Part 62: Chapter Forty Six: Fractured Soul
Music: 27 – Breath of Fire000.png)
At long last we begin begin the final leg of the questline to uncover the reasons behind the death of Gate’s forests. Aspara is required for this part, so I picked out Bosch and Nina to round out the party. Due to some off-screen grinding Bosch has learned Shield, which raises the entire party’s defence, Aspara has learned Rejuvenate and Nina has learned Kyrie, a Holy spell that deals high damage to undead foes but has zero attack power against anything else.
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Music: 04 – Dungeon
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: Elder Tree! We have returned with the item you requested.
: Sure hope he hasn’t forgotten he sent us to get it. That’d just be awkward.003.png)
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: Of course, Elder Tree. Please allow us to rid you of the contagion within your mind and soul.005.png)
: First we go frolicking around inside someone’s body, and now we’re about to go poke about in a tree’s soul?
: We are the best personal space invaders.006.png)
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Music: 16 – Sleeping Beauty
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The party emerges onto a mini world map, similar to the one found in Mogu and Mote’s dreams in the original Breath of Fire. It even has a handful of towns that can be visited. Naturally there are also random encounters to be found, although most monsters here are ones we’ve already seen before. I’ve encountered Mimics, Deathbringers, Champion Slimes, Gunheads, Shotgunheads, Sniperheads, Green Goos and Stone Faces.
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Rapid Hunters are the only new enemy. Their regular attacks are weak but they like to spam Fire Breath at the party. They’re also fast so the damage will quickly add up if you don’t take them seriously.
Whilst I’m poking around to see what sorts of enemies there are in this place Nina levels up and learns Death. Death is a very useful spell in this game since not a lot of enemies have a great deal of resistance to it, and some of the enemies on Giant Island are actually weak against it.
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: Are we really inside the great tree’s memory? It’s…far smaller than I’d have imagined.: And look at that black swirly stuff beyond the landmass. That can’t be good.:…It is as you both say. Something is terribly wrong here. For now, we should investigate this town and see if anyone there can help us.011.png)
This town is pretty small. It has an Inn that we can’t rest in, though we can use the Dragon Statue to change party members.
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The shop sells both weapons and items, but the item seller can’t articulate himself properly and therefore cannot sell you anything. The weapon seller on the other hand has no such restriction.
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He sells a mixture of good and bad gear. I wind up buying a Double Whip for Aspara and a set of Silver Armour and a Shine Shield for Bosch.
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:…Hey…has anyone else noticed that this town is full of nothing but old men? Where are the chicks, man?: That’s…actually a really good question. Trust you to figure something important out completely by accident.: You’re damn right it’s important. Who’d want to live in a town full of crusty old dudes…016.png)
: What next, Aspara? Do you have any good ideas?: Yes. We should make inquiries. Question the folk living here. Perhaps one will know something of importance.017.png)
: Oh! How irritating! I sheem – ahem, seem to be having difficulty holding back this infernal speech impediment…The goal of this next segment is to talk to everyone in the town – that is, every single person here. It’s not too hard since only around half a dozen people live here.
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: I see. So the root of this sickness is another demon. It has invaded the Tower of Memories and has begun to erode the Elder Tree’s thoughts and knowledge.: Another demon…now we know for sure that they are being co-ordinated. Why else would one appear like this just when we needed the Elder Tree’s knowledge? It cannot be coincidence.: Agreed, but we can’t afford to dwell on that now. Our main priority must be to expel this demon and restore the tree’s memory.: Guess we should get scouting for that tower, then.022.png)
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: I spy another town over there.: Let us examine this one as well, then.024.png)
: It’s like the last town, except it’s full of young men.This town’s Inn is open, and you can rest there for free at least. The objective here is the same as before – talk to everyone.
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Aside from this guy, the people in this town have some extremely interesting things to say.
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: They were feared and respected for their awesome power. It is said they had enough strength to lay the world to waste…028.png)
: No one knows why, or where they went.Here we see Ryusui cribbing from Breath of Fire III again. The name ‘Dragonbrood’ is what the Dragon Clan was called in that game.
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: When I was but a young Grassman, I once had the opportunity to speak with the Dragonbrood. 030.png)
: I cannot even speculate on what they might have meant by that…But the fact remains that shortly thereafter, the Dragonbrood vanished without a trace…031.png)
: The demons seek out the weaknesses in mortal souls and exploit them. 032.png)
: The end result is a mere shell of a person, completely subservient to the demon’s will. 033.png)
: But whatever form they may take, I am sure that one of them is behind my sudden senility. You must defeat it!034.png)
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:…But as the Dragonbrood have not been seen in centuries, it seems the prophecy can never come to pass. A pity, actually…036.png)
:…We certainly learned a lot here. Ryu, you are Dragonbrood. What do you know of this prophecy?: Nothing. I didn’t even know I was part of the Dragon race until recently. I haven’t really thought about it much – I mean, the extra power is convenient but the implications are pretty staggering. I’m afraid I don’t have any idea about my race or this prophecy thing.: I see. I suppose it doesn’t matter. We have larger problems to contend with right now.037.png)
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: Another town. That makes three – and by process of elimination must be the town of the Elder Tree’s childhood.039.png)
: That would appear to be the case.Before anything else the player should visit the Inn here.
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Lurking inside is this old man.
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Holy punctuation, Batman.
This old man is called Burroughs and he happens to be another new Township tenant. It is tremendously recommended to recruit him immediately, primarily because he can teach your spellcasters some extremely powerful magic. Oh, and if you fail to recruit him before completing this part of the game he will be lost forever.
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Burroughs will then use his ultimate cosmic powers to teleport himself to Township and await our return. After that’s done, it’s time to talk to everyone again.
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The shop is a little different this time. The child on the right will offer to transport you back to the real world, whereas the child on the left will sell you items.
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Along with his more normal wares the item man also sells elemental attack items. They’re more of a novelty than anything else though.
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: But we visited three…: And there’s no sign of the Tower of Memories anywhere either. Do you think perhaps…: One of the towns isn’t actually a town? Yeah, the thought had crossed my mind.052.png)
Music: 04 – Dungeon
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: Hmm. The plot thickens…