Suikoden's worst recruits in each game

Can you believe I still talk about this game series? It's true. I love it to death. It's been a favorite RPG series of mine for a long time and frankly there's just so much I never want to forget about. Character recruitment is one of course. So what's the deal with it? Well there's always good and bad. Suikoden as a series is definitely about getting new characters and using and customizing them in ways. What this post will dive into would be the five worst recruits in each game. These recruits are "worst" due to whichever reasons I can think of, those being things like "way too much effort to recruit" or their overall character or something like "small recruitment window" it can be any number of issues. And I'll of course give reasons for each recruit being the "worst"

Suikoden I worst recruits: Antonio, Lester, Crowley, Mace, Clive

Honorable mention goes to Pesmerga and Vincent here. Honestly I'm surprised I didn't get them on the list, considering you have to go all the way back to the top of Neclord's Castle to get Pesmerga to join (which is a problem considering how big it is, how tough the encounters are, and you can't use Escape Talismans there). Same with Vincent, going all the way back through Moravia Castle, although it's probably worse since you see him there the first time but don't save him. It almost feels bad considering his character was annoying in the first game too. But they has no real recruitment requirement unless your castle is too small. Also honorable mention goes to Leon, who has a small recruitment window and hangs out in an unlikely-to-return place.

Anyways, the others? Let's start with Crowley. This game has some hidden passageways, and a winding hidden passageway in an out-of-the-way cave is where you find this guy. Well, you actually can find Crowley much earlier than expected, and by then your castle is not at max level. Gotta remember where this guy is for next time! Mace requires the player to have the previous four blacksmiths, then put them in the party then go out of the way to an area requiring dragon transport to reach. You have only a small timeframe to do it and can't do it before going through the final dungeon since two party slots get taken up by then and you need four total. For Clive, he's at the top floor of the Rikon inn, but he appears at random, and you actually have to leave town several times and come back to get him to appear. Then we have the cooks, Antonio and Lester. Requiring the player to talk to Marie several times to rest surprisingly takes money, but to get her to say she needs a cook (Antonio) may take a while. For Lester, you have to taste two stews and then find him in another person's house. What's infuriating is that you are outright lied to if you look at an old book which mentions him in Moravia Castle instead of Kirov where he's actually recruited. And neither of these cooks actually do anything in the castle. They can be party members, but they're not great in combat either.

Suikoden II worst recruits: Gilbert, Jess, the animal characters, Tai Ho/Shilo, Gordon

Rather surprisingly II tends to be not too difficult with character recruitment. The most obviously hard one is Gilbert, whom you must damage in a war battle (most of it controlled by AI too) then hope he survives the battle instead of dying in it. Jess is here not only because of how late he is acquired, but because he's useless in the castle and is pretty hated because of how he handles Annabelle's assassination. It's tempting not to recruit him because of it. Tai Ho (to a lesser extent Yam Koo since he's also recruited with Tai Ho) and Shilo both require Chinchirorin to play but the game is much harder to win this time around. Finally there's the animal characters. Getting Mukumuku early is hard enough, getting the other squirrels is all about RNG and whether or not it's nice to you while wandering the world map. Then you have two listening crystals from Badeaux when you recruit him, only two though, and you'd want to get Feather and Siegfried. What about the octopusses? Well Abizboah is a star, okay, but Rulodia isn't. Then you miss out on the good ending of the game despite them having a kid and all. Not worth it. Gordon requires a bit of afterthought, trading at the new trading post mechanic until you've earned about 50000 potch in order to have him join.

Suikoden III worst recruits: Landis, Billy, Nadir, Jefferson, Gordon

Suikoden III really didn't have many hard or terrible recruits, as more than 3/4 do auto-joins. Billy requires you to win a card game against him, which is meh, but people probably don't realize he's inside your own castle after placing a large antique in a specific room. Nadir and Gordon have party-specific restrictions for their recruitments, with Gordon requiring an all-male group, your main and Augustine, or Chris with whoever. Nadir requires two females, a child, and three males. It can be hard to figure out those. Jefferson shows up at the entrance of the main castle when you have enough recruits, but also you need to make sure neither Cecile or Juan are with you for those, so it's a bit like Billy. Landis is probably the only hard one for this game, and it's similar to recruiting II's squirrels at best.

Suikoden IV worst recruits: Rita, Travis, Gau, Snowe, Keen

I almost put Jeremy here due to a potentially small recruitment window (before liberating Razril, but after receiving the order to do so) but nah. Gau is a random encounter in an out-of-the-way island (Hermitage) and can take a while. I don't know the best way of beating Ritapon, as innovative as it is. Keen's probably not too annoying, but you have to shuffle Sigurd in and out and pay a large sum of money. Travis is annoying enough to recruit because he's at the end of Obel Ruins, tells you to use the Escape Scroll, and then you gotta head back to get him. Snowe is quite obvious for most, as he's seen a lot in the game but stubborn to join. Basically, don't get to the endgame yet, recruit everyone else, visit an island near Obel who mentions a marooned guy (Snowe), then make sure you don't kill him (this can sort of be affected by Keen's confessions and how often you forgave people in that booth, which is another reason why Keen's here as a worst recruit).

Suikoden V worst recruits: Sairoh, Gavaya, Euram and Eresh, Murad, Genoh

Man, Suikoden V was the nastiest game as far as actually recruitment goes. Sairoh is the earliest, but then again, you gotta get salt at just about every place possible and you gotta check prices and rumors before you get the guy. Gavaya actually requires specific female unites, which may not be all too obvious. Murad should be talked to everywhere but he's generally stubborn on actually joining until like the fourth time. Then there's Genoh, who requires an old person to be more or less at the Prince's level and well-trained. Finally I put Euram and Eresh together for a reason, since they share the same star. Eresh is at an optional dungeon and joins after, but has no plot relevance and can be killed in battle, while Euram is met often in the plot as an enemy but turns around and joins you should he be redeemed more or less, except he's not a party member like Eresh. The biggest issue is how long it takes to get to the part where Euram can join, as Eresh can be acquired much earlier. At least you get a star of destiny in either case, the question is do you want an extra mage, or just some plot stuff?