History Videogame / SuikodenII

** In this game's story, Gorudo's [[BetrayalByInaction unwillingness to help defend Muse]] left the other city-states similarly reluctant to help. Gorudo's selfish decision gradually led to more deaths in Jowston as the battles with the Highland army become even fiercer, leaving Riou and his friends to eventually rally the city-states.

** Recruiting Oulan means that your hero had to play weak, gets knocked out and the ladies almost getting kidnapped so Oulan can save the day. But this can be done anytime once you get your HQ, so even an immortal vampiress can 'almost' get kidnapped by a group of thugs, and these thugs can knock out and ambush the guy who beat the crap out of Luca Blight (recruiting Oulan also took place in Kuskus where the citizens clearly recognize you as the slayer of Luca Blight when Culgan attempted to invite the hero for peace treaty, so these thugs will know that... and succeed anyway before Oulan comes)

To those who want to play the game but cannot afford to shell out anywhere from $100 to over $500 for a copy, ''UsefulNotes/PlaystationNetwork'' released the game as a [=PlayStation=] Classic in December 2014 in North America, and January 2015 in Europe, although this is no longer an option due to Sony terminating the Playstation Network's support for games from older generation consoles.

To those who want to play the game but cannot afford to shell out anywhere from $100 to over $500 for a copy, ''UsefulNotes/PlaystationNetwork'' released the game as a [=PlayStation=] Classic in December 2014 in North America, and January 2015 in Europe.

* TwoGuysAndAGirl: Riou, Jowy and Nanami.

* VoluntaryShapeShifter: Bob.
* WarriorPrince: Luca Blight, yet again.

* KickTheDog: Luca Blight delightfully does this for [[IncrediblyLamePun kicks]]. Shu also engages in a fair amount of puppy-punting, especially when [[spoiler: he uses Pilika as a human shield and abandons her to the enemy so that the hero may escape from an otherwise hopeless trap. Granted, he did this knowing Jowy would never let any harm come to her, but it still came off as rather asshole-ish.]]

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The last bit of information [[HardboiledDetective Richmond]] digs up on [[BoobsOfSteel Oulan]]: '90 60 89'. "What could that mean", indeed.

** TheSmartGuy: Mekumeku; the best mage of the pack who wears green and is described as being a hard-working yet lighthearted.

* FiveManBand: The squirrel squad:
** TheLeader: Mukumuku
** TheLancer: Makumaku
** TheBigGuy: Mokumoku
** TheSmartGuy: Mekumeku
** TheChick: Mikumiku

* WeAreStrugglingTogether: Even in the face of of outright invasion from Highland, the city states of Jowston just can't form a united coalition against them. Too many members outright refuse to fight and instead isolate themselves in their own territories. It's precisely this lack of cooperation between them that spurs Jowy to fight on the side of Highland, as he comes to realize the best course of action will be to end the war as quickly as possible, and the Highlanders' more united front makes them the clear victors from the onset.

* WeAreStrugglingTogether: Even in the face of of outright invasion from Highland, the city states of Jowston just can't form a united coalition against them. Too many members outright refuse to fight and instead isolate themselves in their own territories. It's precisely this lack of cooperation between them that spurs Jowy on to fighting on the side of Highland, as he comes to realize the best course of action will be to end the war as quickly as possible, and their more united front makes them the clear victors from the onset.

* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler:The normal ending.]]

* UnstoppableRage: When [[spoiler:Nanami is shot by Gorudo's men, Riou and Jowy immediately forget that they were ready to fight eachother to death seconds prior, and team up against him]]. The music playing during this battle perfectly conveys their rightous fury (the track is not called ''Iron Fist of Anger'' for nothing), and on top of that [[spoiler:Jowy has now unlocked his Black Sword's final spell]], which you will be very happy to unleash against the bastard.

* WarForFunAndProfit: What was the point of the war?
** Territorial dispute and revenge.
*** Lots and lots of revenge. Highland and the City-States had been warring for ''years'', with the occasional truce that failed to last. The most recent war was sparked because, in addition to Luca Blight being ''[[AxCrazy fucking insane]]'', he wanted to kill everyone in the City-States for his mother's rape/death. Oh, and he wanted to kill everyone in the Highlands because his father didn't seem to care about his mother's rape/death. Basically, he wanted to kill everyone.
*** It helps that the guy responsible for his mother's rape/death was the then-Mayor of Muse, who is pretty much at the center of the City-States; he's personally responsible for a LOT of the bad feeling on both sides.

* BrassBalls: When [[spoiler:[[AntiVillain Jowy]] tells [[TheEvilPrince Luca Blight]] that he intends to marry [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses Jillia]]]], Luca responds with an EvilLaugh and shouts, "You've got balls, I'll give you that!"

* SuplexFinisher: Like the first game, Kasumi can do this to anyone (Except the Stone Golem boss).

* GrayAndGreyMorality: The game starts out with BlackAndGreyMorality, with Highland being unarguably evil under the leadership of Luca Blight, while the leaders of the Jowston City-States range from well-meaning but inept at best, to downright corrupt at worst. The grayness kicks in once [[spoiler:Luca is killed. From that point on, Highland is run by more sympathetic and well-intentioned people, most notably the protagonist's friend Jowy, who see no reason to make peace with the still weakened and divided City-States, ''and'' have to quell the now awakened Beast Rune.]]

** Jowy in the best ending. No matter what his excuses or his reasons [[spoiler: he is a murderer, conspirator, accessory to genocide and directly responsible for perpetuating a costly and brutal war]] Interestingly enough, even he thinks he is one and that he must pay for those sins.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Rowd]]
** [[spoiler:In the supplemental material, it's revealed that he takes his blind little sister from Kyaro and flees after the war. He was trying to gain enough money to have "a doctor in Toran" (most likely Liukan) cure her illness, hence why he went along with Luca's schemes in order to get promoted.]]

* CoolButInefficient: [[BlackKnight Pesmerga]] has been accused to this. He starts out as a powerhouse, but joins late, leaves no room for customization, thus the latter-mentioned possible GameBreaker will surpass him. Though to be fair, for a quick-run game (for those who just doesn't want to bother with heavy customization), he's still a good choice.

* PettingZooPeople: The kobolds return, more cartoony than ever.

[[CrackIsCheaper To those who want to play the game but cannot afford to shell out anywhere from $100 to over $500 for a copy]], ''UsefulNotes/PlaystationNetwork'' released the game as a [=PlayStation=] Classic in December 2014 in North America, and January 2015 in Europe.

** If the player tries removing [[spoiler:Nanami's]] equipment before [[spoiler:she gets killed at Rockaxe, they'll find that she won't survive unless her defense is at a certain level.]] No GoldenEnding for you!

** If the GenreSavvy player tries removing [[spoiler:Nanami's]] equipment before [[spoiler:she gets killed at Rockaxe, they'll find that she won't survive unless her defense is at a certain level.]] No GoldenEnding for you!

Character Sheet [[Characters/SuikodenII here!]]

** Played straight in a flashback between Genkaku (Jowston) and Han Cunningham (Highland) to decide who gets to control Kyaro. Han won because Genkaku just refuses to raise his sword (because it was covered with poison)

* CutSceneIncompetence: If you choose to flee Tinto, Riou and the party will have a difficult time of fighting some zombies out of battle, causing Riou to have to use his rune's power and weaken himself.

* {{Gainaxing}}: The Neclordia enemies jiggle their breasts every few seconds.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Recruiting Oulan requires the hero being knocked away by some thugs (though this is via surprise attack) and the ladies in his entourage getting grabbed to be taken to custody. This is forgetting that these ladies can range from a badass foreign country general to a powerful immortal vampire mistress, they need to act vulnerable a bit so Oulan can save the day.

* DevelopersForesight:
** If the GenreSavvy player tries removing [[spoiler:Nanami's]] equipment before [[spoiler:she gets killed at Rockaxe, they'll find that she won't survive unless her defense is at a certain level.]] No GoldenEnding for you!
** In the battle where Ridley's unit gets ambushed, it's possible for him to escape if the RNG is in your favor and he gets a bunch of critical attacks. The plot changes slightly to account for this if it happens.