Part 29: Nostalgia Bomb

After the Middleport scenario, Perrault has another issue out for us.


On this occasion, Middleport swore to maintain its cooperative relationship with the masses. There are also reports indicating the lord's son wished to join us aboard the boat.

Gotta say, those names turned out damn good. Damn good.


What is the motif for this ship?
"A certain fish is the motif..."
What do you particularly like about this ship?
"Every part needs some improvement."
Finally, what's on your mind now?
"A room that I don't remember building is..."
That final comment is the part that is slightly disturbing.

I've run out of things to say about this shit. Next!


What would you, the readers, like to see happen to Madam Depression?
1 Discovers husband is alive, reuintes
2 Journeys in search of journeying son
3 Continues daily to say she's depressed
We await your input. Please send it in to Perrault!

Please don't.



Now we'll bring Sigurd to Middleport, because there is actually something he's good for here. A weird guy is waiting next to the trading post.

I have not forgotten...

Oh-ho. Then, you're prepared?

Wait, is this that ex they were talking about...?

Sorry. I can't just say, "Here you go," and give you my head. I have more pressing matters to attend to.

You betrayed your former employer and your brethren. Accept your punishment without a struggle.

Get in line and wait your turn. I'm using him right now.

All I ask is that you wait just a while longer...

Err... Very well, then. But keep in mind... Your head is mine.

And he actually agrees! You are the worst bounty hunter ever.

...



Anyway, time to give Sigurd the boot and return to Keen without him.

Not to worry. I will not kill anyone while I am under contract. I only wish to keep an eye on his whereabouts.

Although 10k is pretty low at this point, I'm not too fond of these "pay me to join you" characters given how damn much money I have to spend on sharpening, so...

That's a little expensive...

...I'm going to try haggling.



Well, okay then!

All right, I'll pay you.

Good. Then, I shall go on ahead.

Keen has a... specific use, but we'll talk more about that later.



Now let's make a quick trip to Nay and pick up that crest thingy.

Do you know of the Rose Crest?

Do I know it? It's one of my pieces! The smallest and prettiest of my works... Oh, but it's not for sale. It was custom-made for someone else.

Actually, I was asked by Sir Reinbach...

Oh, you should have said so in the first place. He's already paid for it. Please deliver it to him with care.

Phew. However, there's one last thing I want to get done while we're here...


I hear she's hot-tempered, though. They say she wrecked the inn in Middleport just because someone talked to her...

Interesting! Especially since our next destination is, in fact...



...Middleport. Again.

Young Master...

The fact that you went through so much trouble to bring this to me is an unquestionable sign of our friendship. In appreciation for your efforts, I offer this Rose Crest to you.

I won't have much use for it, but Reinbach can equip it as an accessory for +20 skill, which is pretty rad... or would be if we care to use him

We shall now board your ship. Come, Micky.

Y-Yes, sir!




Reinbach is something of a crit machine, with skill and luck both through the roof. Alternately, he comes with his own personal command rune which hits one enemy for double damage, much the same as Mizuki's Shrike but with less Final Atomic Buster. He gets some funky equipment, too - notably the Noble set which causes him to regen 1% of max HP every round and boosts speed by 10% and magic and magic defence by 5%, as well as granting a total +15 to Luck.

Also, he's unquestionably better than Micky, who is completely useless.



Since he made us run errands for him, it's only fair that we get right to putting Reinbach to use.

Etienne...

I heard that you left on a journey. I was worried that I would never be able to play my melodies for you again... My music is meaningless without someone there to appreciate it. It is an utterly forlorn feeling... Of course, my humble opinions have no bearing on the young master's decisions...

Is it just me, or does this scenario feel familiar to anyone else as well...?

Then... why not come with us?

Would I be permitted to accompany you?

It would not be a bad idea to let your music entertain the crew. What do you think, Sir Lazlo?

I see a portrait, so I guess we can find some use for... him? I think.

Please come with us.

Then, let us go... I am honored to be allowed in the presence of people that the young master has such faith in.



Next up is the inn.



I hope you like a lot less than the previous recruit.

Woman: It didn't "just happen"! You wrecked my inn! You've got some gall showing your face around here! You haven't even paid for the repairs yet, you know that?

What, you like to break shit? What a coincidence, I also like to break shit! We should team up.

Lend us that strength of yours!

What did you say? You're a rude one, aren't you? I oughtta punch your lights out!!

That didn't go as well as I had hoped.

What? Do you want something?

We have to talk to her again to proceed.

We can use your strength!

My... strength? Not my adorable charm?

Arrrgh. I'll call it whatever you like if you'll just get on the fucking boat and shut up, okay?

Woman: Who the heck are you? Are you going to pay for all this havoc that she wrought?

Charlemagne: Now, now, ladies and gentlemen, please calm down.



So... you wish to form an alliance with this woman, correct?

Someone seems to get it!

Yes, that's right.

I can understand why: I am always hearing about your exploits.

Woman: Y-Young sir...

What, you're showing him respect and not me? I'm at least eight times more awesome, I'll have you know!

I shall take care of all that this woman destroyed. It is an honor to lend my services to such a prestigious man as yourself, Mr. Lazlo.

Wow, flattery. Well, okay, let's say seven times more awesome.

In that case, I'll join your force. It seems as if I don't have any other choice...

And so she does.




There is really nothing special about her at all.

Well, I'll go on ahead.

I would like to accompany you as well, but I must tend to the inn... Please come again in a little while.

What he means is "get out of town and come back again". I think I might just have started hating him again.

Mr. Lazlo, please allow me to accompany you. I have finally straightened out my personal affairs.

Then let's go.

Yes. Despite my appearance, I do have some skill with a sword.

Does he? Let's find out.




Eh. He's much the same as Reinbach, except probably worse. The two of them also have a unite attack, which hits all enemies for minor damage.

Then I shall go on ahead.



From one thing to another, the equipment store now sells these as rare finds. Five thousand Potch! Reinhold, you cheap fuck.



We can also bring Reinbach back to Nay to pick up this guy.

Ah, young Master Reinbach. What did you think of my handiwork?

Beautiful! I am using it with great care as proof of a beautiful friendship.

Y-You're using it?! But it's such a delicate... Well... It's fine, I guess...
I never expected you to use it... Actually, I have an idea. Mr. Lazlo, may I also come along? Please let me check on the Rose Crest from time to time. I beg of you, please... Then, I shall get ready right away. Please excuse me for now.

We don't get to say no, but I've stopped caring.



Anyway, that's everyone we can get at for now, so I'll just stop by and visit Lino in the war room and



WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT

What was that just now?! What's the lookout doing?

A-A ship... to the port side!! It appeared out of nowhere!!

Appeared out of nowhere? That's impossible!

Eh, it's still not the weirdest thing that has happened to Lazlo lately, so I'm inclined to believe him. We should explore.

Come on, let's go see!

Good man!


As for who goes... Two people, including myself, should be enough.

Yeech. But since the fifth third wheel is utterly irrelevant this time, I'll just stick with Nalkul since he got the most votes last time. And also because he's awesome.



Curious.



The interior of the fog ship is interesting, but also really boring. It's a narrow path through a large open space - as if the ship doesn't have anything else in it - but it's dark and foggy and there's really not much to see other than these "lamps" along the sides.



These enemies, Dead Blades, are the same as the skeletons in the Obel ruins - they resurrect at the end of the turn when killed unless all enemies are down. They also drop bones 100% of the time, which means it's probably a good idea to grind them for a while if you want to make anything that requires those.



A couple of times, we run into these things, called "Prophets", which are like big dragon heads sticking out of the floor or something. They're minibosses, and can't be escaped, but really rather uninteresting.



After each prophet encounter the robed man pipes up briefly.

I do sometimes, but...

There's a couple of options here, but whatever Lazlo says, the robed man doesn't comment.



Another Prophet encounter, with two of them this time...



But I shouldn't run away from it.



Several long, boring paths later...



...we're introduced to the boss. Recommended viewing!

What the...? What the heck is he talking about?

Who cares what he's saying - what the hell is he?


Part with this forsaken world. Come with me upon this ship, where time governs us not.

They do say it's rude to judge by apperances, but... come on, this guy is totally evil.



Why do you have a big ass chain around your neck? That can't be comfortable. Doesn't look like it does anything, either; it just hangs there.


This world, too, shall end someday. Come... Be eternal...

At least he asks nicely.

I don't want to stay here all my life!

But this place is still ugly and boring and full of the undead! I mean, fuck's sake, even the goddamn ocean is starting to look attractive, and I bet no one ever thought they'd live to hear me say that.

Fog Ship Guide: How unfortunate...



Fog Ship Guide: What did thou say? Oh, Ted.

As evil as he obviously is, I can't really take this guy seriously. Listen to that line! "Oh, Ted."



The robed man disrobes and is no longer robed. Nor is he much of a man, come to think of it.



Damn, Ted, time (and a third dimension) has not been kind to you.

So, will you return that Rune to me? That cursed Rune... The Soul Eater!

The fog ship guide laughs.



Well, that was predictable.

Don't lower your guard! He's coming!!

Need a hand?

No.



You see, all my guys are awesome and if you don't have a True Rune to make up for not being awesome, you're kind of dragging us down.



The guide has a couple of odd moves...



...including this one where he steals HP from one of our characters...



...and this attempt at an instant death spell. Lazlo is used to these things by now (coming from his own rune) and gives no fucks.

Anyway, he has like 7000 HP and I think all my main dudes hit for over 500 per round without taking crits into consideration, so he eats a big heaping mouthful of Fuck Off and dies. (I left the fight in the video above; it takes about a minute.)



Defeated, he has no choice...



...but to relinquish Soul Eater to Ted. (Still recommended viewing! )

Soul Eater... I... will not run away... anymore...



That's as badass as Ted can manage to be in one day, so he faceplants.



Suddenly, Leknaat out of fucking nowhere!



The guide has these weird glowing motes on him. I didn't even notice those before because it's so fucking dark in here.

Oh Guide, return quietly now... to the City of Eternity... where your breathren live... Do not take those who do not wish it.

City of what now? Come on, this actually sounds interesting! Don't leave me hanging!

Fog Ship Guide: I will have my revenge... against this world... against chaos... Until then, I must gather strength...

I am sorry... But that is not the role that was given to you.



But no, they just spout cryptic bullshit instead.



Soul Eater has heard enough and tells the Guide to shut up in the most effective manner possible.

The Rune which governs life and death, the Soul Eater, must not disappear from this world.

Then where the hell were you when Ted handed it over to this guy in the first place?

Reaccepting the Rune from which he has distanced himself for so long has shown me just how determined humans can be. As for the end of the world? You need not worry. No one should be concerned of such a thing right now. You must choose the path which you believe in. I shall watch over you to see where it leads you...



Leknaat bamfs out. Can you believe this shit? All this stuff being hinted at, and once we get off this boat, no one is going to mention any of this again. All that talk about cities of eternity, revenge against chaos and travel between a million worlds... and all we'll ever get out of it is Suikoden Tierkreis.



Pretty much, yeah, though I could think of a lot of other things to call her that wouldn't be appropriate for Ted's ears. I remember someone claiming to have found a vague description of Leknaat as "possibly the villain in Suikoden X" in one of the games' files. Sadly, we'll never know if they were planning something like this, but I'd certainly like to imagine it's true.



Speaking of Ted, he's waking up just as the ship starts collapsing because that's the kind of thing that happens when you beat a boss.

H-Hey!! I have a bad feeling about this ship!

The captain has no physical form. What you just saw was created out of magic... Hmm? That also means that this ship... might also be some sort of illusion? Oh, no!

Yeah, whatever...! Let's just get out of here!

Not before I loot it. Oh, don't give me that look, you know these things always collapse just as you're getting out. There's practically a law.



This is located at the back of the captain's room. You can just barely make out the chest from where you start after the cutscene.



Slightly more defensive than the Hero's Armor but with fewer stat boosts. This is still endgame level gear, but it looks nowhere near as impressive as the hero stuff did when we got that because we're actually approaching endgame now, and either way the Ogre set is better.



Ted comes with part of the Magic Set, so I gave him the rest of it. Its bonus is +10% magic and -5% damage from physical and elemental damage.




He is by far the best general purpose caster in the game, with a 3 in every element. He shares his magic growth with pure casters like Jeane and a couple of other mages we have yet to obtain, but unlike them, he's actually fast as well, and doesn't suck quite as much at physical attacks. Also, he has a unite with Aldo (of all people) for 0.4x damage to all enemies.



More importantly, he comes with the Soul Eater!

However, if you'll remember my rants about remember how the Soul Eater used to... they can also be applied to the Soul Eater itself. Its first and third level spells have been changed around to drain HP instead of instakilling things, which... would be okay, I guess, but the damage is just around 100 points, so it's kind of shit. I assume this was done in order to not overshadow Lazlo's rune completely (which it still does) because comparing Soul Eater's traditional first level spell to our third level one is just embarrassing.



Black Shadow is still a great second level spell (incidentally, the base damage is still twice that of the Rune of Punishment's second level spell, and of course it doesn't hurt the user either.) Not sure why they changed the graphics around to smaller individual effects instead of a big one, though.



Here's Hades. (Finger of Death, AKA Deadly Fingertips, is just a single target version of this; you saw the guide using it earlier.) The only good part about this spell is that he gets the HP from all enemies, so around 600 HP from four targets. Still bad for a third level True Rune spell (if not as shitty as Voice of Death). I'll show off Judgment at some point, too, but for now let's just say that it's a 1500 damage single target spell, which is pretty sweet. I'd actually argue that it's a bit low given there's a generic rune (Thunder) that does the same amount of damage, but hey, it still hurts a lot.



We make our way back to the ship (after grinding bones on board the crumbling fog ship for half an hour)...



...and the gangplank falls down as Ted tries to cross it. Just like that time in the first game where he was left hanging in mid-air before falling down! Comedy!



Lazlo catches him and drags him up again.

Thank you... You saved me.



Meanwhile, the fog ship drifts out...



...and fades away.



I'm not a kid! I might look young, but I'm... Uh... Never mind. B-By the way, my name's Ted.

If you can manage to keep your mouth shut here, why did you start going on abut being 300 years old when Futch hassled you?

Sorry about that. It seems you have a complicated past... But if you'd like, why don't you come with us?

When we reach land, please let me off. Until then, I will keep to myself. Would that be fine?

Fuck no. You're on the boat, and you have a portrait. You're not going anywhere!



Lazlo puts it in a somewhat more diplomatic manner.

I'm sorry, but I don't feel like talking to anyone. I do owe you though... So I'll return the favor, if you want.

Then it's decided. Lend us your help for a while.

Whatever you want...





And that, ladies and gentlemen, was Ted, who will proceed to do nothing of relevance for the rest of the game!

Honestly, I'm a sucker for callbacks to earlier parts of a series, but Ted feels like a very late attempt at fan service. The only reason anyone cares is because we know who Ted is, but anyone who didn't play S1 is probably just sitting there going "What the fuck?" Here's this guy who shows up with a True Rune and his very own dungeon, with cutscenes and voice acting and everything, with every indication that we're looking at something important here - and then they drop him like he's hot the moment we're out of there. What's the point of this? The sad truth is that there is no point beyond tickling a few nostalgia glands, and now we're back to Cray Trading Company Being Dicks For No Apparent Reason.


Anyway, we're going to Na-Nal to advance the plot next. Lino will be forcing himself into the party (again) so we need two more characters Pick them from the list in the second post (minus support characters) and bold your votes so I can see them. I think party members may actually have two lines in the upcoming section, so choose wisely!