Let's Blog Suikoden - Part 22

Here we go again...

The battle begins, well, I say 'battle', it's more a measly attempt at buying the Imperials some time as Griffith sends out a force barely numbering 3,000 to our comparatively colossal 13,000. Griffith says that they wish to surrender if we can just give him a bit of time to speak to his men. Mathiu sees through this rather obvious ploy and orders our immediate attack.

I now have the Dragon Knights as one of my 'Others' options. I'd love to use it but the description says it will yield to bows, so first I send in a speedy Ninja recon to figure out what Griffith is planning. He's preparing a magic strike so I'm good to go, we send in the dragons to unleash all manner of hell. In actual fact, they don't do a world of damage but the attack is lovely to watch as the herd of beasts rain in from the sky. A thousand of Griffith's men fall.

Fly my pretties

It feels almost unfair to send in another Ninja but I have to protect my forces; Kasumi reports back that they're planning a charge so I quickly unleash a magic blast to wipe him out. The battle was a perfect victory, but that was to be expected. There's surely far more difficult fights still to come.

We're now at the Northern Checkpoint where Griffith surrenders. He hardly seems like a beacon of virtuosity but when I'm presented with the option to either recruit him or take his head, I feel that I can hardly execute the guy. As has been my standpoint throughout the game: Windy is the villain and she is the one I'm coming to stop. Everyone else isn't really 'on her side', so to speak, they're just doing their jobs and serving the Empire as they always have. Thus, Griffith joins up and asks that we spare his troops; he seems like a fine guy actually. His men then offer to join us too, lovely stuff.

Actually, he seems like a decent guy, Griffith

Mathiu now plans a further charge north before the Imperials know what hit them. He places Lepant and Humphrey in charge of separate battalions and orders them to attack two forts, these battles will serve as distractions whilst we sneak in and rescue Viktor and Warren. Mathiu has even apparently organised some special reinforcements, should they be needed. Another spectacular plan from our tactical mastermind.

We then pick a party and head to the castle, Krin and Kasumi are forced members so I bring along Kage as I've enjoyed working with him recently. I also stick in the deadly duo of Alen and Grenseal. Mathiu has yet another scheme worked out for our entry into Moravia; Griffith shall act as though he has captured our strategist and wishes to hand him over to Kasim Hazil. Whilst the occupants of the castle are preoccupied dealing with this, we'll sneak around the place and find the prisoners.

Classic Krin

Inside the castle, Griffith and Mathiu head off to commence their performance and our sneaking mission kicks off. We have to make it to the top floor. What sort of castle decides to keep their prison on the top floor? I have no idea, but I suppose it does make sense. If you stick your prisoners in the dungeons there's always a chance of them tunnelling out or quickly escaping via the front door. Put them on the top and their only way out is via a descent through the entirety of your castle. 

Anyway, the dungeon goes rather quickly and smoothly; the battles are simple enough and the path is quite linear up to the top. Upon arrival, we spot Viktor and Warren held in a cell, along with Vincent de Boule! We save the two targets but before we can get to Vincent, the scene shifts to Mathiu. He's talking to Kasim Hazil, who asks that he switch sides since it would be a shame to execute such a brilliant strategic mind. Mathiu says he doesn't need to worry about any execution, and in runs a guard reporting that the castle is surrounded by the Liberation Army. Ho-ho-ho! Nice one Mathiu.

To be totally frank and true, I mostly came for Viktor, but nice to meet you, all the same

Kasim attempts to laugh off his predicament, saying that the armies currently fighting Lepant and Humphrey will soon return victorious and crush our forces here. "Wrong again" says Mathiu as another guard enters, bringing news that all the troops they sent out have been defeated by our forces combined with the army of Jowston. Jowston is apparently a City-State that Mathiu doesn't really want to ally with, however he let them know ahead of time that the Empire had some rather unpleasant intentions for them and so they sent their army to help us out.

Lepant and Humphrey arrive revealing they've taken care of their ends of the plan, and Viktor and Akami enter afterwards. Mathiu asks Kasim to surrender, and Milich arrives to help persuade his fellow general. Milich says they have all been stubborn to support an Emperor who is not the man he was and an Empire that no longer stands for what it once did. Their duty now must surely be to restore what they once defended, and open their Emperor's eyes. Kasim ultimately agrees and joins our team. With that, as usual, it's back to The Castle before the Jowston army decide to attack us too.

It's true, you're living in the past Kasim!

Back in the meeting room, Mathiu says we've liberated much of this Empire and solely the capital remains. I begin to realise I'm getting near the end of this wonderful game, and the pressure starts to build. Sanchez tells us that our army is reaching a level where it can finally match the core of the Imperial forces, and Viktor suggests that surely their HQ is our next target. However, to get there, Mathiu advises, we must pass through either Ain Gide's fortress of Kwaba or the floating fortress of Shasarazade (NB: I apologise if I have alternatively spelt this word 'Shazarazade' in previous posts, however the game seems to be in two minds as to the spelling, so I'm just following its lead. I'll stick with 'Shasarazade' from now on).

Lepant recommends we attack Kwaba, it's location on the ground is far more accessible to our troops and it's doubtful we could possibly summon the required number of boats to even transport our army to Shasarazade. However, that's exactly what the enemy will be thinking as well. They'll be expecting us to attack Kwaba, thus we'll do the opposite! The element of surprise has often been our friend and we'll need it here. But what of the boats? "Don't worry, I'll have 500 by morning." says Mathiu. Well, alright. Mathiu is pretty much Superman now.

... you know, after everything you've done Mathiu, this doesn't even seem that far-fetched. Fine, you take care of the boats, I'm going to sleep

Right, off to bed we go, safe with our faith that Mat will sort it all out. As we rest, we see a few scenes of various characters throughout the castle, and it's a moment I really love. First there's Mathiu and Humphrey sharing their respective war stories. Humphrey talks of how he never wishes to attack someone in rage, like he once did during the Kalekka incident many years ago. I'll just interrupt for a moment to tell you about that incident actually, as it's rather important.

Basically, from what I've read in my Old Books, understood through talking to others, and gleaned from visiting the decrepit remains of Kalekka itself, the town was perhaps the greatest casualty of the war between the Empire and the City-State of Jowston. It was decided that the Imperial forces, in order to drum up support for the war, would slay the entire population of Kalekka, every innocent man, woman, and child, and then claim that it was the City-State's doing.

Our written account of the incident is scribed from the perspective of the Empire, it talks of how the cruel City-State orchestrated the whole vicious attack, and how the noble imperial forces found their courage renewed by the desire to avenge such a heartless crime. "History is written by the winners" in full effect here.

Humphrey was involved in this incident, ordered to murder civilians he turned in rage and killed his own commander before joining the old Liberation Army. Mathiu was around at the time of the incident too, indeed it was that that triggered his own abandoning of the Empire and his position in the Imperial army.

We then move on to see Gen chatting to Kamandol; they toss insults back in forth in typical fashion before Gen reveals his fear that they might die tomorrow, and he wanted to be sure to see Kamandol's face one last time. The alchemist then offers him some tea, and they presumably go on to spend the evening with one another. It's a nice moment.

The back-and-forth between Gen and Kamandol has been one of my favourite recurring features of the game's dialogue

We then have Cleo, alone, asking Pahn to protect her in the battle. Tai Ho, Yam Koo, and Kimberley are down in their little home at the dock of the castle. Tai Ho seems preoccupied, and Kimberley tells him to relax and let them enjoy this night together. She seems to insinuate that she'd like to spend the night just the two of them, but Yam Koo makes his presence known in order to "protect" his brother.

Hix and Tengaar sit outside beside a fire. It's a rather romantic moment but Hix is being a little ignorant. Tengaar sulks a moment before they quickly make up. Flik is gazing out of a window thinking of Odessa as Sanchez comes to see him, offering a cup of tea. Meanwhile, Krin snores in the dungeon, dreaming of treasure. Then we see Fukien and Liukan, the old timers of the group, pondering if victory is possible. Fukien says that of course we can win, but many young lives will be lost, and the pair of them sigh sadly at the thought. 

The fishermen share a few pre-battle drinks

Finally, and perhaps most touchingly of all, we see Akami in bed. Viktor arrives at the door and enters, claiming to have something to give us. "Obtained steel hatched" appears on the screen; it's Gremio's weapon. Viktor went back at the prison to retrieve this for us, keeping it hidden so as not to upset a soul until now, since it might be his final chance to hand it over. Viktor talks of how many of our men may die in this battle, but that we have to push on for everyone who believes in a better future, everyone like Gremio. "Akami, let's win tomorrow." he says quite simply, before taking his leave. We then try to get some rest.

I have to say, all of that was one of the best sequences I've ever seen. By far one of the most touching and emotional little clips I'm yet to see in almost two decades of all this video game nonsense. Simple, yet wonderfully effective. I can't believe how attached I have become to this world and these characters. Before kicking off the game I had my favourite JRPGs, I had the worlds and personalities I adored and entered this one with a huge fear I'd be unable to recreate even half the emotion I have for, say, Lost Odyssey, here with Suikoden. I'm so glad to say I was mistaken. 

We'd better

This game has touched me and I'm terrified of the next battle, losing even one of these characters would be gut-wrenching. There are a few I don't care as much about of course, if the likes of Kai (a character I've never even used or spoken to) were to fall, I can't see myself weeping but I can't even imagine if someone like Viktor winds up dead. I don't want to lose a single one of my men. I get the feeling I'm approaching a point of no return so might take the chance to extend my playtime and go out searching for some recruits, but there's a battle coming up and I can only run from it for so long.

Next time: we begin the final assault. For Gremio!