My unsolved mysteries... Hit Rate and the Blue Gate Rune

[bookwormbabe29]

Hey all!

I was hoping to get some feedback on two things I've never understood with this game.


Hit rate: This is based on TEC as far as I know, but I've always wondered what works better; a skill ring (TEC +20) or a thunder amulet which has 'hit +15" on it. What is the thunder amulet actually improving? Can anyone clarify this?


Blue Gate: I've never understood the appeal of this rune. On forums and guides I see people talking about it, the best users, etc, but I've never used it in a serious battle. Sure, I've used it, seen the spells in a regular battle to check it out, but it always seemed a weak rune with long spell animations, and it hurts you for it's strongest spell. Is there something that makes this special? I keep feeling like there is something that makes it an amazing rune that I don't understand, but I can't figure it out.

[Celes]

Amongst others, TECH is used for calculating Hit % and Critical Hit %.
As far as we know: Hit % = TECH - (Enemy SPEED-80) (Source).
The Thunder Amulet add 15 to Hit % (absolute value) (Source), so it depends on the current TECH stat whether a bonus of 20 TECH or 15 Hit % is better.

Actually, a lot of the runes are pretty useless. At most cases, this is due to the unbalance of the game. Nymph, Phero, Banshee ... just to name a few. So I wouldn't spend to much time thinking about it. However, the Blue Gate Rune has its advantages. It covers Fire and Lightning elements as well as two non-elemental spells. There was a long-time rumor covering several characters beeing good users for the Blue Gate Rune, which has turned out untrue. Each spell checks the affinity for the element (water element is the same as non-elemental). Last but not least Empty World can help killing your own characters, which is useful for some tricks like exp boosting and loosing certain battles on purpose.
Blue Gate Rune: http://www.suikosource.com/runes/list/? ... ikoden%202
Rune Affinities: http://www.suikosource.com/games/gs2/gu ... nities.php

[bookwormbabe29]

Good to know! The hit rate formula has evaded me for years. I think the skill ring will work out to be better in most cases (can't think of any where it's not off the top of my head) so that's helpful. And while I'm not a suikoden legend like yourself my dear, I have played these game enough to know some runes are just duds. I just felt there was something everyone else knew and I was missing about this particular rune. I suppose killing yourself on purpose is one idea I hadn't counted on, for example. All these years later, and there's always more to learn about them. Like today was the first time I ever saw the refugees fleeing muse actually reach the matilda border. I didn't think that was possible, you know? Nothing happened with it, but still it was hilarious to see the refugees fight back, injure Jowy's unit and reach the border.

Sigh. How many souls do we need to sacrifice to the evil beast to get another Suikoden game? That's the question we should be asking ourselves...

[BrucePrintscreen]

Wow I didn't knew it was actually possible to save the refugees. As you said, we never stop discovering things in this game and that may be one of the reasons why it is so good. I feel like the purpose of this website is not only to help players but to document all the content of the game.

As for the runes, I always say that Suikoden II is not difficult enough to warrant using only the best elements at your disposal. That is why, just like you wonder why everyone loves the blue gate rune so much, I also wonder why people use obnoxious characters like Killey or Pesmerga or Sierra. THey would answer it is because they are the strongest, but honestly, the game is not hard enough to warrant it. Recently I played the game purposedly selecting all the weakest characters available and I had no serious difficulty completing it. I think it is what you said: the game is about fun and the barely above average difficulty is here to give a chance to all the multiple characters you will recruit. So there is something very funny in seeing Karen and Hai Yo beating the beast rune.

I am not sure I want a new Suikoden considering how they ruined the franchise. I would prefer an updated Suikoden 1, with graphics in the style of Suikoden 2 and extended by creating more dungeons and puzzles where there are not (especially after the fall of the Northern Checkpoint, when the game accelerates for no reason and you barely have the time to experiment the characters you recruit).

Or even better: some genius somewhere creates a new game that reminds us of Suikoden because it is just as good and makes us feel the same way we once felt when we first played Suikoden.

[Omnigamer]

There's pretty much no situation in which having more Hit is preferable to having more TECH; since the numbers are additive, 20 TECH is always greater than 15 HIT. If you can get the Skill Ring, go for it. It's just a question of what you're limited by, and finding Hit+ equipment is somewhat simpler than TECH+. You'd only go for HIT if you didn't want a higher crit rate, for whatever reason.