Breath of Fire 4 Enemy Information guide & Misc. lists compilation
Version 0.1 by ZC Liu
Contents:-Disclaimer
-Enemy Strategy *Battlesuit
*Beihl
*Black Goo
*Bot
*Cairn
*Chingol
*Chopam
*Fire Wing
*Gecko
*Gold Gang
*Goo King
*Horseman
*Karon
*Kolpum
*Lampkin
*Mimic
*Morph Goo
*Orochi
*Poppy
*Quisit
*Rider
*Salt Claw
*Shadow
*Skullen
*Star Gazer
*Titan
*Trean
*Warder
-The Crew of BoF 4
-Enemy Skills (coming update)
-Character Information
-Magic combos (more soon, I hope)
-The Dragons of BoF 4 (later, too)
-Who shall be my Master?
-Fishing in the dark waters (not much, YET)
-Faerie, Faerie (Drop?)
-Credits (DO view this!)
DISCLAIMER:
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This is basically a guide on defeating some of the more interesting
enemies in the game, as well as a compilation of useful (I hope)
information on the game. Please do not use this guide for any profitable
purposes or reasons whatsoever. This guide is NOT to be distributed for
commercial reasons and should be circulated freely to interested parties,
which is it's purpose. This guide is not to be published NOR distributed
in any altered form to the public, but may be changed to suit personal
uses. This piece of work is compiled by me, ZC Liu (slivers7@yahoo.com),
and also contains the hard work of many other contributers. Please give
credit to where it is due, especially to those people who have helped in
making this guide what it is. Feel free to e-mail me on related questions,
but not more than once on the same question within a week's time. The
latest version of this guide should be always be found on:
www.gamefaqs.com
DO ask for permission if you want to put it on you site; it should be
given anyways. Those who abuse this guide in anyway will be dealt with
accordingly; hope there won't ever be any.
In all, use this guide as you want to for informational purposes only.
Contributions and questions are welcome, but I do not tolerate offensive
mail, so phrase your words appropriately before you send some heated
comments. If any part of this guide offends anyone for a valid reason,
please notify me so that I can amend the guide accordingly. As was stated,
this guide is a compilation of information for helping out those who need
it. I would recommend DarkStorm 2000's comprehensive Dragon Guide for
detailed information on the legendary beings of the Breath of Fire series,
as well as D.Xie's faq for intense info on the faerie colony.
Please identify yourself when contributing, and enjoy all the help you
gain, if any. Once again, give credit where it is due, and I hereby
thank all faq writers out there for all their wonderful effort.
:) Why this guide was made :<
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Well, I put this up as I felt that I had a bit of free time to spend on my
interest (writing), and I saw quite a bit of information on many message
boards which could have been of more help to those looking for it, so here
it is. DON'T, really don't plague me if you feel you deserve credit for a
piece of information in here, because I probably forgot where most of these
info came from anyway. I'll try to give credit to any contributions, but
you'll have to specify your name if you want that. This is my first ever
piece of public writing, so forgive me for anything out of place.
Enemy Strategy
****************************************************************************
Here is the main body of this guide, and while I've tried out quite a few
strategies of my own, this does'nt mean there aren't other strategies
which would work better. I can't give the absolute word for anything, so
find out what works best for your. Please contribute what you can, and
share your knowledge with others too.
Area: Most areas within the Imperial Headquarters in Astana (after hex
incident)
Traits: Tends to start the battle by casting Focus, then attacks with Wild
Swing. May perform normal attacks from time to time, as well as
cast Focus at intervals. Just use magic combos to easily defeat
it, especially if you hope to get the Gideon's Garb from it, as
physical attacks not only get partially shielded, but breaks the
Gideon's Garb after ~11 hits. Occassionally would cast Rock Blast.
Strategy: Cast Charm on it if you want to try getting the Gideon's Garb;
magic combos would work best for that. Stealing the Stunner is
also recommended even though you would probably have a much
better weapon for Ursula at this point. Just thrash this piece of
scrap metal.
Traits: Beihl gets in Lucky Strikes now and then, but they are'nt too much
to worry about. Trouble would be coming from Blizzard and Death
spells, as well as any Quisits which may have tagged along; Beihl
only casts Kyrie when they are around. The occasional Skullen that
appears should'nt prove to be a troublesome combination.
Strategy: Comparatively, Beihl is an easy-to-defeat enemy for one so near
the end of the game. The point of note is that you can steal an
Ouroboros from it, which you should get as many as you can, since
it can let you cast Raise Dead for free, besides being the
strongest weapon for Nina. Try to get blessed armor outfits or
Diamond Rings for your characters to ward against nasty Death
spells, and switch any character affected by Gloom from Quisit to
the back rank. Watch out for Kyrie, otherwise.
Black Goo:
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Type: Beast
HP: 2300
Attacks: (Attack), Flare, Death /
(Attack), Ebonfire
Exp: 3200
Zenny: 550
Stolen Item: Dark Draught
Dropped Item: Belladonna
Absorbs: None
Resists: Death
Weakness: None
Area: Interior of Mt. Yogy; Main lobby of Level 1, Imperial Castle
Traits: The Black Goo has different attacks when facing different parties,
using Ebonfire only when battling against Fou-lu, while all your
characters face is Flare and Death. Black Goos are formidable
opponents when you first meet them within Mt. Yogy, but they are
considerably easier to deal with when you chance upon them in the
Imperial Castle. You can also steal a powerful Stat boosting item,
the Dark Draught from them, but it's very difficult to pull off.
Strategy: Ebonfire is a damaging skill, but you would want to learn it as
Fou-lu if your main party hasn't yet. Your main party would find
Black Goos a threat with their Death spells, so watch out if you
don't have blessed armor yet, and get rid of them quick with
Shining Blade and such. Excellent for Exp earlier on, when you
first meet them.
Bot:
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Type: Machine
HP: 1100
Attacks: (Attack), Flare
Exp: 330 / [200% of present]
Zenny: 0
Stolen Item: Multi Gun
Dropped Item: Aurum
Absorbs: None
Resists: Earth, Status, Death
Weakness: Water
Area: Most areas of Sinchon
Traits: One of the weakest enemies in the game, the Bot has obtained a place
here due to its vulnerability to water. Water confuses it, while
any water-mixed element spell causes its body to burst open,
rendering it in a Stun position and doubling its Exp. Oh yes, and
they can appear in large numbers in many battles, so read on to
get the flow of the story.
Strategy: This was obtained in bits and pieces from around the Gamefaqs
BoF 4message board, and I don't remember who put it up first, but
here it is.
Since you know what Bots are biased against, get the necessary
stuff before you get into an encounter with ~3 or more (better)
Bots. You can get the Maelstrom, or even Panzer from the smith at
Mt. Glom by 'splicing' a Rusty Pipe with a Old Tire and any other
raw material. Stand Out is learned automatically after Chapter 2;
you need the Electrum Ball before Marlok agrees to teach you
Monopolize, so run around a bit exchanging treasure first.
Ershin: Stand Out, Counter, with Maelstrom
Character to level up: Monopolize
Nina: Vitalize, Concentrate
Scias: Vitalize (optional)
Plus: Lots of Aurum
*1st turn*
1)Equip the Maelstrom on Ershin and cast Stand Out with it
2)Use Concentrate on Nina
3)Guard with Scias
*2nd turn*
Cast Counter with Ershin, and guard with the rest of the
characters
*3rd, 4th turn*
The Bots should have burst by now, so guard with Nina or place her
at the back rank, and heal your characters in the mean time as
necessary.
*5th turn*
1)Cast Vitalize with Nina on the *BOTS*, so that the damage from
Maelstrom is easily nullified
2)Counter with Ershin
3)And Guard with Scias
*Turns thereafter*
Repeat the steps as necessary until all the Bots have 65535 Exp,
switching your characters to the back rank to recover AP, or use
Rest and Snooze if you have them. Right after they reach the
level of Exp you want, cast Monopolize and watch that character
gain insane amounts of Exp for this battle! I recommend leveling
up Nina first, as you can skip using Concentrate afterwards;
Ershin should be the last to go, since if it gets too powerful,
the Bots get killed off directly from Maelstrom. Because of that,
I prefer the Maelstrom as the Bots take no damage from the earth
element part, whereas Panzer deals much more damage. The whole
battle should take quite long, but that's leveling up for you :)
Cairn:
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Type: Beast
HP: 1000
Attacks: (Attack) /
(Attack), Magic Ball, Stone Pillar
Exp: 2000 / [200% of present]
Zenny: 800
Stolen Item: Electrode
Dropped Item: Multi Vitamin
Absorbs: Water
Resists: Wind, Ranged
Weakness: None
Area: Most areas of Mt. Yogy; most areas of Sanctum
Traits: You would have met a few of them while playing as Fou-lu, and know
that they have a very high defense. Cairns also escape on the 3rd
turn, so you have to give them a reason to stay on by casting a
Water-Earth spell within the first three turns, thereafter which
you face a mine of Exp and a very serious threat...
Strategy: Cairns often appear in large groups near the end of Sanctum, and
those groups of six are what you would be searching for. To
easily defeat them, you can employ two strategies:
'Play Safe' Method
*1st, 2nd turns*
Power up the character with Tiger Fist, and within this duration,
perform a combo of Backhand-Any Skill-Tiger Fist. Take note
not to use Frost Strike or Water Element moves, or you would be
healing them instead. They should be reduced to ~1 HP.
*3rd turn*
1)Cast Frost with Scias; the 'healing' should be minimal
2)Combo it with Rock Blast to get Storm, which deals 0 damage and
makes the Cairns freak out
3)Perform Tiger Fist, or just attack them all to get your reward;
unless you're slower than they are, this should work
'Decimation through erosion' Method
1)Cast Frost with Scias
2)And combo it with Rock Blast into Storm
3)Get the most powerful weapon on the character with Tiger Fist
and slice off all the Cairns; this is easier if you think you're
up to it
Use whatever you will to get your Exp, but escape if they're not
eliminated; you might get into deep #$%@ otherwise...
Traits: Pals of Kolpum, Chingol appear along with them in large numbers, but
can be aided by Shadows and Star Gazers as well on the upper floors.
Take care trying to learn Shadow Walk, as the damage is going to
pile on your party. Speed is also cast quite often by Chingol, on
both themselves and their Kolpum friends.
Strategy: This is the only enemy you can learn Shadow Walk from, if you
just could'nt get Bunyan to teach you (actually, Knight also has
it...). But remove some of those in the contingent first, as they
can damage you seriously if you let them boost up. All along,
plain enough to defeat with skills like Tiger Fist and attack-
all weapons on Ursula, who could definately do artillery damage
with Shadow Walk!
Without defensive screen:
Absorbs: None
Resists: Holy, Mind, Status, Death, Stat loss, Ranged
Weakness: Magic
Area: Anywhere within the Emperor's Tomb
Traits: For first two turns of any battle, raises a defensive screen which
renders all attacks targeting it ineffective. Casts Inferno for
starters, Gigaflare in the second turn, drops defensive screen in
the third turn, during which it does not perform any action, and
initiates retreat in the fourth turn, which is the last chance for
it to be defeated.
Strategy: Against this enemy, it would be best to equip your strongest
character with a Ring of Fire. Fire Seeds and such would help on
the others. Get Magma Armor if you can later.
Essentially, your aim would be to get the Mass Driver, the
strongest weapon for Ershin out of Chopam, either through
Pilfering, Stealing or even Filching! :( Chopam Plate would be
easily dropped if you cast Charm on this mini-red giant and
defeat it. With Inferno and Gigaflare easily quelled by your
equipment, the main task would be to smelt Chopam down in the
third and fourth turns before it escapes after its sanctuary
crumbles, preferably done with magic; due to its weakness, the
required 10000 damage can actually be easily dished out with
magic combos. Concentrate on getting it's Tepanyaki Plate first,
then devote your time to getting that elusive Mass Driver if you
want it, though I would much prefer the Power Glove ;)
Traits: A counterpart of Chingol (well, sort of), Fire Wings notably appear
only in this area. Of little endurance, they can be defeated easily
enough, but when they appear alongside Geckos, who pose a much
bigger threat, they can really trouble you by getting in with their
Tempest spells, and that's when they get REALLY annoying ...
Strategy: Once you get in trouble with them around those blasted Geckos,
you'll definately want to rid yourself of them first. And since
they are weak against BOTH the fire and wind elements, try
Gigaflare combos to quickly defeat them as well as severely
damage any Geckos that might be around. Just don't give them any
openings, though, or they might give you no quarter instead.
Traits: These lizardmen are enemies you would fear meeting most later in the
game, for they are extremely tough opponents even against high level
characters. Appearing most often in groups of three, they might even
come in larger numbers along with Fire Wings and Skullen! And with
their versatile moves, they are able to put almost anyone in a
harrowing fight! Take care if you are trying to learn Triple Blow or
Cleave from them, since you're actually looking at trouble in its
face, lol :p Interestingly, they have an extremely low zenny reward
for beating them, which makes one wonder if they are monks of some
sorts :|
Strategy: To start with, since you know that they boost their Def to high
levels with Shield at the start of the battle, it would be quite
clear that using brute force to deal with them would be quite a
task, so switch to magic instead. Saving your AP would be quite
unnecessary later since there's a rest point at both the 1st floor
and the B4th level. Beware of using magic combos though if there
are Skullen accompanying them; you would'nt want to eat your own
Gigaflare in your face. Offers a huge chunk of Exp if you can
trash them quickly with spells. :)
Area: ? area left of Tomb; Exterior grounds of Emperor's Tomb
Traits: The gold pot of the game, Gold Gang usually appears with Egg Gangs,
who yield much less Zenny, but actually more Exp. Breaking this pot
with melee attacks, however, is not recommended if you want a rich
earning. Earth spells work great against it, and you can get nice
items from this fragile eggshell, that is if you nab it before it
escapes.
Strategy: Since hitting it with melee attacks only decreases what you're
trying to get (tons of Zenny, what else?), use Earth spells to
create some rocking combos. Oracle works well if you're hard up
on AP, and does'nt reduce the Zenny too. Note that Gold Gang has a
relatively high Agl, and might get in Resist or Ovum before you
start your attack, so make sure you're fast enough in this grab
for gold.
Traits: The Goo King never appears alone, and is always escorted by a Goo
Nurse and/or Baby Goos. The Goo King almost always attempts to
escape firsthand; make sure a fast character with Haste steals his
Apple before that. An angry Goo King is a crazed opponent,
however, and beware of his onslaught of spells. The Goo King's
Exp increases the turn after you defeat one or more of his followers
and make him excited, but so does his Stats, so look out before you
hit. It might also be that the Goo King drops his coveted sword
easier if you don't make him excited, but its only a wild guess. Do
eliminate his escort one by one, however, as his Exp increases quite
a bit that way. Charm him well and hope that he leaves a shining
sword behind rather than a rosy (probably poisoned) apple.
Strategy: Face it. You're after this accursed sovereign for one thing only:
the Goo King Sword. Which is the most impossible item to have
dropped X( The tendency of the Goo King to escape does'nt
improve the situation one bit, which means unless your party can
dish out 15000 damage to him before he escapes, you don't stand
much chance of getting the sword without having to face his
arsenal of #@$*&%! spells ... Needless to say, you're going to
need killer Stats, branded stuff and skills like Shadow Walk and
Triple Blow to take him down, and throw in nimble button-tapping
skills with Super Combo.
To begin with, the spells he casts more often are Ragnarok and
Gigaflare, so protect your party with fire-snuffing items like
Fire Seeds and the Ring of Fire. The Weyr dragon form also helps
as it reduces damage against these spells, but watch out for his
Thunderstorm! There's a rest point just in the room near the
elevator if you ever need it, so make a note of this: use any
Dragon Evocations when you need to :)
In short, perseverance brings rewards, and anyone is going to need
lots of patience to get this prized blade. Truth would be that
its not worth it to get: this tough fight yields only a meager
amount of experience relative for the effort, and all you might
find at the end of this mini-boss battle are more of those rotten
Apples...
Traits: The Horseman usually appears in the company of Shades, but if it
fights at the start on its own, its magical ability weakens and
you get much less Exp for beating it. Similarly, if it appears
with other enemies, its Exp doubles to 7000, but stays that way
only if its buddies stick around before it goes, which means that
once its magical ability has weakened, you get only half the
reward for your effort. Of course, it loses its regeneration
abilities, so that might help. Similar enemies include Karon and
Titan. The Horseman is quite resistant against Kyrie.
Strategy: The regeneration is going to make this battle somewhat hard,
and Horseman has lots of nasty moves even without it. Deal
pain swiftly with moves like Shining Blade and Shadow Walk,
and take care to ward against its Death spell. Oracle also
works well from Nina. Note that you can learn Triple Blow from
it, if you did'nt already, and the Cleaver as well as Mist Armor
can be gotten from it.
Area: Most rooms and walkways of Levels 3-1, Imperial Castle
Traits: Similar to Horseman and Titan, Karon needs friends to boost its
magical ability, and its Exp would be halved if it appears alone,
double with any Shades to 6000, as usual staying so only if its
friends stick around at the start of the turn you defeat Karon.
It loses Curse, and has its Blizzard reduced to Ice Blast once its
magical ability weakens. Still, its Lucky Strike hurts, lol, and
evilly :(
Strategy: Pretty easy an enemy to defeat with Oracle from Nina, the Skull
Staff can be stolen from Karon, but has'nt much worth. Try going
ahead though, as you might get lucky and get a Star Dress from
its remains. Quite a bit of Exp for the effort. Note that Karon
is weaker than Horseman against Kyrie, and might actually get
defeated from it easily.
Traits: Kolpums often have Chingol companions, and together they make a
fearsome team. Kolpums are great if you want to learn all the
elemental strikes, including Frost Strike. Making an elemental
attack on them gives them the corresponding Strike. Holy Strike
seems only possible with another Holy Strike or Aura Smash, so it
might be somewhat tricky to learn. Try attacking equipped with
Ascension when you get that. Oh, and Rainstorm works, too.
Strategy: Underrated enemies, Kolpums can make short work of you, given
the chance along with Chingols attacking. Use Tiger Fist often,
and combo it with Shadow Walk on Ursula WITH an affect-all
weapon for the flashy effect ;)
Area: ? area between Ocean Spot 3 and Highway; Buildings in the mid-section
of Chedo
Traits: Lampkins appear always by themselves, and start the battle
inflicted with the Poison, Sleep and Silence status ailments.
Once they wake up, they begin to ask specifically for water, which
comes only in the form of Croc Tears, not Panacea, Mozweed or
otherwise! Make sure you remove the Silence status, however, or
it would be unable to cast Palliate, and you don't want that!
Strategy: I don't suppose you're looking for ways to defeat Lampkin,
though they can become hardy fighters with Giant Growth. Make
sure you've stocked Croc Tears aplenty before searching for
plants to water on. Use Croc Tears immediately if you want to,
then start guarding away, as it would use Palliate the following
turn, then escape. Please note that the 'Water' is not to be
confused with casting Blizzard, a Level 3 Water spell, or
chopping at Lampkin with an Ice Blade. Of course, once Lampkin
has cast Palliate, that IS an entirely different story ... might
as well cut a bushel of them for the Exp and give some to the
girls, since there are'nt any flower shops around during wartime
(duh, lame...)
If you ever encounter a Poppy along with Lampkin, try to learn
Curse before Palliate to get at least a character with ensured
full health, not that you'll need it much then.
Lavoid:
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Type: Beast
HP: 3200 / [120% of present] *Regenerates*
Attacks: (Attack), Inferno, Magma Blast
Exp: 2200 / [150% of present]
Zenny: 600
Stolen Item: Magma Armor
Dropped Item: Firecracker
Absorbs: Fire
Resists: Holy, Mind, Status, Death
Weakness: Water
Area: Most areas of Mt. Yogy
Traits: Lavoids are tough enemies for the amount of Exp they give, what with
their regeneration ability. You might want to use the Magma Armor
when fighting them, as well as that Ring of Fire. Don't look to them
for Exp; if you actually run out of challenges, know that a Lavoid
flamed to 65535 Exp from fire-element attacks makes the Rider seem
like a piece of charred potato crisp.
Strategy: Defeating a Lavoid is moderately easy, unless you want a gamble
to get more Exp, in which case you can try toasting them with a
couple of fire attacks, but don't overdo it unless you've just
made a save or you're bored with the game ...
You won't want to be messing around with Lavoids using fire
attacks. Just TRY getting them to 65565 Exp, then chill them with
Blizzard; it would probably have as much cooling effect as an ice
cube against a live, erupting volcano. AND, they still get
stronger from fire attacks even when their Exp caps. If you can
actually defeat this sort of a hyped-up nasty, do tell me!
Traits: Mimic appears on it's own on most of its infrequent visits during
tours into the En Jhou Ruins, appearing just like what you came
searching for: treasure chests. Aptly, too, for their Exp and
Zenny doubles with every successful normal hit that inflicts
damage, including zero! However, they can slip out of battle like
flowing sand, making your Exp hunt quite fruitless more often than
not. Once in a blue moon, though, they might appear in pairs, more
so in the empty room on the first level of the ruins. I reaped a
grand 68000 Exp once through such an encounter! Luck seems
extremely crucial with these guys.
As a side note, anyone noticed that you spot the moon for only
about four times in the entire game? Have fun actually waiting for
a blue moon :)
Strategy: For those who have met the Bolt family, one would know that the
Mimic is BAD news. For such a rare critter, having it escape
when you've racked up its Exp and Zenny just does'nt seem fair,
but you just have to take what you have. + 1 hit weapons work
well against it for the money growing effect, but you need stuff
like Spirit Blast and Cleave as well as Shadow Walk to kill it,
provided they too don't get parried off. The Haste will from
Rwolf actually seems to have some effect, but usually the Mimic
can pre-empt you NO matter how high your Agl rating is. Oh, and
did I say that Mimics are immune to everything except melee
attacks, and they rarely take but two points of damage if any.
Have accursed fun going treasure hunting, bwahahahaha lol :p
Traits: Morph Goos often appear in groups of four or more, which makes them
one of the best enemies Exp-wise. Having four elements to attribute
themselves to, different coloured Morph Goos actually count as
different types of enemies, but have little physical differences.
What you might want to do when facing them is to learn all the
skills you didn't from Rwolf, which they would eventually use;
leave only one Morph Goo for this purpose.
Strategy: An interesting property of Morph Goos is that they change their
colour every two turns in the order: Red-> Green-> Blue-> Brown,
and also on the second turn of any battle. The disadvantageous
fact is that they may change their element when under attack,
especially for elemental spells, for which they might change to
the element attacking them. This makes any magic combo having the
tendency to heal them to full health instead, so use melee attacks
to easily defeat them.
*Exp Note: When you get the Culverin for Ursula, you might want to get her
Atk strength to high levels, as she can actually blast off all of
the Morph Goos that might appear in a single shot. And since they
come often in groups of four or five at Mukto, you can actually
net up to about 5000 Exp with ease per battle. As Morph Goos
appear more often than Cyclops in the area (might as well Escape,
powers up Coward's Way too), you can easily get over 10000 Exp
in the time needed to deal with a Rider! :)
Area: Most stairways and storage rooms from Levels 4-B3, Imperial Castle
Traits: Akin to Lavoids, Orochi (heheheh) are also enemies possessing that
annoying regenerative ability, and gain leaps in their Stats besides
increasing in Exp value. For each normal attack on Orochi, its Exp,
Stats AND HP gain in value respectively. If you didn't find Lavoids
enough juice to chew, think again with Giant Growth from an Orochi
with 65535 Exp and Beyond!
Strategy: Since Orochi are weak against magic, and get boosted from normal
attacks, you should use skills like Oracle or most magic spells
to deal with these pests. Kyrie has an almost zero chance of
working, so don't think of any instant kill stunt. :( And healing
magic DOES heal Orochi instead. The chance of getting an Ivory
Bangle is really low, so don't hope for much except frustration.
Traits: Similar to Lampkin, Poppy is the other plant that appears in battle
afflicted by the Poison, Sleep and Silence statuses, and also
demands for water. Unlike Lampkin though, Poppy teaches the Curse
skill in return instead, which might make you sorry for ever trying
to help this stricken plant. For some rare battles, you get both a
Poppy AND Lampkin together, so you can play safer by trying to learn
Curse first, followed by Palliate!
Strategy: See the part for Lampkin as to this section. The Curse skill is
extremely dangerous and you risk letting three characters having
their HP halved when trying to learn it. Thankfully, the enemies
in this area are not too dangerous, so one need not worry too
much. Just leave and heal whenever you need to; and chop down
this ungrateful plant, too!
Traits: Devout followers of Beihls, Quisits may sometimes gang up with
Skullen, but are most dangerous with Beihl in the lead. Using Gloom
only when Beihls are in the original party, Quisits can thus render
your characters vulnerable to Beihl's Kyrie spell, as well as render
your healing spells ineffective. On their own, they can prove to be
an especially annoying enemy with their HP and AP stealing skills,
and Confuse to boot the bag.
Strategy: You don't really need a strategy to deal with Quisits, but to
be on the safe side, you need to watch out if you ever got hit by
Gloom. (actually, just shift that character to the back rank :|)
Just shoot them down with ranged weapons, or use wind magic if you
don't want to miss. More easy Exp.
Traits: The final challenge for those who have defeated most of the
monsters in the game, the Rider is truly tough to beat. With out-of-
league Atk and Wis, the deadly arsenal which the Rider wields can
swiftly decimate your characters. However, this would be the only
other chance for learning Benediction, which the Rider would cast
only when most of your characters are K.O.'ed, minimizing the
overall learning chance. The slim chance of stealing the King's
Armor makes facing this enemy unpleasant, but beating this knight
would earn you a Cursed Sword everytime, as well as 10000 Exp and
Zenny to boot.
Strategy: Pitting your characters against this enemy would truly make your
fiercest battle yet. Each turn against the Rider would almost
indefinately mean a dead character or a dying front rank, which
makes it obvious that you need defensive skills other than killer
moves to take out the Rider. The following strategy usually worked
for me:
*1st turn*
1)Meditate Ryu into a dragon form; I recommend Mammoth for this,
otherwise Weyr and Kaiser are good enough.
2)Cast Resist with Nina
3)Cast Shield with Cray and hope everything connects; Mammoth's
hefty HP takes care in case of a backfire :)
*2nd turn*
1)Cast Resist with Nina; the whole timing is comboing EVERYTHING
2)Cast Last Resort with Ryu and hope the SHIELD effect triggers;
NOW you'll see why the Mammoth form is useful
3)Try either War Shout with Scias, or another bout of Shield
*3rd turn*
1)Hope Ryu's Atk is at 999, or just make do with it. Cast Resist
with Nina
2)Combo it with Counter on Scias; the SHIELD effect does'nt matter
3)Combo it with Focus on Ryu; it HAS to combo or the whole thing's
off :(
*4th turn*
1)If Ryu is alive and floating so far, then proceed by equipping
Ursula with the best +1 hit weapon you have, a.k.a. Repeater,
then blast away with Shadow Walk
2)Next, combo further using Shining Blade on Scias with the best
+1 hit weapon you have; can we say "Render"?
3)To finish off the rider, horse and all, equip the most powerful
+1 hit weapon on Ryu, preferably the Slayer or Slicer, but NOT
the Royal Sword ...the Holy properties of this blade greatly
reduces what damage you might have done instead. The Cursed
Sword is the BEST if Ryu is still bursting with life energy,
that is, if you already have it.
The crucial point rests on this move; you should have practiced
with Super Combo by now and can get nine hits in easily with
calm fortitude. Unleash the best Super Combo you ever could;
slow but sure, counts. Foiling your beat now only wastes your
entire effort. With quite a bit of damage already to set off,
even seven hits might do the trick! To disappoint readers, if
your first few hits of Super Combo don't get in at least ~4500
damage each, you should level up further either your Stats or
your button-tapping skill and instincts (maybe both), or *sadly*
turn to another strategy. Congrats if you've just received your
first Cursed Sword! The main essence of this strategy is to
utilise the combo system to the fullest with Resist and Super
Combo; if you find difficulty comboing, get some Harmonic Rings
even though they're dang costly. Overall, comboing is the key
and feel free to use whatever tactics suit your party best;
flexibility brings about surprising results.
Area: Sluiced-area within the Imperial Headquarters in Astana (after hex
incident)
Traits: Salt Claws only appear in this area after the hex incident, and
they are'nt easy enemies to defeat. Besides getting in Lucky
Strikes often and having the dreaded Death spell, Salt Claws also
tend to use Reversal when they reach low health, which can really
damage a character badly. However, Salt Claws are the only source
for learning Reversal from, so you might want to risk it. Once
their pincher blows away from multiple physical attacks, they
would use Giant Growth and Cyclone instead, and you get more Exp
for beating them too! But the Power Glove is also gone for that
battle, so use magic combos to easily defeat it as well as hope
that it drops a Power Glove. You might note that healing magic is
ineffective on Salt Claws, and that melee attacks usually get
partially shielded while it still has its pincher. Kyrie seems to
work, though. :)
Strategy: Using magic combos would be ideal in the area as the Gold Flies
that often accompany them are excellent dodgers. A few bouts of
Cyclone or Typhoon ought to blow them off. However, if you want to
aim for more Exp, you might want to try a Backhand melee combo as
the Salt Claws tend to be defeated before that pincher gets blown
away. Not too much trouble if you deal with them quickly.
Area: Exterior areas of Sanctum; Soma; most areas in Chedo;
Level 4-3, Imperial Castle
Traits: This dreaded assassin has two skills which you might want to learn,
especially Disembowel if you don't have it yet. Often an assistance
force in battle, Shadows can become as annoying as their namesake
as they can parry lots of melee attacks, and get in a Disembowel now
and then. Along with any allies they might have, your party might
face a threat of extermination, unless you throw in the best magic
combos you can perform.
Strategy: You might prefer to learn Disembowel from Kryrik instead rather
than have a Disembowel attempted on you. Try to avoid Shadows
while in Chedo prior to facing A-tur; you would'nt want to face
one of the toughest bosses in the game with a dying party. Later
on though, Shadows are easy to defeat with magic for the Exp they
give, so go for them if you have AP to spare.
Traits: One of the most irritating enemies you'll face in the Imperial
Castle, Skullen are incredibly fast to boot and would probably get
in their turn before you even move, unless your characters have
Haste to help them. Adjust your strategy accordingly.
Strategy: Since Skullen are capable of performing both Counter AND Backlash,
you might want to mix up your attacks when facing more than one of
them. Interestingly, Cleave works wonders against these deflection
masters, so use it often when up against these pests. Faerie
Attack and Faerie Charge both cannot be countered too, but are far
too costly for this purpose. Note that Skullen can also switch to
the offense with Magma Blast, which really hurts. I've never seen
them do a normal attack though. A nice bit of Exp.
Star Gazer:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Type: Humanoid
HP: 5500
Attacks: Concentrate, Recall
Exp: 2200
Zenny: 800
Stolen Item: Wisdom Seed
Dropped Item: Shaman's Ring
Absorbs: None
Resists: Death
Weakness: Magic
Area: Most areas of Levels 4-3 and B1, Imperial Castle
Traits: Star Gazers are the magical adepts of the game, and only have two
moves to boot: the magic-boosting Concentrate and the gambit Recall.
They seem to always cast Concentrate during their first turn, so
you don't have to fear that if you can finish them before they cast
Recall, which can summon up spells ranging from Rock Blast to
Typhoon!
Strategy: Not much of a threat, Star Gazers are able to make themselves a
perfect nuisance due to their hefty HP. Interestingly, these
sorcerers are vulnerable to magic, so cast whatever magic combos
you can, but watch out if there are Kolpums around. The Shaman's
Ring does'nt get dropped all that often, so you would do better to
buy it from an established Item shop in the faerie village.
Area: Most areas from Levels B4-B6, Imperial Castle
Traits: Similar to the Horseman and Karon, the Titan also needs Shades
around to maintain its 'magical ability'. However, the Titan always
appears with Shades, so don't worry about the Exp part. Keeping at
least one of those pesky Shades around would be worthwhile for
another 4500 Exp. The Titan is resistant to a great many things
though, besides having an outrageous Atk and Def, and an extremely
high counter rate. Eliminating its companions first would make him
easier to battle with a weaker Def and lower counter rate, but you
stand to lose not only that 4500 Exp, but also the chance of getting
an Earthbreaker, an excellent weapon for Cray which can also be used
to cast Stone Pillar for free!
Strategy: A hardened piece of meat, Titan not only resembles a Cyclops, but
a mutated Smurf as well ... :) You can get to learn Knockout and
Spirit Blast from it, but it more than hurts to learn from a
maniacal enemy. Even when weakened, Titan's Atk still enables it
to deal more than 600 damage with Spirit Blast, so beware! Use
Shining Blade and Shadow Walk to inflict lots of damage quickly,
and you might want to use Spirit Blast too. Mudslide is
undependable as it might hit a Shade instead. Defeat Titan after
using Charm to have a better chance of receiving Earthbreaker.
Traits: Along with Trunked hordes, Treans are the only other enemies which
appear in the area, and always in groups of six. Meant for
practicing combos on, Treans have an amount of HP equal to that of
Tyrant's and Astral's, PLUS they are able to regenerate!
Furthermore, they recover from any status ailments you might have
inflicted at the start of the next turn, so using Catastrophe
does'nt help much. Note too that their Exp actually depreciates
each round, so you have to defeat them quickly if you're looking
for Exp.
Treans don't perform any move at all even though they have a strong
Atk, and would Escape whenever you defeat one of their ranks or drag
the battle on for more than nine rounds. They are also extremely
fast for rooted trees, so you can actually combo your moves easier.
Strategy: The challenge would be to actually defeat all six of these trees
when you have chopped down one of them, and this task is possible!
Ryu's Skills: Super Combo, Tiger Fist, Focus, Last Resort
" Master: Bunyan
*1st turn*
1)Meditate Ryu into the dragon with the most HP, preferably
Weyr or Mammoth; this is for raising his Atk, so skip it if you
have yours at 999 after Last Resort, which would be what you
could do instead and skip this part
2)Perform Megaphone with Ursula
3)Follow up with War Shout on Scias; it should be great enough, or
use Might with Cray instead
*2nd turn*
1)Use Last Resort on Ryu
2)Either use Megaphone to decrease the Def of the Treans, or boost
your characters' Atk, which I prefer to do
3)Similar to 2) just above
*3rd turn*
1)You need to combo all this: Counter on Scias,
2)Followed by Concentrate on Nina,
3)Then Focus on Ryu!
*4th turn*
'Chopping a Trean': For those who are less ambitious ...
1)Shining Blade with the best +1 hit weapon you have for Scias on
your target Trean
2)Then hit the tree again with Shadow Walk from Ursula with
similar requirements. You might reverse the order of performing
these first two actions
3)Finally, de-root the unfortunate Trean with Super Combo from Ryu
which you should squeeze in at least eight hits for. Equip him
with the best weapon you have, which would be the Cursed Sword
IF you have it. But don't try the Royal Sword. The other trees
should be fleeing by the nest turn.
OR
'To fell a forest': Only if you're Cursed powerful!
1)Either Cleave or Shining Blade from Scias; it does'nt matter
much, except that the whole thing combo
2)Equip the Culverin, or the best attack-all weapon you have on
Ursula and watch her blast away with Shadow Walk! Astounding
accuracy and damage!
3)You should have guessed by now what's coming ... Stare away
when you see the damage Tiger Fist does with Cursed Sword
equipped on Ryu. The entire forest should be gone before your
eyes, leaves, trunks, roots and all. Congratulations! You've
just made a great achievement by commiting a serious
environmental crime: mass deforestation! lol :p But I like
nature.
EVEN
'From hacking to slashing to slicing through mutated cellulose'
: This takes most of what you've got at ~Level 50, and test
something like this on the Trunked group first
*1st turn*
Before battling, have Scias and Ursula on 1 HP each, so that
Scias performs Rakhasa and Reversal gets charged to its max
potential. Charge up Ryu on the first turn with Last Resort or
a Celeron combo, which ever the better, or whatever you want to
use.
*2nd turn*
1)Perform Shining Blade with the best weapon for Scias; this
assures you of at least one kill
2)Reversal should combo with an attack-all weapon on Ursula,
and the damage should start to rack up
3)As before, the killing blow depends on Ryu again. Depending on
your Stats, equip either your most powerful +1 hit weapon or
Cursed Sword, and slice away with Tiger Fist
Seriously, you should have gotten a Nunchaku from all this, or
you're really missing something besides the Exp ... :(
Warder Strategy:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Type: Humanoid
HP: 600
Attacks: Fireblast, Cyclone, Iceblast, Stone Pillar, Depress,
Concentrate
Exp: 3000
Zenny: 400
Stolen Item: Angel's Vest
Dropped Item: Spirit Ring
Absorbs: None
Resists: Mind, Status, Death, Stat loss, Ranged
Weakness: Magic
Area: Main lobby of Level B1, Imperial Castle
Traits: Superior to the Star Gazer in terms of magical powers, the Warder
has a really low HP count, which does'nt work too much in its
disfavour. The magical barrier it raises and refreshes each turn
lets it ignore damage from fire, wind, water and earth element
attacks once each per turn, and while you work at destroying its
barrier, it can use Depress to greatly reduce the amount of AP
you have, disabling your AP for any spells you might want to use!
Truly a master of magic!
Strategy: Warders can prove to be an annoyance since they appear rarely, but
when they do they usually come with some Star Gazers, or in pairs.
Having extremely high Def also works on their side too. So watch
out for your characters while attempting to steal that nifty
Angel's Vest, and finish off the Warder with the non-elemental
Ebonfire! :) The Spirit Ring, which is one of the most valuable
baubles you can dream of, is also dropped only by the Warder, so
don't get disheartened after some tries; it's easier than getting
the Goo King Sword!
The Crew of BoF 4:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|*Ryu* |
|THE main character of the entire BoF series so far, Ryu is still the one |
|and only character you can rename at your will, and still the only mute |
|in the course of the game... Of course, as the character who sticks with |
|your party, Ryu has, as always, all rounded Stats, which are quite good |
|to take on even the toughest enemies with once you employ his unique |
|dragon transformations, which boost them to even higher levels. As a |
|penalty, though, Ryu cannot use most masters' Wills while in dragon form, |
|but he does have lots of Dragon Evocation spells to back him up, so |
|monsters out there watch out for Ryu! |
| |
|Dragon Evocations: See '' section |
| |
|Will: Meditate-Transforms character into dragon hybrid form |
| |
|Trademark: Catastrophe-4 hit extreme Water and Earth magic damage |
| on all enemies; may inflict Poison status |
| -Category: Water and Earth magic |
| *Cancel into with Patoh Pah from a Water and|
| Earth spell, or a Combo Level 2 Water spell|
| |
| Supernova-4 hit extreme Earth and Fire magic damage on |
| all enemies; may inflict Confuse status |
| -Category: Earth and Fire magic |
| *Cancel into with Hwajeh from a Earth and Fire|
| spell, or a Combo Level 2 Earth spell |
| |
| Earthbreaker-4 hit extreme Fire and Wind magic damage |
| on all enemies; may inflict Stun status |
| -Category: Fire and Wind magic |
| *Cancel into with Ahryu P'ung from a Fire |
| and Wind spell, or a Combo Level 2 Fire |
| spell |
| |
| Mjollnir-2 hit extreme Wind and Water magic damage on |
| all enemies |
| -Category: Wind and Water magic |
| *Cancel into with Pa Bing'Ah from a Wind and |
| Water spell, or a Combo Level 2 Wind spell, |
| which would'nt be possible unless you're not |
| playing what we know as a normal game |
| |
|Best Weapons: Cursed Sword |
| Slicer |
| Goo King Sword |
| Royal Sword |
| Slayer |
| |
|Best Armor: Mist Armor |
| Dragon Armor |
| Royal Armor |
| |
|Useful Skills: Super Combo |
| Tiger Fist |
| Focus |
| Last Resort |
| Shadow Walk |
| War Shout |
| |
|Useful Wills: Vision |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Ryu's Evaluation*
The consistent character in your party, Ryu has the most rounded Stats as
well, all of which are boosted further by his dragon hybrid forms. With a
fairly superior attack, Ryu is also able to equip quite an array of +1 hit
weapons, among which include the holy Royal Sword. His versatile Dragon
Evocations also boost his potential worth in battle, and while being in
dragon form, he is also the only one who can get to cast the ultimate
combo magic, except for Mjollnir, which can only be possible through a
Gameshark or such. His natural link with Fou-lu lets them share the same
skills, and his counterpart can learn a many of those powerful ones late in
the game! A natural warrior, Ryu can do amazing damage with Super Combo
when boosted up to extremes!
#Recommended Master: Bunyan#
A tough master to apprentice to, you would be thankful later when you need
to rely on Ryu's dragon transformations for getting through tough parts of
the game. All of the Stats that Bunyan provides a bonus for are boosted
whenever Ryu performs a transformation, while AP is the sole Stat
unaffected in any way. But make sure you have lots of AP from Njomo, before
taking on Bunyan for his Vision Will as well!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|*Nina* |
|The eternal princess of Wyndia, Nina takes a better turn than her |
|predecessors in the series, with relatively okay Atk and Def besides her |
|alarmingly skyhigh Wis. This time round, she's also your main healer, so |
|recovering HP is generally not a problem with her around (she even has |
|Cheering in the back rank!). Her Wind magic also blows you away, and she's|
|a valuable character in any magic combo you might want to perform. |
| |
|Spells: Sever -Innate |
| Heal -Innate |
| Purify -Innate |
| Barrier -Level 8 |
| Rejuvenate-Level 11 |
| Cyclone -Level 14 |
| Raise Dead-Level 17 |
| Remedy -Level 20 |
| Vitalize -Level 23 |
| Inspire -Level 26 |
| Typhoon -Level 29 |
| Kyrie -Level 31 |
| Restore -Level 34 |
| Resurrect -Level 36 |
| Vigor -Level 39 |
| |
|Will: Cheering-Heals front rank members; effectiveness is 1/2 of |
| Heal |
| *Critical condition of front rank members |
| *Nina is in back rank |
| "Don't give up!" |
| |
|Trademark: Phoenix-Fire and Wind element damage on a random enemy; |
| recovers HP equal to 1/2 the damage dealt, rounded |
| down |
| -Category: Melee |
| *Cancel into with a Melee skill from a Fire and Wind|
| spell |
| |
|Best Weapons: Rune Staff |
| Blessed Staff |
| Ouroboros |
| |
|Best Armor: Star Dress |
| Angel's Vest |
| |
|Useful Skills: Oracle |
| Icicle |
| Flame Pillar |
| Concentrate |
| Resist |
| |
|Useful Wills: Drowse |
| Ward |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Nina's Evaluation*
The first character in the game you get to control, Nina would be the one to
continue as the main healer for the rest of your journey. With extremely
high Wisdom, Nina's healing spells prove to be far more effective than that
of Scias', and her 'Cheering' Will allows her to do her part even when not
directly in battle. Later in the game, she also gains a holy spell Kyrie to
add to her arsenal of wind magic and any skills you might have given her,
especially Oracle.
#Recommended Master: Rwolf#
I'm not kidding! After all the possible selections for Nina, Rwolf still
turns out as the best choice. Even though the Abbess boosts your magic-
related Stats to the heavens, your Attack and Defense get lowered into the
pits, and you don't want your main healer to be dead just when you brought
her out from behind to heal your party! Rwolf not only provides an okay
boost to AP and Wisdom, but lowers Attack instead of Defense, which suits
Nina to a T.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|*Cray* |
|Leader of his war-like people, this Woren warrior is one mean mashing |
|machine. In battle, Cray usually has the strongest Atk, which more than |
|makes up for his lack of powerful +1 hit weapons. His high Def and hefty |
|amount of HP also lets him stay longest in a physical battle of strength |
|and endurance, and equipping him with regenerative items makes him all the|
|tougher. Though Cray is normally slow, Cray is no mean slouch, and his |
|Stat boosting spells can often have a big impact on boss battles. |
| |
|Spells: Protect -Innate |
| Speed -Innate |
| Rock Blast -Level 8 |
| Slow -Level 11 |
| Blunt -Level 14 |
| Stone Pillar-Level 17 |
| Might -Level 23 |
| Shield -Level 25 |
| Quake -Level 30 |
| |
|Will: Guard-Protect other characters; applies only to physical |
| attacks |
| *Critical condition of specific member |
| *Cray is in front rank |
| *Cray is not being targeted by the same attack |
| "You OK?" |
| |
|Trademark: Mudslide-Water and Earth element damage on a random enemy; |
| attack at 1/2 power, ignores Def |
| -Category: Melee |
| *Cancel into with a Melee skill from a Water and |
| Earth spell |
| |
|Best Weapons: Linked Pole |
| Nunchaku |
| Earthbreaker |
| Pole |
| |
|Best Armor: Life Armor |
| Gideon's Garb |
| Mist Armor |
| |
|Useful Skills: Risky Blow |
| Air Raid |
| Spirit Blast |
| Cleave |
| Rest |
| Super Combo |
| Last Resort |
| Focus |
| Timed Blow |
| |
|Useful Wills: Haste |
| Pique |
| Valor |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Cray's Evaluation*
'Tank' is the word that comes to mind when you have to describe one such as
Cray. And it is true that Cray has the means to plow through hordes of
enemies with his overwhelming Atk and endurance. But take note that even
with his HP, Cray is also rather vulnerable to magic, especially that of the
wind element, so don't think that he's an invulnerable hulk. Personally I
don't use him much at all, except for raising Stats, but admittedly he can
be of more potential than most other characters when in the right hands.
#Recommended Master: Kryrik#
Since Cray is undisputably in the dumps for Agl and Wis, and apprenticing
under magic-favouring masters don't remedy the problem much, one has to look
to sharpening his Atk and endurance to make his worth in battle, and our
seasoned sailor of the Salt Ocean is there just for the job. Just note that
if you ever feel a need to raise Cray's AP, or balance out his Agl with the
rest of the party, Njomo fits that choice. Period.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|*Ershin* |
|By far the most hated character in the entire series, NOT just this game, |
|Ershin is seriously the most under-rated character when its blasted |
|appearance just wipes out most of its value in battle and everything else.|
|So, I will conveniently shut up on further description for this character,|
|who in the game is just an animated suit of armor totally incapable of the|
|warped biological fates that not just a few have suggested for it. Still, |
|read on! |
| |
|Spells: Risky Shot -Innate |
| Wild Shot -Level 7 |
| |
| *After Chapter 2* |
| Stand Out -Innate |
| Death -Innate |
| Blizzard -Level 19 |
| Quake -Level 23 |
| Inferno -Level 28 |
| Typhoon -Level 35 |
| Primus -Level 45 |
| |
|Will: Covering Fire-Deals physical damage to a random enemy; may |
| add to a combo |
| *Only after your characters in the front rank |
| have finished their turn, usually at the end |
| of a turn |
| *Ershin is in back rank |
| *Chances appear to be random |
| "Ershin will assist you!" |
| |
|Trademark: Stand Out-Attracts all enemies' attention |
| -Category: None |
| *Just perform it! |
| |
|Best Weapons: Mass Driver |
| Power Glove |
| |
|Best Armor: Chopam Plate |
| |
|Useful Skills: Burn |
| Eddy |
| Plateau |
| Coward's Way |
| Faerie Breath |
| Benediction |
| |
|Useful Wills: Pique |
| Finale |
| Valor |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Ershin's Evaluation*
Please just ignore whatever image that springs to mind and just accept
this piece of info: A character that can cast all the level 3 elemental
magic, with a Death spell and Breath attack, and backed up with lots of
nifty skills to boot, this character is invaluable in any sort of battle.
Biased opinions arise, but I think Capcom did this on purpose: giving the
best Stats to the most hated character in the game. IF, to say these boons
were granted on someone like Scias instead (oh, my), people would gladly
eradicate this 'E' being from the entire game, but it IS a way of
balancing out gifts. And I think I forgot to mention that at later levels,
Ershin gains Stats superior to all other characters, even Fou-lu, so watch
for this irrascible tin juggernaut!
#Recommended Master: Njomo#
For those who have read up to now, I'm sure you have seen at least some of
the shining worth of Ershin in battle, and for a suitable master, I would
think Njomo has the role. For the starting chapters of the game, Ershin is
obviously THE worst character to even have around, with only two meagre
magic, rotten Stats and not to mention an *ugghh* personality. Still, you
have to level it up to see its potentiality, and the tutelage of Njomo
will have its rewards; when you see Ershin's HP rising like a horrendous
wave close behind Cray's even when under one like Njomo, you will not be
able to miss out on the value of seeing lots of 'Pique' Will triggered off
with Stand Out.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|*Scias* |
|Voted as the coolest character in the game on par with Fou-lu, the |
|stuttering mercenary makes kills on the battlefield as one might neatly |
|slice fresh cold sashimi. Besides his unique animation, this St. Bernard |
|takes up the role of being the backup healer after Nina, which makes him |
|an influential character in battle; not that being able to use +1 hit |
|weapons to dice enemies as well as casting useful spells does'nt prove his|
|worth already. But enough of that, I digress much. By the way, there's a |
|picture of Scias blushing red. lol :) |
| |
|Spells: Shining Blade-Innate |
| Frost -Innate |
| Heal -Innate |
| Purify -Innate |
| Sleep -Innate |
| Confuse -Innate |
| Rejuvenate -Level 19 |
| Raise Dead -Level 22 |
| Remedy -Level 25 |
| Blizzard -Level 28 |
| Vitalize -Level 31 |
| Lifestealer -Level 34 |
| Restore -Level 37 |
| |
|Will: Rakhasa-Converts Def to Pwr; Def=0 |
| *Critical condition of Scias |
| *Scias is in front rank |
| *Activated in the turn before Scias performs a melee|
| attack or skill |
| "You will feel my blade..." |
| |
|Trademark: Ice Sword-Water element damage on a random enemy; chance of|
| instant kill |
| -Category: Death/Melee |
| *Cancel into with a Melee skill from a Wind and |
| Water spell |
| |
|Best Weapons: Render |
| Slicer |
| Cleaver |
| |
|Best Armor: King's Armor |
| Mist Armor |
| |
|Useful Skills: Triple Blow |
| Super Combo |
| Pilfer |
| Charm |
| |
|Useful Wills: Pique |
| Finale |
| Valor |
| Vision |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Scias' Evaluation*
I can't add much from this, but say that under his cool animation, Scias is
an exceptionally useful assistance character. He can kick butt with both
physical and magic onslaughts, as well as heal much of your wounds, besides
having excellent levels for most of his Stats. Rakhasa also kicks in during
critical times for a final retaliation, during which you should leave him in
the back rank and boost his attack, then bring him out for a flashy combo!
#Recommended Master: Kryrik#
This master is ideal for unleashing the potential of Rakhasa, as Kryrik IS
the master for raising HP, Atk AND Def altogether. The only downside is the
drop in AP, which you will need as the game progresses, but Njomo and Gyosil
are both there for standby, so watch as Scias finishes off any stragglers
waiting to get a crack at you.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|*Ursula* |
|The final character to join your party, Ursula plays the part of a cool |
|sniper with her training as a captain of the Fou Empire Imperial Army, and|
|sports more than a few pot shots with her array of firearms. To couple it |
|off, she has a snappy demeanor which shows most of its edge towards Cray, |
|but beneath it all lies a gruff but warm sides which she reveals near the |
|beginning of the ending chapter. |
| |
|Spells: Flare -Innate |
| Fireblast -Innate |
| Rock Blast -Innate |
| Silence -Innate |
| Confuse -Innate |
| Weaken -Innate |
| Cyclone -Level 21 |
| Enfeeble -Level 24 |
| Drain -Level 27 |
| Leech Power-Level 28 |
| Inferno -Level 31 |
| |
|Will: Valor-Revive when knocked out |
| *Activated directly after getting knocked out |
| *Triggers only once per battle |
| *Recovers with only 1 HP |
| *Ursula is in front rank |
| "An impressive display of force!" |
| |
|Trademark: Reflect-Earth and Fire element damage on all enemies; hits |
| up to 8 times by rebounding between enemies |
| -Category: Melee |
| *Cancel into with a Melee skill from a Earth and |
| Fire spell |
| |
|Best Weapons: Culverin |
| Repeater |
| |
|Best Armor: Burglar Garb |
| Angel Vest |
| |
|Useful Skills: Reversal |
| Shadow Walk |
| Triple Blow |
| Timed Blow |
| Counter |
| Snooze |
| Last Resort |
| Focus |
| |
|Useful Wills: Finale |
| Vision |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Ursula's Evaluation*
Well, you just have to admit that her array of attack-all weapons make a
unique turn in the battles so far, and she hardly misses at all with her
high accuracy. Give her skills like Shadow Walk and Counter and you get
much more worth for the AP cost. I like to make use of her Valor Will by
giving giving her Reversal and Timed Blow, letting her self-destruct and
dealing smashing damage next with Reversal. Also, once you get ahold of The
Culverin, laugh aloud as you blow hordes of pesky enemies like Morph Goos
to smithereens with a single blow and snag that whole lot of Exp :) Even
with +1 hit weapons, Ursula rocks.
#Recommended Master: Kryrik#
Once again, Kryrik gets voted in as the most beneficial master to apprentice
under. The Finale Will gets in for all enemies, and might trigger off more
Finale attacks from other characters, while the Stat boosts are useful in
complimenting her own Valor Will plus Reversal and Timed Blow. Additionally,
her high attack strength will let you finish off lots of group enemies with
short work, so try getting her a high Agl rating with Njomo as well. And you
can laugh on saving AP as well, for on large groups it can amount to a
Shadow Walk on 6 for the price of 1 all in a single turn!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|*Fou-lu* |
|For the short lapses in which you get to use him, the Endless First |
|Emperor and Founder of the Fou Empire gets hounded by his own empire's |
|forces relentlessly, literally dropping from one mishap to another, even |
|getting into what could be considered an amorphous relationship. Still, |
|no more matter which course of the gameplay you choose (as if there's |
|really any choice), his story can only be told with more than just a few |
|ironical and tragic twists. |
| |
|Spells: None |
| |
|Will: Meditate-Transforms character into dragon hybrid form |
| |
|Trademark: Mjollnir-2 hit extreme Wind and Water magic damage on all |
| enemies |
| -Category: Wind and Water magic |
| *Cancel into with Pa Bing'Ah from a Wind and Water |
| spell, or a Combo Level 2 Wind spell, which |
| would'nt be possible unless you're not playing |
| what we know as a normal game |
| |
|Best Weapons: Royal Sword |
| Slayer (IMPOSSIBLE) |
| |
|Best Armor: Royal Armor |
| |
|Useful Skills: Focus |
| Super Combo |
| Rest |
| |
|Useful Wills: None |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Fou-lu's Evaluation*
Not much to say here, but I think that more than a few out there would be
extremely gratified if they could switch the positions of Fou-lu and Ershin
during the course of the gameplay ;) To back up his worth, for the short
sequences and boss battles in which you get to use him, you cannot cease to
marvel at the ease with which he can dispatch his enemies, suffice to say
that he battles alone. Of course, without someone to watch his back, he can
also drop like a smashed dragonfly if you let those bosses get a crack at
him. And NOT to depreciate Ershin's worth, but I'd gladly let them switch
fates if I could, AND I'd even throw in Scias for the deal!
#Recommended Master: None#
Enemy Skill List: (Hopefully to be completed by the coming update)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Depress: Decrease 1/8 of total AP of all targets
Magic combos:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ascension:[Celerity->Vitalise->Vitalise]
*Used for mass raising of party's stats, Vitalise may be
replaced by other group-affect spells
-----------
By The Numbers:[Tiger Fist->Faerie Attack->Faerie Charge]
*This is used to get the maximum number of hits!
-----------
Final Strike:[Resist->Last Resort->War Shout/Shield]
*This combo is specifically for letting the user of Last
Resort get invulnerability for that turn, thus enabling
a devasting strike the next turn
-----------
Invincible Moon:[Palliate->Resist->Vitalise/Vigor]
*This is a flexible combo for lots of healing, and may be
replaced by other spells such as Restore and Faerie
Breath.
-----------
Celeron:[Resist->Counter->Focus]
*For raising your Atk to extremely high levels, use this combo
as it also causes the Focus counter to start at 3 next turn!
The Dragons of BoF 4: (On hold, too)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Only some raw data here, if you can make sense of it. I hope to figure out
something soon.
Sa Ryong-'Far to the north of here, in a place that knows not the touch of
water or rain' (Cho Ryong)
*Onslaught:1 x8, 2 x11, 3 x14
Ni Ryong-'To the south of the shifting sands... Where earth and water
meet.' (Sa Ryong)
*Mud Flow:1 x8, 2 x11, 3 x14
Cho Ryong-'In a place color'd as gold.' (Nameless One)
*Healing Wind:Effective = Palliate
Su Ryong-'In the land called Shikk, surrounded by trees.' (Ni Ryong)
*Holy Circle:
Hae Ryong-'His song can be heard in the breaking of waves.' (Su Ryong)
*Flood Tide:1 x6, 2 x9, 3 x12
Nameless One-'On the great expanse to the west of these shores... Waits,
one with the earth itself, unseen and unknown to man.' (Hae
Ryong)
*Fulguration:1 x6(32%), 2 x9(43.92%), 3 x12(64%)
% damage=avg of total of all enemies HP
Who shall be my Master?:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Along with the fishing mini-game and, of course, dragons, the Master system
has also become an integral part of the Breath of Fire series. Up till now,
it just gets better and better.
As in previous BoF games, the masters in the game play a crucial role in
boosting your characters' potential, affecting your statistics and teaching
their apprentices' unique skills they know. In BoF 4, the Master system has
been greatly improved compared to BoF 3. No longer would your characters get
'stuck' with a master for an obscene amount of time, no longer would you
have to level up those tons of levels anymore. The BoF 4 Master system
offers gamers a revolutionary improvement (erm, well...).
In BoF 4, characters would no longer have to 'bond' and sign 'life-long'
contracts with Masters. You can sign on or off your apprenticeship as and
when you like (while in camp), provided you 1.) meet their requirements, 2.)
have met up with them, and 3.) nothing else! Skills can be taught to any
character you choose, even non-apprentices, and are taught once you meet
the requirements given for that skill. Still, multiple copies of the same
skill cannot be learnt, and a master would skip any skill you have learnt
onto the next one; the requirements are there, though. You can check upon
what you can get next from any master under the 'Info' section from 'Master'
while in camp.
Plus, Masters now have unique Wills of their own, which are usable only
while a character is under apprenticeship to that particular Master, which
means no, you cannot learn the Wills from Masters permanently. However, this
IS already an added bonus, so don't get too sore about what's still
technically impossible. Now, onto what you were looking for...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Rwolf*
--------
Location: Kurok (near the entrance)
Requirements: None
Will: Haste> Increases speed in combat (good for letting slower
characters have a better chance to combo)
Stats. Change: AP +1, Wisdom +1
Attack -1
1st skill- Eddy
Requirements- Perform a combo of 5 hits or more
2nd skill- Plateau
Requirements- Perform a combo of 10 hits or more
3rd skill- Magic Ball
Requirements- Perform a combo of 15 hits or more
Final skill- Flame Pillar
Requirements- Perform a combo of 20 hits or more
Evaluation: Rwolf is a nice Master to get started with, and the pros
outweigh the cons, even though it may seem insignificant in
amount. The requirements for learning his skills are
reasonable, and you can even try new magic combos from the
skills taught to fulfill his requirements!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Stoll*
--------
Location: Hideout (near the center of the cave)
Requirements: Pay him all your Zenny
Will: Filch> Steal new items (only NEW items in an enemy's
first item slot; activated by normal attacks)
Stats. change: Agility +1
1st skill- Steal
Requirements- Possess 80 or more different items in your inventory
Final skill- Coward's Way
Requirements- Possess 120 or more different items in your inventory
Evaluation: Conclusively, Stoll is an absolute Master for making your
characters gain quicksilver speed (from the way he twists out
of corners when under your pursuit!). If you want to boost
your Agl to absurd levels, stick to Stoll! But don't let them
get out of sight, or combos just might go awry! For items,
just buy or filch them, by hook or by crook (and don't sell
them off too soon)!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Una*
--------
Location: Worent (the 2nd level of the Elders' premises)
Requirements: None
Will: Wild> Damage up, accuracy down (just as it says...)
Stats. change: HP +12, Power +2, Defense +1
AP -2, Wisdom -1
1st skill- Pilfer
Requirements- Deal 1,500 or more points of damage with a combo
2nd skill- Super Combo
Requirements- Deal 3,000 or more points of damage with a combo
Final skill- Blitz
Requirements- Deal 10,000 or more points of damage with a combo
Evaluation: When you get a chance to apprentice with Una, you might
want to wait till later, as the enemy Nuts in the area are hard
enough to hit already. Don't hesitate to get her skills,
however, as they are really handy, especially Super Combo!
Blitz is probably out of reach, though, but try all the combos
you can perform, including magic combos. Overall, Una is an
excellent Master for physical characters.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Njomo*
--------
Location: Plains (? spot north-east of Ahm Fen)
Requirements: Increase the Faerie colony's population to ~6
Will: Pique> All counters= critical hit (well, if you get counters)
Stats. change: Agility +2, AP +1
HP -8
1st skill- Faerie Attack
- Increase the Faerie colony's population to 8 or more
2nd skill- Faerie Breath
- Increase the Faerie colony's population to 12 or more
3nd skill- War Shout
- Increase the Faerie colony's population to 16 or more
Final skill- Faerie Charge
- Increase the Faerie colony's population to the limit of 20
Evaluation: Some may find Njomo's skills undependable, as they are
dependent upon the amount of faerie troops you have, as well as
their level, but all of them are undisputably useful,
especially War Shout! The Stats change would be quite
apropriate for Cray and Ershin, so let them apprentice for a
few levels.
********************************************************
* Quotes for 'Pique' Will *
* Ryu: Ryu's anger overtakes him! *
* Nina: "Why you...!" *
* Cray: "Who d'you think yer fightin'!?" *
* Ershin: "Ershin regrets that you must be destroyed!" *
* Scias: "Now I'm mad!" *
* Ursula: "You dare?" *
********************************************************
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Momo*
--------
Location: Wyndia (within the windmill located near the entrance)
Requirements: None
Will: Drowse> Leave them alone and... (they Snooze when placed in
the back rank!)
Stats. change: HP + 8
1st skill- Spray
- Play the game until the time exceeds 25 hours!
2nd skill- Clip
- Play the game until the time exceeds 30 hours!
3rd skill- Oracle
- Play the game until the time exceeds 40 hours!
Final skill- Egghead
- Play the game until the time exceeds 50 hours!
Evaluation: Another gain-only master, Momo is good only when you are trying
to gain HP, but too miserly to give up on other Stats. Her
'Drowse' Will tends to come out at the wrong moment, and most of
her skills except for Oracle are no-brainers. Still, you can add
this master and her skills to the collection, but look to others
if you want significant changes in your Stats.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Abbess*
--------
Location: Chek (in her own quarters!)
Requirements: Obtained at least 1 Dragon Evocation through meeting with
the various dragon avatars (excludes P'ung Ryong's avatar)
Will: Reck> Increases Learning chance (which makes getting skills
easier)
Stats. change: AP +2, Wisdom +4
Power -2, Defense -2
1st skill- Concentrate
- Battled with 70 or more different enemies
2nd skill- Sanctuary
- Battled with 85 or more different enemies
Final skill- Celerity
- Battled with 100 or more different enemies
Evaluation: The Abbess is the ultimate master for your magic-dependant
characters, especially Nina. But watch out for those big
decreases in Power and Defense, as they can become bad news for
any character. If you want Nina to hit for any damage at all,
then try another master, but she can definately waste many
enemies and bosses using Oracle and Magic Ball with that huge
Wisdom boost!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Marlok*
--------
Location: Synesta (the 2nd level of his premises)
Requirements: A 'Tin Ball' or better treasure through trading the original
'Lead Ball'
Will: Greed> Increase Zenny earned (+20% of normal zenny earnings)
Stats. change: HP +16, AP +3
Power -1, Defense -1, Agility -1, Wisdom -1
1st skill- Charm
- A 'Copper Ball' or better treasure
2nd skill- Monopolize
- An 'Electrum Ball' or better treasure
Final skill- Roulette
- The best treasure, a 'Platinum Ball'
Evaluation: The very symbol of greed, Marlok gives extreme changes in all of
your Stats, which literally makes you what he is: a fat battery
of HP and AP. Soft living makes one hapless though, as all your
other Stats take a permanent plunge. Still, you can make him a
temporary master for any character when you go Zenny-hunting,
especially for gold eggs. His skills are not quite worth much,
though you would want to get Charm since treasure exchanging is
free anyways.
#Treasure Exchange Points#
*Purchase the initial Lead Ball from the 'frog man' in the inn of Sarai
Exchange thereafter with:
*A man standing in the doorway of a house in Ludia (only before leaving
Ludia after retrieving Cray)
*A man living near the exit of the Shrine exiting the Gold Plains
*An imprisoned thief in the dungeons of Castle Wyndia
*A traveller standing obscured from sight near the 'inn' of Shyde
>From Chapter 3 onwards:
*Return to the Crash at the start of the game and swap with one of the
salvagers of the wreck
*Chat with the little girl who declined to play hide-and-seek in the
orphanage in Synesta
*Switch whatever you have with the man in the basement of a house in Shikk
*Ignore Fu-Chu-Man's looks and swap your treasure with him after learning of
the route to Chedo
*A female refugee sitting on the ground near the entrance of Sonne has the
last treasure
For a Clear Game:
*A traveller among the ruins of the Abandoned Village near Chek would be
there, but only if you missed swapping with the man in Ludia
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Kryrik*
--------
Location: Shikk, after crossing the ocean (by the harbour)
Requirements: Perform a combo of 25 hits or more
Will: Finale> Finish off weakened opponent (automatically attacks
an enemy in critical condition, and may add to a
combo)
Stats. change: HP +25, Power +3, Defense +2
AP -2, Agility -2, Wisdom -2
1st skill- Megaphone
- Perform a combo of 30 hits or more
2nd skill- Cleave
- Perform a combo of 50 hits or more
Final skill- Disembowel
- Perform a combo of 70 hits or more
Evaluation: The seasoned sailor is one who can train any of your characters
into a juggernaut. With his 'Finale' Will, Kryrik enables your
characters to give no quarter in any battle, which could turn
out to be a double-edged sword if you're trying to steal from
some creatures. The same could be said of the skills he teaches,
which try to get your enemies down regardless of the costs. A
great master for almost any character, you would do best by
apprenticing Cray or even Ershin to him!
*************************************************
* Quotes for 'Finale' Will *
* Ryu: Ryu attacks the enemy again! *
* Nina: "I'm sorry!" *
* Cray: "You ain't gettin' away that easy!" *
* Ershin: "You cannot escape Ershin so easily!" *
* Scias: "There is no escape!" *
* Ursula: "This one's mine!" *
*************************************************
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Gyosil*
--------
Location: Lyp (he's fishing in this cramped flotsam!)
Requirements: You must have at least 3,000 fishing points
Will: Ward> Can conserve one-shot items (Regain 1 of whatever Item
was used)
Stats. change: AP +2
HP -8
1st item- Ring of Ice
- You must have at least 4000 fishing points
2nd item- Spanner
- You must have at least 6000 fishing points!
Final item- Master's Rod
- You must have at least 9500 fishing points!! ('The Fish' rank!)
Evaluation: The fishing master Gyosil offers little changes in Stats, but
it would be true that the gain in AP surpasses the decrease in
HP. The 'Ward' Will might prove useful when you want to use
items like Ivory Dice and Moon Tears, but is chancey at best.
However, the items Gyosil gives are not to be missed, so go
fishing for whoppers! Note that you need an apprentice under
Gyosil before the master Lyta would agree to apprentice your
characters.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Lyta*
--------
Location: Synesta (the orphanage)
Requirements: A party member must be apprenticed under the master Gyosil
Will: Guard> Protect other characters (See *Cray* under 'The Crew
of BoF 4' section)
Stats. change: AP +1, Wisdom +1
Defense -1
1st skill- Supplication
- Ryu must be at level 20 or more
2nd skill- Holy Strike
- Ryu must be at level 25 or more
3rd skill- Resist
- Ryu must be at level 30 or more
Final skill- Benediction
- Ryu must be at level 35 or more
Evaluation: The Sister Lyta affects your Stats alike to Rwolf, but you
might prefer to apprentice them under her instead as Lyta
causes your defense to decrease rather than your attack. You
probably would'nt like her 'Guard' Will though, since she
already de-emphasizes on defense, but it could prove useful on
some characters. Train up Ryu for her skills, as she also
teaches the ultimate reviving skill 'Benediction', which you
would definately want despite the heavy AP cost!
**************************************************
* Quotes for 'Guard' Will *
* Ryu: Ryu blocked the attack with his body! *
* Nina: "No!" *
* Cray: "You OK?" *
* Ershin: "Are you undamaged?" *
* Scias: "Watch out!" *
* Ursula: "That was close!" *
**************************************************
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Kahn*
--------
Location: Fish Head Beach (? spot north-west of Saldine)
Requirements: None
Will: Valor> Revive when knocked out (See *Ursula* under 'The Crew
of BoF 4' section)
Stats. change: HP +20, Power +3, Agility +1
AP -4, Wisdom -3
1st skill- Shout
- You must have had at least 300 encounters
2nd skill- Tiger Fist
- You must have had at least 500 encounters
Final skill- Flex
- You must have had at least 600 enounters
Evaluation: Falling more than once to your party, the inept Kahn finally
makes it to the ranks of a master ;P, and displaying his
hard-earned knowledge, he might well train your characters into
relentless fighters! To boot, his 'Valor' Will shows you the
secret of exactly how he managed to pester your party throughout
the entire game, and his skills are next to nothing to get once
you advance through the game. Except for Tiger Fist though, most
of them would be practically useless, so you might as well stop
at that. Finally, going by his teachings, he offers the motto of
'strike before your enemy does'!
**************************************************
* Quotes for 'Valor' Will *
* Ryu: Ryu recovers by force of will! *
* Nina: "I can't give up! Not now!" *
* Cray: "You're pretty good!" *
* Ershin: "Ershin cannot be defeated so easily!" *
* Scias: "Wow..." *
* Ursula: "An impressive display of force!" *
**************************************************
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Bunyan*
--------
Location: Hut (outside the cottage at the top of the plateau)
Requirements: Must have met with all the other masters
Will: Vision> To-hit chance= 100%
Stats. change: Power +1, Defense +1, Agility +1, Wisdom +1
HP -16, AP -3
1st skill- Backhand
- You must have dealt over 3,000 points of damage in 1 hit.
2nd skill- Shadow Walk
- You must have dealt over 8,000 points of damage in 1 hit!?
Final skill- Final Hope
- You must have dealt over 12,000 points of damage in 1 hit!?!
Evaluation: The exact opposite of Marlok, Bunyan shows up as the last master
in BoF 4, and might well be the best. His 'Vision' Will lets
his apprentices strike more accurately, effectively letting even
'Blind' characters hit their target, plus a better success rate
for Risky Blow. Apprentice under Bunyan, especially if you
intend to make the local Bolts sniping targets, and don't miss
Shadow Walk for your strongest character! Final Hope might seem
to be a disappointment for all that hard work, but the brief
respite could just mean victory over the tough bosses to come
(but I'd prefer something like Bonebreak, though...).
Fishing in the dark waters:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
No, this is'nt up, too :p Well, I've listed my list of best catches, over
separate games, of course, in a list below, which you might want to view, or
just delete it away. Any suggestions?
Just some blind tips:
*Know where your intended catch lies, in general terms of distance, depth,
as well as where it is likely to be for some particular fishing spots
*Choose your lure wisely, using ones that are more likely to be taken by
your target, and ignored by other fish in similar approximate areas
*Try a waiting tactic with some deep dwellers by allowing sinking lures to
reach to bottom and wait for flashes on the Depth Meter; you might want to
add Tec.s to this, and large whoppers usually come this way
*Blend your Tec.s with the drum beats in background music, which were meant
to serve that purpose; once you've mastered the pattern, you might want to
lower the volume which tends to become distracting
Jellyfish - 30 cm, 80 pts
Piranha - 42 cm, 150 pts
Bass - 60 cm, 200 pts
Blue Gill - 51 cm, 250 pts
Sweetfish - 25 cm, 150 pts
Browntail - 74 cm, 250 pts
Black Bass - 70 cm, 300 pts
Angelfish - 30 cm, 250 pts
Trout - 42 cm, 200 pts
Rainbow Trout- 72 cm, 350 pts
Bullcat - 81 cm, 380 pts
Martian Squid- 72 cm, 350 pts
Dorado - 94 cm, 400 pts
Salmon -144 cm, 400 pts
Barandy -201 cm, 700 pts
Sturgeon -225 cm, 700 pts
Man-o-war - 31 cm, 80 pts
Flying Fish - 37 cm, 150 pts
Blowfish - 54 cm, 200 pts
Moorfish - 30 cm, 200 pts
Sea Bass - 74 cm, 280 pts
Flatfish - 50 cm, 280 pts
Sea Bream - 70 cm, 300 pts
Octopus - 86 cm, 350 pts
Bonito -126 cm, 400 pts
Black Porgy - 70 cm, 400 pts
Angler -147 cm, 450 pts
Spearfish -205 cm, 500 pts
Whale -261 cm, 999 pts
Archeron - 50 cm, 300 pts
Faerie, Faerie (Drop?):)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
There's only miscellaneous stuff here, so go and check out D.Xie's guide at
www.gamefaqs.com/ if you want the cool in-depth info. This only highlights
on some basic subjects of the Faerie Colony.
*Population*
To build a proper settlement, you need first of all settlers (of course,
what else!), and on your first visit into this new realm, you are provided
with three randomly named faeries with rather random Stats as well (seems to
depend a lot on chance, neh?), so you should save outside before entering
and reset if you're unsatisfied. Following as you assign more of your
friends to hunt for food, more faeries are born over time (or rather, more
battling), usually with better Stats as the overall Culture level increases.
You can reach up to a maximum population of 20 faeries, withcounting the
head faerie who acts as the your communication link. Note too that faeries
can perish from several factors, inclusive but not limited to starvation
and exploring unchartered lands (and maybe age and work exhaustion, too).
As you assign your faeries to various jobs, so do they gain increases in
their Stats, especially for what corresponds to their job. (And I seem to
have been using too much subscript, no?)
*Food*
As you might find out from some of the free faeries, food is crucial to
the maintainence of the entire population as the only way you're going to
get their hunger sated is through hunting. By assigning faeries to hunt,
you can get more of the multi-purpose stuff, which not only feeds your
current population, but paves the way for more future settlers. Just be
extremely careful to to let this drop, or you might be facing empty
houses quicker than you think.
*Approval Rating*
Having some influence on the Culture level, this is something not to be
neglected as well. If you get most of the faeries thinking you're a piece of
#$^%#!, expect to see slow growth of the colony, as well as inferior faeries
appearing. And your Faerie magic gets affected as well, especially Faerie
Breath. If this keeps up, some revolution might well occur... And don't keep
whacking those faeries you see out hunting!
*Orders*
This factor determines the pace of expansion and growth you set for your
ward, and is what largely determines your Approval Rating. Primarily, each
has their own personality and react correspondingly to whatever pace you set
for them. I got fed up by this by my third game, and kept deliberately
killing off any lazy or odd faeries that had the tough luck to appear in
my turf (lol and *evilly* bwahahahaha), and eventually had a maxed out
Approval Rating, heheheh! ;)
Hard: This is the pace of work favoured by diligent faeries, and ordinary
ones accept this too to a certain standard, but you'll soon see any
lazy or odd ones turning up a sour face. Note that the food level
decreases incredibly rapidly, so have enough high En faeries out
hunting.
Normal: The standard standard, this pace of work is accepted by all, and
ordinary faeries especially develop faster; note that the Approval
Rating does'nt drop with this setting in effect, but grows rather
slowly.
Easy: Lazy faeries look toward this setting, while odd and even ordinary
faeries grow up to a certain level with this, but diligent faeries
around really get pissed off. Food is conserved the most during this
time, but development of the village will REALLY crawl, which is ok if
you don't have the time to check in often, like when crossing the Salt
Sea.
Relax: A challenging pace to set, lazy and odd faeries thrive under this
anarchy, while diligent faeries may keep working but soon get fed up.
Watch out for slow development of the colony even though your
Approval Rating increases, especially if there are more than a few
lazy ones around.
*JOBS*
------
#Free#
~~~~~~
The 'Free' job status is what new faeries are put in as a default, and while
not really a job, its helps to increase the SL rating of these faeries, and
while going all over the place, you can chat with them to find out some of
the local gossip as well as comments on your leadership and even their own
character!
#Hunting (EN)#
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The chores of hunting are a necessary evil, and this time round you can
actually participate physically (in the game!) in helping faeries hunt. By
entering some random '?' spots that appear as you tour the map, you might
chance upon a faerie in need of help to slay the local wildlife *gasps*.
Stuff away any animal-loving instincts you have for now, and you might as
well take a perverse delight in chasing these animated beasts ;)
A favoured tactic would be to physically surround what you've got your eye
on between a corner and your three party members, and yes, the corners of
the area work too. The members who can effectively hunt in this way are Ryu
with his sword slash, Ershin with his head ram, and Ursula with her (yay!)
long range sniping shot. Take note that while you can hit your prey from a
distance, the various animals can still react to either your presence or
being wounded, and try to flee from you; wounded animals seem unable to hold
still, and the value of the 'meat' they leave behind also degenerates the
further their tortured existance. It seems that after a specific time,
depending on the prey you're hunting, the animals can escape from the area.
To prevent this, you might want to look towards the pit trap the faerie has
set up, and chase some of the animals in ;) Not only does the trap ensure
that they don't run off, but in this enclosed area you can easily slaughter
the poor wretches by charging around with Ershin, or shoot at the beast in
the diagonally opposite corner with Ursula! Note that if you happen to reach
the edges of the area, you can choose to remain in the area and continue
hunting. You can also choose to keep any 'meat' you obtain as items to use
instead of offering them to the faeries.
With an established colony, you can easily maintain the amount of food with
competant hunters; I had 6 diligent faeries with 255 En and that seems to be
the minimum requirement as to hunting food for a full population. Below are
some info regarding the prey that you can possibly hunt:
#Architecture (EN)#
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's obvious that buildings don't sprout out of nowhere, and you need to
assign faeries to this job for that purpose. Clearing land and constructing
houses takes a lot of energy, and I guess that En fits the bill. As you
place more faeries under this job, houses get built more rapidly, and you
can also have a wider selection of land to build on. This job is also
necessary if you need to demolish any houses, but you can leave it empty as
long as there is no need for it. The faeries under this job also chatter
like 'Free' faeries, so you can pick up some extra info again. Note that for
each house you've built, there is an Activity Meter that influences how fast
the faeries in it develop; a filled green bar lets the training faeries gain
Stats faster. Houses can also accomodate up to a maximum of three faeries
each, while there is no limit for the other jobs.
#Crop-Tending (KN)#
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A new unique job, this 'gardening' involves only the caring of a single
tree, which is indeed of a unique nature. Through some serious calculations,
which I don't know of, you can obtain Stat boosting items, among which
includes the Dark Draught and Elixer+! And the only way which you are going
to get those rare items is to 'feed' the tree with fertilizers; think
towards nutrition (wonder about Acherons) and you might get a better chance
of obtaining the good stuff. The more faeries you assign here, the faster
you receive the fruit of whatever you gave to the tree. Take in mind that
more than one seed can be harvested each time. Fruits, however, can only be
obtained in single doses per harvest, but this is the only possible source
of getting those Wassails and Draughts! Just ram the tree with Ershin when
the crop has matured. Here are the possible harvests:
#Items (KN); Max Level 8#
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The first job to get developed, this lets faeries placed in this building
sell miscellaneous items, especially those for use in battle. You need to
place faeries in here for the shop's level to grow, more rapidly with more
faeries. Depending on their personality, each faerie sells a different list
of items; the variety of items for sale corresponds with the level of the
shop, so newly placed faeries also can have a full list for sale.
#Arms (KN); Max Level 8#
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Akin to the item shop, this shop sports equipment for your characters
instead, ranging from weapons to some great accessories. Here's the list:
#Inn#
~~~~~
Like an alternate dimension, there also are inns in the Faerie colony!
However... they cost nothing to rest at, and the faeries there often welcome
your presence instead! :) Below shows what each of the faeries assigned do:
1st Faerie-Lets you rest or save at the inn for free
2nd Faerie-Tells you about your number of encounters, rests at inns, times
you've camped out, and visits to fishing spots
3rd Faerie-Reveals the number of times you've ransacked others' drawers, how
many items you've searched out so far, and the total amount of
zenny earned since the start of the game
#Explorers On Search (EN); Max Level ?#
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The only job I've yet to understand much about, this is the job with the
highest fatality rate ever, so if you ever need to kill off weak faeries,
send them out on a Difficulty Level 5 'trip of no return'. Seriously, if
you've regretted on your decision, you can change your orders before you
leave the explorer HQ by talking to that particular faerie, but not once you
leave the building. Like all other jobs, the 'time' only passes with you
fighting battles outside, so earn Exp while your counterparts venture the
wild for treasure and danger. Each successful search increases the level
by one, while no points are added for those who don't ever return...
The following list is based on some other faqs out there, but I'll remove it
if anyone asks so:
#Troop Barracks (EN); Max Level 99#
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here is another unique element to the value of BoF 4's faerie colony:
assistance forces. When you get to have these buildings, place lots of high
En faeries here to help you out in battles! The level of each barracks
increase by 1 for each use of any faerie magic learned from Njomo, and their
effectiveness also increases with the En rating of these faeries. Note that
the Wisdom rating of the character using faerie magic has no influence on
its effectiveness, which is based however on what's happening in the faerie
colony, including the amount of faerie troops you have
Faerie Attack (20 AP)-Uneven Fire element damage on all enemies; has a
chance for a more powerful attack-all version that
increases with the total overall level
-Category: Melee/Fire
-Each hit of damage is the same for similar types of
enemies, and is based on the total En and level of
faerie troops
-Number of hits corresponds to the number of faerie
troops
Faerie Charge (20 AP)-Uneven damage on all enemies
-Category: Melee
-Damage is based on total En and level of faerie troops
-Requires 6 or more faerie troops
-Number of hits corresponds to the number of faerie
troops
War Shout (20 AP)-Raises front rank characters' Power
-Category: Stat UP
-Effectiveness is based on the total number of faerie
troops
-Requires at least one faerie in the Music Conservatory
Faerie Breath (20 AP)-Restores party's HP and may recover status
-Category: Holy
-Effectiveness is based on the total number of faerie
troops
#Music Conservatory (SL); Max Level 60#
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A job that has become instilled into the series and many other RPGs, the
in-game music for BoF 4 is still a special feature of the faerie colony;
however, there has been a great improvement from BoF 3. Practically all of
the music you have heard throughout the game can be integrated into this
music station, totalling 55 pieces of background music and 5 'songs',
including the ending theme 'After The Dream', which unfortunately still
remains in the Japanese version only; still, it sounds rather ok, does'nt
it? For the crew you can choose to place here, each has its own separate
job besides integrating the music you have heard so far. The first faerie
lets you select any music out of the list it has, while the second faerie
enables you to listen up to all of the songs the 'frog musician' near the
Dam could play, as well as the ending theme if you've a Clear Game save.
Surprisingly, the third faerie does nothing but say something dumb, so I
suggest you remove the third faerie (if there) after getting all the music.
Overall, this would be a nice job if you like to listen to RPG music.
Music List:
-----------
01.Starlight Run 31.Tree Spirits
02.Walkabout 32.Song Of The Plains
03.By The Numbers 33.Thousand Winds
04.Bringing Home A Win 34.Seeing Is Believing
05.Slow Tension 35.A Distant Land
06.Endings and Beginnings 36.Hills And Streams
07.Trouble Ahead 37.The Sun And The Moon
08.Ephemeral 38.1-2-3 1-2-3
09.The First Emperor 39.Samba
10.Fighters 40.Today's Catch
11.Take The Money And Run 41.A Whopper Of A Tale
12.Battling Gods 42.Faeries
13.Desert Town 43.Game Over
14.Round And Round 44.Prayer
15.Under Pressure 45.Unwavering Courage
16.Bastard Sword 46.The Curse
17.Another Working Day 47.Turismo
18.All Mixed Up 48.Replay
19.Poisoned Air 49.Seagulls
20.Truth And Fiction 50.Sailing The Seven Seas
21.Watch Your Step 51.Pabupabu, Pukapuka
22.Darkness 52.For The Princess
23.Traveling Merchant 53.Divine Danger
24.Macho Man 54.Emperor Rampant
25.The Sound Of Money 55.Dragon's Blood
26.Brave Heart
27.Requim
28.Shepards
29.Free Fall
30.Neverending Rain
Song List:
----------
1.Whirlpool
2.Islands Everywhere
3.Floating
4.The Endless
5.After The Dream
"Whirlpool" Lyrics:
-------------------
A baby frog is not
a frog, not a frog
It's a tadpole
Tadpole, tadpole
Baby frog is called a
ta-d-pole!
"Islands Everywhere" Lyrics:
----------------------------
A swarm of bees in May
is worth a load of hay;
A swarm of bees in June
is worth a silver spoon;
A swarm of bees in July
is not worth a fly.
"Floating" Lyrics:
------------------
Sniff sniff
Sniff sniff
Smell the flowers
But don't pluck them!
Leave them for someone
Else to smell.
"The Endless" (Song of the Dragon) Lyrics:
------------------------------------------
>From the world's dawning
to its end
The Endless open the
way
You who hear their call,
Abandon yourself to fate,
and surrender yourself to all
"After the Dream" Lyrics*:
-------------------------
Yume wo mite| mega sa mete
Kimi ga ina kute
Sagashi kakete| ki ga tsuite
Tsukoshi dake hara ate
Ki ete ita| yuku mo ri wo
Yubi saki ga omoikashite
Ko egaki kita kute| furetakute
Demo de kina kute
So wo ne dakedo sekai iwa zutto
Ki de ina ma mada ne
Kimi hitori| inai ga ete
Fushigi| da ne
Rumi sho da ta| mano to ki ga
Honto no koto dakara
Futari kiteta| no sekai ga
Kire ii nanda ne
Kigi no a wo| sora ni nobite
Kaze no uta hakome ne
Hikari afurete| tata dakute
Namita kobo reta
So wo ne dakedo sekai iwa zutto
Ki de ina ma mada ne
Kimi hitori| inai ga ete
Fushigi| da ne
Yume wo mite| mega sa mete
Kimi wa inai keredo
Futari kiteta| sekai ri
Kagayaki afureru
*:These lyrics were keyed in by me after listening to the song for rather
far too many times; if there are any mistakes you can spot, or if you have
the original lyrics, please don't hesitate to help correct them :)
#Art Museum (SL); Max Level 23#
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Another job that depends on style, the gallery is a new option among the
numerous types of careers availible for your faerie friends. Comprising
mostly of modified sketches on concepts raised for characters before the
completion of the game, they also consist of some bosses and even some
major villians (though none for Fou-lu); there are only 23 sketches in all,
which can be viewed by talking to the first faerie you place in here.
Placing two more faeries here only speeds up the rate of getting these
pictures, which is rather unnecessary, since there are only very few pieces
of art in all. Just to let you know, I replaced my Art Museum after viewing
all of the sketches :)
#Aurum Trading Centre#
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A rather basic concept of the stock market has resulted in the creation of
this very interactive unique job. Here, you can choose to purchase Aurum as
an item, an investment, and even as goods for use in bartering trade located
here as well. The first faerie you introduce to the realities of monetary
trade will offer to sell you and buy your Aurum according to the situation
of the 'stock market' reflected on the chart; in the event, you also have to
give a fixed percentage of your earnings as pay for your trader. You should
try making use of the chart to predict what would happen to the worth of
Aurum soon. However, if you would like 'reliable' info as well, you can
choose to place another agent faerie here, preferably a knowledgeable one to
help you ascertain your prediction. The high Kn would probably aid in giving
more accurate predictions on the ongoing trend.
Finally, you can actually choose to barter your Aurum for elemental seeds
if you have a third faerie here. It's rather costly, since each seed you
choose to trade for costs 8 Aurum, so trade only for what you need, and
again you really must get more of these when the market price falls low. You
would earn much more than the commision paid, simply by selling off the
excess seeds at other shops!
#Games#
~~~~~~~
Games return to BoF 4, and this time with a vengeance! Simply by placing a
faerie here, you get to participate in 'Kecak', a fast-paced button tapping
tempo that gets increasingly harder or easier, depending on the level of
your skill. Besides being a sideline to practise perfecting Super Combo,
'Kecak' also costs nothing to play (well, maybe the space and manpower...)
and you can receive prizes if you do well, the top prize for surpassing 1500
points reputedly being a Harmonic Ring, along with other lesser prizes like
a Wisdom Seed. Depending on the character you use to talk to the faerie, you
can alter who gets to participate! Scias' and Ershin's seems to be of
particular interest... :)
The second faerie you place here allows you to rename any faerie in the
realm, errrrmm, EXCLUDING Njomo, of course :p Though rather nonsensical,
what did you expect here? Well, another game is availible once you place a
third faerie here, aptly termed 'Rock, Scissors, Paper'! An interesting game
once you get the hang of it (and the annoying rules), you can choose to
redeem your points for prizes, including the exclusive Midas Stone! The best
(AND most costly) prize to redeem would be the Soul Ring, which raises the
equipped character's CP by half. There's occasionally a faerie out there who
might remark that its favourite game is just this guessing game; try taking
it on for unexpected results!
#Battle Insurance Shop; Max Level 9#
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The final option that you get at a maxed out Culture level, the Battle
Insurance shop is rather the one with the most influence after the Troop
Barracks on your main course of gameplay. Payment for the insurance comes in
a rather unique form; for each and every battle you win with the insurance
in effect, you will have 8% of your total zenny earnings for that battle
deducted automatically, period. This means that you would have to lose out
on a sizeable portion of your money, at least temporarily. If you happen to
be able to survive for about 30 battles or so, you may have the option of
discontinueing your policy or carrying on with it in satisfaction. Should
you come to view this as a money-sucking hindrance, feel free to cancel your
contract and get your paid zenny back in FULL. Choosing to continue, however
lets you gain a percentage of your total payment for free, as well as a free
item (Vitamin!) to boot; your payment carries on accumulating, somewhat akin
to a savings account. I think that if you don't choose to discontinue your
policy for a long consecutive period, the item you get may upgrade to a
better one; anyone wants to try for the Pole?
For each time you purchase a new contract, the level of the shop increases,
and so do the range of premiums you may choose to have, for additional
payment, of course! :p Each time you choose to do so also earns you a free
Vitamin during their never-ending promotion period. Note that you may only,
at any one time, have up to one policy and one premium, which may not be
altered until the renewal period or should you choose to activate the
insurance upon losing a battle, which forfeits any payment you may have made
so far. Having just one faerie in here seems to suffice, as it takes care of
everything you might want to dispute about.
One crucial question you might want to ask up to now is just WHAT does the
battle insurance do: it gives you a chance to reverse the outcome of a lost
battle, silly!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Level|Premium|Z loss| Bonus |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 1 |Health | 1% | -Recover with a Vitamin (+1 Vitamin) |
| 3 |Retreat| 2% | -Recover and automatically Retreat (Might fail) |
| 5 |AP | 3% | -Recover with all AP restored (Recover with full AP)|
| 9 |Dragon | 3% | -Recover with all dragons restored (Recover with all|
| | | | Dragons at full HP) |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Rumors and Gossip around the street*
Below are just some of the interesting comments I've noted so far from
faeries under the 'Free', 'Architecture' and 'Crop-Tending' jobs, where they
inadvertantly reveal bits of interesting info on the game. Interpret their
response how you will :)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
)"Have you heard of a fish called Acheron? They say it's become mutated by
exposure to a cursed area."
)"Somebody told me that if you want parts, your best bet is Difficulty 2...
Do you have any idea what that means?"
)"Did you know that one Ribs is enough food for one of us? And a Roast feeds
three of us, a Flank five of us, and a Loins can feed ten of us!"
)"Did you know some monsters can be damaged by healing magic?"
)"I heard there's a really strong monster out there somewhere! I think its
name was Ride or something like that..."
)"If you're going to use Super Combo, it's best if you go last."
)"Fish you've caught can be used as fertilizer... They work really well.
Rotten Meat, Scorched Rice, and Bird Drops work really good too!"
)"Have you noticed when you fish that sometimes the Depth Meter flashes? I
heard that means there are a lot of fish around the area."
)"Reflect... Mudslide... Ice Sword... Phoenix... Which do you know?"
)"Did you know that your Approval Rating won't go down if you pick "Normal"
for everyone's orders?"
)"I've heard there's a skill that gets better the more fights you run away
from."
Credits
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Empty... What!! Well, that seems so for now, but I really hope to add some
here soon. For now, there are:
*The unknown 'contributors' at the BoF 4 Gamefaqs message board, for your
lot of useful info that often gets lost along the way... :p
*Other faq writers out there like Darkstorm, who inspired me much on what to
create as subject for a game faq
