Suikoden II/The mercenary fort

Tenzan Pass
Your adventure begins at Tenzan Pass. You and your best friend Jowy are members of the Highland Kingdom's Unicorn Brigade. Jowy will ask you what you want to do. You can choose whether to go directly to sleep, or to leave the tent. In this way you can practice the controls and talk to the other members of the brigade, to better understand the situation. When you're done, go back to your tent and go to sleep. During the night you will be awakened by a surprise attack: it seems that the City State with which the kingdom of Highland is at war has just broken the peace treaty. Captain Rowd will tell you to flee east via the path. So go in that direction. After a while however, Jowy will tell you that the enemy may have ambushed you in the forest. You can answer with the option you prefer: in any case you will be forced to go back. Back at the camp, you will discover that your captain and the evil Highland prince Luca Blight have betrayed you: what happened was only a set-up to simulate a surprise attack of the City State and resume the war. At this point you can choose whether to talk to Captain Rowd, who will send a group of soldiers against you, or flee. Either way, you'll be forced to flee north. Along the way you will have to fight other soldiers. These battles are very easy to win, but to do it faster, it is advisable to use the Unite "Buddy Attack". This is a very useful move, which you will have to constantly use as long as you have Jowy with you. Eventually you will come to a waterfall and find that your only hope of salvation is to jump into the water. Answer the questions as you like: in the end Jowy will draw an X on the rock in any case and you will promise to find yourself there if your ways separate. Then you both jump into the water.

After the opening credits of the game, you will wake up on the banks of the river, where you will be found by Viktor and some soldiers. Viktor is a fighter of the City State. Answer as you like to his questions, in the end he will still take you prisoner in his fort with Flik.

Mercenary Fort
The next day, your friendly jailer Pohl will give you the first task, to move some crates against the back wall. To do this, it will be enough to walk against them. When you're done, grab the rope and exit to talk to Pohl again. If you have done everything as requested, he will give you dinner (answer any way you want to his question) and you can go to sleep.

The next day, Pohl will ask you to bring him 2 pairs of boots, 3 flints and 2 bags of flour. Go to the fort blacksmith upstairs and he will give you the flint. Then talk to Barbara, the cleaning woman on the left, but get 3 pairs of boots instead of 2. This way, you can keep one for yourself and equip it. Finally, talk to the shop assistant, who will tell you, however, that the flour is finished. Tell this to Pohl, who will instruct you to go and buy more flour from Ryube. Talk to Leona, (the woman in red) upstairs, who will instruct Gengen and Tuta to accompany you to Ryube. Then exit the fort.
 * Gengen recuited
 * Leona recruited
 * Barbara recruited

You will first find yourself on the world map, where you can run into random encounters with enemies. Ryube is however very close, northeast of the fort, you can reach it in seconds, without encountering any enemies. If you want though, you can walk around the map and take on some combat to start racking up some money and experience points. When you're ready, enter Ryube. Head to the item shop and talk to the clerk, he will give you the flour. You are then free to explore the village and talk to the villagers. If you have saved up some money you can upgrade your equipment at the armory or have your weapon sharpened at the blacksmith. You will notice a group of acrobats, Rina, Eilie and Bolgan and a girl named Millie. You'll deal with them later. Head back to the world map and to Victor's fort. Talk to Pohl to go to sleep.

The next day Pohl will ask you to clean the floor of oil stains. Nothing easier. Enter all rooms of the fort to remove all stains. Once done, talk to Pohl to go to sleep. That evening Jowy will join you and you will try to escape together, but you will be caught by Viktor and Flik. Respond and act as you like: you won't be able to escape in any case. You will both be taken to prison. Later Jowy will come up with a plan to escape. Answer as you like to his questions. Eventually you will escape and decide to return to Kyaro, your home village.

Once on the world map, however, first return to Ryube village. Here you will meet the three acrobats again and the hero will be chosen by Eilie for the number of knife throwing. Never move. After the show, the three acrobats will offer you to travel together, since they also want to go to Kyaro. Accept (first or second option), because they will be very useful to you along the way. Upgrade your gear if you get the chance and head back to the world map. Your next destination is North Swallow Pass, north of Ryube.

North Swallow Pass
Rina will distract the guards and you will be able to enter. The path is quite linear. At the first fork, go left to find a chest containing a Fire Wall. You can also drink the water from the pond to restore your energy. Go back and this time go right. At the next fork, take the right first to reach a chest containing an Escape Talisman, and at the third fork, take the right first, to reach a chest with a Brass Armor, which you can equip. As you walk, you may run into random encounters with enemies. For the most part they are easy to defeat and won't give you any trouble, especially if you use the Buddy Attack. However, you may encounter enemies called Assassins, who can damage you heavily. In case of a fight, don't hesitate to use Rina's spells or an attack item. Eventually you will come to a save point. Heal yourself if you are injured, because the first boss of the game awaits you a little further north.

Boss Fight – Mist Shade
Use Rina, Eilie, and Bolgan's Unite Circus Attack whenever possible to deal massive damage to the boss. While Bolgan is unbalanced, use Rina's spells and normal physical attacks. The Buddy Attack is useless here because there is only one enemy, so the hero and Jowy can attack normally, hoping perhaps for a critical attack. Don't hesitate to use a healing item whenever a character's hit points are below half. After a few turns you should defeat the boss.

Once the boss is defeated, continue north and at the only fork go right, to find a Feathered Hat that you can equip. Go back and keep going straight, to get back to the world map. Kyaro Village is immediately to the north.

Kyaro
Upon entering Kyaro, your companions will go their separate ways and Jowy will head to his house. You will be free to explore the village and shop. You can also rest at the inn if you like. You will notice that the inhabitants will treat you coldly, accusing you of being a traitor. You'll need to reach Master Genkaku's house, which is located northwest of the village. Before entering, however, examine the large tree at the back of the house several times. A squirrel will join you.


 * Mukumuku recruited

Enter the house and take the ? Book from the bottom left room. Then go out the back door to meet your sister Nanami. Introduce yourself how you want. Nanami will greet you passionately and she will join you


 * Nanami recruited

Before leaving the house, you can choose to take one of the three vases on the cabinet. The most valuable is the middle one. As you exit, you will be surrounded by five Highland soldiers, who you will have to fight. Captain Rowd will then come to arrest you. If you answer with the first option you will be immediately arrested, if you choose the second you will have to fight five more soldiers and you will be arrested anyway. Jowy will also be arrested and you will both be sentenced to death as spies. As you walk, you will be approached by Princess Jillia Blight. Answer her as you like, your destiny will not change. Even while you are on the gallows, you can answer Captain Rowd with any option you prefer. Viktor and Flik will rush to save you. Jowy will tell you that you should save Nanami, agree. Viktor and Flik will then join you.


 * Viktor recruited
 * Flik recruited

When you go to free Nanami, you will find that Nanami (and Mukumuku if you recruited him) has already freed herself and will join you. Head to the exit of the village. Nanami will ask you if you will ever return one day. Answer as you like. Then cross the North Swallow Pass again (now, thanks to Viktor and Flik, the Assassins shouldn't bother you anymore) and go back to the mercenary fort.

Back to the fort
Flik will suggest that you recruit some people. From now on, you can add or remove characters from your party. To do this, just talk to Leona. Choose the characters you like, then head to Ryube village. Make sure you have at least 3.000 potch when you enter.

At the entrance of the village you will immediately notice a man in a blue jacket lying on the ground. You will have to help him and when he asks you to buy him food, agree. You will automatically go to the inn. Eventually the innkeeper will present you with a bill of 3.000 potch for Rikimaru's lunch. Pay the bill and he will join you.


 * Rikimaru recruited

You are free to shop if you still have money. Then talk to the girl named Millie, who you may have noticed earlier and ask her what's wrong. She will tell you that her pet Bonaparte is lost and she will ask you to help her find it. You accept. Millie will join you. Then go north, entering Ryube Forest. Here you may run into random encounters with enemies, but none should bother you. Proceed north and at the fork go right. At the bottom you will find Bonaparte, who will attack you. Defeating it is not difficult. Use the hero and Nanami's Unite Family Attack and other characters' normal attacks. In a few rounds you will have the upper hand. Millie will ask if Bonaparte is cute. Answer her however you like, in any case Millie will definitely join you.


 * Millie recruited

Go back to the fork and this time go left. A little further on you will find a nest at the foot of a tree. Analyze it and choose to reposition it on the tree branch. Then head north off that screen and immediately go back. You will find Kinnison and his hound Shiro in front of the nest. Kinnison will ask if you brought the nest back to the tree. Say yes and then tell him that you are looking for new companions. Kinnison and Shiro will join you.


 * Kinnison recruited
 * Shiro recruited

At this point go back, continuing is useless. Exit Ryube and return to the world map. Go northwest, until you reach Toto's village, bringing Nanami with you.

Once in Toto, a little girl called Pilika will meet you. Jowy will explain that her family rescued him when you jumped into the water. Answer her questions however you like, eventually Pilika will invite you to her house. Before going to her house, however, go to the inn. Here you will meet the wizard Zamza. If you have Nanami in your party, the two will start arguing and eventually Zamza will join you.


 * Zamza recruited

You'll also notice a warrior named Hanna in town, but she won't follow you right now. Then go to Pilika's house, in the north of the village. Pilika will tell you that she saw a wooden amulet in a Muse shop and will ask you to go and buy it, to give it to her father. Answer however you like, you'll have to go to Muse anyway. Cross the bridge west of the village and you'll be back on the world map.

Trip to Muse
Muse is west of Toto. Just before the city you will notice a small and mysterious inn on the edge of a wood. You can stop there to recover your energy if you want. Then enter the city.

Muse is the capital of the City State and is much larger than the villages you have seen so far. For the moment though, there's not much you can do here. Feel free to talk to the inhabitants and buy in shops what you think might be useful. Your one essential stop is the item shop. Here the shopkeeper will sell you the wooden amulet for 500 potch. Much more than Pilika told you. You can choose whether to pay it or refuse. You'd better refuse. In this case, in fact, Jowy will sell his ring for 2.000 potch and you will earn 1.500 potch! All done, exit the city and return to Toto.

Here, however, a nasty surprise awaits you: Highland attacked Toto and completely burned the village. Pilika will come towards you crying. Her parents are dead and from now on she won't speak again in shock. You will then be joined by a woman named Apple, who will explain what happened and she will ask if you know Viktor. At that point, she will ask you to take her to the fort. Pilika and Apple will follow you. As soon as you leave Toto, however, immediately reenter it. You can talk to Hanna, the warrior who roams the destroyed village and ask her to join you.


 * Hanna recruited

Then return to Viktor's fort.

Ryube’s Forest
Once at the fort, Apple will report to Viktor and Flik. Go and rest in your room. Jowy will tell you that he doesn't know who to trust anymore, answer him however you want. Leona will call you, saying that Viktor wants to see you. Then join Viktor in his room. Viktor will explain that your only hope of defending yourself from the Highland army lies with the Fire Spears. However, he needs someone to make them work. This person's name is Tsai and he lives in Ryube Forest. He will then ask you to find Tsai. You agree. Flik will also give you 2,000 potch to deliver to Tsai, telling you not to spend it along the way, but you can ignore the warning, as Tsai won't want to be paid later. Then choose your party, exit the fort and return to Ryube Forest.

Once in the forest, go back to where you met Kinnison and continue. The path to follow is easy and quite linear. You can still find a Leather Cape and a Gauntelet. Eventually you will come to a hut, go inside. It seems that no one is there, but after a few seconds Tsai will come back and ask you what you want. Tell him that you need his help and Tsai will join your party.


 * Tsai recruited

Then do all the way in reverse until you come out of the forest. Got to Ryube though, you will discover that the evil Luca Blight has set fire to the village, massacring many people. Jowy will want to fight; you can choose whether to do nothing or try to intervene, but you will still be stopped by Tsai. When the soldiers are gone, you can return to the fort.

Defending the fort
Back at the fort, go upstairs, to report to Viktor. Tsai will immediately start working on the Fire Spears and Viktor will tell you to escape to Muse. You can choose whether to answer him to consent or to want to fight alongside him. If you choose the first option though, while trying to leave Jowy will force you to go back to help. You will therefore have to fight in any case. Flik will then tell you that he will let you fight with them if you even manage to hurt him and he will challenge you to a one-on-one duel.

You will face a one-on-one duel for the first time in the game. It is a good opportunity to understand how it works. Don't worry too much in this first fight, you are still too weak to compete with Flik and your only goal is to inflict some damage on him. It is not difficult to understand from his sentences what his moves will be, so act accordingly. As soon as you've dealt him some damage, the fight will end.

Viktor will assign you a unite of soldiers to lead, after which you can go to sleep. The next morning Pohl will wake you up telling you that the Highland army is about to attack. Exit the fort and talk to Viktor to start the battle. Now you will face your first field battle. Even this first experience is perfect for understanding how they work. You can only command one army unit, all others will move automatically. Get close to the enemy troops and use Fire Spears to attack them. You can also just follow Apple's instructions. After just a few turns you will have the upper hand and the enemy will retreat.

However, you will not have time to cheer for your victory. Talk to Viktor and Apple outside the fort, then the Highland troops will immediately attack again. You will then have to face another field battle. This time the situation is diametrically opposite. You can do whatever you want in this battle, you won't be able to win in any case. Your defeat is predicted by the storyline of the game. As soon as the battle begins you will find that the Fire Spears no longer work. Soon the enemy troops will surround the fort and you will be forced to surrender.

Flik will tell everyone to flee. Jowy will go to rescue Pilika, choose to go with him (you can't do otherwise). Climb to the upper floor of the fort, where Luca Blight will mercilessly kill your friend Pohl and then try to kill Pilika as well. You can choose to intervene, but it will be useless. Suddenly, however, an explosion will make Luca fall. Viktor and Flik will enter the room, saying that he threw the Fire Spears into the boiler. You will thus be able to escape, while Viktor's fort will be burned.