Genso Suikoden 3 - Strategy Guide (Page 01)
Below are the cheat codes, hints and help for Genso Suikoden 3 - Strategy Guide (Page 01).
Walkthrough for Suikoden III for the PS2, North American Release
Version 2.2 copyright dan crenshaw (dshaw999@bellsouth.net) 2002
Last update 1/24/2003
************************* SPOILER WARNING ********************************
************************* SPOILER WARNING ********************************
This walkthrough contains spoilers related to Suikoden III. The spoilers have
been put in so that nothing that happens later in the story is mentioned in an
earlier section of the walkthrough. However, later sections of the walkthrough
may mention key previous events as reference points. If you'd rather not risk
having something related to the story ruined for you, stop reading now.
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Legal Junk:
Whatever you do with this Walkthrough in terms of private use is no concern of
mine. Please do not alter it, distribute it, post it, or do anything related
to public use without permission. If you intend to print it out, make sure
your printer/word processor's option for word wrap is off.
This Walkthrough should only be posted at cheatcc.com and gamefaqs.com.
If you see this document posted anywhere else in part or in its entirety, it is
without the author's permission.
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Contact info:
I WILL NOT reply to any e-mails that ask questions already answered in this
document. This applies especially to recruiting questions.
Comments, suggestions, corrections are welcome as long as they pertain to this
document. It's very helpful if you put "Suikoden" in the e-mail's subject
header so I'll know it's related to this document. Any information you provide
to me will be properly credited via e-mail name (minus the domain name) unless
you prefer another way to be credited or do not wish to be credited at all. I
will credit such information as from "anonymous".
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Update info:
The changes for this version:
-Added Tablet of Stars section to Recruit List as quick reference for missing
characters, credit to Thanh
-Added warehouse capacity info., credit to Dazarath
-Corrected info. in Secrets section, credit to ptomasel71086
-Added Looking Ahead query to Secrets section
-Totally re-wrote guide for last strategy battle due to e-mail requests, put in
more suggestions and a very detailed process for winning it
-Re-wrote section 3h on Strategy Battles with more detailed content
-Added content for Hazy Runes and EarthMagic Ring in mini-list of items
-Clarified when you can recruit Arthur
-Corrected the last point in the game when you can recruit
-Added Blinking Mirror query to section 3 due to e-mails requests
-Truncated the Acknowledgements section to conserve some space. Proper credit
is still given to outside contributors within the main sections and in the
Version History
This document contains all the content I planned for it (and then some). Any
further updates, beyond some minor clarifications/corrections, are not planned
unless a major secret is discovered.
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Part I: Introduction and Walkthrough
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1. Introduction (How do I find stuff in this document?)
2. Top 10 e-Mail Questions
2a. What do I get for loading Suikoden II data?
2b. Should I play Suikoden I and II first?
2c. How long does this game take to complete?
2d. All about recruiting
2e. What skills should my characters learn?
2f. Why do you recommend doing...?
2g. Agh! I can't get [Recruit/Item] and I'm going to smash my PS2!
2h. Why can't I go to chapter 4?
2i. Why aren't the lottery results switching like you said?
2j. Where can I get a Statue S?
3. General Questions
3a. Introduction
3b. The Trinity Sight System
3c. Why this order of play?
3d. Skills/Stats
3e. Support Characters
3f. Runes and Magic
3g. Battle Formations/The Pair System
3h. Strategy Battles
3i. Duels
3j. Character Types
3k. Treasure bosses
3l. Recipes, Old Books, Medal Sets, Antiques, Bath Items, and Scripts
3m. What's the Chris Level 99 trick? Should I do it?
3n. What is the stat stones trick?
3o. I need money and lots of it!
3p. I was just walking around minding my own business, then the screen
turned yellow and this funny music played and this monster killed me!
3q. Looting corpses
3r. What's a Tank?
3s. What are the Armor Sets and what do they do?
3t. Where do I get the Blinking Mirror?
3u. No offense, but can you suggest another Walkthrough?
4. Walkthrough
4a. Introduction
4b. Hugo Chapter 1
4c. Chris Chapter 1
4d. Geddoe Chapter 1
4e. Break--Time to Decide about Thomas
4f. Chris Chapter 2
4g. Hugo Chapter 2
4h. Geddoe Chapter 2
4i. Geddoe Chapter 3
4j. Hugo Chapter 3
4k. Chris Chapter 3
4l. Thomas Chapter 1 (Optional)
4m. Thomas Chapter 2 (Optional)
4n. Interlude--The Big Question (Spoilers)
4o. Chapter 4
4p. Chapter 5
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Part II: Reference Guide (Spoilers)
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5. 108 Stars of Destiny Recruit List
6. My Really Important Items List
6a. Introduction
6b. Runes
6c. Armor
6d. Hammers
6e. Medal Sets
6f. Accessories
6g. Scripts
7. Duels
8. Ernie's Quiz
9. Boss/Battle Strategies
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Part III: Secrets (HUGE SPOILERS)
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10. 108 Stars of Destiny Bonus
11. Miscellaneous Q&A's
12. So why did you choose this play and recruiting order?
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Part IV: Thanks and Version History
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13. Acknowledgements
14. Version History
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Part I: Introduction and Walkthrough
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1. Introduction (How do I find stuff in this document?)
This Walkthrough covers how to get through Suikoden III with detailed content
on how to make the story advance, battle and recruiting strategies, and lots of
other stuff. What it does NOT include are comprehensive lists for the items
in the game such as recipes, old books, runes, etc. I cover how to get most of
these items in the Walkthrough with a mini-list of important items, but for
comprehensive lists, I refer you to Ryvius' FAQ here at gamefaqs and to the
lists available at suikosource.com.
This document is broken up into four parts. Part I has general questions along
with the actual Walkthrough. *Please* check the questions in sections 2 and 3
before e-mailing me about something. I've been getting about ten e-mails a day
since the first version of this document went up and I don't reply to half of
them because the answer to them is already in these two sections.
Part II is the Reference Guide. I put this in mainly for people who have a
specific question about how to recruit someone, how to beat a certain boss, or
how to get an item without having to plow through the Walkthrough. There are
spoilers here but only minor ones for sections 5-8. Beyond some very minor
story points and the character names, nothing is revealed. Because section 9
details the main boss/strategy battles in the game, key story events ARE
revealed in this section. To reduce spoilers, an expanded content list for
Part II is not in the main Table of Contents but instead placed at the start of
Part II.
Part III covers the Secrets of the game. Needless to say, the biggest spoilers
are in this section. If you really want to know the reasons why I chose the
play and recruiting order of this Walkthrough, check section 12 in this part.
Part IV has the Acknowledgements and Version History sections.
If you want to zip to a part of this document quickly, open it up in WordPad or
NotePad+ and make use of the Find tool. Activate both Match whole word and
Match case by checking them. Type in the following keywords in the quote marks
then hit Find Next until you get to each topic. You will have to hit Find Next
a few times before you get to the actual topic content:
"4. Walkthrough" --goes to the actual Walkthrough
"5. 108 Stars" --goes to the Recruit List
"6. My Really" --goes to the mini-list of Items
"7. Duels" --goes to the Duels section
"9. Boss/Battle" --goes to boss/strategy battles section
"Part III:" --goes to Secrets section
You can do this with any other keyword topic you want such as the name of a
particular rune, character, item, boss, etc. If you'd like to go to a main
character's specific chapter, type in the phrase:
"[character name] [chapter] [chapter #]"
To get to Geddoe's chapter 2, for example, you'd type "Geddoe chapter 2" then
hit Find Next until you got to the actual content. Using the Find Tool is a
lot better than scrolling with your mouse or using the Page Up/Down keys.
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2. Top 10 e-Mail Questions
2a. What do I get for loading Suikoden II data?
The only things you get for loading Suikoden II data into Suikoden III are two
extra scripts (with plays related to events in Suikoden I and II), boosted
levels for three characters, and references to the names you gave to the heroes
and armies of the previous games. The Suikoden II data you load must be a save
game after defeating the final boss in that game. To load Suikoden II data,
insert the PSOne memory card with the data into one of the slots in your PS2
with a PS2 memory card in the other slot. Access the PS2 browser and copy the
Suikoden II data from the PSOne memory card to the PS2 memory card. At the
start of Suikoden III you will be prompted to load Suikoden II data and can do
so at that time. I have written this walkthrough to include the minor
differences if you did or did not load Suikoden II data.
Suikoden II data that meets the requirements for Suikoden III is available for
download via the DexDrive at gamefaqs. Go to the PSOne/PSX section, then to
Suikoden II, then Game Saves. The Game Save by CDexter will enable you to get
the Scripts, which is the biggest reason to load Suikoden II data, really.
Download this file to your hard drive, then copy it to a PSOne memory card via
the DexDrive. AFAIK, the DexDrives for the PSOne and PS2 are NOT compatible.
If you have to spend more than $5 on this endeavor (in terms of getting a PSOne
Memory Card and PSOne DexDrive), it's not worth it, IMO.
Thanks to CDexter for providing the Suikoden II game save.
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2b. Should I play Suikoden I and II first?
Suikoden III can be enjoyed as a standalone game-its story and characters have
only very minor ties to the previous two games. I suggest you play Suikoden I
and II moreso because they are great games (better than Suikoden III, IMHO)
rather than as an issue of continuity. Blue Moon's web site, suikosource.com,
has story summaries of the first two games if you're interested.
In terms of acquiring the old games, your best bet is the bargain bin/used
section of a local retailer. A couple of friends of mine have been able to get
the old games by asking their local store to hold on to a copy if someone
trades it in. Your other avenue is ebay or half.com, but I imagine because of
their scarcity you'll have to pay more than the original price.
nihon e-mailed me about a site called gametz.com where you may also be able to
get a copy of Suikoden I and II. I don't know too much about this site nor
have I ever tried it, but I am including it for those who'd like to look into
it further. In no way am I endorsing gametz.com or suggesting you go there-I'm
putting it in here mainly because 1/3 of the e-mails I get are related to how
someone can get a hold of the older games outside of ebay or half.com. Use it
at your own risk. Thanks to nihon for providing info. about gametz.com.
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2c. How long does this game take to complete?
If you blew through the game with the sole intent of beating it, probably 40
hours or so. If you take the time to do all the mini-games, level up, get all
the recruits, etc., it will take at least 60 hours I believe. I wrote this
Walkthrough as I was playing the game and it took me 52 hours. Keep in mind
that this was my fourth play through so I knew ahead of time where everything
was, how to get set up for battles, and so forth.
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2d. All about recruiting
A major gameplay/story device for Suikoden III is the 108 Stars of Destiny.
These are the main figures of the story who determine the ultimate course of
history and the world's fate. Over the course of the game, you will have the
chance to gather all 108 Stars with your main characters. The 108 Stars can
be separated into two groups, Automatic Stars and Non-Automatic Stars. As you
would guess, the Automatic Stars are the recruits who will join you for story
reasons so you won't have to do anything special to get them. The Non-
Automatic Stars will need to be recruited with some effort and it's possible
you can miss out on getting them.
To start recruiting any of the non-automatic stars, you need to visit Lake
Castle first. Therefore, Geddoe can start recruiting in his chapter 1, Chris
can start recruiting in her chapter 2, and Hugo can recruit starting in his
chapter 3. Hugo can technically get 1 recruit in his chapter 2 but for all
intents and purposes, chapter 3 is when he can really start to recruit.
Thanks to SimUser for providing info. on when Hugo can start recruiting.
If you want to get all the Stars of Destiny without having to check this guide
further, recruit Kidd and make use of his Scout option. Kidd will gather
detailed information for you on how to get all the possible Stars. It's how I
was able to figure out how to recruit everyone on my own.
An important thing to keep in mind is that you can only use characters with the
person who recruited them until ch. 4. That is, if you recruit someone in
Geddoe's chapter 1, only Geddoe can put that character into his party until
ch. 4. Chris and Hugo will not have access to that recruit until then. If
a recruit is someone who runs a shop, the other characters can still visit
them at their shop but they cannot put them in their party.
You can recruit all the way up until the very last boss battle in ch. 5. There
is also no restriction on who can recruit who-I suggest a recruiting order in
the actual Walkthrough but there's no one that can't be recruited by Chris,
Hugo, or Geddoe. If you can't recruit someone because they're either not there
or they're not giving you the option to recruit, just try again in a later
chapter. Some non-automatic stars will not show up or join until you have
gathered a certain number of recruits (similar to Bob in Suikoden II).
The level of the non-automatic stars is either preset or it's dependent on the
level of the person recruiting them. Mel, for example, will always be at
level 32 when you recruit her. Sanae Y, on the other hand, will be 1 level
lower than whoever recruited her. To avoid too many spoilers, I've put a
complete list of which category the non-automatic stars fall under in section
5e.
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2e. What skills should my characters learn?
I'm reluctant to answer this since a lot of the fun from the game involves
customizing your roster the way you see fit through the skills system. I will
go ahead and make a few comments on it, though. A good "default" skill,
meaning if you don't have any real preference for anything, in the early
chapters is Accuracy. This is because the SKL stat of your characters is low
at the start and they'll have a hard time hitting enemies with good Repel
rates, especially the Golem bosses. Later on, this skill isn't real necessary
for characters with SKL stats topping 125. For the later chapters, two good
default skills are Armor Protect and Magic Resistance. This mainly applies for
strategy and boss battles.
The best advice I can give you is just to try everything. You'll have a great
opportunity for this in chapters 4 and 5. A good method for experimenting is
to gather skill points for your characters then saving before visiting the
Tutor or bujutsu teacher. Add some skills you want to try out and if you like
them, keep them. If not, just reload and try something else out. The game
balances it out so you can never have uberwarriors like McDohl from the first
two Suikodens. However, with the skills system there's no one in the game you
can't make strong enough to deserve a spot in your regular party.
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2f. Why do you recommend doing...?
If I don't clearly state why I suggest you do something, it's for spoiler
reasons. I say it a bunch of times in this Walkthrough but it's worth it-all
my suggestions are just that. If you've found a better way or rather do it
a different way than I recommend, by all means, do so. If you'd really like to
know the reason behind a recommendation and don't mind being spoiled about it,
feel free to e-mail me and please be as specific as possible.
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2g. Agh! I can't get [Recruit/Item] and I'm going to smash my PS2!
This game can certainly cause a lot of frustration in terms of a few recruits
and rare items you try to pick up. I don't compare it on the level of some of
the extras in the Final Fantasy series (dodging 200 lightning bolts, anyone?)
but you may hit some rough patches to be sure. Keep in mind that in MOST cases
you can come back to getting a recruit or an item in a later part of the game.
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2h. Why can't I go to chapter 4?
In order to proceed to chapter 4, you must complete Geddoe, Chris, and Hugo's
chapter 3's first. Thomas' chapters are completely optional and you do not
have to play his story to complete the game. If you want to play Thomas'
story, you must do so before advancing to chapter 4.
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2i. Why aren't the lottery results switching like you said?
The way I suggest to play the lottery is:
-Buy 10 tickets, 5 sequential and 5 random
-Kill 20-30 minutes of real time by doing random battles, story events, etc.
-Come back to the town with the lottery and SAVE your game
-Check the lottery board
-If the results aren't up yet, go back out and kill 5 minutes then come back,
SAVE again, then check the results. Keep repeating this until the results are
posted
-If you did not get the results you wanted, soft reset by pressing the shoulder
buttons plus Start & Select then check the results again. Keep soft resetting
until you get the desired results
The lottery results are totally random until:
-You check the board
-You talk to the lottery seller, who tells you "Current winning numbers are up"
The numbers will also be set if:
-You waited until the next chapter to check the results
-You waited TWO more lottery periods to check your tickets (i.e. you bought
tickets for lottery period #1 but don't check until lottery #3 is already up)
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2j. Where can I get a Statue S?
If you fight the treasure bosses in each character's chapter, eventually you
will get items that are marked ?Statue and ?Figurine. These items need to be
appraised to find out what they actually are. You can get items appraised by
visiting Appraisal Shops located at Vinay del Zexay, Duck Village, Chisha, and
Iksay. Once you recruit the Appraiser you can visit him at Lake Castle to get
this done as well.
I've been able to confirm two guaranteed Statue S from treasure bosses:
-?Statue from first OR second battle with Mt. Path treasure boss, Hex Doll S
-?Statue from first OR second battle with Sindar Ruins treasure boss, usually
the second time, Dragon Statue S
You can also get a Knight Statue S and a Goddess Statue S by fighting all the
possible treasure bosses at least once during each main characters' chapters.
In addition, you can get a Hex Doll S as a random prize for winning Kathy's
races. The winning times for each of her races are:
No obstacles: 49-50 secs, default prize is Deer Antler (49.677)
Some obstacles: 49-51 secs, default prize is Mini-Cactus (49.853)
Lots of obstacles: 49-52 secs, default prize is Mini-Cactus (49.677)
These are just estimates based on my experience. The times in parentheses are
my personal bests. Start with the no obstacles course and work your way up.
The only strategy I can really give you is to stay to the inside of the track
and don't take really wide turns. Lame advice, I know, but that's all there
really is to it.
Note that if you use Hugo to run these races and Fubar is in your party, Hugo
will race with Fubar instead of a horse. The times and prizes I mention are
only with the horse, not Fubar. To race Hugo without Fubar, just take Fubar
out of your active party. If you keep getting the default prize more than
twice in a row, then you've exhausted the prizes for that course so try the
next one higher up. You will eventually get a Hex Doll S in one of the three
races.
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3. General Questions
3a. Introduction
This section covers aspects of game play that include and go beyond what's in
the instruction manual as well as some general questions you may have. If
information on a topic is readily available in the instruction manual, I will
not cover it. If you're renting this game or borrowing it and don't have the
manual, you'll still be able to complete the game fine with this walkthrough.
The information below is really just supplementary content. If you feel like
you already have a good grasp of the game mechanics, just skip ahead to the
walkthrough.
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3b. The Trinity Sight System
Suikoden III employs a gameplay device called the Trinity Sight System. This
simply means that the overall story is played through the perspective of
several different characters. At the start of the game, you can elect to
choose the perspective of Hugo, Chris, or Geddoe. After completing a chapter,
you can continue with that character or switch to somebody else. That is, you
could choose to do Hugo's chapter 1-3 or alternate chapter 1's or go back and
forth. This Walkthrough is written as a first play through and goes the route
of alternating characters from one chapter to the next.
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3c. Why this order of play?
The order of play I have used for this walkthrough is meant for players who are
playing the game for the first time. This order gives the player the chance to
see as much of the story as possible while being given options for duels and
dialogue choices. Thomas' chapters are entirely optional and something of an
acquired taste. I have put his chapters at the end in case the reader tries
out his scenario and doesn't care for it. Parts of his story WILL be revealed
in the other main characters' stories so if you're the type that hates any
spoilers at all, you should play his chapter 1 after completing Geddoe's
chapter 1. I have written the walkthrough with this option in mind. I
actually think people will want to play his chapters more after going through
the suggested order because the events pique their curiosity.
I highly recommend that if you've already played through the game to play each
character's story in blocks (1-3 consecutively for each) the second time
around. Doing it this way gives you a much better feel for each individual
character and you may be surprised how your opinion of them can change by doing
it this way.
The Trinity Sight System also lends itself to built-in difficulty levels. In
this way, Chris is the "Easy" mode, Hugo "Medium", and Geddoe "Hard". I've
used this order for the walkthrough with players who are either new to the
series or new to RPG's in general in mind.
If you want to know my personal opinion of the super-duper, all story, most
minimal spoilers order of play, it would be:
Hugo 1
Chris 1
Geddoe 1
Thomas 1
Chris 2
Hugo 2
Geddoe 2
Hugo 3
Thomas 2
Geddoe 3
Chris 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
I gave it a lot of thought before deciding the Walkthrough's order and have
chosen the one in section 4. If you're _really_ curious as to know why I
chose the play/recruiting order for the Walkthrough, go to section 12. Be
warned that it does contain some spoilers, including a really big one. The
explanation is meant for people who are at least on chapter 5 already.
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3d. Skills/Stats
Skills and stats are essential to winning the game so I'm going to take some
time to discuss them in detail. Skills are abilities that provide specific
benefits for each character. No character has access to all the skills in the
game and some characters can acquire only a few of them. Stats are the numeric
measure of the 8 general abilities every character possesses. You can view a
character's skills and their stats by choosing the status option from the main
options menu.
You can raise a character's stats through two ways-by using Stones that boost
stats (usually by 1-3 points) or the more common way by winning battles to get
experience and raising your level. Every time your characters go up a level
they will get an increase to their stats. The amount of experience you gain
per encounter is based on a comparison between your level and the level of the
monster you are fighting, without taking the number of party members into
account. An example:
You have a party of 4, 3 of them are at level 27 and the other is at level 60.
You face the monster Copper Sun, whose level is 54, and win. The 3 characters
at level 27 get a few thousand experience points and gain 4 levels each to get
to level 31. Your level 60 character, however, gets only a handful of
experience points. Note that you can't see a monster's level (or any of their
other stats for that matter). The way the AI computes how many experience
points you get _is_ based on this type of formula, though. I have no idea if
the Copper Sun's level is really 54, but based on how much experience you get
for him, the above example is an accurate analogy. The amount of experience
and how they're distributed is the same regardless of how many people you had
in your party.
Skills work a little differently. Each skill that a character can acquire has
levels that tell you how good they are in that skill. These levels are noted
by a simple grading scale that goes from "E" (practically no talent in that
skill) to "S" (godlike with that skill). The only way to raise skill levels is
by acquiring skill points then visiting a bujutsu teacher or Tutor to raise the
levels. A character's ability to activate the skill as well as how powerful
the skill is depends on their grade level.
For example, let's say you have a character with the skill Lightning Magic. A
character whose rank is a "B" will take about a turn and a half to cast the
Soaring Bolt spell which will do about 900 points of damage. A character with
similar stats but who has an "A+" in Lightning Magic casting the same spell
will only take a half a turn to get the spell off and will do about 1400 points
of damage.
Another example is if a character has the ability Adrenaline Power. When a
character's Hit Points reach 0, this skill will bring them back to life, albeit
with only a few Hit Points. If a character has a "C" in this skill, it will
activate maybe 5-10% of the time. A character who has an "A+" with similar
stats will activate this skill closer to 30-50% of the time.
The examples I used are based on experience. Because I don't know the exact
formula for calculating the differences in letter grades, the numbers I used
in the examples are meant only as a general guide. I _have_ noticed very
dramatic differences between the higher level grades. That is, there's a big
improvement between going from an "A" to an "A+" and going from an "A+" to an
"S". Certain skills are also affected by the general stats, such as Swing
being influenced by a character's SPD.
There are two types of skills in the game: physical and magical. Physical
skills are learned and improved by visiting a bujutsu teacher. Magical skills
are likewise the domain of tutors. There are certain skills that every
character can learn. Conversely, there are some skills that are available only
to specific characters. In addition, each character has a natural terminal
grade they can achieve in each skill. Lastly, each character has a speed
measuring how quickly they can move up in skill level. Let's take an example
to make sense of this:
Hugo comes with the abilities Swing and Heavy Damage. The Swing ability can be
learned by any of the characters in the game by going to a bujutsu teacher. On
the other hand, the Heavy Damage skill cannot be learned by every one and is
activated when a character reaches a certain experience level. Hugo comes with
it automatically but he has not yet reached the level necessary to activate
another skill, Continual Attack. Hugo's Swing ability naturally tops out at an
"A". Because this is a pretty good match for him, he will need to invest
around 750 skill points to reach that "A" level from his starting "E" level.
When you visit a bujutsu teacher or tutor, you can select the "Test" option.
This will give you a general idea of the terminal grade and speed of learning
for a character's skill level. The comments and what they mean:
-Perfect Match! = S
-Fairly Good Match = A to A+
-Natural Ability Exists = B+
-Average = B
-It Will Take Time = C
I stress the words "general idea"-some characters who test at "Perfect Match!"
will only go up to a B+ and others who test at "It Will Take Time" can go up to
an A+. The vast majority of the time, however, the test results coincide with
the guide above.
As far as acquiring skill points, each monster you encounter has a set amount
of skill points that they are worth. After winning a battle, these skill
points are divided up among the surviving party members, regardless of your
experience level. An example to illustrate:
You have a party of 4 and you face the Twin-Head Snake boss, who is worth 800
skill points. You defeat it but 2 of your members got knocked out and are
unconscious when you win. The 2 conscious party members each get 400 skill
points. If you had been able to win with all 4 party members still conscious,
each member would've gotten 200 skill points. The amount of skill points and
how they are distributed is the same no matter if you were at level 30 when you
won or if you were at level 60.
The instruction manual has a detailed list of the skills and what they do. For
the purpose of this walkthrough, I will suggest certain skills to learn as well
as point out some other character-specific comments but that's the extent of
it. Because the general stats aren't described in the instruction manual, I
have listed them below and what they mean:
-PWR (Power): Measures how much damage you give for a successful melee attack.
-SKL (Skill): Measures a character's ability to get past an enemy's defenses
to land a successful attack. Goes hand in hand with the Accuracy skill.
-MGC (Magic): Primarily measures the number of spells per level and how high
a level of spell a character can cast. For example, the character below on
the left has a MGC stat of 84 and the character on the right has a stat of
152, both are equipped with a Lightning Rune and neither has any skill in
Lightning Magic. You can see the difference in the number of spells per level
each can cast and that the character with the higher MGC stat has access to the
4th level spell.
Character A: Character B:
Level 1 6 9
Level 2 3 6
Level 3 1 3
Level 4 0 1
The skills for specific magic, like Fire Magic and Water Magic skill, primarily
measure how fast a spell is cast and how much damage it will do.
-REP (Repel): Measures a character's natural evade ability to avoid enemy
melee attacks. Goes with the Repel skill.
-PDF (Physical Defense): Determines how much damage a character will receive
when an enemy lands a successful melee attack. Monster characters like Fubar
will have a natural PDF rating since they can't wear armor. Everyone else's
PDF starts at 0 because this is determined by what armor and accessories they
are wearing. The skills Armor Protect and Shield Protect will enhance PDF.
Note that some characters can get much more mileage out of armor than others.
-MDF (Magic Defense): Determines how much damage a character will receive when
an enemy lands a successful magic attack. The skills Magic Resistance and
Magic Repel can enhance MDF.
-SPD (Speed): This influences how many physical actions a character can
perform during their turn, specifically running and attacking. A character
with good speed can run up to an enemy far away and still get off their normal
number of attacks. Others who are slow will have a hard time just getting into
position to attack or delivering their usual number of hits. The skills Holy
Dash and Swing can augment speedy characters and aid slower ones.
-LUK (Luck): Not too sure about this because it's a stat that I haven't paid
much attention to. Piccolo mentions in the game that characters with low luck
tend to be targeted first by the enemy but I haven't seen enough evidence to
suggest this is definitely true.
You do not acquire skill points through strategy battles, only through the
regular field battles in boss fights and random encounters. With the exception
of one unique strategy battle, this is also true for experience points. In
terms of what's more important, skills or stats, my own experience clearly
points to skills. Using the stat stones trick (described below in part 3n.),
I boosted Chris' REP stat up to 503, with her Repel skill at a "B". In a
a series of battles, the enemy was still able to hit her a few times. On the
other hand, Hugo had a REP stat of 169 with a Repel skill at "A+" and he didn't
get hit once in those same battles. This is just one example, I know, but I'm
very confident that if you have a level 60 character with great stats and only
mediocre skill levels, they're likely to be on par with or below a level 45
character with outstanding skill levels.
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3e. Support Characters
These are characters who are in your party but do not show up on screen when
you have a random encounter or run into a boss fight. The instruction manual
provides detailed descriptions of the support skills and what they do so I'm
not going to cover them here. Note that some characters that are active during
the regular battles, such as Juan and Ace, also have support skills. While all
support skills provide some benefit, others can also be accessed directly to be
used just like their equivalents at a shop.
For example, Jeane has the Rune Sage support skill. This benefits spell
casting during battles. In addition to this, if you access this skill through
the skills option, you can remove and affix runes on your characters just like
you would at a Rune Shop. Similarly, Juan has the Bujutsu Teacher support
skill. By accessing this skill, you can test, forget, and get lessons anywhere
at any time as long as Juan is in your party. There is no way to boost the
skill level of characters who are only support characters. There's only one
instance I know of where you can boost the support skill of one of the regular
characters, which is Sanae Y's Healing support skill through one of Jefferson's
appointments.
The effects of support skills are not cumulative. For example, Ace and Martha
both have the Discount support skills. You can have both of them in your party
at the same time but only the person with the higher grade in the support skill
(in this case Martha) will have any effect.
For those characters who have either the Tutor or Bujutsu Teacher support
skill, the grades for these abilities only affect battle encounters. That is,
regardless of the grade, if you access these skills to Learn, Forget, or Test
skills it's all the same. For example, Ernie has a higher grade in Tutor than
Nadir. If you have her in your party during random battles, she does a better
job of aiding your magic attacks than Nadir. However, if you were to access
the Tutor skill from the main Skills option, their abilities in Lesson, Forget,
and Test are completely the same-you would not have to invest more skill points
to learn a skill from Nadir than you would from Ernie or anything else related
to skills.
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