Suikoden Tierkreis, Part 8
Howdy, ladies, gentlemen, and persons who fall into neither category for one reason or another. I'm Lady Nighteyes, this is "Let's Play Suikoden Tierkreis!" and the game is veeery slowly starting to get the plot moving. Last time, we royally pwned a jerkass bureaucrat, and Erin formulated an evil plan to pwn him even further. This time, we find out what it is.
We come back to our heroes in the Grayridge Inn.
Clerk: Oh, you don't need to pay. You helped the entire town! I thought something was strange, but I never suspected the secretary of all that! Terrible! Just terrible!
Well, we have our instructions.
Gatekeeper: Logan and Erin are waiting for you. Please go ahead inside.
Don't mind if I do.
Like what?
That's handy for us, since we still have no freaking clue what her plan is.
Logan: If we'd reported this incident, Macoute would've been fired and the next secretary would've come. And there's no guarantee that person would've been any better than Macoute.
Maybe not, but the balance of probability is in your favor.
Gilliam: So we'd rather keep him on in name only and have the actual governing be done by town representatives.
That's a SMART plan, but I think Marica is overreacting a bit...
Gilliam: I hate being so suspicious of the Order, but after what just happened, I support Erin's idea.
I wish there were more people like Gilliam in this game.
Shut up, no one cares what you think.
Hotupa: Well, YOU'VE been doing whatever you please without the Order knowing, haven't you? They won't notice this.
Macoute: B-bah!
Please tell me he's turning into a sheep.
Logan: In any case, you don't have any choice but to cooperate with us, now do you?
Macoute: Yes, yes, I understand very well. If I don't cooperate, you'll report me to the Order.
Sieg: And he'll be makin' amends to the townspeople this way?
Gilliam: That's right. If this goes well, it'll be a great help to them.
Sieg: Okay, then!
All in favor of replacing "Director" with "minion" in that line?
Macoute: Here, take it!
Sieg: What is it?
Macoute: Your pass. With that, you can travel within the Order's territory as you please.
That was unnecessarily difficult to obtain.
Is entirely reasonable because you're an idiot?
Yuuup.
Catchphrase Count: 7
Gilliam: Hmm... as a member of the Order, I can't agree, but I'm not going to argue with you about it. After all, you exposed this fraud. We are all in your debt.
Because Erin is cool.
Marica: We just wanted Macoute to get what he deserved and get our pass.
Macoute: Bah!
Gilliam: Of course. I consider Erin's to be the biggest role in all of this. Excellent work, Erin.
Erin: P-please, stop...
As if I didn't get enough of people who hate being thanked LAST game...
Gilliam: I'm just ashamed that we older folk did nothing about the situation until you young people took action.
Logan: I feel the same way. From now on, we adults have to start holding our end up, too.
Gilliam: We'll do everything we can to execute your plan, Erin.
Erin: Thank you. I'm glad to hear it.
We're so cool. Except Sieg, he's a huge dork.
I briefly get control and try to leave, but...
Respect for Sieg: suddenly much higher.
Macoute: Why, you...!
I assume that suddenly glowing green is a way of showing he's waving the book around.
Macoute: That? That was here at the hall when I arrived as secretary. It's just a blank book. A waste of space, but I can't throw away Order property, so I had it removed to the mine. What about it?
Sieg: Blank? Huh. I guess you didn't see it.
Macoute: See what?
Sieg: Never mind. So you don't know anything about this book either, eh?
Macoute: It's just a blank book, like I said. I have no idea what it was doing here.
Macoute knows nothing important. WHAT A SHOCK.
Sieg: Huh. Oh well. I guess it's off to the Cynas library with us then.
...aaand back in control.
...well, briefly.
I believe that should say "Stylish Man."
Sieg: Who are you?
Shady Man: Just call me Filthy Rich. And it's all thanks to you.
Sieg: What?
Shady Man: My pals and I made a little bet on whether or not the Chapter Secretary would let you through. I'm the only one who thought you'd get through, so I really cleaned house on that little venture.
Marica: I don't get it. If they think the future's already decided, then gambling is pointless, isn't it?
[*gets out soapbox* *climbs up* WEEELL...]The thing about believing in predestination is that while you may believe the outcome is set, unless you can see the future you don't know what that outcome IS. Gambling is pointless if you know what the result is going to be, because everyone will bet on the thing they know will happen. But if you think things are predetermined but you don't know HOW, all you can do is wait and see how they're destined to turn out. In that case, it's like making a bet with a friend on how a movie neither of you knows much about is going to end: all you have to go on is your best guess, and those guesses can vary, so gambling on it is still a valid form of entertainment. *climbs off soapbox*
Erin: Exactly. That's why gambling is forbidden by the Order... officially, anyway.
[*Jumps back up on soapbox real quick*]As we will be seeing soon, the Order's "everything is predetermined" deal is, in practice, more about acting like you know HOW things are predestined to turn out when you DON'T than about accepting what comes as a product of destiny. This is an example. With stuff like this, they're trying to condition people out of thinking things through enough to realize that predestination without knowledge of what's to come feels the same as having true free will. If they pretend uncertainty doesn't exist, people are less likely to recognize that the rest of the Order is also made up of fallible humans and question the actions of the leadership. It's more about crushing dissent before it happens than about their actual beliefs. *jumps off soapbox again*
Shady Man: Come on, now. Apples and oranges, little lady.
Much like ridiculous mustaches and awesome clothing?
Sieg: So that's how it works...
How what works?
Name, unique portrait, and doesn't like the Order much. I smell recruitable character.
Let's see how far the game lets us go without a cutscene this time.
Answer: until I leave this area.
Sieg: Hmm...
Hotupa: What's the matter? We have two books now. Don't you want to hurry up and go find out about them?
Sieg: I do, but Order headquarters are in Cynas, right? And that means there'll be lots of people there who think the future is already determined, right?
WHAT A SHOCKING DEDUCTION.
Marica: Even most of the people here still believe that. They think Macoute was a problem, but the Order is just fine. Can we really just let them be?
Uh... yes? Because that's a perfectly reasonable thing to believe based on what they know right now?
Jale: It's not our place to judge.
FRICKIN' THANK YOU.
Marica: Well, I guess...
Hotupa: What is it? You look so serious.
Logan: It's not really something we should talk about on the street. Why don't we go back to the inn?
Sieg: Okay.
Well, I guess we better do that! :::DDD
Hahaha, just kidding, I'm gonna go take advantage of the newly-lowered prices first.
Having bankrupted myself buying thread, salmon, iron, and potatoes, I... continue to screw around.
This girl wasn't here earlier, so I say hi.
Sieg: You know each other?
Erin: Yes. We work at the Order chapter together.
That would explain the matching uniforms, yes.
Anya: I'm one of THOSE, you know. One of those people the secretary says was predestined to work for the chapter. I'm like, "No way!" But going against the secretary in this town would be WAY bad, so I keep my mouth shut. That secretary always says this is predetermined, that's predetermined, but please, gimme a break! It was "predetermined" that our pay would be low, that the food would stink, "So don't complain!" he says, but the whole time, HE'S living in the lap of luxury! It drives me crazy! That's why I sneak out of work like this sometimes for a breather.
Slacking off FOR JUSTICE!
Sieg, please do not be an asshole.
Ignoring him. Good choice.
Anya: You're the people who were arguing with Secretary Macoute yesterday, right? How come you're with Erin? Hey, does that have anything to do with the secretary acting so weird today? Tell me, tell me!
...And that's all she'll say. Let's go.
*sigh* I SUPPOSE I can advance the plot. If I HAVE to.
:::333
Erin: That's right.
Logan: Erin! Why this, all of a sudden?!
Erin: It's not all of a sudden. I've been thinking about it for a while.
That does sound like it would lend them some credibility, yes.
Erin: My father and I don't like the Order's dogma. But we didn't want to object if the people in this toown believed it.
Marica: Seeing Macoute up close changed your mind?
Erin: Right. The reason everybody was fooled by Macoute was because they believed in the Order. Why is the Order spreading this idea? And what exactly are these prophecies? I want to go to Cynas and see for myself.
Logan: Erin...
I like Erin. Erin is cool. She can come.
Logan: Wait a minute! I don't think-
Erin: You don't mind, right, Dad?
Erin: No, Dad. This town needs you.
Logan: But-
She is frighteningly good at weaponizing that adorable smile.
Logan: ...Yeah, I guess you're right. Sieg, take good care of my Erin.
Sieg: You got it!
That's good, I guess, because you're going to get dragged along on some pretty significant detours.
Says you.
Sieg: What?! You never mentioned that!
THERE ARE PLACES BETWEEN HERE AND THERE. SHOCKING.
Hotupa: Now, now, calm down. Fort Arc is the fortress that defends Cynas. So once we go through it, we'll be in Cynas in no time.
Well, here it is...
hahaha just kidding.
[Let's Break Suikoden Tierkreis, Part 2]
Remember what I said a while back about the ridiculous exploitability of the trading system? Yeah, we're gonna start doing that.
Selling all those trade goods I bought in Grayridge gets me quite a lot more money than the game was expecting me to have at this point. I use this to buy more crap to sell in Grayridge.
A few minutes later, it's Flower season, I'm rolling in cash, and everybody's gone up a level due to encounters with weird Flower-season minibosses:
All minibosses have a chance to drop a rare trade good. Googly Tree Sap won't be available to buy for ages for some reason, so it's a pretty decent find. Didn't see any of Jale's butterflies, though.
I proceed to pull out my trade price spreadsheet and use my ill-gotten gains to buy a whooole lot of stuff that sells well in Cynas. That little purchase right there? Those sell for 12K up north.
THEN I leave.
WHAT A SHOCK. THE GIANT FORTRESS IS GIANT.
Also, pretty art.
Marica: I wonder how much bigger it is than the ruins?
Hotupa: This fortress stretches across every single road that leads into Cynas. Anybody who wants to go to Cynas has to pass through Fort Arc first.
So it's basically the Great Wall of China. Gotcha.
Jale: Something's coming out.
Not exactly the most dignified march I've ever seen.
A bunch of soldiers who suck at marching in formation.
Hotupa: It was the Order's army.
Marica: The Order has an army?!
...Did you not see the Order soldiers all over Grayridge, or something? You FOUGHT some of them!
THAT'S quite an outfit.
Hotupa: Who are you?
Mysterious Man: Just a wandering vagabond.
That isn't very nice of them.
Sieg: They do?!
Luvais: Unsettling, wouldn't you say?
Erin: I've never heard about that before.
Hotupa: There used to be a kingdom southwest of here called Astrasia that the Order subjugated.
Marica: Really?
Luvais: But not all countries fall so easily. The Magedom of Janam to the east have been at war with the Order for years. Those troops we just saw are probably headed for the Magedom now.
I think that hat counts as a little more than "eccentric."
Jale: Who was he...? I didn't even sense him coming.
We're in control now, so let's head in.
Things are going on up ahead of us in the Fort.
Oh god, not these two again.
Soldier: What?!
I missed the animation, but Sneer ran up and smacked him with something that made the screen flash white for a second.
It knocked him into the wall, whatever it was.
At the end of the hall...
Then back up:
Soldier: Defying the authority of the Order?! What do you think you're doing?!
Sneer: What we THINK is irrelevant, now, isn't it? You were supposed to get beaten up by me today and that's exactly what just happened.
Soldier: Wh-what?!
Sneer: Shouldn't a member of the Order think this way? I don't think you fellows understand the Order's principles. Tsk, tsk.
Soldier: Wh-why, you! I'll-
I don't think Sneer is much of a gentleman.
Sneer: Apology time so soon? I was just getting warmed up.
Officer: Y-yes, sir! I'll see to it immediately! But for now, please come right this way, sirs!
Non-Sneer: That's enough. We don't have any more time to waste.
Sneer: Yeah, yeah.
If so, why was Sneer openly mocking it?
Sieg: Those rotten jerks need to be taught a lesson!
Again with the pathetically declawed insults.
Anyway.
Next time: on to Cynas. See you guys then! Nighteyes out.
We come back to our heroes in the Grayridge Inn.
Clerk: Oh, you don't need to pay. You helped the entire town! I thought something was strange, but I never suspected the secretary of all that! Terrible! Just terrible!
Well, we have our instructions.
Gatekeeper: Logan and Erin are waiting for you. Please go ahead inside.
Don't mind if I do.
Like what?
That's handy for us, since we still have no freaking clue what her plan is.
Logan: If we'd reported this incident, Macoute would've been fired and the next secretary would've come. And there's no guarantee that person would've been any better than Macoute.
Maybe not, but the balance of probability is in your favor.
Gilliam: So we'd rather keep him on in name only and have the actual governing be done by town representatives.
That's a SMART plan, but I think Marica is overreacting a bit...
Gilliam: I hate being so suspicious of the Order, but after what just happened, I support Erin's idea.
I wish there were more people like Gilliam in this game.
Shut up, no one cares what you think.
Hotupa: Well, YOU'VE been doing whatever you please without the Order knowing, haven't you? They won't notice this.
Macoute: B-bah!
Please tell me he's turning into a sheep.
Logan: In any case, you don't have any choice but to cooperate with us, now do you?
Macoute: Yes, yes, I understand very well. If I don't cooperate, you'll report me to the Order.
Sieg: And he'll be makin' amends to the townspeople this way?
Gilliam: That's right. If this goes well, it'll be a great help to them.
Sieg: Okay, then!
All in favor of replacing "Director" with "minion" in that line?
Macoute: Here, take it!
Sieg: What is it?
Macoute: Your pass. With that, you can travel within the Order's territory as you please.
That was unnecessarily difficult to obtain.
Is entirely reasonable because you're an idiot?
Yuuup.
Catchphrase Count: 7
Gilliam: Hmm... as a member of the Order, I can't agree, but I'm not going to argue with you about it. After all, you exposed this fraud. We are all in your debt.
Because Erin is cool.
Marica: We just wanted Macoute to get what he deserved and get our pass.
Macoute: Bah!
Gilliam: Of course. I consider Erin's to be the biggest role in all of this. Excellent work, Erin.
Erin: P-please, stop...
As if I didn't get enough of people who hate being thanked LAST game...
Gilliam: I'm just ashamed that we older folk did nothing about the situation until you young people took action.
Logan: I feel the same way. From now on, we adults have to start holding our end up, too.
Gilliam: We'll do everything we can to execute your plan, Erin.
Erin: Thank you. I'm glad to hear it.
We're so cool. Except Sieg, he's a huge dork.
I briefly get control and try to leave, but...
Respect for Sieg: suddenly much higher.
Macoute: Why, you...!
I assume that suddenly glowing green is a way of showing he's waving the book around.
Macoute: That? That was here at the hall when I arrived as secretary. It's just a blank book. A waste of space, but I can't throw away Order property, so I had it removed to the mine. What about it?
Sieg: Blank? Huh. I guess you didn't see it.
Macoute: See what?
Sieg: Never mind. So you don't know anything about this book either, eh?
Macoute: It's just a blank book, like I said. I have no idea what it was doing here.
Macoute knows nothing important. WHAT A SHOCK.
Sieg: Huh. Oh well. I guess it's off to the Cynas library with us then.
...aaand back in control.
...well, briefly.
I believe that should say "Stylish Man."
Sieg: Who are you?
Shady Man: Just call me Filthy Rich. And it's all thanks to you.
Sieg: What?
Shady Man: My pals and I made a little bet on whether or not the Chapter Secretary would let you through. I'm the only one who thought you'd get through, so I really cleaned house on that little venture.
Marica: I don't get it. If they think the future's already decided, then gambling is pointless, isn't it?
[*gets out soapbox* *climbs up* WEEELL...]The thing about believing in predestination is that while you may believe the outcome is set, unless you can see the future you don't know what that outcome IS. Gambling is pointless if you know what the result is going to be, because everyone will bet on the thing they know will happen. But if you think things are predetermined but you don't know HOW, all you can do is wait and see how they're destined to turn out. In that case, it's like making a bet with a friend on how a movie neither of you knows much about is going to end: all you have to go on is your best guess, and those guesses can vary, so gambling on it is still a valid form of entertainment. *climbs off soapbox*
Erin: Exactly. That's why gambling is forbidden by the Order... officially, anyway.
[*Jumps back up on soapbox real quick*]As we will be seeing soon, the Order's "everything is predetermined" deal is, in practice, more about acting like you know HOW things are predestined to turn out when you DON'T than about accepting what comes as a product of destiny. This is an example. With stuff like this, they're trying to condition people out of thinking things through enough to realize that predestination without knowledge of what's to come feels the same as having true free will. If they pretend uncertainty doesn't exist, people are less likely to recognize that the rest of the Order is also made up of fallible humans and question the actions of the leadership. It's more about crushing dissent before it happens than about their actual beliefs. *jumps off soapbox again*
Shady Man: Come on, now. Apples and oranges, little lady.
Much like ridiculous mustaches and awesome clothing?
Sieg: So that's how it works...
How what works?
Name, unique portrait, and doesn't like the Order much. I smell recruitable character.
Let's see how far the game lets us go without a cutscene this time.
Answer: until I leave this area.
Sieg: Hmm...
Hotupa: What's the matter? We have two books now. Don't you want to hurry up and go find out about them?
Sieg: I do, but Order headquarters are in Cynas, right? And that means there'll be lots of people there who think the future is already determined, right?
WHAT A SHOCKING DEDUCTION.
Marica: Even most of the people here still believe that. They think Macoute was a problem, but the Order is just fine. Can we really just let them be?
Uh... yes? Because that's a perfectly reasonable thing to believe based on what they know right now?
Jale: It's not our place to judge.
FRICKIN' THANK YOU.
Marica: Well, I guess...
Hotupa: What is it? You look so serious.
Logan: It's not really something we should talk about on the street. Why don't we go back to the inn?
Sieg: Okay.
Well, I guess we better do that! :::DDD
Hahaha, just kidding, I'm gonna go take advantage of the newly-lowered prices first.
Having bankrupted myself buying thread, salmon, iron, and potatoes, I... continue to screw around.
This girl wasn't here earlier, so I say hi.
Sieg: You know each other?
Erin: Yes. We work at the Order chapter together.
That would explain the matching uniforms, yes.
Anya: I'm one of THOSE, you know. One of those people the secretary says was predestined to work for the chapter. I'm like, "No way!" But going against the secretary in this town would be WAY bad, so I keep my mouth shut. That secretary always says this is predetermined, that's predetermined, but please, gimme a break! It was "predetermined" that our pay would be low, that the food would stink, "So don't complain!" he says, but the whole time, HE'S living in the lap of luxury! It drives me crazy! That's why I sneak out of work like this sometimes for a breather.
Slacking off FOR JUSTICE!
Sieg, please do not be an asshole.
Ignoring him. Good choice.
Anya: You're the people who were arguing with Secretary Macoute yesterday, right? How come you're with Erin? Hey, does that have anything to do with the secretary acting so weird today? Tell me, tell me!
...And that's all she'll say. Let's go.
*sigh* I SUPPOSE I can advance the plot. If I HAVE to.
:::333
Erin: That's right.
Logan: Erin! Why this, all of a sudden?!
Erin: It's not all of a sudden. I've been thinking about it for a while.
That does sound like it would lend them some credibility, yes.
Erin: My father and I don't like the Order's dogma. But we didn't want to object if the people in this toown believed it.
Marica: Seeing Macoute up close changed your mind?
Erin: Right. The reason everybody was fooled by Macoute was because they believed in the Order. Why is the Order spreading this idea? And what exactly are these prophecies? I want to go to Cynas and see for myself.
Logan: Erin...
I like Erin. Erin is cool. She can come.
Logan: Wait a minute! I don't think-
Erin: You don't mind, right, Dad?
Erin: No, Dad. This town needs you.
Logan: But-
She is frighteningly good at weaponizing that adorable smile.
Logan: ...Yeah, I guess you're right. Sieg, take good care of my Erin.
Sieg: You got it!
That's good, I guess, because you're going to get dragged along on some pretty significant detours.
Says you.
Sieg: What?! You never mentioned that!
THERE ARE PLACES BETWEEN HERE AND THERE. SHOCKING.
Hotupa: Now, now, calm down. Fort Arc is the fortress that defends Cynas. So once we go through it, we'll be in Cynas in no time.
Well, here it is...
hahaha just kidding.
[Let's Break Suikoden Tierkreis, Part 2]
Remember what I said a while back about the ridiculous exploitability of the trading system? Yeah, we're gonna start doing that.
Selling all those trade goods I bought in Grayridge gets me quite a lot more money than the game was expecting me to have at this point. I use this to buy more crap to sell in Grayridge.
A few minutes later, it's Flower season, I'm rolling in cash, and everybody's gone up a level due to encounters with weird Flower-season minibosses:
All minibosses have a chance to drop a rare trade good. Googly Tree Sap won't be available to buy for ages for some reason, so it's a pretty decent find. Didn't see any of Jale's butterflies, though.
I proceed to pull out my trade price spreadsheet and use my ill-gotten gains to buy a whooole lot of stuff that sells well in Cynas. That little purchase right there? Those sell for 12K up north.
THEN I leave.
WHAT A SHOCK. THE GIANT FORTRESS IS GIANT.
Also, pretty art.
Marica: I wonder how much bigger it is than the ruins?
Hotupa: This fortress stretches across every single road that leads into Cynas. Anybody who wants to go to Cynas has to pass through Fort Arc first.
So it's basically the Great Wall of China. Gotcha.
Jale: Something's coming out.
Not exactly the most dignified march I've ever seen.
A bunch of soldiers who suck at marching in formation.
Hotupa: It was the Order's army.
Marica: The Order has an army?!
...Did you not see the Order soldiers all over Grayridge, or something? You FOUGHT some of them!
THAT'S quite an outfit.
Hotupa: Who are you?
Mysterious Man: Just a wandering vagabond.
That isn't very nice of them.
Sieg: They do?!
Luvais: Unsettling, wouldn't you say?
Erin: I've never heard about that before.
Hotupa: There used to be a kingdom southwest of here called Astrasia that the Order subjugated.
Marica: Really?
Luvais: But not all countries fall so easily. The Magedom of Janam to the east have been at war with the Order for years. Those troops we just saw are probably headed for the Magedom now.
I think that hat counts as a little more than "eccentric."
Jale: Who was he...? I didn't even sense him coming.
We're in control now, so let's head in.
Things are going on up ahead of us in the Fort.
Oh god, not these two again.
Soldier: What?!
I missed the animation, but Sneer ran up and smacked him with something that made the screen flash white for a second.
It knocked him into the wall, whatever it was.
At the end of the hall...
Then back up:
Soldier: Defying the authority of the Order?! What do you think you're doing?!
Sneer: What we THINK is irrelevant, now, isn't it? You were supposed to get beaten up by me today and that's exactly what just happened.
Soldier: Wh-what?!
Sneer: Shouldn't a member of the Order think this way? I don't think you fellows understand the Order's principles. Tsk, tsk.
Soldier: Wh-why, you! I'll-
I don't think Sneer is much of a gentleman.
Sneer: Apology time so soon? I was just getting warmed up.
Officer: Y-yes, sir! I'll see to it immediately! But for now, please come right this way, sirs!
Non-Sneer: That's enough. We don't have any more time to waste.
Sneer: Yeah, yeah.
If so, why was Sneer openly mocking it?
Sieg: Those rotten jerks need to be taught a lesson!
Again with the pathetically declawed insults.
Anyway.
Next time: on to Cynas. See you guys then! Nighteyes out.