Part 79: Complimentary Yelling

All right, time to get involved in some dragon-horse shenanigans!



...after I go disappoint myself further at Oboro's incompetence.



And pick up some random characters to come along for the ride. With Lun and Logg forcing themselves into the party, Kisara would be a prime candidate, but things.



Also I realize this is very late in the game to bring this up, but the equipment system in Suikoden V is balls. You don't get a normal equip screen, but just the regular item menu (same as if you pick "items") and when you hover over a piece of equipment, it displays how much more (or less) PDF it'll give any character in the group who can equip it. However, this doesn't tell you what kind of an effect it has on your other stats. You can see if they go up or down, but it won't show you by how much.



In most games, you get something like this. Easy to read - this one grants +50 STR over my current body armour. That's cool.



In Suikoden V, the easiest way to find out how much of an effect it has is to equip your new piece of gear, then go back and look at how much it differs from your old one. So now we know the Scorched Earth Armour drops Bergen's speed by 12 points.

I've no idea why they'd do this, given in previous games you not only had the proper equipment screen, but also the ability to equip shit directly from the item menu, or even swap gear between characters.

It is dumb and I Do Not Like It. It's one of the very few things I will freely admit V does worse than IV.


It's related to the Night Rune, but, like the Dawn Rune, there's only one in the world. I wonder why she has it.

Things I would have liked to find out about when I paid a detective to look into ZerArse!


They give off the same vibe as my cohorts. I wonder if I give off that vibe, too...

Well you give off a kind of vibe...


I'm sorry, Prince. I was the one that put Chisato's letter in this box. I didn't know it was for one of her shows. I hope Chisato's not mad at me...

Mystery solved!


Hey, he was Belcoot's last opponent in the Sacred Games, right? Prince, please get rid of that guy!

I have something... special... in mind for Childerich, don't you worry.


So it wasn't Your Highness after all, eh? Now I'm angrier than ever!

What am I supposed to do about it?!


Why are you just standing around reading all these letters? Get to work!

You're not the boss of me and this is my work! Go back to bullying Richard, he seems to enjoy it.



Finally, Frey picked up a "Dusk" painting somewhere. He replaced the "Smile" on his wall. It brings back... unpleasant memories.

...Okay, fine, I did say we were going to see dragon horses. Let's just hop on over to Viki and have her tele



oh yeah, that.

This is actually something of a plot hole, Viki is definitely capable of teleporting us straight into Sauronix without passing any Godwin territory, and she force-joins in V so it's not as if they have to deal with a situation where the player may or may not have a teleporter on their side. But they wanted us to go underground, so.



As usual, we get a generic NPC standing in for unique NPCs who provide services in the castle.



And here we go.



With the path we opened up earlier, we can make it here without a single encounter if we get a little bit lucky. (music)

Dwarf Man: Some filthy humans are here!!!

wait that didn't go the way I imagined it

Huh? What kind of welcome is THAT?

Uh, Pop? They're... lookin' pretty mad! Like they're all thirsty for some... human blood!

Uh, I can see that! B-But whaddaya think I can do 'bout it?!

Dwarf Man: You! Was it you?!

Huh? Me?

Dwarf Man: Did you kill them?!

Uh... We... don't know what you're talking about!

Ancient Dwarf: He's talking about his comrades! They were killed, you see! Killed by... humans!

Humans...?

So were you the ones, humans?



We can get an influence point here for totally-not-our-next-party-member if we remember dwarves live underground and don't really care about the sun.

Hmm... Well, you don't look like you're lying, humans.



Young Dwarf: Hmmm... All humans look alike. Let me see... There weren't any womenfolk last time. Plus, they were taller than the young one and skinnier than the old one.
Probably wasn't them. But you can never tell with humans.

Gee. Thanks.

???: It wasn't them.



I know these humans, Wabon. It wasn't them.

Oh...
Well, if you say they're your friends, who am I to doubt you?
It wasn't them! False alarm!

Dwarf Man: Bah.

Dwarf Man: I thought we'd finally found the human culprits.



I dunno, though! These little guys are still lookin' a little bloodthirsty to me! We better watch out! We are humans, after all!

No, if Gunde says you weren't the ones, that's good enough for me.
There's good dwarves and bad dwarves. No doubt humans are the same. Some humans are bad apples, sure. But only a foolish dwarf would see all humans as the enemy.



Wabon is a cool dude. Dwarf. Whatever.

Yeah...

Well, it's awful there's some human sickos out there killing dwarves...
...But we'd better hurry up and head to Sauronix Castle.

Ah, thanks fer remindin' me! Hey, Gunny! We wanna get out west through yet dwarf tunnels! Anyone know the way 'round here?

West? Talk to Wabon.

Wabon? Thanks!

And hold on tight.

..."Hold on tight"?

You'll see.

Gunde joins the group, albeit still without a fanfare. We'll take what we can get.



Very little has changed in the camp since last time. We'll head straight over to Wabon. (music)

Your mining cart, Wabon.





Yikes! A little protective, are we?





I thought there was something different about these humans, but I didn't think they were THAT smart!

Ah! So it was complimentary yelling, not angry yelling!

Hey, Gunny! What's the deal with this here guy?!

Wabon's mining cart is the fastest way west.

Less talking, more riding! Come, humans! They don't call me the "Master of Mining Carts" for nothin'!

Wabon joins the party as well, still without fanfare. I shuffle it around a bit before continuing on.



It's lookin' all... um... artistic, I guess!

So, how far are you heading, humans?

...Huh? Oh, yes! Sauronix Castle, home of the Dragon Cavalry!

Lucky you! That means you get to ride all the way to the end of the line, humans!

Uh, sounds like real fun!

You bet it is, humans!

The game gives you another opportunity to back out if you're really anxious about the upcoming section, but...

You're the first humans ever to ride this cart, you know! Ho on in! Come! Come! Oh, this is exciting!

...we're getting in.



GAME

NO

STOP THAT


But it's not the springs themselves. It's how they're assembled! Now, let me give you the details on how th--

Actually it just fades to black and plays some rail-type sound effects. Rather disappointing, I thought.

Sounds interesting, but we're kinda in a hurry!

Yeah, that's great an' all, but is this the end o' the line?

End? End? End? Heh! This is a transfer point, human! You've got plenty more riding ahead of you, humans, don't worry!

Joy.

...Hold it right there!



What? What?! (music)



Oh, you again.

I KNEW it... Nether Gate! YOU killed those dwarves, didn't you?!

What?! These humans are the culprits?!

Here they come! Watch out!

And then they attack us. If you watch this video, you'll find out how that goes for them, and also what the three-dwarf unite looks like.



Oh, and Miakis got one-shotted when one of them Shrike Runed her. It's the downside of stacking multiple runes that increase the damage you take. (music)

They're Godwin's fellers! Well, callin' 'em "fellers" is a li'l kind! Hell, callin' 'em "human" is a li'l kind!

Logg's utter disgust is pretty good. He's a chill guy most of the time, but I understand why this would get him a little fired up.

They would've killed all the beavers if we hadn't stopped 'em!

I'm not sure what the people on Gizel's hit list are supposed to represent in terms of real-world

ALL the beavers?

I'm guessing the dwarves are the Jews.

Godwin wants a "Falena for Falenans." That means no beavers, no dwarves.

Because, you know. Some Jews have names like Goldstein and Silverb er names like Goldstein.

So now he wants to take out the dwarves, eh? We'll give him what's for, we will!

And dwarves like to dig through stein and sometimes they find gold.

Prince, what should we do?

...Shut up, I'm doing the best I can with the material I have.



We can't actually go back and help the dwarves, but they'll like us more if we suggest it.

Just mind your own business!

(Even if they don't show it.)

You folks are helping the Prince fight that human scum Godwin, right?

...Yes. How'd you know?

Well, you keep calling that lad "Prince," don't you?

Miakis... really isn't the smartest person in my army.

And you're taking the mining cart to the Dragon Cavalry to ask for help against Godwin, right?

Wabon on the other hand might be a contestant for the spot, once he joins up!

...So you'd best take care of that first! Get your priorities straight!

But we can't just leave y--

Hey, I got an idea! Let's split up! Lun and I are gonna head back an' help the dwarves defend their place! The Prince and Miakis can take care o' dealin' with the Dragon Cavalry! Sound good?!

Logg's cleverer than he looks, too! Well, not that it's very difficult...

Anyway, Frey agrees that it sounds like a good plan.

Gunde, you go back with these two.

I will.

Be careful, you guys!

We will! You watch out, too!



The cave is rather small, and there's another mine cart at the end. We just have to hop on. The next room is nearly identical.



...except for one thing.

Get in, quick!

Except we pile into the cart and take off, leaving the assassin standing there feeling like a very silly assassin!



The final room is a little different. But not much.

Nothin' to worry about. They'll never catch up to my mining carts!

...you just had to, didn't you.

Prince! Get away from the cart!



There's no cutscene or anything. Just a fade and he's standing there over the wrecked cart.



Wabon channels the spirit of Egbert (who is currently in our reserves, probably enjoying the show) for a bit, but sadly he won't get to take his revenge.

Assassin: *pant* *pant*

Wait, isn't this the same guy we saw back there?! How could he--

He chased us down!

Don't be ridiculous! Humans can't r--



...yeah.



We're thrown into another fight with a "Raging Assassin." He's much the same as the ones we fought last time, except there's less of us and less of them.



Raging Assassins have 3500 HP. This one is kind enough to drop us a Crazed Orb as well as another Thunder Piece, which is quite welcome!



This guy's not normal, not even for a human!

Assassin: Gaaahhh!

Huh?!

Assassin: Grooohhh... Arghhh...





Is he... dead?

I've heard about this!



This sounds like it may be Important and could potentially Come Up Again.

Okay, that does it! Trying to massacre the dwarves and beavers?! Taking drugs that trade life for strength?!



Yes, and that's why the Prince MUST prevail! That's why we've been working so hard!

...Now I get it.

All that's left...



...is to leave.

Off we go!



And we pop out in the... what she said.

There's some kind of weird music playing here that I can't identify but it's close enough to the standard forest theme and it's going to start up once the scene is over anyway, so enjoy.

So Sauronix Castle is right over THERE!

...I still say we could have got Viki to do this faster and easier.

Thanks, Wabon! That mining cart was a pretty fun ride.

I am so not surprised that she likes stuff like that. If we didn't live in such a dangerous world, she'd have to invent skydiving or something.

Glad to hear it. I'll be off, then.
Fight the good fight, humans!



Gotta fix the mining cart, human! Once I'm finished, I'll bring some of our lads along to your castle.

Huh?

Whaddaya mean, "huh?" What, you're too good to get help from the dwarves?



Frey is not in the business of being a douche.

Sorry, but it's not for your sake, human.

'sides, Wabon'll tell us why he's being so nice to us anyway.

We're dwarves. We dig. That's what we do! Leave us alone, we'll leave you alone! But if someone gets in the way of our digging... Well, then they're gonna have a fight on their hands! Teaming up with you humans seems like the fastest way to get results.

Sounds good to us! Thanks!

No need for thanks. Just make sure you win! Otherwise, you'll be digging our graves! And we dwarves prefer to do that for ourselves, you see!



And although he's not here right now, Gunde joins up as well, with proper fanfares and everything. We now have all the (named) dwarves!

Well, next time you'll see me will be at your castle. Along with all the lads!



And with that, he heads back down. We're left in the DT... Deep Twilight Forest.







I'm not sure if we could have visited the caves from here on the first visit, but the path we took is straight to the right from here.



From the forest, it's a simple matter of turbo-dashing over here...



...and on to our actual destination.



But of course it's not gonna be that easy. (music)



Motherfuckers!


Oh, what are we gonna do?!

How about we slaughter all of them all and let the streets run red with blood?

...no?

Well I'm stumped then!




Dwarf artwork, now that we have the full set! And our large-sized monsters, since I don't think I ever posted this.