History VideoGame / BreathOfFireII

** Foods that permanently boost certain stats by 1 point each[[note]]Dinker, GutsBL, LuckCndy, MisoSoup, PwrFood, & Stamina[[/note]] can be made from items bought in the item shop in Guntz, plus maybe some fish that you can buy from Daiye if you recruited him for your town. If one doesn't mind the monotony of stocking up on supplies and cooking over and over again, then you can max out your party's stats, regardless of level, by the game's halfway point.

* PowerUpFood: Biscuits (a fairly easy item to make) will permanently boost one character's stats by +1 per biscuit. If one doesn't mind grinding to get the proper ingredients, you can max out your party's stats, regardless of level, by the game's halfway point.

* UglyGuyHotWife: Ryu and Patty's parents. Their mom is a hot young winged woman who can turn into a gigantic dragon and their dad, while not necessarily ugly, is a normal old human:[[http://images.wikia.com/bof/images/2/2e/958876-bof2_ganer_super.jpg Ganer official artwork]] / [[http://images.wikia.com/bof/images/4/4b/Valerie.jpg Valerie official artwork]].

* DisadvantageousDisintegration: When hunting, Bleu/Deis [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill rains lightning bolts down on all the animals on the screen]]. This makes her the easiest character to hunt with... if you don't mind getting a lot of nearly-useless Charcoal. You ''can'' at least turn Charcoal into free Herbs by cooking (and then turn those into stronger items later), but that's only useful if you picked the Township option that lets you cook.

* DisadvantageousDisintegration: When hunting, Bleu/Deis [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill rains lightning bolts down on all the animals on the screen]]. This makes her the easiest character to hunt with... if you don't mind getting a lot of nearly-useless Charcoal. %%And despite some rumors, no, Charcoal is not useful for cooking.

* LastOfHisKind: Katt thinks she's one, as she's not seen any other [[BeastMan Woren]] around. [[spoiler: Tiga later explains to her that there are a very few of them scattered all over the world.]]

* LoveTriangle: Torubo hates Sten for abandoning the Princess, who loves him. Made more complicated by the fact Torubo pines for the Princess, himself.

* RepulsiveRingmaster: The Chief of the traveling circus, who keeps an imprisoned Grass Man as a star attraction. He eventually grows frustrated with the Grass Man's waning popularity and plans a blood sport where he'll feed the Grass Man to a monster. As you have need of a Grass Man's aid at that point, you intervene and are offered a choice between paying an exceedingly large sum of money or going and fetching a replacement creature for the event. No matter which you offer the ringmaster (the money, the creature, or just telling him to fuck off), he'll turn into a mammoth demon and fight you.

** The Queen of Tunlan was a gluttonous creature that desired nothing but to consume. Ryu and his party kill the demons inside of her before she becomes a full demon

** The eighth deadly sin, Despair, also makes an appearance with [[spoiler:Father Ganer]] who begs for death in his despair. [[spoiler:Sparing him can net the player the good ending]]

** The giant plant boss fought at the Hunter's Lodge is called [[Literature/FlowersForAlgernon Algernon]]. The two underlings it calls in battle are called Lienda and Eskey, anagrams for Daniel Keyes, the author of the novel.

* WiseTree: Gandaroof the Great Wise Tree. There are also several "minor" trees around the world.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: Surprisingly few examples for a game of its time. Among the worst, most blatant Bowdlerisations is the writing of man-crazy witch's name Nimpho Mani (as in, nymphomania) as Nimufu Mani.

* ButThouMust: Quite a few, such as when Petape [[BrokenBridge sinks your boat]], leaving you with no way out of [=SimaFort=] and therefore no choice but to save Jean. She later forces you to [[ForeignQueasine eat the food]] during the CookingDuel, then complains when you [[VomitDiscretionShot find it unpalatable.]]

* PunnyName. Alzheimer (Aruhamel), Aspara Gus (Spar), Eichichi ([[BoobBasedGag chichi literally means "udders"]]), Land Marks (Rand) and Nympho Mani (Nimufu) were LostInTranslation. Algernon and Township made it in, though. The FanTranslation preserves Eichichi's PunnyName by naming her Gigi Kupp.

* PunnyName. Alzheimer (Aruhamel), Aspara Gus (Spar), Eichichi ([[GagBoobs chichi literally means "udders"]]), Land Marks (Rand) and Nympho Mani (Nimufu) were LostInTranslation. Algernon and Township made it in, though.
** The FanTranslation preserves Eichichi's PunnyName by naming her Gigi Kupp.

** Finding the guy who teaches Ryu's Elemental Dragon upgrade isn't terribly obvious. Fittingly enough, the Prima Strategy Guide actually references this secret with the heading, "Why People Buy Strategy Guides". Miss your first chance, and Wildcat, a boss who would be a total pushover with said upgrade, instead becomes ThatOneBoss and you have no way of going back for the upgrade. Your second chance lasts the whole game after a certain point, but it's still quite well hidden. And you don't get the "G. Dragon" upgrade, which surpasses it, until very late in the game. Up to that point ''every boss'' is ThatOneBoss because they are all designed expecting you to be using the Elemental Dragons and therefore dealing far more damage than you're capable of with your pathetic Elemental Puppies.
** Avoiding the BittersweetEnding requires picking out a certain NPC to live in your new village, saving [[spoiler: the old man strapped to the Eye Machine boss]], and finding the hidden control room under the village. Miss the first, you'll never see the third. Miss the second, you'll never get the third to work. You'll not get a single hint as to what it does until you've already got it working.
** The Township's potential inhabitants themselves are a large GuideDangIt on top of that. To the uninitiated: From an early point in the game, you're tasked with turning a single run-down building into a bustling town. The first step is to find a carpenter to build a few houses; the choice of carpenter decides the layout and style of the residential buildings, as well as the function he and his wife serve in their own building. (Hint: The one you want will eventually allow you to cook items, which is a huge GameBreaker when you consider that you can buy two cheap items and turn them into one item that permanently raises one's stats.) Pick a carpenter you don't like, and you can't change them. More to the point, your town has a rather paltry maximum of six houses, so if you're too generous early in the game, you're stuck with losers like Poo (who sits around thanking you and eventually sells an item... ONCE) or El (who literally does nothing). Inviting some of these losers leaves you unable to give houses to people like Yozo (who offers the unique deal of raising one's max AP) or the {{Permanently Missable|Content}} Barose (who offers the equally-unique deal of granting spells to any party member you want). The real problem comes into play when you realize that each tenant will only occupy a "certain" house in the township; if you invite El, you can never invite Yozo. A real GuideDangIt for people wondering why a prospective tenant suddenly lost all interest in moving into your town.

** The first battle with Barubary.
** Optionally, the duel with Tiga.

* IHaveYourWife: [[spoiler:The Church of St. Eva]], after Rand's mother refuses to donate her land.

* InformedDeformity: It would make a lot more sense if Nina's black wings were actually... y'know, ''black''. This might be explained by 1) with the 8-Bit engine, if they really ''were'' black, they'd likely just look like a shadow following her, and 2) you meet Nina around the same time you meet Patty, so the colour change was so you wouldn't mistake one for the other.

* LastOfHisKind: Katt thinks she's one, as she's not seen any other [[BeastMan Woren]] around. [[spoiler: Tiga later explains to her that there are very few of them scattered all over the world.]]

* LongLostRelative: [[spoiler: Patty is actually Yua, Ryu's sister]]. This is barely alluded to, with only one quick line ("[[spoiler: I want my brother!"]]) despite being a central aspect of the TheDragon's plan, and is never followed up. See WhatHappenedToTheMouse

* MissingMom: [[spoiler:She's around; she's just not able to do much, what with the whole "[[BarrierMaiden holding closed the door keeping the horde of demons and their god from escaping Infinity]]" thing.]]

* MoneyForNothing: Get the cook carpenter for Township, and you'll be able to make gold bars out of fish or other cheap things.

** Monster Island.

* TournamentArc: Coursair's battle tournament. Subverted by Augus, the crooked manager, into a BloodSport.

** After Patty ([[spoiler:who is really Yua, Ryu's long-lost sister]]) serves her purpose in the plot, close to the end game, she is unceremoniously thrown in the tall grass and ''never seen again''.

* BoringButPractical: Chopchop[=/=]Slice only does around 60 damage, but it’s consistent, defense-piercing damage that doesn’t miss, and there’re several late-game monsters that have high defense who fall very quickly to it.

* BreatherEpisode: The next major dungeon after the [[ThatOneLevel brutal]] and fairly dark Highfort sequence is going into the Tunlan queen’s body. In contrast to the previous dungeon, you can back out at any time to go get supplies, the enemies are far easier, and the mood is generally lighter.

* RealityEnsues: When Ryu (or whoever is in front at your party at the moment) eats cuisine made with worms, roaches, and flies, they naturally throw up.