We Must Become The Strength of God! Let's Play Breath of Fire II!

Hello everyone, my name is Tefari and welcome to...


Developed by Capcom back in the heady days of the early 90's JRPG, BOF2 is a game I have many fond memories of starting from the Christmas morning I unwrapped it and rushed upstairs to play it, forgoing a breakfast of Pilsberry orange danish and bacon in order to slap this baby into my SNES and tear into it. It is a game that had many innovative ideas for its time that were unfortunately not nearly as well realized as they could or should have been. It has also been criticized for being extremely grindy, having characters with awful skillsets, a plot that is cliche, and having an awful translation. However! That does not stop it from holding a special place in my heart. Between a plot that I still cannot believe got published in America under Nintendo's censorship policy that covered pixelated statue breasts and turned alcohol into fruit juice, a system that allowed you to build your own town, complete with 3 different housing blueprints, full of people you choose willingly (no matter how useless some of them might have been), an interesting optional method of powering up your characters (and possibly even changing entirely) using different NPCs recruited from different places in the world, a system that keeps track of different NPCs reactions and opinions to you years before any silly 'Lightside or Darkside' system, and multiple endings that require you to play carefully during a pivotal boss fight and not wimp out when the time comes, BOF2 is a game worth showing off.

I am going to be playing using the Watercrown Productions retranslation of the game, and am going to be using the Japanese names for characters since they are what is used in the translation. I am going to be using the screenshot format as I believe that RPGs are best shown off without subjecting the viewer to the grinding and walking around that the player must do. If thats what you're after, I heartily recommend picking it up for yourself! I am going to attempt to show the game off as a new player would experience it, so this isn't going to show off many if any crazy high level experienced player tricks. This is also probably going to cause anyone who knows anything about the game to think I'm a fool when writing around spoilers. The main character is going to be named Ryu as any proper BOF main character should be (sorry crowd interaction, you'll come up again later I promise!), and I would greatly appreciate no one spoiling anything in plain text.

One final note, this is my first LP ever, and even if it wasn't I would still be open to suggestions and criticism about my work, because this is done as much for myself as it is the viewer. I am going to be showing off all key dialogue and scenes of course, but I'm not sure how much 'extra' stuff people want to see as far as say townsfolk chatter and in between scenes pacesetting, so please let me know!

The world of BOF2 is a fairly generic JRPG one to be honest, there isn't much history to be given that isn't a spoiler. The level of high-technology is again typical JRPG, that is non-existent except for certain instances in order to lend more gravity to a situation. However, the world IS populated by different clans of anthropomorphic animal races. Bosch is part of the Grassrunners, a clan of dog people, while Lin is Woren, a clan of cat people (real cat humanoids, not just cute ears and a tail, we're talking striped fur and claws).

All characters have one or more commands specific to them that matches their theme, as well as the ability to cast magic which is again based on a character's theme. As well as this all characters have a field action, a special trick or technique they will use when standing at the front of the party line. Ryu's is fishing for example, while Bosch will initiate a special hunting minigame when he approaches grass icons that will appear on the world map after random battles.

Now, lets meet our cast! They are laid out in both the manual and the game's opening sequence, so I don't consider this a spoiler.

For reference, some of the names have changed from the American release. Bow is now Bosch, Katt is now Lin, Jean is now Tapeta, and Spar is now Aspara.

Our main character on this journey grew up in the town of Gate, a small backwater community that exists surrounded by forest, isolated by water, and cut off on land by a cave, where the townsfolk worship fish and hunt to maintain their lively hood. He is the son of the head of the local Church of the Dragon, Ganer, and has a younger sister named Yua. Unfortunately his mother passed away when both children were very young, leaving Ganer to raise two children on his own. Luckily, given the small nature of the town, others were more than happy to help raise them as their own during hard times.

In combat he wields all nature of swords, and wears heavy style armor. Ryu has two special commands in combat. The first is Guts, which restores his HP based on both his Guts stat (explained later) and how many HP he has left, lower HP means guts restores more. The second is Dragon Transformation, the staple move of all BOF heros! Unfortunately however...BOF2 is notorious for having the absolute worst Dragon Transformation in the entire series. It consumes your entire magic bar in order to do one, yes that is singular, nuke attack on the enemy party. No persistent transformations like in the other games unfortunately...just one big attack per usage.

His field action is fishing, which allows you fish at watering holes that show up around the map after combat. This can be an extremely lucrative venture if you know what you're doing.

Bosch, also known as Bow in the original translation, is an archer and something of a troublemaker, something the player learns withing seconds of meeting him. He is an orphan from an extremely young age, and unfortunately he isn't very forthcoming with any personal information. He belongs to the Grassrunner clan of dog people.

In combat he wields a crossbow, which lends itself to his special ability 'Snipe'. This attempts to deal lethal damage equal to exactly how many HP the target has left, but since its a luck based skill it will rarely if ever get used unfortunately. He does learn some healing magic as time progresses, so he's not completely hopeless.

His field action is hunting, which lets you sneak into a special screen that is full of different animals for Bosch to hunt and kill. When you do so you usually receive a nice healing item. Its wonderful for early game big heals if you can pull it off.

Nina is the groups resident magic user as she always is in BOF games, and in BOF2 she is a Black Mage. She is part of the Sylpheed clan of Wyndia, a race of otherwise normal humans who have magnificent white wings growing out of their backs and are associated with the avians of the world. Wait you say, Nina's are most certainly not white, what gives? Well, black dark (THEY ARE IN FACT) BLACK wings on a Sylpheed are considered a curse. A curse so terrible that she was cast out of her family and considered dead to all who ask about her! Not a fair deal at all.

In combat she calls upon powers stored within various rings to strike her enemies, and as the mage of the group this is often extremely weak. She makes up for it by being the strongest magic user in the game hands down, learning all sorts of ways to call down flaming electric blizzards of death on her foes. Her special ability is Will, a move that restores some of her AP, allowing her to not constantly drain your supply of AP replenishing items.

Her field ability is...well...a spoiler that you don't get until about 3/4 of the way into the game. Its pretty awesome though, I assure you.

Rand is a member of the Shell Clan, a race of large and accordingly extremely powerful armadillo styled creatures. Despite both his title and size however, Rand is sensible and only lives up to his title if highly provoked into it. His attachment to the earth is quite strong, and will reveal itself more as the game goes along. His mother has gone missing ages ago, and Rand is not happy about this.

In combat he uses his fists augmented with different brass knuckle style weapons, and learns quite the compliment of healing magic to go along with his high power. True story, I used him as my team's healer in my very first play through because his speed is so low he is assured to go last most of the time, so I'd always queue him to heal whatever damage was done for the current round. His in combat ability is a bit of a let down honestly. It is called Wake and does exactly what it says on the tin. It is a move that targets a party member and does extremely low damage in order to wake them from Sleep status. It also has a small chance of reviving them from the dead, but much like Bosch's Snipe, its better to use an item or magic you can count on instead of wasting a turn.

His field ability ALMOST makes up for his special skill however, being the Rolling Ball. This move raises movement speed on the overworld and more importantly gives you NO RANDOM ENCOUNTERS! You do become dizzy if you run into something which causes you to spin several times, with each spin counting as a step which will probably lead to an encounter, so learn to control it well.

Fiesty and headstrong like all JRPGs needed from one of their female characters in the 90s, Lin is a member of the Woren tribe of cat peoples. Not just silly ears and tails though, Woren tribe members are feline through and through, they having fur and claws as well. Given her outfit (or bare lack thereof) she isn't played up as a sex kitten and despite being brash, has some unexpected history. *not responsible for punched monitors*

She wields a variety of staff weapons in battle, and learns several different mid level elemental spells which given her unfortunately low magic power and AP are difficult to really rely on outside the odd random battle. Her special skill is Dare, which acts as a taunt on all foes. The downside of this trick is her defenses aren't nearly high enough for get away with this safely most of the time.

Her field ability is Staff Strike, a move where she lashes out with a powerful strike against rocks and other breakable objects. This is mainly used in certain dungeons to make you take her with you verses hiding optional secrets unfortunately. She can also use Staff Strike on hunting screens to beat down animals into submission.

Sten hails from the monkey-like race of Highlanders (but how can there be a whole RACE of Highlanders?!), known for their long arms and prehensile tails. He is on the run from his past, and doesn't much like to speak about it. However, you can't hide forever in RPGs, and he will eventually be forced to confront it.

In combat Sten duel wields daggers with ease, and learns a variety of fire based magic. His special skill is called RIP, which doesn't immediately make sense until used as he plays dead in order to avoid being the target of attacks. Not a hell of a useful skill if you ask me.

His field action is Arm Stretch, wherein he uses his unusually long arms to reach across a gap to latch on to a post and drags the party with him. Again, like Lin's Staff Strike, this is relegated to forcing the player to bring Sten instead of cordoning off secrets.

Tapeta (more commonly known to Americans as Jean, as Tapeta is an informal nickname based on his royal title) is a member of what my research indicates is the Creeping Clan, or frog-men with unfortunately racist undertones, as the Creeping Clan are extravagantly faux French. As mentioned he is a prince of the waterlocked city of Sima Fort, and is first introduced to the party in the form of a giant cursed frog! He gets better though.

Tapeta wields rapiers and other piercing swords in battle, and learns a variety of holy styled magic to complement his swordplay. His special skill is Jab, wherein he strikes all opponents at once with lightning fast strikes, but his attack power coefficient is lowered for each foe past the first.

His field ability is, appropriately enough, Giant Enemy Frog! With this Jean returns to the giant frog state the party first finds him in, and allows the team to swim through water and up and down waterfalls.

The final member to join the team, Aspara is not a member of any clan as he is an embodiment of nature itself. He spends his time before joining the party trapped as the center stage attraction in the world traveling circus, but strangely he does not bother to extricate himself from this situation. Perhaps he has his reasons? He is indicated to be male, but given that he is more of a force of nature rather than a blooded creature, this is likely for formality's sake. Fun Fact: His full name in Japanese is Aspara Gus. See! I'm not the only one guilty of awful puns.

Aspara wields various different whips in combat, but is more suited to using his healing and support magic instead. He is the closest thing the party will get to a 'traditional' white mage over the course of the game. His special skill is Nature, which calls upon the power of the particular setting of your combat to strike down foes. Think Geomancer from Final Fantasy.

His field ability is Forest Walk, another self explanatory skill used the same way as the rest of the unique movement skills in the game (to regulate your party).

Demo screen montage and opening sequence is go!

Music: Owaranai Ai, or Unending Love. This song was featured in the Japanese commercial for BOF2, and was inserted into the intro montage in the romhack in a rather nice fashion. Its not a fantastic song, its early 90's J-pop, but I still recommend you listen to it simply because it was nowhere to be found in the American version. Our other option was a flag on the romhack that makes it into Dragonforce's Through the Fire and the Flames, which is just trite by now.



The makers and hackers of our game.



Meet the cast once again!



*press Start*



Credit where credit is due!



Rise from your grave!

Alright, now that the formal introduction is out of the way, lets start the game proper! This first batch of updates is extremely screenshot heavy as I'm still working out a style, as well as there being a lot that I feel needs to be shown off in order to create the proper atmosphere for the viewer. Like I said however, if you're digging on a picture heavy format let me know!

(Thanks for pointing out a couple things that went odd on this one. Even after triple proof reading with preview post something slipped though in the weirdest way)


Music: A Voice in the Dark



What do we have here? I can barely make something out...



Oh god, demonic eyeball staring directly at me!



Oh god, demonic eyeball talking directly to me!

Demonic Eyeball: Hear my words mortals...Offer your souls unto God...Offer Him your praise, your prayers, your worship and devotion...You must become the strength of God!

*SCENE CHANGE*

Music: Please, God...







This gentleman here is the aforementioned Ganer, the father of both Ryu and mischievous Yua there. Yua is something of a troublemaker, troubled by the loss of her mother she has had a hard time adjusting the world and often lashes out without even meaning to.



Yes, within mere SECONDS of obtaining control of our hero we're already looting and pillaging the homes of innocent villagers (ignore the fact that this is RYU'S chest of drawers to pillage please). We find here the Wooden Rod, the weakest of all fishing poles in the game. I'm not going to be able to show off fishing for a little while, but I will eventually.



Ganer: I'm trusting you, now! If your mother were here to care for Yua, perhaps she wouldn't still be doing this sort of thing all the time.



This might seem like an odd thing to screenshot, but most houses in BOF2 have separate rooms for toilets! This is noteworthy simply because few RPGs really bother to include such trivial things as bathrooms in their geography.

Lets step outside and see if we can't find Yua. I'm going to be showing off a lot of townsfolk dialogue here as it is important to set the scene for what comes shortly after. Its not a traditional Empire burns down small village scene, in my opinion its even worse.

Music: My Home



What is that icon on the upper right side of the dialogue box? That would be the Dragon's Tear, a woefully under-implemented mechanic. It is supposed to represent how the person you're talking to feels about Ryu, and it does that just fine, but there are no instances in the game of where it has any real impact on what transpires. You'll notice it changed from an oily yellow to a soft green, which indicates that the speaker's opinion went up as she appreciates Ryu's thoughtfulness. The scale ranges from dark purple indicating utter hatred, moving up through brightness to a flashing rainbow of colors which means the person is practically in love with Ryu.



A dragon eh? I'll make a note to investigate that after I find Yua. Another thing of note is the dragon statue in the middle of the screen. We'll be seeing many more of them as time goes on.



Huh...looks like I might be investigating the dragon along with Yua. Two birds with one breath weapon and all that.



Foreshadowing, but not how you might think.



So it was Ganer AND the dragon that saved that town.

This patch of grass is impassable until you speak with the townsfolk, in order to make sure you learn the backstory. Behind it is grass not-exactly-a-maze, and once you reach the end the world blooms into full color instead of the grayscale we've seen up to this point.



Well, we've found both Yua and the dragon, but out of the tall grass a wild Gunhead appears!



And promptly kicks young Ryu's arse 7 ways from Sunday. Things are looking grim for our hero, but it wouldn't be much of a game if you perished here, and Ganer's famous magic saves the day like it did so many years ago.



Ganer: Running off into a monster's den like this, you've made a lot of trouble for your older brother and I!
Yua: I came here to see mama!
Ganer: What? Your mother?
Yua: That's right! When I nap here, I see mama in my dreams!
Ganer: So you say...Yua, I don't know how to tell you this but...
Yua: I know, Mama's gone...
Ganer: Yes...I couldn't protect your mother when the monsters attacked, years ago...had it not been for the dragon, we all would have perished then. I can only ask for your forgiveness Ryu. If I had only been stronger, you wouldn't be without your mother right now...

At this point you can agree or disagree with Yua. I chose to agree because Ganer just saved me.

Yua: That's right Ryu! There's nothing papa can't do! I believe it! Ryu believes it! Everybody believes it! And everybody will remember the story of how papa and the dragon beat the monsters and saved the village!
Ganer: You're too kind for this old man, Yua. I just hope your mother understands as well as you do...
Yua: I know she does! That's what the dragon told me!
Ganer: Thank you Yua...Sometimes it really does seem as if you can talk to the dragon...
Yua: I told you! I see mama in my dreams!
Ganer: In that case, young lady, let's go home. We can talk all about your mother there. And you Ryu, don't stay out past your bedtime!
Yua: Maybe you'll see mama in your dreams too!

Here you can choose to nap or not...after that scare with the Gunhead I think I'll chill here for a bit...



AHHH! The demon eye is back and in my head! What is going on here...that can't be what Yua sees...or does she think the eye is her mother? What...



On the way out you'll notice the flowers and butterflies are gone...

Lets head back to town and see if anyone has anything interesting to say after today's interesting events.



Excuse me? I wasn't asleep for THAT long was I?



Father Halk? Who the devil is Father Halk? His name is Ganer people!



For some reason the lady is acting like we're possessed or something. I'm not liking this one bit.



Maybe I can get some answers from this Father Halk character. I've never heard my church called the Church of Eva before though...



WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?! WHERE ARE MY FATHER AND SISTER?! This isn't funny anymore! I nearly died earlier today and now everyone in town thinks its keen to play a practical joke on a 6 year old?! *huff* *puff* I might as well just get some rest since apparently the only person in town who doesn't hate me is Halk...

Bosch: Hey, why are you giving me that look? We're both here for the same reasons, aren't we? You know the routine, play all pitiful, get into their good graces, then rob `em blind and run like hell? Course, there's really nothing worth stealing here to begin with...So, what say you to a partnership? We bust outta here together, make our way to the next big town and raid the place? We could really shake things up! Whadda ya say? Partners?

Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you young Bosch.



Given the confusion from earlier I decline his offer. I don't even know whats going on, I don't know if I want to leave just yet...

Bosch: Wha? After all that you're gonna start preaching to me like the old man? Its not like God'll strike us down or anything for doing what we gotta do to survive! He's got bigger fish to fry! Look, if you wanna stay here I'm not gonna fight you. I don't have the time, energy, or inclination. Hope you like cold gruel and daily lashing!

There isn't anything else you can do besides attempt to follow him outside here. Unfortunately there's no non-standard game over where you go back to sleep and never leave Gate. Once you start to leave...

Bosch: I thought I figured you right! Thief or no you wan't out of this backwards outhouse, don't you? Come on, lets blow this place! I'm gonna smell like Church if I stay here any longer! By the way, your name's Ryu right? The name's Bosch! Pleased to meetcha!

And so, we leave town and start our journey to wherever the winds may lead us.


Music: Thunder and Rain





Onward!

Music: What Is It?



Oh man do I have a bad feeling about this. My day has been terrible, and this will surely only make it worse.



Can't deviate from the path...thanks Bosch.

Music: A Voice in the Dark



You. Cannot. Be. Fucking. Serious.



I am not The Fated Child, I am a kid who is having the worst day of his life! What do you expect me to do besides pass out in sheer terror?!



The demon's name is Barbaroi, and shockingly enough one swipe of its massive claws are enough to reduce Ryu to a curled up ball of nothing. But instead of killing me it issues an ultimatum, something about unlocking the gate...but Ryu barely hears this over the sound his heart and the panicked noises he can only be sure he is making...

Music: Destined Child (Listen to this one, it adds a lot to this scene)





BAM late title screen!

Bear with me just a little bit longer, the introduction is nearly over and the game proper is just a cutscene away. We might even see some real combat before the day is over!

Music: My Home



Bosch: About time! all right, let's see here...Whaa?! Lost pet? Are you making fun of us?
Chief: What's wrong? You did say 'no job too small...'
Bosch: This isn't a job pops! This is the peanut gallery! I mean, what kinda moron would you have to be to lose track of a dumb animal?

This kind of moron Bosch.





Bosch: Speak for yourself Pops! Fear not, your ladyship! Your dear Suzie is in the capable hands of none other than Bosch, Soother of Savage Beasts!
Mina: Oh, thank you so much!
Bosch: Just leave this one to us, pops! Ryu and Bosch are on the case!
Mina: Please bring my Suzie home! I'm counting on the both of you! Until we meet again! Good luck!
Bosch: Well, what're you looking at? How can I refuse a sweet face like that with a clear conscience?
Chief: *sigh* The same way you do everything else...SHAMELESSLY. Well, go! And good luck to you as well! If there's such a thing as karma in this world you're going to need it!
Bosch: Yee-haw! This has gotta be the most awesome job ever! Come on, Ryu! Let's head out and get investigating!
Chief: There's a 500 Zenny reward for bringing the pet home. Don't disappoint me!

And with that our quest has finally begun in earnest! Now, just where are we supposed to find a lost pet...come to think of it I don't even think we were told what kind of animal it is to begin with!



All this time and effort and Ryu still hasn't been able to locate any information on Ganer. Unsettling... Everyone else here has nothing but silly things to say, like offering a job washing windows or baby sitting.



Welcome to Newhaven, the first actual hub in the game world. It serves its functions well, offering basic amenities as well as being home to some interesting people, but we'll get to them in time. The sign here says Ranger's Guild, and the Rangers are basically a sort of mercenaries guild that Ryu and Bosch have joined up with in order to make ends meet.



The Dragon God statue speaks! As he says he used to be worshiped by a much larger following, but with the rise of the organized Church of Eva people are paying less and less attention to the pagan gods (this is not social commentary). Aside from being mopey the Dragon offers one of the two places to save the game, the other being interestingly enough speaking to a Church of Eva priest. I really like this particular angle of both religious figures being save points.

Now seeing as how we begin our journey with about 5 zenny to our name (which would explain why we're taking on a mission to find a lost pet, aside from lechery), lets go get ourselves into a fight (that we can win) or two to alleviate all these talkytalky words.

Overworld Music: We Are Rangers!



Here we are on the overworld, so it shouldn't take us long to get into a fight considering this game's awfully high encounter rate. We'll investigate the tent looking location in a little bit.

Normal Battle Music: Cross Counter



There we go! Combat in BOF2 is extremely basic. Speed determines what order characters attack in, and the only options you get are Attack, [Special Command], Special (which is magic), Item, Auto Battle, and Flee. There is a chance to counterattack when struck. There is one particular tactical choice you can make though. On the Formation menu in the Menu screen you can assign formations from a preset list that give different characters in different slots different odds of being hit (sorta like how in FF1 the top character would take the majority of hits). In this respect there isn't really much to talk about, just some menus to showcase.



Why yes, this is from a different fight, why do you ask? A neat function of most BOF games is being able to see the relative HP of enemies you've defeated once before. Since there is no Scan spell this is helpful, but it doesn't work on bosses since you only fight each one a single time (with rare exception).



After combat both fishing holes (that leaping fish to the left) and hunting fields known as Huntsville (the grass to our right) have a chance to spawn. Lets investigate Huntsville since the Wooden Rod we picked up at the beginning of the game vanished from our inventory over the 10 year gap.



Here are a couple shots of me miserably failing at hunting. Its a lot harder than you might think, because you move slowly, Bosch's arrows/bullets move even slower, and prey likes to get spooked and run away before you can close the gap. Hunting prizes are mainly name shifted versions of consumables you can buy at any store anyways.

Since we took a bit of damage during combat, lets heal up and check out the menu screens.



Menus! That little green fellow at the center top of the first screen shot is our monster frequency indicator. The faster he's bouncing around the more often we'll get into fights. He goes to sleep during non combat areas. Second shot is the item screen, third and fourth are Ryu and Bosch's magic skills, fifth is the status screen, and the sixth is the Formation setup screen.

You'll notice Ryu's first spell is Rest. BOF2 has a limited day and night cycle that has a mild effect on the story.

Our items so far are Healing Herb the basic HP restoration item, Ammonia which serves as this game's Phoenix Down, Antidote the obvious, and Liver obtained from a successful hunt, which functions as an antidote. I thought that was pretty clever honestly, even if it makes no functional sense.

Stats in BOF2 are pretty simple. Attack is a factor of your Strength and Weapon Damage. Defence is a factor of Stamina and Armor. Vigor is your effective speed, and is a factor of Agility combined with armor weight (yes, BOF2 is crazy enough to have heavier armor slow you down). Wisdom affects how well you defend against magic as well as success on status and one shot effect magic. You might be wondering what determines the power of magic then, if not Wisdom. Each spell is hard coded to have a certain level of power attached to it instead of using a derived stat. Luck is, well, luck. Condition is similar to Luck, it has an effect on various different factors in combat; a better condition edges the dice rolls in your favor. Will is the odd one out here, being represented by 1-7 fire icons instead of a simple number. Will determines a characters chances of spontaneously refusing to succumb to lethal damage and press on fighting, as well as determining how many HP Ryu's Guts special skill restores. Defying death can happen only once per battle, with a maximum chance of 25% if your will is rated at 7 fires. Different items can affect Will, as do story events. If someone is extremely pissed due to a big bad killing their friend for example, their Will goes up. The Dragon's Tear indicates how that party member feels about Ryu as always. Ryu's own Tear stays orangish as he isn't interested in being the big damn hero, he's just trying to do what he has to.

This wraps up the introduction to the game, general housekeeping, and paperwork. From here I'm going to go back and check out a couple things in Newhaven and the Traveling Circus, do some grinding for cash and equipment because the game's first boss can catch you off guard if you don't, and we'll finally set off on our quest to save the world find a pretty lady's lost pet!

Bleh, I don't like the "new" names.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g4I1yj6rRg#t=1m12s
Oh man, I love the intro to the game. Seeing some horrible demon eyeball, getting killed by the monster, then reading how it tears apart your heart and body. Thats pretty crazy. Then cue the awesome title music, epic!

You left in 2 of the same screenshot of Ryu being asked to find Yua.

Other than that your writing is great, looking forward to more.
Hmmm...Lin has no pants...

Gah, what happened to the names!? Geez... Note to self stick with the origi-
Why the heck is there a liver in your invintory!?

Oh God I forgot all about BoF2's evil eye-vagina.

Also, count me among those who dislike the new names, I just grew up with Bow and Katt and Jean and Spar... well maybe not Jean and Spar, but you get the idea. However they're baked into the new translation, and I AM interested in seeing how this patch is scripted since I don't think I'll ever play it myself, so I'll deal.

Funny tidbit: For the longest time I thought Rand was supposed to be a Horse. I mean, rolling aside, his head looks kind of horse-ish, and his hometown is a giant farm and his mother is named Daisy and she kind of looks like a cow-person. A cow would be more closely related to a horse than an armadillo and.... I don't know! Kid logic!

I've always had a soft spot for this game. Reminds me of summer in junior high.

I think a lot of the joy I got from this at the time was specifically because of how janky it was, with its barely functional translation and wildly imbalanced roster. Still, there are plenty of gameplay conceits that make it pretty interesting once Jean joins or so.

I'm looking forward to seeing this game played in English!

h-how did Katt/Rinpoo become 'Lin'?? it can't be a space constraints thing if 'Tapeta' and 'Aspara' made it intact!

what's going on here

Straight from the translator's notes from the patch:

I figured DQ's Lin had something to do with it, but that still don't sit right with me.

I would've gone with 'Linpu'

Barbaroi. It's a reference, I believe?

At any rate, I don't really know why not keep the rest of the cast hidden as usual until they appear, but that's really my only complaint.

...also if we can suggest anything my personal suggestion is that you use everyone's special abilities at the most fitting points. (Yeah, this means using Wake at least once. Most likely if anyone ever gets confused.)

Oh, and show every character. Hopefully we can keep this from being spoiled for whoever didn't play it.

That text font does not feel right with those graphics. Also:

The background of the menu is pretty noisy.

I cannot explain my affection for this game.

I can't really help but comment that, while a huge improvement over Barubary, Barbarai is a stupid, stupid name for a thing that looks like that.

But then, stupid, stupid names are a recurring theme for this games villains.

As said, it's Barbaroi.

Just wait until you guys get to see what Aruhamel and Nimufu's new names are.

I like Bosch over Bow, because with Bow I had to pronounce it like BOUGH, so as to not become confused with the Original Bo. Also because he was a Dog.

Tapeta and Aspara feel cumbersome to say though.

I forgot how the atmosphere of this game starts out with some geniune dread and trauma though. Good For you Game!

Aspara at least makes sense since he looks like an asparagus.

Well... no he doesn't. But the name punning is clear enough.

Aw man you guys, I am so unbelievably thrilled you're enjoying the little I've posted. I'm going to try to get the next leg up before I go to bed again.

If the names are bugging you don't worry, I'm bound to slip up and refer to them by their American names more than once. Hell, I did it in the OP when I was writing out their descriptions a couple times by pure habit and had to go back and edit the post. I'll go back and put a note explaining the differences.

I also don't think I'm going to go with animated gifs honestly. I'm already at 350 megs of bandwidth used, and animateds are a couple megs a piece even after using optimized for web gifs in their making. However, I might try to figure out how this video making thing works and use Youtube.

AKAECS, you'll see every character, don't worry. I chose to go ahead and show off the characters because they're not a secret, believe me I debated whether or not to wait for them to join or not. You know who isn't there completely on purpose. And by all means please make suggestions, this is an interactive medium IMO. Once I get a rotating party I'm planning on letting people cast votes for who they want to see, as well as what housing and tenants we use. Speaking of which, if you can suggest a proper time to use something like Sten's ability please please please let me know.

And there is a liver in my inventory because Bosch (see, I almost wrote Bow there!) likes to run off and I need a treat to get his attention.

A Breath of Fire II LP and you don't bring up the box art?



Also, I will never understand why they didn't actually make Nina's wings black. I mean, yeah, purple's not white, but it's not black either.

It's not that easy rendering black, I think. So normally they use purple instead.

Just look at some Power Rangers transformations; often the Black Ranger gets purple light while everyone else gets their color.