Part 23: The Terrific Tyrano Castle
Because I have a boner for Chrono Trigger, we are now living in the Tyrano Castle with our
Of course I could name the title DICKTITS or Jizzface or DONGS or something else offensive and they'd all love it, these sheep.
Suikoden 2 Tunes – Their Star ~ Leknaat's Theme
Like in the first game, Leknaat appears just as the tides of fate are about to change.
: Azure, inheritor of the 'Bright Shield Rune', the cycle is complete. The stars of destiny are poised to gather once again. I give you the Stone Tablet of Promise. The names that appear on it show your followers, the source of your strength.
And the same as the first game, Luc follows in her footsteps. Things will play out a little differently for Luc this time around...
: And this is the 'Stone Tablet of Promise'. You should be grateful that the Lady has given you this. I'll also favor you with my presence. It's not what I choose, but the Lady Leknaat has ordered it.
: Your friend... the inheritor of the 'Black Sword Rune'... I see him also. You both have hard roads ahead... so you must look forward and choose carefully... Azure.
If Luc stopped being a giant douchebag, the world would explode.
God shut up go away (prepare for expletives in the future)
Something to point out that is new to the series is this: the suggestion box. It's always located near your bed/room, and at points in the game characters will put things in here as a way of communicating with you. I don't believe this ever has any significance aside from little details, but I haven't played IV or V in a long time.
Apple is alone in the great hall at the moment as we are no longer under any plot movement and nobody likes her. She arranges units, as you see.
There are a finite number of war units, and thus a finite number of characters that actually participate in war – twenty-four, to be exact. Each unit adds a different bonus, and I'll be going over who we have right now. Note that you cannot change leaders (Azure, Viktor, Gilbert, etc.) as the leader determines the unit type: Infantry, Magic, or Archer.
War characters breakdown:
Azure (Infantry) – ATT 8, DEF 9, allows use of Bright Shield Rune.
Shu – ATT +3, DEF +1, has Critical and Evade passives
Nanami – ATT +1, DEF +1, allows one cast of Repair Self
You might want to move Nanami around to somewhere else, but I generally keep Shu on Azure even though he could easily go elsewhere.
Viktor (Infantry) – ATT 8, DEF 7
Oulan – Has Bodyguard passive, which prevents character death if that unit is defeated
Hanna – ATT + 2
Gilbert (Infantry) – ATT 7, DEF 8
Freed Y – ATT +1
Huan – Allows use of Heal, which can restore another unit's health
Flik (Archer) – ATT 7, DEF 7 – Has a passive called Cavalry, which not only puts the unit's soldiers on horses but allows for much greater movement on the battlefield
Tsai – ATT +1, allows use of Fire Spears
Templeton – DEF +1, has Shortcut passive, which allows the unit to cross any type of terrain, can be used to go through castle walls
Luc (Magic) – ATT 10, DEF 4, has Wind magic which is incredibly useful and damages more often than Fire Spears
Apple – ATT +1, DEF +2, Evade passive
Tuta – 3 uses of Repair Self
You can swap the latter two characters in a unit around to anyone, which is a good idea because the game doesn't do the best job of automatically placing units. We don't need to worry about this for a while.
Here's our Stone Tablet of Promise, which looks much better than it did in the first game in terms of presentation and colors.
Like the first game, characters not in your party have designated areas to hang out which we'll look into in more depth at the end of the LP.
Barbara's available now, which is great because I have a lot of items just taking up space.
Oh Dr. Huan, you're so invasive
And with my decisions later on, she won't be.
Like Suikoden I, Luc is one of the best mages you can get. His Runes are not fixed, and like I mentioned before, the Pixie Rune is useless.
That's adorable.
For recruiting reasons, Freed Y has to come along with us. That, however, will change once we continue the plot.
Before we exit, though, this guy is blocking our way. We can lie and say this isn't North Window, but he'll pester us anyway. He also has no idea who we look like, so...
I'm just gonna tell the truth. He runs off, so let's meet him back at the Great Hall.
Yes, this little kid. Fitcher tells us that he's now working for the mayor of Two River. He also has the nerve to call our defeat of Solon Jhee “almost a miracle, eh.”
: We must forge an alliance and fight side by side against Highland.Shu wonders if it's on behalf of Two River, but Fitcher here is working on his own behalf.
Might as well, we don't have much else to do, but there's a problem...
: I came here by boat, but the crew fled when the battle began, and now... um... can you send out a boat for us?
: Hey... ! Is this whole thing just a ruse so you can get back home?!: Uh... of course not!
Now the game leaves this ambiguous, but you can piece together who they're talking about from who we've encountered: We know, from this game and the previous, that Tai Ho can captain a boat. We also know Amada, who works the docks in Radat. Either one is suitable for the job. Ideally, though, you could just ask Flik or Apple and they'll tell you about both of them. First stop... Kuskus! (after a brief side trip back to the Cave of the Wind)
There's a hidden chest with a Sun Badge here that I missed, if you head north and west at the first fork you encounter. It's not particularly useful, low defense, but it restores a bit of HP per turn.
To get Tai Ho to join, we need to win 5,000 potch from him in Chinchirorin. You'll have to play the game at least twice, since you can only bet 3,000 potch max per game, which is why this game is no longer a way to break the game over your knee with money.
I win the first game with a 6 to his 2.
And the second game with a 5 to his 2.
Like in the first game, Tai Ho ignores Yam Koo's complaining about why he's even bothering to do this again. Unlike the first game, Yam Koo is no longer a playable character in battle, probably because this game wanted to get rid of all palette swaps. Sorry, Yam Koo. Time to head over to Radat.
Who is she talking to?
So yeah... Yoshino talks like a child, which I have to wonder is some sort of Japanese submissive wife trait or something. She wonders why he didn't send word after South Window was captured.
: Now is the time to fight. It's not the time for me to worry about my personal affairs.
: Your sense of duty... that's why I love you... but, but you came back to me... you came home to Yoshino.
She refuses to wait for Freed Y to return from the war, so to spin Japanese gender stereotypes on their head, she joins us. She wields an awesome naginata and is actually better in battle than her husband.
That's nice.
Time to ask the private dick to join our group.
You can guess whatever you want, because...
He'll say the opposite every time.
So let's go talk to the guy at the bar, who tells us that Richmond uses a trick coin. He gives us a real coin to challenge him.
Richmond serves a special if not important use in the headquarters, but we'll check that out upon our return. There's still one character to get.
Another duel against Amada, and we're gonna win just as soundly.
He's going to Defend, pretty obviously. Let's attack.
He has more HP this time, but his defenses are still lacking. Afterward, he opts for a Wild Attack.
And gets tonfas in the dick.
Foolish, foolish man.
The results are the same.
Amada is a truck of an offensive character, like Rikimaru, who he also has a Unite with. It's a good idea to use either or both right now. Let's do a little side thing in South Window first.
Luc is great with all Runes aside from Lightning, Fire, and Resurrection. He also automatically joins with all three Rune slots. I'm gonna go place my Blue Gate Rune on him and my Darkness Rune to make him a total beast.
We also make Zamza unstoppable. Time to head back.
Artwork:
Luc – Tenkai Star
Once again a
douchebag, his backstory will be revealed a little more in this game, but his time to shine won't be until the next game.
Amada – Chiman Star
A fisherman who monitors the sluicegates of the Dunan River in Radat. Has the rare claim of having dueled the foster son of Genkaku twice.
Tai Ho – Tenhei Star
After having escaped Kimberley, he took a jub under Kun To and traveled to the Dunan region, where he joined the Dunan Unification War.
Yam Koo – Tenson Star
Once again embroiled in his oath brother's shenanigans. His design in this game seems to have been copied a little by a character in V.
Richmond – Chiyu Star
Begins the proud tradition of private eyes in the series. It is unknown where he came from, or what his past is. He can find out information on anyone you've recruited. He also has an adorable puppy in his shirt for some reason.
Yoshino Yamamoto – Tenkoku Star
She's the daughter of a wealthy man in Radat. Yoshino got involved in South Window's politics, and it was there that she met Freed. Despite talking to each other very little, she starts to having feelings for him, and at the behest of Granmeyer, the two get married. Although she likes doing laundry like Sarah from the first game, she's more than willing to take up the naginata and fight better than her husband ever could.