Suikoden V: FAQ/Walkthrough by 29_RooksVersion: 1.3 | Last Updated: 2010-08-25 | View/Download Original File Hosted by Return to Suikoden V (PS2) FAQs & Guides

Would you recommend this FAQ? Yes No Walkthrough for Suikoden V --by Twenty-Nine Rooks

Contact -- twentyninerooks@yahoo.com

=============================================================================[Legal]Copyright R.K. HughesThis document may not be reproduced in whole or part without the expressed consent of the author. You may not host this file without the consent of the author. Websites authorized to host this file are: GameFaqs.com, SuikoSource.com, and their direct, individual subsidiaries. This document represents the author's experience. The author and this document are not affiliated with nor endorsed in any way by Konami Entertainment. Suikoden and all related characters are copyright Konami Entertainment (Tokyo) inc. ==============================================================================

This Guide was created using OpenOffice.org word processor, and is best Viewed with Mozilla FireFox.

The Author strongly supports open-source programs. Please support these great organizations. And remember, just because it is free, does not mean that it is open-source.

========== Table of Contents ==========

Section 0: Introduction0.1----------Using this Guide / Formatting Notes: section 0.10.2----------FAQ: section 0.20.3----------Skills / Statistics primer section 0.3

Section 1: Walkthrough 1.1----------Chapter 11.2----------Chapter 21.3----------Chapter 31.4----------Chapter 41.5----------Chapter 5

Section 2: Guides1.1----------Character Recruitment and Evaluation1.2----------Rune Acquisition and Evaluation1.3----------Skills, Epic Skills, and Statistics1.4----------Money Making and Trade1.5----------Bath Sequences

Section 3: Closing3.1----------Essay: The Silent Protagonist and Enchantment3.2----------Looking to the Future of Suikoden3.3----------Acknowledgments

**Additional Thanks To:TrueWaterDexKFCrispySuikoSource.com

-- Version History --Version 1.2 -- Initial ReleaseVersion 1.3 -- Added comunity input, corrected minor errors.

====================================================================================================================================================

Section 0

====================================================================================================================================================

----------- Using this Guide / Formatting Notes ---------- section 0.1

Like all other Walkthroughs, use the Ctrl + F function to find anything. I have formatted this guide very carefully though, to allow for easier access to a number of its features.

The individual chapters are very long, so to find where you left off in the walkthrough, hit Ctrl + F, then use the name of the place where you are currently, typed all in CAPS, then select the "Match Case" box and hit the "Find" button. You will jump to that particular area as your character reach in the main storyline. For example: Hit Ctrl +F, enter "STORMFIST," make sure the "Match Case" box is checked, then press the "Find" Button. Alternatively, use the name of the Character you last recruited, preceded by a hyphen: Ctrl + F "-Kyle" and you will find the entry for that character inside the Walkthrough.

If you want information on a specific Character or Rune, then type in the name preceded by a backslash "/Rage Rune" or "/Georg" etc.

If you want to find where an item appears in a treasure chest in the game, then enter the name of the item in CAPS and brackets: [LEATHER ARMOR]. You will scroll through every instance where that item appears in a chest in the game.

If you want to find an item dropped by enemies, either in Party Battles or Major Battles, just enter the name of the item normally, and turn the "Match Case" on: "Flowing Rune Piece"

The Match Case function should always be on. It may seem that I have somewhat random capitalization, but this is to help you find things easily using the Ctrl + F function.

---------- Frequently Asked Questions ---------- section 0.2

Q: Are you just making these questions up?A: Yes

Q: Suikoden V was released in 2006, why write a guide for it now?A: Well, first off, I have been a fan of Suikoden ever since I happened on Suikoden I back in '97. Suikoden V is great game, albeit with many problems, but I was unhappy with the Guides currently available. Either they were hammered out in the weeks and moths following the game's release, or, they were simply juvenile. So, I decided to write a more extensive and definitive guide for the game.

Q: Honestly, I don't like your guide, can you recommend another?A: Sure. Cyril's walkthrough on GameFaqs / Suikosource is a good walkthrough. Blazefeeler's LV 60 character stats guide is also very helpful. Other than that, I honestly cannot recommend some of the guides, though.

Q: What will be different in this guide as compared to others?A: First, I want to strike a balance between giving you advice and letting you do things on your own, which makes the game much more fun. Second, this game -like all the Suikodens- has a massive cast of characters. Mostly, people choose characters for their party based on who they have used before and who they are most familiar with, this means that you can play through the game without using even half of the Stars of Destiny in battle.

With this in mind, I will give you some more detailed character info, plus my own personal opinions on their strength in battle. This will help you to choose the right party, as well as use some of the characters that you would not use otherwise.

Q: I think Jeane is hot.A: I'm sorry, but your question must be in the form of a question.

Q: What is it about this game that makes it so great?A: Well, the graphics are horrible, and it was clearly incomplete when it was released in 2006. But the thing that makes this and the other games in this series so great is the storytelling. This is likely the most elaborate, deepest fictional universe ever created for a game series as well as one of the most compelling. All great games are about the compelling nature of their narrative, not about graphics, features, and other such tripe.

Q: Is there some trick to raise your characters to Lv 99?A: Not that I know of. Besides, this game is easy enough without that. To me, the only real disappointment in this game is its lack of any major difficulty.

Q: Is the Stat Stones Trick in this sequel?A: No, some new programming language made it impossible to duplicate the use of the Stat Stones, sorry.

Q: What over Guides can you recommend for the other Suikoden Titles?A: For Suikoden I, both ryhxx and A.Kishan has good walkthroughs. For S II, then ryhxx just released his walkthrough for that game. Suikoden III's best walkthrough by far is by Dan Crenshaw. For IV, well. . . honestly I don't care enough about IV to rank any of the walkthroughs.

Q: I strongly dissagree with you on (X) part of the walkthrough. Or, I have a correction or suggestion. How can I contact you?A: My email adress for video game guides and walkthroughs is:

twentyninerooks@yahoo.com

You can contact me there. Though this is a public email, so I do get a lot of Spam. Please don't be offended if it takes me some time to reply.

---------- STATISTICS, EQUIPMENT & SKILLS ---------- section 0.2

Before we begin the walkthrough, I feel I need to go over these subjects in- depth. We will start with statistics:

There are several stats in Suikoden V: Hit Points (HP), Attack (ATTK), Defense (PDEF), Magic Defense (MDEF), Technique (TECH), Accuracy (ACC), Evasion (EVA) Speed (SPD), and Luck.

Attack is simply the character's weapon strength added to the character's base strength. Since weapons are always equipped in the game, the status screen always shows the combined amount. A weapon can be between LV 1 and LV 16, depending on how many times you have sharpened it. A character's base strength differs from character to character, and increases along with their level.

Defense is a combination of a character's Base Physical Defense and the defense provided from the equipment they are wearing. Base Defense increases with character level, but varies little from character to character, and does not contribute much to their overall defense. In this game, Defense is largely determined by equipment. Different Characters can wear different levels of equipment. There is: Tunic/Cloth equipment, Leather, Mail, Light Armor, and Heavy Armor. The heavier the armor, the more its defense, but be warned that Light and Heavy Armors can reduce a character's speed.

The Magic Defense stat is based almost entirely on a character's Base Magic defense. This varies heavily from character to character, and increases with level. There are some pieces of equipment that increase magic defense, but they are few and only increase it by a small amount. Also, characters can increase their defense for different magic elements individually, but I will cover that in a bit.

Technique offers a combination of different skills. It raises a character's ability to Parry direct attacks (some characters, especially Long-Range Characters, cannot parry), it increases Accuracy, and it also is a major factor in determining a character's Critical Rate.

Accuracy is based on the Technique stat, but can be influenced separately through some equipment and runes. For example: Some glove items increase Accuracy, but Technique. So, they do not influence Critical Rates or Parry Rates, but they do offer a greater chance of connecting with direct attacks.

Evasion is simply a rating of how adept the character is at dodging direct attacks. In battle, the attacker's Accuracy is measured against the Target's Evasion, and a percentage of successful hit is produced. A character needs to have strong Evasion before they can dodge enemy attacks with any fequency.

Speed determines which characters act first every battle turn. The higher a character's speed, the more likely they are to act before the enemy, giving you a distinct advantage. However, at a certain point, characters with high speed will always act before the enemy, and then it becomes useless to raise that character's speed any higher. Speed is a valuable stat, but raising it too high can prove a waste of time.

Luck effects many things that a character does. Essentially, it effects every thing in the game that depends on a percentage. So, Luck can increase Critical Rate, it can also increase the Rate at which enemies drop treasure, and how ofter certain spells that have a percentage take effect. For example: the LV 1 Shield Magic has a 40% chance of endowing characters with the beneficial Fury status effect. Characters with high luck are more likely to be effected.

--Elemental Statistics and Combinations--

Each character has a ranking -from the weakest rating E, D, C, B, A, S, the strongest- on the status screen for each Element in the game. The Elements are Sun (Su), Fire (Fi), Lightning (Li), Wind (Wi), Water (Wa), Earth (Ea), Star (St), Sound (So), Holy (Ho), Darkness (Da), Slash (Sl), Thrust (Th), Punch (Pu), and Shot (Sh).

The higher a character rates in each category, the more powerful their offense and defense for that category becomes.

Sun is the element of the Sun Rune, and the Twilight and Dawn Runes. Fire is for Fire Magic, etc. Sound is for use of a Unique Rune only carried by one character, and for defense it is only useful against the DoReMi Elf enemies, who as far as I know are the only enemies to use Sound Magic. Holy magic effects the use of both the Shield and Resurrection Runes, and as far as I know, there are no enemies that attack using Holy magic. Darkness effects the Condemnation Rune. Slash is not "Magic," so to speak, but effects a character's defense and offense with Swords, Axes, and other slashing weapons. Thrust effects Spear weapons, Punch Gauntlets and Fists, and Shot effects Bows, Crossbows, Throwing Weapons, etc.

So, if you are up against a tough enemy that uses Fire Magic, bring characters that not only have high MDEF, but also high Fire Magic affinity. This is what I call a statistic combination. The MDEF reduces damage, while the affinity increases the likelihood of that character "Resisting" any given Fire Magic spell. If a character Resists a spell, the word "Resist" will appear above their head as they are struck, and the spell will deal roughly one half the normal damage. With an Affinity of the highest S-rank, characters will almost always resist magic from that element.

Other statistical combinations have little to do with magic. As I mentioned, Luck can play a large role in many aspects of the game. A character with high Luck will seemingly outperform their other stats, with more evasion, criticals, parries, etc.

A character's parry rate is determined by a combination of their DEF and TECH. Note that some characters cannot Parry at all, and others will have a similar ability called "Weapon Defense." The difference is simply that Swords and Axes Parry, while Staff, Club, and other such weapons can "Defend." If this sounds complicated, don't worry "Parry" and "Weapon Defense" are the same thing. Some Characters that have high DEF and TECH stats can greatly outperform their Defense by Parrying.

There are other statistical combinations, but I will talk about these as we go, it is better just to leave the subject here before it gets too complicated.

--Skills--Skills return once again in Suikoden V, after first being introduced in Suikoden III and being left out of IV. However, the effect of skills is now much more balanced. In Suikoden III, Skills were the single greatest factor in a character's strength. Here in V, there is a nice balance between Rune, Stats and Skills.

All characters have access to the "Common Skills." On the Physical side: Stamina increases HP. Attack effects ATK. Defense is self-explanatory. Technique increases Accuracy and other unseen stats that I discussed previously. Agility increases Speed, and a character's ability to hit multiple times in one attack. Vitality increases the unseen critical stat.

In Magic, things are much more simple: Magic increases magic power. Magic Defense needs no commentary. And Incantation helps your characters cast spells faster in battle.

Each Skill require Skill Points to level up, and each character will be more adept at using some Skills and less adept at others. For example: Sialeeds is a mage character. Her Magic Skill can rise to an S-rank, but her Stamina Skill maxes out at a C-rank. While a fighter like Georg can raise his Vitality to SS-rank, but his Magic Defense is less stellar.

The general rule is that the more SP a Skills costs to level up, the Lower that Skill can max out at. Skills level up from E-D-C-B-A-S-SS. Though very few people can access any skills that rank double-S. So, a Skill that maxes out at an A-rank will actually cost more per level than a skill that Maxes out at an S-rank. It is for this reason that I suggest you use Skills that characters excel at rather than ones they are mediocre in. While this might seem obvious at first, once you start playing the game, it is tempting to - for example- give Sialeeds the Stamina Skill as a way to help her low HP stat. But this is a mistake, as you will spend a large amount of SP for a small effect.

--Epic Skills--Here is where things get a bit complex. Epic skills are skills that effect more than one stat, but you must develop all related skills in order for your character to even have access to the Epic Skill. So, In order to access the Raging Lion Epic, which gives bonuses to both Stamina and Attack, you must first have an A-rank in Stamina and Attack. Then, you will gin access to Raging Lion at an E-rank and can upgrade and equip it normally.

The availability of Epics is another matter of concern. Some characters can achieve high marks in both Stamina and Attack, but simply do not have access to the Raging Lion Epic Skill. One good example of this is the dwarf, Wabon. He is one of the strongest and highest HP characters in the game, but inexplicably has no access to Raging Lion. Another example is Jeane, with one of the highest Magic, Magic Defense, and Incantation skills, you would think she would have access to Sacred Oath, the ultimate Magic Epic Skill. In fact, Jeane cannot use Sacred Oath.

The Epic skills must be found in treasure chests or be acquired in another way. Don't worry, I cover all of them in the walkthrough.

Epic Skills are: Armor of Gods (Defense / Magic Defense). Raging Lion (Attack / Stamina). Swift Foot (Technique / Agility). Fate Control (Attack / Technique). Karmic Effect (Defense / Technique). All-Out Strike (Incantation / Technique / Agility). Triple Harmony (Attack / Vitality / Agility). Zen Sword (Attack / Incantation). Untold Clarity (All Physical Skills except Stamina). Divine Right (Magic / Incantation). Sacred Oath (Magic / Magic Defense / Incantation). And Royal Paradise (All Skills).

A few notes: Zen Sword and Sacred Oath also effect the Sword of Magic Skill, which is used in conjunction with the Elemental Sword Runes. More on that in a bit. Also, whomever translated this game made a couple of errors here: Triple Harmony and All-Out Strike's names were switched somehow, and Divine Right should be Divine "Rite". But I guess that is just semantics.

Generally, an Epic has a weaker effect to each stat than its basic counterparts. The effect tends to be weakened by one full level. So, equipping Swift Foot at an A-rank will give the same bonus as equipping both Technique and Agility at a B-rank. The obvious advantage is that since every character can only equip two skills -and some have permanent skills in one slot- having the multiple effects makes the character more balanced and versatile. There seem to be some exceptions though. First, there is a huge addition to statistics when a skill becomes S-rank, and then again if that skill can become SS-rank. This gives a big advantage to any character that can achieve S-ranks in skills. Also, Royal Paradise tends to defy this as well, especially in the S and SS-ranks. While it can be difficult to tell exactly, Royal Paradise seems to give a larger bonus than other Epic Skills per statistic at the high ranks.

--Equipment--Suikoden V is much like III in that a character's equipment is the largest factor in their physical defense. When I talk about a character's Defense Stat, I am actually referring to what type of armor that they are capable of equipping. There are several levels of armor in the game, and sometimes characters can equip surprisingly "heavy" armor. For example, among Mages, Nelis can wear some nice armor that gives her a real advantage at times. Most Short-Range Fighters can wear the two heaviest types of Armor, though sometimes they can only mix and match. Hazuki can wear heavy Gauntlets and Greaves, but can only wear the lighter Body and Head armors. While Isabel can wear all of the heaviest armor in the game.

Also, while most characters hover around the same PDEF with all their armor removed, some like Galleon will have a small -but noticeable- advantage in base PDEF.

So, all of these things are taken into account when determining a character's Defense. When I talk about the Defense Stat though, remember that it simply reflects my own experience and there could be something that I missed, or simply ignored when I compared that character to another.

I think that will do for our Primer, I will talk about these subjects more after the walkthrough.

==========================================================================================================================================================

WALKTHROUGH. Section 1.0

========================================================================================================================================================

Hello and welcome to Suikoden V.

Start a new game, and you will be asked to name the main character. Name him whatever you wish. After this game was released, Konami did give him and official name: Freyjadour Falenas, (pronounced Fray-a-door) shortened to Frey. But I will be referring to him as "The Prince" or the "Hero."

=============================================================================-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

===CHAPTER 1=== section 1.1

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------=============================================================================

"Listen awhile and throughout hear the psalmOf victories sung from creatures past thy seeingAnd from far battlefields there comes the neighingOf dreadful onset, though the air is balm."

From the poem "My Two Geniuses"-By George MacDonald

-----------------------------------

You will be introduced to the Queendom of Falena and several of the game's main characters in the opening cutscene. When your party enters the palace's main hall, you will be given a choice of dialogue options. Choose either one this time around. When important dialogue options come up I will alert you to them and their individual consequences. However, if I don't alert you, just assume you are free to choose as you see fit.

The long opening scene will continue.

=============================================================================

LORDLAKE

=============================================================================

When you gain control of your characters, go ahead and talk to some of the people in the town. They paint a dismal picture, not only of the town, but of the Queen --your mother-- as well.

Throughout the walkthrough, I will be giving you detailed character information as you recruit the 108 stars of destiny. At this point your party consists of the Prince, Lyon, Sialeeds, and Georg. Though Sialeeds and Georg will be in and out of your party, Lyon is officially the prince's bodyguard, and rarely leaves his side --much like how Nanami rarely left the hero's side in Suikoden II. So, I will just introduce the Prince and Lyon for now.

I will rank all the characters in what I feel is their usefulness to any particular party. Weaker characters will rank lower and stronger ones higher. Though in this game, they did well in balancing out the characters --there are no real duds, and anyone can be useful under the right circumstances-- but some are stronger than others. I will rank them like this: D-C-B-A-S, "D" being the lowest, and "A" being strong, while "S" represents the strongest character in the game for his or her particular class. Keep in mind that my letter rankings for characters is just my opinion, please play with the characters that you like the best, because that way the game is the most fun. Actually, one challenging and fun thing to do might be to try to play through the game with only "D" rank characters. Also, I suggest you stay away from the "S" rank characters when you can, as they are so over-powered that they can make the game a bit too easy in my opinion.

I will also invent a Class system for this walkthrough, though this is just to simplify things a bit so I do not have to order you to take specific characters with you at certain times (i.e. "Take George and Sialleeds"). Instead, I will suggest you take certain classes with you, so that leaves you the freedom to decide which characters you like best (i.e. "Take a short-range fighter and a long-range mage.)

I've found that people choose characters for one of two reasons: They think that character is strong. Or, they like that character's personality. As such, I'll give an overview of the character's stats and strengths, as well as their personality.

If you don't care about how I rank the characters, skip to the next divider.

So, now that is cleared up, here's the Hero:

--------------Prince FalenasStar #1 of 108Rank: SAuto-Recruit.Class: Mid-Range Fighter/ Mid-Range Mage.Notes: The most versatile character in the game. He can do pretty much anything, except heavy tanking. He is the Hero, so he will be in your active battle party at all times. Though he is not quite as strong as some of the previous heroes, like Tir McDohl from SI, this is due to the fact that his main rune is just not as good as, say, the Soul Eater worn by McDohl. But he is very powerful, and can be relied on to fulfill many different roles in your party effectively.

He is a silent protagonist, so his personality reflects the player's personality. If you want to hear more about this, read my essay on literary theory and Allegorical Projection at the end of this walkthrough.

---------------LyonStar #2 of 108Overall Rank: AAuto-Recruit.Class: Mid-Range FighterNotes: Almost always by the Prince's side, she is a required party member most of the time. Though, unlike the prince she can be moved into the party's "entourage," effectively taking her out of battles, while still allowing access to her non-battle magic. She is fast and strong, with good defense and at least decent magic and HP scores, so, I would probably use her most of the time, even if she was not required. Like the Prince, she can fulfill multiple roles, and this versatility is her best quality. I give her an "A" rank because she is just not as strong as the prince, especially late in the game. Keep in mind though, that she and the Prince have a useful unite attack.

Recommended Runes: Shield Rune, Earth Rune

---------------------------------------------------------------------

If you ever want to skip past my long-winded opinions and introductions, you can always skip to the next divider and you will never miss any of the important information in the walkthrough. I use the "dash" to denote the end of a commentary and the einsatz of the actual walkthrough, and I use the "Equal Sign" to denote a change in location. Now, back to the walkthrough.

The screen perspective in this game is horizontally offset, meaning that "South" is actually a little closer to "South-Southwest." Keep that in mind when I give you directions, they are not exact, so if I say head "South" I mean head in a general southern direction. I'm sure you get the idea. It would make this walkthrough much easier to write if this game had a mini- map, but we will get through, don't worry.

Save you game at the glowing Save Point (I'll call them Jouneyman's Crystals.) and head south-ish down the main street of Lordlake. To the east there is a dried-up fountain. Nearby there is the entrance to the clinic. Step inside for a scene. Again, the dialogue choice here has no impact on the future events of the game.

After the cutscene, follow the main street south past the desiccated channel. On the southern end of the map, there will be a short cutscene. Head south and east for a chest containing [ESCAPE SCROLL]. Approach the mansion in the southwest corner of the town, where you will be presented with a Dialogue choice. I will present you with Dialogue Choices when I feel like it, as I said, if I do not cover a choice, then it is unimportant. What I will also do is this:

*****Dialogue***** (Choose either without consequence)----Choose the first dialogue option to continue on.----Choose the second to get scolded by auntie Sialeeds and continue on anyway.

Note how what I wrote is not what appears on-screen. Rather it is a summary of the consequences -if any- of your choices, that removes potential spoilers from reprinting on-screen dialogue here in the walkthrough. So, if it says on-screen "Fight" or "Don't Fight," I'll represent that here as "Act like a violent maniac" or "Act like a Chicken," or something to that effect. Sorry, but I can't help but make jokes from time to time, this is something like my 7th time playing through the game, after all.

Back to the walkthrough. Go inside and head through the door to the west. In the next room grab the [MEDICINE] from the chest, then continue outside to the pier, when another scene will play.

Walk South then east to the end of the pier for a chest containing [SACRIFICIAL JIZO]. I suggest giving it to the Prince for now. Head back through the mansion, then northward to a small alley, walk east down the alley and out onto the pier to meet up with Talgeyl and Goesch.

*****Dialogue*****(Choose either without consequence)-----Choose the first option to have Sialeeds drag everyone along together.-----Choose the second option to make yourself sound vainly heroic.

Go south to the Withered Forest.

====================================Withered Forest====================================

Ok, here is the game's first "dungeon," so to speak. Don't worry, with Georg along, you have nothing to worry about. He alone can obliterate every battle you get into here. The game is taking it easy on you here in this first level, so take your time to get used to the battle system. We will talk in- depth about tactics (or formations) later on, but for now you are stuck in the standard formation that should be familiar if you played SI or SII.

Walk along the switchback path to a Journeyman's Crystal. I won't remind you to save unless it is vital that you do so --when you either are up against a very tough battle or might wish to reset later-- I trust you are smart enough to know to save as often as you can.

Walk in a direction that is of the general "Southwestern" persuasion to a fork in the path. Go left if you want to experience the game's first dead- end, go right to continue on to another fork. This time go west to continue on. At the third fork, go south-southwest for a chest with [MEDICINE].

Return to the 3-way fork that you approach from the south, and head east, then south and curve back round to the east to find the third and final chest in this area, [MEGA MEDICINE]. Retrace your steps to the last fork and continue northeast for a scene and the game's first boss.

*****Dialogue*****(Choose either option with no consequence)-----Choose the first option to have the Prince act heroic-----Choose the second to have Georg save the day.

----------------------------------*Boss: Ulse X 3

Really, with Georg here there is nothing to worry about. Sialeed's Wind magic is pretty useless here. Just have everyone attack, and if you take a bit of damage, on your next turn use you formation skill to recover about 35 HP per character. Select [Formation] from the battle menu, then choose [Form Skill]. Note that you can only use the formation skill once per battle, and the skill changes depending on your current formation.Georg can kill an Ulse with one hit, and the Lyon/Prince Co-op attack works well too, so this battle should be over in 2 or 3 rounds.

Rewards: 750 Potch, 12 party SPMedicine, Violence Piece, Boost Piece

----------------------------------

Watch the scene. You will be back in the Sun Palace by the time you have a dialogue option.

=============================================================================

Sun Palace

=============================================================================

You'll finish telling your mother the story.

*****Dialogue***** (choose either with no consequence)-----First Option: Stand up for what's right. -----Second Option: Act intimidated.

And again

*****Dialogue***** (choose either with no consequence)-----First: Act intimidated and rely on Sialeeds for Moral Pontification.-----Second: Act like a decent human being.

And a third time, after we drop into a text-only cutscene.

*****Dialogue***** (choose either with no consequence)-----First: Go find your sister, princess Lymsleia.-----Second: Decline, get scolded by Lyon, and then agree to find her.

Georg and Sialeeds leave the party.

Finding Lym requires that you scour the Palace. First head south and go up the stairs, then enter the opening (really an transparent doorway) on the right side. This is the Prince's hall. You'll find a save point inside his room, and to the far left, a treasure room with a [Dress] and [Refined Clothes]. Keep these in your bag so you can sell them later.

Go back out to the Upper-Level Foyer. Go South and West to the spiral stairs and take them up to the sealed room. You will receive a lecture on Runes, most of it review if you have played a Suikoden game before, though the information about the Sun Rune --one of the 27 True Runes-- is new.

Head back down to the upper-foyer and walk west to the big double-doors to find the hall of Sialeeds and the Princess. Talk to the attendant standing outside Sialeed's room for a funny scene, then go into the western most room to find that Lym has gone to look for you.

Walk to the north end of the hall and go down the stairs, this is the Kitchen/ Guard hall. Chat with the people around here if you wish. At the west end, there are stairs leading to the prison cells, but there is nothing to do there yet. To continue with the story, go back out to the Foyer and cut across to enter into the Queen's Knights Hall, located beneath the Prince's hall.

A rather funny scene will ensue when you walk south, and you will meet Kyle, one of the Queen's Knights. Your dialogue option has no consequence. Kyle joins your party temporarily, and I suggest taking the opportunity to trade all of his armor with the Prince. (Hey, you're the Prince so it is not stealing.) Go into the large room on the left for another scene.

After the scene, talk to the Knights gathered round the room if you want. To continue, head for the exit for another scene.

--IMPORTANT--So, this is where some of your dialogue choices start to have consequences. To avoid spoilers, I wont tell you why per-say, just to say that how you treat your little sister and Lyon can effect things down the line. Overall, I recommend being attentive and slightly over-protective of Lym. And to treat Lyon with respect. It is your choice whether or not to follow my recommendations, mostly each choice makes very little difference, so you can change things up a bit if you want. If there is a choice that had major, drastic consequences, I will let you know ahead of time.

*****Dialogue*****(option #1 recommended)-----First: Apologize.-----Second: Tell her to pipe down.

The scene continues and you meet Miakis

*****Dialogue*****(option #1 recommended)-----First: Greet Miakis.-----Second: Ask for help, and she will refuse.

The scene drops to text-only dialogue and you are presented with another choice:

*****Dialogue*****(option #1 recommended)-----First: Act like a normal adult-----Second: Sound kinda creepy, because you are not opposed to little girls getting engaged.

This is a rather large number of dialogue choices here in a row:

*****Dialogue*****(option #2 recommended)-----First: Seem disinterested but get dragged along regardless.-----Second: Act protective of Lym.

Kyle, Miakis, and Lym will join. Lym is stationed in one of the entourage slots, but Kyle and Miakis are in the battle party. Not to give away a big spoiler or anything, but we are not going to be in any tough battles with any of them. Go ahead and give Miakis' gear to Lyon if you really want, but I refrain from doing that, it doesn't matter at all at this point.

Leave the Knight's room to have Sialeeds show up, and give you yet another choice:

*****Dialogue*****(option #1 recommended)-----First: Make fun of Sialeeds.-----Second: Make fun of Lym.

Sialeeds joins, but don't bother rearranging the party, we are just going to go on a tour of the Senate Hall and the City Proper.

Back to the foyer, and leave out the large southern doors past the journeyman's crystal to the Senate Hall grounds. Walk down the first flight of stairs and turn east to the Garden area. A short way north off the dirt path is a chest: [SCARF]. Return to the bridge level, and then descend the second flight of stairs, to go back to ground level. Walk under the bridge to find [MEGA MEDICINE] along the southern side of the Senate Building. Approach the building for a small cutscene. The dialogue choice is unimportant. Go inside and turn west up the stairs, then north and talk to the official waiting by wooden double-doors.

Well, we have to talk to all the people in the Senate Hall and watch a scene before the clerk in charge of the list comes back. Start by talking to everyone round the upper walkway. There are 6 people, 2 guards, 2 nobles, and 2 officials.

Cross the bridge to the left to go inside the Senate Chamber's upper floor for a short scene. There are 2 more officials here.

Leave the upper chamber and go to the ground floor. In the outer area there are 4 people. 2 guards and 2 officials. (There is a 5th person in the northwest room, but you do not need to talk to him to advance the story.)

Inside the large green doors of the Senate Chamber Floor, there will be a scene.

*****Dialogue*****(choose either)-----Be unflappably well-mannered.-----Act like you just got accosted by a walrus, which is an accurate description of what just happened.

The scene continues, rather hilariously.

*****Dialogue*****(choose either)-----Agree with Lord Borrows superficially.-----Express doubts about his character.

When you regain control there are 4 more people to talk to in the Senate Chamber Floor, 2 nobles and 2 officials.

Return to the clerk's office for a cutscene.

*****Dialogue***** (choose either)-----Apologize for the rush.-----Get to the point.

and again--

*****Dialogue***** (#1 recommended)-----Be distressed at your sister's lack of popularity.-----Be amazed at the brat's popularity.

When you are done go outside to the upper bridge area for a short scene.

*****Dialogue***** (#1 recommended)-----Encourage bad habits.-----Be strict.

Miakis, Sialeeds, and Lym leave. You will have a few more dialogue options at this point.

*****Dialogue*****(choose either)-----Suggest your next activity.-----Have Kyle suggest your next activity.

*****Dialogue*****(#2 recommended)-----Act interested and make Lyon cross with you. -----Act disinterested and have Kyle guide you gently into manhood.

I recommend #2 on the second choice because it helps not to get Lyon too mad at you. I have not tested out and verified the effects of _every_ single dialogue option, so I don't know if this one matters.

When you get control, go south to the City Proper. Sol-Falena is divided into four sections, from north to south they are: Sun Palace, Senate Hall, Sol- Falena Proper, and the Pier. At this point feel free to explore the city and talk to the people. I will point out some treasure chests to get and some places to visit. Down the stairs to the east is the Blacksmith, sharpen the Prince's and Lyon's weapons if you want, though don't worry about Kyle, as he is much higher-leveled than you at this point. The trade post is up the stairs to the east, check it out, but I don't recommend buying anything just yet. In this walkthrough will use trade as one of our main means of gaining war funds throughout the early game, because this allows for much better equipment and higher weapon levels with only a little effort.

East of the Blacksmith, and Southeast of the Trade shop, there is a cest on the pier [BANDANA]. Other than that, there is not much for us on the eastern side of the city, head vaguely west from there to the other side of the large bridge that divides the city. A treasure box near the Tavern contains [MEGA MEDICINE]. I did not have enough money to buy anything of value at the armor or item shops yet. Do not worry, sharpening your weapons is all you really need to do here in the early game. On the Islet north of the Item Shop there is a chest with [MEDICINE].

If you want to continue on, from the Item Shop in the eastern half of the city, walk east-southeast to the far eastern islet. There you find the rune shop, and watch a short cutscene. Go back outside for another dialogue choice.

*****Dialogue*****(option #1 recommended)-----Go help Kyle-----Stay back (and skip the next choice)

I recommend #1 because it helps to get some money here.

*****Dialogue***** (option #1 recommended)-----Get into an easy fight and earn some money.-----Let the guards handle it.

If you decide to fight, just have Kyle use his Lv 2 water magic, Breath of Ice, while the Prince and Lyon Attack. These guys are push-overs, I was able to annihilate all of them with one Breath of Ice spell.

After the scene, finish up any business you have in the city and return to the Sun Palace. You can roam if you like: the woman in the room on the lower floor of the Inn has some choice comments about Galleon. Just for the sake of stating the obvious:

=================================Sun Palace=================================

As you enter the palace, a scene begins. This is largely between Ferid and Arshtat, until it switches to the Prince and Lyon...

*****Dialogue***** (option #1 recommended)-----Be reassuring.-----Wonder why she's acting this way.

If you have made Lyon cross with you, you will get a slightly different scene and dialogue choice. The balance is not as delicate with her as it is with Lym, she actually has a much higher affection for you, so mostly you can say what you want when you are with her. But on this occasion I do recommend option #1, no matter which choice you got.

The scene continues the next morning. Georg and Sialeeds return to the party. When you get control, talk to the Queen's Knights gathered round on your way to the southern door. When you reach the door, Lym will come say goodbye.

*****Dialogue*****(choose either)-----Understand your Father's idealism-----Be too immature to understand

Now it is time to go to the Pier, just head south on the large causeway all the way past the city proper to get there. Down two flights of stairs, Kyle will be waiting by the ship to say goodbye. Say whatever you want to him, then board the ship for another long scene.

*****Dialogue*****(choose either)-----Have faith in the Queen-----Meh

After more talking, you'll encounter the game's second boss:

-----------------------------------Boss: Zadom

This one is much more tricky than the Ulse, but still a far cry from the difficulty on many of the later bosses. The game is still taking it easy on you...

Have the Prince and Lyon use "Sworn Protector," their Co-Op Attack, every round. Georg should do what he does best, throwing critical hit attacks at the enemies. Sialeed's wind magic is again pretty useless here. . . so have her Attack, as well as throw out some Medicine as needed. The Prince does have an "Angry Blow" spell scroll equipped, but try to save that for later, it is not needed in this battle.

The Zadom can inflict the "Anger" status effect, causing the afflicted to be unable to use unite attacks. If Lyon or the Prince gets hit with it, just have them both attack, it will not make too much difference in the end. It can also inflict poison, though this is a nuisance more than a threat.

The Zadom really does not hit very hard, so you will have plenty of time to use medicine or the Formation skill to heal your party. With Georg, this should be over in 3-4 turns

Rewards:3,000 Potch20 party SPMedicine, Fire Sealing Pc x1, Breath of Ice Scroll x1.

----------------------------------

After the battle, another dialogue choice comes up, but it has no real bearing. The scene shifts to the evening, still on the ship headed for Stormfist, yet another choice for you that has no consequence.

After Sialeeds comes up with some disturbing theories, you arrive at the Stormfist Pier.

=============================================================================

STORMFIST

=============================================================================

Over the course of the next few scenes, your replies to the Godwins' questions won't amount to anything in the long run, so I'll leave them to you. Gizel will take you on a tour of the facilities.

Throughout this part of the game you will have intermittent cutscenes, and brief moments of free movement. Move south to trigger the first.

Once inside walk west to trigger the next.

From where the last scene ends, you are either in the Arena Causeway Upper Floor or the drawbridge. If you are on the bridge, return to the Causeway. Both upper and lower floors of the Causeway are divided into 2 quarter- circle sections. You are currently in the Northwest section. Go ahead and go south round the bend to the Southwest Upper section. Go into the stands to watch a scene with an old friend.

Afterwords, back inside the causeway, go down the thin flight of stairs to reach the Lower Southwest section. Walk to the Lower Northwest section and turn right immediately to visit the infirmary, and try to walk down the steps inside. Gizel will tell you that it is a place unfit for Royalty, but insist on going down anyway. This is necessary to move the game events forward.

*****Dialogue*****(choose #1 to move story events forward)-----Insist on seeing the Gladiators.-----Insist on not moving the story forward.

Down in the cells, there is another option.

*****Dialogue*****(option #1 recommended, for Moral Purposes)-----Slavery is wrong.-----I'm a fan of slavery, but I'm too ashamed to admit it.

Walk east a bit for yet another cutscene.

*****Dialogue*****(You get the idea)-----Ask for a Doctor.-----Treating injured slaves wastes money.

Leave the Cells and exit the infirmary. Walk north to the large doors and exit to the Arena Garden. Here you will find 2 chests, the first in the northwest corner containing [OLD BOOK vol. 7], the second is packed in with some boxes and nearly hidden in the southeast corner, zoom the camera in if you are having trouble finding it. It contains the first of many Tactics, the [DOUBLE ARM TACTIC].

-------------------------------------Tactics--

If you don't want to hear what I have to say about tactics, skip to the next divider.

On the menu screen choose "Formation", then "Rearrange" to change your tactic. Different Tactics offer different status bonus to party members -- for example, Double Arm adds +2 to both Physical Defense (PDEF) and Magical Defense (MDEF)-- there is more to tactics than just adding status bonuses though. Each tactic has a special skill that can be used in combat once per battle at the cost of 1 turn. So, the Standard tactic can heal a small amount of HP, and so on...

What Tactic you use though, depends largely on the Characters present in your party at any one time. Even late in the game, many of the parties you form will have some slots taken up by required characters, so I find myself switching tactics frequently, just to accommodate what characters I have to work with. In the end, the status boosts and skills are just bonuses that come along with the tactic that corresponds well to my party.

There are three different types of weapon ranges in this game, just like Suikoden I and II. Short range weapons are meant for attacking from the first two rows on the grid that is shown on the "Rearrange" window, anything further back and they begin to lose accuracy, to the point that they will rarely connect with an Attack from the rear row at all. Medium Range weapons are just that, meant for combat from the middle two rows. Unlike Suikoden I and II, mid-rangers will miss frequently from the front row, so don't put Lyon or the Prince up there unless you are just planning to have them use magic or defend. Long Range weapons attack from anywhere equally well, but almost every character that wields a long range weapon is weak physically, and cannot take front-line combat, so it is best to let them occupy spaces in the back.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Right now, the Double Arm tactic does not suit you well, so stay in the standard formation.

Back inside the Lower Causeway, go south all the way till you reach a long, straight hall. At the south end of the Hall, take the stairs up to see a scene. This is the Royal suite. Back downstairs, Gizel bids goodbye. Your choice effects nothing, except my opinion of you as a human being.

No matter what is said Gizel and Sialeeds leave the party.

At the town proper, you will have two short scenes. When you gain control, you can talk to the Girl standing next to the leopard. This is Norma, and the leopard is Ernst, you cannot recruit them now, but remember them for later. Just south of them, the red-haired guy is also another future potential recruit, talk to him for a taste of his disgusting personality. His name is Gavaya. Walk west and head into the Inn for a short scene with another character.

Feel free to explore around and talk to the people. The general attitude here is much more sympathetic to the Godwins. West of the Inn, western edge of the town is a chest: [MEDICINE]. From the main street you can head into the New Town section, there are all sorts of shops here with a blacksmith that can sharpen to Lv 3. While Georg's weapon is still at Lv 1, his _actual_ level is 20, so he is strong enough right now without a sharp sword. It is a good Idea to try to save Potch here, money is tight in the early game.

You cannot leave the town -the guards will not let you- but there is some treasure here. New Town is designed as 7 different street that run parallel north to south. At the end of the westernmost street turn right to an alley with a chest [BRACELET]. 3 streets to the east, south of the connecting drawbridge, there is a chest at the end with [LEATHER HAT]. Again, nothing too exciting in terms of treasure.

To continue with the story, go to the Old Town, and south of the entrance to the Arena, take a turn east into a narrow alley marked by two guards. Scene ensues, don't worry about the dialogue choices.

Shoon joins the party, but the scene continues elsewhere.

You regain control back at the alley. Walk east for a chest: [MEGA MEDICINE]. Then, head for the Inn so you can trigger another long scene. No matter what you say, when you regain control, head for the entrance to the arena.

Note: Shoon here mentions a friend of his who had his eyesight taken from him, but remained a strong Gladiator. This could be a reference to Morgan, a character from Suikoden I.

In any event, Sialeeds joins the party on the next screen. Take her back to the Inn. Tell Shoon you are ready in order to advance the story.

You will regain control in the Sewers. I suggest leaving temporarily though, in order to sharpen Shoon and Sialeeds' weapons to Lv 3, again, Georg is fine as he is. If you don't want to do this, that is fine too, but I think it helps to have Shoon's weapon at Lv 3. Don't worry about armour, the enemies you will face won't hit too hard. Return to the sewers.

As you may have noticed, there is little action in the game thus far, most of it has been character and narrative construction. But, worry not, this set- up time will make things much more interesting when the plot really starts moving.

The game is still going easy on you here, this level is pretty short, so I suggest fighting around here a bit to build up your Potch total. Your Character level does not matter much as Georg is, of course, overpowered.

Take the time to switch your party's formation. Double Arm tactic is now a good choice for this section. From now on, I'll mostly be leaving the formation and tactics up to you, but from time to time I may suggest one if it works particularly well in a given situation.

Back in the sewer, a cutscene ensues right in the entryway. Walk west to the switch on the floor to open the gate in front of you for a chest [ANTITOXIN]. Loop round back to the east for yet another scene, this time with one of my favorite characters in the game, Egbert. Again, just keep him in mind for the future.

From the intersection where you met Egbert, walk North then West for a chest with [LEATHER ARMOR]. Not a bad choice for Shoon, in fact, I also suggest giving him one of your stacks of Mega Medicine, and maybe a magic scroll or two if you have them to spare. Better yet, give Shoon the Thunder Runner scrolls Georg has equipped. From the now-empty chest, retrace your steps east them north at the first turn to step on another switch. Head back to the east side of the map, then turn north and through the door you just opened for a [SACRIFICIAL JIZO]. This one is best given to either Sialeeds or Lyon.

Retrace your steps back to the second switch, then head south this time, you will find a crystal to the west. Take the south fork to swing round to a floor switch. Go back to the crystal and west to exit the level.

During the scenes, you will have another two dialogue choices, choose either option. Follow your quarry through a second section of the sewers, this path is straight with no side routes, so just barrel through to the ladder at the end. Make sure your party is healed before climbing up.

You'll emerge in the woods, a short way to the north, you'll be attacked by a group of soldiers.

To give you a strategy for the battle: Georg. There, that is all the strategy you'll need. If you want, use the Sialeeds/Prince Co-Op Attack too, but this battle will be over quickly regardless.

After the battle, a cutscene ensues. You choice here is again unimportant in the grand scheme of the (Suikoden) universe. Exit the cell after the scene to move the story.

=================================THE SACRED GAMES=================================

After the scene, the first choice makes no difference, then we drop into text-only dialogue, where you will be presented with another choice:

*****Dialogue*****(Choose #2 for Game Event)-----Ask for an explanation of the Dual Battle System.-----Continue on without an explanation.

-----Dual Battles-----Before choosing option #2, let me explain a bit: The Dual battles are set up like Rock/ Paper/ Scissors. Attack > Defense > Special > Attack, and so forth.

What your opponent says before you are asked to input a command will be telling of what attack they are planning to use. Unlike the previous games, you will have only a short time to decide what to do, so you must make a decision quickly. If you cannot decide what to do, your best option is to defend. This will allow you to Counter a special attack without taking Damage, also if your opponent defends, you will just stare at each other for a bit, and even if your opponent attacks, you will only receive a small amount of damage.

I will not list what your opponents say here, and how that corresponds to their moves. For one thing, you would hardly have time to look at my long list of dialogue and moves before time runs out. For another, I think it steals the fun if I just tell you what to do all the time. You are more than smart enough to figure out your opponent's intentions and guess right most of the time. If they are acting hesitant, they will likely defend, so choose to attack. If they act assertive, choose to use a Special. If they act aggressive, choose to defend. You get the picture.

The most important thing is to make a selection quickly, if the timer runs out, your opponent will get a free hit. So, take a deep breath and calm down; if you remain calm you will win most Duals with ease.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

With that said, this battle is a showcase, and it does not matter if you win or lose. Your opponent is Shoon, and the match has a friendly tone to it.

Choose dialogue option #2 and walk to the ring to continue. Shoon is a very straight forward person, with no intention of trying to deceive you, so it is easy to read his moves.

Winning or losing the fight does not effect the course of the game, though if you win Ferid and Arshtat will be impressed.

Afterwords, Lym will come running in:

*****Dialogue***** (choose either, but #1 is hilarious)-----Pretend you wanted to marry your sister.-----Pretend you don't have a sense of humor.

Lyon, Miakis and Lym join temporarily. Make your way back to the Royal section of the Arena. If you don't remember how to get there, head south along the curving causeway to the lower hall, at the south end climb the stairs to the Royal hall. Save at the prince's room if you want then go north to the seating box.

Talk to the Queen's knights if you want to hear them congratulate you if you won, or console you if you lost. In any case, sit down to move the story forward.

*****Dialogue***** (choose either, but I suggest #1)-----Go easy on Lym.-----Be a stern brother.

After round 1 match 8, another option appears.

*****Dialogue*****(choose either)-----Go meet Belcoot-----Go meet Belcoot anyway.

Before leaving the arena, you will see a scene that introduces you to another character. Before you leave for the Town, walk back north and then west to the infirmary, for another character introduction scene.

Walk south to the Bazaar for a third character intro.

Continue south into Old Town and head to lower gate for character into #4. All of these scenes are unnecessary for recruitment, but they do allow you to get a glimpse of characters you can recruit later.

Go to the western edge of old town to meet up with Belcoot.

*****Dialogue***** (choose either)-----Charge in and have Georg stop you.-----Observe.

I love the depiction of the "Arrogant Man's" Self-Perpetuating, circular hate-logic here. Reminds me of American talk-radio hosts. It is a sharp contrast with Belcoot's calm strength. Well, again you fight random weaklings. The only difference here is that Georg may not be able to kill them with one hit if you did not sharpen his weapon! Egads!! Just slaughter them like baby lambs and move on with the story.

Belcoot joins temporarily.

Back at the Inn, another long scene plays out. There will be a succession of dialogue choices, none of which make much difference.

After all the scenes play out, go back to the Arena to trigger even more of them.

When you gain control, head for the Inn again, Belcoot joins the party. Go to new town and exit the gate to the southeast.

=============================================================================

WORLD MAP

=============================================================================Mini Boss: Wild boarRewards: Power Rune Piece, Marbled Beef, Fur Clothes2,500 potch, 18 party SP

Finally we have made it to the world map!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm going to take some time to explain some things in detail here, including the Trade System and Skills System. So, if you are uninterested in these two things, skip ahead to the next divider.

-----The Trade System-----

The trade system first appeared in Suikoden II, and has been a great way to earn Potch ever since. Basically, you buy an item for -say- 100 potch and sell it at another city for 200 potch. The reason most people shy away from the trade system though, is because they are scared of losing potch in the process, but this rarely happens, and with my help you can avoid it entirely. Another issue is that people will hold onto their trade items for so long in the game, waiting for that "perfect opportunity" to double their investment or more, when in reality you can make much more money trading in high volumes with quick turnover, than you can by letting items sit in storage.

Here in Stormfist, the trader is to your right as you enter the city, before you even enter the main gate, also, there is a trade shop at the Bazaar. Since you will have another chance to buy from him soon, I don't suggest buying anything yet, but if you remember the prices of goods at the trade shop in Sol-Falena, you will see that items like Soybeans, Fruit, and Wheat are all less expensive here by about 100 - 200 potch each.

What I mean is this: it is better to by lots of items you can make 10-25% on, then sell them quickly, then to buy high-value items and wait hours before you sell them. I'll remind you in the walkthrough when it is time to buy things from a trader, as well as what to buy and where to sell it.

-----Skills-----

Skills make a return here in Suikoden V, they were last seen in Suikoden III. Though a few changes have been made they should feel somewhat familiar.

First off, Skills simply increase your statistics, so, the "Attack" Skill raises your "ATK" stat. There are some exceptions, though. The "Incantation" Magic Skill allows for faster casting in-battle, and does not change any stat seen on the Status screen.

Generally, I suggest using Skills to accentuate a character's strengths, rather than using them to cover their weaknesses. For example: Sialeeds can use the "Stamina" skill to increase her measly HP. However: (1.) That skill will max out at a value of "C," and (2.) She should be spending most of her time in the back row, away from frequent physical attacks.

Using skills to accentuate strengths produces better results. Georg currently has the Vitality skill equipped, which increases his critical rate. Naturally, he has a high crit rate, but with this skill and the Killer Rune he has equipped, he becomes the Georg that we are familiar with: throwing out more crits than non-critical hits. His "Vitality" skill maxes out at the "S" level too, allowing for a very pronounced effect.

Note that Georg has the "Combat Trainer" skill permanently equipped. This means that as long as he is in your party, you can use this skill to upgrade your Combat skills at any time. Right now though, the highest any skill can achieve is a "C" rank, but we will be acquiring special items later to allow for further training. As far as Magic training goes, you will have to rely on magic trainers that you can find in towns.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, as far as Skills are concerned, I recommend Vitality for Georg, Attack/ Agility for the Prince, Agility/Technique for Lyon, and Incantation for Sialeeds. Incantation is a magic skill, so you will have to train this in town for now.

On the world map, go ahead and fight around. Occasionally, you will hear the sounds played as you enter a battle change. Normally, the game plays a tone that sounds like sunlight, if in fact sunlight sounded anything at all like a high-strain played on a symbol. Sometimes it will change to a deeper, woodwind sound played one octave lower. This is your cue that you are entering a Mini-Boss battle. Mini-Bosses are usually not that difficult, but give great rewards, so I suggest hanging around a bit til you fight the Wild Boar found here on this section of the map.

When you are ready, the West Woods are immediately west of Stormwind.

=============================================================================

WESTERN WOODS

=============================================================================

Cutscene as you enter.

With both Georg and Belcoot, this area is a joke, just keep an eye on you HP because damage can add up here, though the main danger is only that Lyon, Prince, or Sialeeds might end the battle KO'd, and not receive any EXP or SP.

Follow the deer trail to the north while keeping pressed against the east side. At a bend to the left, your character will break right onto a short, hidden path with [GOOSE TACTIC]. Back on the main path, continue north to a not-so-hidden chest [MEGA MEDICINE]. The main path sweeps west, then north. Continue on to another scene.

*****Dialogue*****(choose either)-----Disrespect them directly.-----Tell them who you are, then have them disrespect you.

You are thrown into battle.

---------------------------------Boss: Thug x5

Well, these guys again. . .

What can I say? You really don't need my help here. The Prince/Sialeeds "Royal Power" Co-Op is a good choice to start off. After that, Auto-Battle is more than enough to finish them.

The only real danger is if one of your characters took cumulative damage in the woods prior to battle. If so, you can use Sialeeds' Wind Rune -the Healing Wind spell- to heal them.

This battle took only 2 turns for me.

Rewards:Medicine1,500 potch25 party SP

---------------------------------

After the battle, Marina joins temporarily. Marina is a support only character that recovers a small amount of HP to your battle party after each turn, making her very useful for extended trips.

Take the main road back to the south. Press against the west side to hind a hidden chest [Silence Orb].

----------------Silence RuneType: SupportRank: DNotes: This Rune adds a 30% chance of inflicting silence on an enemy when attacked by the wearer's weapon. Most of the enemies that use powerful magics are immune to Silence, though, and others are often mixed into the back of groups along with Physically powerful enemies. Overall, this is a rune with limited usefulness, if any.

---------------

Exit the Woods for a scene.

=============================================================================

STORMFIST

=============================================================================

You regain control at the Inn. Walk outside the room to trigger another scene. Go back to bed to move the story forward. In the morning, there is another brief period of control, followed quickly by a scene.

Sialeeds, Georg, and Belcoot join. Leave the Inn and enter the Arena. Note: If you missed the [Double Arm Tactic] and [Old Book vol. 7] in the Arena Gardens earlier, this will be you last chance for awhile. Make sure you pick them up.

After Belcoot leaves, return to the Royal Hall to advance the story. If you want, you can now buy Trade Goods from the merchant at the Bazaar, but other than that there is not much to do in town.

The final match begins. Afterwords, you will be presented with a dialogue choice. Your reply mean nothing overall, but if you do want to speak up, you'll have to do it quickly, because this choice has a time limit.

*****Dialogue*****(Choose Quickly)-----Remain silent.-----Make Childerich mad at you.

Head for the Infirmary in the Lower Northwest Causeway for a scene. Follow Sialeeds to the cells for a further sequence of intermittent scenes.

*****Dialogue*****(#2 recommended)-----Be doubtful of Zegai.-----Believe Zegai.

*****Dialogue*****(choose either)-----Try to confront the villains and have Auntie Sialeeds stop you.-----Inform the Queen of what is really going on.

*****Dialogue*****(#1 recommended)-----Stand up for Justice.-----Be indifferent to the fate of a slave.

After the scenes, return to the Queen's room in the Royal Hall to trigger the next scene. You can talk to the nobles, guards, Alenia and Galleon to get their perspectives on the way.

*****Dialogue*****(choose either)-----Take an accusational tone, and get scolded. -----Take a feeble tone.

*****Dialogue*****(choose either)-----Remain silent.-----Speak up.

The next day, you will prepare to leave Stormfist. Outside the Prince's room, talk to the lady-in-waiting for a funny scene. Talk to daddy to get the story rolling.

Leave Royal Hall and talk with Murad in the infirmary. Then swing around to the Main Hall and exit the arena to the south. Finish up any shopping you have left to do in the Bazaar section, then walk to Old Town. Speak to the girl and the leopard nearby to trigger a scene:

*****Dialogue*****(#2 strongly recommended)-----Say you don't know.-----Ask Lyon for her Opinion.

Answering this way will help you recruit Norma and Ernst later on, though even if you don't talk to them or answer incorrectly, I am _pretty_ sure you can recruit them anyway.

A note on recruitment: If you follow this walkthrough, you will recruit all 108 Stars of Destiny at the earliest point possible for each one. If you do not follow it exactly, most characters can be recruited at later points. Some characters though, have very small windows for recruitment, and can be missed entirely, leading you into one of the game's less than ideal endings. If a character can be missed, I will have you recruit that character as soon as possible -like all the others- plus I will warn you again before that character disappears for good, just to make sure you do not miss them.

If you want to catch up with Egbert, you can do so in the eastern portion of Old Town. Armor and Weapon levels are not too important now, so you can leave all that for later if you want, but check the Armour shop for rare finds if you wish.

To continue: Speak to Belcoot and Marina at the upper floor of the Inn; your dialogue choice makes no difference.

Return to the Arena's Royal Hall and speak to Ferid when you are done with everything in town.

*****Dialogue*****(choose #2 for story event)-----Stay longer.-----Move the Story forward.

During the scene, Gizel will compliment you:

*****Dialogue*****(Choose Either)-----Be polite.-----Remind him of his place.

Another scene.

=============================================================================

SUN PALACE

=============================================================================

The Plot is beginning to pick up here, and we will be moving away from an emphasis on plot construction to a faster-paced action. Also, the game will begin to become more challenging, now that you have had time to become acquainted with the various battle systems. (With the notable exception of the Major Battles, but we will cover that later.)

We will drop into text-only dialogue, and Lym will bust into the Prince's room.

*****Dialogue*****(Choose either, but #2 is more humorous.)-----Say hi.-----Demand some privacy.

Miakis and Lym join. Walk towards the stairs down to the Knight's Hall to have Sialeeds join you. Downstairs, on the way to the Throne Room, you pick up Georg as well. Once in the Foyer, exit north to the Throne Room for a cut scene.

*****Dialogue*****(Choose either, but #1 is recommended)-----Be obedient.-----Speak out and confuse Lym.

Speak to the Queen's Knights on the way to the exit, they always have interesting things to say. You'll meet Kyle by the door for a short scene. If you want, there is an optional scene here too: Take your party to the kitchen hall on the lower floor, and west to the stairs to the cells. You can talk to Zegai, and Tease Lym a bit. Continue out of the Palace south into the City Proper.

The Blacksmith in town can now sharpen your weapons to level 5. This time I will suggest that you sharpen Georg's weapon, because his character level advantage is now much less than it was before. You might not be able to sharpen them all to Lv 5, but do not worry, Lv 3 is just fine for Georg. For the Prince, Lyon, and Sialeeds, I do suggest Lv 5 eventually, but for now it can be put off.

Before you leave town, walk to the western islet to meet the Rune Mistress that you missed before when you searched for her with Kyle. As if there was any surprise, the Run Mistress is actually Jeane. Along with Viki, Jeane is only one of two characters to appear in all of the main games of the Suikoden. I will cover Jeane in-depth later, but for now she makes quite an impact on your party, and you have a dialogue choice:

*****Dialogue*****(Choose Either)-----Act like you actually have business here.-----Excuse yourself (perhaps to go change your clothes).

You can buy Runes if you want, or simply equip the Silence Rune you acquired earlier, but for now I do not choose to spend money on Runes that I don't need. Go ahead and sell off the Trade items you may have bought earlier. As far as medicine and such, the you should already have a few stacks in your inventory. If you don't have any Antitoxin, go ahead and buy some for now.

When you are finished shopping, leave town. There are two exits in Sol- Falena. One is at the Pier, simply walk southeast before descending the stairs to find an exit. The second is located just southeast of the appraiser, on the westernmost islet. You will pass under a small archway before leaving.

=============================================================================

World Map

=============================================================================

Mini Boss: PecklesRewards:Power Piece, Marbled Beef, Leather Cape2,500 potch, 18 party SP

The East Palace is a short walk to the east. (I know that you are glad to have me writing this walkthrough, with vital information such as that.)

On that note, before we cover the Palace, I will introduce Sialeeds and the Wind Rune. If you don't care, skip ahead to the next divider.

---------------SialeedsStar# 3 of 108Auto-RecruitOverall Rank: CClass: Long-Range MageNotes: Sialeeds is an odd character, to be sure. She has lots of Magic Power, but only one rune slot, permanently occupied by a Wind Rune. Aside from her dismal HP totals and her lack of contribution in many battles, she does have some good qualities: the Royal Power Co-Op Attack is a great way to clear out weaker enemies from the screen, and she is faster than most other Mage- Class characters, making her a good idea for in-battle item usage. Like her or not, she is a required character in many sections of the game, and the first true mage that you have access to. Her Skills are not that great either: "Long Throw" is permanently equipped, and not too useful. She seems to be a bad compromise between Long-Range Attack and Magic, in the end, I find myself only using her when she is required, as either more versatile or more powerful mages emerge later in the game.

Plus, although she can be funny at times, she doesn't win any points on personality from me.

Recommended Runes: Err. . Wind?Recommended Skills: Incantation, Long Throw

---------------Wind RuneType: MagicRank: C

Level 1: Wind of Sleep (Status Attack)Level 2: Healing Wind (Recovery)Level 3: The Shredding (Attack)Level 4: Funeral Wind (Attack)

Notes: The Wind Rune is a compromise. Water magic heals, Lightning and Fire attack, Earth defends, while Wind has a little bit of everything. Wind Runes have been very useful in the previous Suikoden games, but in this one, I think they tend to be the least useful of all the basic elemental magic runes. Wind magic tends to be the best choice when you have no idea what you are getting yourself into, but, dear reader, you have me, so there should be nothing that you are not prepared for. (Or I have not done my job right.) Don't get me wrong, if a character has a high Wind Magic stat on the Status Screen, don't hesitate to equip them with a Wind Rune, but virtually all the magic has a counterpart available on another rune at a lower level. For example: Healing Wind is an exact copy of Kindness Drops, the Lv 1 Water magic. The only magic that really stands out is Lv 3 The Shredding, a nice magic attack that hits the entire enemy party. Don't hold any of this against the Cyclone Rune though.

Personally, I feel that the Wind Rune was best in Suikoden II, where Funeral Wind was instead Storm Warning, a defensive spell. This could be interpreted as a metaphor for wind itself. Meaning the poetic trope of "the Four Winds," North, South, East, and West. The rune from that game had a Status Effect spell, a Recovery spell, an Attack spell, and a Defensive spell: North, South, East, and West. Now we have just North, South, East, and er ... East.

Like the Wind itself, Wind Rune users are often capricious and fickle, changing as often as the direction of the wind. Rune Family Tree: True Wind > Cyclone > Wind.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back to the Walkthrough:

=============================================================================

EAST PALACE

=============================================================================

At the East Palace, talk to the guards and the officials to glean some information about the Dawn Rune, and Runes in general. Before you enter the main building, let's steal some treasure from the chests here: Walk North a bit to the lone tree, and turn west into the silver and beige two-tone building to find the [ARROWHEAD TACTIC]. North from that building, walk through the archway and turn west, then go north long the shore for [GLASS SLIPPERS]. Continuing along the shoreline to the east, there is a chest under a tree: [CAPE]. Walk South to a pier, then east to the end for a chest hidden from view [SLEEP ORB].

After all that loot, enter the large Administrative Building. The people here have much to say about the loss of the Dawn Rune two years ago. Exit to the north underneath the staircase to reach the Dawn Rune Room, and a cutscene.

*****Dialogue*****(choose either)-----Buck tradition, then end up adhering to it anyway.-----Git 'r dun.

Inside the room, there will be another scene.

*****Dialogue*****(choose either)-----Ask for her identity, and have Sialeeds answer her.-----Answer her question.

Outside, you gain control. We are done here at the East Palace, So let's head for Lunas.

Before we get there, trade out Miakis' equipment with Lyon. Lyon will have many more opportunities to make use of it for now.

Lunas is North of the East Palace, off of the roads. You'll know you are close when the grass fades and gives way to a rocky steppe.

------------Sleep RuneType: SupportRank: CNotes: With a 30% chance of inflicting sleep, this Rune is much more useful than the Silence Rune. However, unless you equip it on a slow character, you have at least a 30% chance of waking that enemy back up before the end of the turn. . . This Rune is most useful early on, and fades as you acquire many more powerful Runes.

=============================================================================

LUNAS

=============================================================================

Inside the city. . . well, it is not really a city or a town, it is more a monastery, as there are no shops or services here.

At the monastery, Isato joins the party for a short time, no matter what you say to him. Walk east across the surprisingly sturdy drawbridge to the outside of the Oracle's Conclave, grabbing [DEFENSE RING] and [JEWEL NECKLACE]. Head inside for a scene.

*****Dialogue*****(choose either)-----Act like you are surprised.-----Act like you don't mind being smothered because she is prettier than you expected.

Miakis and Lym leave to prepare for the rite, leaving you in control outside of the Conclave. The clerics have some interesting things to say, so chat your way down to the level below the Conclave and head south where you will find three doors. The Left Door contains a cleric so eager to make you at home he gives you some [JUICE], the enter room has a chest containing [OLD BOOK vol 5], and the third has a polite lady, but no loot. Walk down the wooden scaffolds to the river-shore and south for a cutscene. A long explanation ensues regardless of your answer.

*****Dialogue*****(#1 recommended)-----Be attentive to Lyon.-----Be a Jerk to Lyon

When you gain control, stay by the shore and explore the three rooms at the base level. The Left contains the [WATER ORB], the middle [MAGICAL PIECE], and nothing in the right-hand room again.

Back at the Conclave, the rite will begin in a cutscene.

*****Dialogue*****(choose either, #1 provokes the funnier reaction.)-----Of course not.-----Berate your little sister for being little.

*****Dialogue*****(choose either)-----Be a normal person, who doesn't like to see blood relatives bathing.-----Stay silent and be scolded by Lyon. (also triggers the next choice)

*****Dialogue*****(choose either)-----State -in no uncertain terms- your feelings on the subject of Lyon.-----Backpedal.

Outside and up the scaffolds, there will be another cutscene.

*****Dialogue*****(#1 recommended)-----Help Isato investigate.-----Leave it to him and be asked again.

Here you have a choice of which scene you wish to see. I suggest helping Isato, just to be a nice guy. But, if you decline to help 2 times, you will return to the Conclave to see Lym, Sialeeds, and Miakis return from the rite and then Isato will drag two intruders into the Conclave.

If you choose to go help, there will be a short path where random battle are possible (but not very exciting). Just go North to "capture" the intruders.

Either way, you end up back at the Conclave, interrogating Logg and Lun, who seem to be about as bright as bricks.

*****Dialogue*****(#1 recommended)-----Grant them a reprieve.-----Be a tyrant and get scolded. . . again.

You gain control in the hall of the Conclave. If you speak to Haswar again in her room, she will offer you a warm glass of milk. (hahaha) Walk upstairs. Lym's room is on the west end, north side of the hall, I suggest you visit here before choosing to sleep. Your soom is to the south, across the hall from Lym's -the door is hard to see because it is transparent- choose to rest to advance the story.

If Lym's affection for you is high enough, she will ask to sleep in the same bed as you. However, you have had to be very kind to Lym for this to happen, if you don't see this scene, don't worry at all. Honestly, I think it is more entertaining to tease Lym a bit rather than to be so coddling and see this scene, which is why I left so many of the choices up to you.

In the morning, Lym and Miakis will return to the Sun Palace, while you deliver the bricks to Raftfleet, which is to the south, along the eastern bank of the river south of the East Palace.

Now for some info on the Water Rune and Different types of spells. Skip to the next full break if you don't want to hear me out.

--------------Water RuneType: MagicRank: B

Lv 1: Kindness Drops (Recovery)Lv 2: Breath of Ice (Attack)Lv 3: Kindness Rain (Recovery)Lv 4: Silent Lake (Defense)

I will not say that Water Runes are the "best" of the basic elemental Runes, but I will say that I use them more than any other Rune. Water Runes are a vital source for HP and status recovery. They save money on Medicines and Antitoxins and they are useful in all types of battles, from long chains of weak enemies that can wear you down, to difficult bosses with powerful attacks. I always have at least one person in my party with a water rune equipped. The Lv 1 spell, Kindness Drops, heals all of a character's lost HP, plus any negative status effects. This is a great spell, especially at Lv 1. While I would not say Water magic is a necessity, it is a great help at all times, and I will write this walkthrough from the assumption that you have at least one Water Rune equipped to a character with decent MP in your party at all times.

Water Rune users sharply contrast Wind Rune users. They seem more stable and calm, like a still lake or a deep, slow river. Water is the essence of life -nothing can survive without it- and water magic gives life to those around its wielders.

Rune Family Tree: True Water > Flowing > Water

---------------

And now a word about types of spells in the game:

Certainly there are different types of spells like recovery and attack spells, but what I will talk about here is what I like to call -quite esoterically- "Absolute-Value" spells and "Dependent-Value" spells. In short, a Dependent-Value spell is one that's effect is _dependent_ on the caster's Magic Power statistic, while an "Absolute-Value" spell has the same effect when cast regardless of the caster's Magic Power.

For example, take the Lv 1 Water Rune magic, Kindness Drops: its effect is always the same, regardless if the caster has a magic power of 1 point or 100 points; it will always heal all HP and status effects of one ally. This makes Kindness Drops an Absolute-Value spell.

An example of a Dependent-Value spell is the Lv 1 Fire Rune magic, Flaming Arrows: its damage will vary widely, depending on the caster's magic stat and that caster's Fire Magic Affinity. To check a character's affinity with any particular Rune family, look on the status screen, they will be ranked from "D" to "S" for each Rune family available in this game.

The Rune Affinity rank effects more than just the power of the spells, they offer faster incantation as well, making a higher ranking desirable for casting Absolute-Value spells.

Many characters in this game -like Lyon- have decent magic and MP scores, but no matter what rune you try, they won't deal too much more damage with magic attacks than with their physical attacks. This makes them prime candidates for Absolute-Value magic, which makes use of their MP, while allowing them to fight physically to deal damage. For Lyon, I suggest Runes heavy in Absolute-Value spells, like Water, Earth, and Shield runes. (More on Earth and Shield Runes later.)

For characters like Georg, who have dismal MP, Support and Attack-Effect Runes work better than magic, even Absolute-Value magic. Georg is perfectly suited for the Killer Rune he has equipped. But, later on in the game, even magically weak characters gain 4 or 5 Lv 1 MP and 2 Rune slots, so, Water or Earth Runes are not a bad choice at all for that second slot, letting them throw out an Absolute-Value Kindness Drops or Clay Guardian spell when needed. While they will still have slow incantation for these spells, casting them a turn in advance solves this problem, you just have to make sure to plan ahead a bit.

Another thing to keep in mind, too: Clay Guardian is easily available as a Scroll Item, which are used just as any other item in battle. As the game progresses, you will gain many powerful Attack-Effect and Status-Effect Runes, at this point it may be wiser to switch out Magic Runes for these Support Runes on, and use Spell Scrolls instead.

=============================================================================

RAFTFLEET

=============================================================================

Once you enter, you see a scene introducing you to the Dahak, the large ship to the northwest. Walk forward a bit for a short Character Introduction scene.

Now that you have full control, feel free to explore around a bit. Directions will be hard for me to give here, as Raftfleet is essentially a mesh of small fishing boats linked together by narrow gangplanks, but I'll do my best.

Before we move on with the plot, there are some treasures to be had here, and some people nice enough to give the Prince gifts just for the honor of speaking to him. From the Journeyman's Crystal, walk west to the ship containing the Inn. On the deck, there is a chest with the important [THUNDER PIECE]. Collect 4 of these, then assemble them at any runemaster for the rare Thunder Rune, essentially the Lightning Rune's big brother. North of the Journeyman's Crystal is a ship anchored to the west, go inside and out the bow door to find a [FIRE SEALING PIECE]. Back at the last intersection, head east to the bow of a boat. Walk around the cabin to the stern, which will connect you with the appraiser's boat. Walk through the appraiser's shop and into the cabin of the next boat. There are two signs here, one with a Blue Arrow, and the other with a Red Arrow. The Blue Arrow leads to our ultimate destination, the Dahak, but for now head north to the ship's aft to continue our treasure hunt.

Exiting the boat, you come to a pontoon raft, g