Part 17: I'm On a Boat, the Sequel

Watch the Video! (contains scenes from the previous update as well)

It's time to get out of Muse, but first we have to find Pilika. The town is swarming with Highland soldiers as random encounters, and they have a chance of dropping the buyable Great Hawk Rune. This Rune allows bow users to hit all enemies for 0.5x damage, so it can be useful here and there. Nanami and Azure are more than enough for these dudes and will frequently dodge their attacks, counter, and hit multiple enemies in the same turn.



: They're going to all rendezvous at South Window. I'm getting ready to get out of here! You should escape too. A boat runs from Coronet south of here to South Window. What are you waiting for? Hurry up and run!!!!

I swear to god everyone says that phrase. Anabelle says it, Nanami says it, and Leona says it. At least mix up the words or something.



Pilika struggles and tries to run back into the city.





: Pilika... she finally fell asleep. Hey.... Azure, is it true? Did Jowy really... do that to Anabelle... ?



So begins Nanami's “no way Jowy could never do any of these things” that she repeats to herself like some sort of psychotic-break-mantra for the rest of the game. It's eye-rolling to the biggest degree.

: Do you know what I want? I want to go somewhere far away. Far away from all this war, somewhere in the mountains maybe. We could live a quiet life. We could farm a small field, just the three of us...

>>> That would be nice...

: Wouldn't it? Wouldn't it? Liar! ... I'm sorry... you're right. That will never happen now. Forget about Jowy...



The next day, we head off to Coronet, a town we've already been to before.

Suikoden 2 Tunes – If You Listen Carefully... ~ Coronet Theme

Coronet is a town of 2,200 people known for its fishing. A premier port for moving goods from south Dunan to north Dunan.



: A cute young mapmaker told me that.

At least someone talks to Templeton.



I love blind bravado.



This guy gives us Recipe #5, which... you'd never actually guess he would. This is another random, but not missable, recipe (you can get this at any time).



At the port, a soldier tells us that no ships are headed out from Coronet today.



Cats are taking over the world, didn't you know?



But to trigger the next event, we have to go a bit further and talk to the guy next to the ship. I wonder who that samurai dude is just to the left.



DUCKS. Awesome.



Appears the street performers are visiting town.



In a rush, Eilie shoves Nanami out of the way to flirt with the main character some more.

: Who... who are you?

: I should say the same thing. I'm Eilie. I saved Azure's life.

>>> Saved my life?





Yeah, so for the duration of this conversation, Bolgan and Pilika just kinda stare at each other.

: You've got it all wrong, I'm Azure's big sister.

: Oh... good news, right Eilie?

: Shut up, sis!!

: Hoo hoo hoo, by the way, what are you doing out here, Azure?



Pilika then spends the conversation kicking Bolgan in the knee.

: Hey, could it be? Are you heading to South Window, too?

: Yeah.

: In that case...

: Yeah, but the Highland Army will punish anyone who takes their boat out. So nobody will do it for us.



Pilika, always contributing to the conversation.



It's a good time to save here, we're about to play a game that's not so weighed in your favor anymore.



To the east of the docks we find our old pervert friend Sheena yelling his lungs out at Tai Ho, who is once again in a small shack near a dock.

: What do you mean 'any way the wind blows and the dice rolls'? How do I get across the lake?

He runs off, and gives us an idea. Ripping off of Suikoden 1 wholesale, let's talk to Tai Ho again...





Both of them have matured a bit.

: Who are you guys?

: We... ah.. want to go to South Window...

: Ha, not again. Sorry, but I don't feel like it. Go on home.





By taking a look at Azure and seeing his determination, Tai Ho decides to play us a game of, you guessed it, Chinchirorin.



The only thing they've changed since the first game is that if a dice rolls out of the bowl, it's called a “piss”. Otherwise, the game is unchanged aside from the fact that the RNG plays a lot more balanced, you cannot screw it over as easily nor does it play in your favor often.



Already, it's given Tai Ho a huge score. We just have to win 2,000 potch from him (the default bet) to get him to take us across. I end up getting a draw, so I try again, and win.



: Yam Koo, get the boat ready. The dice never lie. We're taking him across the lake. You don't mess with fate, ya know.



Nanami mentions we should go get the street performers before we leave, because she feels these two are sketchy. I admit, I'd feel the same way, too.



: Oh, I said you were doing us a real 'favor'! But could you wait just a little bit? We have some other friends we want to bring. Let's go, Azure.



Pilika's once again kicking Bolgan in the legs.





The three of them rejoin us at a much higher level, which is very helpful, and they're now officially recruits.



Right after Tai Ho and Rina flirt...



That's a familiar looking boat.



Sheena gets left behind.



So there's no aquatic BGM for traveling across boats, mostly because a lot of the aquatic travel in this game is automated, not that we really need a boat most of the time.



The water does look nicer, but always seems to be reflecting some superbly bright sun that makes the water look white.



Kuskus is a much larger fishing town of 7,400 people. To the north of the city are rich fishing grounds. There are skilled smiths, dancers, and fishermen in this town; although, there's an increased crime rate, too, in its backstreets.

Suikoden 2 Tunes – Ah... Beautiful Dancer ~ Kuskus Theme

It's south, what do you think?



I really don't understand their relationship. Perhaps because Bolgan is a man-child.



Eilie decides that now is a good time to flirt with Azure like crazy.



There isn't a whole lot to do in Kuskus at the moment, aside from getting this hidden recipe in the bookshelf.



The blacksmith here can, however, sharpen our weapons to level 6.



The item shop also sells the Quiche recipe in its Rare Finds, which is generally easy to get and has a much higher rate of showing up than the Fury Rune back in Muse.



The enemy encounters in this new area are basically all the enemies from the Kaku area in the first game. These squirrels are annoying, because they can give you the Balloon status. Balloon, when a character is given three of them by an enemy, will float up and away, out of the battle, and receives no EXP. These flyers can drop one of two things: A Medicine Rune, like what Tuta has, and the Celadon Urn, a vase that's needed to recruit a character later.



The squirrels now have the ability to use the trees in the battle to bounce off of and do even more damage to any character in the party.



Once again, bunnies are assholes.



Oh and Target Ladies are back, but they can be taken out with a Unite. They drop one of three Runes: the Dryad, Nymph, and Pixie runes. The Pixie Rune can be bought, but the other two only drop from this enemy and a few enemies later in the game.

The Dryad Rune takes one charge from a character's level 2 MP pool and gives that character 2 MP in their level 1 spells. Not much utility, but kind of fun I guess. This can only be used if the character has less than the maximum of level 1 MP.

The Nymph Rune is a bit more difficult to explain. Its effects are based off the Luck of the user. The higher the Luck, the better effect that is chosen. Although the Rune only selects one foe, its random effect can hit all enemies as well. The damage it does, or how much it heals, is based off your Magic stat.

It has five possible effects:
1. 50 base non-elemental damage to all allies
2. 100 non-elemental damage to one ally chosen at random
3. 150 HP to one ally chosen at random
4. 100 non-elemental damage to one enemy
5. 50 non-elemental damage to all enemies

In other words, it's a roulette type of Rune. I've never used it, but I can see how it could (potentially) be useful in the early stages of the game.



Next time: Rendezvous at South Window, then the return of someone we didn't want to return.

Artwork:



Bolgan – Tenpai Star

One of my least favorite designs in the game. The story of how he met Rina and Eilie goes back to his stay at the circus, where he was poorly treated. He had a debt to the circus due to the fact that he was sold to it, and he stayed to pay off his debt instead of escaping. When he did, he joined Eilie and Rina in their travels. He also likes to study, in the hopes of becoming a strategist.



Rina – Tenken Star

Rina and Eilie's parents were killed when they were young by bandits, although Rina had inherited her knack for telling fortunes from her deceased mother. Forced to take care of her younger sister, she became mature despite being young. The two of them met Bolgan at a circus in Zexen, and despite telling Bolgan to escape, he denied their request and stayed to pay his debt before joining their journey.



Eilie – Tenzai Star

The younger sister of Rina, her skill with knife-throwing is astounding, although she doesn't have quite the same amount of experience attracting men as Rina. Similar to Kasumi in the first game, she is unable to express her feelings for the main character.