Suikoden 3 Chapter 5
Suikoden III Index : Walkthrough/FAQ
Flame Champion unites Grassland / Zexen vs. Luc and the Harmonians
So the fifth and final chapter begins with Sebastian greeting the Flame Champion in their room. Choose to wait and not rest so you can explore. Chapter 5 brings some new treats to the Suikoden III world, including new and improved items and new treasure boss items. In the Cyndar Ruins, at the back where you fought the Water Dragon, is a treasure boss (beefed up Copper Sun for me) and he yields a bunch of great defensive gear and the incredibly useful Champion’s Rune. This rune allows you to not have to fight battles against enemies significantly lower-leveled than you (ie enemies you can “Let Go”).
Alma Kinan item shop sells Killer Runes. You’re probably going to want one of these (and maybe a Counter Rune) for the majority of your war-battle fighters. Build up sufficiently as you’ll have a few tough war battles and other things to do. Talk to Sebastian and rest and you’ll see a cutscene with Nash reporting to Sasarai, while Luc eavesdrops. Luc and Sasarai have a scene and you should head to the entrance of Budehuc when you wish to advance the storyline.
Franz is at the gate and he asks for your help in the meeting room. Geddoe naturally steps up as he knows the Caleria/Le Buque area well. So it’s his army and Franz as a guest, with your choice of support (Tuta or Goro would be advised). Viki can’t teleport you so you’ll have to walk through the Yaza Plains and all the way to Le Buque. A long journey indeed but try to save your HP / MP as you won’t have a chance to replenish.
As you get to Le Buque it’ll be empty, but you’ll eventually learn that you are to go to Mt. Senai. Do so and go to the back of the cave to see the Le Buque citizens in an invisible prison of sorts. Luc and Sarah reveal themselves and join in a battle with some conjured up monsters. Nothing too hard. If Geddoe is your flame champion it’ll be a bit more difficult as his spells aren’t as fast and could hurt your army. I’d concentrate on getting Luc down by using Ace’s Double Tusk rune and heal with Aila’s Shield Rune. If Geddoe has the True Lightning Rune just cast Thunder Storm and that should paralyze Luc and friends. A Wind Magic Rune is your reward for winning.
After the battle, Luc will do something bad to Geddoe. You can’t prevent it. But hey, that’s why you kept that regular Lightning Rune on him this whole time right? Cause you still have that to use, right? As you gain control, talk to the villagers. One of them allows you to “rest” and save. The supply shop owner can help you out as well.
As you make your way out, the first screen will net you with an impossible line of enemies. Ghost Armors and Mirages as far as the eye can see. Fortunately for you, you just rested. And if you have Goro to heal you after each battle, it should prove easy. Just MAKE SURE TO NOT RUN, always stay and protect the villagers. Turning your back at ANY point will result in you missing seven characters and messing up your whole recruit all 108 stars thing that you want to do. Besides, a rested Geddoe’s army could handle these random battles for about ten hours without any support. Eventually you’ll continue to hold out and Duke and company will come to help. Those four will join you and allow you to leave. Return to Le Buque once on the map.
Some scenes inside with the townspeople confronting Franz. Geddoe proves how much of a badass he is by decking one of the ignorant townspeople. When that’s all over it’s time to take control of Chris.
She has the True Water Rune (well, Hugo is my FC so she does) and chooses to go to the Brass Castle. Pick a quality party and head on over there. Actually I went to Vinay Del Zexay to see Armor / Item shops in the Guild Hall. Other than that there wasn’t much else to do except build up levels. At Brass Castle you’ll see Yumi and she’ll beg for help. Chris agrees and forms a party to go over to Alma Kinan.
On the way there, you’ll stop through Kuput Forest. Sarah has been deceiving you this entire time and fights you with three Azzodess’. Fortunately I had a Pale Gate Rune (little Viki) and the first level spell gave each Azzodess the “Combat Stifled” note. Sarah in turn didn’t have the protection to survive Juan and Chris’ onslaught after this and she went down easily. A Drain Rune was acquired, but Sarah then did a bad thing to Chris that was uncontrollable. I’m sure at this point you know what’s coming up next.
Hugo’s flame is next. Go talk to Cecile at the gate, and then after all of that ready yourself with another solid battle. There won’t be a tough boss battle for Hugo though, unlike the other two. As Hugo and friends go to Brass Castle, they’ll notice battling on the east side. When you get there you’ll be thrown into several easy random battles, one of which yields the Hunter Rune. Eventually though Luc and Yuber and Sarah will thwart your army with their manipulated monsters. Luc will take the final (Wind, Earth, Lightning, Water and now Fire) of the five primary runes that he is attempting to acquire, and now will “destroy God”. Allies will come from behind Yuber and the rest of the enemies, and a battle with ensue (at your signal).
Put your army in formation. Again, for these last war battles, they’re more difficult so be prepared with the specific characters that actually fight in these wars. I find I ignore too many of these “central” characters in favor of jokers like Piccolo and Juan who aren’t available in these important times. Really though, if you have a Counter or Killer Rune (especially Killer) you can easy create a formidable army. Save and start the battle.
Okay so it’s Yuber and a bunch of enemies. Be on the offensive, but don’t charge Yuber. Try to isolate the regular enemies, they shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Geddoe will appear in the southeast and should enable a pincer attack of sorts. Shortly afterwards Sasarai appears with Dios, but it seems they are enemies. After a few turns, they’ll join your side and declare that Luc has betrayed Harmonia and king Hikusaak. With Sasarai pulling that off, just use Lightning and Fire runes on Yuber to wear him down, eventually netting you the Major Victory if you killed enough other enemy units. Flowing Rune is your reward for the Major Victory.
Back in the main hall the army is discussing it’s final plans. The Ceremonial Site’s location is unknown, until of course Nash comes in and says he knows. Now you can choose to fight the last army battle here or you can wait. It’s your last chance to do anything before it so I’d make sure you’re strong enough to finish the toughest war battle in Suikoden III (albeit that’s not saying much). Re-arrange your army and also pick up the Golden Hammer at Iksay’s item shop rarities. It should finally be there (50,000 potch too).
Chances are half of your war battle participants (hopefully more) are really quality. The others are probably useless but you have so many units that you can’t control them all in one turn anyway. So, try to put all the “bad” units (Lilly was a bad one for me) aside and make 6 or 7 units that can take anyone. For me, this was Chris, Hugo, Geddoe, Duke, Dupa, Sasarai, and Lucia. The others were okay, but Dupa’s unit with Viki in the back (and a Lightning Rune) often took out enemy groups in ONE TURN. Sasarai has fast-casting water magic as well.
Your enemies for this battle depend on how aggressive you are. If you keep destroying the enemy units, Sarah will make replacements (Zexen Knights, Lizards, Karaya Fighters, etc). After about three or four conjurations, she’ll run out of power and flee from the battle. Note that if you fail to kill all these conjurations you’ll have to fight her instead. Really though, you’re better served just destroying these monsters as they’re nothing more than random battles and you should have the juice (and the heal abilities) to take them out easily. Hell, most of the enemy units have their leaders in the front. A few enemy units can be tough though. The Harmonian enemies seem to have ridiculous attack abilities, as they plowed through my best tank (Twaikin) in no time. Plus they attack twice. Dangerous fights I’d say. Also there is an enemy that has a Siren leader surrounded by three Chimera’s. This is another tough one and it’s advised you pick a tough group to take them out as you’ll have to go through all three chimera’s to reach that Siren (unless you have Viki or a magic user available).
Yuber should be circling around on the east side (with Sarah on the west). I tend to leave him for the end, and make sure to have a lot of Fire/Lightning Rune users near him as a sort of buffer so he doesn’t get too aggressive on you. You can’t kill him until Sarah is out of the picture so you’ll either need to take her out or take out a ton of monster units. When she leaves, head towards Yuber and abuse your Lightning and Fire Runes. You should be able to oust him without even attacking him, but do beware as he can dodge and kill anyone in hand-to-hand combat. You’re better served having Sasarai engage him and cast the level 2 water rune spell for a quick kill. A Wind Hat is your reward for a Major Victory. Be very careful not to lose a unit (and a character, thus losing your bid to get all 108 stars of destiny). Basically, if a unit dies and a supporting character says something, they probably kicked the bucket and you’ll have to restart.
Now you’ll be inside the Ceremonial Site. It’s decided that you are to split into four groups (Geddoe, Chris, Hugo, and Sasarai/Thomas/Cecile). Go figure huh. Well Geddoe starts first and I’d flee and save or whatever else you have left to do. At the tablet of stars, you should have all 108 with two (Jimba and Yun) highlighted in red. You can go fight the treasures bosses for gold, items and experience, but you should have a sufficient amount. Plus, the best leveling-up is to be done at the Ceremonial Site itself.
If you want a special cutscene with each group as you enter the Ceremonial Site, pick their “standard” groups. For example, take Leo, Percival, Borus, Roland and Salome with Chris (Louis in Support). For Geddoe, take Queen, Aila, Joker, Ace, and Jacques (Support doesn’t matter). Finally, for Hugo be sure to take Fubar and Sergeant Joe (Support / other 3 spots don’t matter). It’s not imperative you bring these specific groups and you can even leave and change out of them after the opening scenes. Might as well put the relivent members in and see the extra scenes though. Mid-50’s with level 13 or up weapons should be sufficient enough. Depends on how many treasure bosses you’ve fought; if you want to make sure you’re built up, go through Mt. Senai, Cyndar Ruins, and those types of things one more time.
For reference sake, we have Hugo as the Flame Champion so Geddoe goes after the True Lightning Rune. The only condition where this would change is if Geddoe was the Flame Champion, as Hugo would be going after the True Lightning Rune. Be wary; the battles on the way are the toughest yet, so conserve your magic. Hopefully you’re prepared (sharpened weapons / used Jefferson’s Appointments). Geddoe and Yuber are pretty business-like in their meeting. As for the battle, Yuber calls upon a Hellsteed and three Skeleton’s to offset your party. Take them out first (Thunder Storm with the Thunder Rune is a good way to do that, or Joker’s Pale Gate magic). Aila should be using Great Blessing and Battlefield to heal and berserk your team. Yuber will use Lightning Magic or attack, and when he attacks he can often times take out whomever he chooses. He’s even more dangerous when attacking, as he’ll either parry or counter attack often. For this reason, magic is the most safe option. In my particular case, Yuber took out four of my six characters in counter-attacks alone, but Aila and Queen survived since they both use magic. Killer Runes are important as it’s key to get big hits when you actually do connect on Yuber physically. A Reflection Ring and the True Lightning Rune are your rewards. Just as Geddoe gets ready to cut Yuber down, he flees.
Now it’s time for the True Water Rune. In my case, it’s Chris. I don’t particularly like her knight party but I bring them along anyway (Leo, Percival, Salome, Roland, Boris, Louis in support). These jokers will make an oath to Lady Chris and smash their weapons into the ground. Was this scene worth it? I usually go back and change the characters now, in an attempt to utilize the BEST characters available. So who are these sweet characters I chose instead for Chris? Well, you could do a whole lot worse than little Viki, Ayame, Watari, Twaikin an Estella. Viki and Estella being the solid magic-users with Viki having a Pale Gate/Wizard and Estella having Wizard/Lightning/Rage. Ayame and Watari can do massive amounts of physical damage with Killer Runes, and are ideal for attacking Sarah right away to stifle her spell-casting. Twaikin is a solid tank with a Firefly Rune to attract physical attackers. The monsters along the way, in case you haven’t noticed, drop nice things like Custom Armor. But yeah, that Sarah battle is pretty tough. She comes with two HorroBeasts and two Azzodess’. If you have a Flowing Rune user, Silent Lake will shut Sarah down. Otherwise, I’d go for Sarah and the Azzodess’ and just try to sustain the Beasts attacks. Whatever spell Sarah uses is probably the toughest thing in the battle, so she is of prime concern whether she has monsters in front of her or not. That’s what Watari and Ayame are for. The Horrobeasts are assholes though and have a multiple-attack spell that takes off hundreds to all. Hopefully you have someone to heal either late first turn or early second turn. Sarah has a really powerful water attack (probably a true water rune spell) that wiped out my entire party, causing me to have to start over. Next time I didn’t forget to use Silent Lake and it was a lot easier. Don’t underestimate Sarah’s guardians though, they can take off some damage and obviously you won’t pay enough attention to them. With any luck, you’ll survive this battle of attrition and come away with a Flowing Rune and the True Water Rune.
Afterwards Sarah will be knocked out and Chris reclaims the Water Rune. The scene then shifts to Sasarai/Dios/Thomas/Cecile in that other, uncontrolled route. Evidently someone sneaks up on them as they get close to the True Earth Rune. Now it’s time for the True Fire Rune route. When you set up a party, don’t worry as you’ll be able to change later. In fact, you’ll eventually get to the Fire Rune and be aided by Albert. After acquiring it, the rest of your party will catch up and Caesar will allow you to re-group. This is your final party so you can include Geddoe or Chris or whomever, and you can also leave (I suggest doing this).
Who to bring? Well again, you get special scenes if they are your respective group. So with Hugo, Sergeant Joe and Fubar are musts. Other than that, Watari, Juan and Aila are the other three. Watari has a Killer, Double-Strike and Hazy rune while Juan has a Killer. Meanwhile, Aila acts as another healer with her Shield Rune (and Battle Oath is key for beserking your army). Magic Resistance is a good ability to have, and generally good melee attackers (like Juan and Watari) are most-useful. It goes without saying that these six should have fully-sharpened weapons and the newest armor possible. As you walk up to Luc, some cutscenes will occur and he’ll take you back to the past. Hugo (or whomever) will be battling some Guardians. Three of them actually, and they aren’t tough. Hugo will gain a ridiculous amount of levels from this though (up to the mid-60’s for me). Hugo will then examine the setting he has been transported into (black and white Karaya Village). Another battle occurs. More Luc / Flame Champion stuff. Eventually the Flame Champion will have the option to turn back, which you should and save. Now, it’s time for the final battle.
If you have past Suikoden people (Futch or Viki) they’ll comment on Luc since they know him. Luc will summon the True Wind Incarnate along with the Lightning, Fire, Earth and Water Rune Crystals. You don’t HAVE to kill the crystals but they perform attacks so it’s advised you do so. You can’t attack the Earth or Water rune until the lower runes (Fire and Lightning) are taken out. That said, I’d take out the Lightning Rune first with your melee guys. Again, if you can berserk your melee guys (Watari, Juan, Emily, Fubar, Hugo) then you can do some real damage. Equip the Killer Rune and the Double-Strike and you can punch out a rune in one move if you’re lucky. Double-Strike might be a little risky though. Anyway physical attacks are your best bet as the Earth Rune likes to use a spell (symbolized with a bunch of pillars spinning around) that reflects offensive magic. Sergeant Joe should be using Kindness Drops with his Flowing Rune, while Aila is using Battle Oath to berserk the frontline members. You might lose a few guys if the enemy chooses the right attacks each round, but once you eliminate the runes you should be able to sustain again the Wind Rune Incarnate’s attacks. As you get the killing blow, the True Wind Rune dissolves and your surviving characters gain a ton of EXP.
This walkthrough was meant to get you to the end of the game, so there’s no need for a play-by-play of the ending. Enjoy it. I will say that if you got the 108 Stars, keeping pressing X and at the end you’ll gain access to the sixth and final flame, and a really interesting point of view.
i had hugo, lucia, fred, sgt joe, duke and young viki for the last yuber fight, i got a few good physical hits on him but he wiped all my guys out.. i had pale gate and wizard rune on viki and was wailin on yuber with her the whole time then she got killed and yuber was weakened and sgt joe was almost dead and had one shot left and killed him! epic!
Nice. Love those last second wins. Yea, Yuber is a tough one in this game. Just wipes guys out in one shot. Why didn’t you put in Fubar with Hugo? That usually helps absorb some shots. Fred probably could never hit him since Yuber’s evasion is so high.
well i like fred because he has an s in shielding skill
Just obliterated last boss in 3 rounds due to Emily and Nei’s Jongluer rune. Probably woulda been one- two if I focused all attacks on boss not runes. So broken lol