Suikoden

• Keep Pahn leveled up with your party and in your party as often as possible. There's a fight you get in where only he participates so you need him to be levelled.

• Place one water rune for each character you will be using often. The heals add up quickly enough.

• Expect to have people die often during failed RPS turns. Levels help a lot during those fights.

• Always take a character who is very weak and fight a few battles to make him close to your level and then forget him, until it happens again.

• Don't execute anyone or lose duels.

• For the love of god, don't step on the old man's grass.

• What you really want to watch out for is Leon and Mathiu. The second you can talk to Leon, go back and talk to him and Mathiu after every major event. Yes, every single one. You have a very narrow window of time in which to recruit him and if you don't, you can't do it again.

• Also, don't kill anyone. Ever. Except that dick after you meet Lephant, you can slice him up without consequence, he never appears again.

• Don't bother grinding for levels.

• If a character has a portrait, good chances they either join your party, are bad, or plot characters.

• Do not choose execute when the choice appears.

• Keep Pahn's weapon and level high, it will save you grief later.

• Be careful during major battles, as characters can be permanently killed if you do the wrong attack.

• Most of the 108 stars are easy to find, but a few are tricky to find like Clive or Lester. If in doubt, look at a requirement guide.

• The Prosperity Rune is fantastic; always keep it on once you can get it. The Fortune Rune is kind of crappy.

• Flick and Vincent will not always be in your party but they are powerhouses throughout the game.

• When the plot sends you to Soniere Prison for an antidote, use only store-bought runes for this event.

• When you start recruiting the game's triggers involve around coming back later in the game at a higher level, or with an upgraded castle; coming back with the right people on your team; completing mini-games; giving crystals/runes/items to people that mention them; re-visit borders/small towns at later parts of the game, and re-enter endgame dungeons (including boss chambers)

• Four recruitables require you to eat some stew in an empty house, get a Nameless Urn that drops from enemies (Holly Fairies on the world map sometimes drop them), another will show up at an inn at Rikon randomly, and finally one requires you to have a certain recruited elf character at a high level.

• Never ever kill or execute anyone when given the choice. Always be benevolent to the point where it hurts.

• If someone dies in warfare, reload your save if you're aiming at the best ending.

• Abuse your reconnaissance commands in warfare. If you do everything right, most battles end in less than 5 turns, so use your highest attacking units.

• Duels are based on the fighter's stats. If you cannot win a duel, just level up that person.

• Your opponent in a duel will always talk before they take any actions. Most fighters will comment about their attacks before they attack or scream before using a fierce attack. The same applies when they try to badger you to attack them at full strength. Some are less obvious, but there are plenty of signs to make duels easy enough.

• The point-of-no-return deals with your jail inside the castle (its the only time it will ever be used). You'll have the option to talk to someone you have captive; be sure to complete everything you need to complete before initiating the dialog here.

• When the final boss uses their rune in plot mode, you can go apeshit with yours once you start the battle. I made the mistake of thinking there was more and ended up conserving my spells which added about 30 minutes to that fight.