Breath of Fire 3 Miscelaneous Tidbits and Little Known Facts FAQ ver. 7

Breath of Fire 3 Miscelaneous Tidbits and Little Known Facts FAQ ver. 7
-All the stuff you never knew about that little Dragon
-written by Billy Lee
[email protected]
9/2/01

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Disclaimer
This document (c)2000-2001 Billy Lee. This FAQ may not be used or
distributed for commercial use. It may not be distributed at all without
written permission from the author(that's me). Breath of Fire III and the
Breath of Fire III Logo are (c)1998 Capcom Entertainment. This guide must be
displayed in its entirety. No pieces of it may be removed and/or copied to
another location for public display.
*****************************************************************************

Updates:

If you would like a previous version of the FAQ for any reason(some people
collect that sort of thing), just send me an email. The only version I won't
send is version 1. I actually found the original version of this FAQ! WoW!
it was bad :)

Version 7:Reworked the philosophy section so it should be easier to read, and
added to it. A couple of tidbits. Put in a section of random
stuff. Found some spelling mistakes and fixed them. Added some
ASCII art(if you can call it art)! The FAQ is pretty much done,
so I'd like to thank all the people that have contributed and
helped this FAQ become what it is. Thanks guys and gals!
Version 6:More philosophical entries, more tidbits, added to the Archmage
section(you gotta see it to believe it). This is probably the last
update unless I find out something major.
Version 5:Tidbits, cosmetic changes, 2 sections to spice things up. There
isn't really that much left to cover, so if you have anything, or
know of anything you would like to see send it in.
Version 4:More Tidbits(what else), added to the Berserkr section, refined the
Kaiser section.
Version 3:Added more tidbits, organized the tidbits a little better, added a
new section, fixed some spelling mistakes though I probably missed
a lot of them, fixed a slight screw up in the Archmage stategy,
fixed a fairly stupid mistake in the Berserkr strategy(oops).
Version 2:Added more tidbits, removed some material that was taking up space,
Refined Archmage and Berserkr stradegy, added a new section, fixed
a few spelling and grammer mistakes, put into standard 80 char per
line format(77 actually).
Version 1:First Draft, unreleased.

============================================
Table of Contents |
1. Shisu |
2. Fighting the Archmage for the first time|
3. Fighting the Berserkr for the first time|
4. Challenges |
5. Tidbits and little known facts |
6. Unanswered questions |
7. The reason Myria fears the Brood |
8. BoF 3 Philosophical |
9. Random/Unproven stuff |
10. Acknowledgements |
============================================

1. Shisu

Not many people bother with the Shisu mini-game since trying to figure it
out can be a real pain, but have no fear, I have found out the preportions
you need to make your Shisu the "Shisu of Kings"!
To make Shisu you need 4 things:
Mackerel, Shaly Seeds, Vineger, and Horseradish.

To get Mackerel:
Talk to the woman in the hut at the Maekyss Gorge(Central Wyndia).
Ask her about Mackerel and she will open up a fishing spot on the other
side of the bridge.
"The best ingredients for that Maekyss specialty, shisu, can be found here!"
The Mackerel will bite the worm bait(it will bite others, but this works
and is cheap).
You should only catch one Mackerel as when you make the Shisu, you don't get
to choose which one you use.

NOTE: The red bar indicates how much stamina the fish has, which is directly
related to the fish's size.
English version of NOTE: The bigger the red bar on the bottom of the screen,
the bigger the Mackerel.

(Example Mackerel=57 cm)

To find Shaly:
Shaly seeds are found by having Peco headbutt the tree behind the house
in the Maekyss Gorge.
Divide the size of the Mackerel by 5.
Add 6, thats how many Shaly seeds you need.

(Example Shaly=17 seeds)

To find Vineger:
Go to the Coffee shop with Garr in the party and talk to the robed figure
by the well.
Play the little mini-game for vineger.
Divide the number of Shaly seeds you need by 4, that's how much vineger you
need.

NOTE: To me, this is one of the most annoying sub-mini-games in BOF3, anyone
else feel this way?

(Example Vineger=4 units)

To find Horseradish:
Have Ryu use his sword-cut on the Blue-Green bushes in Ogre Road(Dauna
Region). If you need more, exit and re-enter.

NOTE: This formula gets a bit complicated.

Divide the size of the Mackerel by the number of Shaly seeds you need.
(example 57/17=3)
Divide the Number of Shaly seeds you need by that number.
(example 17/3=5)
Subtract 2, that's the abount of horseradish you need.
(example 5-2=3)

NOTE: If you get decimal places, look at the first place, and round up
if that number is 5 or higher, and round down if it is 4 or lower.
(i.e. 5.5 is rounded up to 6, where 5.49999 is rounded down to 5)

NOTE2: When finding horseradish, you do need to do the whole thing, as
sometimes the final answer is different then if you just divide
the Mackerel by the Shaly.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Working Shisu Formulas:
These are a couple I've done, so I know they work. This is basically here
for the people who are too lazy to figure it out on their own ;) You know
who you are.

Mackerel: 57
Shaly Seeds: 17
Vineger: 4
Horseradish: 3
Kneed: 1
----------------
Mackerel: 39
Shaly Seeds: 14
Vineger: 3
Horseradish: 3
Kneed: 1

If you've got any others that work, send them to me so I can add them here.

=============================================================================

2. Fighting the Archmage for the first time.

Why fight the Archmage you say? Simple. He gives 16000 exp after battle,
which is the most out of any other enemy in the game! That not enough for
you? OK, everytime you beat him you get a Holy Avenger! A knife for Ryu and
Rei with 125 attack power and holy properties that you can also use as an
item in battle to increase your attack power! It's almost impossible to lose
this fight too, since the idiot will cast Benediction on your team if there
is only one character left alive. Go figure.

Stats:
HP :3000
Attacks:
Myollnir :Deals about 500-800 on a single character
Mind Sword :Deals about 400-700 on a single character
Blizzard :Deals about 200-300 on all characters
Benediction:Casts Raise Dead on the entire party
Attack :I have no idea, he neveer uses this

Steal: Soul Gem
Win : Holy Avenger(every time!)

The Archmage recovers 1500 HP after every round

Beating him the first time can be a bit intimidating, since you can't see
what his HP are, and you don't know what you're up against. Don't worry,
he's not that bad if you know what you are doing and stay calm.

Recommended Party: Ryu(duh), Rei, anyone else you want to get exp. All chars
should be around lvl 35 or so.
Recommended Form : Chain, with Rei in the lead.
Recommended Equip:
Ryu:
Level : 30+
HP : 150+
AP : 100+
Weapon: Whatever your strongest weapon is
Shield: Aries Gloves stolen from the Berserkr or Spiked Gauntlets
Helmet: Doesn't Matter, whatever you feel comfortable with
Armor : Life Armor bought from Manillo at the lost shore fishing area
Misc.1: Titan Belt
Misc.2: Shaman's Ring(Either from the Shisu mini-game or from the Fairy
Village gift shop)
NOTE: You want Ryu to be as strong as he can so he will deal more damage.
Don't worry about Speed, Rei has that covered, and Def. is not needed
since the Archmage uses magic
Skills:
Force, Thunder, and Ice genes(not jeans)

Rei:
Weapon: Slicer, or something else light
Shield: Aries Gloves or Bracer
Helmet: Bandana
Armor : Burglar Garb or Light CLothing
Misc.1: Speed Belt
Misc.2: Shaman's Ring

NOTE : Rei is your source of speed, so having him equipped for speed is a
must.
NOTE2: You need Rei to be fast enough so your teem will go before the Arch-
mage, otherwise you will have a very hard time as the Archmage will
kill your teamates off very quickly. Rei needs about 85 agility
Skills:
Resist : Learned from Stallion or Fahl
Aura : Learned from Ladon
Shadowwalk: Learned from Merryleep
Pilfer : He starts with it(you can steal Soul Gems quite easily from him)

Other person:
equip them to their optimum, they only have a supporting role in this fight
Misc.1: Thunder Ring(found in the Tidal Caves)
Misc.2: Soul Gem(bought in fairy village, you'll need about 10 or so)
NOTE: For your first time it might be good to use Momo for her Might ability.

Items needed:
Robe of Wind :In a chest in the ship on Steel Beach, also gotten from
BoltLord occasionally when you beat it.
Ginseng :Won from a monster in the Tidal Caves(you only need 1 or 2)
Ready? Go to the Conatiner Yard and walk around until you get an Archmage.
They are more common then the Berserkr, but not as common as the tank bots.
While waiting for an Archmage you might want to steal from the tank bots for
Wisdom Seeds. When you finally get an Archmage, it's party time!!!

Round 1: Getting Ready
Rei : Cast Resist, making Rei invulnerable
Ryu : Use the Force, Thunder, and Frost Genes to turn into a Warrior that
negates Ice and Lightning attacks(all you have to worry about is Mind
Sword)
Misc.: Use the Robe of Wind on Rei, this should give Rei an EX turn(doesn't
speed up the whole party tho)
EX round 1:(if you get it, you might not if your Chars are too low on levels)
(Ryu should get one with the Transformation)
Ryu : Use Focus(it is very important that Ryu gets an EX turn)
Rei : Either Pilfer the Archmage for a Soulstone or use the Robe of Wind on
the other char if they need it. Or, use a Ginseng on Ryu.
Misc.: Use Ginseng on Ryu if you have it or if you are using Momo, have her
cast Might.

NOTE : If the Archmage used Mind Sword on Ryu, use your next turn to turn him
back into a Dragon Warrior(repeat Round 1).
NOTE2: Don't forget to replace the Soul Gem on your Misc. Char if it gets
used up.

Round 2: Fight Time!
Ryu : Cast Aura to deal around 1500 damage! If you don't deal this much
damage, don't worry, you just have a longer fight ahead. If you deal
less than 800 damage, run, you aren't going to win.
NOTE : If you deal more than this, that is good.
Rei : Cast Resist
Misc.: Attack with their most pwerfull attack.

EX Round 2:
Ryu : Cast Aura. This might kill the Archmage, if it doesn't, don't worry.
Rei : Cast Aura. This might kill the Archmage, if it doesn't, don't worry.
Misc.: Use their strongest attack. This *should* kill the sucker, if not...
worry.

Round 3: Finish him(if you didn't already)
Ryu : Cast Aura
Rei : Cast Resist
Misc.: Stongest attack

EX Round 3: Still not dead?
Ryu : Cast Aura
Rei : Cast Shadowwalk
Misc.: Strongest attack

If he's still not dead, run, you aren't dealing enough damage
NOTE : If Ryu is hit with Mind Sword, you have to restart at round 1.
NOTE2: I've only seen him use Blizzard once in about 50 fights. So you might
want to get rid of the Frost Gene and use something else to power up
Ryu.
NOTE3: Have fun, that's why it's called a game :)
NOTE4: Once Ryu gets strong enough(lvl 60 or so), you will be able to kill
the Archmage with just the Force gene. Just think what that will do
to the Archmages' ego, killed by a single gene :)
NOTE5: If there is only one character in your party alive, then the Archmage
will cast Benediction. You can still be wiped out by Blizzard so
don't get cocky. Hint: Try using a transform-all transformation, like
the Mammoth if you have 400+ HP with Ryu in normal form, you won't
lose.

Congradulations, you have beaten the Archmage!!! Enjoy your exp and Holy
Avenger! Next time you fight him, you can use your own stradegy for him,
since you will have a general idea as to what it takes to knock this guy
down.

=============================================================================

3. Fighting th Berserkr for the first time
This can get very intimidating since he is incredibly powerfull(1 hit kill
with the laser thing), but there is one thing that he never counted on,
meeting the Prince of all Dragons! That's right, for this fight you get to
see what Ryu is really made of!

Stats:
HP : Way too many, I think around 15 or 20 thousand.
Attacks :
Attack : About 500-700 to a single character. This is a normal attack
tho, which means with the right equip, you can survive it.
Flame Whip: Deals about 100-300 damage to the whole party. Fire Elemental

Steal: Aries Gloves. The Best Shield in the game. You may want to steal and
run from him a couple times to get one for each memeber
of your team.
Win : Rufads Spear, a spear for Garr.
Exp : 10000 for each party member. 30000 in total.

Recommended Party: Same as Archmage, Ryu, Rei, Someone else.
Recommended Form : Chain, Rei in the lead.

Recommended Equip:
Ryu:
Level : 35+
HP : At least 200
AP : At least 150, you want around 250+ for this though
Weapon: Holy Avenger(you do want this equipped)
Shield: Aries Gloves stolen from the Berserkr or Spiked Gauntlets
Helmet: Dragon Helm
Armor : Life Armor bought from Manillo at the lost shore fishing area
Misc.1: Titan Belt
Misc.2: Shaman's Ring(Either from the Shisu mini-game or from the Fairy
Village gift shop)
NOTE: You want Ryu to be as strong as he can so he will deal more damage.
Don't worry about Speed, Rei has that covered, but you do want a
fairly high defense to lower the amount of damage taken from the
normal attack.
Skills:
Infinity, Radiance, and Trance Genes
Triple Blow : Learned from the Death bots on Myria Loading Dock
Shadowwalk : If you don't mind spending a few extra AP per turn, this deals
about 200-300 extra damage. If you use this give Rei T.B.
Steal : If you need Ryu to help steal the Aries Gloves
Celerity : Learned from Deis

Rei:
Level : 33+
HP : Doesn't matter(you'll find out why soon)
AP : Around 50-100
Speed : 100+
Weapon: ThievesKnife. They help you steal faster, once you steal, equip
Rei's most powefull weapon(Holy Avenger if you have it)
Shield: Aries Gloves or Bracer
Helmet: Bandana
Armor : Burglar Garb or Light CLothing
Misc.1: Speed Belt
Misc.2: Shaman's Ring

NOTE : Rei is your source of speed, so having him equipped for speed is a
must.
NOTE2: The Berserkr is slow(compared to Rei) so if Rei has an Agility of 145+
You will automatically get an EX turn after every round.
Skills:
Resist : Learned from Stallion or Fahl
Aura : Learned from Ladon
Shadowwalk : Learned from Merryleep
Triple Blow: If Ryu has Shadowwalk, use this instead
Pilfer : He starts with it(you can steal Aries Gloves from him)

Other person:
Equip them to their optimum, they only have a supporting role in this fight.
Misc.1: Fire Ring
Misc.2: Soul Gem(bought in fairy village, you'll need about 10 or so)
NOTE: For your first time it might be good to use Momo for her Might ability.

Items needed:
Robe of Wind : In a chest in the ship on Steel Beach, also gotten from Bolt-
Lord. You only need this if Rei is below 145 Agil.
Ginseng : Stolen or won from a monster in the Tidal Caves(you only need
1 or 2), I'm not sure which monster, I'm pretty sure it's the
one with the spikes on it.
or
Holy Avenger : Won from the Archmage. If you don't want to fight him a lot,
you can use the copy shop in Fairy village to make more.
Wisdom Seed : You will only need these if Ryu runs below 40 AP.

Ready???
Round 1:
Rei : Cast Resist
Ryu : Cast Accession. Use Infinity, Radiance and Trance Genes to form the
IRT Kaiser(that's what I call him, IRT stands for Infinity, Radiance,
Trance)
Misc. : Use Robe of Wind if needed or use Holy Avenger on Rei(if all you have
is ginseng, save it for Ryu and just Defend or Attack).
NOTE: For some reason the Berserkr attacks Rei most of the time, and since
Rei is invulnerable with Resist, you don't have to worry.

EX Round 1:
Ryu : Cast Kaiser Breath(or Celerity if you have it)
Rei : Use Holy Avenger or Ginseng on Ryu
Misc. : Use Holy Avenger or Ginseng on Ryu
Round 2:
Ryu : Cast Triple Blow
Rei : Cast Resist
Misc. : Do whatever, Ryu is set up now
NOTE: If you gave Ryu Shadowwalk and Rei Triple Blow, then just switch when
I say Shadowwalk/Triple Blow between the two.
EX Round 2:
Ryu : Cast Triple Blow
Rei : Cast Pilfer
Misc. : Do Whatever
Round 3:
Ryu : Cast Triple Blow
Rei : Cast Resist
Misc. : Do whatever
EX Round 3:
Ryu : Cast Triple Blow
Rei : If you stole the Areis Gloves, cast Aura and then Shadowwalk every
other round afterwards.
Misc. : Do whatever.
After this, just keep repeating Round 3 until the sucker dies. Your Misc.
Character is in charge of Ryu's maintence, so if he gets below 50 AP, start
using Wisdom Seeds. If Ryu had 250 or more AP at the start of the battle,
then you probably won't need to use any. If he gets to the point where 1
more normal attack will make him revert back into a human, have the Misc.
cast healing spells if you have them, or use a vitamin, or whatever you need
to to get his HP back up(don't foret about the BlessedStaff weapon which
casts heal for free). Also, if Ryu has 350 or more Power, he will deal about
1200 per round, making the fight go a lot quicker.
When the Berserker casts Berserk, he is almost dead, and will usually keel
over in the next round or two.

Congradulations! You have just beaten the Berserkr, possibly the hardest
enemy in the Game! Enjoy that good feeling you get from sending this guy
into the next dimension! Oops... wrong Game/Anime... Well enjoy your
victory!

=============================================================================

4. Challenges

So, you think you're the master of the Breath of Fire 3 Universe do you?
Well, see if you can take this on.

- Never pick up any genes. Only use the genes you get from a part of the
story.

- For that matter, see if you can beat the entire game without transforming
at all. Some of those bosses aren't quite so easy are they?

- Don't learn any skills or apprentice masters. Your characters have to
depend on their own abilities to get them through a fight.

- No using items. Period. This includes using items outside battle to heal,
and the items that increase your stats.

- Do all of the above in the same game. Now *that* could get hard.

- Beat the Archmage without transforming. If you can let me know, that is
quite an accomplishment.

- Catch a whale using the wooden rod. You can lure it into the range of the
wooden rod with the Angling rod, but the actual catch must be made with the
wooden rod. By the way, bringing it to 1 meter won't save you.

Well, there you have it, let me know of any challenges you wish to make, or
if you've managed to succeed at any of these.

=============================================================================

5. Tidbits and little known facts and other stuff I wanted to put in

::MAX HP Ouchies::

- Your MAX HP goes down by 10% whenever you are affected by something that
lowers MAX HP.

- When your MAX HP goes down, it will never go below around 1/2 of your
regular MAX when you die or use disembowel. When walking in the desert or
using a mandrake it will never go below 1/10.

- When you use Disembowel, you're HP is not permanantly lowered, just rest
at an inn to get yourself back up to max. I never really use it though,
since it won't work on bosses(it took me a year to figure this out).
This goes for every effect that would lower your MAX HP.

- If your MAX HP is below 1/2 of what it is supposed to be, you can not use
dsembowel.

- When you are walking around in the dessert... err... desert, you can keep
going after Ryu starts Blipping from lack of water. It happens every 20
steps or so after you get the message that your throat is dry. The first
4 times it just lower your current HP, not your MAX HP, the next time your
MAX HP drops just like as if you died, and weren't ressurected. You know
this happens when you see the screen flash red instead of just Ryu. Then
the process repeats. When your MAX HP goes down to around 30 or 40, you
won't lose anymore MAX HP. Just rest in an Inn to get you MAX HP back up
to where it usually is. I actually crossed the desert with out using
water! I wouldn't recommend doing this if it is your first time through
the desert as you have to fight the Manmo and I don't recommend doing
that with about 35 MAX HP.

- Mandrakes should only be used when you are desperate for health, just look
at what they can do to you!

- The HP Ryu has as a Dragon is determined by the current MAX HP that Ryu
has as a human, meaning that if you die and your MAX HP is lowered, your
dragons will have less HP.

::Battle and Post Battle Stress Syndrome::

- The Lava Man in Mt. Zublo are the best source of exp as well as a challenge
as you can make them stronger by constantly using fire attacks on them.
This will make the amount of exp they drop go up by a lot, as well as make
them harder than fighting Myria(if you go too far). They will pump up to
65535 exp, which is the max, but you can still pump them up after that if
you want to make them harder. :)

- To make your life easier when you fight Balio and Sunder, cast Influence
on Balio. Sunder will start attcking him! This works every time you fight
Balio and Sunder!

- The Silver Knife will be Ryu's strongest weapon for most of the first part
of the game when he is a kid. Despite the low attack power, it deals a lot
of damage to the undead in Angel Tower, usually enough to kill most enemies
with one hit.

- The Manly Clothes are not quite what they seem. They do nothing to your
skills(I wasted like 20 skill inks on that), but they do do something else
even better. When you die, they Revive you just like the Soul Gems! They
don't shatter though, they rip, and you have to equip a new one. What's
even better is that they only cost 1000z, 800z if you have the Coupons.

- When you die with a Soul Gem/Manly Clothes on, you lose the Soul Gem first,
then the Clothes.

- If you are trying to pick a fight with the Archmage or Berserkr, try
running away from the tankbots. Usually I get one of the big baddies after
I run away about 4 or 5 times.

- Archmages and Berserkrs only appear outside the container yard, they don't
appear in the building where the teleporter is.
UDATE: Yes Archmages and Berserkr can appear in there, I almost got wiped
out by a Mage that got to go first.

- Sometimes when you are in the desert or the world map after the Oasis the
random battles will have more than one bag in them.

- If you have a Shaman's Ring or Spirit Ring equipped, you can cast Transfer
on yourself to gain AP. Not much, but the only way to gain AP in a battle
without using an item.

- If Ryu has a lot of HP(around 300 or so), when you transform into a
Wildfire, you can watch his HP bar go all the way off the screen.

- Triple Blow lowers the amount of damage you deal by about 1/3(if your
char dealt 300, then with T.B. they will deall 200 each hit), and double
blow lowers attack damage by about 1/4.

- Celerity and Bonebreak take forever to recharge, I think about 3 or 4 hours
of game time, if that is how they are timed(they might be timed by the
number of fights or number of kills, I don't know)

- BoneBreak is a Kaiser specific attack, you will still get it in Kaiser
form even if Ryu hasn't learned it yet.

- BoneBreak deals the amount of damage you would usually deal multiplied by
4, and ignores defense, which is why the damage is so high.

- When equipping elemental armor, protection or protects means you absorb
damage from that element, and resists means the damage is reduced.
Remember resist fire+resist fire=negate fire, not absorb fire.

- People complain a lot about Nina saying her HP is so low she's not good for
anything, but she can be very usefull later on in the game. Her Int. is
very high especially if you have her on Emitai(and you should) and she has
enough AP so that you don't have to worry about running out of AP anytime
soon. You just need to use chain formation and get her to whip off attacks
eary on.

- The Tiamat(Shadow/Trance) and Kaiser(Infinity/Radiance/Trance) are the only
way to have immunity to all bad status changes. Light Bangles only lower
the chance you will be effected by about 20% or so added to the natural 10%
or so of the character, depending on intelligence(I think).

- Attacks like Sirocco and Simoon that deal two different types of damage, do
actually deal 2 types of damage. If a target has immunity to one of the
elements, they will still take damage from the other element, usually about
half of the damage, sometimes less. If you absorb one of the types, you
still gain HP, but not as much as if it were a single element attack.
Actually, I think those are the only dual element attacks in the game.

- Most enemies have an elemental weakness. They are quite easy to learn, and
once you do, the enemies get a lot easier to beat.

- Item magic works just like regular magic, except it's free. The higher
you have your Int. the more effective the item will be. It's really funny
to have Garr and Nina use Royal Swords and look at the difference in
damage.

- Wanna see some nice damage? Equip Ryu with the Royal Sword, use attack
formation with Ryu in the lead, find an enemy weak against lightning, and
cast shadowwalk on it. He should deal somewhere around 2-3 thousand
damage!

- To see even more damage go back to Angel Tower at level 60, transform into
a warrior type dragon with Attack formation and Ryu in the lead, use focus
once or twice with another character using Attack Up effects like the Holy
Avenger or Ginseng, and cast Aura on one of the Vampire type monsters, who
just happen to be weak against Holy elemental Attacks. Ryu shouldn't deal
more than say 5 to 6 thousand damage.

- For some reason, unless you are fighting mosters weak against lightning,
Ryu deals more damage with the Holy Avenger equipped than he does with the
Royal Sword. This is especially true for the Dragon transformations.

- If you had Ryu apprenticed to Deis(which I usually do for the AP and Power
booster, not to mention Agility), then you are probably overjoyed when you
get Blizzard, Myollnir, and Sirocco. But in reality, those attacks work
better with Momo who has a higher Magic Rating than Ryu(unless you changed
that with the Master system). If you want Ryu to have elemental attacks,
why not put the strike attacks on him? You can learn all of the ones he
has as a Myrmidon, and they usually deal more damage than Sirocco and
Myollnir.

- Though Peco and Ryu both have elemental breath attacks, they are not the
same thing. Peco uses Ice Breath and Fire Breath, where Ryu uses Frost
Breath and Flame Breath.

- Having a spare Royal Sword in your inventory is very advantageous since
there are many enemies in the earlier parts of the game that will die with
one hit. Very usefull when you go back for masters or are just walking
around trying to get certain enemies for stat boosters.

- Two of the toughest bosses in the game, the Dragon Zombie and the Arwan,
can be defeated using Kyrie, which you can learn from Hondara at Urkan Tapa
(I think you need to gain 5 levels for the skill). Garr also learns this
at some point in time, but unless you waste a lot of time leveling you
won't have it for the Zombie, and Ryu fights the Arwan by himself in his
dream.

- Having the Midas Stone equipped not only increases the amount of Zenny you
get, it also increases the chance of finding an item after battle.

- Using an Ivory Dice on an enemy also increases the amount of gold that
enemy drops after battle.

- If you want to see an interesting fight, have Ryu transform into a Tiamat
when fighting Myria. If the Tiamat has over 900 HP, you can just use
Charge(L1), and sit back and watch! The Tiamat will take about 70-80
damage from Myria's attacks and will deal around 500 or so. I did this
once and looked away, when I looked back Myria had gone down!
NOTE: This will NOT work against the Berserkr, I tried and got wiped out.
The reason? you stay in Charge even if you get turned back to normal.

::Look Ma! I Cought a Fish!::

- If your hook gets close enough to the ocean floor so that moving it will
snag the bottom, just press triangle to reel it in. Triangle also works
when a fish is following your line and you don't want it to.

- If there is a nice big fish out there but it's surrounded by little fish,
lure them away with the lure and press triangle when they're outta the way.

- If you press L1 you can see the 10 meter marks in the fishing area you
are in. You can also use this to see what kind of fish are in the pond.

- Most deep water fish will come into range of the spanner after about a
minute or 2 of waiting.

- The best strategy(at least I think it is) to catch deep water fish is to
use the angling rod to lure them into the range of the Spanner and then
reel them in with the Spanner, since the Angling Rod tends to break a lot.

- To get a fish to bite, just equip the right type of bait, and cast beyond
the fish, then drag the line to the fish. This is very helpfull when
dealing with deep water fish like the whale or spearfish, and you don't
have to worry about using the all of the different teqniques.

- For the whales and spearfish, you will have an easier time getting them to
bite if the lure is lower in the water.

- When fishing, after a fish bites the hook, you just have to hold X, you
don't have to press it rapidly.

- If the green bar turns orange and is to the left of the fish, you lose the
fish and lure. If the bar is to the right of the fish, you lose the fish
but keep the lure.

- If you get a fish you don't want, just keep the rod bar(the green one you
can move w/ left/right on the d-pad) to the right of the fish. The fish
will fall off but you keep the lure.

- The biggest catches are not always the ones that are the furthest out. I
caught a 235 cm. whale that migrated in to around 10 yards. Of course he
migrated back out to 40 yards before keeling over...

::But Where Do I Go?::

- If you have Ryu swing his sword at a wall, or some other obstacle that will
stop his swing, his face will turn red and look strained.

- There are a couple of items that you can not sell, including the fishing
rods, the Water Jug, the Faerie Tiara, the Dragon Blade, and the HE Shells.
Everything else you find you can sell, except for the Vtal items. You can
also not copy these items, making them unique, like Vtal items, only these
can be equipped/used.

- Ever notice that when Nina is a little girl she will put her hands in front
of her to prevent her dress from flying up(very lady-like) when she jumps
off a building, and then as an adult she stretches hands out wide?
Something tells me Nina isn't the sweet little girl she used to be;)

- I think Rei has the best voice acting. The voice fits perfectly with the
character, and c'mon, who doesn't crack up when they hear his trademark
WaHeeeeeee!!!!! (OK, that wasn't a tidbit, but I just had to mention it)

- OK if you haven't guessed yet, Rei is one of my favorite RPG characters of
all time, he kicks buttoosky and has a good sense of humor:)

- You know those bushes you can cut down for 2-5 zenny? Every now and then
they give yo 20-50 zenny!

- Once you set a teleporter to teleport someplace, it will always teleport
you to the same place unless you change the location at the control panel.

- Did you notice that some of the characters aren't fully in the teleporter
light thingy? Kinda interesting...

- The manual is wrong! Holding R1, R2, Start, and select for a few seconds
resets the game, it doesn't bring up a menu, and it can be used anywhere.

- There are a couple of places that require Ryu to be in the party, like
visiting Deis or Ladon. This is kind of odd since Ryu is never allowed to
leave the party.

=============================================================================

6. Unanswered questions(the secrets Capcom didn't want you to know about...
well sort of)

- How does Ryu adjust to life in the "modern" world so easily if he was
frozen in chrysm for so many years?

- How come a dolphin can talk(in two languages at that) but Ryu can't?

- How do all the other characters not in your party make it wherever the
party goes? If they travel with the main group, then they should help out
with the fighting too. Bunch of lazy bums.

- How come whenever you camp on the world map, the game switches to night,
and as soon as you leave it switches to daylight again, even if you didn't
rest?

- Where does your team store it's inventory? Come to think of it, I wonder
this about a lot of RPG's, and even some non-RPG's...

- What if God smoked Cannabis? Sorry, I've got that song stuck in my head.
For some reason I just can't get it out...

- If the fish bite down on a lure, how come you can still see the lure when
you reel the fish in?

- How long was Ryu in that cave in Dauna before Garr found him(After the
Angel Tower incident)? Capcom never tells you the exact time, only "many
years", which is all you get when Garr explains what happened after the
"incident".

- What took Garr so long to find Ryu anyway?

- Why didn't Nina look for Ryu? Word of a Dragon attacking mine workers must
have reached Wyndia.

- For that matter, why didn't anyone go looking for Ryu? Are they his
friends or what?

- Why is the Ding Frog called the King Frog when the dog man(Bow from BOF2?)
gives it to you?

- Why are the whales so small? Are they kids? If that is true, then what
is Capcom trying to tell us?

- How come enemies can have up to 8 letters in their names but your chars can
only have up to 5? It's just not fair!

=============================================================================

7. The reason Myria fears the Brood

This section is devoted to the Dragon transformation everyone skips, the
IRT Kaiser. It is one of the most unapreciated and underused transformations
game for the single reason that the AP cost is 53 and 27 per turn, and it
doesn't have an Aura attack. Well, there is a reason for that, and here I
will explain(or at least try) why this transformation is the most powerfull
in the entire game!
First of all, you should know that this formation actually costs less than
using a Myrmidon casting Aura every turn. The Myrmidon costs 16 AP for the
Aura and 8 per turn, but when you factor in Aura, it costs 48 per turn(Aura
costs 20 and this assumes you are getting an EX turn, which you should).
Meanwhile, the Kaiser costs 27 per turn and if you have high HP, it will deal
around the same amount of damage as the Myr's Aura. If you learn Triple Blow
from the Deathbots in the Orbital Station entryway/lobby, it will cost 37 per
turn, possibly dealing more damage than Aura depending on your strngth and
what weapon you have equipped. With a Shaman'sRing equipped, the Aura Myr
costs 38 AP and the Triple Blow Kaiser costs 35 AP, so you still save AP.
The only time the Myr costs less is when you have a Spirit Ring equipped,
changing the costs to 28 for the Myr and 33 for the Kaiser.
The rest of this section will be shown in the tidbit format to avoid this
becoming a lecture, also because it looks better and saves me a lot of time.

- When Ryu is in the Kaiser(Infinity, Radiance, Trance) form, he is
completely immune to all bad status effects like poison, blind, etc.
This makes the Kaiser pretty much the only transformation you can really
use against Myria because of her Holocost and Venom attacks, which poison,
confuse, and Blind everyone. This is also the only form that offers this
type of protection without transforming the entire party.

- Ryu deals incredible damage with Bonebreak in the IRT Kaiser form! I've
gotten him to deal over 3000 damage on Myria!

- In the Kaiser form, your HP is tripled, but that's not all. Strength,
Agility, Defense, and Magic Defense are all tripled. At high levels, Ryu
will take less than 200 damage from the Berserkrs' main, which is the
strongest normal attack in the game. He will take about that same amount
of damage from the Archmages' Myonllnir/Mind Sword, which are the strongest
magic attacks in the game.

- Just to give you an idea as to how strong he is, the Kaiser's normal attack
damage is equal to about what Ryu deals with a critical strike in his human
form.

- I'm not sure what happens to his Intelligense atribute, that seems to stay
the same, but who needs magic in this form anyway?

- Kaiser Breath deals about 250+- your max HP, so if you have 1000 HP in
Kaiser, you deal anywhere from 750-1250(more than you would with Sirocco).

- Kaiser form just looks awesome! His refular form looks great, but in Gold,
Ryu just looks like he could kick the crap out of anything, and he can!

- If you want to see insane amounts of damage, have Ryu transform using the
Infinity, Gross, and Force genes. His attack power is quadrupled instead
of tripled which you get from the IRT Kaiser. Ryu will deal close to 1000
damage in this form with a normal attack, but he will be uncontrollable and
usually kill off party members quickly, and I do mean quickly, they die
with one hit! Only do this if you want to see what it's like or if Myria
is kicking your ass(pardon the language) and you need to do something
desperate. Also, notice that the dragon in the DATA section of Accession
is a different color from the other Kaisers. If you want to see even more
damage put the party in Attack formation with Ryu in the lead. That much
damage just isn't natural.

- Sadly, if you use a gamshark to give Ryu attack Magic, those skills are not
carried over into the Kaiser form.

=============================================================================

8. BoF 3 Philosophical

This section is here because... well... I needed something to do... It's
here to explain some of the things you might not realize about where Capcom
got some of the information that inspired different things like locations and
some weapons and names.

Weapons/Armor/Other equipment:

- Barbarossa is a man people might know better as Redbeard, who was a pirate
and later became the Admiral of the Ottoman fleet.

- Ouroboros is an emblematic serpent from ancient Egypt and Greece shown
with it's tail in its mouth, cuntinually devouring itself and being reborn
from itself. The symbol of this serpent is used to show unity of all
things, mental and physical.(1)

- Ascension is the ascent of Jesus of Nazareth into heaven on the 40th day
after his resurrection.

- Scramasax was a 6th century dagger used by the Lombards.

- Katzbalger was a short sword used by the Landschnecht mercenaries in the
16th century as a back-up weapon.

- Gungnir, one of Garr's spears, was a spear in Norse Mythology, and would
always fly true, could not be deflected, and returned to it's master.

- Asura(spelled Ashura in the game) is actually from Hindu mythology is the
name for a class of Demons, who were the enemies of the Gods and Men.

- Demonbane isn't really a word, intead it is like Ebonfire, 2 words mashed
together. Bane is what the cause of death is, what kills you, so Demonbane
is the attack that kills a demon.

- DamascusSwd/Mail- Damascus is the name of the capital of Syria. It is also
a type of steel that was forged during the pre-industrial era, using a
secret type of carbinization. The metal was famous for being very hard
and having a watered, streaked appearence.(1)

Transformations

- Kaiser is a German word, which was the title given to the German Sovereign,
hence, Ryu is the Sovereign of Dragons. Soevereign can also mean King, but
I chose sovereign because it sounds better.

- Myrmidons are people who follow orders without question. Another meaning
the word has is that they were a group of soldiers who followed Achilles
in an invasion of Troy.

- Accession can mean many things, but I think Capcom was using the meaning
"A sudden outburst."(2) Transformations suddenly have a whole new meaning.

Characters/Bosses

- Old people might know this, but there is a folk song titled "They Call the
Wind Maria", pronounced (mah-RYE-uh), which is about giving different names
to the great powers of the natural world(wind, fire, rain, etc). This is
similar to the sounding of Myria, (MEER-eey-uh), which can be pronounced as
(MEE-rye-uh). There is also another close reference, myriad, which
constitutes a very large number, almost uncountable(Peco uses myriad when
talking to Myria, go figure;]).

- Myria's name from BoF1, Tyr, is the name of the God of War and Strife, and
also the Son of Odin. That sounds more like the Myria we know, only this
one's a man...

- Sunder is a word that means to break apart using violence. Quite
interesting when you think of the character.

- Balios the immortal horse of Achilles, which was a gift from Poseiden to
Achilles' father.

- Garr, when sounded out, is Guard, without the d on the end. This makes
sense since Garr was a Guardian. It also means "spear" when translated
from the old Indo-European language.

- Arwan, in Welch mythology, is the God of the Dead.

Masters

- Deis is something to stand on at speech, usually where a podium is, sorry,
I don't see any relation other then Deis got stepped on figuratively by the
Guardians and the Goddess. On the other hand, it is very close to Deiw, a
word meaning God, or Deity. That one makes more sense. It is also close
to the Greek work Deos(or Deus in Latin), which means God. Poor Deis,
close, but no cigar.

- Yggdrasil(AKA Tree of Wisdom) is an ash tree from Norse mythology that is
supposed to hold together Heaven, Hell, and the Earth.

- Giotto was a man who was considerd to be the greatest pre-rennaisance
painter of Italy.

- Bunyan is of course a reference to Paul Bunyan, a giant lumberjack who had
a blue Ox named babe.

Attacks/Skills

- Kyrie is "A brief petition and response used in various liturgies of
several Christian shurches begining with or composed of the word 'Lord,
have mercy.'" (2)

- Ebonfire isn't anything special, just Ebony(a type of black) cut short and
combined with fire to mean "Black Fire", which is how the skill looks when
cast.

- Santuary is something people of the middle ages could claim inside of a
church to escape persecution.

- Myollnir is actually Mjolnir misspelled. Mjolnir is the name of the Norse
God Thor's hammer. Oddly enough, both words are pronounced the same as
(MY-ahl-near(I think, I could be wrong)).

- Inferno... all descriptions were either of a place of flaming heat or a
place of pain and death. You put it together.

- Sirocco is a hot dry wind that originates in desert-type areas.

- Simoon is a hot dry wind from Arabic and Saharan regions. Notice a
pattern?

- Ragnoarok is a myth about the final battle of the Gods versus Evil and the
destruction and rebirth of life.

- Tsunami is simply a very lage destructive wave that starts with an
underwater earthquake.

- Disembowel is a very icky word. It basically means to bring the insides of
a person or thing outside. Very icky, those who saw "Braveheart" will know
what I'm talking about.

- Recall just means to bring back. If you own a Ford, you're familiar with
this word.

Miscellaneous

- Here's something to think about, the number of Guardians that were sent by
Myria to Earth to destroy the Brood was 4, which is the same number of the
Horsemen of the Apocalypse. If you think about it even more, the four
guardians were sent to destroy the Brood so that Myria's rule could not be
challenged. (A little out there, I know)

- A mandrake is a root that is supposed to give off a lethal scream when it
is uprooted. It was used in various dark magics, so that is probably why
it drains your max hp.(Actual quote from email)

NOTE: All entries marked with a (1) are paraphrased definitions from
Britannica.com.
NOTE2: All entries marked with a (2) are actual quotes from Dictionary.com.

=============================================================================
9. Random/Unproven Stuff

This is just some extra stuff I was figuring out, not really important to
the game or anything tho. Almost all of it is guesses based on testing so
please don't go psycho if I got something wrong by accident.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dragon Power

Kaiser: Infinity, Failure
HP=*1.2
All abilities*1.6

Kaiser 2: Infinity, Raidiance, Trance
HP=*3
All abilities*2.2
Note:Kaiser 2 is immune to status changes

Kaiser 3: Infinity + 2 other Genes as long as Kaiser 2 combo or Failure Gene
is not used.
HP*3
All abilities*3
Note:Kaiser 3 is berserk, and thus very dangerous. My guess is THIS is the
power Myria feared.
Note2:Kaiser 3 is immune to all status changes, at least I think so...
Note3:If Failure Gene is used, Ryu becomes regular Kaiser

Myrmidon: Force, Trance
HP=*1.8
Attk=*4
Def=*1.5
Int=*1.2
Agil=*1.5

Tiamat: Shadow, Trance
HP=*2.5
Attk=*2
Def=*7
Int=N/A
Agil=*1.5

Trygon: Flame, Thunder, Frost
HP=*2.2
Attk=*1.8
Def=*10
Int=N/A
Agil=*1.5

Wildfire: Miracle, Thorn, Reverse
HP=/10
Attk=*3
Def=*5
Int=N/A
Agil=*1.5

Mammoth: Miracle, ???
HP=*10
Attk=*2.4
Def=/2.5
Int=N/A
Agil=*1

Pygmy: Mutant, ???
HP=*1
Attk=*.1
Def=*.5
Int=N/A
Agil=*2

A bunch of them have N/A for INT. That just means they don't have any skills
that use the INT ability, so there was nothing for me to reference to.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Item drop rate stuff

- Items never have more than a 95% chance of dropping or less than 5%.

- Charm doubles the already existing chance of an item to drop(i.e. if you're
going for a GooKing Sword the chance will go from 5% to 10%).

- After Charm goes into effect at the end of a battle, if you have a Midas
Stone equipped it adds an extra 5% or so to the total chance(that 10% for
the GooKing Sword goes up to 15%).

- The item that you can steal from the monster has double the chance of
dropping than the item that can't be stolen after battle.

=============================================================================

10. Acknowledgements

This guide should only be found on the following sites:
Video Game Strategies - www.vgstrategies.about.com
GameFAQs - www.gamefaqs.com
Esper Online - www.esperonline.com

Mike - My best friend. Awwwwww...

Capcom - For making my favorite game of all time.

Fritz Fraundorf - For his great BOF3 FAQ that helped me figure out a lot of
(ErgGibbon) things about getting through the game as well as how to get
IRT Kaiser (Kaiser 2 he calls it... I think), as well as
inspired me to figure out that darn Shisu thing.

Darkstorm - For writing an FAQ so late after the game's release to inspire me
to get off my lazy butt and write this thing, also for the info
on the Manly Clothes and Tiamat's immunity to bad status effects.

Chad Pautler - For info on what the Berserkr drops, pointing out you
([email protected]) can fight the Arch. and Ber. in the container building,
pointing out a little screw up I made in the Berserkr
section, and the info on bringing over skills as Kaiser

BlakRose and Id 42 - The only 2 people that noticed my screw up regarding a
certain something in the Philosophy section.

I would like to thank the following people for information for the philosophy
section:

Kurt Lisenbardt
BlakRose
Wja222
William Steinke
Jason Poole
Britannica.com
Dictionary.com
Men at Arms - swords.co.za
TinkerBlades - tinkerblades.com

If I have forgotten anyone(I don't think I did), let me know.

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