Suikoden variants

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Suikoden 2 Squirrel Squad Part 5:  The Long Grind

Story So Far:  The Knightdom of Matilda was one of the last free cities of Jowston, so SQUIRREL and company tried to get them to fight Highland.  SQUIRREL and his furry friends trekked through the woods northeast of Greenhill to get there.  Luca Blight murdered Muse refugees in a war battle cutscene, but the Matilda knights refused to intervene.  (The Highland troops were both too powerful and too far away to reach in time, so Matilda had some reasonable justification for staying behind.)  SQUIRREL decided to spy on Muse to see what was happening, only to see a giant wolf specter floating above the city.  Luca Blight had sacrificed the population of Jowston's capital to a True Rune and expected Jowy to feel as elated as he did. 


Gameplay

This was the most tedious part of the game so far.  The forest part was more entertaining, because it had encounters with 6 DoReMi Elves that had a 3 unit Unite.  This Unite could hit all characters for over 80 damage and sometimes inflict random status ailments.  Various squirrel elemental spells and SQUIRREL's Bright Shield magic helped defeat them, but it was a sign that future dungeons would be difficult.

Double Beat, one of the most powerful physical Runes in the game, was located in the overworld around Muse.  The problem was that White Tigers dropped them. . .with a 2% chance per tiger.  Each battle had 1-3 White Tigers.  As you might expect, it took hours of grinding to get 4.  Supposedly it was a little easier to get Double Beat Runes from the rabbits in North Swallow Pass, but I didn't realize that at the time.  One character who can join later has one equipped too.


The reason I want all those Double Beat Runes is because the squirrels need all the help they can get.  Their stats are purely based on level up because they had no equipment, and offensive spells could blow up in their faces.  They also only had 1 Rune slot, in a game where top tier characters have 3.  The Double Beat Rune doesn't work like the Boar Rune from Suikoden 1, but instead activates automatically.  It allows the wielder to hit twice with regular attacks per turn, and doubles the power of counterattacks.  For the sake of simplicity, I'll refer to each squirrel by M and the vowel that distinguishes them.  (e.g. Mukumuku=MU).


MU and ME could cast Fire and Lightning spells, which were pure offensive elements with the chance to backfire.  It made sense to replace those with Double Beat Runes first.  SQUIRREL had 3 Rune slots available, so he could still cast Bright Shield and still have Double Beat.  MO could use Earth spells, but had low magical stats, so it wasn't a big loss to replace the low level Earth Rune with a Double Beat more suited to a physical attacker.  MI and MA had Wind and Water spells respectively, which could heal the party.  This was probably better for my team than trying to make those two squirrels into Double Beat attackers.  




Levels and Equipment

SQUIRREL level 42

Rune:  Bright Shield, Double Beat
Spells:  Great Blessing, Shining Light, Battle Oath
Weapon: 
Helmet:  Silver Hat
Armor:  Dragon Armor
Other1:  Medicine
Other2:  Silverlet
Other3:  Fire Emblem (not THAT one)


Mokumoku level 42

Rune:  Double Beat
Spells:  None


Mukumuku level 42

Rune:  Double Beat
Spells:  None


Mikumiku level 42

Rune:  Wind
Spells:  Wind of Sleep, Healing Wind, The Shredding

Mekumeku level 42

Rune:  Double Beat
Spells:  None

Makumaku level 42

Rune:  Water
Spells:  Kindness Drops, Protect Mist, Kindness Rain, Silent Lake ("no magic use for 3 turns")

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Suikoden 2 Squirrel Squad Part 6:  Death of Luca Blight


Story So Far:  Sheena the pervert revealed he was really the son of Lepant, the president of the Toran Republic.  Shu and SQUIRREL decided the former imperial territories from Suikoden 1 would make for good allies.  SQUIRREL and Freed traveled through the southeastern portion of Jowston.  Varkas the former bandit was now the head of the Toran Republic's Border Patrol, and led the party to Gregminster.  Lepant and Valeria agreed to help.  A few hopeless war battles later, and Luca Blight thought he could destroy the RODENT Army once and for all in a night raid.  But SQUIRREL's troops knew better, and attacked the evil prince with 3 groups of 6 Stars of Destiny.  When he was almost exhausted, Luca Blight challenged SQUIRREL to a final duel.  After SQUIRREL's victory, Jillia became Queen of Highland, and Jowy became King through marriage.


Gameplay:  The war battles weren't too interesting.  They mostly devolved into holding out for long enough until the next cutscene trigger activated.  The game accomplished this by giving enemy generals high enough defense to be effectively invincible.  For a glorified cutscene, these fights took way too long, and were easily the weakest parts of Suikoden 2.


In the forest route to Gregminster, a remixed version of Suikoden 1's battle music played during fights.  The Double Beat Runes were powerful enough that most fights could be won with the autobattle option.  Unfortunately, I was forced to have Freed in the active party instead of the convoy.  The convoy was a great idea for mandatory characters, but the game doesn't always take advantage of that and makes you use characters that are sometimes underleveled.


The Worm boss was quite weak, and could be defeated mostly with regular attacks.  The most it could do was attack 2 characters in a column for about 45-70 damage.


Gregminster was nice to revisit, and even minor characters from Suikoden 1 were accounted for.  Some people say this game works as a standalone, but there are so many references to the previous game that you'll miss if you haven't played it.


Luca Blight was so tough that the game allowed me to use two "reserve" parties, with SQUIRREL's group as the last line of defense.  The first attempt got pretty far, but ended in failure.  Luca had a massive amount of HP, high physical evasion, and the ability to attack 3 times per turn.  Two of his attacks were flame slashes that could hit either a row or a column.  His regular melee attack could strike a single character 3 times.

Death Count:  4


On Take 2, the leading party was Flik, Camus, Amada, Rikimaru, and Nanami.  Flik hit with his generic melee.  Camus was like Alen from Suikoden 1 in that he was an S range fighter with a Rage Rune.  His Explosion spell burned Luca for about 351 damage, and Dancing Flames singed him for 151.  Rikimaru and Amada's Unite dealt 163 damage and couldn't be evaded.  Nanami healed the others with her Water Rune as long as possible.


Once Flik's team was dead, a squad of Viktor/Sheena/Freed/Viki/Luc/Rina took its place.  Viktor was about as effective as Flik.  Sheena cast Canopy Defense before slashing with his sword.  Freed stuck to melee as well.  Viki's Set spell hurt Luca for 106 damage.  Rina's Dancing Flames dealt 145.


The trick to winning the battle was to go all-out with spells at the beginning rather than rely on inaccurate Double Beat Rune attacks.  The Shredding slashed Luca for 264 damage, Shining Light hurt for about 78, Dancing Flames sizzled for 173, and Bolt of Wrath electrocuted the prince for 353. 

Once the attack spells ran out, the offensive squirrels started scratching with their melee.  MA often cast Kindness Drops and Kindness Rain to heal the party, while MI sometimes supplemented that with Wind of Healing.  SQUIRREL sometimes had to help with Battle Oath (with its occasional Berserk buff) and Great Blessing.  SQUIRREL seemed to have more melee accuracy than the other characters.


MU died first because every enemy in this game loved to target him first.  Much later in the fight, the other squirrels started dropping one by one until only ME remained.  ME flew at Luca Blight and finished the fight.  Both SQUIRREL and the surviving rodent leveled to 47.


The Duel at the end was rather simple.  All SQUIRREL had to do was attack 3 times.  Since the game wouldn't let me save until after that, I wasn't taking any chances and looked up Luca's Duel hints on Suikosource.


After that, I saved believing the toughest part of the game was now over.  No Stats section this time because I needed to take a break after that long part.  I may edit it in later.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Suikoden 2 Squirrel Squad Part 7:  Superfluous Second Half

Story So Far:  After becoming King of Highland, Jowy offered a peace treaty with Jowston if SQUIRREL came to Muse.  But it was a trap, and Jowy gave cryptic hints about the war being bigger than SQUIRREL imagined.  Viktor smuggled SQUIRREL out of Muse and took him back to Headquarters.  The city of Tinto to the west was having problems with a zombie army led by Neclord, and SQUIRREL offered to help in exchange for an alliance.


In Tinto, Jess accused SQUIRREL of killing Annabelle, and refused to listen to RODENT Army's explanation that Jowy was the culprit.  Jess ordered the troops to march towards Neclord's alleged hideout, but it was likely that they would merely be new zombie minions for the vampire.


Gameplay:  Not really much to say about the gameplay.  This part was heavy on cutscenes for a plot that had lost all its momentum.  With its main villain gone, the narrative was reduced to making Jowy continue to fight against Jowston for no reason.  It's as if Kefka died on the Floating Continent in Final Fantasy 6 and Celes became the new villain in the World of Ruin.  (Jowy's actions are probably something about the two halves of the Rune of the Beginning fighting against each other for vague reasons.  The Soul Eater in the first game was a better-written example of the "True Rune destiny" plot.)  Neclord's return also seemed like pointless filler, particularly because he wanted nothing to do with Highland in the first place.


Only 3 of the squirrels could fight along the way to Tinto because Nanami and Viktor were mandatory.  Nanami is like the Gremio of this game, only she's more effective in combat.  No bosses here.  I was able to sharpen the three humans' weapons in Tinto for a very high price, so their physical attacks will deal much more damage now.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Suikoden 2 Squirrel Squad Part 8:  Now With Actual Gameplay!

Story So Far:  Neclord had conquered Tinto, so SQUIRREL and friends had to sneak through the mines to destroy the vampire.  Once that was done, Jowy distracted RODENT Army with a war battle so Highland could conquer Matilda.  But this left Greenhill open, enabling the Squirrel Squad to sneak in and retake the city after defeating Yuber's undead dragon.


Gameplay:  To defeat Neclord, the party needed another vampire's help.  This was Sierra, the true owner of Neclord's Rune.  SQUIRREL, Viktor, and Nanami defeated her with basic attacks and occasional Kindness Drops healing. 

The Stone Golem was the boss in the mines.  I must have been thinking of the easy golem boss in Suikoden 1 since I started the fight by just auto-attacking with most characters.  But the Stone Golem could hit quite hard with all-target rock or laser attacks.  SQUIRREL healed when necessary with magic, and the rodents started to cast their offensive elements.  The Shredding from MI backfired and damaged the whole team, because you can't trust a squirrel to do magic consistently.  A Bolt of Wrath from ME was much more effective and killed the boss.  Double Beat Rune melee attacks were effective, as was a Sierra Black Shadow.  (Her spell selection was surprisingly similar to BOTCHAN's.)  The party loadout before fighting Neclord looked like this:



SQUIRREL level 49

Rune:  Bright Shield, Double Beat, Resurrection
Spells:  Great Blessing, Shining Light, Battle Oath, Scolding, Yell, Charm Arrow, Scream
Weapon:  Twin Destiny Fang level 13 with Kindness Rune
Helmet:  Silver Hat
Armor:  Dragon Armor
Other1:  Dried Fish
Other2:   Mega Medicine
Other3:  Fire Emblem
 

Viktor level 47

Rune:  Double Beat
Spells:  None
Weapon:  Star Dragon Sword level 13
Helmet:  Silver Hat
Other1:  Silverlet
Other2:  Silverlet
Other3:  Medicine
 


Sierra level 47

Rune:  Darkness
Spells:  Finger of Death (like BOTCHAN’s level 1 spell in S1), Stealer of Souls (300 damage to 1 enemy and heals user), Final Bell (instant death or 500 damage to row), Black Shadow (like S1)
Weapon:  Full Moon level 10 with Thunder
Helmet:  Circuret
Armor:  Magic Robe
Other1:  Tomato Juice  (sure, a vampire would have “tomato juice”)
Other2:  Magic Ring
 

Mukumuku level 47
Rune:  Double Beat
Spells:  None
 

Mikumiku level 47
Rune:  Cyclone
Spells:  Healing Wind, The Shredding, Storm Warning (reflects magic damage for user)
 

Mekumeku level 49

Rune:  Lightning
Spells:  Angry Blow, Thunder Runner, Bolt of Wrath



Neclord had this creepy line to say before the boss battle:  “I am immortal, so until she grows up, I’ll keep her by my side and bring her up as a lady”.  Before he could act more perverted, SQUIRREL and friends attacked.  Neclord was perhaps the toughest boss of Suikoden 1, but the "real" version was much weaker.  Sure, he could turn into a bat and zap the party with lightning, but it was nothing my party couldn't handle even with the handicap of three members being flying squirrels.



Sierra's Black Shadow and Final Bell dealt about 716 damage, a surprising amount against a creature of darkness.  MI's The Shredding didn't backfire this time and sliced the vampire for 485.  ME's Bolt of Wrath struck for 665.  Each of Viktor and SQUIRREL's melee attacks dealt 173-180 damage, and they got to hit twice thanks to Double Beat.  Unfortunately, an instant death attack hit SQUIRREL and knocked him out.  Viktor must have been angered by this and finished off Neclord for good with a critical melee attack.


In Greenhill, Lucia and 3 Karayan tribal warriors attacked.  This time, all the squirrels could fight due to the lack of mandatory humans.  The Shredding took out the minions immediately and damaged the boss for 564, but Lucia was tough.  She loved casting a fire spell which I believe to be Dancing Flames, and she once did it twice in one turn.  Bolt of Wrath struck for 697.  Melee attacks ranged from 190 to 230, sometimes with the help of Battle Oath's random Berserk buff.  MA's Protect Mist occasionally blocked spell damage.  MO the earth squirrel defeated Lucia with a melee.


Yuber, the enigmatic imperial general from Suikoden 1, returned to say some cryptic nonsense about True Runes and then summoned a Bone Dragon.  It must have been weak to wind, because The Shredding slashed it for 1110 damage.  Bolt of Wrath failed to do anything at all.  Melee attacks ranged from 120 to 220.  


The Bone Dragon often attacked with powerful all-target breath and meteor attacks.  One breath knocked out MA the water squirrel and heavily damaged the other rodents.  SQUIRREL had to spend several turns casting healing spells, but even that wasn't enough to save the rest of the party.  By the end of the battle, he was fighting solo.



Strategists in Headquarters suggested retaking Muse, but it was a better idea to take a break for a while.


Levels and Equipment


SQUIRREL level 55

Rune:  Bright Shield, Double Beat, Resurrection
Spells:  Great Blessing, Shining Light, Battle Oath, Scolding, Yell, Charm Arrow, Scream
Weapon:  Twin Destiny Fang level 13 with Kindness Rune
Helmet:  Silver Hat
Armor:  Master Garb
Other1:  Dried Fish
Other2:   Mega Medicine
Other3:  Fire Emblem
 

Makumaku level 49

Rune:  Water
Spells:  Kindness Drops, Protect Mist, Kindness Rain, Silent Lake
 

Mokumoku level 49


Rune:  Double Beat
Spells:  None
 

Mukumuku level 47

Rune:  Double Beat
Spells:  None
 

Mikumiku level 47

Rune:  Cyclone
Spells:  Healing Wind, The Shredding, Storm Warning (reflects magic damage for user)
 

Mekumeku level 49

Rune:  Lightning
Spells:  Angry Blow, Thunder Runner, Bolt of Wrath

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Suikoden 2 Squirrel Squad Part 9:  So Long, Gremio 2.0!


Story So Far:  After winning a war battle, SQUIRREL found out that Muse was infested by Golden Wolves, servant of the Beast Rune.  Luca Blight sacrificed Muse's population to activate this True Rune, and now the world was going to face the consequences.  SQUIRREL defeated one Golden Wolf and then fled the city.  Another war battle ensued where SQUIRREL had to fight against Yuber and Gorudo in an attempt to take Matilda.  Kiba had to sacrifice himself to act as a decoy near Viktor's old Mercenary Fort. 


SQUIRREL, Nanami, and 4 rodents infiltrated Matilda's castle to destroy the enemy flag and fool the city's soldiers into thinking they won.  Jowy explained his motivations a bit better here, though it was still nonsense about destiny.  When Nanami the cliche hyperactive female RPG character is the most reasonable person in the room, your story has issues.  Gorudo was treacherous enough to order his archers to kill both SQUIRREL and Jowy, but Nanami attempted to protect them by swinging her stick around.  One of the arrows hit her causing a mortal wound.  SQUIRREL and Jowy fought together one last time against Gorudo. 


Gameplay:  This session involved several cutscene style war battles, many tedious random encounters, and a couple of easy boss fights.  The war battles aren't worth discussing in detail because they were the usual "hold out until the next cutscene activates" objectives. 

In Muse, Nanami was mandatory again, so MA the water squirrel went to the bench.  The Golden Wolf sometimes attacked with lightning, which Protect Mist blocked.  Its other attack was a mediocre melee bite.  The Shredding blew around the wolf for 258 damage, Bolt of Wrath struck for 350, and the other characters stuck to melee.  The battle was so easy and short that I didn't see who dealt the final blow because I was busy typing notes in Microsoft Word.


Matilda's castle mostly consisted of random fights that the party could win with autobattle.  The reason I haven't mentioned random enemies much in this playthrough is that most non-boss fights are pretty much the same in this game.  Even if most of your team is flying squirrels, the battles are mindless.  The level thresholds for Let Go are much higher in this game than in Suikoden 1.  Suikoden 1's combat is similar to its sequel, but it's easy to get to the point where you don't have to deal with basic enemies too much.  This is one reason I say Suikoden 1 has better pacing.  It knows it's a simple RPG and keeps it short.


All the squirrels inexplicably left the party on the top floors of the castle, because otherwise they could have prevented the plot contrivance of Nanami's death.  If they could beat Luca Blight, they could beat a cowardly knight of Matilda like Gorudo. 


SQUIRREL and Jowy fought as a duo in the Gorudo boss battle, and even had their old Unite attack.  I didn't bother with that when I had new Black Sword spells to try out.  One cast of Hungry Friend killed all the Matilda Knight minions and dealt about 1293 damage to Gorudo.  The level 3 spell Piercing One hit for 793 damage.  Compare that to SQUIRREL's wimpy Shining Light that only inflicted 178 damage, or less than his regular melee attack.  One of those melee attacks got a critical and put Gorudo into Knock Down status.  I think another SQUIRREL melee is what finished off the boss.    


No Levels and Equipment in this update either because Suikoden 2 has a habit of kicking out everyone in your party except for SQUIRREL during cutscenes at Headquarters.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Suikoden 2 Squirrel Squad 10:  Might As Well Be a Solo Challenge

Story So Far:  The RODENT Army's successes forced Jowy's troops to retreat to Highland's capital of L'Renouille (sp).  Jowy pretended to sacrifice Jillia to the Beast Rune to appease the Highland troops (?!).  Yuber abandoned Highland to its fate because he was a disloyal mercenary, while Lucia, Seed, and another general fought on.  SQUIRREL battled his way through Jowy's castle and fought Lucia, Han, Seed, and Culgan.  Jowy ordered Jillia to flee Highland and start a new life in the northern kingdom of Harmonia.


Gameplay:  This war battle took a couple of tries because the default troop assignments were bad.  After some shuffling around, I managed to convert Luc and SQUIRREL's units into cavalry.  After playing a far inferior version of Fire Emblem, Hauser's unit entered the castle and automatically won the war battle.


L'Renouille was a lot like Suikoden 1's final dungeon in that it was home to legions of mandatory generic troops.  The random encounters are so boring in this game that I simply used autobattle while I looked at Pokemon threads on another forum I visit.


Lucia was at the entrance, and fought much the same way she did before.  Her multiple fire spells were too much for the Squirrel Squad even with a Protect Mist cast, so SQUIRREL was the sole survivor.  Fortunately for me, he had high physical evasion combined with powerful Double Beat melee and counterattacks.  This helped when Lucia decided to whip the hero instead of casting spells.


Then a Duel followed with Han, Genkaku's friend.  It was as scripted as the other Duels in this game, so there isn't much to talk about.  He gave some exposition about how the Rune of the Beginning could bring peace if the Bright Shield and Black Sword were combined.  Han said Genkaku and him were "weak" for sealing the True Rune instead.  I think it was better off sealed because of how stupid Jowy acted throughout the game.


The next boss fight was the toughest since Luca Blight.  Seed and Culgan fought together, and both could act multiple times per turn.  Seed could seal everyone's magic for a few turns on both sides of the battle.  Since squirrels couldn't use healing items, they were doomed.  The first try even had a The Shredding backfire that killed one of the other squirrels.


Death Count:  5


Take 2 devolved into a solo battle with SQUIRREL after a few rounds.  His Battle Oath buff was quite effective when combined with his melee and evasion counterattacks.  I even used Defend for a few turns to take advantage of this.  Once Seed was dead, Culgan loved to cast Kindness Rain to heal himself.  But it couldn't stop SQUIRREL from getting critical hits and causing Knock Down once.  The bosses gave an absurd amount of experience points as you can see below.  The game was kind enough to give a save point right before Seed and Culgan's boss fight that also acted as an inn.


Final Levels and Equipment


SQUIRREL level 70

Rune:  Bright Shield, Double Beat, Water
Spells:  Great Blessing, Shining Light, Battle Oath, Kindness Drops, Protect Mist, Kindness Rain, Silent Lake
Weapon:  Twin Destiny Fang level 13 with Kindness Rune
Helmet:  Silver Hat
Armor:  Master Garb
Other1:  Dried Fish
Other2:   Mega Medicine
Other3:  Fire Emblem
 

Makumaku level 56

Rune:  Water
Spells:  Kindness Drops, Protect Mist, Kindness Rain, Silent Lake
 

Mokumoku level 57

Rune:  Double Beat
Spells:  None
 

Mukumuku level 57

Rune:  Double Beat
Spells:  None
 

Mikumiku level 57

Rune:  Cyclone
Spells:  Healing Wind, The Shredding, Storm Warning
 

Mekumeku level 57

Rune:  Thunder
Spells:  Thunder Runner, Bolt of Wrath, Thor Shot (1000 damage to 1 enemy)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Suikoden 2 Squirrel Squad Finale:  Who Needs Stars of Destiny?  I Have Flying Squirrels!

Story:  Leon gave his blood to the Beast Rune symbol to release the wolf demon, allegedly as a "test".  SQUIRREL and his furry friends fought and defeated it.  Jowy was nowhere to be seen, and SQUIRREL ran out of the castle before it was destroyed.  Jowston was replaced by RODENT Country to create a better system of government than the former squabbling city-states.  It was hinted on the "fin" screen that Jowy survived.


Gameplay:  This variant came close to total defeat.  The Beast Rune had 5 parts:  two attacking heads, one Rune part that cast spells and buffed the other parts' defenses, a Right Leg that could heal, and a Left Leg that could attempt to inflict status ailments like Grand Cross in a Final Fantasy game.


So much of this fight came down to luck that I'll go ahead and post the losses.


Death Count:  8


There were many ways the Beast Rune battle could go wrong.  A leg could Unbalance or silence a healer at the wrong time, too many powerful spells could hit at once, or a squirrel spell could backfire.


On the successful attempt, I started by attacking the Rune with physical attacks.  MA the water squirrel spent most of his time either setting up Protect Mist or healing the party.  When the Rune was alive, my party could deal much less damage to the other parts.  After the Rune disappeared, wind and lightning spells hit the Right Leg.  (And other parts with The Shredding).  Unfortunately, the Right Leg resurrected the Rune once, but a large amount of damage had already been done. 


Berserk buffs from Battle Oath and Double Beat helped quite a bit.  When the Rune died a second time, the Right Leg fell some time afterwards.  I ignored the Left Leg in favor of the heads.  The pressure from so many spells was eventually too much for MU, ME, and MI once Battle Oath and Kindness Rain ran out of charges.  MA barely survived at one point, and I decide to sacrifice him to keep MO and SQUIRREL alive.  This was the right tactic for that situation.  SQUIRREL could still heal with Great Blessing occasionally and sometimes attack.  But MO the earth squirrel had the honor of dealing the final blow and ending the True Rune for good.  And Mokumoku wasn't even a Star of Destiny!


It was funny looking at the squirrels' text boxes saying things like "Mu" attempting to warn SQUIRREL to leave the castle.  The game's script clearly didn't expect me to only use squirrels in my party!  Our hero ran out of L'Renouille and founded RODENT Country.  A Fire Emblem style ending played similar to the one from Suikoden 1.  Mukumuku "Returned to the forest from whence he sprung".  My final playtime was 29:57.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Suikoden 2 Squirrel Squad Postscript


The Squirrel Squad variant was silly and sometimes fun.  But my furry friends weren't available for the early game, and some were kicked out when Viktor and Nanami barged into the battle party.  Squirrels were also irrelevant in the war battles. 


Flying squirrels in Suikoden 2 are unique regarding their lack of options rather than any special moves they possess.  Sure, they have an instant kill single target Unite, but that uses up all 5 squirrels' actions and sometimes fails.  Squirrels have only one Rune slot in a game where the strongest characters have 3.  This means choosing between either Double Beat or a set of 4 spells.  Each squirrel is associated with a single element, limiting their potential further.  Makumaku (MA) is the only one who can cast the all-target heal Kindness Rain, for example.  Casting offensive spells with squirrels is gamble, because there's a small chance it could deal hundreds of damage to your party instead of the enemies. 


But the worst part is probably the total lack of equipment for most of the party, including healing items.  The squirrels probably could have survived longer in some fights if they could drink Mega Medicine.  So if bosses like Culgan and Seed cast Silent Lake and disable all your spells, only the human protagonist can heal himself.  Squirrels are dependent on their level for stats in a way similar to a Final Fantasy Monk, but Suikoden severely restricts grinding above certain level benchmarks in each area.  



Suikoden 2 has some improvements over Suikoden 1, especially in graphics and inventory management.  But the pacing is definitely slower than the previous game.  In Suikoden 1, you can run away from most random battles because the leveling curve is so fast.  Suikoden 2 has a much higher level benchmark required before you're guaranteed to run away from fights.  Not that it makes the game more challenging, because I managed to autobattle my way through most of them even with my severely handicapped party.  Suikoden 2 also has more annoying cutscene sections combined with backtracking.  Greenhill is probably the worst example of this.


War battles are far inferior to the system from the first game.  Sure, they looked silly in Suikoden 1 and were effectively Rock Paper Scissors matches, but they had interactive elements like sending spies to read the enemy's next action.  Winning a war battle in Suikoden 1 feels like an accomplishment.  Suikoden 2's version is a bad version of Fire Emblem where the fastest units have 2 movement tiles per turn.  They're also more like long cutscenes, since the goal is usually to hold out for long enough until the next event flag activates.  The amount of damage your units inflict also seems much more random than in Fire Emblem or other good tactical RPGs.


I don't know whether I'll continue on to Suikoden 3.  That seems to be a polarizing game, especially regarding the battle system where you control 3 pairs of characters instead of 6 individually.  Magic spells can inflict friendly fire damage if used incorrectly.  (Then again, that already happened in the Squirrel Squad playthrough.)  Has anyone on this forum played Suikoden 3?  If so, what do you think of it?