Wind Rune...?

[adrich]

I found the Wind Rune rather lacking in Suikoden III, actually. One problem was that you didn't really have access to anyone who could reach S rank in that skill. Thomas got an A+, but his Magic stat wasn't that great. Three characters got A (Yuiri, Viki, and Viki), which could be raised up to S with a Wind Hat and a Wind Magic Ring, but neither was especially common.

On the other hand, you got Estella who did have an S in Fire, plus four other characters with A. Fire Magic Rings were almost as scarce as Wind Magic Rings, but the Wizard Hat, which gave a bonus to Lightning and Fire Magic, could be bought and didn't have to be found. Also, you have more opportunity to use the True Fire Rune than you do the True Wind Rune, and the fact that True Rune spells cast faster than normal ones will make up for the fact that neither of the three heroes have a fantastic Fire Magic skill.

Anyone who says that Fire Magic is useless in Suikoden III doesn't know how to take advantage of the system. Once Fire Magic is at A or above it is absolutely useable. Get it to A+ or S and it's that much better.

At that level there's a very good chance that a Fire Rune spell will be the first action taken during the turn that it's cast, so you can use an area of effect spell without hitting party members. If you have an especially fast party member who will make it to the enemy before the spell is cast then you can stick them in the back row which will delay their actions somewhat. After the first turn you probably won't be able to use the area spells again, but keep in mind that both the Rage and True Fire Runes have Final Flame, an extremely powerful attack that targets only one enemy.

Learn to use the Fire Rune effectively and spells like The Shredding will pale in comparison to their Fire counterparts (250 v. 400 damage). Funeral Wind which does only 300 damage to one enemy (and a chance of instant death which, of course, won't work on bosses) also looks sad against Explosion which does 700 (more than twice the damage) to an area.

And, naturally, the Wind Rune's healing spells plain suck when compared to the Water Rune. Kindness Drops not only fully heals one pair, but it's also a first level spell so it casts extremely quickly and can be used effectively even by those with little Water Rune skill. Healing Wind, on the other hand, is a level two spell (one level higher) that heals 300 (not complete healing) to one party member (not two).

If you ask me, the Wind Rune is the worst magic rune available in Suikoden III.

[sybillious]

actually, thomas gets an 'S' ranking in wind; unfortunately, even with the wider range of spells it carries, the rune simply doesn't cut it for my needs. the healing and attack are far outclassed by the other runes, even if you only have one choice-for that, i'd choose flowing, it has attack, defense and healing that far outstrips any wind rune, barring the twr.

as for the twr, it's simply ok, but is also outclassed by the other true elementals, that and the annoyance it's attached to make me pass on it much like its weaker kin.
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prinny...DOOD!

gotta gotta get a...SPICE WEASEL!

to paraphrase my fellow mod, parallax:
I hate my job with the passionately burning intensity of a thousand fiery suns.

[adrich]

[Vextor]

Only if Thomas has a Wind Ring would he have an S-Rank.

[sybillious]

ahh, so that's the mystery...although i might have had a haziness on him at the time...been too long to be sure about it.
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prinny...DOOD!

gotta gotta get a...SPICE WEASEL!

to paraphrase my fellow mod, parallax:
I hate my job with the passionately burning intensity of a thousand fiery suns.

[Sophita]

I think the point of the wind rune is to the jack of all trade of elementals. Water is better at healing, earth is better for status changes, and lightning/fire are better for attacking, but Wind is a useful rune for getting everything in one rune slot. I don't keep a lot of characters with wind, but for characters who are so-so in magic but have more than one rune slot, I occassionally give them a wind rune so they can act as back-up attack mages/healers, should they be needed. It is useful even if it is no where near as powerful as the other elemental runes.
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SCII month continues! DueFiumi.com

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[Glen Cott]

[Aurelien]

Well adrich has posted it before, that both Fire and Rage Rune have the Final Flame spell that targets 1 enemy. So you could use that spell on the next turns so that it wouldn't hit your teammates.
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~City-States of Jowston and Tinto Republic~
06.06.2004 - 20.01.2008

[adrich]

[Kobold]

Well, i didn't exactly like S3 so...

But i loved Cyclone in S2 because i'd stick it to the mian character, and the large amounts of shredding will complement the useless shining light(or whatever) that Bright Shield has... And, S2's shredding was much more powerful than S3, which is highly annoying actually.
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Kobolds are great!

[Glen Cott]

What I meant was, Fire's spells can usually be substituted for Lightning's, whereas Wind also has healing spells and so its still useful.

Take their lvl 4 spells, Furious Blow does 1000 damage to the target and a bit less to a wide area of enemies. Explosion does 700 damage to a wide area of enemies and allies. About the same damage total but Furious Blow is safer so I would go with it.

A couple of people mentioned Final Flame, which does 1200 to one enemy; the corresponding Lightning spell is Thunder Storm IIRC, which does 1100 damage to all foes. There's no contest.

[adrich]

I agree that lightning is good, I'm just saying that I find fire rather useful as well. My third playthrough, when I actually invested in fire magic for some of my characters, I found that many of the boss battles became much easier, especially some of the ones that you're not necessarily expected to win. You're also forced to have the True Fire Rune, so you might as well be able to use it (though Chris really can't).

Wind is more flexible, yes, but with a balanced party that flexibility shouldn't really be needed.

[Shrew]

Wind has a little bit of everything, which makes it pretty nice. The ability to have offense and healing in one rune is really nice, especially in Suikoden 1 where you couldn't have multiple runes.
I always thought Earth was pretty useless, but then I started using it in 3, and replaying the other two. Cutting damage rocks.
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Fear our Vagueness.

[Excalibur1027]

I usually use all of the five elements when I can. I think all of them can be useful depending on the situation.

In S1 I thought all of the them were overpowered near the end of the game, when you had access to the higher runes that is. (Rage, Flowing, etc.)

In my opinion, S2 did the best job of balancing out the elemental runes.

I really didn't use magic allot for S3. It was really the first suikoden that "power" was more useful than "magic". All I really used was lightning on bosses and water to heal.
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[Glen Cott]