Breath of Fire 4 Enemy Information guide & Misc. lists compilation Version 0.3 by ZC Liu (phew, what a mouthful) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Contents:-Version History -Disclaimer -Beasts: *Boars)-> Bilbao, Bilboa, Bilbul *Cairn *Fire Wing *Generator *Goos)-> Baby Goo, Black Goo, Goo Count, Goo King, Goo Nurse, Eye Goo, Flue Goo, Mage Goo, Morph Goo *Lavoid *Rat -Demons: *???? *Beihl *Eggs)-> Egg Gang, Gold Gang *Gulper *Horseman *Karon *Legion *Mimic *Orochi *Quisit *Salt Claw *Shade *Skullen *Warlok -Humanoids: *Bolts)-> Bolt Archer, Bolt Mage, Bolt Troop *Bollor & Rollob)-> Bollor, Rollob *Chingol *Cyclops *Gecko *Kolpum *Rider *Shadow *Star Gazer *Titan *Warder -Insects: *Bee Troop *Fire Ant -Machines: *???? *Battlesuit *Bot *Chopam *Death Bot *Guardian -Plants: *Lampkin & Poppy)-> Lampkin, Poppy *Morph *Trean & Trunked)-> Trean, Trunked -Enemy Skills -The Crew of BoF 4 -Magic combos -The Dragons of BoF 4 -Who shall be my Master? -Fishing in the dark waters -Faerie, Faerie (Drop?) -Your Tips -Next, Please -Blessings to... Version History: v0.1 (17/07)-- After about half a year of on and off writing, finally patched up this piece of work. Really hoped it would get up. It did. Now I'll add a "Whee!". :p v0.2 (19/09)-- Whoa, sorry about the time-lag, but I had more than a few projects to research on, then there were those 'Oracle' Zelda games... Actually, there wasn't much to update on, too, except for the missing or outdated info. Where are your queries?!? v0.2b(03/10)-- Oops, submitted an earlier version of the file due to carelessness. This would be a slightly more up-to-date version. Apologies to all! v0.3 (22/02)-- ANOTHER half-year gone! What I did was to include some more critters, not many actually, plus re-format the entire guide, and add nitty bits of stuff here and there. Now I'll be onto Metal Slug 3, since there's only one guide I've seen up till now. And, it's been fun writing something for you people! DISCLAIMER: --------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 its 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 This guide is not to be published NOR distributed in any altered form to the public, but may be changed to suit personal uses.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 and, also: ) www.psxcodez.com ) www.neoseeker.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 efforts. :) Why this guide was made :< --------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. A handy function of most browsers and word processors is the Ctrl + F 'find' function, which can be used effectively especially in large word documents, by typing in a word or phrase. Bless the guy who thought to mention this easily dismissed yet powerful function! @E-mail blues@ ..................................................................... About... it was so long ago I can't remember when, someone seemed to have hacked into my e-mail account and was using my address to read lots of odd-ball stuff on business opportunities, advertisements about whatever was under the sun, and especially disturbing was a big load of lewd stuff. The problem stopped a bit after I changed my password, but then later on, shortly after Yahoo! provided a bulk mail box, chunks of the crap started piling in again; by the end of the week, I usually receive about 3 hundred bulk mail, and even some in my own mail box, all unrelated. So my usual approach was to empty the bulk mail folder after a few customary glances here and there to make sure that it was largely junk. I think it wouldn't have happened, but just maybe I deleted some intended messages without seeing them, so I'll apologise to any I inadvertantly offended. If possible, anyone who knows a good solution to this plague, without changing my address, please, errm, e-mail me (no other choice) and thank yourself for being a good Sam. :) *Note* If you make any customary changes to your personal version of the guide, updating the guide by totally replacing it does NOT magically include your changes in any form whatsoever, so take care when updating your guide. Enemy Info ********************************************************************* 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. A shabby legend here: (term): It's just informal [term]: What's usually there changes into what's in the brackets when you perform a specific action; read further or ask when in doubt / : Indicates a separation between some unstable info which might change during the course of battle : You can learn a skill from this enemy if you guard while it executes that particular move; read the move list for more As for these conditions: Fire : The element itself Wind : The element itself Water : The element itself Earth : The element itself Holy : The element itself, including healing spells to Aura Smash Mind : The tendency for a Stat lowering attack to work, esp. Megaphone Status : Refers to the vulnerability to status changes Death : Any instant kill move or similar S.C. : I dunno what this is; only a few monsters have this highlighted, but I think it has some relation with escaping; or maybe it stands for 'spell combos' Ranged : Any ranged attack, e.g.-> Ursula's attacks, Clip Magic : You know what this means, don't you? It includes Ebonfire, too Dragon : Breath attacks, inclusive of Primus, but I don't think so for Blitz Status Changes: Blind : Causes the victim to have a greatly lowered To-hit chance. Cure with an item, magic, or place in the back rank until it wears off. Poison : Just that, it causes the afflicted character to lose 1/16 of the present HP per turn in battle, and 1 damage every 5 steps out of battle. Cure with an item or magic. Sleep : Dreaming causes a character to be switched to the back rank, until it wears off in time, or when the character gets whacked, usually within the same turn Mute : Silent mouths can't cast magic, and you need to place this character in the back rank till it wears off, or cure it with an item or someone else's magic. Confuse : A confused character cannot be controlled (Command...) and may perform physical attacks on any other combatant. Taking the last possible front rank position, a confused ally cannot be switched to the back rank; can only be cured by an item, magic, or when whacked to their senses Stun : This hidden status disables the character's action for that particular turn only. No real way around this. Euphoria: Inhibits the character's Will(s) while under this state. (Happy) Wears off with time in the back rank, but can be cured with an item or magic before then. At least, that's what I think it does. There's no way to inflict this status on the enemy since none of the moves you can use has this odd property. Unique statuses: Egg : An Egged character loses their own skills and magic and may not change their equipment or use items. Defense is also brought to low levels, making them really fragile against physical attacks and while in this state, unique 'Egg magic' is available instead; depending on the status counter, up to three levels of 'Egg magic' are useable. When the counter reaches zero, the character is restored to full HP and normal status. Besides, the eggs look cute, especially Scias'! :p *Egghead* : In reality a versatile move, Egghead has often been belittled. For one, the 'Egg' status nullifies any other status you are inflicted with, making it a slow working Barandy as it also restores full HP. Sacrifice is a cheap Timed Blow that can be used to exploit the Vigor Will. Boil restores you to normal status and leaves you with critical HP, making it complementary with Reversal and Scias' Rakhasa, while Hatch is an extra attack. The only real drawback is a disabled Magic and Skill list :( But mind you, Egghead is FREE and REUSEABLE! YEAH! ;) K.O. : Zero HP leaves you with this, and the character is disabled to the back rank to make way for another active member. A K.O.ed character can only be revived with an item or magic; wait till out of battle to observe the 'jet-lag' effects. Focus : A beneficial status, the Focus counter can be stored up to level three starting from zero. The first level boosts the damage you normally perform to ~135%, the second 165%, while the third level usually gives around 200% of your usual damage. The counter goes up for every turn of guarding or inactivity (while in the back rank), and depletes once you perform any action, even while under the influence of some status changes, so try to make the action performed with Focus a useful one. Concentrate: Rather identical to Focus, the only difference is that Concentrate affects magic attacks instead, and also has an influence on skills like Magic Ball and Oracle, but not on others like Faerie Breath. Healing spells such as Vitalize CAN be boosted though, so I suggest you give Concentrate to an avid magic user like Nina. Except for Poison, all statuses are cleared off after battle, and K.O.ed characters are revived with 1 HP and get 1/10 of their max HP temporarily deducted; this loss can persist up to 1/2 of the max HP as you continue to let K.O.ed characters stay down and out, so try revive them and keep them going before the battle ends. To recover your penalised max HP, simply spend some zenny to rest at the nearest inn, or seek out a proper resting point. -------- |Beasts| -------- Boars)-> Bilbao: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 1700 Attacks: (Attack), Blitz Exp: 2800 Zenny: 230 Stolen Item: Loins Dropped Item: Protein Absorbs: None Resists: None Weakness: Status Area: Traits: Keeps casting Blitz for most of the time, which will deal a lot of damage to your party even though it lessens after repeated use. This critter is rather easy to defeat for all its damage potential, but you will need to be faster than it, else prepare for a lot of accumulated damage. Comments: Actually, you should be able to take it out with a few regular attacks by the time your main party encounters it; the trouble for Fou-lu is that he fights alone. Use Tiger Fist if you're not confidant, but they should fall pretty quickly. Later on, use something strong like the Culverin to take them all out in one blast for easy Exp. Boars)-> Bilboa: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 2500 Attacks: (Attack), Last Resort Exp: 230 Zenny: 80 Stolen Item: Roast Dropped Item: Ginseng Absorbs: None Resists: None Weakness: Fire Area: Traits: Casts Last Resort on the first turn of battle, then just keeps on attacking Comments: Rather easy to defeat if you're faster than it, physical attacks are preferred if it casts Last Resort. If it doesn't do that in the first turn it gets, then it probably won't cast it. Flame Sword can deal good damage when you first get to it. Boars)-> Bilbul: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 780 Attacks: (Attack), Howling Exp: 280 Zenny: 60 Stolen Item: Roast Dropped Item: Protein Absorbs: None Resists: Water Weakness: Fire Area: Traits: Not much HP here, but has that annoying move called Howling. If you have a Flame Sword, feel free to use it. Water element attacks are useless on it. Comments: If you run into a group of them, it would be wise to cast a big Fire element (mixed) spell, or equip something like a Flamethrower on Ursula. Cairn: --------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 Trigger: Earth element attack within first 3 turns (Attacks, Exp; x1) 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 tossing them Earth damage within the first three turns, thereafter which you face a mine of Exp which can really cave in on you... Comments: 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 don't even need to employ strategies: Cray or Ursula : Rock Blast Anyone character: Something powerful like Quake or Inferno 1)Cast Rock Blast; if this kills them, use something else like a Backhand and Searing Sand (attack-all) combo. A Bullcat or Dynamite will do too. 2)Combo it with that 'something powerful', like Quake 3)Follow as necessary with the same as above Silly me didn't realize how easy it was to get them down earlier, but this seems to be the easiest method I've tried so far. If you happen to run into any Cyclops, I suggest escaping, which powers up Coward's Way as well. Use whatever you will to get your Exp, but consider escaping if they're not eliminated; you might get into deep #$%@ otherwise... Fire Wing: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 2700 Attacks: (Attack), Tempest Exp: 1800 Zenny: 150 Stolen Item: Icicle Dropped Item: Bell Collar Absorbs: None Resists: Water, Earth Weakness: Fire, Wind Area: Main lobby of Level B3, Imperial Castle 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 ... Comments: 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 you might get no quarter instead. Just two Bell Collars would be enough for the collection, as only the girls can equip that particular accessory. Can be collected much more easily elsewhere. Generator: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 1500 Attacks: (Attack), Lightning Exp: 700 / [120% of present] #1) Zenny: 800 / [120% of present] #2) Stolen Item: Aurum Dropped Item: Taser Absorbs: Wind, Water Resists: Holy, Mind, Status, Death Weakness: Fire, Earth Trigger: 1) Wind element attacks (Exp; x*) 'Generator becomes even stronger!' 2) Water element attacks (Zenny; x*) 'Generator becomes even stronger!' Area: Traits: One look and you might say 'Hey, 'nuther Bad Coil!' So, you don't stop to look at what it says in the description. Well, it's got really sharp teeth. Summon a thunderstorm if you think otherwise. Comments: One of those enemies which gain Exp as you pepper them with the right attacks, this is not really a good resort, as you can't see what goes up as well; usually most of their stats and especially Atk. On the other hand, Generator isn't really that bad a choice; it doesn't get its max HP up when you whack it, and more importantly, it doesn't regenerate on its own. Goes down in time. A long time. Not exactly worth it. Try Quake if there are Bolts around. If you actually want to grow more Zenny from it, use Water spells as you might on a money tree. Not a wise choice though. If you DO have the capability to endure several Lightning spells, just take note that it's weak towards both the Fire and Earth elements. Goos)-> Baby Goo: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 2800 Attacks: (Attack), Burn, Timed Blow Exp: 1700 Zenny: 300 Stolen Item: Apple Dropped Item: Pointed Stick Absorbs: None Resists: None Weakness: Status Area: Traits: Not much to describe, except that it's rather like a bigger Mage Goo, with that Timed Blow clause on it. Okay Exp, but very annoying with a Goo King around. Ocassionally might escape when its HP gets low. Comments: Wonder if it can grow into a Goo King somehow. You might want to learn Timed Blow from it, though. Just give it a good smack, and it'll go. Tiger Fist's good 'nuf. Goos)-> Black Goo: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 2300 Attacks: (Attack), Death, Flare, Timed Blow / (Attack), Ebonfire, Timed Blow # Exp: 3200 Zenny: 550 Stolen Item: Dark Draught Dropped Item: Belladonna Absorbs: None Resists: Death Weakness: None Trigger: Presence of Ryu's dragon form, or Fou-lu (Attacks; x1) Area: Interior of Mt. Yogy; Main lobby of Level 1, Imperial Castle Traits: The Black Goo is a difficult enemy to beat when you first face it in Mt. Yogy, and has a powerful range of attacks, including the dread Death spell. However, if you try to battle it with Ryu in his dragon form, or with Fou-lu, it switches to using Ebonfire instead of its normal attacks, which is a very damaging non-elemental skill you might want to try to learn. Any near death Black Goos may also attempt to hit you with Timed Blow, which shouldn't be far too dangerous by then to learn. Comments: Ebonfire is a damaging skill, but you would prefer to learn it with Fou-lu instead of your normal party. Death spells are to be feared as your party isn't likely to have any blessed armor as yet until later in the game, so you might want to avoid battling them until then. The Dark Draught, an extremely useful Stat-raising item, can actually be stolen from Black Goos, but you would probably find yourself in for a uphill task. Great for Exp when you first meet them; try pinning them with Tiger Fist combos when encountering more than one of them. Goos)-> Goo Count: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 1000 Attacks: (Attack), Frost / (Attack), Frost, Icicle #2) Exp: 50 / [200% of present] / #1) [400% of present] #2) Zenny: 30 / [200% of present] / #1) [400% of present] #2) Stolen Item: Apple Dropped Item: Ginseng Absorbs: None Resists: S.C., Ranged, Magic, Dragon / [None] #3) Weakness: None Trigger: 1) Combo hits on the Goo Count in the first turn; 3-4 hits: 200% (Exp, Zenny; x1) 'Goo Count's grade went up!' 2) 5 or more hits: 400% (Attacks, Exp, Zenny; x1) 'Goo Count's grade went up!' 3) The beginning of the second turn (Resists; x1) 'It seems like the Goo Count was counting something.' Area: Traits: It's difficult to kill the Goo Count off in 1 turn, as it spends that very first turn guarding... and counting. Use combos on it if you want more Exp, which is a great amount early in the game, and you might get to learn Icicle too. You might have to be on your guard, though. Pity it only works on the first turn. Comments: Lots of Goos swell in Exp with the right trick, and the Goo Count is the most inflatable of them all. Chuck enough attacks at it in the first turn, and you might get more than you bargained for. Don't be afraid of killing it in the first turn, as it's really hardy then. Well, once you get Icicle in the collection, you might still want to use the Exp trick, simply because it's wasteful not to. Hold on with too many attacks once you level up, as you would be simply too powerful for it then. Goos)-> Goo King: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 15000 Attacks: (Attack), Eruption, Firewind, Jolt, Storm, / (Attack), Giant Growth, Gigaflare, Ragnarok, #1) Thunderstorm Exp: 3000 / [150% of present] #2) Zenny: 1000 Stolen Item: Apple Dropped Item: Goo King Sword Absorbs: None Resists: Holy, Mind, Status, Death Weakness: None Trigger: 1) Steal his Apple (Attacks; x1) 'The Goo King is angry!' 2) Turn after defeating the Goo Nurse / Baby Goo (Exp; x*) 'The Goo King appears to be excited... ' Area: Main lobby of Level 1, Imperial Castle 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. You might try eliminating his escort one by one, however, as his Exp increases quite a bit that way. Charm him well with treasure/ level up combos and hope that he leaves a shining sword behind rather than a rosy (and probably poisoned) apple. Comments: 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 doesn't 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 :) This also means that as long as you can hold out and chew on that Goo, you'll eventually be able to defeat it and still emerge hale and hearty. Is that any consolation at all? Well, you can summon Kaiser and the whatnot plus your full force with impunity, since you know there's a rest room (rest-room?) nearby. Easy when you know it. In short, perseverance brings rewards, and anyone is going to need lots of patience to get this prized blade. Truth would be that it's 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... The reputed chance for a Goo King Sword to be dropped seems to be 1/256 but, then again, fighting 256 Goo Kings does not necessary leave you with a Goo King Sword at the end of it all. Goos)-> Goo Nurse: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 1200 Attacks: (Attack), Vitalize Exp: 400 Zenny: 250 Stolen Item: Apple Dropped Item: Vitamins Absorbs: None Resists: None Weakness: Status Area: Traits: As its name goes, this pearly white goo is the embodiment of mercy (well, at least in this game). Its job as a medic extends to not only its fellow goos, but to your party in some circumstances as well. You might say that's because it doesn't have eyes... Comments: Get rid of it quickly if it appears in a fight with a Goo King; otherwise, its pretty much your friend, albeit rather useless. All it does is guard or Vitalize its party when necessary, and attacks only if you force it to do so with Roulette. If you kill off all of its allies, with nothing to heal, it actually extends its services to your party before trying to escape. If you're as evil as you think you are, you can smack it before it slips away, and be an ungrateful jerk. The healing is almost redundant, since there is the case of the rest room just at the corner... Some say this nurse would do much better with eyes. Goos)-> Eye Goo: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 150 Attacks: (Attack), Rest Exp: 8 / [200% of present] # Zenny: 6 Stolen Item: Croc Tear Dropped Item: Healing Herb Absorbs: None Resists: None Weakness: Status Trigger: Afflict with the 'Blind' status (Exp; x1) Area: Traits: One of the first enemies you get to face, it's here mostly for completeness's sake. It uses Rest after the battle goes on for a bit, which can be quite the life-saver for lots of instances, so learn it! Comments: If you have the Blind skill from the Scorpians nearby, or similar stuff, you might want to get more experience by blinding it. Not really worth the effort. Goos)-> Flue Goo: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 320 Attacks: (Attack), Giant Growth Exp: 40 / [300% of present] # Zenny: 16 Stolen Item: Healing Herb Dropped Item: Vitamin Absorbs: None Resists: None Weakness: None Trigger: Afflict with 'Blind' status (Exp; x1) Area: Traits: The Flue Goo is rather dangerous when you encounter it early on the game, as its Giant Growth attack has the ability to damage your entire party, making healing often a vital act. Blinding it yields a rather pleasant side-effect: its Exp actually triples in amount! Plus makes its attacks less accurate, so hit it with the Blind skill if you have it! Comments: It proves to be a nasty enemy early on, and can wreck havoc easily with repeated Giant Growth attacks. Either defeat it with magic combos quickly, or you might want to try inflicting blind on it to gain lots more Exp. Goos)-> Mage Goo: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 200 Attacks: (Attack), Burn Exp: 12 / [200% of present] # Zenny: 11 Stolen Item: Healing Herb Dropped Item: Wisdom Seed Absorbs: None Resists: Fire Weakness: Status Trigger: Afflict with 'Blind' status (Exp; x1) Area: Traits: Another early critter, Mage Goos aren't much to say about, except there's the Burn skill to be learnt from it. Don't cast it as a return shot, however, as the Mage Goo manages to resist the Fire element quite effectively. Hitting it with the blind status is not so very effective due to its ability to cast Burn, but still nets you more Exp. Comments: Just defeat it quickly after you have Burn learned! Goos)-> Morph Goo: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 2000 Attacks: (Attack), Burn, Flame Pillar / *Red* (Attack), Cyclone, Eddy / *Green* (Attack), Frost, Icicle / *Blue* (Attack), Plateau, Rock Blast *Brown* Exp: 1000 Zenny: 300 Stolen Item: Elixer Dropped Item: Elixer+ Absorbs: Fire *Red* Wind *Green* Water *Blue* Earth *Brown* Resists: None Weakness: Water *Red* Earth *Green* Fire *Blue* Wind *Brown* Trigger: Corresponding elemental attack or start of every next turn (Attacks, Absorbs, Weakness; x*) Area: Most areas within Emperor's Tomb; Mukto 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; one Morph Goo will suffice for this purpose. Comments: 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 combos 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! :) Later on, this tactic can be increased to cover even Kolpums and Chingols, once you get strong enough. If you're lucky enough to get a Render, it should get really strong with all these battles, too, though the later bosses seem to be incredibly resistant against the Water element. Lavoid: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 3200 / *Regenerates* [120% of present] # 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 Trigger: Fire element attack (HP, Exp; x*) 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. No Benediction for you, too. Comments: 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! *Exp Note: Someone suggested on the web a way to defeat both a hyped- up Morph Goo AND an Orochi, and it seemed to work fine too! The idea once again was to get in Ershin as the decoy with Stand Out, this time with Resist to make em last much longer, and get Ryu to annihilate those 'banes of nature' with Kaiser Breath. The first time I tried it on a really- big Lavoid, it worked! So I got all-the-way excited and on my next round, against *two* Lavoids, flamed them all the way to kingdom-come. Uh Oh. For the front part of the battle, it went as was expected, and their Exp went up in full tide (of course, so did their Stats...). When I finally got geared up to defeat them with my Kaiser at 999 for all Stats, AND with max HP (with Celerity, plus more than a bit of those seeds and fishes), I thought for the whole thing to end for them in a big bang. I got the bang. When I executed Kaiser Breath, dumb me actually missed out on the point that this was BoF 4, in which the total damage gets distributed among *all* the enemies... None of the Lavoids died, or even took damage at the end of it all. After one more turn, I saw that they were regenerating more than the Rider's HP each turn, which made the whole battle very interesting indeed, so I went for an all out offensive. Four turns later, the game told me to load a save file or start a new game. NEVER, miss out on the importance of all-target attacks, for they are what makes Stand Out useless, on the absolute scale. A few bouts of Magma Blast, and my Kaiser dragon ceased to exist; all of them fell in the end, including Ershin (ran out of AP :p). A few proverbs came to mind soon after: 'Pride comes before a fall', 'Take things at a time', and 'Watch your step', blah blah. :| Seriously, what you should note is to use this strategy on lone enemies only, and don't overwork yourself on pumping your enemies for Exp. This should still work on a single Lavoid or Orochi, though. Rat: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 100 Attacks: (Attack), Chlorine Exp: 250 Zenny: 200 Stolen Item: Berries Dropped Item: Toothpick Absorbs: None Resists: Status, Death, S.C., Ranged, Magic, Dragon Weakness: None Area: Traits: This elusive squeaky white critter is a prelude to what you face against the later Mimics. If you can't catch Rats, I don't suppose you would fare well against the blasted treasure chests. A nice pack of Exp and Zenny, Rats are hard to encounter and defeat firsthand, but yield a nice reward if actually defeated. Most physical attacks would whistle through thin air, and magic is crappy against them. Escapes often too, so don't be disappointed if you can't send it to oblivion on first contact, since it's practically a mini-Mimic in nature. Comments: Difficult to defeat when you first face that juicy amount of Exp, the rewards become obsolete when you can squish it underfoot easily. Come back and flush Rats around the Hideout if you want pre-Mimic training. -------- |Demons| -------- ????: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 300 / 400 Attacks: (Attack) / (Attack), Confuse, Silence, Sleep # Exp: 96 Zenny: 0 Stolen Item: None / [Bent Screw] # Dropped Item: Ice Punch / [Glass Shard] # Absorbs: None Resists: Fire, Wind, Water, Earth, Mind, Status, Death, Magic Weakness: None Trigger: When summoned by Glebe with 'Summon Minion' move Area: Event battle in Kyria / Boss battle against Glebe Traits: The odd chest out of the three, this one's in the middle. And it occassionally appears when summoned by Glebe. Comments: It's just here for fun! Beihl: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 5000 Attacks: (Attack; Lucky Strike), Blizzard, Death, Kyrie Exp: 3000 Zenny: 380 Stolen Item: Ouroboros Dropped Item: Magic Shard Absorbs: None Resists: Status, Death Weakness: None Area: Most areas of Level B2, Imperial Castle Traits: Beihl gets in Lucky Strikes now and then, but they aren't 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 with them around. The occasional Skullen that appears shouldn't prove to be a troublesome combination. Comments: 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. Just try to heal often, as the damage from the Lucky Strikes tends to pile up more often than not. Eggs)-> Egg Gang: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 2000 Attacks: (Attack), Ovum, Magic Ball Exp: 1100 Zenny: 350 Stolen Item: Wisdom Seed Dropped Item: Protein Absorbs: None Resists: None Weakness: Earth Area: ? area left of Tomb; Exterior grounds of Emperor's Tomb; random ? spots around the Tomb region Traits: Actually higher in Exp than its metallic brethren, Egg Gangs are easier to defeat than Gold Gangs, since it's the Zenny that makes the difference. Doesn't escape that often too. Comments: Use a couple of well-placed attacks to crack it. Searing Sand and other Earth attacks work particularly well. Note that you can learn Magic Ball from it. Eggs)-> Gold Gang: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 2500 Attacks: (Attack), Ovum, Resist Exp: 800 Zenny: 10000 / [50% of present] # Stolen Item: Light Bangle Dropped Item: Divine Helm Absorbs: None Resists: Mind, Status, Death Weakness: Earth Trigger: Regular or melee attack (Zenny; x*) Area: ? area left of Tomb; Exterior grounds of Emperor's Tomb; random ? spots around the Tomb region Traits: The gold pot of the game, Gold Gangs 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. Note that the random spots from in the region around the Tomb (boundaries are Kwanso and the two intermediary points from its North and East trails) are Egg Heavens, with the occasional Zaurus also also hunting for eggs, so head there if you want to try your luck at gaining hoards of Zenny for stuff like Shaman's Ring! Divine Helms are good stuff too! Comments: 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 doesn't 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. Gulper: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 1000 Attacks: Blizzard, Death, Ebonfire, Fireblast, Inferno, Leech Power, Rejuvenate, Stone Pillar Exp: 250 Zenny: 105 Stolen Item: None Dropped Item: Magic Shard Absorbs: Resists: Weakness: Area: Traits: Comments: Horseman: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 6000 *Regenerates* #2) Attacks: (Attack), Death, Inferno, Triple Blow Exp: 3500 / [200% of present] / #1) [50% of present] #2) Zenny: 400 Stolen Item: Cleaver Dropped Item: Mist Armor Absorbs: None Resists: Death Weakness: None Trigger: 1) Presence of Shade allies at start of battle (Exp; x1) 2) Absence of Shade allies (Exp, regeneration loss; x1) 'Horseman's magical ability weakens!' Area: Main lobby of Level 2 and B3, Imperial Castle 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. Comments: The regeneration is going to make this battle 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 didn't already, and the Cleaver as well as Mist Armor can be gotten from it. Karon: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 5000 Attacks: (Attack; Lucky Strike), Blizzard, Curse, Multistrike / (Attack; Lucky Strike), Ice Blast, Multistrike |______________________#2) Exp: 3000 / [200% of present] / #1) [50% of present] #2) Zenny: 800 Stolen Item: Skull Staff Dropped Item: Star Dress Absorbs: None Resists: Death Weakness: None Trigger: 1) Presence of Shade allies at start of battle (Exp; x1) 2) Absence of Shade allies (Attacks, Exp; x1) 'Karon's magical ability weakens!' 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 rather painfully. X| Comments: Pretty easy an enemy to defeat with Oracle from Nina, the Skull Staff can be stolen from Karon, but hasn't much real 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 a Holy-Kyrie combo rather easily. Legion: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 1200 / *Regenerates* [110% of present] # Attacks: (Attack), Silence Exp: 500 / [120% of present] # Zenny: 120 Stolen Item: Vitamin Dropped Item: Protein Absorbs: None Resists: Holy, Death Weakness: Status, Magic Trigger: Regular attack (HP, Exp; x*) 'Legion's power increases!' Area: Traits: It doesn't seem like much at first, with a tongue hanging out like Fido's. But don't go overboard with boosting its Exp; watch out for its HP, which regenerates as well, and its Atk goes up too. Comments: More Exp is nice, but more risk is bad, especially when the enemy regenerates like no one's business. Magic works best against it, no matter your purpose, and is good against the later Orochi enemies too. You might want to try out the new Wyvern dragon form against it if you run into trouble early on. Mimic: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 10 Attacks: (Attack), Confuse, Silence, Sleep, Snap Exp: 1000 / [200% of present] # Zenny: 500 / [200% of present] # Stolen Item: Wisdom Fruit Dropped Item: Ivory Dice Absorbs: None Resists: Fire, Wind, Water, Earth, Mind, Status, Death, S.C., Ranged, Magic, Dragon Weakness: None Trigger: Regular attack that hits (Exp, Zenny; x*) Area: Anywhere within En Jhou Ruins 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! (Well, it never happened again :|) Luck seems extremely crucial with these guys, who seem to possess a whimsical attitude. As a side note, anyone noticed that you spot the moon for only about four times in the entire game? That's referring to actual game events, otherwise the moon actually shines more often than the sun when there are dragons around wrecking havoc. Have fun actually waiting for a blue moon. :) Comments: For those who have met the Bolt family, and Rats, 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 doesn't 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 mention 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 Just for some help, if you're going on a Mimic hunt, you should more or less have some of the following packed in abundance: *Spirit Blast, Cleave, Timed Blow, blah blah... *A +1 hit weapon for each character who can equip one; yep, you shouldn't even have disposed that Scramasax *A crack/shatter/destruction-proof heart and mind; you know, I found this whole business somewhat akin to buying shares Orochi: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 3500 / *Regenerates* [110% of present] # Attacks: (Attack), Giant Growth, Rock Blast, Silence Exp: 2500 / [120% of present] # Zenny: 380 Stolen Item: Multivitamin Dropped Item: Ivory Bangle Absorbs: None Resists: Holy, Death Weakness: Status, Magic Trigger: Regular attack (HP, Exp; x*) 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! Comments: 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. *Exp Note: I won't repeat this again since it gets confusing. Go read it from the Lavoid section! Quisit: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 700 Attacks: (Attack), Confuse, Depress, Gloom, Syphon Exp: 1200 Zenny: 90 Stolen Item: Straw Dropped Item: Balance Ring Absorbs: None Resists: Earth, Death Weakness: Wind, Ranged Area: Most areas of Level B2, Imperial Castle 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 turn 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. Comments: 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. Salt Claw: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 2300 *Shield* # Attacks: (Attack; Lucky Strike), Death, Reversal / (Attack), Cyclone, Giant Growth # Exp: 2200 / [150% of present] # Zenny: 350 Stolen Item: Belladona Dropped Item: Power Glove / [Nothing] # Absorbs: None Resist: Mind, Status, Death Weakness: Magic Trigger: Repeated melee attacks (Attacks, Exp, Dropped Item, Shield loss; x1) 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 aren't really that easy to defeat. Besides getting in Lucky Strikes and Counters 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. :) Comments: 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 using magic. And, you can get the Power Glove through more conventional means: Manillo Trading at Chiqua. Shade: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 999 Attacks: (Attack; Lucky Strike), Confuse, Molasses, Snap, Swordbreaker Exp: 450 Zenny: 20 Stolen Item: Power Food Dropped Item: Protein Absorbs: None Resists: Earth, Mind, Status, Death Weakness: Wind, Holy, Ranged Area: Traits: Shades take up the role of battle assistance, as they both boost the powers of their allies (Horseman, Karon, Titan), plus use lots of annoying attacks. Don't under-estimate them though, as a couple of Lucky Strikes can make you bite the dust rather quickly. Defeat them first if you want to weaken their allies. You lose out on the rewards, though. Comments: Use Ursula's attack-all guns or a good Wind spell to rid yourself of them, but you'll usually want more Exp against this comparatively minor threat. Watch out, though, and don't hesitate on taking them out of the air if things get rather nasty. The fact that Earth spells don't work on them can be used to your advantage, actually. As a side-note, those status-boosting items don't drop all that often. Skullen: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 3000 Attacks: Backlash, Counter, Magma Blast Exp: 2800 Zenny: 250 Stolen Item: Target Seed Dropped Item: Wisdom Seed Absorbs: None Resists: Mind, Status, Death Weakness: None Area: Most areas of Levels B1-B3, Imperial Castle 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. Comments: 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. Warlok: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 3500 Attacks: (Attack; Lucky Strike), Dark Breath, Death, Dream Breath Exp: 2800 Zenny: 650 Stolen Item: Skull Staff Dropped Item: Phantom Dress Absorbs: None Resists: None Weakness: Holy Area: Event battle upon entering Imperial Headquarters in Astana; 'Organ room' within Imperial Headquarters in Astana after hex incident Traits: As the description says, you have to take care when zombies start appearing along with Warloks. Usually, Dark Breath is what they cast on the first turn. Not really a big threat, considering how Zombies and the bunch fare against you now. Some spell combos, or a good shot with Ursula should take care of that rotting army. Comments: Rather dangerous in itself, the undead which accompany it at times are less of a threat than the Warlok. Watch out for its Lucky Strikes and Death spell. You might want to try a Holy-Kyrie combo to sweep the screen, though Vitalize would only dispatch the zombies. Oracle and Holy Strike are extremely useful when up against a lone Warlok. ----------- |Humanoids| ----------- Bolts)-> Bolt Archer --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 200 Attacks: (Attack), Double Blow, Mind Flay / (Attack), Multistrike # Exp: 850 / [150% of present] # Zenny: 250 Stolen Item: Bent Screw Dropped Item: Light Clothing Absorbs: None Resists: None Weakness: None Trigger: Turn after defeating a Bolt Archer or Troop (Attacks, Exp; x1) 'You killed him! How could you!?' Bolts)-> Bolt Mage --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 200 Attacks: (Attack), Silence / (Attack), Blizzard, Typhoon # Exp: 900 / [150% of present] # Zenny: 230 Stolen Item: Bent Screw Dropped Item: Wisdom Ring Absorbs: None Resists: None Weakness: None Trigger: Turn after defeating a Bolt Archer or Troop (Attacks, Exp; x1) 'You killed him! How could you!?' Bolts)-> Bolt Troop --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 200 Attacks: (Attack), Knock Out, Weaken # Exp: 850 / [150% of present] # Zenny: 180 Stolen Item: Bent Screw Dropped Item: Feather Sword Absorbs: None Resists: None Weakness: None Trigger: Turn after defeating a Bolt Archer or Troop (Exp; x1) 'You killed him! How could you!?' Area: River (NO MAGE); ? area leading to Hut; random ? spots from Kwanso to intermediary point between Highway, Sanctum and Soma Traits: This time round, the Bolts don't have a Lord around to look out for them like in BoF 3, so it seems that they have formed closely-knit packs of battle-seasoned warriors and mages. Killing off any of their number would incur the wrath of the remaining band, and while they offer more Exp when defeated, their ability to evade physical attacks gains more than a few leaps, and some of them may begin to sport more powerful attacks. Somehow though, the warriors seem to be unaffected by the demise of mages, even though the mages care about their their comrades absence, undeniably when you get Typhoons and Blizzards for just about every other turn. Comments: Not really much here, except that you should try to kill off one of them before casting your spells, but not the Mage as it's useless, unless you want to evade the threat of Blizzard and Typhoon. Once their Exp increases on the next turn, get a quick character to cast something like Rock Blast or Fireblast, or just have Nina (usually the fastest) USE a Flamethrower for free. The items they drop are very nifty ones, so try collecting a few of them if possible. Bollor & Rollob)-> Bollor: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 1400 Attacks: Sever Exp: 330 Zenny: 150 Stolen Item: Weather Vane Dropped Item: Weather Wand Absorbs: None Resists: Wind Weakness: Fire, Earth Bollor & Rollob)-> Rollob: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 1600 Attacks: (Attack), Ice Blast / (Attack), Ice Blast, Lightning # Exp: 400 Zenny: 200 Stolen Item: Icicle Dropped Item: Taser Absorbs: None Resists: Water Weakness: Fire Trigger: Presence of Bollor ally at start (Attacks; x1) Area: Traits: Bollor is much easier to face than Rollob, who has a more potent arsenal of spells. However, if you chance upon a Bollor, you're probably seeing a Rollob together with it. Rid Rollob first unless you like to be hit by Lightning. Which doesn't end even if the Bollors get annihilated before the Rollobs. Comments: Think of Bollor as a prism of sorts who enables present Rollobs to cast Lightning (and they can cast it endlessly, with no AP cost at all) besides the normal stuff. Smash Rollob, Rollob, Rollob, (ya know, the one with the Ctulhu shade of skin colour) before you tackle Bollor, who can only cast Sever until its AP runs out, even though it's faster. Not much else, is there? Oh yeah, try making some takoyaki for yourself. Chingol: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 4000 Attacks: (Attack), Shadow Walk, Speed Exp: 2300 Zenny: 380 Stolen Item: Toothpick Dropped Item: Holy Mantle Absorbs: None Resists: None Weakness: Magic Area: Most areas of Levels 4-1, Imperial Castle 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. Comments: This is the only enemy you can learn Shadow Walk from, if you just couldn't get Bunyan to teach you (actually, the Knight dragon form 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 using skills like Tiger Fist and attack-all weapons on Ursula, who could definately do artillery damage with Shadow Walk! Just note that they can take quite a bit of punishment. Try spells if you can afford to. Cyclops: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 10000 Attacks: (Attack; Lucky Strike), Risky Blow / (Attack; Lucky Strike), Blitz / #1) (Attack; Lucky Strike), Spirit Blast #2) Exp: 3500 / [150% of present] / #1) [80% of present] #2) Zenny: 200 Stolen Item: Strength Seed Dropped Item: Giant Club / [Nothing] #2) Absorbs: None Resists: Holy, Death Weakness: None Trigger: 1) Afflict with the blind status within the first two turns (Attacks, Exp; x1) 2) Start of 3rd turn of battle (Attacks, Exp, Dropped Item; x1) 'Cyclops' club broke!' Area: Traits: Probably the first enemy you bump into on exiting from the Emperor's Tomb, running away is usually preferred to using brute force on this giant. Due to its nature to counter your normal attacks and land hard blows most of the time, you wouldn't want to face the Cyclops while having low HP; after it deserts its weapon, it smacks you with a ton using Spirit Blast, and you get less Exp too. Not worth it, huh? So run while you've got the chance to! Comments: Its Giant Club is a good weapon for Cray, yet not worth the effort to get, simply because it's much easier elsewhere. Not only do you have to deal 10000 damage within two turns to this monster, but endure counter attacks to most of your attacks; Lucky Strike occurs obscenely often. Blinding it would be a good tactic; its Exp increases, and it switches to using Blitz while it can, which, though deals a lot of damage to your party, also deducts a chunk off Cyclops' HP, which may help you if you've got enough health. Difficult to tackle even at higher levels. Gecko: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 4500 Attacks: (Attack), Cleave, Shield, Triple Blow, Vitalize Exp: 3800 Zenny: 20 Stolen Item: Dragon Scale Dropped Item: Ascension Absorbs: None Resists: None Weakness: Magic Area: Most areas of Levels B1 and B3, Imperial Castle 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 occassionally wonder if they are warrior monks of some sort. Comments: 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 wouldn't want to eat your own Gigaflare in the face. Offers a huge chunk of Exp if you can trash them quickly with spells. :) Kolpum: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 3800 Attacks: (Attack), Double Blow / (Attack), Flame Strike / # (Attack), Wind Strike / # (Attack), Frost Strike / # (Attack), Searing Sand / # (Attack), Holy Strike # Exp: 2000 Zenny: 450 Stolen Item: Elixer+ Dropped Item: Slicer Absorbs: None Resists: None Weakness: Magic Trigger: Elemental attack (Attacks; x*) 'Kolpum's sword has been infused with a holy power!' 'Kolpum's sword has been infused with the power of *element*!' Area: Most areas of Levels 4-1, Imperial Castle Traits: Kolpums often have Chingol companions, and together they make a rather fearsome cavalry. 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 possible only with another Holy Strike or Aura Smash, so it might be somewhat tricky to learn. When you descend to the lower levels though, try attacking equipped with the Ascension you get. Oh, and Rainstorm works, too. In so far as I know, a Kolpum cannot execute Double Blow once it fuses with an element, so that might be useful info when you have elemental rings. Comments: 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 ;) You might want to use magic combos, though, especially if there are Star Gazers around at times. The Strikes are probably useless this late in the game, though, so you might as well finish them off quickly. Note that Kolpums have a low chance of dropping the Slicer, which is an adequately powerful +1 hit weapon for Ryu and Scias at this point in the game. You'll be lucky to get it. Rider: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 40000 *Regenerates* Attacks: (Attack), Benediction, Cleave, Disaster, Primus, Ragnarok Exp: 10000 Zenny: 10000 Stolen Item: King's Armor Dropped Item: Cursed Sword Absorbs: None Resist: Holy, Mind, Status, Death, Dragon Weakness: None Area: Summoning Place within sealed area of Mukto 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. And if you succeed in getting a King's Armor too, congrats. Comments: Pitting your characters against this enemy would truly make your fiercest battle yet. Each turn against the Rider would almost definately 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: Ryu's Skills: Super Combo, Focus, Last Resort Nina's Skills: Concentrate, Resist Cray's Skills: Risky Blow, Spirit Blast Ershin's Skills: Coward's Way, Faerie Breath Scias' Skills: War Shout, Counter Ursula's Skills: Shadow Walk, Reversal, Timed Blow *1st turn* 1)Meditate Ryu into a dragon form; I recommend Weyr for this, but Kaiser or even Knight are good enough too. 2)Cast Resist with Nina; she's fast. 3)Cast Shield with Cray, or a spell on Ryu, and hope everything connects; Kaiser's hefty HP takes care in case of a backfire. :) Weyr should fare fine. If Cray is just too slow, try a useful spell targeting Ryu, like Barrier if you've got Resist on someone else. *2nd turn* 1)Cast Resist with Nina; combo, combo, combo! 2)Cast Last Resort with Ryu and hope the SHIELD effect triggers; the defense rating of Kaiser really helps in this, but is really costly AP-wise. 3)Try either War Shout with Scias, or another bout of Shield to make a combo; the SHIELD effect is rather essential for Ryu, so just use anything to make it work. *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 doesn't really matter. 3)Combo it with Focus on Ryu; it HAS to combo or the whole thing's off! :O Notice something now? *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. You might try using Triple Blow if you're not that familiar with using Super Combo, and Tiger Fist nicks for than some HP enough too. 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. Or if you've got your confidence in Tiger Fist, it would probably work out fine with much less hassle too than with Super Combo. Which isn't all that great if you don't know how to use it. 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, so feel free to use whatever tactics suit your party best; flexibility brings about surprising results. For a tip, you might try placing Ershin in front with Stand Out and Soul Gems as bait for the Rider's devastating attack while you power up your other characters, during which Faerie Breath could come in handy for most situations. Skills like Counter are chosen for their category, and can be replaced suitably with other skills of the same category needed for the combo, like Supplication or even Charm and Monopolize, which all share in common the 'Level Up' category to be used for boosting Focus. Shadow: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 1500 Attacks: (Attack), Disembowel, Target Exp: 1500 Zenny: 400 Stolen Item: Dodge Seed Dropped Item: Hidden Dagger Absorbs: None Resists: Death Weakness: Magic 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 chancy threat of extermination, unless you throw in the best magic combos you can perform first. Comments: 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 wouldn't 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 the AP to spare. Star Gazer: --------------------------------------------------------------------- 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! Freaky! The battle gets monotonous as they frequently alternate between Concentrate and Recall only. Not that Recall keeps being the same. Comments: 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 doesn't get dropped all that often, so you would do better to buy it from an established Item shop in the faerie village. The spells that get randomly summoned with Recall might be learnable on certain occasions, but it's truly totally random. Titan: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 12000 Attacks: (Attack), Knock Out, Lightning / #2) (Attack), Target / #1) (Attack), Jolt, Spirit Blast #3) Exp: 4500 / [200% of present] / #2) [150% of present] / #1) [50% of present] #3) Zenny: 1000 Stolen Item: Strength Seed Dropped Item: Earthbreaker / [Nothing] #3) Absorbs: None Resists: Holy, Status, Death, S.C., Ranged, Magic, Dragon / #2) Holy, Status, Death #3) Weakness: None Trigger: 1) Afflict with the blind status while magical ability is strong (Attacks, Exp; x1) 2) Presence of Shade allies at start of battle (Attacks, Exp, Resists; x1) 3) Absence of Shade allies (Attacks, Exp, Dropped Item, Resists; x1) 'Titan's magical ability weakens!' 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 netting >9000 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! Comments: A hardened piece of meat, Titan not only resembles a Cyclops, but a mutated Smurf as well... :) You can get to learn Knockout, Spirit Blast, and even Target 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. And don't forget to try blinding it for much more Exp! Warder: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 600 Attacks: Concentrate, Cyclone, Depress, Fireblast, Iceblast, Stone Pillar Exp: 3000 Zenny: 400 Stolen Item: Angel's Vest Dropped Item: Spirit Ring Absorbs: None Resists: Mind, Status, Death, S.C., Ranged / Mind, Status, Death, S.C., Ranged, [Fire, Wind, Water, Earth] # Weakness: Magic Trigger: The start of every turn (Resists; x*) 'Warder erects a barrier around itself! 'Warder refreshed its barrier!' Corresponding elemental attacks (Resists; x*) 'The Warder's barrier has weakened!' 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 doesn't 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! Comments: 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! If you've got spare resources, try a Difficulty 5 Search with a faerie explorer. --------- |Insects| --------- Bee Troop: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 800 *Shield* # Attacks: (Attack), Wild Swing / (Attack), Risky Blow # Exp: 120 Zenny: 100 Stolen Item: Healing Herb Dropped Item: Bronze Shield / [Nothing] # Absorbs: None Resists: S.C., Ranged Weakness: Fire Trigger: Repeated melee attacks (Attacks, Dropped Item, Shield loss; x1) Area: Traits: A new feature of enemies introduced when you enter the Kasq Woods, the shield Bee Troops sport are able to deflect lots of damage they would have received other wise. Use Fire combos, and Firewind to quickly defeat lots of them. The Bronze Shield is what gets destroyed if you use lots of melee attacks. Comments: Melee attacks are crappy up against them until their shield gets shattered. But you might want to do just that try learning Risky Blow from them, and not to forget Wild Swing which can also be a potentially fatal blow. Not too difficult to defeat with spells or a Flame Sword in hand. Fire Ant: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 2000 *Shield* # Attacks: (Attack), Fireblast, Flame Strike / (Attack), Risky Blow # Exp: 840 Zenny: 430 Stolen Item: Fire Seed Dropped Item: Buckler / [Nothing] # Absorbs: None Resists: Fire Weakness: Water, Magic Trigger: Repeated melee attacks (Attacks, Dropped Item, Shield loss; x1) Area: Traits: Most bugs fear the fiery element, so it's a small wonder that they're using Fire to fry you. The shield they hold also reduces damage from melee attacks, so I think the use of Flame Strike should be avoided. Comments: Beware of Douse-Fireblast combos when Tar Babies gather around. But you should be able to rid yourself of these ants quickly with an Ice Blast each, or Blizzard for an army of them. Not much of a threat unless you make them so, or until you run out of AP. Gold Fly: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 1100 Attacks: (Attack), Chlorine, Snap Exp: 400 Zenny: 1200 Stolen Item: Strike Seed Dropped Item: Antidote Absorbs: None Resists: Earth Weakness: Ranged Area: Traits: Odd to believe that pesky flies can actually be valuable, but these ones happen to carry a hoard of Zenny with them. If you have the AP to spare, Cyclone should be able to take any number of them out, otherwise, maybe using Flamethrower or Ursula's attack-all guns will do, although they can dodge most melee attacks you throw at them. Comments: If you meet them along with Salt Claws, etc, Cyclone is a good choice for effective offense. Otherwise, you probably don't want to waste AP on them, for they are not so much of a threat than a nuisance. Cheap Rock Blast is useless as a attack-all spell, though. ---------- |Machines| ---------- ????: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 1 Attacks: (Attack) Exp: 2 Zenny: 1 / 10 Stolen Item: Nothing / [Iron Scraps] # Dropped Item: Nothing / [Aurum] # Absorbs: None Resists: Mind, Status, Death Weakness: Fire, Earth Trigger: When summoned by Glebe with 'Summon Minion' move Area: Event battle in Kyria / Boss battle against Glebe Traits: You meet both versions of them in Kyria and when up against Glebe, once it uses the 'Summon Minion' move. Dismantle for a meagre reward. Comments: It's just here for fun! Battle Suit: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 3500 *Shield* # Attacks: (Attack), Focus, Rock Blast, Wild Swing Exp: 1800 Zenny: 280 Stolen Item: Stunner Dropped Item: Gideon's Garb / [Nothing] # Absorbs: None Resists: Status, Death Weakness: Magic Trigger: Repeated melee attacks (Dropped Item, Shield loss; x1) 'Battle Suit's body has cracked!' 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. Comments: 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 with magic and get on your way. Bot: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 1100 Attacks: (Attack), Flare / #2) [Sacrifice] #1) Exp: 330 / [200% of present] #1) Zenny: 0 Stolen Item: Multi Gun / #2) [Bent Screw] #1) Dropped Item: Aurum Absorbs: None Resists: Earth, Status, Death Weakness: Water Trigger: 1)Water-mixed element damage (Attacks, Exp, Stolen Item; x*) 'Bot's body bursts open!' 2)Start of 3rd turn after form changes (Attacks, Stolen Item; x*) 'Bot has recovered.' 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. Comments: This was obtained in bits and pieces from around the Gamefaqs BoF 4 message board, and I don't remember who put it up first, but here it is. Wish the board could regain its former incarnation of the knowledge salvage yard. 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 an 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 less 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. :) When you've had enough, just use an Aurum to switch Monopolize to another character. It's more than worth it. Sources of Aurum would be the numerous Manillo traders around the world and an Aurum shop in the Faerie colony. Chopam: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 10000 Attacks: Inferno / #1) Gigaflare #2) Exp: 4000 Zenny: 500 Stolen Item: Mass Driver Dropped Item: Chopam Plate With defensive screen #1, 2): Absorbs: None Resists: Fire, Wind, Water, Earth, Holy, Mind, Status, Death, S.C., Ranged, Magic, Dragon Weakness: None Without defensive screen #3): Absorbs: None Resists: Holy, Mind, Status, Death, S.C., Ranged Weakness: Magic Trigger: 1)Beginning of first turn (Attacks, Resists, Weakness; x1) 'Defensive screen activated.' 1)Beginning of second turn (Attacks, Resists, Weakness; x1) 'Defensive screen activated.' 3)Beginning of third turn (Resists, Weakness; x1) 'Defensive screen disabled.' 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 its 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 before it escapes. Comments: 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 suppresed 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 ;) For effect, try Inferno, Flame Pillar, or Hwajeh! Death Bot: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 3000 Attacks: (Attack), Barrier, Might, Protect, Spirit Blast Exp: 1800 / [150% of present] # Zenny: 350 Stolen Item: Aurum Dropped Item: Repeater Absorbs: None Resists: Wind, Water, Earth, Status, Death Weakness: Magic Trigger: Hit with any mixed element spell (Exp; x1) 'Death Bot became even stronger!' Area: Traits: Casts a barricade of supportive spells when battle starts, which is usually Protect first before the other spells. With an ample boost from them, they can really pose a hard obstacle to tackle! Comments: If you can take care of the Lizardmen in earlier battles with ease, these mechanical soldiers shouldn't be a great problem. Try to defeat them quickly with magic before they get too powerful, and use mixed element spells to quickly do the trick. Earth-Fire spells should fare better at dealing more damage. Guardian: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 2500 *Shield* #1, 2) Attacks: (Attack), Double Blow, Triple Blow Exp: 1600 / [150% of present] #1) Zenny: 450 Stolen Item: Iron Scraps Dropped Item: Repeater Absorbs: None Resists: Status, Death Weakness: Water Trigger: 1) Hit with a Wind-Water mixed element spell, or repeated melee attacks (Exp, Shield loss; x1) 'Guardian's armor has been weakened!' 2) Hit with repeated melee attacks (Shield loss; x1) 'Guardian's armor has weakened!' Area: Traits: The description isn't much (what the heck IS 1-2-3?) to work on, but it does reveal a slight pattern to the Guardian's attacks. For the first three turns it gets to hit your party with, it uses first a regular attack, then Double Blow, which in turn is succeeded by a Triple Blow. After that, it mostly seems random, but you should be able to deal with that if you heal conscientiously. Comments: Really easy to defeat for the Exp it gives, try to learn the two skills it uses if you don't have them; with them in your arsenal, you can easily chuck them off with a couple of melee attacks after making the sparks fly with their circuits. -------- |Plants| -------- Lampkin & Poppy)-> Lampkin: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 3300 Attacks: (Attack), Giant Growth / Palliate # Exp: 1400 Zenny: 300 Stolen Item: Vigor Seed Dropped Item: Wisdom Seed Absorbs: None Resists: None Weakness: None Trigger: Use a Croc Tear on it (Attacks; x1) 'Thank you!' Lampkin & Poppy)-> Poppy: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 3300 Attacks: (Attack), Giant Growth / Curse # Exp: 1600 Zenny: 300 Stolen Item: Vigor Seed Dropped Item: Wisdom Seed Absorbs: None Resist: None Weakness: None Trigger: Use a Croc Tear on it (Attacks; x1) 'Thank you!' Area: ? area between Ocean Spot 3 and Highway; Buildings in the mid- section of Chedo (only Lampkin) Traits: These odd plants show up as a chance to learn some powerful skills from them, namely Palliate and Curse. Lampkin repays your gift of recovery with Palliate, while Poppy tries to hit you with a Curse instead (jerk); however, it would do you good to have both in the backpack, especially Palliate for use in a healing combo with Vitalize in boss battles. Ocassionally, the both of them would appear together in the ? spot; if that happens, try reviving Poppy prior to Lampkin, so that Palliate might happen to heal any victim of the Curse skill. Some points of note: they're both extremely fast, and will probably get in their turn before you do, so watch out for repeated Giant Growth attacks! However, they do start all of their battles afflicted with the sleep, mute and poison status ailments, so clip them before they wake up. Strategy: The Curse skill is risky to learn, but most of the enemies in the same area with Poppy can't pose much of a threat, plus you can simply heal by leaving the ? spot. Within Chedo, if your characters are running out of HP (unlucky Disembowel hit?), you can get a chance to recover most of your HP with Lampkin's help, by default or manually. And I think Palliate would be a real life-saver for your party when up against A-tur. Better learn it before Lampkin escapes after casting its spell! Remember to cure its mute status before that, though. Morph: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 2800 Attacks: (Attack), Flare Exp: 680 Zenny: 600 Stolen Item: Nothing / [Burnt Plug] / # [Dirty Filter] / # [Rusty Pipe] / # [Old Tire] # Dropped Item: Scorched Rice Absorbs: No Resists: Mind, Status, Death Weakness: None Trigger: Hit with Fire, Wind, Water, or Earth element attack (Stolen Item; x*) Area: Traits: Morphs look threatening, but couldn't be easier to defeat. (thought it was another Trean-type?) What makes them interesting is their ability to create spare parts for making armor (for Ershin only, though), and you can do it repeatedly by stealing off the item, dealing elemental damage again, and healing the injured Morph when necessary. Sort of a spare part generator, and you might want to use elemental weapons and spell-casting weapons for reaping in the spare parts. Comments: None, really, except for its slight usefulness. Not difficult to dispose of too. Trean & Trunked)-> Trean: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 60000 *Regenerates* Attacks: (Attack) Exp: 8000 / [80% of present] # Zenny: 1000 Stolen Item: Berries Dropped Item: Nunchaku Absorbs: None Resists: Holy, Death Weakness: Mind, Status Trigger: Every turn after the first one (Exp, status recovery; x*) 'Trean has been refreshed!' Trean & Trunked)-> Trunked: --------------------------------------------------------------------- HP: 30000 *Regenerates* Attacks: (Attack) Exp: 5000 / [80% of present] # Zenny: 1000 Stolen Item: Berries Dropped Item: Ivory Dice Absorbs: None Resists: Holy, Death Weakness: Mind, Status Trigger: Every turn after the first one (Exp, status recovery; x*) 'Trunked has been refreshed!' Area: Extreme ? area north of Chek 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, both enemies have an amount of HP rivaling to that of bosses like 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 doesn't help much. Note too that their Exp actually depreciates each round, so you have to defeat them quickly if you're looking for Exp. It does stop dropping at a certain value, which is still more or less half of what was there. Counters regular attacks often. Odd, that, though they have a strong Atk, they don't take the offensive stand (luckily), and would Escape whenever you defeat one of their ranks, or drag the battle on for about nine turns. They are also extremely fast for rooted trees, so you can actually combo your moves easier without Haste. Comments: 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 Nina's Skills: Concentrate Cray's Skills: None Ershin's Skills: None Scias's Skills: Cleave, War Shout, Counter Ursula's Skills: Shadow Walk, Megaphone, Reversal " Master: Bunyan *1st turn* 1)Meditate Ryu into the dragon form with the highest Atk, which should be the Weyr or Kaiser; 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 boost, or use Might with Cray instead on Ryu *2nd turn* 1)Use Last Resort on Ryu 2, 3)You can use Megaphone to decrease the Def of the Treans, or boost your characters' Atk, which I prefer to do by this point of time into the game *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... try a Trunked instead! 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. (more HP evidently helps here) But don't try the Royal Sword. The other trees should be fleeing by the next turn. OR 'To fell a forest': Only if you're Cursed powerful! 1)Either Cleave or Shining Blade from Scias; it doesn't 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. Actually, you might want to change some other things instead, like giving Tiger Fist to Scias, or having Focus on either Scias or Ursula, then alter what you need to do. *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... :( Again, adjust what you do to suit your own game once you get the gist. But, if you're able to defeat all of them in one fell swoop, I think the Trunked would be better in the long run Exp-wise. Plus, there ARE flaws to the Nunchaku. Enemy Skill List: --------------------------------------------------------------------- This includes ONLY the skills used by enemies specifically in the above list as most other guides already have the complete list of skills for your party to learn. I've arranged them in an alphabetical format. What should be there would be, but tell me if I've missed out any. Learnable skills are denoted with an Guarding when the skill is executed by anyone grants you a chance to learn that skill, which would be easier with Hunting Caps and the Abbess as a Master. Backlash: Auto-counter vs magical attacks for 1 turn Benediction: Revives all targets with 1/4 HP, but can fail Blitz: Attack vs all targets; damage is altered by remaining HP, and user loses some HP Blizzard: Level 3 Water magic vs all targets Burn: Level 1 Fire magic vs one target Chlorine: Attack vs one targer; inflicts 'poison' status Cleave: Attack vs all targets; ignores Defense, at 1/8 Atk power Concentrate: Magic Up; Rear/Guard Focus Counter up Confuse: Confuses one target Counter: Auto-counter vs attacks for 1 turn Curse: Reduces all targets' HP by half Cyclone: Level 2 Wind magic vs all targets Dark Breath: Heals 1000 HP for own party; only used by Warloks Death: Instant kill vs one target Depress: Decrease 1/8 of total AP of all targets Disaster: Level 3 Water-Earth magic vs all targets Disembowel: Reduces target to 1 HP; lowers User's max HP Double Blow: Make 2 attacks in a row Dream Breath: Attack vs all targets; inflicts 'Euphoria' status Ebonfire: Non-elemental magic attack vs one target Eddy: Level 1 Wind magic vs one target Eruption: Level 1 Earth-Fire magic vs all targets Fireblast: Level 2 Fire magic vs all targets Firewind: Level 1 Fire-Wind magic vs all targets Flame Pillar: Level 3 Fire magic vs all targets Flame Strike: Physical Fire attack Flare: Level 1 Fire magic vs one target Focus: Power Up; Rear/Guard Focus Counter up Frost: Level 1 Water magic vs one target Frost Strike: Physical Water attack Giant Growth: Physical attack vs all targets; at 1/2 Atk power Gloom: Target bocomes susceptible to Healing magic Gigaflare: Level 3 Fire-Wind magic vs all targets Holy Strike: Physical Holy attack Howling: Causes Confuse in all targets Ice Blast: Level 2 Water magic vs one target Icicle: Level 2 Water magic vs one target Inferno: Level 3 Fire magic vs one target Jolt: Level 1 Wind-Water magic vs all targets Kyrie: Instant kill vs all targets; works only on Demons Knock Out: Attack vs one target; causes Sleep Last Resort: Converts Def to Pwr; Def=0 Leech Power: Steals AP from one target Lightning: Level 2 Wind-Water magic vs all targets Magic Ball: Magic attack vs one target Magma Blast: Level 2 Earth-Fire magic vs all targets Mind Flay: Attack vs one target; lowers Wisdom Molasses: Attack vs one target; lowers Speed Multistrike: Makes 1-3 attacks in a row Ovum: Inflicts Egg status on all targets Palliate: Holy magic; heals and restores one target Plateau: Level 2 Earth magic vs one target Primus: Non-elemental magic attack vs all targets; Breath attack Ragnarok: Level 3 Earth-Fire magic vs all targets Recall: User casts random spell Rejuvenate: Medium healing of one target Resist: Protects vs attacks for one turn Rest: Restores a small amount of HP and AP; increases with level Reversal: Can be used to turn the tables; gets more powerful as user's HP decreases (it's a melee attack vs one target) Rock Blast: Level 1 Earth magic vs all targets Searing Sand: Physical Earth attack Sever: Level 1 Wind magic vs one target Shadow Walk: Critical hit; always hits, but can get parried off Shield: Raises Defense of all targets Silence: Mutes all targets Sleep: Causes Sleep in all targets Spirit Blast: Attack vs one target; ignores Defense, at 1/4 Atk power Snap: Attack vs one target; lowers Defense Speed: Raises Agility of one target Stone Pillar: Level 2 Earth magic vs one target Storm: Level 1 Water-Earth magic vs all targets Swordbreaker: Attack vs one target; lowers Attack Syphon: Absorbs HP from one target Target: Undodgeable attack vs one target at 1/2 Atk power Tempest: Level 2 Water-Earth magic vs all targets Thunderstorm: Level 3 Wind-Water magic vs all targets Timed Blow: User loses all HP; damage on target= remaining HP Triple Blow: Makes 3 attacks in a row Typhoon: Level 3 Wind magic vs all targets Vitalize: Light healing of all targets Weaken: Lowers Defense of one target Wild Swing: Damage can increase up to 2 times; rather random Wind Strike: Physical Wind attack 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 'The Dragons of BoF 4' 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-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- | | 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-Wind spell, or a Combo Level 2| | Fire spell | | | | Mjollnir-2 hit heavy Wind and Water magic damage| | on all enemies | | -Category: Wind and Water magic | | *Cancel into with Pa Bing'Ah from a | | Wind-Water spell, or a Combo Level 2 | | Wind spell, which wouldn't be possible | | unless you're not playing what we know | | as a normal game | | | |Good Weapons: Scramasax | | Flame Sword | | Firangi | | Feather Sword | | Cursed Sword | | Slicer | | Goo King Sword | | Ascension | | Royal Sword | | Slayer | | | |Good Armor: Ranger Garb | | Manly Clothes | | Fighting Robe | | Wolfskin | | Mist Armor | | Light Clothing | | Dragon Armor | | Royal Armor | | | |Useful Skills: Super Combo | | Tiger Fist | | Focus | | Last Resort | | Shadow Walk | | War Shout | | Palliate | | | |Useful Wills: Haste | | 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 | | *Occurs only at the end of a turn | | "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- | | Wind spell | | | |Good Weapons: Sage's Staff | | Wand of Air | | Rune Staff | | Blessed Staff | | Ouroboros | | | |Good Armor: Sage's Frock | | Robe of Wind | | Phantom Dress | | Star Dress | | Angel's Vest | | Light Clothing | | | |Useful Skills: Oracle | | Magic Ball | | Icicle | | Flame Pillar | | Ebonfire | | Concentrate | | Resist | | | |Useful Wills: Haste | | 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 plus Magic Ball. #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, whatever that means. --------------------------------------------------------------------- |*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, especially early on. | | | |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 raises | | chance of Cray taking the hit instead | | *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| | -Earth spell | | | |Good Weapons: Flail | | Quarterstaff | | Giant Club | | Linked Pole | | Nunchaku | | Earthbreaker | | Pole (duh!) | | | |Good Armor: Ranger Garb | | Manly Clothes | | Fighting Robe | | 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! | | | |Ershin is the host 'body' for Deis, who makes a guest appearance as| |one of the Endless summoned to this game, and as a result of that | |haphazard event gets trapped in this tin can, complete with limbs | |and most other robotic parts (did they make this body on purpose?).| |Even more unexpectedly, this inanimate object absorbs some of Deis'| |essence from prolonged contact, and starts to develop a freakish | |personality and will of its own. We'll never really know, but this | |character might be to show the wacky side to one of the series | |immortal beings. | | | |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 | | *Occurs only at the turn of a turn | | "Ershin will assist you!" | | | |Trademark: Stand Out-Attracts all enemies' attention | | -Category: None | | *Just perform it! | | | |Good Weapons: Homing Bomb | | Stunner | | Toxic Claws | | Ghostbuster | | Power Glove | | Mass Driver | | | |Good Armor: Lightning | | Psychometer | | Chopam Plate | | | |Useful Skills: Burn | | Eddy | | Plateau | | Coward's Way | | Faerie Breath | | Benediction | | Counter | | | |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. And this tin can gets really fast too with lots of AP for more Level 3 spells! --------------------------------------------------------------------- |*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 doesn't prove his worth already. But enough of that, | |I digress much. By the way, there's a picture of Scias blushing red| |somewhere near the end of Chapter 2. 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, or occassionally | | after that | | "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| | -Water spell | | | |Good Weapons: Biter | | Hidden Dagger | | Feather Sword | | Firangi | | Damascus Sword | | Render | | Slicer | | Cleaver | | Slayer | | | |Good Armor: Manly Clothes | | Fighting Robe | | Wolfskin | | King's Armor | | Mist Armor | | Light Clothing | | | |Useful Skills: Triple Blow | | Super Combo | | Pilfer | | Charm | | Tiger Fist | | Focus | | War Shout | | | |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 side 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-| | Fire spell | | | |Good Weapons: Multi Gun | | Flamethrower | | Mortar | | Repeater | | Culverin | | | |Good Armor: Robe of Wind | | Phantom Dress | | Burglar Garb | | Angel Vest | | Light Clothing | | | |Useful Skills: Reversal | | Shadow Walk | | Triple Blow | | Timed Blow | | Counter | | Snooze | | Last Resort | | Focus | | | |Useful Wills: Haste | | 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 guns. 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 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 ironicaland 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- | | Water spell, or a Combo Level 2 Wind spell,| | which wouldn't be possible unless you're | | not playing what we know as a normal game | | | |Good Weapons: Royal Sword | | Slayer (but IMPOSSIBLE to get normally) | | | |Good Armor: Royal Armor | | | |Useful Skills: Inherently, all the skills Ryu has | | | |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# You don't meet any Masters while playing as him. Bunyan feels too inferior to volunteer himself as a Master to the First Emperor. :) Magic combos: --------------------------------------------------------------------- All that's here is what I've found to be quite useful or interesting, so if you think that you have more tricks to share with others, please do so :) ----------- Ascension:[Celerity->Party spell->Party spell] *This is a well known combo that many utilise to deal with mid-game bosses, and can rack up to 70 hits, which also satisfies Kryrik's requirements. Pity it can only be used once per three hours of gameplay... but bosses shouldn't appear faster than that. ----------- By The Numbers:[Tiger Fist->Faerie Attack->Faerie Charge] *If you like large hitting combos, this should be enough for you. With 20 faerie troops for this, try apprenticing the character using Tiger Fist with Bunyan, and use two Speed spells to get a higher To- Hit rate, which can let you rack up to a grand total of 136 hits! If you've been treating your faerie counterparts nicely enough, this would probably dish out over 10000 damage! ----------- Celeron:[LV Up spell->LV Up spell->Focus/Concentrate] *Sorry for the name, but it seems to fit. This can be used following Final Strike to get in an insane attack, as this raises that character's Focus counter to 3 on the next turn. Can be used with Concentrate for the same sort of effect, especially for potent mass healing. ----------- Final Strike:[Resist->Last Resort->Spell affecting Last Resort user] *A sort of Final Hope in itself, this combo lets the user of Last Resort try for a devastating deathblow on the following turn, which might just be enough to beat that wretched boss. ----------- Invincible Moon:[Palliate->Resist->Party healing spell] *This is a flexible combo for lots of healing, and may be used with many healing spells, such as Restore and Faerie Breath. With luck, you can get a dying party up with full HP :) Insofar as I know, this is what you can use, when assisted with Topaz Tears on your party, to get the most insane possible combo damage for the game; just substitute Resist with a healing spell. Ummm, note that it's COMBO damage. But I think Palliate should heal well over 12000 HP when you get it along with Topaz Tears, so this can fit the bill for Bunyan too. The Dragons of BoF 4: --------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, I've added something here, but it's rather empty still. For more info, look to DarkStorm's Dragon faq. :) On a common basis, although Dragon Evocations are placed under the 'Breath' category, they do not depend in anyway upon the present HP of Ryu (well, unless he's K.O.ed), but still cannot start a combo chain like all other Breath attacks. As well, in case you just played this game, this conventional summon can only be used *once* until your next rest at an inn-type save point, so they should be reserved for strategic moments or when you're really getting desperate. Just so that you know, most Evocations also increase in efficiency when they are performed near the end of a combo, besides increasing the overall total number of hits, so use them when you deem fit. As a final note here, only Rainstorm may be obtained before Chapter 3, so don't try to look in places that aren't there before then. P'ung Ryong: You get this automatically after a scene near the end of Chapter 2, in Sinchon [Rainstorm]: Holy attack; damage changes with enemies' HP No. of hits: 1 ->10, 2 ->13, 3 ->16 The very first dragon evocation you get, you'll soon find out that they can come in very handy against bosses, as well as against strong enemies when there are inn-type rest points nearby. For starters, Rainstorm shows an incredibly different concept of the term dragon, as P'ung Ryong proceeds to shower damage on your enemies; I'll say it looks like an elephantine-serpentine-whale. Well, it's considered handsome enough in comparision with some of the others, so I would just say that the BoF 4 designers are showing some sort of odd innovation. By the way, Rainstorm can defeat enemies, unlike another evocation with a similar description. For this move, P'ung Ryong arcs above the thunder clouds to drop a tear on your enemies conveniently confined to a tight spot. This tear proceeds to break into a shower of rain, which seems to really hurt like acid on your hapless foes. Location: The Place of Summoning in Sinchon; you'll know it. _____________ Ni Ryong: 'To the south of the shifting sands... Where earth and water meet.' ---Sa Ryong [Mud Flow]: Water+Earth Breath attack No. of hits: 1 ->8, 2 ->11, 3 ->14 The next summon you can conveniently get after travelling to Kyoin once more, you should detour to get this before advancing further to the Shikk region. The summon itself is purely damage-based: Ni Ryong emerges out of a huge sea of mud, and immediately conjures up a Leviathan-style tsunami wave ala mud bath; not really all that impressive, but seems to deal enough damage to wear out more than half of the HP for most of the upcoming bosses. Used in combos, this really whittles away at your enemies. Location: Remember the Dam that was wrecked by Ni Ryong in Chapter 1? Just head for the ? spot north, where you received your next event about the Endless. This midget avatar is nicely hidden from the normal camera view, so just manipulate your buttons a bit. _____________ Sa Ryong: 'Far to the north of here, in a place that knows not the touch of water or rain' ---Cho Ryong [Onslaught]: Wind attack; confuses enemy No. of hits: 1 ->8, 2 ->11, 3 ->14 As Raiu said, you can't help but love this one. A plume of disturbed and shows Sa Ryong plowing through the transformed desert landscape to beneath your enemies, then bursting through the surface like Jaws. The next part is what's really interesting: a battering ram dragon- style arrows across the horizon multiple times, chucking your enemies about like trash into the beyond, and as in the traditional fashion, you can always see those stars shining brilliantly. For the best laugh results, I really suggest you try this on the Tyrant boss: Hahahaha, I won't spoil this, as you really have to experience this unique sight for yourself. Does very decent damage, and may even afflict confusion on those flying stars, who are probably also seeing lots of stars themselves! Location: Once you've reached the Shikk region after getting your very own sandflier in Chapter 3, set a course from there to Shyde. In the southern region, search around a bit for an oasis barricaded off from the rest of the course, and perform a leap over the wall by accelerating your sandflier over that nearby sand dune. The course map should give a rough idea of where it is. _____________ Cho Ryong: 'In a place color'd as gold.' ---Nameless One [Healing Wind]: Heals and restores party; Effectiveness equals Palliate cast by Ryu No. of hits: 6 (one per party member) for all combo levels; note that the effects do not combo in, only the number of hits. The 'CURE' effect would come in only if your characters have negative status ailments, thus increasing the number of hits, but only then. Supposedly a female dragon, Cho Ryong looks well enough for the part, and her ability is rather unique out of all the Dragon Evocations. Using Healing Wind with Ryu, Cho Ryong alters the battlefield to a soothing grove of life, and restores most of your party's HP (usually all), as well as cures off all negative status changes. This would come in use as an emergency healing spell, but actually gets increasingly obsolete later on, once you get the chance to hook up whales on the dish. Actually, using whales with the Ward Will would be better than casting Healing Wind, for you get more than one chance to conserve a whale, while Healing Wind can only be used once before you have to rest at an inn. :| Still, this move is incredibly useful, so don't dismiss it too soon. Pity it's no Great Gospel. Location: You might want to get some clues first from Cray's mom, Tahrn. Otherwise, head straight into the Gold Plains, and rush towards that big rock (what else is there?). Now, turn around a bit to catch a glimpse of a bird glowing for all it's worth. Trail after it to encounter Cho Ryong; you'll see it when you're near. _____________ Su Ryong: 'In the land called Shikk, surrounded by trees.' ---Ni Ryong [Holy Circle]: Protects front rank against attacks for 1 turn I have to admit, this move just isn't that useful. For just 1 turn, Su Ryong utilises its powers to render your party absolutely untouchable; well, the front rank, anyways. To criticise it, the animation suggests something rather unsightly... which is not the point. The real concern is that since Ryu is one of the main attackers, the 1 turn duration of this move nullifies most of its usefulness. Still, it's useful enough to brace your party against an annihilating attack. Do we hear: Soul Rend? Location: After the event at the Checkpoint, somewhere about halfway on the road to Shikk is a ? spot that keeps appearing. Enter it to find yourself on a T-shaped road, take the side branch, and voila, there's the critter, who really doesn't resemble the Yggdrassil portrayed in earlier games. _____________ Hae Ryong: 'His song can be heard in the breaking of waves.' ---Su Ryong 'We dwell in the wild deep places, those protected by hard rock and stone. Bend your sails there, and thou shalt find us.' ---Hae Ryong, at the Fane of the Sea God [Flood Tide]: Wind+Water breath attack; stuns enemies No. of hits: 1 ->6, 2 ->9, 3 ->12 Possessing the strongest raw damage of all, Hae Ryong's Flood Tide not only looks intimidating, but it usually does the most damage out of all the offensive evocations. Just so that it evens the advantage, you really have to go through rather a lot of hassle to add this move to your arsenal. If more has to be said, look for Raiu's description, but I personally think it looks like a soft-shelled matamata turtle with built in 'hydro-pump' implements. Location: This is the best I can describe it to, so I don't make any claims as to its accuracy. Use the ship belonging to the Zig bros, either at Shikk or Lyp, though Lyp's distance is shorter and easier to cover. Manoeuver your ship with a South-west wind from Lyp, and travel upwards past the Cove to a sort of lagoon, partially surrounded by rock formations from the east and west side, while a jutting head of land to the south marks the area. Now, steer yourself to a spot nearly equidistant from the two rock formations, and draw a perpendicular line straight out towards north from the piece of land. Turn about a bit to place yourself on that spot, steer just that very slightly to the east, and hope you've struck it lucky. If not, just search around more or less in the area, and you should have it too. A easier-to-understand way would be to sail just along the inner side of the east rock formation and stop yourself just as you reach the perpendicular line stretching from the land. Hope you find what you were looking for. :) _____________ 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]: Gravity attack; damage changes with enemies' HP No. of hits: 1 ->6, 2 ->9, 3 ->12 The very final evocation you can get (chronologically-wise, of course), this is also that very last piece of the ancient dragons' power you need to possess to be able to fully harness the powers of the Kaiser dragon-form! ('At last, now it's mine!') To stress its potential, this move can deal much more damage than any other evocation, simply because it does its damage based upon the remaining HP of all your enemies. Chained in as the third move to a combo at the start of a big boss battle, this move alone would easily rip off around half of the boss' HP; pity there are'nt really many bosses left. Of course, it's no Soul Rend, but it's better than nothing to have. Just note that its effectiveness gets lower as your enemies get weaker, which makes it do almost zilch in damage, so make full use of this move in the first turn to strike. To demoralise you a bit, that great big energy globe fired off by that petrified man-o-war with a turtlehead, CANNOT and will NOT ever be able to kill off any monster (yep, not even those Caps reduced to 1 HP and Min Def), so that may make you think about just when to best use this move. Location: After learning of the route to continue your journey on from Fu Chu Man, enter the new 'River' area, where you get to speak with a resting worker in the second area. Chat about dragons in your conversation, and reply that they resemble grass and rocks to have a ? spot generated after leaving this area successfully. Herein this quarry awaits the Nameless One, who would grant you a final boon... _____________ 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 as yet 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, and seems to increase your Alertness) 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! Just keep in mind that once you leave for Kyoin from Synesta in Chapter 1, you'll have to wait for Chapter 3 before meeting Rwolf again. --------------------------------------------------------------------- *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)! It would be unlikely for you to be able to get Coward's Way before Chapter 3, so there's not much point in noting that you can't return to Stoll after leaving Synesta in Chapter 1, all the way until Chapter 3. --------------------------------------------------------------------- *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. Note that once you get past the event at P'ung Tap, you can't return to update your skills until Chapter 3. --------------------------------------------------------------------- *Njomo* -------- Location: Plains (? spot north-east of Ahm Fen) Requirements: Help to develop the Faerie Colony population Will: Pique> All counters= critical hit (well, if you get counters the normal way) 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 in turn 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 appropriate for Cray and Ershin, so let them apprentice for a few levels. Just have a nicely gossiping Faerie Colony for both the requirements and for making these spells effective. Keep in mind that you can't return to Njomo after the event at P'ung Tap, until Chapter 3. ******************************************************** * 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. If you actually feel comfortable with placing characters in the back rank for long periods, 'Drowse' *might* come in useful. Note that you can't readily access Momo once you go through the event at P'ung Tap, all the way until Chapter 3. ***************************************** * Quotes for 'Drowse' Will * * Ryu: Ryu falls sound asleep! * * Nina: "Good night, everyone!" * * Cray: "Wake me when it's over, eh?" * * Ershin: "Yawn!" * * Scias: "... Night." * * Ursula: "Lights out." * ***************************************** --------------------------------------------------------------------- *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 from enemies 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! The Abbess would only offer her services after you reach Chapter 3. --------------------------------------------------------------------- *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 almost 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 while in the night-time event for 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 in Chiqua 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, but have already finished trading with all the others. --------------------------------------------------------------------- *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; only at the end of a turn) 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! For his requirements, just try an Ascension combo, which should be performable for you by the time you get to apprentice with Kryrik. ************************************************* * 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, which obviously does not always occur) 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. Catching every type of fish you've encountered so far should earn you this apprenticeship, but getting the Master's Rod is really hard work even with an Angling Rod. --------------------------------------------------------------------- *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 wouldn't like her 'Guard' Will though, since she already de-emphasizes on defense, but it could prove useful on some characters (Scias!). Train up Ryu for her skills, as she also teaches the ultimate reviving skill 'Benediction', which you would definately want despite the exhorbitant 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% (well, it still misses in some cases) 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, though the brief respite could just mean victory over the tough bosses to come; but I'd prefer something like Bonebreak, though... In case you wanted to know, Bunyan was the very first master in BoF 3 instead of being the last. Juxtaposition! Fishing in the dark waters: --------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 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. Try not to lose your lure on the rocks; a side effect of this is that you have a more unstable tension to constantly keep in check *Blend your Tec.s with the drum beats in the background, 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 *Any catch is likely to make a splash once you pull it to the surface; this splash may catch you off guard and allow the fish to escape, but if you manage to hold on, the tension usually becomes extremely stable *Tugging on the fishing line helps steer a potential catch towards you, and you can use it to pull some weaker fishes away from rocks, logs and similar obstacles. Constant tugging in a slightly circular wag seems to confuse the fish to some extent on its sense of direction, and can quickly wear out the strength of trashing fishes by tempting them to splash about *Change your rod to suit the spot. If you're fishing in a tight River Spot for a Sturgeon, CHANGE that Angling Rod to something else like a Spanner or Deluxe Rod *Recognise the shape of your greedy visitor, as that would save you time catching an unwanted fish; easily recognisable are the sleek fat shapes of whales, sturgeons, barandys, and anglers, etc. And of course, jellyfish. *If you're fishing in a River Spot, the fish cannot ever escape, so long as you hold on to it; the only threat comes from the danger of it getting 'stuck' behind one of the numerous obstacles. Lure : The most suitable lure type (I suppose) Spot : Best place to catch a whopper (I think so) Crowning: The minimum length to get the maximum points for that catch Record : My best results so far :p Points : The maximum points that a crowned catch can offer Tactics: Some info, if any And here are the practical uses of your catches outside of Manillo trading: Jellyfish | Restores 50 HP to one target Man-o'-War | Restores 50 HP to one target Piranha | Restores 150 HP to one target Sea Bass | Restores 400 HP to one target Bass | Restores 500 HP to one target Black Bass | Restores 1200 HP to one target Bonito | Restores all HP to one target Flying Fish | Restores 100 HP to one target ; may cure | Status Barandy | Restores all HP and Status of one target Dorado | Restores 800 HP to all targets Spearfish | Restores 1500 HP to all targets Whale | Restores all HP and Status of all targets Moorfish | Revives at 1 HP one target ; may fail Angelfish | Revives at 1/2 HP one target Sturgeon | Revives at 1/4 HP all targets; may fail Sweetfish | Restores 5 AP to one target Trout | Restores 10 AP to one target Sea Bream | Restores 30 AP to one target Black Porgy | Restores 100 AP to one target Salmon | Restores 30 AP to all targets Blowfish | Cures poison on one target Flatfish | Restores Status of one target Octopus | Blinds all targets Acheron | Poisons all combatants Martian Squid | Nullifies all Assist magic | effects Rainbow Trout | Raises Power of one target Browntail | Raises Defense of one target Blue Gill | Minor Water damage to one target Bullcat | Medium Earth+Fire damage to all targets Angler | Major Water+Earth damage to all targets The inhabitants of each location: --------------------------------- River Spot 1 -> Jellyfish, Sweetfish, Trout, Rainbow Trout <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< River Spot 2 -> Jellyfish, Browntail, Trout, Rainbow Trout, Salmon <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< River Spot 3 -> Sweetfish, Browntail, Trout, Rainbow Trout, Bullcat, Salmon, Sturgeon <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Lake Spot 1 -> Jellyfish, Piranha, Bass, Blue Gill, Martian Squid <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Lake Spot 2 -> Piranha, Bass, Blue Gill, Black Bass, Martian Squid, Dorado <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Lake Spot 3 -> Jellyfish, Black Bass, Angelfish, Martian Squid, Dorado, Barandy <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Ocean Spot 1 -> Man-o-war, Flying Fish, Blowfish, Sea Bream <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Ocean Spot 2 -> Man-o-war, Sea Bass, Flatfish, Octopus, Bonito, Spearfish, Whale <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Ocean Spot 3 -> Flying Fish, Sea Bass, Flatfish, Octopus, Bonito, Angler <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Chamba Spot -> Jellyfish, Bullcat, Acheron <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Saldine Spot -> Blowfish, Moorfish, Sea Bream, Black Porgy <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Jellyfish* Lure : Spinner Spot : Chamba Spot Crowning: 30 cm Record : 31 cm Points : 80 Tactics: The cheapest catch ever, there seems no way to search for a real crowner among these losers. The largest ones are those in the Jellyfish-infested waters of Chamba, though you would have to try your luck at getting what you want. Then again, maybe not. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Piranha* Lure : Spinner Spot : Lake Spot 2 Crowning: 40 cm Record : 42 cm Points : 150 Tactics: One of the starting fishes you might hook up, Piranhas usually cluster ~15 m out from the shore. In later fishing spots, the distance is somewhat shortened to ~10 m. Tends to fight a bit. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Bass* Lure : Minnow Spot : Lake Spot 2 Crowning: 60 cm Record : 60 cm Points : 200 Tactics: A good fish when you first encounter it, a Bass can restore an even larger amount of HP than those Healing Herbs, which would be handy in the course of battle. When you're using a weak fishing rod, they would fight you quite a lot, so be prepared for sudden jerks. They dwell somewhere further out than the local Piranhas, and closer to the bottom, but can be hooked quite near the surface. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Blue Gill* Lure : Spinner Spot : Lake Spot 2 Crowning: 50 cm Record : 51 cm Points : 250 Tactics: Try something like for the Piranha. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Sweetfish* Lure : Frog Spot : River Spot 3 Crowning: 25 cm Record : 25 cm Points : 150 Tactics: Takes any bait, and is easily hooked, but fights a bit against being reeled in. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Browntail* Lure : Winder Spot : River Spot 3 Crowning: 70 cm Record : 74 cm Points : 250 Tactics: Fights a bit, but should be easy to reel in with the later rods. Rather like a Rainbow Trout. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Black Bass* Lure : Topper Spot : Lake Spot 2 Crowning: 70 cm Record : 72 cm Points : 300 Tactics: Fighting well for its size, a black bass proves to be a nutritional catch, capable of restoring nearly all of your HP when you first get to fish for it, and staying more than useful throughout. For crowning specimens though, you might try the far surface region of Lake Spot 2; just choose your lure wisely. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Angelfish* Lure : Spinner Spot : Lake Spot 3 Crowning: 30 cm Record : 32 cm Points : 250 Tactics: Essential for any boss battles, Angelfish are easily hooked up at only this spot for their worth. Reviving a fallen character at 1/2 HP, it's Ressurect itemised. The region where these gems reside are marshy waters up near the middle; cast your lure in for a nifty catch. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Trout* Lure : Frog Spot : River Spot 3 Crowning: 40 cm Record : 42 cm Points : 200 Tactics: Not worth fishing for, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Rainbow Trout* Lure : Winder Spot : River Spot 3 Crowning: 70 cm Record : 72 cm Points : 350 Tactics: You're going to save using this baby for boss fights, or against real tough enemies. Should be easy for patient anglers. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Bullcat* Lure : Worm Spot : River Spot 3 Crowning: 80 cm Record : 81 cm Points : 380 Tactics: Rare and present at only two spots, bullcats are somewhat difficult to hook up simply due to the varied appetites of their competitors. Still, it seems that using a good Minnow lure at this spot is easier than trying at the Chamba Spot. The downstream area is rather bountiful, so long as you try for the slightly deeper waters. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Martian Squid* Lure : Winder Spot : Lake Spot 3 Crowning: 70 cm Record : 72 cm Points : 350 Tactics: Tough to fish up, and not something you'd use often. But it shows up in several trading deals, so you would want to take some specimens along for the ride. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Dorado* Lure : Worm Spot : Lake Spot 2 Crowning: 90 cm Record : 94 cm Points : 400 Tactics: Tough to catch even when you manage to single one out, dorado can really put the strength of your fishing rod and your skills to the test, and for a good reason too. A dorado can heal a huge mass of HP for your entire party, and they're much easier to hook up than spearfish, at Lake Spot 2. Coincidentally, dorado and barandy territory clash at Lake Spot 3, so this would be an easier location to angle for dorados. Simply cast the furthest you can, and throw Tec.s around at the depths. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Salmon* Lure : Frog Spot : River Spot 3 Crowning: 140 cm Record : 144 cm Points : 400 Tactics: An useful prize, the salmon makes its first appearance as one of the largest river-bound fishes, with a penchant for recovering your party's AP. For the most part, use high level lures for these big boys, and you might try your luck around the downstream edge. Later on, salmon become a frequently used item, especially in tough, drawn-out battles, when mass AP recovery is crucial for turning the tide. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Barandy* Lure : Worm Spot : Lake Spot 3 Crowning: 200 cm Record : 205 cm Points : 700 Tactics: The serpentine fish ruler of the lake returns, with even more bearing in points than before; rather similar to BoF 3, the barandy is easily the most difficult fish to entice in its realm, this time frequenting the casting boundary of ~33 m in deep, dark waters. Use high level Tec.s when angling for a barandy; though you might note that the use of a whale for healing equals that of six barandys, which makes a whale much more attractive than a barandy other than for trading purposes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Sturgeon* Lure : Worm Spot : River Spot 3 Crowning: 220 cm Record : 225 cm Points : 700 Tactics: A very new fish introduced in this series, the sturgeon stands on par with the barandy as the highest ranking fish following the whale. Unlike those two, the sturgeon requires no long range rod to catch it, just a nice lure, patience, and lots of luck. Even with just the Deluxe Rod, a proper lure can reel in a sturgeon, and the jackpot area seems to be the downstream rock nearest to the bridge. Depth seems to be a secondary factor, as lots of the big ones were practically at the surface. Once you manage to hook one, the catch is yours since there's no conventional exit out of any river spots, that is unless you falter. Catch lots of sturgeons: they're used in trading for the very nifty stuff with the Astana Manillo merchant, and can be used to cast the all-powerful Benediction if you don't have it, or find a lack in AP. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Man-o-war* Lure : Frog Spot : Ocean Spot 2 Crowning: 30 cm Record : 31 cm Points : 80 Tactics: What can I say, or what do you want to hear? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Flying Fish* Lure : Topper Spot : Ocean Spot 3 Crowning: 35 cm Record : 37 cm Points : 150 Tactics: A conventional Croc Tear; not so very important. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Blowfish* Lure : Frog Spot : Saldine Spot Crowning: 50 cm Record : 54 cm Points : 200 Tactics: Alternate Antidote. Not that easy to catch, though. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Moorfish* Lure : Minnow Spot : Saldine Spot Crowning: 30 cm Record : 30 cm Points : 200 Tactics: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Sea Bass* Lure : Worm Spot : Ocean Spot 3 Crowning: 70 cm Record : 74 cm Points : 280 Tactics: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Flatfish* Lure : Winder Spot : Ocean Spot 3 Crowning: 50 cm Record : 50 cm Points : 280 Tactics: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Sea Bream* Lure : Worm Spot : Saldine Spot Crowning: 70 cm Record : 70 cm Points : 300 Tactics: Smaller versions of black porgies, sea bream are useful in their own right, at least before you get to the Saldine Spot. Most of the time, sea bream are used for trading, so it's not a problem to have more of them in the bag. Their hang-outs are usually near the casting boundary though, so expect some competition from the other large locals too. Go mid-depth down to the bottom depending on what the competition goes for. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Octopus* Lure : Worm Spot : Ocean Spot 3 Crowning: 80 cm Record : 86 cm Points : 350 Tactics: You would do better to try for crowning octopi at Ocean Spot 3, somewhere NEAR the bottom, and NEAR the ~30 m casting boundary. Just note that the flatfish in the area go for most other lure-types, so stick with Crabs if you have them. Casting too far out might result in the other two larger catches in the same area, so try going for the mid-region. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Bonito* Lure : Minnow Spot : Ocean Spot 3 Crowning: 120 cm Record : 126 cm Points : 400 Tactics: Bonitos are supposed to be rather large fish, and they are found at both of the later Ocean Spots, but I would suggest Ocean Spot 3 for a crowner, since in Ocean Spot 2 there would be both Spearfish AND Whales posing competition. Try ~30 m, but hang your lure around the surface and mid- regions, for anglers lie at the bottom. Have a few of these around for a full HP restoration. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Black Porgy* Lure : Worm Spot : Saldine Spot Crowning: 70 cm Record : 70 cm Points : 400 Tactics: A really big sea bream is what becomes a black porgy. To be sure, they even go for the same stuff, and they're located at around the same area, though the black porgy usually lies further out, and characteristically deeper too. I would suggest coming back for a crowning black porgy when you obtain an Angling Rod, for the Deluxe Rod would just be inadequate for this purpose. Try catching as many black porgies as you can for the boss battles to come. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Angler* Lure : Worm Spot : Ocean Spot 3 Crowning: 140 cm Record : 147 cm Points : 450 Tactics: Think deep for anglers, for they lie practically on the bottom far out to ~30 m from the shore, which is what separates them from the flatfish also around near the bottom. I would suggest using a Crab as lure, for it sinks quickly enough, so you might consider the waiting tactic. If you happen to get a Bonito or Octopus though, hook it up too, for any catch would have their uses. This is one of the largest stuff you're angling for, so have patience for any large anglers. Some real life anglers are really quite small, ranging to only about a few cm in full length. Some mix up on part of Capcom, I think. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Spearfish* Lure : Spinner Spot : Ocean Spot 2 Crowning: 190 cm Record : 205 cm Points : 500 Tactics: Found only in this location, Spearfish are somehow incredibly rare in comparision to the great number of Whales around. The place where they seem fairly common would be around the cluster of rocks to the right of your casting view. Try something like a Platinum Top as Spearfish tend to be closer to the surface than Whales, and have a better chance of going for surface lures. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Whale* Lure : Winder Spot : Ocean Spot 2 Crowning: 250 cm Record : 261 cm Points : 999 Tactics: I don't know what to say for this, but let's start with discounting ~200 cm whales as leviathans, huh? Well, for this part, they ARE the largest 'fishes' around, but it seems that their size is not always larger the further out (at least >20 m), for you can get ~150 cm really malnourished weenies out at the ~33 m casting boundary. Usually though, that's the idea for catching these stuff; gargantuan or weeny, they have they same use as an item. :) Well, you can also try aiming your lure at the rock patches to the left or right, where there are also some Spearfish hanging around. I got my ultimate catch at the left cluster, but I think the length is somewhat different from what the endurance on the fishing meter shows; I had one reaching to the end of the meter that was only ~240 cm when hooked up, which might explain why its endurance wore out so rapidly. For a better chance, try going really deep with what ever lure you're using, best if you can reach the bottom. So refrain from cursing if you hooked up that supposed crowner, or rejoice if you got it from what seems like an anchovy, just get out of this place before you start to think real life whales are less than 3 m, and are really fish that can be caught with fishing rods. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Acheron* Lure : Winder Spot : Chamba Spot Crowning: 50 cm Record : 54 cm Points : 300 Tactics: A truly unique fish to catch, the really irritating turn-off about trying to catch an Acheron is the jellyfish infestation (utterly horrible...), and there might be stray Bullcats waiting to pick up that lure too. Since both Acheron and Jellyfish go for anything, try a Dancer to put off those Bullcats. Aim for the wide area at ~45 degrees to the left, by ~34.3 m outwards; there would be an open angle where the house would not block the line of casting. Once you pick up a fish, throw it off if you find that it's not your catch in mind; a Jellyfish and Acheron is easily distinguishable. If you've got a proper rod, reeling in a Acheron would be moderately routine if you keep a steady eye on the screen. Not something you'd want to use in battle, but say trade for, oh, that Star Dress in Astana. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 not 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. Development also seems to accelerate under this setting the most. Normal: The standard standard, this pace of work is accepted by all, and ordinary faeries especially develop faster; note that the Approval Rating doesn't drop with this setting in effect, but grows rather slowly. Development would occur at an acceptable pace for most. 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. Usually, development of the colony gets slow, although it seems somewhat randomised. *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: -------------------------------------- |Beast |Endurance|Meat quality| -------------------------------------- Ribs -Feeds 1 faerie. |Pygmy Boar |2 hits |Roast | Roast-Feeds 3 faeries. -------------------------------------- Flank-Feeds 5 faeries. |Hopping Bird*|3 hits |Flank | Loins-Feeds 10 faeries! -------------------------------------- |2-legged Stag|4 hits |Flank | -------------------------------------- |Musk Ox |5 hits |Loins | -------------------------------------- *Meat quality degenerates more rapidly; degeneration is in order from Loins to Ribs, which is the worst of the lot #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: -------------------------------------------------------------------- |Elemental Seeds: | Stat Seeds: |Parameter Seeds: |Mixed Fruits: | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |Fire Seed | Strength Seed |Strike Seed |Elixer | |Wind Seed | Hard Seed |Reflex Seed |Elixer+ | |Water Seed | Speed Seed |Dodge Seed |Wassail | |Earth Seed | Sage Seed |Sight Seed |Wassail+ | |Spirit Seed | |Target Seed |Draught | |Vigor Seed | | |Draught+ | |Phoenix Seed | | |Dark Draught | |Holy Seed | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------- #Items (KN); Max Level 8 / faerie# ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 each separate faerie, which means that the Level of the shop that is displayed is actually distorted. Moving the original shopkeeper elsewhere also irrevocably drops the level to what it would be without that faerie, so take care when moving attached store owners! If you want to know, the max possible 'real' level would be 24 for a shop at any given time. Multiply the shown level by the number of faeries to get an idea of the present 'real' level, but mind that there's no known way (as yet) to see the levels of each separate faerie. ***************------------------------------------------------------ *Personality /*Ordinary: |Diligent: |Lazy: | *Level * | | | ***************------------------------------------------------------ | 1 |Healing Herb (20 Z)|Healing Herb (20 Z)|Bird Drop (2 Z)| | 2 |Antidote (12 Z)|Antidote (12 Z)|Rotton Meat (2 Z)| | 3 |Panacea (100 Z)|Panacea (100Z)|Scorched Rice (4 Z)| | 4 |Ammonia (250 Z)|Ammonia (250Z)|Knockout Gas (100Z)| | 5 |Vitamin (100 Z)|Bamboo Rod (250Z)|Flash Grenade (100Z)| | 6 |Wisdom Seed (800 Z)|Vitamin (100Z)|Poison Powder (100Z)| | 7 |Multi Vitamin (500 Z)|Wisdom Seed (800Z)|Mouth Gag (100Z)| | 8 |Vitamins (1000Z)|Multi Vitamin (500Z)|Spoon (120Z)| --------------------------------------------------------------------- | L |Odd: | ------------------------- | 1 |Molotov (100 Z)| | 2 |Electrode (250 Z)| | 3 |Void Sphere (500 Z)| | 4 |Dynamite (500 Z)| | 5 |Icicle (600 Z)| | 6 |Napalm (800 Z)| | 7 |Taser (1200Z)| | 8 |Belladonna (200 Z)| ------------------------- #Arms (KN); Max Level 8 / faerie# ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Akin to the item shop, this shop sports equipment for your characters instead, ranging from weapons to some great accessories. Here's the list: ***************--------------------------------- *Personality /*Ordinary: |Diligent: | *Level * | | ***************--------------------------------- | 1 |Bamboo Stick (130 Z)|Bamboo Stick (130 Z)| | 2 |Glass Domino (220 Z)|Glass Domino (220 Z)| | 3 |Taegum (3000Z)|Speed Boots (4500Z)| | 4 |Poison Ward (2500Z)|Wisdom Ring (5000Z)| | 5 |Dream Ring (3000Z)|Sage's Frock (7000Z)| | 6 |UV Goggles (3000Z)|Winged Boots (7000Z)| | 7 |Balance Ring (3000Z)|Titan's Boots (6000Z)| | 8 |Stunner (7700Z)|Ice Blade (4200Z)| -------------------------------------------------- | L |Lazy: |Odd: | -------------------------------------------------- | 1 |Pointed Stick (10 Z)|Manly Clothes (2000Z)| | 2 |Short Skirt (3200 Z)|Talisman (300 Z)| | 3 |Hawk's Ring (6000 Z)|Aura Ring (500 Z)| | 4 |Artemis' Cap (6000 Z)|Life Sandals (500 Z)| | 5 |Hidden Dagger (4900 Z)|Fire Ward (2500Z)| | 6 |Hunting Cap (8000 Z)|Wind Ward (2500Z)| | 7 |Harmonic Ring (25000Z)|Water Ward (2500Z)| | 8 |Shaman's Ring (40000Z)|Earth Ward (2500Z)| -------------------------------------------------- #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... I don't know what exactly the level does, though. The following list is based on some other faqs out there, but I'll remove it if anyone asks so: --------------------------------------------------------- | D.Level 1 | D.Level 2 | D.Level 3 | D.Level 4 | |-------------------------------------------------------- |Apple |Bent Screw |Barrier Ring |Crab | |Aurum |Burnt Plug |Dancer |Deep Driver | |Belladonna |Diamond Ring |Fork |Fat Frog | |Berries |Dirty Filter |Ivory Dice |Life Shard | |Chopsticks |Glass Shard |MultiVitamin |Light Bangle | |ScorchedRice |Iron Scraps |Platinum Top |Magic Shard | |Spoon |Old Tire |Straw |Protein | |Toothpick |Rusty Pipe |Swisher |SuperVitamin | --------------------------------------------------------- | D.Level 5 | |-------------| |Dragon Scale | |Fish Head | |Ginseng | |Moon Tears | |Power Food | |Spirit Ring | |Swallow Eye | |Wisdom Seed | --------------- #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 of troops -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, except for the attack-all bomb Faerie Charge (20 AP)-Uneven multi-hit 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 -Umm, the sight of the hits racking up is REALLY pretty 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, and your colony's Approval Rating #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, doesn't 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 :) *:For those interested, I saw a rather different version located at the (in)famous www.animelyrics.com/ , and while I wouldn't say it sounds odd, I can't say mine sounds right either. :p #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 available 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! Never forget that your points are forfeit once you choose to end the session! #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 | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | 2 |Health | 1% | -Recover with a Vitamin (+1 Vitamin) | | 3 |Retreat| 2% | -Recover and automatically Retreat (Might | | | | | fail) | | 6 |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 :) --------------------------------------------------------------------- )"Did you know some monsters can be damaged by healing magic?" )"Did you know that one of us is living with a human out there somewhere?" )"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 that the more you use the faerie magic, the stronger it gets?" )"Did you know that while you're outside fighting, we're in here working?" )"Did you know that your Approval Rating won't go down if you pick "Normal" for everyone's orders?" )"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 heard of a fish called Acheron? They say it's become mutated by exposure to a cursed area." )"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." )"I heard there's a really strong monster out there somewhere! I think its name was Ride or something like that..." )"If you see us while we're out hunting, give us a hand, will you?" )"If you want to find the Master, you need to look again in a place you've already been to." )"If you're going to use Super Combo, it's best if you go last." )"It's really hard to catch fish that live really deep down, isn't it? You need the right kind of lure, and you need to look for them really hard." )"I've heard there's a skill that gets better the more fights you run away from." )"I wouldn't send faeries with low stats out searching if I were you!" )"On the roads, there are some places where the ? mark always shows up. That means there's something there-- you should check it out!" )"Reflect... Mudslide... Ice Sword... Phoenix... Which do you know?" )"Remember: each faerie has a different personality. Some faeries are better suited for some jobs than others." )"Remember, it's important to talk to people you meet. You never know what you might learn." )"Remember to always keep an eye on how much food is left in the village!" )"Somebody told me that if you want parts, your best bet is Difficulty 2... Do you have any idea what that means?" )"The more often you visit, the happier everyone is, you know." )"You know that meter that shows up on the houses we build? That's the Activity Meter. The longer the green line, the more active it is!" Your Tips --------------------------------------------------------------------- Here are some helpful tips offered by a few fellow gamers out there. And I need contributions here, quickly! Err, I put most of them in my own words, but no offense please if they were supposed to be in the original text. : Use Ershin as THE bait when up against strong enemies that have powerful single-target moves like Shadow Walk or Reversal. It's Stand Out can couple with Resist or Ryu's Holy Circle to create an untouchable lure; and since it has the highest CP, just a turn in the back rank can restore enough of its AP. This would help your other characters get some rest from taking lots of damage from stuff like the Rider's attack. Oh, and Soul Gems can come in nicely too as long as you perform Stand Out after Ershin goes out. : ALWAYS SAVE before going into mini-games with game points, then proceed to bungle at the unknown. Practice makes perfect; you can replay the mini-game over until you're satisfied. With a few tries, you would be likely to get a much higher score than what you get on your first attempt, and that would really help in evolving your basic dragon forms. And once you're happy with it, you can just settle for your best! Did You Notice? --------------------------------------------------------------------- A bit about some of the things that you might be likely to miss out on, I put this up in case anyone wanted to know about them. Some might be useful, though most would be there just for fun. Enjoy! *Did you know that when you play the rafting mini-game at Mt. Ryft, you can simply wreck the raft to bits near the start to collect 3 Fish-head in a treasure chest nearby? Actually, just tear down the raft anywhere :p *Fou-lu communicates in a language that would be best described as a form of Old English; sounds rather Scottish, no? But, as Ryu's other half, he's rather a character himself. *Scias speaks far more eloquently than Ryu; comparatively, Ryu seems dumb besides Scias :| Wondered why BoF Ryus always seemed to lack in character? *Rather unfairly, the US version of the game had censored some scenes which were in the original Jap version. After checking them out, I wonder why they even did it; heck, Scias' Lifestealer move would come close to being censored. Well, they were last sighted at: www.geocities.com/lastinfi/index.htm so check out the site and three cheers for L.I. Censoring only draws gamers' attention by highlighting what we may have otherwise missed. :p *Smacks self with fish tail* *The biggest Super Combo I've seen was named in a chunk as 'SuperMach Flash-MagnumAtomicMagnum', which was for a record of 25 hits! (on a emulator, geez...) However, after the first 8 hits or so, the remaining attacks really dealt crap damage, which still accounts for something, though. I wonder about how they named the move? *Ever wonder about the word 'Infinity'? Seems that it came from a mash of '(In)itial' and '(Fin)al'. Sounds like the wrap word for existance Next, Please --------------------------------------------------------------------- Something I thought to make up, since I was always wondering what the next game in the series would be like. More of a personal rant to no one in particular, but read it if you like to. +Battle System+ -Versatility of battling party, with front and back ranks that can be switched if the situation allows it. -Learning a skill from either an enemy or ally by guarding for the turn was indiscriminately useful. -'Wait' command that allows a front character to delay performing an action until the desired moment. Raises the chance for comboing, if that is still there. -Reintroduce EX turns, but balance it so that the active front rank character who gets it cannot be switched out. If there is more than one character who gets it, their order of action may be switched. -Battle formations were lots of fun with their unique impact on battles. Maybe they can come back soon... ? -Consecutive, synchronised animation for combos, so that it looks as though the fighters are executing the moves in a flowing motion. -Changing weapons or armor takes a turn in the back rank, and if more than half the party is changing equipment, then some of them will have to stay in the front rank to do so. -Different visual models for each weapon and maybe armor, with special effects like regeneration, elemental damage and poisoning having their own, more fitting visual representations too. -Why should Ryu always employ swords as his primary weapon? There are more interesting and powerful weapons than the usual blade. Of course it's a favourite choice, but... -Regeneration should be balanced for the party and enemies; if enemies are able to heal half their max HP each turn with no visible effort, why should we have any less? -Healing spells don't always have to be on the first character you get to control; speaking of healing spells, I think most would rather let enemies have the capability to heal themselves with spells or items rather than possess endless regeneration capabilities. Maybe a regeneration spell can be introduced into the medikit. As for the original subject, a ready source of healing would do fine. -Unique 'trademark' moves for each character makes them all important in some way; limit breaks? -Different animations and quotes for critical hits would be nice. -The only way to get the second item from enemies is to wait until you defeat them all and see if you get lucky. INFURIATING when your efforts come to naught. We need an option to steal the second item in battle! Maybe a Will? -For all the systems we have, why shouldn't monsters have them too? From combos to EX turns, mayhaps they can have their own system to give them an edge in battles too. +Dragon System+ -'Dragon Gene' system from BoF 3 would fit as the base system. Mixing and matching to create our own dream dragon gives us lots of satisfaction. And we especially loved the fusion forms and unique dragon form combinations. -Alright, so dragons can't be healed conventionally. But why not let them regenerate their health on their own if they're supposed to be almost omnipotent with all that power? Natural regeneration to an extent would make up for the healing handicap. -The AP tribute should be affected by some items, and maybe Wills can come into the picture too. -The max HP for dragon forms should exceed the conventional amount, and is based on Ryu's max HP and what combination of genes you used. When the dragon form gets damaged, the genes activated for it should be sort of damaged in some visible way. -So to say, genes gain a sort of 'health' in correspondance with their AP cost, so when the dragon form gets damaged, the genes it relies on receives 'damage' according to the AP cost ratio of the genes activated. Should a gene get 'k.o.ed' in some way, then there should be a way to 'revive' them, probably out of battle. -For humanoid-looking dragon forms in the very least, enable 'Item' and 'Examine' type commands. Well, dragons aren't dumb, are they? -All dragons should have ready access to Ryu's skill list, and they should have more moves learned in their own movelist as some special requirements are fulfilled in the game. -Mini-games may have an impact on the system as well, like activating hidden dragon forms, skills, or options for a type of dragon. -If something like the Fusion dragon form, or a party dragon form exists, which draws its power from your front rank, then make it so that single characters may not be switched out, but instead the entire rank switches if such an action is chosen. -Breath attacks should be as useful as they were in BoF 3, dealing tons of undivided damage to all enemies, instead of being split among them. Why not have more combo hits with them too? +Master System+ -Characters may commit up to ~two permanent 'Will's to memory by performing related tasks. Thereafter, leveling up while having the 'Will' lets you increase some Stat bonuses -The permanent Will may be replaced by a new one if you choose so, or you may choose to delete it from the menu -You start with one Will/master slot, which increases in number as you level up; one is always temporary -You can still have one current master with all that junk; this lets you combine Wills effectively -The system for learning skills and changing masters in BoF 4 was great and hassle-free :) -Wills can include a wide variety of effects, like regeneration of AP, or even the ability to steal the rare 2nd item. Imagination would be the key. -And yeah, who said masters can't give away items as rewards? If the Render was in it... +Fishing System+ -Trading is fun, but sometimes it gets more than absurd; 99 Stamp Cards for a Render? Watch that Blue Ball heal... -If you could fish up good items in specific areas and locations, it might add to the fun -I can see it already... reeling in the hidden catch 'Leviathan' activates an unique dragon form for use (duhhhhhh!) +Faerie System+ -More interaction with players; we love War Shout and Faerie Breath -Let job-hopping faeries retain some of their previous job knowledge; don't they have memories? -Where's the Copy Shop gone to!? How could they think of leaving it out! -Games within games are great fun, but should we get nice rewards for luck or playing skill? +Storyline+ -A more interactive Ryu; why can he talk in battles but not out of them? -Why is it that Ryu always has an identity crisis? Why can't something else happen to him? -Make the early part of the game more interesting; some get bored by its pace of action and this drags the game's worth down -Continue the storyline in the cleargame save (Epilogue); parts might be altered to make it all fit, or new elements of interest introduced -Include a secret optional character that you may add to your party some point into the game! +Misc+ -Reintroduce Bonebreak as an attack for Ryu, which deals non- elemental damage that ignores defense and lowers the enemy's Power, Defense, and Speed, plus gets more powerful as your HP depletes!?! -'Blessed' Sword that heals some HP each round instead of decreasing it; does more damage with more HP too (Ultimate Weapon? Duh two.) -Skill, Will, or any move that allows the 2nd item to be stolen from battle; to wait for it to be dropped after the critter is already dead is more than chancy, and blasted frustrating too -Unique 'ultimate' weapons for each character to be gotten from quests of sorts; definitely before the final dungeon -Anyways, why should Ryu always use a sword? Maybe it's time for a change -Try to include the lyrics for any theme songs; I believe BoF 3's 'Pure Again' was rather unforgettable for those who have heard it. -Weaponsmaster character who can literally equip about any weapon -More detailed Stats to a weapon; I suppose they can start revealing all the hidden Stats, like To-Hit, Evade, elemental resistance, etc. -Different visual models for each weapon, or something to that effect. Special effects like elemental damage or regeneration and poisoning may be employed as such too. Heheh, insanely demanding on the game production team. ;B Gee (yup, that's the word), after thinking up all this, I feel like half a game designer! Well, hope a real one comes along and salvages something worthwhile out of the scrapheap. Then I'll get something nice to play with... (hehehehack *gasps and chokes on self*) Blessings to... --------------------------------------------------------------------- *All readers of this down-hill faq; well, actually I don't know... *Carole (Carole3027@aol.com) for lots of morale supprt and some vital inspiration; but really, quit smoking already! We're getting the polluted air from ALL the way across the ocean! *All of the contributors at the BoF 4 Gamefaqs message board, for all your lot of useful info that often gets lost along the way... :p Hope I still don't get condemned *Other faq writers out there like Darkstorm, who inspired me much on what to create as subject for a game faq :) *Existance, for just that...