Suikoden 2 Character Guide By Rally Vincent (Alex Cercone) Operatica@utena.org Well, this isn’t really an FAQ or any such, but it did take a fair amount of effort to write. You can put it on a site if you’d like, in this form, or use it for your own personal use, but if you use it on a site, write me, please. Talk to me if you want to use it save for your own personal use in any way. I’m not stingy, and I don’t get enough email as it is. Also note that this guide, by its very nature, is filled with spoilers, so don’t read it if you want to preserve the plot. I tried to avoid massive spoilers, but that can’t be helped all the time. My relative judgments on Tech, HP, and the like, were made by leveling characters to 50, and then comparing them with each other, as well as attempting to make use of them during the time I got them. Some of the judgments (Tec, mainly) are almost purely numeric, unless it actually notably makes a difference (like with the Hero, or Clive). Please email me with any questions, comments, criticisms, or anything of the like. This is my first real published FAQ, so I’m kind of new to all of this. ========= This guide is really just something I did after playing and infatuating over Suikoden 2. Useful information might be sparse, but you’ll get tons of subjective opinions on what and who I like. So there. Please note that all ‘grades’ are subjective in just about every manner. If you object to them, write your own FAQ, and prove me wrong. No Weapon Strength indicates that the person is a noncombatant. == The Stars of Destiny == (er, +2) 1. Hero How to Recruit: ... Level 16 Weapon Strength: 170 (M) Commentary: Well, regardless of whether or not you like him, it doesn’t matter. You’ll have to use him. Then again, I can’t imagine anybody not liking the Hero. He’s just about as powerful as the really big power-dealing studs, like Viktor and Humphrey. He’s also one of the fastest characters in the game, can equip pretty good armor, and has good magic. His Bright Shield rune will probably make him a massively valuable healer throughout the whole game, and even though the attack spell on it comes sort of late, it’s worth the wait. He gets a second rune slot early, and also gets a forehead rune after a pretty short time, so if you want attack magic on him, it’s convenient. Once the level 4 spell is unsealed, he’ll also have your most powerful attack spell. Easily the best character you’re gonna get normally. Overall: A+ *2. Abizboah How to Recruit: Keep a Listening Crystal until you get to the Tinto Caverns. A ways into the cavern, there’s a really large lake. Find the place that triggers the Crystal, and use it. Abizboah will join you. You have to get Feather, so just live with him instead of Sigfried. Level 16 Weapon Strength: N/A Commentary: Abizboah is the strongest character in the game, pretty easily. As far as the large monsters go, he’s probably your best bet, if you really want to use one, for some reason. His Blue Drop Rune is fairly useful, as it’s essentially a Buddy Attack. Problem is, Abizboah is really slow, and has really poor Tech. You can cure his speed with a Spark Rune, sure, but his aim is gonna be pretty bad no matter what you do. Still, though, he’s a Mack Truck, and if you like characters like that, and can lay some serious waste. Up to you. Overall: B- 3. Adlai How to Recruit: After you have Shu in your party, head down to South Window. Adlai’s house is in the Northeast part of town, near the Mayor’s house. Go inside, and he’ll ask you to run errands for you. First, get him a Sacrificial Jizo. You can buy one, or just steal one off one of your guys. Bolgan should have one. He’ll want a Wooden Shield next. Buy one at the South Window armor shop. Then he wants a Wind Crystal. Get it at the Runemaster’s also in South Window. He’ll continue this ad infinitum. As soon as the option comes up, lob your item at Adlai instead of giving it to him, and it’ll end the chain. He’ll join. Commentary: You’ll like him for building your elevator, which won’t have much purpose until your castle starts getting vertical. Still, it’s nice. The only way recruiting him could be a problem is if you’re an idiot who can’t distinguish a pattern, so there’s no reason to complain. Overall: N/A (The Elevator is worth a B, though) 4. Alberto How to Recruit: Get Annallee and Pico first. (See those two below). Then, head back to Tinto. You’ll have to do this fully after the Neclord plot thread. Alberto is working in the Armor shop. You’ve probably seen him before now. If Pico and Annallee are with you, you can recruit him. Commentary: Complements your Stars list, and is part of Annallee’s band. And also the dorkiest-looking member of said ensemble. See Annallee below. Overall: N/A (C for usefulness of songs) 5. Alex How to Recruit: After occupying your castle, go to the Inn in South Window, and on the second floor, Alex and Hilda will be there. Talk to them, and tell them the truth about who you are. Both of them will join you. Commentary: Alex is your castle’s item store owner, and just like in Suikoden 1, and as with all the other shop owners in your store, he sells no rare finds, and can sell anything you’ve seen in an item store. Alex’s store isn’t in the main store row, though. It’s above Leona’s bar, right next to Hilda’s Inn. In case you’re prone to search an FAQ instead of, you know, looking for two minutes. Overall: N/A (C+ for usefulness of his store.) 6. Amada How to Recruit: When trying to recruit Shu in Radat, you’ll have to duel him to close the flood gate. After that scenario, when you’re trying to line up a boat, you’ll have to go back to him again, and duel him again. He’ll then join you. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 140 (M) Commentary: Despite massively high Hit Points, Amada really isn’t all that good. He’s slow, and since he’s a Mid-ranger, you’ll be inclined to put him in the back row anyhow so that you can accommodate Short-rangers. His and Rikimaru’s Manly ATK Unite is fairly useful, for 2x Damage to a column, but column damage is about as useful as, say, playing Chinchirorin. You’ll have two beefy guys on your team if you choose to use it, but I don’t see it as worth it. When you get Amada, unlike when you first get Rikimaru, you’ll probably have better people to choose from. Overall: C 7. Anita How to Recruit: While it is possible to recruit Anita from the Bar in Muse-She’ll be sitting there, not doing much-it’s much better, and less of a hassle, to wait until Banner Village, where she’ll be at the Inn. Flatter her, and do her as many favors as she asks, until the option for her to join pops up, and then ask. You can just talk to her with Valeria in your party, too, if you’re lazy, though I've never done this. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 150 (S) Commentary: Anita’s pretty nice. When you first get her, assuming you do it in Banner, she’ll be quite a few levels higher than you, and thus she’ll be valuable in the upcoming battle against Luca. Her Falcon Rune is also pretty nice, as the -Hit% can be negated with a Thunder Amulet, or just ignored, since I’ve almost never noticed it anyway. She’s probably not as buff as most of your other Short-range attackers, but all in all, she seems worth the exchange. If you’re using Valeria, especially, their unite attack can be massively devastating. The game deciding not to explain why she and Anita are rivals, however, bugged the hell out of me. And, no, that’s not Anne Heche. Overall: B+ 8. Annallee How to Recruit: After beating Luca (No hurry, you can pretty much get her any time after that), go back to South Window, and visit the Inn. In a scene that’s surprisingly emotional for an optional character, she’ll be thrown out of the Inn for not having money. Before she goes, she’ll offer a song instead, but the Innkeeper will still throw her out. ;_; After that, go to the grassy knoll to the right of the Mayor’s house. She’s out of view on the main path, but run in there, and you’ll see her. If you talk to her, and abstain from being a jerk, she’ll join. Commentary: Annallee is the first of the three members of her band you have to recruit. After that is Pico, and then Alberto. They’ll sing various songs of the game for you as you get them. They hide behind the stage on the 2nd floor of your castle. Incidentally, I’m not sure if this is a bug in my copy of the game, but when Annallee sings her song before joining you, the game’s sound just blanks out. I just try and find some mood music on my MP3 list to make up for it. Anybody mind emailing me if they know what’s up with this? Overall: N/A (C for usefulness and fun of songs) 9. Apple How to Recruit: Apple will meet up with you in Toto, after it burns down. Escort her back to the Mercenary Fort, and she’ll vaguely join up sometime after that. Damned ambiguity. Commentary: Apple seems to have matured from her insane, half- retarded, obsessed Mathiu otaku persona in the previous game, at least, and actually serves a purpose this time through. If you talk to her, you can change the arrangement of your troops for strategy battles-but the game does a good job of this too, so you can, most of the time, just leave this alone, unless you really like the strategy aspect. Overall: N/A (C for usefulness of rearranging army units) 10. Ayda How to Recruit: After getting the Listening Crystals from Badeaux, go to the Forest Village. You’ll see a scene of her guarding an injured Griffin, and after fighting a few other Griffins, she’ll wonder what you’re doing, and if you choose to use a crystal for the Griffin-Feather-She’ll join. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 147 (L) Commentary: Ayda is really just a mediocre character. She’s a decent archer, and she’s pretty fast, but there are so many better long-rangers out there that you’ll forget about her pretty fast. She can unite with Stallion or Kinnison for the Bow Attack, but unless you feel a desperate need to hit everything, and you don’t, it’s not a great attack. Then again, she’s probably the best archer, in my opinion anyhow. That’s not saying much, since 90% of my judgments are rendered aesthetically, thus making this whole FAQ rather moot. Overall: C+ 11. Badeaux How to Recruit: Once you are able to access the Greenhill- Matilda Forest Path, take Shiro (the wolf) there, and talk to him. He’s very easy to find. He’ll join, and he’ll give you two listening crystals to recruit the L-Sized Monsters. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 165 (S) Commentary: Meh. Badeaux is the kind of character that I really can’t get into. He’s Short-range, so you would expect some power from him, but he’s really kind of weak. He has a unite attack with two monsters, but unless you’re really into using monsters for some reason, he’s just not worth it. And, frankly, he loses massive points for using as cool a weapon as a whip, but making it so stupid. Quistis would waste his sorry butt. Overall: D+ 12. Barbara How to Recruit: You’ll see her when you’re being held prisoner in the Mercenary Fort. She’ll disappear, but then reappear and join automatically when your castle is established. Commentary: Before you have to flee the fort, I recommend giving her all the stuff you won’t need for a while, as you won’t see her until your castle is established, and you can’t carry very much stuff. You can retrieve it or not once she joins for real. Incidentally, unlike Rock in S1, Barbara can only store 60 items - 6 screens full. So you’re gonna have to sell stuff to keep your storehouse usable. Unpleasant, but unavoidable. Overall: N/A (A- for usefulness of her storehouse) 13. Bob How to Recruit: He’s walking around the Kobold District of Two Rivers City. You’ll probably see him quite a few times before you can get him. Once you have 80+ recruits, he’ll join. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 165 (M) Commentary: Well, he’s better than, say, Badeaux (*cough*). His human form is really nothing special, and doesn’t warrant using. His werewolf form is actually pretty decent, but given that it takes a turn to transform into, is overwhelmingly not worth it. Compounded with the fact that he’s tolerable-not great-as a werewolf, I can’t see why anybody would bother, lest a Rastafarian fixation. Overall: C- 14. Bolgan How to Recruit: He’ll join you along with his sisters in Ryube until you end up in Kyaro, when all three of them will leave. He’ll then join again automatically as you progress the story in Coronet before going over to Kuskus. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 135 (S) Commentary: For a front-liner, he’s, again, pretty boring. He’s decently strong, of course, but not really worth it compared to a lot of the stronger front-liners. He has three unite attacks with varied people, but only the one with his sisters is useful - the other ones all involve hurting either himself or the whole party, so, really, there’s no reason to bother, as the unite with his sisters isn’t that phenomenal anyhow, and you’ll get to see that at the beginning of the game anyway. Is it just me, or does the female role in that one seem rather stupid? Overall: D 15. Camus How to Recruit: As part of the story, he’ll join you in Rockaxe with Miklotov after they abandon Gorudo. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 140 (S) Commentary: Well, finally, a front-liner that’s pretty good. He has a Rage Rune permanently affixed to himself, and isn’t a very good magician, so it’s rendered kind of useless. Well, not totally, but there are certainly better magicians. Aside from that, however, he’s a decent fighter, and his unite attack with Miklotov (And also Flik, if you’d like), is decently powerful, and often worth it. If you’re undecided, or just like the cute boy Knight Twins, Alen and Granseal, of Suikoden fame, he’s your guy. Also notable for his utter lack of resemblance to the French Existentialist of the same name. Overall: B 16. Chaco How to Recruit: After he pretty much ruins your time in Two Rivers, he’ll finally decide to join up with you when you’re finally leaving. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 140 (M) Commentary: He’s mid-range, so he can be somewhat decent, if you decide to put him to that particular use. Unfortunately, an extremely off-putting personality, combined with low hit points, and general all- around low stats make him rarely used. He has a unite with Sid, but seeing as you’ll have to give up two character slots to use it, and it’s not all that good in the first place, there’s little reason to bother. Moreover, his attack animation takes a very long time-much as I love random battles taking up huge amounts of blank wait time, I think I’m forced to abstain. Overall: C- 17. Clive How to Recruit: In an alley on the west side of Muse before the occupation, you will encounter Elza, a woman in a white cloak, who asks you hold some packages. Accept her offer. Continue North, and Clive will ask you if you’ve seen her. It doesn’t matter what you say. When you go to exit Muse, Elza will meet you again, and reward you with a Sound Set for helping her. Afterward, she will get you in the middle of a gun fight with herself and Clive, and then run off. Later, you will meet him again in South Window, but talking to him is useless until you’ve procured yourself a boat, after recruiting Shu. Talk to him once you have a boat, and he’ll join. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 140 (L) Commentary: Clive is probably the best long-range attacker you can hope to get. He’s very fast, has a decent attack (Eclipsed in long-range power only by Lo Wen), but most importantly, has massive, massive skill. It’s not at all rare for him to attack 3 or 4 enemies in one attack. If you give him a Double Beat rune, he can decimate the enemies something awful. While his HP are kind of low, and his magic skill is negligible, he’s a welcome addition to any party. And just try to pretend that he’s not screamingly cool. Try. Overall: B+ 18. Connell How to Recruit: Connell is hanging around in the Forest Village. After fleeing Greenhill, go and visit him, with a sound set in your inventory. He’ll ogle it, and then you can ask him to join. Commentary: Phonologist at Large, Connell! Despite his apparently holding a Masters in Linguistics, Connell isn’t that good, even as an auxiliary character. The sound sets are all phenomenally stupid, involving more squeaks and animal sounds than you can shake a 10-foot pole at. That’s a really stupid expression, but it’s not any stupider than having animals bleat at you when you try to open the menu to get said pole. Connell hangs out on your 3rd floor aerie. Overall: N/A (D- for usefulness and tact of sound changes) 19. Eilie How to Recruit: See Bolgan above. She joins at the same times, and in the same circumstances. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 140 (L) Commentary: For a Long-range magician, her attack is fairly powerful, and she’s pretty fast, too. While not as adept as her sister, thus seeing less use, she’s quite a competent character, especially if you take a liking to her. Best suited for exclusive use as a magician, though she never does get a forehead rune slot. What do you want me to say? She’s dull. Overall: B- 20. Emilia How to Recruit: When you’re infiltrating Greenhill for the first time, Emilia is the receptionist in the academy proper. After she gives you the tour, talk to her again, and tell her the truth about your mission. You did this correctly if she says “Don’t worry, I’m on your side!” or the like if you talk to her subsequently. Continue on with the Greenhill mission after that. It never shows her joining, which is sufficient freakout material for most of us, but she does actually join, so long as you confide in her. Commentary: She’s your castle’s librarian, and is frighteningly sexy and Lisa Loeb-ish for a librarian. Anyhow, give her the old books you find, and she’ll let you read them. Fun, eh? Her library is the building to the screen left of the main entrances to your castle-I missed this the first time I played for quite a long time. Overall: N/A (C- for usefulness of what she does) 21. Feather How to Recruit: See Ayda above. Feather will join at the same time if you use a Listening Crystal while there. Note that taking Feather along is required to get Ayda, so just do it, and choose between Abizboah and Sigfried. Level 16 Weapon Strength: NA (M) Commentary: The Large Monsters are generally not something I would even really bother with in most cases. Feather is fairly strong- more than Siegfried, but less than Abizboah. If you feel a fascination with Monsters, though, Feather doesn’t have the brute strength of Abizboah, or the magical power of Siegried. There’s something incredibly stupid about taking the middle road with something like gargantuan monsters, in my opinion. Overall: D 22. Fitcher How to Recruit: He’ll join your party automatically after Two Rivers, when Makai tells him to go with you. Commentary: Damned useless characters. Fitcher is fairly influential in the plot, but provides absolutely no real service in playing the game. Not that fun in the game, either. Just seethe at him. Overall: N/A (D- for his ever-valuable service) 23. Flik How to Recruit: You’ll meet him after jumping off the cliff with Jowy when escaping Rowd and Luca at the beginning of the game. He’ll join you periodically on and off before he automatically becomes a permanent character. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 150 (S) Commentary: Flik is buff. He’s a very adept short-line attacker-fast, strong, and fairly high skill rating. While his HP are a twinge low, he makes up for it by being a massively great Magician. His lightning rune will stay on him a long time for bosses, and any other magic rune you attach to him will easily make itself worth it. He’s one of the few characters to have two level 4 magic slots at any sane level. Add all this to a very story-oriented character, and you get a character that most of that almost everybody playing the game will use as a matter of course. Try though I have to tell myself not to use him on replays through, I can’t seem to carry through with that. I’m a weak, terrible human being. Overall: A 24. Freed Y (Freedy) How to Recruit: He’ll force himself onto you in South Window. Don’t worry, you couldn’t avoid him if you tried. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 150 (S) Commentary: Much as it’s not possible to dislike Flik, almost the same thing is true of Freedy. Well, the exact opposite, which is close enough. Freedy is massively annoying in personality, has pretty low all-around stats (with magic and speed suffering the heaviest blows), and just gives the overall impression that this guy should not, under any circumstances, be used. His being a front-liner makes this even worse, since there’s no way to use him without sacrificing anybody who’s really cool. But, no worry, he’ll not just force himself on you with the story one time, he’ll do it over and over. You’ll learn to hate him rapidly. Overall: D 25. Futch How to Recruit: In the Highway Village, you’ll find Humphrey in the Inn. Talk to him, and after your conversation, you’ll see a scene of Futch and a boy named Kent outside talking about dragons. Humphrey will pay for your lodgings. Kent will hear about a dragon on Mt. Rakutei to the north. Talk to Humphrey some more, and basically continue this until you hear that Kent has run away, lost. Humphrey and Futch will join you to go save Kent up north. Go there, and finish the quest. After beating the Harpy and finding the Dragon, Humphrey and Futch will join you for real. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 140 (M) Commentary: Well, he could be worse. He has baddish HP and defense, but you can put some fairly nice armor on him, so that can work itself out. All his other stats are slightly above average, so, for a back liner, he’s fairly tolerable. If you have an open back slot, and want an attacker, he’s not the worst you could do, by a long shot. Overall: C+ 26. Gabocha How to Recruit: He’s hiding in his house in the Kobold District of Two Rivers. Bring Gengen to see him, and he’ll happily follow you out. It doesn’t say “Gabocha joined you!,” but he did. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 140 (L) Commentary: Well, he’s certainly a cute little scamp. Unfortunately, he’s very weak. His stats are all-around below average, and will probably get decimated while not doing much real damage. If you desperately like Kobolds-A situation I doubt afflicts many-you can use both him and his idol Gengen and their unite attack, and hope for the 1/10 version. You can win a Dog Whistle to increase the chances of this from the highest league of Rope Climbing. Overall: C- 27. Gadget How to Recruit: See Meg Below. He’ll be forced to come along, against his dignity. Level 16 Weapon Strength: N/A (S) Commentary: Gadget is, for a barrel, a pretty good character. He’s built like a tank (albeit a wooden one), and has pretty good attack power, too. He falls short in some areas, but his unite with Meg is nice, if you can bring yourself to use her. Most people also seem to have a trouble with bringing themselves to use a barrel as a serious combatant. I am among them. I also just prefer to leave him in the castle to continue his ever-dignified flee from his evil creator. Overall: C+ 28. Gantetsu How to Recruit: You’ll see him standing in South Window as soon as you get there the first time, and he’ll declare himself a great priest, but shows no signs of joining. Much later, after you beat Neclord, take a party with a good strength total to go and see him, and beat him in his contest. He’ll join. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 100 (S) Commentary: For a mage, especially one of the 100-attack short- range mages, he has really nice attack and defense. Of course, there’s a fundamental reason why Luc and Viki don’t have massive attack and defense, namely, no one would use them for that, anyway. He’s still fairly weak, and his magic isn’t even all that fantastic. You probably won’t use him very much, less a massively desperate need for mages, since he’ll die right out if you try to use any of his physical “strength.” Overall: D- 29. Gengen How to Recruit: He’ll join at the mercenary fort to help you go get the flour. Such difficult reconnaissance requires immense supervision, apparently. He’ll end up joining automatically later as your army progresses. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 150 (S) Commentary: Well, for a Kobold, he isn’t as terrible as I’d like to have him be. His stats are fairly average all-around, but his Tech is fairly above average, if that’s something that interests you. In the beginning of the game, he’s not a character that should be overlooked, but he’s quickly eclipsed by, well, all the massively better people. If you really want, you can use him and Gabocha, and hope for their really good Kobold attack, but most people don’t see it as worth it. But if you feel that need, you should probably take a few more pills and hope it goes away. Overall: C 30. Genshu How to Recruit: After retaking Greenhill from Yuber’s forces, you can get the Silver Hammer from one of the apprentices in the Blacksmith’s School. Give it to Tessai, and sharpen someone’s weapon up to level 15. Once your castle is at 100+-ish recruits, you can ride your boat back to Kuskus. Chances are, it’ll still be blocked off by soldiers, but Genshu will be standing in a very obvious way really close to where you get off the boat. If you have enough recruits and a sharp enough weapon, he’ll join. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 160 (S) Commentary: Genshu is an all-around good swordsman, and, as such, his magic sort of suffers for it. Aside from that, though, he’s pretty nice to have. If you’re the kind of person who’s big on unite attacks that hit the whole enemy troupe, Genshu and Shin have one together. It’s not the best, but given that Genshu is a pretty nice character, it may be worth it. His rune is fairly useless, especially against bosses, so you may just want to concentrate on attacking with him. Overall: B- 31. Georg How to Recruit: After you’ve defeated Neclord, Georg will be standing in the Drakehill-Tigermouth Mountain Pass, on a small alcove off to the side of the main path. Depending on whether or not you tried to abandon the war with Nanami, you may have met him-he’ll rescue/encourage you if you do decide to abandon the war. Find and talk to him, and he’ll join you if you promise to see the war through to its end. Agreeing would be good. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 160 (S) Commentary: Georg is really quite an amazing character. He, save possibly Pesmerga, is the most powerful physical attacker in the game. Add to that the fact that he’s actually nicely fast, and also starts at about 10 levels higher than your hero (probably about level 60), and you have a character easily worth using. Despite a minimal role in the story, and fashion sense that you shouldn’t shake a 10-foot pole at, he’s a great character anyhow. But, come on, his outfit just screams ‘BROWN!’ which is really something that should just be said quietly. Anyhow, his magic is as close to nothing as you could hope to get, but you shouldn’t be using him for that anyhow. Overall: A- 32. Gijimu How to Recruit: During the Tinto/Neclord scenario, you’ll run into him on the Mountain Pass, when you’re there with Koyu. He’ll play a part in the story for a while. Then, after you’ve killed Neclord, he’ll join up with you. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 175 (M) Commentary: Despite some really tacky clothes and sideburns, I like Gijimu a lot. He’s middle range, so you don’t have to worry about freeing up a front-line slot, and, all around, has pretty nice stats. He tends to miss slightly more often, and, of course, is totally stupid with magic. Then again, he has a double attack like the hero, a brutally powerful weapon, and some nasty attack and defense. A great guy to have around. He has a unite attack with his two siblings, but it’s really not worth it, as empty slots fight better than his brethren. Overall: B+ 33. Gilbert How to Recruit: In your first strategy battle that doesn’t involve the Mercenary Fort (Battle #3, where you’re defending Muse), Gilbert will be in the enemy troops, slightly separated from them. You’ll have to damage and not kill him to get him to join. I’m actually not sure of the exact mechanism to get him to join, but be sure to save before this battle, just in case something happens. Commentary: Gilbert is a troop leader, only showing his face during strategy battles. His unit is decent (7/8), but nothing special, and has no special abilities innately. Just use him as you would any somewhat powerful normal assault team. Overall: N/A (C usefulness in battle) 34. Gordon How to Recruit: Gordon gets my vote for what has to be the most annoying character to recruit. You’ve doubtlessly seen the trading posts in towns around the world, and, as you probably have good sense, you’ve ignored them. Anyway, Gordon is the trademaster of Gregminster -visit him in the shop in the Southwest of town, and he’ll tell you that you have to make 50,000 potch by trading alone before he’ll join. Jerk. Anyway, you’re on your own with that. Just buy low and sell high. Try to find Ancient Texts in Kobold Village, and sell them at the Forest Village. You’ll need luck and annoying persistence to keep this from turning into a Catherine’s Wheel of a quest. I’ve always been impaled on this particular wheel, every time through. Commentary: Trading sucks. The only reason to bother with it is to get Gordon. You’ll wish you’d never seen him during your quest to get him. Be sure to buy a Celadon Urn form him to use to recruit Lebrante, if you haven’t already stumbled across one, and buying stuff in trading doesn’t affect the 50,000 you have to gain. I can’t hope to express my hatred toward Gordon in words, so I’ll just leave it at that. Overall: N/A (F, Trading is worth less than an F, but I restrain myself.) 35. Hai Yo How to Recruit: After the Two Rivers Scenario, go back to your castle, and go into the door on the Right. Explore the area around there until you find Hai Yo talking to one of your generic cronies. He’ll ask to join. Let him. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 165 (S) Commentary: Blech. The Suikoden games seem to enjoy putting useless characters that shouldn’t be allowed to fight in the battle rotation. Hai Yo is definitely one of these. He has absolutely no strengths, with stats all-around pretty low. Add to this the fact that he’s a short-range attacker with defense and HP worse than most back row attackers, and you have easily one of the worst characters in the game. Leave him to his Kitchen and fairly boring/useless Mini Game. As a side note, why does Gadget judge his contest? Overall: D- 36. Hanna How to Recruit: After Toto has been burned down, Hanna will be moping around there. Just talk to her and ask her to join. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 150 (S) Commentary: Hanna is a strikingly average character. Not just average in power, average in everything. She easily seems like one of the most forgettable characters in the game, has a generic picture and sprite, Even her weapons are just named “Blade,” “High Blade,” and “Steel Blade.” Oh, Hanna, you most certainly know how to add atmosphere to a weapon. As a warrior, she’s… you guessed it…averagely competent. Nothing more, really. She has an all-enemy unite with Oulan, if that sort of thing floats your boat, but it’s not a very good one-both of them end up unbalanced. If you like Konami’s fairly strange Amazon interpretations, though, she’s for you. Overall: C 37. Hans How to Recruit: You’ll hear people talking about an arms merchant in Two Rivers, who’s trying to get a license to run a shop. Go visit Hans on the second floor of the Two Rivers Inn. You can ask for any amount of money from him, but it’ll take longer for him to scrounge it up, and really isn’t worth it in the long run. It’s up to you, though. Any choice will result in his joining. Commentary: Just like Alex (see above), he’ll sell you any non-rare find you’ve seen in stores, only for Armor instead of items. You should get some use out of him if you like playing around with all your characters without stripping your main party, and have tons of money lying around. Overall: N/A (B for usefulness of his store) 38. Hauser How to Recruit: He’ll join you automatically after the Neclord scenario. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 160 (S) Commentary: His attack and defense are both pretty danged nice, but he fails as an appealing character to me personally. Not the least influential thing in this is that his character portrait HAS NO PUPILS. This still creeps me out. He, at best, looks like he’s rolling his eyes, and at worst looks like he’s possessed. He works fairly well as a front-liner, though. His magic is, of course, negligible, and his lack of defense in that area could get him hurt, as his HP seems slightly lower than average for a front-liner. Generally just gets tossed in with the slough of generic knights there already seems to be in this game. Overall: C- 39. Hilda How to Recruit: See Alex above. You really think they wouldn’t join together? Commentary: You’ll see a lot of Hilda, she runs your Inn. Not much aside from that. Just be thankful you have her to use to sate your utter desire never to spend even the smallest amount of money. Overall: N/A (A- for usefulness of her Inn) 40. Hix How to Recruit: Okay, this is a fairly long one. After the Two Rivers Scenario, you should find Hix and Tengaar bickering at the Lakewest Inn. Well, Tengaar is sort of whipping Hix into shape, but whatever. Then, go to Kobold Village, and visit the Elder’s house. Hix and Tengaar will be there, arguing over taking the “Unicorn’s Test.” Anyway, talk to them and stay the night, and the next morning, Tengaar will be … “sick,” … and only going on a Fetch Quest will “cure” her. You have to get three items to cure her. First is the Blue Stone - you can get it from the item store in South Window. Next is the Red Flower - It’s right at the entrance to the Cave of Wind. Finally, you’ll have to get the Green Bell - Go fairly deep into the Two Rivers Sewer, on the same path you went earlier to get to the boss. Eventually, you’ll find the Bell. You can tell if you’re doing this right, since a Kobold will scurry away near each of the items. After you have the Green Bell (Just as commentary, Tengaar is one of the funniest moments in the game here. I recommend responding with the truth.) and visit the Elder again, he’ll tell you to go into the Unicorn Woods to find Tengaar. Work your way through the Unicorn Forest, gathering the treasure, and fending off the enemies (they’re easy), and eventually, you’ll see Tengaar and the Elder (fast one, he is) at a tree. They tell you that it was all just a fake test (Really?), and that Tengaar was masterfully fooling you. Just then, the real Unicorn appears to the surprise of all, and Hix stands up to it, and they pass the “test.” Hix and Tengaar then join you. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 150 (S) Commentary: Much like Suikoden 1, Hix doesn’t seem like he’s worth the trouble. He wasn’t worth it in a fundamental plot quest, and he’s certainly not worth the annoyance here. For a knight character, he’s fairly fast and accurate, but that actually seems like a detriment to him, since he can’t stand on equal power ground with people like Humphrey and Valeria. His unite with his girlfriend is worth a fair amount of karma, but since you’d be better advised to just use his girlfriend and ignore him, why not give his front line slot to someone better? Overall: C- 41. Hoi How to Recruit: After killing Luca Blight, go to Radat, and visit the Bar. He should be telling no end of stories, and generally just pretending to be a rather disheveled version of you. Protect him, and after you get thrown out of the bar, he’ll tag along with you. He’s kind of distressed when you take him back to the castle, but he’ll stay anyhow. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 165 (M) Commentary: Imagine the hero, minus personality and battle ability and anything good, and you have Hoi. Well, Hoi still has the outfit and the Tonfa, but aside from that, an empty slot fights better than Hoi. He’s poor in every respect save accuracy, but why be accurate when you have no real reason to be so? Even if he hits, it won’t do much of anything. His unite with the hero is amusing, despite being a 1x damage unite, for some reason. My general inclination would be to kick him in the face, but the controller doesn’t seem to have that button. Sad, really. Overall: D- 42. Huan How to Recruit: He’ll join automatically with a slough of other characters at the official establishment of your castle. Commentary: He’s a non-fighter, but his wussy little apprentice isn’t. Anyhow, he plays a fairly major part in one big plot twist in the story, but just asks you about your bowels for the rest of the game. His heal ability is pretty useful for war battles, too. Overall: N/A (C-. Loses points for asking me about my bowels, gains it for his role in the story) 43. Humphrey How to Recruit: See Futch above. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 160 (S) Commentary: Humphrey is quite the studly knight. He’s massively powerful, built like a tank, and has lots of HP. I don’t need to talk about his magic, but suffice it to say that it doesn’t matter. Built like a tank, he tends to move about as fast as one, too, but a well-placed Spark Rune cures that problem. Despite my cynicism and general approval of such attitudes, Humphrey just doesn’t do anything for me in that area. He’s too quiet and dull. Aside from that, though, he’s easily high in contention for a front-line slot. Overall: B+ 44. Jeane How to Recruit: You’ll probably run into Jeane teaching Rune Crap at Greenhill while you’re there for the first time. She’ll say “Tee Hee” at you. That doesn’t really befit the teacher of Runedom at the most prestigious academy in the City-State, I would imagine. Anyhow, after Greenhill, go to the Rune Shop in Two Rivers, and bug her to join you and she will. Commentary: See Alex above, she just serves as a rune vendor. She’ll also be your main rune affixer/remover, as she’s the most convenient. Fairly cheap, too. Her war ability is pretty nice, almost guaranteeing an injury when it’s used. Too bad it’s a one-time deal. Overall: N/A (B+ for usefulness of store and usefulness in war.) 45. Jess How to Recruit: He sees you supposedly kill Annabelle very early on, in Muse. Way later, in Tinto, he massively distrusts you, and despite my screaming at the game to keep it from happening, he joins automatically after you finish off Neclord. Commentary: He gives a +2/0 modifier during strategy battles. And does absolutely nothing else at all. Should’ve killed Jess instead of Annabelle. Overall: N/A (D for usefulness in war. Combined with utter other uselessness.) 46. Jude How to Recruit: After you liberate Greenhill, go back into the academy, into the Blacksmith classroom. Jude should be in there, complaining about not having any clay. You may remember some kid in the Forest Village bragging about his stupid little stash of clay. Well, go find this kid after you talk to Jude, and he’ll give you clay. Visit Jude with the clay, and he’ll join up. Commentary: Jude’s sole purpose is to make your Guardian Deity. All the plans you collect throughout the game can be used to make different parts of the deity, and depending on the combination you choose (only the first one counts), you get some sort of token. None of it is necessary for anything, and you get Jude pretty late, so it’s not an essential thing. Fun, though. You can continuously reconstruct your deity, if you wish, but you won’t get any more stuff. Overall: N/A (D+ for usefulness of the Guardian Deity prizes) 47. Kahn How to Recruit: In the Cave of Wind, right before you reach the Star Dragon Sword, he will offer to join you to hunt Neclord. After defeating Neclord’s Abomination in North Window, Kahn will leave. Later, after Tinto is overrun, and you wake up in Crom, he’ll join you on the way out, once again to hunt Neclord. He’ll join normally after Neclord dies. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 165 (M) Commentary: A fairly decent character. He’s generally a fairly buff mage that seems to excel at non-attack magic. He starts with his Resurrection Rune, which kind of sucks, but give him a Water/Flowing Rune to get him as strong as you can. He’s decently strong, as well. Personally, I don’t like him at all, but he’s probably as good a support mage as any, especially if you don’t like weak mages. Overall: C 48. Karen How to Recruit: After killing Luca, go back to the Inn at Kuskus. There will be a puritanically-dressed woman that wasn’t there before. Talk to her, and offer to dance with her. At this point, she’ll strip down to something less puritanical, and you’ll have to play her little mini-game to have her join. It’s easy. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 165 (M) Commentary: As you would probably expect, the Dancer-type character, just as in Suikoden 1, is not really up to par with anything. She’s medium-ranged, making her low HP and defense slightly less of an issue, but she’s still prone to get ripped up pretty easily. She’s moderately adept at magic, and from the back line, can use it fairly well. But she’s too middle-of-the-line for a magic character, in my opinion-Her magic could easily stand to be better. Overall: C+ &&49. Kasumi How to Recruit: When you visit Gregminster as part of the plot, Lepant will let you take either Valeria or Kasumi along as Commander- in-Arms of the Gregminster troops. It should be implicit that, should you want Kasumi, you choose her. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 135 (S) Commentary: Good things and bad things about Kasumi, really. She’s fast, and she’s accurate, but she’s also short range. Given that her defense and HP are pretty low in general, they’re frightfully so for a front-liner. Of course, she is fairly fast, so she can dodge a fair amount of what’s thrown at her. It’s up to you. Also, if you recruit her, you can Get Mondo and Sasuke far earlier than if you choose Valeria, so getting to max will be easier. It’s up to you, though I recommend Valeria, but ninjas can be cool too. Overall: B 50. Kiba How to Recruit: In the battle immediately following the poisoning of King Agares, you’ll be facing Kiba. Once you win this battle, you’ll take Kiba and his son Klaus prisoner. You can have both of them join-be SURE to do so. Commentary: Kiba is a massively great army general. His unit is a tank (7/12), and he also has Heavy Armor ability to back himself up. It’s too bad he has no use in conventional battles, I can only imagine he would be just as much of a stud there. Given that you don’t really have to choose among army generals, you don’t lose anything by using him. You might want to stack him as massively powerful as you can, if you like messing with that sort of thing, but most people don’t. Overall: N/A (A for usefulness in war) 51. Killey How to Recruit: After the battle with Luca, he should be around the trading post/Inn area in South Window. It may be later-I’m not exactly sure, but he’s hard to miss-he’s the guy in flaming bright red. Mention Alex’s fascination with the Sindar to him, and he’ll run off to your castle. Go up to your item shop, and he’ll be accosting Alex, and then he’ll run back to South Window yet again. Keep begging him, and he’ll join. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 165 (M) Commentary: Fairly fast, and easily gets some points for style. Unfortunately, he’s massively average in the grand scheme of things, with only some above average speed speaking anything for him. He attacks twice, so he tends to do a bit more damage than someone of his power, but that’s pretty much negated since you have the Hero, and Gijimu if necessary to do this for you. He can defend himself pretty well, but he’s not really worth it in the end. Overall: C- 52. Kinnison How to Recruit: Durring Millie’s Subquest (see Millie below), take the first branch to the left in the forest (away from Bonaparte). You’ll see a bird lying, fallen from its tree. Put it back, and then go up along the path, gathering treasures until you get to Tsai’s house. He won’t be there, so go back. Kinnison and Shiro will confront you on the way out. Be honest, and they’ll join up. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 147 (L) Commentary: Kinnison, like Ayda, can unite with other Bow users for a somewhat decent attack, and can also unite with his pet for an attack that works against a column, annoyingly (or a single enemy, which is just pointlessly redundant among the unites). He’s, unsurprisingly, fast and accurate, with low HP and Defense, and moderate attack. He fits with any given archer fetish, though. Overall: D 53. Klaus How to Recruit: See Kiba above. They both get captured and recruited together. Commentary: He serves as a supplementary strategist in your story, but has no use outside of army battles. He gives a pretty nice bonus (0/3) to the unit he’s in, and also gives them Cavalry and Evade ability, which is pretty nice. One of the most useful army characters. Overall: N/A (B- for his power allocation in War) 54. Koyu How to Recruit: After Jowy betrays your group at Muse (The scene where Culgan tags along with you briefly), and you retreat back to your castle, Koyu will be scrounging around outside the front of your castle, and will join you to progress the story. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 175 (M) Commentary: Despite a buff weapon strength-the same as his brother-Koyu has none of the power his brother does, and, is in fact, pretty damned weak. He’s fast, and if you do decide to strengthen him up, he probably could be quite a good warrior, especially given his weapon strength. Or, conversely, you could make him a fairly good support mage, given his speed. Suffice it to say that he’s not really very good at either, but if you like versatile characters, he’s pretty good at that, what with all around averageness. Frankly, though, that just seems like choosing good ol’ bread instead of either a steak or a wedding cake to me. Overall: C- 55. L.C. Chan How to Recruit: With Wakaba in your active party, go to Crom Village (you can do this as soon as Crom becomes available). Find and chase him, and Wakaba will coax him into joining you. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 135 (S) Commentary: He’s a lot like Wakaba (see below), but all in all, seems to have more HP, and, oddly, be less good at everything else. This may just be me, of course, but he seems slower and less powerful than his protégé. Still, though, his HP are easily among the best in the game, and he’s strikingly powerful. If you have the Fury Crystals to spare, give one to both him and Wakaba, and then watch how powerful they can really get. All in all, easily worth it, especially with the Wakaba unite, but don’t use him alone. Overall: B 56. Lebrante How to Recruit: Visit him in the Radat Appraisal shop, and he’ll offer to join if you have 60+ members, but only if you get him a Celadon Urn. You can get one from the flying squirrels outside of Radat, or, if you wait, you can probably just buy one from the Trade Post in Gregminster. I advise the latter, as he’s really not worth the trouble. Commentary: He’s your castle’s appraiser. Thing is, he’s probably the most expensive appraiser in the game. Even though it doesn’t really matter, it’s still kind of an insult. Use him if you want, or just wait until the end of the game and get him then. Given the usefulness of appraisals, that’s what I usually do. If you’re not careful, though, he’ll go Colonel Klink on you. You’ve been warned. Overall: N/A (D- for his trying to rip me off) 57. Leona How to Recruit: Don’t worry, she’ll tag along with you, and find a bar to work behind no matter where you go. Commentary: What do you expect me to say? You’ll use her to swap your characters, so you’ll see a lot of her. No reason to say anything. She’s just cool. Overall: N/A (A, you’ll need her a lot) 58. Lo Wen How to Recruit: She’ll have been taken captive by Neclord as part of that particular plot thread. After killing him, she’ll join along with Gijimu. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 140 (L) Commentary: For a long range character, Lo Wen can dish out some surprising damage. Probably the most powerful long-range attacker you’ll get, and she also has fairly good HP for a back row character, and has decent (though not thrilling) magic power. She seems to be lacking that certain panache that’s in Clive that makes him such a wonderful character, however. I suppose you can’t expect to get the same sort of flair from one of those stupid Foxtail things we played with as kids as you do from a gun. Her skill is fairly low, so she won’t get off the massive multiple shots that he will, and though it doesn’t really matter in practice, her attack animation is some 10 times slower than Clive’s. I suppose even if she did attack as many times as Clive, it would be a pain to tolerate. Still, she’s pretty good, especially if you need or want a non-Clive back row attacker. Overall: B- 59. Lorelai How to Recruit: Much like Suikoden 1, get 60+ characters in your army, and then go and bug her to join. It may actually take a few more than 60, I don’t know the exact number, but regardless, it should be right before you fight Luca. She should be wandering around the northwest side of Gregminster, so you’ll want to make sure you have the characters before you take the long trek to get her. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 175 (M) Commentary: Lorelai is a very good all-around character. Her weapon is among the buffest in the game come the higher levels, and she’s pretty fast, with good Tech. Her attack is only sort of average as is her defense, but that’s not at all bad, considering that not only is her weapon there to compensate, but she has some pretty powerful magic, and gets a forehead rune slot fairly early on. If you put time into her, and work your runes right, she can easily become quite a powerful force to be reckoned with, and if you’re unsure on magicians, and don’t like the weaker ones, she’s your girl. Overall: B- 60. Luc How to Recruit: Don’t worry, Leknaat will bring him to join you, no matter how much you’d rather she not. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 100 (S) Commentary: Luc is probably the second best pure magician in the game, losing out to Mazus. Given to who he is second, if you like powerhouse magicians, Luc is who you’re going to be using for most of the game. As magicians go, there’s no room for complaint. His magic power and magic defense leave no room for complaint, and, as benefits a mage, he is insanely fast. Unfortunately, that’s all he has. His HP are pitifully low, eclipsed in suckiness only by his physical attack and defense. He comes equipped with a Pixie Rune so that he can attack from the back row, but you’ll get as much damage done if you just leave him I the back row unable to attack, so just take it off. If you need a big magician for exclusive use against a boss (Luca, for example), he’s a great choice, though. As an army squad leader, his magic attacks tend to be beyond insanely useful, too. If you’re in an offensive position, and the enemy isn’t moving, all you need to do is pick at them with Luc to make it cake walk. If you know what you’re doing, just choose to assault Greenhill, and use Luc to make the battle incredibly easy, albeit slow. Overall: C+ 61. Marlowe How to Recruit: He’ll join you automatically after you beat Neclord, whether you want it or not. Commentary: Despite a positive, and happy sort of atmosphere from Marlowe, he’s thoroughly and in every way useless. He doesn’t even have the advantage Fitcher has of being integral to the story, and apparently sneaking you in places and doing a lot of eminance gris work. Worthless. Overall: N/A (F) 62. Max How to Recruit: Max is kind of an enigma as to how to recruit, exactly. After you defeat Luca, wander around South Window, preferably recruiting somebody. Then, run around the exit area, going out of the gate, back in, wander around, et cetera. Eventually, he’ll run up to you and ask to join. Let him. If anybody knows the exact time and method to recruit him, send me a message. My scattershot way isn’t particularly efficient. Commentary: He’s an average/below average general (6/7) with cavalry ability. Be careful not to get him or his unit destroyed, subsequently screwing up your Stars. Overall: N/A (C- for his usefulness as a general) 63. Mazus How to Recruit: As you’re traveling through the Tinto Caverns to bust into Tinto the first time, you’ll doubtlessly at least catch a glimpse of Mazus, standing around. Weave your way around the ice slides, and you’ll eventually reach Mazus. Talk to him, and he’ll refuse to join you yet. Once your castle is built up to maximum-100+ people-go back and talk to Mazus again. He’ll join. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 100 (S) Commentary: Well, he’s the most powerful magician in the game, natch, and could easily be the last character you get. Despite that, he’s just like a more buffed up version of Luc. He’s slower, but has more HP, and better magic. He comes with a Thunder Rune, perfect for seriously smashing bosses. Two of his runs are permanently affixed, though, so you might not like that aspect particularly much. Exactly like Luc, his army squad can deal some serious whooping from a long range. While not usable in as many battles, you’ll appreciate the use you get out of him. Overall: B- 64. Meg How to Recruit: After the first Greenhill scenario, once you have rescued Teresa, travel to the Muse-Greenhill border. Meg will be trying to bust through, and will subsequently join once she figures out who you are. She’ll drag Gadget along with her. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 140 (L) Commentary: Much as she was in the previous game, Meg is an all-around bad sort of character. She’s long-range, sure, but her magic and speed are certainly not competitive in any real sense. Add to that the fact that her attack is pretty low, and her HP are really just average, and you’ll have a character you almost never want to use. You CAN use her with Gadget for a fairly useful all- enemy attack, but you lose a useful character slot if you do. Overall: D+ 65. Miklotov How to Recruit: See Camus above. You can actually have him tag along with your party a bit earlier than Camus, but they both really join at the same time. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 160 (S) Commentary: He’s basically a physically stronger version of Camus, and his other aspects, like Tech and magic, suffer for it. You can use both of them together for maximum effect, and also for a fairly useful unite attack (made more useful with Flik’s help). On his own, Miklotov is quite a good fighter-probably more powerful than Flik, really. He, of course, lacks the flair, though. My advice is the same as for with Camus - use them together, and add Flik for maximum effect, or just use neither of them, and scoff at the fact that Flik is so much better. Overall: B- 66. Millie How to Recruit: After coming back from Kyaro, and being given free reign to run around and recruit people, go back to Ryube. Millie should be wandering around North Ryube instead of South now. Offer to help her find Bonaparte, Millie will join, and you’ll be taken into the forest. While here, be sure to recruit Kinnison and Shiro (see Kinnison above). After that, go back to the entrance, and head right instead of left. You’ll see Bonaparte run away. Follow him, and he’ll fight you. He’s fairly easy, but just be careful not to run out of healing ability. When you win, Millie will join you for good. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 140 (L) Commentary: Millie is a massively cute character, to the point of it almost being painful. Her pet is oddly appealing, too. Less that, though, she’s not as useful as she should be. She’s a fairly good support mage, and can sit in the back row and deal out some decent rune power. Less that, though, she’s radically terrible. Her attack, HP, defense, and tech are all pretty bad, and her speed is really just sort of average. Her rune with Bonaparte lets her do double damage once, but that’s really kind of moot with the lack of damage she does. Still, decent, especially early on. Overall: D+ 67. Mondo How to Recruit: If you chose Kasumi in Gregminster, get some 60+ people in your party, and put Kasumi in your active party. On the path to Gregminster, after climbing the mountain, attempt to go south through the trees when you encounter a fairly long horizontal stretch. There’s somewhat of an indentation where you can go south-don’t worry, it’s not hard to find, just run along the south wall. Once you get there, you’ll be accosted and accused of spying. Kasumi will vouch for you, and the leader of this town-Rokkaku-will tell Mondo and Sasuke to join you. If you chose Valeria, you do this same thing, but have to wait for 100+ recruits, and they’ll join you without Kasumi. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 135 (S) Commentary: Stronger, slower, and less accurate than Kasumi, and also has more Hp. He, too, is a front line fighter, but is able to hold his own more with brute force. His unite attack with Kasumi is decent, albeit generic, and his Mayfly rune is fairly less useful, as it just blasts the front line at the cost of his balance. His magic is pretty bad, but you shouldn’t use him for that. If you like Ninjas, though, you’ll probably want to invest in using him and Kasumi fairly heavily. Their younger counterpart is less necessary, by which I mean ‘useless.’ Overall: B 68. Mukumuku How to Recruit: The best time to recruit Mukumuku is when you first visit Kyaro, after traveling over the mountain and defeating the mist monster. Search the big tree behind your house on the East side of town a few times, and eventually, he’ll come out and start following you. If you don’t get him here (you REALLY should get him in Kyaro, by the way), fight alone on the plains near Greenhill, and he’ll sneak his way into your party. Save yourself the trouble, and GET HIM IN KYARO. Level 16 Weapon Strength: N/A (L) Commentary: He’s decently strong, but that’s really all there is to say for Mukumuku. Bringing yourself to use a flying squirrel as a serious character is probably too much for most people, myself included. If you do get him in Kyaro (Have I emphasized the point that you REALLY SHOULD GET HIM IN KYARO enough?), you can use him as a fixture in your party for that plot thread, and it’s not bad to have an extra person for that. Aside from that, though, he’ll quickly fall into disuse. Overall: D- 69. Nanami How to Recruit: When you go back to Kyaro, visit your old house on the west side of town. Go out the back of the house, and Nanami will be there, praying. This will trigger the Kyaro scenario, but don’t worry, it’s not really possible to miss Nanami. Level 16 Weapon Strength: N/A. Level 15 Weapon Strength: 145 (M) Commentary: Well, she’s incredibly, incredibly fast. Aside from that, she’s not terribly powerful. Her magic is average, and despite having a double attack, is not going to develop into one of your massive damage-dealers. Despite this, I don’t really think it’s possible to dislike Nanami. She’s be forced on you fairly often, but most people will use her all the time, anyhow. Very compelling story characters tend to do that. To get the maximum use out of her, give her a Spark Rune, and have her speed bless the entire party. She also has a unite attack with the hero, which is good, unless you decide to use a Double Beat rune on either of the two of them. That’s up to you. All in all, though, a great character. Overall: A (I don’t care what her stats say, she’s an A character) 70. Nina How to Recruit: During the initial Greenhill scenario, Nina will play a major part, though she’ll surprisingly never force herself in your active group. After escaping Greenhill with Teresa and Shin, you’ll find that Nina tagged along, and will join. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 165 (M) Commentary: As a character, Nina is not the massive stud her demeanor puts her off to be. … Anyway, she’s just as strong as she looks, and is basically just slightly below average in every sense. As a support mage, she’s adequate, but so are an awful lot of people who aren’t dressed in plaid sailor suits. She does, as you expect, have a pretty funny unite attack with Flik, which gets more and more inappropriate as the plot gets serious. Overall: C- 71. Oulan How to Recruit: After the Two Rivers scenario, make your party comprise 5 women and your hero. Then, head off to Kuskus. Go to the west/south part of town (with the Inn, Blacksmith, etc), and wander your way around until you find a group of ruffians. They’ll comment on your having so many beautiful ladies around you, and they’ll kick your ass. When you wake up, you’ll find Oulan has saved you. You tell her who you are, and she joins. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 135 (S) Commentary: Oulan is a character that not enough people give a fair shake, I imagine. I didn’t either, my first time through. Upon actually using her, though, she’s quite powerful. She has very nice HP, defense, and attack power, as would be expected of a front-line attacker, and, for a change, defends surprisingly well against magic. Her rune is far from useless, too, if limited in use. As noted in Hanna above, their unite attack can blast away a whole group of enemies at the cost of balance-that’s your choice. I, personally, think that Oulan is far superior to Hanna, though, thus making the unite sort of moot. Despite her obscene fashion sense and character portrait that she stole from Suikoden 1, a good addition. Overall: B- 72. Pesmerga How to Recruit: After your castle has reached maximum size (100+), return to the Cave of Wind. Work your way through to the end- where you fought the Star Dragon Sword. Pesmerga will be contemplatively standing there. Ask him to join. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 160 (S) Commentary: Pesmerga is a massive, hulking, black-armored fiend. Despite his looks, the only thing he lacks at all is speed, which tilts the scales in his favor over Georg, in my opinion. Speed can be fixed with a well-placed Spark Rune, too, so it’s a moot point. Pretty much all of his equipment is frozen on him, but, again, when it’s the best stuff in the game that’s frozen on him, why is it a problem? It’s a pity he joins so late, but he also joins 5 levels higher than your hero, so you’ll probably be looking at a level 60 character or so when he comes in, so you’ll have an easy-made and long-lasting killing machine at your disposal. While I actually think that Viktor has more ... je nais sais quoi, and does more damage on the whole, Pesmerga is pretty much just as good. He also, really, just seems more like a killing machine than the somewhat fey and old Georg. Overall: A- 73. Pico How to Recruit: First, you must have Annallee (see above). After getting Annallee, you have to wait until the liberation of Greenhill. Then, go back into Greenhill, and find Pico in the Inn, dealing around with tawdry love affairs. You can mention Annallee, if you have her, and he’ll tag along with you. Commentary: Another musician to help you with your group. He’s probably the swankiest of the three. Not much else to say. Overall: N/A (C, for usefulness and fun of songs) 74. Raura How to Recruit: On your first visit to Tinto, you may hear the townspeople swoon over her. As you scale the town, you’ll eventually find Raura wandering around. She’s hard to miss, as she’s in full Cleopatra regalia. Talk to her, and if you have Jeane, you can let her go to your castle. Ponder how she gets back to your castle without getting massively lost. Commentary: Aside from her quite funny navigational sense, poor, name-challenged Raura is the scroll maker for your castle. Problem is, you have to sacrifice crystals to make scrolls. I can’t speak for anybody else, but I never use scrolls, regardless of anything, so her store really just gathered dust. Still, you need her for completion, and she’s thankfully easy to get. Overall: N/A (F for usefulness of store) 75. Richmond How to Recruit: Richmond will help you when you are recruiting Shu. After Shu has joined, go back to Radat, and find him again near the Appraisal shop. Take his challenge on a coin toss, and you’ll lose. Go to the tavern, and find a man there who’ll tell you how Richmond cheats, and will give you a normal coin. Show it to Richmond, and he’ll join. Commentary: Richmond is quite the amusing character to play around with. If you’re reading this, you won’t need his help on recruiting characters, he can still uncover neat and funny secrets about every member of your army. If you’re a completionist, or just like one character in specific, have Richmond find out neat crap about them. It adds a lot to the game. Be sure to investigate your odder characters for best results. Overall: N/A (A for fun factor) 76. Ridley How to Recruit: During the Two Rivers scenario, you’ll have to prove your allegiance to his and the Kobolds’ cause. Once you do (you’ll do this automatically during the story), he’ll join. Commentary: Ridley is a pretty good army general, with a really nice attack, and some good defense (10/7). He also has Critical, making him able to annihilate a unit in a single attack. Get him a unit with cavalry, and you’ll be in a good place. As a side note, if you choose to run away with Nanami during the Neclord plot, Ridley will die. This won’t ruin your game, as Ridley’s son, Boris, will take his place. Boris is not as effective a general as Ridley, but given how late this happens in the game, you can run away and kill Ridley off without too much of an impact on the difficulty. Try both on different runs through the game. Overall: N/A (B+ in Wars) 77. Rikimaru How to Recruit: In Ryube Village, you’ll find him lying around sick when you’re going around to recruit characters for the first time. Offer to take him to the Inn and help him. He’ll gorge himself, and you’ll get charged 3000 potch for his food. Pay it, and he’ll join up. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 160 (S) Commentary: For the first stretch of the game, Rikimaru is pretty much indispensable. He’ll be massively powerful, have insane HP, and basically be as powerful as the hero. He shouldn’t touch magic, but that’s not a problem that’s likely to come up for a while. Invariably, in my games, though, he seems to fall out of use around South Window. No reason, it just seems to happen. Regardless, he stays powerful throughout the whole game. He and Amada have a unite, if you like column attacks for some weird, masochistic reason, and his HP and attack stay high without fail. He’s slow as an ox, but it’s fixable. I guess he falls out of use as less ogre-like people appear to round out instead of imbalance a party. Read that sentence again. It will make sense. Overall: C+ 78. Rina How to Recruit: Rounding out the Circus Trio, see Bolgan above. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 140 (L) Commentary: Rina is the kind of mage most people like the most. Her attack and defense are pretty low, but her strength often belies how much damage she does. She doesn’t take damage very well, though, and her HP are, of course, low. Nonetheless, she’s very adept at magic, gets a forehead rune slot fairly early on, and has squarely average speed. While she may not seem like a fantastic character in any regards, use her as a mage, and watch her excel at what she does. Rina is probably the best of this type of mage character, as well. Overall: A- 79. Sasuke How to Recruit: Rounding out the Ninjas, see Mondo above. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 140 (L) Commentary: Sasuke is the youngest and least experienced of the Ninja trio, and, believe me, it shows. While fast, he’s not as powerful as Mondo, nor is he as fast or accurate as Kasumi. His one saving grace lies in the fact that he’s long range, and thus not as intrusive as the other two ninjas, but what he lacks isn’t made up for by this. Even worse, he’s the least adept at magic, making his back row slot tenuous at any time he happens to be in your party. His Cutie Boy unite with Luc and Futch also isn’t worth it, as status conditions suck, as does Luc with physicality. Better to let him whine in the dojo. Overall: D+ 80. Sheena How to Recruit: You’ll see Sheena whining at Tai Ho when you’re in Coronet to get a boat. Later, he’ll appear at your castle after you defeat Kiba, and before you head off to Gregminster, and will force himself on you. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 150 (S) Commentary: There isn’t a single person alive who doesn’t violently hate Sheena in numerous, almost obscene ways. This includes nuns, the Amish, and Euglena who normally live out peaceful little pond lives. Getting over his repulsive personality would be easier if he wasn’t dressed in a Jennifer Beals sweater with part of his sports bra showing. Were Sheena more powerful than the Hero, I still wouldn’t use him. To be objective, though, he’s nowhere near as useless as he managed to be in Suikoden 1. He’s moderately strong, and is decent with magic. You could do worse with him in terms of power, but if you use him, you’ll have to live with Mother Superiors around the world laughing at you. And they will. Overall: C+ as a character, D- as a personality. 81. Shilo How to Recruit: Shilo is hanging out in the Bar in Lakewest. After the Two Rivers scenario (I’m fairly sure this is when it first opens up, but the timeframe on him seems odd.), talk to him in the Inn, and he’ll say you seem different. Ask him to join, and proceed to wince in pain as he demands you play Chinchirorin to get him to join. Go against your instincts to run away screaming, and win 5000 potch from him. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 140 (L) Commentary: Chinchirorin is massively annoying. I don’t see how anybody can like it, even less so in a video game with no one else around. I doubt you’ll be visiting him much to play around, especially with the AI being nastier this go round than it was in Suikoden 1. I keep having fantasies about that one chip in the bowl violently goring him. As a fighting character, Shilo is blatantly generic, with all that he really has going for him being long range. If you need a boring character, or like his hair, he’s your man. Overall: D 82. Shiro How to Recruit: See Kinnison above. They travel together. Level 16 Weapon Strength: N/A (S) Commentary: Having only played this game in English, I’m forced to wonder how one would distinguish Shiro and Shilo in Japanese. I’ve even read numerous pre-release Suikoden 2 reports saying that Shilo and Shiro were one and the same, in human and wolf form. Odd, that. Anyway, Shiro is quite superior to his “namesake.” His attack grows high insanely fast, and he’s one of the fastest characters in the game. His main problem lies in the fact that his HP is fairly low. For a front line fighter who can’t equip any armor, this is a fairly big problem. You might have to keep a healer on his tail (pun blatantly intended) if you want to use him as a regular. While using animals in my party isn’t my personal preference, Shiro would be the one to use if I wanted to. He can also, as evidenced by the Greenhill scenario, apparently be mistaken for a school child. People in the City-State really are stupid. Overall: C 83. Shin How to Recruit: See Nina above. They join up with you at the same time. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 160 (S) Commentary: Shin is like a weaker version of Genshu (see above). He’s pretty strong-not as strong as Genshu, but you get him earlier. He has a fairly useful unite attack with Genshu, too. Those two crazy swordsmen. Shin’s Spider Slay rune is also pretty nice, for a 1x use rune. No reason not to use it if you decide to use Shin. While strong and accurate, the biggest problem I have with Shin is that his defense seems obscenely low for a swordsman who is supposed to live in the front line. He dies an awful lot, especially if ever hit directly. Personally, that’s enough to discourage me from using him almost at all. You might be more patient, but I’m not. Overall: C- 84. Shu How to Recruit: Recruiting Shu is a major plot point, so it’s all forced, but it’s complicated nonetheless. When you go on your mission to recruit him, go to his house. Apple will ask him to join, but he’ll refuse. Go to the bar, talk to some people, and as you leave, Shu will come in again. Apple will beg him to join, to be met with more refusal. Go find Richmond near the Appraisal shop. Pay him to go spy on Shu, and then go to the inn and talk to the innkeeper. Richmond will then tell you that Shu has to make an important trade, and will be at the port tomorrow night. Wait at the bridge, and eventually Shu will come and be mad that you’re continuing to accost him. He throws a coin in the river, saying he’ll join if you find it. But you can’t search the river when it’s full. Talk to a guy on the left bank in green, and ask him to close the gate. He won’t. Then, talk to Amada, and he’ll offer to close it if you can beat him in a duel. Take care of him, and he’ll say he’ll close the gate. You spend the night searching, and just as you lose all hope, you find a coin. It turns out that Shu palmed the coin, but Richmond threw it back down for you. Shu will concede, and will join you as your chief strategist. Commentary: This is going to be fairly short compared to how to recruit him, I would imagine. Anyhow, Shu is an immense plot element, so you’ll have to deal with him. He’s a great asset in war (3/0), and also adds Critical and Evade. Be sure to use him well. He usually works better not on the hero, for me, as I have this massive paranoia about never bringing the hero to the front lines. Overall: N/A (B+, the 3/0 is great in wars) 85. Sid How to Recruit: After the Two Rivers scenario, put Chaco in your active party. Then, go back into the sewers. You may have run into Sid before, but he just scares you off. From the first ladder you go down, head directly left, and through a somewhat hidden passage, and then head up through the door once out of the passage. He and Chaco will argue, and then he’ll join. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 140 (M) Commentary: Well, Sid is really just a generally stronger version of Chaco, in most ways. He starts with a Waking rune, which is so painfully worthless that you’ll want to get rid of it immediately and sell it, whether or not you use Sid at all, just so none exist in the game. Less that, he -is- just a stronger version of Chaco. A bit stronger, and with better HP. If you need to use a winger for some reason, he’s the one you should use. As noted above, he and Chaco’s unite is pretty bad, and takes up two character slots. Wingers really aren’t very good. Overall: C 86. Sierra How to Recruit: Depending on whether or not you run away from the war with Nanami, she’ll join at different points. Either way, she’ll join automatically as part of the Neclord plot thread, and isn’t difficult at all if you choose to fight her. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 135 (S) Commentary: Sierra is a pretty good magician, and comes with a somewhat decent Darkness Rune. Then again, it can be removed, so that’s sort of moot. She also has a double attack, but the painfully glaring thing about her is that she’s a mage-one with only decent attack and pitiful defense-who is also a short ranger. Given that there are back line attackers who are better with magic, and front line attackers who are much more powerful, Sierra works out to be the worst of both worlds. Use her if you have a thing for Vampires, I suppose. All her unite attacks are equally useless. Overall: C+ *87. Sigfried How to Recruit: After you do the Tengaar/Hix subquest, and get Badeaux, you can go and get Sigfried. Go back to the end of the Unicorn Forest where you first saw him … he’s the Unicorn … with a listening crystal. Wander around the central tree (The exact point is kind of hard to find, so wander around for a bit), and eventually Sigfried will come out. You have to have a “Pure Maiden” in your party for him to join you-it’s easiest to just bring Nanami to him, though, since she’s probably in your party anyhow. Accept his betrothal, and he’ll join. Level 16 Weapon Strength: N/A Commentary: The weakest of the big Monsters. While still high, his HP, Defense, and Attack leave something to be desired for the fact that he takes up two slots. He’s supposedly making up for this with the fact that he has a rune, and is fairly adept at magic, but really, his rune is nowhere near fantastic, and to add insult to injury, the spells on it don’t even look cool. Despite his runes sounding like really bad Fantasy Novel arcana, they’re just not good. Really slow, too. Easily not worth it. Overall: D+ 88. Simone How to Recruit: As soon as you can, go to Banner Village. At the item store there, a Rose Brooch is a rare find. Get it as soon as you can. Then, head back to the docks at Radat. On the left bank, Simone should be standing there. Trust me, you’re not going to miss him-his outfit doesn’t allow for such things. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 140 (L) Commentary: I know what you’re thinking. It probably involves thinking of Milich Oppenheimer, which is in no ways a good thing. Of course, just like Milich, on the basis of character power alone, he can’t be immediately dismissed. His only glaring flaw is his defense, and he’s a long range character anyhow. Aside from that, his magic is fairly good, and his attack is certainly competent. As a back line support mage, he’s among the best. He also has an all-enemy unite attack with Vincent, which is certainly decent, especially if you can bring yourself to use the two of them. Easier said than done, though. It’s hard not to wince in pain at Simone and Vincent, in any capacity. Simone attacks by lobbing roses at the enemy, and spends his idle battle animation sniffing said roses. Add to that the stroke-inducing faux-Italian/French “Rose” theme, and see how long you stay sane. Same with the unite attack. I’m not man enough to use the two of them, so I can’t comment extensively. Overall: B as a Character, D for tolerability. 89. Stallion How to Recruit: You’ll see him running around in Radat. He won’t offer to join until around Two Rivers, but keep bugging him, and he’ll eventually challenge you to a race. Beat him, and he joins. To beat him, you need to run or let go from 50 battles. If you haven’t hit that number yet, he’ll tell you how many more times you have to. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 147 (L) Commentary: Rounding out the trio of bow users with incredibly strange ending weapon numbers. I’m sure we all remember Stallion, and, as you’d expect, he’s the fastest character in the game. His True Holy rune is back, so you get the huge map speed again, and you get 100% run rate, even sans let go. Aside from that, he’s not terribly good. Average strength and HP, okay Tech, and bad everything else (excepting Speed). If you like the Bow unite, he can be used with it, too. All in all, though, easily forgettable, more so with that hideously ugly character portrait. Overall: D- 90. Tai Ho How to Recruit: He’ll initially transport you from Coronet to Kuskus, after you beat him at (*shudder*) Chinchirorin. Later, after you get your castle, head back to the furthest East docks in Kuskus, and he’ll be there talking to Yam Koo. Beat him AGAIN at that infernal game, and he’ll join. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 140 (M) Commentary: As far as spear users go, Tai Ho is probably the second best one. His attack and tech ratings are both pretty high, and you can put him in the back row to avoid damage. Other than that, he’s fairly average. All in all, a decent character, but you can do better with long range attackers-and preferably find ones that are more adept with magic. Also, given that spear-specific runes are pretty poor, he’s not really worth it at all, less nosalgia. Overall: C- 91. Taki How to Recruit: As soon as you get your boat, head off to Lakewest. Go to Taki’s house on the northwest side of town. Talk to her repeatedly, and eventually, she’ll kindly offer to join you. Commentary: Taki is really a very sweet grandma character, and while she fills Onil’s requisite role of gossip, she’s a lot nicer. She doesn’t do anything save tell you where you should go, and maybe tell you about high-altitude baking directions, but she’s likable and sweet. Overall: N/A (D for usefulness, B+ personality) 92. Templeton How to Recruit: As soon as you can, go to Radat, and pass through the town, back to the initial area of the game. Visit your Mercenary Fortress, and Templeton will be there, wondering what’s going on. He’ll give you a cursory greeting, and then leave. Follow him to Toto, and meet him again. This time, he’ll join. Commentary: When he joins, Templeton will give you the uber- useful (for a while, anyhow) Suiko Map, making him an immediate boon. Later, you can find him mulling around the Library’s main office, with his really big map. You can use that map to get specific information on every location in the game, and what every town contains, but it’s not terribly useful. Nonetheless, his Suiko Map rocks. Overall: N/A (B for usefulness of his map, as it fades in use later in the game) 93. Tengaar How to Recruit: See Hix above. She’s not going anywhere without him. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 140 (L) Commentary: It’s stunning, but with so many usable characters, the development team kind of had to double up on a few of them. Looking at Tengaar and then looking at Rina, one can’t help but to compare. By comparing, you’ll see that they have different sprites. And character portraits. That’s pretty much it. Tengaar seems to have a few more HP than a comparable Rina, but that’s probably it. Fortunately, a fairly good character concept was duplicated, so using both of these two will make for some pretty intense magic power. Tengaar can unite with Hix, if you want to use them together, for a fairly decent attack, albeit one that hurts Hix. Overall: B+ 94. Tenkou How to Recruit: Go to Crom Village, and have a Window Set in your party’s items. Find his house, and show him your Window Set. Continue the conversation, and let him join. Commentary: Unlike Connell, Tenkou’s ability can be used without making you feel like you’re making a mockery of the game. The window settings are subtle enough to be used with tact, just enough to subtly influence and individualize a game. I’m thankful there aren’t any window borders featuring little Hero faces or something. None I’ve seen, anyhow. A nice character to have around, and a sweet old man complement to Taki’s sweet old lady. Overall: N/A (B+, as the window changes are actually pretty nice) 95. Teresa How to Recruit: She’ll join automatically with Shin and Nina after you flee Greenhill. Commentary: She’s only usable in strategy battles, and she functions as a pretty damned good archer unit. She has the largest range of any strategy unit, which can be complemented with Chaco’s Fly ability, or any +movement unit. She also has Bombard ability, which is useful for up to 5 squares, for great long range attack. She’s pretty weak (5/6), but you can probably keep her away from the heavy action. All in all, a nice unit to use. Overall: N/A (B+ as a general) 96. Tessai How to Recruit: After you liberate Greenhill, talk to the students in the Blacksmith classroom. They’ll mention Tessai (and you can also get the Silver Hammer from one of them). Go to Kuskus with Viktor in your active party, and Tessai will be in the Smithy. With Viktor there, Tessai will beg to see the Star Dragon Sword, and after an amusing argument, Tessai will tag along to your castle. Commentary: If you get the Silver Hammer from the student in Greenhill, you can give it to Tessai as soon as you recruit him, and you’ll have level 15 Weapon Capacity. Later, after you have infiltrated into L’Renouille, exit the castle, and head northwest to Sajah Village, which is small and isolated. Go to the item shop, and the Gold Hammer is a rare find. Give it to Tessai to get level 16 Weapon Capacity. A massively useful character, you’ll use him a lot once you get him. Overall: N/A (A for usefulness. He makes your weapons the best they can be [in the Army].) 97. Tetsu How to Recruit: Tetsu lives in a house on the North side of Lakewest. He’s a bath master, and likes people with a Toasty Complexion. Go to the Kobold section of Two Rivers, and go to the item shop. Buy a few Fried Tacos, and then eat them until you become Toasty. Then go back to Tetsu, and he’ll see you appreciate the value of baths, and join. Commentary: Not much to say about him. The baths are fully autonomous from the plot-if you bring related characters (Like Flik and Viktor, etc) in to the baths alone (by which I mean Hero and these people), you’ll get a special scene depending on the model of bath, which you can change if you’d like. As an annoying side note, the first time I played Suikoden 2, Tetsu was my last character, as I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what to do to get him until I accidentally got toastied from some tacos. Stupid Tetsu. Overall: N/A (C- for usefulness of baths) 98. Tomo How to Recruit: After Ridley is taken captive (or not, whatever. Just the battle where he’s overwhelmed and SUPPOSED to be captured), Tsai will decide its time for a non-sequitur little fetch quest, and will say that he forgot some tools. For some reason, the leader of a huge rebel army decides to accompany him to do this. At their house (see Tsai below), Tomo will accost Tsai, and then force her way into your group. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 140 (M) Commentary: For some reason, Tomo is buffer than her dad, and is the best spear user. The two of them have a unite attack to damage the whole front row, which can be useful, or not. Like Tai Ho, put her in the back row, and just stab away with her. She seems slightly weaker than Tai Ho, but she’s faster, and seems to hit criticals more. While spear-users are not terribly powerful, she’s probably a good person to use, if only once and in the battle against Luca, as a good back liner. Overall: C+ 99. Tony How to Recruit: Just like Wakaba (see below), visit Tony at the Mayor’s house in Forest Village before going to Greenhill. He’ll say he’s just too busy to join. After Greenhill, talk to Tony again, and the mayor will suggest he help you. Commentary: Tony serves two purposes. First, he takes the seeds you find, and plants them, giving you ingredients for cooking. Second, and more important, if you talk to him, you can play Whack-A-Mole. The prizes are useless for the most part, but the game is addictive as... er, the main part of the game. He hangs out in the garden on the west side of your castle on the second floor. Overall: N/A (D+ for vegetable stuff, A+ for Whack-A-Mole) 100. Tsai How to Recruit: After Toto has been burned down, and you return to the Mercenary Fort, Viktor and Flik will ask you to fetch Tsai from his house near Ryube. If you’ve already recruited Millie, Kinnison, and Shiro, you should know what to do. Go in the woods behind Ryube, and take the left path, going until you reach Tsai’s hut. He’ll be there, and will tag along. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 140 (M) Commentary: Wow. All the spear users’ names start with “T,” don’t they? The redundancy is more and more apparent as I trudge on. Anyway, Tsai is pretty much exactly the same as Tomo and Tai Ho, jus a bit worse than either of them. His Unite with Tomo is described above. While in normal combat, he falls short, he’s easily one of the most massively useful characters in strategy combat, as his fire spears will quickly prove to be one of your most used weapons, easily cutting through any size defense. Overall: D+ as a character, A for Fire Spears. 101. Tuta How to Recruit: Early in the game, he’ll join you with Gengen for your deadly and trying flour expedition. Later on, talk to Dr. Huan in Muse, and before Muse is overrun, Tuta will join for real. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 140 (L) Commentary: Well, what do you expect from an annoying little sycophantic 11 year-old? Weak, defenseless, HP are a travesty. Fairly fast, but, really, what does that matter? Really only has his back row position and his speed to fall back on. Early on in the game, if you use him creatively, his Medicine rune might save a life or two, but so might ending that battle some 4 turns earlier due to his not being there. Just pass on Tuta, please. Overall: D- &&102. Valeria How to Recruit: See Kasumi above. Just pick Valeria instead. Not hard, is it? Level 16 Weapon Strength: 150 (S) Commentary: Much like Anita above, Valeria is probably not the most stunning of all the front line attackers, but she’s one that has sass, nonetheless. Valeria’s Falcon Rune seems more effective than Anita’s, especially if you have a Fury Rune helping Valeria along. I’ve seen it do upwards of 2000 damage with its special animation. She’s fairly strong, and she can equip a shield, making for a fairly well-armored attacker. If you forgo the Fury Rune for a Balance Rune, she and Anita can unite for a massively devastating unite attack, at 3x damage. Then again, they both have Falcon Runes, so if you want to use the unite or not, it’s your choice. I prefer Valeria to Anita, mainly for nostalgia and also aesthetic sense, but they’re both really good, and often make it to my final party. Overall: A- 103. Viki How to Recruit: When you’re wandering through the Forest Path from Greenhill to Matilda, she’ll materialize in front of you. Offer her a home, and she’ll go there. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 100 (S) Commentary: Well, all things considered, Viki is probably your single most useful character, and you’ll use her insanely often. To be realistic, you probably won’t use her in battle much at all. Viki completes the trio of Hyper-Mages that also comprises Luc and Mazus. She’s the weak link of the chain, though. While equally weak and wholly incompetent at physical situations as the other two, her magic really isn’t as strong, and she can be eclipsed in magic power by some of the more normal mages, like Rina. She and the octopuses have a fairly amusing Unite, too, and I bet you can figure out the general premise behind it. She has a Blinking Rune permanently affixed to herself, and given that it really isn’t really that good, it can be a pain. And her spells backfire more than any other character, really. Still, as far as quirky and fun characters go, she’s pretty good, and she’s still by no means a bad mage. But you can leave her for teleporting without much guilt. But I haven’t met anybody who doesn’t love her personality. Overall: C- as a character, A+ for teleport usefulness. 104. Viktor How to Recruit: See Flik above. They both basically skirt back and forth, and don’t really join until the castle is firmly established. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 170 (S) Commentary: Seriously, Viktor just plain rocks. No if’s, and’s, but’s, or conjunctions of any sort. Viktor is the bee’s knees. The fly’s elbow, even. He is every major joint of any given insect species in the entire world. Despite characters like Pesmerga and Georg, Viktor seems to dish out harsher damage than anybody else on the field, vying with Hero. If you’re into insane damage, get him a Fury Rune, and even combine that with a Double Beat Rune. As you’d expect, magic is hardly his forte, but who cares? The man’s a tank. Even more than that, though, I don’t think people would avoid using Viktor under any circumstances-he’s the kind of character you use in your party, even if you tell yourself you’re not going to, and even if you’ve used him every time prior. He and Flik are probably the major contenders for everyone’s favorite characters in this game, save the big three plot characters, and he -is- my favorite character, as it so happens. So do yourself a favor, and don’t pretend you’re not going to use him. Just play with him, and enjoy it. Overall: A+ 105. Vincent How to Recruit: Once your castle is built up to Maximum, put Simone in your active party, and head right back to where you found Simone in the first place. If you have enough people, Vincent will be standing at the docks. He and Simone will have a disturbingly heartfelt reunion, and he will nobly offer to join your cause. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 150 (S) Commentary: Well, in this game, he can at least fight. I really can’t say outright if that’s a good thing or not, though. Vincent falls slightly below his “dearest friend” in terms of usefulness-he’s a front line fighter, but his HP and defense are pretty low for that sort of job, especially considering how late in the game you get him. His unite attack with Simone can eliminate a fair number of enemies, assuming both of those two are really powerful, which really doesn’t happen. Much more of a novelty character, and falls pretty square in the average range of ignored characters. Overall: C- as a character, D for tolerability. 106. Wakaba How to Recruit: After the Two Rivers scenario, go and visit the Forest Village, northwest of Greenhill. She should be standing near the south entrance. Chat with her for a bit, and then go on with the game. After fleeing Greenhill, go back and talk to her again. She’ll join up. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 135 (S) Commentary: In my opinion, she’s more useful than her teacher. She has fewer HP than L.C., but seems to make more critical hits and generally be faster and stronger than him. This may just be me, of course. Also, if you use Wakaba, you don’t have to deal with a really stupid character sprite and portrait. As a character, Wakaba’s really pretty nice. She can dish out fairly heavy damage, and even though her defense is low, she can soak up damage like a sponge with her HP. Easily one of the best front line fighters. Of course, if you’re into insanity, you could team her up with L.C. Chan, give them both Fury Runes, and watch their unite attack. It’s devastatingly nasty-the only reason I don’t crown it an ultimate attack of sorts is that I prefer to keep my Fury Runes on Viktor and Flik, and I also hate L.C. Chan. Try it, though. It’s really fantastic, especially if you like martial artist characters. Overall: A- 107. Yam Koo How to Recruit: See Tai Ho above. They join together. Commentary: This time around, he doesn’t fight, but he just lets you play a fishing mini game, useful for getting ingredients, or just screwing around. It’s a decent game, but by no means as addictive as Whack-A-Mole or the like. Just decent. Overall: N/A (D- for fun of his game) 108. Yoshino How to Recruit: As soon as Freedy joins your party (forces his way in, whatever), go to Radat, and go to the south side of town. Head into the yard with some unfinished laundry, and Freedy should act sort of strange, and say it’s nothing. After you’ve recruited Shu, put Freedy in your party again, and visit this yard again. Yoshino will be there, washing her laundry. She’ll whine at Freedy, and then ask you if she can join. Let her. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 140 (M) Commentary: Really, does it strike anybody else as odd that a normal housewife is running around with a naginata? I suppose I haven’t washed enough laundry in my time to come upon the demon sheet that requires immediate suppression with a nasty spear. Anyhow, as far as characters go, Yoshino is nothing special, lumping together with the other spear users. She’s actually probably the weakest among them, but I rank her slightly above Tsai, mainly just on an aesthetic perusal, and I’m probably deluded by cute girl syndrome when judging her, but she does seem better with magic, even though she’s lower in most other senses. Really just a sidebar character, though I’d easily rather be caught using Yoshino than her husband. The two of them have a 2x damage unite that unbalances Yoshino, but are you going to waste slots for THESE two? Overall: D 109. Yuzu How to Recruit: After completing Two Rivers, and preferably also the Hix/Tengaar Subquest, head to Kobold Village. Yuzu is a small girl who’s wandering around near the middle of the town, possibly in the shade, so she’s easy to miss. Just look for the non-generic sprite. Talk to her, and she’ll say her sheep are missing. Offer to help, and she’ll take you to the Unicorn Forest, where you can pick her sheep up. After you do this, she’ll join. Commentary: Yuzu runs your ranch. She takes all the animals you buy or find, and gives them a home. You can, in a rather macabre twist, use them as ingredients for food. She’s a pretty cute character, too, so she’s appealing to sensibility, too. Overall: N/A (C- for usefulness of her farm, B+ for cuteness) 110. Zamza How to Recruit: As soon as you have Nanami in your party, go to the Inn in Toto (before it burns down), and talk to him. He’ll force his way on your group. Or, if you miss him, and Toto burns down before you recruit him, you can find him in South Window. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 135 (S) Commentary: Ugh. You know, I forced myself to use Zamza to be impartial and try and use every character in the game, but I felt like I’d just sold my soul, only to have it eaten by the Beast Rune, and voted for a third party candidate all at once. Easily, far and away the most irritating character in this game, a spot only slightly contended for by Sheena. But Zamza is much worse. I don’t know how that’s possible, as he’s not even a major plot character. All he does is hang around and whine, and put a snide comment or two in your suggestion box. Yet, somehow, I still see him as worse than having one’s gums scraped with rusty, bloody glass. How is he as a character? Tolerable. Fairly powerful, an okay magician, but slightly slow. His Fire Dragon Rune is okay if you put a Fire Sealer on there too. But if you use Zamza, you will feel your soul tarnished for all eternity. Overall: C+ as a character, F in every other sense humanly imaginable. *Among Abizboah, and Sigfried, you have to choose one of the two. You don’t have to get Feather, but if you don’t, you can’t get Ayda, and thus, not all of the stars. && Choose between Kasumi and Valeria. Whichever you choose, it won’t affect your castle-you can still get all 108 stars. == Non-Stars == ** Jowy How to Recruit: Jowy will join automatically and stay with you as part of the plot, until he leaves. At that point, you won’t get him back. Commentary: Jowy leaves directly after Muse is invaded the first time, so he’s not with you for very long. You can also only get his weapon up to level 5 on your own. Despite that, Jowy is a massively fantastic character, rivaling Viktor and Hero in terms of power. His magic power is tremendous, and he’ll get level 3 spells as early as the Sindar Ruins, if you’re lucky. His Black Sword Rune can seriously dish out nasty damage, and he’s also fast, strong, and has really nice HP and defense. Jowy’s unite attack with the Hero is also the single most useful attack in the game, and until Jowy leaves, you’ll be using it nonstop. It’s a sad day when Jowy leaves. Much later, he’ll join up with you for one more battle-be sure to check out their revamped unite and also Jowy’s level 4 spell. Overall: A ** Makumaku ** Mikumiku ** Mekumeku ** Mokumoku How to Recruit: Take just Hero (And Mukumuku, if you wish) to the plains of Greenhill, and wander around and fight enemies until any of the given squirrels join. You can wander around with other squirrels and still have the remaining ones join, too. They all join at more or less specific places-The Greenhill-TR Path, Greenhill-Forest Village, Greenhill-Forest Path, and the clearing below the Forest Village. They seem to appear more often during your first excursion to the Greenhill area, right after Two Rivers, rather than any time after that. Commentary: Okay, take Mukumuku as a sort of base. Each of these squirrels has one stat (Str, Speed, Tech, Mag) better than him, and usually has all of the other stats suffer for it. All in all-all 5-together almost make a usable character. Too bad this usable character takes enough space to house both it and 4 other better characters. Do it for completion’s sake, not for any real power. Their unite attack really isn’t very useful either, especially considering you need all 5 of them to do it. Overall: They all get Ds, but Mokumoku is more powerful, so he gets a D+. ** McDohl (Or ()cDohl, whatever the naming thing decided to do.) How to Recruit: Getting McDohl requires the most advance preparation of any character. You have to start by loading save data from Suikoden 1, data that’s at the very final save point in Gregminster Castle. Play the game like normal, until you beat Luca. After that, head back to Banner Village. Talk to the little kid who’s obsessed with you. He’ll say that someone who looks like General McDohl is staying at the inn, but just spends all day fishing. Go back to the little pond behind the Inn, but as you’re going there, Gremio will block your progress. Talk to Ko once again, and he’ll offer to distract Gremio by pretending to get into trouble. Go back to Gremio, and as you do, Ko will scream, and Gremio will run off. Continue on to the Dock, and you’ll see McDohl there, fishing. All your Suikoden 1 Characters will give him a cursory “Long time no see” speech blurb. Go back to town, and at the Inn, you’ll find out that Ko’s actually went and gotten into real trouble. McDohl joins you as you go look for him. Take the normal path to Gregminster, and head through as normal. You’ll eventually find the bandits who kidnapped Ko. They’ll see Hero, and they’ll see McDohl, and they’ll be sufficiently freaked by the two mute teens to get the hell out of Dodge. They left Ko back at that big open Boss clearing, though. Go to get him, and you’ll find another worm, identical to the last. Kill it, but when you do, it will evolve into a poison moth. What you do now doesn’t matter-if you can kill it, go ahead. You should be able to with McDohl and a decent healer - Hero - in your party. If you want, lose to it, and you’ll get to see the Soul Eater and the Bright Shield’s level 4 spells lay waste to the moth. After this, you’ll rescue Ko, and take him to Gregminster for treatment. While there, there will be a lot of cut scenes, and after the situation is cleared up, you’ll be escorted back to Banner Village. After this quest, you can travel back to Gregminster, and recruit McDohl at any time. Level 16 Weapon Strength: 165 (M) Commentary: McDohl is actually probably the true best character in the game, if only because of his rune. Aside from that, he competes with Hero on almost every level. They’re both massively powerful, fast, have high HP and defense, and nasty magic. Thing is, McDohl uses his Soul Eater rune, which is just as nasty as you remember it. He has massive amounts of magic, and his level 2 spell is a 500 to all enemies affair. Judgment is also just as nasty as it was before. McDohl and Hero unite for an attack that’s almost as good as the Buddy Attack, but in execution, it’s really just about the same, as both characters are so ludicrously powerful. The Drawback is, of course, that if he ever leaves your party, you have to go back to Gregminster to get him again. It’s up to you if you want to do this - he’s easily worth it, especially if you’re nostalgic. This is the pinnacle of nostalgic characters. If you decide not to use him, though, you should do his subquest as early as possible. He has some nice equipment that you can loot, regardless of anything else. Overall: A+ ** Ruloidia How to Recruit: After you get Abizboah, go back to the place where you got him with another Listening Crystal. Use it, and you can recruit Ruloidia. Level 16 Weapon Strength: N/A Commentary: Ruloidia is another big monster, and it’s rather annoying that they made getting her such a detriment. If you get Ruloidia, you just can’t get all 108 Stars of Destiny, as she isn’t one. This rather quickly makes her totally useless. As a character, though, she’s pretty good. She’s a bit weaker than her husband, but she’s also still pretty good, with the same Blue Drop Rune, and also a Flowing Rune to add some healing power. Aside from that, she’s just faster, and toned-down version of her husband. Not worth the sacrifice she demands, though. Overall: B- as a character, F for screwing up the game. ** Chuchara How to Recruit: After you have Abizboah and Ruloidia, go to the docks in your castle. You’ll see Chuchara. Chase him around until you his parents show up, and he’ll join. Level 16 Weapon Strength: N/A Commentary: Chuchara is a baby octopus, so he only takes up one attack slot. Aside from that, all he has going for him is the fact that he has the best physical defense in the game. Nothing else about him has any merit at all. So unless you need to soak up damage, don’t bother. And given that you have to sacrifice the best part of the game to use him, don’t use him or his mother at all. Overall: D+ as a character, F for the same reason as Ruloidia above. == Thanks == Aside from Konami, I’d like to thank Sir Aronar (sir_aronar@msn.com), for the very well-written whole-S2 FAQ/Walkthrough he did, which I used to confirm small things like the existence of characters. His guide is probably one of the nicest to use. Thanks, Sir Aronar. == Fin ==