Playing them all from the beginning...

[Gremio]

I just finished Suikoden V and I plan to play I and II again, since they are not fresh in my mind anymore.

What I need to know:

All the canon/fanon words for them:

Suiko 1:

Hero1: Tir McDohl >I'm aware of the US version bug<

Castle: Toran

Army: ?

Suiko 2:

Hero2: Riou

Castle: ?

Army: ?

Anything else I should know, any other recommendation before I start them again? Like, getting prosperity rune in Suiko1 at the beginning, or fight 108 times the highland soldiers in Suiko2 to get coloured flashback - this sort of things.

Basically I'm asking for anything you ever thought "next time, I'll remember to do that". Write it here, thanks!
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my Suikoden collection

[Vertius]

You don't get to name the Army in Suikoden I. It's the Liberation Army.

In Suikoden II, the castle is generally called Dunan Castle. The army is usually called the Allied or Alliance Army. I prefer the former, personally.

One thing that I can think of now that I think you should get is this: In Suikoden II, when in Kyaro for the first time, try to get a pair of Winged Boots in the Rare Finds list in the item shop. It's a great piece of equipment, and I had it equipped on Riou for most of the game. It costs 11,000 potch, though, so you may want to fight in the Mountain Path for a time. Get some Double-Beat Runes whilst doing so.
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[Archy]

[Ujitsuna]

Hi Gremio, okay I'll give you all the canon information I know on Suikoden I and II. Some subjects are debateable as canon however, so no one will ever really have a save file with everything canon.

Suikoden I:

Player name: Tir
Army: Liberation Army
Castle: Toran Lake Fortress (not 100% sure on that though...)
War name: Gate Rune Wars

Heres two useful facts off my head to aid your Suikoden I game.

Fortune Rune.

You can obtain another rune other than the prosperity rune after meeting with the emperor, which is the fortune rune (hightens the amount of EXP you recieve after battles), so instead of going upstairs in the McDohl mansion to meet Ted, you should instead go straight to Sarady and talk to the man in the "highest" house on the screen, it's a harder journey than the one for the prosperity rune, (because you don't have Ted) but it is probably better.

Windspun Armour/Armor.

When you obtain this armour, which is located immediately right after you enter the palace to overthrow the Scarlet Moon Empire, be sure to equip Humphery with it, so when you load your memory card data into Suikoden II, Humphery still has the armour equipped and unremovable, it's probably the best armour for him.

Suikoden II:

Player name: Riou
Army: New City-State Army (not 100% sure on that either...)
Castle: North Window Castle
War name: Dunan Unification War

Matilda Glitch.

As soon as you get access to Muse, go north to the Matilda border, and you can push the door backwards and then run around it to enter the Matilda domain, level up, recruit Futch and Humphery (who should have his nice new armour). You should be able to level up to around level 40 in two or three fights.

Thats just off the top of my head, using the internet is your best bet to getting all this information and more.

Useful links:

http://www.suikosource.com/ - Suikosource

http://theirstar.suikox.com/ - theirstar (temporary link)
http://www.theirstar.com - theirstar (official link, sooner or later)

And of course, this site, has alot of information and small bits you may not have known:

http://www.suikox.com/

Enjoy your playthroughs Gremio, I hope I helped.

[Gremio]

Thanks guys!

@wes: I always thought it was either the fortune gift or the prosperity - not both. And, i seem to recall that you can later buy Fortune runes, while this is the only chance in the game to get Prosperity, so I always went for that. ^_^

@arch wooohh: yes, I actually did get the color flashback in one of my past playthroughs. So I confirm that it works. Pretty neat ^_^

Actually there is something I always wanted to do in Suikoden II but never found the guts - Clive's quest. You see, I like to take my games slow. The idea to rush things prevented me to see that part. Maybe this time I'll do it. Is it possible to do Clive's quest AND get at least all the stars to go for the best ending?
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[Justice Johnny]

Yep, I have done it myself, and to add to the challenge, I kept Riou's levels to a minimum (Level 30-31) so that I can boost him to Level 99 by end-game. It's actually pretty easy if you don't have to worry about that stuffs.

Since you have played the game before, I expect that you know how the story works, right? So just speed through the dialogues. Changing the settings of the message speed to the fastest helps a lot. There aren't any Egbert's in Suikoden II that you need to tread through for so damn long during recruiting, so it shouldn't meddle with anything except for the choices, but there aren't much major choices that changes the game drastically (except for Valeria/Kasumi and accompanying Viktor/Kiba) so you should be fine.

Speaking of Valeria/Kasumi, pick Kasumi. You don't want to go back to Gregminster. Ever. You should return a maximum of only once, and that is to pick up Lorelai, Gordon, Mondo and Sasuke on the way. If it's possible that you can get all four during the first time you visit, then groovy. All the better. (Yes, it is possible to leave the castle at Level 3 before going to the Toran Republic, if you got a few squirrels besides Mukumuku... and let me also say that you can get Bob before fighting Luca Blight too)

Now, as for the preparations for the battle against Luca Blight, take this advice: USE THE MONEY TRICK. It will save you loads of time. The only time you will spend is leveling up the characters that will face Luca, and that takes about 60-90 minutes, tops.

Don't take on the Unicorn quest until you get Viki. Well, actually you could, but if you're paranoid about losing time, wait until you get your teleportress. You don't really need the Blinking Mirror. Just Viki would be good enough.

What else? Umm... make sure you run or let go in battles at least fifty times. You can do lots of this on the way back from Kyaro with Flik and Viktor in your party, or on the way and back in the Ryube Forest to fetch Tsai.

Make battles easier. There are a few bosses with clear and distinct elemental weaknesses. The first is the Abomination at North Window Castle. It's weak against Resurrection and Fire Runes. Kahn has a Resurrection Rune, so there's no problem there, but the battle can go faster if you attach a Fire Lizard Rune to one of your members (I chose Viktor for obvious reasons) plus a Fire Sealing Rune to nullify the damage return.

The second is the Rock Golem at the Crom Mines. It's weak against lightning, so make sure to have someone with a Lightning Rune or Bolt of Wrath scrolls. Upgrade Sierra's weapon to the highest possible level and just have her attack to save MP. The last one that I can remember is the Bone Dragon at Greenhill, the elemental weakness of which is Wind. Luc is your best friend here. Equip him with the good ol' Cyclone Rune and have him go nuts with The Shredding.


The most important thing you have to remember though is... DON'T FORGET TO MEET CLIVE AND ELZA AT MUSE OR ELSE THE QUEST WILL NOT START IN THE FIRST PLACE!!! I remember being so eager to play the game and rushing through that I forgot to meet them at Muse, and I only realized that until I got a boat to Lakewest. :| Also, don't forget to do the quest itself. You may be too preoccupied about rushing that you forget to do what you want to do. This almost happened to me. I didn't get to do the Matilda scene and only realized it after defeating Luca Blight. Thankfully, the Matlida trick saved me and I was able to go and get that scene before going to Jowston Hill at Muse to meet Jowy and Leon Silverberg.


And yes, the Winged Boots helps wonders. I was so obsessed with it. I was hoping that two would show up someday, but I have never encountered that. It would have been major awesome though if that happened. There would have been less trouble surviving the Matilda area when using the trick. :)


If you have any more Suikoden II questions, just ask. I can proudly say that I am an expert at that game. :P The only thing that I haven't done is level Genshu up to Level 99 without using Gameshark. XD
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"Oranges can't fit into circles because rectangles are made of cheese."

[Buff]

[Justice Johnny]

[Ujitsuna]

Well with the Clive subquest it's important to get all the items and events that won't be there later in the game and still power through wasting no time.

Remember to try and recruit Futch and Humphery early on in the game, and get their little sub quest over with as quickly as possible, Futch and Humphery will be powerhouses of strength at this point in the game, and your own characters will be much stronger, even if Jowy is with you wasting a slot in your party, but his Black Sword rune does tend to help a lot in the boss battle against the griffin.

Anyway, take Clive to Lakewest, straight forward, try to recruit Tai Ho and Amada in this journey, as you need to limit your visits outside the castle without the blinking mirror. Then take him to forest (make sure you do this as soon as you journey to Greenhill. This will make the Matilda trip more convenient and smooth), then when Gorudo allows you to go to Matilda, show Clive the bar (forget Long Chan-Chan you can recruit him in the Tinto area later), journey to Radat and if Kiba has taken the town, you'll just have to wait until Highland is gone.

At this point, I thought all I had to do was go to Sajah, but how wrong I was, I had to get myself to Muse City again where it all began and go to Jowston Hill and then take myself to Sajah. This needs to all be done in under 20 hours, I've done it and gotten all 108 stars, it's not impossible or that hard, but you need to be quite concentrated and be prepared to go through long sittings because otherwise you'll lose momentum.

[Gremio]

Thanks! it's all very interesting - it actually remembers me when I wrote down on paper direction to finish Vagrant Story in 2 hours, 14 minutes :-D

Anyway, reading your suggestion I can't help but to wonder --- is the matilda border a real "bug" ie the programmers didn't notice it at all, or is it more like a cheat, ie something cleverly hidden for the smartest players around? Surely the idea to recruit Humphrey and Futch while I have Jowy with me sounds interesting!!
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[Buff]

[Justice Johnny]

I'm just saying that you're not screwed if ever you FORGET to do that the first time, like what happened to me. Just because you were able to take Clive to Rockaxe the first time doesn't mean it will always happen to everyone else.
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"Oranges can't fit into circles because rectangles are made of cheese."

[Sophita]

It's worth noting some of those names won't fit in the boxes - North Window, for example.

[Wataru]

[Axiose]

There is a "missable" guide on GameFAQs that can detail everything (items, runes, stars) you won't be able to get after a certain point in the game. I used that when doing the Clive Quest then went back and fleshed out the rest of the game.
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[Axiose] [Fliktor]