everything is suikoden and nothing hu -- wait.

[puella_nerdii]

Finished II.

More detailed/recappy thoughts forthcoming, but for now: yes, it's claimed the spot as my favorite in the series, and it's probably one of my favorite JRPGs in general. Holy shit, that was a well-done story. Holy shit, somehow Jowy managed to hammer even more of my narrative buttons. Holy shit, I feel retroactively cheated out of not

Comments

[karthur]

Yes. Another Suikofan ♥
I loved II. I should probably fire that puppy up and replay it.

[puella_nerdii]

Mith sold me hook, line, and sinker, what can I say? God, this series is gorgeous and heartbreaking. They're not the flashiest JRPGs, but they don't need to be, and at the end of the day I'm a substance-over-style girl myself.

I would not at all discourage replays! I desperately want to talk about these games with people, because I have so many feelings about them.

[karthur]

It is totally a gorgeous series. I think III is my absolute favorite, only because it introduced me to the series. But...I love them all, bad translations and sprite-y graphics included!!!

I really need to get my fanart collection back online, too.
Sounds like a project for spring break.

[puella_nerdii]

III's my least favorite of the games thus far, which is kind of like saying that milk chocolate is my least favorite kind of chocolate -- it's still delicious, and I'll still eat the hell out of it. It just took longer for III to come together for me than it did for any of the other games in the series. But the cast grew on me a lot, and once III hooked me, it hooked me good.

The translations -- well, they could be worse, and at least I can usually figure out what they're all supposed to be saying. (Though V's localization is damned good, I must say.) And hey, I'm a Final Fantasy fan and I've played other JRPGs from the 90s, I kind of know what to expect.

[seta_suzume]

Aaaaa, the good end is good~!

II really has a good story and it executes it so well.

[puella_nerdii]

It has the best pacing of any of the games I've played thus far (still haven't played IV), which I talked a little about in my first post on II. The story-to-gameplay ratio really feels right -- enough scenes to flesh out and explore the main cast, and enough combat to keep the game from feeling like one long therapy session. And I really appreciate how the game doesn't try to back away from or soften its content. Once shit gets real, it stays real. :D

[chiasmus]

I love, love, LOVE II so, so much. I am excited to hear more of your Jowy thoughts. :D :D

(Are you going to go through any of the Gaiden stuff? I recommend at least watching the openings, because pretty.)

[puella_nerdii]

I have ALL THE JOWY THOUGHTS, seriously. He's such a fascinating character, and his arc contains so many things I love, and I've started this giant ficthing about his time in Highland and it keeps acquiring more and more scenes because there's SO MUCH I want to write about.

I've already gone through the first two chapters of the first Gaiden, because I adore Nash to pieces and he's so adorable in Gaiden. And so constantly imperiled, too. I keep expecting him to get tied to railroad tracks. The scenes with Jowy in Chapter Two of Gaiden I were a big part of what ultimately sold Mith on him, I think. Mith owns a copy of the first Gaiden, though I don't know if we can actually get it to play on our PS2 because of regionlocking. If not, we'll YouTube as much as we can -- there's a pretty complete translation of the first one online, and between that and Mith's Japanese, we should be able to figure out what's going on.

[chiasmus]

Yes, this, his storyline is just amazing and just, so, so interesting. Yay, giant ficthing! I can definitely imagine why you would want to write all the words about it. :D

I loved Nash in Gaiden, even though I didn't know what was really going on (I was mostly button mashing choices and constantly pestering my friend for help while I was playing it, until there was a translation to read along with). I also ended up with a thing for Elza and Clive after going through it, though all of my fic from back then is terrible. There's also a part in the second Gaiden that made me a;lskjg and have all of the feelings, if you end up getting to it. :D

[puella_nerdii]

So many of them, god, I think I'm already up to at least 6k and I've barely started. It's funny -- usually Mith is the one who does the "write this character's entire life story" thing, but I guess I picked up on that from her.

Clive and Elza are so interesting! I didn't get through the game nearly fast enough to see all their events, but I looked up the cutscenes after I finished, and oooh. I don't know if I have anything to add to their story, necessarily, because it's already pretty cool, but I liked seeing it. And dang, now I want to know what that part of Gaiden is. (I don't know nearly as much about the second game as I do about the first because I haven't been able to find an English translation online, but I want ALL THE NASH, so.)