Welcome to my visual 100% Completion guide for the original Suikoden. My goal here is to provide you with a basic walkthrough while not missing a single Star of Destiny or rare item. However, I will be leaving out a lot of redundancy. I omit the majority of the treasure chests and shops in the game, only specifying those that are hidden/rare, or attention should be paid attention to. This helps keep things short and to the point as well as not feeling like I'm stating the obvious to you. I hope this is of help and you enjoy.
As seen above, the game starts with the naming of the main character. There is no "official" name for the hero in most of the Suikoden games, but "Tir" is generally decided upon by most players to be his name; but choose whatever you like.
After the audience with the Emperor, check the armor in the room across from Kraze to find your first secret: A statue hiding 100 bits.
Before you head home, take a look at the shops in the city. A general rule on thumb in Suikoden: ALWAYS check every single shop in the game. This will be important later. The most important thing here in Gregminster, however, is the armor shop selling Wing Boots as pictured. If you don't view this shop and the Wing Boots, you will never see them again in the game. They are expensive for now, but will be valuable for you later.
At home, don't go up those stairs yet! You have a decision to make. Right here are the beginning of the game, you have a decision to make on a rare rune to acquire. Your choices are: Fortune Rune or Prosperity Rune. The Fortune Rune increases XP gained in battle while the Prosperity increases your bits (money). In my opinion, the Prosperity Rune is a infinitely better choice due to the way Suikoden handles its XP gain. Whatever you choose, you can acquire both of these runes later in the game. You will eventually be able to purchase the Fortune Rune, while Prosperity will be a very rare drop from an enemy. If you want the Fortune Rune, skip going up the stairs and proceed to the next section. For the Prosperity Rune, climb the stairs and have Ted join your party.
With or without Ted, exit the city and head directly east to the town of Rockland (Make sure to attempt to run from every battle!). To get to where we need to be for the rare rune; we need lots of bits. That's where Marco in Rockland comes into play. He has a little mini-game we can play to rake in the money. There supposedly is some sort of trick to this game, but I've never bothered; it's easy enough to win on your own. Your (My usual) goal here is to win 30,000 bits from Marco. Simply win the game betting 100 bits until you have 1000, then once you have 1000, bet until you have 10000, and then 10000 until you have 30000. Make sure to save in the inn each time you win and reset if you lose money. It shouldn't take more than 30 mins or so.
Bits in hand, we gotta get over Mt. Tigerwolf. It is located across a bridge southwest of Gregminster. This is where your bits come in. Proceed across the mountain and every battle you enter, bribe the enemy to get away. That simple. Don't try to battle or you will be destroyed; trust me...When you exit the mountain, there is a small town right outside.
Talk to this guy in the upper-right-hand house without Ted in your party and he will give you the Fortune Rune; with Ted you get the Prosperity Rune. Excellent. Now you can make your way back to Gregminster with more bribes. Back in Gregminster, follow the story that takes you on your first errand for the Empire: Magician's Isle. I recommend stopping by the rune shop and attaching the Prosperity Rune to Gremio if you got it.
This will be your first real combat of the game ending with this extremely easy boss. The only point to make here is that you can never return to this dungeon, so make sure you get the easily located chests. When you're back in Gregminster, instead of going to take the Astral Conclusions to Kraze, let's get the fun of rare enemy drops started out on the world map now that we have a party to fight with.
There is one particular item you have one chance in the entire game to get: That being the pictured Celadon Urn. Look for the BonBon enemies on the world map. They VERY rarely (Which will be a going trend from here on...) drop ? Pots when defeated. Take them to the appraiser in Gregminster and you will either have gotten an Octopus Urn or the Celadon Urn. The Octopus Urn itself is extremely rare, but you will find one in a chest later on. The enemies in this area change later in the game, so now is your only chance to get a Celadon Urn and if you want more than one Octopus Urn. Another item you may look for but unimportant is the Holy Rune, which the Mosquito enemies will sometimes drop. You can easily buy it later, but it does allow you to move quicker on the field and world map. Another thing you can do, is head to the town of Lenankamp south of Gregminster and use the blacksmith to increase the strength of your weapon. Lastly, consider purchasing one of those Wing Boots for Cleo if you have the leftover funds; can help, but not important.
Back with the story, we take the Astral Conclusions to Kraze and head over to Rockland, only to be sent to Mt. Seifu to the east. Much larger dungeon here with not much to note until you have to battle the Queen Ant about halfway through. You can't win this battle, so just watch the scenes.
But wait, we have an extremely important rare drop to get on Mt. Seifu: the Earth Rune Piece. These are carried by the Black Wild Boars. It is your ONLY source of these in the entire game and for players that like to build their characters as much as possible: very important. I'll just go ahead and get this out of the way, the translators really made a mistake with the name here. While it says: Earth Rune Piece, this is ACTUALLY a Wind Rune Piece while the Wind Rune Piece we get later is actually the Earth Rune Piece...Yes...confusing. Try to keep that in mind. Anyway, the Wind Rune Piece is added to a weapon at a blacksmith and gives your character that pieces' element to their attack plus provides +2 to your SKL stat per piece up to 9. Very useful! A note on weapon elements: You can never be hindered by an element on a weapon in this game like you will most other games. Dealing with weapon elements, you either attack the enemies' weakness and do increased damage or just do normal damage even if the enemy is strong toward your weapon's element; so there is never a penalty for using elements.
Toward the end of the dungeon, a Thunder Rune Piece (Translated correctly). This is one of only three of these in the game, don't pass it up. This piece gives lightning element to your weapon plus gives a bonus of increased chance of critical hit by 5%. Unlike Wind and Water pieces, these are limited, so choose wisely how you use them as you cannot remove pieces once you apply them. I always give one of them to Tir, personally.
At the top: Boss time. Like the Golem earlier, pretty easy. Talisman Attack with Pahn and Gremio and Cleo using the Fire Rune you hopefully attached to her.
Back in Rockland, check near the well for a sometimes missed scene. This brings you into a battle with some imperial soldiers that give fairly good XP. Turn Varkas and Sydonia over and make your way back to Gregminster.
Before you head home, Ted and Pahn are about to leave your party. Ted will be gone for good while Pahn will eventually be back. Swap over or sell Ted's items as they will not be needed again. As for Pahn, make use of his item space. Give him your Celadon/Octopus Urns, Pieces, ect. This will free up item space for other characters for use until you can store items later on in the game.
Back at home...You are betrayed by the Empire. Ted is gone...but Tir now has the Soul Eater rune. Follow the scenes and escape from Gregminster with the help of Viktor at the inn. Your new destination is Lenankamp to the south...
