Suikoden IV: Guides: Ritapon

Suikoden IV: Guides: Ritapon

Ritapon

The mechanics of Ritapon should be familiar to anyone who has played a tile based game such as Mah JJong, or even a card based game such as Gin Rummy: The basic premise is to collect sets, either sets of the same tile, or sequential runs before your opponent. However this being Suikoden they have placed their own unique slant on proceedings.

The Tiles

There are five sets of tiles used in Ritapon. Four of these are seperated into colours: Red, Green, Blue and Yellow. Each of these is divided into three of values 1, 2 and 3 stars respectively; also each of these tiles has an image of one of the Stars of Destiny on it for easy recognition. There are three of each of these tiles so the player is expected to collect either a set such as {Red 1,Red 2,Red 3} of the same colour, or the set {Red 1,Red 1,Red 1}, unlike card based games there is no set of differing colours with the same number.
The remaining tiles have a picture of one of the five elements on them; while the game allows any set of three of them to be used in place of a {1,2,3} or {1,1,1} they also have individual effects detailed below.

The Game

The game randomly sorts the 41 tiles, dealing 8 to Rita and 8 to you. 24 of the rest make up the wall which is slowly demolished as each player takes the next tile from it in turn. The remaining tile is called the Dora, and while it plays no part in the game itself it can affect the scoring at the end.

The aim of the game is to collect three sets; of sequential tiles, the same tile or three elementals; before the opponent does. Each turn one player takes a tile from the wall and either discards it into the space in front of them, swaps it with one in their hand discarding the old tile, or in the case of an elemental tile uses it up. Whichever method occurs, the player will retain only eight tiles; the discarded tiles remain visible throughout the game so people can see what has been played.

In the event that one player discards a tile that the opponent has the two corresponding versions of then they can choose to call Pon which takes the tile, and places it with its bretheren to the right of the players hand. This remains visible to the opponent and the player cannot change those tiles for the remainder of the game. A player can decide not to use a Pon when it is available by pressing triangle when the prompt comes up. Also a Pon can only be called to make a set such as {1,1,1}, it is not available for a {1,2,3} or elemental set.

When a player has two sets and only requires one tile to make a third then they can call Reach when prompted; again they can elect not to call reach by pressing triangle. During Reach a player cannot change the tiles in their hand, and must discard any tile that does not match the one they are looking for; the only exception to this are the elemental tiles which can be used if taken from the wall. Should the player pick up the tile they are after from the wall they can call Tsumo and win the game. Similarly if their opponent discards the needed tile they can call Ron and win the game; unlike Pon, a Ron can take any needed tile regardless of set. If a player receives the tile they need but they have not declared Reach, then they cannot win the game in that round; instead they must declare Reach by discarding one tile and hope to receive another such tile in future.
After a player has won with either a Tsumo or a Ron then their score for the round is calculated and added to their current score; see scoring below.
If neither player gets Tsumo or Ron after all the tiles have been played then the round is declared Ryokyoko and no score is awarded to either player.

Elemental effects

Elemental runes can be used by pressing Circle whilst they are highlighted and confirming you wish to use the tile; the effect of each rune is different and is detailed below.

Wind: This rune will turn several tiles in the opponents hand to face the other way; the exact number varies from use to use, and it can be zero. This lets you tell what your opponent is collecting, and if you are lucky can tell you what tiles Rita does not possess. This tile is more annoying when it is used on you, and for this reason the player should try and keep memorised their tiles at all times.

Fire: This rune will destroy tiles in the opponents hand; usually one, but sometimes two or none result from using this tile, these tiles will be replaced with those from the wall. The destroyed tile(s) is removed from the game completely; unless previous use of the Wind Rune showed what the tile was then the player must guess what was destroyed: as the tiles line up in order Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Elemental with tiles placed in numerical order in each set; then a destroyed tile on the right (Rita's left) is likely to be from the Red or maybe Green sets, whereas one on the left (Rita's right) is most likely to be Yellow or an element.
The Fire Rune is also the only thing that can take a player out of Reach status, even if the replacement tile allows Reach status it must be declared again on the player's next turn. However the Fire Rune cannot affect any tiles moved to the right due to a Pon.

Earth: The Earth rune will prevent the effect of either a Fire or a Wind rune used against the player; however, it will only block one such attack. In the event that the second rune is used on the player it will work normally. When the Earth rune is in effect green bubbles are emitted by the player's tiles

Lightning: The Lightning rune allows the player to take the next three tiles from the wall; the opponent can still claim anything discarded by the player for a Pon or a Ron. Because of the latter it is often best to use this tile as soon as possible.

Water: The Water rune allows the player to take any piece discarded by either player and place it in their hand; once used the cursor will move to the discard set and by moving it the desired tile can be highlighted and claimed. Because the value of this tile increases with the amount of tiles discarded then it is best to save this until it is needed. In the event that the tile claimed will end the game then it is classed as a Tsumo, regardless of whether it originally came from the player's or the opponent's discard piles.

Scoring

The winning player only has their score calculated depending on which sets they collected, there are also a set of bonuses that can be awarded that will affect the score for the round.
Each player starts with 10,000 points, after each round the points are calculated and they are added to the winning player as well as being subtracted from the losing player's total.

Regardless of the person on the tile, or the colour involved, the base values of the sets {1,1,1}, {2,2,2} and {3,3,3} are constant and depend on the number of the tile. If the set was collected as a Pon then the values are halved, a Ron set gives full values. These values are:

	Normal	Pon
{1,1,1}	500	250
{2,2,2}	700	350
{3,3,3}	900	450

The Elemental set is worth a base of 1000 points regardless of which tiles make up the set, or what happened to the other two.

The sets {1,2,3} however do vary what they are worth depending on which person is on the tile, and which position that person is in. For every person each position has a word associated with it that has a set base value, these can be seen in the table below:

Name	Tile 1	Tile 2	Tile 3	Name	Tile 1	Tile 2	Tile 3
Hero	Punish	Twin	Knight	Lilen	Len	Li	Blue
	400	250	200		150	150	200
Lino En Kuldes	Spear	Father	King	Yu	Yu	Money	Doctor
	150	250	300		100	200	150
Elenor	Moon	Wine	Tactic	Carrie	Cheer	Care	View
	250	100	150		200	100	100
Ted	Soul	Eat	Death	Dario	Hair	Pirate	Dario
	300	300	50		50	50	150
Tal	Tal	Muscle	Tal	Millay	Mil	Lay	Nymph
	150	200	50		50	200	200
Izak	Izak	Iluya	Flower	Reinhold	Rein	Aid	Hold
	100	150	100		150	200	100
Axel	Sword	Axe	War	Warlock	Lock	Spell	Cane
	150	100	100		200	150	150
Selma	Elf	Sword	Selma	Akaghi	Aka	Ninja	Gi
	50	100	100		100	150	150
Aldo	Arrow	Bow	Draw	Mizuki	Loyal	Mizu	Ninja
	50	150	50		150	200	200
Reinbach	Royal	Rose	Noble	Ornan	Shadow	Calm	Deep
	150	200	150		150	100	50
Chiepoo	Cat	Meow	Yawn	Manu	Alpha	Manu	Beta
	100	200	250		100	150	150
Paula	Elf	Fruit	Girl	Rene	Gold	Dew	Keep
	200	100	150		100	50	200
Kika	Pirate	Twin	Kika	Ameria	Make	Beauty	Up
	150	150	200		50	200	150
Keneth	Ken	Armor	Loyal	Nico	Nico	Mouth	Eye
	200	100	150		150	150	200
Ramada	Bald	Hair	Sell	Wendel	Grab	Cap	Claws
	50	150	200		50	100	200
Travis	Travis	One	Seal	Tov	Clever	Ship	Tov
	150	50	100		50	150	150
Snowe	Friend	Pirate	Adrift	Phil	Phil	Wide	Wake
	350	50	50		200	200	150
Rachel	Spear	Cafe	Calm	Eugene	Do	Weak	Worry
	200	150	150		150	50	200
Helga	Axe	Body	Anger	Mitsuba	Mitsu	Hit	Ba
	150	200	100		200	100	150
Cedric	Speed	Fast	Zoom	Lilan	Li	Lan	Blue
	150	150	200		200	150	200
Keen	Merc	Head	Potch	Nataly	Window	Nata	Art
	100	150	200		150	150	100
Gau	Gau	Uga	Ugauga	Nao	Paper	Room	Mint
	200	100	50		200	150	150
Gretchen	Great	Chain	Pull	Etienne	Eti	Enne	Sound
	150	50	150		200	100	150
Konrad	Man	Cane	Hit	Viki	Wand	Poof	Wow
	200	50	200		200	200	100
Jewel	Spirit	Heart	Smile	Kate	Ninja	Kate	Black
	150	100	150		150	150	200
Katarina	Magic	Cane	Grace	Charlemagne	Paper	Wide	Story
	150	200	200		200	150	150
Lo Seng	Lo	Bro	Seng	Rita	Rita	Rita	Pon
	150	150	100		200	200	100
Shiramine	Catch	Fish	Water	Oleg	Spec	Record	Box
	200	200	150		150	150	200
Lo Fong	Fong	Lo	Sis	Perrault	Row	Column	News
	150	100	150		100	100	150
Ugetsu	River	Fish	Water	Deborah	Debbie	Wisdom	Know
	200	200	150		200	100	50
Lo Hak	Hak	Family	Lo	Agnes	Common	Worker	Quaint
	100	100	150		150	150	50
Rakgi	Stone	Cave	Guide	Trishtan	One	Two	Three
	200	100	150		50	50	200
Rikie	Wife	Memory	Ruins	Noah	Noah	Nay	Town
	100	150	200		50	200	150
Jango	Grunt	Force	Punch	Adrienne	Heat	Build	Smith
	150	200	150		150	100	200
Brec	Hair	Brute	Umph	Setsu	Target	Garb	Loyal
	150	50	100		50	50	100
Flare	Flare	Crown	Youth	Nalkul	Purr	Cat	Meow
	200	200	150		150	200	250
Tanya	Word	Page	Book	Champo	Tummy	Oops	Cat
	50	200	150		150	250	150
Jeremy	Flow	Strike	Sword	Funghi	Fun	Dish	Cook
	200	50	150		50	150	100
Gareth	Carve	Rose	Crest	Pecola	Peco	Shine	Wall
	150	50	100		150	100	150
Jeane	Glow	Secret	Master	Maxine	Max	Cane	Ine
	150	50	150		100	150	50
Lilon	Lon	Li	Blue	Basil	Toss	Basil	Top
	200	100	200		100	200	150
Gary	Aged	Hunnie	Hair	Igor	Glass	Flip	Coin
	150	150	50		100	100	200
Ema	Proud	Wife	Help	Lilin	Lin	Li	Blue
	100	200	50		150	150	150
Sigurd	Knife	Slick	Pirate	Karl	Body	Dragon	Tiger
	150	200	100		100	200	200
Hervey	Side	Pirate	Boat	Gunter	Right	Left	Hand
	150	200	150		150	250	50
Mickey	Fear	Rise	Bach	Desmond	Des	Boy	Thin
	200	150	100		150	150	50
Nabokov	Nabo	Kov	See	Louise	Louise	Keep	Inn
	50	150	200		200	100	150
Fredrica	Bow	Fre	Arrow	Kevin	Kev	In	Bun
	100	200	50		150	200	150
Mao	Paper	Mint	Room	Pam	Pa	Pam	Am
	150	150	150		100	100	150
Bartholomew	Bartho	Lo	Mew	Taisuke	Tai	Suke	Bath
	200	100	150		150	100	150
Helmut	Head	Stand	Adonis	Nalleo	Grow	Learn	Sea
	200	150	150		150	150	100
Pablo	Learn	Magic	Work	Haruto	Haru	Haruto	To
	50	200	100		150	150	50
Bang	Paper	Wise	Bang	Oskar	Os	Kar	Man
	150	50	200		100	200	150
Liloon	Loon	Li	Blue	Chadli	Dli	Cha	Rule
	150	100	150		150	150	350

So for instance if the tiles were {Hero, Lino, Elenor} [PunishFatherTactic] then the value would be 400 + 250 + 150 = 800, but if they were arranged {Lino, Elenor,Hero} [SpearWineKnight] then it would be 150 + 100 + 200 = 450. Thus it is in the players best interest to rearrange the tles into something they think is best.
Tiles can be changed in the Alter Piece option in the first list of options Rita gives, tiles can only be changed to characters currently recruited. Also note that when speaking to Rita before recruiting her this option is a row of question marks and you have to play with the pieces given.

Those values marked in green are the highest available for that position, and those in blue are the lowest; due to several people being on more than one list for different positions, then some valued at 200 must be added if the player intends to fully maximise the value of the reward.

The Bonuses

The values of the tiles are only part of the score that the player accumulates for winning a round. There are three possible bonuses that can apply to raise this level higher.

The Dora bonus: As mentioned at the start, there will be one tile left over called the Dora. If one of the winning sets contains one of the copies of the Dora tile, or is an elemental set if the Dora is elemental then that set will receive a bonus of 500 points applied to it.
Unconfirmed - It appears that if the Dora is elemental, and the player has an elemental set, then if the remaining elemental tile is known to have been used or discarded then this bonus will be 1500 points rather than 500.

The listed bonus: I am afraid I cannot give exact details as to how this is calculated. This bonus varies from round to round and must have a set of factors not yet discerned to work out a value. The lowest such bonus I have seen is 300, and the highest is 6100 (without the catchup bonus below applied) but the criteria for calculating that are not apparent. The factors that I belive affect this bonus include:
Winning with Ron seems to give a base value of 300
Winning with Tsumo seems to give a base value of 600
Winning with the last tile seems to give a bonus
The Dora tile seems to have no bearing on the bonus directly

The Catch-up Bonus: The game gives a bonus to the player who is behind in order to allow them to catch up with their opponent faster. The value of this bonus is calculated in a specific way: For each whole thousand points needed to bring the player to 10,000 or above then the player receives a 10% bonus on all values.
Thus for example if the player had 7,500 points before the round started and they won all the values shown would be increased by 30%, this includes the bonus, and any bonus for the Dora obtained. This value of 30% would be the same if the player had 7,000 or 7,995 points. The game calculates the bonus and displays this as the score for each set and bonus obtained.
So for example if the player had the {Hero, Lino, Elenor} set mentioned above with a Dora bonus and they had 7,500 points before the round started then the display would show ( 800 + 500 )* 1.3 = 1690.

The Reward

Ritapon will go on for ten rounds unless the player elects to stop it after an earlier round, or one of the players has their total point score lowered to 0 (Note that in this instance the winning player still has the excess added to their score). At this point the money is calculated: if the player is over 10,000 at the end then they will receive money from Rita, if they have less than 10,000 they will pay Rita. In the event of a draw neither player gains or loses money.

Before starting the game the player will have chosen a rate for the payments to be made, before recruiting Rita stays on the low rate; these are Low Rate, Normal Rate and High Rate. These rates affect all areas of the amount paid out based on the multiplier associated with the rate.
There are three areas paid out: the first is the difference between the players points score and 10,000; when calculating the payment any fractional values are always rounded down. The second depends on whether the player has more than 10,000 points or not: if more then the player receives a bonus for the number of rounds won, if less then the player pays out based on the number of rounds lost; the bonus and the payout for the same number of rounds is the same. Finally if the player reduces Rita's points to 0, or has their own reduced to 0 then the game declares a Hakoten and a bonus or payout is made accordingly. (Note that Rita's text still says win when it means lose.)
Finally if the player wins an overall game, whether due to finishing 10 rounds or by a Hakoten, will receive a bonus item dependant on the rate chosen.

	Multiplier	Hakoten	1 win	2 wins	3 wins	4 wins	5 wins	6 wins	7 wins	8 wins	9 wins	10 wins	Item
Low Rate	0.05	500	50	140	240	360	500	660	840	1040	1260	1500	Antitoxin
Normal Rate	0.50	5000	500	1400	2400	3600	5000	6600	8400	10400	12600	15000	Mega Medicine
High Rate	1.00	10000	1000	1800	4800	7200	10000	13200	16800	20800	25200	30000	Mushroom

Numerically speaking it should be possible to win all ten games, although the chance of avoiding bonuses is remote; in fact I've never had more than seven which is why the figures for eight and above are in italics as they are unconfirmed.

General Tips

Pay close attention to which tiles have been discarded, you can tell what Rita isn't collecting by what she discards. Also is you can see the three identical tiles but not a single one of another of that set, there is a good chance that Rita has all three of that tile, or is aiming for all three; hence aiming for a {1,2,3} of that colour is something you should avoid.

If you can pay attention to where in her hand Rita places, and discards tiles, you can sometimes work out what colour tile is being moved; this is easier after using the Wind Rune.

Aim for three sets: four sets of pairs limits your options, if you have for example a yellow 1 and two of the yellow 2's then you can make a set with either a yellow 3 or the remaining yellow 2.

A Pon may be half value, but since those tiles cannot be changed they are safe from Fire Rune attacks

Try and aim for a needing a tile for a {1,2,3} set with the Reach option: there are three tiles that can finish that, but only one to finish a {1,1,1} etc set; and if you are really unlucky the latter is the Dora tile or was destroyed by the Fire rune.

The elemental set may be valuable but it is risky, as your opponent frequently uses elemental tiles rather than discarding them then aiming for it with Reach rarely ever works.

Hold the Water Rune back if you can, it is one of the most useful tiles to call Reach on, use and pick up the desired tile. Try and hold the Fire Rune back as well as that can help destabilise your opponent, but do not give this priority over more useful tiles to your hand.

Similarly use the Lightning and Earth Runes as soon as possible to help you out. The Wind Rune can be used whenever as it is too unreliable.

Never discard any elemental rune, even in Reach, Rita sometimes collects them and you do not want to give her a Ron; also if she has no other use for a Water Rune she will grab a discarded elemental and use it against you.

Consider changing the tiles around, high level sets will lead to quick wins (and defeats) but low value ones can rack up the wins bonus.

Turn the sound down, or mute the tv, Rita's voice acting may suit the character but does tend to annoy after a while; especially when she repeats the same phrases over and over.

Finally have fun with the game, if you view it as a chore then use a different method to gain money and items.