Suikoden III FAQ
Flame Champion’s Hideaway : Ch. IV
IMPORTANT SPOILERS BELOW
If you’ve done the two Thomas chapters, great. If not, you won’t get to play them. After you finish Chris, Geddoe and Hugo’s chapter 3, you’ll be able to choose the fourth chapter (no specific character). You’ll learn the truth about the Flame Champion; and some scenes will take place. Eventually, you’ll get to choose who you’d like to have be the Flame Champion between the three main characters.
It’s really up to your personal preference. I’ve went through the game four times (this being the fourth) and I’ve been Hugo, Geddoe, Chris and Hugo in that order. Hugo has a B for Fire Magic, Geddoe has a B+ while Chris has a C. Also let me say that I don’t really like the Fire Rune as it too often hurts your teammates, and with the poor grades of Hugo or Chris I usually refrain from using it. There are Fire Magic Rings to raise that level though. More or less just choose who you’d like to see more of towards the end of the game. You’ll still be using all three but the Flame Champion acts as the hero and you can assume the name you gave at the beginning if you want or you can keep your own.
Hugo seems the least credible to assume the throne (in terms of age/maturity) but is also probably the most likely character to bear the rune. Geddoe is obviously supposed to have the True Lightning Rune, while Chris’ dad had the True Water Rune so it’s fitting she gets that also. Do note that if Geddoe gets the True Fire Rune, Hugo will then receive the True Lightning Rune.
With Hugo being the choice, Sana leads you to the back where the True Fire Rune Incarnation is. Not a very tough fight, as long as you have healing items in Hugo/Geddoe/Chris’ inventory. Geddoe’s True Lightning Rune is a help also. A Dragon Incense is your reward for winning.
Afterwards Hugo attains the rune and the Harmonian Bishop appears with Sarah, Yuber and Albert. You’ll then be prompted to fight them with the first choice, but first know that it is a very difficult fight and that you don’t need to win. Getting off Geddoe’s third-True Lightning Rune spell off is key, as that should nearly kill bishop and Sarah, and should take out the three Chimera’s. Bishop and Sarah will probably cast Shredding Winds and Breath of Ice respectively, so hopefully you can survive that. The old Flame Champion uses his spirit after the battle to stop the bishop from acquiring the True Fire Rune. The teleport opens up and the three parties show up behind their respective leader, and Hugo then wakes up the next day in Chisha.
Outside, the Zexen’s and Grasslanders are arguing outside the village. Meanwhile the Harmonian army is attacking; you’ll get a scene with Hugo and then Chris will mention some things to him, and then you can leave. Go back into the village to talk to Caesar (or save first) and then join the battle. This is unwinnable and you’ll flee to Duck Village after the loss.
The Harmonians are bound to pursue you, so head to the Inn and head to the front of the village. Bunch of scenes to go through, back at the Inn is Caesar and Apple, discussing how the enemy is using mirage units to make their army appear bigger than it actually is. Aila is there also to say that she’s experienced Sarah of the Harmonian’s doing this before. Aila will then join you and you’ll be able to form your party. Sergeant Joe, Fubar, Mua and Landis accompanied Hugo and Aila for me.
Another war battle will start and you’ll have Dupa, Lucia, and a few Duck Clan armies at your disposal. You can’t win so just try to retreat and buy some time; Chris and friends will join eventually and that’ll signal Hugo to attack the magician Sarah. Initially you’ll fight a battle against five Harmonian’s, and then another one. Finally you’ll be fighting Sarah and five more Harmonian’s. Use Battle Oath with Aila and attack Sarah with Fubar/Hugo. You may not be able to reach her and she may get off a Fire or Water Rune spell, but you can always heal.
Yuber saves her with some Skeleton Warriors and they teleport off. Caesar gets you to come back to Brass Castle now where you’ll go through a bunch of Flame Champion scenes. It’ll be decided that Budehuc is the headquarters for you and your allies, so choose your party and head there. Budehuc has some new features, like talking to Koroku for the fifth point of view (nothing really important). There is a comment box as well. Anyway, you’ll get to rename the castle if it’s still Budehuc and Thomas shows the FC to their room (Thomas’ old room). Do what you need to do and leave, where you will meet Jefferson. Give him all the Medals that you have found and then leave to the Great Hollow to advance the story.
As you enter the Great Hollow you’ll see Jimba running towards the Ancient Highway. Follow him and you’ll get an event in the center with the Masked Bishop and his buddies. Keep going through the Ancient Highway afterwards and stop by Duck Village. With Sergeant Joe along, Rhett and Wilder will join you inside in one of the best moments in Suikoden III. In the Tutor/Rune Sage building are two girls who will give you a Thunder Rune and the Silver Hammer. Leave Duck Village and go to the Mountain Path.
Viki will teleport in as you enter. You’ll go through some scenes and if you’ve played the previous (or future) Suikoden’s you’ll recognize her. Allow her to join and choose the first option to go to Lake Castle together. She’ll teleport you and her to Budehuc. Go to Anne and put her and Mio in your party and return back to the Mountain Path to get little Viki. Yes that’s right, Viki and little Viki. From different time periods obviously, but the little one gives you the Blinking Mirror, the Suikoden treasure that allows you warp back to Budehuc by choosing it on the Event Items screen when you’re on the world map. This cuts down in so much annoying transit time (that really lowers Suikoden III’s overall value IMO) and will allow you to go from Caleria to Budehuc without going through 2 hours of gameplay. If only you could have gotten this item earlier.
Now when you go back to Budehuc, Cecile will run up and tell you about how everyone is in the meeting room talking of the events going on. You’ll hear about Jimba and Harmonia, and you’ll have to go to the Ancient Highway (and then the Cyndar Ruins) to advance the story. Before all this you should tie up some loose ends.
With Mio in the party, you can use the Blinking Mirror to go to Chisha. Go downstairs in the bar area, and in one of the rooms there will be Tuta (who couldn’t join you when Mio did back in Iksay). He’ll join and he’s another great support member. I left Melville and Elliott until now. You can get them earlier though, just go to Vinay Del Zexay, in their little alley and they’ll join (if you’ve already recruited Billy at the castle). Alanis is at the Great Hollow and she’ll join when you bring Melville and Elliott.
Caleria is the next place to go to recruit some more characters. Make sure you bring three men, two females, and one child. It can be kind of tricky to determine what sex / age some of the characters. Teenagers (like Hugo) are considered children. Again, you can get Nadir earlier but with a more flexible party in chapter four it can be easier to match up. For reference sake, I had Hugo, Estella, Nei, Nash, Joker and Fred. He’ll look at you and join and then you can visit him at the HQ and watch scripts with him. If you loaded the Suikoden 2 completed data, you can watch some Suikoden 2 scripts. Leave Caleria now and go up the Mountain Path. You won’t have to go too far as Futch will be along the path. Agree to show him to Caleria and Futch and his dragon Bright will bring the party to Caleria. Now you must look for Sharon, a female dragon knight that Futch is looking for. She is yellow and as you walk around Caleria you’ll notice her. Just keep following her and talk to her in that eastern corner. Return to the entrance where Futch will stop her. The three of them will then join you. If you follow the character recruiting process I used (kind of sporadic but I did get them all), that should round up all the optional characters. Don’t worry about the good number of slots that are still blank. Before you go, you should remind yourself of a few things. Bring someone with a Pale Gate Rune (one of the recently-acquired Viki’s should do) as the first level magic will prove invaluable in an upcoming battle. Other than that, just bring a well-built up party. With the Silver Hammer in Duck Village, you can get weapon levels up to 15. You’re probably going to want to do this, and loot some treasure bosses to gain gold if necessary.
Now to the Ancient Highway, where Jimba was running (yep, that was the last storyline point). Go to that center area where Hugo and friends had that confrontation with the Masked Bishop, Sarah, Yuber and Albert. Enter the Ruins of Cyndar and save. Take the left path first and take the first left path. In the northeast corner is the final non-star dog, but remember you have to of recruited the others first. Continuing on, take the straight path as you work your way north. Loot the corpse (Byakko Chain Mail for me) and take the path going northeast out of the screen. Now go southeast first to get Script 5 if you have the Suikoden II data (otherwise it’s random) and return and leave east. Keep going along the path as it goes up and twists south and southeast eventually. At the end of this is another corpse with the Old Book Volume 4. Follow the path out of the screen and take the first right. Follow this path all the way around and ignore the west and east paths. Continue to go straight and you’ll enter the temple-like part of the ruins. Save when you can and you’ll have a battle with Sarah, two Ghost Armors and two Chimera’s. If you saved a lot of the Pale Gate’s first spell, you can use it on Sarah and take out the four monsters in one shot (if you’re lucky which I was). Once the summoned monsters are gone, Sarah gives up. She then runs and you should follow her. Armor of Rage is your reward.
You’ll make your way to the True Water Rune Dragon. A tough battle indeed, and again the more Pale Gate level one spells you have, the better off you are. High-level lightning spells can be a help, and make sure you have someone who can heal. I had Nei and her Jongleur Rune around to use the Song of Madness (increased attack) for my fighters. Really though, if you have a healthy supply of level one pale gate spells you’ll be able to control fight, as the dragon will be too concerned about restoring his defense crystals. A Flowing Rune is your reward.
Continue on, it’s not much longer. Jimba will be there and an extended cut scene will occur. Chris acquires the True Water Rune.
Hi LYS,I don’t know if you discovered this,when fighting Sarah and the Chimera & Ghost armour duos,I had Estella preparing to cast 1st Pale Gate rune as you said. But I got lucky and my Hugo&Fubar attacked Sarah first and the battle ended! Without needing to kill off her summoned creatures.
Nice. Yea the Hugo + Fubar combo can be dominant if both hit and get a crit. Plus, Sarah has such a weak defense and low HP.
Yeah,that was a lucky shot,i saved that extra one for the dragon. I was stuck at the dragon few years back,just started replaying using your guide. Thanks,they helped a LOT! Last chapter to go ^^ finally finishing this 3rd one for once
Thanks for the kind words about the guide. Yea, this is a LONG game…for that reason I haven’t replayed it as many times as I have Suikoden I and II. Still a unique game with the trinity site system and all the tough optional battles with the Masked Bishop and his allies. The end-of-game sequences ahead can be hard as well.
The problem with choosing Chris as Flame Champion is that darned horse. It is really a pain to move it through the zones as it always rears and neighs every time you change direction. VERY tiresome so unfortunately that is a big detriment for playing Chris any more than necessary after chapter three.
Hmm I never use pale gate or any offensive magic. When you run out you are lame until you rest. I use the melee enhancer runes such as double strike, fury and warrior. That gives me more skill slots for more melee skills. I don’t use mages either but that’s just another way to play. Water runes are very useful each team of six should have two water or shield runes. Water runes do not need to be skilled to cast the heal in one turn but the shield runes should only be on shield skilled characters. Once you have Goro things are much easier. Barts is good support until you get Goro.
The Ancient Highway is one of the best places to power level your characters. You can get everybody up to lvl 56 without too much trouble by farming those copper suns. They are also found in the Champion’s Hideaway but the Ancient Highway is much more convenient. I got Hugo up to lvl 64 power levelling everybody else but the stats barely go up at that level. He’s got like 45 thousand skill points ;P