Suiko 3 pre-routing notes

Just a random collection of notes that may or may not help with Suikoden III routing, whenever I decide to start that up.

Optional Characters Maybe Worth Getting:
-Jeane (great in war battles, good to have a rune shop in Budehuc, easy to get along the way)
-Gordon? (probably good to have an item shop at Budehuc, doesn't take too much time to get in Chris 2)
-Ernie? (no idea, having a tutor might be handy, but she's out of the way, and her recruitment prereq is annoying)
-Emily (the best melee character in the game, but she's kinda hard to get unless you can get Landis during Hugo 3.  very helpful for the endgame bosses, particularly Sarah and WindRIncar)
-Landis? (you need 600+ STR to recruit Emily, and if you grab Landis with your Hugo 3 party, you should be above that I think. TBD)
-Estella/Rody (Rody's Wall/Firefly Runes might come in handy for Yuber boss fight at the endgame, plus I think they're okay in war battles.  Not too hard to get either, can grab in Chris 3 or 5)
-Viki (good war battle unit, teleportin' is good.  dunno if she's worth getting in chapter 4, but in 5 she's free)
-Small Viki? (might not be worth getting unless there's a lack of good mages, which I doubt.  She also brings the Blinking Mirror, but that might not be necessary to get)
-Duke and friends (in Geddoe 5, you fight three battles vs. monsters, then you fight or flee.  if you fight, you fight two more battles, then Duke and friends join you.  They join at the mid-50s geared out pretty well, and they're all war units, so this would be a big boon for the final war battle.  If that fight isn't too hard without them, they should be skipped.  It's a solid safety valve strat though, and given how long this run it, that might be necessary)

I do not yet know about the armor shop or the blacksmith.  If they're not worth getting, it is worth looking to see who the best blacksmith/armor shops are on the way to wherever I need to go when I need to upgrade armor and weapons.

Other Random Notes:
-Skip Thomas' chapters.  The only thing you miss out on is levels for Thomas/Cecile/Juan/Piccolo but they're not really useful anyway.
-Unless money becomes a serious issue (doubtful), there will be no using the lottery system.  It's funny and all but completely worthless in a non-segmented setting.  Tickets do not carry over from chapter to chapter, so even if you ran one chapter at a time (like I am considering), they wouldn't be worthwhile.
-Buy lots and lots of Medicines.
-If you use import data for some reason with level 99 characters, Viki (only the first one) and Futch will join at level 70+, and Belle gets a ~15 level boost.  Will not be using import data when routing.
-The Destiny set of armor, which increases Potch gained, doesn't seem TOO bad to get, but it's probably not worth pursuing
-The Prosperity set of armor increases Potch gained even more, but it's definitely not worth pursuing (one of the pieces is only a random reward from Goppu, which isn't too hard to win, but it takes too much time to get Billy + hope it's the reward)
-Chris will not have money problems.  She starts at 200k potch and you probably don't need to upgrade anyone's stuff (the Zexen Knights all get an upgrade in chapter 5, but I'm not sure yet if it's only a level upgrade, or if it also applies to weapon strength + armor)
-Hugo only has 1k potch to start, and he has two rough fights towards the end of Hugo 1, but by selling Lulu's rune and asking for money for the Pentacle, you can easily get at least 10k.
-The hardest fights of any of the 1-3 chapters are Yuber in Chris 3 (not too hard but randomness can cost you since Yuber is volatile) and the required treasure boss in Geddoe 1.  The treasure boss supposedly doesn't use magic unless you do, but Aila's Shield rune is super useful, as is Geddoe's Lightning Rune.  It might be worthwhile to remove Joker's Fire Rune for a Water Rune so that he can provide extra healing.
-If Mua's Sword of Thunder rune is removable (Suikosource says it is) he seems a good candidate as a Wall/Firefly mule vs. Yuber.
-The Pale Gate Rune (not too hard to get IIRC) is vital for the Water Rune boss at the end of Chapter 4.
-Characters who have Pale Gate Rune compatibility:  Alanis (level 47, worthless), Estella (level 47, might have to be leveled), Joker (level 45, leveling TBD), Piccolo (level 40, worthless because he'd have to be leveled up), Viki (probably the best choice because she can get it maxed by a Tutor right away, but you'd have to recruit her in chapter 4, and she can fail spellcasting), small Viki (if you recruit her, she's probably a better choice than Viki, but she's a bit out of the way)
-A Flowing Rune (I'm not too sure where to get one off the top of my head, but it's probably not too far out of the way) is very good for the Sarah boss fight (equip it on someone with a solid Water Rune rating, cast Silent Lake, and then beat up the goons + Sarah).
-Ideas for final parties:
Yuber: Geddoe, Viki, Ace, Joker (these two are big question marks), Mua (with Wall/Firefly if that works), mage
Sarah:  Chris, Emily, Flowing Rune bearer, three melee characters (Leo, Hallec, one of Duke's mercs if you get them, Sgt. Joe, etc); bring Mega Medicines equipped to everyone
WindRIncar:
Hugo/Fubar (Hugo is the Flame Champion)
Geddoe (True Lightning Rune)
Sasarai (Flowing Rune allows good healing, plus Canopy Defense can shield from the WindRIncar's magic attacks once per turn)
Emily (great melee character)
Shield Rune bearer (Aila)

You can only cast one spell per pair per turn, which is why a melee character paired with the sixth party member is a good idea.  Not completely sold on this team, but I used it casually and it worked out quite well.  TBD if it will work in a speedrun setting.

Those are my rough notes so far.  Routing will take a long time and probably render most of this wrong.

I will almost certainly not be running this game, unless I decide to do it one chapter at a time.  Just don't have the time to dedicate to it.