[Guide] Getting S Ranks

A forum to ask people who have played the games about gameplay questions.
Post Reply
User avatar
gildedtalon
Posts: 1343
Joined: Thu Mar 18, 2010 12:15 am

Re: [Guide] Getting S Ranks

Post by gildedtalon »

both, the frogs keep respawning while the skeletons are so hard to kill and the bow skeleton likes to crit a lot
My GameFAQs account now is SheenavsKilley
I already closed gildedtalon, my old account
User avatar
Juan
Posts: 134
Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2011 6:50 am

Re: [Guide] Getting S Ranks

Post by Juan »

gildedtalon wrote:both, the frogs keep respawning while the skeletons are so hard to kill and the bow skeleton likes to crit a lot
In the frog first let the bats approach you then gang it up. Stay together always bring Rita also she can help on killing. I first wait to approach me the bats on the right and the top after I kill them I kill the 2 frogs in the right then I went the treasure chest on the top then after but before I get the treasure chest I killed the enemies appeared their then after that I went to the right. Then I went to the upper right the rocks is damage by the frog already so there is little HP on the rock and I destroy just only one. In my first playthrough I didn't use a unite and it surprise me that I got Rank S. Maybe Rita is the key on getting Rank S because she is a low level. I use lightning affinity also since it's hard to reach the earth elemental.

In the skeletons, what I do is move my characters first to the left of the wooden bridge. Then I kill the enemies along the way then when my characters was on the middle I use the unite attack of Andarc and Seneca. I move my one character who can reach the chest on far left. After that I just went to the top. And I kill the fire elemental fast because it helps the enemies rather than I. I use also lighting affinity to my advantage since 3 of my characters are lighting.
User avatar
Juan
Posts: 134
Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2011 6:50 am

Re: [Guide] Getting S Ranks

Post by Juan »

EDIT: How to get Rank S in Obel Ruins Level 1?
KFCrispy
Global Admin
Posts: 6174
Joined: Wed Jun 30, 2004 3:29 pm

Re: [Guide] Getting S Ranks

Post by KFCrispy »

i just got S rank in Obel 1 in New Game+ with a party of level 7-8 characters (and a 5, but I don't think EXP matters much actually). Taking turn count into consideration, I reduced my active party to about 5 or 6 characters and used my overpowered gear and skills to deal heavy damage to the enemies and had someone near the exit so I could end the battle right after killing everything. note that I also attached a Champion's Rune to a level 8 character which bumped up the enemy levels from 8 to 9.
Antimatzist
Posts: 2770
Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2008 9:48 am
Location: Germany, yeah baby
Contact:

Re: [Guide] Getting S Ranks

Post by Antimatzist »

Doing a S Rank run (not NG+) and this is really nice. I'm just at the beginning and defeated Steele. Was anyone able to kill Steele AND keep all their pirates alive? He killed one of my pirates in his last turn. :(
Antimatzist
Posts: 2770
Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2008 9:48 am
Location: Germany, yeah baby
Contact:

Re: [Guide] Getting S Ranks

Post by Antimatzist »

Ok WOW I just managed to get all treasures AND S Rank on the first fight of El-Eal! This REALLY came as a surprise and I don't know how I did it.

I used Kyril, Andarc, Seneca, Rita, Rene, Pablo (because his Earth Affinity helps a bit, also he was my lowest level character aside from Rene), Maxine and Eugene. Most of them were Level 8 (maybe some 9), Maxine was 7, Pablo 5 and Rene 2.

I succeeded at my second try, on my first try, Eugene got smashed in one round. It didn't look good on my second playthrough, either, he got nearly killed by Busk several times. Rene could sneak through, though and it really felt like a tactic fom Football with Rene scoring the Touchdown.

I didn't get that much EXP. Pablo got one level, Rene got one, Kyril got one, Maxine too.. that's it iirc. I expected an A Rank and you don't know how happy I am right now. :D
Antimatzist
Posts: 2770
Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2008 9:48 am
Location: Germany, yeah baby
Contact:

Re: [Guide] Getting S Ranks

Post by Antimatzist »

Sorry for the triple post, but as I'm still playing the game, I want to share my experiences.

I'm now at the pre-Graska chapter of the game. That's imo the best moment to do all sidequests (I think you can do them all now) and clearing the Obel Ruins.
So far, I achieved S Ranks in...
Level 1. That was a real pain, I maybe tried the level 5 times and FINALLY got it.
Level 2, 3, 4, they were relatively easy.
Rage chamber. I did that one in the Rage egg mission and it was easy.
Cyclone chamber. At first, I felt that I couldn't do it (3 dragons???) but then it was easy as well. I gotta say, S ranking the game without Hero IV would be impossible. Double Edge Sword is fast and a heavy hitter, whereas all my other mages' spells need time to be cast (Rage Rune is nearly impossible to use correctly, and Thunder Rune as well....). He's also a physical monster, his unite with Kyril is great vs bosses and his unite with Kika is really useful as well. I couldn't imagine the game without him.

Now I'm missing the three other chambers and Level 5 which really p****ed me off a bit because the layout is convoluted. I guess S ranking it shouldn't be a problem, but I needed to treasure hunt. And then, only the story of the game remains. I'm afraid I'm a bit overleveled, but I don't use Kyril in Obel so he remains at the same level (this also makes Obel battles easier) and I hope that will be ok for the rest of the game.

tl;dr: The game is awesome and it's really pushing me at my limits at times. But I wouldn't say it's unfairly difficult, when you know the game mechanics really well, the game becomes a "breeze". I still need to hunt for Prosperity and Fortune Rune, though....
User avatar
gildedtalon
Posts: 1343
Joined: Thu Mar 18, 2010 12:15 am

Re: [Guide] Getting S Ranks

Post by gildedtalon »

I really want someone to record their S ranks in this game, I wanna see it coz I can't find this game sold anywhere
My GameFAQs account now is SheenavsKilley
I already closed gildedtalon, my old account
Antimatzist
Posts: 2770
Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2008 9:48 am
Location: Germany, yeah baby
Contact:

Re: [Guide] Getting S Ranks

Post by Antimatzist »

Can't you buy it online? It's reasonably cheap imo.

That said, I might record a future S Rank playthrough in the future. First I want to play through this game once for a walkthrough I'm writing and then I need some rest from the game. :D
KFCrispy
Global Admin
Posts: 6174
Joined: Wed Jun 30, 2004 3:29 pm

Re: [Guide] Getting S Ranks

Post by KFCrispy »

hmm i still haven't posted the S Rank requirements from the Japanese guide, have I? I need to check on what I wrote so far and see why I stopped...
Antimatzist
Posts: 2770
Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2008 9:48 am
Location: Germany, yeah baby
Contact:

Re: [Guide] Getting S Ranks

Post by Antimatzist »

Hm KFC can you maybe find out what the EXP requirement for the Graska palace battle is? I tried it 4 times, but I'm totally over-leveled, even two exp-gainers are not enough (because they are also a bit over-leveled...). I'mtotally devastating the enemies, but also want most of the treasures.

Argh, I'm at a loss.

- Damage dealt: Basically, I'm one-hitting every enemy. I use the RoP on a lot of enemies, so my average damage should be fine as well (it should be fine anyway, as one-hitting every enemy should already fulfil this requirement)
- I'm getting no to minimal damage myself
- I'musing two characters as exp gainers. In my last battle, I gained 4500 fom these two alone. Add to that the exp my other characters gain (maybe 200?) + in the last turn I switched in two other low level characters, so I should be at 5700. It's hard to tell how much I need, maybe 7000? I can try again, but...
- I'm finishing this battle in maybe 5 turns. I'm afraid I cannot take much more time for it. But I'll have to give it a try I guess.

This is so far the hardest battle to S Rank, partly because I'm overleveled. The first Graska battle wa simpossible to S Rank, because I wanted the treasure AND Roget and the NPC characters just do what they want.

EDIT2: Ok, I now got 11500 EXP and still only A Ranked it. I moved my characters 46 times, which should be around 7-8 turns I guess - is this too slow? But this cannot be, in his guide,MatildaWhiteKnightLeader was slower,he even dug out the third treasure which i don't do (I already have more than enough Rage Runes). So the only two possibilities left are imo:
- I'm not enough on my terrain. This is hard because there's water all over the place.
- I don't kill enough enemies/don't deal enough total damage. Maybe I need to work on this?

EDIT3: FINALLY DID IT OMG. This was heavy, I really had to try it 5 or 6 times. This times, I was paying attention on dealing as much damage as possible and to stand on my terrain a lot. And it worked! This was the worst battle ever. I S ranked every chamber of the Obel Ruins on the first run, but not this? geez...
Antimatzist
Posts: 2770
Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2008 9:48 am
Location: Germany, yeah baby
Contact:

Re: [Guide] Getting S Ranks

Post by Antimatzist »

Ok this one will be my last post in this topic.

I finished the game again. I'm amazed how easy it is to get all S Rank prizes on the first playthrough.

I played through this game twice before and I always felt it was really difficult. But this time, I felt it was rather easy. EVen the Obel Ruins are no problem if you know what you're doing.

This was a great experience.
User avatar
gildedtalon
Posts: 1343
Joined: Thu Mar 18, 2010 12:15 am

Re: [Guide] Getting S Ranks

Post by gildedtalon »

So can you share us your strategy or record it next time?
My GameFAQs account now is SheenavsKilley
I already closed gildedtalon, my old account
Antimatzist
Posts: 2770
Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2008 9:48 am
Location: Germany, yeah baby
Contact:

Re: [Guide] Getting S Ranks

Post by Antimatzist »

I followed most of the strategies in this guide. Especially in the early battles, they are very accurate and near perfect. Starting with Chapter 10 or so, I started using different characters more often.

You have to balance your party. Use three heavy hitters (I use Hero IV, Kika and one mage most of the time), then at least 2 low level EXP gainers that lay out terrain.

The Obel Ruins are pretty straight forward. When Golems start to appear, use a (Mother) Earth Rune to protect your foremost warriors. The same in all of the Elemental Chambers, the Dragons love to use their own magic on your best warriors.

And that's it. The Elemental Chambers are much more forgiving in terms of EXP gaining than most story stages,you just have to win with no casuality and Rank S is almost sure.

Maybe I'll record it someday,but first, I want to play the other games of the series again.
Wolkendrache
Forum Moderator
Posts: 869
Joined: Sun May 18, 2014 2:43 pm

Re: [Guide] Getting S Ranks

Post by Wolkendrache »

I’m currently trying to get S-Ranks on the first playthrough, following various promising strategies and tips I’ve read in this board. I hope it will help in case you plan to play it from the scratch too.

Note 1: Load Suikoden IV data, it will make your life much easier!

After the tutorial fights you can spend money and skill points, but be careful not to waste anything. Hone your weapons (but not those of Andarc and other mages), attach fighters an elemental sword rune, buy some equipment if you can afford it (remember the selling trick: sell equipped stuff for more money). As for skills, Kyril needs battle lust and extra-move, Andarc needs lightning magic and extra-move (and godspeed later), Seneca needs sniper, battle lust and extra-move.

1) A Chance Encounter At Sea
The first time I failed because I lost too much time dealing with the pirates. The second time I used Andarc and Walter to go straight for Sigurd and succeeded. Don’t forget to let Andarc and Seneca talk to each other to learn the Cohort unite attack. I think I didn’t get the bonus item, but it’s not that important. After the battle unequip Walter and give an earth bead to Andarc (or buy one for Andarc).

2)The Night Sea (2nd Battle)
Move Brandeau in between the 3 pirates and kill the right one, move Edgar forward to kill the pirate left of Brandeau. Move Andarc towards the others and lay an earth bead on Peck. Next, try to kill the pirate axe (who has beads equipped) with Brandeau, and move Edgar in Steele’s magic range and lay a fire bead. On the next few turns bring Andarc closer to Steele to finally cast the Thunder Runner on him, then finish him off with Brandeau or Edgar. I didn’t care about the Jolly Pirates, there were killed and the enemy started attacking Peck who was well protected by the earth element.

3) Back Streets of Razril
Easy. Just smack them. If you succeed, try to beat Rita (“Game on!” quest) by 1 tile to get the Star Earrings (not necessary, but why not). Equip Kyril with 3 Flame beads (he has a fourth one more from the rage sword rune) and 1 rage bead. After your fourth turn count the tiles and lay your last bead so that you have 6 tiles more afterwards. Rita usually puts her beads on empty spaces. After recruiting her, hone her weapon, give her the battle lust and extra-move skill, and a thunder sword rune if you can afford it.

4) Underground Path
Just be quick, learn the Dying Wish attack along the way to the stone obstacles. Only use one of the unite attacks on at least 2 enemies (save the other unite attack for the next battle). Forget about the chest, destroy the stones, kill the next wave, and try to slip through the enemy lines (I used Kyril). Enter the exit area as quick as possible; in my case at least 5 enemies were still alive, but I got S-Rank. Equip Andarc with the Archmage’s Glasses.

5) Secret Chamber
Use the other unite attack that you saved on as many enemies as possible, 2 at the very least. Don’t open the chests. Equip Andarc with the Archmage’s Robe.
"Within the four seas, all men are brothers" Shuihu Zhuan
Post Reply