Many assorted questions for Suik 3 expert

[ericm]

These are all things I've only found vague answers on:
1. What exactly does improving the sword of magic skill do? Improve offensive magic? Or is there a specific rune/ability called sword of magic?
2. Does 'armor protect' only help "armor users"? For example, I gave armor protect to Queen, improved it a lot, then realized she doesnt wear "armor". I thought ALL protective stuff was generally armor. Did I waste all those skill points on her?
3. When you die, and select "no way", what exactly happens? You start at the last save point with all your accumulated exp and skill points intact? I'm guessing items you get in that time frame do NOT carry over? Does this mean I can use skill stones and improve stats, and then die, and they will still be there in my inventory but the stats will be increased?
4. I read about an armor store cheat trick in chapter 4; Is it real, for the US version of the game?
5. Traveling in this game is horrid; when do you get Viki and does she come with the blinking mirror?
6. Skills in general confuse me; for example is there any reason to improve the skills "repel" or "parry" for Jacques, Aila? When do I know I'm wasting time with a skill?
7. Will my main 3 people get all their skill slots filled out? Will everyone in the game, given enough use? How do I know if someone will get extra skill slots or not?
8. How do I improve magic chant speed in general? This game gives less specific options for skill improvement, as opposed to say, suikoden 5.

[Punkaiser]

1+7+8: http://suikosource.com/games/gs3/guides/skills.php

1. I'm quite sure Lulu and Boris starts with these magic sword runes, do i remmeber wrong?
8. Equip a certain gear like wizard hat, wind hat, fire ring...etc... raise up your corresponding spell affinity level which also means speed up your chant.

2.You understand it right, that skill affects everyone even Wanfu although it seems like he's barely wearing anything.

3.you're right again, exp, skill points, characters stats carry over to the last save point but not items , there go the infamous stats stone trick.

4. http://suikosource.com/games/gs3/secrets/
didn't try this one because just by hunting treasure bosses my money reach its limit too fast already.

6. I don't think archers have parry skill, but as for repel, it depends on your choice, most of the time those who stand in back row won't be physically targeted but there're a certain ennemies will take them as priority to hit first.

[ericm]

So armor protect DOES work for everyone?
The stat stone trick DOES work?

Another question; is there a way to move faster in the field? (like putting Stallion in your party previously, or Cathari in Suikoden 5).

[Punkaiser]

armor skill works for anyone who can learn it.

stats stone trick works.

No field speed boost since there's no godspeed/holy rune existed in this game. I sometimes speed the whole game up with my emulator no frame limit option btw.

[ericm]

Maybe this isnt the right place to get into this, but you have a working PS2 emulator?? Are these common now? When i last tried to emulate PS2 several years ago I was under the impression it wasn't possible.

[Sasarai10]

About your 5th question...Viki will be available from the chapter 4 onwards. You will find her in the begining of the mountain path in Caleria. Although in this Suikoden,Viki doesn't make any particular sense,because in chapter 5 she will be unable to teleport you,until the last major battle.

In order to get the blinking mirror you should get the junior Viki.

[eldrasidar]

sword of magic works with the Sword of thunder, sword of cyclone, and sword of rage runes, and increases casting time and the physical damage added by the first level spell for each of those.

armor protect works for everyone, but keep in mind that unless the character in question has a lot of armor on and/or a high skill rank, it will not be a particularly impressive increase in armor, which is why for most of the faster/lighter armored characters, repel turns out to be more useful.

selecting no way works exactly as you suspect, allowing the Chris level 99 trick to work, as well as the stat stone trick.

I don't believe the armor store trick works in the u.s. version.

you get viki in chapter 4.

Repel and parry are very useful skills in tandem, and even more so with counter attack. basically, raising repel increases the likelihood of you completely dodging a physical attack. raising the parry skill increases the likelihood of you dodging attacks, and then also gives you a chance to swing back once. raising the counter attack skill would then further increase the chance of a parry attack. With Thomas, I've been able to make it so that he dodges and parries almost every single physical attack against him, with a firefly rune and counter rune attached. against larger groups of monsters, this allows him to hit multiple enemies a turn instead of one. if a character has parry, you cannot get rid of it, so you might as well raise it, and most of the characters that have parry have lousy armor, so you're better off raising repel instead of armor protect anyway as noted above.

everyone's skills slots are set. some characters gain new special skills as they level up, but those skill slots are locked to that particular skill. the 3 main characters have some of the largest number of skill slots available to anybody.

3 ways to improve magic chant speed: A raise a character's relevent magic skill(ie to be a faster fire magic caster, raise your fire magic skill); next option is to have a character use the jongleur rune, wihch one of the spells is casts improves the parties casting time overall; final way is to put either Jeane or Mike in your support slot to gain a minor boost(6% and 3% respectively)

[KFCrispy]

Armor Protect skill also increases the chance for Defend and Full Defense.

[FliktorForce]

So another odd question: is it worth it to use mounted characters, or do you get a better return from using them un-mounted?

[eldrasidar]

More often than not the advantages outweigh the disadvantages when it comes to mounted characters. Splitting damage between two characters is great, and being able to combine the rune slots of rider and mount makes both characters stronger. In in practice though, of the three riders, only Hugo gets a significant bonus from his mount, as Hugo benefits the most from Fubar's free rune slot, as he is the only rider that won't have two open runes by default. Meanwhile Hugo's continual attack negates the normal loss of a second target to attack, which is something that hurts the other mounted riders. Franz and Futch also have pretty strong Unites, so offensively, they may use those to more effect than being mounted. They are also both better armored, so they don't need the defensive bonus as much as Hugo might.

[Punkaiser]

^ what he said, and the thing about sharing special skills make mounted pair better than separated.
Like, Fubar will be able to Heavy Damage, as well as Continuous Attack thanks to Hugo's skills while Hugo can stun enemies with Freeze from Fubar

[KFCrispy]

Mounted Pairs can also abuse magic scrolls and other items for free additional damage or special effects (heals, buffs).

[laclongquan]

9. Do Hunter rune work with physical attacks only, or magic work too?

[gildedtalon]

Normal attack only

[laclongquan]

Then it's limited to multi-swing, high accuracy, hitters. Who fit the bill?