Varkas and the Gregminister

Questions about the locations mentioned in the series; and those about the backstory not seen in the games.
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xtian3426
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Varkas and the Gregminister

Post by xtian3426 »

In SII, when you get to banner village you will pass a forest which leads to Gregminister but at the end of the forest, there is a border where Varkas is guarding. Apparently i wanna know what's behind that border cause Varkas automatically transports you to Gregminister and i can't remember any border in SI near Gregminister. So is there a path way next to it before you can reach Gregminister? I know you can't go entirely on Toran only Gregminister but what do you think is behind that border? what place/path?
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Re: Varkas and the Gregminister

Post by Antimatzist »

It's just a long road leading through Toran to Gregminster I guess.
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Re: Varkas and the Gregminister

Post by Hxc Flavor »

He's right, behind the border is area of Toran which you explored in Suikoden I. I'm guessing the main reason they have Varkas escort you to the capital is because the game creators didn't want you able to explore that whole area again.
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xtian3426
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Re: Varkas and the Gregminister

Post by xtian3426 »

long road huh? so basically that border wasn't built in time of SI? and i guess they take some horse back riding to go there lol hahah :)
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Pyriel
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Re: Varkas and the Gregminister

Post by Pyriel »

It surely existed in some form. South Window and Tinto crossed it during the first game and took over part of Toran around the Northern Checkpoint. Maybe the Scarlet Moon Empire didn't have a fence and border guards, but Toran certainly added them after they reclaimed the land.

It would have been fun to have to travel the road, and through all the towns to get back to Gregminster, but it would have been like adding in a second game for one trip. We can probably just assume they walked to Lake Toran, and then took a boat to whatever replaced the Floating Fortress, or something of that sort.
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Re: Varkas and the Gregminister

Post by freshmetal »

According to the map of the continent, the Banner pass leads to the most northern point of Toran, north of the Secret Factory and Kalekka. This is an area that was never actually visited during Suikoden 1. This is most likely the area that Teo was sent to defend at the beginning of S1. The only other way to enter Toran from the north is by crossing the Badlands that separate South Window and Kasim's region.

It's a safe bet that Varkas is in charge of defending this northern border and arranged to have Riou escorted to Gregminster. The gate that he's seen standing at is probably just the entrance to a fort or outpost that we never get entry to in any game. With such a violent history between the Scarlet Moon Empire and the City State, it can be assumed that there are a lot of forts and outposts that are never explored by the player.

Here's the map:
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xtian3426
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Re: Varkas and the Gregminister

Post by xtian3426 »

well im confused lol XD haha i looked at the map so banner pass then it's a far off walk from gregminister huh? well cause im gonna try to make a fan game and i would like to add the feature of passing the border and walking all the way to gregminister. the problem is i don't know what places comes 1st to get there
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Re: Varkas and the Gregminister

Post by Pyriel »

I'd say just do your best to stick by that map, and don't sweat it too much. The topography in these games has always bothered me a little bit. That map doesn't necessarily gel well with the game play, in my opinion. For example, Banner Pass has always bothered me. You leave Banner heading north, and then you continue north a ways, then you start traveling predominantly east, with maybe a few north or south jogs, and then arrive to the south of a gate that should be the southern border of the country you're in. I assume they just broke some form of the 180 rule, so they didn't have to show you only the back of Varkas, his men, and the gate, but it's still annoying, if you're trying to reconcile your bearings with what you've been told in the game. And unless Tinto and South Window have outposts in the Badlands, they had to cross hundreds of miles of it in order to invade the Moravia area, and they apparently didn't annex any of the territory along the way. This is a trip that nearly killed Viktor, if you can even guess why he might have made it, looking at the map.

I was working from a different map, that has Toran smashed a bit along its north-south axis. These are all fan-made anyway, so they're just guessing to some extent. I can't imagine Mt. Tigerwolf is only 500 meters high, for one thing. That's less than 2,000 feet high, and you either visit it in summer, or Toran is a fairly temperate part of the world, and it's covered in snow and ice. Meanwhile Mt. Seifu is 30 meters shorter, and 2 or 3 degrees of latitude farther north, and there's not even an icicle on it, as I recall.
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xtian3426
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Re: Varkas and the Gregminister

Post by xtian3426 »

i guess your right, it might get complicated when you made the pathway but i guess that feature would be awesome walking through gregminister
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Re: Varkas and the Gregminister

Post by Nikisaur »

They definitely could have made more of an effort with the border. A small vendor and a few NPCs wouldn't have been a bad idea. Perhaps some stables. Maybe if Varkas led you towards a carriage or something, giving the impression of travel, so you don't get the feeling that Gregminster is RIGHT THERE.
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xtian3426
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Re: Varkas and the Gregminister

Post by xtian3426 »

ha guess your right :) but still i wanna make a pathway to get to gregmnister hahah XD
"It took hundreds to kill me but I killed humans by the thousands. I am sublime!!! I am the true face of evil!!!!" - Luca Blight
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