Suikoden II/The last battle

Before the Battle
You will find yourself at your castle, outside the infirmary. After a while, Dr. Huan will come out, but he will say that he failed to save Nanami. However, if you have fulfilled all the conditions to have the best ending of the game, he will then ask Shu to speak in private. The next morning, go to the great hall and talk to Shu. He will tell you that the Highland Army has left Muse and retreated into his own territory. From now on, in fact, you will be free to go to Muse if you want. He will tell you that now is the time to attack Highland and eliminate the root of war. Answer with the first option. After that, Shu will wait for your order to invade Highland. If you are ready, answer with the third option. When you exit the great hall, the hero will faint and be rescued by Freed Y. Meanwhile, Jowy will sacrifice his wife Jillia to the Beast Rune, to enhance his strength, even if it turns out to be a puppet. You will also discover that Leon Silverburg is still alive. That night, after talking with your companions, go to Shu's room. You will notice Apple enter the room and you will see a dialogue between the two. Then go back to bed. The next morning go to the great hall. Shu and the others are waiting for you. Shu will ask you to give the order to attack L'Renouille, capital of Highland. If you are ready choose the first option, if instead you want to first rearrange your units or talk to others, the second. When you give the order, your army will leave the castle.

Approaching L’Renouille
As you proceed, a messenger will report to Shu that the Highland army is led by Leon Silverburg, with Seed and Culgan behind him. He will then order the hero and Hauser to continue, while he prepares an ambush with Viktor. A battle will then begin.

Major Battle #13
In this battle you will not be able to do anything, everything will be automatic. Culgan will suspect a trap, but Leon will decide to continue anyway. Shu and Viktor's units will stand still, drawing the Highland army into the woods. When they get close, Shu will give the signal and the Highland troops will find themselves trapped in the burning forest.

You will then witness a confrontation between Shu and Leon Silverburg, at the end of which, apparently, they will both be destined to die in the burning forest. Shortly after, however, you will discover that Shu is alive and that his plan worked perfectly. You will then find yourself at the Muse-Highland border. Talking to Hilda you can rest and save the game. By talking to Apple instead, you can arrange your units and, when you're ready, start the last field battle.

Major Battle #14
The last field battle is not too difficult. In fact, by now, your army should exceed that of Highland. You will discover that among the enemy generals there is also Han Cunningham, Genkaku's old friend. To win, simply bring any of your units into the city of L'Renouille. Of course, however, to do so you will be forced to first eliminate some of the enemy units, which will limit themselves to defending the city. Use the Fire Spears and your spellcasters and you shouldn't have much of a problem. After a few turns by the way, Yuber will retreat, making things easier for you. As soon as an empty space is created inside the city, use one of your troops with the best movement possibilities to occupy it and you will have won the battle.

You will then find yourself at the gates of the castle of L'Renouille. You will have to choose the party members to take with you for the final assault. However, after choosing, before entering the castle, you should go out again on the world map.

Sajah
Once on the world map, you can go anywhere you want in the world, by now all areas will be accessible. Enemies in the area around L'Renouille can give you a lot of experience points. You can also use the Blinking Mirror to go back to your castle and settle loose ends or change party members. You can resume the assault whenever you want, by having Viki teleport you there. First however, after exiting L'Renouille, head northwest, until you reach a small village called Sajah.

You will be free to explore the village and talk to the inhabitants. There is also an inn and an appraisal shop. The only important thing here though is the item and rune shop. In fact, here you will find many powerful (and expensive) runes for sale that can be very useful in the last battles. In the item shop you can also find among the rare finds some excellent protections and, most importantly, the Golden Hammer. By bringing this hammer to Tessai, you will be able to upgrade your weapons to the maximum level, that is 16. It is strongly recommended to fully upgrade the hero's weapon before entering the castle of L'Renouille and it is certainly a good idea to do the same thing with the other characters you intend to use. When you are finally ready, return to L'Renouille and enter the castle.

L’Renouille Castle
L'Renouille Castle is the final dungeon of the game. Of course, it's also the biggest and most difficult one, labyrinthine and full of powerful enemies. Along the way you will also have to face many Highland soldiers and more than one boss before reaching the final battle, so you should prepare yourself adequately first, upgrading your equipment and buying everything you think you might need. It is also certainly a good thing to always keep at least one Escape Talisman in your inventory, to return outside when you want. As you enter the atrium, you will meet again Lucia, who you will have to face for the third and last time.

Boss Fight – Lucia
HP: 6500

This time Lucia will be much more dangerous than when you previously met her. In fact, she attacks three times per turn and her attacks are very powerful. Lucia has three types of attacks: her physical attack, which causes decent damage to a single character, and two fire element attacks that cause massive damage to the entire group, especially the one with shurikens. For this battle you will therefore do well to use only your best characters, or in any case, those with the highest HP and magic defense values. Constantly keep the group healed with the Bright Shield rune and any other healing spells or items when this is not enough. Also use runes that can repel her spells. For the rest, attack her as normal, with your most powerful magical runes and your best attacks.

Defeated Lucia, Teresa and Shin will come and convince her to stop fighting. Go back outside to restore your energy if you want, then start going deeper into the castle. The large door to the north is closed, so you'll need to take another path. Exit right. Follow the corridor ignoring the rooms to the north. Follow the path until you come to a fork. Go left. You will enter an armory; in the lower room you will find a Robe of Mist and in the upper one a Bolt of Wrath. Return to the fork and go north. Proceed and follow the path until you come to a room with four entrances. The south door is the closed one you saw earlier, just after the entrance, while to continue you will have to go north. But take the left exit first. You will notice that this path is perfectly mirrored to the one you have just traveled and will take you back to the entrance. However, limit yourself to reaching the armory, in one of the rooms you will find a Fury rune. Then go back to the room with four entrances, make sure the hero's HPs are at maximum and go through the door to the north. Here you will meet general Han. Answer him as you like, in any case he will challenge you to a duel.

If you have upgraded the hero's weapon to the maximum level, as recommended, this fight won't be too difficult. Pay attention to what he says, to predict his moves and act accordingly. When he yells at you, he will almost certainly launch a wild attack, otherwise you can just attack him.

When you defeat Han, he will ask you for your name. Tell him, out of respect. He will reveal that your rune and Jowy's are two halves of the rune of the Beginning. After that Han will die and you can proceed. In the next room go up the ladder and take either of the two doors to the south. Go south again and you'll come to another room with four entrances. You can ignore the left exit, which is a dead end. Go right first instead. In the next room, ignore the southern path and go north. Proceed north until you come to a fork in the road. Go left. You'll come to a room where there are two chests, containing a Champion rune and a Wind Amulet. After taking them, go back to the fork, the other exits are dead ends. This time go north. Continue up the ladder and go north again. In this room you will find a Stone of Power and a Stone of Defense. Go back and down the ladder (going south won't get very far). Repeat all the way until you return to the room with four accesses. This time go south. Go left and then north (you won't find anything else following the other paths). At this point, go north as far as you can and up the ladder at the bottom. The southern path is a dead end, so head north and then left. Follow the path and exit south. You will find yourself outdoors. Go right and reenter. Proceeding following the only available path and exit to the right. From here, go straight north, until you reach a corridor overlooked by three rooms. The first is empty, while in the second you will find a save point and in the third an Escape Talisman. At the fork, go south. Continue and you will come back in the garden, at the end you will find a Goldlet. Go back and go straight north. Climb the ladder. In a room on the right is a Window Set #7, then exit south. Keep going and at the next fork go north, the southern path is a dead end. From here on there is only one path to follow. After climbing one last ladder, you'll find another save point to the right, which also fully restores your energy. You should take advantage of it, because Seed and Culgan are waiting for you immediately afterwards. Tell them what you want, in any case you will have to fight them.

Boss Fight – Seed & Culgan
HP: 4200 (Seed) 3800 (Culgan)

Finally, you will fight these two Highland generals personally and not on the battlefield. However, they are two quite tough opponents. Both attack twice per turn. Seed has a powerful physical attack and can cause serious damage to the entire party, thanks to his Fire Rune. He can also stop the party from casting spells, using Silent Lake. Culgan instead has a Lightning rune and can attack multiple characters at the same time. So constantly heal the group with the Bright Shield rune and use all your most powerful spells without economizing. Also for this fight, you should use only your best characters. Try to take out Culgan first, he's probably the weaker of the two and can heal Seed with Kindness Rain. Concentrate all your physical attacks on him. After defeating Culgan, things will become much easier. Seed is in fact weak to the Thunder element. If you have characters equipped with the Lightning rune and cast his most powerful spells on him, you will quickly defeat him.

After killing Seed and Culgan, you will see a scene where Jowy says goodbye to Jillia and Pilika, asking them to start a new life elsewhere. You will then find yourself in the following corridor. As you progress, you will face the final boss of the game. But first, it is certainly advisable to return at least to the last save point, to restore energy. If you want then, you can also leave the castle (perhaps with an Escape Talisman) to change party members or make purchases. If you still have some unfinished business to sort out, now is the time. Given the large sums you will have earned by fighting the enemies of the castle you can buy anything you want. It is certainly better that the characters you use for the last battle have the best protections you can buy and their weapons fully upgraded, to make things easier for you. When you're ready, move forward to meet Leon Silverburg, who has saved himself once again. Leon will use his blood to awaken the Beast Rune, which you must defeat.

Boss Fight – Beast Rune
HP: Left Head: 4800 Right Head: 4800 Left Leg: 4500 Right Leg: 5700 Rune: 3300

For the final battle, use the characters you are most comfortable with. However, it is more advantageous to use the strongest characters in the game, such as Georg (best if equipped with a Double Beat rune), Mazus and Pesmerga. The final boss consists of five parts. It is not necessary to defeat them all to win the battle, just eliminate the two heads and the rune. However, you should take out the right leg first, because it can heal and restore the other parts of the Beast Rune, as well as launch an attack that causes many status ailments to the party. It can also temporarily nullify all your spells. In addition to this, the Beast Rune has four other attack types. The least dangerous, affects a single character, causing moderate damage. Most of the time though, the Beast Rune will attack the entire party, causing similar damage. Other times, the Beast Rune will use an attack similar to that of the Bright Shield rune, which causes a lot of damage to the whole party. His most powerful attack, however, resembles that of the Black Sword rune and causes massive damage to the entire group. Keep in mind that the Beast Rune attacks three times per turn, so you need to constantly keep your party healed and have characters with a high HP value. Furthermore, all Beast Rune parts have high magic defense and, apart from their legs, have no particular weaknesses. Then launch all your best attacks, both physical and magical. Unite attacks can also help. First, therefore, eliminate the right leg. Resurrection is very effective against it. Next, focus on the left leg (weak to darkness) or the Rune. This is the easiest part to defeat and does not present particular resistances. Finally, focus on the two heads. Naturally, as you destroy the parts of the Beast Rune, things will get easier. A quicker, but riskier strategy is to focus only on the heads and the rune, ignoring the legs. However, you will have to be very quick, because the destroyed parts could then be restored.

After defeating the Beast Rune, you will reach the throne room, but it will be empty and the castle will start to collapse. Your companions will urge you to flee. Answer as you like, in any case you will be forced to leave. Your companions await you outside and will be happy to see you back safely.

Epilogue
You will find yourself in your room at the castle. Eilie will wake you up and tell you that everyone is waiting for you in the great hall. If you want, before going there you can go anywhere in the world you want (by yourself), but now you can do little. Once in the great hall, based on what you intend to do and how you acted during the game, you will see one of the possible endings. For further information, see the relevant page