Suikoden II

Suikoden II is the sequel to Konami's PlayStation role-playing game Suikoden. Taking place three years after the original Suikoden primarily in the City-States of Jowston, the northern neighbor of the Toran Republic (where the original took place), the game follows the Hero, who can named by the player (Official Name: 'Riou'), as he goes from being a member of the youth brigade for the Kingdom of Highland to being the leading figure of the kingdom's main opposition, the New Alliance Army. In acquiring one half of the Rune of the Beginning, the Bright Shield Rune, he is destined to become leader of the newly rebuilt Jowston army, and also to oppose the holder of the other half of the Rune of Beginning (the Black Sword Rune), his childhood friend, Jowy.

Updates from the original include a grid and unit based tactical battle system, the addition of a three rune slot system, a party inventory system, overall cleanup of menus in general, a "dash" button that allowed the player to run without a Holy Rune, and vast graphical improvement. Also notable is the inclusion of a variety of mini-games including one quite reminiscent of Iron Chef. A transfer of data from the prior game in the series enables returning characters to enter the fray with higher levels (of course recalculated to prevent level 99ers from appearing too early in the game) and improved weapons. References to the first game in books and such like are also adapted accordingly for a greater feel in continuity.

Suikoden II remains one of the rarest games for the PlayStation console, commonly carrying an asking price of more than $100 USD asking price from potential sellers, or up to as much as $250 USD for an unopened version of the game. The limited print run and the lackluster initial response led to the obvious low supply presently. Of course, as the series continues to reach a wider audience with its newer installments, the willingness of many to pay such high prices is a testament to the series' increasing popularity. Though the limited availability has made it the least played game in the Suikoden series, Suikoden II is nonetheless widely regarded by fans as the best of the five games released to date. Suikoden II was recently released on the PSP as a compilation of both Suikoden and Suikoden II in the Japanese market. There is no word yet on whether this compilation will spread to the American or European markets.

Combat

Like the original, Suikoden II contains 3 different types of combat.
*Regular battles. In this fighting style, the six person party the player has selected faces off with 1-6 enemies. This battle type is considered typical in RPGs, containing options for attack, magic(Runes), items, etc. This is the only battle style where the player can gain experience, items, or Potch(money).
*1 on 1. In this battle, the main character pits off against another character 1 on 1. This style of fighting only has three moves. Attack, Wild Attack, and Defend. This duel is played in a Rock, Paper, Scissors style where Attack beats Defend, Wild Attack beats Attack and Defend beats Wild Attack. The player can usually tell what kind of attack the enemy is going to perform by the taunts displayed.
*Massive battles. In this installation, the massive battles take a more interactive turn. While some of the shades of the old "Rock, Paper, Scissors" style battle of the original (where calvary beats archers, archers beat magic and magic beats calvary), Suikoden II introduces a grid style battle system remniscent to that of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms games. As the main character recruits characters for his castle, this opens up more options for more units. Certain characters are 'unit leaders' while others are 'supports'. Every character adds a certain amount of defence or attack to a unit. In addition, certain characters also add special abilities to the unit they are attached to. The numbers affect the chances of win or loss as much as the type of units being pitted against each other. Every unit may take up to a total of two 'losses'. Losses are counted when a unit suffers a severe amount of casualties. Each skirmish they take part in might result in no loss, loss on one side or even loss on both sides. As mentioned before, certain characters add special abilities to the units. Examples of these abilities include being able to take more losses than usual, magic or archery to allow attacks from a distance, healing of itself or others, etc. When a unit suffers its maximum losses it will retreat from battle, when this happens there is a possibility of the characters in the unit being wounded or even killed. Should a character be killed in a massive battle, they are considered dead for good.

Trivia

*The player can visit the Matilda area before this visit actually occurs in the plot by pushing a gate open when he visits the Muse area. This is a bug, as the gate does not open so much as the door itself can be pushed around as if it was a barrel. However, the enemies in this area are nearly impossible to defeat at that point in the game.
*If the player has loaded original Suikoden data into the game, a side quest will open up in which the Hero of the first game will become a playable character. If the Suikoden data was 'complete' (108 stars recruited,ect.), Gremio will also make an appearance as the Hero's companion as well as a gift to Suiko2's hero. One may then make return trips to Gregminster to request the first Hero to join the party. He will not stay in the player's castle, but will instead return to Toran whenever he is made to leave.

Story

The story of Suikoden II starts with two childhood friends, Jowy and the Hero who are both part of the Highland Army Unicorn Brigade, a youth army. Prior to an expected peace treaty with the neighboring state, the Confederacy of Jowston City-States, a surprise attack is launched which is later revealed to be a decoy. The Prince of Highland, Luca Blight, ordered the massacre of the Unicorn Brigade to drum up support for an all-out war with Jowston. After successfully escaping, the two friends become separated, each eventually making their way into Jowston; both are picked up by Viktor (from Suikoden I) who works for the City-States as a mercenary. During this time, the Hero and Jowy both unseal the Rune of Beginning, with the Hero taking the Bright Shield aspect and Jowy taking the Black Sword aspect. Unbeknownest to them at the time, the Rune was sealed there by Genkaku, the Hero's adopted grandfather and one-time City-State hero, and General Han Cunningham, of Highland.

As the Highland Army advances, the City-States start to unravel their unified defense in favor of protecting their own. Jowy eventually become disillusioned with Jowston, defecting to Highland after assasinating the mayor of Muse (the capital city of Jowston). With the city's capture and eventually the capture of South Window, the tide is only turned on the invasion when the Hero takes command of the castle in the ruins of North Window and sets up a new Jowston defense force, the Dunan Army. Before occupying North Window, the Hero's party runs into Viktor's nemesis, Neclord. With the help of the Star Dragon Sword, they drive Neclord out and set up North Window as their new base of operations.
Apple knows they will need more than a small castle to hold of the Highland Army, however. She knows that one of Mathiu's brightest students works as a merchant in a nearby town. The Hero and Nanami escort Apple to meet Shu. Shu says he wants nothing to do with the war, and refuses to discuss the matter further. The party hires a private investigator Richmond to find Shu's schedule so they can talk to him again. Richmond comes through, telling them of a meeting on the nerby dam.