[Discussion] Ways to make Suikoden II more challenging

[Mikain Clan King]

You could always turn Riou into a healer, add a wizard and flowing. That may help the animals out. If you have double beat on all of them you could cast silent lake.

Wizard+Flowing = pointless. Why sacrifice MDEF for like 50 points of healing? And why Flowing when you have Bright Shield? Also, Silent Lake is a double-edged sword. Sure, the enemy is silenced, but so are you, and with these animals' horrible defense, you're going to need to use Great Blessing/Battle Oath a LOT! Sure, there are scrolls, but they are consumable, and you would waste a turn grabbing for another one when it runs out. I would much rather have a +10 MDF from a Gold Emblem or a +% Repel Magic from a Fish Badge or Water Amulet.

I would give him a Resurrection Rune and a Mother Earth Rune. Restrict Level 1 and Level 3 MP to Bright Shield, Level 2 is for either Yell or Canopy Defense, which are both useful, and Level 4 is for Guardian Earth.

Balance Rune for "Mr. Unicorn" and "Mr. Gryphon". I would pick Makumaku as the last beast with a Blue Gate and a Flowing Rune. Protect Mist is handy, Kindness Rain is there for emergency healing, and the last two levels are for damage dealing from the Blue Gate Rune. Mother Ocean may also be used for emergencies.

Geez lol, it isn't really pointless but when you look at it that way it kinda does look pointless, but Suikoden 2 isn't that challenging and alot of strategies work...even the pointless ones...so make it fun at least! And alot of the time when I play the game I don't use the Bright Shield alot, makes it more fun...unless I'm in a tight spot.

[anactoria]

How about a no-potch game? That would mean no sharpening, no buying runes/items/armour, no paying for inns. (You could allow for using potch to recruit characters.) It wouldn't be totally magic-free - you could still use runes that characters already have - but it would limit your options.

[HighlandLoyal]

The easiest way to make it challenging but still fun is use weaker characters.

[True Griever]

Keep everything the way you got it, so no sharpening etc
you may replenish an acc slot if you used it up, but only fire arrows for fire arrows, med for med.
Still recruit all characters but only use the must recruit ones.
Same with warbattles even though you will auto gain the recruited generals just don't use them.
Use the halo skull iron if 1 teammates gets ko, retry from the last savepoint, it will make the boss battles a lot harder especially the luca battle.

[Porom]

No weapon sharpening.
No armor.
No healing.
No inns.
No runes.
No escaping.
No rune pieces.
No shopping.
No optional recruitment.
No items.
Riou only.
Final Destination.

[Antimatzist]

No weapon sharpening.
No armor.
No healing.
No inns.
No runes.
No escaping.
No rune pieces.
No shopping.
No optional recruitment.
No items.
Riou only.
Final Destination.

I'd say it's impossible? I mean you have to heal yourself, items should be allowed.

[Porom]

You should count your lucky stars that I didn't put 'no saving' on there too. At least this way each time you die, you can just choose to Continue from your last save with full HP.

In my mercy, I also allowed you the possibility of grinding to 99 off of bonbons. Really, I show a little restraint and this is how you treat me?

[Antimatzist]

You should count your lucky stars that I didn't put 'no saving' on there too. At least this way each time you die, you can just choose to Continue from your last save with full HP.

In my mercy, I also allowed you the possibility of grinding to 99 off of bonbons. Really, I show a little restraint and this is how you treat me?

But being Level 99 isn't really a help... After Lvl 60 your stat boosts at a level up aren't really noteworthy iirc, and you can't max out your stats because you said "no items".

I think there's a difference between "challenge" and "just impossible hard". Have you tried such a walkthrough, yet?

[True Griever]

Try to get past Han
I played the entire with no equipment + sharpening and runes, until that point.
He will eat u up and don't think that luck is all u need, cuz he will use a regular attack quite a lot.
Which does about 1/4 of your hp if ur lucky.
Now lets see how much dmg u do against him? 10 when u go wild, thats not all, the more he weakens the stronger his defense gets. The game isn't that hard until that exact point.

[Tsai]

I got an idea, and i think its quite nice, cause it feels more "natural" to me. But it only effects spells.
-You must cast at least 2 level one spells to be allowed to cast 1 level two spells, then after 4 first level spells and 2 second level you can cast 1 third level spell and so on.
-If you want to make it easier when you run out of all first level spells you can continue to use 2 second level spells for one third level and so on.

[Hxc Flavor]

I really don't feel like reading every page but I think RedKiley's idea of one rune per character is a great idea. Kind of a flashback to Suikoden 1. Also, I just tried to recruit all 108 stars as well as do Clive's quest and I failed. I think I spent too much time doing what I usually do; item hunting and reading the story. Can anyone give me some tips on how they have completed Clive's quest and still got the "good" ending?

[Scotts]

The simplest way to do it is to save, familiarise yourself with an area, reset, and speedrun it. If you know all the areas already, you don't need to bother with that, however, it'll let you read the story, even if you do have to play the game practically twice at once.

[Hxc Flavor]

I've played this game through at least 6-10 times so I know the story by heart. There's just something about not being able to read anything until the Clive scenes that makes it almost pointless to do.

[Scotts]

Alternatively, you could use codes to cheat the clock, or simply watch the entire sequence on youtube.

[tiki]

Put a blindfold on and play it. See how far you get.