Gensō Suikogaiden

• 1. Introduction

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  Gensō Suikogaiden placed Nash Latkje at the center of its story. He served Holy Harmonia's Southern Border Defence Force on assignments that would entangle him in the larger conflict of Suikoden II. Both of its volumes are visual novels rather than role-playing games, and they were released only in Japan. No official translation ever followed. Nash's journeys would take him through corners of the Suikoden world that the next mainline game would later make its main stage. What was he looking for? What did he find on the road? And who finally brought these stories to the wider world?

• 2. Swordsman of Harmonia

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  Nash's first assignment sends him to the Jowston City States. A rumor has reached Holy Harmonia: one of the 27 True Runes may have appeared within those borders. His task is to confirm or disprove it.

  Sierra Mikain is a female vampire who decides to accompany Nash on his journey. Her decision shifts the nature of his mission entirely. Volume 1 carries the subtitle Swordsman of Harmonia. A second volume, Duel at Crystal Valley, would follow in the spring of 2001.

• 3. Duel at Crystal Valley

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  With the Dunan Unification Wars behind him, Nash sets his sights on Crystal Valley, the capital of Holy Harmonia. Getting there proves far more complicated than a homeward journey should be.

  His route takes him through the Grasslands, where one village is celebrating the legend of the Flame Champion and the Fire Bringers. Those fighters turned back a Harmonian invasion roughly sixty years before Nash passes through. His path then leads through Caleria, the base of operations for the mercenaries of the Southern Harmonian Border Defence Force. He helps stop a wild dragon from terrorizing a village before he can continue. Only then does he reach Crystal Valley.

  Volume 2 arrived in stores roughly a year before Suikoden III. Its passage through the Grasslands presumably helped prepare the ground for what Suikoden III would explore as its main setting. Nash himself returned as a character in that game. For players outside Japan, Suikoden III was their first encounter with Nash at all.

• 4. The Konami Team

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  The two Suikogaiden volumes were made by a separate development group at Konami. This separation had lasting consequences. When Duel at Crystal Valley was complete, the Suikogaiden team did not continue independently. It merged with the Suikoden III team. Together, the two groups began work on Suikoden IV and Suikoden V at the same time. A pair of spin-off titles had generated the combined workforce that would shape the next two mainline entries.

• 5. The Fan Translation

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  In August and September 2013, fan translations of both games became available to the public. The effort was organized by a group of Suikoden fans led by RinUzuki. More than a decade had passed since the first volume arrived in Japan. The translations gave players outside Japan their first real access to Nash Latkje's complete story. This included the backstory for the Grasslands and for Nash himself, whose full adventures had only been accessible to Japanese players. RinUzuki's translations meant that players who had already met Nash in Suikoden III could finally read what had shaped him before that game began.