Suikoden II/Stopping Highland's Advance

Recruiting Shu
Head to Radat, east of South Window. You will be free to explore the village and shop. You'll also notice some recruitable characters, but they won't follow you right now. Go to Shu's house (you won't have a problem finding it). Shu will receive you, then he and Apple will have a discussion. Shu will refuse to join you, claiming that he has now embarked on a career as a trader, and will dismiss you. Then go to the village bar. When you are about to leave, you will meet Shu again and Apple will try again to convince him to join you, but in vain. Answer her however you want the first time, agree with her the second time to speed things up. Exit the bar and go south. Near the appraisal shop you will find Richmond, a private investigator. Talk to him and answer him as you like, then he will make you an offer. You will have to pay him 1.500 potch. To continue in the game, you will be forced to accept. Go back to the inn and talk to the innkeeper to go to sleep. That night Richmond will wake you up and reveal that Shu has an important trade the next day and you can find him at the port. Next day, go to the port east of the village. Here you will meet Shu again, who will finally make a deal with you. He will throw a coin into the river: if you are able to get it back he will join you. Answer as you like. In order to get down to the water however, you'll need to close the dam to the north first. Talk to the man near the shack and ask him to stop the water. He will refuse, but Amada will arrive. Beg him to turn off the water and he will make a deal with you: if you defeat him in a one-on-one duel, he will turn off the water. You will then have to accept.

Defeating him is not difficult, his moves are quite predictable. Just be careful of what he tells you. When you defeat him, Amada will agree to turn off the water, but only for one night. You can then go down to the river to look for the coin. Apple will offer you to return to the inn; answer her as you like, you will help her in any case. After a long scene and some dialogue, you will finally find the coin. Shu will also arrive at the place and will finally agree to join you.


 * Shu recruited

He will ask you how you managed to find the coin, since he had deceived you by throwing a stone into the river. You'll find that it was all Richmond's doing.

Defending the Castle
Go back to the castle. Your companions are waiting for you in the great hall. Shu will also arrive, and explain his strategy to defeat the Highland army. He will also assign you a unit to lead, to directly attack general Solon Jhee. You cannot refuse, so when asked you should accept immediately. You will then go to sleep and the next morning Nanami will wake you up. Head to the great hall and talk to Shu to start the battle.

Major Battle #4
In this battle the game will automatically move all units at the beginning. Then, your unit and another one you have to control will appear directly behind Solon Jhee. Freed Y will also convince all South Window troops to take your side and the real battle will begin. Your objective in this battle is Solon Jhee's unit. However, you should not attack him immediately with your main unit, but use the other. Solon Jhee is indeed much stronger than you and he could easily get the better of your units. If he manages to defeat your main unit it will be game over. Then attack his unit to intimidate him, but don't insist too much. Meanwhile, the automatically controlled units will do the rest. After dealing some damage to the Highland army, Solon Jhee will order a retreat and you will have won the battle.

The New Leader
You will return to the castle and all your companions will cheer you for the victory. Shu will tell you that you should be the new leader of this army. Viktor will then invite you to relax and make an appointment for that evening at the castle tavern, where he will tell you the story of master Genkaku. Then go to bed. That night, Nanami will wake you up, inviting you to go to the tavern to talk to Viktor. Then go to the tavern and Viktor will tell you (if you want) the whole story of master Genkaku and the injustices he suffered. Finished the story, go to bed to sleep.

The next morning, go to the great hall, where Shu will ask you if you have made a decision about becoming the new army leader. Of course you can't refuse, so you accept. Doctor Huan will also arrive and join you.


 * Huan recruited

You will then have to choose a name for your castle. Soon after, Leknaat will appear, who will give you further information about your fate and will give you the stone tablet, on which you can read the names of the characters you have already recruited. She will also assign her disciple Luc to you.


 * Luc recruited

You will then be free to wander around the castle. When you try to leave, you will meet Fitcher, a clumsy character who will ask you if this is North Window. Answer him in the affirmative. He will then ask you about the hero who defeated Solon Jhee. You can choose any of the three options, Fitcher in any case will enter the castle to look for the hero. To continue with the story, you will have to head to the great hall, where you will find him talking to Shu. But first, if you like, there are many characters you can recruit in nearby towns. First of all, you can return to the South Window. At the inn you will meet Hilda and Alex again. Talk to them and they will join you. Also in South Window, you can enlist Adlai if you bring him what he asks for (a Sacrifical Jizo, a Wooden Shield and a Wind Rune).


 * Hilda recruited
 * Alex recruited
 * Adlai recruited

At the port of Kuskus you will meet again Tai Ho and Yam Koo. If you manage to beat Tai Ho in Chinchirochin by winning 5.000 potch from him, they will both join you.


 * Tai Ho recruited
 * Yam Koo recruited

Travel to Radat with Freed Y in the party. Talk to his wife Yoshino, she will join you. You can also recruit Richmond, the detective who just helped you. You will have to challenge him to Head or Tails and to unmask the cheating of him.


 * Yoshino recruited
 * Richmond recruited

Finally, leaving the east exit of Radat, you can return to the ruins of Viktor's fort. Here you will meet Templeton, who will complain that the Highland soldiers didn't let him in and then leave. Go to Toto, where you will meet him again. Talk to him to convince him to join you.


 * Templeton recruited

Finally, return to your castle and enter the great hall.

Reaching Two River
Fitcher will tell you that he is from Two River and that this city is willing to form an alliance with you. You will not be able to refuse the offer, so you accept. However, the only way to reach Two River is by boat. You will therefore have to find someone who can drive a boat.

Return to Radat. You will find Amada in the same place where you met him before. Amada will be willing to take you by boat to Lakewest if you can defeat him in a one-on-one duel. The duel is identical to the previous one and shouldn't cause you too many problems. When you defeat him, Amada will join you.


 * Amada recruited

Then return to the castle and introduce Amada to Shu. Choose your party, then go to your castle port. Here you can get on the boat and reach the village of Lakewest, to the west.

At Lakewest Amada will stay to guard the boat. You can explore the village and go shopping. In one house you will find an old lady, Taki. Talk to her repeatedly until she joins you.


 * Taki recruited

For now, there's nothing else you can do here. From now on, however, you can use the boat and return to the castle whenever you want. You can then return to South Window. You have certainly already noticed Clive, the character you met in Muse, who is on the hunt for the criminal Elza. Tell him you have a boat you can take him to Lakewest and he will join you.


 * Clive recruited

Finally return to Lakewest and exit the village. Two River is a short distance to the west. Note: if you want to do more shopping, you should head to the Kobold village, to the south, in order to use up your savings. In fact, as soon as you enter Two River, you will be robbed.

Two River City
As soon as you enter the city, a boy named Chaco will steal all the money in your possession, without you being able to prevent it. Fear not, you can leave the city whenever you want and fight enemies to replenish your supplies, so you can shop and improve your equipment. There are enemies in this area (Sandillo) who drop a lot of money, even more than 15.000 potch. Talking to the inhabitants, you will learn that three different races live in this city: humans in the south, wingers (like Chaco) in the middle, and kobolds (like Gengen) in the north. Head to the city hall first. The guards will stop you and you will discover that unfortunately Chaco has also stolen your introduction letter. Without a letter, they won't let you in. Then head north to the winger district, where you'll see Chaco running away. Here you will meet the young winger, who will provoke you. You will have to chase him between the houses in the district and at the end, apparently, you will be able to corner him. You can tell him what you want, in any case Chaco has thrown away the letter and will fly away.

At this point, you can explore the rest of the city, including the kobold district to the north, where you will also find more shops. It is advisable to buy some Fried Tacos at the item shop, because they will come in handy later. When you've explored the city, head back to the city hall. Here you will see that Fitcher has been captured by Ridley, who is about to punish him for his behavior. Respond with the first option to spare him the punishment. Fitcher will introduce you to Ridley, who will ask if it was you who defeated the Highland army. Answer yes and he will allow you to enter the city hall, where you will be introduced to Lord Makai. You can answer him however you want, this will not affect the plot. Eventually, they will let you stay at the inn. Then head to the inn, near the entrance to the city. Upstairs you will meet Hans. Talk to him and he will tell you that he is looking for a place to open an armory. Tell him that he can go to your castle and he will join you (if you ask him for money, he will join you as soon as he saves).


 * Hans recruited

In your room you will meet Chaco again, who will ask you if you are the leader of the army. Answer as you like, he won't believe you anyway and will run away through the window.

The next morning Fitcher will tell you that there is terrible news and will ask you to follow him to the city hall. Here you will see Ridley and Makai having an argument. There seems to be a spy from Highland. You can say what you want, but Ridley will storm off anyway. Makai will ask you to follow him and convince him to go back. You accept. Then try to go back to the kobold district, but you won't be allowed to enter. Head back and Chaco will appear again, this time stealing Fitcher's wallet. You'll have to chase him again. This time, when you have him cornered, Chaco will open a gate and escape through the sewers. Chase him.

The Sewers
Go down the stairs and follow the path. Random encounters with enemies aren't very difficult, so you'll want to save your magical attacks. Cross the first wooden bridge on the right and go north to find a Head Gear. Go back and follow the path without crossing the canal. You will find a Resurrection rune. Go back, cross the channel and go south. Follow the path and go down the ladder. There is a hidden passage to the left, but taking it is useless for now. Go on. Before the second wooden bridge you will find a Healing Wind to the south. On the next screen, cross the bridge to the north. At the bottom you will find a Fire Emblem and a Stone of Defense. Go back and take the other path. From here the path is very linear. You will come to a point where you can save your game. Then take the door next to it and get ready to fight a boss, which awaits you a little further on.

Boss Fight – Pest Rat
HP: 5.000

This rat is not an adversary to be taken lightly. From its HP value, you will understand that this is a long battle. The boss has three kinds of attacks and attacks twice ever turn. It can charge one of your characters for moderate damage, or it can attack the whole group by dropping rocks and causing more damage. However, its most dangerous attack is its green breath, which causes massive damage to the whole group and sometimes even poison status. So keep the group healed constantly with the hero's rune and if that's not enough, don't hesitate to use healing items on the most damaged characters as well. As usual, if you have characters capable of using magic attacks or combined attacks against a single enemy, it will be very useful. When you defeat the boss, you'll get a nice stack and a Poison rune.

Follow the path and up the ladder to exit the sewers.

The Battle of Two River
You will arrive at the kobold district. Ridley will show up, tell you the latest news and explain why he no longer trusts humans. Answer him as you like, you will then be shown the door. Then return to the human district, where you will see Makai talking to General Kiba of Highland and his son Klaus about a peace treaty. Klaus will approach you, telling you that he is looking forward to meeting you on the battlefield. When they are gone, Fitcher and Chaco will express their disappointment at such a peace treaty. Makai will invite you to follow him to the meeting room, where you will inform him of what Ridley told you, but Makai will still intend to sign the treaty and will ask you to go to the inn. Just outside the City hall, Chaco will meet you and tell you that his grandmother wants to talk to you. Then go to the winger district and enter Chaco's grandmother's house. Grandma will give you more information about the wingers and she will tell you that she trusts you. Be nice to her and let her see the rune. Outside, you'll still meet Chaco, who doesn't quite trust you yet. Return to the inn to sleep.

The next morning, when you wake up, you will find that Kiba, Klaus and the Highland troops are already at the entrance of Two River. Evidently, the peace treaty story was a deceit. You will have to fight some Highland soldiers. After defeating them, Fitcher will suggest talking to Ridley again. Choose the second option to agree with him (if you choose the first one you will have to fight again) and head to the kobold district. Ridley will again refuse to help no matter how you answer him. Makai and his soldiers are about to succumb, but suddenly Chaco will arrive with an army of wingers, who will stop the soldiers. Ridley will still be on the fence about how to act no matter what you tell him. Finally, two kobold warriors will spur him to fight. By joining forces, humans, wingers and kobolds will be able to repel the Highland army. You will have to fight against another group of soldiers. Finally, Klaus tells his father that Shu and more troops are coming, so Kiba gives the retreat signal.

After a scene where Solon Jhee is mercilessly sentenced to death by Luca Blight for failing to take your castle and Jowy volunteers to take Greenhill, with only 5.000 soldiers, the next morning Shu, Viktor, Makai, Ridley will celebrate the victory in the City hall. Fitcher will be fired by Makai, who will ask him to join you.


 * Fitcher recruited

You can then return to your castle. Before leaving the city, Chaco will meet you and ask you to come with you. Accept, to recruit him and he will also give you back the stolen money.


 * Chaco recruited

On your way back to the castle, in Lakewest, use some Fried Tacos on the hero (you should have bought them at the kobold district) until he becomes toasty. In one of Lakewest's houses is another recruitable character, Tetsu, who you've probably noticed before. If you talk to him while you're toasty and tell him you like baths, he'll ask if you want him to build baths in your castle. Accept and he will join you.


 * Tetsu recruited