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. It’s probably a coincidence. But…but, if they do turn out to be the same person, then Bosch’s innocence is as good as proven. Damn, there’s too much misinformation flying around – I don’t 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 everyone’s talking about…



: Tickets are sold out, pal. Didn’t you hear? If you’re 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 I’ll get this guy to give up his place in the arena for me, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Music: 06 – We’re Rangers



With Bosch currently out of our party we can’t 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, I’m here in Tagzi Woods. Now I just have to find Bunyan.

Tagzi Woods is the next dungeon in Breath of Fire II. It’s 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 Ryu’s attacks do 24 damage at best. Luckily they don’t have much health and die in two hits, so the first time they decide to not heal up will prove fatal to them.



There’s 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. It’s usually the former, but the latter can be absolutely devastating if it connects.



It’s 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 they’re so weak it makes little difference. If they do anything fancy I’ve yet to see it since they die so quickly. They apparently ruin your shit with a massive attack if you don't kill them fast enough.



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, it’s your funeral!

--



Music: 10 – I’ll 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 Ryu’s 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 Capcom’s original script, Bunyan was called ‘Baba’. The patch’s 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 I’m 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. That’s me alright. Bunyan.

: Huh. You don’t look a thing like I was expecting…I have to say, I’m 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, Ryu’s name is temporarily changed to Bunyan, even in the status screen.

: Well, guess it’s 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…doesn’t look like an interview room. Um, excuse me, is this-



Music: Hide and Seek





Anyway...

A battle against the HR Director follows. Honestly, it’s 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 there’s nothing special about this fight.



: O…kay…My day just keeps getting weirder and weirder.



: Oh, I do hope he’s not another fruitcake. I’ve met enough of those today already.