We're playing Suikoden II? Hooray!

Are any of the Squirrels female? If so, then there you go.

PERFECT!

I don't think you can get them all by the Epic Battle but gotta try our best for that anyway.

Here we are, watching Hiro’s first tiny steps onto the giant world map. While he’s still kinda deformed it’s a huge step up from the janky little guy in the original. Camp Fliktor is at the bottom, and Ryube is just visible to the top. It’s a super long walk.



Hiro gets his flour and, proud of a job well done, decides to take a stroll through the town. Tuta actually insists but I don’t like to acknowledge he’s here. While walking about he finds a young girl who seems to be looking for France, and this…generous looking woman who tells us something is setting up soon.


Back to chores for Hiro when he returns to the fort. This time he’s gotta mop up oil spills that randomly showed up. These have got to be the laziest and/or sloppiest mercenaries ever.


Suikoden was a decent looking game, but Konami really raised the bar with Suikoden II. It’s not Odin Sphere levels of beauty but it is packed with tons of loving detail, unique animations and objects. Here we see that Hiro’s sprite changes to reflect the fact that he’s carrying an oily rag.

Having finished cleaning just in time for the mercenaries to spill some other fluid about Hiro tries to get to sleep. Once again though, he’s woken up by a surprise attack (of sorts).


Jowy infiltrates the fortress and breaks open the jail cell. It’s time to make our escape!


Well, this doesn’t look good. Oh well, Hiro’s never been very level headed, maybe he can just bust his way through!


Crap. You totally don’t have to do this, by the way. I just wanted a nice picture Flik laying him out on his ass.


Recaptured, Hirowy is interrogated by Viktor and Flik. Jowy explains what happened with Luca, and that he wanted to break Hiro out so they could return to Kyaro. Viktor is sympathetic, but insist they stay there a while longer. Back to the cell! After jumping into the river, Jowy was found by a little girl whose family nursed him back to health.

That night, Jowy takes inventory of Hiro’s items. Flint, oily rag, rope, and a spoon he picked up at dinner. Channeling the spirit of MacGyver Jowy hatches a plan to escape.


Bend the spoon to pick the lock…


Light the oily rag with the flint to create a distraction…


And climb down with the rope. Suddenly everything makes sense. The mercenaries aren’t lazy, they’re just incompetent! Seriously, their locks can be picked with a spoon.


Having escaped from the grueling life of light chores Hirowy makes for the border. It’s a long trip though, so they stop in at Ryube. While we were escaping the traveling performers finished setting up. They need a volunteer for an act, and naturally Hiro is picked.

After the show the circus people introduce themselves as Rina, Eilie, and


Bolgan. They’re on their way to Kyaro as well, but the only way is through North Swallow Pass, which is home to a horrible mist monster. Hiro, having played Final Fantasy IV and realizing mist monsters are total pussies, agrees to team up with the circus folk. Also, unlike the first, this game is kind enough to realize if your party is changed you will probably want to change formation, and just asks you if you’d like to reorder. No more S range fighters sitting in the back cause you forgot they were there!

When we arrive at the pass border guards block our entrance, but Rina has an idea. I hate to present a scene in its entirety, but I think in this case I’m justified.

…the screen fades to black, and some time later the two come back from the edge of the screen…






This poor guard laments the lack of adult conversations he gets with his position.

Alright, time for the game’s first dungeon! It’s fairly short and easy, but what do you expect? Battles in Suikoden II play out largely the same as the original, with the main options still being Fight, Run/Let Go, Bribe, and Free Will. The actual attack menu is the same as well, with the addition of Shift, which lets a character shift position forward or backward with the other character in his row. These bunnies are a welcome sight by the way, because they’re one of the few enemies that drop Double Beat runes. Getting one so early in the game makes a BIG difference…


…and luckily for me I find one almost instantly! As soon as I get to a runesmith this is going straight on Nanami.


Further on, and after a conveniently positioned save point we get ambushed by the mist monster. This fight can actually be difficult. The mist monster has two forms, a physical form that attacks 2 to 3 times per round for around 30 damage, and a magic form that hits several random characters for about 15.



Here’s another new addition to Suikoden II: magic items. Rina here has no useful runes, but can cause some decent damage with this item, which is the same as a cast of level 1 magic from the Lightning Rune. Given the limited inventory space in this game these quickly become inefficient, but early on they can be useful.

Here’s a shot of the circus people’s unite attack, Circus Attack (really). A few rounds of this along with the attack items and the mist monster goes down without trouble. One mist monster down and Kyaro is just around the corner. Coming up next: a whole lot of Nanami.

Hooray! Nanami just might be my favorite character in the series. Anytime there's a vote for who's in the party, just assume I voted for Nanami.

Heh, I like this part. I was expecting the hero to turn his back to the screen and the spill would just pop away, but nope! They made an animation of him getting on his knees and scrubbing. And this is the only place in the game this animation will be used.

This game is so full of lovingly detailed sprite work. Hirowy eating in prison's another thing they didn't need to do but did and it's great.

And Hooray! The day is saved by the hobag!

Man what is wrong with you.

She's pretty much stapled to the hero for 90% of the game anyway. Which is fine; as annoying as she is, she's pretty damn good at piling on some damage.

Hey Nanami is AWESOME in every possible way.

Nanami was one of my favorite characters in this game. Due largely to her Unite with Hero, and the fact that she was powerful on her own.

Speaking of; could you try to capture the "alternate" Family Attack?

No corny Matrix jokes?
I feel like pointing out the mascot on the banner hanging from the wall was designed by Viktor himself. I love this game. Not only is this game absolutely gorgeous but it also features little details like certain character's crudely drawn finger paint art into its world design. Don't forget to take screenshots of all the forms of abuse Nanami puts Hiro through and Mukumuku

Oh, Flik. Marry me.

Yeah, I remember subtle little details about this game. Like everyone laughing at the "bear" banner behind Viktor's back.

I totally forgot about the "adult conversation," though.

Wow really? That one really stuck for me.

Isn't there another "adult conversation" later too?

I agree. Good point.

DOUBLE MEAT!?

pwnd!

I love this game and I am happy to see so many other people love it, too.

ONWARD

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH VIKTOR'S BICEPS??!?!

>

That must be Anita. To quote Richmond's investigation of her:

Speaking of which, here's what he has to say about Eilie:

Richmond likes 'em easy.

Sierra also makes for interesting Unicorn recruiting, although in her case it's not really because she slept with anything that moved.

Man, I forgot all about Anita. Anyone who has high-heeled greaves and a rapier is pretty awesome in my book.

Anita is one of my favorites, mainly because of her personality. Not only is she a promiscuous drunk, but when you recruit her, you can do so by asking her out on a date. In most games she'd laugh it off and comment on how the protagonist is a cute kid or whatever, but Anita actually accepts, and even seems a bit excited at the prospect. The theme of the older, more experienced woman meeting a boy on the brink of adulthood and... teaching him things is one I'm quite fond of.

... I think I've said too much.

Makkuro just wrote my next comic for me.