Suikoden IV - Speed/Item Maximization

Welcome! This is a quick and efficient guide aimed as utilizing Suikoden IV's new game + feature to complete the game as quickly as possible while building your inventory.

 

The items that carry over, but are limited in their availability, are as followed: 

• Thunder Rune
• Cyclone Rune x2 
• Rage Rune x2
• Flowing Rune x2
• Mother Earth Rune x2
• Prosperity Rune x2 
• Fury Rune 
• Skunk Rune
• Fortune Rune 
• God Hand

In terms of outfitting your characters to the best of their ability, only the Runes, in particular the Thunder and Fury Runes, are necessary for multiple games. The equipment pieces are solid, but outclassed by the bonuses of the Goblin set, or other armor. Every other item in the game can either be purchased, created, or does not carry over to a new game +. I'll be guiding you quickly through the game to obtain these items as well as a few others that I consider a pain to get normally and worthwhile (Like Mushrooms/Mixed Herbs), but not out of the way enough to hamper your speed. Only the minimal amount of Stars of Destiny necessary to accomplish our goals will be covered, to note.

 

A properly outfitted team of Lazlo, Jeane, Paula, and Kika are more than enough to take care of any encounter in the game easily; including the final boss. Feel free to mix-and-match any characters you like, however, but these are my personal preferences. Below are my recommendations for equipment throughout the game: 

 

Lazlo:

 

Ogre Helm

Ogre Mail

Ogre Breath

Ogre Boots

Magic Ring  x2

Power Ring

Prosperity/Wizard/Warrior Rune

 

Paula:

 

Goblin Court Hat

Goblin Overcoat

Goblin Beads

Goblin Clogs

Power Ring x3

Water Rune

Lightning Rune

Wizard/Warrior Rune 

 

Jeane:

 

Venus Comb

Venus Armor

Venus Gloves

Venus Anklet

Magic Ring

Power Ring x2

Lightning Rune

Water Rune 

 

Kika:

 

Ogre Helm

Ogre Mail

Ogre Breath

Ogre Boots

Power Ring x3

Warrior Rune 

 

Note: You can, of course, use the Thunder, Fury, or the other limited available runes to advance even quicker through the game, but you have to remember to remove them before the final dungeon! More than once I found myself forgetting this, so I have opted not to use them at all. You don't really need them, either!

 

If you are a player more interested in obtaining all available items that normally have to be created, as opposed to just getting the rare items and getting out, I have included a section at the end of the guide that you can use to maximize your inventory in this way, as well as some other items that may be of note to you. With all that said, let's begin! 

 

Razril

• In the First Engagement purposely get hit with a cannon shell to end it quickly.
• Auto battle w/Glen and Katarina. Then pick losing choices for the duel.
• Talk to Keneth, then Jewel, and watch the speech in the Hall of Knights.
• Head to the port town and light all of the citizen's torches lined up and talk to Glen, Katarina, Keneth, Paula, Tal, Jewel, and Lord Vingerhut. Grab the Mushroom chest in the backstreets and retire to the Hall of Knights.
• Meet Snowe outside the Hall and during training pick Paula and whomever else you would like (Keneth for Lightning Rune and Ogre equipment or Tal for Goblin equipment are recommended) for your partners.
• Outfit Lazlo and Paula with the above-mentioned equipment. Go into town and visit the rune shop to give Lazlo the Prosperity Rune, if you want to maximize your Potch, Wizard for magic, or the Warrior for more physically-based, and remove Snowe's Water Rune and fix it to Paula. Keneth can keep the Lightning Rune or a Warrior Rune; Tal should use the latter.
• Go to the Razril inn and snag the Treasure Map (God Hand) from the shelf in the upper-right corner, then talk to the lady outside the inn that is catty-cornered down and to the left from the entrance for a Mushroom.
• Head for the port and take the Document to Middleport. When there, deliver it to the man at the port, then sharpen your character's, except Snowe's, weapons to 3. Sail around and fight until level 5 before returning to Razril.
• Agree to return to Middleport for another job. Talk to the merchant and agree to destroy the pesky creature for them. Sail around Middleport until you encounter the Damp Hairball; defeat it and get your reward in Middleport before going back.
• Meet Ramada at the Hall of Knights for the special job. Exit the Hall, then reenter, exit again to grab Snowe outside, then talk to Ramanda to start the journey. Sail northeast toward Illuya Island.
• Talk to Snowe to start the battle against the Pirate Brandeau. Water and Earth rune cannons are best, but you would have to try hard to lose. Lazlo with Ogre equipment will decimate the next battle with Peck and Brandeau. Afterward, win the duel and you're back in Razril.
• Strip Snowe of all all his equipment firstly, then go to the item shop in town, and back to the Hall of Knights. Grab Glen's Meal and deliver it and the Medicine to his room. Exit the barracks for the Dario attack to begin. Tell all four characters "Let's Fight!" and move to the port and board the ship by talking to the knight.
• The Retribution ship battle is also difficult to lose. Set Jewel for your rune cannon and you can go up the middle and get between the two ships and blast both of them on the second turn. Victory is elementary after that.
• Go to Commander Glen's room, then rest in your own room. Move to the port and tell the knight you want to use the ship the first time to be given a Giant Bird's Feather. These are needed to make Goblin equipment. If you decline the first time, he will not offer the Feather at all if you try again!
• Return to port and carry Glen's Meal to his room again. Destroy the pirates in the subsequent battles and find Commander Glen on the roof of the Hall of Knights. Defeat the shadow in the dream and you're done with the game's opening.

Deserted Island

• Slap some equipment on Chiepoo and sail around and fight battles until you are on Troy's ship. Speak with Troy and rest in the below chamber. Auto battle against Troy and Colton and fight your way off the ship.
• Adrift again, fight more battles until the Water Dragon boss occurs.
• On the Deserted Island, grab your characters and enter the cave all the way to the last screen with the healing spring and use an Escape Talisman to quickly exit. Enter and exit all three other areas off the Beach and agree with your characters to escape the Island.
• The fastest way off is to have Lazlo make Rope each time; which the three parts are right there on the Beach, enter the cave down to the spring where you meet Lilin, grab the free accessory, use an Escape Talisman to exit, and complete the day by retiring to the Boulder Shade. Do this three times.
• Head through the Dense Woods to fight the Boss Crab. Just defend in the first battle to bring it to a quicker close. For the second, have Paula cast Breath of Ice, and if you have Keneth, use Berserk Blow to wipe out all the Wild Crabs with it. If you don't get a Giant Crab's Shell after the battle, I would, personally, reset. The drop rate is high, but not guaranteed like the materials from the Water Dragon.
• Slay the next dream shadow and tell your partners you are ready to escape the Island. More sailing and fighting until you face-off with the Killer Rays.
• Talk to your characters onboard the oar-less vessel and you'll be rescued by the Obel ship. Talk to Desmond twice to advance to their kingdom.

Obel

• Right off the ship, search the barrel directly to your right for a Treasure Map (Thunder Rune). Drop by the blacksmith and sharpen everybody's weapons to 6 and attach a Lightning Rune to Paula's now-open left-hand slot before talking to Lino at the Palace. Chiepoo could use a Lightning Rune, too.
• After seeing Lino, head into the Obel Ruins. Run down the corridor, then up the stairs and through the door to the top-left. Take a right and grab the Magic Hand chest, then through the path on the opposite end.
• Down another L-shaped path and snatch the One-Piece Dress treasure near the junction you should exit through. Turn right at the next fork and through another crooked path. Head up the stairs and exit to the left of the save point. Run straight down the path to the boss.
• The Guard can actually be a bit of a challenge. You have to fight this guy twice, but the first is much worse; so use most of your spells, but save a few Kindness Drops and Eternal Ordeals.
• Exit past where you fought the boss and open the chest for some Mushrooms and other items. Don't talk to Rikie, but instead search the tree for a Treasure Map (Mother Earth Rune). After the talk, try to leave and you'll have to fight the less-threatening Guard again. Since it's gained arms, it tends to only attack one character as opposed to the entire group.
• Head past the palace and around the cliffside to the cavern headquarters and rest in your room. Talk to Desmond, then reform your party (Without Louise). Outside, have Manu take you to the port, but go back inside the city and recruit Ornan hanging out in the blacksmith/armor section. A recruit is required to advance the story.
• Use the patrol ship and sail to the large white dot on the map to trigger some battles. Sailing back to Obel pits you against Dario in a ship battle again. He can barely damage you, so you can use whomever you like for the rune cannon, but Tov's fire element will either beat, or match, Dario's ship.
• Back in Obel, stop at the inn and chase Cedric back to headquarters to recruit him by talking to Louise. Talk to Desmond who points you towards Nay afterward. Use Manu to drop down to the port and hop back in the patrol ship and sail directly north to Nay.
• At Nay, sharpen your weapons to 7 at the blacksmith and go through the events with Oleg at the inn's High Ground. After checking the camera in the morning, head for the beach for a scene, then sail back to Obel and Lino's palace.
• After meeting with Lino, fight Akaghi and Mizuki on the path to the headquarters and report back to the palace. That night, use the Rune of Punishment on the cliff and begin the Defending Obel ship battle. Put Keneth with the Lightning Rune as your rune cannon and sling rune shells with the flag ship while the Obel ship launches fire-elemental ones at the other. If you don't have Keneth, or he lacks the Lightning Rune, just use Desmond w/wind element as your rune cannon to either match, or beat, the flag ship. Slay another shadow afterward.
• Go out to the cliff for a scene, then enter the headquarter's war room. You then have to go around the city and corral the citizens onto the ship. You can remove Flare's equipment for some additional items. Talk to the man walking around the item shop, then exit over to the blacksmith area and get both woman by the laundry. Further down by the appraiser and trading post, recruit both Yu and Adrienne, then get the guy with the blue shirt on the docks and return to the ship. Set sail from the war room to end this portion of the game.

Recruitment Drive

• Reform your party and give the Iron Hammer to Adrienne and sharpen Lazlo and Paula's weapons to 9. We are about to recruit both Jeane and Kika, so don't waste the Potch on the other's weapons.
• Sail to Mordo Island that is northwest of Obel and then reboard the ship to add the location to your teleportation list.
• Head back to Nay and pick up the Message Bottle on the beach. From there, march across the Stonecutter's Field to Nay-Kobold and you'll run into Viki. Go inside the settlement and back out and Viki will join you on the other side of the Suspension Bridge. Use the Glowing Hand Mirror to return to the Dauntless.
• Sail east and dock at Na-Nal. Head for the inn and recruit Manu for ease of moving around the Dauntless. Take the path beside the item shop to the open-air bath and talk to the man there about Jeane. Search the crates beside the armor shop for a Treasure Map (Cyclone Rune), then talk to the man standing around nearby who also mentions Jeane.
• Ask about Jeane to recruit her at the rune shop. Talk to Reinhold a little further in and agree to duel Mitsuba in the square to recruit both of them. Back to the Dauntless, put Viki in your party. Remove Viki's Shell Sandals and equip her with a Wind Rune. Add Jeane to your party and outfit her as outlined at the beginning of the guide. Make sure to remove all the equipment from the character you were using before Jeane.
• Teleport to Mordo Island, leave, and sail southeast to Donut Island to pick up Rene. Go down to the fourth deck library, talk to Rene, then go back to Donut and dig up the Rage Rune. This is required before she will analyze any other maps. Back to Mordo again, then sail southwest down to the Nest of Pirates.
• Kika and her pirate gang join up at the Nest of Pirates. Return to the Dauntless and outfit Kika with the recommendations at the start of the guide; removing the equipment from the character she displaced. Dock back at the Nest and view the scenes with Katarina before returning to the Dauntless to battle Snowe.
• Put Jeane (Lightning) and Pablo (Fire) as your rune cannons for the Dauntless and Viki (Wind) with the Grishend. Jeane and Viki's power is more than enough to overwhelm both ships with damage. You can use Pablo against Snowe's ship if you want to play it totally safe.
• Sail all the way northwest to Razril after Snowe. Make sure to execute him when given the prompt to save some time having to ship battle him again later. If it matters to you, this doesn't automatically disqualify Helmut from joining later.
• Next, sail over to Hermitage Island. Remove Sigurd, Hervey, and Dario's equipment since they are currently in your party then head into the forest. After the scenes with Elenor, open the chest at the back of her house for a Skunk Orb. Lazlo will have to fight a Horned Behemoth by himself at the end of the wooded path before he can grab the Crest and Green Bottle and return them to Agnes.
• At the front of the house there are two chests to open: one has a Copper Hammer and the other a Treasure Map (Flowing Orb). Enter the war room and duel Lino to take charge of the Golden Seal. Enter the war room a second time afterward to get direction to go to Middleport for the story. Lastly, return to the Nest of Pirates and recruit Katarina in Kika's room who has now recovered.
• Reform your party and take the Copper Hammer to Adrienne and sharpen your weapons to 12. Warp to Na-Nal Island square and defeat Maxine is who loitering around there to start her recruitment process. Back to Mordo Island, again, but this time enter the bath itself to battle the three Lo siblings and recruit them. Add Lo Seng to your party and remove his Prosperity Rune back at the ship. From there, you are free to sail west to Middleport.

Uniting the Islands

• Getting near Middleport pits you against the Moving Isle boss. Kika won't be able to attack, but can use Mega Medicine while you throw out Eternal Ordeal and Thunder Runner/Soaring Bolt/Furious Blow. You might want to grab Deborah and Oskar in the inn afterward for the latter's drop rate increase.
• Once you've met with Reinbach II, head back to your ship and put Lino in your party, give him some equipment, and sharpen his weapon. Warp to Nay, leave, and sail east to Na-Nal.
• Flatten the Kooluk soldiers stationed on the beach and you'll be thrown in jail until nightfall. Trek up the Gorge to the Great Elven Tree and pilfer their Elven Remedy. Grab the Stone of Strength in the chest inside the Chief's house and attempt to leave the island to be back in jail again.
• Talk to your party members and then rush down the Gorge again to fight three consecutive battles with Kooluk soldiers and head back to the ship. At this point, Paula should have her head rune slot open for either the Wizard or Warrior Rune.
• Dump Lino for your other character; you can leave his equipment since we'll be using him again later. Sail west back to Nay and move up to the Stonecutter's Field and challenge Maxine again. Visit the nameless Nay Chief's house and show him the Golden Seal only to be asked to come back later. Use the Glowing Hand Mirror, then redock at Nay to pick up Kevin and Pam at the Chief's house.
• Enter the Dauntless' war room to get direction to head for Razril. Warp to Middleport and put Katarina in your party, removing her Guard Robe and Pointy Hat, as you approach the port town.
• The Regaining Razril ship battle is laughably easy. Jeane/Palbo on the Dauntless and Viki w/wind on the Grishend is still all you need. The Gaien Ship is a turncoat on the second turn and will do some damage to the flag ship for you and its demise is all you need to win the battle. Finish it with Jeane for damage or Pablo to beat/match and let Viki spar with the other ship.
• Landing at Razril, there's a new chest on the port with some Platinum. You have to go around the town and send certain citizen's to the Hall of Knights for your speech. Start by heading up the narrow path towards the inn: there are three people there to wrangle. Outside the inn there is another citizen to send to the Hall and inside you can recruit Konrad (With Katarina) and Maxine. You may consider grabbing Basil outside the inn if you want Discovered Money for support.
• The strip containing the shops has a woman for the Hall, while outside the Hall there are two men. Inside the Hall, there are two last women before you can give the speech. When dusk falls, go back inside the Hall of Knights and open the first chest on your right for the Silver Hammer, then head for port for a scene before finally resting at the inn.
• Use the Glowing Hand Mirror to return to the ship, replace Katarina, and take the Silver Hammer to Adrienne to sharpen your weapons to 15. From there, descend down into the bowels of the ship's fifth corridor and talk to Pablo who mentions Warlock in Middleport.
• Warp to Middleport and make for Warlock's house on the left-most-side of the town center. There's a chest with a Mushroom outside the house while inside needing to answer "24" to the chest to be dropped down below where you can enter the tunnel to the catacombs.
• Take a right at the first fork, then the one to the left, and open the chest for the Great Earth Armor. Return back to the entrance, taking the left-sided path and hugging the wall to your right through to the next area. Follow the path straight, then veer to the right to be taken to the Ivory Robe chest, then backtrack to the start and take the left-most fork to the next screen.
• Keep to your right and you'll have to fight a Land Dragon which should be no problem with Kika's Falcon Rune and lvl 15 weapon. Further in, talk to Warlock to recruit him and Glowing Hand Mirror back to the ship.
• Put Konrad, Maxine, and Warlock into your party and replace their Rage, Flowing, Mother Earth, and Cyclone Runes with their lesser-elemental counterparts. This isn't needed for the Flowing Rune, however, but they still need runes for the upcoming ship battles. Also, remove Warlock's Magic Robe.
• Warp to Hermitage Island and sail over to the Nest of Pirates for story purposes. You'll then need to sail to Obel to reclaim it which is done quicker by warping to Donut and sailing from there.
• To start the For Obel's Freedom ship battle, assign the Gaien ship with the Grishend. Put Maxine on rune cannon for the Grishend and Viki for the Gaien ship; the Dauntless only needs Jeane. Maxine and Viki will either beat, or match the ship closest to them, while Jeane on the Dauntless is all you need for Colton's flag ship. Really easy. When the private fleet shows, simply sail up the middle with the Dauntless and have Jeane use the rune cannon for a one-shot end.
• Use the Rune of Punishment on the kamikaze ships and slay your final shadow. Go to the deck of the Dauntless for a scene and avoid the war room.

Wrapping Up

• Warp to the Nest of Pirates, without Kika, and talk to the female pirate at the table for an easy Mermaid Bracelet.
• Go down to the fourth deck corridor library and talk to Rene to have her analyze all of your Treasure Maps and make them available to dig up.
• Reform your party and teleport to Nay. Sail northwest across the entire map to Mountain Mass Island. Although it does vary, the majority of the Treasure Maps we picked up will be dug up here. Before that, ascend the mountain and the top-most-left fork has a chest with a Golden Hairball (Chance for a Stone of Evasion drop), five Diamonds, and a Prosperity Rune. A little further up the path is another chest with Mixed Herbs.
• Dig up the treasures for a Thunder, Flowing, Mother Earth, and Cyclone Rune, plus the God Hand. One, or more, may have spawned at Lime Shelf Island that is southwest of the Nest of Pirates, or rarely, Mordo.
• To win the Fury Rune from the training hall on the fifth deck corridor, place Viki, Pablo, Maxine, Warlock, Katarina, Konrad, Sigurd, and Hervey in the two alternate ship parties. If for some reason you aren't using Jeane or Paula, I would replace Sigurd and Hervey with them. If you have Magic Canceller accessories, equip each of your active party with one to make things easier. You should have little problem winning the five consecutive battles with this setup.
• For the finale, you need an additional party of four to fight a fairly easy boss. I would recommend Lino, Sigurd, Katarina, and Keneth, but feel free to use whomever you want as long as you have a mage with a Water Rune. You can just auto-equip their armor for now, since you won't be fighting the boss with it equipped, but make sure to sharpen their weapons to 12 and fight a few battles in Na-Nal with the Kooluk soldiers to bring their levels to 40. That is more than enough. I would highly recommend not bring any other mage like Viki, Warlock, or Maxine since they will be needed for the final ship battle.
• Entering the war room and heading for Fort El-Eal is the point of no return, so make sure you have finished all of your business for this playthrough!

Fort El-Eal

• Inside the war room, set your infiltration party and go back to Lazlo's room to rest. Return to the war room and give the okay you are ready. That night, just go back to Lazlo's room to rest again, then go up to the deck to arrive at El-Eal. Climb up the cliffside with Elenor and the final ship battle will start.
• The Final Engagement is a lot harder than any of the other ship battles, but you can win it, usually, just by attrition with your overpowered mages. The flag ship has a firing distance advantage and no weakness, as well. Set Jeane on the Obel ship, Maxine on the Grishend, Konrad on the Gaien ship, and Warlock and Viki on the Dauntless. If you didn't send Katarina or Keneth on the infiltration, they can join with the Gaien ship for matching with lightning, but not necessary.
• The Grishend, with Maxine, will either beat/match when facing the left-most ship and the Dauntless can hit them from the side while waiting for the flag ship to approach and counter them with Viki if targeted. Move the Gaien and Obel ship right-side to intercept the lightning/water ship. Try to engage with Jeane on the Obel ship to beat/match and use the Gaien ship with Konrad to hit from the side. The best-case scenario is to be able to surround the Kooluk flag ship with all four of your ships and be able to hit it from the side without reprisal. 
• Be warned: the enemy loves to board your ship during this battle which will often prove disastrous, but still, with the power of your rune cannons, you should be able to deplete the flag ship's HP before all of your ships are destroyed.
• When the battle is won, enter Fort El-Eal with Elenor and rush for the fourth floor. Right outside the door to the rune cannon, make sure to remove all four character's equipment so it will carry over to your next playthrough! You won't need it to beat the boss. As long as you brought a character with a Water Rune, which you should have two in Katarina and Sigurd if you used my suggestions, Graham Cray is a pushover even without equipment.
• Back as Lazlo, form your party and again head for the rune cannon room on the fourth floor. Just outside the door to the cannon is a chest with Mixed Herbs and the Fortune Rune. Grab the Stair Room Key on the desk in the office juxtaposed to the cannon, then descend the Fort again. If there are any runes you want to remove from your party and take to the next playthrough; for example: Fury, Thunder, Prosperity, return to the Dauntless and de-equip them before climbing the spiral stairs to the final boss. You won't have another opportunity.
• The Key opens the door to the stairs on the second floor. There's a Magic Canceller in the chest on the ground floor and a Mixed Herbs treasure just before you get to the top the final save point. Inside, select to refuse to answer Cray's questions to speed through the dialogue.
• The Giant Tree can either be a breeze or a pain the neck if it decides to use the wind-based breath that puts everyone to sleep all the time. Kika with Ogre equipment and a Warrior Rune will whittle down its HP quickly with the Falcon Rune, however, and with Jeane and Paula using Furious Blow/Thunder Runner and keeping healed with Kindness Rain it's doubtful you will have any problems outside of being put to sleep. Lazlo can chip in with Eternal Ordeal if has a Wizard Rune or physical attacks if using Warrior; just ignore the two Seeds of Light and focus on the Tree itself. Also, make sure to activate Rush whenever the Tree's leaves turn white and avoid that turn's ultimate attack.
• After the battle make absolutely sure to remove everybody's equipment before you reboard the Dauntless by talking to Rakgi! Duel with Troy and see the final shadow event to bring the game to a close. Unfortunately, every single time you play you have to sit through the long credits to get to the save screen.

Item Considerations

 

Below are some other items that may be of interest to players to add to their inventory each play, but require adding more time to your play than they are worth, in my opinion. Items that cannot be purchased and must be created with materials by either Adrienne or Phil, but might save time in the long run mainly for players that want 99 of every item.

• Necklace: Chest on the Deserted Island where you fight the Boss Crab.
• Dragon Head Piece: Treasure Map in the boxes outside the bath on Mordo Island. 
• Battle Suit: Remove from Bartholomew, Helga, and Rachel.
• Scale Mail: Remove from Selma and Eugene. 
• Magic Robe: Unequip from Ted (Recruitment requires 70 Stars of Destiny). 
• Ninja Garb: Treasure Map on the shelf inside the Nay leader's house.
• Ancient Vestment: Treasure Map on the table onboard the Mystery Merchant Ship.
• Gauntlet: Remove from Rita, Bartholomew, Aldo, and Eugene.
• Iron Shield: Remove from Helmut.
• Shell Shield: Treasure Map in the chest atop Lime Shelf Island.
• Leather Boots: Remove from Frederica.
• Shin Guards: Remove from Ornan, Mizuki, Rita, Kate, Axel, and Eugene.
• Thief Shoes: Treasure Map on the Razril backstreets in crate at start of game.
• Wing Boots: Treasure Map by searching the beached ship in Na-Nal.
• Stone of Evasion: High chance to be dropped by Golden Hairballs in chests on the beach in Na-Nal and Mountain Mass Island.
• Stone of Speed: High chance to be dropped by Angel Hairballs in chests at the Obel Ruins, two at Illuya Island, and Fort El-Eal.
• Fire Rune Piece: Recruit Nalkul and Champo and win the Normal/Average mice game at the Nay-Kobold Settlement.

Of the above listed, only the Dragon Head Piece, Battle Suit, Ninja Garb, Ancient Vestment, and Wing Boots require more than basic materials to create. Also, covered in the walkthrough, you should automatically pick up a Scale Shield and Leather Boots by de-equiping Snowe before he leaves your party in Razril, then a Robe, Cotton Robe, Leather Boots, and a Battle Suit by changing Paula, Chiepoo, Sigurd, and Lino's equipment when they are in your party during the story. Other removals are specifically covered.