If you woke up as the Tenkai of a Suikoden game..

[Sasarai10]

Funny how this developed into jeering Gremio...
In S1 unite attacks were pretty effective, so Gremio wasn't bad as long as Pahn was around.

That's true but Gremio alone was useless.

I don't understand why unite attacks went weaker in the further games. In the first game Kai & Tir's Unite attack could cause 2X damage to ALL enemies,but in the later games most Unite Attacks who could cause damage to all enemies could cause only 0.5X

[bluemask]

@Wataru Hugo isn't a Tenkai..Thomas is the Tenkai in S3,but anyway

The original post said Tenkai/preferred FC. Hugo is my preferred FC.

I may be in the minority here, but I like Gremio, Nanami, and Chiepoo. I don't like Gremio game mechanics-wise, but I like all three of their personalities.

Their personalities are indeed like-able but as others have stated, their strength is the annoying thing. Instead of being able to choose a fully-customized party, you get stuck with half-wits (not that Lyon is a bad one). That's where I begin finding them annoying.

[wataru14]

their strength is the annoying thing.

Gremio is useless. Sure, he's got OK defense, skill, and luck. But his HP is low, he's slow as hell, his magic sucks, and his strength is the same as Eileen's. I give him a Prosperity Rune and the Dragon Seal Incense and shove him in the back corner.

Nanami can be good is utilized correctly. She's super fast, skilled, and lucky. She has two free Rune slots and a free weapon Rune slot. She's not very strong, but she can be effective.

Chiepoo is awesome. Three open Rune slots, and high growth in Strength, Skill, Speed, and Luck. He's a monster in battle.

Although I do agree with you on the forced party members thing. At least the games got better with this as they went on. Suikoden 1 is horrible with locking people in your party. It's usually 3 or 4 out of 6! The Pannu Yakuta mission is awful! They lock all 6 party members and Kirkis is the closest thing to a mage in the bunch. No useful unites. And you have Gremio, Kuromimi, and (in my case at least) a horribly under-leveled and under-equipped Viktor. Thank god for the Falcon Rune and the Dragon Seal Incense.

[gildedtalon]

Nanami is extremely powerful if you equip her with Double-beat and Fury, otherwise abandon

[BrucePrintscreen]

I like Nanami and Chiepoo.

Nanami is a sister and having a sister is awesome. Okay I'll go beyond that: Nanami is a very complex character, able to be very funny or strong or sensitive at the same time. She has been very well written because her personality holds together while being so multifaceted. She's one of the biggest success in S2 in my opinion. I really was very touched the first time I reached that part of the game which I won't make a spoiler but you all know what I'm talking about. Nanami is a very deep character so of course it's difficult to make her appreciated to her right value by Pesmerga fans.

Chiepoo is awesome because cats are awesome. Alright I'll develop again. All you have to do to appreciate Chiepoo is to do what I did: MUTE THE DAMN VOICES. I lost interest in videogames when voices and 3D became compulsory and I had the feeling that all the fun and imagination was ripped away from the medium in favour of constant technological peeing contest, so when I first played S4 I immediately cut all the voices, even before Chiepoo spoke. I don't even know his voice, I only read here that it's irritating. But guys, beyond this, there's a very sweet character. Once again, he's fun and deep at the same time, he is the only one who really cares for the hero as a person. He pursues his dream and is self-effacing at the same time. I love him.

Gremio is meh. The basic idea behind the character is interesting but he was overplayed. Like that time at Kwaba when he wanted to chop off his head. Chill out dude... Smoke some sarady herbs or something.

[Sasarai10]

Their personalities are indeed like-able

WHAT??????????????????????????????

If i had someone like Gremio on my back i'll definetely punch him in his face

Forgot to mention about Cius & Lelei...i'd give them to Byakuren when she would appear in my HQ Those boidyguard/servant characters are by far the most ANNOYING characters ever

[Wolkendrache]

Nanami is a sister and having a sister is awesome. Okay I'll go beyond that: Nanami is a very complex character, able to be very funny or strong or sensitive at the same time. She has been very well written because her personality holds together while being so multifaceted.

Absolutely. She's actually realistic: if you want to turn a peace loving girl into a fiery beast, just threaten her little brothers. Other characters are simply suffering from "protectoritis" or "loyaliosis" (e.g. Cius, Freed), but Nanami has a deeper personality.

Those with a party of Hero, Nanami, Killey, Sheena, Chaco and Sid, and can't wait to replace Nanami with Hai Yo, are obviously less interested in the storyline. On the other hand, if you get so many characters, then you want to try them out, and S1 gave few opportunity. Fortunately that was realized early, and the convoy was created/extended.

[sticky-runes]

I think what bothers me most about Gremio/Nanami/Lyon is that I feel myself outgrowing them throughout the story. I've moved on from my hometown, I'm meeting new people, exploring new friendships, my whole world is changing and I'm adapting to it, and you know what? We don't have to be joined at the hip all the frigging time.

OK, storyline wise, their loyalty is touching, and they're essential, because they represent a part of your home life the way it was before you got swept up into this war, they're kind of there to keep you grounded and remind you where it all started, but gameplay wise, it gets on my tits. There's also the fact that the main character does not speak, so the most loyal character is the one who hogs all the dialogue, and is telling everyone what you're (apparently) thinking and feeling all the time.

Suikoden 4 was a bit more liberal with this. You fall out with Snowe during the early stages of the game, and reconciling with him is totally optional. Chiepoo is there for a lot of cut scenes but is not necessarily a forced party member (once you start recruiting, you only really need him to recruit the other two kobolds) and Lino is essential for a few missions, but by the time you meet him, you're way past the "we've been driven out of our homeland" part of the game, and he's my favorite character anyway, so he can force his way into my group any time he wants. Plus Suikoden 4 is incredibly short, and the hero ends up on his own anyway.

[Sasarai10]

In S5 you could put forced party members on your support if you'd like. That was a good thing actually. Except Freyjadour of course.

@sticky-runes don't forget that in S4 you could use only 4 party members. That makes sense for not having so many non-optional party members. Though you could use 3 different parties if a battle took place on the sea and not in a land

@Wolkendrache Freed was slightly better than Cius,but still he was stupid. Just remember what he said when you were going to form an alliance with Toran Republic.

[bluemask]

Their personalities are indeed like-able

WHAT??????????????????????????????

If i had someone like Gremio on my back i'll definetely punch him in his face

Ok, it was wrong with Gremio he sucked big time and being an overly-attached servant is not helping too. Viktor can feel that as well lol.

But Nanami is totally likeable though. She has a very animated personality. Plus she's the fastest fighter early in the game and I usually slap her with a Spark rune so everybody get to be as fast as she is lol.

[Sasarai10]

Ok, it was wrong with Gremio he sucked big time and being an overly-attached servant is not helping too. Viktor can feel that as well lol.

But Nanami is totally likeable though. She has a very animated personality. Plus she's the fastest fighter early in the game and I usually slap her with a Spark rune so everybody get to be as fast as she is lol.

Yeah Nanami is great in combact and her Unite attack with Riou is a killer one in the beginning. Sure she was far better than Gremio,but still she was a troublemaker. Look what she did in Muse pretending to be......Hilda
And she tried to convince Jowy to act like....Pete. Totally foolish

[sticky-runes]

Yeah Nanami is great in combact and her Unite attack with Riou is a killer one in the beginning. Sure she was far better than Gremio,but still she was a troublemaker. Look what she did in Muse pretending to be......Hilda
And she tried to convince Jowy to act like....Pete. Totally foolish

I had Rikimaru and Hanna in my party. Surely they would have been more convincing as a couple in their late 20s/early 30s? Oh well.

[Sasarai10]

I had Rikimaru and Hanna in my party. Surely they would have been more convincing as a couple in their late 20s/early 30s? Oh well.

Actually Hanna is hard to be passed as a woman

[bluemask]

I had Rikimaru and Hanna in my party. Surely they would have been more convincing as a couple in their late 20s/early 30s? Oh well.

Actually Hanna is hard to be passed as a woman

Hanna's muscles would like a word with you.

[sticky-runes]

The name "Hilda" comes from an old Germanic word for "battle woman", so it suits Hanna.
Of course, if the Muse guard did make a rude comment to Hanna, she probably would have taken out her sword and cleft him in twain.