[Suikoden 2: Secrets - Color Intro] Correction and Simplification

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CrazyL
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[Suikoden 2: Secrets - Color Intro] Correction and Simplification

Post by CrazyL »

The instructions to get the colored intro in Suikoden 2 may have an "off-by-one error":
SuikoSource wrote: Color Intro
[..] After the 108th battle (go for 110-115 just to be sure), the intro sequence will be in color. [..]

I'd argue it should state "After the 109/110th battle [..]": The first mandatory battle against Rowd's goons does not count towards the 108 additional battles you need to fight to get the colored ending, as does the optional battle if you talk to Rowd after you return to camp and find Luca Blight with him. However, counting the battles yourself is incredibly tedious and error-prone, compared to the method below:
Color Intro (corrected and simplified)
[..] If you own 27450/27700 potch (or more) after a battle against Rowd's goons (i.e. after at least 109/110 battles), the intro sequence will be in color, depending on whether or not you talk to Rowd and Luca Blight after returning to camp[..]

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Method of testing
Two test-runs using [SLUS-00958], one with and one without talking to Rowd and Luca Blight after returning to camp.

Why it works
The simple method uses the hero's wallet as an implicit battle-counter. That works for two reasons:

  1. The hero always starts the intro with 200 potch. He does not earn or lose money until he faces Rowd's goons
  2. Each battle against Rowd's goons (mandatory or optional) is worth 250 potch
If g_n is the amount of potch you own after the n'th battle against Rowd's goons, the above lead to

Code: Select all

g_n    =    200    +    250  *  n;

Results
  1. Without talking to Rowd and Luca Blight:
    • 27200 potch after last battle (i.e. after 108 battles): Normal sepia-toned intro
    • 27450 potch after last battle (i.e. after 109 battles): Colored intro
  2. Talking to Rowd and Luca Blight:
    • 27450 potch after last battle (i.e. after 109 battles): Normal sepia-toned intro
    • 27700 potch after last battle (i.e. after 110 battles): Colored intro
Last edited by CrazyL on Mon Oct 03, 2022 4:28 am, edited 4 times in total.
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KingSpilly
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Re: [Suikoden 2: Secrets - Color Intro] Correction and Simplification

Post by KingSpilly »

Interesting. I always did a few more battles for good measure anyway.
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CrazyL
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Re: [Suikoden 2: Secrets - Color Intro] Correction and Simplification

Post by CrazyL »

During testing, I remembered there actually is a method to earn 250 extra potch during the intro: When you return to camp and hear Luca Blight conspiring with Rowd, you have the option to actually talk to them and trigger an optional battle with Rowd's goons worth 250 potch. This battle also does not count toward the 108 extra battles, so in this path you actually need to fight 110 battles to get to the color intro.

I'll update the first post to include the above.
Last edited by CrazyL on Mon Oct 03, 2022 6:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
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KingSpilly
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Re: [Suikoden 2: Secrets - Color Intro] Correction and Simplification

Post by KingSpilly »

I think I might have actually noticed the 109 bit while messing around with Cheat Engine. It's just been a few years since then.
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Pyriel
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Re: [Suikoden 2: Secrets - Color Intro] Correction and Simplification

Post by Pyriel »

I'm positive I've seen this suggestion of using potch as a proxy counter before. I don't think the secrets page was really intended to be a guide, but it wouldn't hurt to note it. Although, for the sake of simplicity I'd probably suggest just saying "until you have 28,000 potch or more" to leave a little wiggle room. I don't think that particular page is really striving for exhaustive, exacting detail.
CrazyL
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Re: [Suikoden 2: Secrets - Color Intro] Correction and Simplification

Post by CrazyL »

To be honest, it would really strike me as weird if I would have been the first to notice the possibility of (miss-)using potch as battle counter, considering how straight forward that method is. However, all guides towards the colored intro I could find via gamefaqs and a quick search elsewhere only mentioned counting battles, for whatever reason.

The gamefaqs guide specifies "Rowd will return with more soldiers. Do this 108 times for a color intro" and thus hints only additional optional battles count towards the 108 battles, while most others I found leave that detail ambiguous. Yes, I know it's probably a little pedantic fussing over such minute details, but sometimes that's what we like about these games, isn't it?

I agree for the sake of simplicity, using the rounded value of 28000 potch you mentioned may be a better choice for a guide - fighting two or three unnecessary battles won't matter much considering you have been fighting for the last hour anyway.
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Pyriel
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Re: [Suikoden 2: Secrets - Color Intro] Correction and Simplification

Post by Pyriel »

https://www.suikosource.com/phpBB3/view ... ro#p141301

And then that leads to a thread from 3 years prior that mentions GameFAQs. I guess it just never got updated, or it got lost when the site was broken at some point.
CrazyL
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Re: [Suikoden 2: Secrets - Color Intro] Correction and Simplification

Post by CrazyL »

Thank you for clarification! At least the question about the optional battle has been answered clearly, so there is a silver lining.
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