[Churippu]

For FKW I decided I would go through the whole Suikoden series. I might not make it through Suikoden 4 though. Who wants to anyways that is the worst one. I might finish up Suikoden Tactics insted. Also, I have decided to name the heros after Select Button people and I am naming the castles/fortresses SelectButton (or S*B if that can't fit).

Of course I am starting out with Suikoden one. I named the hero HottStott. My only goal this time around is "Do not throw away that Window crystal" last time I played this game there was one particular character that I could not recruit. I always wondered what I had to do to get this guy...he kept me from getting Gremio back, and this is why I loathe Window. Him with his whole "MY NAME IS WINDOW, I WISH TO MAKE WINDOW. BLAHBLAHBLAH" crap. As I was reading about Suikoden stuff one day (theories and whatnot) I came across how to get him, believe me, I was angry. I apparently had to have the window crystal. I went back to the place where it is supposed to be, but it wasn't there! Where could it be? Did that site lie to me? Then it came across to me that I most likely got rid of it because it was no use to me. This realization made my whole stomach and esophagus burn with the fire of nine dragons but then again this could have been heartburn or my hietal hernia acting up. After this ordeal I just went ahead and quickly finshed the game defeating the golden hydra ultimately saving the day, without Gremio by my side. I felt cold and lonely inside, knowing that I could have brought him back if it wasn't for my foolishness. I saved everyone else, even Pahn but Gremio is still in limbo cursing at the stars about how stupid I was.

I'll get you Window, if it is the last thing I do.

Now on to Suikoden two, I'm naming this hero after Joe. I have no real goals for this one, I mean I saved Nanami, recruited all the characters (it was hard deciding which of the animal characters I wanted, I ended up using the listening crystals to get Abizboah and Sigfried) and got the "best" ending. The thing I want to mess with the most in this game is the iron chef like challenges that you get to do when you recruit Hai Yo. Last time I played I didn't have very many recipies or ingredients, but I remember having most fun during this part of the game. I wished that there could have been more iron chef competitions after the very last battle. Damn you suikoden for ruining my fun for the rest of the game.

Also may I talk about the overtly gay characters in this game. There are two in particular that I am talking about, Simone and Vincent. You might say "Chu, they only act that way because they are aristocrats!" and I will say right back "Yeah, but aristocrats obviously had secret homoerotic relationships, look it up!". I mean these characters obviously want each other. In order to recruit Simone you have to find his precious Rose brooch that his "friend" Vincent got for him (Yeah. Right. Friend.) and get it back to him. When you have Simone in your party and you go to the town of Radat you can finally get him and Vincent to meet and they go kissy kissy. Come on Suikoden, you can't fool me!

Ok on to number three the flame hero is going to be named after Stotelheim it is quite fitting. Anyways, quite possibly the only redeeming quality about this game has to be Kidd the detective. He provides information about characters you have yet to recruit and comic relief for the weary game player. I liked putting him in every character position possible in the plays. He is especially funny as the little match girl and the boy who cried wolf.

I suppose my only real goal for this one is to actually finish the final battle where I can get the sixth scenario. In the sixth story I can see it through Lucs point of view. I mean he is a recurring character in the Suikoden series. He had always been such a little jerky brat and I knew someday he would go insane. I would like to know what finally made him snap.

As for Suikoden four. I probably actually need to finish this game. I have yet to finish it. It is just so boring and difficult. I have about 4 more characters to recruit and I think I am almost to the end. God I hope so. This is probably the worst Suikoden game. Although I haven't played Suikoden five. It might be the worst. I have no clue, but untill I do find out Suikoden five is pure crap, I will hold a grudge against the fourth in the series. I doubt I will finish this one ever.

[Takashi]

Suikoden III has lots of redeeming features - common, they only let you name the hero you never play. That's pretty wild, as far as these things go. Of course, I hate the automated fighting and lots of nibbling aspects, but it tries really hard to be something different storytelling wise.

[tacotaskforce]

I attempted this last year about a month before FKW. I made it through 1-4, but bit it on Tactics. For my money Tactics is the worst because of how it loves to permenantly kill vital irreplaceable characters. 4 is just slightly better. Five is really very good. It would be better than two if it weren't for being so slow.
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[Churippu]

[tacotaskforce]

Whenever a character is brought to zero hit points they have a chance of being wounded and removed from battle or just dying. I'm not sure what causes it (The 16 page manual does not mention death once) but I think they might be able to escape death if they are on a square of their color when they're brought to zero hit points.

Character deaths are permenant so if you lose someone with a unique ability, like the treasure hunter girl, their ability is gone from the game.
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[Six]

Suikoden II is the only game in the series I've played, but I like it a lot. I never beat it for some reason, though - which is frustrating, since I think I was pretty much in the home stretch.

So I decided to pop it in this evening and start a new game. I'm only about half an hour in, but this time around I'm noticing all sorts of little details, as well as just how much thought went into the design. The weapon upgrade system is a neat alternative to "exchange big sword for bigger sword," for example, while still leaving room for customization with the runes. The combat is simple and fast while remaining interesting to watch and occasionally requiring some thought.

I like that there's all sorts of little choices you can make that'll subtly affect stuff later, even if it's only minor. Also, there's this crazy secret that lets you access an area you normally only see much later, and you can fight hugely overpowered enemies and (if you survive) recruit some guys early and stuff. I can't really describe how awesome this is! jRPGs need more weird sequence breaks.

[BotageL]

Pushing the gate out of the way is one of my favorite sequence breaks. If you're man enough to do it, it can be a lot of fun and make the next few regularly-scheduled areas of the game way easier.
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