Let's Play Gensou Suikoden!; GS1 PART 1

[surskitty]

Goooooood morning, everyone! A while ago, I was super bored and considering replaying Suikoden I and II, right, so I decided to do a Let's Play! And so I did. Well, as of right now I'm about an eighth of the way through Suikoden II, but I've finished the lp of SuikoI. Said original thread is here but here I am, reposting a slightly cleaned up version. I'm trying to slowly repost everything from there over here, but it's a bit tricky since this is tedious and I need to add alt text and now also reupload everything since Imageshack is apparently an even stupider butt than I thought.

A STARTING POINT: HERE is a place you can download the first game's soundtrack. That site also has a few Suikoden soundtracks that I didn't know existed the day before I started this LP, because GenSui is a fandom where you can find ALL SORTS OF OBSCURE THINGS as long as you're not looking for, idk, a game in the main universe that came out more recently than 2006??? Tierkreis does not count; sorry, Tierkreis fans, I have been enjoying my adventures with Tierkreis whenever I don't get distracted with things like replaying Suikoden I for the tenth time or by trying to get to Viki's sequence in Suikogaiden 2, what is UP with that. But really. Tierkreis! It doesn't count. Neither does 紡がれし百年の時, which wasn't even announced when I first started this lp. I still am half-expecting it to not exist, and it's come out in Japan by the time I'm editing this. (Actually I've heard it feels like a Suikoden game but they left out a lot of the things I really like about this series.)

Every once in a while, I do link to youtube for bgm, but mostly I just say what plays and expect you to figure it out. And if you don't care, well, no skin off my back. 8D But it's worth noting that I can't actually play music while working on this lp, so while I'm right like 95% of the time for SuikoI and at least 50% of the time for SuikoII (this isn't because I don't know the SuikoII soundtrack; this is because there are a billion and a half remixes of the same tune and while I understand why they did that, it is hell for recognising things by ear), every once in a while I might be wrong. But I'm pretty awesome about it, no lies.

BUT ANYWAY, HERE IS A POINT

BOX ART this is actually ripped from the game; it's in the ram while looking at old books.

And this is what the Japanese box art looks like; it's what you get if you give Ivanov all of the paint cans, which I don't think I actually ended up doing in this file. If you're wondering, this is the English art. I would try to describe it for those of you using screenreaders, but to be quite honest, I have no idea what the fuck is going on there. Who are these people!? WHAT IS GOING ON?! If you figure it out, please tell me.

And here is a video of the opening for the Sega Saturn remake. Said remake is Japan-only, and has many pointless changes (some of which I quite like the idea of), but I love the modified opening. It fits in with Suikoden II's opening much better than the PSX SuikoI opening does. You can look that one up if you want; the music's the same but the visual's less interesting. Similar! But all sprites instead of art.

From memory, the text is: PLEASE TELL ME THE ANSWER / IS FATE UNCHANGEABLE

EVEN AT HIS MOST POWERLESS / MAN'S EXISTENCE IS NEVER WITHOUT MEANING

... ... ... Oh, hey, I paid attention to the opening this time and I'd gotten it right from memory despite seeing it in English like twice in the past year. Sob.


[BGM: Beginning (Name Entry)]


THIS IS OUR HERO, SPINNING RIGHT HERE:


He is ___ McDohl. (English fandom calls him Tir, because that's the name the novels use; Japanese fandom calls him bocchan, because so does half the cast.)

What's his name? It can be anything you guys like, as long as it's at most eight characters and it starts with M.

...

Okay, it doesn't HAVE to start with M.

...

... but it's not a bad idea.

---

MEURSAULT:

McTir (or MC Tir, that works too)

... I'm not actually sure how that would show up in II.

I now have a desire to name him Bator, simply because most of the cast who doesn't go BOCCHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN calls him Master _____.

Other comments were Flower Doll seconding Bator, Legendaryseeker99 suggesting Dick (I just caught possibility of Batman reference right now as I'm typing this, sob), and Espeon saying that he had Tir show up in II with the name he gave him and not being sure if that was because he named Tir and Riou the same thing. (In fact, it's because he played a European rom of II; I originally didn't have a PAL rom of II. Or a patched rom, for that matter; I didn't learn there were patches to fix some of SuikoII's bugginess until I was in Two River in suikoII for this lp series.)

KARKAT VANTAS:

What's with this forum's love of alphanumerical characters?

Clearly, you should name him ☆☆☆☆☆.

Going with this one out of curiosity as to if ☆ is uppercase! (This will be relevant when I get to SuikoII.) Except I went with ☆☆☆☆☆☆ so it's less tacky in the event that stars indeed are uppercase. Also six is a better number than five. You know I'm right.

[BGM: Royal Palace Consultation]

I'M IN A ROOM WITH A GUY!! :O And so I WALK OVER as one does and press space to talk.

...

Uh, I pressed space.
...
...
...
RIGHT.
I change my controller settings back so circle is c and x is space because for some reason American releases of Playstation games always swap them. Well, except for Final Fantasy VII. But ignoring FFVII, non-Japan haets circle for confirm. Fuck if I know why; it's easier to hit circle than x. (I also adjusted a few settings in the menu so text speed's faster and the text background's opaque. I will complain about show off the menu later, though!)
TEO: "What's the matter, ☆☆☆☆☆☆? Are you nervous? Don't worry, the audience will be finished quickly. Just be the way you always are. The Emperor is stern, but there's nothing to be afraid of." Names go on the left above dialogue; portraits either go all the way to the left or right of the text box.
"Master Teo, Master ☆☆☆☆☆☆. The Emperor will receive you now. Please come this way."
Aaaand she walks in and Teo walks off to follow her! STAR^6 FOLLOWS
"Teo McDohl, General of the Imperial Army and his son ☆☆☆☆☆☆ McDohl," Nice ending with a comma there! Also, there is no way this introduction could be important ever. Aaaaand Teo walks up, dragging OUR HERO since cutscene.

[BGM: Eternal Empire]
"Welcome, Teo. How are things?" They are delicious. And filled with cake. OM NOM NOM all the things.
TEO: "Much as they were when we fought together in the War of Succession, Your Highness."
BARBAROSA: "Impressive words. Do you not agree, Windy?" Your pointless exposition is super impressive, yes.
WINDY: "Indeed, they are the words of a great general." Yeah, I'm sure. ... Her map sprite is cleverly hidden by her portrait.
BARBAROSA: "Teo, I am sure you are aware of the troubling activity in the north. Would you be willing to travel there to protect the border?"
No. Duh.
MINISTER (he doesn't have a sprite): "Our disputes with the United City-States of Jowston are complicated, but with General McDohl in charge, we can rest assured." Yeah, I'm sure they're complicated. Complicated like finding the bathroom. Speaking of which, starting a bathroom tally. I will keep track of this as we go.
BARBAROSA: "My beloved sword Prakk has brought me luck on countless occasions." Luck ... in bed. Actually, if he named his sword 'Prakk', I'd not be surprised if no one sleeps with him. Even if he is the Emperor.
BARBAROSA: "I would like you to have it. Take it with you."

TEO: "Thank you, Your Highness. I, Teo, swear not to disappoint you." He says this, while holding his 'sword'.
BARBAROSA: "You have my blessings. Good luck, Teo."
Teo moves to the side so our hero can go talk to Mr Creepy Emperor!
BARBAROSA: "So you're Teo's boy ☆☆☆☆☆☆. Quite an impressive little countenance." Who the hell talks like that?
BARBAROSA: "Listen, ☆☆☆☆☆☆. Would you be willing to give the Empire a helping hand while your father is protecting the northern border?"
BABBY'S FIRST DIALOGUE OPTION. The Suikoden series is pretty big on dialogue options that don't actually alter anything. And then there are a few that will fuck you over so bad if you pick the wrong one. This isn't one of them, and SuikoI doesn't have relationship values, so I'm going to be a brat.
TIR: "I don't wanna." You may notice this isn't exactly the same sprite as used in the caps: that's because this one's from the PSP remake. It's prettier. As far as I know, Tir's the only one with
BARBAROSA: "Ha, ha! Like father, like son. Listen, ☆☆☆☆☆☆." I like this implication that Teo frequently whines I DON'T WANNA at him.
BARBAROSA: "Someday, you will follow the path of your own choosing. But for now, you have a great deal to learn from me."
BARBAROSA: "Plenty of time for freedom later."
TEO: "Thank you for your kind words, Your Highness." And for not having anyone punch our hero in the face.
MINISTER: "Commander Kraze of the Imperial Guard will be Master ☆☆☆☆☆☆'s superior." ... Kraze. Kraze.
Windy walks over!
WINDY: "What an attractive young man you are. Good luck to you, ☆☆☆☆☆☆." GROSS YOU'RE LIKE 400 YEARS OLD
TEO: "We had better be going, Your Highness."
BARBAROSA: "I'm relying on you, Teo. And ☆☆☆☆☆☆, I hope your efforts will surpass your father's."
Wheee, automatically walking out of the room, aaaaand:
TEO: "Let's go."

[BGM: Royal Palace Consultation]
FINALLY, I can move!! I hit the directional buttons, and THINGS HAPPEN. Teo is following me for some reason. I assume he figures I know where I'm going. Or. Something. Also, I'm not writing down boring non-plot text from this point on.

There's a random purple woman outside the hall. "I've heard that she bears a close resemblance to Lady Claudia. He still mourns her passing."

In a room is a dude named Kasim Hazil!
KASIM: "Ah, Teo. It looks like you've brought a fine son into this world. I envy you."
TEO: "You're embarrassing me, Kasim."

Fuck that shit. [ WALKS DOWN ]
TEO: "Did you pay your respects to Kraze?" No, that would imply he's dead. ... I'm okay with this. But damn, can't skip this.
"Shining armour / What? / Found 100 bits." Technically, that should be 'potch' not bits, but for some reason English SuikoI changed the currency.
KRAZE: "Heh. So you're Teo's boy." QUICK, BETS ON IF HE'S EVIL JUST FROM THE GOATEE. ... any takers? ... no?
KRAZE: "What's your name? ☆☆☆☆☆☆? I couldn't care less if you're the son of a great general. You'll get no special treatment here, understand? Now go on home. Work begins tomorrow. Report here first thing in the morning."
Stepping back out of that room...
TEO: "Did you introduce yourself? I must admit I'm quite surprised that you've been assigned to suck a weakling, but... Well, let's get going." I like Teo.
TEO: "Gremio must be worried sick." Somehow I bet Gremio and worrying go together like coffee and ice cream.

Aaand Teo leads the protagonist out, through a courtyard, and down to the main city.

[BGM: Beautiful Golden City]

And then into a house!

[BGM: Main Theme Arrangement: Guitar Version]
Teo steps in, blond guy BOLTS IN.
"Welcome home, Young Master. H-h-how did it go? Was everything OK?" BOCCHAN COUNT: 1
GREMIO: "Were you nervous in front of the Emperor? I was soooo worried. But I guess everything went fine." I'm sure nobody's ever going to remember I went I DON'T WANNA at Barbarosa. That's not the sort of thing that makes impressions in court.
TEO: "You shouldn't worry so much, Gremio."
GREMIO: "Oh! Master Teo... I didn't notice you at all."
TEO: "Didn't notice me? Good grief. The only one you seem to care about is ☆☆☆☆☆☆."
GREMIO: "Sorry, Master Teo. By the way, Young Master, Ted is here to congratulate you." Bocchan +1.
GREMIO: "Oh my god! The stew! The stew!"

Gremio bolts to the kitchen, and Teo walks out the front door to go chill with his girlfriend.

GREMIO: "My hands are full right now. This is the most important step when you're making a stew." Mechanics trivia: Gremio's stew raises the dead if there's mayonnaise in it. ... Yeah. Yeah. I know.
UM.
> TIR: [ Pull his ears.]
>> GREMIO: "Young master! That hurts! Please stop!"
> TIR: [ Tickle him. ]
>> GREMIO: "Wha... s-stop, please. Hee hee. Ha ha. Young Master! Ha ha... Stop! Please!"
> TIR: [ Leave him alone. ]
>> GREMIO: "Dinner will be ready soon. Please rest in your room until I call."

Examining the grumpy sleeping guy...
PAHN: "Zzzzzzzzzz..."

Scare him: "Yikes! What the.. oh, it's you Young Master. Home already? I was waiting for supper and fell asleep. By the way, how was your audience with the Emperor?"
PAHN: "I think I'll take another nap before supper. Young Master, you must be tired too. How about a nap before supper?"
On checking the bookshelf: "Pahn's diary / Date: 4/XX / Breakfast: toast & eggs / Lunch: sandwich / Dinner: croquettes / Date: 5/XX / Breakfast: toast & fried eggs / Lunch: rice balls / Dinner: roast beef / Date: 6/XX / Breakfast: toast &..."

Cleo moves to the center of the room when you walk in. Apparently a lot of people have trouble catching that she's the token female party member of your current group. I don't think I did? But I was probably like seven when I first played this game, so it's hard to know.
CLEO: "Young Master, how many times do I have to tell you? Please knock before entering the room of a lady. Oh well, you can be forgiven if it's my room, I suppose. So how was your audience with the Emperor? Were you nervous?"
On checking her diary, it just says 'Cleo's diary' and Cleo pops in with, "Young Master, you shouldn't be looking at a woman's belongings."

That's everything downstairs! SO GOING UP ...

"I heard the news, ☆☆☆☆☆☆! You met the Emperor, didn't you? Tell me all about it. Please."
TED: "Let's go up to your room, OK? Tell me all about the Emperor, right now!"
Nope! Let's not, actually.
In Japanese, they say 'paatii' to distinguish between joining the 108 stars and joining your party. English SuikoI maintains the distinction, but it's pretty subtle.

It is time for the FIRST OF MANY SEEMINGLY POINTLESS ADVENTURES \o/ Note that you can completely skip what I'm about to do and just go to your room to talk to Ted, but then you miss out on some junk :'(

So, walking down and outside ...

[BGM: Beautiful Golden City]
"You there! What are you doing around here? This is the home of the Imperial General Teo McDohl. W-w-what? You're General Teo's son? E-excuse my rudeness, sir!"
Aaaand I go up to the house right next door ...
"☆☆☆☆☆☆, after tomorrow, you won't be able to see your father for a while."
SONYA: "Better spend time with him while you can."
TEO: "Don't be a fool, Sonya. ☆☆☆☆☆☆, you're not taking this seriously either, are you?"

TEO: "☆☆☆☆☆☆? I must speak with Sonya. You go on home first." Yeah, speaking. I am sure that is exactly what they are doing.

a maid in Sonya's house you can't see in the previous cap because of textbox: "Ever since she heard about General Teo's northern assignment, Lady Sonya has not looked well." But her boytoy :'(


Outside and over to --
-- this house!
Each dresser contains one thing. From left to right, bottom to top:
"Big feathered hat" "Lame tuxedo" "Hemmed red cape" "Orange tights" "Rainbow-colored pantaloons" "Green suspenders"
"Floral shirt" "Leopard patterned cape" "Pink boots" "Checkered beret" "Fruit-printed tie" "Fine fur cape with sapphires"
"See-through body suit" "Striped slacks" "Sea otter T-shirt" "Negligee" "Triangular hat" "Leather jacket with rivets, spikes and safety pins"
"Watermelon patterned summer sweater" "Khaki riding pants with golden butterfly embroidery" "Elegant party dress with peacock feathers" "Very long hand-woven scarf" "Black-and-red half coat" "Peppermint green blazer"
"Hmmm, this outfit is nice, of course, but the colors on this one match better."
MILICH: "Young man, which do you like? .......... Say, aren't you Teo's boy? Of course, you're ☆☆☆☆☆☆. I was called by the Emperor, and of course I must show him my exquisite taste in clothes."
22:45:08 <H-land> The t-shirt's got to be an undershirt.
22:45:24 <H-land> No way he'd wear a t-shirt and call himself dressed.
22:45:50 <Viki> but it's got a sea otter on it
22:45:59 <Viki> ...
22:46:05 <Viki> unless it's made from sea otters
22:46:09 <Viki> oh my god
22:46:13 <Viki> MILICH YOU MONSTER

Aaaand one last thing before leaving Gregminster for a pointless sidequest: saving.
"Come in, come ... say, if it isn't Master Teo's boy!"
MARIE: "What's up? If you want a rest, you should go home. You're a bit young to be in here aren't you?"
There are some people up there, but they're not saying anything particularly interesting. Some soldiers are arguing over which is the most awesome general. "I think General Milich, the Flower General, is powerful too. Top-class expertise in swordsmanship and magic, and always so well-dressed." "Lady Sonya Shulen, Commander of the Imperial Navy. Not only a swordswoman, but a magician as well. And beautiful to boot.Lady Sonya is the greatest. Don't you agree?" "General Kasim Hazil, the best swordsman among the five. The greatest swordsman is the greatest general, of course." "Who's the geatest general? General Kwanda Rosman, of course. He's defended Emperor Barbarosa countless times. General Kwanda is a truly great soldier. I admire him." "You guys just don't understand. The most powerful general is most certainly General Teo McDohl, victor of a hundred out of a hundred battles. Don't you agree?"
Upstairs is a guy who wants you to pay his bill for him.

[BGM: Tiny Character in a Huge World]

Welcome to the World Map. The thing I'm standing on right now is Gregminster, the capital of the Scarlet Moon Empire. There are random encounters on the world map!

[BGM: Rock Rockland]
But I got lucky and got to my first destination, Lenankamp (which is directly south of Gregminster), without any fights.

This is a blacksmith. Unlike most rpgs, Suikoden has you upgrade a particular character's weapon rather than buy new equipment. It makes moderately more sense, I guess, though it often leads to things like what I'm about to do: sharpen a bo and a bow up to as high as I can manage at the moment, which appears to be to level 3 because I am Le Broke. ☆☆☆☆☆☆'s weapon starts as a level 1 Wolf Fang Staff; Ted's starts as a level 3 Steel Bow. You can also add rune fragments to your weapon at blacksmiths, but I've been not doing that for my past few playthroughs and it doesn't make much of a difference. It changes your weapon's element! Sometimes handy. More often not really. Supposedly it just adds on damage and never means you do less?
This is the main menu! Each character has their own inventory, which has a ten item limit. Things that are equipped count as things in the inventory and are shown in blue if they're removable and faded if they aren't. Currently our hero has a Bandanna (def +1, head), Tunic (def +2, armor), Gloves (def +2, accessory), Boots (def +3, accessory), and a Medicine 6 (6 uses, heals for 100, can be used in battle. Can revive outside of battle.) Ted just has a Robe (def +1, armor) and a Medicine 6.

I save in the currently super boring inn since our hero is sharpened as much as I can, and step outside.

[BGM: Tiny Character in a Huge World]
[BGM: Confrontation with Monsters]

BABY'S FIRST RANDOM ENCOUNTER I might actually not game over.
Free Will (Auto in most of the series) is a regular attack from each character against a random opponent. Bribe pays 4x however much money they drop in order to get them to go away. Run has a chance of failing; enemies with low levels compared to you can be Let Go (Release in other games) and that changes the message and has no chance of failure.
I'm going to Fight, though, which pulls up Attack / Defend / Rune / Item / Unite. I can't use runes or unite attacks yet, so I'll explain those when relevant.

Aaaaand Ted kills the bonbon all by himself! LEVEL UP TO 2 \o/ and obtained 70 bits

NEXT ENCOUNTER: a Wild Boar. It is a pig. It is also too scary for my level 2 duo.
Aw, shit. (TYPO SPOTTED!! Current count: 2. At least. I'm not actually keeping track; there are a lot.)
IT RUNS ALL THE WAY AROUND THE WORLD and barely doesn't kill Stars. Cue second attempt at running. Failed! Stars dodges. CUE THIRD ATTEMPT. Failed! Ted dies. FOURTH ATTEMPT SUCCESS. Next encounter is also a boar. ... but I fled okay! I'm only going to be detailed about encounters right in this segment, btw.
I do like soliders. Solider ant dies; up to level 4. Fighting things that outlevel you's productive!! Kill two ants at once, up to level seven ... Wow, I might not game over. That's a first. ... Fast forward to me completely failing to find the encounter group that usually wipes me, and sharpening Stars and Ted up to 4.

[BGM: Distant Mountain]

I think Ted is probably wondering why he's being led to first Lenankamp and now Mt Tigerwolf which is west of Gregminster for no apparent reason by now. Stars, he said to go to your ROOM. THIS IS NOT YOUR ROOM.

I think that encounter might be a tad terrifying.

Yeah. Yeah it is.

INTERESTING THING ABOUT SUIKODEN 1-3: when you game over, you continue from where you last saved with the stats of when you died. Your inventory doesn't change from where it was when you last saved, which means that if you used stat-boosting items between then and now, your stats are up and you still have your junk. You're probably never going to game over unless you do stupid shit like I just did, except possibly against Neclord, though.
He stands up again when you hit Try Again. :3

The giant snails in this area drop Defense Rune Pieces, which raise your defense, and the blue blob monsters drop Water Rune Pieces, which you can stick on a weapon to make it water-element and it'll also make you regain 15 HP per water rune piece each turn. I'm currently probably going to die if I try fighting more than one of them at a time, though, so I can't farm at this point.

Hello, random tavern on a mountain. The door's locked.

Aaaand back to the world map
[BGM: Tiny Character in a Huge World]

DO NOT ENGAGE. DO NOT ENGAGE. Tir and Ted have met horrible deaths at the hands of giant mosquitoes that kill people in many, many playthroughs.

Just think.

Giant mosquitoes.

Mosquitoes the size of people.

That are VENOMOUS.

And they dodge pretty much everything.

AAAAAAAAAAAAA


[BGM: Rock Rockland] Slightly amused I've been everywhere with that bgm except for Rockland.

Sarady is a boring little town.
"What! You two came all the way here by yourselves? That's incredible. I'll give you something nice as a reward for your courage!" ... with an exceptionally generous npc.

Prosperity crystal acquired!

The prosperity rune doubles money gained. It's not equipped on anyone yet, but they're incredibly hard to find and there's a single free one. If I came here before putting Ted in my party, I'd've gotten a Fortune Crystal, which doubles experience for the character with it equipped, but those aren't actually useful. Suikoden has scaling EXP, you see.

STATS:

- People with faces met: ☆☆☆☆☆☆, Teo McDohl, Barbarosa, Windy, Kasim Hazil, Kraze, Gremio, Ted, Cleo, Pahn, Sonya Shulen, Milich Oppenheimer, Marie = 13, 13 total
- Notable expeditions that have nothing to do with plot: 1, 1 total
- Typos I spotted: 2, 2 total
- Game Overs: 1, 1 total
- BOCCHAAA~~~N: Gremio: 4, Pahn: 2, Cleo: 2, total: 8
- Bathrooms: 0, but I think someone might be breaking Windy around here.


OKAY! QUICK NOTE: there are things I can examine all over the place. I got most of the ones I remember as being interesting, but if you see some junk I'm leaving alone and you want to know what the hell it is, go ahead and say so! Mind you, I don't, idk, screencap the entire map, so there's probably not that much to comment on, but you never know.


NEXT TIME: Ted tries to come out of the closet! Punks! Elephant dragons! More punks! Infinite staircases! Mysterious old women who teleport into people's rooms in the middle of the night while they're sleeping! Punks!