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Verbose posted:yokaiy you aren't a Kuuenbu alt account are you? Nope. This is my first and only account on SA.
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Jan 31, 2013 14:53
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Chris would never respond with What. Why yes, I am voting for What.
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Jan 31, 2013 19:28
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yokaiy posted:Nope. This is my first and only account on SA. Just joking, that guy was a mess and he was obsessed with S3. Had a Hugo avatar and did an internet radio show called radio karaya.
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Jan 31, 2013 20:00
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Finally caught up with this thread. It's really making me regret having donated all the SuikoIII manga (about half the Tokyo Pop volumes) to the local library that I once had. I've always liked the set up of Suiko III's branching paths, the way you have two characters from opposing sides of the war and one neutral as the main PCs; even just through Hugo's first chapter you get the sense that Chris isn't a bad person, and maybe some of the knights too... ...But no matter how much manga I read nor how much of the game I played, Zexen's governmental body is nothing but a big pack of petty, hateful, racist pricks. I don't think ever once, in all the extended media did I ever feel they were meant to be regarded in a positive manner. The people of Zexen themselves? Not so bad; even if they are xenophobic. We're obviously going to see Chris' side of the story and this isn't a game where you really play a villain. But her bosses? gently caress those guys. EDIT: Also voting What?
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Feb 1, 2013 05:09
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Speaking of the manga and the ruling body of Zexen, at a later point in the game I'm tempted to find some scans because... reasons. Glorious reasons.
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Feb 1, 2013 05:25
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TKMobile posted:Finally caught up with this thread. It's really making me regret having donated all the SuikoIII manga (about half the Tokyo Pop volumes) to the local library that I once had. The manga for Suikoden III, I feel, is actually REALLY good. It handles some things a little poorly, but I'm willing to forgive it for the sake of all the things it does REALLY well. Unfortunately, I suffered a similar fate with my copies of the manga, wherein my mother decided to get rid of them (And like 2/3 of the rest of my collection along with them). I re-bought them a couple months ago, but it hurt my already crippled wallet. It was worth it. Also, yes. The council is assholes, and both the game and the manga make no attempt to display them in any other light. Worse, they drag down a lot of potential coolness with Chris. We'll be seeing them within the first few minutes of Chris's chapter, so those of you unfamiliar, don't worry. CmdrKing posted:Speaking of the manga and the ruling body of Zexen, at a later point in the game I'm tempted to find some scans because... reasons. Glorious reasons. I might end up scanning bits, if you don't find them. Especially the later parts with a certain someone getting smuggled to Budehuc by Duke & co., as I feel that's one of the stronger parts of the manga, and one of the weaker parts of the game. The manga is actually really hard to find online. Actually, let me revise that. The first six volumes? No problem. The final volume? Also no problem. The rest? Nowhere. Before anyone who is unfamiliar with the game decides to go gallivanting off to find the manga, by the way, I would recommend against it. It drops some pretty serious spoilers as early as volume two. (Actually there are some in volume one as well...) If you want to follow along with the thread, you're okay to find maybe the first volume and read it, but you really shouldn't read any further until we're a fair bit into everyone's chapter 2's or 3's at least.
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Feb 1, 2013 06:09
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yokaiy posted:Actually, let me revise that. The first six volumes? No problem. The final volume? Also no problem. The rest? Nowhere. yokaiy, if you're looking for scans from volumes 7 - 10, I own physical copies of those volumes. I was a huge Suikoden III fan when I was younger, so I've been eagerly following your LP. If getting some high quality scans can help you out in any way... 
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Feb 1, 2013 07:30
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Have you ever checked out the celtic arrangements of Suikoden songs that Konami released? There's actually some pretty great ones such as 'Hurry to Karaya' which added a lot to the original versions.
Testekill fucked around with this message at 11:23 on Feb 1, 2013 |
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Feb 1, 2013 11:19
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Traverse posted:yokaiy, if you're looking for scans from volumes 7 - 10, I own physical copies of those volumes. I was a huge Suikoden III fan when I was younger, so I've been eagerly following your LP. If getting some high quality scans can help you out in any way... Haha, why thank you. I do have the whole thing, now, but if you'd rather wrestle with your scanner then have me do it, I won't object.  Glad to have you on board for the thread.Testekill posted:Have you ever checked out the celtic arrangements of Suikoden songs that Konami released? There's actually some pretty great ones such as 'Hurry to Karaya' which added a lot to the original versions. There are celtic arrangements?  I need to find these.Update coming pretty soon, and voting is over! Unanimously, Chris will be super confused. Like last time, I'll show off the other option in a mini-update after it happens. You can expect the event to happen in another update or two after this upcoming first one.
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Feb 1, 2013 22:17
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Chris Chapter 1.1 - Politics and Poker Welcome to our next main character, Chris.  Chris's story starts us off in the past, around the same time as Hugo's did.  We find ourselves at the parade that everyone was talking about in Zexen.    The knights stride through the front gate gallantly, Lady Chris in the lead.  It was probably a huge hassle for them to have to strut around the city after just coming back from battle.   After the parade is over, Chris drat near collapses onto the sofa. She remains stoic, but you can tell events are starting to get to her.  : "Rubbish! We knights are not clowns! They should know better."She didn't ask to be hailed as a hero.  She shoots him an "are you kidding me" sort of look. : "All that show is for the council, you realize. It makes me uncomfortable. It doesn't feel right -- we have yet to formally bury our late Captain Galahad and Vice Captain Pelize."I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks that's strange.  : "Hum. I see your point, milady. But, we knights thrive on people's faith. This has always been the way of the knight."The knights exist to serve the Zexen people. The Council, on the other hand...  Chris - the angriest tea-drinker. Louis was kind enough to pass by and hand it to her. : "I understand, but there is more to life than being a knight... <sigh>..." : "Is it so difficult for you to be a hero?": "I wasn't expecting all this.": "But this is the wish of the people, milady. And mine as well..."She closes her eyes to contemplate this, and the scene cuts.   We find ourselves in the lovely Council building, this time as invited guests. Well, I say "invited," but I am fairly sure she had no say in whether or not she could accept.  Welcome to Vinay del Zexay, Chris.  : "Madam, if I may take your sword...": "Knights' rights are not recognized here, I suppose." She reluctantly passes it to him. : "Good day, Madam.": "Thank you, Louis." And so, she goes in.     : "We are honored to have the leader of our mighty Zexen Knights with us. Goddess be with us today and here at the council.": "Let me give thanks to our Goddess for allowing us this occasion to gather today." He sits, and she follows in suit. It's business time. Another councilman speaks up, to her right.  : "We welcome you, Madam. I also had the honor of viewing the victory parade."She shoots him a momentary glare. : "Thank you, sir, but you needn't flatter me. The battle with the Grasslands was not what you would call a victory."  : "You are also called the White Hero. It was your dedication and distinguished service that led to our victory over the Barbarian forces. I have heard it said that a single thrust of your sword can take seven enemies." She is so over their rear end-kissing. : "Of course. We meant no harm." : "We have asked you to the council to advise you of our new resolution and to request its implementation."I don't think it's really a request. Chris hesitates, but she really has no choice in the matter here.  : "Whatever the council's decision or order, it is the duty of the Knights to comply." : "We would like to send you to negotiate with the Council of Elders of the Six Clans. Our intention is to have the Barbarians sign a treaty to settle the border violation disputes over the years."The Council of Elders is really just the six Clan Chiefs. I don't think it's ever really referred to as the Council of Elders again, it's probably just a term the Zexen Council came up with to make them feel better about negotiating with the Grasslanders. : "Have the Grasslanders been informed of this?"I feel like that would be an important part of their plan, yes.  : "Can we depend on you, madam?"Dammit these guys need to make up their mind as to whether or not to capitalize the M or not!  : "Certainly, but our request to hold a state funeral for our late Captain Galahad and Vice Captain Pelize has not been granted. We cannot return to our duties without paying our respects to the deceased...": "WE can't afford to lessen the effect of our victory by reminding people of our losses to the Barbarians. We must wait for a better time.": "Or would you rather hold the state funeral and solidify your title as the Captain of the Knights?"She'd been trying to remain calm throughout the meeting so far, but that pushed her over the edge. She slams her hands down on the table and stands up.  : "Our decision has been made. We expect successful reports from you, milady."They don't give her an opportunity to make any other sort of comeback. : "Let us give thanks to our Goddess for allowing us this occasion to gather here today." : "Hmmm..." I think this is supposed to be more of a really loud sigh or shrug, actually. : "Thank you, Goddess, for allowing this gathering today." She quickly excuses herself from the room in a huff.  After she leaves, however, the councilmen continue. : "We expect a hero to do a hero's duty."The main councilman thinks on this a moment.  What.  : "Is there anything wrong, Madam?": "Louis! Get ready to depart!": "Yes, Madam! But this is so sudden. You just returned from a victorious campaign." : "They said we belong on the battlefield."She replies bitterly, and gives no further explanation.   Salome and Borus must have taken up Louis's task of walking Chris home. She probably took the time to explain the situation to Salome while they were at it. And I guess Borus too, though he was probably just there. : "Very well. Until morning, then." Regardless, the two leave once they've successfully seen her home, so let's see what our young lady here has to offer.  She comes to us at level 20, so she's already as seasoned a warrior as Hugo was at the end of his chapter.  She also has a Phoenix Rune attached, and thus we encounter our first locked rune. You can't take this one off of her. Which is annoying because it's not a very good rune. It causes her to hit one enemy for double damage, but then unbalances her so she can't act the next turn. For what it's worth, the rune is unique to her -- there's not another one in the series. We have the option now to explore the city before moving on with the plot, but there's not much variation in NPC speech at this point. Most of them are "KYAA LADY CHRIS  ," so I'm going to give you an abridged version. You can imagine that everyone I don't show is just remarking about how madly in love with Chris they are, and for the most part you would be spot-on. You may recall this man as the one who was ever-so-humbly bragging about cutting up some Lizards and calling all the Grasslanders "barbarians" when we were Hugo. The children are very impressed by his stories.  Melville, Alanis, and Elliot are playing outside. Obviously, they haven't been on their adventure yet, and Alanis is still in town.  : "Oooh! Oooh! Lady Chris!!! I... ah... you... uhhh... Keep up the good work!" : "Oooh! Lady Chris! Uh... Uh, my name is Elliot, and I'm very good at smelling things!" : "Hello, Lady Chris. Melville's so nervous! He's such a fan of yours. Go on then, shake hands..." Okay, I know we're not playing as Hugo anymore, but still. Really?  Okay, this one? This one confuses me, because Hugo hasn't been here yet. So there are no Karayans in Vinay del Zexay at the moment. I'm assuming it's an oversight. It's at least mildly entertaining.  They like putting commas between "ha" in Chris's chapter. You'll see more of this later. It's going to be more annoying for me than you, probably.  And that pretty much sums up the rest of Vinay, so let's go home and sleep.  The game prompts us to either continue exploring or sleep to skip to the next day after she heads home. We've already done enough looking around, so let's hit the hay.   When we rejoin them, they are awaiting Salome at the gate. I don't know why he's coming into the city from the gate, though. Maybe he lives outside of Vinay del Zexay?   : "You're not usually late, Salome. What's changed?"Leo's question may have been sincere, but the group decides to take the moment to be super immature. : "Eh? Pardon me? Don't be ridiculous! How insulting!""I'm too serious for women!"  : "Didn't you know that our friend Salome is after our beautiful goddess?"Percival nods towards Chris, not content to let the teasing desist. I, hate, these, commas. : "Stop it, Percival!" : "Hee, hee."Seriously what is with these commas.   : "Me too! I suppose."And so we're beginning to see the formation of a reverse-harem. : "It seems as though everyone is after you! I envy you, my dear Lady Chris!"   31, ladies and gentlemen. We have a winner! : "We are falling behind. I suggest we leave immediately." : "Yes, milady.": "We'll join you after attending to last minute details here.": "Well then, friends."He nods.   The group begins to leave, but Chris pauses to take one last glare towards the Council building.  Yes, we get to ride a pony while we're Chris. A bit short, comparatively, but this looks like a good place to stop, for now. We'll see how the knights handle next time, when we shall also head to Brass Castle, and see some familiar faces!
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Feb 1, 2013 22:28
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Just in case you played Chris before Hugo, we again establish out of the gate that the Zexen Council is basically the worst.
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Feb 1, 2013 23:26
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CmdrKing posted:Just in case you played Chris before Hugo, we again establish out of the gate that the Zexen Council is basically the worst. And yet they don't even have names! They're just a bunch of horrible men in business suits (well, setting-appropriate business suits) who sell people poo poo and expect them to swallow it. CONSTANTLY.
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Feb 1, 2013 23:29
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 It's been a while, but as I recall, Chris is hella rich and gets something like 200k to start off with. But she's going to have to make that last because I think she just goes "eh" if you try to buy lottery tickets.
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Feb 1, 2013 23:55
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According to the council meeting, the Zexen's do seem to want peace like the Kimlascan's. But it also seemed like some of the Zexen council want to assassinate Chris for... being too popular?
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Feb 2, 2013 02:20
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:But it also seemed like some of the Zexen council want to assassinate Chris for... being too popular? Popular military leaders have been dangerous to political leaders for a very, very long time, and still continue to be so today.
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Feb 2, 2013 02:41
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:But it also seemed like some of the Zexen council want to assassinate Chris for... being too popular? Chris shows barely hidden disdain towards some of the council members and she seems to be a beloved figure so it's not unlikely that she could cause some problems by speaking out against them.
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Feb 2, 2013 02:49
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vilkacis posted:
This is true! Chris starts out with a good bit of money, but she cannot play the lottery. Which, you know what? I am so perfectly okay with that. She's got another weird quirk that I forgot about, but it's coming up in the next update so I'll just mention it then. It's a good thing she gets so much money, though, because most of it is going to get put towards making their weapons shinier. And that is absurdly expensive.
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Feb 2, 2013 03:46
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Do the Zexen steeds actually give bonuses to combat? I am almost 100% that each horse doesn't count towards being a party member, opposed to Fubar being the rear end-kicking machine, but for some reason I thought that having a character on a horse game them something more. Also, I once saw an Engrishy list of names of Suiko III's 108 and oddly enough, Fubar was written as Hoover. ...Which, I kinda like more, TBH but the katakana for Fubar and Hoover would be pretty much the same if not close. Makes me wonder why they chose the acronym instead of a stately sounding name.
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Feb 2, 2013 04:45
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TKMobile posted:Do the Zexen steeds actually give bonuses to combat? I am almost 100% that each horse doesn't count towards being a party member, opposed to Fubar being the rear end-kicking machine, but for some reason I thought that having a character on a horse game them something more. I think there is a unite attack only available on horse back.
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Feb 2, 2013 04:51
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I'm pretty sure that's correct. The opportunities to use it are pretty rare so I can't say for certain, but pretty sure. That said I don't think it's ever directly stated whether or not the Zexen council was conducting the peace agreement in good faith. Certainly, the offhanded comment about disposing of Chris and their treatment of Hugo suggest it was not. However, it could be they were legitimately interested in peace, but didn't particularly care if it fell through. If they get peace, well good, save money on military expenses. If they go to war and do well, good, they take over new lands and don't have to hire out to grasslanders to protect their convoys. If they go to war and things go south, good, the dangerously popular knights are quietly sent off to die while the council secures the home front and quietly makes some other scheme to ensure their own survival.
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Feb 2, 2013 10:42
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I think it's entirely reasonable to assume that those guys didn't give two shits either way. However, since they are first and foremost concerned with their own survival and they just came to a stalemate with "inferior" neighbors in battle, one that cost them their military commanders who then get replaced by a more popular figure I might add, they sued for peace just because trying to blatantly continue the war without looking for another solution would kill alot of their own support. And give Chris more opportunity to become beloved by the people assuming she wins them that war. So honestly, these guys are just dickbags who see peace as the lesser of two evils in their grand scheme.
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Feb 2, 2013 15:09
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Nighteyedie posted:I think there is a unite attack only available on horse back. Yeah, there are two Knight unite attacks, one for when they're on horses, and on for when they're not. Interestingly, the members they use are different. Knight A is between Borus and Percival when they're not on horses, and Knight B is between Chris and two of Borus, Percival, and Leo on horses. Salome is too cool for Knight unites.  And Roland... hates everyone? I dunno. Strange choices.Regarding the council, their exact motives are a bit ambiguous at the moment, but yeah, they are huge dickbags. And that's really all you need to know for now.
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Feb 2, 2013 17:20
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Unfortunately, the topic of Unite Attacks is a pretty sour one for this entry, because it has easily the most boring collection of Unites (and not a whole lot of them at that.) Suikoden 2 had such lavish sprite art, and the unite attacks were all colorful and outlandish and illustrated the characters' personalities. Most of the unite attacks in Suiko 3 look exactly the same, or else just lack the flair or flash of the previous entry's. They probably aren't as bad as I remember them, but when you're coming off Suikoden 2, they really feel lackluster. We're almost to the point where I can finally point out this game's Big Problems but we're not there yet. The game's opening chapters are all really strong, and the writing for each of the characters is pretty solid. Chris is probably my favorite character in Suikoden 3, and she would have made a GREAT main character in any other Suikoden game. I mean, she is a great main character but... Well, we'll see. Oh, we shall see.
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Feb 2, 2013 18:35
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While there's several good unites from a mechanical perspective, this is very true. Only one, maybe two are remotely interesting from an artistic standpoint, and that involves using a full team of joke characters.
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Feb 2, 2013 18:55
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RentCavalier posted:Unfortunately, the topic of Unite Attacks is a pretty sour one for this entry, because it has easily the most boring collection of Unites (and not a whole lot of them at that.) Suikoden 2 had such lavish sprite art, and the unite attacks were all colorful and outlandish and illustrated the characters' personalities. Most of the unite attacks in Suiko 3 look exactly the same, or else just lack the flair or flash of the previous entry's. They probably aren't as bad as I remember them, but when you're coming off Suikoden 2, they really feel lackluster. Agreed with the unite thing, although I think Suikoden II had a bit more leeway for quirky unite attacks. Having characters jump back to their place after any given attack allowed them to do pretty much anything, and III was trying to strive for a touch more realism when it came to the "flow" of the fight. That said, I think that a lot of the Suikoden main characters are generally pretty solidly done, but the designers run into the Pokemon problem when they have to push out a hundred and eight recruitables on top of some side NPCs. They just run out of ideas and just throw stuff at the wall, not even caring if it really sticks. Don't like a character? Hey, got 107 more to choose from!
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Feb 2, 2013 20:48
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Genaro posted:That said, I think that a lot of the Suikoden main characters are generally pretty solidly done, but the designers run into the Pokemon problem when they have to push out a hundred and eight recruitables on top of some side NPCs. They just run out of ideas and just throw stuff at the wall, not even caring if it really sticks. Don't like a character? Hey, got 107 more to choose from! I sort of disagree. For this game, anyway, most of the characters are well-defined. There are a handful that feel sort of meh, but for the most part they did a very good job with handling such a large cast size. Unites are pretty crappy in this game. Visually, anyway. A lot of them are crappy mechanically too. I honestly don't use them pretty much ever.
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Feb 3, 2013 01:29
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I didn't even know the game had unites because of the awful way menus were laid out.
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Feb 3, 2013 01:37
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Generally speaking, a unite requires the character involved to be in a pair. Since most unites are between characters of similar fighting styles (two tanks, two front line fighters, two command rune users), you would never do this unless prompted to by an outside source. So you'll probably only see the 3+ person unites which, on the whole, aren't very good. There's really only one unite in the game that you should be using constantly for any stretch of the game, and it's something of a backhanded compliment because the reason you should be doing this is because both characters suck and need the help. Suikoden III has an inherent advantage when it comes to developing the cast. Normally some of the better characters in a Suikoden game are the hero's posse, the strategist, and one or two of the major faction leaders right? Well, since it has three heroes (and they themselves have a leg up on the others in the series since they have dialog), each one has a posse. And since the primary cast is so large, similarly there's a lot of developed characters for the secondary cast to interact with, giving them more opportunities to shine. There's still some complete duds in the cast, but on the whole I could rattle off most of Suikoden III's cast and tell you a bit about them where any other game in the series gets pretty fuzzy after the first 30 or so.
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Feb 3, 2013 10:52
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I've been advised that I should draw things for my own thread instead of just for other LPs, so. Angry tea drinking. Concerning unites, it's true that they're planned sort of poorly, but if you happen to arrange your party in a way that gives you access to them, the game does tell you on the order menu. It's way easier to stumble upon the larger-group unites than the duo unites. Alanis and Melville, for example. They come in super underleveled and awful, so it's sort of a given that you're going to put them behind people who actually are competent. However, they can't use their unite if they're in different pairs. So they pairing system they've got going in this game is a bit of a double-edged sword. It's a good system, but it's a step backward in some areas, and the unite attack is definitely one of those areas. And yes, Sui3 handles it's large cast very well.
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Feb 3, 2013 20:27
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yokaiy posted:I've been advised that I should draw things for my own thread instead of just for other LPs, so. Faaaaaaantastic.
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Feb 3, 2013 20:29
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yokaiy posted:I've been advised that I should draw things for my own thread instead of just for other LPs, so. Am I the only one that's starting to think that needs a little animation, like that Gunnerkrigg tea avatar that has her jittering all over the place?  Because seriously it's awesome.
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Feb 4, 2013 15:58
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I approve of angry tea drinking. 
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Feb 4, 2013 20:34
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Chris Chapter 1.2 - Leapin' Lizards, that's why I'm so mad! So now that we have control over our party again, and a bunch of members, let's check out our new posse.  Everyone comes in at higher levels than we saw in Hugo's chapter, for starters. Salome, being the oldest and most experienced of the bunch, is at the highest level. Roland, being a scrub, is lowest. Chris starts off with an irrational amount of money, which doesn't go nearly as far as it looks like it should. All of our main characters will have different inventories and monetary amounts, if that wasn't obvious before. As stated in the comments, they give you this much money because Chris cannot use the lottery for her first two chapters. Frankly, I won't miss it. (I'll show it off, I promise.) You might also notice that we have something new in the lower left of our menu here. Louis is our first support character of the game. He doesn't get to fight, but he provides our posse with some bonuses just by being carted around.  Support characters all have skills. Generally, they will only have one, but Louis has two. They're pretty low level though, and unlike the skills our main fighters get, we cannot rank up his skills. The healing will give us back some HP after battles, and the cook skill has a chance of "turning monsters into food." That is, when they die, there's a chance we'll get food from them. Food items are mostly the same as medicine, though they sometimes have secondary effects as well as HP recovery, such as poison recovery or whatever. Louis isn't a very good support character, but he's our only one for now, and he'll be pretty helpful regardless.  That said, let's head out to Brass Castle and track down that Grassland messenger the Council mentioned.  Chris's map starts out VERY small. Right now, we can only get to Brass Castle and the Zexen Forest. The former is our destination, so lets head through the forest and get this errand over with. The sooner we get the Council out of our hair, the better.  The forest hasn't changed much between our two characters. Still a pretty straight path, still full of trees, and...  It's still full of holly monsters. However, since this is our first battle with the knights, lets check out what they have to offer.  Borus has the Sword of Rage rune. Much like Lulu's SoC rune, this adds a little elemental boost to Borus's attack -- fire, in this case -- and can raise his resistance to fire. It's about as useful as Lulu's rune was. Which is to say, not really very useful at all. Roland, on the other hand, has a slightly better rune on hand. He's got the Great Hawk rune, which allows him to hit a bunch of foes within an AoE circle. However, it hits them for x.4 damage, so it'll be weaker than his normal attacks. There's another Hawk rune we'll see later that's better, but for now this isn't so bad. Not really worth the effort of using it on a bunch of holly shrubs, though, so I'll show it off a little later.  Salome is our designated healer in Chris's party. He's got a bit more oomph than Joe had with his Water rune, at least for now. When not healing, he'll be smacking things with a mace. Why yes, he is on foot. I have no idea what happens to his horse between cutscenes, but he completely loses it in battles. It's not necessarily a bad thing, just weird.  Chris can do a respectable amount of damage.  You'll see her group tends to be a bit more well-rounded than Hugo's, with everyone doing relatively the same amount of damage.  Salome is the strongest of the bunch, though.  And Roland likes to shoot through horses. He's our first archer, so he's the first time we're seeing this, but ranged attacks just go straight through whatever is in front of them.  You may remember this corpse from our previous chapter. Corpses that have already been looted cannot be looted a second time, even if it's in a chapter that technically takes place earlier. However, in Chris's case, I believe she cannot check corpses for loot at all during her first two chapters, just like with the lottery.  We have no problems picking flowers though. Finally, we arrive at the castle. Dialogue hasn't changed much between our characters, so like Vinay, I'll be abbreviating our adventures here.  This guy is rather sensible about things, as before. He still lets some racism slip out, but at least he means well.  Ahaha, yeah. Brass Castle remains full of racist jerks from both sides.  There aren't many people to talk to before we trigger a scene, so let's get that on the road.  The knights ride into Brass Castle, happy to be back "home." I agree with them; for all their celebrity status, I wouldn't feel very comfortable back in Vinay with the Council breathing down my neck.  : "Let me remind you that we cannot rest for long. We must leave for the treaty negotiation as soon as we hear from the Grassland messenger."Wait a second, this feels familiar. : "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."Chris heaves a sigh at this news.  Keep note of Louis there, in the corner, as, a few moments after he moves off-screen...  Yup. This seems very familiar.  : "Oops, pardon me."Here, we have our first actual overlap. There are a few of these scattered about in chapters and, while interesting to see events unfold from different sides, are a little repetitive. : "Are you alright, lad? Please forgive my companion for getting in your way."They're at least done with different camera angles, though, so it's not like watching the exact same scene twice.  : "Yeah, well, what do you expect from an ironhead?" : "What do you mean, 'ironhead'?": "Those clothes. You are... Karayan."   : "Lightfellow? That name sure sounds familiar."Just as before, Roland cuts Hugo off.  : "Wait, I must speak with you!": "Get back, young barbarian. Here, WE decide who lives, who dies AND who speaks!": "Are you threatening me?" : "Hugo -- don't.": "drat!": "Time is of the essence now!" : "Very well. Our apologies once again, child. Goodbye.": "Be careful what you do here. This is Zexen land.": "Goodbye. I do apologize." : "Roland, you were too confrontational."The ending to this scene is also different, since we are no longer controlling the Grasslanders. I wonder how Roland is going to explain himself. : "Please remember that you are the Captain's successor. You must not hesitate to assert your authority. That's my view.": "Still..." She hesitates and, after a few moments, seems to accept his answer. : "That did not occur to me. I apologize.": "Not necessary. It's my error for overstepping my bounds.": "Assert my authority, hmmm..." The scene cuts.  : "Luckily we arrived early, so we have time to tidy up before supper. Let me straighten your room, Lady Chris."We rejoin our heroine in her chambers, where Louis continues to attend to her. : "That's not something you should do. It's someone else's task."He grins back at her. : "Not a problem, Madam. I am more comfortable doing this than training as a knight.": "But I must make a knight our of you or your father will never forgive me."No, we never get to actually see Louis's father. He's made mention of a couple of times, though.  : "It's been a while since I went away to battle and returned in triumph to the capitol.": "It certainly has, madam. Come to think of it, when we left the fortress, Captain Galahad and Vice Captain Pelize were still with us."She sighs. : "You needn't remind me." Now that we have control over Chris again, lets take a look around her room. She's got a desk and some bookshelves in the front area of her quarters. I suppose it's sort of like an office space. Slightly offscreen, to the right of the desk, there's a doorway leading to the rest of her room.  In it is a fancy looking bed, and little else.  There's also a small sitting area next to the window, but there's nothing else to see here.  We visited the upper hallway in our visit here with Hugo, but left both Chris's room and another room untouched. Let's explore the second room now.  The other room is a meeting room of sorts. The knights will use this area for planning and other talks, but right now it's empty aside from a crackling fire and two soldiers standing attentively on either side of it. They don't say anything of import, so we check out the rest of the castle for any other signs of change.  It's interesting to see what the Grasslanders have to say, now that we're Chris. Interestingly, they seem very polite about their rudeness. They assume you're a Grasslander since you're bothering to talk to them, but quickly stop mid-insult once they realize they're speaking to a Zexen. It's a change from the Zexens, who spit out whatever insult they feel like right to your face if you're a Grasslander.  We continue east. Strangely, the guards seem to have left their post.  Proceeding a bit further reveals that, in fact, there appears to be no one around! The civilians have all abandoned the area, and shops are deserted. Maybe there's some sort of commotion near the gate?  It seems that all the knights -- including Salome -- have gathered around the edge of this section of town. (Don't mind how it was in the middle of shifting into a cutscene.)  Chris, ever vigilant, figures she should step in and sort out whatever issue is going on. : "Whatever is going on?"Salome glances back at her, looking rather exhausted. : "Madam. It seems the Grassland messenger has just arrived.": "Then what is the big fuss about?" Not as if the knights had never seen a Grasslander before. She steps forward to scope out the situation from up close.  Well, that explains it. Borus was by no means a short man, but the Lizard messenger towered over him by at least a foot without standing upright. The two were glaring at each other with such fury it may have started a fire.  : "So what? I don't care!"The Lizard nearly spat his words at Borus. Somehow, the hot-headed Borus getting in a fight with a messenger didn't seem so far-fetched.    Chris huffs, interrupting the spat before it could turn into an all-out brawl. The Lizards were known for being aggressive, especially compared to other Clans. In that, perhaps Borus was not so different from them. .... Really? REALLY? Borus, you get mad too easily. Chris doesn't even respond, instead turning to the Lizard. : "And you?": "I am Dupa, the Left Fighter in Unit One of the Lizard Clan's Three Bodies Fighters. I request personal audience with the captain of the Zexen Knights. Please show me to her."He seems much more manageable when not speaking to Borus. : "Since the position of the Captain of the Zexen Knights is vacant, I will receive you." Dupa takes a moment to inspect Chris, sizing her up. : "Hmmm... There was a rumor of a she-devil in the last war. Don't tell me you are her!"I'm sure he already knows the answer, but felt need to test her regardless.  Dupa turns to Borus, looking far less than entertained by his outburst. Chris, however, wedges herself between the two before Dupa can give him a come-back. : "I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about. If you do not believe me, your best option is to leave." Dupa turns his attention back to Chris, either out of duty or feeling that Borus wasn't worth his time. : "All right. I will take your word. In accordance with the Clan traditions, Chief Zepon of the Lizard Clan, one of the Grand Clans of the Grasslands sends this message to your honorable fighters, the Zexen Knights:"He pauses, before continuing.  There's an uncomfortably long pause after he finishes. An unspoken "What" seems to be on the tip of every knights' tongue. After a few moments, Chris turns to Salome. : "What is he saying?"For being the more aggressive Clan, they certainly had a way with words. Salome takes a bit to work it out in his head.  "  Of course.": "We accept your proposal. Both Zexen and the Grasslands will send five convoys. We'll meet midway, between the two armies.": "Agreed. And do not be late."Dupa turns to leave, but pauses to take one last potshot at Borus before going.  That's a yes. : "Hah, ha, ha, ha... If you will excuse me, I must be going." The knights watch him leave, many of them breathing a sigh of relief at his departure.  They ruminate on that for a bit, as the scene fades. Next time, we see about those peace negotiations!
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Feb 5, 2013 23:44
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Goddamn, why is it that Roland is such a dick? I just realized so much of the awful stuff that happens to Hugo would have been averted if he weren't such a dick. 
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Feb 6, 2013 00:13
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UmbreonMessiah posted:Goddamn, why is it that Roland is such a dick? I just realized so much of the awful stuff that happens to Hugo would have been averted if he weren't such a dick. He's an elf. Elves in Suikoden are dicks 
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Feb 6, 2013 00:19
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Zyla posted:He's an elf. Elves in Suikoden are dicks Yeah, pretty much that. And Roland isn't even that bad compared to the elves in other games. Of course, Nei overshadows him by not being a jerk at all despite her elvish-ness. The thing with Dupa was what you guys voted on, by the way. I'll be posting the other dialogue choice a little later. It's not a very big part of the conversation no matter what you pick, but I'm always for seeing Borus get flustered in more than one way.
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Feb 6, 2013 00:27
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Are all three factions of Grasslanders sending separate messengers? I thought the idea was the Hugo was supposed to be the only representative. Hmmm...
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Feb 6, 2013 00:30
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Unless I'm mistaken, the Clans were to all send separate messengers. They're all allied with each other, and technically part of the same nation, but they don't have a central government to speak of -- just Clan meetings where their leaders will all get together and chat. It's not too strange for them to all send their own, in that case. The game is a little vague about that, though. What is, strange, however, is how only two Clans sent messengers. Unless the others happened off screen, that leaves the Duck Clan, Chisha Clan, Safir Clan, and Alma Kinan Clan unaccounted for. Well... the first three, anyway. Alma Kinan doesn't get involved in this stuff. I think, also, there was some miscommunication on everyone's part. If Hugo had been a bit slower and met with Dupa on the way, or if he'd realized who he was talking to sooner to give the message to Chris instead of trekking all the way to Vinay (and Roland had been less of a dick, in that case), then he could have just been done as soon as he reached Brass Castle. As it turned out, everyone's timing was a little off. Chris left Vinay too early for Hugo to talk to her there, Hugo realized who Chris was too late at Brass Castle to give her the message, and Dupa arrived at the castle too late, which then let him pass his message off to Chris instead of having to go to the Council. (Though I think the Lizards wouldn't mess with the Council anyway; he'd have tracked Chris down even if he had to do it in the capital.) Poor planning on everyone's part? Did that all make sense?
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Feb 6, 2013 01:01
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yokaiy posted:Unless I'm mistaken, the Clans were to all send separate messengers. They're all allied with each other, and technically part of the same nation, but they don't have a central government to speak of -- just Clan meetings where their leaders will all get together and chat. It's not too strange for them to all send their own, in that case. The game is a little vague about that, though. And this is what I love about this game, because it is perfectly written around the main gimmick of the game, the Trinity Sight. We get to see every single near miss.
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Feb 6, 2013 01:17
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I wouldn't recommend getting all up in the face of a lizard dude who looks like he could literally bite your face off if he felt like it.
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Feb 6, 2013 01:24
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