Let's Play: Breath of Fire IV - Part Eight

 Part Seven

 Masterpost

 Day Three: Apple of Her Eye

 I haven't known where my cheapo USB PS2 style controller has been for a while. I even turned over an entire room to find the accursed thing. Turns out I put it in my wardrobe for safe keeping after I bought the XBox360 controller to play Alice: Madness Returns with.

 However, now I've found it, I can finally chase after adorable Kiwi/Tapir/Boar hybrid monsters in the manner that the developers intended and without struggling with the keyboard screaming endlessly in frustration.

I want to cuddle it.

 There's an interesting quick note about the Apples. They are a recurring healing item in the series. I know that doesn't sound that impressive, but it's true.

 In this game you can head butt them from a tree for nothing and they heal for 100 HP a go. It's not a bad deal.

 Right, the thing with the monsters here is that once you've lured then in with an apple, you need to chase after them before their footprints fade. There's not a super huge margin of error here, which is why I failed so badly when I was using my keyboard.

 Additionally, the area is littered with traps laid by Mayor Flynn and his associate. Falling foul of one of those is going to make you lose the monster, so you need to avoid them or spring them ahead of time.

 Amusingly enough, the monster just runs straight through all of them without getting caught.

 Nice job Flynn, master trap maker that you are.

 I baited two stumps, one led me to a chest and the one near the entrance to this part of the forest led me to a new area. Once on the cliff area, going left garners you an AP healing item and going right takes you to the mayor.

 Who is hassling one of the monsters.

Bro. Not cool, bro.

 Of course, he then laughs about how great he is and how stupid the monster is in a classic case of hubris.

 Poetic justice comes for his ass after he says 'how'd you get so stupid anyway? Run in the family?' in the form of a much larger, and presumably mature, version of the monster he just killed.

 Of course, what with this being a video game, Zog and Co are the ones who actually have to fight it instead of the dude who murdered its young and called them names.

 I guess this makes Zog a poetic defence lawyer?

I'd make another Phoenix Wright joke, but Zog's a silent protagonist.

 This one's called Maman, which is the French for 'mum', so I guess this is a she. I'm also kind of guessing it's something of a pun, since she looks more elephantine than her young.

 She was a tough customer, as mothers defending/avenging their young often are, using a body slam move and earth magic to kill the party in order to get at Mayor Flynn.

 Sadly for her and her remaining young, she is defeated.

 Flynn thanks the party,saying that he is in their debt, before asking who they actually are.

 They end up going back to his house and discuss the village and why it's covered in traps.

 During the war with the Fou Empire, the people of Synesta used the tunnel that the party wants to use to escape the Empire and their hex attack. The traps are there in order to help protect the town against attack and to defend the tunnel in order to keep it open for the people of Synesta, should they need to use it.

 I have no idea how he thinks this is going to protect Kyria from the hex cannon, however.

 To be fair, Kyria is just a village, so it's unlikely that the Fou Empire would bother using such a heavy duty attack on it. It would be like nuking Dudley just to screw over the Brummies who fled there when you nuked Birmingham.

 Because hexes are definitely analogous to nukes in this world.

 When Nina asks if they can use the tunnel to travel to Synesta, the Mayor umms, but doesn't ah, as he basically goes 'sure' after a single word's worth of thought.

 The party gets a nights rest at the inn as they wait for him to open up the tunnel the next day.

 Wait, Zog's going to sleep as part of the plot?

 Could that mean...?

 Yes! Yes it does.

 Awesome.

 Fou-Lu here was rescued by a woodcutter who lives in the Zhinga Mountains named Bunyan.

 Bunyan is a reoccurring character in the series, although probably more in the 'Legend of Zelda' or CMOT Dibbler sense rather than actually being the same guy each time. That said, there are very few reoccurring characters in the series, aside from Ryu and Nina I can only think of two or three others, so Bunyan is definitely an anomaly.

 He originally showed up as a fighting woodsman in Breath of Fire II, and as a woodcutter in III.

 The important thing here is that he is a kindly soul who found the severely burned Fou-Lu and nursed him back to health.

 Fou-Lu, being the massive jerk that he is, tries to leave with imperious thanks and ends up collapsing again.

 He also manages to introduce himself in the rudest manner possible, just interrupting Bunyan partway through his sentence.

This is how interruptions are done in this game. Bunyan's text box came
up first.

 It's at this point that I realise that I've been spelling Fou-Lu's name wrong this entire time, so when I'm done with this post, I'm going to have to go back and change it.

 -Sigh-

 Bunyan is up on his history enough to note that Fou-Lu has the same name as the first emperor, and we all chuckle at his adorable naivete.

 At this point the narrative returns to Zog and Co. as Mayor Flynn bids the party farewell.

Well, this explains the parrot.

 Clearly Kyria is inhabited by inexplicable Australians.

 In fact... does everyone in this area have an Australian accent? It's food for thought, and since it's a desert area. Huh, I like this as a head canon.

 Of course, Cray here humorously falls down a pitfall trap.

 Oh, how we laughed.

 With this, we're finally on our way to the last known location of Princess Elina and the investigation can truly begin.

 We'll travel to Synesta next time, in Part Nine!