Main Walkthrough

A fixture of the Breath of Fire series that began in the third instalment, the Faerie Village is the most expansive and time-consuming side quest in the game, aside perhaps from fishing. Undertake this project and you'll get to, effectively, grow your own little village from the bottom up, and unlock a series of useful services in the process. The Faerie Village requires fairly little effort on your part, and is absolutely worth the time.

(Thanks again to slivers7's Secrets FAQ. It helped me with a few lists.)

Unlocking the Faerie Village

Shortly after your arrival in Rhapala the party will need to fix a nearby lighthouse, and in doing so they'll run afoul of a smarmy, angry faerie named Cadis. Cadis will demand Ryu and friends deal with a monster, and will give them the Faerie Tiara needed to travel back and forth between the normal world and the realm of the faeries. Use the flower rings on the world map to teleport to the faerie's home and you can fight and defeat the creature.

When you return to the Faerie Village later in the game, once Ryu has grown up, Cadis will demand he work with the faeries to make the place thrive. At this point you gain control of the village, and can begin building it up. Speak to Cadis, near the original tiny cottage in this area, to issue commands to the faeries.

Faerie Stats

When you speak to Cadis you'll be taken to the Faerie Village menu. The faeries are represented as little people on the menu, and you can move them around to perform different tasks. Each faerie has four bars which determine how good a faerie is at a particular activity. The bars are as follows:

  • Red (top bar) - Measure of faerie's physical aptitude, and determines how good the faerie will be at hunting and exploring
  • Green (second bar from top) - Measure of faerie's aptitude at manual labor, and determines how quickly they will clear land and build a larger settlement
  • Dark Blue (third bar from top) - Measure of faerie's business skills, and determines how quickly the faerie will acquire new items for sale when employed as a merchant
  • Light Blue (bottom bar) - Measure of faerie's mental aptitude, and determines how quickly the faerie will perform research tasks
So long as your little colony has plenty of food (more on that momentarily) and hasn't hit the population cap of 20 faeries, more will periodically be born. Their stats upon birth are random, and your new recruits will run the gamut of savants to average to almost useless.

Faerie Village Basics

When you first start out you'll have a small handful of faeries that you can boss around, and limited options. As you grow the village your options will expand, but at first you have one home and four activities for your faeries. They are as follows:

  • Hunt. Your faeries need to eat for the village to grow, so you need to put Hunters on the job. The food they collect is displayed in the top-left of the menu, and maxes out at 99. If the food count reaches zero your faeries will start to die off, so always make sure that you have at least a few faeries Hunting. (I usually start out with two faeries Hunting, then as the population swells I have about a third of them out Hunting.) A faerie's aptitude at Hunting is determined by the red bar in their stats.
  • Clear. In order for your faeries to construct more rooms for their village they need to Clear more land. The more faeries you set to this task, the faster the Clearing goes - though at first this job should fall to one faerie, at most. Clearing is pointless once the faeries have constructed all eight available rooms. A faerie's aptitude at Clearing is determined by the green bar in their stats.
  • Build. Once your faeries have cleared enough land you can set them to constructing new rooms. The little mansion they Build can have a maximum of seven rooms, for eight rooms in total. Once all eight rooms are built Building is, like Clearing, rendered pointless. A faerie's aptitude at Building is determined by the green bar in their stats.
  • Develop. You can assign faeries to Scholar jobs, which will allow them to build the village's Culture and think up new jobs. More on Develop below. You should start off with one faerie Developing Culture early, and another can work on Jobs once you have a second room.

And that, really, is... it. Maintaining the Faerie Village is very easy, and once the faeries start constructing new rooms and discovering new Jobs the real fun begins. Before we get to that, though, we need to discuss the passage of time.

Time

Time, insofar as the faeries are concerned, does not pass while you're in the Faerie Village. Everything pauses when you enter the realm of the faeries, and it starts up again for the faeries once you leave. This means that changes only occur in the Faerie Village when you're exploring the rest of the game.

Events in the Faerie Village are determined by the number of battles your team fights in the normal world. Each time you get into a fight the Faerie Village keeps track of this, moving Hunting, Clearing, Building, Developing, item acquisition, and other factors forward a tiny bit. How much progress the faeries make depends on the skill levels of the faeries involved, how many are helping out, and the Culture level of the village. 

That said, new faeries are always born every ten battles. If you want to make the most of the Faerie Village early on, find a location with lots of weak enemies (the Yraall Region works nicely for this purpose) and just slaughter monsters until you've maxed out your population. Remember to check in often if you do this, and reassign faeries to Hunting so the village doesn't starve.

Regardless of what happens when time passes, you can get a rough idea of what has happened since your last visit by checking the bulletin board near the entrance of the village.

Jobs

Any faeries assigned to work as Scholars can choose to research either Jobs or Culture. If you choose to assign a faerie to research Jobs it will, eventually, unlock new roles for the faeries, with a variety of different effects. You can then assign other faeries to carry out these jobs in one of the village's eight rooms. Assigning multiple faeries to a single job (to a maximum of three) will speed up any job that improves over time.

Any faeries not active in a job or other work appear in a bar at the top of the menu. These faeries will loiter around the village and wait for something to do.

Scholar

As indicated above, Scholars can research one of two things:
  • Culture. The village's Culture level is indicated at the top of the Faerie Village menu, and can rise to a maximum of seven. The higher this number, the more quickly faeries complete their tasks. (Culture also seems to have an effect on the upper limits of which items Merchants put in their shops, as well as when Jobs unlock, though I'm not 100% positive on the correlation. Other guides don't seem to mention this fact.)
  • Jobs. Have a faerie research Jobs and they will unlock new roles for your faeries over time.
The light blue bar indicates a faerie's aptitude for working as a Scholar. The higher the bar, the faster the Scholar will conduct their research.


Merchant

Faeries assigned as Merchants will open up shops in the village. There are three different kinds of shops your faeries can open:
  • A Weapons shop, which sells primarily weapons and armor
  • An Items shop, which sells primarily items
  • A Handyman shop, which sells a mixture of equipment and items
In addition to the three types of shops, you can also indicate which course you want the shop to take, and can choose between Speed and Ability. The course you choose changes the items available for purchase in the shop. A complete list of what you can find in each different shop appears at the end of this guide, because the list is... huge.

Merchants start out with only one item available for sale, and will add more over time. The dark blue bar indicates how quickly a faerie will add new items to their stock. If you change the shop to something else all stock will be lost, and if you start the shop up again you'll need to start over from the first item.


Inn

An inn. Pretty simple. For 10 zenny you can use the inn to rest and save. If you assign a second faerie here it will give you information on your combat stats, such as how many enemies you've fought, while a third faerie will provide information on your treasure hunting skills and fishing prowess. 

The quality of the faeries in charge of the inn doesn't matter to its services, so you can dump your poor-stat faeries here.

(I swear the 2,222 monster encounter count in the screenshot was complete luck. First time I tried it out.)


Gift

The faerie manning the Gift shop will give the player a free item with each visit. The quality of the item varies based on the number of battles since your last visit. Each of the potential three faeries keeps track of their own item count, so you can get three items per visit - or grab two and leave the third to build up a bit more.

The items you can collect from the Gift shop are as follows:
  • 1 battle - Healing Herb
  • 2 - 3 battles - Antidote
  • 4 - 6 battles - Vitamin
  • 7 battles - Fish-head
  • 8 - 10 battles - Vitamin
  • 11 - 15 battles - Panacea
  • 16 - 20 battles - MultiVitamin
  • 21 - 25 battles - Firecracker
  • 26 - 30 battles - Icicle
  • 31 - 40 battles - Life Shard
  • 41 - 50 battles - Magic Shard
  • 51 - 60 battles - Power Food
  • 61 - 70 battles - Protein
  • 71 - 76 battles - Swallow Eye
  • 77 battles - Coupons
  • 78 - 80 battles - Swallow Eye
  • 81 - 90 battles - Fish-head
  • 91 - 200 battles - Wisdom Fruit
  • 201 - 499 battles - Shaman's Ring
  • 500+ battles - Spirit Ring
(The only item worth strategically farming via Gifts is the Fish-Head, which permanently raises a character's Int by one. Everything else takes too long.)


Fortune

Faeries assigned to Fortune provide either silly comments or, for higher-quality faeries, tidbits of information about Breath of Fire III that you may not have already known. The higher the faerie's light blue stat bar, the more likely you'll learn something of value. Each faerie you assign to Fortune will provide their own piece of info. It's a neat Job, but not particularly important.


Explorer

Faeries who become Explorers head out on expeditions into the wider world. When setting up this Job you choose between one of three options - Daytrip, Nearby, or Distant - and then wait for the faerie to come back. The faerie will either return with an item, return empty-handed, or... not return at all. The length of the trip determines the value of the item, as well as the likelihood that the faerie will return. A faerie's red bar stat determines how likely they are to successfully Explore.

Given the danger of faeries dying at the end of a journey, you may want to save your game before entering the Fairy Village. You can reset your game if a high-stat faerie failed to return. Failures are noted on the bulletin board at the edge of the village. You can also save-scum the item a faerie brings back from an expedition, as the item is chosen randomly from a list when you speak to the faerie.

Note that you must essentially set the Explorer Job up again from the village's menu after an expedition. Until you do this the faeries in the shop will stay there.

You can potentially receive the following items from a successful expedition:
  • AP Shells
  • Artemis' Cap
  • Beads
  • Breastplate
  • Clay Vase
  • Demonsbane
  • Dirty Rags
  • Dragon Tear
  • Fish-head
  • Flame Shield
  • Force Armor
  • Ghostbuster
  • Hawk's Ring
  • Hidden Dagger
  • Ice Shield
  • Ivory Charm
  • Ladon Icon
  • Lacquer Helm
  • Life Shard
  • Lithograph
  • Magic Shard
  • Magma Armor
  • Marbles
  • Mind Shield
  • Mithril Helm
  • Moldy Vase
  • Moon Tears
  • Moxa
  • Myria Icon
  • Old Painting
  • Power Food
  • Protein
  • Rare Book
  • Ring of Fire
  • Spirit Ring
  • Swallow Eye
  • Tea Cup
  • Wisdom Fruit
  • Wisdom Seed

Antiques

The Antiques shop purchases items you find that 'appear valuable' for an inflated price compared to normal shops. For this reason you should never sell anything that 'appears valuable' before you've set up an Antiques shop, as you can make a lot of money selling your stuff here. The Antiques shop pairs well with the Explorer, as Explorers often bring home high-value antiques.


Music

The Music shop allows you to listen to Breath of Fire III's soundtrack. The shop will start off with a single song and add more over time. If you include a second faerie they will play an additional song from the game's ending, once you have a 'Clear' file (in other words, you've beaten the game and saved). 


Casino

Faeries assigned to the Casino will allow you to play one of two games of chance. The quality of the faeries doesn't make a difference to the games.

The first game is High & Low. In this game you put up to 100 zenny into a pot and receive nine cards. The first card is revealed, and you need to decide if each card after is higher or lower than the card that came before. Choose 'Set' when you're content with the number of guesses you've made. If every guess you made is correct then money goes into the pot. How much depends on how many cards you guessed correctly. If you mess up on even one card, though, the house keeps the pot. When you're done playing you receive whatever money is in the pot.


The second game is Numbers. This time the pot is 500 zenny. In this game the faerie generates a three-digit number, and you need to guess the number is as few tries as possible. Each number is never used more than once in the sequence. After each guess you're told how many digits are correct, called a 'Hit', and how many are correct but in the wrong spot, called a 'Blow'.

If you guess the correct number within eight guesses you'll receive a prize. The prize you receive varies based on the number of guesses you made:
  • One Guess - Cupid's Lyre, GooKingSword (only from the second faerie, once you've beaten the game), Shaman's Ring, Spirit Ring
  • Two Guesses - Divine Helm, Lifestealer, Moon Tears, ShotgunShell, Speed Boots, Wisdom Fruit
  • Three Guesses - Ascension, Light Bandle, Wisdom Fruit
  • Four Guesses - Soul Gem, Vitamins, Wisdom Fruit
  • Five Guesses - MultiVitamin, Panacea, Vitamins
  • Six Guesses - Healing Herb, Vitamin
  • Seven Guesses - Green Apple, Rice Ball
  • Eight Guesses - Croc Tear, Rice Ball

Copy

The final shop unlocked is the Copy shop. Here faeries will take your items and attempt to make duplicates of them for you. If the attempt is successful you'll receive the original item and the copy, and if the attempt isn't successful you'll either get the original item back or receive a Rice Ball. The Rice Ball is a total failure, especially if you gave the faerie a high-value item.

A faerie's aptitude for working in the Copy shop is determined by their light blue stat bar. Given the dangers of using the Copy shop, you should a) Only appoint faeries with maxed-out light blue bars to work in the Copy shop, and b) Save before entering the village to check the shop. Used carefully, the Copy Shop is by far the best Job in the Faerie Village.

The better the item, the longer it takes for the Copy shop to finish their attempt. Each faerie in the Copy shop can work on a different item.


Merchant Stock Lists

The items listed below appear in these shops in this order. The more battles you fight and the larger the dark blue stat bar of the faerie in charge, the quicker your shops will receive stock.

Speed Weapon Shop
  1. Pointed Stick
  2. Waistcloth
  3. Bronze Sword
  4. Buckler
  5. Wind Cutter
  6. Crepe Cape
  7. Flame Talons
  8. Laurel
  9. Royal Dagger
  10. Spiked Gauntlets
  11. Ice Halberd
Ability Weapon Shop
  1. Pointed Stick
  2. Waitscloth
  3. Bronze Sword
  4. Crepe Cape
  5. Flame Talons
  6. Amber Breastplate
  7. Piercing Pike
  8. Katzbalger
  9. Protectors
  10. Tiger's Cap
  11. Ouroboros
Speed Item Shop
  1. Green Apple
  2. Vitamin
  3. Panacea
  4. MultiVitamin
  5. Ammonia
  6. Talisman
  7. Life Sandals
  8. High Boots
  9. Titan Belt
  10. Dream Ring
  11. Balance Ring
Ability Item Shop
  1. Green Apple
  2. Vitamin
  3. Panacea
  4. Ammonia
  5. High Boots
  6. Lion's Belt
  7. Napalm
  8. Dream Ring
  9. Balance Ring
  10. Barrier Ring
  11. Diamond Ring
Speed Handyman
  1. Berries
  2. Beef Jerky
  3. Clothing
  4. Flame Chrysm
  5. Napalm
  6. Bell Collar
  7. Angling Rod
  8. Belladonna
  9. Royal Dagger
  10. Holy Mantle
  11. Soul Gem
Ability Handyman
  1. Berries
  2. Beef Jerky
  3. Taser
  4. Tiger Claws
  5. Angling Rod
  6. Lion's Belt
  7. Bell Collar
  8. Soul Gem
  9. Holy Mantle
  10. Molotov
  11. Hidden Dagger

Main Walkthrough