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If the Duck Has a True Rune I Will Literally Flip Your Table: Let's Play Suikoden III Let's Play Genso Suikoden III! Hey guys, and welcome to Suikoden III, a good game in a good series of JRPGs. Why 3? Well, we've seen the two previous Suikoden games LPed here, as well as 4 and Tactics (and 5 is in the works). However, the previous attempt at 3 stopped pretty early on. This game was also the one that got me into the series, and thus has a special place in my heart. It also has a bunch of sassy dialogue, and I love me some snark. Like every main Suikoden game, the cast is a whopping 108 dudes (plus some extra dogs), that vary from awesome and important, to people you pick up on the side of the road somewhere. It also features our very own castle, duels, strategy battles, and parties of six at a time. It takes place about 15-ish years after the second game, and we'll see a few recurring characters, as well as a few references to the first two games as well. I'll do a bit more backstory explanation once we get this show on the road. 3 handles things a bit differently than what we've seen in earlier games, but I'll explain that in a bit as well. Rules of this LP. Pretty much just no spoilers for this game. Anything that takes place earlier (Read: all the other games in the series) are fair game, but PLEASE. If I haven't gotten there yet, don't talk about it. Also I'll have to ask you to refrain from talking about a certain character from the first two games, who comes back in this one in a very different way. If you've played the game, you know who I'm talking about. If you haven't... I don't know how to be vague about this without giving it away actually. Hm... Just be careful about who you discuss, if you have no idea what I'm talking about. Main Characters.  Hugo is a boy from the Grasslands, a territory sandwiched between two more powerful nations, and at war with one of them. He is the son of the Karaya chief, and uses a short blade in battle. He's a bit goofy and childish, but he knows how to get things done when he needs to. (He is also awesome, just saying.)  Chris is a knight from Zexen, to the west of the Grasslands. She is captain of the knights, which serve as an independent (yet strangely subordinate, as we'll see) military force for the country. Her father was also a knight, but had gone missing long before this story starts and is presumed dead. She is very serious and noble. (Her story is gonna suck in the beginning, just a fair warning.)  Geddoe is a mercenary working for Harmonia, to the southeast of the Grasslands. He is the leader of the 12th Unit of the Harmonian Southern Frontier Defense Force, which is a fancy name for a hired spy unit, pretty much. He's quiet and mysterious, but in a grizzled, badass way. Seems to always know more than everyone else, his men have sort of just accepted that he won't tell them anything until he thinks it's necessary. While Chris and Hugo are on clearly opposing sides, Geddoe is sort of just doing his own thing for now. (This man is a caster. Trust me. I know he doesn't look it, but he is.)  Thomas is the new lord of Budehuc Castle, which borders Grassland and Zexen. He's very new at this, and has some confidence issues, but he's a good guy and his heart is in the right place. ??? Same for this one. Geography and Politics For the ease of me not having to find a map and/or spoil locations, imagine a Venn Diagram. Now, imagine that the big circle on the left is Zexen. The circle on the right is Harmonia. The part where they intersect would be the Grasslands, which is where we'll be spending most of the game. (It's also the biggest, so the hypothetical Venn Diagram isn't to scale.) The Grasslands are sandwiched between two countries that are more advanced than it, and is currently at war with the Zexen Confederacy. The Grasslands have a truce with Harmonia, but all this really means is that Harmonia is watching the world burn from the sidelines. Completionist Run? Hell naw. I'll be getting all 108 characters (and dogs), but screw play scripts and medals and stuff. If I come across them, I'll pick them up, but I won't be going out of my way. I'll show off how they work at least once though. I will also be going for the secret ending. Viewer Input? There will be some user input, yes. For the most part, however, these will occur later in the game. Mostly, you will be picking party members, as well as some other developmental and dialogue choices. However, like I said, this won't come into play for a little while. There are three big decisions to be made in this game, and when they come up, I shall leave these up to you guys as well. I will not, however, be letting you pick chapter order. In order for the game to make the most sense to those who aren't familiar with the game, I'll be deciding the order. Anything else? Not that I can think of. Joining me occasionally on my escapade will be TheAsterite, as well as Zosephine. They'll be commenting on-and-off, so they won't both be here for all the updates. Without further ado, let's get this show on the road! Other Suikoden LPs Suikoden by Thanatos Mazus Suikoden II by Nephrite Suikoden IV by vilkacis Suikoden Tactics by vilkacis Suikoden V by vilkacis Chapters: Opening Transcending Love - Ai wo Koete Hugo Chapter 1 1.1 - Why a Duck? 1.2 - Lakeside Village 1.3 - A Noble Maiden Fair 1.4 - Duck in the Big City 1.5 - Mine, Mine, Mine! 1.6 - Run, Freedom, Run! 1.7 - Secret Tunnel 1.8 - The Trees, Like Torches, Blazed With Light Interlude/Chapter End Chris Chapter 1 1.1 - Politics and Poker 1.2 - Leapin' Lizards, That's Why I'm So Mad! Interlude/Dialogue Choice 1.3 - Strategery 1.4 - We Didn't Start the Fire 1.5 - Singing the Same Old Song Interlude/Runes Geddoe Chapter 1 1.1 - Waiting for Geddoe Interlude/Skills 1.2 - Words Speak Louder... 1.3 - A Foul Plot Afoot, But Not My Feet 1.4 - Tag Fister Roboto - The loving Lotto 1.5 - Castletown Interlude/Dialogue Choice 1.6 - Errands 1.7 - A Potch For Your Thoughts. Thomas Chapter 1 1.1 - Crumbly Old House 1.2 - Dropping Eaves 1.3 - Haven't We Already Found You? 1.4 - Brainstorm 1.5 - Errands 1.6 - Subterranean Chris Chapter 2 2.1 - The Drinking War 2.2 - The Six Knights are Too Much For You Interlude/Dialogue Choice 2.3 - I Am Not Trying To Flirt With You 2.4 - Gallivanting Away Hugo Chapter 2 2.1 - You're So Pushy! 2.2 - So Sore From All This Fighting Interlude/Dialogue Choice 2.3 - Hello Goodbye Geddoe Chapter 2 2.1 - Information Fishing and Monster Hunting 2.2 - Creepy Crawly Interlude/Dialogue Choice 2.3 - Cheaters Hugo Chapter 3 3.1 - Salad 3.2 - Murder Most Fowl 3.3 - My Sons Interlude/Dialogue Choice 3.4 - You Children Who See the World in Black and White 3.5 - Flame Chump 3.6 - Iroh Part 1 Thomas Chapter 2 2.1 - More Politics Than Your Castle Has Room For! 2.2 - Bude-what now? 2.3 - Thomas' Castle Chris Chapter 3 3.1 - Duck Hunt 3.2 - Village of Shamans 3.3 - Iroh Part 2 Geddoe Chapter 3 3.1 - Lightning 3.2 - Iroh Part 3 Chapter 4 4.1 - The Flame Champion 4.2 - Fire - feat. Chris - feat. Geddoe 4.3 - Harmonia Has No Fear - feat. Chris - feat. Geddoe 4.4 - Schrödinger's Harmonians - feat. Chris - feat. Geddoe 4.5 - Fly, My Duckling - feat. Chris - feat. Geddoe 4.6 - The Alliance 4.7 - Water - feat. Chris & Geddoe Interlude/Early Reveal Chapter 5 5.1 - Geddoe Part 1 5.2 - Geddoe Part 2 5.3 - Chris 5.4 - Hugo 5.5 - Sasarai - feat. Chris & Geddoe 5.6 - Odds and Ends Part 1 5.7 - Odds and Ends Part 2; Fanfiction! 5.8 - Take Back True Lightning - feat. Hugo 5.9 - Take Back True Water - feat. Hugo 5.10 - Take Back True Fire 5.11 - The Gray World Suikogaiden Vol. 1 1.1.1 - Them's Some Fancy Digs 1.1.2 - Blue Moon Village 1.1.3 - Night of Farewells Character Breakdowns Hugo, Chris, Geddoe Zexen Knights Saint Loa Knights Lizard Clan Karaya Clan Thomas & Co. Team Hugo - Primary Team Geddoe Erk's Adventures Voiced by Zosephine. Part 1 Fan Things!  Suikoden: Shut Up and Jam. The 108 Slams of Destiny await! Thank you vilkacis!  Geddoe Force! Thank you Ceraph!  Beards! Thank you AradoBalanga!  More beards! Thank you Adnor!  The Beardening is upon us! Thank you Raitzeno!  There are never enough beards. Thank you Testekill!  Yeah. Thank you FeyerbrandX!  vilkacis, you are terrible.  You too, FeyerbrandX.  Et tu, Verant?  Bruceski posted:I think you've got Geddoe showing a bit too much emotion in that last panel, but otherwise it's pretty nice. Captain Oblivious posted:Bishounen Goggles.  The true Flame Champion. Thank you Flytitle!  Yeah, we missed you too, Duke. Thank you inverts!  The Lightning Scourge. Thank you Subject Tangerine! Bruceski posted:I can't quite figure out why, but something in that guy's face makes me say that if he doesn't turn out to be related to Geddoe I will flip a table. inverts posted:
  Nash is the prettiest Sierra. Thanks, Astrasia! Card Stories Medrex posted:Circle Rune: Bufuman posted:And that's not even getting into the nasty cards. Elite posted:Wind of Sleep: Brunom1 posted:Card of Hero: Geddoe. Elite posted:Sun Rune Brunom1 posted:Card of Viki Verant posted:How about this? Bufuman posted:True Lightning Rune Elite posted:Blacksmithing Brunom1 posted:True Salt Rune Extra Doodles of Mine  Angry Tea.    Set of requests I took to get to a new page.  Magical FBI Agent Geddoe.  Every castle needs Ninja Bodyguards!    : "I'm going to kill him now. Objections?"    : "None!"  "I decided to deliver my battle report through the medium of interpretive stabbing." "I knew it was risky sharpening my letter opener to 15." "Don't you people EVER knock?" "Well I'm pretty certain they were going to betray me at some point, so this is really just saving time." "Excuse me, chris d'etat in progress here." "This isn't what it looks like." "..." "Okay this is exactly what it looks like." "I could have spared them, but...eh..." "I have successfully delivered the public opinion poll, sir." "It's probably best you went home early. I fear it's going to be one of THOSE days".  Sniffles are serious business for delicate elfy-types.  Silly hats.   Sasarai is pretty laid-back.  What a handsome tree!  Help.  Geddoe smells like cats, apparently.  Fire.  Cry, Albert.  Why is this a real song?  JRPG Protagonist Geddoe. yokaiy fucked around with this message at 05:06 on Dec 31, 2016 |
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Character List! This will contain some spoilers! If you haven't been paying attention to the LP updates, don't read these yet! Instead, head to the first post and read from there.Currently Available posted:
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yokaiy fucked around with this message at 06:51 on Apr 22, 2015 |
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Jan 3, 2013 03:24
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Transcending Love - The Opening Song First off, you should watch this video of the opening from someone on youtube.  Hello again, and welcome to Suikoden III!  It attempts to follow up a while after the end of Sui2, and is widely regarded as not nearly as good. Also dude, what are you riding, that is not a horse.  It was also the first 3D modeled game in the series, and they did a pretty good job with it. Here, we have a screaming child.  And a screaming duck. Wait. What?  It tells the story in a sort of strange way, in that it follows a few main characters instead of one, and tells parts of the stories multiple times, but from different perspective. While sort of repetitive, I find it pretty interesting. And the overlap isn't that bad, either. Spoiler: this is one of our main characters screaming.  In addition to duck kobolds, there are also lizard kobolds. There are normal dog kobolds too, though.  Here we have proof that that one kid from earlier is important, as well as a lady in a fancy hat.   This sure is a lady with white hair.  I don't really know what is going on with the text during this opening, but anyone familiar with the series should at least know that eternal life is a thing that happens to people who get plot lasers.  Check out these blurry badasses.  Well, that'll make this VERY hard to LP, won't it.  This story will have dudes! And horses! And dudes on horses! You can tell who the big players are here because helmets are for unimportant losers.   And nice scenery!  Lady, why is your hair a snail?  There will be explosions!  And bugs! Slightly visually out of place 3D bugs!  And lots of yelling, if this opening movie is anything to go by.  And I'm running out of things to say about this opening.  Wow, that is quite a jump!    Guys in masks are never important, right? That is one creepy mask. Dude looks kind of like a weird chicken-dragon.    Charizard, what are you doing here?   This sure looks like a revolutionary.  Fire is a common theme in the opening. It's pretty important in the game, too.   And the opening ends with this guy again. So who are the main characters again? Did we just see all 108 people go by?? Nah.  But enough of that, let's start actually playing this game!  Before the game starts, we're prompted to name the Flame Champion! Unlike people we get to name in the other Suikoden games, however, he doesn't have a canon name. This is the first big decision you guys get to vote on. For the sake of getting this started, I'll be calling him Batman.  This is the character select screen. Those three flames are our three main characters, and we get to play as all three of them. Each of these characters have three chapters. The other three portions of this menu will gain flames as we go, opening more playable characters. One of them has two chapters, one of them has one chapter, and the last is really more of an entertaining mini-game than anything, I can hardly count it as a chapter. Additionally, characters have a little intro before their first chapter. I'll just be integrating that into their first chapters. We'll start with Hugo.
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Jan 3, 2013 03:25
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Hugo Chapter 1 - Why a Duck? Welcome to the Grasslands.  Home of the, uh... grasslands.   That isn't a horse you weirdo... That IS, however, Hugo, our first main character of the game.  Running up behind him are Fubar, his pet griffon, and Sgt. Joe, the duck.  And that is their village, Karaya. Well, Hugo and Fubar's village. Sgt. Joe is from Duck Village, the aptly named village of ducks. We'll go there later.  Oh... I guess it IS a horse.  : "You know a better way to get their attention? With their help, I'll be the best rider in the village." : "Like you need their help! Ha! You're already the best rider I know." : "Spirits? Get real! My Duck Clan doesn't believe in that nonsense!": "Open your mind, Sergeant. There's gotta be more to the plains than meets the eye. If not spirits, then other hidden wonders...": "If you waste your time wondering, you won't be alert and ready for the important things in life, like being a good solider!" : "That's the spirit! Fear is our worst enemy. Right, Fubar?" : "Kueeeee!": "Hey, hey, HEY! Buckle your beak, you insubordinate griffon!"It's noted that Fubar is sort of a jerk to everyone that isn't Hugo, but this is one of the few examples we get to see in-game. It's more evident in the manga adaptation.  : "Heh heh. Cut it out, you two. I'm starving. Let's get some food.": "Splendid! Karayan meals are always a pleasure. Especially in the home of the Karaya Clan Chief.": "Kuuee!": "You know where to get yours, Fubar. Go ahead.": "Kuuueeeee!" This is Hugo's best friend, Lulu. He has a pretty neat mohawk, and a dorky portrait. : "Well, well. Look who's here. So, you're dining with us, eh, Lulu?": "Where is everybody. Isn't there a host to show us to the table?" : "Huh?": "Never-ending appetite, eh, Sergeant?" And this is, obviously, Hugo's mother. She is our first recurring character in the game, as she made some appearances in Suikoden II, where she tried to assassinate the main character.  : "Hey! I was here first!"Immediately, Joe rushes out the door, Lulu hot on his trail. : "Hold on! Wait for me!"Hugo turns to join them, but is stopped by Lucia.   : "Hugo, come see me when you're done.": "Why? What's wrong?": "Why don't you eat first?": "Um, OK. Whatever you say." : "Ahh. Now that's what I call full! If I ate any more, I'd explode.": "Somehow I think you'd still find a way to fit more in.": "Hehehe.": "I noticed Lucia wanted a word with you. Is something bothering her?": "I don't know. I haven't talked to her yet. I should do that now, I guess.": "She'll probably give you guff for spending so much time away from home." : "Quack, quack, quack. Don't worry, nobody's calling you a mama's boy. Just go talk to her already.": "While we were eating, I saw Lucia heading towards my house." Before we're given control over Hugo, the game brings up the order menu. Suikoden games have a tradition of having 6 characters per party, arranged by front and back. As you can see, Sui3 splits it up a bit further by dividing everyone into pairs. Characters in front will sometimes jump to protect their backline buddy, and arranging them in a certain way can yield unique conditions. For example, pairing Hugo and Fubar will result in Hugo riding Fubar. I switch Fubar and Joe, so we'll see that in action when we get into our first battle.  Here's the main menu. The sections at the top are items, runes, skills, equiptment, status, formation, and general options.  Items, as you could guess, lets you arrange party items, as well as use them. Each character can hold a certain amount of things in addition to what they have equipped. Party items are where things will be filtered by default. We won't be getting any event items until way later. Items also lets us see our stats, for some reason.  Runes are the magic of the Suikoden games. You attach them to a character, and they can then use that magic. However, rune use is limited. The green boxes next to their portraits show how many times they can use spells from different levels. Hugo can use a first level spell 3 times, and a second level spell once, for example. Once you've used up your spells, you'll need to stay at an inn to recover. Hugo has a Wind rune, Fubar a Shining Wind, Joe a Water, and Lulu a Sword of Cyclone. This makes Joe the most useful to us, since he can heal. We'll see what runes can do once we get in a battle. Runes may get attached to either of your hands, or to your head. However, having a rune on your head is reserved for really good magical characters, and unlocks late or not at all for much of our cast.  Skills are important. They effect how good a character is at doing things. Right now, for example, all of our dudes are pretty lovely. Each time you defeat a monster or boss, the characters who participated (and didn't die in the process) get skill points they can use towards their skills. Different characters have different affinities for the different skills, so a skill they're better with will cost less points than something they've got less potential in. Equipment is pretty self explanatory, and I forgot to get a cap of it. Basically, it's what your jerks are wearing. Unlike weapons, you will need to buy new armor as the game goes on. I am really bad at remembering to do this. I haven't seen it make much difference. Just put on the loot you find if it's better than what your party already has. You've seen how formation works, and general settings aren't really important. With that out of the way, let's take a look around and talk to people.     : "I've always liked cooking, but it's best when you have somebody to cook for."Her husband is slightly off-screen.   : "Hey, Hugo! You know, it's great to have a wife who cooks. Man, I'm really happy I married her."  : "My son married a really nice girl. So that's a load off of my shoulders." : "I found this on the ground right there. I'll give it to you if you want it." Of course, now that we have it we won't ever get poisoned.  Spoiler: she is.   : "The artisans are excellent. I am glad I came here all the way from Chisha."Chisha, by the way, is one of the clans in the Grasslands. We won't be going there for a little while, though.  Speaking of Aila, here she is. Judging from her portrait and an offhand NPC speech about her, she'll be important. : "Hey, Hugo. You taking good care of your sword? Bring it in anytime you want me to fix it." Like the other Suikoden games, you don't ever buy new weapons in this game. Instead, you sharpen your weapons to make them stronger. Some characters, like Fubar, do not have weapons though. Instead, they have a strength advantage over those that have weapons. There are very few of those, however. Also like the other Suikoden games, most of your money will go here. However, since we have precious little money, I won't be upgrading anyones weapon quite yet.  :  : "We have to remain armed at all times. You never know when the war will start again." : "Oh, this urn is nice! Look at the way it curves here..."Sometimes, you'll get urns and other antiques for defeating enemies. They can be taken to an Appraiser to find out what they are worth. Usually, they'll be worth nothing, but if you get a good one then they're worth a good amount of potch. : "Please take a look around." Your typical item shop. You can buy things, sell things, or peruse the rarity section, where they will occasionally have hard to find stuff for sale. For now, we'll leave it alone.  : "You take care. The meadows and woods are full of danger. If you see anything bad, run as fast as you can."We've already talked to the little girl in the back, so let's keep walking.    Oops, we triggered a cutscene! Lulu's house is directly in the middle of the village, so it's impossible to cover all of Karaya before moving on. : "Still working on that armor, Jimba?" : "Greetings, Hugo! I have to say, this armor's been through quite a lot. Harsh elements and all. It needs proper care.": "You've never mentioned how you got this Zexen armor in the first place."Zexen, you may recall from my geography lesson in the OP, is the country currently at war with the Grasslands. There's a lot of bad blood between the two nations.  The way he says it makes it sound like he killed the previous owner. Still, he seems very attached to it. : "Give it up, Hugo. He won't even tell me, his own brother! All he ever says is that it's from a soldier he knew long ago."In that case, maybe he got it from a friend. Though that's probably a stranger explanation. : "I speak the truth, Lulu. And when you're old enough to understand everything, I'll explain more of the story.": "Oh, fox dung! Just when am I supposed to be old enough to understand?"When you stop saying things like "fox dung" and start using big-boy curse words. : "When you realize how not grown-up you are now. Quack!" Nobody ever asks Joe. : "Ok, you don't have to tell us. But if you're trying to protect it from the elements, why do you keep it outdoors?": "Our mother can't stand the smell of iron. It reminds her of a cruel past.": "Makes sense I guess.": "Hugo, don't look that way. Everyone knows what great warriors my older brothers were. My brother Jimba is no less worthy."His other two brothers are dead, if you couldn't tell from that pretty obvious nod.  And this is Lulu and Jimba's mother, Luce. A big woman with a big heart. : "Hah! You say that every time you see him. Obviously, he has more important matters to think about than food."I don't know, Jimba. I think food is pretty important. Especially for a growing boy like Hugo.  : "Well, Hugo. Are you ready for our talk now?"A nice family talk, in front of half the village. Whatever works. : "Sure, mother, What's this all about?": "I know you're aware of the truce negotiations with Zexen. The next step is for you to deliver an official message to Vinay del Zexay. The trip may take about a week." Vinay del Zexay being the capital of Zexen. There is no capital of the Grasslands, in case you were wondering. : "The Zexen Capital?": "Yes. You must deliver the message directly to the head of the Zexen Council.": "The Zexen capital is nothing like Grassland. The streets and the walls are made of stone. When your duties are complete, see what you can of the city before returning.": "Official message?": "It is for the early negotiations toward a peace agreement. The Zexen Council has been informed a messenger will come."Negotiations for negotiations for peace. How long-winded. This much be such a pain for the Grasslanders, who aren't used to political bullshit. : "You want ME to go?": "You are the son of a Grassland Clan Chief. If not you, then who?"While the Grasslands have no real leading power, the Karaya clan is probably the most well-respected. Don't think that they'll be the only ones sending a messenger, though. : "Zexen must see Grassland as a political equal, so sending a clan chief is unacceptable. By birth, you are the best choice for a trusted official messenger. Can I count on you?": "Um...": "You have yet to see the world beyond Grassland. The Karayan land we stand upon now is blessed. But there are other places you must see for yourself-- Zexen to the west, Dunan to the east, Harmonia to the north."Actually, we won't be seeing Dunan, and what we will be seeing of Harmonia will be to the east. : "I'm up to it." : "The spirits shall travel at your side.": "Good. I'm proud of you. Have a safe and successful journey." He looks so smug here. : "I wanna go too! Can I please, mother?": "Spirits, no! Hugo is going as a respected representative of Karaya. How do YOU fit in?"Hahaha. : "Just FINE, thank you! Even when Hugo's busy, I'll still have Fubar and Sgt. Joe around to keep me safe."Oh Lulu, you are such a brat. : "They're not playing around, my child. This is a serious journey. Only if you promise to stay out of trouble...": "Yes, oh yes! Is it okay with you, Hugo? Can I go? Can I?": "Well... if the Sergeant and Fubar are with me, there shouldn't be a problem."Joe and Fubar must be some hot poo poo, considering all this glowing praise. : "I promise you won't regret this, Hugo. I promise, I promise!"I'm not sure how much younger Lulu is than Hugo in years, but it's pretty obvious that he's less mature as well. Not that Hugo is the epitome of maturity! : "Indeed, let us pray for no regrets."Wait, didn't he just say his clan isn't into that spirit stuff? : "I guess you've made up your minds, then. I hate to see you go, Lulu. But I can't stop you."Luce, you're like twice his girth. Just hold him down if you don't want him to go. : "Hugo, you should start getting ready. You leave first thing tomorrow morning." : "One other thing. Hugo, Lulu-- learn well what a Zexen looks like. Not every helmet seen from afar is being worn on a Zexen head."Good advice, considering that Grassland is the only nation that doesn't use armor. : "Got it.": "Sergeant, thank you in advance for all your assistance.": "Uh, no problem. Any time." With that, we can officially start the plot. However, we've got a few more people to talk to before we go. : "You may encounter monstrous enemies in the woods. If you do, just run! You'll never beat them."In case you feel like talking to Jimba again, he has some pretty practical advice. Pfft, please. I'm level 12 already! I can handle it. That is a huge lie get out of here.  : "It's great to have visitors. You learn so much from them."A nearby duck (not in this picture) has something better for us.  : "Oh, hey, need any medicine? It didn't fit in my bag. Do you want it?"  : "Watch out for yourself, OK? When you get back, be sure to tell me all about Vinay del Zexay." : "Hugo, hurry up and get your stuff ready for tomorrow.": "I know it's a lot to ask, Hugo, but do take good care of Lulu. If he whines, there's no need to be nice to him."Pfft.  The lottery is the easiest way to make money in this game. However, it's the most annoying as well. : "Hugo, are you practicing properly? If you need somebody to practice with, come see me anytime." Bujutsu teachers help you up your skills. Which is good, because everyone starts off really crappy. There's a separate teacher for magic, though, and there isn't one in Karaya. : "It feels wonderful here. I must give thanks to the spirits of the wind and the earth... I've had enough of the stench of conflict."Says the old lady in the back, if you were wondering.   : "Yes. A small pub. All I'll be able to offer you now is juice, but come visit after I open.": "Oh, I definitely will!"Oh my gosh he is so excited at the prospect of juice it is adorable. Or it could be that Anna's a hottie and Hugo is about 15. Not to burst your bubble or anything.  : : "What does 'ironhead' mean?" : "I really want to be able to ride them, too." : "Alright, everybody! We're not going to get anything ready for tomorrow by just standing here!"If you try to leave the village, Joe stops you. In order to actually progress, we head back to Hugo's house.  : "Got a problem? Don't you think you'd better start preparing for the trip now?": "I suppose so.": "I can't wait to get started. See you tomorrow, fellow travelers!"And Lulu rushes outside. : "Don't oversleep or we'll leave without you! Must make sure I pack everything. What do you think, Hugo? Are 10 different outfits enough?"Considering you don't wear pants, that's much lighter travel than one would think.  : "Hey, what's everyone doing here? We'll return in short course.": "We'll certainly pray for your quick return, and protection along the way.": "Lulu, aren't you ready yet!" Muahaha, the necessity of your pants will be your downfall! : "Better safe than sorry. Did you pack your medicine too?" : "Yes, yes! You keep acting like we're going to get hurt or something."Famous last words? : "Hmph! Well, how do we know what a Zexen will do? They may look friendlier than they are. Who knows?"I wasn't lying about the bad blood. We'll see more once we get to Zexen, they're even bigger jerks about race. : "Yes, yes. I'll watch out. No wandering on my own. No strange food or drink. Anything else?"Don't eat the yellow snow. : "Don't even ask!": "Hugo, your experience of the world beyond Grassland is not as important to me as your safe return." Aww.  : "May my Hugo walk with the divine protection of the earth and wind spirits.": "I'll be fine!": "Don't be embarrassed! To be loved by one's family is nothing to be ashamed of.": "I've never seen Hugo look this way before.": "You have the same look too!" : "May my Lulu walk with the divine protection of the earth and wind spirits.": "Spirits... help... me... now..."Hahahahahahahaha. : "Kuuee!" And that looks like a good place to stop. Next time: combat! Ironheads! Racism! But first, name this guy! We named him Batman to get the ball rolling, but we'll go back and make it whatever you choose. Except not "Dongs." We do not approve of the use of Dongs as a name.  Bold your suggestions and votes. yokaiy fucked around with this message at 18:38 on Feb 24, 2013 |
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Jan 3, 2013 03:26
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Open for business now! Sorry about the delay, LPix decided to break most of the pictures in the update. But only the Chapter 1 update...  Thanks for standing by while I re-uploaded pretty much every picture!And if anything breaks in the future, let me know and I'll fix it again. e: 
yokaiy fucked around with this message at 04:28 on Jan 3, 2013 |
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Jan 3, 2013 04:21
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dancingbears posted:Lies! None of the Suikoden protagonists have canon names, just commonly accepted names. Most of them are taken from their associated manga, made after the fact. The protagonist from 5 even has two commonly accepted names - one from the manga, and one from a save on a special memory card released around when the game shipped.  That is a fair point, though. I guess I should have said that he doesn't even have a commonly accepted name. Also your first suggestion made me laugh more than it had any right to and I have NO idea why.
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Jan 3, 2013 05:32
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dancingbears posted:Best story here. Dammit, I knew exactly where that was going and STILL laughed! Zyla posted:Yay a competent, effort based LP of this game. Hope I don't dissappoint.  Azure_Horizon posted:This game is dull as watching grass grow, but I'm looking forward to the actual interesting story bits. It definitely has it's boring moments, yeah. I don't think it's too bad though. Also, guys, voting doesn't work if you all vote on different things, haha. Oh well, I'll just have to tiebreak if it comes to that. Voting will end around 8PM EST tomorrow, by the way.
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Jan 3, 2013 19:16
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Lord Ephraim posted:I'm in the extreme minority that likes Suikoden III the best. Sure it has its boring moments, but so does every single game in the series. Murder ducks, man. Joe pretty much never leaves my party because he's a huge  . Final boss? DUCK IT.Also, I think III is my favorite as well, though it's pretty close between II and III.
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Jan 4, 2013 01:03
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CVE posted:Looking forward to a complete LP of this one. The game was never released in Europe and even though I own a NTSC copy I never had a modded PS2 to play it on and my PC is to weak for PS2 emulation. Honestly, I'm surprised I can run it on mine. 2008 model MacBook Pro dual-booting Windows 7. How is it able to run things I don't even know.It chugs a bit though, depending on how much stuff is on-screen. Makes it easier to get screen caps for, I guess. Hopefully I'll be able to rope TheAsterite into letting us play on his big donk computer instead, eventually... Contra Calculus posted:I'm glad someone's LPing this. I have been wanting to play it forever, but my PS2 is broken and I can't be assed to go out and buy one. Also, I have no idea where to find this game. I guess Amazon or Ebay. I got mine off of ebay. It goes pretty cheap there, especially compared to the others in the series. Xander77 posted:Still the best intro in the series though. Azure_Horizon posted:It has the best intro. Yes. Yes it does.
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Jan 4, 2013 19:28
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Looks like our Flame Champion will be named Iroh. I'll get a new update goin' soon.
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Jan 5, 2013 02:17
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Hugo Chapter 1.2 - Lakeside Village All pay their respects to Iroh, Flame Champion and Dragon of the West! Moving on, Hugo and his band were headed to Vinay del Zexay to deliver a message to the Zexen Council.  Before we even get to the world map, however, we're stopped by Jimba. : "Hugo, I have a favor to ask of you.": "Sure. What is it?": "Take this."He hands over a pentacle emblem of some sort. : "Take this to the Lightfellow family in Vinay del Zexay." : "What is this?": "All I can say is that it once belonged to a brave Zexen soldier who died long ago. When you give it to his family, tell them that he died heroically."Wow, he totally killed a Zexen dude back in the day. : "The soul of a warrior... I'll take good care of it.": "I trust you will do so.": "Consider it delivered.": "When this is delivered, my biggest burden will be lifted. Hurry. May the divine ones protect you."I wonder how long he had that. And why he felt he couldn't take it there himself. : "Thank you. Farewell for now.": "And Lulu--do nothing that would sadden your mother.": "I'll be fine, you'll see. So long, brother."  We're let out on the world map at last. Right now we've got precious few locations, but we'll unlock more as the game goes on. It's also worth noting that it unlocks on a per-character basis, so even if one character can go somewhere, another might not be able to. Our destination is all the way on the left, where the feather cursor is. The map is arranged in a pretty linear way, but you have to go through all the stops between your starting point and ending point to get anywhere. Routes are displayed as green circles, whereas towns are boxes. Yellowish boxes mean Grassland territory, and orange means Zexen. The yellow circles indicate the entrances to certain routes, and they're very picky about these. We'll see this more when we don't have to go in a straight line. Before heading to Vinay, let's take a detour to Duck Village, north of us. To do this, we cross the Northern section of the Plains Amur. The music for this area is pretty relaxing, even if the youtube video Engrishes up the title.  Once you're on a route, it's pretty linear. The map in the top right shows the layout of the screen, as well as where we are and what way we're facing. The plains are pretty boring, it's mostly just a straight line for two screens.  Enemies in this area are pretty boring as well. Here we're fighting a big spider. Basic options are fight, flee, and auto. Fight lets you decide how you're dealing with enemies, flee lets you try to run away, and auto lets them do their own thing, which will usually be to attack whatever is closest. As a side note, when you are a certain amount of levels above your enemies, the flee command becomes a "let go" command, which pretty much auto-ends the battle. You don't get any experience for it, but it's a good way to get things going if you don't feel like stopping for battles. Though honestly, depending on how over-leveld you are, sometimes hitting auto and letting them go at it is faster. You'll notice that Hugo is riding on Fubar. The two of them are treated more-or-less as one unit, like this. Their attack strength is combined, but they can only attack one enemy.  Once you've hit the fight command, you've got a few more options. First, you can normally attack. This is pretty standard. You can also defend, but there's usually no point in doing that at all. The third option is to use a rune, followed by using an item. The first command in red is a unite attack, which can be activated when certain party members are together. Right now, we don't have any available. The red arrow is for when using a rune takes more than one turn, and it pretty much just means "keep casting." Right now, we're not casting anything, so it's useless to us. Let's see what our boys can do with their runes.  Hugo can use two spells with his Wind Rune; Wind of Sleep and Healing Wind. Wind of sleep puts enemies to sleep, and Healing Wind heals. Pretty self-explanatory.  Fubar has a Shining Wind rune. It's only got one spell, but unlike Hugo's Wind Rune, it doesn't have a cap on uses. Fubar can use Shining Wind once per battle, whereas Hugo can only use his rune a total of 4 times before he'd have to stay at an inn to recover.  Joe has a Water Rune, so he can use Kindness Drops and Breath of Ice. Kindness Drops will heal, and Breath of Ice will do damage. Kindness Drops is really useful, but he'd probably do more damage with a normal attack than with Breath of Ice.  Lulu's rune is more of a buff than anything else. The basic Sword of Cyclone use will add wind damage to his normal attack, but it wastes a turn to cast, so you probably won't be seeing it often. Wind Amulet raises his resistance to wind magic, which you probably ALSO won't see much of, since few enemies really use magic. There's a "Sword of ___" rune for all the basic elements, and they're all pretty lame. Now, when you are commanding your units, you can only command them as a pair. This means only one unit per pair can use a rune or item (the other will generally use a normal attack), and if you select attack or defend, they will both do that. It's a little annoying, but it means you have to plan out your formation a bit more.  Characters have to take time to both run over to the enemy and attack, so they can potentially squeeze in more attacks if they're closer to the enemy from the start. There are also skills to increase movement speed and attack speed.  The spider isn't much of a threat, but it's capable of potentially poisoning you when it attacks.  Here's Shining Wind in action -- it creates a big tornado that flies at your enemies in a line.  Aww, look at Lulu's little knife! So cute. Joe has no need for silly rune attacks.  Though honestly, neither do Hugo and Fubar. For comparison, Lulu is doing around 20-30 damage. Though comparing him to Hugo and Fubar is cheating, since the two combine their strength for attacks. Even on his own, Hugo would be out-damaging him though. Joe is still technically the strongest on his own. But enough of that, let's head to Duck Village.  It's probably one of my favorite places in the game. It has catchy music, too.  I guess that doesn't matter much to a village full of duck people, but I imagine it's a huge inconvenience to those that aren't from the Duck Clan. We head over to the duck on the far right next.  : "A Calerian vendor comes all this way just to get soy sauce from our village. Our clan's soy sauce is very popular."Caleria is somewhere we'll see a bit later. It's a Harmonian town to the east, near the Harmonia/Grassland border. This duck also hints at a mechanic we haven't seen yet -- trading. The basic concept is that you pick up a trade item in one town, tote it to a far away place, and sell it for a profit. Early on in the game, this is the easiest way to make money. Now, for the back duck. : "The waterwheel is fascinating."The Duck Village is just a really nice place, honestly. If I could live anywhere in this game, it'd be here.  Behind that duck, we can see the inn, as well as half of the item shop. Attached to the item shop is an appraiser, but the sign is off-screen. The inside of the item shop is split into an upstairs and downstairs -- supplies on the lower floor and appraisal on the upper floor.  Pictured above, the supply shop NPC. He doesn't have anything interesting to say. There's nothing interesting to buy downstairs, either, so let's check out the appraiser.  It's worth noting that there are a LOT of cats in this village, despite being inhabited by bird people. I guess it makes sense for the abundance of fish, but there are 5 just in this one building.  Had we the proper items, we could hand over ? items to this guy, and he would tell us their worth. It's not worth farming them, as they're usually worth nothing, but sometimes you'll get some really expensive stuff. It costs money, though, and for every crappy item you ended up having, you'll actually lose money. I don't get any of these until later in the update, so I'll have to show this off later. The Ol' Tree Beads are something I picked up from a monster. They aren't useful to us yet, but we can use them once we recruit a bath house guy. Spoiler: there's a bath house guy. Though there's at least one in every game so that's not really a surprise. I'll explain that once we get there.  Also, cats. Let's check out the inn next.  The innkeeper doesn't have anything interesting to say, but there's this guy hanging out in the back, and he looks pretty unique.  : "Hi! I'm Kidd, the boy detective! If you've got an unsolvable case, ask for me by name!"... Okay, moving on. There's a back exit out of the inn that leads to a couple more buildings and NPCs.  I'm not sure how private our business is, actually, considering the entire Karaya village saw us off.  Going in one of the back buildings reveals this girl practicing with a naginata.  : "Daily training is all you need."Sanae Y. is special in that she's not a recurring character, but she is related to characters from the older games. She is the daughter of Freed Y. and Yoshino, who were both recruitable in Suikoden II. They do not make an appearance in this game, however. She's not the only character that's related to older characters.   The old books are something I won't be going out of my way to find, but you can read them later in the game. They give some backstory and refer to the previous games, so they're an interesting read. Another thing I'll show off once we get there. : "I'm just a cleaner here. I'm no shady character."Yeah, okay. Inside the other building is a single duck sitting on a bed.   : "... I'm.... meditating."We'll just leave him, then, and head back to the main part of town.  This is where we could buy lottery tickets if we felt like it, which we don't. You can buy tickets in a sequence or randomly. About a half hour of gameplay time later, you can check to see if you won any money. While it is a LOT of money, it's a pain in the butt, so we're going to be making money in other ways instead.  Behind the chief is a trading post. : "Hey! Care to trade? Make a little money?" Trading is pretty self-explanatory. Buy things, go somewhere, sell those things. It'll record your price history, so you can see if you're getting a good deal, which is really useful. Generally I buy something super cheap, then just tote it around until I can sell it for a good price somewhere. I would buy Soy Sauce, but we won't be heading to Caleria for quite a while, so it's not worth it. We also don't have much money.  : "My business takes me places, and I can tell you something strange is happening in the west."He fails to mention what he's talking about, however. The tutor and rune shop share a building behind him, though you can only see the rune half of it in this shot. : "Would you like to study?" The tutor is the same as the bujutsu teacher, except for magic. For now, we'll be passing on increasing our magic ranks.  Upstairs is the rune sage, who we can go to for buying, placing, and removing runes. It costs money to get a rune attached to a character, as well as removed, so you need to think carefully. Except it doesn't cost much, so you don't need to think too carefully. Runes are expensive as hell, so I won't be buying them often. A little to the side, we have our first Lizard Clan NPC.   : "I'm a security guard at this store. But there's no action in this town. I'm bored."As you can guess, the lizards are pretty aggressive, whereas the ducks are pretty chill. With nothing else to do inside, we go back out.  : "I'm on patrol. I know we're discussing peace with those ironheads, but you never know what might happen."Speaking of ironheads, let's head back towards Vinay del Zexay. We've touched on pretty much everything in Duck Village for the moment. We have to cut through the Plains again to get back on track, and on the way we run into a new kind of enemy -- the Blade Bunny.  They're not very strong.  Maps will sometimes have these blue orb things on them. They're just save points. On some maps, like this one, they sort of just hang out wherever. When we get to longer areas, they're conveniently and strategically placed. It's worth pointing out now rather than later, though.  Here we see another enemy type, the Furrfly. They're about as strong as they look, in that even Lulu can one-shot them.  But since we have a fair amount of monsters, let's show off Hugo's Wind Rune. Wind of Sleep hits an area centered around an enemy, so it's useful when there are a lot of enemies in a small area.   It puts two enemies asleep. Not really necessary, but what the hell.  We pick up a ?Figurine for our troubles. This is one of the items you can take to the appraiser. We'll do that next time there's one in the area, going back to Duck Village for this probably isn't worth it.  Here we have some Creepers. I hate these things.  They're hard to hit, and they do this thing where they suck you up, bounce around, and spit you out. It does a pretty good amount of damage, especially considering our low HP (Hugo is doing more damage than he has HP), and it takes forever to watch as well. It's also really strange looking. For some reason, Creepers seem to gang up on Lulu. Always. In every battle he's in. I really don't know why. I'd say they pick on the weakest party member, but that kind of mechanic would be way too much effort. Let's chalk it up to Nature Hates Lulu.  As proof of their strength, these two managed to take down Lulu. In one turn. Which brings me to another mechanic -- relationship-based berserking. Unlike other JRPGs, the berserk status in the Suikoden series is only an attack boost. There's absolutely nothing detrimental about it. You can use runes to berserk yourself, but certain situations will lead to characters auto-berserking. Hugo will berserk when Lulu goes down, and Joe will berserk when either of the boys go down. It's a really nice touch, and sort of cute. Needless to say, Lulu is avenged. After a battle ends, a downed character will get back up with 1 HP, so a quick medicine will fix him right up.  Moving on, we've got to go through make at Brass Castle to make it to the Zexen capital. Brass Castle, while being Zexen territory, is actually somewhat neutral. Grasslanders will get some nasty looks and commentary from the Zexens, but it's not actually that unusual to see foreigners here. Brass Castle is also headquarters for the Zexen Knights.  I like Brass Castle because the screens are pretty small, and don't make my laptop chug. However, this place is full of weird camera angles, and you can't move the camera at all in this game, so you'll have to excuse some of my screens from here on out. It's got a pretty interesting theme, I guess. The music starts off very soft when you first enter the area, and gets louder as you approach the castle walls. I always thought it was a nice touch. Interestingly, our first two NPCs are Karayan. : "Hey, Hugo, running the usual errands? The ironheads are edgy these days, so watch yourself."   For having been so smug about being their leader, I don't think he's actually familiar with Zexen lands. : "It's more like a giant fort or something. Is this where the ironheads hide out?": "Must be.": "Kuee.": "All right. Enough of this gawking. We're not in Grassland anymore. Let's go!" See that little girl in the background there? She's totally not there outside of that cutscene. Spooky.   The inside of Brass Castle is a bit too full of stuff to add on to this update, so we'll go explore the castle next time! Also, because I forgot to include it in the last update, here's the Karaya Village theme. yokaiy fucked around with this message at 05:28 on Jan 9, 2013 |
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Jan 6, 2013 00:45
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Bruceski posted:Hugo and Lulu are actually from the Spider Clan, but they screwed up the modeling. Just put an extra six eyes on every portrait.  
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Jan 6, 2013 03:07
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dancingbears posted:Please tell me you can make a version with just the bottom pair of eyes. By the magical powers of photoshop, I can do whatever you want. Only the bottom eyes?  Looks real weird, man.
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Jan 6, 2013 03:23
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CmdrKing posted:You actually can attack on the same turn you cast the enchantment, but you have to be a lot faster than Hugo's team is at this level. Really? I didn't even know that. Goes to show how little I use that line of runes, I guess.
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Jan 6, 2013 19:36
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Hugo Chapter 1.3 - A Noble Maiden Fair The inside of Brass Castle isn't too different from the outside. It's still very linear. We'll be crossing through this place often as all of our characters, so get used to it now. We start by talking to the guard in orange. Orange is pretty much Zexen's color, so it's in all the soldier's uniforms.   : "I wonder if my mom is doing all right in Iksay Village..."Iksay, another location we won't be heading to until later, is around the border of Zexen and Grasslands, a bit north of Brass Castle. It's peaceful, but in a Zexens eyes, it would be in the danger zone.  : "How strange.... The Captain and Vice-Captain of the Zexen Knights were killed in battle, but I've heard nothing about their funeral."We'll hear more about this as we pass through Brass Castle. It's implied that this happened in the last big battle between Zexen and Grassland, and that it was quite recently. The losses on both sides must have been pretty great, considering how Grassland is hoping to have a peace treaty soon.   Okay. This child, going by appearance, is Calerian. He's a bit far from Harmonia now, though, I wonder why he's here alone.    : "Good and sharp, with a nice shine. ... But it's no match for the shimmering beauty of Lady Chris.... Aw, what are YOU looking at?": "Welcome. We also forge arms for Grasslander hunters, you know, so if there's anything in particular you're looking for..."The blacksmith here is better than the one at Karaya, and our boys could use some strength buffing.  Which is totally why I should have checked our funds before upgrading Hugo's weapon.  Upgrading it twice burned through all but 10 of our potch. Sharpening is expensive.Of note, the weapon he had changed names from Kwan to Gwanga when it jumped from level 4 to 5. Most characters have a series of weapon names. They're not really important, but it's interesting anyway. Sometimes names become very silly after upgrades.  Let's give this guy the benefit of the doubt, mostly because Grassland horses are loving weird. There's an armor shop in the background with the same kind of armor on display that Jimba was polishing earlier. More importantly, however, is the girl to the left.  : "Auugh! I can't believe it won't go in just because of one screw!"Belle here is another case of a character being related to a previous games' character. She is the daughter of Meg, who is recruitable in the first and second game. Like Sanae's parents, Meg won't be making an appearance in III.  Silly duck. They were racist even before that battle. I'm sure it didn't help their disposition any, though.  : "My kid fell down and hurt himself, so I'm looking for medicine... and any bargains that come along."That's sort of low for a mother, to be looking for a deal when her son is hurt.  : "Welcome. Are you running errands for somebody?"The item shop still doesn't have anything interesting, so I didn't bother getting a screen of it.  : "Do they have knights in Grassland, too?" : "Oh, you must be a Karayan! I think it's sad when human beings hate each other. But many people in the castle don't agree. Be careful."Yeah, she definitely seems the type to be feeding birds. You can tell she's one of those nice old lady types before you even talk to her.  : "Don't prowl around in Brass Castle."Going further inside starts up a cutscene.   Somehow I managed to completely miss this guys speech bubble, so I don't remember exactly what he says. It's something along the lines of "Get the hell outta the way, important people coming through."  Joe, Hugo, and Fubar move out of the way, but Lulu is too distracted. To absolutely no one's surprise, the knight bumps into him. : "Hey, watch it!": "I said stand clear!" Behind him, a bunch of knights on horses head in this direction.  Hey, we happen to be Grassland messengers! Looks like the Zexens want a peace treaty as much as the Grasslanders.  : "You mean to say we won't be able to wait for the rest of the Six Knights?" : "No, I'm afraid not. Surely you understand the urgency." Lulu, seems to have gotten out of the way from that first guard, but he steps out of line a bit too far once again to see what's going on. Unsurprisingly, someone runs into him again. : "OOUUHH!"Hugo leans down and gives him a look like 'Why are you so stupid?' Will no one say what we're all thinking?  He's not the only one concerned for Lulu, though.  : "Oops, pardon me.": "Are you alright, lad? Please forgive my companion for getting in your way."Er, actually, it was Lulu doing the getting in the way, but thank you anyway, lady. : "Yeah, well, what do you expect from an ironhead?" Lulu, that is not how we apologize. : "What do you mean, 'ironhead'?" : "And who might YOU be?"We actually have a choice here to be a jerk, or to be a bigger jerk. I went with the lesser-jerk option. Because really, this is all Lulu's fault. : "Of course. I should have introduced myself first. I am Chris Lightfellow, the acting Captain of the Zexen Knights.": "Lightfellow? That name sure sounds familiar."Before Hugo can remember why, however, an elf trots his horse between the two.   : "Captain, time is fleeting. We must be on our way.": "Wait, I must speak with you!": "Get back, young barbarian. Here, WE decide who lives, who dies AND who speaks!"Jerk!  : "Are you threatening me?" : "drat!": "Time is of the essence now!": "Very well. Our apologies once again, child. Goodbye." They start to leave, but Roland decides he hasn't finished being a huge buttface yet, and gives us a few more parting words. : "Be careful what you do here. This is Zexen land." Louis, however, has the sense to not be an rear end before leaving.  : "Everything I've heard about ironheads is true!": "But it IS odd to see a woman wearing armor. Strange indeed!"Even odder is the fact that she is the current captain. Yes, the previous captain AND vice-captain died in the last battle, but she would have had to already be both high-rank and respected to take over so soon. : "Kuuee!": "Not here, Fubar!"...What do you think Fubar has been saying all this time?  I think the better question is 'Can Joe actually understand him?' Well, that was a lovely chat. Chris and her entourage may be headed in the opposite direction, but that doesn't mean our goal has changed from being Vinay del Zexay. So let's continue through the castle.  The game actually spits us out on the next screen after the cutscene, but we haven't seen the middle section, so let's try this again from the top.  Here we go. Had there been no cutscene, this is where we would start on the middle screen. Eventually we'll go straight, but let's talk to a whole bunch of people first. We'll start on the right side.  : "Speaking of Captain Galahad, I wonder when his funeral is going to be held...."We go through the door behind them to the right wing of the castle.  Hey, that blond guy looks fami--wait, didn't he JUST leave with Chris? He did. I have no idea what he's doing here. Not only is Borus not supposed to be here, but he's also a jerk. : "I think everyone felt a bit insecure about their swordsmanship after the battle... but I know I always feel insecure anyway.": "Who are you? Are you a cleaner?" : "I must defeat more opponents and improve my skills... or else I'll never get stronger!!"Then you probably shouldn't be sitting on a bench doing nothing, buddy. : "I'm such a coward! My legs give way whenever I'm facing an enemy. Maybe I should ask for a longer spear so they can't get at me."Or you could be an archer. Just putting that out there.  Interesting as they all were, this is the reason why we went back to the middle section. We've actually got some skill points to use, now, so I take a few moments to buff up our boys to be less lovely. In the beginning of the game, this mostly means upping their accuracy. I hadn't been capping their misses, but Hugo and Lulu are pretty awful at hitting targets. Joe isn't as bad, but I'm not risking it.  I boosted Hugo's accuracy up to a C, and increased his swing to D. Swing will allow him to attack faster, and potentially squeeze in more attacks per turn.  For Fubar, I increase his accuracy to D, and his damage to C.  Joe gets bumped up to a C in damage and a D in accuracy.  Lulu doesn't even have accuracy as a skill, which is bad.  We get it for him, and then increase it to D.   I have no idea who he's talking about. On the subject of stairs, however, we decide to run up them.  The second floor actually connects the right and left wings of the castle, so we'll come out on the other side. There are some rooms, but we'll be seeing far too much of them once Hugo's chapter is over, so I'll put it off for now.  : "I wanted to see the prowess of Lady Chris with my own eyes, but I'm afraid to go to the battlefield."I don't think she has anything to worry about, what with Brass Castle being the knights' headquarters. We can see from everyones reactions that Chris is practically a celebrity among the Zexens. The two knights in the back are standing guard at the rooms I mentioned earlier. The first -- : "This is the room of Lady Chris, Acting Captain of the Zexen Knights."And the second -- : "This is a sitting-room for the knights to use."We'll see them later. We continue to the end and go down the stairs.  : "Her boyfriend is in Iksay Village. I think she's worried about him because of all those barbarians nearby." Oh come on, we're RIGHT here! The camera makes it really hard to see the entrance of the inn until you're literally right on it.  : "Grasslanders are hard on the beds. Not that I'm saying they can't use them, mind you."There's a guy off in the back left of the room, behind the beds and hiding in the corner. Honestly, I'm not sure I noticed him last time I played.   We head out of the left wing, which brings us close to the end of the central corridor.  : "This is the soldiers' barracks. Don't cause any trouble. Backing up a bit lets us see what's left in this area a bit better. We've already talked to those two guards, so let's interrogate the Karayan and the knight to the right. : "Ironheads on horseback look down on us and shout, 'Out of the way!' I hate those louts.": "I'm famished... but I can't go inside yet... because everybody is still eating...."This guy is standing outside of the mess hall. He'll be standing here the entire game.  The two by the door comment on the guy outside. I believe they're also there the entire game. : "... Why won't he come in? He should come in to eat if he's hungry.": "Did you see that hungry knight outside? Rumor has it that he loves Super Pickles. There's no accounting for taste!"... Okay what the hell is a "Super Pickle" and why is that man's taste in food considered to be good rumor-material? : "... I can't believe we'll never see Vice-Captain Pelize again. I feel like crying...."Me too. Let's check out the kitchen.  : "Sir Leo would like one extra ice cream... Is that right?"Leo is one of the Six Knights we didn't get to see yet. We'll see him and the other in due time. I don't think those jugs of bleach are going to help that situation, lady.  : "It's about time to prepare some Super Pickles. I'm warning you, they really stink..."Super Pickles again?  Adult Stew?? Zexens have really strange food. That's all of the kitchen, let's head back to the center area. We missed a few people in the hall when we went around before.  : "What do you want? I'm busy right now.": "These old ladies gave us this because they like Zexen Knights. Take a look inside... nothing but pickles!"I think this place has a problem with pickles. One more NPC in this area.  Bahahaha. Now for the left side of the inner castle, for real this time.  : "This armor is so heavy, my legs get numb just from standing up in it. But that's a secret!" We'll start with that child in the back.   The children here are scary.Let's go back to those knights and the horse.  : "Look at Margarita's fine, sleek coat! Just seeing her stand there, you can tell how lively she is! Could you ever find a finer horse?" : "We're keeping an eye on you and your clan. Don't forget it.": "Hey, you! Quit loitering around. If your business here is done, go on home!"We sure are getting a lot of flack already. We haven't even made it into the capital yet. To that woman's right is a magic tutor, so we pop in for a moment.  This is the only example in the game hinting that the countries don't share a language, so I'm not sure if it's lore or just this guy being a jerk. We opt not to up our magic ranks, though, since we don't have the skill points to spare anyway.  : "I'm looking for a cookbook on the latest trend: 'Red Pepper Cuisine.' Now where did I see it...? : "If you want to use magic, you must first improve your magic skills."   : "Well, well! So you're Chief Lucia's son? In the past, I often delivered merchandise to stores in Karaya. My, how you've grown."I like this guy. : "We're about to leave for Vinay del Zexay. We're going to stock up on the fabric we need for clothes." : "... Curses! You barbarian! You heard me practicing my humming just now, didn't you?!"Wait, is that a bad thing? : "Don't let me catch you prowling around here too often."You're the one doing the prowling, you creep.  : "Boo hoo, I can't find him! I SAID we shouldn't play hide and seek in such a big area!"Well, that explains the 'hunted man.' Lets check out the rune shop in the background there.  : "I wonder which one I want...": ".... butterfly... dancing in... the moonlight..."Adults are weird. That silver-haired woman over there looks suspicious though, let's check her out next.  This is Jeane. You may recognize her from the previous Suikoden games. And the following Suikoden games. She is in every main Suikoden game. Even the ones taking place a few hundred years in the past. And a few of the spin-offs as well. The developers have never explained this. She could be a single person, or she could be many people spread out over the game who happen to look the same and act the same. Who knows? This is also her most modest outfit in the series. Jeane is like a scantily-clad, magical Nurse Joy.  There's a couple having a date outside. You can just see a man sitting on a bench behind them, but we'll talk to the lovers first. : "Y-your smile is... is like this flower.... Hey! What do you want?": "I... I wish you'd get to the point and say it out loud."They seem to be having issues, so we'll leave them alone and talk to the man in the back.  I disagree. Onward we walk.   : "He looks so powerful, standing straight as a ramrod... his armor glittering... What a guy!!"And that's the end of the inside of Brass Castle. We continue to the west bridge.  He is referring to rare encounters. When running around, sometimes you'll run into a super strong monster, but it doesn't happen often. Rare encounters are generally terrifying, and his advice of running away is really good, especially at this point in the game. They give a lot of experience and skill points if you can beat them, though. : "I won't stop you from going on in, but you'd better behave yourself.": "Hey, look out, boy, or this horse is gonna swat you with his tail." : "Hugo... Please don't tell the chief about her. Please...": "I am Zexen, and he is Karayan. ... Even if no one blesses us, we want to spend the rest of our lives together."  : "Heh-heh, look at this dog. He looks like he has eyebrows. Here you go, Brownie, I've got a treat for you!" : "What do you think? The scenery is beautiful, isn't it? I wanted you to see it because it's almost the gorgeous color of your eyes.": "Oh, it's lovely... I've never seen such beautiful scenery before..."It's really strange how many couples are having dates at a fort.  The Zexen Knights are not known for an amazing sense of humor. : "Stay away from the knights. Their Captain was killed by barbarians, so lots of them have a grudge against you guys."I hadn't noticed. It's interesting how, despite trying to be helpful, he still calls us barbarians. The racism between Zexen and Grassland has some pretty deep roots, if their people use derogatory words like "barbarian" and "ironhead" without even thinking.  : "Young people these days! Wasting their time on things like dates! ... How indecent!"The save point on the side denotes that we are done with this place. A short scene plays out while we're leaving.  : "I thought you said you knew the way.": "I most certainly do, and I'm telling you this is it. Even my tail feathers concur.": "Well, if we can't prove it's wrong, we'll assume it's right. Let's keep going."That logic is awful, Hugo. : "Kuuee!"And with that, we leave Brass Castle. Next time, we finally make it to the Zexen capital! yokaiy fucked around with this message at 06:09 on Jan 9, 2013 |
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Jan 8, 2013 02:31
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dancingbears posted:No, I think he just hit the smiley limit. Yeah, I think I just hit the limit. I didn't even know there was a smiley limit. Gives me an excuse to go back and put portraits in for all the NPCs, at least! Which I'll get on, albeit slowly.Pre-emptive edit: Thanks for the confirmation there, Vilk! vilkacis posted:^ Yup, the limit is 20. You should upload at least the most common ones as images if you want to keep using them as portraits. PFFT. Ahhh, I was gonna make a dumb joked to him being referring to Lulu as the "thing" but that is better. There are only two elves in this game, and the other one is a pretty nice person. Roland is just a butt. I think the dialogue is pretty well done when it comes to the racism going on. The Zexens seem a lot more racist than the Grasslanders, though, for some reason. Or at least they're more vocal about it.
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Jan 8, 2013 03:23
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CmdrKing posted:Roland: Carrying on a proud* tradition. Shiki Dan posted:Hey at least Roland only hates a certain class of humans, rather than ALL humans and ALL other races. Man, you guys are gonna poo poo all kinds of bricks when you see the other elf, and how not awful a person they are.
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Jan 8, 2013 05:16
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The one in III has a pretty good reason, albeit simple, for not being a huge jerk. I'll cover that when we meet 'em, which should be pretty soon.
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Jan 8, 2013 05:24
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It's interesting how negatively elves are handled in Suikoden, I think. Elves are portrayed as stuck-up in a lot of media and series', but Suikoden's one of the only ones where they are REALLY disagreeable. Like, they're not even pompous, they've surpassed pompous. Now they're just an amalgamation of racism and douchebaggery with pointy ears. I don't really want to say I like it, but... well it's a change, for better or for worse. On an unrelated note, fixed all the portraits last night (though I'm going to have to get better pictures for some of the NPCs and replace them later), and slowly working on the next update. It will be up as soon as I can manage it, but I become pretty busy during the week.
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Jan 10, 2013 00:32
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Verbose posted:It's worth pointing out that if you don't play the lottery early to get certain recipes now, they are gone forever. Hahahahaha Ihatethelottery. But yeah, I'm not looking to 100% this when it comes to recipes and the like, so I'm not going to worry about it. Thanks for pointing it out, though! I'll be showing off the mechanic for recipes when we get there, at the very least. I guess I'll show off the lottery at some point as well...  Veyrall posted:If NPC portraits are slowing you down, I wouldn't even worry about it. Except for the story important or interesting ones, of course. It doesn't take any more time to set it up with portraits than it would have to use emotes. I'm just doing one portrait per NPC model anyway, so it's really no problem at all.
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Jan 10, 2013 01:50
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Oh, that isn't even the first opportunity to miss things. Before you start the game, you're asked if you want to use clear data from Suikoden II -- if you don't, you've already missed some things forever.
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Jan 10, 2013 02:21
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Everyone posted:Clear data stuff I guess it's vaguely worth mentioning that I'm not using clear data for this LP. RentCavalier posted:...ugh. It's really too early to get into it...this game is like...it's not bad. It's good, but it's good in bad ways. And it's certainly not good in ways that Suikoden 2 was good in. It basically derailed the entire franchise too, since Suikoden 4 was another weird one. Suikoden 3 is guilty of changing way too many things, leaving you with a game bearing the Suikoden name, but not feeling in any particular way LIKE a Suikoden game. I feel like Chrono Trigger/Cross suffer from that. Trigger was amazing, but Cross is an awful sequel. Make no mistake, I still love Cross dearly, and it's a good game, but it's a bad follow-up. Though, I don't really agree that Sui3 had this problem or derailed the series, but that's just me. Also, I highly doubt Sui3's faults had much bearing on Sui4's. That's a whole other can of worms. I'm sure vilkacis would LOVE to tell everyone all about it. (Vilk I have so much respect for you, just saying.  )Honestly, I think I had the most problems adopting the dogs, and only one of them is even part of the 108 stars. Lotish posted:I just wish the series had kept going, but now Konami's let their RPG department completely disintegrate so they've farmed the name out to Tri-Ace. Lately there's been a bit of a movement to try and resurrect the series, though. A group of fans going by the name "Suikoden Revival Movement" have started campaigning on Facebook to Konami. A few days ago, they descended on the Konami page in bulk, and there were enough posters to get both a Kotaku article about it (for whatever that's worth) and an announcement from Konami in response. The announcement was pretty much just "Lol we like your feedback, but we're not saying anything on whether or not we're gonna do anything with the series right now" though. Zosephine posted:My biggest complaint about III is probably how your character controls in the overworld. There are lots of flaws you can point out and I will forgive, but the awkwardness of walking around and opening doors is one of the few that I forgive the least (if that makes any sense). This. If I had a quarter for every time we missed a door or ran into a wall instead of going straight on a path, I would be able to buy a physical copy of Suikoden II off of ebay. One of these days I'll make a gif of one of our main characters just running in a wobbly circle, and you'll see what we mean. For some reason, it isn't as bad running it off an emulator. It might just be lagging so much that I'm not noticing it anymore?
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Jan 11, 2013 23:37
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Shiki Dan posted:I guess you better have a way to get the Barbarossa and Neclord plays in the theatre then. Unfortunately, I don't. I'll have to find videos or something. I'll at least post the scripts, if I can't find any. e: It's because I don't have the clear data in the first place. Thought I should explain myself there. Testekill posted:Edit: Well, I've messed something up in that quote. His name in Japanese is フーバー, which does Romanize to "Fubar." (It's actually "Fuubaa" but close enough) It comes from the word "Fuu" (風) which means "wind." I'm not sure if the translators knew the acronym or not, but I feel like they probably didn't.
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Jan 12, 2013 08:10
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It didn't cross my mind when I started, and it's a bit too late to start over for the clear data now. Like I said, I'll try and find videos of those two, and I'll at least show off the mechanic once we get there and track down the scripts. We're not anywhere near that point of the game, though. Update coming shortly, I'm just double-checking it for anything I may have messed up on. Sorry for the delay this time around.
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Jan 13, 2013 07:11
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Hugo Chapter 1.4 - Duck in the Big City When last we left our boys, we were headed to the Zexen capital after getting a pretty nasty taste of Zexens (and elves) at the Brass Castle.  We've got one more place to go through before we hit Vinay del Zexay itself, and it's the aptly named Zexen Forest.  Our first encounter is with Holly Shrubs. These little leaves are pitiful, and incredibly funny looking. Holly-themed monsters are a recurring joke in this forest.  Since we passed through Brass Castle and buffed up our characters, Hugo/Fubar are now hitting for nearly 500 damage. This is against the Holly Shrubs so it's pretty skewed, but this is still a Metric Fuckton of damage.  The Shrubs are weak and come in large numbers, but that's actually a good thing. They are very likely to drop medicines, and it's entirely probable to get around three medicines per battle. At this point in the game, this will save us a lot of money. Just imagine this screen happening like 5 times each time we go through the forest.  This is also our first time encountering these sparkling plants.  If you interact with them, you will get either a medicine of some sort, or a trade item. These show up in many of the routes.  You can also happen upon corpses along the side of the road. They act as treasure chests in this game, and you loot them upon investigating. Their stuff is a one-time deal, but the corpses remain in place forever. There are also actual treasure chests in this game. We'll see some eventually.  Other enemies we can encounter include Creepers that aren't purple, but are still annoying.  We can also find these bugs called Vermitors.  They are incredibly disturbing in that they shoot missiles out of their backs. They're also very rarely alone. (This cap is actually from a different battle, but I didn't get a good shot of it in that one. )Their attacks can hurt, though, so let's show off Joe's water rune.    Healing Drops, the first level Water spell, will heal a single pair. Right now it's doing jack-all because Joe's not too great with it, but even without breaking 100 HP it's still more than enough. However, since it can be used only on a per-pair basis, you should still have your party carry plenty of medicines if they can fit it. Having more than one Water Rune per party helps a lot as well. The forest is surprisingly small, though, so we get through it pretty quickly, and trigger a scene at the end.   : "Rico! You're so slow, everyone will get away before we get there." : "We Maximillian Knights are on a critical mission. The buds of war are set to bloom across this land. It's our duty to sever them swiftly. Sooner the better." : "Yes, understood, sir.": "I should hope so. Make certain your legs understand too!"He notices us, finally. : "Hmmm?" : "Speak, boy! What do you know of evil knights said to be coming to Grassland?"Here, I'm pointing out that there is a choice you can make, but obviously we're going with the funnier one and lying to him. : "In the north there are stories..."I can imagine Hugo's face suddenly getting very serious and bleak-looking. Lulu would probably laugh and ruin it, though. Then again, I'm not sure Fred would catch on even if Lulu did ruin it. Fred is a little   : "Fr-Fr-Fred... Wait! Sir!" Fred runs off, and Rico dashes after him. : "What in spirits?" I'm with you on this one, Hugo. Let's not chase after that weirdo. After exiting the forest, we finally find ourselves outside of Vinay del Zexay. And this is what the capital sounds like. We'll be here a lot, so get VERY acquainted with this tune, and how easily it can get stuck in your head.  : "There it is! It lies here, just as I said. And you doubted my directions! It seems I've earned my wings."You were born with them -- I can't believe it took you this long to realize. : "Sergeant, are you sure it wasn't luck?": "Of course not. Though, truth be told, this is my first time here..."Joe turns and walks over to Fubar.  : "Now then. Fubar, you're to wait outside the city. Hide yourself in the woods.": "Kuuee!": "Is that necessary?": "In case you didn't notice, we get a lot of weird looks when Fubar's around. We're in a strange land, you know."There's a short pause where Hugo contemplates this. : "What? Oh, um. You see, I... I thought they were looking at you." There's a long pause.  Of several seconds.  After Hugo speaks.   Another pause, in which I got the best Hugo expression. : "Kuuee!"Joe starts to walk off without them. : "You'll have to wait outside, Fubar. You can hunt, but don't disturb anything belonging to Zexens. And don't get hunted yourself.": "Kuuee!": "See you later, pal.": "Kuuee!"Hugo and Lulu leave Fubar behind, who trots off into the woods.  Before letting us move again, the game brings up the order menu. You'll notice Fubar is now absent. They are REALLY good about having this happen when characters join and leave. A bit later, there's a character who escorts you out of a town, and you're drat skippy she joins your party for the two minutes it takes to walk the distance, then leaves when you exit. It's a nice touch, but also a little annoying sometimes.  But enough of that, let's head inside.  : "Behold, the Zexen capitol! I shall cherish this first vision forever!" : "It's really bigger than I thought it'd be."Yeah, well, Karaya is really small. : "This place makes me feel -- hmm, not good. That's for sure.": "I know the feeling. Grasslanders are more at home without walls. Open plains and meadow breezes are for us. I'd like to go back as soon as possible."With that, we're now given free reign to explore the Zexen city.  : "Hmmm...."And we're off to a friendly start already.  : "It's a big town, isn't it? Of course, Vinay del Zexay IS the capital of Zexen. Try not to get lost."As you can see in the mini-map, the town quickly branches outwards. The branches converge in two spots a bit further down. All the yellow lines on it, by the way, are either area changes or camera changes. I hadn't pointed them out before because, until now, they had only marked a change in area. Vinay has some really awkward camera jolts, though, so I guess they were also marked on the map to give you fair warning.  In addition to being very big, Vinay has a LOT of people to talk to. : "That's an unusual outfit. Where are you from? Karaya? Sorry, never heard of it.": "Lady Chris is fantastic. Beautiful, intelligent, strong... A truly rare combination of traits...": "Listen to this! We had Sir Borus in our store the other day! He was buying wine. Man, he looked cool...": "Wait a minute, that's a Karayan outfit! I went to Grassland once, AGES ago. I saw outfits like that!": "Hands off the horse! With all due respect, this horse belongs to a councilor." And then, suddenly, BAM. New camera angle. It is very abrupt. : "That's right. Vinay del Zexay grew out of the deer antler trade. Gezel Hyatt made a fortune, and he built the international port."Deer antlers are pretty good for trade, actually. : "This guy may be young, but he has a wisdom beyond his age!" : "Leave me alone."    We go down the path to the left first.  There's a house to the left side that we have some business with, before we go any further into town.  : "Let's hope there's no wait to see a Lightfellow."   : "So that is why you have come. I see.": "Yes. This is for them." : "Very good, Sir. This does indeed belong to the Lightfellow family. Where did you obtain it?": "Jimba has kept it for years. He's the son of Luce of the Karaya Clan.": "From Sir Jimba, you say."The butler hesitates just long enough for Hugo to feel awkward.  : "Is there something wrong?": "Er, no, of course not. We cannot thank you enough for bringing this here. I will see to it personally that Lady Chris receives this.": "Please do. Farewell, then.": "Sir, before you leave, may we not reward you for your service?": "Reward? Ah. No need. It was a favor for Jimba." : "Yes?": "Jimba also wanted you to know that the Zexen soldier who had this died heroically."Hugo can be very polite sometimes. Not a single "ironhead" from his lips while he was doing this favor. Though, I guess he's more sensible than Lulu. : "I... see. That is... something I will communicate to Lady Chris.": "Thank you. Farewell, then.": "Yes, thank you so much. Our thanks to Sir Jimba as well." The butler bows to Hugo as he leaves.  I guess Joe and Lulu decided to stay by the gate for this.  : "Ooh. That's an unusual outfit. Where are you from?": "Oh, hello! Is this your first time in Zexay? Keep going straight to Port Avenue, then make the next turn for the Guild Hall."That's where our next task is located. It's above the big white dot in the center of the mini-map. We take his advice and turn towards the center, and are met with another abrupt camera change.   : "Cool...": "I want to do that! I want to be a knight and fight in the service of Lady Chris!": "Captain Galahad died in battle, but Lady Chris took over. I plunged into the barbarian horde saying 'Take that, you Lizards!' "We take vague offense to that. The Lizards are our bros.  : "Oooh... whew... I'm so BUSY! I wish I had two bodies.": "After dark, this place is full of lovey-dovey couples..."Ew. Let's head up towards the Council Hall, since that's where we're supposed to be going.  There are some kids playing outside.  : "Huh? Me? Me and my friends are just playing. What do you want?" : "Whoah! Check out the costume!" : "Huh? The inn? The inn's near the port. Next to the bazaar. Ask someone when you get there."Helpful, inns are important.  A scene starts when you get close enough to the Hall.  Fancy. : "This place fits the description we were given.": "Let's ask someone.": "How about that ironhead by the door?" : "Excuse me, sir. I'm here to meet with the Zexen Council Head.": "............" (Yes, I counted how many there were.) : "Don't you understand me?": "Everyone else here speaks our language.": "............": "Answer me already!": "............"Wow, that needs to stop. : "Who needs this guy? Let's go in and see for ourselves."    : "Hey!": "............"This isn't getting anywhere. Luckily, our Duck cuts in to help out. : "There may be a more diplomatic way to get the results we seek." Joe steps up to the plate.  : "Ahem. This young man comes as an official messenger sent from the Grassland by Lucia, the Karaya Clan Chief, to deliver an official message to the Zexen Council. We therefore request access.": "What proof do you have that he is the official messenger?": "You ask for proof!" He pulls Hugo closer. : "This is Hugo, the very son of the Karaya Chief! He is the proof!": "And I am the son of Luce. My legs are as quick as Hugo's!"Lulu. Stahp.  There's a long pause. : "Very well then. You may enter."He turns and opens the door, then heads in before us.  : "Sergeant, you did it! Did you see the look on his face? Teach us the spell you cast!": "He's not much more stubborn than the Lizard Clan. A little patience and respect go a long way."That's not a spell, you silly duck. : "Whatever you say.": "Now let's do what we came here to do."The scene fades to black as they enter, and fades back into the exterior once again.  : "This is ridiculous! After coming all this way, they won't even see us for 2 to 3 days?": "But mother said they'd be expecting a messenger..." : "What do you mean?": "A discussion is apparently not a valuable enough item to 'pay' for their time. They're showing us how priceless their time is to them.": "We have to wait around for some protocol? The longer I stay here the less I like it.": "Makes my feathers stiff!" : "Well... if that's how it has to be, why can't we use this time to check out what we've never seen before?": "We'll need to find a place to stay. Fortunately, we have the funds for it." Lulu, at the very least, seems pretty excited about this.  He also seems to attract animals, as a black cat crosses his path.  This game has a thing for cats, if I didn't already mention it.  : "I hope Fubar will be all right." Well, that was a huge bummer. We head to the right to get to the port.  There's a band of minstrels playing just north of the inn. In another nice sound-design touch, the Vinay music fades away as you get close to them. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find the tune. : "Vinay del Zexay is this continent's ocean gateway. We see all kinds of people here.": "It's a big place, isn't it? That's because it's the Zexen capital. Lots of wealthy folk, too." : "Donations after the performance, please!" : "Er, I'm performing at the moment..."And thus we meet our second elf. However, she is not a terrible person. She was raised by humans instead of elves, though, so that might have something to do with it.  : "...."The minstrels don't really have much to say to us later, we'll have to check back when they're not playing. : "I wish Dad would hurry up and come home.": "Daddy's coming home from abroad today. He's going to bring us some souvenirs! It's so exciting!": "What use is this to me? Here. Why don't you have it?" Lady, I can't use this yet. But I guess. Hey, look, it's that kid again. : "You know, you smell like a country meadow...": "Ships set sail from that port to other continents. This town is built on trade, so we get a lot of ships here."No, we don't actually get to go to said continents, unfortunately. Heading back to talk to the kid triggers a scene.  : "No way! My father is no liar! It's true! It's true!" : "My five-man search party and I went to the northern mountains but saw no sign of your father or this phantom ship."A ship in some mountains? Uh...  : "Have you seen it with your own eyes?": "I'm telling you... I'm saying that... My father's no liar!" : "Oh, I know what the problem is, he's scared. He ran away because we would've uncovered the truth. It's in his blood. Like father, like son...?" : "Wa-wait, come back! Melville!" After the scene plays out, two NPCs take their spot. : "This guy's jokes are so cool!!"  That was awful.[ u ] [ / u ]  The inn is down here, but we'll ignore it for now.  : "The inn? Look. See? On that corner. Its right by the port, so you'll see the ocean from your room."Thanks, lady, but I found it already... : "Well, I never. Are you Karayan? The last time I saw a Karayan here was years ago!": "Ooh, you're so dark. I wish I was tanned like that.": "That outfit's a rare sight. Are you sightseeing? You can buy souvenirs around here."With that area covered, we head west to the port.   : "Beautiful... Ah... What a beautiful world."This is Augustine. He is fabulous, but he doesn't have anything interesting to say yet. And so continues the Suikoden tradition of having one or a couple of fabulous men per game. : "Once I've made enough money, I'm going to quit this job, board a ship, and travel overseas.": "I don't want to hear his nonsense about going overseas. I like it here."The man in yellow just tells us where to find the inn, so I'll skip him. : "Did you see the parade? Didn't Lady Chris look great!"Why did they have a parade instead of a funeral?? Is Chris so much of a celebrity that her becoming captain overshadowed the loss of BOTH of her superiors? I can understand wanting to distract the public with good news, but still.  : "I'm still lost in the magic of that parade... When I grow up, I'm going to be a knight too!" : "No one ever wins the jackpot at the lottery... But once in a while you see a second-prize winner...."I was going to take this opportunity to show it off... but decided to procrastinate on that a bit more. Moving on.  : "The evening's the only time for a proper date...": "The trader here just doesn't seem interested in his work. Try calling out to him over the counter..."Maybe later.  Hugo's half-lidded expression reflects my own.  : "I hear the supply shop in Iksay sells the prettiest rose brooches. I'd love to try one on for myself..."This is actually a hint towards getting a character later. Just keep it in mind for now. Or, forget it. I'll remember it, so no problems there. : "One day, I'd love to have a parade like Lady Chris..."While we're outside of an Appraiser, and since we have some ? items, let's see how that works.  It's pretty simple. You hand the appraiser some money, and the tell you if your ? item is worth anything.  Our ?Figurines ended up both being Failure Urns. This means we have officially lost money, as it costs 250 potch to appraise, and you can only sell Failure Urns for 50. And yet, I love the idea of getting an urn that is just so full of failure that it can hardly be considered an urn at all. What even constitutes an urn being THAT bad? No joke, it's probably my favorite in-game item solely because it is silly.: "There are so many different things. It's really interesting...": "Vinay del Zexay is a trading town. You can find all kinds of famous and unusual items here. My daughter loves it!"We leave and head to the last little stretch of the city we haven't seen yet, which promptly triggers a scene.  : "Sorry, Alanis. My mother said I couldn't play till I finished my bean soup. But it smelled so bad that I couldn't finish it. You know how sensitive my nose is...": "............" That's not just a lucky cap. She's actually making that face. It's perfect. : "Not about that. What we decided yesterday! Or did you forget?": "Huh? Oh, yeah. 'Alanis, Silver Maiden and Sub-Captain of the Saint Loa Knights,' I apologize for coming late. But it was the bean soup's fault...": "Elliot! Never mind, let's go to the castle. You remember the password, right? Elliot?"Aw, they're playing make-believe. : "No problem. It's 'The Three Knights of Zexen.' Heheh. See? I remember!": "Not that we need to say it if there's only two of us. Well, let's go."  Hmmm.  HMMMMM. Next time: We go scare some children!
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Jan 13, 2013 07:51
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I sort of like it, actually. It introduces a new area, a couple new mechanics (which I just remembered I forgot to cap a picture of one of them when I was playing, dammit... Gonna have to go back and do that.), almost introduces a couple other mechanics, and is just overall a nice alternative to "go sleep at the inn." This sidequest has some nice characterization for our Grasslanders as well, which I'm rather fond of. I am not very fond of the area it takes place in, though. I'm going to miss Fubar's damage output so much during this section.
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Jan 13, 2013 23:05
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FairGame posted:The first time I played this (and I'm a huge completionist that managed to get everyone but Crowley and Window--both of whom require knowledge of secret passages--in S1) I completely missed the St. Loa Knights. That is awful, I feel really bad for you. So did you go back and redo everything after all? I'm working on the next update now, sorry it's taking so long. Had to go back and redo a bit, and didn't really have the time for it. The update should be up tomorrow if everything goes well.
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Jan 16, 2013 19:31
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Hugo Chapter 1.5 - Mine, mine, mine! Last time, we cornered some small children in an alley way. By which I mean they ran there and this looks like a sidequest, so let's follow them.  The alley suffers from another extreme camera-shift, one which I didn't cap. Just imagine looking one way, then when you get past a certain point, looking the exact opposite way.  Anyway, the kids don't seem to be on the ground, but there are some ladders and some rafters to climb on, so let's check up there.  Lo and behold, there's a window up here that we can knock on. : "Oh, it's Melville. Hold on, I'm coming!": "Elliot, wait. The password.": "Ah, right. Melville! Do you remember the password?": "Elliot! We're not supposed to know that it's Melville."We're then prompted to give them the password. The other two choices just end in them asking if we forgot already, and then letting us pick the right one. : " 'The Three Knights of Zexen.' ": "Right. I'll open the gates."And so, they let us in.  : "Wh-what... Who are... You're not Melville!"What ever gave you that impression? : "Who are you! If you came to take over out castle, we'll fight!": "You... y-y-you would take over our castle?": "First you'll have to defeat me, the Silver Maiden, then the Swordsman of Wind, Elliot!"I'm not sure if this has been pointed out yet, but "Silver Maiden" is actually a nickname for Chris. So she's pretending she's Chris. I believe the "Swordsman of Wind" is one of the knights we haven't seen yet. : "Huh? You want me to fight?" He... takes up a fighting stance... sort of?  While I doubt this would have ended in a fight, their shenanigans are brought to a halt when someone else knocks on the window. : " 'The Three Knights of Zexen.' "There's a hesitation. Since Alanis and Elliot sure aren't opening the window, he repeats himself. : " 'The Three Knights of Zexen! Alanis, Elliot -- open the gates!"Hugo decides to open it for them, since he's closest.  : "............" Melville is confused, and rightly so. : "Hmm? Who, uh, is this guy? A new recruit?": "............"You know, I don't think anyone knows what's going on anymore. The scene cuts to what's probably a few minutes and a few nervous explanations later. : "Wow, so you came from Grassland. Fantastic! The name of the clan is...?": "Karaya Clan. I am here representing my clan.": "Is that a real weapon on your waist?": "It's no sword, but yes, it's real." He takes it out and gives it a few swings for the kids. Alanis and Elliot seem fascinated, but Melville seems a bit upset. : "Ooooooooh.": "Hmph! My father carried a sword, you know."Hugo puts the blade away out of respect. : "Speaking of your father, in town you were arguing about him, right?" : ".......... My father is the greatest swordsman of Donau Road, and...": "And Zexen's greatest treasure hunter! Right?": "Sure is. And he's my hero, too.": "That's right, Alanis, Elliot. Many months ago, my father went to the northern mountains. He came back to say he'd found a ship. Then he left to return to that ship.""And no one's heard from him since. I think he died. Or left me. Or both." : "I bet Melville's father found a ship full of treasure!": "Right. But he hasn't come back. Guillaume sent out a search party, but they didn't find him..."Wait, Guillaume's actually a nice guy? He seemed like a jerk when he was arguing with Melville earlier. : "Don't worry, Melville, he can take care of himself. He probably got carried away treasure hunting. That must be it! Don't believe what Guillaume says. He's a liar.": "I guess you're right. My father wouldn't lie to me. He just wouldn't.": "Hey, I have an idea! Why don't the Saint Loa Knights go to the northern mountain? We could find that ship too!": "Are you crazy? Just the three of us?": "Alanis, my father always said 'Bravery does not mean doing something dangerous.' " She turns to Hugo, who's just sort of been watching this go down. : "Are you referring to me?": "Of course! Who else is there?" : "Who are the Saint Loa Knights?" : "Oh, we must introduce ourselves. I am the captain of the Saint Loa Knights and the Swordsman of Rage, Melville!" He strikes a pose, Power Rangers style. "Swordsman of Rage" refers to Borus, by the way.  : "As you know already, I am the Silver Maiden, Alanis!" Oh gosh they're all going to do this aren't they. Okay, Elliot, I'm ready. Do your worst.  : "And I'm the Swordsman of Wind, Elliot!" : "Together we are The Three Knights of Zexen, the Saint Loa Knights!" Yeah, that just happened. And it won't be the last time, either. Fair warning. : "Well, I don't have anything better to do right now."Best response. : "Really? You'll come with us?": "I wouldn't want just the three of you to go alone." : "Uh, I um...": "We'll meet at the Seigal Gate to the city as soon as possible. And...?": " 'Hugo.' ": "And Hugo, you come as soon as possible too. Don't keep us waiting!""Don't worry, I'll be there, and I'll bring my duck too.  ": "Here we go! The Saint Loa Knights depart for adventure!" The three of them leave, and we regain control in their hideout. There's nothing interesting, though, so let's just head to the front gate and meet up with them.  It's a good thing there's only one gate in this town.  : "He's here! He made it! Over here!" Lulu and Joe will be joining Hugo and his new friends for this sidequest. Fubar, however, won't be coming along.  : "Thanks for coming. This will be great.": "Duke Hugo of Karaya, welcome to the Saint Loa Knights.": " 'Duke Hugo of Karaya'?": "Yes. You came from Karaya as a representative, right? So 'Duke' is about your rank. I think that's fair.": "We're off! To the northern mountains, to find the ship, and... And..." : "And we'll help Melville's father too. We will.": "............ Right.": "Yes! So let's go!" And so, we bring some small children into our group. You'll notice that Elliot isn't in the main party. Instead, he's got his own little section, and he's listed as a guest. When I said parties were up to six people, the truth is I lied a bit. Parties are comprised of six fighters, but there is also a seventh slot for a support character. Elliot would normally be a support character, but since the Saint Loa Knights are only joining us temporarily, we don't get his support benefits. So he's just gonna stand there and look pretty, really. You may also notice that Alanis and Melville are REALLY low level. Alanis barely has 30 HP. Lulu could probably one-shot her. We'll see just how awful they are when we get somewhere with enemies but yeah, they're bad. I've arranged them to be behind competent people so they don't get killed too much, but were they together in a pair, they would have a combination attack called "Child." They will also both berserk for each other when one of them goes down.  Exiting to the map will reveal a new area: the North Cavern. Interestingly, if you try and take them through Zexen Forest, a scene plays out where they tell you you're going the wrong way, and you get booted back out to the map.  Upon our arrival, a short scene plays. There will be quite a few of them. : "This must be it. I even detect the scent of water.": "Where there's water, there's a ship. Let's go in."Melville, that is not necessarily true. : "Right. Here we go, everyone."She begins to boldly walk inside, but the other two lag behind. : "Uh, but there's... well...": "What's the matter? It's too late to be scared now.": "Who said I was scared! Here I go." He is actually shaking while he says that. : "Oh, Elliot, what kind of knight is afraid of tunnels? Be brave and follow me!" The three run inside.  : " 'Knights'? You mean those tiny ironheads? Well... okay, since it's for the children.": "I thought their imagination and games would appeal to one your age, Lulu." : "Kwa kwa kwa! I'm sure you can." Welcome to the Northern Cavern. It is really boring. Most of the sections of the area are the same as this. Just a straight path down a brown mine. And honestly, I would be okay if that were the only problem. It's the middle rooms that I really hate. There is so little going on in these areas that my laptop wasn't even dropping any frames.  The enemies are not as boring. Those ladies are called Banshees, and they are the first example of a peculiar AI quirk in this game. They will prioritize Alanis over everyone else. If she is alive, they will attack her. And, since she's only got a handful of HP, she can only take two hits if she gets lucky. These first few levels will be awful for her. Female monsters and enemies will always target female members of your party before everyone else. I really don't know why, but they do. Oh, remember how I put Alanis and Melville in the back lines because they're awful so they wouldn't get hit with attacks?  Well, Banshees don't give a crap about your formation. They have magic, and they can target whoever they want to with it.  Or, far more frequently, they will dive under the ground -- because they can do that! -- and pop back up in your back lines to attack there anyway. Oh, and their attacks have a chance to put you to sleep, as well.  They don't have much HP, but they have a boatload of defense. Hugo has gone back to hitting around 50, and Joe isn't doing much better.  Lulu is barely hitting 20, Melville can't break 14.  Oh, and Alanis is doing a single point of damage. So yeah. These ladies.  However, Suikoden has a nice treat for dragging low level characters into areas they have no right to be in. Scaled experience. If they can just survive a few battles, Alanis and Melville will be able to catch up to the others pretty easily. Case in point, Melville got nearly four levels in that one battle  .Then, we have these things. Daggerwings. They don't have nearly as much defense, so we're hitting them much harder than we were the Banshees. However, they hit harder, and have more HP, so they're not easy to take down. So let's show off something that should help a little -- the "Child" combo attack!   The two of them charge up, and run at the foe, weapons at the ready.  They then run at the monster, flailing wildly.  Then, they run away, still flailing wildly.  As an after-effect, it leaves Alanis unbalanced so she can't attack next turn. It also doesn't do much damage. So, yeah. Probably not going to use that again.  Moving on, we have a third kind of enemy here, the Bandit. They're not really that special, but they come in groups of enough that it takes us more than one turn to beat them all.  Also, here we have Hugo landing a critical hit. See this? Right now it's not very common, but a little down the road? He'll be a crit-master. Crits can land more than 2x damage, by the way.  Already, the kids are starting to catch up nicely.  The second screen is pretty much the same as the first.  A few battles later, the kids have caught up to us. Suikoden leveling.  The Grasslanders seem to be leading the group, which isn't hard to wrap your head around. Melville and Alanis are close behind, with Elliot lagging in the back.  : "Will you be okay, Elliot?": "How... much... longer? We've been walking forever.": "Knight Elliot! If your horse were to collapse, you would have to walk great distances." : "Don't be so hard on him, Melville.": "But if a knight can't walk..." : "There's no sense in arguing. We've come a long way. Let's stop here.": "For once, I agree."And so, it fades out to later that night.  : "Can't you sleep?" : "Oh, me? I'll get to sleep soon. Melville, the tireless walker, fell asleep first. That boy!": "Even knights get tired."There's a pause. : "Alanis. Why do you want to find the ship so much?": "Huh?": "I could be wrong. But you seem more anxious than Melville to find it.": "Oh, well, maybe I do. There is a reason.": "What's the reason?" : "Pretty soon, I will have to say goodbye... I have to leave Vinay del Zexay. My father is a trade merchant, so I've never had a chance to settle down and make friends. My father planned to leave after half a year. That's soon. Meanwhile, I've made friends with Melville And Elliot..." [sic] : "That's why...": "Oh. I see..."The scene fades out to the next morning, where a militaristic drum-line starts to play.  Technically true. : "Awww... Tell them... to come back later... Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..." (Yes, I counted them.): "Come on, even the Zexens are awake." Joe and Hugo exchange glances.   : "Hahahahaha!": "Hahahahahahaha!": "Lulu..." And with that, we're now in the first center room. Take a look at that lovely mini-map up in the corner there. This room is a spiral. It is so tedious.  Yup, you just run in circles until you get to the top.  It has a drop-off point for a shortcut, but if you accidentally fall down it, then you've got to run another lap. It's pretty easy to go down by accident.  Getting to the end brings us to...  Another straight corridor. We get a cutscene once we exit, though.  And these bandits make up for all frustrations I have about this place.  "Yes, we know, we understand.Even your rhymes built of sand. But repeat the orders too much not. Drives us mad, we pray you stop!" "Here we are, treasure seekers.Craving profits makes us weaker. While we're hungry for some grub... A massage! Now that we'd love."  "What the hell are we watching. " : "W-who are... these people?": "These people are... what you'd call an unfortunate impediment to our quick return.": "Me-Me-Me-Melville! Home! Now! Please!": "Calm down, Elliot. Will the Saint Loa Knights run away from a few lousy bandits?"Yeah, I mean, we already beat down a bunch on our way here. : "Right, right! We can't run now!": "Hmmmm... Look, they're going inside!" : "Let's follow them." : "What about it, Hugo? Should we three go in too?": "It's better we go in too. Besides, I can't say no. They made me a Duke.": "Worried about court-martialing? Hehehe!": "Fine, we'll all go in. But if it gets any more dangerous, we must retreat right away!": "Oh, thank you! Thank you, Mr. Duck.": "............"No, Joe! Not you too! You've caught The Ellipses?  And then there's this room. It's the same as the last room, except we go down this time.  At least we get to use the shortcut for this one.    We fight them, but there's only two and it's hardly worth showing off. So just imagine a fight that ended quickly and got us no levels.  : "Ooohhh myyyyyy-- I don't believe what just happened...": "M-me too...": "How are the bandits, Sergeant?": "The ropes are secured. They'll be unconscious for some time. Now let's get in there. There's a ship somewhere, waiting to be found, right?": "R... right!": "Yeah, there has to be. Melville's father isn't a liar. And I'm going to help prove that!": "Me too! The Saint Loa Knights, together!"Well, then, let's head inside.  There's one final corridor before the end. The blue dot on the map is a save point, though it's hardly necessary.  : "Look, light from outside! And I can hear water!": "You mean, we've found the ship?" We're not the only ones who did, apparently. : "Ho ho ho ho ho! Welcome!"  Guillaume pulls a switch, and the gate predictably closes before the Grasslanders can enter.  : "We're locked out!": "It's that man from the Zexen city!": "Guillaume!" :worry: : "But why are you here?": "Do you reeeaaally want to know? Shall I tell you? Well now...": "I know why! You're the liar. You lied about Melville's father when you called HIM a liar!": "Ho ho ho ho ho! That's riiiight.": "But, why?!": "The reason is most simple. I did not want anyone to learn of this place. This place where I store my riches.": "Your riches?" : "Then, when the buyer leaves Vinay del Zexay, my bandits strike and return the bounty to me here. It is the perfect scheme. We know what each victim will be carrying, because they bought it from me!": "You... vicious thief! And so you've kept this place a secret.": "Naturally! This place is just far enough from Vinay del Zexay and the knight's fort. I've never worried about anyone else finding it. That is, until Melville's father spoke up about his discovery.": "Monster! For that evil plan, you..." : "... and I was just thinking of moving when you started to give me trouble. Hey! It's about time you lazy bandits got here!"    The battle's not very hard, but there are four of them, so they outnumber us. It helps that Hugo and Lulu were dodging like champs, and none of them went after Joe.  Seriously.  Lulu, when did you get so good at this?  Who are you and what have you done with our dweeb?  He even got the killing blow on the last of them.   "Ooohhh... Ouch...Even lions are known to flee If danger's reward comes uneasily!"  : "Or a veteran Duck Fighter!"Joe, you're probably the only Duck fighter.  It should be noted that Guillaume makes the best faces. : "Uh, uh, uh, Melviillllle..." : "You can do it, Melville! Captain of the Saint Loa Knights and Swordsman of Rage! Prepare to meet your maker, old man!" And with that, we have our first duel of the game.  The options at the top are attack, defend, and deathblow. It generally works as a rock-paper-scissors game. Attack beats defend (kind of), defend beats deathblow, and deathblow beats attack. The big rule is NEVER let them defend when you deathblow. Your opponents will give a quick bit of banter before each round, and you can usually judge what they're going to do from what they say. I say "usually" because Guillaume is a liar. When he says "I'll show you my deathblow attack!!" it actually means he's going to defend.  At the bottom there's a duel gauge, which shows what your HP is. Keep a close watch on your HP if you know a duel is coming up, since you'll start out with the same about of HP in a duel as you had before it. Down to 40 HP? Better hope you're really lucky with what your opponent decides to do. The arrow on the gauge will shift based on who is winning the rounds, but doesn't necessarily correspond with who is actually winning. : "Let's start with this..." Guillaume readies an attack.  He lunges forward, but Melville side-steps it,  And retaliates with a deathblow!  It knocks off a single hit point. Hope you liked that, because it's the only one you're getting during this duel. It's not possible to win. I tried to see if it was by savestating like crazy, and it's not. You can win as many rounds as you like, but his HP won't fall any lower. Interestingly, if the duel goes on long enough, Guillaume will become berserked.  Melville goes down in a single shot. : "Woo-hoo!" : "Ho ho ho. It appears I've beaten a knight! Now how shall I finish this...": Hey, pig-face!" The cavalry has arrived! : "Huh? Huuh? Huuuuh? Oi!" : "Hee hee hee.": "Egad! Wh-wha... when did... but how!": "Every knight knows how to work a level. 'Ho ho ho'!" : "Oi-oi-oiiiii! Heeeelp! Save meeeeee!"He runs off. : "Hey! Stop, thief!": "Lulu, let us see to Melville first."Alanis and Elliot run over, Hugo and the others coming up closely behind. : "Melville, Melville! Can you speak?"He rolls over.  He sits up, before continuing.  : "I-I'm sorry. I lost. I thought I could protect you... But you all protected me.": "What are you saying, Melville? You did protect us. And me!": "S-she's right. Melville, you're a hero. You even made me feel less scared."Truly a feat. : "This is a victory for the three of us, the Saint Loa Knights. Victory!": "Yeah! Now, Swordsman of Rage and Knight Captain Melville, let's go find that ship!" : "What a beautiful view!": "Me-Melville, lo-look!": "There's your ship.": "............ I can hardly believe it...": "Mellville, it's true! Just like your father said.": "Yeah... Just like he said...": "We'll walk proudly into Vinay del Zexay and tell everyone about this ship!": "............ Yeah... The worst part was doubting my own father... I was starting to think there was no ship... I knew he was telling the truth... I knew it. But, it started to sound... Well, not so true. What a relief...": "Hey, you know he wouldn't do that. He's your father!": "True, true. And a great treasure hunter, too!": "I guess.": "Next time, don't guess! Heeheehee!": "Hahahaha!": "Hahahahaha!" : "We should get you three back. Your families must be worried."Yeah, they were missing through the night, so. : "Probably. At first they'll be too angry to listen to your story.": "Kwa kwa kwa! Wise words from such a young one! Let's be off!" Seriously, Lulu, since when did you become competent??  : "We'll walk you home, but first let's say our goodbyes here.": "Thank you for everything. Thank you Hugo, Lulu, and you too, Mr. Duck.": "............": "Goodbye.": " 'Goodbyes' again... Well, I hope you get back to Grassland safely." : "Alanis... When do you leave here?"The jig is up, young lady! : "Huh?": "You have to leave because of your father, right?" : "You knew?": "Well, we found out. Why didn't you tell us?": "I-I'm so sorry... It was too sad for me to think about...": "How could you be sad, brave Silver Maiden Alanis?": "Melville...": "Don't worry, Alanis. The Saint Loa Knights are immortal! Wherever each of us goes, the strength of the others goes too. Friends forever. Right?": "Melville... Thanks..." Oh god, what happened here.   : "Saint Loa Knigts, Captain and Swordsman of Rage, Melville!"  : "Saint Loa Knights, Sub-Captain and Silver Maiden, Alanis! Together we are...": "... the Saint Loa Knights...": "... The Three Knights of Zexen!"  : "Forever!": "But someday you'll come back, right? When you do, I'll be eating beans much faster!": "I'll look forward to it. Now, I-I'm so happy. I didn't think I'd ever have friends as good as you. I'll never be lonely again."The trio leave the party, and we're left with a short, final scene by the inn to wrap it up.  : "Yeah. But it turned out fine in the end. Those three sure are close friends. I'm glad we're like that too.": "... Yes. Me too." Next time, we return to the plot! yokaiy fucked around with this message at 05:43 on Jan 20, 2013 |
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Jan 17, 2013 23:59
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Well, that was stupid long. It wasn't quite long enough to have split into two updates though. I'll try and make them shorter from here on out. On that note, did you know there's a character limit in posting here as well? I was a mere 13000 or so shy of it. Yeah... gonna... make these shorter... Haha...
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Jan 18, 2013 00:11
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FeyerbrandX posted:So we now know there is a smile limit and a character limit. Educational LP this is. Learn something every day. If my LP makes you consider replaying this game, I will consider everything I've done so far (and will do) a success. If you don't, though, you can at least be sure I'll make it all the way through. RentCavalier posted:Holy poo poo. Really? Huh. I'm not sure how you missed it, but I'm pretty happy that I was able to show you something new.
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Jan 18, 2013 04:59
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CmdrKing posted:I remember playing around with this Guillaume duel once, trying to figure out if there was actually a pattern to his callouts (and they were merely mixed up since he's a lying liar who lies) or if the game randomized it. Sadly I don't remember which it was. I do however remember the fight lasting long enough that he berserked and I think I just got bored and intentionally lost, so probably it's the former. Likely they just did the duel as normal then jumbled the callouts and attacks to create something random. Given he's going to OHKO Melville anyway, a lot of players probably don't realize he's rigged to only take that one or two damage before becoming invincible. I think there's some logic to his shouts, actually, because they're consistent at the very least. When he yells out "I'mma punch you in the baby-maker" or whatever and it actually means defend, he will always defend when he says that. There are a LOT of shouts, though, and some of them are pretty similar. Not just for Guillaume, either. So it can be kind of hard to differentiate between "I will kill you" meaning attack and "I will kill you!" meaning deathblow. Melville can survive a few hits if they happen to be an attack that he defends, but he'll still go down very quickly. I've never tried breaking the cutscene... I still have a save state from before I started the quest, maybe I'll try it out and tell you how it goes. (If I don't forget) I guess it's not too hard to miss Alanis and Elliot, now that I think about it. You have to go to the way end of the southern road to trigger the scene, so if you stop near the end and don't go all the way down you might not see it. Lulu's sudden ability to dodge things is pretty great, yeah. He still doesn't have the HP or defense to fall back on, though. The bandits managed to hit him twice or so, and that took out most of his HP. I think Lulu and Hugo have the same magic affinities, so that sounds about right. Xander77 posted:If you keep missing caps, you may want to record with FRAPS and take your screencaps with avspmod or something. I've heard FRAPS can cause things to go even slower, though? Not sure my laptop (or I) can handle it going much slower. I think I'm getting a bit better with getting caps when I need them, though. Didn't miss any in this last update. Now the only real problem is cutting my updates so they're not as awkwardly long. If you think I'd really benefit from using FRAPS, I can give it a shot I guess.Ideally I'd be able to get that thing that let's you capture directly from the actual console/TV, but I am poor.
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Jan 18, 2013 17:05
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Thomas and Cecile get pretty screwed as well, but the plot accounts for that by pairing their weak butts up with a huge badass. And then having them not really do any fighting anyway.
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Jan 20, 2013 07:11
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I was totally talking about Sasarai.  But yeah, that guy too.Suddenly spoiler tags everywhere.
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Jan 20, 2013 07:23
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I do indeed. And the (tentative) order is as follows. Hugo 1 Chris 1 Geddoe 1 Thomas 1 Chris 2 Hugo 2 Geddoe 2 Hugo 3 Thomas 2 Geddoe 3 Chris 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 The first 7 parts are definite, it's when we start getting to Thomas 2 and the chapter 3 parts that I'm still not 100% sure, but this will most likely be the order. Unless I switch Hugo 3 and Thomas 2. e: If anyone has suggestions for the later chapters' order, and think it would make sense to do it another way, I am open to hearing your thoughts.
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Jan 20, 2013 08:29
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Testekill posted:Augustine and all Narcissists in general are fantastic. Seriously my favorite type of character in Suikoden. I'll consider it. I don't quite remember where certain chapters start and some end, which is why I'm still not entirely sure for the later part of the game, but as we go I should get this all sorted out. DjinnAndTonic posted:Oh yes, a real LP attempt of Suikoden III, my favorite in the series. Honestly, while Suikoden II may have had better beat-for-beat plot points and a showier villain, I feel like Suikoden III nailed the use of a large cast. Honestly, I can't think of any other game in the series where -every- character felt like they had a purpose in the story, whether it was main-plot-related, world-building, Suiko1/2 callbacks, or just for the sake of having an unusual PC for gameplay purposes. The Support party slot also helped the non-battle recruits to feel a little more useful than in the previous games. I feel like the Trinity Sight System also allowed more recruits to get actual mainplot screentime and thus were a lot more memorable than other entries in the series. Honestly, I can barely recall more than ~10 characters from every other game in the series, while in Suiko3, there's only a handful that don't manage to leave an impression, thanks to careful introduction one main or another's chapters, along with grouping so that each PC has built-in relationships with other PCs. Suiko2 did the grouping aspect well, but with only one Silent Main, a lot of them just fell to the wayside too quickly to be memorable or relevant. The whole experience just feels a lot more robust than Suikoden II, and the much-improved localization certainly helps. In a game that's defining feature is "Lots and lots of characters", you'd think the game with the most memorable characters would be more recognized. It's not without its faults, but I can't shake the feeling that the general negative criticism leveled at it is more backlash against it not being an exact copy of Suikoden II - a kind of "They changed it, now it sucks" attitude that doesn't sit well with me. Not everyone does this, and it's refreshing to see people actually articulate their issues with the game, but the vast majority of the Suikoden fanbase just seems so stuck on II... Whoah lots of words. I agree about the cast, most of them feel pretty valid and relevant to the story, and having three parties gathering them helps them not feel so unattainably big as well. The support characters are a nice addition, though they're all irrelevant once Goro joins, which is unfortunately early for a lot of them. Glad to hear you're excited for this. New update in the works, finished screen capping and everything, just need to sort through them and then I can start typing it up. Thanks for putting up with my slow-rear end update schedule.
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Jan 21, 2013 19:30
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Haw haw. Oh, that reminds me. There's a dialogue choice coming up near the end of the chapter which is a little special. Up 'til now I've just been picking the choices because they were pretty much just a longer/shorter option. However, there's some pretty nice characterization in both of the choices. Instead of one adding to the shorter option, they run parallel to each other. So here's the deal. I'll show off both of them (the one you don't pick, I'll show off in a non-update), but only the one you pick will be the canon one. Since it comes up again as part of an overlap, you will be seeing it again. Vote whether or not Hugo is a rational person, or a brash one. Voting will close when I get my next update out, which will probably be sometime on Wednesday or so. Asking this a little while in advance so you won't be thinking about what could be coming up when it does.
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Jan 21, 2013 19:49
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And with that, you've decided that Hugo has a brain and is able to use it. This'll come up later. Update coming shortly.
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Jan 23, 2013 22:51
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Hugo Chapter 1.6 - Run, Freedom, Run! With our Northern Cavern adventures out of the way, we are but an inn's rest away from continuing the actual plot.  Before we do, however, there are some NPCs we haven't talked to yet, since this is our first time inside. : "This guy's been sweet talking me for such a LONG time! He says the most embarrassing things! It's cute...": "Take a look at yourself reflected in my eye... See? You're smiling...."And this guy gets the award for lamest line in this game yet. Next to the Karayin' out loud guy, that is a feat. : "It's good to see you. Relax and enjoy yourself." : "Oh, I was.... I was just thinking about something. Hmm..." What is a snake frog.: "(Buurrp!) Oh my... what do we have here? This fella says he's from Caleria or somewhere. How's about yourself?"Go home, you are drunk.  We spend the night, and our boys enlighten us with an early-morning scene, in case we'd forgotten what we were doing here.  : "I guess we shouldn't complain. The food could be a lot worse. But a lot better too, with more scrumptious Karayan spices.": "I suppose the best we can do now is to head back to the Council building. Lulu, be brave, even though I know you miss your mother."Joe continues on his quest to be the sass-master. : "Who asked you?"Lulu's favorite line in the game, right there. : "Don't get feisty, young man! I hope I needn't worry about Fubar's behavior like I do yours."  On that note, we run back to the Council building. Melville and Elliot are still playing nearby, but Alanis is no longer with them. : "Hey, Hugo! How are you?": "Say, Hugo, I'd really like to go on some new adventure with you...."All in good time, dear friend. All in good time.  : "I can't believe how big this place is. I wonder how many councils it holds.": "You think THIS is big? The Lizard Clan cave is large enough to hold ten of these."It and its inhabitants are also way cooler. : "I've been informed that you are indeed expected here.": "It's about time."My thoughts exactly. : "They await you within. You may enter." Welcome to the interior of the Council Hall. It is a fancy place.  You may notice the knights, standing diligently in the nooks and crannies of the room.  You may also notice the lack of Councilmen here to greet us. Because Lulu sure has.  : "Oh great! Now we get to wait INSIDE instead. Big deal!": "I tried to warn you. Officials do a lot of things to make themselves seem more important. Quite annoying!"  A tired-looking man descends to meet the group. You can see the bags under his eyes, even. : "I represent the Zexen Council. I'll be responsible for delivering your message."The boys all exchange a glance. After all that mess, we don't even get to meet with one of the Council members? : " 'Representative'? ": "Yes, a 'representative.' "The Grasslanders are, understandably, offended.  : "I am the son of the Karaya Clan Chief. I must deliver an official message to the Zexen Council Head -- no one else.": "Perhaps it is difficult for you to appreciate the time constraints on the Council. We deal with many people from outside our vast realm. We have little patience for that which disrupts normalcy." : "It was Grassland's protection that allowed Zexen to peddle it's goods as far away as Jowston!"This is actually vaguely touched on in Suikoden II, where the main character recruits a man by the name of Gilbert, who is from Zexen. The majority of Sui2 takes place in or around Jowston. It's also around this time, I believe, that the main character is attacked by Lucia, who makes mention about Grassland as well. Look at them, building on backstory and lore that had already been mentioned. : "Need I remind you that we shared our profits with Grassland? Perhaps you desired more.": "Impudence!"Joe gets so flustered that he has to walk it off, leaving Hugo to argue for himself.  : "Lucia the Clan Chief didn't send me all the way here for such treatment. I must deliver this directly to the Council Head.": "Unfortunately, as I've tried to explain, the council is too busy now. It's the best I can do.": "But...": "I beg your pardon, but I can't waste any more time." : "I happen to be a Karayan Fighter."Capital F and everything. : "Fighter or not, in Zexen, a person's age determines what he's called, and here you're a child. Now if you'll excuse me...": "Ggrrr!" Hugo finally concedes the letter, and the three are promptly escorted out of the building.  : "If only Jimba were here to see these ironheads!": "We did our best delivering the message. It's important to explain what happened to Lucia. I'm ready to go back right now."He seems to have calmed down now that he's outside. Still angry, though, he walks off without waiting for the other two. : "Agreed! I've seen enough Zexen rudeness to last me forever." Hugo watches Lulu following Joe's lead, before taking a last moment to glare at the Council Hall.  : "............"He storms off behind them. Despite Joe saying he wants to leave immediately, the game doesn't let you leave Vinay before staying at the inn one last time. If you try, Joe will stop you at the gate. : "Hugo, the best we can do now is return to the inn and get ready to head back to Grassland."So let's head back to the inn for our final night's stay in this crummy Zexen town.     How is Joe sitting in that chair, it looks so awkward. : " 'Ironhead' seems too grand a term for some of the Zexens we've met."If it refers to their prowess in battle instead of them being huge block-heads, I'm inclined to agree. At least for some of them. : "Yeah! Who do they think they are, making us wait all that time and still treating us like intruders?" : "I guess. The people we met on the streets seemed nicer. Except for all that staring."Joe, you're a duck. I can imagine that being weird to them. : "Now we can go back! I can't wait to get back!" : "Grassland's advantages are now clear to us. Don't forget them.": "I say we leave at the crack of dawn!": "Haha."Suddenly, there's a strange clanking noise, coming from outside.  : "That noise..." Joe and Hugo head for the window, where a gaggle of Zexen soldiers are stomping down the path.   They stop in front of the inn. Among them, a pair with actual faces.  Meet Leo and Percival, the last two of the Six Knights. Percival is the Swordsman of Wind that Elliot was pretending to be. Suffice it to say, it will be a less-than-ideal first meeting.  : "Wh-what's going on here?" What? Why?? :worry: : "I had no idea they were criminals! It's so hard to know who to rent to these days."  : "It's not what you think. We just need to ask them a few questions."Ask them a few questions? In full battle armor? Shoulder spikes and all?? : "Follow me!" I'm a little disappointed he opened the door, rather than breaking it down, but alas.   He enters the room, only to find it completely empty. : "?!"   : "They're on the run!! After them!!" The knights sprint out the door.  : "You don't have to shout, you know. I'm not deaf!"Percival, however, lazily pushes himself off the wall, and walks out at a very easy-going pace. I think I like his attitude.   : "Phew!" : "No idea. But if you ask me, ironheads in full battle gear aren't here to apologize. Run!" The group attempts to cut through the center of town on their way out, but the Zexen knights catch up to them, cutting them off.  : "Argh! Now what?": "Somehow, I don't think they're here to chat.": "No, probably not.": "Lulu -- on guard!"  Battle kicks off against a single Zexen Knight and two Zexen Infantrymen. It's nothing like getting swarmed by 5 Banshees, but these guys are tough. Yeah, I know there were 4 Knights in the cutscene, apparently Konami can't count.  We can do a pretty good amount of damage to them,  But they can do a pretty good amount back. They also like to gang up on Hugo for some reason.  They're pretty good at dodging, as well. And the front-line infantrymen can cover for the back-line knights.    But we take them down all the same, and continue our mad dash to the front gate.  Only to find our path blocked by some more soldiers.    And more blocking the way back.   This battle was tougher than the last, and Joe actually went down.    Hugo breaks out his Wind Rune to make things a little easier, putting all but one of the soldiers to sleep for the rest of the battle.    With Joe down, we needed a little extra kick to our battle abilities, so I had Lulu buff himself with the Sword of Cyclone Rune.  He follows up by getting a critical instead of actually showing off the extra damage the Rune lets him do. I am okay with this.  Especially because the extra damage... is really not worth it after all.  The kids manage to take down the rest of the soldiers, and -- after healing Joe up a bit -- we run for the gate once again.  We don't quite make it out, though. : "Guests from Grassland, we must have a little talk. You've proven our troops need more training, but we'll skip that for now and get straight to what you have to say.": "You should be the ones explaining!": "We're not going anywhere with you unless you tell us what's going on!": "Right!" : "We've gotten word that, while pretending to engage in treaty negotiations, Grasslanders launched a sneak attack against us. How do we know you're not here to further trick us?" : "Why would we want to trick you? We represent the most honorable Lucia, Chief of the Karayan Clan!" I don't know what that n is doing there. : "Nor would the Duck Clan wage war as you claim.": "Grassland forces have our knights surrounded. You're our hostages. If you are truly the Karaya Clan Chief's son, they'd dare not chance hurting you. You're worth more in exchange. Now come with us."I don't recall telling you who we were, Leo. Hugo looks to the skies.  : "Believe what you will, we're still taking you with us!"Before Percy can follow up on those words, however, a shriek is heard.   Fubar!     : "Run!": "Halt!" Despite being the lazy one earlier, Percival is the first to his feet.    : "Follow them! Hurry!": "Yessir!"The screen fades out as the game dumps us into the world map, then auto-moves us in the direction of Zexen Forest.  Next time, we make for the Grasslands!
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Jan 23, 2013 23:02
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:I like that during the cutscene with the Zexen soldiers entering the inn, OUR characters actually were smart enough to flee. Usually the main characters just stand around incompetently. I've got to hand it to the writers for this game. Our characters are actually pretty competent, especially for JRPG protagonists. Khisanth Magus posted:This scene is much cooler in the intro cinematic. Yeah.
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Jan 23, 2013 23:45
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CmdrKing posted:That sort of thing is basically the point of the game, yes. Really, the entire series shoots for this sort of feel, but Suikoden III gets it very, very right thanks to its' central gimmick. Pretty much this. For whatever faults you may find with Suikoden III, it really handles the multiple POVs and story-telling well, and in a very balanced manner. Bobbin Threadbare posted:I wouldn't say that. If the viewpoint characters stay on a given side of a conflict throughout the game, then yes, you'll need to balance the sides, but it's still depressingly easy to simply start someone on the "wrong" side of a war and then have them realize they're working for the bad guys at the end of the first act, assuming it even takes that long. I promise you, that won't happen here. Hugo remains loyal to Grassland, and Chris remains loyal to Zexen throughout the game.
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Jan 24, 2013 02:10
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