Part 6: Dicking Around

We have to walk our asses back all the way to Mercenary Fort, so let's show off Viktor and Flik's new Unite.





It's a glorified X-Strike from Chrono Trigger, and considering how strong these characters are, it remains a solid Unite throughout the whole game.



Look it's the bandits from Mt. Seifu, let's watch them die



I decided to pick up a Double-Beat Rune in the Sparrow Pass because I figure Nanami might want it.



Oh Viktor, you so crazy



Flik, however, intimidates the guy over the fact that he let a bunch of kids through the gate because he got his dick wet



He also enjoys talking about their piece of shit mercenary fort.



Shut up, Nanami.



Viktor and Flik leave us for the time being, but he kind of hinty-hint-hints that we have some recruits to go find in the other towns. He tells us to talk to Leona, who is the game's official party changer.



I also caused the game's scripting to go haywire because these guys regularly leave the fort to patrol with a dog and since our party is in the way they have nowhere to go



A big change from Suikoden 1's military base is that there are random people doing stuff all the time, and it isn't just populated with your characters anymore.



…



This creepy ass black cat only mutters one thing. “Sonya...” While this would normally be TWD's area to cover – and if he went to town with it, he'd have endless updates on this game's mistranslations – this is another infamous mistranslation. In fact, all the cats in this game are translated badly. Another cat goes “honk”, which was supposed to be a translation of a Japanese phrase that emulates a cat's hiss. Instead, we got the sound a car horn makes.

It's been mentioned in the thread, but Suikoden II was translated in about a month, resulting in an absolutely disastrous translation. Suikoden I had its translation issues, but since the team was given more time, there's on the whole better dialogue and lines in the first game than this one.



As of our return, Gengen officially joins us. We'll throw him in just because.



Characters now each have lines when you bring them into a party or when you let them go.



We can also make use of the fort's shops now – the blacksmith can sharpen to level 3, Barbara is available as a storehouse, and the item shop will sell to us.



The warehouse has been tweaked as well. We can now sell items we acquire directly from here without having to go to a shop. We can strip a character's individual items rather than ridding them of everything they own, and arrange the items in our storehouse in an organized fashion.



I also forgot to mention, animals don't have weapons that can be sharpened. You'd think some of the other animals have beaks/claws that could be sharpened, but alas, no. I can't fathom what sharpening Mukumuku would do, or consist of.



Our first stop is to the northwest, Toto Village.

Suikoden 2 Tunes – Children Playing in the Fields ~ Toto Village(I have no idea why this town has a Western theme in it. This isn't Wild ARMs. But then that squirrelly horn comes in OH DEAR GOD)

Toto is a small town of 800 people that links the center of Muse with its eastern region. It's considered to be of low strategic importance because of its location.



Luckily, the game translated dogs properly.



I get to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 like the rest of the masses who play mediocre games!!!!!!!!



I do like the addition of more intriguing NPC text. Every town has little tiny stories inside the houses and such. The people here comment on how a kid could ever think of making it big as an appraiser.



Okay, I lied. They got these two cats right.



Inside the Inn, we find a rather interesting individual.

: If we don't have business, that means we can't talk?

: You've got a smart mouth, little girl. But I don't like people wasting my precious time.

: Wasting? Are you saying talking to us is wasting your time?!

: It may not be a complete waste, but it isn't really useful either.

Nanami does the “repeat what someone just said in the form of a question” anime response... all the time



: What?... What do you mean?

: I mean we don't need you, understand?

: What are you talking about? Are you saying I'm not valuable?

: Listen, weren't you the one who didn't want to be talked to?



Zamza is a of the game.

: What, you wanna fight?

: I'll show you exactly how valuable of a man I can be.



With that, Zamza joins us both as a recruit AND shoves his way into our party. Characters in II love to do this even if you don't want them to, but if you have a full party upon their recruitment, they'll go back to your base like in the first game. Zamza, however, is a pretty damn good character. He gets solid stats all around and his Fire Dragon Rune promises 2X damage without restriction once you get its counterpart, the Fire Sealing Rune. See, the innate problem with the Fire Dragon Rune without that counterpart is that it deals a chunk of Fire damage to Zamza every use. With the Fire Sealing Rune, which nulls Fire but makes you doubly weak to Water/Ice attacks, you can void that weakness. His weapon name is also a reference to the fighting series, Tekken. The way he attacks is similar to a Tekken fighter as well, because he throws out little balls of fire for no reason. Note that if you refused to save Nanami, you can't recruit Zamza until much later in the game, since he'll only join if she's in your party.

In the supplementary materials, Zamza is described as a man who has his own take on magic. His belief is that magic users must be strong in both body AND intellect/spirit. He was banned from the magic academy he worked at for experimenting on different ways of using magic. This is how his Fire Dragon Rune came to be, and because of it he is incredibly narcissistic and believes that he is highly original in all that he does.



: What is it with this guy?

: Okay, here I go little girl. You'll all appreciate me. You'll all say you're happy to have me as an ally.

Zamza reminds me of Dennis from It's Always Sunny – always seeking to show how much better he is than other people, even at the cost of his dignity. Or I guess it's the other way around.





That's the Fire Dragon Rune. Any damage he dishes out he receives a good chunk in return. Luckily, we can fix that pretty soon.



Back in Ryube, we find a collapsed dude on the ground.

>>> Are you okay?

: My stomach...

>>> Does it hurt?



Like Fu Su Lu, we have to pay for this guy's meal tab.





: Really... I won't forget this.

The bill's 3,000 potch, so be prepared to fork over some dough to acquire him.



Due to our full party, Rikimaru wanders off. I actually want him for this section so I'm gonna go back and grab him.



Sorry Mukumuku, but you're really bad in combat.



Rikimaru is the offensive beast of the early-game, almost exactly like Viktor. He also shares the same trait as him of getting high HP gains and having shit for accuracy. He, like Viktor, remains a solid party member throughout the whole game.



Back in Ryube, we talk to this girl, who seems to be fretting about something.



If you accept, she joins...



By first forcing her way into your party and making you participate in a short little quest. Anyway, Millie is, in theory, a decent mage. However, her biggest issue is that her unique gimmick Rune, the Groundhog Rune, is impossible to take off. It's also fucking terrible. A bright spot in using her is that she comes with a Blue Ribbon, which makes it so that way she won't be targeted by enemy physical attacks, but still die from everything else. She's terrible. Never use her.



Until you find Bonaparte, you're forced to wander around this forest with her, a forest that has some difficult enemies inside of it but is a good place to train as well. The Woodpeckers here also drop the Killer Rune with high frequency.



While we're here, though, we make sure to put this bird back in its nest.



That's Bonaparte, Millie's Lovecraftian groundhog.



He doesn't, however, like being cornered...





Yep, we're in a fight against Millie's pet groundhog. This game...





This isn't a normal groundhog. It's... I don't know what it is. This fight isn't very hard at all, by the way.



: See? Bonaparte's back. Isn't he cute?



Doesn't matter what option, so I'm going to lie. Afterward, Millie officially joins. Her Rune, previously unusable, is now usable again, thanks to Bonaparte coming back. For some reason, Millie enjoys sleeping inside Bonaparte's mouth.

Yikes.







That's her Groundhog Rune. It deals 2x physical damage, which for Millie is nothing because she's weak as fuck physically, and is only usable once a battle.



After returning the bird to its nest, a few minutes later in game time, these two will show up where the bird is.



>>> That's right.

If you choose to say no, you'll have to talk to Kinnison again to get him to join.

Kinnison: Really? So Shiro was right. I'm Kinnison, and this is Shiro. We're hunters who live in this forest. But recently the Highland Army has been scaring off all the game. What are you doing here?



If you choose option 2, Kinnison and Shiro will walk away and you can never recruit them again.



awhooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo



For like five seconds for the LP, calm the fuck down



Kinnison's super average, like most bow users are. He, like Shiro and Millie, comes from unknown origins. He comes stock with a scroll of Healing Wind, from the Wind spell set.



Shiro is a fantastic recruit in the early game. He gains strength and speed and technique like a motherfucker, at the cost of having okay defense and low HP. You'll commonly see him attack multiple enemies AND critical-hit them time and time again. He is also the white-colored palette swap of the wolves in the area, as well as the wolves from the first game we saw in the Lorimar region.







This is the Loyal Dog Attack. It deals 1.5x Kinnison/Shiro's attack power to one enemy, or 0.5x damage to a whole column of enemies.



Upon our return to Toto Village... another annoying character. If you aren't picking up the trend yet -- I hate kids in jRPGs.

Artwork:



Gengen – Chitan Star



Rikimaru – Chian Star

Rikimaru is in search of vengeance. Someone who was close to him was murdered and he is searching for their killer. However, he ended up penniless and starving in Ryube Village.



Millie – Chiku Star



Kinnison – Chisin Star



Shiro – Chitai Star



Zamza – Chisyu Star