Part 41: Everybody Wants To Be Us

pilika it's been 20 hours can you stop crying already



It's been a long day, I'm gonna take a nice nap on this concrete

Suikoden 2 Tunes – Ceremony (I might have linked this a little early, this is when it actually plays)



Immediately following Luca's death, Jillia and Jowy are officially married.



: I pledge to serve Jillia Blight.



you helped kill my brother and my father but it's okay i'll still marry you





Shu assumed Jillia would take over, but no, Jowy is now the King of Highland.





: Happiness on my path, eh...





Suikoden 2 Tunes – A Bustling Town, HQ Theme #2 (oh jesus my ears, those squirrelly horns are back oh my god, why won't it end oh god I need to get out of my HQ as soon as possible)

I would really not be so sure of that, but seriously stop camping outside of my door

Anyway, it's not really clear what you're supposed to do next, so let's go back to the Great Hall.



No one's telling me anything



After you talk to everyone in there, Nanami will suggest checking out Kuskus and South Window, but we'll also be making a stop in Radat and Banner Village.



That's a familiar face.





Like the first game, Max really wants to fight and continue his name, despite the fact that he's getting pretty old.



If you answer the second option, Max will get super butthurt and run off, and you'll lose him.



Maximillian is way cooler than this game.



Then we enter the inn to find a singer in desperate need of work.



The inn owner really doesn't give a shit, though. She'll leave, and we can go find her by city hall.



Wrong direction, chica.



She, like many others in this game, is super fond of ellipses. Which as we've learned from FFVIII, signals farting.



She asks if we'd like to hear her song, and of course, we should let her sing.

Suikoden 2 Tunes – Orrizonte

Translated from Italian:
“I run in the wind of the desolated plain
And in this moment I feel something
Reaching the horizon that has just appeared
Unclearly at the end of sight
Slowly yearning disappears from my heart
Somewhere there must be someone that is waiting for me
Now I will talk until dawn of my burning dream
That burns with my life”

Sung in the same meter as Into a World of Illusions from the first game.



In the NA version, Annallee's song doesn't play, so you just end up sitting here watching her sing in silence. In the PAL version, however, that glitch was fixed. Who knows how the instrument playing factors into her singing.



We then tell her we want to hear her sing some more, so she joins us. She, like Kasios, will play BGM from the game back at HQ. Not that there's as much worth listening to in this game.



Next we go talk to Killey outside the trading post. Killey is a fucking awesome character and once we get him he'll never leave my party ever. I love him. We tell him that Alex, our itemshop owner, knows something about the Sindar. He heads off to our HQ.



: Umm... well, actually, it was Hilda that ran that inn...

: You opened the gates to the Sindar Ruins, right?!

: W... why would you do that...



Killey hits him in the face.



Yiiiikes. Killey continues to threaten him, even when his family steps in to protect him.





Alex tells him that the only treasure he found was family values.



Family values do have the power to calm down even the biggest assholes.



: I can't say much, but the relics left behind by the Sindar shouldn't find their way into the hands of men... you can relax, that man wasn't lying. I won't go anywhere near there anymore.



Persistence is key.



Even though he wants no part in our war, he joins in the hopes of finding out more about the Sindar. If you decided to recruit Valeria, you'll now have 80 stars to go get Bob in Two River upon recruiting Killey.



Back in Radat Town's tavern, we find a doofus trying to impersonate us.

: And then Kiba just kneeled down in front of me and begged me to let him join my army!! I have that effect on people!! So I took Kiba by the hand and lifted him up. I said, 'Lift your head up, General Kiba. I can't kill such a fine soldier as you.' Kiba was so moved and said, 'Lord Azure, from this day onward, my life is yours to do with as you wish.



: So anyway, that's how my Dinosaur Army beat the Highland Army and got General Kiba to join us. That's why you've got me and only me to thank for saving this town of Radat!!



: Well, as long as you know. After all, the leader of the Dinosaur Army has got a big heart. Oh, no more sake left? Some new fish wouldn't be so bad either...





They ask to see his Bright Shield Rune.



The Rune melts away, and the group calls him out for being an impostor.



He's pulled the same trick in South Window, Two River, AND Rockaxe.





That was the day Azure got beat up for some fucker





Bro, I really don't want you in my army but I have to...



Weird, I thought the level 99 glitch was fixed in the PAL version. A few characters, most of which we find later in the game, but some we can get earlier (such as Anita), are glitched to join at the max level. Hoi here commonly will always join at level 99. The reason this occurs is because these particular characters are supposed to join at the same level as you, but the game for some reason can't recognize that correctly so it instead defaults them to max level. Makes an easy game just... babytown frolics.

Hoi has shitty stats, even for level 99, uses the same weapon as the hero, and has a Unite with the hero much the same as Nanami's. A funny thing about him is that he comes stock with Sacrificial Jizos, meaning he's been involved in some near-death scuffles thanks to his dumbassery.



yes, yes I am real



no



Back in Kuskus Town's inn, we talk to Karen, the dancer.



Unlike the first game, we need to participate in a dancing minigame to acquire our HQ dancer/slut. No Toe Shoes required!









Every button on the pad corresponds to a different dance move. We can practice, however, before we start.



I'm a beautiful fairy princess



We have to mimic her performance exactly. To do so, hit Triangle, Square, Circle, X, Triangle, X, Circle, Square.



She claps along with her dancing, which is pretty cool.



Karen, like Mina in the first game, is a fighter. She's not as useful as Mina, but she's at least cool-looking in combat because she fights in her dancing attire. She also fights with her nails.



She comes with a unique Rune that I'll show off soon, and toe shoes, a reference to the first game. She also has a rare Master Robe, which probably isn't worth keeping on her.



Killey is a fantastic fighter, by the way. He gets all three Rune slots and has great stats all around. He's also super proficient in most Runes, but doesn't have the Magic stat to really make use of it.

Next time we'll be going on a special sidequest.

Artwork:



Maximillian – Chii Star

This codgy old leader of the Maximillian Knights returns to war once again for the last time. He leads the last military unit.



Annallee – Chiraku Star

The castle singer who will sing BGM like Kasios, when you find her friends. She sings a special song later on that I'll show off. She also has the war ability Encourage, which gives a unit two turns in battle.



Killey – Tenbi Star

Another character who is too cool for this game. On an exhaustive search for the secrets of the Sindar, much like Lorelai.



Hoi – Chizoku Star

A doppleganger impostor who, after being exposed, joins the army probably because if he didn't, he'd have been beaten half to death.



Karen – Chiin Star

The castle dancer, she studied under Mina before joining the war.