Let's Blog Suikoden - Part 15

Join with me in celebration, dear friends; I am the proud owner... of a map! Oh yes! I'll tell you how it all went down in a moment, but first let's bask in an image of my new navigational chum.

Oh yeah!

Right, here's how it all happened; essentially, I was lost. I wandered around that same area from the last post for quite a while, stumbling on the same old towns, chatting to the same old people, and pretty much getting nowhere. I'll admit the temptation to check online was growing, but I'd love to reach the end of this game and say I figured it all out myself. Especially since it seems to be one of those JRPGs that require you to really make some leaps of deduction sometimes.

Anyway, back to the map action. Once I'd realised I was basically lost, I decided that this was a fine time to teleport back to the castle and revisit previous locations in the hopes of, if not finding a hint, at least recruiting a few more people. Thank the heavens for the Blinking Mirror and Kiki's teleportation, seriously, otherwise this part of the game would be a nightmare. It makes you wonder in fact if anyone has ever tried doing it without recruiting Kiki or collecting the Blinking Mirror; that must be a ghastly experience.

Still a lot of spaces to fill

So, here's a brief rundown of what happened in the places we'd been to before. At Seika we recruited Marie the innkeeper, a friendly, rotund woman who previously helped us hide from the imperials and has been a bit of a "Nurse Joy from the Pokécentre"-type omnipresence throughout the game. We also chat to Antonio the chef who would like a new job, but we aren't able to offer him one, weirdly. We recruit a wise woman named Onil as well.

At Mathiu's old place a girl named Apple (now we know where Martin and Paltrow got the idea from) is sad that we took Mathiu away and wants to ask him herself why he went, thus she joins up. The other kids there miss their teacher too, it's quite a sad moment but I'll look after him for them and I'm sure he'll return in one piece before long. 

Got me a black market dealer

Just north of the town is the gate we once had to sneak through shortly after meeting Viktor, you remember? We met a guy named Chandler there at the time; well now we recruit him and he offers to bring us medicine. We then move on to Kaku where there are no new recruits available but there is that cat roaming the village; I recall that a girl is looking for a cat and attempt to capture the rascal but enjoy no such luck.

We then warp our way to Kouan, the Great Forest Village, and the Village of the Dwarves, all to no avail. Not a single recruit can be found in a single one of those places, and I begin to worry about my course of action after I finish my visits since it doesn't look like I'm getting too much help so far.

Suddenly, a Suikoden miracle; I arrive at the Burnt Village of the Elves, probably the last place I expected to find someone, but a young man is stood near the remains of the giant tree. My heart doesn't leap immediately, I assume he's just another recruit, but soon I'll see how special he is. His name is Templeton and he's a mapmaker. Oh my days. A mapmaker. Does this mean what I think it does? When he offers to make us maps and then even hands us one, my suspicions are joyously confirmed.

Templeton, you are my favourite video game character

I head out onto the world map and am treated to that wonderful image you saw at the beginning. Flashing dots indicate locations to visit, and suddenly I feel more powerful than ever before. It's obviously time to get back over to the French village area and see if we can't find us that castle, or maybe even that potion-maker, but first I decide to head back to The Castle and see if there's been any changes.

Changes are indeed abound at our headquarters, we now have our own inn, item shop, and armour shop! Fantastic. Marie at the inn lets us know she's looking for a chef so we make the quick journey back to Seika to pick up Antonio. We even have our own little dice game run by a fellow named Gaspar I recruited last time. I played with him and won quite a bit of money since he runs a "Double or nothing" system and I went on a nice run. We chat to Onil, the wise woman, who wonderfully seems to give us a hint for our next step; she tells us that the pharmacist Liukan lives upriver from Rikon! 

Well thanks!

I switch out Stallion from Lorelai (a choice I'll soon regret) and get cracking. I was tempted to stick the chef Antonio or the old woman Hellion into the party just for giggles, but I'll do that another time. Even the bath expert Sansuke is a playable fighter! Anyway, out on the world map I notice that I'm moving slowly, and realise that Stallion must have been the reason for the lovely speed boost I'd been experiencing, so back we go to retrieve him. I know, going back-and-forth is becoming my speciality.

Right, back to Antei where I purchase some "Toe Shoes" and wonder if they might be enough to dance with the girl in the inn. They are indeed, and we're treated to a great scene of Akami and Mina sharing a boogie; the latter spinning gracefully like a ballerina whilst the former simply turns slowly in a circle. After that's over, she joins us and another dancer takes her place. Amusingly, one of the guys watching her had previously said "Mina's dancing is the town's treasure!" and now he says "This girl's dancing, too, is the town's treasure, sort of." I love it.

Akami can boogie with the best of 'em... almost

Despite all of our new arrivals, Jeane still doesn't deem our force large enough to merit her recruitment, and with that I've spoken to pretty much everyone and it's time to find Liukan! Following the river by land leads to nothing that I haven't seen before, but I notice a flashing dot on the map down south and realise I haven't been there yet. The only way is to sail along the river, so we climb aboard and cast off from Rikon port.

We follow the river towards the dot and eventually spot a house; it has to Liukan's place, but there's a problem. A vortex of water is blocking the way, and we can't sail through it. I recall that there was a fellow who liked boats I met recently, and in fact came to consult this very blog to recall his name and location (it's not cheating if I use a guide I wrote myself). His name is Gen and he resides in Teien. 

Swirling whirlpool of doom... we can take it!

We teleport back to the castle to speed up the journey when suddenly a brief scene occurs! Viktor asks what our plan is to get past those rapids, and Gremio says we'll need a better boat. Nice way of the game hinting where to go there, but I believe I was one step ahead of them, for once. The plan remains to go and talk to Gen, and off we go.

I was right! Gen says he can help us, but not alone, he joins the party and asks that we go chat to Kamandol, the alchemist who was locked away next door. I'm an immediate fan of Gen, I must confess; he's got a real sense of humour and doesn't like his time being wasted, calling out threats and names to Kamandol when he refuses to open his door. The alchemist finally appears, wearing a monocle worthy of applause, and eventually invites us inside to show us his plan for overcoming the rapids.

Most pointless choice so far

A machine that runs on oil. "Ridiculous" says Flik in one of those amusing "It's funny because that's a thing in the real world, but for them it's madness!" sort of ways. Ridiculous or not, attached to a boat, this thing will give us the boost we need to push upriver. We realise we're going to have to carry this thing to Rikon now, which isn't ideal since it's huge and must way several tonnes. Luckily, we're a tough bunch and we manage.

Upon arrival, we're tired from lugging that thing all the way, and Kamandol and Gen need some time to fit it to the boat, so the rest of us head to bed at the inn. In the middle of the night we're treated to a touching scene in which Gremio stands aside a sleeping Akami and speaks of how much we've grown, how he has looked after us for so long that he thinks of himself as a father or brother figure, and that now perhaps we don't need his protection any more. Have to say, I'm getting more and more perturbed by all this Gremio time lately. I'd hate to lose the guy; he's not my first-choice fighter, or even one of my favourite characters, but he's a lovely fellow.

Not a good sign, not a good sign, not a good sign

In the morning we head outside, climb aboard our upgraded vessel, and head off to take on these rapids. Arriving safely at Liukan's Hermitage, a very foggy locale, we walk up to the house and find Liukan; a tired, old man who just wants be alone. We begin to ask him about the medicine when suddenly in flies Milich on a huge, black dragon! I didn't see that coming.

The evil general is here to deliver Liukan to his Soniere prison, preventing us from obtaining our precious antidote. I'm sensing a needless trek around a dungeon coming up when technically, Milich is standing right here, admittedly he has a dragon but there's six of us and it wouldn't be the first we'd brought down. We could at least try and take the evil swine but no, we all stand there and watch as he leisurely grabs Liukan and flies away. That's video games for you. Amusingly, Flik then has the gall to go and say "How humiliating! He was snatched from right in front of us!" Yeah, cause you did nothing Flik.

Bye! We'll just sit here and watch you kidnap this old man and fly aw- oh wait! Oh dear he's already gone.

Anyway, back to the castle we go to plot a break-in. Fantastic work everyone, we were this close to what we wanted and instead we have to go and break a fellow out of prison, which I'm sure will include battling countless more guards and enemies than the one guy and his dragon we had to beat to prevent this whole ordeal.

Right, just to add fuel to my fire of rage, Kwanda had the blinking mirror and I've removed him from the party so now I have to trek all the way back home instead of fast travelling. On the way back we encounter a huntress named Quincy who says she'll join us when we have 34 more recruits. You might be waiting a little while for that awfully specific request to be fulfilled, my dear.

Sausage-fest in the upgraded baths, oh yeaaaaah!

We arrive back at The Castle, eventually. By the way, lately whenever we return here we're treated to a little scene showing the outside of our headquarters, and it seems to grow and become more and more like a castle as time goes by. New towers have been built and our ramparts are being developed. Inside, as well the place continues to develop. Templeton has been given a map room, the baths have been upgraded with stone as opposed to wood, Rock's vault is larger and all of the main commanders on the fourth floor now have their own fancy bedrooms.

I must say I love that aspect of the game. I've mentioned it before I know but it's really worth repeating to drive home how cool it is that the castle gradually develops as you build your army and time passes by. I love getting back after a mission or gaining a few new soldiers to see what's changed.

We also have this nice roof for picnics and other activities

Right, we go and talk to Mathiu who would like us to head back to Antei and recruit a counterfeiter named Kimberley and a scrivener named Tesla. They'll help us break-in to the prison. Out go Gen and Kamandol from the party and in come Juppo (who I've been attempting to use in battle for ages and by the love of God I will do eventually!) and Cleo since she's been out a little while for no good reason, she's a fine fighter with her fire rune and a good friend.

I fancied taking Luc along since I love how magically powerful he is, but he's cursed with a short-range weapon and I can't risk placing such a fragile fellow in my front row. Thus, he's only capable of magic attacks and presents a limited option in battle. Speaking of magic, there's one criticism I could throw at the game actually, for now I still don't really understand how it all works. I have plenty of runes and rune pieces, some of which I can equip and then use, others I can equip that do nothing, and others still that I can't seem to equip at all. I've even recruited characters who arrive with their own runes but no spells of any kind. I ask if I have to mix them around, if it's related to stats, if certain characters can only use certain runes, etc. but the game provides no answer. I hope it's something I'll be able to figure out because I feel like I'm missing out on a large part of combat.

Then this happened...

Anyway, we teleport to Antei and speak to Kimberley. She says she'll join us if... she can have dinner with Flik. Viktor of course agrees to this proposal in place of our impetuous Flik who is suddenly rendered rather speechless. We then get to enjoy watching this ludicrous date between a terribly nervous and stuttering Flik and rather cougar-esque Kimberley.

She lets us know that Tesla is here in the town disguising himself under the name Albert. We find him and Viktor amusingly encourages him to try and keep up his cover story by asking questions like "What's your surname, Albert?" "What's your mother's name?" etc. Our buddy Vik then eventually yells out "Hey Tesla" and 'Albert' falls right into the trap, replying and revealing his true identity (as if we didn't know it already). It's been a while since a good Viktor scene and I enjoyed that one.

Well sorry but there's a big old war going on, buddy

We head on back to the castle, which now has an updated theme tune by the way; it's the same melody with new instruments, and really is a lovely piece of music. I feel like I should start a "Juppo Watch" feature in the blog because he still has not been used in combat at this point. Anyway, upstairs Mathiu tells us Kimberley and Tesla have prepared some forged documents allowing us to walk into Soniere. Time to go and free Liukan!