Let's Blog Suikoden - Part 24: The End

Foreword: Huge apologies for the tardiness of this post, ladies and gents. A ludicrous assortment of factors that I won't delve into contributed to this, but quite simply I'm sorry. To make it up to you, this is indeed the end of the game, and is indeed, by far the longest post I have written during the playthrough. You want to know how it all ends? Read on.

Here we go!... but first, just a few paragraphs of recruitment

Before chatting to Mathiu and undoubtedly initiating the final push, I take a gander at the dozen or so blank spaces on my Stone Tablet of Promise and decide to go on one last big recruitment drive. Remember those bloody pirates? The guys I went to see by my own, then with Tai Ho, with Yam Koo, with the pair of them, and always a new line of dialogue but no option to recruit? Well, I decide to try them again, this time with Tai Ho, Yam Koo, and Kimberley who associates with the fishermen brothers and seems to count as one of their group.

Ho-ho! My plan is successful. The pirates want a fight, and we dutifully oblige, wiping the floor with them rather easily. Not a good sales pitch if they want to be part of my team for the upcoming battle. Regardless, after being bested, the three pirates Anji, Leonardo, and Kanak join our forces. 3 Stars of Destiny down, still a fair few to nab.

Oh well, we'd best let you by!

I'd like that Zeus look-a-like to join up but I visit him once more and he says we're still not big enough for his talents. Maybe I should visit with his friends Maas and Meese, but we'll try that later on. I begin to go through the list of locations, teleporting to each and collecting anyone I find. There's a hunter named Quincy at Garan who joins up. At the Northern Checkpoint, the humorous duo of Max and his servant Sancho come charging through, spouting some battle cry in support of the Liberation Army. The funny part is when they then bump into Akami and Max doesn't even recognise him. When Sancho eventually reveals our identity to his master, the pair leap at the chance to join our team.

Over at the Warriors Village I chat to the fellow named Window again but he's still not interested in me, however a guy named Moose (yep, another one of the blacksmiths) is very interested if we bring Mose to chat to him. I do just that and now I have Maas, Meese, Moose, and Mose in my squad. I take all four of them to see Mace and it works; the four are former students of Master Mace and persuade their old sensei to join up. Back at The Castle, Mace can upgrade our weapons to level 16 which is very nice (and expensive) indeed.

I'm very glad to see this screen

I go to consult the Stone Tablet of Promise to have a gander at how many recruits I'm yet to find: 13 blank spaces remain. I know one of them must be Window, another must be that appraiser in Rikon, and there's that Melodye at Kirov who needs a special rune to join. We continue our random searching and find a rather tough-looking dude named Kirke at Lorimar, he's standing aside the graveyard and is a self-professed "head-chopper". He tells us that head-chopping is all he's good at, but that'll do nicely, sir. 12 to go.

Back at HQ, I go and talk to Rock and take a look through my inventories, spying a Window Crystal! I'd forgotten all about it, it must be for Window! I also have a Sound Crystal that nobody in my party can equip so wonder if perhaps it's the key for Melodye! Both of my suspicions are accurate and the two new recruits are added to our ranks. 10 left.

I refuse! No, just kidding, here you go

All of this took far longer than it might appear in writing, by the way. I don't want to give the impression that I'm either a genius or a buffoon but I have to be honest, it took a lot of random searching and flashes of common sense for me to reach the conclusions that led to some of these recruits. For instance, I eventually then decided to go and read my old books in the library in search of info on potential recruits. I read of a cook named Lester who works in Moravia, Clive at the inn in Rikon, a stray elf named Rubi, a fellow in a tiger mask called Fu Su Lu, and finally Pesmerga who is apparently on the hunt for Yuber.

I head to Moravia first to find this cook, but also remember that Vincent de Boule was trapped here too and I never got a chance to free him, he must surely be another Star of Destiny! I make my way through the castle, always on the lookout for a kitchen or servant quarters but encounter no such luck. Lester is nowhere to be found but on the top floor, still behind bars, awaits our humorous bourgeois chum Vincent de Boule.

I could never leave you behind, Vince

I continue looking here and there, eventually realising I've never recruited anybody at Neclord's castle so perhaps that's worth another look. Right at the top, in the very room the vampire prepared to wed Tengaar and was slain by Viktor, awaits a ridiculously tough-looking knight. It's Pesmerga, he came here hoping Yuber would be close by.

Soon after this, I stumble onto Lester but nowhere near Moravia. He's at the inn in Rikon, and seems pleased that I've gone around "tasting his stews". I don't really remember doing anything of the sort but there you go. I then pause for a moment and wonder if, like Pesmerga, certain recruits are waiting at the end of previously-cleared dungeons. So I then spend (/waste) quite a lot of time walking all the way through the Dwarven Vault, Soniere prison, Scarleticia, and a couple of other places, but find absolutely nobody. So much for that theory.

Suikoden - Rated R for Dark Humour

One place I haven't visited at all springs to mind; the Kobold village! I've literally only been there once so it might be worth a shot. I stick Kirkis in the party in order to traverse the Great Forest (without him in the team, I realise it's impossible to get through) and add Kuromimi too, in case we bump into any of his Kobold friends. The village turns out to be a gold mine for recruiting. First of all we meet Gon, Kuromimi's little brother, who joins up instantly at the sight of his bro. Afterwards the mega-muscled Fu Su Lu with his tiger head is recruited for the price of 10,000 bits. 

We also discover Rubi, a rather gothic-looking elf who chats to Kirkis, but says he's too much of a weakling for her to fight alongside. I've been in this situation before with Lorelai and Eikei. Guess it's time to level up Kirkis. Luckily the game is very kind with levelling. Kirkis begins at only level 23 but swiftly attains level 50 after just a few battles. Surely that must be enough? Back to the village we go to find out and Rubi is indeed satisfied.

Have I? ... oh yeah... yeah, I remember... stews, yeah

There are only 4 spots left on the tablet. The appraiser Jabba must be one, this mysterious Clive fellow is another. I wonder if one might be Ain Gide, the Imperial commander we met once before. Another could be Leon Silverberg perhaps, I'll have to go and chat to him. In the meantime, Clive is the only guy who I've got a real lead on. They say he hangs around the inn in Rikon from time to time, and I've already looked there but try teleporting in and out again a few times and eventually he appears. He looks pretty tough and I'm already imagining a dream team of my most recent acquisitions involving Clive, Pesmerga, Rubi, and Fu Su Lu.

Further investigation of the table reveals I'm looking for a Chikai star, a Chisei star and a Chimei star. I look at these names and compare them to others, I check the order of people on the tablet to see if that's any help, but all-in-all I'm left rather clueless. I know the appraiser Jabba needs a nameless urn but I just don't know what that is or where to get it. It could've been in some chest I missed or just a random drop, maybe I accidentally sold it. 

Well, you look it, Sir! Join me!

I remember Leon Silverberg at Kalekka and decide to go chat to him, see if there's any chance he's a last-minute acquisition. He wants me to tell Mathiu how impressive our army is, but if I go and chat to Mathiu it just instigates the next battle and I'm forced to quit and load my game.

I decide to go around all over the place again and ludicrously I managed to miss someone in the very first place on the list! At the inn in Seika I spot a guy I hadn't seen before, a dude by the name of Sheena. He's trying to chat up a girl by saying his family is rich before revealing he's the son of Lepant! I then decide the natural course of action is to bring the lad's parents to see him. Lepant gives the boy a good talking-to and he joins us.

If you want to pick up girls, I'd lose that earring, Sheena

Now we have only 2 spots on the tablet to fill and it'll be immensely frustrating not to get them all. I feel like Leon might be one, and the other is the appraiser Jabba. There is still Ain Gide too but I can't find him, I go to Kwaba but there's nothing going on there. I go around a bunch of other places one more time to see if there's some random star who just appears now and then like Clive did, and I re-read the books for any info I hadn't previously uncovered, all to no avail. I wish I could find a nameless urn. I'm tempted to look online but so far I've got all but two of these stars on my own and am super proud so I don't think I want to tarnish that feat now. 

Then follows a typically embarrassing and stupid revelation. I'd got a bloody Nameless Urn all along. I go and look through everyone's inventories just to be sure I don't have any special items. Juppo, of all people, has got a nameless urn just sitting there! I don't know when or how or why he has that but he does. Since I rarely bother checking everyone's inventory with Rock and I barely ever bothered using Juppo, I must have just cast him from my party and never looked back. Oh my days. Jabba is mine.

Behold my uber team

I've got all but one of these stars.It's taken a LONG time and I know every location in this game off by heart now but I've got all but one. My money has to be on either Ain Gide or Leon. Maybe there's someone still to meet but those are tall odds. Unfortunately, the only thing I can do for Leon is talk to Mathiu, but that doesn't work because he's in "I want to fight!" mode and won't listen. And I've searched everywhere else too darn thoroughly now to really want to spend any more time on this.

I'm going for it. The final battle. Let's do this. First I go through the character list and make myself an uber party. I'm sure super pro Suikoden players would disagree and know far better combos and maybe I'm making some rookie mistakes with this team but I like them, I love how cool they appear in battle and I think they have a fantastic balance of magic and offensive power. I have a front-line of what have got to be three of the heaviest hitters in the game: Viktor, Fu Su Lu and Pesmerga. Vik is equipped with a killer rune, adding to his already great luck stat giving him a big chance of critical hits, Fu Su Lu and Pesmerga have been given hazy runes to boost their evasion. 

Wouldn't want to run into these guys down a dark alley

Riding in the back I've got Akami obviously with his level 4 Soul Eater, then there's Rubi, who it turns out is way higher level than the rest of us at 60 and has ridiculously good stats in every category. All of my other characters have at least one obvious weakness but she's strong, defensive, skilled and a great magic user! By the way, it's worth mentioning that now, at the end of the game, I finally figured out the rune system. The magic stat, it's all about that. It's very simple in fact. People with high magic stats have more spells available. 

Anyway, I've got Rubi equipped with a Mother Earth rune (the same thing Hellion uses, I found another one), then Crowley who I wish I'd been using before because he seems to be the best magic-user I've got. He has a cyclone rune which gives him some healing as well as offensive spells. So we've got muscle up front and plenty of magic for support, defence, and big damage at the back. I think it's a great team but you could really play this game again and again and use all sorts of combos. I imagine there's tons of cool little challenges one could invent; try and finish the game with Antoine the chef for instance, or using a wholly female/male party, or using only the blacksmiths, etc. 

Then I imagine it's time to roll out

I feel a bit bad just sticking in all the super strong dudes who I've only just met as opposed to bringing people like old Cleo, Camille, Luc, or even the likes of Flik along for the ride, but I do enjoy having a team that looks so darn destructive. Maybe I'll end up with some forced party members anyway. We'll see.

Right, it's time to chat to Mat, he says now we have to march on the capital. He asks for the order to attack, but before we can grant his wish, Liukan interrupts with his doctor's opinion that Mathiu should not go to battle. Our valiant strategist says he must; he gave Odessa his word and will stop at nothing after all. I'm instantly wary that this is a bloody prophecy of his death, it'll be torturous if Mathiu dies. Unfortunately, I can't stop him. This is as much his fight as my own.

Unfortunately, as a general, I won't let you not let Mathiu go to battle

A force of 20k awaits us. We assemble a huge assortment of commanders in the meeting room, and the troops are readied. Mathiu gives a rousing speech; the time is now to end this cruel regime! Lepant adds his own words for good measure: think of your friends and families, do it for them! Warren echoes his sentiments and Leknaat appears saying it's now time to tell us everything. Windy is apparently looking for vengeance against the whole world. Centuries ago, the "Clan of the Gate" to which Windy and Leknaat belonged were massacred. The two sisters escaped using the Rune of the Gate which is in fact two runes, a 'front' and a 'back'. Or an entrance and exit, if you like. 

Windy has the entrance and Leknaat the exit. Windy evidently became filled with rage at the slaughter of her village and began a power-hungry quest to seek her revenge. Her sister held more forgiveness than hatred in her heart, and for this, Leknaat nearly paid the price. Windy attempted to forcefully take the exit rune from her sibling, who fled and isolated herself on that island we visited at the beginning of the game. All the while she was waiting for someone like Akami to appear. 

Bit of a trippy speech, but if it gets the troops motivated then I don't mind

She then addresses everyone, saying we are stars who have assembled together for a reason, for victory. Mat then jumps in with another speech, for our fallen comrades, for the future, for Akami. We cheer for victory and are ready to fight. I'm then treated to another of those sequences of scenes from around the castle. Our brave men and women are preparing for battle. Varkas and Sydonia are with their bandit regiment, imploring them to fight hard, Gen orders his marine friends to fix whatever they can while there's time, Kuromimi rallies the mighty kobolds. 

With that, I order the attack and we roll out. The scene switches to the Imperials; countless soldiers and monsters await us, with Yuber at the head and sneaky Kanaan from way back when cowering behind him. Yuber scoffs at our army, saying it'll be no match for their 100,000 men. Oh deary me. We thought they'd only got 20k. The scene returns to our side, where Kirkis reports the enemy has indeed got a force numbering around 100k. Leknaat tells us that the majority of that colossal figure must be monsters that Windy has conjured up to fight for her. Lovely Leknaat then plans to use her own rune to send the monsters away.

It is funny, Yuber, but maybe not that funny

Once again we see Yuber and the Imperials and watch with glee as their monsters begin disappearing. Leknaat's power unfortunately does not amount to enough to rid us of all these beasts however, and Akami wonders if the Soul Eater might be of aid. No sooner has the suggestion been floated than Leknaat forbids it, saying that we must never use the Soul Eater in that way. Luckily, a saviour arrives in the form of Joshua who lends the power of his own true rune. Together, they wipe out every single one of the enemy monsters.

Yuber remains defiant, believing that the Imperials still hold the advantage, and orders the attack. It's time to begin the last battle! A force of 20k against our respectable 18k.
20k against our just over 18k. As is customary, I make full use of my three ninjas to begin the battle in destructive fashion. Within a few turns, Yuber's mighty force has been halved. The thieves then take up the mantle and land us some final crushing blows and before we know it, the fight is over. Fourteen thousand brave soldiers of the Liberation Army remain standing to see our brighter future born.

Heh. Heh heh heh heh. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! See, not so nice is it Yuber?

With that, Yuber admits defeat, saying he doesn't care as he won't miss this world much anyway. Back on our side, the leader of the dwarves has arrived, along with Zorak and even Hanzo, the mysterious ninja master. Zorak's about to begin one of his long-winded speeches before Viktor interrupts; it's time to charge to Gregminster!

This is it, we're back where it all began and ready to take Barbarosa's head. At least, that's what everyone seems to be concerned with. Personally, I think Windy is the more important target. Oh no! Oh no no no no! What fresh hell is this?! Like a poisoned blade being thrust into my bowels I hear the news that Flik wants to come with us. I just carefully selected and equipped this party and now a guy that I don't even like with poor armour, no healing items, and a low-level weapon is going to take the place of one of my warriors.

We'll do what we can Mat, don't die now

Oh well, we have to cope. Flik is at least a mixture of decent magic and a good physical offense, and since Pesmerga and Fu Su Lu fill similar roles in my team I decide he'll fill in for one of them. Examination of their stats proves Pesmerga my preference, and Fu makes way. I'm tempted to make another change and bring in Lepant's boy Sheena who seems to have some of, if not the best stats of any of my fighters, along with a lightning rune. Essentially, he's a better Flik than Flik, but I've already got one Flik so I'll stick with the team I've chosen.

Before we head inside, we're treated to a little bit more despair as Mathiu, through fits of coughing, tells us to be careful and Liukan announces his concerns over our strategist's health. All Mathiu wants is revenge for his sister. If that is to be your final wish, old friend, we'll do whatever it takes to grant it. Although I do hope and pray he pulls through, it's not looking good. 

I know, the party looks a lot less classy without Fu Su Lu's tiger head

Flik has got literally no armour on. There you go, if there's one criticism I could throw at the game, it's these forced unannounced changes right after you just spent all the time at the castle sorting out everyone's inventories and equipment. If they're going to stick someone in your party, it should at least pop up "Do you want to swap armour with the unfortunate sod you just spent half hour sorting out back at The Castle and who is now being booted home without a chance to fight?". 

Actually though, it turns out I can give Flik some stuff by simply warping back to HQ. It seems a bit daft and not quite in keeping with the beat of the story to cry "Victory!" at the castle gates and then tell everyone to hang on half an hour while I just pop back to the castle to fetch Flik some trousers, but I'm thankful for the option nonetheless. 

Then this happened...

Back at the castle, things become even more detached from the story as every member of our army is just sitting around in their typical poses with their usual 'between mission' dialogue. Even Mathiu is there, no longer coughing his guts up, instead offering me a letter to take to Leon Silverberg. I guess he was the final recruit after all and I'm going to delay the climax of this game even further by going to get him. Sue me.

At Kalekka, Mathiu himself turns up at Leon's house to reluctantly ask his father for aid. Just forget the context, if you can. Suspend disbelief for a moment and imagine this all happened before the battle. It's a flashback, if you like. Anyway, there's bad blood between papa and son but old man Silverberg lends his blade. There you go, the tablet is complete and I feel mightily proud indeed.

We're home

Diversion out of the way, back to Gregminster we go where the action resumes. Ain Gide awaits us at the entrance to the castle, reminding us of our previous encounter with him where Viktor invented those amusing "Schtolteheim Reinbach III" pseudonyms to sneak through the gate. Viktor himself pleads with Ain to just let us by; his blood need not be spilt and the Empire is already crushed. Ain, however, retains his admirable loyalty. If he betrays the Emperor now then poor old Barbarosa will have nobody left. You can tell he knows this is only going to end one way, and perhaps he even agrees with our cause, but he's served his master too long to wave the white flag now.

Into battle we go where Ain is frankly beaten quite quickly and without particular incident. He dies before us and Flik curses the situation. Viktor offers condolence in the form of a sensible proverb "Things can be right and useless, but also wrong and priceless". I believe he's saying that, perhaps for Flik Ain Gide's death was pointless and wasteful, but for Ain there could be no greater honour than to die for what he had his life believing and serving. From our perspective, the guy's death was a waste, but surely for him, his whole life would feel like a waste if he suddenly decided to switch sides at the last minute. What would have been the point of his serving Barbarosa for decades if he would abandon him so cheaply?

Exactly. You die with honour Ain Gide

It was a shame to see Ain fall, I would've preferred him to follow in the footsteps of the Imperial generals, but my interpretation of what Viktor said at least makes his death appear to have been worth something. We leave him be and head inside the castle, which is, of course, a dungeon replete with enemies and treasure chests. Good old Suikoden, good old JRPGs.

We soon make it to the throne room, but it's empty. A secret passage has been opened, through which the Emperor and Windy have surely made their escape. We follow with haste, where a sequence of forced battles with guards rapidly deplete my medicine stocks. I begin to worry about our prospects for the imminent boss fight, but there's not much we can do about it now. 

That'll be my chair soon!

Faster than I expected, we arrive at the big fellow himself, Barbarosa. He thanks us for coming this far. What a polite fellow, you're very welcome Mr Barbarosa, Sir. We're in his gardens, what he calls the remnants of his realm. He doesn't have much left, he says, but he'll protect it with everything he's got. He then draws his mighty dragon king sword. I hope you were paying close attention to the name of that sword, by the way, so you'll be ready for the fact that he then turns into a giant, golden, three-headed dragon.

As you might imagine, that's our cue to start hitting him with our blades, sticks, feet, anything we can get our hands on really. The battle involves attacking the heads one at a time. I'd like to now write a few paragraphs about the epic battle that unfolded, replete with thrills, spills, danger, and excitement. Unfortunately, the fight isn't particularly much of a challenge. Big Barb doesn't hit too hard, in fact, or maybe I've just really well-chosen and prepared my team. Either way, we take out a head quite rapidly thanks to our big damage-dealing spells. He retaliates with a pretty nasty attack that wipes our Crowley, so I've lost my healer, which obviously ratchets up the pressure a little. However, the remaining two heads don't put up enough of a fight to really trouble us and the great dragon is felled surprisingly quickly.

He looks pretty tough huh? Well, the barks of his three, golden, armour-plated, massive heads are worse than their bites.

Was that it though? Does he now unveil his "true form"? Is Windy about to burst in and say "Ha! I'm the real final boss!"? Well, no, not quite. The former generals (Sonya, Kasim, Kwanda, and Milich) arrive. They tell their former master that he's changed, he's been deceived by the evil Windy. Speak of the devil, here she is. Kasim attempts to defend his Emperor but Windy brings him to his knees without breaking a sweat. Oh dear, I won't be too chuffed if we have to tangle with her.

She's angry, and she wants the Soul Eater. She walks up to Akami and the rune bursts into life yet again, transporting Windy alone into the dark abyss where suddenly our fallen friends appear! Gremio, Ted, Teo, and Odessa stand around Windy! Their power, the true power of the Soul Eater, rejects the evil sorceress. 

The power of the fallen!

We're back to the real world where Windy curses the rune and cannot understand why she cannot take it. Barbarosa tells her it's over now. She then turns on him, threatening to kill him, but he calmly reminds her that his own true rune protects him from all magic. This comes as a shock to Windy who says she'd believed him to be under the control of her Black Rune. Barbarosa then drops the biggest bombshell of the game by saying that no, he was just pretending. He reveals he loves her, not for her likeness to his late wife, but for her own merits and character, and he wanted so dearly to erase the sadness he sees in her eyes. With a glance to Akami, Barbarosa asks what sort of land we'll make with him gone. Without waiting for an answer, he grabs Windy and leaps from the balcony to their collective doom.

Wow. So, all along, Barbarosa was just a fool in love and wanted Windy to be happy. We'd certainly seen a hint of this before when Futch met him briefly and the Emperor showed mercy. It remains quite a revelation, however. Along with the fact that we don't actually have to fight Windy! All game long I'd been anticipating the ultimate battle against her, but as it turns out it was our old comrades who stopped her for us.

At least he granted her final wish

The palace then begins to shake, and we need to get the hell out of here! The generals wait on the balcony, all fixed in a trance-like state of what I can only assume to be disbelief, sadness, and perhaps a little relief. They say they'll be right behind us, I only hope that's true. The party begins to head down through the castle. Some soldiers block our path and Viktor offers to stall them. I call him an idiot and say no way, but he urges that he's useless now the battle is over, while Akami needs to survive in order for a brighter future. 

Worst moment of the game, this one. We have to leave Viktor behind. Nothing I can do to stop it. We have to leave my most beloved companion to what might be certain death. Gut-wrenching. He says he'll be right behind us, and once more I can only pray he's telling the truth. To add to the misery, Flik then goes and does the same! We run into more soldiers and he offers a similar self-sacrifice in order that Akami might live. I've not enjoyed Flik's company a great deal but damn! 

No. No, no, no, no, no! Fight for another fifty or sixty years then Viktor, please

Akami and the others then run on, and the camera remains behind as Flik and Viktor catch up to one another. Flik tells Viktor that Akami has made it out, and Viktor grins. "We can fight to our heart's content!" he cries, unleashing his star dragon sword, as Flik nobly unveils his own blade Odessa and they commence their stand against a huge amount of imperial soldiers who don't even have an Emperor to fight for any longer. What a waste!

I have to say this is a painful ending indeed. If Viktor was going to go out, then swinging a sword with a buddy by his side is certainly the way for it, but I hoped so much that he'd make it through. The only thing I can do to dispel my fears is grip stubbornly to a sacred principle that I apply to games, tv shows, films, and books on a regular basis: if you don't see them die, they're probably not dead. It works for AMC's The Walking Dead, why not here?

If they do die, they do it in style

Outside, many friends await in a state of celebration. Hix and Tengaar share an amusing embrace, Futch finds his solace in the avenging of Black, Gen and Kamandol enjoy a typical exchange of banter. Happy scenes. Well, prepare to have that happiness shattered like the fragile bowling pin it is as the boulder of death comes rolling towards it once again! The scene shifts to Mathiu in bed, breathing his last. He asks Liukan if we won, and then wonders aloud if he chose the right path by becoming a strategist and being responsible for so much loss of life. Liukan begins to answer him, and I watch, naturally expecting our old philosopher to talk some optimistic sense into the poor guy, so that he can at least die with a peaceful mind. But no. No, no, no. The writers must've been having a bad day or something because Mat dies before Liukan has barely said a word. The old-timer only wishes that our loyal strategist rest in peace. Roll credits.

And the misery continues...

Yep. That's it. The story ends with Mathiu's death. Well, not quite. We're in fact treated to a sort of "Epilogue Credits" sequence where every single one of the 108 stars of destiny appears, along with a brief message about what happened to them. I painstakingly scribed them all, and present the list in full, for your pleasure:

1. Mathiu rested in peace.
2. Akami became president.
3. Lepant lived in peace with his family.
4. Luc went back to Leknaat.
5. Humphrey left the republic with Futch. (I wonder why)
6. Kasim became commander-in-chief and protected the border. 
7. Kwanda too.
8. Pesmerga continued to search for Yuber beyond the borders. (that's some grudge)
9. Gremio, of course, died. (thanks for the miserable reminder)
10. Warren became a chairman of congress.
11. Kun To became the head of the merchant's guild.
12. Cleo grew tired of fighting and began living in, and protecting, Teo's old house.
13. Viktor is MIA. (knife in the heart)
14. Valeria becomes a mediator between humans and elves. 
15. Griffith starts a business.
16. Clive disappears instantly.
17. Flik is MIA. (much smaller knife in the heart)
18. Camille becomes the lancing instructor of the army.
19. Kreutz leaves the country.
20. Kage disappears. (obviously)
21. Stallion leaves to become fastest man in the world. (he already is, I'm sure)
22. Fu Su Lu left on a journey.
23. Kirkis rebuilds the elf village.
24. Milich protects the grave of Barbarosa.
25. Pahn died. (medium-sized knife)
26. Sonya is the admiral of the navy. 
27. Anji plans to go into the shipping business and make a bundle.
28. Tai Ho returns to Kaku to chill. (classic Tai Ho)
29. Kanak joins Anji.
30. Yam Koo fishes. 
31. Leonardo joins Anji. 
32. Hix is accepted as a true warrior and departs on a journey. 
33. Tengaar follows him. (that's nice)
34. Varkas is captain of the border guard.
35. Sydonia disappears.
36. Eileen stays by Lepant's side.
37. Leon lives out his life in his hometown. 
38. Georges disappears north.
39. Ivanov goes searching for the colour of freedom. (good luck)
40. Jeane returns as runemaster at Antei.
41. Max retires.
42. Eikei departs to find worthy opponents. (I don't envy anyone who gets in his way)
43. Sancho continues to serve his master.
44. Alen is a co-commander of the republican guard.
45. Grenseal is the other co-commander. 
46. Tesla becomes secretary general of republic.
47. Jabba in charge of finances.
48. Lorelai leaves to find adventure. 
49. Blackman returns to his fields.
50. Joshua returns to coach future knights.
51. Morgan continues his studies at temple.
52. Mose works rebuilding Gregminster. 
53. Esmeralda lives a comfortable life.
54. Melodye departs looking for all the world's sounds. (ambitious)
55. Chapman opens a theatre.
56. Liukan opens a clinic.
57. Fukien returns to temple.
58. Futch departs with Humphrey. (what are they up to!?)
59. Kasumi returns to Rokkaku. 
60. Maas resumes his studies.
61. Crowley returns to the caves as he despises the world. (charming)
62. Moose becomes a master blacksmith. 
63. Fuma is invited to Rokkaku.
64. Sergei becomes rich from his inventions. 
65. Meese visits the dwarves to improve his skills.
66. Sheena has a good time wandering around. 
67. Kimberley forces her way into Tai Ho's house. (ha ha!)
68. Kessler becomes captain of the republic patrol corps.
69. Gen returns to Teien to build ships.
70. Marco leads a vigorous life. (I'll bet she does)
71. Hugo is the republic's chief justice.
72. Hellion succeeds Leknaat as the new seer. 
73. Milia resumes her duties at the Dragon's Den.
74. Mina becomes popular dancer.
75. Kamandol continues his alchemy. 
76. Juppo departs to search for a bigger trick. (I think his "Magically-Appearing Nameless Urn" trick isn't too bad)
77. Kasios departs to spread liberation army songs.
78. Viki disappears.
79. Rubi is welcomed into the new Village of Elves.
80. Vincent goes home and claims his inheritance. (ha ha! x2) 
81. Meg leaves home.
82. Taggart becomes an assistant to Warren.
83. Quincy goes back to the forest.
84. Giovanni starts a business. 
85. Apple begins a biography of Mathiu. (may it become a best-seller)
86. Kai becomes a martial arts instructor.
87. Lotte lives with her cat. 
88. Mace lets Moose succeed him and retires. 
89. Onil still loves to gossip. 
90. Kuromimi becomes village chief of the Kobolds. 
91. Gon works hard to become the no.1 Kobold warrior. 
92. Antonio is the cook at Marie's inn.
93. Lester opens a stew place. 
94. Kirke becomes a farmer.
95. Rock builds a vault for the dwarves. 
96. Ledon opens an honest inn. (ha ha! x3) 
97. Sylvina marries Kirkis. (lovely news!)
98. Ronnie trains to be a homemaker.
99. Gaspar throws his dice at the inn. 
100. Marie reopens her Gregminster inn.
101. Window designs stained-glass windows. (rather fitting)
102. Sarah works as a maid at Marie's.
103. Sansuke designs new baths. (an important role in the new republic)
104. Zen tends to his flowers at castle. 
105. Qlon becomes the keeper of The Castle. 
106. Templeton departs in search of the edge of the world. 
107. Krin steals the Gregminster palace treasure and disappears. (typical) 
108. Chandler opens his own store. 

At least Gen's still around to raise our spirits

That's it, my dear friends. The credits then finally do begin their march and I'm left gaping at the screen with all manner of emotions wriggling about my mind. But wait, it's not quite over yet. The briefest post-credits scene of all time shows Akami leaving the town in the night. He looks left and right, as if to check he's not being followed or observed, and then walks off. We're then treated to a still picture of him walking out alone into the world. That's it. That's really it this time.

What does it mean? Well, I'm going to have to do a little research and I'll get back to you in another post where I'll discuss the game and it's ending a little more, but if you'd like my own hypothesis then I suppose, since Akami is left with the curse of the Soul Eater until he passes the thing on, he'll live on forever. Forced to see his friends die. Perhaps he's leaving the city as part of some plan to remove the rune once and for all, or perhaps he believes his work to be done and hopes to find a new life or further adventures elsewhere. It's left rather open, as I think you can see. Of course, Mathiu is dead, the generals survived, and the Vik/Flik combination remain missing in action. I'm going to say they survived though.

In fact, I'm going to say they were both fine. Logically, if the generals made it out of that place, then Viktor and Flik, two of the mightiest warriors in my whole army, should have survived. Similarly I'm glad to see the rest of our forces make it through, I feared that many more characters would risk losing their lives before the day was done, but we fought bravely, we saved the country from certain catastrophe, and a brighter future awaits the republic. I'll certainly play Suikoden 2 and see how much, if any, continuation there is between the games, but I greatly enjoyed reading each of our companion's brief epilogues and pondering what adventures still remained for them all. The game may be over, but the story continues.

What a game

Let's Blog Suikoden - Part 23

This is it, people, we're closing in on the end. I have to say, for as much as I love the JRPG genre, it's rare that I really end up finishing them all that often. I tend to adore the openings of these games, and when I get attached to the world and characters, I'll go on to spend so much time wandering around, finding ultimate weapons and visiting every last location, that I'm usually a little burnt out by the finish and move on to other things. 

I don't like saying goodbye to these stories; I must have at least half a dozen separate saves of Final Fantasy X wherein I've restarted the game, gone around nabbing every last secret, and left the thing unfinished just before the finale. The endings of these sort of games are also often immensely emotional; not only are you massively attached to these characters and having to finish their tales, but often some of those you love best end up dying. And in Suikoden, with nigh on 108 individuals that could potentially kick the bucket, I'm not holding out much hope for dry eyes when the credits roll.

Let's rock

Here we go, walking the green mile towards the meeting room. Ah, a sweet moment of relief, there's nobody in the meeting room! I guess they must be outside. I can at least spend a few more minutes walking slowly down the stairs. Unfortunately, I have to go out eventually, and there awaits a group. Along with boats. Well, boats that seem to be made of ice. Tons of them. Apparently Mathiu had yet another stroke of genius, deciding to use Thrash's breath to freeze parts of the water around our castle to create a small fleet of ships with which we can commence our attack on Shasarazade. He said he'd get us boats, he got us boats. 

We give the order to move out, and the battle at Shasarazade begins! Things kick off with our first viewing of Sonya Shulen, a young, blonde Valkyrie-type. She yells out some valiant battle cry that Tai Ho instantly belittles by saying she's cute. However, Sonya didn't come here looking for compliments and instantly retorts that she'll take Tai Ho's head. Damn. Not to be trifled with, this general.

Marvel at our icy fleet

The battle begins, as is often the case, with one of my cheeky ninja scouts. Kage reports that the enemy is plotting a magical blast so we counter with our elven archers. Sonya loses 3,000 of her 17,000 strong force. Meanwhile, our 15k remains untouched. In goes Kasumi who reveals she's preparing a charge so Crowley, Luc, and Lotte smash her with some magic for a big hit. The pattern repeats with the final ninja and then I send in the thieves to continuously counter everything she prepares. Her forces are wiped out and we don't lost a single man. Fantastic.

Now it's time to explore Shasarazade itself. Mathiu plans to burn the place down with oil, but we need to head inside first and close their floodgates in order for our act of arson to succeed. Viktor joins the squad by force, but I would have chosen him anyway. I decide to go a bit mad with the party selection here; Krin, Hellion, Fukien, and Kage make up the rest of our team. Kage is a given recently, he's got that lovely double exp rune and I'd like to see how high I can level him. Fukien has resurrection abilities which have got to to be useful. Hellion has something called a Mother Earth Rune which at least sounds impressive, and then Krin... well, I just sort of wanted to use Krin.

Lovely numbers

We battle our way through a few rooms and eventually come across a giant clam blocking our path. Guess we'd better fight that thing. Oh my days, Hellion, where have you been all my life? It turns out her rune is unbelievably good! She's got a fantastic spell called Earthquake that smashes this clam for nearly 2,000 damage! (that's a lot, by the way) She's also got some nice spells that give our men some kind of armour/bonus defence which is greatly appreciated as this clam hits to kill.

Fukien has to use his resurrection a couple of times, it's nice to finally have such an ability since I'm yet to find an item in the whole game that can bring anyone back to life. However, he's not too great at looking after himself, the monk, and eventually falls to one of the clam's big attacks. As usual, we tear through our medicine supply and use nearly all of our spells but finally the thing falls. Our reward is 100,000 bits. Not bad at all.

This is Akami's uber spell "Judgement", first the enemy is surrounded by blinding white light, then these evil angels appear and summon a rain of blue lasers on the unfortunate victim. I like it.

With that out of the way (quite literally), the path is clear and Viktor takes it upon himself to run along and use his phenomenal strength to shut the enormous floodgates. Back we head towards the entrance, ready to set this place alight. But oh dear, we forgot about someone. Sonya Shulen awaits us at the exit. She asks why we betrayed the empire and our own father, she's mentioned Teo a lot actually, perhaps they were close.

Suddenly, fire! Flames rapidly surround us, lighting up the inside of the castle like a Christmas tree. You know, a Christmas tree on fire. Sonya looks around and asks if this is what we want, to kill everyone and burn the world down. She won't let us escape without a fight, and into another boss battle we go.

Oh alright, Sonya, since it's you

That's a bit of problem for me since, as previously mentioned, I used quite a lot of medicine and spells in that last boss battle, and was wholly unprepared for this one. Almost every turn Sonya smashes us with a devastating attack that reduces our entire party's HP by about half. We're in a real pickle, but a combination of luck, smart use of our remaining health items, and wise old Hellion with her armour spells, I eventually make it through alive. Only Kage and Akami survive the fight, and I don't think they would've managed if both hadn't landed some incredibly lucky critical hits in the last couple of turns.

Sonya isn't surprised she can't defeat us after we were strong enough to stop Teo, but says she won't let us defile her. She says "I'm Teo's..." before trailing off and walking towards the fire, presumably preparing to jump in. It seems like perhaps her and Teo were together. Anyway, Viktor can't let a pretty lady die, in his words, and snatches her away from the flames.

Sonya and Teo were indeed sitting in a tree, it seems

We get outside and - brace yourselves for a shock - Mathiu is down! Liukan is attempting to wake him up but he's not responding. Then we find out - brace yourselves for shock number two - Sanchez was the one who lit the oil ahead of time. Sanchez was the spy! He says he has always been loyal to the Emperor and can't stop now. I find that a bit ridiculous frankly, when even the most stalwart of the Emperor's generals has seen sense and joined our merry band, why is this idiot still serving him, especially after everything he's seen? Besides, we're not even after the Emperor really. Windy is the villain of the piece and she's controlling Barbarosa, we just want to restore a bit of order!

Flik asks if Sanchez was the reason the old liberation army base was attacked and Odessa killed. The old man confirms it. Apparently, after spending this time with us, he began to question what was right and wrong, and even swayed towards switching allegiances to our cause for good, but he's "too old" to change sides. Jerk.

Flik means business

He says he's genuinely sorry for Odessa, and that he does like us all. Then why did you just try and kill us? Oh well, Flik's getting ready to take care of business anyway. Our young hothead draws his sword and prepares to cleave Sanchez's head from his shoulders, when suddenly our strategist awakes. Mathiu climbs to his feet and asks Flik to stand down, saying that the execution of Sanchez and his unveiling as a spy would be a hammer-blow to the troops' morale. For now, we act like nothing happened. Victory is too close now, it can't be put into jeopardy.

It's time to attack Gregminster. This may very well be the end. We head back to the castle and I take the time to roam the place a little, deciding what to do next before chatting to Mathiu and presumably commencing the finale. Down in the basement, our prison finally has a prisoner. Sonya is being held there, and we eavesdrop as she talks to Cleo, asking how someone so loyal to Teo could betray him. Cleo says she knows about Sonya and Teo's relationship, but that she, personally, never betrayed Teo and always remained by his side. She asks Sonya if she believes Teo really hated Akami, before telling her that when the general died, he spoke only of his pride and happiness with the way his son turned out.

Sonya doesn't appear to believe much, but goes silent at the end. Cleo then leaves and I head in to chat to Sonya, which in fact gives me the option to recruit her. She, once again, professes her hatred towards me but I say that I don't mind, I want her fighting by my side. She remains combative, speaking aloud her desire to watch me die. What a lovely lass. Regardless, she's in. Guess it's time to march on Gregminster, huh?

Ivanov finished his painting, gotta say I think it's a masterpiece

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!