So I started playing the game again. I'm wondering if there's anything I need to watch out for that I may miss? Like a certain star that I have to get before a certain point, etc. Try to keep it low on spoilers though.

Oh and can you switch your on-screen character in New Game + like in Suikoden IV?

~Edit~
Oh nvm about the characters you can miss. I found a good Character FAQ that clearly points out "in big letters" if a character is missable or not.

Id just say try for a different ending, since i know there are several different ones

I'll try to do that. I played a bit of the Japanese version before, but I'm already painfully reminded of one of the games major flaws. It has no soft reset or Load option. =/
I like to watch different scenes depending on what choices I make so this is really unfortunate.

I remember there are only 2 endings you can have. But I'm getting old.
Hmmm, other than alternative endings, missable characters, no more I can suggest you, Hickz. >.<
Try to aim for Victory+ everytime you're warring. You get good items for that rank. But I know you like your game perfect, so ignore me already. lol

There are five "bad" endings you can get, though most are worth checking out anyway. (Just remember to save before doing them, of course.)
- After Kyle joins you in Rainwall, go to bed. Salum will visit you at night and ask you to become King. Accept his offer.
- When you find Roy in the Ranro Mountains, accept his challenge to a duel and lose.
- Lose any of the three battles in the three-squad boss fight against Zahhak, Alenia, and Galleon.
- When your castle is surrounded, stay and defend the castle instead of fleeing at night. After the strategy battle, Roy will duel Childerich. Lost this duel for the bad ending. (NOTE: If you defend the castle, you will not be able to get the 108 Stars of Destiny ending, regardless of the outcome of the battles.)
- Lose the duel against Gizel toward the end of the game.

Aside from those, I'm not sure just how many endings there are, though I've heard there's a total of 11, or something like that. (Probably including the bad ones.)

As far as I know, you can't change the character you walk around as, unfortunately.

most of the alternate endings are pretty ####, the only a couple I'd strive for are:

*spoilers highlight*
1. Getting all 108 Stars of Destiny.
2. Getting only like, 70 Stars, because in that ending I believe Lyon dies.
3. Choosing to stay in the base, and watch Roy fight Childerich (exciting FMV)


And i think that's it.... Then again, if you REALLY wanted to do that, just go to youtube, i think it'd be much more worth it than to spend countless hours aiming for a less than stellar ending lol

I didn't know there are more than 2 endings. Thanks for correction.
My ending versions are, getting 108 stars and become the Queen's knight / resign as a prince to venture outside. And... didn't get 108 stars and become an adventurer with what's the name again ? That guy with an eye patch. >.>

I decided to use a cheat code before I started playing the game. I enabled Speed Dash (makes you run faster, usually unlocks in New Game +)
Figured it'd make the the playthrough more barable since I already went through a lot of it before on the Japanese version. Although I'll probably keep the feature all throughout the game. Makes it more fun exploring towns. =p

My god, the dash function is vital for traveling just around your own castle at times. That place is massive later in the game. I wish Viki could teleport you to several different locations in the castle. :S The dash function was pretty much all I used Cathari for, though I'm thinking about using her in battle next time I pick her up. She's supposed to be a sick character.

Why indeed she is, other than Lyon and the Hero she's the third character that was sure to be in my main party. She's sort of a double blade with bad defense, you really have to make an effort to compensate for that, comes good speed and physical defense because in both my playthrough she's a reliable damage dealer because she can attack twice for really good damage. Which is also the reason why she's at the back with Zerase and Jeane/Eresh. =)

Whoa... can we please hide the spoilers! There are spoilers about the end of the game here <.<

Anyway... if you have a character guide you'll basically be fine but don't use a guide for anything else because the game is easy enough on it's own without being told what to do through it. The only other thing you might want a guide for is to tell you where some of the formations are hidden.

Just keep weapons sharpened and don't dismiss a character by looks or initial stats. There are a few times that you'll have to have three parties and so keep that in mind. Don't use over-powered characters (such as Zerase or Richard) unless you really hate having a challenge... oh, and Lorelai may just be the best character in the game (IMO) even if she does look like she lives in a stable.

Some of these endings can be achieved only after a few hours of playing, so theyre not about the end of the game as far as I can tell. And they're only conditions for the endings, not about the endings themselves. No real spoilers that I can see, but feel free to black out whatever you want.

~Edit~
I didn't notice at first, but I see now what you mean. I blacked it out. Too bad I read it though.


Thanks. I assume it's something obvious, but I'll keep it in mind anyway.

(Doh! Typo. 'Lose,' not 'lost.' Though I'm sure you knew what I meant. ^^; )
Even if it means having a separate save file, I'd highly recommend defending the castle, though winning the duel. The following events are one of the best -- and most moving -- scenes in the game, if you ask me.
Or you can just download the torrent of the scene off of Suikosource.

Most of the things have been said already, though LW made quite a spoiler in his post.

Anyway, there are a lot of hidden items in the game and you will miss most of them, unless you use an item guide of such a thing exists.
Some characters are overpowered and for your own sake, avoid using them.
They are just so powerful that they take away any challenge.

Richard, Jeane, Viki, Rahal and some others belong in that category. You could use them though, but that is up to you.
Lorelai is not that great at all in this game. She was better in the previous Suikoden games, but so far she is not that special. She is not a bad character, but there are many who are better than her.

Just a somewhat random note about character recruitment:
If you like character development and such, definitely go pick up the dude found in the Sable inn, Nakula. I haven't used him much, so I can't really say how he fairs in battle, though he seems pretty nice. Medium-range spear user, equips all Heavy-class armor, and gets three rune slots. Plus, he comes with a free Fury Rune. Anyway, aside from him as a playable character in battle, the process in which you get him reveals some more information about a certain group of individuals (one person in that group will also join you after you recruit Nakula). Helps to add some depth to them and all, so if you're interested, give it a look when you're able to.

(I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of 'em right now. Nakula was a recent recruit in my new file, so I thought to share this particular tidbit with you. )

Alright one thing to do. DO all the mini game including fishing, sooooo fun, just get all the 108 people to. and do the island side quest twice, go back after you get them. a new boss should appear, I think that's all, just play the mini games.

Well I'm going to try and recriut them all. I copied all the missable characters form a FAQ and pasted them into a new document so that I don't miss any of them. But that guy sounds interesting, I'll keep an eye out for him.
So Jean is one of the strongest characters in this game as well? It's good to see they kept her the way she was, and it makes me all the more suspicious about her background now.

Well, there are two scenes with Jeane and 2 diffirent characters that really make you wonder, but again nothing is shown. Though there is even more stuff people can speculate about.
I found them interesting anyway.

Jeane is amongst the super characters, along with Viki who is finally top tier and that thanks to her high magic stats and her chain mahic abaility.
Richard is in my opinion the best character in the game and virtually impervious to physical attacks. I used him for quite some time untill I found out how godlike he was and took him out of my party.

Zerase is too strong aswell. Her Star Rune is just powerful beyond words and therefore I did not used her that much either because it made things to easy.

Zearsa with a magic absorb rune oh how godlike that is, another thing is do all the bath scenes.

To simplify your map battles you can recruit Raven and equip him with the firefly rune (I think that's the name of it.) The rune will direct all the physical attacks towards him and combine that with the Raven Rune with raises his evasion through the roof, he barely takes any damage. Your other characters take no damage (unless he dies or it's magic attacks) and it makes leveling easier. It probably makes a majority of the map fights too easy but it doesn't affect boss battles or dungeons so the challenge is still there.

That is my one hint. If anyone knows the exact name of the rune please let me know. It's been months and tons of games since I've played this one.

Haha okay, I'll keep that in mind, in case any map battle becomes too dificult.

Right now I got to Lunas before the engagement ceremony. I have a bit more to go before I catch up to where I was when I left off in the Japanese version.

No worries, you got it right -- it's the Firefly Rune.
The Raven Rune is supposed to only work in indoor dungeons (as well as a couple outdoor ones), or at least according to the guide. It's recommended to do that Firefly+Raven combo, and then give him as much equipment that you can to beef up his magic defense. If you can do that well, he'll be practically untouchable.

Richard, and the other 2 handed sword masters can pratically "solo" monsters in a certain formation.

I forgot what's that called.

But him, Raven and 2 others will evade like crazy and only magic can really stop them. The destructive game breaking backline is <insert any other mage with a rune lvl of 9/8/5/1-3>, Zerase and Eresh @_@.


Getting this out of the way~~
Recruiting Oboro - to my knowledge FAQ's don't really know how the ##### to recruit Oboro and his gang. Everyone had trouble recruiting him, when Oboro was easy for me. Just keep talking to him and visit him after each event that plays out. Help him with an investigation and ask him to join you when you get the opportunity. Bam that's all there is to it.

Thanks for the tip on Oboro. It seems there was a sure way to get him early on, but I missed it so I'll have to keep asking him to join. 5 times apparently before he'll decide to join, and I have no idea exactly how to get the question to appear again but I read it's after certain events or a number of character recriutments.

Anyway I got Viki to join my team, but where's the Blinking Mirror? I'm still in Raftfleet, about to destroy the dam.

~Edit~
Nvm, I looked it up and it seems I'll get it when I get my headquarters.

by rights the mirror should be coming up very soon, not long after sorting out the dam, of course you may have some problems with it - see the following topic thread if you haven't already...

'My suikoden V is broken...'

Hopefully things'll go a bit more smoothly for you!

Oh yeah, I remember reading that topic, which is why I was a bit uneasy about not having the Blinking Mirror yet. Hopefully I'll get it soon though. I'm about to break the dam so it shouldn't be too long now.

~Edit~

Ok, I have a problem recriuting Sorensen. One of the inventors in Estrise's Babbage lab.
I checked a FAQ for it, and I've done exactly what it says. I'm after the event with the Dawn Rune, and I have seen the scene in their lab before hand. Now I walk to the revolving bridge and speak to the guard and indeed he does start to talk about how maybe the inventors would know how to shut it down. So I run back to Estrise to talk to them. But nothing happens when I talk to them. They still say the same thing as they did before.

According to the FAQ I'm even a few hours ahead of where you could first recriut them, so I don't understand what the problem is.

(Prerequisite: Need to have the scene in Babbage's Workshop
Time to Recruit: After the Dawn Rune Events)

If you already accepted a mission, you can't recruit them for a while. Best is do all the things you're being told. And go back to them after you're free.

Have you taken out the bridge yet? Cos you don't actually recruit them to take out the bridge, they just tag along on a non-permenant basis, i think this side quest is kind of a prerequisit too. You should be able to recruit him after the event and then Lun and Babbage later.

Go speak to Logg at the boat - there should be a scene where you ask him about the bridge.

Yeah I'm not quite sure what I did now, but after a certain event (I think the attack on the dam) he now brings up the subject of the revolving bridge, so I did the sidequest. But it definitely didn't work before.

I have another problem now. Well two actually. There's a redhaired barbarian guy standing outside of Oboro's detective agency in Raftfleet. (He was in Stormfist earlier next to the girl with the Leopard.) The FAQ says that you need at least three ladies in your party to get him. Well my parthy is almost entierly made up of ladies, and he doesn't say a thing about joining so far. (Probably can't get him until later but the FAQ didn't mention that.) He's not a missable character so I'm not too worried about him.

But there's one named Murad who is missable. Apparently he will show up in cities after they've had a major war to treat the injured, but so far I have not seen him in Raftfleet, and he doesn't seem to be in Lordlake, which I actually saved (filled with water) just now. Or maybe he will be there during another major war regarding Lordlake? Anyway the FAQ says that he'll move like this:

Based on the timeline of each major war, Murad could be showing up in
the following order (this may vary in your game, just make sure that
you look around in town after a war has taken place there):

Rainwall ---> Raftfleet ---> Lordlake ---> Lelca ---> Beaver Lodge
---> Doraat (after you claimed it the first time) ---> Sable (after
liberation) ---> Stormfist (after liberation).

have you managed to get hold of Sorenson then?

its actually 3 specific ladies - also leads to a co-op attack, they're Norma, Viki and Falyen, two of which you wont have yet, don't worry i certain he's not missable!


Right it all depends on what you said to him when at rainwall, if you were nice and said you understood he couldn't come along with you then you've lost him already, i made this mistake but luckily realised something wasn't right about it and only had to redo about an hour of the game to back track and pick the right option. ALWAYS ask him to join you never go the nicer route with this one.

The guide your using sounds a little vague in places, try this one i found helpful, i'd do a section of the game and then read over what i'd done to make sure i'd not missed anything. Without it there were at least 3 or 4 characters i would have missed, Byakuren being one of them (though this is a little vague even in this one) and the red headed dude being another.

"Suikoden V Guide"

Edit: Forget to insert the link!

Yeah I got him to join.


I might have missed him then. I haven't seen him in Raftfleet or Lordlake yet, so is that why? I mean if you say you understand, does that mean he doesn't show up at all later in those locations? Though I think I would have asked him to join if I got the option to... I usually do.
I'll check out the other guide then.

It might be that he's just not arrived yet, once you've taken out the dam he should appear on the third floating platform in Raft fleet (the one up from the platform that Oboro is docked), i think in the top right hand corner, i can't be sure but if memory serves that's where i found him.

You may just have to wait it out a bit and just keep on returning to Raftfleet, i had a few characters that were'nt where they were supposed to be a certain points of the game, ended up traveling through a sodding dungeon three times before one of them finally showed!

Oh so he's going to be in Raftfleet and not in Lordlake after we destroy the dam? I'll go ckeck it out, but perhaps I need to trigger the next scene first since I haven't talked to Lucrecia or anyone since the attack.

And I just got the old turtle to join me too. But now I'm wondering how to get Byakuren to appear. It says after I recriut every 20th character. But does that mean 20 specific, as in if I go there on my 21'st it'll be gobe? Because I "think" I have recriuted over 20 characters already... but maybe not if you take out the story VIP characters.

Another problem is that Wilhelm and Mueller refused to join me when I talked to them in Raftfleet inn. Something about me not being careful with how I send soldiers into battle. Not sure if this has something to do with that one ship of mine that was sunk in the dam battle, but the FAQ says I need to have them in order to recriut Richard, someone I can get now. Which means I should have been able to get Wilhelm and Mueller by this point as well.
Not sure what went wrong. I know I'll get more chances later, but I'm wondering why they didn't join now?

yeah i think it's raftfleet before lord lake - if not he'll either be in the Silva's surgery in Lordlake or stood just out side

Byakuren can be recruited once everytime your head quarters increases in size - to activate the battle leave teh castle as if your heading to the ruins at Ceras lake - make sure you have the older character/Genoe (turtle dude) with you if you want to recruit her.


These two can be really easy to get or really difficult, luckily for me i got the easy path for this one. You need to have at least one Victory+ battle under belt when you speak to them - that's what the reference to your soldiers is about - i think unfortunately your gonna have to go down the more difficult route which means you wont be able to recruit them for a while - you'll need Lyon with you to do it. Check out that guide for the full details.

Hoped that cleared some of it up for you!

I'll look there then, but the guide seemed to mention him appearing in Raftfleet as soon as you leave Rainwall...
I hope you can miss him once or twice at least, but I'm worried I may have not even spoken to him when I left Rainwall. (Though that would go against the way I usually play, so technically I should have spoken to him that time...)
If I happen to miss him, I guess I'll activate him through a cheat instead. I'm too far in now to start over on an old save file. Especially since I'm not really sure if I missed him or not.


Oh so it's that bridge to the left? I thought it was the one to the right where Killey appeared. I haven't noticed any advancements in my castle yet so I probably don't have 20 new recriuts yet, but I think I'm very close if that's the case. The guide didn't mention anything about having to actually bring Gheno along with me though, thanks.


Figured it was something like that. I'll have to get them later then.

One character I'm worried about now though is Egbert. I already ran into him in the mines, but I didn't know about the "don't press X for 10 seconds" part. If I fail at that once, is he lost forever or will I be able to retry it?

~Edit~
Got him. Wasn't a problem apparently.

No i'm not certain about your situation with Murad, i think it's more about choosing the wrong option when speaking with him than missing him in a particular location - but you do need the Rainwall conversation to begin the sequence of events - without it i don't think you'll be seein him any time soon, but i could be wrong.

When the guide mentioned her being in the lower levels i spent a good while walking around the water pools in the castle waiting for an attack! I don't think you need to recruit 20 characters to be honest but you may have to wait till the lower level comes round - make sure you check your post box for a nice reference from Maroon about it.

To my knowledge that is it for egbertyou don't get another chance. That was one of the other characters the guide helped me with otherwise i would have totally ballsed that one up - luckily i missed him on the way to the prison the first time round - so when i read back i hadn't messed it up already.

Egbert is just awesome. I have never seen any funnier character in any Suikoden game. He really made me laugh so much.

Oh, if you got that old wizard, Hiku. I have forgotton his name, then you can walk that bridge in your castle aswell and Byakuren will appear.

Levi. And how dare you call him a wizard! He's a "rune magic scholar."

I totally agree about Egbert, though. Definitely one of my favorite comedic characters in the series, if not the favorite of mine. "DIVINE RETRIBUTION!"
About recruiting him, though... Even if you mess up with listening to his whole rant, you can just leave the cave/mines and come back and try again. I found that out after rebooting my game to get him. Haha. Go figure. >.O

And as for Murad, I'm not entirely sure about the situation with Rainwall, though I'm pretty sure I've gotten him with little to no problem, even if I did pick the choice other than asking him to join. He generally joins when you ask him to right after the Lelcar incident (at which point, he should be found in Lelcar, of course), at least based on my experience in the game.

Well I just saw Murad in Lelcar. So I'm a bit relieved. He wouldn't join me when I asked, but at least I'll have more chances now.

I'm still surprised that my castle hasn't grown. I got Nikea, Muller and Wilhelm, the newspaper guy, and a few others since, and it's still the same.

Yeah it takes a while for the first expansion to occur, it's not actually down to the amount of characters you recruit you've just gotta wait for certain events to occur.

Glad Murad popped up he can come in handy in some of the longer dungeons if you can afford to use up a charcter slot in your team.
Ah well that means i went back and did that sodding battle all over again for nothing - you live and learn i suppose!

Yeah it seems I have to ask him about three times before he decides to join, but there are four more times he's going to show up so I guess that shouldn't be a problem. (Unless he doesn't show up again like in Lordlake. As for Raftfleet I may very well have missed him, but I did search all around Lordlake right after I restored the water and he was nowhere to be found.)

I have a question about Epic Skills. How do you train them? I know you need to have certain skills in Level A to be able to even use them, but will I be able to train them once that happens as well? Right now they're at the lowest possible level.

You get certain points after battle, not the experience points but diffirent ones. I have forgotten the name.
Anyway, those points can be spend on the epics.
This is done at training halls though, though certain characters can do this on their own if they are in your party (George, Zerase)



Haha, yeah that Jewish name.

About Egbert: always have him in your support party, because he raises the amount if money you get after battle, if I recall correct.

My epic skills are gray and can't be trained, unlike my other skills. (Which can be trained up to B at this point.)

What you gotta do is train up all the skills that the Epic skill encompasses to level A, once that is achieved the epic will open up and you can level it up as if it were a normal skill.

Just a note about Epic Skills, though I dunno what importance it may have to you: Epic Skills will raise more than one stat, indeed, but each stat will not raise the same amount as they will with normal skills. I'm sure that's an awful explanation, though, so here's what I mean.
Example: The 'Attack' skill will raise a character's magic point by x amount at level A. However, let's say you raise the 'Raging Lion' skill (Stamina/Attack) up to level A. While it will increase both Stamina and Attack, rather than just Attack, the addition to Attack will be slightly lower than that of the original Attack skill, even at the same skill level.
It's generally not a significant difference, though I figured I'd share that bit of info with you, in case it's something you (or anyone else in here) would care about.

Charlyn, I got what you meant even without the explanation, but thanks. lol
I haven't been able to compare them at equal levels yet, but no doubt would I have noticed the difference. I also noticed you can equip two skills of the same kind thanks to epic skills. So if you want to focus on just one thing, the regular skill + an epic skill would be best. Otherwise I think it's nice to be able to focus on more than just one field.
It's a shame that Jeane and Zerase have their second skills locked.

One complaint I have is that Georg and Zerase and Zegai have training skills locked, which is completely useless in my oppinion, and just a waste of space that could be used for something more fun. At least Jeane's rune mistress skill (which she's had since Suikoden 3 I believe) can be used strategically (switching runes before a boss) but training skills can only be done once, so you might as well just do it in your headquarters instead.

I just got to Sable and I got a few Magic Absorb runes. I really like that there is finally some sort of magic replenishing system in the game. Though they could have made the rune a bit more hard to come by. I remember how rare it was to get higher level elemental runes in Suikoden 2 for example. Not until you beat the final boss could you buy them in stores and assign them to weapons, which was like an extra hit.

Speaking of that, what does Rage Sword Rune (or whatever its called) do in this game exacytly? In the past you'd get an additional hit in form of the element of the rune hitting the enemy after you hit. (but usually doing 1/3 of the damage.) This time I don't notice any difference when I use them. And they're no longer embeded into the weapons so it seems like a waste of space that could be used for another rune.

And when will Sialeeds get a second rune slot? Same question for Lyon. I'm around Level 36 and they both still only have one rune slot. Which seems odd for Sialeeds because she's not a particularly strong physical fighter.

All it does now is add fire based damage and defence from what i can remember - but don't quote me on that! Its the same for all the other elemental sword runes - never used them throughout the game - just a waste of time.


It'll be a while, that's all you need to know.

Probably the Twilight Rune huh? But don't answer that.

So all those Magic Sword runes do is add elemental type damage? I think that's a bit awkwardly placed into the game, concidering it's very hard to notice an enemys elemental resistance or weakness in this game, or am I wrong?
In the past it was an additional hit but with the elemental type of the rune. So you could clearly see how much damage it did.

Well time to move on with the game in few minutes. I'm a bit afraid of recriuting more members, because I'm worried that Byakuren won't show up automatically once my castle is upgraded (story wise?) and perhaps I need to recriut another 20 characters before the next castle upgrade. But because I've already gotten so many of them, therre may not be 20 characters to recriut until the castle upgrades itself again story wise? Probably nothing to worry about though.
Getting 20 more characters should upgrade the castle, but for some reason it doesn't. Maybe it's just the first upgrade. But if I recriut too many, maybe it will upgrade twice at once if only the first upgrade is story related?

Most of the characters that have locked skills have them so that you can't make them even more overpowered than they already are (almost all of the best mages, for example, have Tutor). At least that's what I think was Konami's reasoning behind doing that.

Magic Absorb is pretty awesome in Suikoden V, since it will replenish 1 MP of Lvl1 spells, but if your Lvl1 spells are full, then it will replenish a Lvl2 spell, and so on. (As far as I know, it didn't climb the ladder like that in previous games.)

The magic sword runes in this game have three spells:
1.) Deal 1.1x normal damage, with _____ element.
2.) Reduce damage by _____ element. (I forget if it's a specific percentage.)
3.) Deal 1.2x normal damage, with _____ element.
As for the damage, I think it simply adds 10% or 20% of your physical damage to the amount of damage dealt, with the appropriate element. And, of course, the Magic Sword skill will enhance the effects of the magic sword runes. That said, you might not notice much of a difference unless you raise that skill. (I haven't used them at all, myself, so I can't say much about those runes.)

As for getting the enemy weaknesses, if you use a character with a high enough Analyze signature skill (such as Taylor), the enemies' weaknesses and strengths will be displayed when you target an enemy.

I don't think Sialeeds ever gets another rune slot, but Lyon will open up her forehead slot at level 45. (The prince will do the same at level 35.)

As most people have said before, the amount of characters you recruit has nothing to do with the castle expansion in this game. Every expansion is story-driven. Edit: Nevermind, read that wrong.

That's probably it, but what about Zegai then?
Still, the game is easy enough as it is. I just think they could have made the restriction a bit different. Like not allowing epic magic skills on the mages in addition to the Magic skill. And they really only need that one skill (Magic) to be overpowered anyway... In Georg's case though I think it's just taking away from the fun.


As far as I know, this rune didn't even exist in any other Suikoden game? But I think I remember hearing from some one that there was a way to replenish your MP in Suikoden IV. Maybe this was it?


I'm not sure what you mean by "three spells"?
Can you use the Magic Sword rune as a spell? Or, how do I get 3.) rather than 1.) ?
But I didn't notice any difference in damage when I had it on. Even when I equipped the Magic Sword skill. But it's probably there if I compare it thoroughly.


Oh I didn't think about Analyze being a skill that you could upgrade. But it's still inconveniant since only one or two characters have this spell as opposed to equipping an analyze accessory or using an analyze spell as in other games which is available to everyone.


Do you mean you missread what I wrote or how it works? Because I thought that the castle does expand after a certain amount of characters. Are you sure that's not how it is? Because the guide says so, and that's how it's been in every Suikoden game so far.