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>Suikoden Tactics: Dig/Treasure Hunting Guide (PS2)<
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By Blazefeeler

Contents~
1.Introduction
==============
-A)History 
-B)Copyrights

2.Rene
======
-A)Skills
-B)Defenses
-C)Dig Locations/Treasures
-D)Comments
-E)Credits

1.Introduction
==============
2-25-2006
This faq is being formed for a general idea on how to best utilize
Rene and the skills that she can use best in her quest(and yours)
in Treasure Hunting. There are many chances to battle in this 
game, to hunt monsters, and hunt for treasures with Rene. 
I will try to give you some hope in what you can look forward 
to finding, as well as a few pointers on how to best set up and use 
Rene and her skills to obtain those hard to find, and in sometimes,
priceless treasures. 

A. History
==========
2/12/2004
-Recieved and started my gameplay of 
Suikoden Tactics. 

2/25/2006
-Started work on the Treasure Hunting Guide

05/24/2007
-General update.

B.Copyright
===========
This guide may not be posted in any other website, or informational
source without my approval. I will more then likely grant permission
if you simply ask, and give credit where it is due. With saying that...
on with the Faq!! 

Rene~
=====

Rene is without a doubt, one of the most useful and awesome 
players of this game. Those of you who have played Suikoden IV
are familiar with her skills, no doubt but for those of you who have
not, Rene is most simply put, a dowser. She has dual dowsing rods 
which will lead her to treasure. In this game, the proper use of Rene 
will mean the difference between getting good treasure, and going 
without. Some of the items she can dig up are found in shops, and 
some as rare items or bargain items in stores. Although, as a sidenote,
you can ofter dig up new items during gameplay with Rene that you 
would otherwise have to wait several chapters to obtain by other 
ordinary means. 

To obtain and recruit Rene, you must first accept a guild quest 
in Middleport known as,"Seeking Treasure Hunt Partners". The 
sooner you can get this quest accomplished the better, as it will give 
you earlier access to Rene and her skills. This is a Rank E quest, 
and it will cost you 100 potch to iniate. The reward for completion 
of the quest will be 1000 potch from Lalacle at the Quest Guild, 
and a reward of 500 skill points to your party. There is no deadline 
on this quest. 

Once you accept this quest you will gain a new spot on your 
world map,The Deserted Island.Once you are ready and have 
4-5 party members well equipped and ready for battle, head to 
the Deserted Island where you will come across non other then 
Chiepoo, from Suikoden IV. It seems old Chiepoo is locked into
a life/death struggle with X and Company, and is striving to be a 
merchant of yore. But, that is a whole other story, isn't it? 

Once you arrive at the Deserted Island, you will see an option 
in your menu screen to go, "To the Coast/Beach". Selecting this 
option will pit you into a battle with Rene as a guest and your five 
toughest party members. They must go into battle and defend 
Rene while she attempts to find and dig three pieces of Prime 
Gold Ore. Sounds easy, doesn't it? Well..it isn't. At least not 
your first time through. 

Rene is a level 1 character when you first meet here. When she
finds and locates a treasure,a golden ray of light will appear over 
it's location on your map to mark it. Once you gain control of 
Rene, you can move her to this point on your map and select the 
dig command. Rene will then dig down to the treasure and claim 
it for your party. One thing to note here, is that Rene can dig 
wherever she is on the map, even if she is not on treasure and 
doingso, will help you level Rene up quickly, which is a must for her 
survival. There are roughly a dozen or so pieces of Prime Gold
Ore scattered on the beach, and to end this battle, Rene must 
dig up three pieces of it. Doing so, will conclude the battle. 
After the battle is concluded, you can sell the pieces of Prime 
Gold Ore for 5000 potch a piece, or save them for a future guild 
quest. I would suggest doing the latter if you are looking to do 
quests as soon as possible. 

Andarc and Rita will both do well in your party on this map, as 
there is a lightning elemental already in place, and this can help 
to strengthen your attacks and defenses. The Giant Crab on the 
beach is by far one of the most deadly foes in this battle. It's 
breath or spray attack covers a wide area, and will surely kill 
Rene if she gets hit by it. In fact, in this battle, Rene must not 
get hit by anything or she will die or withdraw, which means 
game over for you and this quest. You MUST protect her. 
The Giant Crab does have a weakness though to combo
attacks. A well placed attack will bring it crashing down 
quickly. The Savage Frogs also have the ability to hit two 
adjacent squares, so spreading your characters and team out, 
will likely pay off for you in the end. 

Once you complete this mission successfully, return to the 
guild to collect your reward and report your success. You 
will now want to outfit, and keep outfitting Rene with the
best armor and items you have available for her. She is a 
killable character, meaning that if you let her die, even once, 
she is gone for good. She has a chance like the other characters
to withdraw, but it has been my experience that she rarely does, 
and that means that if you want to keep her alive for future battles 
and digging, you may have to reset your game and try 
again to keep her alive, and away from death. A Sunbeam Orb
works well with Rene, as does the Gale Orb, increasing her speed. 
Speed will help tremendously as she tends to be the last character 
who acts most often. A good alternative is switching her into your 
party, once you have her in position to dig. This way you can let 
an alternative, stronger character take a couple of enemy beatings 
and then can switch in Rene when you are ready to dig. 

A.Skills
=========
-Minds Eye(Very handy train up as soon as possible, to help 
avoid attacks)

-Hidden Power(Never had much luck with this on Rene, 
so I would advise you to save this for later)

-Extra Move(Very nice to have, but don't cut yourself short
 to get it. It will let Rene get some extra move, and treasure 
seeking range after she is done with her first move).

-Godspeed(This is a must later in the chapters, when every move 
and range counts)

-Jump(Not very useful for me, I suggest you save this for 
dead last).

-Guard(MUST have this on Rene, she needs all the defense 
she can get if you are going to leave her undefended).

-Treasure Hunter( Main skill, and must upgrade priority. 
Maxing this out to S rank, will help immensely).


B. Defenses
===========

Rene must have a strong Defense, since she has no Offense. 
Equip her with a MotherEarth Robe as soon as possible, as 
this will serve as good, mobile armor for her until you can 
upgrade her armor later. I would suggest equipping a few 
Mother Earth Force beads on her, or Earth Force Beads so 
she can lay down some protective cover for herself, and heal 
herself in dire straits. A Godspeed Anklet, and also the 
Magical Cape are also good choices for her. Here is a list to 
help out with locating these items and some other items that 
may help.

Mother Earth Robe-Deserted Island-Chiepoo
Mother Earth Force beads-Illuya Island
Godspeed Anklet-Haruna
Gale Orb-Deserted Island-Chiepoo
Magical Cape-Haruna
Sunbeam Orb-Chiepoo's Initial Stock

C. Dig Locations/Treasures
==========================
It should be noted right here and now, that alot of dig
items are entirely RANDOM for your game. Meaning, you 
will likely find things that I have not listed in this guide, 
that are entirely random. Some of them depend on where 
you are fighting, and what kind of enemies you face. For 
example...you are in the Terana Plains, fighting Furball 
enemies.Rene starts digging and finds the Furball Pelt Items....

The best thing to do is to max out Rene's Treasure Hunting
skills early on so you can detect treasures from further away,
and then best plan how to get Rene there to dig them. The 
following is a listing of locations and story specific/quest 
specific items that I have found at each location. I want you 
all to know, that just because I found these items here, most 
of them are RANDOM and may not show up in your digging, 
especially in the Ruins of Obel where everything changes by 
the day of the week, and other variables. This is only meant to 
give you an idea of what you may expect to find. The Story 
specific battles and sites that I will list, do have very SPECIFIC
items that you WILL find when you play through. Like the 
Ancient items in the Ruins of Obel.  

1) Ruins of Obel
****************
 1.1-Map #1
-Drain Rune
-Sunbeam Rune
-Gauntlets

 1.2-Map#2
-Drain Rune
-Prime Gold Ore
-Diamond 

 1.3-Map#3 (Make sure you find the Ancient Coin on 
your first trip to this map)
-The Ancient Coin
-Diamond
-Prime Gold Ore
-Elemental Fragments
-Platinum

 1.4-Map#4 (Both are quest items, and you need to dig them
 both up to complete the later quests)
-Ancient Recipe
-Ancient Parchment
-Silver Mail
-Golden Mail
-Strength Sash
-Tome of Black Arts
-Cyclone Robe

 1.5-Map#5
-Ancient Dish (Far end of map, near where the two Golems
 are standing)
-Strength Sash
-Tome of Black Arts
-Dragon Scale Gauntlets(Treasure Chest)
-Diamond
-Platinum
-Hawk Orb

 1.6-Map#5 Revisited (After first trip to Map#5 when the
 poison mist clears)
-Ancient Ring(Top of Pyramid type structure to the left of the
 entrance)
-Strength Sash
-Tome of Black Arts
-Counter Ring
-Diamond
-Platinum
-Viper Orb
-Master's Wristbands

 1.7-Map#6 (dependent on what day of the week it is, 
Earth/Fire/Wind/Water/Thunder)
-Ancient Sword (Mother Earth Chamber on 6th map, 
only accessible when it is an earth day of the week, found
 in the northwest corner of the map most often)
-Chaos Shield
-General Armor
-Windspun Armor
-Venus Gloves
-Unicorn Robe
-Mermaid Robe

2) Battle at Fort El-Eal (Battle Busk)
**************************************
-Dig Spot #1~One Piece Dress(Upper right end of the ramp 
your party starts on)
-Dig Spot #2~Wing Shield(Far end of the map to the left of 
Busk's starting position)
-Treasure Chest-Wing Mail

3)The Ruins of Collanbal
************************
-Dig Spot #1~Magic Cape(Near the lower right hand trio of 
enemies from where you start)
-Dig Spot#2~Killer Orb(Mid screen near a duo of enemies, 
just before the brickwork starts)
-Crates~Rage Force Beadsx3(Across the stream)

4) Justice at Merseto Port
**************************
-Dig Spot#1~Gale Orb(Top most left section of the map, north 
of the two pirates)
-Dig Spot#2~Silver Chain Mail(lower right hand most portion 
of the map, near the dead end)
-Chest~Kangacorn Orb

5) Monsters at El-Eal
*********************
-Dig Spot#1~Wing Shield(Far western end of the map, left 
of your starting position)
-Treasure Chest#1~Iron Mail
-Treasure Chest#2-Wind Orb

6) Battle Martin at Collanbal
*****************************
-Dig Spot#1~Viking Shield(North end of map, far western 
section near Martin)
-Treasure Chest#1~Star Earrings

~Random Finds~(After clearing this map, and returning to
 hunt monsters)
-Prime Gold Ore
-Iron Mail
-Viper Orb

7) The Caleron Laboratory-Part #1
*********************************
-Dig Spot#1~Counter Ring(North end of the platform 
you start on)
-Treasure Chest#1~Ninja Garb

8) The Caleron Laboratory-Part#2
********************************
-Dig Spot#1~Magic Hand(Near Rogets Starting Position)
-Treasure Chest#1~Cyclone Robe

9) Ambush at Terana Plain
*************************
-Dig Spot#1~Wing Mail(Exactly where your party starts)
-Dig Spot#2~Wizard Orb(Far left or Western part of the 
map, behind the Bounty Hunter)

-Random Finds-(After clearing this map, and returning to
 hunt monsters)
a) Prime Gold Ore
b)Mother Earth Armor
c)Platinum
d)Diamond
e)Sunbeam Orb
f)Mega Medicine

10) Xasta Grasslands
********************
This random area opens up for exploration and monster 
hunting after you signup for the 
"Blue Savage Sprout Flower Wanted" quest. 
-Prime Gold Ore
-Various Rune Orbs-Sunbeam, Drain, Killer, etc...
-Elemental Robes/Armor
-Platinum
-Various monster drops(Sprouts, Roots, Seeds, etc..)

11) Frontier Town Haruna
************************
-Dig Spot#1~Gold Bracers(Center isle of map, far Eastern 
end near the three captains/Kooluks)
-Dig Spot#2~Flowing Robe(South end of map, in the 
courtyard where Simeon tends to retreat to)
-Treasure Chest#1~Ninja Garb

12) Small Border Village
************************
-Dig Spot#1~General Armor(Left side of map, up the slope
 west of the northwest corner Rune Cannon)
-Treasure Chest#1~Silver Mail(East side of the map, mid 
screen)
-Treasure Chest#2~Mother Earth Orb(East side of map,
 north of Treas.Chest#1, N.E. Corner)

13) Mido Shallows(Defeat Martin)
********************************
-Dig Spot#1~Hero's Cape(Just north and west of where
 your crew starts out)
-Dig Spot#2~Diamond(Midscreen near the second group
 of four enemies)
-Dig Spot#3~Prime Gold Ore(Far west end of the map, 
just south of where Martin starts out)

14) Graska-Battle at the Palace Gates
*************************************
-Dig Spot#1~Hunters Orb(South of where your group of
 four people enter the battle)
-Dig Spot#2~Platinum Gauntlets(Courtyard where Roget 
is, just north of center)
-Dig Spot#3~Warrior Orb(North most part of courtyard, 
north of D.Spot#2)
-Dig Spot#4~Stardust Dress(South of Courtyard center, 
south of D.Spot#2)

15) Battle in Graska Palace
***************************
-Dig Spot#1~Violence Orb(North side of Palace,
 mid-screen)
-Dig Spot#2~Dragon Scale Armor(Just south of where
 your crew enters battle)
-Dig Spot#3~Rage Orb(Far East end of map, near the
 Treasure Chest)
-Treasure Chest#1~Chaos Shield

16) Imperial City of Graska II
******************************
-Dig Spot#1~Perfect Armor(Far east side of map, just 
behind the last wave of foes)
-Treasure Chest#1~Guardian Vestment
-Treasure Chest#2~Ogre Breath

17) A Warrior's Reckoning
*************************
-Dig Spot#1~Guardian Bracelet(Just north of the northern
 group of three enemies that are 
closest to your starting point)
-Dig Spot#2~Hero Shield(Middle Eastern part of the map, 
 just west of Iskas' starting point)
-Treasure Chest#1~Guardian Vestment
-Treasure Chest#2~Hero Armor

18) Secret Patriarchal Facility
*******************************
-Dig Spot#1~Hand of God(Far Eastern end of map, 
midscreen)

D.Comments
=========

As a side note, I just want to make some things clear. Most 
of the rarest armor, and items can only be found through 
digging in random locations with Rene. Alot of good items 
can be found in the 6th Maps(Elemental Chambers) of the 
Obel Ruins. I have yet to find every armor and item, and will 
be working towards that goal during the next few weeks.Some
items, that are treasures that can be found with Rene, can also 
be found through monster drops. To increase your drop rate, 
use unite attacks, and try to score critical hits when possible. 
The Hunter Rune will also help you with your treasure hunting 
goals. 

This guide is not intended to show every possible dig item in 
every random hunt location. Items are to random to be always 
found at one place or another. If you should happen to find an 
error in this guide,or have found more dig spots in the storyline 
battles with other treasure, feel free to email me and once 
it is confirmed it will be included in this guide, with your name/etc, 
for credits.

E. Credits
==========

-Thanks to Konami, for yet another excellent addition to the 
Suikoden Series. 

-Thanks to Gamefaqs and CJayC for providing posting of this
 faqs and the boards at Gamefaqs. 
(my home away from home)

-BradyGame Guides and Official Strategy Guides

-All of the posters at Gamefaqs, for which this guide is
 intended to help

-Thanks to my family for being so patient with me, 
and my hobbies. 

-My email should you wish to contact me about this 
guide, is kooptsk@hotmail.com