Spar, or Aspara Gus in the Japanese version, is a playable character who appears in Breath of Fire II. The game's end credits reveal his full name to be Aspara Gus, a pun on the real world vegetable of the same name.
Ryu and his party can come across Spar very early in the game by visiting the circus tent, but he's not important to the plot until much later in the game when the group requires his assistance to communicate with the dying forests. The Circus Director, having been possessed by a Demon, threatens to have monsters kill Spar to gain some fame for the circus. The party intervenes and defeats the director, only to realize the Spar has been a willing captive the whole time, waiting for people who know something is wrong in the world. Spar joins the team and aids them by communicating with the great trees throughout the world. He is also pivotal in partially restoring the mind of the Wise Tree by helping Ryu and the party enter his mind and defeat the demon inside.
Spar is very knowledgeable, but his personality is rather cool and inexpressive. He displays very little emotion, even when faced with the prospect of being killed by monsters at the circus. Spar's primary drive for fighting with Ryu is his duty to protect nature from the negative impact of the demons. Spar's field ability is "Forest Walk." With Spar in the lead, they can walk through forest areas that are otherwise inaccessible to the rest of the party.
Spar is an overall weak character in battle with average stats except for incredibly high HP and AP growth. He utilizes whips, but his attack power is lacking and does not acquire many useful damaging spells, limited to single target ice magic. Spar's strength lies in the plethora of buff and debuff spells they receive, making him an ideal support character and secondary healer. Spar's battle ability is "Nature," which depending on the geography will produce different results, such as exploding cacti, trees literally attacking, healing, etc. This ability is useless in areas without nature (i.e. dungeons such as towers or underground areas). Due to their high AP and magic damage being largely fixed damage, Spar is a great choice for teaching spells to from Barose.
Spar has the most Shaman transformations available out of any characters. He can become a small bulb-like plant, a Mushroom Maiden, or a dragon-like plant. Each of these transformations help to bolster his naturally low combat ability. The bulb form makes him physically more durable, replacing his Nature skill with Bud. Bud sacrifices a single turn to allow Spar to attack a random opponent the next turn at twice his usual offensive power. With an Atk-Up boost and strong weapon, this move can be devastating in a boss battle. The Mushroom Maiden form enhances Spar's stats across the board and can be augmented more than other Shaman forms since only the Water Shaman is needed to make this form. As a result, you can give it a slight boost to other stats depending on the second shaman used in the transformation. In this form, Nature is replaced with Spore, which a chance to inflict Sweet Breath on all enemies susceptible to sleep. However, the skill also has a chance to backfire due to a strong headwind (determined before the skill is used) instead putting the party to sleep. The dragon form makes him a much quicker fighter with a slightly higher critical hit rate and stronger offensive power. However, it retains the Nature ability rather than getting a unique special command.
Spell list[]
Abilities
Level
Name
In-game description
Effect
AP Cost
Default
Cold
Ice stone Single
Deals 30 Ice Damage to one enemy.
4
Default
Cure 1
Recover HP 40 points
Restores 40 HP to one ally.
4
Default
Ag-Down
Lower the enemy's Agil
Inflicts one enemy with Agility-Down, decreasing their Agility by 50%.
5
Default
Pwr.Down
Lowers the enemy's Off.
Inflicts Power Down on one enemy, decreasing their Power by 12.5%.
5
Default
Def.Down
Lower the enemy's Def
Inflicts Defense Down on one enemy, decrease their Defense by 50%.
5
Default
Hush
Seal spells
Inflicts Silence on one enemy.
5
Default
Ag-Up
Agil. up temporarily
Gives one ally Agility-Up, doubling their Agility. NOTE: This spell is bugged and doesn't work as intended.
4
14
Def-Up
Raises Defense
Gives one ally Def-Up condition, increasing their Defense by 20%.
5
16
Idle
Seal the enemy's movements
Inflicts Sleep on one enemy.
6
18
Exit
Escape from a dungeon
Escapes from a dungeon
8
19
Warp
Warp to a town.
Warp to any previously visited town.
8
21
Sap
Absorbs an enemy's HP
Steals 30% of an enemy's HP with a cap of 30 HP.
5
22
Drain
Absorb the enemy's AP
Steals 30% of an enemy's AP with a cap of 30 AP.
0
26
Cure 2
HP recovers 100 points
Restores 100 HP to one ally.
7
28
Freeze
Freezing snowstorm Single
Deals 100 Ice Damage to one enemy
10
30
Shield
Damage by spell is weakened
Gives Wisdom Up. condition to one ally, doubling their Wisdom.
6
32
Def-UpX
Def. Increases
Gives all allies Def-Up condition, increasing their Defense by 20%.
10
36
Atk-Up
Off. up temporarily
Gives Attack Up condition to one ally, doubling their Attack.
6
Etymology[]
Spar was named "Aspara Gus" in the Japanese game, though this was truncated to Spar in the English version due to the four character limit programmed into the game.
