Breath of Fire III/The Desert of Death

The Factory
It is advisable to take Momo with you on this mission, as you will need her bazooka. Among the enemies you will encounter in this area are the Egg Gangs: try to eliminate them quickly and pay close attention to their Ovum attack. At the first fork, go northeast and follow the path until you find a chest with a Wisdom Seed. Go back, take the other path and you will find another fork. Take the path on the right and follow it until you find a chest with an Artemis' Cap. Go back, take the other path and at the next fork go west to find a Skill Ink in a chest. Go back to the junction, head right, and take this path all the way up to the entrance of the Factory.

Immediately go up the stairs on the right to find an Ammonia in a bag. Then take the corridor to the left and enter the door at the end. In this room there is a hidden ladder, go down to find a Rockbreaker. Then take the path to the left and at the fork turn left. You will notice a wall with cracks. Destroy it with Momo's bazooka to find an Aries Spear. At this point go back, head right and go up the stairs. Climb again and follow the path until you find a chest with a Fish Head. Go back and enter the door you saw earlier, ignoring the switch.

You will enter a room with power lines on the floor and switches. You will not be able to cross active power lines and if one of your characters steps on them, he will take damage. Only two switches will be accessible at the beginning. Activate the leftmost one first, then activate the right one as well, without hitting the electric shocks. You will have to be quick, because the switches reset after a few seconds. If you do everything correctly, you will be able to proceed northwest, otherwise you will have to start over. Fortunately, there are no enemies here. Go down the stairs and retrieve a Homing Bomb from the chest on the right. Then enter the door on the left. Follow the path and enter the first door you encounter to find a Sage's Frock. Go back and enter the next door at the end of the path. If you haven't taken the Homing Bomb yet, go up the ladder to the left and flip the switch to reach the chest. Then proceed to the right. You will have to operate the switch on the right to raise the platform and reach the control panel. By reading the instructions, you will learn that you will have to use the robot in the area below to hit the switches. The robot will move in the same direction as you walk, to hit the switches you have to press the triangle button. However, in order to reach all the switches, you will have to take advantage of the obstacles in the room, to "trap" the robot and increase the distance between you and it, in order to have a greater range of action. After turning off all power lines, go up the ladder on the left and follow the path to the end to find an Hourglass. Then enter the door you passed and go up the long staircase. Hit the left panel of the door with Ryu's sword or Momo's bazooka to open it. After passing through the door you will find yourself on the World Map, but after just a few steps, you will automatically camp.

Crossing the Desert
You will find yourself in a camp on the edge of the desert. Next to the tent there is a diary, with which you can use like in all the usual camp operations. Then talk to Horis, who will teach you how to travel in the desert. First, you will learn that you will have to travel at night, because during the day the heat is excessive. You will therefore have to camp during the day and walk at night. If you camp at dawn, you will resume your journey exactly at the beginning of the night. Then, during the crossing of the desert you will have to regularly drink a ration of water. One ration is enough for everyone. If you don't, your characters will start taking damage and a prolonged lack of water could permanently lower your maximum HP value. You will then have to pay close attention when he explains the path to follow. The only way to orient yourself in the desert is to observe the stars. In fact, the following stars will appear in the sky:


 * North star: always appears in the north and is fixed, always in the same position
 * Fake north star: appears in the north-east, but not always in the same position; not to be confused with the true north star
 * Evening star: appears in the west, but not always in the same height and position

To reach the oasis, your destination, you will have to follow the following path. Walk north until the evening star in the west is exactly above you. It takes about 2 nights. At this point, start walking east, thus turning your back to the evening star. You will have to proceed east until you can no longer see the evening star, which, as you walk east, will drop lower and lower. When the evening star has disappeared on the horizon (it takes 2 to 3 nights), head north again. In another 2 or 3 nights you should reach the oasis.

However, there are also a couple of shortcuts. When you see the evening star directly above you, you can just follow the fake north star to reach the oasis. Or, at the very beginning of the journey, you can head north-northeast, between the north star and the fake north star and walk straight ahead.

Finally, Horis will tell you to bring a radka (a cross between a camel and a sheep) with you. Should you ever get lost in the desert when camping out, you can use the radka to immediately return to your starting point and start over. Before going out into the desert, however, make sure you get the water from the jar next to the tent. You will have 16 rations of water in all and to drink it you will only need to access the menu of items. When you are ready, leave the camp to begin the crossing of the desert. Messages will automatically let you know when it's time to drink and camp. Camp times during the day function like any other camp. As you walk, however, it may happen that you have to face battles. It typically happens a couple of times a night. You will find yourself in a random battle field similar to those you have always found on the World Map. You will then have to fight the enemies you meet and, if you want, find the bag. Among the enemies you will encounter in the desert there is one called Magmaite, which when defeated leaves several EXP points. After leaving the battle field, however, you will have to be careful to be facing in the right direction before resuming the journey. To be sure, look at the stars. This also applies to every time you camp. When your journey finally stops and a dialogue sequence between your characters starts, it will be the signal that you have made it and that you have passed the desert. Before reaching the oasis, however, you will have to deal with a boss.

Boss Fight - Manmo
HP: 3200

This boss is very easy to defeat, so don't worry if you encounter him in poor health or with other party members than you would have liked. Manmo is able to cast Quake and has a high counterattack capacity, but that's it. Ryu can transform into a dragon with the Force and Gross genes, while the other 2 party members will need to land their best shots and heal when needed. For this battle it is not strictly necessary to use support spells, such as Shield and the like. If you have Rei in the group, his Weretiger is very useful as always. If Ryu has a high AP value, you could use his Ultimate Kaiser form, transforming with the genes Infinity, Trance and Radiance. This way, you will eliminate Manmo in no time.

After defeating the boss you will automatically camp. You will discover that Nina is sick and that in these conditions you cannot proceed. After talking to everyone in the party, head to the radka outside the tent. Kill it with a sword and bring the meat of the radka to Nina inside the tent. The meat of the radka has indeed healing properties. With the sacrifice of the radka you will thus be able to reach the oasis.