June Retro Community Playthrough - Suikoden

[Disposed Hero]

Couldnt stop my self and found all 108 stars of destiny

I have a hard time putting this one down too.  These days it's rare for a game to suck me in like this one has.  Week 3 has barely begun and I've already reached the checkpoint!

@Boshamp:  I would have tried finding all 108 recruits on my own, but there are some that are missable.  I think a couple of the recruits have a very small window of opportunity for recruiting them also.  I would definitely recommend looking at the recruitment faq GrayGhost linked to earlier in the thread if you really want to have a perfect save file, but be warned that there could be major spoilers depending on where you are in the game.

[Boshamp]

I've been up most of the night powering through the last bit of this game and...

Spoiler (hover to show)

I felt like I was getting very close to the end, noticed I was still missing many of the stars, and teleporting everywhere didn't seem to be getting me anywhere. After travelling in order from recently visited to older places on the list, it turns out I was missing Antonio the chef. I am not sure how I missed a character that was from a city so early in the game, but once I recruited him, my castle evolved and at that point, other recruits seemed to open up to me.

I'm calling it a night, but will probably finish tomorrow. Only missing a few stars. Hopefully I am not as close to the end as I think I am...I spent too many hours wandering the world map and travelling aimlessly to recruit everyone only to miss one or two. Then again, this is super short and if one used a guide, it would probably only take 10-12 hours or so, especially with the way leveling works in this game.

[GrayGhost81]

Spoiler (hover to show)

Tai Ho and Yam Koo combine for a unite attack that hits a single enemy HARD. I haven't done the math to see if this single attack does any more damage than two single attacks from each of the two characters. (four total attacks since the unite attack leaves both unbalanced), but even then, you can heal when unbalanced, so it is probably worth it even if the attack isn't as strong as if they were both to straight up attack each turn. Healing in this game is very important, and I like that, because I rarely have healing issues in other RPG's.

Kirkis and Stallion have a pretty cool attack animation that hits all enemies, but doesn't seem to hit as hard as Kai and Tir, not to mention the attack leaves them unbalanced afterwards.

Lastly, I tried the three person unite attack, "Beauty attack", that was mentioned earlier in a spoiler tag, and it seems to hit really hard too.

Are there any four, five, or even six person unite attacks?

There is in fact a five person unite attack if you have all five blacksmiths (That's right, there are five blacksmiths. I didn't even put that under a spoiler tag! Sorry to ruin the game everyone mwahahaha).

My favorite attack all unite was Meg and Juppo's "Trick Attack." Not super powerful but I kept them leveled and it did the trick on commons, pun intended. Plus it involves a cute cartoon sound effect and as I have posted before I just think Meg is super cute.

[SirPsycho]

I'm glad to see a lot of people are getting sucked into this game.

[GrayGhost81]

I'm glad to see a lot of people are getting sucked into this game.

Me too! Especially considering the shaky start a few of us had. It really has a "gotta catch 'em all" type addictiveness to it.

I forgot to mention I think I recruited about 100 people when all was said and done.

Also, I have a Psycho-approved info-graphic that I made about how to beat the final boss. I was going to save it for the last week of the playthrough but since people are blowing past the checkpoints I will post it under a spoiler tag if anyone would like to see it.

[h1ghw1nd]

Whoa 5 blacksmiths? Damn, I just got #4. I've been using the first three as my back row for a while now. Took over $999,999 (aka max money LOL) to upgrade their weapons and armor.

I'm close to finishing week 3's checkpoint Whole party is level 46

[Boshamp]

Thankfully, recruiting the blacksmiths is pretty easy considering what they have in common. I tried the Blacksmith Unite attack and found it only used four out of the five individuals to perform the attack.

Also, I ended up caving in and using a guide for my last recruits towards the final moments.

Spoiler (hover to show)

How the hell was I suppose to recruit Clive without a guide? Aside from being lucky enough to go through Rikon once or twice in random searching and find that he was there, there is no indication this individual would be there. I mean, if an NPC had even hinted towards his infrequency, one might think to try back after each checkpoint, but no...I found nothing for in game help with this recruit...ugh...it is Bahamut from FF8 all over again...

I also found Pesmerga a lot faster than I would have alone, I never would have thought to go back to Neclord's castle and go all the way to the top. I wouldn't have gone back until I scoured all the actual cities two or three times each. Same went for templeton, I didn't think to go back to the tree once it burned until much farther into the game.

[singlebanana]

I agree with you thoughts here Boshamp and I too am using a recruiting guide since I plan on playing Suikoden II in the near future and we only have a month to finish this game. However, I have a little different perspective on the recruiting and maybe it's because I'm a little older. Suikoden came out in 1996 (around my Freshman year in college). I can tell you that during that time the "World Wide Web" as they called it, was still very much in its infancy. Hell, I even toted a Brother word processor to school and didn't have a personal computer until my senior year.....

Anyway, a big part of gaming back then was having these more difficult puzzles to figure out and once figuring them out, sending a letter or primitive email into a gaming magazine and also sharing it with others you knew. I think this was a very fun and exciting time for gamers and it resulted in a lot of time exploring and manipulating to uncover these gems for each other. Call me old (and you'd be right), but a lot of modern gaming is easier and quite spoon-feed, because that's what people want. We are a "fast food" culture, we want everything now and we want it quick; we want to be able to play and finish a game and move onto the next big title ASAP. And as a result, game developers have conformed to this ideology. The internet now provides quick access to walkthroughs, forums, and videos that make completing a game so much easier now. That exciting community of gamers who work to solve the ins-and-outs of a games with each other is more immediate and only a few clicks away at any time.

I'm not trying to be the grumpy old man who complains about the modern generation. Things change, technology changes, the gaming culture changes, etc. As much as I joke about it, I'm completely okay with it. I'm just trying to provide a little bit of perspective on what made these games exciting back then. What some people now see as an annoyance, we use to find challenging and immersing. Though I didn't play Suikoden back then, I played many other games like this and I remember going out and grabbing new magazines and people running into my dorm room who were excited about figuring something new out and sharing. Good times!    

[Boshamp]

I remember seeing a lot of those in Nintendo power and Gamepro back in the day. In 1996, I was still in elementary school, so I understand your argument. In 1996, I was working with programs on 5.5" floppies and all we used the school computers for was Math Blaster and Oregon trail. ha ha

Even still, without a guide, the circumstances around Clive are totally random and luck based. I could understand if there was a puzzle to solve in this case, and I have played many older games and RPG's especially without guides and not ran into something like this that was based on luck alone; I probably wouldn't know it if I did though, to be honest. But some information somewhere in the game that indicated Clive existed, and maybe even a cryptic hint that someone was visiting that inn, but never talked to anyone, something to let us know there was a puzzle to solve...

I love older games a lot more than anything from the newer couple generations because of difficulty, (Games I grew up with on the NES like Gradius, Contra, Punchout, TMNT, Fire N' Ice, Friday the 13th, and the one I struggled with the most: Battle toads and double dragon kept me and my brother gaming and trying to beat one another). I agree they have customized the newer games for ease of play and I hate it too, I want someone to develop a game with new graphics and such, but make it intentionally as difficult to master as the old school stuff and screw these impatient "new school" gamers who lack the true skill and patience we had to develop growing up.

Stuff like this though, in my opinion, isn't a matter of difficulty or one's problem solving skills, it is a matter of luck, involving no logic, neither easy to solve nor difficult to solve, rather, a matter of being in the right place at the right time. I more wonder if the character was suppose to have some type of hint attached, but it was forgotten.

[GrayGhost81]

I want someone to develop a game with new graphics and such, but make it intentionally as difficult to master as the old school stuff and screw these impatient "new school" gamers who lack the true skill and patience we had to develop growing up.

Two words: DARK SOULS.

[singlebanana]

I haven't encountered the "Clive segment" of the game yet and perhaps that might change my perspective a little. Either way, I think you given us some good ammo to discuss on the podcast.

Thanks for all of the comments Boshamp and others. This is really how we would like the playthroughs to go and makes them really fun to play and discuss as a community. There are always going to be varying opinions on games and that's what makes us all unique and prefer what we prefer. Never be afraid to express your opinion....unless your name is Zagnorch. Then you're clearly wrong.

[Boshamp]

@GreyGhost: Well hell yeah. I know what I am playing once I finish both playthroughs.

@SingleBanana: I think you should post what you think about his recruitment when you get to that part. I look forward to seeing if you feel the same or different about it. I am always happy to see a difference of opinion being shared. Especially when it can remain respectful and not turn into a "I'm right, you are wrong, and there isn't anything you can say to change that" mentality.

[h1ghw1nd]

What about Yuffie & Vincent on FF7? Were there any hints to finding either? Yuffie was basically in a really small section of trees and even when you found her she made you answer a bunch of questions to recruit her.

It sounds like a lot of us are going to move on to Suikoden II…we should start another thread after this play through is done to discuss it, even if it's not checkpoint based or anything it would still be cool to read everyone's thoughts on the next installment in the series.

[Boshamp]

That is a fantastic point. Just because I found them without a guide doesn't mean another person with another play style would have found those so easily. All this talk just want to make me go on an RPG binge...ha ha ha

[h1ghw1nd]

I applaud you for playing without the guide or even the recruits guide for so long. That's the way Konami wanted it. Imagine someone finding the hardest character to find and then getting to brag about it at school to everyone else. "GASP, you got one-oh-EIGHT???" You would be wanting to bring your memory card to everyones house for proof ha!

What does everyone think of the soundtrack? Any favorite tracks? I just got to probably my favorite section of the game, after Qlon Temple's cave when you hear that pan flute and strings come in for "Days Past." Gets me ready to do what I gotta do.