Permanent Character Death

[kosento]

I remember reading somewhere on this forum that characters could no longer be permanently killed during major war battles, i.e. naval battles. In the Final Engagement where you're up against the ship with 4 different rune cannons, I choose Maxine, unfortunately they ended up using the fire cannon. The enemy ship blew my ship up and then this showed up:

Maxine
"Humph."

Agnes
"Maxine died in action."

I reset promptly, so I forgot to check if it was, indeed, a permanent character death, but it sure is very similar to the situations in Suiko II where this happens ...

[KFCrispy]

i remember reading that it is possible...

[Crom_Cruithne]

I lost a ship in the 3rd naval battle, but I still have all the characters that were on it, so I'd say there's no permanent character death.
Kosento, you imply that it was possible to permantly lose characters in other Suikodens. Which one?

-Crom

[Eroschilles]

In all of the other games you could lose a charater permanently in a major battle. It was easiest for me to lose characters in II though...

[Shirofan]

You can permanently kill off characters in Suikoden II, but most of those who participate in such battles are plot related and so cannot die.

Oulan's bodyguard ability means that you're unlikely to see people die, even from the short list that can.

The original has it very easy to have characters die, just use the wrong attack. and since everyone can take part there are more minor characters that can be killed.
I know this one because I compiled a list with the death quotes on the site.

[patapi]

It is possible for characters to die in the naval battles. I've heard of a few cases, eventhough I've never experienced it myself. Unlike in II where nearly everything was random and unpredictable, in this game (also I and III), the system is transparent -- you could either strategise your way through really easy wins or purposely (or accidentally, I guess) screw yourselves badly in the battles. Try it.

Also, remember that Story VIPs can lose, but they will never die in major battles.

[Resk]

Yes, this is something I remember from S3. When a character died in a strategy battle, their name became red on the 108 star list (which prevents you from getting Yuber, Albert, Sarah, and Luc as the final 4 stars depending on how many are red).

Oddly enough though, I didn't run into this problem in my S4 game. I think I lost 3 of my 4 ships in the final naval battle (dumb mistakes on my part) but none of them died...

[Crom_Cruithne]

Are you guys playing imports or something? Except for S1, which I only played once and don't remember well, I lost people in tactical battles multiple times and Gilbert in S2 is the only one I know of that actually died.
The only names in S3 that turned red were Lulu and Jimba.

[ThatOneDude]

You can definitely have permanent deaths. I found out the hard way.

I don't know yet what the conditions are. Maybe if you work a Rune Cannon with the Lesser Rune during a defeat? ie. Use a Fire Rune against an enemey Water Rune Cannon during defeat?

I lost Ornan this way. Def not a major character.

[Joveeno]

Are you guys playing imports or something? Except for S1, which I only played once and don't remember well, I lost people in tactical battles multiple times and Gilbert in S2 is the only one I know of that actually died.
The only names in S3 that turned red were Lulu and Jimba.

Now you're the weird one. Everyone else got Kiba dead and you Gilbert?

In S1, it doesn't matter if you lose people in the battle as long you forgive Kwanda, Milich, and so on. Gremio even resurrected before the final major battle.
Indeed in S3 Lulu and Jimba is the one that died in plot story. Dunno if in S4, I saved all my battle ships.

[Crom_Cruithne]

Forgot about Kiba, but it is possible to screw up with Gilbert and lose him. My S2 is on loan right now or I'd try and lay out the specifics for it. I lost ships in the first multiship tactical battle of S4 and I didn't lose any characters.

-Crom

[Fists Of Protocol]

I managed to kill Flik in 2...thankfully he's too plot related to die permanantly.

Luc is probably the easiest to kill off in war battles in 1 and 2...ironically, he's the toughest to kill in 3.

I lost ships in war battles in 4, but noone died permanantely.

[Blackhand jr]

There only one chance to get Gilbert in Suikoden II.

Also you can lose major battles and not die. That's true with all of them.

[Holly Spirit]

As I was in the Final Engagement of the game, one character died in the battle. I wasn't sure if the character is permanently dead because I restarted the battle, I was in the losing end anyways.

[Vextor]

How can Lulu turn red? He's not even a star!