Noob Tips / Advice?

[Andrew R]

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed w/ the multiple mechanics & recruiting everyone.

Probably reading too much into it. :P

[Friend Computer]

It's fine to replay. Modern Gaming and encouraging everyone to 100% completion on your first playthrough is not a mindset to walk into these games with. Infact if you get the "True" / "Good" ending, you will actually miss certain content, rewarding replay to some degree.

Step 2: On Recruitment: Decide if you want to go in blind for your first playthrough or use a guide. If you go in blind: Re-read the above point. If you want to use a guide, here are two links for you:

[Suikoden 1]: https://www.suikosource.com/games/sod.php?pf=S1
[Suikoden 2]: https://www.suikosource.com/games/sod.php?pf=S2

Now Breathe, you've already addressed the biggest amount of moving parts.

Netx: Practice good JRPG habits: Save Often and multiple saves just in case. Some character can permanently die due to player choices. It wont be from the small scale battles (typical random encounters). If they die, reload from a previous save if you're going for that 108 Star of Destiny True Ending. From personal experience in Suikoden 2 the Chisatsu Star (Gilbert) seems to die really easily. I don't know if that's my bad RNG or if that's coding.


Cool now that we've addressed the biggest hurdles here are the smaller ones:

The Minigames: It sounds daunting, but they're not. They're time killers and way to make some Potch or get some treasure (some are even required to do a few times to recruit people).

Trading: Again, a way to make money. Some of this is obvious watching buy low/sell high. Others have low key world building if you talk to the NPCs in any given settlement (including the trading merchant). Note this is not the Item merchant where you can buy Medicine and stuff, this is the person you can buy Ancient Texts and Crystal Balls and other things from.

Unite Attacks: They just need to be in your party, in a position they can make a normal attack and the first person in the unite attack is who you enter in the command for (Example: Riou and Jowy's Buddy Attack: Whoever is first in your turn order out of Riou and Jowy is who you issue the command for)

Duels: They're rock paper scissors and the comments they make before are indicators on their next action they take (It's Suikoden 5 that has a boss that's a little unclear about this, not Suikoden 1 or 2)

This looks like a huge wall of text and might seem daunting OP, but it's only because you're seeing it all at once.

Spellcasting: You might be used to MP systems in other games but this uses a Spell Slot system akin to D&D. It's a little weird if it's your first exposure to it, but it quickly becomes normal. Just use Inns to rest as needed and learn to ration your spellcasting until you feel confident in how you're playing the game.

[Ray Rook]

In Suikoden 1, get Kai as a recruit as soon as you can. His unite with the MC hits the entire enemy team. You can get him early with some good JRPG exploration.

In Suikoden 1 and 2, you can do the dice and cup game to max potch and save scum if you lose. Just save before doing it and then keep doubling the potch. I know it works in Suikoden 1, but I'm fuzzy on 2. There was a glitch that made getting potch easier in 2 so I'm not entirely sure.

[war_lion108]

I would advise you to just play and make the decisions you think are best. Check for recruit-able characters by warping to various towns after major arcs. Be ok with not 100% a game the first time you play it, or be ok with spoilers if you absolutely have to have a perfect file in one go. Some recruitment guides people point to as being spoiler free, but you're always going to have to look at the next one on the list to be prepared and sometimes the next recruit is an enemy.

[Furry Wrecking Crew]

Andrew R eredeti hozzászólása:

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed w/ the multiple mechanics & recruiting everyone.

Probably reading too much into it. :P

It's one of the easiest JRPGs ever made. This isn't an in-depth strategy RPG with tons of nuance and rulesets. Just play and win easily.

[EasyOut]

honestly if you haven't played either, one isn't hard at all, and one trains you for two. plus you can grind pretty easily especially if they have 2x battle because most of suikoden is done via autobattle for your normal encounters and unlike EC two characters may attack at once during the auto. so if you get stuck, wander around the area, and level up a few times, then tackle it again.

[Mugiwara]

As others have said it is not the hardest game and get Kai early. Prioritise sharpening weapons of your core group and keeping their armour and gear upgraded.

Having Stallion in your party is a good QOL that allows you to move much faster. Luc is the most OP mage in the first game but very squishy. Give Viktor the clone rune for double damage. He will be out of action for the next turn, but once you get the Dragon Seal Incense he can use that in boss battles to AOE heal on his off turn. Keep an escape Talisman in your inventory for emergencies though you probably won't need it.

As for recruitment explore as much as possible, as long as you do this you will find most if not all. Only Pesmerga, Clive and Crowley and tricky to find and recruit and for good reason they are OP.

Second game make sure you level & properly equip 18 characters as a core group for the mid end game boss. He is tough.

[Zeo]

Suiko 1 is very straightforward, the only hard character to recruit is Clive that you need to re-enter the city until he appears, so if you're playing casually he might never appear for you, and you need to keep Pahn alive.

Suiko 2 it's fine to play without a guide until you free Muse, if you invade Rockaxe castle then youre locked and many regions will be inaccessible, this is the endgame btw, impeding you to recruit the other characters.
So play at your pace until you reach this point of the game, explore a little more and if you still missing a destiny star look at a guide.

[StoneofTriumph]

Basically, Suikoden has a lot of mechanics, but none of them are actually complicated, especially in Suiko 1. It's not even hard to bring characters up to current level because the game has a scaling experience system that puts limits on grinding but also grants extra exp to characters who are behind the curve.