Let's Blog Suikoden - Part 7

Hello once more loyal Suikoden followers, oh how this game is becoming more and more addictive! This'll be a shorter instalment than usual but only because my last playing session involved a lot of combat; there's still some huge story developments to bring you up to speed on! Yes, we got a castle! And here's how...

First we arrived at the village of Kaku, exploring a little, chatting to a girl named Meg, chasing an amusing-looking cat, and hearing word that the only guy brave enough to brave the monster-ridden castle went by the name of Tai Ho. In our quest to find the reckless maverick we stumble upon a girl named Camille (this game seems to like French names, no?). Camille is a debt-collector, and she's more than a little eager to collect... from Gremio.

Some might accuse her of taking her job a little too seriously

Yes indeed it turns out our sage servant has chalked up a bit of a tab and the feisty Camille reckons it's about time he paid-up. Unfortunately, we're a little short on cash but tall on guys who can smooth-talk their way out of any situation; Viktor sorts it all out. He suggests that Camille hold off for a short while until we meet up with Tai Ho, we'll get her money after our business with him is concluded. The debt-collector goes along with the idea, goes along very literally in fact since she decides to join our party.

Soon afterwards, we meet up with Tai Ho; he's got a bit of a samurai air about him and turns out to be something of a gambler too. He'll be risking his life to sail us to the castle, so he'd like us to tempt fate ourselves with a game of dice. We enter into his gamble, playing a game with rules that Tai Ho takes an age to explain, but it turns out to be rather simple. Essentially we throw three dice into a cup (yes, cups again, Suikoden loves 'em) and the highest number wins. It is more complicated than that but explaining the rules would be dull so I'll just let you use your imagination.

Well I've got another hour free so sure Tai Ho, break it down for me

Lady luck is on our side and we win the round (and 1000 bits), Tai Ho's impressed and runs off with his little brother Yam Koo - a man whose entire face is covered with his hair - to prepare their boat. We head out to join them and sail off to our future castle. It's not the most attractive home in the world; a tower of rock floating upon the lake, covered in an eerie mist (is mist ever not eerie though, to be honest?).

It's a spooky place but we need to clear it out, and Tai Ho decides to join our efforts (8th playable character so far, if my count is right). My 6-man team heads inside, where the mist has even penetrated every corridor and stairwell. Haunted suits of armour and spear-wielding fish roam the castle and we have our struggles dealing with them as we ascend. These are the first enemies I've met that do indeed take a few hits to go down, and hit for some nice numbers themselves. Luckily we'd stocked up on medicine and didn't have too many problems.

Looks pretty defensible, no?

After a few floors of fights and chests, we officially reach the Castle of Toran and see the large empty rooms that make up the castle proper. We follow the stairs down until eventually we meet this fellow...

Tai Ho, this is no time for one of your planking photos

"Looks like this one's the boss" wonders Viktor aloud and damn right he is. The zombie dragon is no joke whatsoever, hitting the entire party for huge damage. This was by far the toughest fight I've encountered so far in the game. Gremio was the first to fall, and quite early on as well before I'd really settled into a rhythm of battle. I soon resorted to the time-honoured tactic of "One round of attacking, one round of healing". By the way, there's no revives, tufts of phoenix down, or spells that can bring characters back to life (at least not yet) so once Gremio was down he was down and I had to be very careful to keep the rest alive.

Another thing worth noting; everyone has their own individual inventory in this game. It's a cool idea I find, and results in you doing a little bit more micro-management prior to big battles like this, making sure everyone has got a few stocks of medicines to use should the need arise. Unfortunately Camille ran out rather quickly and was stuck on constant attack, which meant one of my guys couldn't be healed. Tai Ho has a poor defence rating and so was the next to fall. As usual, thank God for Viktor, his clone super attack was hitting the dragon for nearly 200 damage, and big Vik has around 300HP so could easily survive a couple of the enemy's worst hits. 

Camille really is one angry little treat

Thus, the pattern of healing and attacking continued until eventually the dragon fell, and those who survived were rewarded with a nice couple of levels. It was a tough battle but I wouldn't describe my victory as slight or lucky; what I'm trying to say by that is that so far the game has required no grinding and long may that continue, but finally now I am beginning to experience some true challenge in the combat.

Upon the dragon's death, the mist littering the castle lifted and we were deemed the new owners! What do you do when you own something? You give it a name! Thus we had the cool opportunity to grant a title to our newfound home. Dragon Castle, White Castle and Akami Castle (Gremio's idea, typically) were suggested by our friends, but after much deliberation I went for "The Castle".

Naming complete, the screen fades to black and suddenly the whole gang is gathered together for a little celebration in our new, much brighter now the fog has lifted, castle. Mathiu calls this the founding day of the New Liberation Army, and plans for a banquet are beginning when suddenly BOOM! Or rather "Poof!" or some equally magical sound effect: out of nowhere appears Leknaat. Remember her?! I'll give you a day or two to jog your memory and let you know what she's up to next time!

Oooooh! Mystery! Suspense! Drama!