Part 8: Chapter Seven: Forest Hunter
Music: 02 My Home Sweet Home: This place certainly is more lively at night. Okay, time to start asking around.
: Excuse me, I was wonderi-
: I see. Good to know.
: Hmm. A woman steals a valuable item one morning, and the next day a female fighter shows up unannounced at the coliseum? No, that train of logic has too many holes. Its probably a coincidence. But but, if they do turn out to be the same person, then Boschs innocence is as good as proven. Damn, theres too much misinformation flying around I dont even know what this mystery woman looks like.
: He works at the coliseum, huh
: Excuse me sir, I heard that you work at the coliseum. I was wondering if it would be possible to see the new female fighter everyones talking about
: Tickets are sold out, pal. Didnt you hear? If youre that crazy about seeing her perform, you could always enter the Battle Show yourself I guess
: I see. And where does this Bunyan live?
: Tagzi Woods, to the north. Keeps himself to himself, mainly.
: Oh yeah, like that guy earlier said. Thanks anyway.
: Tagzi Woods, here I come. No idea how Ill get this guy to give up his place in the arena for me, but Ill cross that bridge when I come to it.
Music: 06 Were Rangers
With Bosch currently out of our party we cant do anything with the hunting grounds. The signpost simply says that Colossea is to the south and Tagzi Woods is to the north, which we already know.
Music: 04 Dungeon
: Well, Im here in Tagzi Woods. Now I just have to find Bunyan.
Tagzi Woods is the next dungeon in Breath of Fire II. Its a twisting maze of narrow forest paths with plenty of dead ends and treasures to be found. It also has some new enemies who want to tear out our throats.
Annoyed at being thrashed by Ryu, Parreaux has sent word out to her numerous cousins to attack any blue-haired young men on sight. Harpies are very annoying because they can cast heal on themselves to restore 40 HP when Ryus attacks do 24 damage at best. Luckily they dont have much health and die in two hits, so the first time they decide to not heal up will prove fatal to them.
Theres also heavily clawed Bugbears to contend with. These guys have the same gimmick as the Corpse enemies from Mt. Futabi every hit is either a miss or a critical hit. Its usually the former, but the latter can be absolutely devastating if it connects.
Its worth exploring a bit in here to find all the treasures. Note the mushrooms unlike in the first Breath of Fire, Ryu cannot eat them to restore HP.
Deeper into the forest we begin running into Trents. Trents like to defend, but theyre so weak it makes little difference.
We can see Bunyan over there behind the trees, but we have no way of reaching him just yet.
Loot is always good, but this and one more Healing Herb are all we can grab for the time being.
To get more, and to reach Bunyan, we have to take a cable car over to the other side of the forest.
: A strange contraption did Bunyan set all of this up himself? I get the feeling he might be a little eccentric
This small area contains a Coin, which is a bait item used in the fishing minigame.
Another cable car brings us to the place where we can finally fight Bunyan. Aside from that there are also treasure chests containing a Smoke Bomb (Less enemy encounters) and 100 zenny.
: Mr. Bunyan, I presume? I would like to talk to you about the possibility of taking your place in the upcoming coliseum battle.
: What?! Ugh, fine, its your funeral!
--
Music: 10 Ill Do It
Suddenly we are attacked by a crazed hillbilly. Though this may sound like something more at home in an Earthbound game, Bunyan turns out to be no joke at all. He has a very high counterattack rate and hits for anywhere between 7 15 damage depending on Ryus level. He has a relatively high amount of HP and the player is going to need to heal at least once. In the end, though, Ryu is faster than Bunyan and able to keep himself healed to such a degree that his opponent is eventually defeated.
In Capcoms original script, Bunyan was called Baba. The patchs rename is one of the name-changes that was lifted from Breath of Fire III, which had a similar character who also lived in a wooded area.
--
: How about it, then? Up for switching places now?
: O kay. I mean, we look so similar already, right? Well, whatever.
: Back to Colossea now, I guess. I have the strangest feeling all this is a waste of time and Im barking up the wrong tree, but I have to admit the prospect of fighting in the arena appeals to me for some reason.
: Yeah yeah, sure. Thats me alright. Bunyan.
: Huh. You dont look a thing like I was expecting I have to say, Im a little disappointed. With your rep, I was expecting a genuine mad dog!
: Excuse me?
: Well, whatever. You two have fun or mayhem or whatever makes you happy in there.
: Sure.
After the conversation with Rand, Ryus name is temporarily changed to Bunyan, even in the status screen.
: Well, guess its time to head to the arena.
Music: 08 Coliseum
: Attention, participants! Please enter through the door on the right!
: Interview, huh? I hope my interpersonal skills are up for this.
: This doesnt look like an interview room. Um, excuse me, is this-
Music: Hide and Seek
Anyway...
A battle against the HR Director follows. Honestly, its not worth being labeled as a boss fight since you can win by simply turning on autobattle. Every time he attacks he quips Tell me about yourself!, but aside from that theres nothing special about this fight.
: O kay My day just keeps getting weirder and weirder.
: Oh, I do hope hes not another fruitcake. Ive met enough of those today already.