by Lara Roberts

Created on: February 09, 2011   Last Updated: June 28, 2011

Every game in the Suikoden series is full of diverse activities, side-quests and a plethora of hidden secrets - it may seem a bit overwhelming at first glance, especially to a casual player or one who has never played a Suikoden game before. 108 different characters! All these items to collect! So much leveling up to do, and equipment to buy!

So what's the best way to make sure you experience everything the games have to offer? These simple tips should help you get stuck in.

1 - Talk to everyone

It may seem a bit excessive, but as a rule of thumb, RPGs tend to hide secrets with the most innocuous-looking bystanders. Every town you visit will have multiple NPCs (non-player characters) walking around, and just to be on the safe side, talk to every last one. And don't just do it once - occasionally a character will have secondary information that's only available if you speak to them multiple times. To be sure, speak to an NPC until they repeat themselves each time. They may lead you to a hidden location or a new player character!

2 - Explore!

It may seem a bit  obvious, but it is very easy to forget that items are often hidden away, both in town and dungeon maps. In towns, always check suspicious areas; items are often found in such environment decorations as crates, barrels and flowerpots, and in some cases the developers have hidden treasure chests in hard-to-see locations. If you can't see your character properly, the likelihood is that there is a chest not far away - mash that action button, and you might get a nice surprise.

3 - Retrace your steps

Suikoden games are notorious for this - some of the 108 Stars of Destiny are easily missed, and can only be found if you forego moving the story onwards, and return to cities or dungeons you have already visited. Generally speaking, if you have a break in the story and need to do something to move it onwards (for example, speaking to someone within your castle base), it's a good time to go recruiting. This may seem time-consuming, but if you want the best ending for your game, you have to get all 108 characters on your side.

4 - Choose your party

With upwards of 50 different party members to choose from, it is very tempting to constantly chop and change your team around. However this approach will not only minimise your leveling potential, but very quickly drain your pockets. Equipment and smith improvements to weapons don't come cheap, and doing so for every character means hours and hours spent killing monsters

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