Part 19: Vampire Huntin' (Not really)

: How do you know my name! Are you one of Neclord's slaves!!

: Don't get so excited. I understand your feelings, though. Neclord... you're not the only one who has a grudge against him, though.



: Ever since I was a young boy, I vowed that I would destroy him. In the name of the Marley family, I swear I will destroy him!! My business isn't with you, it's with the Star Dragon Sword and the Rune of the Night. Neclord is using his 'Doppelganger Secret' to make a double of himself. The Neclord that you defeated wasn't the true Neclord.

Yep, you heard it here. The developers decided to just retcon Neclord's defeat by saying it was a clone. Just so they had an excuse to bring him into this game as well.



The process of defeating Neclord this time around is much more elaborate, though, which means that they didn't just slapdash this together like you would believe.



Viktor tells Kahn that maybe he should just use the sword, but he tells Viktor that it wasn't meant for his hands because he's a shitty vampire hunter (okay that last part is my addition)



Kahn joins us. He's actually a really good character, because he eventually gets all three Rune slots and he is just fantastic with that Resurrection Rune. He comes stock with a Magic Drain Rune on his weapon which can help in a pinch.

What really bugs me about Kahn is that his utility in the plot all hinges on us; he really doesn't do anything on his own. He doesn't have any of these tools:



He shows absolutely zero initiative, and for coming from a family of vampire slayers, he sure as hell is dependant on everyone else to actually get anything done. But I digress, we should move on.





: Huh, what's wrong? Are you alive?

: What do you expect? Calling him 'stupid', 'dumb', you've got to speak to him with more respect..

This line is pretty odd considering she had no idea it had a personality until, well, now:



: Did you say 'abandoned'? Talk about ungrateful... I figured you'd appreciate the quiet and solitude, that's all.

: The... the sword is talking... And Viktor called him 'pal'...

: Stupid girl, I am an incarnation of the Night Rune. I'm not 'pals' with him or anyone else. This man is nothing more than my servant.





Yeah, so, Viktor should have shut up when he had the chance.



We get forced into a boss battle against a much larger, very pissed off, version of the Star Dragon Sword. He's actually pretty tough, so you gotta be careful.



He goes twice a turn, but he likes to attack the middle column, since he's directly in front of them.



This is Charm Arrow. It's still, not even close, to anything resembling an 'arrow'. Thankfully, the S.D. Sword is weak to Resurrection spells.



Eilie's fucking Fire Rune backfired on me. Which I didn't fucking expect considering she's not E-ranked in Fire. It would later do this a second fucking time in the same battle.



The S.D. Sword also has an all-party magic attack, but it can only use it once a turn.



The Bright Shield Rune's third spell is Battle Oath. It has a good chance of Berserking party members. Basically, it helps break the game open for you if you need it.



With enough perseverance, it returns to its not-angry form pretty quickly.



Viktor then begins to plead to the sword to stop being a douchebag.

: Hmm... very well. Now tell me servant, why did you come back here?

: Neclord is still alive. Or since he's a vampire, I should say he's 'dead'. Anyway, he's back.

: You mean that nasty vampire... I thought I disposed of him.





Through more pleading, the sword once again joins us and takes over as Viktor's primary weapon.



He also really hates being called a 'thing'. Oh and somehow that gaping hole in the cliff behind us teleports us back to the exit. Don't ask me how.



It's a good idea to head back and buy whatever armor you may have missed out on before thanks to low funds. The next boss is not a cakewalk.



: Stupid bag of flesh...

: First, let's go to Neclord's place. I know how to seal off Neclord's power.

This is by far the only use Kahn actually has.

Suikoden 2 Tunes – The Fugue “Praise be to my Master” ~ Neclord's Castle Theme



Time to trudge through Neclord's new castle.



This is more interesting than The Walking Dead tv show



Down in the prison is a hint to a puzzle later. You can safely ignore it, though.



This is said puzzle. To get a new Rune, we need to move the statue on the far left to the left some more.



In here we pick up the Darkness Rune. The Darkness Rune was present in the Saturn version of the original Suikoden, but was taken out in the PSX version. It is a child Rune of the Soul Eater, and has all of its spells aside from Judgment (and one extra, although it's not super great).



The next puzzle has to do with torches. To get a chest, we need to light the torches in the bottom row the same as they are in the top row. Inside is a Blue Ribbon, same as what Millie has.



Those are some cool statues.





We find Neclord once again playing his organ, one that is way less impressive than the one he had back in the first game.



: Between the Star Dragon Sword and the vampire hunting secrets of the Marley family, your time is running out, vampire.

: That's right! Get ready to die!!



: I have someone that I'd like you to meet.



He summons... Daisy, Viktor's old flame from long ago.

: Well, do you give up? Just hand the Star Dragon Sword to me, and I'll let you have the girl, okay?

Daisy: V... Viktor...?

: D... Daisy...

>>> Don't give him the sword!!



Daisy: V... Viktor.. H... help me...



: A lot of years have passed since then. It was so long ago that I barely even remember her face... okay, listen to me, bloodsucker!! I know that once a person is dead, they're gone forever!!



He slices off fake-Daisy's head. A tidbit to know now that this has happened was that Daisy committed suicide rather than be turned into one of Neclord's brides.



: Watch what you call me!!!

: Y... yeah, let's go, Azure! We've got to destroy him!!





: @#$%!!

: He'll be back, Viktor.



He leaves behind the Abomination, a pretty difficult boss.



He sometimes comes in to swipe at you for about a hundred damage.



Or he just slams your entire party. Luckily, he's weak to both Resurrection and Fire.



First we Battle Oath up, in the hopes that everyone goes Berserk because of it.



He can also do this, sometimes twice in a row. It can add up fast.



Luckily I can just keep setting him on fire.



There we go, Viktor showing emotions!





Kahn then leaves for a while, he'll join up with us again later. After all, Neclord isn't dead and he can't do anything without us.



Flik tells us that Granmeyer was killed by Solon Jhee. It's like the game remembered there's a main plot and conveniently made Neclord disappear for a bit. Thank God for that.

Artwork:



Star Dragon Sword

Where the sword came from is a mystery, and although it is claimed that it is an incarnation of the Night Rune, the Rune itself might just be buried in the hilt. No one knows how long it stayed in the Cave of the Past before it was found by Viktor, and when it teleported Tir and party 300 years into the past, it can be concluded that it drew on the power inside the cave rather than having this ability innately. Viktor later abandoned the sword in the Cave of the Wind near North Window when he was tired of its demands.