Full disclosure: I did all the things I’m writing about in this report on the same day that I wrote the last report on. It’s just that I like to vary my postings so it isn’t all just about one game over and over. Anyway, here goes…

106 out of 108

That’s how many stars I have. Well, technically, I’m at 104 out of 108, because Gremio and Pahn died, but that’s another issue.

Two characters gave me major trouble and recruiting both of them is related to the caves behind Qlon, so I thought I’d write about it in detail in case anyone else has trouble. The title is for Google to find it easier (I think).

Suikoden – Find the Window Crystal/ Window Rune and recruit Window

The window crystal / window rune is in the Qlon caves. The thing is. most of the guides hint that it’s easily found. It wasn’t for me. The window crystal is actually in a secret room in the Qlon cave, behind the hidden passage. Here’s how to find it, in slide show:

So back to text, once you get to the part of the cave where the path forks straight up and straight down, with the upper road leading to a room with a chest, take the down path and then go through a secret passage through the wall in the next room. You will see the passage if you go down far enough. The camera will scroll to show part of it.

The other character related to Qlon cave is Crowley. Here´s how you get Crowley.

Suikoden – How to Recruit Crowley

In order to get Crowley, you already need a max level castle. I was at 105 stars when I recruited him (counting Gremio and Pahn who died), but you can probably be lower than that. I think the fourth level castle is actually the only requirement.

In any case, Crowley is in another secret room in the caves behind Qlon temple. Here’s some pictures to show were:

So again, in words, from the room with a set of stairs on a platform next to a chest, go down the stairs, then through the next room and through the flat southern wall in the room after that to find Crowley. You can find him early on, but you need a level 4 castle to recruit him.

So these two characters gave me trouble. Most of the others I was missing were easy and some were impossible, as in, I missed my chances to get them.

To recruit the dancer, you need Toe Shoes equipped on the hero. I was missing this the entire game, so I thought I should mention this explicitly.

There are also character’s I’ve missed that could have been obtained over the course of the game. For that, here’s another Google-friendly title…

Suikoden – List of Missable Characters

NOTE: The characters here are just the character’s I know I’ve missed. There may actually be more than just these four.

Mace

Mace is the fourth blacksmith and the only one able to raise everyone’s weapons to their maximum level 16. To recruit him, you need the other four blacksmiths in your party and then visit him in his house in Seek Valley. Most wouldn’t consider him missable, since you can return to the valley whenever you wish, but if you wait until the last moment, you won’t have the four free slots in the party you need to take the other blacksmiths with you. That’s the only issue with mace and the only reason I didn’t recruit him.

Kwanda

Kwanda is the first general you defeat, the one with the burning mirror weapon. Apparently, you can spare him, in which case you recruit him. At that point, I was so trained by the fake choices Suikoden was offering me, I didn’t want to go through the motions and just had him executed. Apparently, I was wrong.

Pahn

Pahn isn’t missable, but Pahn’s death is avoidable. If you do the duel correctly, you can survive and Pahn stays with you. I didn’t do it correctly and got killed in a single attack.

Gremio

Gremio’s death is unavoidable, but he can be revived before the game ends, under one extremely important condition – you need to have the other 107 characters, including Pahn, all already recruited. During the last speech, when Leknaat pays you a visit, she’s able to snatch Gremio from the moment of his death, which kind of explains his clothes and weapon on the ground where he died, without his body, though it really doesn’t, since he’s rescued with his clothes on.

Not 100%, but good enough for me

In the end, I was missing two characters (Mace and Kwanda) and I failed to rescue/revive two (Pahn and Gremio). I also didn’t collect all the paint for the painting, all the Window Settings or all the Menu Sounds, but I’m fine with that. The way I understand it, most of these items are collected as drops from enemies and I don’t really feel like doing that.

I feel I’ve played through the experience that is Suikoden well enough. I greatly enjoyed the game and now I can move on to another one, though this will be only in a few weeks, not sooner. Why? I’ll tell you in my next PS1 game report, whichever game that may be.

I’ll give you a hint, though. Remember that guide on transferring saves I wrote? I might need it soon myself.

Related Posts:

• Suikoden [7] – Got There! (Completed)
• Suikoden [6] – Getting There?
• Suikoden [5] – Cheaters Prosper
• Suikoden [4] – From Mundane to Awesome
• Suikoden [3] – Dwarves and Elves