Breath of Fire Part #35 - Chapter Thirty Five: Sleep Is Death

Part 35: Chapter Thirty Five: Sleep Is Death

: Dragon’s blood, my head hurts…where are we?

: We have been drawn into Mote’s dream world. He set a trap for us, and we fell for it completely.

: This place…it feels so sad and empty. A sad, ruined town…

: Hmm. I can feel the SkyKey’s guardian nearby. It seems he was also defeated by Mote. Follow me.

:…Is what I’d like to say, but unfortunately I seem to have failed. Mote was too powerful for me – I was drawn into his dreams in an instant.

: Don’t blame yourself. We suffered the same fate. I don’t suppose you know of a way to escape this place?

: I see…that’s unfortunate.

:…There is one thing. The house to the east is the home of the man who has been here the longest. Perhaps he can help you.

: Thank you, spirit.

: Um…hello. We heard that you had been here the longest, and…

: Ah, new arrivals I see. And I suppose the first thing you’re about to ask me is, how can you get out of here? Well, the answer is simple.

: I see. So it’s like with Mothro.

: Huh? ‘Mothro’? Well, whatever…The only problem is nobody knows where Mote is, and even if we did there’s nobody here strong enough to challenge him. Only one being can find Mote.

: I see. And where is Mote’s Conscience?

: Who knows? I suggest you take a look around in the wasteland outside town.

:…That seems to be our only option at this point.

:…Hmm. I see a tower to the north of us, but it looks like we cannot reach in from here.

The World Map inside Mote’s dream is actually rather pleasant since it has no random encounters. It’s just one long trek around and over some cliffs until the party reaches a cave.

: Maybe the cave leads into the tower?

: It’s not like there’s anywhere else to go. Let’s have a look inside.

This place has a mixture of the same enemies we’ve previously encountered in Mogu’s dream.

: Wait up, fearless leader. Don’t touch that chest – it’s trapped.

: Okay. What about the others?

: They’re all fine. This one, though…I reckon it’ll lock us in here if we try to open it.

The chest contains an L.Potion that raises Luck, but it also bars the exit and forces the party to drop down the hole. Doing so means a long trek back around to the entrance, and the random encounter rate in here is annoyingly high. The other chests contain an outdated Trident for Gobi, a JadeBW for Bo and a Cure.

Nina levels up after a random battle and learns RenewX, a spell that revives a character with full HP. Enemies packing Shock spells suddenly look a bit less dangerous.

These chests contain a CursedHT, FaceMask and a Smoke (Consumable item that allows flawless escape from random battles). The FaceMask is inferior to all our other gear, and the CursedHT provides good defense but is prohibitively heavy.

: I can see someone up ahead. Be careful, everyone.

: Mote!

: Prepare yourself, fiend!

: Please wait! Though I may look like him, I am not Mote.

: Mote’s Conscience? So you know where Mote is!

: I do. He is just beyond this point – let me open a path for you.

: Mote cast me away when he joined the Dark Dragons, but he could never truly destroy me. As long as I exist he is vulnerable.

: Alright. Let’s go, everyone.

This is a nice little sanctuary area with two healing springs and a save point disguised as a pot. The exit is to the north and leads into the next area.

: Who thought it’d be a good idea to build a glass bridge over an endless abyss?

This area has a pretty cool battle background. The enemies here are a mish-mash of every random encounter from the Lab onwards. Unfortunately it’s also home to the worst puzzle in the entire game.

See the glowing panel with the + sign on it? Stepping on it causes the entire room to rotate.

…Welcome to the worst puzzle in the entire Breath of Fire series.

There are no landmarks in this room, and every narrow section of bridge looks exactly the same. You have to keep a mental map of the room in your head at all times, and if you fuck up your orientation even once you can easily end up backtracking without even knowing it. Like Highfort from the second game, I suspect that this part probably killed many playthroughs for people in the past.

Random encounters are common in here and are aggravating even though they aren’t too dangerous. There are no treasure chests in this room so exploration is pointless. As if that wasn’t bad enough, some of the bridges lead to dead ends. In short, fuck this room.

For the record, the correct pathway is north to the first switch, west to the next switch, south and around a bend until you reach a crossroads with another switch, north to the next switch, east to the next switch, north to the next switch, south to the next switch, south to the next switch and east to the exit. Yes, it is that complicated, and a screw-up at any point means you won’t have any idea where you are and you’ll have to spend a vast amount of time wandering around until you stumble across the exit or get a game over due to attrition via random battles.

Now that the horror is over with, it’s time to climb the tower. Oh, but wait! There’s a new enemy who wants to say hi!

BlazeX. BlazeX is just like an ordinary Blaze except more. It loves to spam top-tier explosive magic that does around 70 damage to everyone. Unfortunately BlazeX is also incredibly tough, possessing something like 2500 HP and high defense against physical damage. Oh, and it also resists ice magic, meaning BoltX is the only way to deal reliable magic damage.

: There are two staircases. Which one do we climb?

: I can feel a breeze coming from the right-hand stair. I recommend we go that way.

The glowing panels damage anyone who steps on them.

Unfortunately it’s impossible to avoid being damaged here.

: It’s a dead end. Looks like we’ll have to turn back.

: Wait a sec, fearless leader! Let me examine this place a little bit. There’s something funny about the floor paneling over there…

: Aha! Looks like it’s not a dead end after all!

Falling down the hole puts the party right where they need to be.

This room is full of hidden pitfalls, so putting Karn or his fusions in the lead is a must.

: Which way now, Bo?

: Hmm…The bottom right one is drafty when all the others are still.

The bottom right stair is the correct choice – all the others lead back to the beginning of the tower.

: Mote!

: Your reign of terror ends now!

: Hee hee hee…is that right? I am rather angry, I must say!

The next boss battle is…Mote…? Huh. Actually, you can’t damage the mess of squares and pixels, and the battle ends after you attack him four times.

: It’s just like when we fought Mothro! We can’t hit him!

: Hold it!

: Huh?

: We must both be destroyed.

And with that, the battle begins again. Mote’s battle has a special gimmick – the more physical damage is dealt to him, the sharper his outline becomes until his true form is revealed. On the downside, his magic resistance goes through the roof. Conversely, magical attacks will re-blur his outline. Once his true form is fully uncovered Mote switches around and becomes resistant to physical attacks whilst gaining a weakness to magic.

Once Mote’s HP gets low he begins to cast high level fire magic. Transforming Ryu is pointless if you’re going for physical damage, and having Puka on the team is a great asset due to his colossal attack rating.

(Video – Mote)

Mote flickers and vanishes into nothingness.

: Isn’t there any way we can help you?

: You have already helped me more than enough. It is time for Mote’s entire being to vanish and release the sleepers from their eternal dream. Farewell…and thank you.