Who did you go? [Spoilers]

[Agahnim]

Now that I've finally gone through the game for the first time, I was curious about who everyone had in their party for the most part during the game? I find watching someone go through Suikoden games interesting, just based on who they choose as they go through it, and what characters they like. You get an interesting perspective about what kind of characters appeal to which people, or whether or not people use certain characters based on how useful they are to a party, or based on their looks/character.

When I started off I decided that I was probably going to use Keneth and Tal as my team mates as opposed to Jewel and Paula.. however I got a bit confused when they were asking what party of people I prefered and wound up with Keneth and Paula, and Cheipoo of course when Snowe left.

When I had the opportunity I switched Cheipoo for Lino El Kuldes, and then Paula for Sigurd. So far you can probably see that I don't really care too greatly for the female characters that I'd been presented with up until this point, and that I'm not all that keen on Nay-Kobolds.

I stuck pretty much with the party of Hero, Keneth, Sigurd and Lino for quite some time, only eventually changing the formation when I switched Sigurd for Aldo.

I carried on with this party for ages, not really bothering too much with the Ship Parties due to a general lack of any real interest of using many other characters at this point.

My party changed again when I swapped Lino for Trishtan upon return to the Kingdom of Obel.

When the end was near, I used the party of Lino, Aldo, Keneth and Trishtan to perform the invasion of El-Eal, and then regretted doing so when I realised that I couldn't use any of them to take on the final boss. Instead I opted for the return of Sigurd alongside Ted, possibly for nothing more than the use of his Soul Eater, but I think maybe for a little nostalga as well, and finally Kika. Kika was one of the few female characters in the game that I felt had an interesting character. They turned out to be a pretty useful bunch where the last stretch was concerned thanks in part to Kika and the Hero's unite attack, along with Ted's water rune.

Very few characters in this game really stood out to me as much as my favourites from the first three games, which was quite disappointing. I can appreciate that the look of the characters and the way they dressed could easily have been influenced by the time period the game would be set in, even more so if it was actually intentional. There was the odd fashion disaster in there.. Some of the characters art work could have done with a few touches here and there, I thought.. especially were some of the poses are concerned for a great number of the male characters. This new obsession where they appear to be showing off their ass seems a bit weird to me. I know I'm not the only one to notice it as its been pointed out to me by my people I know who have also been going through Suikoden IV... For a few examples I'd look at Ornan, Axel and Bart.

Anyway, I just thought I'd get that out in the open. So lets see who you all used throughout your first go at the game, and I'm interested in hearing a few opinions and preferences where the specific characters are, and also characters in general.

GD
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"The strong manly ones in life are those who understand the meaning of the word patience."

[Barbarossa Rugner]

Well i have also recently beat the game and my final party, as well as the party i used most, were hero, Kika, Warlock, and Ted. Although Gau and Warlock were often interchanged.
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The Rune on my Sword, the Dragon King Sword, is protected against any form of magic, Even the rune of the Gate - Barbarossa Rugner

[Milan Fiori]

I had a party of Lino, Tal, Hero and Paula for awhile, then when I got to Pirates island and recruited a bunch of people I switched Paula out for Jeane and Lino for Kika. Added Ted in for Tal after I got him then finally I put Snowe in Kika's place. That team was a monster, wiping out the final boss in two turns then those little things in the next. I used everyone to see all the combo's I could find. I'd mostly use Yu for support since I didn't know if any one was better but Ced or Gunter were in there a few times when I was gaining money or looking for pearl shells.
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Be awed by our prowess!

[Crono]

My main party has Kika, Jeane, and Ted in it. I use Kika because of her raw power, and I use the other two mainly for nostalgic effects.
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"Into battle we ride
With gods by our side
We are strong, and not afraid to die
We have an urge to kill
And our lust for blood has to be fulfilled
We'll fight 'till the end, and send our enemies straight to hell!"

[Goblin Phonologist]

I have a whole bunch of parties I use in this game.

Party Animals: Hero, Dario, Gau, Ameria/Gretchen. (Agnes/Oskar)

I went on a straight eight hour rampage using this group to make money and treasure. A leveled-up Berserker Attack with Dario and Gau is bananas. And I use either Gretchen or Ameria depending on what situation I'm in... if I have 99 Steamed Buns, I use Gretchen. If I have Agnes in as a Healer, I go with Ameria.

Kooluk Killers: Hero, Karl, Helga, Kika (Noah)

Falcon Rune on Kooluk Archer, Physical Attack on La Capitan, and throw on a Fury Rune to the Hero, and sicc him on the Soldier. I can do this for hours in Na-Nal Island, and not get bored.

Treasure Hunters: Hero, Rita, Millay, Sigurd (Cedric)

I can't think of a real reason why I pick these folks. They bring me good luck, I suppose.

Training for the Training Hall: Hero, Ted, *Trainee A*, *Trainee B*

I use Hero and Ted and any two characters I want leveled to 50, and head to the Obel Ruins. I usually have the trainees defending for a while until they hit 40+. Once I get them past 40, it's a breeze to 50.

The Woodcutters: Hero, Ted, Kika, Ameria (Yu)

This is the party I used to cut down the big bad tree. I use up Eternal Ordeal, and then with the Fury Rune, attack the tree straight up. Ted, Judgment X 2, and backup heal. Kika, Falcon Rune. And with Ameria, I have her sleep the Seeds of Light, and Attack whenever possible. Her 210 per hit is good enough for me.

And whenever the tree uses the "Blindingly Glowing Super Attack Of Painful Carnage", I have Hero use Kindness Rain, and defend with everyone else. See, what happened was each time the tree used that attack, it would wipe out Ted and Kika immediately for around 400 damage (their hitpoints are around 350ish). You should've seen how happy I was went I found out defending that attack almost halved that damage. And with Kindess Rain right after the brutal attack, they are now fully healed, and ready to rumble. I am happy.

Pirates of Gaien: Hero, Katarina, Paula, Jewel

I use them whenever I'm netfishing. Katarina is cool... even though she kicked Hero out of Gaien. And I like Paula and Jewel.

Oh, I'm a big Gretchen fan. Anyone else here like her as well?
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Goblin Phonologist readies Bomb Toss.
Goblin Phonologist is defeated.
You find a Silver Beastcoin.
You find a Stack of Old Records.
You find a Broken Turntable.
You find 12 pieces of Goblin Chocolate.

[Himuro]

I made a thread regarding characters you use in battle.

[gumby_30]

At the very end, my team was unstoppable, to be sure.

Hero with Slash, Rage, and RoP runes
Snowe with fury and counter runes
Ted with Thunder, Soul Eater, Water runes
Tal with killer rune

That true friends attack was devastating, especially with Snowe using a fury rune.. make sure you use speed rings or anything else that boosts his speed, cause he's one slow homefry.
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The crimes of the Nazis were so enormous, that if the human race were to vanish as a penalty, it could be argued that it would be justified.

[Keriaku]

I started out with Rita, Paula, and Mizuhi (or however you spell her name) As you can tell, i mostly use all female parties :-p (I'm male). My finally party was Jeane, Ted and Mistub. I originally had Mizuhi instead of Ted.
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Inspired by everything

[Glen Cott]

Well, I like to have one bruiser, one magician and two all rounders in my party at all times, it seems to work best for me. Also, bear in mind that so far I've only completed it once, and haven't got all 108 SoDs yet.

Well, I started of with Tal, Keneth and Chiepoo. I switched out Chiepoo as soon as I got Kika. I think Kika's one of the best characters in this game, with her Falcon rune and a fury rune, she does serious damage, and the unite comes in very handy against multiple opponents. I also switched Tal for Izak and then Mitsuba, since they do much more damage. For some reason I kept Keneth for a very long while, because while he was my magician, he could do good damage and had good defense. However I eventually swapped him out for Warlock and then Jeane.

In my current game, I'm using Eugene a lot, he's actually very good.

[Milan Fiori]

You think Snowe is devistating with just a fury rune, try a fury/double-strike combo. He'll start doing over a thousand on his own.
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Be awed by our prowess!

[Marshmallow]

Elenor Party Setup:
Mitsuba: Violence and Double Strike
Lino: Violence and Double Strike
Viki: Blinking, Rage and Water
Tal: Killer Rune
(Rikie)

Main Party Setup:
Hero: RoP, Violence, Wind
Ted: Mother Earth, Flowing and Souleater
Jeane: Seduction, Rage and Thunder
Snowe: Fury and Double Strike
(Yu)

[maverick]

I too used hero kika ted and jeane for most of the game later alternating jeane and kika with snowe and warlock. They got the job done but its dissapointing how much similarity we all had in our choices. Was anyone else bothered by the lack of different species in this game. It had humans nay kobolds elves and mermaids and one barbarian. And the mermaids werent playable. It kind of depressed me after playing 3 which had humans, elves, kobolds, ducks, lizards, a winger, a dwarf, a barbarian, a robot, several beasts, dogs and probably a few more that im forgetting. I understand with the new engine and voice acting they probably had to cut corners in other areas to save money but i would have preffered suikoden 3's engine with more variety.

[Jeanemon]

I swich around with my two begining parties. As soon as I hit Obel, out goes Chiepoo for Mitsuba. When I get Lino, he goes in for Mitsuba. Then I'll get Jeane, and she'll replace one of the starting members. I'll switch Kika for the second person. So, Hero, Jeane, Lino, and Kika. Kika gets switched for Ted the second I get him, and Snowe'll switch out for Lino.

For my secondary party I use Gau, Lino, Warlock, and Maxine.

[Rocky]

*Minor last boss spoilers ahead*



I started with Hero, Paula, Jewel (haha that pimp, takes the womens) and of course Chiepoo. I decided to stick with them for the whole game almost, too. Just to make it more accurate, they have close relation to the character, etc.

By the end, I replaced Chiepoo with Ted because Ted is just way too fricken good. When I had to split my party up, I stupidly sent my strongest guys (Ted, Paula, Jewel, Chiepoo) on the seperate team, and wasted Ted on the easy boss fight. So, I took a huge physical team and dominated everyone with Hero, Lino, Sigurd and Hervey. All good until the final boss >=( Needless to say, I got smoked pretty fast.

So I got mad. Researched using the roster, found my best magic users (2x use of lv 4 spell), swapped around some Rage, Flowing, Mother Earth rune(s), and decked myself out crazy. Boss didn't last long. Even accounted for his stupid little energy ball thing by using rush to knock him out of it. But, that's another story for another time.

Final team: Hero, Warlock, Jeane, Maxine
Power team: Lino, Ted (for SoulEater), Hervey, Sigurd
All-Around team: Paula, Jewel, Chiepoo
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Templar
Defending Gladitorial Combat Champion (2x)
Tenmou Star of Harmonia's Tablet of Promise

[Col Ahiru]

I actually misread a FAQ when I first went through the game - I thought that Hero, Snowe, Tal and Keneth had a unite attack, so I picked those two at the beginning of the game. What I learned later on was that they have a *bath* scene together. Silly me. :) Anyway, Tal is one of my favorite characters so I just kept the two of them, and when I go through the game a second time I'll pick Jewel and Paula.

At the end of the game my Elenor team consister of:

Ted (Come on, you just can't be a Suikoden fanatic if you don't use Ted excessively in this game)
Champo (Because I wanted a little diversity on my team, I didn't like Chiepoo and, in total defiance of my expectations, he's a very solid fighter)
Gretchen (My favorite female, and by the end she was so yoked I could probably have beaten Cray with just her)
Eugene (The Firefly Rune helped a lot, and you just couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor kid. So I wanted to make him a hero ;) )
Backup: Nalleo (Ditto. The kid had had a rough life, so I wanted him to have something to tell his kids)

And my main team was:

Hero (Duh)
Dario (I can't believe that the star who replaced Futch, my favorite character of the past three games, also became one of my favorites)
Akaghi (Awesome design, and I love his weapon)
Tal (Fantastic all-around fighter who could tear anyone to shreds. Plus, you gotta love those backflips)
Backup: Basil (Who ran my favorite mini-game in the game)

There's just something about using a knight, a pirate and a ninja that makes you realize how diverse and cool a game is. :) Anyway, in my next run through the game I don't know who I'll use, but I know that both teams will be completely different (As they always are when I go through a Suikoden game a second time). I can't wait!