Overall, Suikoden 3 is a good game, I enjoy certain aspects of this game much more that S2. Skill points is a wonderful addition to the gameplay, the Trinity system is interesting, though I wish in chapter 4 and 5 the game allowed you to access ALL the characters. My dream team consist of Hugo, Geddoe, Chris, Vikki, Fubar, and Aila, and the bloody game just didn't give me a chance. ARGH!!!!
However, having your three main characters as True Rune holders is the best experience ^_^ Chris and Geddoe are Teh KEWL, their chapters are much more fascinating and fun to play than Hugo's (which bored me to tears).
Now the random. Luc is ANGST monkey. OMFG! I mean little prat from the first two games is AngstMonkey Villain. Sure, I have been spoiled but it doesn't prepare you to actually see Luc, and have him be all 'woe me'. And I almost screeched when Luc said to Hugo 'I once gave my soul and destiny to a man with your eyes and heart.' OMFG!!!! If that wasn't a throwback to McDohl I don't know what is. (yes, I know it can mean Riou, but dammit this is my lj, and I -am- deluded enough to ignore S2. Beside, McDohl was first!). Seriously, I feel for Luc, but he should've known better, fighting for your own freedom, fighting fate is never easy, and to do it in such a selfish manner... McDohl, Riou and Hugo didn't fight for themselves, they fought for those they loved.
Anyways, moving on, Edge scares me. The boy is obviously the hybrid of Viktor and Flik, but by god, who the hell dress him? He's like a rent-boy wanna be. But the Star Dragon Sword still kick so much arse ^_^
And Futch is BUFF! I think this simple discovery was more mind boggling than anything else.
Okay, random things aside I'm gonna get all semi-meta for a bit. So, in this game more than any of the previous Suikoden games the writers tell us in explicit detail that being a true rune bearer suck. You watch the people you care about die, and your fate is never your own. The previous FC, Jimba and Geddoe were all tied together by their mutual burden and responsibility to the Grasslands, but FC took the other way out. He'd rather die with the woman he loves than live a long life, living for a higher purpose. Personally, I applaud for what he did, but I get the uneasy feeling that it's 'not' the right thing to do. Afterall, FC paid for it by having a shorter lifespan, the backlash of removing the True Rune. Mind you, Suikoden, as a series never surgar-coated the concepts of sacrifice, and the price that people must pay.
Hugo, Chris Geddoe and the previous True Rune bearers are 'heroes' because they sacrifices their own happiness for the greater good, they stuck around even after the end of the battle. That's the 'heroic' thing to do, except McDohl in S1 didn't stick around (no matter which ending you got). McDohl packed his bags and left. Rebuilding of the empire, ruling, all of it, he left behind. In S2, Riou's endings were a bit different, in one he killed his best friend and stuck around to rule, in the other he left with his best friend and his sister to live happily ever after. But S3 seem to hammer it in that to be a hero you have to be responsible, you have to stick around for the long haul, I'm not saying that's bad, I'm just trying to figure something out in my own mind. Is it wrong to have done what is needed and leave? Or do you have to stay and protect a land and its people until you die?
Hmm. Argh! I give up.
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chasethestars
chasethestars
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Meta: Yes, that is true, but I think in some ways Geddoe does feel it is the right, or an okay thing to do, really. It is clear that he respects the FC for his choice, as what he says to Luc if you make Gedd the FC. In S2, I think the happy ending is the right ending, (even though I do like the tragic one better, in some ways), and in S1, like you said, McDohl leaves, so I don't think, on that evidence, that the game presents the former heroes as "irresponsible" or "non-heroic." In some ways, Jimba also renounced his "duty" by giving up the Rune, and Geddoe did, for decades, nothing, even working for Harmonia. (Is it really so that the FC died because he removed the Rune? Jimba didn't seem to suffer ill effects.)
I get the feeling that Luc was onto something when he said the Runes were not entirely benign, so doing what the Rune wants does not make it the right thing to do, possibly. But the contrast between Hugo and the FC is interesting, now that you mention it.
It does say something about both the author and the reader that we are fascianted by screwed up characters -_-;; Anyways, I felt Hugo's chapters were rather meh, he didn't really do anything -too- difficult.
Meta: Thinking on the whole issue a bit more, you are right. Gedd, does admire the FC for what he did because he knows the FC was brave enough to face the consequences of removing the rune. To choose the one he loved over everything else.
And here's when Gedd tell Luc that the FC died a more early death than he should've. Apparently when removing True Runes, there's a backlash to the bearer that shorten their life span. The backlash caused FC so such pain and exhaustion that the FC only lasted a few years. (Geddoe is so damn KEWL).
You are right the game didn't go out to present the heroes as heroic or none-heroic, in the end it is about 'heroes' that protected the ones they love, and even if they did choose to give up the TRs, they did knowing the full price they would pay. Case: FC choosing his wife over battles and eternal life, and knowing he'd die.
It is just that at one point in the game it felt like every True Rune holder was doing the self sacrificial thing by choosing an eternal life.
Finally, what's the deal with Jimba? Did he remove his TR himself, or did Luc forcefully remove it? (or do I need to replay chpter 4 with Chris as the FC?) And if he did remove it himself, when did he remove it? 'Cos you know he doesn't look any older than 30, which was what he looked like 50 yrs ago.
I guess in SIII I find with the contrast between Luc and The Flame Champion a huge emphasis on the importance of personal relations, etc., but with Chris and Hugo, it doesn't seem as if they were sacrificing much. Jimba removed his rune himself, before the game started but after he left Chris behind in Zexen. So I think he only started aging after, which is why he doesn't look that old.