suikoden iii (manga)
(thanks kaeyko for the scans!)
asddfgfkhjl;
GDI LUC.
I knew the bastard was going to break my heart, but I didn't know just how badly. I don't think I'm ever going to be able to replay the first two games without getting seriously upset over that kid. Luc and Sarah (that scene in the game OP got me every single time even before I learned who the masked bishop was), Luc and Leknaat.... Auuughhhhh. :(
I can't warm up to Sasarai even though I know it's totally unfair of me.
So some more shallow thoughts:
- FUTCH GREW UP FINE. As did Lily, actually, who cracks me up. Futch broke my heart in the first two games (Black took me by surprise, negl, and though I knew he would obviously find a new dragon, it really got to me anyway when I did the sidequest in the second game). He breaks my heart again this time around for no reason in particular, or at least not one that I can explain very well except that I hope if they ever do make a game taking place chronologically after III, I hope he shows up in it again (even if it's as an old vet or something). Because it's that thread of continuity that he represents that... well, it just gets to me somehow.
Also I keep thinking about how hilarious I found his unite with Luc and Sasuke in the second game and now it's just killing me.
Speaking of characters who are all Growed Up -- TUTA. XD And hell, Luc himself. Awwww man.
- Albert is hot. Albert vs. Caesar is clearly Mathiu vs. Leon redux, except they are very different individuals in their own right, which gives their conflict an entirely different spin, and I think that is amazing, because I did not think it was actually possible to pull off a "repeat" so well. (But Shu, who is not bound to any particular ideology, is still my favorite.)
- CHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS. Chris and her kniiiiiiiights. OMG. They are so perfect I don't even
- Seriously though, some of the best scenes in the manga arise from Chris. Like that one flashback panel with blood-spattered Borus. And pretty much. Everything.
- Although I also adooooored Geddoe and his mercs. (It cracks me up like you cannot believe that Ace is their accountant. And Jacques is adorable. Jeez.)
- I love how the art shifted for Hugo.
- Yuber's design. lmao. I <3 it, but lol.
Also. Where did Pesmerga go? Snoozin on the job~ XD
- - -
What really impresses me about the storyline is that it essentially takes two already fairly subversive games (subversive in a fantasy RPG context) and then subverts the hell out of them in turn (without simply reverting to cliche).
Well, subversion perhaps isn't the right way to put it. I think maybe it's more accurate to say that Suiko III takes the themes I and II started exploring and takes them to their natural ends. Sort of.
But man, I am a sucker for Failed Hero archetypes and so the nameless Flame Champion (whose design deliberately echoes that of the two previous game heroes) and his relationship with Geddoe and Wyatt and his wife kills meeeeeee. It also very obviously echoes the "bad ending" of game II.... in the process reinforcing that said ending was again, not really your typical "bad ending" in terms of value judgments.
I'm not ready yet I think to discuss some of the other things that this installment brings up. The concept of an ongoing "war" or struggle between humanity and the runes. Yuber's talk of chaos vs. order (and Leknaat being the keeper of the balance). The secrets of the Sindar civilization.
Leknaat, really. In game I she is clearly a benevolent figure. Game II she shows up very little, but what little of her we do see is pretty ambivalent compared to the first game (at least I thought so) -- at least in part because she did not seem so personally involved in the second storyline. (Although I did wonder whether or not the parallels between her and Windy and Riou/Jowy were intentional.) And now... Well, I still think she is a good person. I wanted to say well-intentioned, but I'm not even sure of that anymore. I don't think she is "bad". And her relationship with Luc just seriously broke my heart because it felt so real, like an actual mother/son relationship though not quite that either. Where there was unconditional love and respect but also independent thought rather than blind loyalty and... :(
- - -
I want to play the actual game now still, though. If only so I can wander around talking to NPCS, lol. And waste time exploring. And to see what the manga fleshed out and what it left out. I'm also really curious now about how Suikoden IV and V and Tactics add to the story. I can kind of imagine/guess and understand how V will expand on some of the concepts of the first three games despite not moving beyond III timeline-wise, but the premise of IV makes me "hmmmm" for reasons similar to why I was originally kind of resistant to the idea of Jugdral and Archanea being hundreds of years apart in the same universe. I suppose it depends on how well it's pulled off though. Also I know IV covers the island nation(s?) and V is in Falena, but do we ever see the southern nations that were mentioned offhand? (Or ARE those the southern nations.) And is there an official world map anywhere??? (Whatever happened to Templeton? LOL.) Or is the speculation of how all these countries piece together part of the fun? XD
But anyway I think I will wait on the Suikogaiden translation first (or attempt my own playthrough), because I am clearly Missing Things, and I want to fill in my gaps there first.
.... and now I will stop procrastinating on life. Meh.
asddfgfkhjl;
GDI LUC.
I knew the bastard was going to break my heart, but I didn't know just how badly. I don't think I'm ever going to be able to replay the first two games without getting seriously upset over that kid. Luc and Sarah (that scene in the game OP got me every single time even before I learned who the masked bishop was), Luc and Leknaat.... Auuughhhhh. :(
I can't warm up to Sasarai even though I know it's totally unfair of me.
So some more shallow thoughts:
- FUTCH GREW UP FINE. As did Lily, actually, who cracks me up. Futch broke my heart in the first two games (Black took me by surprise, negl, and though I knew he would obviously find a new dragon, it really got to me anyway when I did the sidequest in the second game). He breaks my heart again this time around for no reason in particular, or at least not one that I can explain very well except that I hope if they ever do make a game taking place chronologically after III, I hope he shows up in it again (even if it's as an old vet or something). Because it's that thread of continuity that he represents that... well, it just gets to me somehow.
Also I keep thinking about how hilarious I found his unite with Luc and Sasuke in the second game and now it's just killing me.
Speaking of characters who are all Growed Up -- TUTA. XD And hell, Luc himself. Awwww man.
- Albert is hot. Albert vs. Caesar is clearly Mathiu vs. Leon redux, except they are very different individuals in their own right, which gives their conflict an entirely different spin, and I think that is amazing, because I did not think it was actually possible to pull off a "repeat" so well. (But Shu, who is not bound to any particular ideology, is still my favorite.)
- CHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS. Chris and her kniiiiiiiights. OMG. They are so perfect I don't even
- Seriously though, some of the best scenes in the manga arise from Chris. Like that one flashback panel with blood-spattered Borus. And pretty much. Everything.
- Although I also adooooored Geddoe and his mercs. (It cracks me up like you cannot believe that Ace is their accountant. And Jacques is adorable. Jeez.)
- I love how the art shifted for Hugo.
- Yuber's design. lmao. I <3 it, but lol.
Also. Where did Pesmerga go? Snoozin on the job~ XD
- - -
What really impresses me about the storyline is that it essentially takes two already fairly subversive games (subversive in a fantasy RPG context) and then subverts the hell out of them in turn (without simply reverting to cliche).
Well, subversion perhaps isn't the right way to put it. I think maybe it's more accurate to say that Suiko III takes the themes I and II started exploring and takes them to their natural ends. Sort of.
But man, I am a sucker for Failed Hero archetypes and so the nameless Flame Champion (whose design deliberately echoes that of the two previous game heroes) and his relationship with Geddoe and Wyatt and his wife kills meeeeeee. It also very obviously echoes the "bad ending" of game II.... in the process reinforcing that said ending was again, not really your typical "bad ending" in terms of value judgments.
I'm not ready yet I think to discuss some of the other things that this installment brings up. The concept of an ongoing "war" or struggle between humanity and the runes. Yuber's talk of chaos vs. order (and Leknaat being the keeper of the balance). The secrets of the Sindar civilization.
Leknaat, really. In game I she is clearly a benevolent figure. Game II she shows up very little, but what little of her we do see is pretty ambivalent compared to the first game (at least I thought so) -- at least in part because she did not seem so personally involved in the second storyline. (Although I did wonder whether or not the parallels between her and Windy and Riou/Jowy were intentional.) And now... Well, I still think she is a good person. I wanted to say well-intentioned, but I'm not even sure of that anymore. I don't think she is "bad". And her relationship with Luc just seriously broke my heart because it felt so real, like an actual mother/son relationship though not quite that either. Where there was unconditional love and respect but also independent thought rather than blind loyalty and... :(
- - -
I want to play the actual game now still, though. If only so I can wander around talking to NPCS, lol. And waste time exploring. And to see what the manga fleshed out and what it left out. I'm also really curious now about how Suikoden IV and V and Tactics add to the story. I can kind of imagine/guess and understand how V will expand on some of the concepts of the first three games despite not moving beyond III timeline-wise, but the premise of IV makes me "hmmmm" for reasons similar to why I was originally kind of resistant to the idea of Jugdral and Archanea being hundreds of years apart in the same universe. I suppose it depends on how well it's pulled off though. Also I know IV covers the island nation(s?) and V is in Falena, but do we ever see the southern nations that were mentioned offhand? (Or ARE those the southern nations.) And is there an official world map anywhere??? (Whatever happened to Templeton? LOL.) Or is the speculation of how all these countries piece together part of the fun? XD
But anyway I think I will wait on the Suikogaiden translation first (or attempt my own playthrough), because I am clearly Missing Things, and I want to fill in my gaps there first.
.... and now I will stop procrastinating on life. Meh.