Let's Play Suikoden 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Blossom]

But Valeria has a delightful bonus scene with one recruit, and a really nasty unite attack.

[Thad]

Hm, you make a good point.

[nosimpleway]

Oh fine, you brobdingnagian baby.


Freedy: After he agreed to surrender... That's when they took Lord Granmeyer's head and mounted it in front of city hall. He was a gentle man. 3 years ago, when he retreated from a border skirmish with the Toran Republic, all of Tinto called him a coward. As it turned out, surrendering to Highland was a bad mistake. If we had lived in a peaceful world, he would have been seen as a wise ruler. But gentleness is becoming a sin in this world. But despite that, I'm proud of Lord Granmeyer. ANd I will do everything in my power to save the city of South Window. ...To get to the Toran Republic, we need to take a boat from Radat, and cross the mountain road from the small town downriver.

But you know what we need to do before that? Recruit some folks.


Lebrante in Radat joins up if you bring him a Celadon Urn. He's your new appraiser.


Connell in Forest Village joins up as a "phonologist". He's able to change the system sounds for opening the menu or cancelling a selection, stuff like that. He's absolutely incapable of affecting a screenshot LP in any way.


And if you bring an animal to talk to Badeaux, he joins up too.


And he gives you two Listening Crystals (ha ha, Hearing-Ear), allowing you the very limited ability to talk to beasts, once each. So...


Back in Forest Village, there's a girl protecting a wounded gryphon from the people who want to finish it off.


Eventually they pause, because it screeches.


But mostly because the cry of a wounded gryphon called a few others.


It's quickly established that they're here to make a snack of their wounded compatriot. So we kill them! The battle is so unexciting that I didn't take any screenshots of it.


So if you choose to use the Listening Crystal...


The gryphon introduces itself as Feather and joins your army. For your compassion, Ayda the forest protector joins up too.

[nosimpleway]

Simone is looking forlornly into the Radat waterway, bemoaning the loss of his precious Rose Brooch. The Narcissist's Theme starts playing when you talk to him, so you can assume you'll get around to fetching it for him sooner or later as a recruit condition. Oh well.


Anyway, Freed nets us free passage downriver...


...through the mountains...


...and to the tiny, dirty, podunk backwater of Banner. And you thought Lakewest was a humble fishing village! This place got a glancing mention in the first Suikoden game: when the Imperial troops showed up at Mathiu's place to strongarm him back into military service, they threaten to send one of his students to work in the mines at Banner as blackmail. This is somewhat lost by the translation of that game calling it "Banaar"...

Music: Distant Skies


There's a Muteiu fanboy in the village. How cute!


Every other time I've played, Simone's Rose Brooch was in the rare finds of the item shop here, from where someone fished it out of the river after he dropped it upstream. All they've got this time is a Tomato seedling... so I take that instead.


Someone else offers a seedling potato. This place is like a goldmine for Tony!


Portrait!

[nosimpleway]

Hey, it's Anita! Somehow she got all the way here from Muse when Muse got sacked.


But her recruit conditions are the same. Refill her drink (proper sake this time, rather than "wine"), offer her an Antitoxin if she asks, flatter her if she wants to know why you're bugging her, and leave for the world map between questions. In this case, she kept bugging me for Antitoxin, and I don't have any. The Banner item shop doesn't have it, so I have to sail all the way to Radat. Once I got her one... she asked for another. I got her three just to be absolutely sure and she never asked for one again.


So I got Anita! Finally!


Then it's up the mountain path behind Banner. This dungeon is only noteworthy because the battles here use Suikoden 1's battle music instead of the one you've been hearing for all of this game.


The dungeon itself is long, linear, and boring. It really is a great callback to Suikoden 1!


Oh yeah, there's a completely arbitrary caterpillar boss on the way.


On the first turn, Muteiu's opening critical hit inflicts Knockdown, which is basically unbalance: you lose your action. Next turn, it's still unbalanced. Third turn it regains its ability to move, but is killed before it can get around to doing anything.

[nosimpleway]

Remember, the end of Suikoden 1 said Varkas got promoted to captain of the border guards. So he's protecting the way into Toran from...


Well, us.


Sheena gets him to relent, but he won't let State citizens run willy-nilly all over his nice new Republic. He gives us a personal escort to Gregminster.


Seems pretty familiar...

Music: A Song In Praise of Peace


Freedy is a nervous fidget for several minutes before we can get in to see the president.

[nosimpleway]

Oh. Um. I guess presidents do keep thrones around. You know, for the show of it, I'm sure.


Lepant has tamed some of those wild locks and pared down his mustache.

Lepant: As President, I welcome you to the Toran Republic. Now, what would you like to discuss?


Muteiu is to dumbstuck he's forgot how to words

Lepant: Lord Muteiu, When this land was ruled by the Scarlet Moon Empire, We fought constantly with the City-State. Even after the Toran Republic was established, we battled the armies of Tinto and South Window, who invaded in an attempt to take advantage of our internal discord. And despite all this, you seek to form an State among such long-standing enemies?
Freedy: If Luca Blight succeeds in destroying the City-State, the Toran Republic will surely be his next target.

You don't know that. After he scorches the earth in the City-State, his personal grudge is settled, and all that's left is a sort of aimless murderous hatred of everybody. He could hit the Grasslands or Zexen next, for all you know.

Lepant: This Luca fellow certainly does seem to have an unquenchable thirst for battle.
Freedy: As a citizen of South Window, I fought against you with Lord Granmeyer. Naturally it's hard for me to ask for your help. But Luca Blight seeks nothing less than the destruction of all citizens of the City-State. I will do anything for the people of the South Window. So please, I beg of you, please consider our request.
Lepant: Lord Muteiu, why do you continue to fight?


In a perfect callback to the first game, your answer is immaterial to the conversation at hand.

Lepant: Hmmmmm... You are much like him. I may be the president of the Toran Republic, but there's a young man who should be sitting on this throne.

Yeah, about that throne, I have some questions...

Lepant: He led tens of thousands of soldiers into battle and finally brought peace to our land. I see that same glimmer in your eyes that I did in his. You too represent the hopes and desires of all who follow you. Tesla, how many men can we deploy immediately?
Tesla: Uh, um... Counting the Capital Guards and the Border Patrol, about 5,000 men, sir.
Lepant: Then there's the matter of who will lead them...
Alen: General Valeria has come to Gregminster to report from Pannu Yakuta Castle.
Grenseal: Kasumi, the Vice-Chancellor of Rokkaku, is also in town for military training exercises. Either would make a trustworthy leader for our army.






Oh, in this case I just put it up to a vote. Let me just check the thread real qui--


You fuckers. I knew I shouldn't have invoked Friday's beauty contest with this, now I have to wait for somebody break the tie.

[Grath]

There. Fixed it.

[Friday]

I too vote for Valeria.

[Blossom]

Also, the special scene for Valeria is having her in your party and talking to Anita in that bar, before you recruit her :/

[Esperath]

Portrait!

hahaha

[Thad]

I went through the entire rest of the game wondering why the fuck she got a portrait.

For reasons I'm sure OGH will explain later.

[nosimpleway]

Despite Kasumi's early lead, Valeria makes a last-minute pull for the victory. Why do I have the feeling you guys are never going to vote her into the party now?


Lepant: This is the 'Blinking Mirror', one of the treasures of the Toran Republic. It was used in our war for independence, but now I suspect that you have more need of it than we do. If you use this item, you will return instantly to your castle. In the absence of its rightful owner, I respectfully loan it to the KISS Army, in your care.

And he forks over the other half of our transportation network.


Sheena: Huh? Me? I'm going to stay here. I'm out of play money, and besides, I just hate fighting.... Huh? What's wrong, dad? Owww! Hey, let go!
Lepant: I have a request for you, Lord Muteiu. Take my idiot son with you. He's not worth much, but maybe you can make a man out of him.
Sheena: W... wait a minute!
Lepant: Fool! I sent you into the world on a training mission, but you just frittered your time and money away!

...frittered? He fried his money into doughnuts?

Lepant: Learn from Lord Muteiu's example and end your childish behavior. And don't come back until you do.

So Sheena joins us as well.


...wait, hold on...


I do, in fact, want to go to Gregminster!


Ah, this takes me back.

[nosimpleway]

Music: The Even More Glorious Beautiful Golden City

Let's play reference to the first game counting game!




















Sometimes the references are characters who are still hanging around in Gregminster! Sarah's still doing laundry at the inn (although Marie's not present), and gives you a Cyclone crystal when you talk to her.


Only Cleo is present in McDohl manor.


But you can read Pahn's diary if you've forgotten his one outstanding character trait.


The sequel makes the entire city look better, overall: there are flowerbeds along the streets, and houses tend to have more furniture and decorations in them to make them look a little less empty and cavernous. Such as that secretary desk and couple of chairs in the hallway, there. Mute McDohl's room is laid out slightly differently, with a small cabinet in the back corner, a woven rug instead of what looks like a straw mat on the floor, and... a portrait of Ted on the wall.

[nosimpleway]

What used to be Kraze's office is now a museum dedicated to the hero of the revolutionary war. You can look at the bust on display, check out his clothes in the back, admire the replica Wolf Fang Staff on the wall, or steal a History of the Gate Rune Wars book off the shelf.


Lorelai gives Muteiu a once-over to make sure he's strong enough to join, but if there's actually a level-check involved the natural difficulty curve of the game gets you there, and she joins up without much else to say.


Gordon at the trading post will take you aside from the front counter to talk business. Well, business other than trading. Recruiting business. He'll agree to join up, once you manage to prove yourself...


That sounds like a lot, if you haven't been trading at all throughout the game. As it is a single Ancient Text got me halfway to his goal, and a couple Crystal Balls more...


...yeah, I had already met his goal before I walked in the door.


Gordon calls out his son Coates to pass on the responsibility for the business before he moves to Vania Castle. But the game expects you to have left the shop and come back, resetting Gordon's position at the front counter. When he calls Coates, the script handling his appearance gets a little messed up. Coates basically appears out of nowhere, like he popped out of the barrel next to Gordon, and stands staring at the wall for the rest of the conversation. Oops.


If you weren't super-lucky like I was and got Celadon Urns through random drops, you can buy one in Gregminster to deliver to Lebrante so he joins.


No, lady, you've got it all wrong. East of here are the arid steppes of Rockland and the towering Mt. Seifu. There may be a sea east of that but it seems like the fish might not be so fresh by the time they got all the way to Gregminster. Perhaps you're talking about Lake Toran, to the west? But then, how do you go fishing? At the naval fortress? You might have better luck going north...

[nosimpleway]

You can't get to the world map from Gregminster; there are guards at the gates who won't let you leave and roam the countryside unmonitored. You have to talk to Varkas to get out of the city, and all he does is take you back to the gate in the woods. Backtrack through the forest path back to Banner, and you'll find Ridley and Apple waiting for you.


That's... problematic.


You don't run my life! I got stuff to do!


Nameless server: That's right Hai Yo. I don't know what happened, but we're counting on you.
Hai Yo: It's no good! I just can't cook after something like that happened!

Hai Yo is pretty torn up about two people having committed suicide in his dining room.

Min Min: D, don't say such things...
Hai Yo: I'm giving up cooking!!!
Antonio: Ha ha ha ha ha!!!!! You give up too easily, Hai Yo!! You need more training!!


Antonio, one of the castle cooks from the first game, apparently followed us back from Gregminster without us noticing.


This screenshot is mostly to show that Antonio walked into the dining room for the rest of the conversation, and they aren't shouting at each other through the kitchen. Sometimes you have to post things like that in a screenshot LP.

Hai Yo: It's no good!!! I don't care about any stupid old 'Moon Bird Recipe'!!

Antonio responds by slapping Hai Yo.

Antonio: What do you mean, Hai Yo!!! You risked your life to steal the 'Moon Bird Recipe'!! And what about Shun Min? Think about her!!!! Think about why she went to the trouble to get you that recipe!!!
Hai Yo: Shun Min......

You can see where this is going.

[nosimpleway]

I'm not saying Antonio intentionally throws the match, but he actually serves nageteppo grenades for dessert.


Let's face it. He threw the match.


But Hai Yo buys it.


Gyokuran shows up to sneer at us some more, but for all the soldiers and security at the castle no one ever thinks to ever stop her.


Hai Yo issues a challenge! But Gyokuran isn't ready today, so she walks out.


Anyway, the BURNING PASSION is relit in Hai Yo's aproned heart, so Antonio hands over his ramen recipe and best wishes.

[nosimpleway]

The South Window region has been technically under Highland rule for a while now, but that didn't ever stop you from getting into Kuskus, South Window, or Radat. Now there are soldiers everywhere that act as roadblocks, and you can't get any further into Kuskus than the item shop or blacksmith.


The blacksmith's still on your side, though.


Oh, and this is the part where I noticed the third name the game has given to Badeaux's Hearing Ear Listening Mindfulness crystals. All this for a couple animals?

[nosimpleway]

This isn't a juncture where I'm putting up a vote for who goes into the party for the next segment, but speaking of Badeaux's crystals, whatever you want to call them...

You are given two crystals, and there are Four Animals to recruit, and frankly this whole part of the game is a mess.
You can spend a listening crystal on the gryphon to recruit Feather. If you want to get all 108 Stars of Destiny -- and I do -- you have to get Feather because Ayda joins along with him.
The unicorn is Siegfried. We've met him before, although the game didn't name him. You can go back to recruit the guy now if you want.
The first kraken is Abizboah. We haven't met him yet. Whether you get Sigfried or Abizboah, they fill a slot on the Stone Tablet of Promise.
The second kraken is Rulodia, and as she's Abizboah's wife, she only joins if you recruit Abizboah first. Since she, by programming oversight or design, is not a Star of Destiny, we won't be getting her under any circumstances. If you get both Abizboah and Rulodia, they have a baby kraken named Chuchara, an optional recruit so weak he makes the flying squirrels look great by comparison.

So you have another poll on your hands: do we go back and recruit Siegfried the Unicorn, or do we hold off for a minute and get Abizboah the Kraken in a little while?

---

In the meantime, I'll do the character rundown for our last couple recruits.

Name: Lebrante
Age: 40
From: Zexen
Position: Rearguard
Note: None

• He's a prickly old bastard, but once he gets a couple of drinks of sake, he'll sing yer ear off... What a racket!
• He shaves that head of his cause he can't stand the idea of hair falling onto his antiques.
• What the hell does he collect all those 'Celadon Urn' for anyway........

---

Name: Connell
Age: 12
From: Forest Village, Greenhill
Position: Rearguard
Note: Phonologist

• Connell's dad was a musician too, so he went to the Holy Kingdom of Harmonia to study so he could follow in his footsteps.
• He's worried about his little sister who he left in Forest Village. He asked the other villagers to watch after her, but still....
• Sometimes monsters hold onto Sound Sets too. I'm pretty sure it's those Doremi elf.....

I'll grind for runes, and I'll grind for vegetables, but I don't see myself shooting for the theoretical 100% completion and grinding out useless Sound Sets. I just went over all the mutually exclusive recruits, anyway, how can you even 100% this game?

---

Name: Badeaux
Age: 38
From: Grasslands
Position: Special Forces
Note: Beastmaster

• He's a beastmaster. He uses a rune called the 'Rune of Mindfulness' to talk to animals. I'll tell ya one thing though. He's not too good with human relations.
• Sometimes he feeds the pigeons up on the roof of the castle.

Badeaux is a buffer for your monsters. He's strictly mediocre by himself, but he comes with a Howling Rune that berserks any monsters in the party, from the mightiest kraken to the lowliest squirrel. He can unite with any two large-sized monsters to thrash an enemy for 150% of combined damage, and that berserks the monsters, too.

---

Name: Ayda
Age: 17
From: Deep in the forest near Greenhill
Position: Archer Captain
Note: Guardian of the Forest

• If you put her together with other people who use bows....
• With Ayda's 'Forest Walk' ability, you can pass through forest terrain as easily as if it were an open field. But be careful cause you can't do it if you also have Cavalry Ability in the same unit.
• She was born in the forest, her life is dedicated to protecting the forest, and she says she'll die in the forest...

Ayda is an archer. She's about the same as Kinnison and largely overshadowed by Stallion.
Alongside either Kinnison or Stallion, Ayda can join in the Bow Attack to hit all enemies for half combined damage. There's no unite for all three of them together.
Ayda's unit in army battles is only attack 6 and defense 5, but she can move faster through forests than she can over open terrain and comes with one Heal Self. So there's that.
Oh, and while it's not mentioned in-game, supplementary materials officially ship her with Kinnison.

---

Name: Feather
Age: 23
From: Unknown
Position: Special Forces
Note: None

• Yikes. Th, that thing is scary. I heard it came from some place called 'Something Valley'......
• How should I know!! You can't interrogate something that doesn't even speak our language, can ya!!!

Skree! Feather is the first of our large monsters, meaning he takes up two of the six slots available to put recruits in the tactical party (a trait shared by Siegfried, Abizboah, and Rulodia). He's brobdingnagian and strong and mean, but a little fragile -- those hollow bones you need to fly don't take hits well.
Feather has a Shining Wind rune, which grows more powerful as Feather's magic stat goes up. Initially it just provides a small damage bonus against flying enemies, but eventually he can whip up cyclones that damage all enemies a little and wreck all flying foes in sight.
Feather can team up with Sigfried for a Double Monster attack, unbalancing both of them but dealing triple combined damage in a single strike... in case that affects your voting at all.

---

Name: Anita
Age: 29
From: Nameless country
Position: Cavalry
Note: None

• Anita's swordmaster is some famous swordsman from the southlands. She got her 'Falcon Rune' when she completed her training there.
• She drinks too much. Also, women despise her cause when she gets drunk, she's willing to go home with just about anybody.

Anita's a high-Technique front-line fighter. She comes with a Falcon Rune, allowing her to double damage against an enemy at a slight penalty to hit... which is strange, because to my knowledge the Falcon rune can't miss. If you get her up to level 50 and unlock her second rune slot, she's okay with Lightning magic.

---

Name: Valeria
Age: 29
From: Toran Republic
Position: Volunteer Army General
Note: One of the 6 Generals of the Toran Republic

• She studied swordsmanship for 3 years from a famous swordmaster in the southlands. After that, she went back to the Scarlet Moon Empire, but her mind is still only on her swordsmanship...
• She got her 'Falcon Rune' from her swordmaster. Must be some kind of proof of her rank, I guess.
• She was born in a poor village and worked hard to get where she is. Her village was burned to the ground while she was away and all her childhood friends were all killed.

As swordsmanship goes, Valeria is just an eensy bit better than Anita. Anita has just a skosh better magic, but Valeria has better Strength and Luck. Valeria has her own Falcon Rune, of course.
If they're in the party together, Valeria and Anita can Unite for the Rival Attack, dealing triple combined damage to one enemy as they both go to town on a single target with their Falcon Runes. Valeria pushes herself just a bit further than Anita for the final hit, which unbalances her.
Valeria's army unit is attack/defense 8/8 and comes with Cavalry.

---

Name: Sheena
Age: 19
From: Kouan, Toran Republic
Position: Royal Guard
Note: Son of President Lepant

• It looks like his womanizing has caused a lot of embarrassment for President Lepant too, but he'll never be able to change his ways as long as he lives.
• It sounds like President Lepant was quite a playboy in his youth as well. That's why it's hard for him to be too tough on Sheena.
• Sheena has a soft spot for his mother, Eileen. I'll bet she really babied him when he was a kid.

Sheena's pretty mediocre, a straight middle-of-the-road red-mage type. The game tried to give him his dad's swordsmanship and his mom's magic, but he comes out pretty bland overall. Except...

---

Name: Lorelai
Age: 28
From: Queendom of Falena
Position: Archer
Note: None

• Basically, she's searching for the secrets of the Sindar, but 3 years ago she took part in the Toran Liberation War. I heard she's only interested in strong men.
• The Sindar are a mysterious tribe that came from the north and left ruins in every land they visited. They finally went south and just disappeared.
• She's got lots of rivals that are trying to solve the riddle of the Sindar before her. Lemme tell ya though, she's crushed more than a few competitors in her lifetime.....

Lorelai is a better choice for jack-of-all-trades than Sheena. Her Strength, Defense, Speed, and Magic Defense are all better than his are, with no stat at a worse growth rate, and she has better rune affinities. She threw away her bow from the last game and picked up Kirke's halberd from where he threw it away to become a farmer, so she has the capability to hit from the back row with better power than a bow user. Unless you really put some effort into Sheena, Lorelai is just plain better. I fully intend to put said effort into Sheena.
Lorelai gives +2 to the Defense of the unit she's in for army battles.

---

Name: Gordon
Age: 38
From: Rockland, Toran Republic
Position: Rearguard
Note: None

• I found one of his secret trade memos. Ummmmm..... 'Flutes to Forest Village, Deer Antlers from Forest Village'
• Secret Memo 2
  Furs to South Window, Deer Antlers from Rokkaku, Soy Sauce from Rokkaku, Wine from Gregminster
• Secret Memo 3
  Holly berries to Crom, Pearls from Rockaxe, Peeing Boy to Rockaxe, Flutes to Rockaxe, Holly berries to Rockaxe

Why bother with trading hints now? You've already been taking notes on how to make a profit off trading to recruit the guy, right?

---

Oh, and we missed out on...

Name: Kasumi
Age: 19
From: Rokkaku Hamlet
Position: Volunteer Army General
Note: Vice-Chancellor of Rokkaku Hamlet

• With Kasumi in your unit, you can find out your chance of a successful attack against a unit by using her 'Scout Ability'.
• Looks like she was born and raised in Rokkaku like the other ninjas. Maybe that's why she knows so little about the outside world.
• Once in awhile, she heads for Banner Village. I wonder if she's got a boyfriend there.

You'll never know, because we left her in Gregminster!

[Thad]

I've never gotten Abizboah so that's where I'm voting.