When Riou and Jowy arrive in Ryube, check the center of town to see a circus troupe performing. Riou will have himself dragged into participating in a knife-throwing act. Choose to have Riou remain still for the throws, or move to get one plunged in him; needing a rest at the inn afterwards. When the performance is over, Eilie, Rina, and Bolgan will ask to join your journey over the North Sparrow Pass to Kyaro Town. Agree, and they will temporarily join your party. If you like, you can sharpen Riou, Jowy, and Rina's weapons to lvl 2 at the blacksmith. With the trio in your party, Cut Rabbits will now appear on the world map, which have a rare drop, but they are a temporary enemy at this location, so I will cover them shortly in an area they will remain. The North Sparrow Pass is, unsurprisingly, to the north of Ryube.
Because of a Mist Monster, you'll need a little bit of persuasion to enter North Sparrow Pass. Fortunately, Rina has the charm (?) needed to convince the guards to let us through. Watch the scenes, and then it is on to the first dungeon of the game.
Probably doesn't need to be said, but the Buddy Attack, which equates a lot to Tir and Kai's Master Pupil Attack from the original game, devastates enemy parties. Use this on groups of six Cut Rabbits and Bandits. Bandits provide a great source of potch at this point in the game and you will need a bit of coin if you are going to purchase a rare item in the next town. Now, let's take a look at some rare drops in the area.
Surprisingly, the first game's dungeon contains one of the best runes in the game. The Cut Rabbits (Not the same ones that appeared outside Ryube recently) will drop Double-Beat Runes. If you played the original Suikoden, you know this was a fantastic rune; and it's even better in this game. When attached, it allows a character to attack twice in one turn. The only downside is if a character is countered, they will take twice the damage from the enemy, but this is well worth the risk. While in the original, very rarely would a character attack a single enemy twice, in Suikoden II your character will attack twice regardless of how many enemies are left. This is the only place you will be able to get Double-Beat Runes throughout the game. The trade-off for getting them earlier, I suppose, is the fact that North Sparrow Pass, not too long into the game, will be inaccessible until the end of the game. Kind of like how the Earth and Water Rune Pieces were in Mt. Seifu and Tigermouth in the original Suikoden. I would recommend getting a least three of these.
When fighting BonBon's, you may get ? vase items. One of these can be useful, but we can get it later on. If you get one, save it, and we will be able to appraise them in a town coming up soon. The dungeon itself, is rather linear, but has a few side paths that lead to lackluster chests. When you see a save point, you will be near a boss battle.
The Mist Shade is fairly simple. It switches back and forth between a male and female form. The male uses physical attacks and the female, magic. None of which are particularly harmful but keep Medicines ready. If Rina leveled up a few times, she may have the Fire Wall spell available on her Fire Rune which will cause big damage. When the battle is won, you can continue north and out to the world map eventually.
Outside on the world map, we have some new enemies. Cut Rabbits appear here, but have different drops than the ones in the previous dungeon. These drop Technique Runes; your first weapon-based rune that you attach at blacksmiths. When attached, you have a 40% chance to steal potch from the enemy when attacking. Don't care for this myself, since potch can be fairy easy to come by if you are persistent with battles, but this makes a nice beginning rune until you can get others. One will be permanently attached to a character that will join way later in the game, but this enemy is the only way you can acquire this rune in the game. Keep in mind, you will not be able to access this area again until the end of the game, so if you want this, pick it up now. Before you head inside of Kyaro Town, remove all of the circus troupe's accessories; they won't be back for a long while and you can sell them for extra potch. Inside Kyaro, the troupe says goodbye, and Jowy will leave himself to check his home, leaving Riou by himself to go and visit Nanami. Before that, let's check out the town.
If you're lucky, inside the rare finds at the item shop, you will find Winged Boots. These are excellent, especially at this point in the game, but are very pricey. This is also one of only two areas you can find these gems. Unlike the original Suikoden, where only females could wear the Winged Boots, males can wear them as well in this installment. Also, differing from the original, the SPD stat plays a bigger role in characters rather than just determining turn order between character and enemy; it also helps determine whether a character will get multiple attacks on different enemies when attacking. If you wait around for about 30-45 minutes without visiting the shop, the rare finds will generally refresh its inventory but it can be kind of random, unfortunately. Thankfully, if you save your game after waiting the allotted time, but before checking the shop, you can keep resetting your game and checking the shop until what you're looking for pops up. This will be an extremely useful trick for the entire game.
On the southeastern-side of Kyaro, you can search the bed of flowers above for a quick 100 potch. When you are done in town, proceed down the left-side path you passed near the entrance of town to reach the outskirts of Riou and Nanami's home.
Before you go inside, go around the house and search the large tree in the back three times. Mukumuku will appear and join your party. He is your first of the 108 Stars of Destiny. You do not have to recruit him here, but if you do, it will save you a headache later on.
Inside the house, go into the lower-left room, around the table, and search the desk here and Riou will find a ? book, which will appraise to the Old Book Vol. 1 later on. You cannot miss this item, but if you fail to get it now, you won't be able to get it until the end of the game.
At the back of the house, Riou will be reunited with Nanami. Watch the scenes and she will temporarily join your party.
For completionists, it it very important that you search the wooden box with the three vases sitting on it in the dojo before leaving the house. This is the only chance in the game to obtain one of three items that you cannot get anywhere else; but only one. Your choices are: big vase (Large Vase), medium vase (Famous Vase), or the small vase (Nanami's Vase). The Famous Vase sells for the most potch, if you'd rather sell than keep the item. I always take Nanami's Vase, simply because she's my favorite character in the game, but you decide which you prefer. Outside, the party will be confronted by soldiers, which you can make short work of. Captain Rowd will then show himself and you will have a minor choice to make. If you choose "No!!!!!" you will engage in a virtually unwinnable battle with Rowd. You can win this battle via cheats or other underhanded ways, but it nets you absolutely nothing and the result is always the same: the party will be thrown into a prison cell with Jowy.
Watch the scenes as Riou and Jowy are carted off to be executed. While Rowd is gloating, Flik and Viktor show up for the save. You are then presented with an important choice. If you choose to save Nanami, Nanami and Mukumuku will join you as Stars of Destiny permanently, if you don't, you will have to wait a while longer in the story for these two to join you. There is absolutely no benefit to not saving Nanami, so it is a rather easy choice. As it turns out, Nanami didn't really need our help, and was coming to save us instead. Viktor and Flik will temporarily join the party for the trek back to the Mercenary Fort. Outside on the world map, this is your last chance until the end of the game to pick up a Technique Rune from the Cut Rabbits here if you haven't already.
You'll need to pass back through North Sparrow Pass to reach the Fort. There are some new enemy formations here, but no new enemies themselves. This is also your last chance to get Double-Beat Runes in this area until the end of the game. Once you exit here, you will not be allowed to enter again. There will be an enemy later on that can drop Double-Beat Runes, but it will be for a limited time as well, so do your hunting here. When you are done, exit the dungeon and return to Viktor's Fort.
