GENSO SUIKODEN 2 for Playsytation CHARACTER SYNOPSIS BY JL LEE updated on 24-10-99 BEFORE YOU READ FURTHER This document is the result of a hard day's work. If you wish to post it on your site, please feel free to do so WITHOUT any alterations done. This document is also NOT allowed for any profit making purposes, and I'm NOT going to allow any more of this copyright violations to carry on any longer. Genso Suikoden 2, Suikoden 2, related products and all that appear in the game are under the Copyright of Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, and this document is under the Copyright of Lee Jin Lai. Remember this well, you sick ones! Oh yeah, this Character Synopsis is based on my own biased views. If you feel diffently we can argue until the world explodes and still there is no conclusion. Just tell me how you feel and I'll try to see if you're correct, 'k? WHY THIS WAS DONE...... I have received many e-mails regarding the characters, and on who to bring, what Runes to equip on etc. so I made up this character synopsis for everyone to choose and pick for themselves. Everyone has his/her favourites, so I'm not going to impose on you who to use in the battle against Luca or the last dungeon. Without further ado let's begin the detailed 119-character synopsis!! ================ STARS OF DESTINY ================ 1. Hero - Fighter, Map Nuff said. The only compulsary character in the entire game. Is there a way to kick him out of the party? Great all-round stats, and the healing spells from the Bright Shield rune just makes him the perfect attacker and healer. When he gets the second slot on his left hand, you can attach a Fury Rune if you were lucky in Muse, or a Double- Beat Rune. Embed the Friendship Rune on his weapon, and you have an unbeatable juggernaut on your hands. 2. Barbara - Castle: Storehouse Not much to say except that you won't have access to your stores once you lose the Mercenery Fortress, until you regain it after driving off Solon Jhee. One thing to note, she can only store up to 60 items. 3. Leona - Castle: Bar Sexy and businesslike, she is the one who changes your party members, giving you the chance to recruit free characters BEFORE going to report to Shu. 4. GenGen - Fighter One of your first members, he is moderately strong, but slow. Unfortunately you won't be using much of him after clearing the Sindar Ruins as he will be overshadowed by others once you get your castle. 5. MukuMuku - Fighter Muuu......^_^* One big plus point, you can use him when escaping from Kyaro. That's about it. Crappy defense, crappy hit rate. Pray that you don't get him when the Mercenery Fortress falls. 6. Nanami - Fighter, Map She's noteworthy as the Hero's elder sister, and is in the active party A LOT. She's fast, but a little on the weaker side. Her defense is low, but her high skill and evade makes up for that. Give her a Double-Beat Rune and watch her go 'whack, whack'!! Give her a Balance Rune and lay all enemies flat with the Family Attack!!! 7. Rikimaru - Fighter Slow and strong. This describes many of the characters here, but none, save Pesmerga and a few others, can be slower than him. He's good when fighting in the Sindar Ruins though, but watch out, he won't last long due to his low defense...... 8. Kinnison - Fighter He's useful only if Shiro is around. If not, don't even bother. Their combination attack is the only reason why some use him. His attack is really weak, and the same goes for his defense, and his skill level is nowhere among the top. 9. Shiro - Fighter VERY fast, moderate attack, great skill, crap defense. Add the fact that most enemies mear the end can withstand a round of bashing, and that it is S range, means that it will be forgotten very fast. His combination attack with Kinnison is very good though, and that may be a saving grace for him and his master. 10. Millie - Fighter She's one of the dark horses that some like to use at times. First off, she comes with the rare Blue Ribbon, which makes her quite immune to long-range attacks. She is also one of the first people to be able to equip a rune on her head, which means that she is sometimes the first choice to attach the Blue Gate Rune. Her attack is weak though, so is her speed, but her moderate magic sorta helps her out. 11. Zamza - Fighter If not for his vainess, and that fact that he cannot wear decent armor, I might be tempted to use him, but his Fire Dragon has a side effect that is just plain annoying, especially when fighting against bosses. Other than that hs is plainly average. 12. Hanna - Fighter Strong and slow, but makes a good team with Oulan. She also comes with the ability to equip a shield, which increases her defense by leaps and bounds later on in the game. Add a Killer Rune, and she can be a worthy contender for a regular place. 13. Apple - Map, Castle: Map unit changing The first of the returning characters this time actually is useful. Talk to her to edit your battle groups, and NEVER let her choose. 14. Tsai - Fighter, Map His attack is low, speed is low, defense is crap, but surprisingly high skill if you take the time to train him up. Works best with his daughter, otherwise he needs the Unicorn Rune to do any significant damage to anyone. His Fire Spears in the map battles is another thing altogether...... 15. Tuta - Fighter, Map Honestly, I never used him except when he joined up to get flour in the beginning. He comes with a Medicine Rune though, which may come in useful in long dungeons, but his crappy attack really kills any intrest in using him. Same thing for the Map battles. Using him in your group will only mean that you are wasting a space meant for others. 16. Anita - Fighter She's strong. Very strong. Coupled with the stats of a strong fighter is her Falcon Rune, which despite having a miss rate, makes her one of the strongest characters in the first part of the story. If you get Valeria she becomes even more effective with their Rival Attack. Give her a Gale Rune when she can equip one more, and watch her fly!! 17. Gilbert - Map He is there to act as another group leader of your map battles, that's all. Is there anything else to add? 18. Rina - Fighter One of the first few people to join up, she is a tried and tested card thrower. That's not all, her magic skills, although not really top- class, is pretty good. Plus the fact that she can attack from long range makes her one of the most oft-used magicians. She starts out with the Fire Rune which I never took out until I got the Rage Rune. And the fact that she is one of the fastest magicians just adds to her already impressive list. Try out and see. 19. Eilie - Fighter Rina's younger sister, who is much, MUCH faster, and also a long range attacker. An above average all-rounder whose magic stat is impressive. Best used as a healer and support. Gice her a Kite Rune and she can go ballistic, although not to the piont of being to kill off anyone in one hit. If both of the sisters have Kite Runes...... 20. Bolgan - Fighter The third and last of the circus troupe, Bolgan packs a mean punch. Unfortunately he loses out in the frontline as his Rune makes him unbalanced all the time. Great combination attack to take out the first boss though. Other than that...... 21. Viktor - Fighter, Map What should I say? Viktor is here because of Neclord, that's all. He's one of the slowest characters unless you give him a Gale Rune, his defense especially magic defense is crap, the only factors going for him is that the Cross Attack is devestating, and that his personality draws people to use him. Luckily he's not compulsary in the final dungeon. 22. Flik - Fighter, Map Ahhh, Flik......crap magic, but moderate speed and high attack, plus he's the favourite character of many people, makes him one of the most popular. I would have forgotten about him if not for his Lightning Rune and the Cross Attack...... 23. Freed Y. - Fighter, Map He's compulsary in two periods of time, and other than that, there's no reason to use him. Low attack, low defense, low everything. Add the fact that attaching elemental runes to weapons is suicide, well...... you know the rest. 24. Shu - Map He's the strategist, that's all. 25. Huan - Map His Heal ability in the battle map is quite useful. Place him in one of the groups that will never make it to the front line in time to catch up with the cavalry and use that group as a long distance healer. 26. Luc - Fighter, Map He's pretty fast, has GREAT magic, but beyond that, is CRAP. Add the fact that his fighting ability is negligible makes him one of the harder characters to use in dungeons. But when it comes to bosses he can really deal tons of damage with his Wind Rune. Forget the Pixie Rune. It can deal only minimal damage, and in the later parts of the game, he is really useless unless he uses his magic, which isn't really a lot. 26. Richmond - Castle: Investigator He's there to help you get characters as well as give information on all living characters that you have recruited. For a price of course. 27. Alex - Castle: Item shop The items sold in his shop will increase once you visit other shops. Note that Rare Finds will NOT be included unless they are sold in shops as normal items. 28. Hilda - Castle: Inn You can rest there for FREE!! 29. Adlai - Castle: Elevator For the freedom of useage, use the elevator. Unless you like trekking up and down staris of course. 30. Oulan - Fighter, Map She's a little slow, but her Angry Dragon more than makes up for that. Give her a Fury Rune if you got it in Muse, and watch her splatter enemies all over the place with her "Shoryuken!". Add Hanna to the entourage and the Tackle Attack can bring most enemies down. 31. Yoshino - Fighter She is acting as a compliment to Freed Y., but isn't really helpful to your cause at all. Let her wash clothes instead. 32. Templton - Castle: Map Don't you hate it when Konami can spell names wrongly? He gives you the Suiko map, which is VERY useful to find your coordiantes, especially if you can't find Sajah Village. 33. Amada - Fighter He's average, that's all I can say......dosen't excel in any area, that makes him one of the harder characters to use. 34. Tai Ho - Fighter, Map His defense lets him down, but other than that makes a pretty good fighter. Too bad no combination attack. Give him a Unicorn Rune to increase his effectiveness in the battles. 35. Yam Khoo - Map, Castle: Fishing You can't use him his time round :( 36. Clive - Fighter Someone with a gun, great skill, great speed, high attack, low defense. That is, if you can get him in the first place. Strangely enough, he can use the Kite Rune...... 37. Taki - Castle: Gossiper Err...... 38. Hans - Castle: Armorer Same as Alex, no Rare Finds, but will sell all Armor once you have opened up the dialogue box with Armorers all over the game world. 40. Fitcher - ?? No comments here, he does have major roles to play though. 41. Ridley - Map Great on the map. His Critical skill comes up more often than others. 42. Chaco - Fighter, Map Fast fighter, but medium attack and low defense lets him down. On the map he can let an Infantry unit fly, and that's all fot his usefulness. 43. Sid - Fighter Remove his Waking Rune and you have basicially Chaco with slighter higher defense and slightly lower speed. With the Waking Rune he needs to be hit first before he can become effective. 44. Gabocha - Fighter. L range attacker, but low stats really make him a hard character to use. Since your backline is more magic-based, it's hard for him to find a place in your adventuring lineup. 45. Hai Yo - Fighter, Castle: Restaurant As far as I know no one uses him in battle. Leave him in your restaurant instead. And see his sub-story. 46. Stallion - Fighter His main use is that you can dash on the world map. Once you get the Blinking Mirror you can let him run circles in your castle. 47. Shilo - Castle: Chinchiron Wanna win easy money anyone? Lose even more due to high AI skill? 48. Tetsu - Castle: Baths The baths are important this time round. Stay long enough, and when your characters become 'toasty' they can heal their HP when walking and in battle, for a limited time. Much better than using one slot for the Sunbeam Rune. 49. Hix - Fighter His speed and defense are higher than Flik's, surprisingly enough. But in return his attack is lower, but it's a good enough trade-off, given the fact that if Tengaar is also in your party, they make a great team. 50. Tengaar - Fighter She's the second-fastest magician in the game, plus the fact that she is a L-ranged character makes her one of the better choices for a travelling party. A Blue Ribbon cancels out her need to equip only magical Robes, and with Hix in your party, they are devestating, second to the Family Attack. Give her the Mother Earth Rune and Cyclone Rune and she is the best supporting character in your team. Give her Rage and Thunder and she can eliminate all that stand in her way. One who will give Rina or Eilie a run for their money. 51. Meg - Fighter Meg is SUPPOSED to be a magician , but really excels in neither magic nor fighting. Her only saving grace is her Trick Rune, and her combination attack with Gadget. Best used as supporting character. 52. Gadget - Fighter Good when Meg is around, CRAP if she's not. Nuff said. 53. Wakaba - FIghter Good attack, good speed, crap defence. And the fact that she stands in the front row dosn't help her resume one bit. AND she has to be in Critical condition before her White Tiger Rune is anywhere strong enough to take out end-game enemies. Sigh...... 54. Tony - Castle: Garden Whack-a-mole anyone? 55. Emilia - Castle: Library Give her all your Old Books. Let them gather dust in the library. 56. Jeane - Castle: Runeshop Same as the shops, no Rare Finds, only those that were sold before. 57. Yuzu - Castle: Farm No major role to play here. Give her all the farm animals you find. 58. Teresa - Map She has Bombard ability, but like all Archer units, low hit percentage. 59. Shin - Fighter, Map Great attack, but on the other hand low speed. Your choice, but a Gale Rune really helps to cancel the difference. 60. Nina - Fighter You must see her Groupie Attack once. It's so funny! Other than that she makes one hellava good misser. 61. Viki - Fighter, Castle: Teleport She has the highset Luck in the Stars, and that definately helps out when casting her Blink Rune. But if she's in your party you will not be able to teleport, so why use her? let her fumble with her teleporting instead. UPDATE: She CAN teleport if she's in your party. Just walk over to the spot where she's supposed to stand and she will teleport the party. Kudos to Kevin Packard for that. 62. Humphrey - Fighter, Map The slowest of them all, Humphrey is one BIG ROCK when it comes to fighting. Give him a Gale Rune if you wish to use him. His ultra-high defense even cancels out Luca's triple sword thrust!! AND his sttack is high, abelit medium skill. 63. Futch - Fighter Well, he's quite fast, medium attack, average defense. Basicaially an all-round attacker. Will do quite well if given the Unicorn Rune and Double-Beat or Killer Rune. 64. Miklotov - Fighter, Map Miklo-tofu to some, he's an above-average fighter. If not for the fact that there are about 30-odd people who are fighting for the lineup he might do better. The Knight Rune comes in handy in boss battles, and his combination attack with Camus is also quite good. 65. Camus - Fighter, Map He comes with an unremovable Rage Rune. That's the main reason why some choose to use him. Unfortunately his magic is so low that it is quite wasteful for him to use magic when he would do better cutting monsters up. Generally faster than Miklotov, and lower defense. 66. Kiba - Map The only Star that won't survive...*sob* 67. Klaus - Map Map skills is a whopping +3 to defense!! 68. Lebrante - Castle: Appraisal At 400 potch an appraisal......better go to Greenhill. 69. Simone - Fighter Who uses this clown!? He is a L-range attacker, who throws ROSES for goodness sake. Surprisingly high Level when he joins, you might decide to use him as backline support with the Kite Rune...... 70. Valeria - Fighter, Map Falcon Rune + Anita = Devestating Rival Duo. She quite fast as well, and has decent defense to boot. 71. Kasumi - Fighter, Map Her low defense is sorta nullified by her high evade, plus the fact that hse has WONDERFUL speed and great skill makes her everyone's favourite. Unfortunately her attack is low, which means that you'll be using her Shrike Rune most of the time, cancelling out her useful high skill. And the fact that this time she can only attack from the front means that you'll be healing her a lot if you decide to bring her along. 72. Sheena - Fighter Strangely enough, he's quite good. Not really THAT good, but above average. He can also equip 3 runes at an early stage, and that's a big plus. Mould him into a type of character you wish him to compliment your party with. 73. Lorelai - Fighter, Map She's L-range this time round, but that dosen't change anything. Attack is still in the mid-range, and her low speed sorta makes her one of the lesser-used characters. 74. Mondo - Fighter Not as fast as Kasumi, but also packs a punch. Also short range, which makes him kinda hard to use along with Kasumi, all because you can bring along only 5 other characters. 75. Sasuke - Fighter Lower speed and attack AND defense than either of the two ninjas, he is another character who gets pushed out of the picture due to the presence of better people to use. 76. Badeaux - Fighter A beastmaster who is only useful if there is a L-sized monster in your team. In other words, useless unless you want to try something exotic. 77. Feather - Fighter L-sized monster which takes up 2 slots, Feather does well against airborne enemies, but has crappy evade and attack. Not recommended to use unless you want to see it's combination attack. 78. Ayda - Fighter, Map With Stallion, can deal a bit of damage, but not really recommended because of her low attack. More useful in the Greenhill Battle Map. 79. Sigfried - Fighter Another L-sized monster that takes waaay too much space. Low attack, and although its Rune is quite good, it's low magic hampers it a lot. 80. Gordan - Castle: Trading House The items in his trading house will increase as you recruit more characters. 81. Tomo - Fighter Works well with her father. Another one of those attacking all- rounders that you find, with higher speed and lower defense. Unicorn Rune is the best for her. 82. Maximillian - Fighter, Map He's too old to do anything useful, and that's a fact. 83. Annallee - Castle: Sound Test Listen to her wonderful song!! 84. Killey - Fighter He has a strange effect on people, but he is actually a little above average in all areas. But as usual, he tends to get bumped off during story events. 85. Hoi - Fighter He has the Technique Rune, for those who are really desperate for money......but he's the kind where you recruit for the sake of numbers only. 86. Connell - Castle: Sound Change The epitome of cuteness......*pukes into barf bag* 87. Bob - Fighter He's wonderful once he turns wolf. Absolutely nothing, save bosses, survives one round against him. Too bad you waste a turn transforming and it only lasts 3 turns. 88. Karen - Fighter, Castle: Dancing She's good at dancing, that's all. Not much to say that you don't really wnat to break her nails fighting. 89. Long Chan Chan - Fighter Another great fighter with crappy defense. Exactly the same as Wakaba with slightly higher stats all round. Use him if you are really feeling up to martial artists. 90. Tenkou - Castle: Window Change Another character to add up the numbers. 91. Ruara - Castle: Scroll shop Turns magic Runes into scrolls. Best when using Earth Crystals. 92. Boris - Map Not as good as his father was. Has Evade though. 93. Jess - ?? Stupid Jess...... 94. Hauser - Map Great fighting general. 95. Marlowe - ?? Another one of those completely useless characters. 96. Kahn - FIghter Has the Ressurection Rune. You have to use him when fighting Neclord. Other than that he can still be used, but without the Ressurection Rune he isn't any better than any one of those all-rounders...... 97. Sierra - Fighter She's a magician, can use death magic, but you'll probably use her for bashing bosses. Best for haters of the snobbish Luc. Her magic stat is actually comparable to him, but of course she loses out in the speed department. 98. Koyu - Fighter, Map Typicially fast, but weak in all other areas. Give him the Gozz Rune if you feel like it, but generally a forgotten character once the Neclord event is over. 99. Gijimu - Fighter, Map Comes with the Double-Beat Rune, which helps out a bit. basicially a stronger but slower version of Koyu. 100. Lo Wen - Fighter, Map Nothing much to say about her. Good only when doing the Bandits Attack. 101. Georg - Fighter, Map Comes at an astoishingly high level. Great fighter with decent defense, and the low speed can be erased with a Gale Rune. 102. Gantetsu - Fighter Comes with the Ressurection Rune. Other than that has no use unless you want to see his combination attack. 103. Abizboah - Fighter The third of the L-sized monsters, typicially useless unless you want to get Rulodia and Chuchara. 104. Pico - Castle: Sound Test Creating trouble wherever he goes...... 105. Jude - Castle: Guardian Deity Useful in making the Guardian Deity, other than that nothing much. 106. Alberto - Castle: Sound Test The last member of the performing band. 107. Tessei - Castle: Blacksmith You need him to sharpen your weapons from Lv 12 onwards. 108. Vincent - Fighter He can fight!! But overall is crappy...... 109. Pesmerga - Fighter He can fight, but moderate strength plus low speed makes him one of the harder characters to use, especially since he comes in so late in the game...... 110. Genshu - Fighter Another hard character to use, his Swallow Rune isn't that effective in killing, since he is a little slower than most. 111. Mazus - Fighter, Map Crowley's rival, and has stats that nearly equal Crowley. Great when fighting Lucia, but not really recommended for long dungeon treks due to the fact that true magicians NEVER fight well. ========= NON-STARS ========= 112. Jowy - Fighter, Map One of the best characters in the game, is quite unfortunate that you can use him only for a part of the game. Is best as an attacker with the Buddy Attack, which can blow most enemies away. The Black Sword Rune is really effective against most monsters, and the addition that he is a fighter with high magic only adds to that. 113. Loradia - Fighter The fourth L-sized monster. Saving grace is it's Flowing Rune. But really...... 114. Chuchara The last of the L-sized monsters. Again, not useful due to the fact that they take up 2 slots each...... UPDATE: With thanks to Kevin Packard, he has told me that Chuchara takes up only ONE slot as it is a baby Kraken. But babies being what they are, has crap stats. 115. MakuMaku See MukuMuku 116. MikuMiku See MakuMaku 117. MekuMeku See MikuMiku 118. MokuMoku See MekuMeku 119. (A-Z)cDohl The BEST character in the game. His Twin Heaven Fang starts at Lv 14 (You DID sharpen it to Lv 16 in GS1, didn't you?) and he his Soul Eater, along with his high stats can do ULTRA-HIGH damage to ALL, including bosses. And his combination attack with the Hero will be the one that can allow you to clear random battles without breaking a sweat. The only negative point (if you can call it negative) is that you have to go all the way to Gregminster to get him to join. That's about it. Now it's your turn to choose. PLEASE don't e-mail me asking who to bring, as I can give you MANY possible combinations which I have tried (successfully) to beat the final boss. It isn't that hard if you try hard enough and train enough. Thanks for reading!! JL