Why Gantetsu becomes recruitable that late?

[Jocky]

The room thing is no excuse. Didn't Maas start off on the first floor, before relocating the entire forge to the second floor after the castle was expanded?

And surely, if you're building an army, the blacksmith should be one of the first things on the list. I guess Tsai was a smith of sorts, since he was overlooking the fire spears, but there really should have been a regular smith shop in the castle at an early stage, instead of us having to traipse around to the neighboring villages, which were constantly coming under enemy occupation.

Totally agree!! I'm sure you're right about Maas in SI. He does start off in a tiny ass room by himself, but when the castle expands he relocates the whole forge to a new floor so there is space for the other 4 buggers when they finally show up!!

And as for having to walk from town to town for a stupid blacksmith only to realise as you enter the blasted town that it's been occupied by the thin blue menace is just beyond infuriating!! I know if I was going to be gathering a whole shed load of soldiers together for a war, a blacksmith would be 1 of the first people on my list!! Right after a cook, coz an army marches on its stomach apparently........I never really got that saying. I know what it means, maybe I just worded it wrong......

[Sasarai10]

Totally agree!! I'm sure you're right about Maas in SI. He does start off in a tiny ass room by himself, but when the castle expands he relocates the whole forge to a new floor so there is space for the other 4 buggers when they finally show up!!

And as for having to walk from town to town for a stupid blacksmith only to realise as you enter the blasted town that it's been occupied by the thin blue menace is just beyond infuriating!! I know if I was going to be gathering a whole shed load of soldiers together for a war, a blacksmith would be 1 of the first people on my list!! Right after a cook, coz an army marches on its stomach apparently........I never really got that saying. I know what it means, maybe I just worded it wrong......

Let's don't forget the last set of recruits from S4

An appraiser belongs to the last set of recruits,a married couple,2 gamblers,a doctor and some mediocre fighters...funny isn't it?


Well anyway,i think most people who provide a service like doctors,cooks,blacksmiths,armorers,etc are a must for a real army. but here we're talking about a fantasy world,so i guess you can put it just the way you want it.

[Antimatzist]

But in IV, you have an item shop, a nurse and a blacksmith right from the beginning. But I agree on mediocre fighters, I never really got Travis. I mean why is he in the Obel ruins? why isn't he uber powerful? Arrrgh.

II should have given you a substitute blacksmith that can at least upgrade your weapons to a near-decent level. I always wondered about Tsai, he should have done that.

[Sasarai10]

But in IV, you have an item shop, a nurse and a blacksmith right from the beginning. But I agree on mediocre fighters, I never really got Travis. I mean why is he in the Obel ruins? why isn't he uber powerful? Arrrgh.

II should have given you a substitute blacksmith that can at least upgrade your weapons to a near-decent level. I always wondered about Tsai, he should have done that.

Actually Jude was a blacksmith too,but he is recruitable by the same time you can recruit Tessai

[Antimatzist]

How is Jude a blacksmith? He's a sculptor.

[Sasarai10]

How is Jude a blacksmith? He's a sculptor.

Don't you remember that he can be found,in Greenhil's Academy blacsmith class where he was a teacher?

[Jocky]

I though Jude was just in there to use the furnace to blast his pottery like a kiln!! I don't think he had any actual blacksmithing talent. But then again I could be wrong!
But I agree about Tsai, if he was able to do repairs and sharpen the Fire Spears, surely he could have been used as a mediocre blacksmith until you got Tessai!! At least that way he was actually doing something in your castle rather than just wandering about like a pillock!! But I have to agree with Sasarai also, any leader worth their salt will get at least a blacksmith, armourer, doctor and a cook if they're going to have a successful army!! These people are a MUST in war!!

[Shasarazawoowoo]

Tsai did stuff. He probably maintained the Spears. He was usable in regular and war battles. I think that counts. He's not the ONLY one doing shoot-all there...

[Sasarai10]

The only 2 characters that were totally useless were Fitcher & Marlowe. They didn't participate both in regular and war battles,and they didn't provide any service too.

Now about having Tsai as a blacksmith...what's the point of having 2 smiths? makes no sense....

[Antimatzist]

Now about having Tsai as a blacksmith...what's the point of having 2 smiths? makes no sense....

What's the point in having five blacksmiths? And still Suikoden did it. Maybe they were undecided on that part and already wrote some of the story, but then realized they could as well implement the hammers for the same effect. This would make sense, then Tsai would have been your starting blacksmith, then they'd have 3 others and Tessai, the most powerful, is recruited last.

Or maybe they went for the many blacksmiths idea first, then thought "Well, 5 blacksmiths in one army is boring, we want more cool characters" and then dropped it.

[Sasarai10]

What's the point in having five blacksmiths? And still Suikoden did it. Maybe they were undecided on that part and already wrote some of the story, but then realized they could as well implement the hammers for the same effect. This would make sense, then Tsai would have been your starting blacksmith, then they'd have 3 others and Tessai, the most powerful, is recruited last.

Or maybe they went for the many blacksmiths idea first, then thought "Well, 5 blacksmiths in one army is boring, we want more cool characters" and then dropped it.

Look in the first Suikoden we had no hammers,so that's why we had 5 blacksmiths,with Mace being the best. In the 2nd Suikoden smiths were replaced with hammers. So having a 2nd blacksmith makes no sense

Don't forget that the 5 smiths in the 1st Suikoden started the tradition of having a group of 5 with similar names,just like in S2 with the 5 squirels.

[Antimatzist]

Yeah but now you're mixing up things and missed my point.

The first game could also have started the tradition of having 5 blacksmiths. But then they decided that they want to fill the SoD-roster with other characters than smiths so they introduced the idea of hammers. But maybe the hammers were introduced later in the game, when they already had most of the cast and story together, and it's easy to implement three items in the game. Tessai remained as the master blacksmith and Tsai was just there. That'd explain why your blacksmith is recruited so late in the game even though you can find most of the hammers before his recruitment.

This is pure speculation, but the whole thread is pure speculation, so I guess that's ok.

[sticky-runes]

Yeah but now you're mixing up things and missed my point.

He has a habit of doing that.

Adrienne is my fave blacksmith. She's got some good pieces out here if you're looking to buy. More inside.

[Sasarai10]

He has a habit of doing that.

Adrienne is my fave blacksmith. She's got some good pieces out here if you're looking to buy. More inside.

when i was 14,i use to stop by Adrienne's shop and look at her,while she was working..... i was always imagining Lazlo doing something nasty on her

[Antimatzist]

I always thought Adrienne was a boy until Tactics. <_<