Let's Blog Suikoden - Part 9

Hello friends, today we've got a bit of a morality lesson as the session was dominated by choices that I'd like to discuss. First, let's get back to the big news! Dun dun duuuun! Kraze is in town. Oh yes, time to either get ourselves arrested or take some vengeance! Either way, we weren't going to let this slimy villain get away with stealing our new pal's wife like that. So we follow Lepant to Kraze's house.

Lepant promptly obliterates the two guards standing outside. No, no, he seriously obliterates them. Like, the guy hits them, and they disappear in a flash of light. Lepant is ripped! We follow him on his warpath into Kraze's house, until eventually he reaches a room with half a dozen guys and says maybe he could use our help. He then joins the party and we enter a little battle, in order to accommodate him, Yam Koo is sent packing (the guy's a bit useless unfortunately, maybe a haircut would give him a tactical advantage).

Still as charming as ever, Kraze

We eventually make it through to Kraze, who is with Eileen and curses us for interfering with his "pleasure", which scares me more than a little. I'm not sure what he was up to, or planning to get up to, but it stops now. Some guards burst in in an attempt to stop us but Cleo makes toasty short work of them with her new Dancing Flames spell. Finally, we can deal with Commander Kraze.

Or so we thought! Because - big moment coming up yet again guys and gals - the creep grabs Eileen as his hostage in a classic "Don't come any closer or the girl gets it!" scenario, before revealing that an old friend would like to say hello. In walks... you got it, Pahn. Oh my! First Leknaat, then Kraze, now Pahn, it's a veritable reunion shindig. Kraze orders our former ally to capture us but Pahn is evidently in two minds. He reveals he has no regret for what he did, but his heart tells him otherwise.

Yeah, Cleo got dangerous

Luckily for us, the Ryu look-a-like decides to follow that heart of his and charges down Kraze, freeing Eileen from his grasp. Cornered and outnumbered, the evil commander claims anything we do to him could have damaging consequences on Teo. We are then given the choice to forgive or to punish. We can set Kraze free or execute him. This is the biggest choice I've seen in the game so far, and it took some consideration.

I'm not sure how the average player would react in this situation and I wonder what the most popular option is. Here we have the slimiest piece of work in the game thus far, his introduction in the game was replete with negativity; he insulted us time and again, and is evidently motivated by nothing but personal gain and self-preservation. He was partly responsible for the death of Ted, is clearly involved in the suffering of countless innocents under the cold hand of the Empire, and just took a woman hostage with plans to do heaven knows what to her.

I spent a while on this screen

At first, Kraze simply seemed like a bit of an inferiority complex case, jealous of men like Teo who had succeeded far beyond him in the army, and people like Akami who were respected more than him despite having proven nothing. If the game had asked me to kill him after our first few encounters, I would never have complied. He just seemed like a sad, small man who expressed his misery through the degradation of others.

However, as time went on and Kraze was revealed to be tantamount to a rapist, murderer, and thief, my decision became so much easier. We're trying to build a world better than that of the Empire, and needless execution has no part in that, but in this case I felt that justice had to be dealt. Maybe if Kraze had showed the slightest hint of remorse for his crimes, if he'd told us he wouldn't do it again or showed a hint of anything good he might've been spared. As it was, his only attempt at defence was a threat.

Pahn's triumphant return! He's still the master of insults

I realise this might seem like I took the choice a little too seriously, but I wanted to be realistic about it. I considered the implications of both options, wondering if Teo really will suffer as a cause of this, but at the same time Akami's father is an honourable hero who would, at least as far as I imagine, never put his own life above that of others. Kraze was a threat to the world, if we'd let him go he would have done nothing but return to the Empire, report our actions, and continue his own streak of evil. Regardless, Teo is in danger either way and I don't think that killing a slug like Kraze will have much impact.

I don't know what difference, if any, this will have on the rest of the game but it felt like an important decision and that's the hallmark of a good story. When I think that, in fact, Kraze has barely been on screen for more than a few minutes of my entire playthrough, and yet I deliberated over his fate with sincerity and genuine thought, I realised how less really can be more in terms of storytelling. 

I've run out of relevant pictures for the text, so enjoy this glimpse at one of the incredibly cute flying squirrels I'm forced to slay every time I visit the world map

Kraze didn't need reams of dialogue for me to realise whether I could kill him or not, it's through going out into the world and seeing the suffering first-hand, talking to villagers, meeting the likes of Lepant, that the game has shown me the horrible things men like him do. We'll see whether or not my choice has an effect, but I'll stand by it regardless. Kraze was a villain and never showed anything to the contrary. 

Afterwards, we have another choice to make, believe it or not! This one's a little easier though. Pahn wants to join the New Liberation Army. He accepts that he can't be forgiven for his actions, but he wants a second chance and this is just the sort of decision I needed after the last one. From a man who didn't show a single hint of remorse to our old friend who longs for an opportunity for redemption. The choice was easily made.

This screen, I didn't have to spend long on

As I said, we're building a better world here and I like to think it's one where those who truly desire forgiveness and understand the consequences of their mistakes can be given a second chance. Of course I can't easily forgive Pahn for what he did; poor Ted is gone and Pahn is very much to blame, but at least his intentions weren't wholly abhorrent by any stretch. Pahn believe he was doing the right thing and would never willingly have led one of his own to execution at the hands of corruption.

That's why I can even understand Pahn as he says he feels no regret. Why should he? His actions were done with the purest intent. He was looking after his friends and serving the Empire he'd been taught to serve his whole life. We were all imperials once too who trusted the likes of Windy, and in a similar situation I could have imagined any one of us doing exactly what Pahn did. He made a call that he thought was for the best based on his knowledge and his allegiance, he could never have known what it would lead to.

It would be silly to feel regret for an action performed in such good faith, but by pledging his strength to the Liberation Army and asking for a new chance, we see that Pahn evidently feels sadness at the events that came to pass, and that's all we can ask for. He's a good guy and I'm grateful to have his mighty fists on the side of the army. The gratitude he showed when I accepted him only reinforced how much I feel he deserves this chance.

Looks like it, huh? So will you join us and do that thing where you obliterate enemies in a single blow?

Phew! Two big choices there and suddenly this post got a whole lot more philosophical, let's lighten the mood with a chat to our new friend Lepant and his wife. "You are no longer my wife." says Lepant to Eileen, oh dear. The guy realises he's now a fugitive and regrets ignoring the Empire for so long; he was trying to protect his wife and wound up having her taken from him. He can't allow that to happen again so he's joining the army and decides an annulment of his marriage is the only viable course of action to protect Eileen.

Fortunately, his bride has a little more in her dome. She says she was ready for problems the moment she married him, and this isn't going to be the thing that pulls them apart. She's coming with him to the army, and they say they'll meet us at The Castle soon. We decide to head on back there ourselves and see what mission Mathiu has in store for us next.

What am I doing here?! What are you doing here!?

We arrive home and take a little look around, astonished at what we discover in the dungeons below. Krin is there! And Juppo! I truly don't know why, I never recruited either of them and found both to be jerks frankly but they've decided to join us I suppose. Heading upstairs I'm shocked again to spot the unparalleled duo of Varkas and Sydonia! Here to return the favour they offer their services. Woo! I've been waiting for this moment since that mountain battle at the beginning of the game.

Varkas asks about Odessa, resulting in Mathiu hurriedly interfering in the conversation with the line "She's busy on a mission up north". It's clear that Odessa's death does have to be kept secret, there's no telling how some people would react if they found out. Anyway, in order to celebrate the arrival of so many new friends, we throw a banquet!

Sorry Pahn and Eileen, this is the only table we have and it's not quite long enough

The meal is going splendidly and everyone appears to be having a good time, I decide to step outside for a moment when boom! An assassin arrives out of nowhere, attempting to take our rune! We fight him alone before our friends rush out to join us, the assassin scoffs at our feeble "army", saying the Lady Windy can destroy us any time she wants to. It was a harrowing visit but we have to ignore such threats. Our army will grow day by day and hopefully Windy will hold off on any attack.

After such an interruption, Pahn and Gremio are back to their classic arguing ways, debating who should stand guard over Akami's room. We let them get on with it and drift off to sleep, waking in the morning and chatting to Mathiu to build a party. This time Gremio is the only must-have! So I'm free to select four other characters and oh my I have some options. We now have two pages of characters to choose from, with Juppo, Krin, Varkas, Sydonia, Lepant, and Eileen all added to the roster. 

Oh yeah!? Well we've got Krin!

It took some contemplation but I went with a party of Akami, Gremio, Varkas, Sydonia, Lepant and Juppo. I figured Varkas and Sydonia must have some cool unite move, Lepant is a real tough guy, and perhaps Juppo is a decent magic user, plus he has something called a "Trick Rune" that I'd like to investigate. Mathiu has no quest or dialogue for us though, so my destination is currently unknown. 

We go downstairs and notice Rock has already built his vault, which naturally turns out to be an item bank! Very useful indeed. I can explore every character's inventory from here, removing their items at will and organising the items my party needs which is a vital feature. I wondered how they'd attempt to manage the inventory system which so many characters and this bank is a clever method.

So glad I recruited you, Rock

Eventually, we head outside to see a man lying on the dock. On closer inspection, he appears a little elfish...

Either an elf or the owner of an "Ear Attack Rune"