I’ve got some tips for first-timers getting into Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter.

The aim of this guide is to give non-spoilery pointers that should enhance your experience and make certain tough or critical sections a lot more manageable for you. With that said, don’t feel bad about having to look up a guide for this game, as I had to many times. ;)

Config

Most players will recommend mapping the “Confirm” button (default: X) and “Action” button (default: also X) to Triangle so to separate the “Confirm” and “Action” actions.

Beginning of the Game

Buy mostly Heal Kits in the beginning. You'll need them more than anything else. Do not be stingy with Heal Kits, since there are no “Inns” to replenish HP.
Dungeons will have white boxes that carry miscellaneous items, and yellow boxes which hold more critical items, such as Party XP and Save Tokens, so ALWAYS seek them out.
Traps have two ways of being used on the field: standing stationary and pressing Square to set it down on the floor, or moving + pressing Square to toss the trap.
Have some Fresh Meat on you; this is the perfect bait trap to use against most enemies. When you see an enemy, toss the Fresh Meat towards them so they’re distracted, then attack them to get the initiative in battle.
Have Bosch initiate battles with his kick since he's more powerful than Ryu in the beginning. Press R1 on the field to switch to him, and the “Action” button to initiate the attack (you mapped it to Triangle, right??)

Battles

When getting an “EX Turn” in battle (gained by initiating combat on the field), use up all your AP in that turn, as it won’t carry over into the next turn.
To quickly end your turn in battle without sifting through the menu, press and hold R2 then press Triangle.
Sometimes skipping a character’s turn is a good idea, as you can pool more AP into the next turn and execute more attacks.
Use Bosch’s “Twin Wake” combo in battle: Poison Bite > Lion Smash.
Ryu’s “X-Blade” combo is a great combo for a large part of the game: Side Slash + Vert Slash.

Skills

Side Slash is a skill gained from the first “Lift” dungeon, inside a Blue Treasure Chest. You get a key to these frequent chests by defeating all the enemies on a floor.

Dungeon-Crawling

Explore every nook and cranny before descending/ascending to the next floor of a dungeon, to ensure you find any destructible boxes with important items.
A majority of the best equipment, even early on, is the stuff dropped by monsters that you need to appraise. You shouldn’t need to buy equipment from vendors too often unless you really need a skill from them.
Until the D-Counter appears in the top-right, you are free to use Ryu's D-Dash (R2) infinitely once it is unlocked. With it activated, you can push through enemies without getting into battle.

SOL System - Game Overs & Restarts

Scenario Overlay (SOL) refers to Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter’s built-in system of restarting the game from the beginning. Restarting the game can be done at any time from the menu by pressing L2 to “Give Up”. Alternatively, restarting the game can also be done after getting a Game Over.
SOL Restore: Lets you restart at your last save point while keeping your current level.
SOL Restart: Lets you restart from the beginning of the game.
Regardless of which SOL option is picked, the following applies:
- The following is retained after an SOL Restore/SOL Restart:
  - Zenny stored in the Ant Colony bank
  - Party XP
  - Skills
  - All items in storage
  - Ant Colony progress
  - Equipped Weapons, Shields, and Armor
- The following is reset:
  - Immediate item inventory (i.e. un-stored items will be replaced by 5 Heal Kits, 1 Tonic, and 1 Save Token. In the PAL version, you’ll get 9 Save Tokens to make up for the lack of a temporary quick save function).
  - D-Counter
    - SOL Restore: Resets to the percentage it was at the time of your last hard save.
    - SOL Restart: Resets to 0%.
  - Current Character Levels and XP
    - SOL Restore: Resets to the levels / XP at the time of your last hard save.
    - SOL Restart: Resets to Level 1.
  - Story Progress
    - SOL Restore: Resets to the progress at the time of your last hard save.
    - SOL Restart: Resets to Level 1.
  - Game World Completion (Rooms visited, enemies killed, chests opened)
    - SOL Restore: Resets to the progress at the time of your last hard save.
    - SOL Restart: Resets all game world completion.
You get a “Game Over” when being defeated in battle or if the D-Counter reaches 100%. If SOL Restore or SOL Restart is chosen after a Game Over, you lose half your Zenny and Party XP as an additional penalty. Because of this, it’s recommended to only use SOL Restore or SOL Restore from the menu, and not from a Game Over. Selecting “The End” after a Game Over and restarting from your last hard save will be the lesser punishment.
Restarting the game is encouraged because:
- You unlock additional cutscenes (marked by an SOL icon as they play) up to the point of your restart. These cutscenes add additional context to the story and characters’ motivations. Finishing the game results in unlocking all SOL scenes in subsequent playthroughs.
- Stored items, zenny, equipment, skills, and party XP are carried over. Once you have ample party XP, you can pump that into Ryu from the get-go and wipe the floor of the first couple of dungeons.
- There are ways to game the system to build up massive amounts of Party XP and Zenny to make the game more of a cakewalk!

Party XP

WORK IN PROGRESS!

D-Counter

Following a key story beat, the D-Counter will appear in the top-right corner of the screen. Once it reaches 100%, you will get a “Game Over”.
The D-Counter increases in the following ways:
- Out of battle:
  - Normal movement: .01% per twenty steps
  - D-Dashing: .01% per step, increasing to .05% per step.
  In battle:
  - End of turn in human form: .01%
  - 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 dragon form: 2%
    - Cooldown: 0%
So long as you’re not constantly using D-Dash and only using D-Dive for a couple of critical moments (such as during a battle where you’re at risk of being defeated), you won’t have to worry too much about hitting 100%.
It is critical that you ensure you have around 90% or lower D-Counter by the final boss fight.

Gaming the System

WORK IN PROGRESS!