Really Wierd Party Setups You Would Probably Never Use

A forum to ask questions if you are stuck in the The Gate Rune Wars; or wish for more clarity on the gameplay systems.
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ninjaluc79
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Really Wierd Party Setups You Would Probably Never Use

Post by ninjaluc79 »

Hi everyone.

I played Suikoden 1 the first time, and I found it actually more fun and challenging to accomplish than S2 with its one-rune-slot-only feature.

As a fan once posted here, "Suikoden 1 is 99% stats and 1% customization." Sure, it is. Only one rune slot for everyone, no elemental affinities so you could pretty much slap any magic rune on everyone, and the roster is riddled with lots of Joke Characters you won't probably use EVER. Well, Suikoden staple on the last part, anyway.

And even if you like to add more characters to your final party, you just don't have enough slots since Fliktor has already taken up half of them.

Since Fliktor are both S-ranged (i.e. they can only attack from the front row), and McDohl is M-ranged, the only logical 3-man party combinations for the final battle are:

1) 1 S-ranged fighter + 2 M-or-L-ranged fighters, or
2) 3 M-or-L-ranged fighters, or
3) 1 S-ranged fighter or party tank + 2 mages

But sometimes, you have combinations that involve more than three S-ranged fighters (Fliktor included) that you really like. In that case, a general rule would be placing the more physical S-range at the front and the more magical S-range at the back, since the more magical one often has lower HP and DEF anyway.

Take for instance, Alen and Grenseal. Alen is more physical, and Grenseal is more magical. So Alen goes to the front, while Grenseal can alternate places with Flik on the back and the front, respectively, and vice versa.

But sometimes, there are cases where you just want to screw with yourself and bring Joke Characters or "an absurdly powerful party" along with you (no offense intended). Let me give you an example.

Krin with Spark Rune + everyone else

You mean, that creepy guy who tried to sell you out to Lepant after helping you steal his sword? Yes, that guy.

Krin has one of the highest SPD stats in the game (~210 @ level 60), and is probably the only one with a free rune slot among those with the same SPD as his. Okay, Kasumi has Shrike, Stallion has Godspeed, and Odessa is not normally available.

Therefore, he's the only remaining candidate for the Spark Rune. As you well know, the Spark Rune sets everybody's SPD to that of its bearer, but that only works in battle. The one reason why Nanami was so valuable to my Suikoden 2 party until Rockaxe Liberation is that there's pretty much no one else in the early game (save a big white dog) who's faster than her.

So how does the Spark Rune actually work? Well, turn order determination is based on SPD, so faster characters go first. Normally, enemies will attack you before your slower characters can do anything. This could be annoying if your party got wiped before doing anything. Luckily though, you have the Soul Eater's Hell for crowd control, but what if you ran out of MP for that?

So basically, with the Spark Rune, slower characters can attack the enemies before they attack you, minimizing damage while making random battles easier to accomplish. Or you could do one of two things: Spam Fingertips of Death and Hell until it runs out since bosses are immune to insta-kill anyway, or GameShark Odessa into your party so she could bear the Spark Rune. Though Odessa is actually a Rune Archer, so...
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gildedtalon
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Re: Really Wierd Party Setups You Would Probably Never Use

Post by gildedtalon »

what's weird with it? a couple of speed rings and you'll never need krin
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Re: Really Wierd Party Setups You Would Probably Never Use

Post by ninjaluc79 »

All-Physical Party

Since you're going up against a Golden Hydra that breathes Fire, Wind, and Lightning, and heals itself, taking an all-physical party equals suicide since most physical attackers have low MAG, and thus, low MDEF. No worries, because they have high HP. Oh, really?

What about healing? You won't last long against GH without it, you know. And you're pretty much wasting a turn healing yourselves with only Mega Meds.

The main advantage of a full-physical party if you're not using elemental rune pieces is that you don't have to worry about elemental resistances. Just hack, slash, and Unite Attack!

But of course, you've gotta be insane to do that. I mean, Tir has the Soul Eater Rune which deals non-elemental damage, so it would be a waste not to use its Lv2 and Lv4 spells against GH, and you can set up Flik as your healer with the Flowing Rune.

So I dare you, try beating Hydra without using magic! I dare you!
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ninjaluc79
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Re: Really Wierd Party Setups You Would Probably Never Use

Post by ninjaluc79 »

@gildedtalon

The problem with Speed Rings is that with no way to increase the chance of dropping Speed Rings, it could take forever to hunt the Speed Rings you need.

With two of them, you can turn 07 SPD characters (~180 @ level 60) into Spark Rune bearers. And those are Kage and Sonya. You can upgrade Sonya's Water Rune into a Flowing Rune so you can get healed before the enemies attack you, and then make Kage your Spark Rune bearer. Or you could just use Sonya as your Spark Rune bearer for an all-physical party.

Next example:

Earth Mages

Since each head of the Golden Hydra nullifies three of five elements, Rage, Thunder, and Cyclone won't just cut it against GH. So how about Earth Magic?

This is accessible even by low MAG characters since only the top and bottom Earth spells are useless. Thus, you can just slap Mother Earth runes on pretty much any character with MAG no lower than 02 (~80-85 @ level 60) and cast VoE and Earthquake on Hydra until MP rune=s out. Also, you can make yourself nigh-invincible with Copper Flesh on the whole party, practically making the battle with Golden Hydra a matter of whether your Earth mages still have enough MP by the time the healing head dies.
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gildedtalon
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Re: Really Wierd Party Setups You Would Probably Never Use

Post by gildedtalon »

I used all-physical party. no problem there

tir viktor flik
kage rubi kwanda

all with killer runes, except viktor with holy rune
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Re: Really Wierd Party Setups You Would Probably Never Use

Post by ninjaluc79 »

Considering that Rubi has high over-all stats except LUCK, yeah. And in addition, you can suit up Rubi as a Rune Archer with his 06 MAG (~160 @ level 60), netting him 8/7/5/3 MP, same MP as McDohl. So, yeah.

Congratulations, man. I'll try bringing in the Pirate Trio and see how would I fare.
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Re: Really Wierd Party Setups You Would Probably Never Use

Post by KFCrispy »

regarding Spark Rune: doesn't Odessa have a permanent Wind Rune?

Earth magic vs final boss? yup, i do that. with the high spell-count in this game, even Viktor can spend several turns dishing out Earthquakes! (more like boulder slides or something...)
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