Let's Blog Suikoden - Part 10

We've got an elf in our bed named Kirkis, it looks like he swam the whole way here to The Castle. By the way, yeah, elves are in this game. I didn't quite see that coming, of course it's a fantasy RPG and all, the sudden appearance of the genre's most popular pointy-eared race shouldn't be all that surprising but I was slightly taken aback. Anyway, as you might expect, he brings news!

Kirkis asks to speak to Odessa, he's redirected to me and asks for our aid. It turns out the evil Imperial General Kwanda Rosman has plans to exterminate the elves. I offer our aid but Mathiu believes our army isn't quite large enough yet, instead he suggests we send a small reconnaissance party out to see what's going on, and then decide on some appropriate action. I concur with our strategist and Kirkis joins the party, pushing Juppo out (I'll use him eventually, promise!). 

With a name like that I can't blame him for being angry

What happens next is a true gift from the heavens; Kirkis gives us directions! Woo! His village is on the far side of the Great Forest, which is located southeast of Kouan. I realise relaying the specific instructions to you is useless, you're not playing the game and don't need to know the literal direction I'm heading in, but I'm so damn pleased to finally have a bit of navigational help that I'm telling you anyway.

We head off across the world map, battling through hordes of those cute squirrels you saw last time. It turns out Varkas and Sydonia do indeed have a fine unite attack, and Kirkis is a decent archer. We arrive at a village on the edge of the forests where people are all up in arms at the sight of an elf. Kirkis wants to avoid any fuss and suggests we take the secret elfin trail up ahead as quickly as possible.

I'd prefer if you just straightened out our weapons, to be honest

However, I'm in a new village and can't help but explore a little first. I quickly check out the local establishments, recruiting a fellow named Maas in the weapon sharpening shop and a guy named Sansuke, a self-proclaimed "expert on baths" in a house nearby. I recruited him based on this knowledge alone, if there's one thing we need back at The Castle it's a bath expert.

Pretty quickly we find ourselves on the trail, encountering peculiar little enemies named Holly Boys that mostly tend to flee from battle, along with Kobold warriors, a race that appears to be a cross between raccoons and dogs. Halfway along whilst minding our own business a girl teleports in out of nowhere, her name is Kiki and she doesn't know where she is: recruited! I have to say our recruitment policy may be a little ridiculous at this point, any expert on baths or random teleporting potential psycho gets in without the minor interview process, but whatever, we need the numbers.

Hey, random, confused, teleporting girl! Join my army! 

We eventually pass through the forest, reaching a village at the edge of the trees that turns out to be the home of the Kobolds! They're not around, except one named Kuromimi who arrives and angrily appears to blame us for the disappearance of his brethren. He speaks in a rather cutesy way, mentioning an illness and his friends being taken away, it's not entirely clear what happened but we'll find out in due course I'm sure.

We proceed to the Village of the Elves, a village amongst the very treetops themselves. Our entrance is immediately soured as we witness a human woman named Valeria being insulted and taken prisoner by the elves. She appears to have good intentions, warning them of a potential attack by the General Kwanda, but the elves are too proud to accept the help of a human. The forest is her home as well, she doesn't want to lose it but her attempt to appeal to the elves is in vain.

They don't exactly bring out the red carpet and cigars for humans in this village

We're then given a chance to talk to the locals and witness some classic fantasy racism. That little show of prejudice we were treated on our arrival wasn't a unique occurrence; elves really hate humans and they're not afraid to show it. An innkeeper requests we don't soil her rooms and the owner of the item shop refuses to sell to humans, for instance. Kirkis seems friendly though, it's a shame he's in the minority.

After looking around and chatting to everyone, something that has gone from an act of mild interest to a veritable necessity in my quest to ensure I don't miss a single recruit, I head to the big house at the top of the village where the woman Valeria was taken to be imprisoned. Inside we meet a girl named Sylvina, who I'm assuming is the girlfriend of Kirkis from the way they interact, and also the granddaughter of the village chief. I don't have the best feeling about talking to him, but we give it a try.

Sorry, this picture sort of spoils the events of the conversation, but what did you expect?

Kirkis relays his journey to recruit the assistance of the Liberation Army, explaining that we, too, fight against the Empire and can help to protect the village. As expected, the old fellow gets angry, responding that elves don't need any human help and the lot of us should be locked up in the dungeons as well. Not wanting to cause trouble, we submit to arrest.

We're placed in a cell with Stallion, an elf who runs exceptionally fast, and Valeria, who reveals she was an imperial soldier but betrayed her superiors to warn the elves. Her efforts, as we saw, were in vain. She explains that Kwanda Rosman has developed a destructive weapon known as the Burning Mirror, wielding the power to incinerate entire forests with ease. 

Pessimist

Luckily for us, Kirkis has some contacts and the youthful Sylvina arrives to talk to him. She asks why he cares so much about humans, to which he replies that all this hatred between Elves, Dwarves, and Humans is bizarre to him; he doesn't understand why we all can't just get along. Sylvina struggles to understand, but says she wants to believe the same as him. To that end, she reveals the key to our cell and lets us out. Kirkis, seeming more and more like an elven John Lennon, decides the best next course of action is to head to the village of the Dwarves, that other race that hates us all, and ask for their help.

Our escape from the village goes off without a hitch, and just before entering the world map Valeria joins the party, sending Varkas home for now. I didn't want to break up his award-winning combination with Sydonia but Gremio is immovable and I like Lepant too much to drop him. Sylvina bids her love farewell, asking him to promise he'll return, which he does as they share a kiss.

Those are the Kobolds, a name which has its roots in Germanic folklore, I don't think they were sword-wielding raccoons in said folklore but I'm no expert

We head across the map to the dwarven trail, a mini-dungeon with some tough fights! The game seems to have really stepped it up with the enemies recently, they often hit me for a good 30% chunk of life. Luckily Valeria turns out to be a fine fighter, she has a Falcon Rune equipped that gives her a super powerful attack which appears to have no penalties whatsoever. It has unlimited uses and no visible side effects, so she has the advantage of being able to take out an enemy in a single blow most of the time. Two random battle notes: this game has same sound effect for using a healing item as Persona's 3 and 4, and I earn so many thousands of bits for each fight that those cup-game days seem like child's play.

We eventually run into the Kobold Kuromimi again, who appears to have just visited the dwarven village seeking a cure for the illness affecting his people, but was turned away. He says he won't give up, and still seems angry at our group for some reason, there's a bit of a mystery there that I'm sure we'll uncover soon. A short while after this encounter, we reach the Village of the Dwarves.

See, there the Kobold looks (and sounds) more like a dog so I don't know what to believe