Suikoden Tactics Part #6 - The Final Showdown with Steele (I)

Part 6: The Final Showdown with Steele (I)

New chapter, new title screen.

We will not be seeing this place for a long time, but it sure looks cool.

Also here is a, uh, "fixed" version of the chapter title. Because derp.

We have joined the pirates at their hideout, where an old, familiar tune plays.

The caravan is available between events here, but there are no stores to visit. You better hope you bought enough consumables in Middleport! The only thing of any real interest is that I splurge damn near all my remaining SP on Godspeed for Andarc, whose natural movement range of 4 has him lagging behind the rest of the party, who can all move five spaces. No longer a problem! ...until I start getting room for Godspeed on everyone else, too.

Let's get on with the story, because now it's going to get interesting.

Edgar... That's all you ever say.

If this feels familiar, it is not without reason.

But I always come back... to you.

...

Kika sighs.

There's something quite different about watching history unfold, as opposed to just reading about it later.

All right, Brandeau.

I'm sure Brandeau would agree.

The pirates' nest has not changed much.

Walter is incapable of being anything but serious.

No. It'd be certain death. No one will blame you for backing out now.

Sigurd and Hervey were rescued by Edgar and his crew. After this, they stuck around to repay their debt, and just... kind of never left again.

If we're risking our lives, so be it. Please, let us join your fight against Steele. I beg you!

But our party were conspicuously absent when the pirates showed up in Suikoden IV. They must have taken another path from here.

Hmm. Well...?

Brandeau defers to Edgar. Despite his ridiculous outfit, Steele is not the one known as the Pirate King; Edgar is.

Gah.
...
Suit yourself.

He's a bit soft for a pirate... at least that's what I'd say if I didn't know what he's about to do after this scene ends.

Kika never seemed to be much for the whole piracy business. But I don't know what she's so upset about here; Steele is kind of a douche, and he needs a whuppin'.

Walter collects his crew to discuss battle tactics.

I'm going along as well.

Me too.

Seneca, I need you to stay here.

And by "battle tactics", I mean "telling Seneca to get back in the kitchen".

What?

...though I can't really complain about how Walter is a horrible sexist prick seeing as he's still taking goat girl with him. So, I'm just going to call him out on his terrible taste in substitute parental figures: It's obvious Andarc would make a much better mother for Kyril.

I want you to wait here with Kyril. In case we don't return... I trust your judgement.

(Also it would probably make more sense to leave him behind since he kind of sucks this early on when he can only cast one spell before running out of juice.)

The only thing I ask is that you watch over Kyril.

But, Father!

"The battles in this game are actually fun! Take me with you before Suikoden IV comes along and ruins everything!"

Kyril, promise me. If we don't come back, you must pursue the Rune Cannons in my stead.

Guess who's about to break his promise in five...

They're gaining ground by the minute. Let's go.

...four...

Please be careful...

...three...

Don't worry, we'll be back.

...two...

...one...

Kyril? Kyril, where are you?!

Operation Stowaway: GO!

I'm ready!

(Music)

Heh. I hope these scum brought their own coffins!

They're gonna need a closed casket funeral when we're done with them.

Walter is more interested in the... thing... on Steele's ship than all the generic NPCs he'll be slaughtering to get to it. Can't say I don't understand how he feels, either. I mean. They are generic NPCs.

Operation Stowaway: Success!

Kyril!

"Wait. Heck. I wasn't supposed to show myself."

I told you to wait for me! What are you doing here?

I-I'm sorry...

That's not a very good answer.

Are you sure you're prepared for this?

But, to be honest...

Yes.

Kyril is one of the most powerful characters in the party, even a few levels below the rest.

Ah, hell. Okay then. But keep to the back of the ship.

The hell he is! Kyril is running straight up and murdering things. He's a growing boy, and he needs the EXP!

Yes, sir!

So apparently Edgar's strategy was to find Steele's ship and ram the fuck out of it.

This is a quick, easy battle and it's not even graded. It actually offers us a tutorial on support actions, but I've already gone over those, so I'm skipping it here.

We have a handful of enemies, and we're joined by Edgar and Brandeau, both at level 5 with pretty good stats, two of the generic green pirates (still computer controlled, but this time they seem content to sit back and let us work without getting in the way), and...

...one named minion who is actually under our control.

The only thing he really has going for him is that he comes with a throwing weapon, just like Sigurd, which is very rare.

Kyril is still ridiculous.

Andarc gets a rare chance to kill two dudes at once without Seneca's help. Both of these have been reduced to single digit HP by the pirates, and can now be killed with the "side effect" damage from Thunder Runner.

His reward is more numbers! This is good.

Mages in Suikoden Tactics start with very low MP. However, when a character levels up, their MP is refilled, so there's actually a lot more utility to casters than there seems to be at first glance. Here, Andarc zaps another pirate to death.

And gets a different reward this time! The description for this reads Tasty bun filled with mystery meat. Mmm, delicious pirate filling.

All the pirates are dead, and Peck lands on one of the glowing tiles, ending the map. I would recommend defeating all the enemies because more EXP is always nice, but it's not important enough to spend consumables on.

Walter away!

Watch this.

Kyril should be used to this by now.

Walter is too preoccupied with the device to care about its owner. When said owner is a ruthless bastard like Steele, that can turn out to be a costly mistake.