******************************************************************************** ******************************************************************************** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** B R E A T H O F F I R E IV ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ******************************************************************************** ******************************************************************************** Breath Of Fire IV - Boss FAQ Version 1.005 Done By: Tricrokra (Tricrokra@hotmail.com) This FAQ handles all the bosses I encountered. If you found some optional bosses I didn't find please e-mail me about it. Data of BOF4 version I played. System: PS ONE (Normal Playstation 1 in smaller form) Region: NTSC USA/Canada Legal Notics. You're free to download and copy this FAQ to anyone you know as long as it's unprofitable and this FAQ is unmodified. When uploading this FAQ to please let me know. In most cases it won't be a problem if you do. (C) Copyright JBC-Soft, Jeroen Broks (Tricrorka), 2001, All rights reserved Update Notes For this version 1.001 ??-??-???? I discovered a few little errors. They are fixed now. 1.002 05-13-2001 Revised my advise for Ymechaf 1.003 05-15-2001 Revision for Sparrow and Joh 1.004 11-19-2001 Added Optional Boss: "Angler". Revision on "Grunts" (1), "Glebe" and "Fantam", and the final battle... Also made a note on "Rider", but I've to disappoint you, I didn't defeat him yet. 1.005 12-30-2001 Still not defeated the Rider, but Tsogtoo allowed me to add his strategy to my FAQ. NOTE! I know the hero can have ANY name you want. In this FAQ I'll stick with his default name Ryu. The numbers behind party-member names are the levels I had them on when I encountered this boss. These are not recommended levels, it were just mine. *** The Characters *** Ryu Description: The Hero Joins: When Nina finds him near the place she crashed. Advantage: Ryu has advantage by using dragon powers and summoning other dragons Disadvantage: Turning into a dragon costs very much AP and cost AP each round to maintain the form. Dragon form can't be healed with normal items and healing spells and summoning dragons can only be done once. An inn is required to regain the ability to summon them again. Own Will: None (as far as I know) Nina Description: Princess Of Wyndia Joins: Starts the game Advantage: Nina has powerfull healing spells Disadvantage: Weak Own Will: Cheer - In back row Nina can automaticly heal when everyone is heavily wounded Ershin Description: Mysterious person in a suit of armor Advantage: Seems a little bit strong and can learn some nice spells. Regains a lot of AP in the back row Disadvantage: Slow, little AP and misses easily Own Will: CoverFire - Ershin may attack an enemy from the backrow Cray Description: Nina's childhood friend and chief of the Worren Advantage: Strong and nice assist magic Disadvantage: Slow Own Will: Protector - Cray may jump before an ally trying to protect him or her. Scias Description: Stuttering dog who's assigned to watch the party Advantage: Nice healer and nice cold spells Disadvantage: Gains healing spells later than Nina and is easily killed Own Will: Rakasha - Scias will powerup when heavily wounded Ursula Description: Captain of the Imperial Army Advantage: Nice attacking magic Disadvantage: Terrible defense and misses almost always Own Will: Guts - Ursula may stand up when getting killed (will have 1 HP) Fou-Lu Description: Founder of Fou Empire. Strange Fellow Advantage: Extreme high level (64 is the starting level) so very strong. Like Ryu he can transform into a dragon Disadvantage: He never has allies and just like Ryu, it cost much AP to take and maintain a dragon form. Fou-Lu has also not very much items to heal you, however his sword can be used to drain HP from Fou-Lu's enemies. Own Will: None (as far as I know) *** CHAPTER 1: The awakening *** Boss 01: Kham Difficulty: Pretty Easy Party: Fou-Lu 64 Location: A forest near Fou-Lu's Tomb EXP: 16000 Money: 1400 Zenny Items: Ambrosia Fou-Lu's first boss and the first boss of the entire game is already a strong guy. But Fou-Lu has the power the transform into a dragon so use that power to transform into Astral. Using Eraser all the time will finish the fight rather quickly. Boss 02: Joh Difficulty: Easy Party: Nina 6 Location: The Tavern In Sarai EXP: 100 Money: 501 Zenny Items: Aurum Since Nina has to fight this guy alone and since this is her first boss, we may expect an easy win. It is... But don't act too hasty. Keep on attacking and use "Heal" when she comes close to 100 HP. You don't need to save the AP for other battles since this is the only one here. That's a nice advantage :) Nice to know is that Nina's "Sever" is stronger than a normal attack, but it won't shorten the fight that much. Boss 03: Skullfish Difficulty: Easy Party: Ryu 5, Nina 7, Ershin 4 Location: Cursed part of Chamba EXP: ? Cash: ? Items: Antidote, Fishhead This one isn't really hard. If Ryu didn't succeed getting over the bridgerunning puzzle he'll start this battle poisoned. Not really big deal. Nina should act as the healer while Ryu and Ershin will do the fighting. To save Nina some healing you can turn Ryu into the Aura Dragon. When he's out of HP in that form he'll only transform back into a human (But then you can't turn into Aura again) :( Another note, in dragon form Ryu is invulnerable to healing spells and items (Same goes for Fou-Lu). Only the Ambrosia can heal dragon forms, but save them as long as possible. Oh yeah, you need to rest in an inn later to heal back the dragon HP, but that's no real problem. But I'm getting off the subject. This boss is in no way dangerous. He's only poisonous with his "Venom Breath". Boss 04: Maman Difficulty: Easy Party: Ryu 9, Nina 9, Ershin 8, Cray 8 Location: Woods EXP: 1500 Cash: 450 Zenny Items: Apple, Flame Punch The difficulty is still easy, but we can see that the bosses are starting to become stronger. This beast has rather strong attacks and a deadly body press. If you're fast enough (Don't count on it), you can cancel his moves by healing him with apples (100 HP), but since you're mostly not fast enough it works the same as the famous Chewbacca defense method: IT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE!!! I suggest to put Ryu, Cray and Ershin in the front, since Nina is the weakest and to get her only in front when her healing powers are needed. Using the Aura Dragon is nice and Flame Strike (Aura) may hurt him bad. Boss 05: Kahn (1) Difficulty: Rather Easy Party: Ryu 10, Nina 11, Ershin 10, Cray 10 Location: Marlock's Front Door EXP: ? Cash: Nothing! Items: Ginseng Kahn thinks he's strong. He'll easily guard which makes him less of a thread. His "Shout" moves may cancel all you attacks, but when you think of it, that move is one of the most useless moves a boss can have. What you need to watch out for are his attacks after he has used "Focus". My recommendation is to put Cray, Ryu and Ershin at the front and Nina at the back. Of course only let Nina in the front when you need to heal, but when you're in luck it won't happen. If you really want you may turn Ryu into the Aura, but there's not very much sense since it will hardly make a diffrence. And on top of you'll need an inn to heal the Aura's HP back. It's up to you. Since this is the only fight here, there's no need to save your AP. One problem.... He'll be back!!! Boss 06: Khafu Difficulty: Easy Party: Fou-Lu 64 Location: The Mountains around Bunyan's Hut EXP: 22000 Money: 0 Zenny. Oh well, Fou-Lu doesn't need cash anyway. Items: Fire Ward, Ambrosia This beast is a master of fire and Fou-Lu is a master of ice. How much luckier can we get. Turn into Astral and keep on using Eraser and he's gone very soon. In dragon form even normal attacks can hurt him bad. Criticals are 3000+, but that's when you are lucky. Astral's Eraser is all you need! Boss 07: Ymechaf Difficulty: Medium Party: Ryu 11, Nina 11, Ershin 11, Cray 10 Location: Mystic Gate EXP: 2000 Money: Too bad... Nothing. Items: Aurum, Ice Punch Firs of all I'd like to thank Commander JP for making the balance situation clear. My technique works this way. Cray on the first rank, Ryu second and Nina last. Cray should basically attack only. Ryu should burn and Nina should use sever. Why this order. Combos are this guys weakness and the the creation firewind is a way to get him off balance. His Defense will drop terribly and as long as he's off balance he can't do a think until a normal attack is done. My preference to have Cray in the front is because when Cray knocks him off balance this guy could easily have a chance to attack you since he's rather slow, with Cray in the 1st position he's always off balance (as long as the combo succeeds at the end of the turn and when Cray hits him making him recover his senses the chance is high that Ryu and Nina can knock him out again with their combo. If healing is needed I suggest to let Cray use items to make sure Ryu and Nina can knock him off balance. *** CHAPTER II: The Endless *** Boss 08: Sparrow Difficulty: Easy Party: Nina 12 Location: Bird's Nest EXP: 250 Cash: 100 Zenny Items: Bird Drop, Wooden Rod Don't worry about this guy. This bird thinks that Nina is her chick and doesn't understand why Nina is fighting her way out. That makes him throwing much turns away of thinking and not understanding. Sometimes he tries to feed Nina caterpillars which will hurt and poison Nina. Heal when needed. This guy will fly away soon. Especially when you try "Sever" all the time. I managed to win the fight with that in 2 turns only. Boss 09: Kahn (2) Difficulty: Easy Party: Ryu 11, Nina 13, Ershin 13, Scias 13 Location: Worent EXP: 2000 Cash: Niets-Nothing-Rien-Noppes-Nada-Zero-Nul (Quote from Urbanus. Belgian commedian. Also famous in the Netherlands) Items: Ginseng SURPRISE!!!!!! On the most unexpecting place ever in the history of RPG gaming this boss shows up. CapCom deserves the boss-on-original-locations-award. Heh, enough about that. Kahn is even easier than he was before. His Tiger Claw may do much damage now, but he only has AP to do that once. Most of the time he'll guard or shout. He'll be killed very soon. I've put Ryu, Ershin and Scias at the front and Nina at the back. Nina is the weakest and Scias can heal a little too. Boss 10: Ghosts that are bothering the faeries Difficulty: Easy / Medium Party: Ryu 14, Nina 14, Ershin 14, Scias 14 Location: The Faerie World EXP: See below Cash: See below As a matter of fact these are more bosses that can be taken in random order as long as you take them all. I'll discuss them in the order I took them. Anohter nice thing to know.... Try to cast healing spells over them :-) Chkom Tries to make you sleep. His rock blast is his only serious thread. Put Nina in the back since her attacks won't hurt him. 320 EXP / 50 Zenny Kyo One of the easiest. Does mostly normal attacks which aren't too strong. Sometimes he'll try to weaken you, but that misses easily. Have Ryu, Ershin and Scias in the front, and use Nina for healing only. 360 EXP / 30 Zenny / Magic Shard Bokta The system warns for a vicious attack. Must be the fact that he has chance to a "Lucky Strike". He has only a few HP. Ryu, Scias, Ershin in the front recommended 300 EXP / 60 Zenny / Life Shard Udy His problem is not that he tries to steal your HP or AP, because those moves miss most of the times. He has an extreme high parry rate and dodges most of your attacks. Spells are required to kill him quickly. Not nescesarily combos. Nina and Scias are best for that job. Letting Nina cast "Sever" continued by Scias "Frost" will result into "Jolt" electric attack. Is a nice one, but once again, you can win this fight without combos 380 EXP / 20 Zenny Nmago High Counterrate. That's all. Still normal attacks recommended. 340 EXP / 40 Zenny / Life Shard Boss 11: Fantam Difficulty: Easiest boss in RPG history Party: Ryu 14, Nina 14, Ershin 14, Scias 14 Location: Faerie World EXP: 5000 Cash: 1800 Zenny Items: Life Shard Having defeated all his sons we may now go for the bastard himself. He's EASY!!! His looks are extreme cute. Oh well. My front was Ryu, Scias and Ershin. In that order. Turning Ryu into a dragon is not needed at all, but you can do it if you are a chicken. He mostly uses two moves. Nose dive. Hardly damages you. And vaccuum. Misses most of the times. Nina can act as a healer, but if you're too lazy to switch party members all the time, Scias can do it too. If you are lucky you can do it this way: Charge attack - You win.... That ain't a joke... If you are lucky you can just use Charge attack and come back after 5 minutes and you'll see that the battle is won.... How much easier can we get this? Sub-Boss: Guard Difficulty: Know the trick Location: Ludia Castle Preperations: Have the spell "Burn" (can be learned from a Mage Goo (red Goo)) on any other person but Nina. Personally I prefer Ryu. Not really a boss, but the bad thing is that you must kill them in ONE turn. I discovered that "Simoon" is the best spell for that, but "Simoon" can only be cast in a combo. Have the one that has "Burn" (in my case that was Ryu, but it could happen you got it on someone else. Anybody can do as long as it's not Nina) in the lead position and Nina on the second place. I mostly have Scias as back-up in the third position, so Ershin will be in the back (in my case). Cast Burn with your leader (mine was Ryu) and let Nina continue with "Cyclone" and it Cyclone will be converted into "Simoon". As back-up I have Scias ready with "Shining Blade", but in most cases it will never come that far that Scias will use it. What if Cray has "Burn". Oops... Then you can't use this technique. Since Cray is inaccesible now. Maybe "Jolt" (Nina must cast "Cyclone" and Scias must continue with "Frost" to get "Jolt") would be helpful, but I never tried that. Boss 12a: Grunt A, Grunt B and Grunt C (1) Difficulty: Medium Party: Ryu 16, Nina 17, Ershin 17, Cray 13 Location: P'ung Tap EXP: 2600 (?) Cash: 500 Zenny Items: Eye Drops, Molotov, Knockout Gas The worst thing is that there are three of them. But you don't need to worry about them. Keep you HP as high as possible, cause when all three attack one single target you may loose a lot of HP. Using Combo's like Simoon or FireWind will make this battle much shorter. Boss 12b: Grunt A, Grunt B and Grunt C (2) Difficulty: Easy. Party: Ryu 16, Nina 17, Ershin 17, Cray 14 Location: P'ung Tap EXP: 2600 (?) Cash: 500 Zenny Items: Eye Drops, Molotov, Knockout Gas Same as before, but this time we got an extra ally. Scias has come back. He will be controlled by the computer, still he'll fight at your side. He'll mostly use "Shining Blade" and use "Multi Vitamin" to heal your party. Be carefull not to hurt Scias. So DON'T USE COMBO'S or magic that damages all targets. If you use normal attacks only and go for grunt A first and continue with grunt B and end with grunt C you won't hurt Scias. (At least I didn't). Boss 13: Umadap, Azeus, Agiel and Yeleb Difficulty: Fucking Hard Party: Ryu 17, Nina 18, Cray 15, Scias 16 Location: Ershin's Mind EXP: 10000 Cash: Er you didn't need money, did you? Items: Water Ward, Fire Ward, Wind Ward, Earth Ward Molotov, Water Bomb, Electrode, Weather Vane Okay, time for sissy bosses is over!!! This is the first boss fight which is really really hard. The bad things - 300 HP regeneration - There are four of them - Powerfull spells. But the regeneration can be stopped. When you kill one the next one (clockwise) will lose its regeneration. Turn Ryu into the Aura immediatly without any delay and let the others save their powers. Maybe Cray can cast protect or something. I prefer Nina in the back row until strong healing is required. (Scias can heal too, but Nina has more powerfull healing spells now). Now use "Flame Strike" and "Shining Blade" on the Blue One (Agiel) and he'll be gone soon. One problem less. Now go for Yeleb (Brown One) then for the red one (Umadap) and the last one the green one (Azeus). Keeping Ryu in dragon form as long as possible is recommended since that makes one person less to heal, and you'll need that advantage. Boss 14: Papan Difficulty: Yawn Party: Fou-Lu 65 Location: Woods behind Nami's Village EXP: 10000 Cash: 750 Zenny Items: Apple, Wisdom Fruit Just turn Fou-Lu into Astral and keep on using Eraser. Boss 15: Marl Difficulty: Pretty Easy Party: Fou-Lu 65 Location: Mt. Yiga EXP: 27500 Cash: 2650 Zenny Items: Wisdom Seed, Magic Shard, Wisdom Fruit, Super Vitamin, Life Shard Turn Fou-Lu into the Astral and keep on using Eraser. Memorize how this boss works, because Ryu and friends will get a similiar fight later. I don't want to spoil the game, and yet it doesn't matter but when Ryu has to fight it will it will. Of course when you meet him you can always look in this FAQ, right? Boss 16: Ight Difficulty: You'll always win, but it's VERY hard to keep everybody alive Party: Ryu 19, Nina 20, Cray 17, Scias 18 Location: Abadoned Chek Village EXP: 3600 Cash: 0+0+0 Zenny!!! Items: Aurum, Flame Sword Fighting makes no sense. This guy is invulnerable for all attacks. If you want to you can try to keep everybody, except Ryu alive, but that's EXTREMLY HARD! Almost impossible. When Ryu gets killed he'll go berserk and automaticly turn into the Kaiser Dragon. This will finish him this guy off in no time at all. *** CHAPTER 3: STREAMS *** Boss 17: Kahn (3) Difficulty: Medium Party: Ryu 21, Nina 22, Ershin 19, Cray 19, Scias 20, Ursula 21 Location: In the ocean EXP: 12000 Cash: When you are as strong as Kahn (Huh) you don't need money, right? Items: Ginseng, ManlyClothes Long time no bosses. Even Fou-Lu who started this chapter could get off without encountering one. And the first real boss is a familiar one. Kahn. His ass can't be kicked enough I guess. He wants to be kick out again I guess. Well, is ain't hard. He is a bit stronger, but no serious thread. Having Cray to protect everybody is a good move. Transforming into a dragon form (Wyvern or Weyr recommended) is nice, but you can win without it. Boss 18: Glebe Difficulty: You can hold something against him. If you know what then he's medium else he's very extreemly hard. Party: Ryu 22, Nina 23, Ershin 20, Cray 20, Scias 20, Ursula 22 Location: Cove (You get there because there's no wind on the ocean). EXP: 17556 is what I got, but I think it depends on his ammount of helpers he summons. Cash: 15440 Zenny. See my remark at EXP Items: Iron Scrabs, Aurum, Bent Screw, Wisdom Fruit, Glass Shard, Light Bangle Remember the living rock Fou-Lu had to fight? Remember I told you to watch his battle techniques very well? Then maybe you've discovered the weakness in his technique. This guy uses the same technique. What? You didn't find out? Poor you, now I still got to tell you :) Every time when he's alone he'll summon two allies. That's his power, but you can turn it into his weakness. How? First of all.... Being as slow as possible is your best ally, odd as it may seem. For the first turn, turn Ryu into the Weyr (or Wyvern). Glebe will summon two allies. Now put Cray in the first position to be as slow as possible (I hope Cray does NOT have Rwolf as master yet), Put Ursula as second and Ryu as 3rd. Let Cray use "Rock Blast" all the time, Ursula should cast "FireBlast" every turn and Ryu must go crazy with "Gigaflame"... It doesn't matter if it gets comboed. If Cray runs out of AP, just let him guard. Keep on doing this and you'll only receive damage once in this entire fight. Boss 19: Kahbo Difficulty: Easy Party: Fou-Lu 65 Location: Imperial Castle EXP: 20000 Cash: Nothing. But Fou-Lu doesn't need it anyway Items: Super Vitamin, Wisdom Fruit This guy looks familiar. Think, think think... Ah yes, now I remember, this is another version of Kham, the Fou-Lu's first boss and also the first boss in the game. Does defeating him work the same way. Yep. You can pick any dragon form you want. I picked Behemoth (don't ask why) which is available if Ryu has found the Behemoth Crystal (located in the tidal path after Pabpab in the second area on on an opening on an island). Which dragon you choose is not really important as long as you keep on using breath attacks. Oh one warning the next boss will be right after this one. Boss 20: Kamyu Difficulty: Easy Party: Fou-Lu 65 Location: Imperial Castle EXP: ? Cash: Not even one single zenny Items: Wisdom Fruit, Ambrosia This one looks even more familiar. AH!!! Fou-Lu's second boss looked exactly like this one. Pick a dragon at random (I used Peist (Upgraded version of the serpent)) and keep on using breath attacks. He'll be killed soon. One remark. Before using the teleporter after this boss, near here is a room where Fou-Lu can rest and save. Use it, because his work is not over yet. Boss 21: Diviner, Evoker & 2 Elite Troops Difficulty: Easy Party: Fou-Lu 66 Location: Imperial Castle EXP: Whoops, forgot to note it. Oh well. Doesn't matter. For Fou-Lu this is the final battle. You won't fight ANY more battles with him again Cash: ? Items: ? Okay, this is the last fight were you can control the almighty Fou-Lu. Basically the computer will explain how to defeat these guys, but I'll say it here once again. All these guys are invulnerable to everything because of a special barrier. The only way to break the barrier is to use dragon breath attacks. No problem for Fou-Lu. Turn into a random dragon. Astral will work, but if you want to use the Tyrant. No problem. Use the breath attack of the chosen dragon and very soon this battle will be over. After this battle Fou-Lu will see the current Empiror and after that the switch back to Ryu's party and we'll stick with them for the rest of the game. Boss 22: Won-qu Difficulty: Very very very hard Party: Ryu 27, Nina 28, Ershin 26, Cray 25, Scias 25, Ursula 27 Location: Tomb EXP: 30000 Cash: Godlike creatures don't need material things like cash Items: Moon Tears, Cupid's Lyre The last easy boss battle is definatly fougt now. From now on most of the bosses are very hard. Same goes for Won-qu. His standard opening is mostly "Frost Breath" which is a rather powerfull attack. He has also "Blizzard", "Sleep", "Sactuary" and "Stone Pillar". As you may have guessed, this beast is extremly vulnerable to fire attacks. So why not turning Ryu into the Wyvern/Weyr for example. Gigaflame will hurt him bad when you are at high HP and when the dragon form gets hurt too bad you should continue with "Hwajeh". If you can let this go in combo with Ursula's "Fireblast" (or when you're high in level "Inferno", it'll be counted twice). Haven't tried to combine this this wind, maybe it can do nice things. I advise to keep Scias and Nina in the back row as much as possible. Why? Because when you loose them the fight is practically lost. So I advise only to put one of them in the front in order to heal. If you want to use assist magic I advise only group spells like "Shield" or "War Shout". One target spells cost too many turns to cast and Won-qu can dispell everything in one turn, so keep assist magic in as less turns as possible. But I did find out that War Shout (as cute as it looks and sounds) does powerup everybody very nicely :) Boss 23: I and II Difficulty: Very very hard Party: Ryu 28, Nina 29, Ershin 28, Cray 28, Scias 27, Ursula 29 Location: Tomb EXP: 50,000 Cash: Why no cash on the bosses. GRRR! Items: Wisdom Fruit, Harmonic Ring, Vitamins Preparations: I advise to take an inn-rest before entering the tomb after defeating Won-qu (the previous boss) and save your AP in this dungeon as much as possible. These two dices are going to give you a very hard time. The right one (I) is very very fast, nearly invulnerable to normal attacks, the left one (II) is very slow and almost invulnerable for magic. How to deal with these things. Personally I turn Ryu into the Weyr and use "Gigaflame" when he has much HP and I prefer to use "Hwajeh" on the right one when he's nearly out of his HP. Going for Combos won't make sense most of the time since these things block them with their "Stasis" move. The move you really need to watch out of is revolution. That move will hurt you so bad that you thank pray the Lord for every time at least one party member survives it. Strangely enough when the right one casts it, it will heal Ryu when he is in Weyr form. Keeping your HP up is really important. That's why you must protect Nina at all costs and place her in the back every time no healing is required, because when Nina passes away you're in BIG trouble, and mostly Scias doesn't have the spells to take it over from her so Nina must be kept alive at all costs. As for attacking the best way to get the right one are Breath attacks (when you're high in HP) and spells like "Inferno" or "Hwajeh". The left one seems only vulnerable for normal attacks and Breath attacks. Nice thing to do is "War Shout" (can be learned from master Njomo) which is available when you got three fairies on "Troops". Oh don't worry about Won-qu who will appear again when you defeated these things. He'll recognize now as the other half of Fou-Lu so he won't attacks *** CHAPTER IV - THAT WHICH PASSES *** Boss 24: A-tur Difficulty: Very EXTREEEEEEEEMLY hard Party: Ryu 31, Nina 32, Ershin 30, Cray 30, Scias 30, Ursula 31 Location: Chedo, the Capital of the Fou Empire EXP: 50,000 Cash: Cash? What the hell is that? Items: ? And you thought that Won-qu is terrible. This guy is worse. For example, don't leave Ryu out of his dragon form for one single turn or he'll be dead!!! Guaranteed, no other destinies possible. The normal attacks of this beast are in most cases instant kill (so strong are they) even on Cray. His frost breath attacks are very extremly strong and there's no chance that Ryu will survive them in human form. Letting Cray cast "Shield" should make your party able to survive his normal attacks, but be aware of the fact that A-tur can dispell those spells. The quickest way to kill this guy is to make combos with "Inferno" and "Hwajeh". In that order (Hwajeh can be cast from Weyr and Kaiser form. The last one of course only if you can control the Kaiser, which can be done when you got all evocations). Good luck, and have patience, the first time you play this game it's possible you have to do this guy at least 5 times (I had to) before you get him. Boss 25: Dragonne Difficulty: Hard Party: Ryu 33, Nina 33, Ershin 32, Crat 32, Scias 32, Ursula 33 Location: Imperial Castle EXP: 60,000 Cash: 3,000 zenny Items: Belladonna, Moon Tears This is a hard one, but a lot easier than A-Tur. The big problem of this fellow is his extreemly high regeneration. There's no chance to do so much damage to top his regeneration so don't try it. How to break the regeneration. Turn Ryu into a dragon. Doesn't really matter which one (I think). I mostly use the Weyr. Use the breath attack of the chosen dragon and after a few turns the regeneration won't work any more. Until that time it may be best to let everybody else guard, since they can't really damage him until he loses his regeneration. Keep Nina in the back as much as possible unless she needs to heal. By now Scias should have "Vitalize" too so, he can take it over if Nina is unavailable or when it's too risky to use her. Things you need to watch out for are 1 - Mjollnir, which can damage all party members very bad 2 - Howling, which can confuse you all. Can be prevented with a "balance ring". Not really recommended, since you need you helmets or shields or whatever pretty badly to keep you defense up. 3 - Wither, Multiple death attack *** BEFORE PROCEEDING WITH FOU-LU *** Before proceeding with Fou-Lu, I will do a nice master recommendation. Following my recommendation will make you live a little longer, especially when you got low levels. Put Ershin, Cray and Scias under master Kahn. His willpower will make you able to stand up when slain and that will can save you a lot of AP, because "Resurrect" is a very expensive ability. Why not Nina? Because she needs to be quick. "Haste" is the best will to get more guarantees. Rwolf is the best choice for her. On Ryu, I suggest or Kahn or Rwolf. Up to you. I prefer Rwolf. On Ursula, Kahn won't make sense, because Ursula has the same will on her own and won't need Kahn to stand up. I suggest Rwolf, because "Haste" is your friend here. Boss 26: Fou-Lu Difficulty: Easy, but watch out!! Party: Ryu 36 Location: Imperial Castle EXP: - Cash: - Items: - Preperations: Have Ryu at full HP Fou-Lu will attack only for a first few turns, and after his attacks he'll say something. Keep on guarding until Fou-Lu says: "Should ye fall, who shalt protect the ones behind ye" , or something like that. From that moment make sure Ryu has as much HP as possible, because Fou-Lu can now come "Whiteout" which will hurt you very bad after that move Fou-Lu will break off the fight. Alternative: Nina, Cray, Scias, Ursula and Ershin Difficulty: Too easy, but it's nice it's in there Party: Infini Location: Imperial Castle EXP: - Cash: - Item: - Fou-Lu will ask many question you can answer with "Maybe so" or "I don't know". It doesn't matter what you answer, but in the end Fou-Lu will give Ryu the choise to join with him. "I don't know" or "You're wrong" If you say "I don't know" Ryu will join with Fou-Lu turno into Infini and you will have to kill your party members. If you say "You're wrong" then you'll get Boss 27 immediatly. This fight is acctually too easy. Especially since you can use "Soul Rend" which reduces all enemies' HP it 1. That is the easiest way to win this fight, to use "Soul Rend" and to continue with "Dark Wave" or something. Boss 27: Tyrant Difficulty: Bloody hard!!! Party: Ryu 36, Nina 36(!), Ershin 35, Cray 35, Scias 35, Ursula 36 EXP: - Cash: - Items: Ambrosia Preperations: Take as many "Vitamins" (not "Vitamin") and very much "Wisdom Seed" and "Wisdom Fruit". As much as you can bring. Not to mention that it's advisable to have all party members at full HP and full AP. Strongly recommended to let Nina be at least level 36 so she can cast "Ressurrect". Having the "Tree Dragon" evocation could help you to get through the start. And my master recommendation (noted above boss "Fou-Lu" (26) P.S. Item shops at the Faeries might sell "Vitamins" and "Wisdom Seed" This one of the most awfull bosses of the game. The worst of this all is that the next boss coming right after him. His power AND his weakness is the move "Dark Wave". Sounds strange, but it's true. The damage of this move is related on the Tyrant's HP. Bad thing is, mostly it's his standard opening, which will cause you a lot of trouble. Since I mostly have Ryu under master Rwolf the chance is high that the "Haste" will, will make him faster than the Tyrant, and I cast "Holy Circle" to let my allies at least survive this round, since this will be the most damage you'll ever get in this fight. For the rest it seems that fire hurts him bad, but that's no wonder since Fou-Lu is a master of ice. The problem is really to stay alive, as damaging him, because this guy has extreemly much HP. Using assist magic is pretty useless since this guy will cast "Sanctuary" very much. If you were to use assist magic then you should use spells that affect the whole front row or else it simply won't make sense. About dragon forms. Having all the forms is recommended since you'll run out of them very soon. But it can help you at dealing more damage. Nina should act as a healer, but be warned. Nina is easily killed. Plus, since this guy has extreemly much HP she'll run out of AP soon. Of course Scias can take it over but he'll be out of his AP soon, as well. That's why back up with "Wisdom Seed" and "Vitamins" is of extreme importance. About the "Ambrosia", save it until nearly all dragons are out of HP since the Ambrosia heal all forms PLUS Ambrosias are extremly rare. When Nina and Scias are not required for healing then for God's sake put them in the back to protect them and to let them regain AP. One good thing is, that in the end he'll use "Dark Wave" very much but since his HP will be reduced more and more that move will be weaker and weaker and in the end it will hardly hurt you. Boss 28: Astral Difficulty: Very hard. Depends too on how well you did against Tyrant Party: Ryu 36, Nina 36(!), Ershin 35, Cray 35, Scias 35, Ursula 36 EXP: - Cash: - Items: - Preparations: Same as Tyrant and I hope you got a lot of stuff left from that fight. Oh my god, if you thought that you had beaten the final boss you are wrong. This stupid fellow will also show up. Bad Fou-Lu!! (or Bad CapCom)!! Anyway, the first move of this fellow is mostly "Soul Rend" which will reduce all front rank party members to 1 HP. The bad thing is that this mvoe never misses. On top of that he can play with statusses, do normal attacks and has pretty nasty spells that hurt all party members very bad. A lot of healing will be required on this. If you want to use dragons, than don't do it the first turn (because of "Soul Rend") but wait for the second turn. Combos with "Hwajeh" and "Inferno" seem to hurt him really bad (Astral is an ice dragon so that's not really a surprise). The biggest question on this one is, if you have saved enough stuff from the previous battle. If that's so, you may be able to defeat Astral. If not, then the game is gonna be over :( *** OPTIONAL BOSSES *** Optional Boss 01: Angler Difficulty: Was he supposed to be hard? Party: Ryu 27, Nina 27, Ershin 26, Cray 25, Scias 25, Ursula 27 Location: North Chamba Experience: 12000 Cash: 1300 How to meet him: After completing Chamba you can come back here and you'll see a man, who'll warn you not to go back in the city. Enter the city and you may meet the Angler Reward: Now you can use North-Chamba as a fishing spot to catch fishes out of the hex mist. Not much of a reward since the fishing game of BOF4 sucks. Is this guy supposed to be hard. Or did I just come in with an extreemly high level. Tell me what you want, but this fight is EEEEEAAAASY!!! And that for an optional boss. He may have heavy attacks and with his "Curse" you HP can maybe get halved. But he's sooo awfully slow that Nina can heal everything easily. He also has pretty little HP so he'll be gone before you know it. Totally no problemo!!! *** NOTE ON SPECIAL ENEMIES *** Special enemy 1: Rider Difficulty: Hardest fight in the game Party: Tsogtoo recommends level 45+ Location: Mukto Experience: ? Cash: ? Reward: I know you can get a "Dragon Tear" in his area. If you can get some rewards from the monster itself is unknown. Here is what Tsogtoo said about fighting the Rider: The Rider is a very difficult enemy. It has very powerful attacks. Rider has approximately 38,600 HP. He has a skilled called "Cleave": This skill is very powerful. It does a non-elemental attack against the Front Row. (You can learn this skill). "Primus": It's kind of like a Breath Attack. "Disaster": This attack does a level three earth and water magic! "Ragnorok": This also does a level 3 earth and fire magic. Rider gives you total of 10,000 experience points and zenny. You can also steal a King's ArmorWin and a Cursed Sword from him. Be warned that Rider recovers 20,000 HP after each and every round. Party: Ruy, Cray and Scias. Level: 45 Ruy - Equipment: Weapon: Royal Sword (Steal it from Astral) [Astral - HP: 65,000, Attacks: "Soul Rend" - Bring front rows HP down to 1. "Power Flux" - Non-elemental damage to front row. "Malefication" - Blind and Poison on front row. "Earthbreaker" - Fire + Wind damage to front row. "Catastophe" - Water + Earth damage to front row, and poison. "Lucky Strike" - Physical attack. "Sanctuary" - All support magic is nullified. - Steal the Royal Sword from him. - Watch out for the Soul Rend attack, as it will take the entire front row down to 1 HP. Anyway get the Royal Sword from this guy!] Armor: Royal Armor (Steal it from Tyrant) [Tyrant HP: 62,000, Attacks: "Dark Wave" - Tyrant Breath attack. "Malefication" - Blind and Poison on front row. "Lvl 3 dragon magic" - Pah Bing'ah, Patoh Pah, Ahryu P'ung. "Sanctuary" - All support magic is nullified. - Steal Royal Armor from it.] Misc: Medallion (Buy the Medallion from Rey/Teepo's shop in abandoned village, The abandoned village is in Dragon Tear) Skills: - Kaiser (controllable) - Shadowwalk (You can learn this skill from Master Bunyan!) [Bunyan: Location: You can get to his hut by taking the side exit on the cliff (? on map) it's south of Kwanso. You must have all other masters to join as apprentice. Bonus: HP -16, AP -3, Pwr +1, Def +1, Agl +1, Wis +1 You will get abilities based on how much damage you will do in one attack. 3000 Backhand 5000 Counter 8000 Shadowwalk 12000 Final Hope] - Snooze (You can learn this skill from Tadpole and Mad Pup) Cray -Equipment: Weapon: Flail (You can get Flail from the Shyde Manillo) Armor: Mist Armor ( You can buy Mist Armor at Chedo) Misc: Medllaion and Shaman's Ring (You can buy the Shaman's Ring at the faerie village) Skills: - Shield - Super Combo (You can learn this skill from Master Una) [Una: Location: You can find Una at Worent. Una is upstairs in the Chief's hut. To join as an apprentice you must have beaten Kahn in Worent and apologized to her. Bonus: HP +12, AP -2, Pwr +2, Def +1, Wis -1 You will get abilities on how much damage you can do in a single combo chain. 1500 Pilfer 3000 Super Combo 10000 Blitz] - Coward's Way [optional] (You can learn this skill from Master Stoll) [Stoll: Location: You can find his hideout next to Synesta. To join as an apprentice you must give him all the money you have. Bonus: Agl +1. You will get abilities based on how many different items you have in your inventory. 80 - Steal 120 - Coward's Way] Scias - Equipment: Weapon: Render (Get 99 cards from Manillo shop) Armor: Mist Armor (You can buy Mist Armor at Chedo) Misc: Medallion and Shaman's Ring Skills: - Shining Blade - War Shout (You can learn this skill from Master Njomo) [Njomo: Location: Go north from Ahm Fen, you will find ? spot slightly before the curve in the road. To join as an apprentice you must have actively participated in the Faerie side-game. Bonus: HP -8, AP +1, Agl +2 You will get abilities based on how many faeries are at the faerie village. 8 Faeries - FaerieAttack 12 Faeries - FaerieBreath 16 Faeries - War Shout 20 Faeries - FaerieCharge] - Rest (You can learn this skill from Eye Goo and Yaen) First Round: Ruy should put on a Dragon Tear and use Snooze. Scias should put on Shaman's Ring and use War Shout, if done right it should combo with Snooze. Cray should also put on Shaman's Ring. After that let Cray use Shield, hope that it will combo with Scias. If Cray doesn't combo with Scias then switch Scias and Cray's postition. Pray that no one gets killed, if they do die, revive them immediately and repeat the process. Second Round: Now let Ryu change into Kaiser (controllable). And repeat the same First Round process for Scias and Cray. If your HP gets too low then use the next round to heal with Nina. Third Round: Make sure everyone has a Medallion equipped. Let Ryu use Shadowwalk and let Scias do a Shining Blade followed by Super Combo by Cray! You should now use Vigor by Nina. Use War Shout by Scias and let Cray use another Shield. You can do this in an reverse order to give Kaiser (Ruy) a bit of extra Str/Def bonus when Nina's Vigor hits him. Fourth Round: Repeat Round 3 procces and you should be able to kill it in a few rounds. Other FAQs by Tricrokra Breath Of Fire III - Walktrough with ULTIMATE playing hints Breath Of Fire III - Where to catch the best fish Breath Of Fire III - Manillo trading shop list Breath Of Fire IV - Combo Guide Grandia - Boss FAQ and recommended moves Granstream Saga - Boss FAQ Wild Arms - Boss FAQ Wild Arms II - Boss FAQ Wild Arms II - Location Guide My guides can be found on: - GameFAQs http://www.gamefaqs.com - NeoSeeker http://www.neoseeker.com - PSX Codez http://www.psxcodez.com - RPG Realms http://www.rpgrealms.com I have a personal FAQ archive on: http://www.geocities.com/tric_faq And if you are interested in a free RPG game you may want to take a look at: http://home.wish.net/~tricrokra (Power Of The Rings)