WaterMoon's Walkthrough ((SPOILERS, eventually))

[WaterMoon]

As asked, I've started writing a walkthrough for this game to counter all the bad ones that you find. I'm writing it as I play through a new game+ and this is my third run through the game, so it will take time, but you can be sure of the accuracy of information. So here's the intro post. I'll post the first chunk in the next part down. If you see anything you like or dislike, please leave some feedback, as this is my first walkthrough.

[WaterMoon]

Suikoden IV Walkthrough

Ok, so this is my first walkthrough, so if it sucks, it’s not my fault.

Anyways, start off with naming your Hero. Official name is Lazlo, which sucks, but hey, you can call him whatever you like. For purposes of clarity, I’ll be referring to him by the official name.

**Stars of Destiny: 1/108 Lazlo**

Then, after actually starting, you find yourself with Snowe and some other knights on a ship in the sea, and an enemy vessel is approaching. Soon you find yourself in your first battle. The enemy ship is water and lightning elements, so go ahead and put Keneth at your rune cannon, as his lightning element will even out with theirs and surpass their water element, making this battle a real joke. Put the others in fighter positions. This leaves you with 50 to their 60. Then let them have it with the rune cannon, time and time again. Remember you have to turn the side of your ship towards them to fire the cannons.
Next you find yourself being boarded, in a standard team battle: Lazlo and Snowe against “???” and “????”. Use your unite (called combo in this game) “Friendship Attack” on “????” every few rounds. If you need healing, use Snowe’s water rune, or some medicine. After about 4 rounds, the fight ends and you find out that the attackers are your commanders, Glen and Katarina, and that this was just an exercise. Glen offers you a chance to fight him a bit more, in a one-on-one duel, the third style of combat in this game. You have to take him up on it to advance, so unless this is New Game + and you really want your best armor equipped for it, go ahead and accept. You can tell what Glen’s going to do by what he says. Remember, Attack beats Defend, Defend beats Special, and Special beats Attack. Also, one time per duel you can go “Full Power” and until then it will ask you to go full power or normal. Anyways, what Glen says and what it means he’s going to do.

“Are you ready for me?” = Attack
“Now it’s my turn!” = Attack
“Pay close attention to my swordsmanship” = Attack
“Let’s see you make a move” = Defend
“Let’s see how well you can wield that sword” = Defend
“Charge at me and don’t hold anything back” = Defend
“My next move will settle this once and for all!” = Special
“Prepare to get beaten to a pulp!” = Special

Additionally, he’ll sometimes on the first move, say something along the lines of “First I’ll show you what I’m really made of!” which is also a Special attack.
After this, Glen will praise you and you’ll be free to wander the ship. Go behind you, up the stairs to the right, and talk to the guy with a ponytail, Keneth, to advance the story a bit, and then when he’s done, go speak with the pair in the back, one a girl with white hair (Jewel) and the other a muscular brown hair (Tal), to advance it further. They’ll tell you about the 6th character in your little entourage, Paula, but they don’t know where she is. You’ll see her in the video.
After the movie plays, you find yourself with Snowe in at the docks, in front of the local Gaien Knight training facility/base. Go on inside the Hall of Knights through that door in the distance on the north side. You’ll be in a courtyard with pillars in it, with two doors to your right and one in front of you. To advance the story, go ahead in front of you, but if you want some items, go through either door on the right first. The first one leads you too a room with a chest (Old Book Vol 9) and some stairs. Get the book and go out and then through the other door. You’ll be in a hallway with 3 doors. The one right across from you is your room, where you’ll find a save point and a chest (Steamed Bun, Water Orb). The one next to it has the knight’s cook, Funghi. The last door is to some stairs. Get the chest, save if you want, then finally go through the third door off the courtyard to advance the story.
After listening to Glen’s speech, it will be evening and you’ll be back in the courtyard. Head back out to the docks and head to your right (west) towards the town of Razril. Being night now, all the shops are closed, so continue along your way. There are two exits from here, one on the north side leading into an alley (a great place to level up when you get the chance here early on), and even further west is another north exit, towards the ritual. I recommend doing some fighting in the alley, to get to level 3 or 4 now, before backtracking back to do the ritual. Talk to everyone along the way of performing the ritual to light their torches. Continue onto the square. After the movie, talk to the other 4 knights (Keneth, Paula, Tal, and Jewel) and then leave the square taking the south west corner, back the way you came.
Back at the port, you’ll come across a cat. Go ahead and pet it, and you’ll get some medicine. This is the only time you can do this, so go ahead. Then head back east until you see a cat-man walking along (they’re called Nay-Kobolds). Go talk to him, and he (Chiepoo) tells you that a little girl got kidnapped by some pirates and taken into the alley. Well, time to go save her. Either head into the alley now, or head back to the party first where you can recruit any 2 of the 4 knights to join you in rescuing the girl (head south east from here to reach the alley). About halfway into the alley is a large open area on the east side. In a small little alcove on the north side of this area is a crate. There also happens to be the kidnappers and the little girl. Take them out. Then examine the crate for a treasure map. Go back to the main part of the alley and continue north, grabbing the mushroom from the chest (can only be grabbed during this night). Head back to the Knights Hall.
You wake up in your room the next day. Go to the courtyard and either head towards town to grab Snowe, or first head into the training hall (where Glen gave his big speech) and talk to the students in front of you to train with them. You can train with Snowe, but hey, might as well get the work out while you can solo now too, right? You can fight them over and over again for great experience. Besides, if you leveled up before, you would be about level 3 or 4 now (I got to level 4 after defeating the kidnapping pirates), and they should all fall to one swing of your sword, so who needs Snowe? At level 4, they’re worth 360 experience per fight, solo, so easily worth it. Once you’re ready, grab Snowe, then head to the west side of the training hall and talk to the quartet of knights and pick 2 of them. Tal is the major offensive fighter of the 4. Great in straight up combat, no real magical abilities, though he does come equipped with an earth rune (the only magic type he has any affinity for). I suggest taking it off of him and putting a combat based orb that you find later on him. Paula, Jewel, and Keneth are all fairly well balanced characters, Jewel with more affinity for water magic, Paula with more affinity towards wind magic, Keneth with more affinity for lightning magic. All three come equipped with a rune of the appropriate type. Paula is the most magically inclined of the 3, Jewel the strongest, fastest, and hardest to hit, and Keneth has the highest defense and skill. So I recommend Tal and Paula, a good combination of a massive offensive character with a decent magic user who can hold her own in a fight. You then spar with a senior knight, and afterwards, you get the option of picking 2 other knights of the 4, and sparring with 2 more senior knights. Now you can “not decide” to spar some more to switch around from the 4 again, and fight some more, over and over, or decide and go on with the game. Whichever 2 you decide will come with you on your mission now. Don’t worry, we recruit the other 2 later in the game.

**Stars of Destiny 3/108 Any two of: Jewel, Keneth, Paula, Tal**

Afterwards, you’re told about your mission, patrolling the local waters. You can go ahead and do this now, or you can head into town first to check out the shops, level up some more in the alley (there are different enemies during the day), and speaking with people to get some items. The person you really want to talk to is back up near where the actual party was the night before, she’s up on a ledge. Head up the stairs and around to talk to her to get a mushroom. When you’re ready, approach the ship in the harbor in front of the hall of knights. Here you find out that you actually have two jobs to choose from: defeat wild sea creatures 3 times, or deliver a document to Middleport. Choose the second one, you’ll get into more fights along the way, and it pays1000 potch on top of what you get from killing monsters. Just as the knight at the dock says, Middleport is east of Razril. More specifically, it’s on the southeast side of an island to the southeast of you. Deliver your message to the guy on the docks, and then wander around the town, shopping and what have you.
On the west side of the central square is a man in a brown vest and a pinkish orange shirt (depends on your screen colors). Talk to him, his name is Gunter, and you want to play a game of dice with him, as it’s necessary to recruit him later. Pick either game, but fans of previous Suikoden games will likely prefer Triple Toss, as it’s the game of Chinchiron we remember so well. In the back near the item shop is a chest with 500 potch. Go into the smith shop to meet Adrienne, and have her sharpen your weapons. Inside the inn, you can speak with Deborah and Oskar, but they don’t seem to really want to talk to you at the moment. If you examine the barrels and bags in the southeast corner of the inn, you’ll find another treasure map. In front of the inn is a gathering of women around Pecola, who you can also talk to without much success at the moment. Heading west into an alley, you’ll find a chest with a mushroom, and across from it, some antitoxin in the barrels. Heading north from the square, towards the Lord’s Manor, you’ll find a chest with a Fancy Console in it to the east, on the south side of the wall. Now that we’re done exploring, let’s head back to Razril by talking to the man we turned the message over to and sailing back. While we’re on the way back, anchor your ship by selecting anchor from the menu in your menu screen, and then go inside the door behind you. In the back left corner will be a chest with some medicine, 5 of them in fact. You also have a save point. Anyways, when you’ve got the medicine, go back into your menu and select depart.
Once back in Razril, if you’re level 5 or higher already which you should be, talk to the man on the docks again for your next mission. If not, then go hang out in the back alley for a few more levels. He’ll send you back to Middleport, where you’ll find a man next to the dock knight, who will tell you about a black furry monster that needs killing. Board the ship and sail around a bit, and soon you’ll find it: the Damp Hairball. This is technically a boss, as a one of a kind creature, but it’s not that tough, having only 200 hit points. However, it has an Ice Breath attack that does about 30 damage to your whole party, so make sure you’re well equipped and have your weapons sharpened before you fight him. When you win you’ll get an unidentified Pot of Razril and 500 potch. Return to Middleport, collect an additional 2000 potch, and return to Razril.
Upon your return, Katarina tells you that Commander Glen has a special mission for just you and Snowe, so head on up, and you’ll be introduced to Ramada, who needs an escort to Iluya. When you’re done talking to him, head down the stairs and back out to Razril to stock up on anything you need, or to get some more levels from the alley (Snowe will leave you once you leave the courtyard, and you’ll have to talk to him again to continue). Otherwise, head back into the audience chamber behind you and speak to Ramada to continue. Iluya Island is northeast from Razril by quite some distance, so use your map to help you find the way (you can open it by pressing the Circle button). About halfway there, you will talk to Snowe, then see Glen and Katarina talking, and then you’ll be on your ship. Talk to Snowe (he’s just to the right of you) and you’ll be attacked by the Pirate Brandeau. Watch Snowe chicken out, then tell the men to fight. Enter into a naval battle, and set your rune cannons to earth and water elements (Knights 2 and 3), to counter the lightning and fire elements of the enemy vessels. After the battle, your ship will be boarded, and you will find yourself fighting Brandeau and his Assassin, with a wind rune equipped level 8 knight to help you out. Take out the Assassin first, then focus on Brandeau. They have 168 and 180 hit points respectively. Afterwards, you find yourself in a duel with Brandeau. His sayings, and what they mean are:

“Hah, child’s play! Allow me to humor you.” = Defend
“Your attacks are futile… Don’t you realize that?” = Defend
“Don’t get cocky, boy!” = Attack
“I guess I can play a little.” = Attack
“Victory is mine…” = Attack
“I’ll kill you!” = Special
“I will settle this…” = Special

After you beat him, Glen will show up and the Rune that Brandeau was using transfers to Glen, it’s the Rune of Punishment. You then pick Snowe up again, and after resting, find yourself back in your room in Razril. Head outside and Snowe comes up, inviting you to come shopping with him. Is that a hint of jealousy we detect in his voice? Well, you heard him, head on out to the item shop to get some medicine for the commander (you also get 2 free Mega Medicine). Along the way you’ll get praised a few times, with some insults in Snowe’s direction. After you’ve got the medicine, head back to the hall of knights, and go get the commander’s food from Funghi (in the room next to yours). Afterwards, go through the east door just outside the kitchen and head up the stairs to the commander’s room. It doesn’t matter what you tell Katarina about the medicine. Afterwards, Glen sends you and Katarina away. Head back to the courtyard and witness a pirate attack on the city. Speak to Jewel, Keneth, Paula, and Tal, telling them to fight, then head towards the docks, speaking to the knight there to board your ship and begin another naval battle, this one called “Retribution”.
Your enemy, Pirate Dario, has two ships: one with just fire shells, the other with fire and wind. Unfortunately, no one on your ship has a fire rune that can use it (you don’t count, even if you do have one equipped), so put Jewel to work on the rune cannon, and go to battle. Take out the fire only ship first, then work on the other one. Snowe’s ship only has lightning, so is really pretty useless aside from being a great distractor. After the fight, Snowe chases after them, heading into certain doom, so follow after him to keep him from dying.
Once you find yourself back in Razril, Katarina tells you to go see the commander in his room, so go do so. After getting praised, and watching Glen hit Snowe again, you’re told to go. Head back out to your room (dealing with Snowe’s tantrum along the way) to rest, and have a rest. Then take the commander his meal again. Listen to Katarina’s report on the battle before, and then the pirates attack, again. But this time, it’s a series of 3 regular battles, not naval ones. You will find yourself with a party of Katarina and the 2 knights you picked earlier. Head out to the docks, fight the 3 fights against the pirates (Katarina is not that useful here as she’s a spell caster, not a fighter, and she hasn’t got the levels yet to have her better spells. That and she’s got amazing affinity for fire magic, but doesn’t have the rune equipped.) Watch the pretty lights, then after everyone leaves your party, ignore your orders and head into the hall. You may have already noticed a set of stairs heading up near the commanders room, not just the ones going down. Take them to the roof, to watch another cut scene, and gain your true rune. Follow the tunnel until you reach the third light, where you fight the mysterious shadow. Attack it and it dies, one hit. You then learn that you’ve been exiled. The next morning, the two knights you did not pick way at the beginning come to take you to the harbor, telling you that they believe that you didn’t kill the commander. You also find out that the two knights you did select early on stowed away with you, as did Chiepoo. Chiepoo will now run your item shop, though this early on he has very little selection.

**Stars of Destiny 4/108 Chiepoo**

Before you do anything, anchor your ship, head down the trap door, and open the chest there for 10 medicine and 10 steamed buns. Then, set sail in any direction, and after a couple fights, you’ll be saved by a merchant vessel. Colton will tell you to rest. But before you do that, inspect the table along the side near the crystal in the cabin to find another treasure map. When you’re ready to rest, speak to Colton. Then head outside. You can’t win the fight with Colton and the unnamed man, so don’t waste your spells. You’ll then face some Kooluk soldiers, and there is an infinite fighting spot here, great for leveling up, so keep approaching the soldiers behind you until you get tired of it, then get out of there. Once you’ve defeated a second, non-stationary, group of Kooluk soldiers, you escape on the exile ship. Speak with Chiepoo to again be able to control the exile ship, and after a normal fight, the Water Dragon, the first boss that’s actually a boss, will attack you. It has 1300 hit points, so unleash the full power of your Punishment rune on him, and if you have Keneth, use his lightning rune. Everyone else should attack. Chiepoo should use medicine to heal people who need it, as he does the least amount of damage. It should go down fast (3 rounds with my party at 15, Lazlo at 16). Afterwards, you’ll find yourself on a deserted island.
Talk to everyone twice, first to wake then up, then to get them to come with you. Looking around, you’ll notice 4 exits from the area where you are, and a save crystal right next to you. The exits are west, northwest, northeast, and east. Explore the island, as you have to do so to advance (if you want to be quick, just explore east and west and northeast). In the furthest northeast corner of the northwest path is a chest with a necklace. At the end of the northeast path is a subterranean lake that acts as a healing spring, where you will be coming daily when it’s just you (Lazlo) and none of the others. Once you’ve finished exploring, you’ll all realize the island is deserted and given a choice: stay or leave. You obviously want to leave, HOWEVER, if you choose to stay 3 times, you will see one of the endings of the game, where you will play out the item gathering every day for the rest of the game, but the character portraits are now cartoonish black and white sketches. Save before you check it out. After you’ve decided to leave, you must decide on tasks to do: Chiepoo will always look for food, then you can pick who cuts wood (northwest path, the trees to cut will sparkle), who will make rope (gather old rope from the beach), and who will gather coconuts (west edge area). There are 3 of each item to gather. Once you’ve gathered the ones you assign to yourself, head all the way back to the subterranean lake without talking to any of the others, you must go alone. What’s this, a mermaid? Her name is Lilin, and she left you a present: a lucky ring on the first day, a water amulet on the second day, and a guard ring on the third. To advance the days, gather all 4 party members together after getting the gift from Lilin, then head to the eastern area of the island. After 3 days of gathering, you’ll have brought together enough materials to repair the ship.
On the fourth morning, your ship will be built. Talk to the two knights, and one of them will remark that Chiepoo is missing. This is when Lilin will come out of the water and tells you that he has angered the Master and is being chased, and that she hates the Master and wants you to get rid of it. So head all the way to the back of the northwest path to fight the Master, a giant crab known as the Boss Crab. At first, you really can’t hurt it, so save your spells. After a few rounds, it will be suggested to use the Rune of Punishment on it. That’s the time to start unleashing your spells on him. He will, however, have the assistance of 6 wild crabs with him. He shouldn’t last much longer though, as he has a weakness to the Punishment magic. After he’s defeated, you find yourself in the rune again, so follow the tunnel to the end, smack the shadow, see what he says.
After you wake up, save your game, then talk to your party to leave. Lilin will appear and introduce herself properly, then tell you about land to the south. After a couple standard battles, you’ll find yourself in another boss fight, this one with a pair of Killer Rays. They take less time to kill than Boss Crab, but do a lot more damage, so kill them fast. The green one has no real magical vulnerability, but the brown one is really weak to punishment magic. Lay Eternal Ordeal on him. Talk to your party afterwards to find that your oars have been lost in the fight, and soon, another ship will come and save you, this one belonging to the Kingdom of Obel. Same as last ship, look for treasure map on the table in the southeast corner, next to Flare, then save and talk to Desmond twice to advance the story.
Welcome to the Kingdom of Obel. First thing’s first, go check out the barrel on the east side of the docks for another treasure map (should be 5 of them by now). On the next screen, go to the east side in front of the lottery shop, and talk to the little girl to get a free lottery ticket. Afterwards, continue east up the stairs and talk to the women by the well to get some soap. That really tall guy in the blue shirt next to them is Ornan, though we can’t recruit him just yet. This section will also have your armor shop and the blacksmith, so go ahead and get your weapons sharpened, at least on the hero and the knights. Head back west through the north set of stairs next to the armor shop. On the upper level of this new screen will be the inn, item shop, and rune shop. Continue north to the palace courtyard. You’ll see a guy in shorts and a pink shirt, so talk to him. He tells you the king is inside, so head on in. A bald guy in purple, Setsu, is there, so talk to him. Yup, the guy in pink is the king, Lino En Kuldes. Seems everyone wants to check out your rune, but he actually has some information for you. He tells you about some ruins to the west, and gives you an entry permit. Guess where we’re going?
But first, you get a place to stay. Desmond leads you east to a cave, except inside isn’t a cave. It’s practically a palace! Desmond tells you that Lino wants you to gather people as your work for him. Oh, and you’ve already got some to start with.

**Stars of Destiny 8/108 Louise, Tov, Chadli, Desmond**

So it’s time to gather some Stars finally, but first, head through the door in the back there and up the stairs, and you’ll find the door to your room. Go sleep in the bed and Leknaat will appear and speak to you. Well, now that we know what’s going on a bit, time to put together a party and find some people. Head back down and speak to Desmond or Louise and put the knights back in the party with you, and if you really want to, Chiepoo (I don’t use him unless necessary, he’s your item shop). Also, you can finally put someone in your support slot, now that we have Louise and her healing ability. So now that we’ve rested and all that, head back to Ornan and speak to him. On the way, in the palace courtyard, you’ll run into Gary and Ema. Feel free to talk to them, though we can’t recruit them quite yet. When you speak to Ornan, he practically invites himself in, but hey, he’s got a Waking Rune, so we can’t complain, though you will want to better equip him and sharpen his weapon. Funny thing how there’s shops for both right there.

**Stars of Destiny 9/108 Ornan**

Now let’s go make use of that ship that Desmond offered us by talking to the guy at the docks and start sailing north, around the east side of Obel island, and go a good distance until you reach Nay island, just a bit south of where Iluya island is. Once you’re there, you can head east through a field to the Nay-Kobold village, or explore this one first. Underneath the dock you’re standing on is a chest with a wool loincloth. On the next screen is a blacksmith who can sharpen your weapons to level 7, as well as a chest just northwest of there, up some stairs and in a side alcove, that has a treasure map. Go in the Nay Chief’s House (it’s just east of the blacksmith, up some stairs) and examine the bookshelf in the back for another treasure map. Back outside, take either of the northern exits, they both lead to the same screen, but the western one is quicker to where we want to go. On the west side of this screen is an inn. Examine the bookshelf by the counter to get Old Book Vol 6, then go in the door next to it (the northwest blue door) to find a chest with another treasure map. Now that we’ve finished looting the village of old people, let’s go back to the docks and head up those stairs going east, across the field (there will be a chest with a treasure map just south of the road, go ahead and grab it. It’s behind a rock, next to a tree, on the western half of the field, about 1/3 of the way through.) Oh yeah, I hope you’ve been leveling up, because the monsters here are a bit tough. Unfortunately, you either have Ornan or Chiepoo in your 4th character slot, so someone who sleeps half the battle, or someone who’s not a great combatant. If you have Chiepoo, then you can make use of the Rush command to damage all monsters once every 6 battles with no retaliation.
In the Nay-Kobold village there’s some more exploring to do. First, the man running the lottery shop is Bang, though we can’t recruit him just yet. To the east, near the appraisal shop, is a chest with a lightning orb. On the west side of this screen is a yellow building that is the trading shop, go inside and speak to the man on the left, in the reddish-brown jacket, this is Perrault, and we can recruit him now, so do so by talking to him twice.

**Stars of Destiny 10/108 Perrault**

Continue north, and go inside the green building you find, following the ramp inside to a chest with Old Book Vol 3. Back outside, continue the road north and go around behind the purple building to examine the back of the tree to find another treasure map. Alright, now head back to the ship and sail southeast, about the same distance as Middleport is from Razril, to reach Na-Nal Island. Monsters will attack you on the beach here, so don’t freak out, it’s not a bug. On the far east side, behind a sail boat, is a chest, inside is a Golden Hairball, which is too powerful for you to defeat now, so leave it be (the prize is a treasure map). However, climb inside the sailboat and examine the basket on the bench to get another treasure map. Head north. On the west side of this area is an item shop and to the east is an inn, head on into the inn and save your game. See that girl with pigtails? Go talk to her, and play her game, Rita-Pon. You need 500 potch, which you should have. After playing her, invite her to see your ship (lamest Island Nations pick up line ever) and she’ll join you.

**Stars of Destiny 11/108 Rita**

Head back outside and go north to the next screen. Take the road to the east to reach the armor shop. Examine the boxes next to the armor shop for another treasure map. Back along the northward road is an area with a rune shop, inside is a dresser with a treasure map. Afterwards, take the road north until you find a bald guy whose chest has been bandaged up, his name is Reinhold, and talk to him. He asks you to go punish a violent girl in red in the square just ahead, claiming that she inflicted that wound on him, so let’s go do so. She challenges you to a duel, 1000 potch if she wins, and she’ll join you if you win. Well, we have the upper hand here, cause I’m gonna tell you what she does.

“Come and get me!!” = Guard
“Whew, I’ll see how it goes a bit.” = Guard
“Hahaha, not yet, not yet!” = Attack
“I’m going to slash you and it’s gonna hurt!” = Attack
“Okay, I’ll finish it in the next move!” = Special
“You’re dead!” = Special
“All right all right! I’m starting to get into it! I’m gonna kill you!” = Special

After beating her, they both join you, so congratulations on another 2 stars.

**Stars of Destiny 13/108 Mitsuba and Reinhold**

Continue north into the chief’s house, and in the far right corner is a chest with a stone of strength in it. Grab it and head back to the boat, and make your way back to Obel. While there, feel free to get all those unappraised pots appraised by Nabakov, and next to his shop is Yu, a local doctor. They won’t join you just yet. I would take this time to head back to the cave HQ and swap out Ornan/Chiepoo for Mitsuba or Reinhold, as both are better fighters than Chiepoo, and guaranteed to be awake for the whole fight, unlike Ornan. Don’t worry, you get better combat characters later. But, if you like the party you have, and they’re all well equipped with level 6 or 7 weapons, then head to the ruins. Speak to the boy in front of the ruins, Rakgi, and he agrees to show you around inside.
Follow the ruins through, checking all the side paths for chests. The Jelleymen that you fight will resurrect themselves unless everything else is dead. When you first reach some stairs on the second screen, go down the stairs and in the doorway to find a chest with a Thunder Amulet. Back out and around the stairs is one with 5000 potch. Go up the stairs and in the doorway on the north side at the top floor (not the one next to the stairs, but west of there). There will be a T road, go right for a chest with a magic hand, left to go further into the dungeon. Follow on around to the next T road, one road going west and another south. The south path has a chest with an Angel Hairball in it, at our current level it will wipe your whole party in about 2 or 3 rounds, so leave it be for now and head west, grabbing the One-Piece Dress from the chest along the way. Go north at the next T road, and come to a room with stairs and 4 doors, like the 2nd screen of the ruins, but you’re at the southern most one. Go up the stairs, take the first door to find a chest with Window Set 2, then continue north. Either door on the top works, they both end up in the same screen, but let’s take the east one first, follow the path, then head right at the T road for a chest with a mega medicine. Afterwards head back out, heading straight (left is where we came from) and the next room is a T road, left goes back to the room with the save point, so go ahead and save, cause just right, on this same screen, Rakgi will warn you of a malevolent force, and you will fight the Guard, a giant golem looking thing with no arms. It has about 1500 hit points, and while it is a boss, don’t go throwing away all your magic just yet, but feel free to use some. I beat him in 3 rounds with just melee attacks, but I had Tal with a level 7 weapon. After defeating it, head on back and find a chest with 3 mushrooms, 3 mega medicine, and an escape amulet. Use the mushrooms to restore your magic if needed, and save, then head north to the next screen. Inspect the tree for a treasure map before speaking with Rakgi’s mother, Rikie. She tells you a bit about the Rune of Punishment, and when you try to leave, you will have to fight the Guard again in its second form, this time with arms. This boss has about 2000 hp, so unleash all your magic on him. Once he is defeated, he drops the Iron Hammer. Additionally, Rakgi and Rikie will join you.

**Stars of Destiny 15/108 Rakgi and Rikie**

Now feel free to rest and save, then head back to the harbor and set sail. Almost immediately Lilin will come asking for help. It looks like some poachers after the mermaids came to their island and Lilin is the only one that was safe. She asks you to go after their ship and make them go away. You’ll see a globe on your map/compass, so head that way and you’ll board their ship, refuse to give them Lilin, and you’ll fight them twice, and then one of the members of your crew will tell you that they set the mermaids free, and when the Cray Trading Company merchants try to flee, shoot them to sink the vessel. Lilin now joins you and mentions wanting to look for her sisters.

**Stars of Destiny 16/108 Lilin**

Return to the Obel port and you’ll be attacked by the Pirate Dario, again, in a naval battle of the same name. He only has one ship, with fire and wind rune cannons, so put someone with a fire skill in on yours and this battle will go easily. After you defeat him, Kika, Sigurd, and Hervey show up and chide him, saying that the mermaid on your ship is obviously there willingly. Return to Obel and you’ll be told to go see Desmond, but before we do that, if Louise is not in your party, head to the inn to see a movie of a woman telling someone to wait and he runs off. Otherwise see Desmond first. Talk to the woman who shouted at the man/boy and say “Him who?” then follow after Cedric towards your cave HQ. Just outside, you run into Manu, who has a free ride to the port, but don’t take it just yet. Instead, go inside and Cedric will get lost in the dark. Louise gets surprised, and when you go talk to her, protects him, so agree to let him join to recruit him.

**Stars of Destiny 17/108 Cedric**

Now see Desmond if you didn’t already, and he tells you Lino wants to recruit Oleg, a man in Nay who has a way of seeing things others can’t. Back to Nay with you. Oleg is on the same screen as the inn, just to the east. He puts a box on a rock and then suggests waiting till tomorrow, asking you to pay for the inn. Go do so. Head outside of the room after you’ve gotten it to advance the story, and watch the Kooluk Empire test their new toy. Then after it’s done, click on the empty bed to rest. The next morning, Oleg will want you to go back and check on his box. It’s a video camera and it shows the destruction of Iluya. Head down to the beach towards the crowd, and then go back to Obel. When you return to Obel, take Oleg to see Lino in the palace for Oleg to officially join you, then head back to your cave HQ, only to be attacked by Ramada, Mizuki, and Akaghi. Defeat them, and then Desmond suggests taking them to see Lino, so take them to the King to recruit them.

**Stars of Destiny 21/108 Oleg, Ramada, Akaghi, Mizuki**

Head back towards your cave HQ only to find the kingdom of Obel under attack by the Cray Trading company ships. In order to advance the story, you must use the rune, so just go ahead and do it. You then find yourself in a naval battle, Defending Obel, with two ships against their two. One of your ships has a fire and wind rune and you can’t change it. Their ships are fire/wind and wind/earth, so equip fire and wind on yours as well, using Tov and either Paula if you have her or Desmond if not. Use fire against the ship with fire, wind against the ship with earth, and you’ll always tie or overcome in firing. Now load up fighters for both ships and fight. After you win, you’re in the rune again, this time to fight Brandeau’s shadow and set his soul at ease. Afterwards, you’ll awaken in your room in the cave HQ with Chiepoo and the 2 knights looking over you. Talk to them if you want, they have nothing major to say, 2 of them wonder if you’re ok, and the third tells you that you just fought Kooluk’s third fleet. Head towards the main room of the ship, and listen to Akaghi and the others discussing the rune and what should happen if you die and it passes on to someone else. Afterwards, head outside, and there’s warning of the Kooluk attacking soon again, so go back to your HQ and find everyone in the war room (it’s just downstairs from your room), and Lino asks you to go recruit some more people, including a doctor, before you escape in your HQ, which is actually an enormous ship. Go talk to Yu to recruit him, Adrienne should be nearby as well, recruit her as well. Ema and Gary will still not join you, as they are determined to stay and protect the village. NPC wise, you need to grab some of the following people, though may as well get all of them: man walking around on the upper tier of the screen with the inn, fisherman at the docks (need to have saved 2 others first), the two women by the well who gave you soap. Once you’ve rescued all 4 and have recruited at least Yu, Flare suggests heading back, so do so, going all the way back to the war room. Along the way, Flare decides to stay. When you get to the war room, Setsu also decides to stay. When you’re ready, say “Let’s go!” and kick back and watch your escape.

**Stars of Destiny 27/108 Adrienne, Yu, Lino En Kuldes, Pablo, Haruto, Nico**

You find yourself on the deck, and before you can go inside, Kika shows up in her ship, and she invites you over to her place. Lino suggests following her. Before continuing on though, drop anchor and explore the ship. Take a nap in your bed, and when you try to leave your room, you will get a report from Tov about a room he doesn’t remember building. On the third deck, in the back, you’ll find Adrienne. Hand over the iron hammer you got from the Guardian, and now she can sharpen weapons to level 9 for you. Downstairs on the fifth deck, go to the first door on the left, the Forbidden Room that Tov mentioned, and when given an option, ask to come in. Go on in and meet Mao, to recruit him. Repeat the process, resting in bed and all, to recruit his brother, Nao. Now, if you want to, head up to Lino’s room (on the first deck) and look in his closets to get his clothes. If you do this, at the very end of the game, there will be a slight change in the ending movie, and Lino and Flare will wear their normal clothes instead of their royal garb, it is entirely optional. In my humble opinion, Lino looks better normal, Flare looks better in her royal garb.

**Stars of Destiny 29/108 Mao and Nao**

Now that your ship HQ is underway, Chadli finally opens his shop, replacing Chiepoo as your item shop. Anyways, head to Na-Nal. Right there on the dock, by the trading shop, you’ll see a guy with what look like ropes on his back. Talk to him to find out his name is Ugetsu and that he’s a fisherman without a boat. Invite him and he joins. Remember that chest with the Golden Hairball I mentioned earlier? Go open it, splat the hairball, and get your treasure map. Now go to the inn and find Manu there. Go ahead and recruit him to get an elevator for your ship. Head west past the item shop to the hot springs and talk to a guy there who is infatuated with a rune mistress. Next, go to the armor shop and talk to the man in front of it to find out he is also infatuated with her. Finally, go to the rune shop and ask to meet the Rune Master. Jeane will appear, and you can ask her to join you, she does. Head to the square to see Maxine, a woman in dark red robes, and battle her. She won’t join you now, but this is an important step along the way. Head back to your ship. You’ll notice that Rakgi is now the person who waits at the dock and asks if you’re ready to return to your ship.

**Stars of Destiny 32/108 Ugetsu, Manu, and Jeane**

On your ship, go to the fishing deck (the door to it is on the second deck in the same place as the door to your room on the first deck is), and fish with Ugetsu. You’ll soon pull in Shiramine, a net fisher that Ugetsu knows. It’s generally a good idea to have him cast the net when you head out for somewhere, and to pull it back in right before you dock. You’ll get lots of fish and other items.

**Stars of Destiny 33/108 Shiramine**

Now head to Nay island, remembering to cast your net before leaving and to pull it back up before you land, and you will catch a mermaid, Lilan. Lilin shows up and convinces her to join you, and she does so. While you’re exploring, go read Issue #1 of Perrault’s newspaper for an article on Bartholomew (it’s the middle one). After landing, go search along the shore of the beach to find a message bottle. By looking at it in your inventory, you can see it says only “Coral… donuts… small island…” which is pretty cryptic. Well get to it in a bit. For now head to the Nay-Kobold village, running into Maxine again along the way (she’s by a tree on the north side of the path through the field), if you’re up to par (I was about mid 30’s with my party of Lazlo, Tal, Paula, and Mitsuba), then fight her again, though it might be wiser to wait. She’s a powerful spell caster, is very fast, and has 3000 hit points. She uses a Cyclone rune, and does have access to the level 4 spell for it. However, if you have a wind or water rune, and plenty of jizo clocks and healing items, you should be fine. Defeat her or leave her alone for now, and when you approach the bridge on the next screen, a familiar looking girl (to fans of Suikoden, who will recognize her as Viki) will sneeze and suddenly appear, ask you where she is, then sneeze and disappear again. Continue into the Nay-Kobold village and talk to Bang at the lottery stand, and he asks you to let him join you. Accept, and then move on to the next screen. Inside the green house, you will find Bartholomew, talk to him and invite him to join you (if you didn’t read the Newspaper like I told you, he merely says something about bringing bad luck wherever he goes, and that you don’t want him). Go back to the trading post on your way out of town and buy a flower seed. Now head out of town, and by the bridge will be Viki again. She asks you to protect her. Accept, and she gives you the traditional blinking mirror (called the Glowing Hand Mirror in this game) and joins you.

**Stars of Destiny 37/108 Lilan, Bang, Bartholomew, and Viki**

Put Mizuki in your party and set sail for Iluya. Also, if you think you can handle it, take a party of at least 3 people (2 fighters and 1 support is acceptable) down to the training room on the fifth deck of your ship, first door on the right, and speak to Reinhold. This will allow you to train the members of your party by fighting other members of your army, in 5 rounds of combat with no break in between (I suggest having Yu as your support character for his Healing ability). However, you must first have enough combat usable characters for this to do so, meaning you need at least 17 combat useable characters (2 for your party, 3 per round for 5 rounds). We just barely reach that amount now. In the first round they are 10 levels below your own, then 8, then 4, then same level as you in the 4th round, and finally 2 levels above your own in the final round. If your party can make it through all 5 rounds of combat, you’ll gain a fury orb, which is an awesome orb in its own right, but if you can do it again a second time, you’ll get a Slash Orb. Equip this on a character you constantly keep in your party (I put it on Tal), and from now on, when you come across enemies that are trivial to you, instead of seeing “Let Go” in the place of your Retreat command, you’ll see “Flashes” which instantly kills all enemies, letting you have their potch and items, but without the hassles of fighting useless enemies. A very useful item to have for all this sailing we need to do. Not also that since the last round is always with opponents 2 levels above Lazlo’s, that this is an easy way to get your characters all the way to level 99. I would recommend hold off for a bit on it, but if you can do it now, go for it. Anyways, once you reach Iluya, make sure you have a flower seed, and that Mizuki is in your party.
After you land, go up the stairs and get the Ocean Rune Piece and Treasure Map from the chest, then continue along the path and get the Chinchilla Stand from the chest by the fence before going on through the circular door in the wall. On the next screen you will find a chest. This is another Angel Hairball, so leave it alone for now. However, examine the pyramid of boxes on the south side to get a treasure map. Go inside the tent (it’s marked as Kooluk Army Advanced Base (Indoor), but that’s a really freaking long name for a tent), and get another Ocean Rune Piece and Treasure Map from the chest. Now you’re probably wondering what they’re for. The ocean rune pieces are given to Tov to upgrade your ships for naval combat. The treasure maps are given to someone we haven’t recruited yet, but will soon, and used in treasure hunting, which is a mini game to get some excellent items. Now go inspect the trunk in the back of the tent to get Simple Wallpaper, then go back outside and continue west. On the next screen, on the east side is a chest with another Angel Hairball, so go to the west side and speak to Nataly. She asks to help you put an end to this war, so invite her and she joins. Continue south to the next screen to find a kind of mini maze. Head south and take the second right (west) into an area with an alcove in the outer wall. In that alcove is a girl who looks like a ninja. If you have Mizuki with you like I suggested, talk to her, and Mizuki will recognize her as Kate, a sister ninja. She will join you, if you accept. Go back to the central area and speak to the man there (you probably saw him along the way to grab Kate). His name is Izak and all he asks you for is a single flower seed, so he can plant it as a way to say farewell to a girl who lived there. Finally, continue to the back, to the alcove just south of the one Kate was in, to find a chest with Old Book Vol 7 in it.

**Stars of Destiny 40/108 Nataly, Kate, and Izak**

Head back to your ship and head on over to the deserted island (it’s southwest of Iluya, Nay, and Na-Nal, northwest of Obel, and almost directly east of Razril and Middleport on your map). Head all the way back to the subterranean lake and find Taisuke, who tells you that now is not a good time and that he needs to get dressed (this will happen just before you change screens from the tunnel to the lake), go talk to him (he’s in the water) then head all the way out (as you leave that screen, he tells you that his clothes are outside the cave). Come back after grabbing them and give them to him, and then he asks for privacy to get dressed, so back out to the beach you go, then back a third time to the cave to finally recruit him. Use the mirror to return to your ship, then have Viki send you back to the deserted island and go back to the lake a fourth time to find another mermaid there. This one is Lilen, and when she asks who you are, tell her that you’re a friend of Lilin and she’ll join you.

**Stars of Destiny 42/108 Taisuke and Lilen**

Now take your ship southeast, and almost directly south of Na-Nal island, even with the north most edge of Obel, you’ll find a tiny island called Donut Island (it looks kind like a donut). Along the way you may pass a tiny island just north of Obel, known as Mordo Island. There is nothing there for us now, so just go straight to Donut Island. Land there, and right in front of you will be a blonde girl with glasses and a green jacket, Rene. She says that you passed her test and that she’s been recruiting people to help her hunt for treasure. Agree to help her find treasure and she’ll join you.

**Stars of Destiny 43/108 Rene**

Ok, now that we’ve bulked up our forces a bit, let’s get on with the story and go visit Kika at her Nest of Pirates, in the southwest corner of the map. You can have Viki send you to the deserted island and then sail from there if you want, but the difference in distance isn’t that great really. Kika greets you and invites you inside, but let’s do a little looking around first. There’s an item shop and blacksmith here on the beach, and if you inspect the boxes by the item shop, you’ll find a treasure map. Go all the way west to find a chest with Pirate Bracers inside. Also, talk to the Pirate staring out to sea to hear his tale about a mermaid in the area. Now head inside the cave to find a bar, which houses an inn, and in the back, Kika’s own quarters. Go into Kika’s quarters to find a chest with an ocean rune piece and another treasure map, then come back out to the bar. Standing next to the bar itself is a man who looks out of place, so go talk to him. His name is Phil and he’s a tailor. He offers his services to you, so go ahead and accept to recruit him. Then go sit next to Kika to talk, and when given the choice, agree with Lino and ask Kika to fight together. You’ll recruit five pirates which brings us to almost halfway through all the stars.

**Stars of Destiny 49/108 Phil, Kika, Sigurd, Hervey, Dario, Nalleo**

Head back to your ship, then come right back into the Nest of Pirates (sail in, don’t teleport), to advance the story. You’ll probably notice a second ship next to yours. Kika has added her ship to your fleet, giving you a second ship for use in naval battles that is captained by her. When you arrive back, you find that a Knight of Gaien has washed ashore. You find out that it’s Katarina, who is surprised to see you alive, but in obvious pain. She tells you that Kooluk has taken Razril, sold out by Snowe, who is now captain of the Anti-Pirate task Force. Kika tells you to let her rest, and when you go out to the bar, you hear about Elenor, a tactician. Kika says she will help you set up a meeting with Elenor, and leave the actual recruitment of her to you. For now though, talk to the guy at the bar to save, and then leave.
Snowe will bring his Task Force to bear, and you will find yourself in a naval battle (Former Friend), but he’s no more competent a captain than he was before, and the battle is pretty easy. Equip fire and earth rune cannons to both ships and go to town. Follow Snowe after he retreats back to Razril to see what the people of Razril think of him. When given the choice ask him to join you. He refuses, and you set him and some Kooluk soldiers on a raft to drift. Now, have Viki teleport you to the Nest of Pirates, speak to the mermaid sighting man again, then head towards Hermitage Island, just north of the Nest of Pirates (you passed it on the way to Razril). Sigurd, Hervey, and Dario will come with you.
Go north two screens to reach Elenor’s hut, which is loaded with treasure, but first you must deal with Agnes, Elenor’s pupil, who offers you snacks and drinks while she gets Elenor. Thing is, they’re drugged. Elenor talks to each of you in your drugged states, and finally comes to you, and is impressed that you’ve managed to shake off most of the effects of the drug, so she invites you in for a drink. Ask her to join you, and she sends you on a little errand for her. She wants you to go retrieve everything from a box in a cave behind the hut. Of course, it’s not that easy, as now you’re alone, and there’s something she’s not telling you, but make your way there (grabbing 3 mega medicine and a skunk orb from a chest just to the right of the door once you’re outside the hut), and find yourself facing a Horned Behemoth. He’s not as hard as he looks. Hit him with Eternal Ordeal and he’ll go down in a couple rounds. Continue on to the back of the cave, to find a workbench. Examine it from the front to get a green bottle and a crest. Then go to the right side and examine the shelf to get a treasure map. Head back to Elenor and give the green bottle to Agnes, as it’s the antidote for the drug. Elenor agrees to join you and says after she’s had a few more drinks, she’ll join you on the ship. Take the door south to another room, and in the southeast corner is a stove (steam is coming from it), examine it for a crab bun. Go outside and Agnes tells you that the others went back to the ship and that she’s coming with Elenor. To the east is a chest with a copper hammer, inside the shack just north of that is another chest (hidden behind some barrels) with a treasure map. Finally, if you examine the well in the southwest corner of the courtyard, you’ll find an earth orb. Now make it back to your ship.

**Stars of Destiny 51/108 Elenor and Agnes**

Sail back to the Nest of Pirates and Lilon, another mermaid, will stop you. As soon as she finds out Lilin and the others are there, she joins you. Have Viki send you to Iluya, and right there on the docks is the fifth and final mermaid, Liloon. She’s kind of hidden, go up the stairs, to the end of the dock, and down a second set of stairs. She’s standing next to the wall. Talk to her and she asks to join and does so automatically.

**Stars of Destiny 53/108 Lilon and Liloon**

Save your game, then enter the war room. Elenor tells you to gather an army and unify the forces, but in order to do that, you need one leader, so you and Lino must settle it. You can’t avoid dueling him, not even to put it off for a minute, so just go straight for it.

“Come on! Let’s see what you’ve got.” = Guard
“I think I’ll save my energy a little.” = Guard
“Ok, first we’ll see how things go…” = Guard
“It’s my turn next.” = Attack
“All right, let’s get right down to it.” = Attack
“Guess I’ll start getting serious now…” = Special
“Hehehe… better be prepared for the next move…” = Special

After beating him (only took me two rounds with my newly sharpened to level 12 blades), he gives you the Golden Seal, recognizing you as the new king and commander of the ship. Elenor tells you to name the ship, so pick either Chiepoo’s suggestion (you’re a sick, sick person), Tov’s suggestion, or give it your own name. Then you get to name your group, and again there are two suggestions you can pick or give it your own name. Then tell the crew to launch the ship. Before we advance the story any further though, it’s time to go get some more stars.
Put together a party, then head to the Nest of Pirates and speak to Katarina. Tell her the truth, that the rune killed Glen, then answer however you like to her next question (I prefer asking her if I will die too), then she’ll ask to join you. Accept. Now head over to Hermitage Island, and on the second screen, stay close to the west wall, and soon, you’ll be attacked by Gau and four demon wolves. Defeat them, and he’ll remark about you being strong. Invite him to come with you and he joins. Continue north through the house until you come to the screen before the one where you fought the Behemoth, and you’ll find a man with a quiver of arrows who looks a bit out of place. Talk to him, and Aldo tell you he’s lost. Invite him to come with you. Return to the ship via the glowing mirror and go up to your room. Desmond will warn you of some scary people inside. Talk to them, and Jango and Brec practically force themselves into your army.

**Stars of Destiny 58/108 Katarina, Gau, Aldo, Jango, and Brec**

Now put Chiepoo in your party and head to Nay island. Chiepoo tells you he wants to go check out the trading post in the Nay-Kobold village, so make your way there (fighting Maxine if you haven’t already) and check the trading post out, then leave. On your way out, crossing the bridge, you’ll get bumped into a pair of Nay-Kobolds, Champo and Nalkul, only to find out that they stole the golden seal. Go back to town and find them by the pink building (a warehouse) next to the trading post. Nalkul tosses it to Champo, who ends up accidentally tossing it into the warehouse, where the mice take it away. After telling them who you are, tell them you’re relying on Champo to get that mouse. This introduces you to a mini-game of catching mice. It’s not that hard, just catch the mice and toss them in the cage. Once you’ve done so, you get the golden seal back, and they both join you.

**Stars of Destiny 60/108 Nalkul and Champo**

Remember my mentioning Mordo Island earlier? Head there now and loot the chest at the end of the docks for Window Set 4, and then check out some boxes by the hot spring for a treasure map. Finally, check out the hot spring itself. When the trio of “owners” tries to stick you with a 10,000-potch bill, fight them. After you defeat them, the Lo trio will join you. As you leave, they mention forgetting someone, so go back and find him on the dock now, in a white shirt. Recruit Igor and then leave.

**Stars of Destiny 64/108 Lo Fong, Lo Hak, Lo Seng, and Igor**

Time to advance the story, so head to your war room, where Elenor tells you the first island to gain the cooperation of is Middleport, so save your game and make your way there. Ramada warns you of a sea monster in the area. And sure enough, when you get close enough to Middleport, you find yourself being attacked by the Moving Isle and its four tentacles. However, because it’s not actually one the ship, you’re unable to harm them with regular attacks, so make good use of your runes. Attack all enemy spells like Berserk Blow, any fire magic really, and Double Edged Sword work wonders until the tentacles are gone, then use your big single target spells on the Isle, having your melees heal Lazlo and your other casters. Afterwards, Elenor asks you whom you’re bringing, add Sigurd to your party. Ramada also comes with, and then you land, and then you find out that you just killed the Lord’s pet, Little Daisy, and Micky and Reinbach will join you for now to go see Reinbach’s father. Well, it turns out he trades with Cray, so he can’t help you, but you have full access to the town again. Time for some more recruiting.
Head to the inn to find Deborah and Oskar. Talk to Deborah and she decides she has to join you, Oskar comes along as well, though it doesn’t tell you (he’s a stowaway). Talk to the women in the group and one of them will give you an interior design book. Next time we see Pecola, we’ll use that to recruit her. For now, go back to the docks, and you’ll find a man who is mostly bald (just a few tufts of white hair) by the trading post. Talk to him, Sigurd still in party. Head back to your ship and Reinbach and Micky show up, asking to join you. But first they want you to run an errand for them. He wants you to bring him a Rose Crest, made by an engraver friend of his. Anyways, return to your ship, take Sigurd out of the party, and go back to talk to Keen, who offers to join you if you pay him 10,000 potch. Now head to the inn on Nay island, and in the northwest room (the one that had the chest earlier), you will find Gareth. Talk to him to get the Rose Brooch, talk to the man in the southwest room to hear a rumor of a violent girl who wrecked an inn, and bring then return to Reinbach. Give him the crest and both he and Micky join. Head to the inn and find Helga outside, apologizing for destroying the inn. Ask her to lend you her strength, then talk to her and ask again, the woman asks for you to pay for the damages, and in comes Charlemagne to act as mediator, offering a great deal: he pays for the damages and you get another member to your army. Remember what we had to do with Taisuke? It’s pretty much the same with Charlemagne, except you need to leace the whole island and come back. Talk to him now for the first time. Feel free to leave him be for now though, we’re going to be coming back for another recruit in a couple of minutes. If Gunter is still here, go play dice with him again. Then head back to your ship, putting Reinbach into your party, and go back to talk to Gareth to recruit him. Then come back to Middleport, talk to Charlemagne again, and in front of the Lord’s manor you will find Etienne, who will join you. Leave, then come back one more time to recruit Charlemagne finally.

**Stars of Destiny 73/108 Micky, Reinbach III, Deborah, Oskar, Helga, Charlemagne, Etienne, Gareth, Keen**

Having just surpassed the magic number of 70 stars recruited, do not go into your war room until you are ready. By ready I mean make sure Lazlo, Lino En Kuldes, and one other character of your choosing (Tal, Kika, and Jeane are all good choices) are equipped with the best gear you can find for them, have level 12 weapons, and are at least level 40, if not between 45 and 50. Even if you’re playing a New Game+, this is a lot of money, just for the weapon sharpening. So take advantage of Rene and do some treasure hunting. If that’s not enough, you can try Rita-Pon or any of the other games on your ship, or just go farm for potch until you’re ready. It’s a lot of work, but you’re soon going to be going to a one time only dungeon (that means no coming out till you’re done) that has some decent level monsters, with just those 3 characters. And if you pick a mage character like Jeane or Katarina, make sure to bring plenty of mint, mushrooms, and mixed herbs with you (which means playing Mao and Nao’s games, mushrooms restore 1 cast of each spell level, mint restores all casts of level 1 spells, mixed herbs restore all casts of all levels). And the effort is worth it, for at the end, you will get, hands down, the most powerful character in the game, with the exception of maybe Lazlo. If you just want to play the game for the story, this is a part of that story. If you want to powerhouse through the game, this is your powerhouse. Besides, it’s one of the stars of destiny. Trust me, it’s worth it. When you’re ready, rest, save, and go into your war room.
You’re ship will suddenly rock, and Nico will shout that another ship just came out of nowhere. Lino says that two people, including himself, should be enough to check it out, but toss a 4th person, Yu, in the mix. Throw in the other character you’ve been working on, and get ready for an interesting dungeon. A robed man appears, offering to lead you to the captain. You find yourself aboard the fog ship. The dungeon is pretty straightforward (it’s a straight path and 3 screens), but that doesn’t make it any easier. The Dead Blades will rise again if there’s even one enemy still standing, and there’s only 3 of you to fight, so your best bet is do a lot of damage all in one round. Along the way, the robed man will ask you questions. By about the end of the second map, you’re probably wondering what the big fuss was about. Well, you’re now well equipped and prepared for this dungeon, and more importantly, its boss. The Fog Ship Guide will offer you the chance to be free of the curse of your rune, at the cost of never leaving the ship. Tell him where he can shove it, and the robed man will remove his hood, revealing himself to be Ted (yes, THE Ted), and join you in the fight, wanting to get back his own rune, the Soul Eater. The Guide is level 50, and has 7000 hit points, and oh yeah, he has the Soul Eater and does use it. I told you to come prepared. On the plus side, Ted has a water rune, and if you brought along a spell caster with another one, you’ll be set on heals. After defeating him, make sure to grab the Pirate King Vest from the chest in the circular room before running out. Congratulations, you just got a character that you will likely never take out of your party. Return to your ship. Ted is one of the game’s most powerful magic users (only Jeane, Maxine, and Warlock can compete), with a high level of affinity for all magic (plus he has one of the most offensively powerful True Runes permanently equipped), and in straight up combat he’s about equal to Lazlo, trading some defense for more speed.

**Stars of Destiny 74/108 Ted**

[WaterMoon]

**Stars of Destiny 74/108 Ted**

If you haven’t done Reinhold’s training room yet, now is a great opportunity. Make sure you have the following items though: Rage Orb (treasure map 1, equip on Lazlo), Mother Earth Orb (treasure map 29, equip on Ted), 6 Speed Rings (can buy from Chadli for 20,000 potch each, equip 3 on Ted and the other 3 on Lazlo), and if you want to wait a bit longer until we have 80 or more stars, a Robe of the Dead (talk to Phil to have it tailored once you have 80+ stars, costs 2 silk and 2 bone, equip on Ted to boost his magic and some other attributes by 30). You can also replace one of the Speed Rings with a Magic Canceller (1 Dragons Bone and 1 Pearl Shell, made by any of the mermaids in the accessory atelier) equipped on Ted to help him survive the attacks that will almost certainly be directed at him if something survives (this happens most often in the fifth and final round), but I don’t recommend it, as that loss of 15 more speed means that a lot more attacks will be likely to be made before he acts. Once you’ve done so, you can easily fight your way through to high levels, and get lots of slash orbs guaranteeing that you can bypass most pesky enemies, using only Lazlo, Ted, and Yu in support. Simply have Lazlo use Blazing Wall (rage rune level 2) and Ted use Black Shadow (Soul Eater level 2) for the first round. Repeat the second round until Ted get to a point where he has 3 level 3 spells (shouldn’t take long), at which point you can have him use Earthquake (Mother Earth level 3) in round 2. Rounds 3 and 4 have Lazlo cast Explosion (Rage level 3) and Ted cast Earthquake. Finally in round 5, have them combine to cast Scorched Earth. With Ted’s amazing magic score and being as fast as he is, he will usually act before anything else, and will kill 2, if not all 3 opponents in one single strike, and Lazlo will usually act right behind him to clear out the remains. I wouldn’t use Earthquake during the first round until you have 5 casts of level 3 magic, just in case in round 5 you have something magic resistant enough, or with enough hit points, to survive Scorched Earth. Like Aldo and Jeane, whom you will hate seeing in the late rounds as they’ll still be standing normally while everyone else is either defeated or visibly low on hit points.
At this point, when you’re ready to advance the story, head to Na-Nal island. The game won’t tell you about it, unless you look on your map while sailing, but it’s been removed from your teleport list, so have Viki send you to Nay harbor then sail over to Na-Nal from there. Lino joins you, telling you the local chief has a bad temper. When you land, you find Kooluk soldiers on the island, two of them standing near the stairs up. Talk to them and find yourself in a couple fights, and once you beat them, Axel shows up and his men surround you, then take you to the chief for a talk. He tells you to steal the elven remedy from the great tree, but makes you wait in the “inn” until nightfall (it’s basically a cell). Inside is a chest with Old Book Vol 4, so grab it then rest on the wooden bed. Head to the northwest exit and follow it to the tree. Inside you’ll see a cut scene then grab the remedy. The chief insults you some, then has Axel escort you to the harbor. Selma stops you and asks you to come speak to the elf elder, who tosses you in jail, revealing that this was all part of his plot to teach the humans of the island a lesson. Talk to the members of your party and then Selma comes and sets you free. Head back to the village to learn that the remedy was actually a poison, and the Kooluk attack you. Fight them through a series of three battles. The chief then shows up and orders Axel to join you. Head towards the docks, and along the way you should see Gunter (right near the stairs in the screen with the rune shop), so play another game of dice with him. Continue on to the docks, and you’ll find Selma behind the trading post. Talk to her and she asks to join you, so accept. Leave the island and come back, then go to the inn to find a kid and his mom standing out front. Talk to them and she asks you to bring her son, Eugene, with you to toughen him up. I love his responses, such an emo spearman.

**Stars of Destiny 77/108 Axel, Selma, Eugene**

Now head to Nay Island, just sail there as it’s close by and is now missing from the teleport list. Head back to the chief’s house (it’s the one just east of the blacksmith, remember?) and talk to the man by the window (he’s the chief) 3 times, then show him the golden seal, and he’ll agree to help, telling you to come back later, as he has some people he wants to introduce you to. So leave to the world map and sail back into the harbor and go see him again, and he introduces you to Kevin and Pam, the couple that washed ashore from the attack in Iluya. They join you, and will now make things for you from the fish you’ve been pulling in via the nets, as well as selling various healing buns. Head back to your ship, put Reinbach in your party, teleport to Middleport and talk to the man in the brown vest to hear about a bride for Reinbach, then head to Na-Nal (teleporting works), and on the beach you will find some men harassing Millay, the bride to be. Save her (even though she’s a decent fighter in her own right), and offer to let her come with you. Reinbach will tell her who he is, and how it was his father, not him who sent the men after her. She then joins you.

**Stars of Destiny 80/108 Kevin, Pam, and Millay**

Head to your war room and Elenor tells you it’s time to retake Razril, but first, put Mitsuba in your part and head to the square in Na-Nal, where you fought Mitsuba and Maxine, to find Jeremy. He wants a rematch with Mitsuba, but he can be convinced to join you instead. Teleport to Middleport, put Katarina in your party, then save your game and take the ship to Razril, where you’ll find yourself in a naval battle (Regaining Razril).

**Stars of Destiny 81/108 Jeremy**

There are 3 ships to your two, but all you need to equip are earth and fire rune cannons, as early on the ship with Gaien soldiers swaps sides and joins you. For fun, put Jeane on a rune cannon too, then go straight for Helmut’s ship, and when he’s turned away from you, and let loose. Sink his ship to win, then invite him to join you. He accepts, and now you have 3 ships in your fleet. The other two knights of the initial 4 will now join you as well. Wander around town, talking to everyone, to send some of the NPC’s to the hall of knights (you need to send at least 7 there), then go to the training hall. Along the way find a chest with 5 platinum (right near where you land), and Window Set 9, from a man in the area where you performed the kindling ritual at the very beginning. There are 3 people in the kindling area map who will go, 1 person and a star (Basil) on the large square area where the banquet was (just ask Basil to join and he does), Maxine and Konrad in the inn (Maxine will join if you ask, Konrad will only if you have Katarina with you), another in the main dock area of the town, Frederica is in the item shop but won’t join us yet (she will in a few minutes), 2 more people at the knights dock area, and 2 more in the knights courtyard. Go to the training hall and give a speech. Afterwards, Lord Vingerhut shows up and has his knights attack you, afterwards the townspeople chase him off. After a scene between Troy, Cray, and Colton, you fnd yourself back in Razril in the evening. Go back and talk to Frederica who may join you now (or not). Head back to the courtyard and find a chest with the silver hammer inside. Head inside to speak to Funghi twice to recruit him. Go back into the training hall to get the hero’s shield from a chest. Go back towards the docks where you landed for a talk with the 4 knights. This is a major event, so try Frederica again if she didn’t join you before, then go rest at the inn or in your room in the hall, and in the morning, head all the way to the roof of the hall to recruit Ameria and get the guardian bracelet and treasure map from the chest. Head back out and if you didn’t get Frederica the night before, do so now. Outside the armor shop is Gretchen, so talk to her and recruit her too. Karl can be found in the alley. Now leave the town, and Snowe will attack you again, this time as a pirate, and the naval battle “Battle Once More” will commence.

**Stars of Destiny 92/108 Helmut, Knight #3, Knight #4, Basil, Maxine, Konrad, Funghi, Frederica, Ameria, Gretchen, Karl**

This battle is a joke. Use water runes, take him out, and when given the option, again ask him to join you. Again he refuses and gets set adrift. Now head to the Nest of Pirates (you must sail there, as Viki can’t teleport you) and find a woman who wasn’t there before, named Tanya. Talk to her to find out she’s looking for Elenor. Offer to introduce her and she joins, setting up your library. Now go to the back of the fifth deck to talk with Pablo to learn about Warlock. Head to Middleport and go to the far end of the western alley, examine the treasure chest inside the house, answer 24 potch, and find yourself underground. Get the ocean rune piece and treasure map from the chest, then continue west. This next area has 5 branches, not counting the one we just came in. At the first intersection, take a right and go north until the road forks again. Take the left fork to find some great earth armor. Head back to the initial fork, then continue along to the southernmost branch to get Sliding Door. Then cross the bridge of the central branch north to the next screen. This screen has 3 forks (or 2, one having 3 prongs if you think of it that way). Go straight through the first 2 forks (stay on the middle path) then go right at the third to get an ivory robe. Go back a bit to the second fork and take a right (was left earlier), to the next screen. Go all the way straight to get Canvas #2. Back track a bit to the first turn, right before the bridge, of this screen to fight the Land Dragon, boss of this mini dungeon. It has 5000 hit points, so if you leveled up Ted in the training hall, it will go down in 2 rounds, 3 at most, by using Judgment on it. Continue north to the next screen, and before talking to Warlock, examine the bookshelf next to him to get Old Book Vol 8. Talk to him, ask him to join, and he will. Make your way back to your ship, then sail right back into Middleport and head for the empty house that Warlock was hiding under to find Pecola. If you got the interior design book earlier, talk to her and she joins. If not, she may not be here, so go grab it from the woman who had it.

**Stars of Destiny 95/108 Tanya, Warlock, Pecola**

Head back to the Nest of Pirates now (still can’t teleport there, so head to Hermitage Island and sail over). Inside the bar, you’ll see a cut scene telling you it’s time to retake Obel, and Elenor asks you if you’ve mad up your mind. Answer her however you like, it doesn’t affect the story any, then you see a cut scene of Ramada. Once it ends, you find yourself on the world map, so lead your fleet of ships to Obel to begin a cut scene with Lino in his proper royal attire declaring that he has returned (now we know why he dresses the way he does). After the cut scene begins a pair of naval battles. But first, Elenor tells you that you are splitting your forces in two, and asks you which ship you wish for the Gaien ship to join, your HQ (by whatever name you gave it) or the Grishend. Pick whichever one you want, it makes no difference, as you start with your HQ, and in the 2nd round, the Grishend shows up. The Gaien ship appears with whichever team you sent it with. Make sure the fighters on your ships are well geared. I had a team of all level 99 characters on the Gaien ship (Reinbach, Keneth, Karl, Izak) but they all had their weapons at the same level I got the characters at. Needless to say, when they got boarded by the flagship, it was a long fight.
In the first one (For Obel’s Freedom), you face two ships, equipped with lightning/water and wind/earth respectively. Toss lightning/wind on each of your ships, and go to town. Watch Jeane tear apart Colton’s ship. Afterwards, Flare shows up with a ship that Elenor knew about (bringing your fleet to 4 ships total), and then the governor’s fleet appears, starting the second battle (Mysterious Fleet). This battle is even easier than the last, so swap out your lightning runes for fire ones and tear these small ships apart (they don’t even move). Once the battle ends, you find that the ships are a suicide attempt to come at you. Elenor tells you to use the rune, but others try to insist not to. Go ahead and use the rune (you can choose not to, and after 3 times of choosing not to, you get game over). After some more scenage, you’re in the rune again. You know what to do by now, only this time it’s Glen. Afterwards, you’ve regained Obel, and Flare and Setsu finally join you. But that’s not all, now we can finish off the last of our 108 stars, all but one of them here in Obel.

**Stars of Destiny 97/108 Flare and Setsu**

Put together a full party, make sure you bring Yu with you, head up to speak with Nico (he’s on the deck, when you first enter it, you’ll see Ramada’s bird bringing the map that Ramada gave it DO NOT enter your war room after viewing this until you have 108 stars and are ready to go into the end game), then head into town. On the docks you’ll see a girl in a yellow jacket. This is Wendel and she’s a huge fan of Nico, so accept her request to join you. Now head up into town a bit more and talk to Nabakov at the appraisal shop, and accept his offer to join. Continue north to find a blonde woman in a dress. She recognizes Dr Yu (Carrie is the nurse who assists him) and Yu invites her, asking your permission. Say yes. Up on the next tier we find Gunter again, but this time you can just ask him to join instead of playing him and he does. Head over in front of the inn to find a man in black with a sword on his back and talk to him. Trishtan is what we call a hypochondriac, thinking he’s sick without the “medicine” that Yu gives him, even when Yu tells him that he’s healthier than the average person. So Yu invites him to join you in return for more “medicine”, to which he agrees. After he leaves, Yu tells you the medicine is just flour. Head north again and talk to Gary and Ema, and they ask to join you, accept. Buy an escape talisman from the item shop if you don’t already have one. Enter the palace, all the way to the throne room and look behind the throne to find Noah. Keep talking to her and she joins you. Now head all the way back through the ruins to where we got Rikie and Rakgi earlier (remember to defeat the angel hairball in that chest we left alone along the way to get the golden hammer), to find a red haired guy there. You have to fight the Killer Golem first, but if you’ve got a good party (mine was Lazlo, Ted, Tal, and Jeane, all level 99) then this fight is a joke. Ted constitutes a good party if he’s level 99. It has 12,000 hit points, but goes down quick with Judgment. Or if you’re party is all level 99 with a slash rune equipped, you can kill him with Flashes (he doesn’t really count as a boss). Then talk to Travis, and he asks you to show him how an escape talisman works, so use one. Well crap. Head all the way back and talk to him again and he apologizes for tricking you and joins. Now return to your ship and swap Yu out for Cedric (don’t spend all your potch sharpening weapons just yet, we need 5000 for the next person), then head back into Obel, towards the cave where your ship used to be hidden. Inside will be a red haired girl named Rachel. She’s the one who was hired to hunt down Cedric to make him pay for all his skipped meals. Pay her the 5000 potch and she joins. Only one star left to go.

**Stars of Destiny 107/108 Wendel, Nabakov, Carrie, Gunter, Trishtan, Gary, Ema, Noah, Travis, Rachel**

Head to Mordo Island now (if you teleport there, you’ll have to leave and sail back in) and talk to the man standing on the docks in front of the baths, he tells you about someone floating out in the sea. Head back to your ship and start sailing due west, and eventually Nico will spot someone floating out there. It’s Snowe! Now you know why we let him live both of those times. Your four knight friends are on hand, and one of them asks you what you should do (was Jewel for me, but this may differ from game to game). Ask him to join you and he accepts. Now that you’ve got all 108 stars, your Rune of Punishment just got a LOT more useful. How so, you ask? Simply put, by constantly forgiving Snowe, as well as by putting to rest the souls of the previous rune bearers, you have kicked the Rune of Punishment into its Atonement phase. What does this mean for you? Well, primarily it means you no longer get hurt from using it. All negative effects are now gone. Additionally, you get some extra stuff to your ending, and you can carry over a completed save game from this game into Suikoden Tactics, and Lazlo and Snowe will be playable characters then.

**Stars of Destiny 108/108 Snowe**

Alright, we’re coming up on the endgame, so now is the time to start getting your teams (yes, I said teams, not just team) ready, as well as start preparing for the next game. If you need more potch, Obel Ruins are a great place to go (especially since every time you leave the island and come back, the Killer Golem is back for an easy 30,000 potch each time. The deserted island does the same thing with the giant crab, which drops 25,000 potch. Double that with the prosperity rune equipped and you can quickly make a fortune), but first, let’s head to some more treasure hunting islands. In the northwest corner of the map, almost due west of Iluya along the western edge of the map is Mountain Mass Island. There are two screens here, the beach, and the cliffs. Go up into the cliffs to find it a series of 4 paths that all end in a dead end. Each of these have chests with items that include: Silk Shoes, 10,000 potch, mixed herbs, and a golden hairball (with diamond x5, and most importantly, a prosperity orb). Equip it to a character for now to help in money gathering, but remember to remove it before going into your war room to advance the story. In the southwest corner, due south from Razril and Middleport, just a little further south than even with the Nest of Pirates, is Lime Shelf Island. There is one chest here, containing a treasure map. These two islands, along with Mordo and Donut Islands, are the 4 islands that the treasures on Rene’s maps are located. There are some excellent treasures among them, such as higher-level elemental runes of all 5 types, armor set pieces, etc. While farming for potch or items, have Noah (potch) or Oskar (items) as your support character, as they have the highest rank in their respective support skills. Also, you need to pick now 7 characters you want to use for the end game, and equip them up, sharpening their weapons and so on. Now that Adrienne has the golden hammer, and that you have all 108 stars, she and Phil are able to make their best armor items. You can equip them now if you like (you may need to farm some items to make various pieces), but I suggest getting generic shop bought armors like the gold armor set to put on your characters, and save some of the better stuff for your New Game+. The pirate king and hero sets are ok to wear now, as they do not carry over. Snowe, although a very late addition, is an excellent choice for a member of Lazlo’s party, as he has an excellent unite attack with Lazlo. It will take some work to get him up though. Other good picks are Tal, Kika, Lino, Ted, Jeane, Warlock, and Maxine, though if you’ve got both parties at level 99 with level 16 weapons, who you pick doesn’t matter so much anymore.
Once you’ve got both parties geared, sharpened, etc, head into your war room. Elenor tells you of her plan to send a strike team in to destroy the large rune cannon while the main fleet takes on the Kooluk 1st fleet. Elenor asks if you’re ready, which you are, so tell her as such. She tells you to come see her to set up the party when ready. We already are, so go ahead and do so. It doesn’t matter if you let her go or not, she does anyways. The strike team group will be separated from the rest of your army for a while, and unable to participate in anything else (like helping your second party, or the upcoming naval battle). After setting up your parties, and are ready to go, go to your room and rest, starting the next day. This is your last chance to leave your ship before the final battle begins so get it out of the way now if you need something. If not, go talk to Elenor and tell her you’re ready to continue. This will lead into Elenor’s last big speech, and then it will be nighttime. You can rest in your bed now to advance, or go ahead and wander the ship and talk to people. There are actual scenes for Kika (on the deck behind where you find yourself at first), Sigurd and Hervey (also on the deck), Elenor (her room), Lino (in his room, with some interesting clues into Lazlo’s parentage), the trio of Rene, Rita, and Noah (saloon), Rikie and Rakgi (in their room on the fourth deck, starts a montage of what everyone in the ship is doing), Katarina (in her room across from Rikie and Rakgi, less a scene as a special discussion), Frederica (in the library on the fourth deck, same as Katarina, not really a scene), Helmut and Colton (by the cells on fifth deck), Pablo and Tov (rune cannon room on the fifth deck), and upon returning to your room, Snowe. Afterwards, rest in your bed, and view a scene with Leknaat telling you that the Rune of Punishment has moved into the forgiveness phase, and that if you ever let the rune go, it will resume hopping from host to host, killing them quickly.
Head to the deck of your ship (if you tried to tell Elenor she can’t go, she locks you in your room until you allow her to) to start the next part, where Setsu (if you have Lino in the away team), or Lino himself (if not) worries about them. You now control Elenor and the away team. Move up the cliff a bit to start a movie and see how Elenor’s plan works out (the mermaids finally contribute something more than making accessories). Then begins the final naval battle of the game (properly named “Final Engagement”). You have to destroy the whole fleet, but Troy’s ship has 4 different rune cannons on it, so it’s difficult to predict. The other two are wind/earth and lightning/water, so equip wind and lightning on all your ships, make sure the fighters in your fastest ship (mine was my HQ ship) are excellent, as your going to use it to quickly close in and board Troy’s ship. After the battle ends, you have control once more of Elenor and her party. There is a chest in the far south corner of the top of the cliff. On the next screen, go down the stairs on the east side (closest to the door you came in) to find a chest with the Hero’s Helmet, as well as a cape of darkness on a dead body at the very end. Go back upstairs, then take the other set of stairs up another floor. On the south end of this screen is a chest with an angel hairball in it guarding a chaos shield. If you want to tackle it now, go for it, though I recommend waiting and doing it with your real party. Either way works however. Afterwards, head upstairs another floor, and in the southeast alcove is a chest with a goddess robe. Head up another floor, and then head to the southern portion of this floor to find a chest with mixed herbs, mega medicine, and a fortune orb (can’t use this game, but in new game + can equip to a character to gain double experience from every fight). Make sure you’re all healed up and go through the door next to you for a confrontation with Cray. After the movie you get to fight him. He’s not much of a boss though, intended for lower level characters in their 40’s, and only has 4000 hit points. My party for this fight consisted of Lino, Paula, Kika, and Maxine, all level 99, no equipment, weapons at level 12, and he died on the first move of the third round. After this there’s another movie, and then you have control of Lazlo and his party (you can speak with Agnes to change your party members if you want). Make your way back up to the same point (getting the angel hairball if you missed it earlier), and on the west side is a door. Enter it and grab the sparkling item on the desk to get the stair room key. Go back down two floors and enter the room in the center of the floor. Underneath the staircase is a chest with a magic canceller inside. Go up the stairs, which continue in a circular pattern (or a square pattern, I guess), and on the third screen of stairs, shortly after going on that screen, find another chest with mixed herbs inside. Continue to the top and save your game at the crystal, the final boss battle is within.
Cray is standing before a giant tree, and he mentions the rune returning to him, and he asks you about a small child within the rune. However you answer, he tells you that he one possessed the rune, and we surmise he cut his own hand off to separate from it, but now he wants it back. He awakens the tree behind him, and thus begins the final boss battle. The leaves of the giant tree have 6 colors, representing 6 stages, 5 elements and 1 universal. Red equals fire, blue water, green wind, orange lightning and yellow earth. Bright white means it is charged up and prepared to perform its own version of a combo magic attack. The tree itself has 13,000 hit points, but it also has 2 seeds of light with 3,000 hit points each, and the tree can resurrect them. Take out the seeds then unleash spells on the tree as hard as you can (Judgment is wonderful here). My party consisted of Lazlo, Ted, Tal, and Snowe (normally I bring a second magic user with the upper level version of their preferred elemental rune and a flowing rune, i.e. Jeane with a Thunder rune, but I wanted to test Snowe out with his flimsy water rune), no equipment, weapons at level 16, and of course all level 99 characters, and the seeds took 2 rounds each, using Double Edged Sword and Black Shadow, plus Tal and Snowe attacking, then the Tree itself, using Eternal Ordeal and Judgement, using Everlasting Mercy after the combo magic attack, and it died around the 8th round, just as it resurrected the seeds again. I used one Mixed Herbs to restore Ted’s magic. Had I been using a real party (again, example being Jeane with Thunder and Flowing runes, a good party is Lazlo and another good fighter as well as Ted and another good mage), the fight would have ended in fewer rounds, even less had I kept the Rage and Mother Earth runes on Lazlo and Ted, as well as actually equipped items on the party, such as magic rings, etc. Another good thing to do is equip a combat based rune on your combat character (I had the Slash Rune on Tal, but I could have put it on Lazlo and put a fury rune on Tal). There are LOTS of ways to make it go quicker, I chose to show a kind of worst-case scenario.
After you defeat the tree, it explodes, revealing that it was full of rune cannon shells, and Cray realizes the rune of punishment has chosen you. The castle starts to fall apart and Elenor tells you to run, so do so, all the way outside, down the cliff, and back onto the ship via Rakgi. Your ship gets rammed and you jump onto Troy’s vessel, to duel him. This is the last battle in the entire game, and sadly, the easiest. Troy opens by saying “You… Cannot see my intentions…” but he couldn’t be any clearer in what he says. When he guards he grunts, if he says anything at all. His attacks are pretty bland statements, whereas his special attacks emphasize it being the last move. His special attack does a LOT of damage, so do NOT let it connect.

“Humph…” = Guard
“…” = Guard
“Yield to my sword…” = Attack
“Here I go” = Attack
“Sorry… but I will take your life with one more move.” = Special
“I’ll settle this with the next move.” = Special
“Prepare yourself!” = Special

After you defeat Troy, you can choose to ask him to join you or not, it doesn’t matter as he refuses, and his ship begins to sink. As it does so, he finally recognizes you as the person he let go near the beginning of the game. Elenor and Cray have a little chat. The fortress then explodes and you’re forced to use the Rune to save everyone, finding yourself within the rune again (sorry, no level 5 spell after this one), where you come across the spirit of a woman, protected in a green field much like you were when Brandeau tried to kill you with the rune. Afterwards, see Flare and Lino again in Obel (if you stole the his clothes earlier, they will be dressed normally, if not, they will be in their royal garb).

Congratulations, you just beat the game. After the “where are they now” segment and some credits, you will see a small movie, and then get an additional small movie (if you got all 108 stars), and then have the option to save your game. Go ahead and do so. You can load this save game data into Suikoden Tactics to unlock Lazlo and Snowe as playable characters there (and Lazlo is easily the most powerful character in that game, though Kyril, the main character, is a very close second). You can also, when you feel like coming back and playing Suikoden IV again, instead of selecting new game, can load this file and will be in a New Game+, where all items and gear you did not have equipped will carry over except for rare items (glowing hand mirror, ocean rune pieces, etc), unique items (old books, treasure maps, canvases, Snowe’s other outfits, decoration items), the Hero’s Armor set, and the Pirate King Armor set.

[WaterMoon]

Alright, so the story section of the walkthrough is done. I made sure to have a second save file just after I got Snowe so I can run through and get information on all the extra stuff like mini-games, locations of materials for making armor and accesories (including which monsters drop what), and so on. I'll likely work on those a lot slower than I did on the walkthrough, as I'll only spend maybe an hour per night during the week, and 3 or 4 hours during weekends, adding in extra info while I work on other stuff. I'll talk to kornholio about uploading this to the site, and not just the forums, as well as submitting it eventually to GameFAQ's when all is said and done.

If anyone has any questions, any at all, please ask them. If you see something wrong in my guide, let me know. For now though, I need sleep.

[27x4=108]

is so short, lol, joke

[WaterMoon]

Actually, it is really short. I've got 3 playthroughs on this one save, one of them this one which took longer for typing out the walkthrough, grand total time is about 119 hours, so longer than Suikoden I (I can beat it in under 20 hours, without cheating) but still pretty short compared to II, III, and V