______________ BREATH OF FIRE _ ______ _ | | | | | | | | \ \ / / \ \ / / \ \/ / _____\ /_____ DRAGON QUARTER ______________ -------------- Dragon Handbook & Scenario Overlay Guide -------------- That's still all the ANSI graphics you get. Sorry. -------------- Latest version: January 27, 2005 Version 0.1 (2/22/3): Started this thing. Version 1.0 (2/28/3): First release! Version 1.1 (3/7/3): Fixed mistakes about the D-Ratio. Added section on the Dragons' names. Version 1.5 (8/12/3): Added long-overdue corrections througout. Thanks, Falcron! Version 1.51 (1/27/5): Just changed the e-mail address, and fixed the formatting. -------------- This information guide is copyright 2003 DarkStorm, currently wrassedragon (at) yahoo (dot) com. Do not publish this commercially without my permission (and I *will* want to be paid for it :). Do not put this FAQ on your website without contacting me first. Basically, read it all you want, save it to your hard drive, and enjoy it forever, but don't publish it or post it to another web page without e-mailing me and asking my permission (and I can't think of a reason I wouldn't give my permission). Simple, neh? Do make sure, however, that you are looking at the most recent version of this guide, which should always be on www.gamefaqs.com and possibly my website (if I'm not too lazy to update it). TABLE OF CONTENTS i. Odjn, the Dragon ii. Scenario Overlay A. The Basics B. Looping and Dragon Runs iii. Miscelleny A. D-counter Summary B. Hidden Dungeon Overview C. Transformation Sequences D. The Dragons' Names ------- The Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter dragon system is a departure from the rest of the series (though, possibly, not quite as radical as BoF2's; at least you still actually transform here). The main difference is that there's only one dragon form... but it's the only form you'll need. Of course, due to that difference, this will probably be the shortest Dragon Handbook I've written, since describing the one dragon form won't take very long. This is designed to be both an introduction to the Dragon system for those who haven't played the game yet (so I'm avoiding storyline spoilers, though game system "spoilers" will abound), as well as a guide to how to make the most of it despite the limitations imposed on it - by abusing the Scenario Overlay system. ------- i. ODJN, THE DRAGON After a certain story event, you'll get a pulsing cube in the upper-right corner. That's the first hint that his powers are starting to unlock, though you get no special abilities yet. Some time after that, you'll see Ryuu glow red during a cut scene, and you'll have to fight a boss. After this battle, you gain the D-Dash power. Use it all you want, since there's no percentage counting up - yet. Also, now the D-Dive option will appear in combat (hold R2 to see it), but it'll be greyed-out and unusuable. When the Dragon powers are fully unlocked (by some smug jerk stabbing Ryuu through the throat and apparently killing him - shades of BoF3), the percentage meter (called the D-counter) appears and the D-Dive command becomes available in combat. (In fact, in that first battle, Ryuu transforms *automatically*, and you can't change him back, so you're probably going to have at least 5% on that D-counter from the start, though it is possible to beat this battle with only 1% if you're careful, and if Nina and Lin can beat all three opponents in one round by themselves) The following two commands are used in human form: D-Dash: Personal action. Press R2 outside of combat. Ryuu will glow red and run very fast. Any enemies in his way will be knocked aside without initiating combat. Boxes he runs into will break as if he'd hit them with his sword. Cost: .01% per step, increasing to .05% per step if held too long. It doesn't seem like much, but it can add up if you overuse it. This adds nothing to the D-counter if you use it before you get the D-counter (i.e., any D-Dashing you did before the counter appears won't be held against you. The D-counter always starts at 0.00%, though you automatically get 1% added to it because of the automatic D-Dive in the first battle). He can also D-Dash while standing still; in this case, he just glows red and the D-counter speeds up. Enemies running into *him* will be knocked away, but otherwise, this is pretty useless. D-Dive (Dragonized Form. Draws out the power of the Wyrm): As the game description says, this transforms you into a dragon. (It's another hybrid, like BoF3's Warrior or BoF4's basic dragon form, but it's a darn cool hybrid, if I may be allowed to express my opinion: Ryuu's claws and wings are literally on fire, and the runes on his face and chest are glowing red, as are his horns). In combat, Hold R1, press Square, press Square again to confirm. (This is where Nina has Erase Magic and Lin has Profile). This adds 1% to the D-counter. After transforming Ryuu gains the following abilities: No boundries on movement. Movement costs no AP. Immunity to status ailments. Immunity to most damage - only other dragons can hurt him! Boosted speed (he tends to go first in subsequent rounds if you leave him in Dragonized form). And, of course, all-new attacks to take advantage of his incredible power level. His level 1, level 2, and level 3 normal attacks have been replaced by three new attacks: Circle: Vortex (Target: Unit. Universal Damage. Base: Attack Power x 2.0. Increases D-counter by 1.0%). This is the "basic" attack. A huge sweeping upward claw strike that does massive damage. Costs 10 AP X: Hurricane (Target: Spread. Universal Damage. Base: Attack Power x 2.0. Increases D-counter by 1.25%). Similar to Vortex, this sweeping claw strike hits a small group of enemies (the Strong Sword and Dragon Blade work best here, since they're the longest swords, and their length carries over to the Dragonized form). Don't use on a single enemy, since it's not any more powerful than Vortex; its only advantage is that it hits multiple enemies. However, that 1.25% cost is actually per enemy; striking two enemies at once costs 2.5%, striking three enemies costs 3.75%, etc. Costs 20 AP. Square: Twister (Target: Unit. Universal Damage. Base: Attack Power x 3.0. Increases D-counter by 1.5%). Despite the description, this seems to do twice the damage of Vortex, since it's *two* claw strikes, and I don't notice any difference in damage in each claw strike compared to Vortex. This attack also knocks the target away. Costs 30 AP. Ryuu can even get critical hits on these attacks, causing them to do even *more* damage (Twister checks for critical hits separately for each of the two attacks). Ryuu's only disadvantage with these attacks is that he can't combo them (though Twister itself counts as a two-hit combo). This is a small drawback when you consider that each of these attacks is equal to about ten of his normal-form attacks. He can generally kill any random enemy until very late in the game with a single Vortex. Also, the normal R2 commands (Item, Equip, and D-Dive) are replaced by even more abilities. These use no AP, though they still add to the D-counter. R2 + Circle: D-Breath (Target: Line. Universal Breath Attack. Increases damage for as long as the O button is held!). Yes, the in-game description includes the exclamation point. This is, basically, a one-hit kill (with unlimited range), but it causes the D-Counter to go up at an incredibly quick rate. The speed that damage increases accellerates as your D-counter rises (and the beam gets wider and brighter to reflect that). D-Charge will boost damage from D-Breath just as it does other attacks. As a side note here: If you use a Gameshark (or other data-altering device) code that keeps the D-counter at 0%, D-Breath will do no damage. (Damage is proportional to the amount the D-Counter is raised, not the other way around). Don't use this for the most part. There's almost nothing in the game that requires this sort of power. R2 + X: D-Charge (Increases attack power for 1 turn (can be overlapped) 1 charge = increase D-counter by 2%). This is a power-up move that increases Ryuu's damage for the rest of the round (or until you Cooldown) by a whole lot, at least doubling it for each use. For some of the tougher bosses, it's more economical on the D-counter to use this twice and then attack, rather than doing a bunch of marginally-effective attacks. This will even affect D-Breath. It can only be used ten times before it starts having no effect, but that's really overkill. R2 + Square: Cooldown (Cancels the Dragonized form). As the description says, this changes Ryuu back to normal. Can be used at any time, even on the same round you transform. The downside? Well, all those percentage points. In addition to the list above, the D-counter goes up .01% for every twenty steps you take out of battle, plus it goes up at the end of every round of battle (.01% if Ryuu is in his normal form, and a whopping 2% if he's in Dragon form). There is no way to lower it, so be careful. Let me repeat that, for emphasis: There is no way to lower it. When the D-counter in the upper-right hits 100%, the screen turns red, the cube shatters, Ryuu collapses, and you get the same Game Over screen that you'd get if the party dies. (You also lose half your Zenny and Party Exp if you SOL: Restore or Restart, just as if you'd died in combat). The idea is actually to use the Dragon as *little* as possible, except as a last-ditch maneuver. (Still, the end fights are some of the easiest in the game, becuase you don't have to save the D-counter anymore. D-Dive + 3 D-Charges + Twister = Death to any bosses, for a mere 8.5% on the D-counter). That doesn't mean you can't abuse it, and the Scenario Overlay (SOL) system. Plus, there's one exception to the 100% = Death rule, but you'll have to find that one for yourself. (Hint: It's an Event Battle). I've summed up what increases the D-counter in section iii.A. below. ii. SOL: Now The Fun Begins, And Repeats Endlessly A. Basics of SOL Since the saving and SOL system seem to give a lot of people a lot of trouble (or just plain worry people who haven't played the game), I'll give an overview of this. To make a "Hard Save", you need a Save Token. (The save points are actually payphone-like devices, with the Save Token as the coin to activate it). This sounds more restrictive than it actually is, for reasons I'll describe later. (You can, in contrast, "soft save" at any time by selecing Quit from the menu; this creates a temporary save file and doesn't require a Save Token. This file is deleted upon continuing from it). When you Give Up (a menu option - hold L2 from the subscreen menu, then hit X), you get two options: SOL: Restore or SOL: Restart. Dying or hitting 100% on the D-counter gives you a third option as well: The End. The End just quits without saving at all. It's the other two that are the interesting ones. When you SOL: Restore, the game is reloaded (and re-saved!) at the last save point, but you keep all the Zenny, Party Exp, Equipment, Skills, and whatever is stored in the Item and Weapon Lockers. The time counter is also not reset. (So if you have 5:00 on the clock when you save, play for an hour, then SOL: Restore, the time played will still read 6:00 on the re-saved game). Finally, the progress of your Faerie Village is also carried over. (The faeries are immune to time loops! Scary). SOL: Restart is the same, but you start at the beginning of the game. All items in your inventory are lost (even items that you had when you made the Hard Save), leaving you with five Heal Kits, one Tonic, and one Save Token. This applies to Giving Up. If you die instead of Give Up, you lose half your Zenny and Party Experience when you Restore or Restart, but otherwise it's the same. The practical upshot of this? You can (and should) do loops to build up your levels and money. This isn't cheating or a glitch; it's how the game was designed. B. SOL Loops: The Key To Financial Security, or How To Go Dragon On Everything And Have The Game Not Notice. The basic idea: 1. Make a hard save, preferably right before an enemy- and/or boss-infested area, and preferably near the girl who identifies and stores equipment. 2. Go through the game. Attack everything. Abuse D-Dive if you want to. It doesn't matter what your percentage is, though try not to die or hit 100%. This is where you can really play with Ryuu's dragon form, to see what it's capable of. The object here, in fact, is to finish fights as quickly as possible to get bonuses to Exp, which are dropped into Party Exp. 3. When you're out of healing and/or your D-counter is getting dangerously high, or when you hit a new town to find someone to identify the stuff that is, no doubt, cluttering up your item list, it's time to end this itiration of the loop. Equip, store, or sell as appropriate. Use whatever Skill items you have to add them to your Skill lists if you haven't already, and sell the extra ones. Do not use stat-boosting items; store them. Buy better weapons and armor if you can afford them (and if the stuff there is actually better). 4. Finally, choose Give Up from the menu, and SOL: Restore. Reload your game, and without moving from the telecorder, apply whatever Party Exp you have. Save your game again immediately using the free Save Token you got from Restoring. 5. Repeat until you're as powerful and/or rich as you want to be. In the tougher areas, you may need to buy a few Aid Kits before setting out, but you should make more money than you spend. Doing this will also give you a good idea where the monsters are hiding and where you have to go, so you can avoid unnecessary fights and getting lost when you finally make the 'real' run-through, and you should be powerful enough to handle the mandatory fights without wasting the D-counter. The best two places to do this are before a string of bosses after Frozen Road, and at the last Telecorder in the game. The downside is that, when you win the game, it effectively SOL: Restarts you from the beginning with a new D-Ratio, which takes into account (among other factors) the number of times you hard-saved (temporary saves don't count) and the amount of time on the game clock. To get a perfect 1/4 D-ratio, you have to go through the game in under eight hours, without hard-saving at all! Clearly, this shouldn't be attempted on your first playthrough anyway :) I won't go into more detail than that (especially since I beat the game and got a crummy D-Ratio of 1/4096, and then beat it again while being more careful, and *still* only got 1/1024); that's what the D-Ratio FAQ is for. (Minor update: Still stuck with 1/128. I just can't get that 1/4). If you want to reduce the number of saved games, simply don't apply the Party Exp and make a new Hard Save until you're ready to continue on. Just keep looping and building Party Exp until you're ready to apply it all at once. The fact that the game "knows" when you've been making Dragon Runs (which is what I call these loops, due to wasting the D-Counter in expectation of a SOL: Restore) is what leads me to believe that it was part of the game design, and not something unintentional. Plus, it's really the *only* way to effectively gain levels, since enemies don't respawn. The gameplay is based almost entirely around the SOL system. Learn to take advantage of it. iii. Miscelleny A. D-counter Summary Specifically, what raises the D-counter. Out of battle: Normal movement: .01% per twenty steps D-Dashing: .01% per step, increasing to .05% per step. In battle: D-Dive: 1% Vortex: 1% Hurricane: 1.25% per enemy Twister: 1.5% D-Charge: 2% D-Breath: Variable (Damage based on D-counter used) End of turn in human form: .01% End of turn in dragon form: 2% Cooldown: 0% B. The Hidden Dungeon Mentioned in this guide only becuase of its effect on the D-Counter. When you enter the Hidden Dungeon (I won't say what its name is or where to find it), your level is reduced to 1 (Though you keep all your equipment and skills), and your D-counter to 0.00%. This is another place you can play with dragon-form, becuase your levels and D-counter are restored to whatever they were before when you leave. It's fifty levels of fun. Each room is essentially the same: You're locked in, and you must defeat all enemies to get out. Doing so also nets you a Treasure Key to open the chest in each room (no searching required - both key and chest are right there). Every few levels there's someone you can speak to to escape, otherwise, you have to keep going down. There's no way back up. These blue chests do not count towards the Blue Chest percentage for your D-ratio, and the battles here don't advance the Faerie Colony. But there's a lot of really rare and even one-of-a-kind stuff down here, including powerful weapons and unique Skills. Again, I only mention this becuase you can D-Dive here as much as you want without having any effect on your ability to finish the game (though it could affect your ability to actually finish the dungeon, if you overuse it) :) I'll say where it is in future revisions of the Guide, if enough people ask, but there's already an entire FAQ on it - and, in fact, it's almost impossible to miss stumbling across it sooner or later - so I'll leave it out for now. C. The Transformation Sequence Personally, I liked 4's better, but I like that it actually changes as your D-counter increases! These percentages are approximate, because I don't know *exactly* where the lines are. All of these are set against a black background, and they can actually be skipped like any other cinematic (by pressing Start). Under 20% - Ryuu glows red (like his D-dash), staggers back a step, then straightens up again. After a moment, he drops to one knee, turning black with red lines running up and down his body (resembling the lines on a microchip, the way he looks in the opening movie) and his eyes glowing bright red. Red energy pours into him, his shoulders heave a couple of times, then he looks up, directly into the 'camera' as the screen fades to white. 20% to under 50% - same as above, but without the first portion. He drops to one knee and turns black immediately. 50% to under 80% - Ryuu glows red, but doesn't stumble or stagger. He clenches his fists, closes his eyes, and bows his head. He turns black/red, still in the same position, his shoulders heave, and then he looks up at something to the left of the "camera" as the screen fades to white. 80% to under 90% - Again, same as above, without the first part. He turns black almost immediately. 90% or more - Similar to the last, but no shoulder heave, and the camera angle is a dramatic closeup of his face and shoulders from slightly above and about 45 degrees to Ryuu's left, instead of a far view of his whole body. This is the shortest of the sequences, giving it a very "Time Is Running Out" feel. All of them end with a brief closeup of the dragon form against a black background, before returning to the battle screen. Also, there's one more "transformation" sequence: Get 100% on the D-counter, then select "The End..." (Quit without saving). Odjn will tear out of Ryuu's body in a painful-looking (albeit black-on-red silhouetted) transformation. D. The Dragon Names This'll be quick. Odin/Odjn means "one" in Russian. Chetyre means "four" in Russian. Hidden somewhere in the game is a dragon boss named Dva (Russsian for "two") in the Japanese game - this boss's name was mangled for the US version (the only translation hiccup I've seen, really) into "Dover". Odjn/Chetyre: 1/4. Dragon Quarter. (Though the game's creators have confirmed that this is *not* what the term "Dragon Quarter" refers to; it refers to those with a 1/4 D-Ratio, the Chosen). ------- Special Thanks to: Capcom, for making this game. May the Breath of Fire series last as long as there are consoles to play them on. (When I wrote the BoF3 Dragon Guide, I included the following line in the Special Thanks section: "Of course, with the number of centuries between each game in the story, BoF5 or 6 is going to need to be set in the future aboard the Starship Enterprise". And, as it turns out, while it's not in space, BoF5 has turned out to be rather futuristic, in a grimy Total Recall sort of way) :) Capcom USA, for what looks like the first near-perfect translation of a BOF game. Almost every name is unchanged - they even got Lin's name right (the Chinese name marks her as a Woren, incidentally, like Rinpoo and Lei) - and the only things they *did* change were for the better (too many potential dirty jokes about MEMBERs, the Japanese name for the Regents - though I don't like the royal overtones of the name 'Regent'; MEMBER is more of an aristocracy than a regency). A few translation glitches that made it sound like two different people were translating for one scene (Bosch telling Zeno about Ryuu, for example), and I thought Ranger should have been capitalized (it's an official organization, after all), and I mentioned Dva/Dover above, but overall, I'm impressed for once. A jeer within a cheer (as TV Guide puts it) for the Capcom USA manual writers, who seemed to be working with the original kana and got Lin's name wrong (they called her Rin), as well as Skill Threading (which they called Sledding). Also a jeer to Capcom USA for their marketing of this game - or lack of it. Most stores didn't have it on their "Coming Soon" lists, most sites had maybe a small blurb about it - many sites *now* still have no information about the game. The fifth game in a long-running and popular RPG series by one of the largest companies in the video game market should get more press than this (and did, in Japan. Not here). Some people on the GameFAQs boards literally didn't know the game was out yet. BoF5 is the Iron Giant of video games. Plus, since they removed the '5' in the official US title, it may cause a numbering screwup along the lines of the SNES Final Fantasy games if they don't fix it for BoF6. Sony, for making this system. I've been a Nintendo player since the mid-eighties, but for this series, for all the RPG series that started on the NES or SNES but migrated to the PSX, I'll switch. (Still planning on getting a Gamecube, though. Zelda: The Wind Waker is beautiful to watch and what little I got to play was a blast. Plus I still want Super Smash Brothers Melee). ----- Guide copyright 2003 DarkStorm (Laurence A. Isen)