With the Toran Republic alliance sealed, the climactic battle with Luca is drawing near back at the Castle. However, if you chose Kasumi as your general, we have a new area to explore and characters to recruit inside the Banner Pass.
Toward the end of the screen, just off the path with the cliffs, you can walk through the trees, in the area show in the screenshot above, to reach the Rokkaku Hamlet.
When you arrive, you will be instantly taken to the leader of Rokkaku, Hanzo. If you don't have Kasumi in your party, you will be sent back out to the Banner Pass, but if Kasumi is with you, she will talk with Hanzo and ask for his assistance. Mondo will join your party and then out in the village, outside the trading post, Sasuke will join as well. Sasuke joins with another Killer Rune attached, if you'd like to make use of it on another character. If you chose Valeria as your general, you can still get Mondo and Sasuke to join, but it will be a little later on in the game.
Just outside of Hanzo's residence, talk to the guy here to receive a Blinking Rune. If you've used Viki, you know about this rune already. In my opinion, this isn't fit to attach to any character, but it's the only one you will find in the game, so make sure to put it in your warehouse for safekeeping.
In the basement of the trading post, talk to the guy near the bottom of the screen to pick up the Sound Set #6. I have to ask the question, though. Why is there a trading post here in Rokkaku; which is hidden and outsiders are not allowed, yet there is no trading post in Muse, the largest city in the State? The people of the Highway Village claim Muse is a big area for trade though, so maybe I am missing something. I highly digress.
In the same area, talk to the lady sitting at the table and you can buy a Piglet for Yuzu and her ranch.
Apple and Ridley will meet Riou back at Banner Village and will escort him back to the Castle with a warning that Luca and the Highland Army are drawing near.
Inspiring. Anyway, before we continue on, we have a few other characters now available to recruit. You'll need Tsai in your party and to have Viki warp you back to Ryube Village.
You'll notice there is some activity at the burned-out remains of Ryube now. A small inn and item shop. Enter Ryube Forest again and proceed all the way back to Tsai's house. You will find Tomo, Tsai's daughter, inside. Against the wishes of Tsai, she will join your party.
Make your way over to the kobold district of Two River and Bob, who has been putting you off the entire game, will finally join your army. Bob's Rabid Fang Rune makes him an absolute beast in battle; literally. Be careful though, when it runs out, Bob will lose half of his HP. Note: If you chose Valeria over Kasumi and thus were unable to get Mondo and Sasuke, Bob may not join you at this point. Try back after recruiting the next two sets of characters, Killey and Annallee.
Return to the war room when you are ready to continue the story and Shu, like usual, will send Riou off to his room to rest. During the night, you have the option to view a scene with a few different characters, but once you see one of them, the others will be unavailable. You can talk with Nanami and Pilika in your room, Shu, Leona, or Rina, Eilie, and Bolgan. Regardless of those, you can head to the roof to see a scene involving Flik and Nina. Go back to Riou's room afterwards.
That night, you will witness that Luca has brought in reinforcements from Harmonia, lead by the bishop Sasarai, to quickly wipe the State out. The next morning, we are to head back to the war room, but before that, some new characters have shown up in South Window to recruit.
Outside the trading post, you'll see a man in red sticking out like a sore thumb. He will ask about Sindar Ruins; tell him about Alex back at your Castle. Return there and to Alex and Hilda's inn above the tavern, and you will see Killey harassing Alex. Watch the scene, then head back to South Window and talk to Killey again outside the trading post. Ask him to join multiple times and he will. Killey is one of the absolute best characters in the game. He also comes with your fourth, and final, Poison Rune attached to his weapon.
Try to enter the South Window inn and you will see a scene involving a girl named Annallee. Follow her to the concourse outside city hall and ask her to sing you a song. Due to a bug, you won't hear any sound, so don't think something is wrong with your game. Afterwards, ask her to join your group and she will. If you talk with Annallee at your Castle, you can listen to select music tracks from the game. Her war skill, Encourage, is also excellent. Allowing any units around her that have already taken their turn to be able to take another action.
It's important at this moment that we prepare at least Viktor for battle. He is going to take part in a crucial battle shortly and this is your last chance to add him to your party before that. Even though Highland has taken over Kuskus, you can still return to sharpen your weapons to lvl 11 there. I would recommend Viktor to be at least level 39 or 40 with the best armor you can buy from Hans and a Fire Emblem accessory equipped.
Back in the war room, you will find that Ridley, doing a reconnaissance mission in Radat, will have been ambushed and surrounded. It absolutely is possible to win this war battle, but you have to get extremely lucky, and with no reward, In fact, the story dictates that Ridley should lose here. Anyway, if you want to have a chance at winning, Ridley needs to survive a few turns before your reinforcements arrive; which is highly unlikely. Put a unit with both Huan and Chaco in it to try to get over to Ridley as soon as they can to use Heal on him while the rest of your units try to take out the Highland Army. My personal advice is to just let Ridley fall and not risk any of your other units dying in battle. After the battle, the scene will switch to a captured Ridley sparing with Luca verbally over the two's armies. In the morning, we are to return to the war room, yet again.
A crucial army battle with Luca and Highland is upcoming, so I have provided the troop setups I am using at the moment. Luc's unit will actually not be participating in this battle, so if you'd like, you can move Jeane to another unit to make use of her Lightning ability. I just like to keep my groups together for future battles.
The goal is for Kiba's unit to bait Luca's into a pincer attack and go directly at his unit. The battle will end if you manage to deal damage to Luca's unit, but that is much easier said than done. Tsai's Fire Spear is your best bet, along with Jeane's Lightning, for damaging him. Other than those, use your archers to fire at him from a distance and use the unit whom has Humphrey in it to go head-to-head with Luca's unit. Luc's unit will show up in the middle of the battle and chase away Sasarai and his units with the True Wind Rune (More on that thing in Suikoden III...). Alternately, shortly afterwards, the battle will end if you have yet to damage Luca, but he will deliver the last blow, damaging every unit on the map. Look out for death messages and make sure you reset and try again if you get one.
After the battle, head down near the Tablet of Stars and you will find that Mondo and Sasuke (Or Chaco, if you didn't recruit them) has rescued Ridley. The scene will switch back to the war room and Ridley will deliver a letter from Leon Silverburg to Shu explaining that Luca is planning a night raid on the Castle and that we should lay an ambush and kill him. Select the option "Let me think about it" because we need to prepare. This is the last battle against Luca Blight. You will engage him with three different parties: lead by Riou, Viktor, and Flik. That means you need 15 additional characters to fight these battles. Even though he is strong against every element, magic will be your key to winning, while you'll need high defense characters up front to take Luca's physical damage. I would recommend not just using the best characters, but your favorites. This is one of my favorite battles in any RPG I have played. Just make sure you have every character adequately equipped; with, if they can use it, a Fire Emblem accessory, level 38-40, and their weapons sharpened to 11 in Kuskus. Viktor, for whatever reason, cannot be added to the party at the moment, so hopefully you took my advice earlier and readied him for battle. Luca's primary attacks will be fire-based, so you can equip the Fire Sealing Rune to a character, but others will have to do with a Fire Emblem. When you think you are prepared, talk to Shu and form the parties that will do battle with Luca.
Unsuspecting he has been sold out by his allies, Luca will ride through the night towards your Castle and straight into your ambush. Flik's party will be first out to try to take Luca's head.
First, you don't actually need to win the first two battles with Flik and Viktor's party, but it will make Luca's battle with Riou's unit much easier. Also, if you take too much damage, the battle will end prematurely in a loss.
In both battles, prioritize a Wind or Fire Rune spell to take out Luca's White Wolves allies, then, if you have an Earth Rune, cast Clay Guardian on the entire front row. You can cast Revenge Earth as well to avoid Luca's basic three-slash combo, but he tends to use his fire slashes more often than not, so I would use Clay Guardian instead. As he tends to evade and counter frequently, use unite attacks and magic to do the bulk of your damage to Luca. Stay healed with items and Kindness Rain.
Regardless of the two previous battles, Riou's unit must defeat Luca. Riou and Nanami's Family Attack is highly recommended, with Riou using Battle Oath in between, if necessary.
If you have the Fire Sealing Rune attached, Luca's flaming sword attacks will do no damage, and if you have a Fire Emblem, the damage will be reduced. Keep whittling down his HP, little by little, while keeping Clay Guardian cast and healed, and you should survive Luca's onslaught.
Unfortunately, Luca isn't done yet. He will run off and Viktor and Flik will join your party to pursue him. You will have to fight several battles with White Wolves enemies following his trail.
Cornered, Luca will engage Riou in a duel. With everybody else just watching, apparently. Thankfully, Luca's HP is almost gone and Riou can defeat him just by landing a few attacks. Be extremely careful though, Luca deals a crazy amount of damage.
The White Wolves make one finally attempt to save him, but by letting the fireflies out of the cleverly placed wooden amulet, Luca has made he and his Wolves perfect targets for the archers. Finally, apparently freed from his flesh's constant thirst for blood and vengeance, Luca will collapse; breathing his final breath while Leon and Jowy watch from the shadows. The war is finally over and the celebration begins, but Riou will collapse upon return to the Castle.
We will see a scene at L'Renouille, where Jowy and Jillia Blight are wed, making Jowy the new King of Highland. Surely now, there will be peace?
