Let's Play Gensou Suikoden!; GS1 PART 11

[surskitty]

Still need to actually put alt text for most of these, sigh.

LAST TIME: What the fuck, robots. Also Pahn is back. In case you were worried about Pahn. (Spoilers: we weren't.)

So I walk down to hop onto my boat, yes? And --

[MUSIC: This is Just a Rumour]
: "Uhhhnnn..."
: "You're soaking wet. Don't tell me you swam all the way here. Let's take him inside."

Cut to Kirkis in ☆☆☆☆☆☆'s bed, with Gremio, ☆☆☆☆☆☆, and Mathiu being worried. No music.
: "I wonder what happened? Just seeing an elf is unusual enough in these parts, but one who swims all the way here." Gremio's grammar is not of the verbing.
: "There must be some reason." You sure are a smart guy, Mathiu.
: "Gurgle... uhhhnnn... Where am I? I must have survived." More's the pity, Kirkis.
: "Are you all right?" He's only half-drowned. We should fix that.
: "I heard through the wind, and came. Please tell me... is the Liberation Army..."
: "Don't you worry. This is the Liberation Army's headquarters, Penis Castle." his will never not be funny.
: "Thank god. I have a request. I must speak to your leader, Odessa."
: "........."
: "You can't see Odessa right now. Our present leader is Commander ☆☆☆☆☆☆ here."
: "Commander ☆☆☆☆☆☆, then. Please help us." No. You're snooty and clichéd and boring. The only Suikoden elf I like is Paula, and you're not her.
: "Help who?" The kobolds, duh!
: "The Great Imperial General Kwanda Rosman is planning to exterminate us elves." Good riddance.
: "Please. Please lend us the Liberation Army's power." Well, we have ... 26? members.

: "But..."
: "You're right. As Commander ☆☆☆☆☆☆ says, our forces are still few." Actually I meant we should just let them burn, but you're right too.
: "Even with the old Liberation Army's survivors and Varkas' bandits, we still only amount to a few hundred men. It's not a good idea to mobilize our forces yet."
: "But that will mean the elves will die." :imokaywiththis:
: "Of course, we can't allow that to happen. Our only strength is the hope that people see in us. That we must never betray. Therefore I suggest that before all else, a small reconnaissance mission be sent out to gather intelligence. Our next step can wait." And of course this means sending our angsty leader off on his own with a group of incompetents! Brillant!
: "Thank you very much. I'll lead you to our village." Can I bring the torches and pitchforks?
: "Young Master, no matter who says what, I'm going." Great. I am so enthused.

My party only needs to have ☆☆☆☆☆☆, Kirkis, and Gremio at this point, but I have Lepant and Juppo with me for recruiting purposes and Kai for random encounters. I'll come back for Cleo and Viktor, probably: going to ask Ewan or someone to pick my party for the arc.

Fuck you. Kirkis then says something about the Forest Village being southeast of Kouan, but I didn't write it down since who cares.

FIRST! To Kaku!
[MUSIC: Eternal Flow]
: "Uncle Juppo! I was looking for you!"
: "Why, it's Meg! What are you doing here? Oh my."
: "Hee hee. I was hoping to learn some tricks from you. I didn't know you were a member of the Liberation Army."
: "I, ah..."
: "I'll join too!"
: "No, you mustn't!"
: "Why not? Hey, Mister ☆☆☆☆☆☆, please let me join."
[ ... don't recruit.]
: "I don't care if you refuse. I'll tag along anyway."
: "What the...?"
: "I already decided. And I won't change my mind."
: "...."
[Meg joins!]

Aaaand for Seika:
BOY OR GIRL
Sheena walks over to the girl.
: "Hey, why don't you come and play with me? Our family's rich, you know."
: "Sheena."
: "Uh oh, Dad!"
: "I believe you told me you were going on a journey to learn about the world."
: "I, uh... like I said."
: "Is chasing women learning about the world?! You're coming with me! I'll beat some sense into you!" ~_~ I hate Sheena and Lepant. Trufax: playthrough before last, I forget to get Sheena until I had around 104 stars.
: "Ouch! OK, OK, I'll do as you say, so don't pull my ear!"
And then Sheena and Lepant walk off.

Aaaand Apple's still not at Mathiu's house.

Back in Kaku ...
Fuck you.
: "All right, here we go."
: "You're a lucky one. A lucky man can do anything. I'll throw in my chips with you." Yay, infinite money!

Size two!


Let's see, now for a real party... Size two means the castle now has four floors (not counting the ground floor with nothing on it or the basement), with the fourth floor having ☆☆☆☆☆☆'s giant room on a wing off to the left. Mathiu, Luc, and a random-ass giant mosaic are on the third floor; the vault and blacksmiths are on the second floor; the inn, shops, and gamblers are on the first floor.

Usually for this arc, my party's Tir / Viktor / Gremio / Cleo / Kirkis / Kai at this point, but I've decided to go with Meg (lucky mage with throwing knives) this time instead of Viktor. Let's see how it goes.

Don't ever let Krin or Stallion (don't have him yet, but)'s escape talismans get put in the vault. They're infinite use as long as they stay in a character inventory.

I think Gaspar loses on purpose. It took me about 45 seconds to get to max monies. I didn't even load save states.

Walked into Forest Village and a guy walks down and says "That's funny. It's true, you know. Elves have been seen coming out of here. My god! You! Hey everybody, it's true! There's an elf here!" I hate this arc.

: "Better not cause a ruckus. There's a secret elfin trail up ahead. Let's hurry."

[MUSIC: none; sound of birds]

: "The area beyond this point is under a spell. Without me, you'll get lost. Please stick together."

This area's random encounters are holly sprites and holly boys and random kobolds (Suikoden kobolds are dog people, unless they're nekobolds).

Walked halfway across this bridge, aaaand
teleporty noise.
: "What? What??? Uh oh, looks like I blew it." HI VIKI 8D
Viki walks over!
: "Say, where are we? The Empire? Which one? My goodness, almost the other side. My name's Viki. I'm a poor soul with nowhere to go. Won't you protect me?"
[... don't recruit.]
: "Oh no! Please, you aren't planning to leave an innocent little girl like me here in the forest, are you?"
: "Hey, hey, you've changed your mind, right? Protect me."
[RECRUIT ♥ Viki]
: "Oh, thank you! What? The Liberation Army? You have a castle? Wow! Where is it? That's pretty close ... All right then! Let's go!"
Teleporty noise, and Viki's off! Now, whenever I'm at the castle, I can teleport to more or less anywhere I've been 8D
Viki's teleporting is entirely safe. Yes. There is no way this can go wrong.

Definitely safe.


: "What's wrong?"
: "This is the Kobold Village, but all the kobolds are gone." No way is this plot-relevant.
And then a dog in a green coat and blue pants walks over!
: "Bow wow! You humans take away friends. Not forgive." Ughhhh kobold speak. Hello, Kuromimi. I hate you.
: "Grrrr, not forgive, sniff sniff. But no time now. Kuromimi fix everyone sickness."
: "He's saying his friends were taken away and everyone is sick." Fascinating, Gremio. Tell me more.
: "Something happened here. Let's hurry to our village. Maybe they know something there. The Village of the Elves is east of here." Maybe I can stab out elfin eyeballs! Also, he is wrong: it is south south-east.

[MUSIC: Mysterious Forest]
Notice: journeyman's crystal instead of just having an inn like everywhere else. (Well, Gregminster has ☆☆☆☆☆☆'s diary as a save point, but still.)
Haughty elves? In a high fantasy setting? SAY IT AIN'T SO! Also, haughty Valerias. I like Valeria. ... Espeon likes her more, though.
ELF ELF: "Listen? Listen, you say? I didn't know that you humans could talk. So what do you have to say? Have you thought of a good way of exterminating us? With your tiny minds?" This arc is stupid.
: "That's right. Kwanda is planning something truly frightening. Not only is he going to wipe you out, he's planning to burn down this entire forest, this forest that also happens to be my home." Ooh, characters working in their own self-interest :D
ELF ELDER: "You humans are too stupid to realize such a task. Hey, lock this one up."
They walk off.

My biggest problem with this arc is that the point is all WE MUST SAVE THE ELVES!! but 1. they don't give a shit, 2. they're really fucking easy to dislike, and 3. this arc is about twice as long as it should be. Not much happens in it, and there are three dungeons in which nothing happens (and one of them is two or three times longer than it should be), and you don't even have the Blinking Mirror yet so you can't have Viki handle all of your transportation needs. And if you suddenly think GEE, I WANT SOMETHING BACK AT MY BASE, you're shit out of luck because walking back will take forever.

Fucking elves.

ELF SHOPKEEP NUMBER 1: "I have nothing to sell to humans, but Kirkis is OK."
ELF SHOPKEEP NUMBER 2: "How will our wonderful armor look on humans?"
If you ever play this game, remember to pick up some Magic Robes in Elfland: you're not going to have other chances to get them for a bit and they'll be good equipment until fairly lategame.
RANDOM ELF: "Why it's Kirkis. Say, your friends, aren't they..."
DIFFERENT RANDOM ELF: "To the north are the Dwarf Mines, to the south Kwanda Rosman's castle. They both want our land." Why?
ELF INNKEEP: "What do you want? Staying the night? 200 bits. And don't dirty the rooms." Fucking hate elves.
ELF SHOPKEEP NUMBER 2: "Welco ... whaddaya want?"

Time to move on with plot! To the elder's house!

: "Kirkis... why did you leave me alone? I was lonely." Sylvina, even though you're a quite usable mage (which is more than one can say for your boyfriend), I hate you.
: "I didn't mean to leave you alone." Then why didn't you take her with you? Dumbass.
: "How terrible, going off alone. You should have taken me with you. Was it fun outside?" ... :|
: "No, I mean, I didn't go out to play, you know. I didn't take you because I didn't want you in danger." Yeah, but if you took her, she'd probably go 'Kirkis, why don't we get a boat?' rather than you washing up on the dock half-drowned. You're stupid, Kirkis.
: "Of course." What.

: "Kirkis, did you do something bad? Grandpa looks really angry."

ELF CHIEF: "Kirkis, why did you leave without my permission? What did you do out there?"
: "There are humans who are fighting the Empire too. I left to get help from the Liberation Army, as they call themselves, to protect the Village of the Elves." Maybe we can use our fire spears to 'protect' the village from the possibility of the Empire burning it down. Yes.
ELF CHIEF: "Protect this village? What are you talking about? We don't need human help to protect ourselves. It's true that at one point, Kwanda's men had the upper hand. But they're humans, after all. They've been behaving themselves recently." By which he means buying napalm.
: "But..."
ELF CHIEF: "Shut up, Kirkis." I can get behind that.
ELF CHIEF: "You left the village without permission, and dared return with filthy humans. Lock them all up."
RANDOM ELF: "Yes, sir."
: "What? Why? Why? Grandpa, why are you arresting Kirkis?" Fucking elves and their nonexistent memories.

[No music.]
Fuck elves.

Talking to the blue guy, Stallion, has him run in a circle around the room very quickly.
: "Well, if it isn't chicken-hearted Kirkis, who turned and ran when he found out the Imperial Army was attacking. Hey, don't you remember me? Stallion, the fastest pair of feet in the village. Didn't you know? You should have seen how fast I ran when Kwanda attacked. Ha ha ha!" Why is he in jail?

: "Who the hell are you? Liberation Army? Come to help the elves? I guess we're all fools here."
: "That's an Imperial uniform." Really, Gremio! I never would have known.
: "Yep, I was a fool too. I risked my life to betray the Empire, and look at me now. How stubborn these elves are! They refuse to believe what I know." Well, elves.
: "So what is it you know?"

[MUSIC: This is Just a Rumour]
: "Oh, that. The man in charge of this region is the Great General Kwanda Rosman. He has commissioned a horrible weapon to exterminate the rebellious elves." How exactly are the elves rebellious. They sit in their tree and act superior to everyone else. I mean, I'd like to burn down their tree, too, but uh.
: "Horrible weapon? What is it?"
: "I'm not sure, but it's called the Burning Mirror. They say it can burn down an entire forest in an instant." ... ... ... they're going to burn them with a mirror. A MIRROR. WHY DID SOMEONE THINK THIS WAS AN INTELLIGENT PLOT POINT i hate this arc
: "Not only the elves, but the village where I was born. That's why I came." Because nobody gives a shit about elves.
: "I wanted to warn the elves of this danger, so they could prevent the Burning Mirror's completion."
: "And before you knew it, you were in this prison."

Fade out!

: "Dammit, we don't have time to waste around here. Shouldn't have trusted those elves!"

STATS:

- STARS RECRUITED: Kirkis, Meg, Sheena, Gaspar, Viki = 5 + 26 = 31 / 108
- WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING: 3 total
- Game Overs: 1 total
- BOCCHAAA~~~N: Gremio: 49.5 + 1 = 50.5, Pahn: 8, Cleo: 14, other: 4, total: 76.5
- TALENTED MILITARY SURGEON: Mathiu: 2, everyone else: 2, 4 total
- Bathrooms: 0

NEXT TIME: Elves and dwarves and kobolds, oh my.