The Latest in my random antics! Playthrough of Suikodens 1-3 + SuikoGaiden!

[NeoCracker]

As the title says, I will be playing through the entire Chronology of the first few games!

Suikodens IV, V, and Tactics I won't be doing as I hear they don't really connect to much to the other games Chronology, and with the resent release of the SuikoGaiden Vol. 1 Fan translation, I figured I'd play through the entirety! I will be reading the cliffnotes for Vol. 2 though, just to get the Idea of what happened prior to Suikoden 3.

I'll be using a guide only for the 108 Stars of Destiny, cause I know I'm going to miss people otherwise. There is to damn many to recruit.

Afterwords I may do the other games, but for now I play!


I begin by naming my character Vargas....

Edit: Essentially this is more a 'lets talk about how great this game is' then a Let's play.

Edit: And being dumb I leave northwest of the Capital, end up leving up a few times, and going through the mountain pass only to realize the Dragon Knight I was suppose to find was sitting in town...

I did get the Holy Orb to allow me to dash though! And a few Rune Pieces for Weapons!

[Shauna]

SV takes place not long before SI, and it is also really good, so you should probably play it. xD

[NeoCracker]

True, but anything I look at seems to imply the events of Suikoden V aren't really related to those of 1-3. I will play it one day, but I'm more interested in the Shenannagis of the others, given I beat 2 and all that did was leave me wondering what the smurf was going on in the area.

[Roogle]

It is kind of awkward because you chose a name very similar to Varkas, a bandit that appears early in the first game.

[NeoCracker]

Yeah, I noticed this fairly early.

Edit: And I am on my way to Great Forest to help the Elves!

[Wolf Kanno]

You should play Suikoden IV and V because they do fill in some details about the Scarlet Moon Empire. Not to mention Suikoden V finally explains the backstory of Georg Prime which Suikoden 2 only hinted at. Interesting to note, both the Island Nations and the Queendom of Falena were first mentioned in Suikoden II if you kept up with investigating all of your recruits.

Its also a very good idea to use a guide to collect the 108 stars in Suikoden I because the game is pretty devious about recruiting some of them. Pesmerga is always been a pain to get but Leon Silverburg, Clive, and Pahn are all Guide Dang Its.

I really dislike the Elf section of Suikoden I but at least it ended in a way you don't completely expect. Have I mentioned one of my favorite things about Suikoden Suikoden Elves spoileris that the series as a whole makes it a point to screw the elves over for being racist arrogant pricks? Seriously, it sucks being an elf in any game they show up in. Kwanda's section is one of two really cringe inducing sections of the game because Suikoden really played too many fantasy cliches straight and most of the non-human races in Suikoden I are assholes. Milich's section is also played more silly than it should have been, which is a shame cause some important things happen in it. Still, the first game may be really silly at times and certainly rough around the edges but I still have a fond place for it. One of those games I enjoyed before I became a pretentious "games are art" asshole I guess.

As for the Rune shards for weapons, except for Water Rune Shards, their are a finite amount of the other elements.

Water - Gives a Regen Effect that regenerates 5HP per Rune shard, add water element to Weapon
Lighting/Fire - Raise damage by a certain %, adds Fire/Lightning element to weapon
Earth - Raises Skill by 2, adds Wind element to weapon (you read that right)
Wind - Raises Defense by 3, add Earth Element to weapon.

Wind and Earth are glitched and somehow got their properties switched.

Stacking Lightning and Fire doesn't raise the effect, you should spread them around.

Earth Rune Pieces are supposedly dropped by the Boar enemies in the Gregminister region but I have never gotten them to drop so I'm not sure if their is a glitch preventing them from being obtained.

Water Rune pieces can be easily farmed and give some characters a much needed defensive boost (I like sticking it to Gremio's weapon personally) but sadly Water is kind of the weakest element to have on your weapon as not many enemies are weak to it.

Who is your party so far? Thoughts about Viktor and Flik's humble origins?

[NeoCracker]

And I just beat Neclord....

[NeoCracker]

Okay, I didn't update, but I beat SUikoden 1 quite some time ago.

Anyway, it was good. Not great or anything, but good. Didn't really fill in as much about Leknaat as I would have liked, but hey, a bit more details were nice.

I liked Flik less in this one, though still a good character. I also like how Luc transitioned from being kind of an amusing and arrogant dick to being a slightly more serious and slightly less dickish version in the next game.

On a whole, it doesn't seem like you would need to play one to get 2 at all, though there are some nice connections between the two.

I did wonder what became of the Soveriegn Ruin though, I assume the new ruler possess's it.

Anyway, I've been on 2 for a while, and I'm to the second fight with Neclord. Overall, the experience is the same for me playing it, though I have more characters now since I'm using a guide for them.

And smurf Trading, it's a stupid system and I'm saddened I have to take part just to get a recruit.

[Raistlin]

I agree that you should play IV and V. You should play V because it's the most polished game in the series; it is better done than Suikoden II, though I still prefer II's powerful story and characters. And you should play IV so you can read the LJ spinoff of the game that Bleys is now hosting, which is one of the funniest things ever put on the internet.

Suikoden III (which I assume you're one now due to the usernote you left me) is also a great game that I may like as much as SV due to stronger characters, but it is very unpolished. Between the fixed camera, the silly buddy system in battle, and the unintentional hilarity of blowing up your own party with the Self-Immolation Fire Rune, the game has its... quirks, to put it mildly. But the characters and story are great, and the gameplay is generally fun. Until you fight Yuber, at least. But SIII is a very good, if unpolished, transition to 3D and a longer game (can take ~50 hours, depending on how thorough you are).

[NeoCracker]

WEll, here are my notes on Suikodgaiden I noted!

Starting up SUikoGaiden Vol. 1, a Visual Novel oddly, I am playing as Nash Latkje, a Special Agent
of Holy Harmonia's Sothern Frontier defense on my way to Muse to infultrate it. Seems he's in search
of one of the 27 True runes, presumably the Rune of the Beginning.

Might be oddly translated Dialogue, cause it made it sound like they aren't sure if the True
Runes actually exist or not, though from 2 one of their Generals posses's the True Wind Rune.

And Nash is carrying Sierra on his back all the way to Harmonia to Muse... This is smurfing
awesome. He Describes her as 'A Sly and arrogant old woman who doesn't have even an ounce
of shame.'



And for those interested, here is a Harmonian's view of a True Rune.

'The 27 True Runes are the source of energy for this world. It's said that their bearers gain
immortality and incredible strength. I wouldn't believe it for a second if I wasn't traveling
with one of them.'

...Huh, Sierra is coming here in search of the True Moon Ruin, so it's taking place sometime
during SUikoden 2 it would seem.

Either way, I stay at a mansion Sierra seems to know the owner of, get attacked at the night
and am fighting my way to the Vampire owner of the mansion, which was Sierra's plan all along.
I learn that Nash here is a ember of the 'Howling Voice Guild' which is trained in the secrets
of Gunpowder and Gun Making. Said the guild holds a unique position in Harmonia. However he never
became a gunner, but does keep on hand some gunpoweder.

And the vamp in question is Rean Penenberg. AND NOW SIERRA STORY TIME!


...THAT WAS smurfING SAD!

It has been a while since I have seen the premise that vampirism is a curse handled so
wonderfully. Sierra just got even better after this, and you learn more about the vampires
of Blue Moon Village.

Now on to chapter 2....

You finally get to muse, after some kids tried sneaking in with a fake pass....

ANyway, he infultrates a highland camp to investigate possible use of the Beast Rune, and it turns
out Nash here was the guard that let Jowy and friend into the tent for some butter! XD

To wrap this up, as I've already finished, you get some fun details on Luca Blight, Jowy,and the fall
of Greenhill. Hell, you even find out it's this guy who tells Kahn about Sierra, who helps
defend Greenhill Prior to Jowy getting thier to beat it. It's also Nash and Shin who rescue
Teressa and get her into hiding.

Here's waiting for Vol. 2 to get translated so I can play the second half of his story, which
seems as though we'll get more information on Harmonia!

I'm only a short way into III right now. I like how one of the characters mothers is Lucia, and I've already managed to hurt myself with the water Rune. AoE attacks are horrid in the prescence of you being unable to fully control positioning of troops.

I'll get to IV, V, and Tactics after my playthrough of this set.

Edit: Okay, it's only some magic that does taht, not all aoe. Still though, that kills the usefulness of a good chunk of magic.

And dear god this camera. Oh dear smurfing god this camera.

[Wolf Kanno]

I did wonder what became of the Soveriegn Ruin though, I assume the new ruler possess's it.

Sources pretty much confirm its MIA along with Barbarossa and Windy who were retconned from KIA to MIA as the series went.

And smurf Trading, it's a stupid system and I'm saddened I have to take part just to get a recruit.

Trading system is okay in SII, III probably handled it the best since there were easier exploits and more "get rich quick" options than the other games.

Here's waiting for Vol. 2 to get translated so I can play the second half of his story, which
seems as though we'll get more information on Harmonia!

Yeah the bulk of info concerning Harmonia comes from Suikogaiden and Suikoden III, as well as source books but those are a given. Its a shame the series was basically cancelled and rebooted as something different.

I'm only a short way into III right now. I like how one of the characters mothers is Lucia, and I've already managed to hurt myself with the water Rune. AoE attacks are horrid in the presence of you being unable to fully control positioning of troops.

Edit: Okay, it's only some magic that does that, not all aoe. Still though, that kills the usefulness of a good chunk of magic.

While you can't directly control a characters movement, you can influence it with the skill system and leveling your party members. Your characters actions kind of work on a point system and several factors can influence it but basically how much they do in battle will influence whether they will get out of the way of AoE damage. Skills like Precision will also factor in as well as the character's proficiency in their particular spell rune, so basically keep leveling up and you'll almost never notice "friendly fire". Holy Dash is kind of one of the most overlooked skills, but it makes your characters movement cost less and allows them to do more in battle (like move out of the way).

I happen to like the Buddy system since Melee fighters tend to work better with passive runes like the Killer or Fury Runes so losing the ability to select attack, never felt like a big deal to me, especially as I played the game more often. It just meant that you had to pay more attention to how you leveled and selected skills. Honestly, I feel the game has some of the most underappreciated gameplay in the series.

I'll get to IV, V, and Tactics after my playthrough of this set.

Amusingly, I restarted my own playthrough of the series I started a while ago when I was doing work for the Suikoden Wikia, so I'm finishing up Suikoden III and will be moving onto Suikoden IV, doing my first complete run-through of Suikoden Tactics, and finally a long overdue replay of Suikoden V.

[Roogle]

Anyway, it was good. Not great or anything, but good. Didn't really fill in as much about Leknaat as I would have liked, but hey, a bit more details were nice.

Unfortunately, the series continues to be vague about Leknaat throughout the entirety of the series. It is a shame that the series stopped its continuity as she was one of the characters that I was completely unsure about. There are a couple other mysteries in the series that are alluded to across multiple games. Despite this, there were never concrete answers delivered to players. I think this is one of the downfalls of the series; it is good to construct a long story that can span multiple games, but if you have different writers come in or fail to create another game, then the story is lost forever. That is the primary reason that I am hesitant to welcome new players to Suikoden because of that disappointment.

[Wolf Kanno]

I have finished Suikoden III including the sixth chapter, and moved into Suikoden IV which is always an odd game for me. I've played it a few times but my memory of the game's story is really muggy so in some cases the game feels a bit new to me. In some ways I feel the game gets more hate than it deserves and in other parts, I feel its justified. Trying to travel on the world map of this game almost makes me happy that the RPG genre has finally put this element to rest. Its that poorly executed. The game suffers from being really unpolished which is a shame because it could have been a strong entry had it been worked on a little more.

I've reached Obel for the first time and have been tasked with recruiting people but I haven't received my mega ship just yet.

[Raistlin]

SIV's main redeeming feature is that it's quick and easy. True, the world map is unbearable to traverse, and the writing is near nonsensical at times, but the gameplay is fairly enjoyable, and it's the easiest game in the series. Almost absurdly so, between how ridiculously powerful some characters are and the support characters which can basically auto-heal your party after every battle. And up until the final dungeon, the largest dungeon in the game is like 3 screens and takes all of 2 minutes to traverse (though it is annoying if you have to go through it 4 times in a row for a certain character...).

It's still a decent game by itself, but it certainly deserves its reputation for being the worst in the series.

[black orb]

Don't get cocky, boy!