Part 13: More Fantasy Included
So what do you have to say? Have you thought of a good way of exterminating us? With your tiny minds?
Valeria: That's right. Kwanda is planning something truly frightening. Not only is he going to wipe you out, he's planning to burn down this entire forest, a forest that happens to be my home.
You humans are too stupid to realize such a task. Hey, lock this one up.
It appears elves are condescending fucks towards humans. Awesome.
Suikoden Tunes – Mysterious Forest ~ Village of the Elves (must listen, and once again, spoilers in comments)
Well anyway, while we're here, let's buy some new armor.
thanks to infinite bits, we can buy everyone Magic robes, which are fantastic armor for this point in the game. The game does not expect you to have the bits to buy this at the moment, though.
overall there's not a lot going on in the Village of the Elves at the moment
but at least we can learn that elves are racist fucks
Kirkis: I didn't mean to leave you alone.
Sylvina: How terrible, going off alone. You should have taken me with you. Was it fun outside?
Kirkis: No, I mean, I didn't go out to play, you know. I didn't want to take you because you'd be in danger.
Kirkis: There are humans who are fighting the Empire too. I left to get help from the Liberation Army, as they call themselves, to protect the Village of the Elves.
Protect the village? What are you talking about? We don't need human help to protect ourselves. It's true that at one point Kwanda's men had the upper hand. But they're humans, after all. They've been behaving themselves recently.
Kirkis: But...
This is equivalent to putting your hands over your ears and going NO NO NO NO NO NO NO
Now we're in jail, with a blue-haired, long-nosed elf and some... warrior chick.
Stallion can run SUPER fast, didn't you know?
Stallion: Hey, don't you remember me? I'm Stallion, the fastest pair of feet in the village. Didn't you know? You should have seen how fast I ran when Kwanda attacked. Ha ha ha!
Gremio: That's an Imperial uniform.
Valeria: Yep, I was a fool. I risked my life to betray the Empire, and look at me now. How stubborn those elves are! They refuse to believe what I know.
Kirkis: So what is it you know?
Valeria: Oh, that. The man in charge of this region is the Great General Kwanda Rosman. He has commissioned a horrible weapon to exterminate the rebellious elves.
Valeria: Not only the elves, but the village where I was born. That's why I came. I wanted to warn the elves of this danger, so they could prevent the Burning Mirror's completion.
Gremio: And before you knew it, you were in this prison.
anyway, we need to find a way out. Luckily, interacting with the right set of bars does the trick
Sylvina decides to rebel against their grandpa.
Sylvina: Tell me, Kirkis, why are you so hung up on humans? Humans act big, but they're dead after fifty years or so. Why bother with such lowly creatures?
Gremio: Dead after only fifty years or so? What an awful thing to say.
Kirkis: Listen, Sylvina. It's true that humans dislike elves and dwarves. We look down on humans. The dwarves detest us. Isn't it sad? After all, what's the difference between us? Why can't we just get along? I don't understand it.
like many jRPGs, racism is a big element of at least the first two Suikoden games, but has been sprinkled throughout the whole series in either large or small amounts.
Sylvina: I just can't trust humans, and dwarves scare me.
Sylvina: Here's the key to the cell. Do you think I'll end up in here for doing this?
So after being locked up by the elves, we decide that maybe dwarves might welcome us better. Kirkis might be right.
On our way out, though, Valeria forces herself on us. And not in the good way. So we're going to say goodbye to Juppo for now.
Sylvina: I'll stay. I'll wait for you to come back. So, promise me you'll return. Promise?
Kirkis: I promise I'll come back. I'll never make you feel sad again.
Valeria is phenomenal. She's one of the best characters in the first game. She's a little slow, but her fantastic power and defense make up for it. Her Falcon Rune is like the Boar Rune or Clone Rune but without the Unbalancing problem. We'll only use her when we're forced to, which is... like right now.
To the northeast is the Dwarf Trail, with another heart-shaped piece of land. <3
Suikoden Tunes – Distant Mountain
The Dwarf Trail is probably the first colorful dungeon in the game, and it has lots of hidden treasures.
The Falcon Rune only gets more ridiculous in the next game.
I hate the Eagle men here, but they have low HP so they're not a big threat.
Fog of Deception, the second Water Rune spell, increases our party's evasion rate, which is pretty useful against enemies like these guys.
This place holds an item that tends to show up in the series, the Sacrificial Buddha. It is like a Goat Doll in the Wild ARMs games in that it sacrifices itself upon your death to bring you back.
There's also DEATH BOARS here, but we can nerf their terrible accuracy even further by using Fog of Deception.
We also get our first Killer crystal here. The Killer Rune is one of the best Runes in the first Suikoden. It ups a character's critical hit rate dramatically, and is useful on most all characters who have no magical ability.
I can see Kirkis' house from here!
Kuromimi apparently has kind of the same idea as us right now. He runs off again, though.
I have this goddamn tileset burned in my brain from the hours I spent grinding for cash here to sharpen weapons and get equips in the next area. My god. NO MORE. I HAVE GASPAR. NO MORE ISSUES, EVER.
I dunno, does that look like a dwarf village to you?
Suikoden Tunes – People of Great Pride ~ Village of the Dwarves
This is the Village of the Dwarves, and it has a rather unique design aesthetic to it. Kind of a mix of steampunk, futuristic, and strange.
It's also the only place in the game with an appraiser and an armor shop right next to each other, for some... reason
This place sells a lot of heavy armor, perfect for Valeria and some of our characters. Though, at the moment, no one can equip the Half armor. If we had Viktor here, he could, though, and if you bought Feathers back in the Elf village, the Fur capes are obsolete now.
Like dwarves in typical fantasy fashion, they have a gigantic vault.
Apparently the Kobolds have been attacking the dwarves. It's a big fucking racial clusterfuck over here.
The Dwarf item shop sells Turtle crystals. The Turtle Rune is one of the least useful Runes in the game – status effects are rarely a huge issue.
The real reason we're here is the blacksmith, oh, and that guy to the right.
Meese only joins if you recruited Maas before him, and if you have a Level 2 castle. He can let us sharpen weapons to level 9, the same level as the dwarf here.
Pahn gets a massive attack boost from sharpening to level 8, and a name change. He's real original.
Kirkis also now has the Shine Bow, a nice upgrade to his Light Bow.
Gremio gets an even LARGER attack boost and now has the Copper Axe. Don't worry, his usefulness will go back on the decline after a bit.
see if YOU can spot the hidden main character!
not even the chief of the elves gets a portrait
Kirkis: Chief of the Dwarves, we've come to ask you a favor.
Chief: A proud elf asking a lowly dwarf a favor?
Valeria: Chief, have you heard of the Burning Mirror?
Chief: Of course I have, it's one of our treasures.
Chief: Ho ho! That's very funny! I hope all the elves get killed! Ho ho! Besides, do you really expect me to believe one of you sluggish humans really succeeded in stealing a blueprint from us?
Valeria: It's true. A fellow called Kage stole the blueprint.
Chief: Ho ho! You'll have to prove such incompetence. You're saying a human can break into the vault? Try it, then.
The Running Water Root is a direct reference to The Water Margin, if you were wondering.
I wonder what awaits us down below...
Artwork:
Valeria – Tensyo Star
Meese - Chihi Star
and because I forgot last update...
Viki - Chitatsu Star