bridge and is
again greeted by the old man. Fou-Lu learns that the old man is Yohm,
General of the Imperial Army sent by the current Emperor to ensure that his
throne is not taken from him. Yohm strikes Fou-Lu and knocks him into the
depths below.
Back at the cliff morning has come and Ryu and Nina make way for Sarai. At
Sarai Ryu still remembers nothing and Nina is left clueless on how to help.
Nina and Ryu go their seperate ways, Nina looking for sandflier parts and
Ryu looking for anything to guide him. Ryu finds his way to a tavern where
he buys a man a meal to get information about himself. The man at the
tavern points Ryu to another fellow at the local inn. Though unable to find
information about his past Ryu is able to find information on sandflier
parts and reunites with Nina to share the news. The information broker's
info leads Ryu and Nina to Sandflier Valley, a junkyard of sandfliers. When
the two are finished digging in the sand they return to the Sarai tavern to
have the parts serviced only to find the Imperial Army. The Imperials have
come to Sarai seeking information on the dragon spotted earlier that day.
When the soldiers' interrogation methods start to become harmful to the
innocent bystanders Nina steps in to try and quell the tension. The leader
of the troops, Rasso, recognizes Nina as princess of Wyndia and plans to
take have his summoned monster, Joh, capture her. Once again Ryu leaps into
action to save Nina but breaks the King's Sword in the process. Ryu and
Nina flee and thanks to the merchant they helped learn they can go to Chamba
to avoid the roving Imperial patrols.
Ryu and Nina arrive in Chamba and notice a large portion of the city blocked
off by a large wall. The two learn that Chamba was hit by an Imperial Hex,
a horrifying weapon of mass destruction that leaves corruption and pollution
in the atmosphere of where it strikes. The city is being cleaned but much
of it remains uninhabitable. The Purifiers working to remove the Hex return
and Nina and Ryu are introduced to Ershin, an...odd...warrior of small
stature. Ershin is the only one crazy enough to guide Ryu and Nina through
the Hex to get them to Cray in the desert and the trio begin their trek
through the polluted sections of Chamba. Chamba's main city is in ruins
thanks to the Hex. Dark spirits and ghouls haunt the city and are a
constant nuisance to the trio. Towards the end of their trek a large
decaying fish monster called Skulfish attacks. The trio dispatches this
detestable foe and leaves the infected city. Nina thanks Ershin but regrets
to inform that she has no way to pay for the assistance. Ershin says that
no thanks is necessary as Ershin wishes to accompany Ryu. Still confused by
Ershin's constant use of third person the two let her tag along anyway.
Nina, Ryu, and Ershin finally arrive back at the crash site and reunite with
Cray. Nina tells Cray about all that has happened and says she never could
get proper parts for them. Cray tells her not to worry about it and Ershin
comments that the sandflier was attacked by a dragon. Cray wonders how she
could possibly know to which Ershin replies that Ershin can sense such
things. Everyone goes to sleep and Nina has a dream...
In Nina's dream herself, Ryu, and Cray have just made their way into a
stronghold of some sort. Cray claims this to be the place Elina is being
held. The trio make their way to a lobby area where two ornately dressed
men walk in talking about a sacrifice. At that point the dream ends...
The following morning Cray and Nina talk about them having the same dream.
Ershin wakes up and tells that the dream was actually Ryu's. The dream was
a possible future seen through a Dragon's Eye. Cray comes to the conclusion
that if Ryu joins them they will be able to find Elina.
Ryu and his party leave the desert and pass through Kurok Valley to make it
to a Dam. The Dam has been having a problem with a dragon. As such several
workers haven't shown up for work. Ryu and his party can still pass but
they'll need to operate some of the machinery themselves. As they are just
about to cross the Dam the Mud Dragon wreaks havoc and breaks down the Dam
in a massive mud wave. Luckily the heroes make it out just in time.
Past the Dam the party comes to a scenic out look of a sunset across the
ocean. The mud dragon makes an appearance and stares calmly at the four
adventurers. An old hermit sitting atop the rocks makes herself known and
sings a song about the Endless and the dragons explaining that anything the
dragons do the world will change in some way. As the group takes their
leave she chuckles to herself saying that their paths are more than just
tangled up in the dragons...they've got one walking with them!
The party makes their way to Kyria, a short stop before Synesta. The town
of Kyria is riddled with traps courtesy of the eccentric mayor, whose
permission they need to use the passage to Synsta. After tangling with the
mayor's dangerous pet and arguing with a nonsensical parrot the party learns
the mayor is in the woods behind Kyria. The mayor, lost in the woods, has
been hunting a wild animal causing problems for Kyria and Ryu sets out to
find him. After tracking an animal the team finds the mayor and the Maman,
the beast causing Kyria problems. Ryu and his party slay the Maman and get
the mayor's permission to use their route to Synesta.
Elsewhere Fou-Lu wakes up in a hut in the Zhinga Mountains. He was rescued
by a large woodcutter named Bunyan after his battle against Yohm. Unable to
leave due to his injuries, Fou-Lu stays with Bunyan for the time being.
In the morning Ryu and his team make way for Synesta using the passageway.
The passageway leads them through a well into the middle of Synesta. The
party looks for info on Elina and finds an orphanage Elina donated to when
she passed by. A small child named Chino is playing outside and getting
himself into trouble. Chino promises information about Elina if Ryu, Nina,
and the team will play hide and seek. Chino decides to hide in a monster
infested section of the town and it's up to Ryu's team to go rescue him.
When Chino is caught he holds up his end of the bargain and tells Nina and
Cray that after Elina left she was stopped at the gate by some men, one of
which being Marlok, owner of a local shop. The team decides to go have a
talk with Marlok. Protecting Marlok' shouse is Kahn. Kahn refuses to allow
the team inside, which unfortunately for Khan results in several injuries.
Marlok saw the fight and is quite impressed. Marlok says he was hired to
take her to the west on his sandflier and nothing else. Cray becomes
angered but Marlok is unphazed, instead offering to help smuggle the team to
the west in exchange for some work.
Marlok's request is that Ryu, Cray, and Ershin go to capture a thief named
Stoll. Nina is made to stay behind and work around the house. Stoll is
tracked to his hideout where the trio corner him. Ryu, Cray, and Ershin
learn that Stoll only stole back goods that Marlok took from him and is let
go. Needless to say Marlok is not pleased when he hears the news. Marlok
sends the trio on another job that should be a little more manageable. At a
sandflier wharf the trio is made to do heavy labor working for the shipment
team. Nina arrives at the wharf along with Marlok shortly after the work is
completed. Marlok smuggles the four heroes into Imperial territory, and to
Cray's dismay uses a crate to hide them in.
Meanwhile in the Zhinga Mountains Fou-Lu has recovered from his wounds.
Fou-Lu begins to leave as Bunyan worries that there may be another war
looming ahead. Bunyan recollects to his time as a soldier and admits that
neither he nor any of his comrades truly knew what they were fighting for,
saying after the first war by the God Emperor it felt as if war itself
became the purpose. Down the mountain Fou-Lu runs into Yohm and his
squadron. Yohm was able to track Fou-Lu simply by following the power of an
Endless. Yohm summons another monster, Khafu, to try to kill Fou-Lu with.
Fou-Lu knocks down Khafu and tries to flee, only for the beast to get back
up and give chase. Before long Fou-Lu is shot down above a forest...
Ryu and his party have arrived at the Imperial checkpoint Kyoin. Without
wasting time they rush their way up to the top of the building to use the
gateway, a type of teleportation device. Rasso stops the heroes before they
can use the gateway wanting revenge on Ryu for hurting him. Rasso summons
another of his minions, Ymechaf, to fight for him. By exposing a weakness
on the demon's back the team is able to easily vanquish their foe and escape
through the gateway. Rasso is left in shock, knowing he just did battle
with a dragon.
The team ends up in Astana, a city just outside the Causeway. Asking around
town leads the team to the aqueduct that supplies water to Astana. By
following the water flow from the aqueduct the team is able to infiltrate
the Imperial base seen in Ryu's dream. Just like in the dream the team
eventually comes to a lobby where they see to well dressed men talking about
a sacrifice. Cray leads the team behind a curtain so as not to be seen but
the man known as Yuna was not decieved. Yuna corners the team in the
following hallway. After some questions Yuna tells the team that Elina was
at Astana on a trip of good-will but has since left. Yuna's men capture the
team and send them back to the eastern country of Ludia where Cray is to be
put on trial for his actions.
Ryu and Nina are stuck in a local inn while they wait for word on Cray's
fate. Growing impatient Nina and Ryu go to the castle to check on Cray.
Nina introduces Ryu and Ershin to Scias, a mercenary hired by Ludia to
ensure the gang doesn't run away. At the castle Nina and Ryu are
immediately turned away and not allowed to see Cray. Afterwards Nina gets
an idea to go to Worent, Cray's home, to see if there might be anyway to
help their friend.
In order to get to Worent the party must trek through Wynchwood, a
supposedly haunted woodlland area. As the team travels through Wynchwood,
Nina begins to notice a steadily thickening mist. Suddenly Nina is shrunken
to the size of a baby bird and carried off by a sparrow. Three voices are
heard plotting to prank the remaining three heroes but Ryu and Ershin are
capable of seeing through their invisibility. When one of the invisible
being comes too close Ershin headbutts it to reveal a Faerie. The other two
Faeries show themselves and comlain about Ryu's Dragon's Eye calling it
unfair. The Faeries leave assuring the team that Nina won't stay shrunk
forever and tell them to start looking for trees with a bird's nest. In
said bird's nest Nina tries to leave but is stopped by the sparrow that
picked her up thinking Nina was one of it's chicks. Nina is forced to use
her magic to scare away the sparrow but falls out of the tree in the
process. Luckily her diminuative form wears off and she lands at her
appropriate size. With Nina found the group hastily exits Wynchwood before
the Faeries have time to play another prank.
In Worent Nina explains the situation to the Woren elders who advise them to
look for Tarhn, Cray's mother, in the Golden Plains. As they make plans to
scour the Golden Plains for Tarhn Kahn, the former bodyguard of Marlok,
falls from the sky demanding a rematch. Kahn is defeated just as easily
this second time around. Kahn's current master Una stops the fight telling
Ryu and his team to lay off Kahn as he's not as strong as he thinks he is.
Una and Kahn have a heart to heart conversation that leaves Kahn questioning
his status as a warrior. With the minor distraction out of the way Ryu and
Nina try to get a horse but unfortunately no one on the team knows how to
ride. The stablehandler instead offers Ryu a Whelk to ride, a type of snail
looking beast that has taken a liking to Ryu. With the whelk Ryu heads off
into the Golden Plains alone to search for Tarhn.
Ryu scours the vast plains and with the help of certain landmarks manages to
find Tarhn. Tarhn is informed of Cray's plight by Ryu. Tarhn needs time to
think of a plan and Ryu stays over night. Back in Ludia Cray is standing
trial. The presiding judge chides Cray for his actions and the loss of the
King's Sword but Cray is undaunted. Cray makes a stand in honor of Elina
but the judge refuses to listen.
Back at in the plains Tarhn has come up with a plan. Tarhn wants the King's
Sword to be repaired as that would be one less thing the courts could use
against Cray. Tarhn tells of a blacksmith in Mt. Glom that can recreate the
King's Sword Ryu broke. After receiving directions from the elders in
Worent the team heads for Mt. Glom at the edge of the plains.
Inside Mt. Glom the team finds a dwarf that can create another King's Sword,
but he needs a mineral called Faerie Drop. The team heads back to
Wynchwood, the last place they saw a Faerie. In exchange for Faerie Drop
the Faeries want Ryu and his friends to liberate their home from a group of
monster bullies. The Faeries knock the team unconscious and bring them to
the Land of Dreams. Ryu and his party make quick work of the nightmares and
return the Faeries their home. Holding up their end of the bargain the
Faeries give the party Faerie Drop so they can make another King's Sword.
The group returns to Mt. Glom and have a new King's Sword made. Quickly the
party takes the new blade to Ludia to help clear Cray's charges. To the
party's amazement the King's Sword is already in Ludia's possession! This
other sword was given to Ludia by the Empire in exchange for several changes
to the treaty between the Alliance and Empire. Ryu, Nina, and the others
are escorted out of the castle. Left with no other option Nina decides the
only way to help Cray is to break him out of his confinement.
Elsewhere, an injured Fou-Lu rests in the home of a lowly peasant girl named
Mami.
At nightfall the team makes their move into castle Ludia. With relative
ease the four break into Cray's holding area and free him from captivity.
The team goes to see Tarhn so they can come up with a new plan. The Empire
has demanded that a neutral zone consisting of several Alliance territories
be created, this would allow the Empire into the Alliance. Cray believes
the Empire to be searching for something. Nina theorizes that based on all
the events that have happened so far the Empire is looking for Ryu. The
group talks a little more and decide to take Ryu to see the Wind Dragon in
Wyndia.
In the plains lies a ruins that acts as a secret passage to Wyndia. The
ruins exit at a swampland called Ahm Fen which is just before Wyndia itself.
The day has gone and the group makes camp to rest for the night. Cray
laments that he was unable to return to Wyndia without Elina and Nina does
her best to console him. Suddenly a familiar little Faerie arrives at the
campsite asking Ryu for more help. The Faeries had been gone from their
homes for so long they need Ryu's guidance to help restore things! Ryu does
his best to help and assures the Faeries he'll check in on them now and
again to see how they're doing.
The group arrives at Wyndia and Nina rushes into her father's arms. The
Wyndian King is already up to speed on the genreal flow of events regarding
Cray and Nina's capture. Nina asks her father if the group can meet the
Wind Dragon and the King sends the group to see the Oracle of the Wind, a
priestess in service to the Wind Dragon.
In the Kasq Woods the group meets the Oracle of the Wind. Immediately the
Oracle identifies Ryu's Dragon's Eye though notes it odd that he has only
one. She is unable to confirm nor deny that Ryu is a Dragon, as non-Dragons
can also possess a Dragon's Eye, but does mention that he has a strong aura.
Long ago the Wind Dragon P'ung Ryong told the Oracle of the Yorae Dragon, a
dragon that appears once every hundred years. It is said that the Yorae
Dragon will have a powerful effect on the world and it's inhabitants. Cray
comes to the conclusion that the Yorae Dragon is what the Empire is after.
In order to meet with P'ung Ryong the heroes need to go beneath Castle
Wyndia and retrieve the Wind Flute. As the group makes their plan Nina
notices something...Scias is missing...
Returning to Wyndia Nina get's her father's permission to enter the
catacombs beneath the castle. After traversing the windy tunnels the group
is able to get their hands on the Wind Flute. In Ludia Scias is informing
Ilgor of the heroes' plan.
With the Wind Flute in hand the heroes enter the tower Pung Tap. Climbing
high to the tallest reaches of the tower Ryu and his party are confronted by
Ilgor. Ilgor is willing to make a deal though, in exchange for Ryu, the
Yorae Dragon, all transgressions by Cray and Nina will be forgiven and the
slate wiped clean. Nina and Cray refuse resulting in a battle between the
heroes and Ilgor's men. There seems to be no end to Ilgor's grunts, and
when the team is pushed to their limit Scias arrives to lend his help.
Breaking his contract with Ilgor Scias decides to help his new friends and
makes short work of the grunts. Ilgor runs away and the group is left to
greet P'ung Ryong in peace.
The heroesride the gondola high into the clouds and witness a spectacle of
airbourne creatures dancing in the sky. From beneath them the enourmous
P'ung Ryong emerges from the clouds to greet his guests. His mighty voice
welcomes the Wyndian Princess and the Yorae Dragon. In order to be less
intimidating P'ung Ryong takes a human form to continue speaking with the
heroes. P'ung Ryong tells the team that Ryu is one of his kind, an Endless.
For now though Ryu may be a god he is not yet complete and therefore mortal.
The Wind Dragon goes on to say that the Endless are neither good nor evil,
they fulfill the wish of the one that summons them. Ryu, being a new
summon, has no purpose yet. P'ung Ryong tells Ryu that in order to be
complete he must go to his place of summoning and out of respect for their
kinship the dragon will take them there.
At the base of the mountain the Wind Dragon took the heroes lies Chek, a
village of the summoners that call the dragons. The village is inhabited
almost entirely by children save the village elder, Abbess. Abbess can
immediately recognize Ryu as the Yorae Dragon. Abbess explains that even
though she's blind she can see the life force in all living beings, and
Ryu's is enormous. Night falls and as the team sleeps Ryu is spoken to by
Abbess in his dream. Abbess asks Ryu where he came from and of course Ryu
can't answer. This bothers Abbess as all the Endless in the world were
summoned by their village except Ryu. From above Ershin makes her presence
known. Abbess comes to the conclusion that Ershin must also be one of the
Endless if she is capable of entering Ryu's dream unnoticed. Abbess begins
to sense the Endless aura in Ershin but comments that it's being dampened
somehow. Ershin says that Ershin wants to be released from her imprisonment
inside the suit of armor and Abbess makes plans.
In the morning the group huddles around Ershin and the others are informed
of Ershin's godhood. The team places their hands on Ershin and are brought
inside a dream world in the armor. In Ershin's mind the group discovers a
beautiful woman being held captive in a force field. Ryu and his party
destroy the pillar creating the force field but unfortunately the Endless,
Deis, doesn't have a physical body and still can't leave the armor. Outside
the armor a medium named Rhem is found and the transfer of Deis' spirit
commences. Immediately Deis demands food, drink, and relaxation before
she'll answer any questions about Ryu.
Elsewhere Fou-Lu is recovering and treated to the best hospitality a simple
peasant girl like Mami can muster.
In Chek Deis has finished her "offering" and begins to talk about herself
and Ryu. She explains that the Endless are summoned to this world to help
change it in some way, comparing it to a ship with no wind until the Endless
make the wind. Needless to say the ability to summon the Endless has been a
closely guarded secret by the Chek villagers and Abbess is stumped on how
Ryu and Deis could have been summoned if they didn't do it. Deis reveals
that it was the Fou Empire that summoned them. Problem is, the Empire's
method of summoning isn't perfect like the Chek villager's and Ryu and Deis
are incomplete. While Deis was summoned without a physical body Ryu was
split into two individuals when his summoning went wrong.
Meanwhile in Sonne, Fou-Lu has recovered and sets foot outside Mami's
domicile to see her village. He tried to take his leave and resume his trek
for the capital when he is stopped by one of the villagers and pestered.
Mami walks by calling Fou-Lu Ryong and claiming him to be her cousin. Mami
escorts Fou-Lu back to her home and apologizes for the landlord's behavior.
That night as Mami is preparing supper Fou-Lu tells her the story of the
first emperor. Seeing him visibly pained to tell the tale Mami stops him.
The following morning Fou-Lu tries once again to leave but is stopped by
Mami, pleading with him to stay. A loud scream is heard followed by cries
of pain. Fou-Lu goes to investigate and finds a beast called Papan. Upon
the beast's defeat is becomes one of the small, tapir looking beasts
commonly found. Fou-Lu deduces that the ravenous form of the small creature
was the result of his aura infecting it by accident.
Back in Chek, Deis tells of Ryu's other half, seperated not only by distance
but time as well, Fou-Lu the God Emperor. As Deis sleeps once more,
exhausted from the latest course of events, the team delves into her mind
once more to confront her on the matters at hand. Deis is quite unpleased
with this intrusion, commenting how the world can't make up their mind
without bothering the Endless. Deis says the Ryu was always meant to
reunite with Fou-Lu and be used by the Empire but there is a way to possibly
avoid that fate. Deis' plan is to make Ryu as strong as Fou-Lu so maybe he
can overpower him.
The team heads for Yorae Shrine to consult the Gods. Along the way the suit
of armor Deis was trapped in catches up with the party. Deis concludes that
some of her aura must be left over inside the armor allowing it to move.
Deis yells at the armor and storms off. Ershin asks Nina what it should do
and Nina tells it to wait back in Chek. The team arrives at the Shrine and
makes their way to the summoning stage. At once Ryu's power begins to flow
and call forth the other Dragons.
Back in Sonne Fou-Lu can sense the presence of his other half. An eruption
cuts short his epiphany and he goes to investigate. Fou-Lu finds Mami near
the exit of the town who says a God is rumored to reside in the mountain, a
God that will cause a disaster should he be angered. Intrigued Fou-Lu goes
to Mt. Yogy to see this "God" for himself. Inside he finds a only a monster
named Marl drunk off the residual influence of the Endless believing itself
to be one. Fou-Lu shows the sentient rock the power of a true God and
destroys the nuisance. Mami and the landlord go to Mt. Yogy and find Fou-Lu
coming down. The landlord speaks harshly to Fou-Lu demanding to know what
he is as normal people can't go around killing gods.
At the Yorae Shrine the Dragon Gods have appeared to Ryu, Deis, and the
others. Deis asks the Dragons to lend Ryu their power, so he might be
strong enough to overcome Fou-Lu. The Dragons say that it is fate and Ryu
must join with Fou-Lu, news Deis is unpleased to hear. The Dragons are
taking no side in this upcoming conflict and say that in the long run it
doesn't matter whose will wins in the merger. Deis is again not happy to
hear this as she wants Ryu to become a complete God so he can send her home.
The dragons chide her for desiring a to use a God for her own benefit but
Deis retorts saying the mortals of this world are no different.
In Sonne Fou-Lu goes to rest at Mami's house and tells her he thinks it time
he leaves. He goes to take a walk and spies the landlord bringing in
Imperial soldiers. Instead of fighting and killing the soldiers Fou-Lu
decides to make a stealthier escape and goes to hide in Mami's house. As he
steps inside he begins to think to himself. What does it matter about the
village? Why does he hesitate? He can simply kill the troops and make for
Chedo. And yet... Mami comes rushing past the guards and barricades the
door to her house. Fou-Lu questions her why she would do such a thing for
him. Mami confesses her feelings for Fou-Lu and tells him to make for a
shrine in the woods. Fou-Lu leaves through a small break in the wall but
not before taking one last look back at the mortal woman. Mami is captured
and brought before Yohm who discerns the depth of her relationship with Fou-
Lu. Pleased with his find he orders that she be prepared for the Caronade.
At the shrine Deis continues to argue with the Dragons saying she refuses to
end up becoming an ugly beast like them watching over a stupid planet. The
Dragons decide to leave but tell Ryu that he can go and seek out their "true
selves" and be blessed with their power. P'ung Ryong blesses Ryu with his
power and the team leaves the shrine.
In Chek the Imperial Army has arrived with Rasso and Ursula leading the
campaign. Fortunately Abbess had evacuated the village in time. Troopers
attack Ershin and Abbess, but Ershin was more than enough to handle them.
Rasso catches glimpse of Ershin and recognizes it as one of Ryu's allies.
Unamused with Ershin, Rasso blasts the suit of armor into a wall leaving it
a wreck. By the time Ryu and the party arrive it's too late. Deis says
that Ershin can be saved if she went back inside him but doesn't want to.
Nina scolds Deis for being so cold to one of their friends, even if that
friend was just a suit of armor. In the morning Cray wants to check on the
villagers in their hiding spot. Along the way Nina mourns the loss of
Ershin. Cray tries his best to cheer her up but nothing works. In Chek
Deis is talking to Abbess about how humans can hate and murder each other
but the loss of an animated armor brings such pain to Nina.
Just outside the abandoned village the Chek villagers went to the party is
captured by Ursula, a captain in the Imperial Army. Nina pleads with Ursula
and the group is escorted to the abandoned village to ensure the villagers
safety. There they find Rasso, who has just finished killing the young
villagers. Even Ursula is appauled by Rasso's violence. Wanting a little
payback for the past indescretions, Rasso summons his ultimate minion Ight.
The heroes fight valiantly but are unable to harm this latest monster.
Pushed to the limit of death Ryu transforms into the Kaiser. Ryu's power
now overwhelming Ight the fell monster is annihalated along with it's master
Rasso and a sizeable chunk of the surroundings. Ryu is out of control,
completely unable to manage himself with this sudden outburst of power.
Nina rushes to Ryu's side and calms him down with her words.
In Sonne Fou-Lu has stuck around to check the status of Mami. A villager
tells him that Mami let herself be arrested so that he can get away. Fou-Lu
finally takes his leave of Sonne and travels to the shrine. At the shrine a
sacrifice is required to open it's entrance. Fou-Lu laughs at this. The
beast Fou-Lu fought days ago had followed him and commits suicide through
bashing it's head into the wall's text. Fou-Lu is surprised that the beast
would give itself up for his benefit and proceeds. Beyond the shrine lies
Soma Forest. Immideately Fou-Lu begins to notice the odd quiet in the area
calling it unnatural. Fou-Lu falls clutching his head as he has a sense of
great danger coming his way. The sky darkens, a brilliant violet flash
rains down on top of Fou-Lu. The hex makes a direct hit. Fou-Lu still
stands though, in a sea of hatred and agony. From the sky drops a small
bell, a small bell to which he knows the owner. Mami had been sacrificed to
use this horrific weapon. With psychotic laughter Fou-Lu falls into
unconsciousness.
In the abandoned village Ryu is normal again, resting. Ursula and Cray
bicker between one another about the war. Nina wonders if the reason Ryu
went berserk is if it's because he isn't whole. Nina comes to the decision
that the group needs to go to the Empire and meet with Ryu's other half.
She feels that if it's fate that Ryu and Fou-Lu meet they should take a
proactive stance instead of just waiting. With Ursula in tow the party
heads back to Chek to consult Abbess.
Abbess is informed of the plan and Ursula is let in on her first Emperor's
godhood. Ursula agrees to help the party get into the Empire saying it
makes her job easier with cooperation. Ryu and Nina go to get Deis for the
journey and find she's taken residency in Ershin again bringing their friend
back to life. Deis makes sure to tell the group that it's not because she
enjoys the suit of armor its simply easier for her to travel with them this
way. Now six strong the party leaves Chek to begin their journey to the
Empire.
Beyond Mt. Ryft the team comes to Shyde, the city on the edge of the
dessert. Unfortunately the gang has no money to buy a sandflier. A
merchant's sandflier begins to leave and Ursula and Scias board to forcibly
stop it. As fate would have it the sandflier belonged to none other than
Marlok, the sleezy businessman from Synesta. In an act unfitting his
character Marlok loans the money to Cray to buy a sandflier. Marlok leaves
telling his employees that the reason he loaned the money is because he sees
the heroes doing great things...and plans to be there to cash in on it!
With a sandflier the party can make their way to the causeway at Kyoin.
Unfortunately for Ryu and his team the trouble they caused a while back has
left the causeway inoperable and different way to the Empire must be found.
At the port a fellow traveler is looking to get to the Empire and has heard
of a passageway in the north, all he wants is a ride to Shikk.
The journey to Shikk is uneventful, save for the Alliance blockade of the
road entering the city. Cray tries to talk to the guards and get the team
through, in contrast to Ursula's plan of a sneak attack at nightfall. The
guards recognize Cray as wanted by the Ludians and make a failed attempt to
arrest him. With Nina's clever and cunning the group manages to literally
bounce over the checkpoint and reach Shikk farther down the road.
In Shikk the team asks around and finds some sailors in the local pub. The
ship's master, Zig, refuses to allow anyone aboard that hasn't had the Sea
God's blessing. With that in mind Ryu and the team head to Fane, a small
shrine dedicated to the Sea God. The party meets with the Sea God of the
sailors, the dragon Hae Ryong. Hae Ryong gives his blessing and the party
returns to Shikk. There still lies one problem for Ryu's team...Nina and
Ursula. The sailors believe women on a ship to be bad luck and refuse to
take them along unless they prove their toughness. Kahn makes a dramatic
appearance standing atop the main mast and tells how he wandered to Shikk
and began training with the sailors. Ursula ends his spiel abruptly
shooting him down. This doesn't convince the sailors of their strength
however. Zig does come up with a test though, if Nina and Ursula spend one
night in the bowels of the ship they'll allow them to ride. Nina and Ursula
bond a little and discover a certain insect fear of Ursula's. The following
day, having proved themselves, the entire group boards the boat to head for
the Empire.
Zig can only take the party to a series of islands before the Empire, which
is fine for the team. The trip is far from boring. First Kahn makes an
attempted comeback. After Kahn is easily defeated the group runs into a
ship graveyard harboring a strong aura inside. Inside the haunted graveyard
the group finds a monster altered by the aura of the Endless and thinks
itself a God, much like Fou-Lu found. Ryu and his team destroy the false
God and they resume their trip to the islands.
After a few days the group lands at Lyp, a small village on the beach. From
Lyp the gang travels southward coming to a village called Pabpab. Pabpab is
inhabited by several small, furry critters and a human named Beyd. Beyd
welcomes his visitors and introduces them to Poko...his wife... Beyd tells
his guests they can use time the tides and cross the islands and enter the
Empire. The group goes to rest and find a sick pabpab. Taking time off of
their quest they go and get medicinal herbs and heal the little critter.
After the diminuative creature is healed the group is thanked and they head
for the island path to the Empire.
The path is long and soon night falls. Ryu and his friends become trapped
on one of the small islands leading to the Empire by the changing of the
tides and it is the tides that will dictate when they can advance again.
Helpless against nature the team has no choice but to bide their time.
In Chedo Fou-Lu has finally arrived to take back his throne from the current
Emperor Soniel. Effortlessly Fou-Lu makes his way inside the castle. One
of Fou-Lu's beastial servants, A-Tur, stops him in the main lobby. Once the
beast recognizes his master he quickly changes his tone and awaits his
master's order. Fou-Lu's command is to assault the Imperial capital, Fou-
Lu's final act he says is to destroy the very Empire he created. While
climbing the castle Fou-Lu runs into Yohm, who is very surprised to see the
God Emperor alive. In one more futile attempt to kill the Dragon, Yohm
summons Kahbo to attack. Kahbo is destroyed and Yohm summons Kamyu in
another pathetic attempt on Fou-Lu's life. Again, Fou-Lu defeats the
monster with no effort. Yohm finally realizes the futility. He bows his
head knowing that no force the Empire commands can best Fou-Lu. Yohm
commits suicide through igniting himself and Fou-Lu continues to the throne
room. Soniel sends Yuna to investigate the disturbance. Yuna has
some priests and guards try to overpower Fou-Lu, needless to say this plan
does not work. Yuna flees and Fou-Lu confronts Soniel. Soniel pretends to
be humble but when Fou-Lu lowers his guard Soniel stabs him with the
Dragonslayer, a sword capable of killing Gods. Fou-Lu is not killed, nor is
he pleased with this latest crime against him.
Back on the island Ryu and Nina are fishing. Nina tells Ryu that she loves
Cray but knows he doesn't feel the same. She talks about Cray some more
before the two regroup with the others. The tide is finally allowing Ryu
and his team to leave the islands. With haste they arrive in Koshka, a
village known all over by treasure hunters. From Koshka the party heads for
Chiqua by passing through the Shan River. At Chiqua a traveling merchant
named Fu Chuman can get Ryu and his party to Chedo in exchange for rare
goods. After procuring a piece of potery from Koshka, Fu tells the team of
his river he uses to get goods to Chedo.
Ryu and his party make it across the river and come to a town called Pauk.
The village chief knows the way to get to the Empire from Pauk is
unfortunately preoccupied being depressed from his runaway chicken. Ryu
goes and retrieves the pet chicken and gets the info to make it to the
Empire.
The information received takes the party through a tomb...Fou-Lu's tomb.
Won-Qu awakens. Won-Qu can identify Ryu as Endless but still refuses to
allow him through. Ryu and his party engage in a fierce battle with Fou-
Lu's servant and eventually come out victorious. The team ventures through
the tomb and runs into even more trouble in the form of two magical cubes I
and II. After defeating the troublesome duo Won-Qu appears to the team and
complements them. He bequeaths a gem that allows the team to exit the tomb.
The path outside the tomb leads Ryu and his party back on track to Chedo.
Along the way the group hears rumors of Chedo being attacked. Along a
highway Ursula and Ryu run into a road blockade and learn Chedo is indeed
under siege. General Rhun, a leader Ursula idolizes, has fallen back to
Astana. The team makes for Astana and Ursula gets everyone into the base.
The team finds themselves in the same lobby from so long ago that Ryu
dreamt. Immedieately the group is swarmed by undead monsters. Throughout
the base the team finds several wounded and slain soldiers. The result of
the recent flux of monsters. Delving farther into the base discovering
horrific organic growths. In a large room beyond sewage pipes lies an
enormous horrific body. Ryu tries to cut one of the tendrils but fails. An
astral image of Princess Elina appears before them saying they'll need the
Drgaonslayer to cut this thing. Nina, Cray, and Elina are in shock to see
each other but can't talk at the current moment. With no time to waste Ryu,
Nina, and Cray scour the remainder of the base for Yuna who is in possession
of the Dragonslayer.
Yuna is found at Kwanso. Cray immediately gets confrontational with Yuna.
Yuna realizes the futility in trying to hide anythine else and freely gives
up the Dragonslayer. Back at the Astana base the aura of death and evil has
grown. Thick purple haze floods the passageways. As Ryu hacks his way
through the growths the organism howls in pain. As they climb to the top of
the beast they notice that the wounded parts of the creature have
regenerator. Yuna is standing by to greet the party as they reach a small
house on top of the base. Yuna cryptically tells that while Elina may not
be in Astana anymore what she left behind still is. Ursula learns that the
General has left for Chedo. Yuna departs and Cray, Nina, and Ryu enter the
house and find Elina. Elina, Cray, and Nina are overjoyed with their
reunion but Elina is unable to get out of bed. Elina asks Ryu and Nina to
leave her with Cray, and to leave the Dragonslayer at the foot of the bed.
Outside Deis comments that a power much like the Endless is emmitting from
inside the house. Back inside the house Elina reveals why she can't
leave...the horrible organism from before is...her! Yuna spontaneously
appears and tells how he made her into a Goddess so that she could be an
everlasting sacrifice for the Caronade. Yuna vanishes once again as Cray
charges to kill him. Cray blames himself for Elina's current state. Elina
tells Cray to kill her with the Dragonslayer as she does not wish to stay as
she is. With great reluctancy and a heavy heart Cray fulfills the last wish
of his love.
The melancholy group makes way for Chedo, capital of the Fou Empire.
Several civilians and troops have set up a sort of safe zone outside the
city walls. Inside the city walls however, A-Tur runs rampant and
unchallenged. Standing above freshly defeated Imperial Soldiers is how Ryu
and his party find the beast. Without wasting any words A-Tur launches an
attack on the heroes. The mighty A-Tur is humbled by Ryu and his party
allowing the heroes entrance into the castle. Ursula finds General Rhun and
completes her mission of escorting the Yorae Dragon to the Empire. Rhun
senses Ryu's strength and apologizes for all the trouble the Empire has
caused him, knowing full well the dark side the Empire has. Rhun knows that
the events caused by Yuna and the Empire must be stopped and begs Ryu for
his help. Ershin jokes that Ryu is under Nina's thumb so there's no way he
won't help.
Inside the main castle lobby A-Tur appears before Ryu apologizing for his
actions against Fou-Lu's other half. In an effort of humility A-Tur
transports the party to Fou-Lu's tower. The first challenge the party faces
comes in the form of Dragonne, a minion of Fou-Lu. It's healing ability is
little more than bothersome to the powerful warriors and they slay the
dragon grabbing the Blue Charm left behind. The Blue Charm allows the
heroes into deeper sections of the castle where they find the yellow and red
charms which act as other keys.
Before long Ryu comes face to face with Fou-Lu. Immediately the God Emperor
subdues Ryu's allies. Fou-Lu is more than ready to become a complete God.
He demands the merger and Ryu aptly refuses. Ryu slashes at Fou-Lu but
finds only an astral image before him. Ryu follows Fou-Lu to his location.
With Ryu's allies by his side he confronts Fou-Lu in the flesh at the place
of his summoning. Fou-Lu can feel all of Ryu's memories and knowing Ryu
cannot be swayed attacks. Ryu fights Fou-Lu one-on-one to a standstill.
Ryu's friends come in to interfere with the duel to support their friend.
Fou-Lu is again irritated with Ryu, going on to tell of his observations of
the mortal world...and their unworthiness. Fou-Lu pries into Ryu's memories
of the past evils he's witnessed at the hands of mortals but Ryu believes in
the world he and his friends live in. Fou-Lu's impatience has grown thin.
He summons a mighty dragon, Tyrant, to destroy Ryu's allies. The great
dragon is powerful but ultimately falls to Ryu and his allies. Fou-Lu is
amazed. No longer can he delve into Ryu's thoughts. Nina and Deis plead
with Fou-Lu for the sake of the world but he continues to refuse to listen.
Finally he's heard enough, Fou-Lu opts to take matters into his own hands.
Transforming into a neverbefore seen form of Astral he attacks Ryu, Nina,
Cray, Ursula, Ershin, and Scias. Astral Fou-Lu's strength is unreal. His
power can easily bring the party to their knees in one swoop. Still, with
the fate of milions of lives at stake Ryu, Nina, Cray, Ursula, Ershin, and
Scias push forward and defeat the mighty God Emperor. Only in defeat does
Fou-Lu recognize Ryu's passion for this world. Fou-Lu merges himself with
Ryu...and Ryu was no more...the one standing before Nina and their friends
was a God that had long since forgotten his name. Only in this merger does
Ryu fully understand Fou-Lu's motives and Fou-Lu Ryu's. Ryu/Fou-Lu does the
unthinkable by forcing all the Dragon Gods mortal. All around the world the
Endless lose their Godhood, only to live as mortal men and women.
Atop the Astana base Yuna watches these events unfold and statesw how he can
easily make as many Gods as they want...or need. With all the Gods turned
mortal Ryu returns to his normal, blue haired self. Deis becomes intrigued
by this new turn of events and decides to stay in their world. Back in
Chedo Ursula says that the Fou Empire may be done with but the people will
rebuild something new. Cray and Ursula come to respect one another and they
part ways. The heroes get back to their own lives to lead in a world
without Gods, but somehow, Nina thinks they'll all be ok.
WHAT WE KNOW NOW:
-----------------
-Ryu and Deis were summoned into the world from an outside world.
-Fou-Lu is dead. Emperor Soniel is most likely dead (he had made a failed
attempt to kill Fou-Lu who was already pissed at him then fade into black
with maniacal evil Fou-Lu face, not hard to figure out what happened).
-The Fou Empire has fallen. Ursula is helping to rebuild something in it's
place.
-The Gods are now mortal.
-Ludia, Worent, and Wyndia are at least three nations forming an uneasy
alliance.
-Chek is left with two survivors, these two are the only ones left on the
planet with any idea how to properly summon a God. (Rhem was just a child
and Abbess seems like she'd understand Ryu/Fou-Lu's will of a world without
Gods. Not a big intuitive leap to say that the ability to summon the Gods
dies with her.)
-Yuna is alive and expressed willingness to create more Gods.
OBSERVATIONS:
-------------
-So before Ryu4 turns into a dragon as far as a cutscene will allow us to
see everyone and their mom knows that Ryu4 is a dragon. This bothers me.
Because yeah sure you could just say that anytime you used Meditate in the
game everyone sees but Nina is in shock when P'ung Ryong tells her that Ryu4
is a dragon. So if we count random battle transformations and boss fights
she probably would have seen Ryu become a dragon more than a few times. I'm
either left to believe Nina4 is incredibly stupid or in game battles don't
count towards the plot, which is that damn near everyone already knew to be
the case with RPGs.
-Here's a thought, way way way back in the day Fou-Lu was called and united
the empire right? He goes to sleep saying that when he wakes up he wants
his throne back, not such a bad request for all he did. When you think
about it he never truly became an antagonist until after his peasant girl
died. After her death was when he jumped on the "screw all mortals"
bandwagon, he used to just consider mortals simply a lesser class of being.
All I'm saying is I don't think it would have been so bad having him back on
the throne after he woke up if things went according to plan. Sure we'd
lose Ryu4 but Fou-Lu already proved himself an accomplished leader before
why not let him do it again?
-I really wanna know what the deal with the old frog-lady hermit is. She
knows about the Dragons, knows Ryu is a Dragon, and generally comes off very
enigmatic. She knows a damn sight more than she's letting on.
-In BOF4 the Woren are a fairly sizeable population. They have their home
of Worent and every now and then you'll see Worens in other towns and
cities. So if BOF4 is a prequel what happened to them to put them on the
brink of extinction in BOF1-3?
-Cray and Tarhn only lend more evidence to my theory that humans are a blank
slate in the BOF world. Cray, who in every way looks as Woren as the other
members of his tribe, has a completely human mother and Woren father. So is
human DNA easily overridden or what?
-There's a Manillo in Worent that makes it sound like they were a rare sight
before they set their eyes on commercial dominance ("Eh? You say zat you
'ave seen others like me in other places? Zat is because we Manillo plan to
take over zee world...zee world of business of course!"). Again, if BOF4 is
a prequel we could be witnessing the beginning of the Manillo's great trade
expansion as in BOF1-3 they're in damn near every shop.
-When you really think about it there wasn't much at stake in this game.
When Fou-Lu became a villain the most damage he'd have done was killed a
city's worth of people. He planned on leaving after that. Really if Ryu
and his party didn't do anything Fou-Lu would have taken down the Empire and
ended the war between the Empire and the Alliance. Ludia was being kind of
an asshole but I think the Wyndians and Worens together could have taken
them.
-...HOW THE HELL DO BEYD AND POKO PROCREATE!?!?!?!?!?
-Why is Yuna the only male Grassrunner that doesn't look completely like a
canine? Typically male Grassrunners look like anthropomorphic canines (such
as Bo or Bow) and the females look human with long ears and a tail (like Momo
and Ursula).
-Goddess Elina and Goddess Myria (specifically BOF3).....seperated at birth?
-Was I the only one just strolling through the game without much of a
problem until it hits A-Tur then BAM I gotta go level grinding? Kinda like
you get to that part in the game and some asshole at Capcom says, "Alright
folks time to separate the men from the boys".
-So why exactly did Capcom think it'd be a good idea to translate everything
in the game except the credits? We don't even get a "The End" in English.
PREQUEL OR ALTERNATE REALITY?:
------------------------------
Probably the biggest debate amongst BOF fans is whether or not BOF4
takes place in an alternate reality or is a prequel to BOF1-3. The debate
goes pretty much as follows:
--------------------------|------------------------
Alternate reality |Prequel
--------------------------|------------------------
-In Wyndia you'll find |-Yuna made Elina into a
Momo who will say how | Goddess. By the end of
she was working in a lab | BOF4 Yuna is still alive
when an explosion occured| and well and has stated
where afterwards she | that he can easily make
woke up there. She | another God if he chooses.
will continue to say | Supporters of the
that she feels like she's| prequel side say this
in an alternate | is the origin of Myria.
dimension or something. |-At the end of BOF4 the
-The method in which Ryu | merged God from Ryu and
and Deis were summoned | Fou-Lu turn all the Gods
invloves them being taken| mortal. Supporters say
from an alternate | this is the origin of the
dimension. Supporters | Brood.
of the Alternate Reality |-There is a vast desert and
arguement say this means | sea of mud in BOF4, supporters
they were pulled from | say this is the desert
one of the original BOF | that Myria cut off from
games. | the rest of the world.
So the arguements go like this: Supporters of an alternate reality say
that Ryu, Deis, and all the other "Gods" were actually Brood summoned over
from the BOF1-3 timeline. Then there's Momo who says she feels like she's
in an alternate dimension. Personally if I'd awakened somewhere, ANYWHERE,
that resembled a place I knew after an explosion I'd feel the same so I take
this as she just has no idea where she is, or when.
Supporters of the prequel say that the Gods that were summoned to the
world were turned into the mortal race of the Brood at the end of the game.
The Gods united to form the first Dragon family but, as they were no longer
Endless, eventually died off. Ryu and Fou-Lu would be the first Kaiser and
Tyrant respectively. Remember folks the Dragon family didn't split into the
Light and Dark families until a couple hundred years or so before BOF1.
Yuna by the end of the game was alive and well and states that he can easily
create a new God if he wanted, and Goddess Elina did have that grotesquely
large, monstrous form that both Myrias we've seen have used. I always took
that as a painfully obvious ploy to say Yuna made Myria.
The biggest thorns in the side of prequel supporters is Ladon and Deis.
In BOF3 Deis states that she's Myria's sister, but Deis was summoned into
BOF4 world and isn't a Goddess in the same vein Elina was. The only
reasoning I've heard that can work comes from a strategy guide I saw written
by Billy Lee on GameFAQs that goes Yuna "may" (ughh... theres that word...)
have created a body for Deis to attatch her soul to thus making herself and
Myria "sisters" of sorts. Then there's Ladon the Dragon God worshipped by
many in BOF1, 2, and 3. No dragon called "Ladon" exists in BOF4 as far as
I've seen. I want to think that the merged Fou-Lu and Ryu was Ladon but no
one ever saw him besides Ryu's team. I guess it's POSSIBLE that one of his
allies started the religion but who would have done it? Ladon and Deis'
sisterhood with Myria make me ask way too many questions and assume one
thing too many.
So as you can see the Alternate Reality side of the debate is the
Occam's Razor explanation. It's simple, it can make sense, go with it.
Then the Prequel side is the more complicated one. There's more of an
arguement but at the same time there's more holes that need to be filled.
I'm still of the opinion BOF4 is a prequel but I can understand those that
say BOF4 is an alternate universe.
--------------------------------
Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter
--------------------------------
(For simplicity I'm going to make a special note of SOL scenes, they will be
marked by the "<>" symbols surrounding text, exceptions being the SOL scenes
that are only a couple seconds long and just feature Ryu looking off into
space or something to that degree.)
PLOT:
-----
THIS IS A TINY TALE OF TIME CONCERNING WAR BETWEEN FRIENDS. DESTINY DECIDED
TO CHALLENGE US, AND SO WE CHOOSE TO END THE WORLD IN ORDER TO MEET OUR
MORTALITY. THERE WAS NOTHING TO REGRET. NOTHING...
In a locker room two young men, the blue haired Ryu and the aristocratic
Bosch, discuss the duty they'll be performing that day. Bosch is most
unpleased with this assignment. The duo make way for their superior
officer's office and get the details on their assignment. Captain Violet
Zeno informs the two of their mission to safeguard a supply lift at Level E.
Ryu has no questions concerning the mission, Bosch however wants to speak
with Zeno in private.
Bosch and Ryu make way for the lift, which in a stroke of bad luck is broken
down. An upset Bosch is now forced to walk the tracks to get to the labs for
to pick up their cargo. Ryu and Bosch travel through the Genic infested
tunnels to reach Bio Corp.
Arriving at Bio Corp the duo pass by the Genic Processor where a large Dragon
corpse rests. "The long wait is over at last", Ryu can hear in his mind...
"You have awakened... my dying dream...Let us go, my little friend...Once
again to the sky!" Ryu collapses and a frantic Bosch wakes him up. Ryu
dusts himself off and Bosch mentions that there are no records of such a
large Genic on file, wondering if it was an experiment. Ryu, to his own
surprise, whispers the Dragon's name: Odjn. The rest of Bio Corp is almost
completely deserted and riddled with storage containers and Genic cages. The
duo make it in time for the lift at Bio Corp and can finally undertake their
assigned mission.
Bosch chats with Ryu about taking all the credit for the mission. His reason
being that with Ryu's low D-Ratio he won't be going anywhere in life and
therefore has no need of the recognition. Before Ryu can respond to this
arrogant proclomation the train is attacked by a Woren woman on a large Genic
belonging to Trinity, an organization against the Rangers and their society.
Firing a rocket propelled grenade the mystery woman derails the train and
sends Ryu and the cargo plummeting to the depths below. In a dream Ryu sees
Odjn and becomes his chosen vessel, inheriting the power of the great Fire
Dragon's power, the 1800-year destroyer. A white, transparent figure tells
Ryu to find his fate before fate finds him.
Ryu wakes up and makes his way to higher ground. Along the way he finds the
Genic that attacked him hauling away the young blonde girl with red wings.
Instantly Ryu's new Dragon powers activate and a magnificent red aura
surrounds the Ranger. Ryu skewers the cycloptic beast through the back and
dismembers an arm. After laying the girl gently on the floor Ryu finishes
the beast. Ryu's power boost has subsided and the girl with red wings has
woken up. In a strained voice Nina gives Ryu her name. Ryu takes it upon
himself to escort Nina to a place of safety.
Ryu and Nina make way through the Genic infested grounds of End Sector to
come face to face with Lin. Lin and Ryu have a brief scuffle and join forces
in the best interest of Nina, and because Nina has grown very attached to Ryu
in this short amount of time. Meanwhile back at Ranger HQ Bosch is being
berated for his failure of the mission. Zeno commands Bosch to "get rid of
it permanently". Back in End Sector, with a group three strong Ryu, Nina,
and Lin are easily able to traverse the Genic ridden gauntlet.
<"Man will gain wings" Hortensia tells her peers. Hortensia has prophesized
that man will once again return to the sky. However, The enigmatic indivuals
express their dislike of the notion.>
Eventually the trio makes it to the end sector ghetto of Junk City, a ghetto
where those with the lowest D-Ratios are forced to live. After picking up
some supplies and taking a moment to rest the trio head for the lift station.
There they are confronted by Bosch. Though Ryu is happy to see his friend
alive Bosch is only there for business. Bosch immediately draws his rapier
and Ryu stands against him. Bosch explains that his orders were to terminate
the cargo and apologizes to Ryu before lancing his knee. Nina rushes to
Ryu's side. Ryu once more tries to protect Nina, resulting in Bosch's rapier
penetrating his throat. Ryu's dragon powers activate once more and he heals.
This time, however, Ryu isn't just engulfed in a red aura. No, he makes a
full transformation to a human/dragon form. Ryu easily dispatches Bosch and
his two goons. A terrified Lin and Nina watch Ryu as he reverts to his human
form and feints.
Ryu wakes up in a room with Lin and Nina. Lin instantly tried to get answers
out of Ryu but Ryu takes the conversation by asking about the hit on Nina.
For Nina's sake Lina and Ryu put their differences aside and make for Bio
Corp labs to get answers regarding Nina.
Back at Ranger HQ Bosch is still shaken by his encounter with the dragon
powered Ryu. Zeno tries to assure Bosch that the chain of events is within
acceptabe margins but Bosch won't have any of it. Zeno then tells Bosch that
he is relieved of further duty, angering Bosch further.
Elsewhere the Regents have assembled again to discuss Ryu. The pink haired
girl from before mentions that even though this day was forseen, the exact
date was not. Suddenly a blue aura generates in the room and a man pulsing
with electricity and covered in blue markings appears. Hortensia is shocked,
much like the other Regents, to learn that the new host of the Dragon's power
is a ranger grunt. She begins to power up a form of space/time rift to deal
with Ryu but the blue man stops her saying it isn't time to act yet.
Ryu, Nina, and Lin have made it to the Low Sector Borough. After a quick
stop to rest the trio enter the labs but can't go very far due to lacking the
proper ID card. They exit the labs back into the Borough and find that
Rangers have flooded the area with a nerve gas. The Rangers jest that this
gas is perfect for killing Genics and Low-D's and Ryu looks around to see the
townsfolk falling to the gas's effects. With no time to waste Ryu, Nina, and
Lin dispatch the villainous Rangers. With the Rangers' last move one of them
breaks the shut off valve from the tank. The group is left to figure out how
to dissipate the gas with no answer. Things look worse and worse until Nina
displays a most powerful ability: atmospheric cleansing. With her red wings
Nina purifies the air and saves the Borough and Ryu. Lin moves the two
unconsious heroes to a more secure area. Ryu wakes up and is informed of the
events and Nina's wings now discharge a slight, dark colored, gas. Not
enough to hurt anyone else but still detrimental to Nina's health.
Lin informs the team that the lab head's complex will be at the top of the
facility and the party makes haste. In one of the examination rooms the trio
find a small stuffed doll.
Ryu, Lin, and Nina continue to make their way through Bio Corp Labs fighting
through Genics along the way. When the trio make it to the room where Nina
was experimented on and ultimately silenced a lab tech walks in. Talking
about Nina as if she were no more than a piece of equipment the man scolds
Ryu and Lin for not taking better care of Nina's ventilation equipment. Ryu
can't stomach anymore of the man's uncaring words and punches him into the
wall behind them. Ryu draws his blade in anger and demands answers regarding
Nina. The lab tech explains that in Nina's current condition it's only a
matter of time before she dies unless she can get to a place with cleaner
air. Ryu decides the only course of action is to take Nina to the surface of
the planet, gambling on the chance it is pure once more.
The trio quickly take their leave of the labs and begin their journey to the
sky. The passageway to leave the labs is not an easy one however, multiple
sentries have been alerted to the heroes presense and stand foolishly in the
way. Eventually the heroes find an unguarded exit through the Frozen Road.
At the end of the Frozen Road the team runs into an ambush lead by Zeno and
Bosch. Zeno tries to tell Ryu that it's contact with the "experiment" that
is causing him to have delusions and makes him rebel. Ryu is, needless to
say, not convinced. Ryu asks politely if he and his friends can pass which
Zeno will not allow. Ryu, Nina, and Lin defeat the first wave of Rangers
that outnumbered 3 to 1. Bosch looks on in fear at the power Ryu has
attained and a new wave of Rangers enters the fray, these ones possessing
mechanical suits of armor. This new mechanical enemy is quickly brought down
by the might of the heroes and in a last ditch effort to kill them self
destructs. Luckily there was plenty of cover and the heroes avoided the
blast. Ryu stands defiant of Zeno and is forced to battle his former
superior officer. After a fierce battle Ryu overcomes his skilled adversary.
Zeno dies and Bosch is left to run in fear of Ryu and his power.
Ryu falls to his knees asking who the voice speaking to him is. Odjn tells
Ryu that he is chosen and he needs to go find his fate. Ryu shakes his head
stating that all he wants is to help Nina. Lin decides the best course of
action is to go and get help from Trinity. With that plan the group leaves
the area and prepares to pass through the Industrial Area.
Ryu and the party make their way through the Industrial Area and find several
high ranking rangers slain. Ryu wonders if they were waiting for an ambush
and comes face to face with their killer: Tantra, one of the trio of
assassins hired by Cupid to kill Ryu. After a battle Ryu takes Tantra's ID
card and leaves what they presume to be his dead body. Tantra however looks
up after Ryu and the party leave the area pleased with his strong opponent.
Meanwhile the Regents discuss the defeat of Zeno and her squadron. While the
Regents want to handle Ryu themselves the engimatic blue man says to send
someone else, Cupid's assassins, instead.
After clearing the next set of rooms Ryu, Nina, and Lin come across Geegagis
and Deegon, the next of the assassins. They make for troublesome foes but
are defeated none-the-less. Once defeated they evaporate into the air and a
single for each body will-o-wisp leaves the area. Ryu, Nina, and Lin advance
to the next area only to be confronted by Tantra again. Tantra has slain
several Rangers and absorbed the souls of Geegagis and Deegon. Tantra's
power up makes him a daunting adversary but through teamwork, clever wit, and
muscle Ryu and his team manage to surmount this enemy. With the threat of
the assassins neautralized Ryu, Lin, and Nina make for the next level up.
The party arrives at the MidSector Mall, a kind of black market area. After
a brief rest Lin feels a presnse behind her but dismisses it. In order to
reach the Trinity HQ the team must pass through a ghetto riddled with undead
ghouls. After traversing the infested ghetto Ryu, Nina, and Lin make it to
Trinity HQ. The doctors there place Nina under medical supervision because
of her worsening condition. Ryu meets Mebeth who insists that Nina be left
under the care of Trinity, calling Ryu's trek towards the sky a wild goose
chase. Ryu and Lin decide to take it upon themselves to search the ghettos
once more for some medicine for Nina. . Ryu and Lin
return to Nina and deliver her medicine. The duo take time to rest and
discuss Ryu's power and how it feels like it's killing him. The moment is
cut short by the sound of Nina's scream. Ryu and Lin rush to her aid and
discover she's being attacked by Trinity soldiers. Ryu and Lin dispatch the
Trinity soldiers and save Nina only to be met by Zebul and more Trinity
soldiers. After trouncing the Trinity soldiers Ryu is confronted by Mebeth
who was going to have Nina kidnapped only to blame it on the Rangers to get
Ryu to join their fight. Ryu dismisses Mebeth and tells him they are going
to the sky. Lin, disgusted with Mebeth's plot, opts to go with Ryu. Before
Ryu leaves Mebeth gives Ryu a key to help him reach the sky, saying he'll
need three more like it.
Ryu, Nina, and Lin proceed through an area called "Lifeline". Lifeline is
crawling with bandits and powerful genics, most notable the Gigantis.
However these threats pale in comparison to the resolve of Ryu and his
friends. After muscling their way through Lifeline Ryu and his party come to
a large room where standing in their midst is Bosch. Ryu is surprised to see
his former partner but even more so when Bosch turns to face him, revealing a
horrific sight. Bosch has become imbued with cybernetic alterations leaving
him a disfigured monstrosity. Ryu looks with pity at Bosch who explains that
he "needed a little boost" to cut down his partner that thinks he's so great
even though he's just a low-D. Ryu shakes his head and draws his blade.
Bosch's enhancements have given him more power than anything Ryu has battled
thusfar. However, no manner of artificial power could compare to the
strength of the Dragon's might burning in Ryu. Bosch swears that he won't
lose to Ryu again and plumets to the depths below.
A seething mad Bosch lies at the bottom of the pit while a voice echoes in
his mind. "Can it hate?" he hears. "I choose you" he hears... Meanwhile
Ryu, Nina, and Lin make their way through the remainder of Lifeline and come
to the Power Plant. The beginning of the Power Plant is home to a few
stragglers and government workers. After re-stocking on supplies and taking
a moment to rest Ryu and his party make way through the main facility. After
making their way past the sentry robots and undead demons of the Power Plant
Ryu and his friends make it to the roof where they are confronted by the
Regent Deamoned who stands between them and a transport lift to take them
further. Deamoned gloats that he will fight the dragon once again and
demands a battle. The Regent has a barrier protecting him much to Ryu's
frustration. Before Ryu, Nina, or Lin can inflict any harm on this foe his
barrier must be broken first, wasting precious time and energy. This barrier
is only the beginning of Deamoned's power though as he also boasts impressive
raw physical strength. But as strong as Deamoned is he couldn't stop Ryu and
dies leaving behind a necessary key.
Ryu, Nina, and Lin have arrived at Centre and step into the massive, ornate
palace. Centre is a stark contrast to the meek and deploarable living
conditions of the world below. The Regent's home is one of luxury and
spectacle. Ryu, Nina, and Lin eventually find a teleporter platform that
takes them into the northern part of Centre. From there they pass through a
series of stairwells and run into the child-like Regent Cupid. Cupid tells
Ryu that he isn't strong enough to reach the sky, that the time has not come
yet. He goes on to talk about someone else who faced the sky and sealed
their world eons ago until one who will be chosen by the Dragon emerges.
Cupid says it was a mistake for Ryu to have been chosen and attacks. But
Cupid does not fight alone, his doll Oncotte supports him. Not only can this
doll not be damaged, Cupid has the same barrier protecting him that Deamoned
did. Cupid tries to allow her doll to do the fighting for her.
Unfortunately she couldn't keep away from the team before Oncotte could
finish them and pays the ultimate price. Ryu takes her key and proceeds to
the teleporter in the next room.
The teleporter brought Ryu and his friends to another part of Centre.
Fighting their way through another set of enemies the team comes to a large
room with a checkerboard floor and Hortensia waiting in the middle.
Hortensia says that Ryu's very existence is sin and will lead the world into
chaos. She concedes, though, to the fact Ryu has been chosen by the Dragon
and recognizes his potential to become a Regent. She requests that Ryu
follow her to meet with Elyon. Lin loudly rejects her proposal for Ryu and
the party battles with the Seeress Hortensia. Hortensia's magic is on a
completely new level compared to what the party has seen so far. The Seeress
can distort the space around them and like the other Regents has a protective
barrier to aid her in battle. Ryu won't be stopped though. He has to get to
the sky. The trio muster together all thier skill and wit to defeat this
powerful mage. Hortensia dies believing that perhaps Ryu may bring truth to
her prohpecy. The party makes haste for the next teleporter.
Ryu and his companions are teleported to another part of Centre where there
are even more genics to storm through. Like the other pathways in Centre the
final teleporter brings the trio to another Regent, this time Vexacion.
Vexacion stares down Ryu and swears to stop Ryu in the name of justice. His
two followers, Ryked and Nakala, help their master in his battle. Nalaka
singles out Nina for battle and Ryked takes on Lin leaving Ryu to face
Vexacion uninterupted. The proud swordsmen are strong but they underestimate
the strength of the heroes. Vexacion falls accepting his fate like a true
warrior. Following his death Ryu, Nina, and Lin use the next teleporter.
As expected the teleporter takes Ryu and his team to another section of
Centre crawling with genics. And as expected the teleporter at the end takes
them to the next Regent Jezuit. Jezuit appears from the shadows claiming to
be a fan of Ryu's. Ryu demands Jezuit's and Jezuit agrees on the condition
that Ryu can show him his strength. The battle begins and Jezuit displays a
terrifying skill called Shadow Walk that makes him invisible and impervious
to conventional attack. Luckily Nina's trap magic can render him tangible
once again. From there Ryu needed simply to break through his barrier.
Jezuit falls laughing to himself that he won the bet with Hortensia. Ryu,
Nina, and Lin make their way past the Regent's meeting room and take the
teleporter to their next challenge.
The trio emerges at a cemetary where they can use the keys they collected
from the Regents to gain access to the Geovator Terminal. They ride the lift
and reflect on the great feat they're about to accomplish to save Nina's
life. The lights go out and when they come back Elyon stands behind a
terrified Nina. Elyon, duplicates himself and introduces himself as the one
who ensures the harmony of the world. He says that it is at last time to
reopen the world he locked away eons ago when he was Odjn's host. Elyon
powers up and attacks Ryu. Like the other Regents Elyon possesses a powerful
barrier but stronger than the ones previously encountered. Elyon and his
Alter Egos are extremely powerful, as expected from the previous chosen one.
In the competition of Chosen warriors though, Ryu and his Dragon power prove
to be the superior in this duel. Elyon falls, saying in the past he failed.
Nothing more. He has no regrets saying it was destiny. He merely wanted to
see the people worthy of seeing the sky again. Ryu, Nina, and Lin exit the
lift and and look up at the giant plate blocking the surface.
The trio is elated they made it as they look up. The moment is shattered
when Bosch, returned to normal, walks up. He too looks to the stairway to
the sky. Ryu and Bosch recognize the power inside each other and the
dragon's aura begins to swell up inside them. The two unleash their Dragonic
powers and the battle of fire and darkness begins! Ryu and Bosch clash,
their power being pushed to the limit and Ryu's power coming dangerously
close to consuming him entirely. However this isn't the time to hold back.
If Bosch isn't defeated Nina will die. Ryu smashes and hammers Bosch into
submission. The battle concludes and Bosch is becoming consumed by his
Dragon's power. Before Bosch can transform again Ryu impales him on his
fist. But it's too late. Bosch's dragon Chetyre has risen. Chetyre claims
the sky for himself leaving Ryu to face this incredible enemy. Ryu no longer
has any concern for himself. He expends all the power he has with no regard
for what the power will turn him into. With a mighty blast he punches a hole
into Chetyre. Chetyre makes one last attack on Ryu's life. Ryu unleashes
the last of his reserves and overpowers the Dark Dragon. In a brilliant
explosion Chetyre vanishes and Ryu sits on the ground, as a human. Ryu is
understandably exhausted and tells Lin and Nina to go on without him. Ryu
sees himself using Odjn's power and reflect on their adventure and success.
Odjn says that without Ryu's determination he'd have failed. Nina and Lin
step onto the lush green surface overflowing with life. Nina runs back down
to see a dead Ryu. Nina and Lin mourn when Ryu's eyes open wide. He's
alive!
WHAT WE NOW KNOW:
-----------------
-In this world dragon's are near extinct.
-Dragons choose a host of sorts and channel their power through said
individual. Though abuse of this power turns the user into a dragon
stripping them of humanity.
-A catastrophe in the past made the surface uninhabitable. By the end of
BOF5 the surface appears to have been suitable for life for quite some time.
-The social hierarchy is based on a person's D-Ratio.
-The air in the lower parts of Deep Earth are polluted and cause significant
health problems. Specimens like Nina are designed to remedy the situation.
-The Regents are all dead. The highest echelon of leadership is no more.
OBSERVATIONS:
-------------
-BOF5 takes place in an alternate universe. There is no possible way to tie
it to the other four BOFs in any way, shape, or form. Capcom even came out
and declared it set in it's own timeline.
-I'll give props to Capcom for the experiment known as Breath of Fire 5:
Dragon Quarter but I despise the gameplay. There should never be a game you
aren't expected to beat the first time around and are more or less forced to
constantly restart the game at the beginning just to play through AGAIN but
save exp so you're stronger for the boss you couldn't beat. I also hate the
D-Counter with a passion. It makes sense plot-wise I guess but it's retarded
to have a time limit to play the game in. On a more positive note BOF5 has
my favorite story and Ryu out of the BOFs.
-BOF5 marks the first game you actually play as human characters. In all
the other games Ryu and Nina are part of the Dragon and Fae clans, not
technically human. Momo and Ursula are part of the Grassrunner clan and not
human either. And Bleu/Deis is a damn Goddess. Karn, I'm not completely
sure about, it all depends if Shamans are considered a seperate race or not.
In BOF5 Ryu is a human that has aquired abilities after birth.
-BOF5 also marks the first in the series where Ryu doesn't actually become a
dragon. In this game he's channeling the powers of a dragon and using it's
power. He gets like a hybrid human/dragon form but doesn't become a full
dragon himself (least not through canon, if you abuse the power you'll
transform into a dragon which ends the game).
-Another big step in the world for the BOF series is the fifth is the first
where out main hero actually speaks. The roles are reversed for Ryu and
Nina for the quiet character and they actually give Nina a reason why she
doesn't talk. It's kinda hard when your vocal cords are surgically removed.
-Whoever runs Bio Corp needs to be fired on safety regulations. All sorts of
large boxes everywhere to run into and, oh yeah, several monsters just
running around like they own the place.
-If you notice there's a lot of dead Genics strewn about in the lower levels
of the BOF5 world. I'm not gonna overthink it and just say that these are
genics killed by other would-be adventurers but it does make me beg the
question if Capcom had another purpose for them.
-Something I don't quite get in BOF5, so everyone gets assigned a D-Ratio
which is their chance of linking with a dragon. But the Regents mention that
there are select "Chosens" that are the only ones capable of this feat and
they're supposed to be extinct. Sure the society uses D-Ratio as a means to
determine status in life but it still bugs me. Only thing I can think of is
that the practice of creating D-Ratios still persists since a long, long,
long time ago and people have either forgotten it's original meaning or don't
care.
-I can't help but feel bad for Bosch. All his life he'd been raised in an
elitist culture and if you see the SOL scense his dad was less than "Father
of the Year". He'd always been struggling for recognition because of his
birth status forcing him to in a way and by the time you fight Cyber-Bosch
he's freakin' lost his mind. Wanted to kill him just to put him out of his
misery.
-Seriously what is it with these facilities? The Power Plant has undead
zombies attacking people and rabid robots trying to murder everyone...
-Even in Centre there's wild monsters running around? Seriously call animal
control or something.
-In order to get to fight all the Regents you have to use specific
teleporters in the boss rooms. You can potentially go through these guys
fighting only two of them. For the purposes of the analysis I went with the
notion that Ryu made several wrong turns and fought each Regent.
-So...a couple of girls can get past the Regent's playhouse, past the
cemetary with the four locks whose keys are held by the most powerful dudes
around, and set up shop on the other side of that door?
--------------------------------
Frequently Asked Questions BOF5
--------------------------------
Q: So what D-Ratio level do I need to see all the SOL scenes?
A: 1/256. In order to access every last room though you'll need 1/4 (though
to be honest the rewards are pretty meh).
Q: Can I find Kaiser anywhere?
A: No, Kaiser/Infinity and Tyrant are either non-existent or long perished in
this alternate universe. They don't matter as far as this game is concerned.
Q: So what's up with Elyon?
A: A long time ago Elyon was the first host chosen by Odjn. He was supposed
to be the one to do what Ryu did, take humanity back to the surface, but he
failed and instead became the High Regent Origin. That's pretty much it.
He's the guy behind Nina's wings and the whole experiment too.
Q: Is it true that Capcom canned the entire BOF series over the poor reponse
to this game?
A: You know, that's a fan theory you'll see pop up quite often. I've never
seen anything official to cement this claim. In fact the reviews of this
game were moderately positive, it was a hit in Japan apparently. Personally,
I think it has more to do with bigger projects that Capcom has chosen to work
on (let's not kid ourselves, a Street Fighter or Resident Evil game will be
way higher on their priority list than Breath of Fire). I do recall reading
an article mentioning that one of the problems Capcom has with creating new
RPGs like BOF is the enormous competition it has from other companies (most
notably SquareEnix) where as it's other flagship titles would be more likely
to succeed on the makret. So there really is no answer to this question
unless you have a personal hook-up to some big-wigs at Capcom.
SPECIAL THANKS:
---------------
Special thanks to YouTube users Korona211 and Ominouslionheart for their
playthroughs of BOF5. Saved me the trouble of having to play that crappy
game again. Another special thanks to Dragon-tear.net for their translations
of the Princess of Wings comic.
CREDITS:
-------------
Lawrence E. Cowden
Feedback is welcome and greatly appreciated.
lecmuaythai@yahoo.com