Part 21: I say thee Nay!

With our ship and new characters properly explored, it's time to visit Nay and recruit the best character in the game!



Not before we pick this up, however. If we look at the Message Bottle in the inventory, its description is "Coral... donuts... small island..." which is cryptic and annoying, but never fear, I am a dirty rotten cheater and know exactly what to do.

(That's "ignore it until I've done all the interesting things available now", in case you were wondering.)



Random observation on the way: I like how the ninja attack actually lands them on top of this big enemy! But it is but (hurr) a stepping stone in my journey to the bridge.



Suddenly!



"Achoo!"



And there she goes again.

...

Let's press on.


The Nay-Kobold air is starting to get to me, and I don't feel good. I don't get many customers, either...
So, please... I'm begging you! Let me join you! I need a change of scenery. Think of it as helping a feeble old man.

I think of it as a good way to exchange those lottery tickets for anything that isn't regular medicine.

So yeah.

All right.

Really? Wow, I guess it's always worth asking. Well, then, I'll go on ahead!

I'll... "play" Bang's lottery when I get back, but for now...



We need your strength.

Hmmph, very well... If you're willing to take a gamble... I am at your service.
Then, I will go on ahead. Don't worry, I'll get onboard the ship.




Mitsuba Mk. 2, but he lacks the positive outlook and obscene luck stat and holy shit is he slow. He does have a unite with Reinhold and Ornan, though - Silver Attack. I'm told (and by that I mean "I read it in a post on the Suikosource forums") this was originally "scattered silver" referring to someone who's starting to get grey hairs, and/or also implying "badass veteran"... or something along those lines. Anyway, he has shit accuracy and won't be able to use his unite unless someone slaps some sense into Ornan first, so eh.



That's all we can do in Nay-kobold for now. The mysterious sneezing girl is waiting for us when we head back.

Um, my name is Viki. So, if it isn't too much of a bother, would you please protect me?



Are you shitting me? Show some more enthusiasm! Don't you know what you're looking at here?!

Really? Thank you! Um... I will do my best to be of help to everyone. I hope we get along.

And there you have it: the best character in the game.




Viki is a better but slower mage than Pablo, but her combat prowess is not the reason I love her.

It's that ship, right? I'll be going on ahead then.

Part of it, however, is that she gives us this.



It does what it says and is even more awesome than it looks.



But that's not all!



We can now teleport! No more goddamn ocean unless we're going to a location we haven't visited yet!



Poof! Just like that.



I'd like to meet the Rune Master.

Shopkeeper: I knew it... All the customers have been of your sort lately. My bueiness is being ruined.

Don't worry. You won't have that problem for long!



Thus-



She's actually sparkling at us.



And she gets her own theme, too.



We can ask to have a rune put on or taken off, but that would be creepy, so instead we'll get right at inviting her over to our place.

Won't you join us aboard our ship?

Wait, that doesn't sound right either.

All right, what a wonderful idea! After all, it seems I'll cause more trouble if I stay here too long...

Shopkeeper: What? Who said anything like that?

I heard you, you know. No takebacks.



...

My, you have a lot of friends with you. In that case, I'll see you a little later!

Later?



How about now.

Yes, Jeane is finally getting off her butt and becoming playable... which I'm sure many of us have waited for since we saw those regiment-nuking lightning bolts she was capable of in II.




As one might expect, she's one of the best casters in the game. That speed is somewhat problematic, but she'll still kill things faster than Pablo or even Viki.

There's one thing I haven't mentioned about magic in this game, but now that we have someone who's actually good at it, this seems like a good place. Suikoden IV, much like the second game, has hidden affinities for elemental magic. These range from one (shit) to four (un-shit). Jeane is one of two characters in the game - the other being a non-mage - with a 4 in lightning magic. I won't be talking about this much, but when we pick up a particularly good caster, I'll make a note what they specialize in.

(By the way, Lazlo has a 2 in everything but water, where he has a 3.)



Bringing Jeane back to the townspeople of Na-Nal is proibably the most fun you can have around here.



You know, as ridiculous as she looks, I always did like Jeane. They're implying pretty heavily that her true form is something quite different, and any time you try to find out more, it ends with your detective practically begging you to take them off the case.



Um, sir?

Man: Y-Yes?



It's not exactly the most stunning characterization or anything. I just think it's funny.



But Jeane is far from the only strange silver-haired woman on the island. This one is hanging out where Mitsuba used to be.



She attacks without much warning, and she likes to use wind spells...



...which are of course a whole lot more annoying when the enemy uses them.

Grr...

Nevertheless, she is a pushover compared to, say, an Angel Hairball.



Here's another familiar face!

Me? I escaped easily using my Elevator, of course.

One of these days, he'll have to explain to me how that thing works.

Say, do you know anyone aboart the large ship in the harbor? I'm sure the Elevator would be a nice fit for it.
What? That's your ship?

Yes! Get your arse on board posthaste, those stairs are killing me.

Yes, it is. Will you come along with us?

Let's go! Come one! What are we waiting for?!

That's what I'm wondering!



There's one more dude to pick up on this island.

Now I'm just an offshore fisherman without a fishing obat... It's like being a fish out of water.

...not quite, but I guess we can use you. Lots of people to feed and all.



I love that other answer. "Sucks to be you! Bye now."

F-For real? I'll come! I can fish for you!




He can do more than fish! Not that I know why we'd want him to, because he's pretty bad, but he could. If we wanted.

Th-Then I'll go right on ahead!

I'll board as well.



Here are two of our new recruits. Ugetsu is out through the door with the fish sign over it.



We'll visit him in a moment. First up, though...


Oh no, no, don't mind me. I'm just talking to myself... Let's see, then, for gold...
Here you go! First place! We have a winner!!



Now that's what I was looking for!

The set bonus for the Pirate King set is +10% defence and magic defence and -10% damage from elemental attacks. We can only get this once, though - any future first prizes will be diamonds.

Also, now that we have Jeane, she has a rune shop on board...



Hehe... Thank you for filling in for me.

Man: Oh! Thank you very much!

...which will be run by an NPC if she's in the party.

Now then - let's go fishing!



This scene plays automatically when you go chat with Ugetsu for the first time. Lazlo pulls...



...and catches something quite fishy indeed.



Huh? Whaaat?!

I don't think I'm as surprised by this as I should be.



Shiramine...

Quite a nice boat you've got here, Ugetsu.

I'm still but a poor old chap... I know, Shiramine. Why don't you fish here with me?
How about it, Mr. Lazlo? With more people fishing, we'll have more food. I think it's a good idea.

Free recruits? I'll take it!

Of course, that's fine with me.

(We can also say "I can't exactly ask him to just leave..." but let's be nice.)

Pardon. Much obliged.




Fairly standard strong-tanky-bad-at-hitting-and-dodging character. The two fishermen have a unite which hits all enemies, but it's pretty weak (0.4x damage).



However, he can also fish for us, which makes him more useful than several of the people we've picked up.

Let's cast the net.

In that case, let us cast the net. If you feel the opportunity is right, let me know so we can pull up the net.

Net fishing is another supposedly-luckbased thing. Depending on where you are, you can pull up different items. You don't need to move to net fish - in fact, you probably shouldn't, because random encounters. Just sit in your ship on the world map for ten minutes or so, then pull it up, and you should have some stuff in the net. Most of it isn't all that useful - fish, mostly - but you can also get some pretty rare and/or valuable stuff this way.



Ugetsu has a more personal approach.

Yes. Let's fish!



Simply put, when you get a bite, mashing X causes the green bar to rise, and you want it to stay within the yellow/red thing, or you'll probably lose the fish. When the fish symbol on top is all the way to the left, you've caught it.



I caught a sardine!



But as fun as this is, we have, uh, bigger... fish to... let's stop right there.



This particular catch is available around the Nay-Na-nal area.





Conveniently, Lilin shows up before Shiramine can deprive us of another Star of Destiny.

Hmm? Is she an acquaintance of yours, Lady Lilin?



Yeah. I'm okay. I escaped with our elder sisters with the bad people came. I got separated from everyone after that... But I can relax now... because I've found you, Big Sister Lilin!

Yeah. The people here aren't bad. Lilan, you should come with us, too.

I see... This has turned out for the better.

Has indeed!



And finally, we get to see our catch. That's a lot of sardines!



Also, if we return to Nay after beating Maxine in Na-Nal...

I'll never forget this!

...we get the pleasure of beating her again. She's marginally tougher this time, and using some pretty powerful magic, but she's still outnumbered and didn't even manage to put half my party to sleep this time.

Next up... Iluya.