June Retro Community Playthrough - Suikoden

[SirPsycho]

I got started tonight. If anybody wants some tips they can ask about it on here or PM me. For the newer members I'm the insane fanboy for this series. Anyway, in order to prevent my save from messing up Tir's name I decided to have a little fun with a name that begins with the letter 'M'. I decided on Mixalot so the one capital letter will fall in with the default name in Suikoden II, but also because of this.

[douglie007]

Played and beat this game 2 times, I love it, the hardest part is getting all 108 playable people

108 playable characters?  Whaaaaat?

Nah, only around 70 are playable.

Oh.  Well that sounds reasonable.

Find all the 108 people so you can use your save for Suikoden 2 and get extra goodies.

[RetroRage]

I'm gonna find like only 14 dudes

[h1ghw1nd]

Thanks for the info SirPsycho!

I started 2 days ago…did a little grinding before I even talked to Ted & grabbed the EXP boost item (forgot the name) I think I'm on level 13.

[SirPsycho]

I wouldn't worry too much about grinding. Don't worry about money, there's a simple trick you can do to make endless money later in the game.

[h1ghw1nd]

There's actually a trick you can do at the beginning too for lots of money. That's why I chose to grab that EXP boost instead of the $$$ boost.

[SirPsycho]

I know of it I just hate playing that game, its also why I skipped the extra items. I didn't want to make a spreadsheet of the pattern because I'm lazy and halfway to Toran Lake by now. My way to earn endless money is insanely fast later on, and well documented for those that desire to look. I'll drop some big hints for the newer players later.

[SirPsycho]

Checkpoint 1 is complete in a bit less than 3 hours of game time. I played a bit further too and have the infinite money machine rolling. YOU GET A WEAPON LEVEL, YOU GET A WEAPON LEVEL! EVERYBODY GETS SHOULDER PADS!

[img width=700 height=525]http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g436/gpro83/20140530_213535_zpsnt8d4jvz.jpg[/img]

Yeah I could go for some White Castle, anybody else up for a run?

Anyway, this is what I named my Toran Castle. I had to keep with the theme of Mixalot. My hand was a bit shaky here... Anybody care to guess why?

[img width=700 height=525]http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g436/gpro83/20140530_213623_zpslblsbzan.jpg[/img]

[GrayGhost81]

Checkpoint 1 is complete in a bit less than 3 hours of game time. I played a bit further too and have the infinite money machine rolling. YOU GET A WEAPON LEVEL, YOU GET A WEAPON LEVEL! EVERYBODY GETS SHOULDER PADS!

First of all please tell me about this.

You got to the first checkpoint faster than I intended but I'll chalk it up to you be an expert on this game. It took me about four and a half hours. I'm working on the week two checkpoint now and it'll take longer than week one.

I believe the first time I played the game I never recruited whichever innkeeper you need to be able to save in the castle. Any hints?

[RetroRage]

Heh nice SirPsycho.  Sounds like you're really getting into this.  I picture you sitting 5 inches away from the screen on the floor hiding under a blanket with a huge bag of MnMs next to you.

I'm going with a Game of Thrones theme so I named my dude Hodor.

I started playing a little last night, I enjoy it so far.  I can't say too much and it yet but the music is nice!   I named my dude, walked around the town for a bit, then turned it off because I was falling asleep.  12 hours work days will do that to me...

[SirPsycho]

Checkpoint 1 is complete in a bit less than 3 hours of game time. I played a bit further too and have the infinite money machine rolling. YOU GET A WEAPON LEVEL, YOU GET A WEAPON LEVEL! EVERYBODY GETS SHOULDER PADS!

First of all please tell me about this.

You got to the first checkpoint faster than I intended but I'll chalk it up to you be an expert on this game. It took me about four and a half hours. I'm working on the week two checkpoint now and it'll take longer than week one.

I believe the first time I played the game I never recruited whichever innkeeper you need to be able to save in the castle. Any hints?

Spoiler (hover to show)

Right after you get the castle you can go on your first recruitment drive. If you don't want to consult a guide my advice is to go everywhere you can and talk to everybody. You won't be able to recruit everybody with a portrait you find, but you will be able to get some good characters. In this first recruitment drive you can get the innkeeper, item shop, blacksmith, an elite combatant, and some others. The infinite money machine is part of the second recruitment drive after you visit Kouan.

Go to Kaku and head to the tavern's basement where you first met Tai Ho and Yam Koo. Gaspar is there. Save your game and win 5000 bits from him playing the same game you did when you first got Tai Ho and Yam Koo to help you sail. He joins you and you can go back to the castle to play him anytime you want. Save the game and play, always staking your winnings, until you keep doubling and tripling it. If you lose just reload your save and try again. Eventually you'll hit max money, and this can be done in the span of about 2 minutes if you're lucky. Rinse and repeat whenever you need more spending cash.

[GrayGhost81]

Damn, I think I missed the innkeeper again. EDIT: Nope, got her! 

Well, today's the first of the month. Does everyone have a copy of the game? The June Retro Community Playthrough officially begins NOW!

[RetroRage]

Just got to the town passed Mt. Tigerwolf.

I've played about 4 hours, and here's my impression so far...

It's pretty easy to pick up and play and somewhat intuitive.  I really like the Free Will option, it streamlines the grinding nicely.  But there are a few things that drive me nuts.  

When you buy an item like medicine, it has a stock number next to it.  Which ordinarily might not be a bad thing, but it only goes up to 6.  Then if you want to buy more of the same item, it takes up an additional slot in your item box.  Again, this might not ordinarily be an issue, except the item list isn't a community list, every character has their own item inventory and they can only hold 10 or so items.  I have urns and stuff that need to be appraised and they're taking up valuable retail space and I have no idea when I'll see an appraiser again.

On top of that, I don't like that you have to constantly swap items with people.  This makes buying and equipping weapons and armor a nightmare.  I wish it was a community thing so if something was unequipped I could easily equip it on someone.  A lot of times I've bought an item I didn't know I already had because someone else had it sitting idle in their inventory.

Besides those gripes, it's a fun game so far.  I can't wait to learn more about how the runes work.

[h1ghw1nd]

Yeah those issues suck. Ran into it a few times picking up chests and having to drop something.

I just now finished the trip to get the Astrological Results or whatever. So I'm still close to the beginning haha. My characters are badasses now though so I'm probably gonna run through a lot more tonight and hopefully reach that first checkpoint!

[SirPsycho]

The inventory system is my biggest complaint about this game as well. I've gotten practiced enough to the point where I just spread items around evenly to the party without thinking too much about it. Suikoden 2 fixes this problem and changes the Rune system so well that they became the standard for the rest of the series.