ROMANCING SAGA 3 SPOILER-FREE PLAY TIPS GUIDE
Playing RS3 blind for the first time is a unique experience, it really is!
So close this browser tab this instant and play the game!
If you still want pointers but no spoilers, there you are : )
First you might want to download and read the the official game manual in English.
Feel free to ask if you are lost (my e-mail address at the bottom of every page).
Main Character Selection
Star (class) & Favorite Weapon selections modify your MC's stats.
Theses stats are fixed for the whole game so they are important.
Roughly said, STR and DEX are the main factors for weapon damage (DEX for bows and epees, STR for the rest), INT/MAG for magic power.
Your Favorite Weapon is just that, and it will make it easier to spark (learn) new techs of that weapon class.
Characters' Introductions set aside, all MCs have similar playthroughs with limited variations. The most distincitve characters are Mikhail (special Ruling and Warring mini-game), Khalid (additional dungeon), Julian/Monika (extended Introductions).
Saving
In the Remaster Edition, there is a convenient auto-save (every time you get in a new 'room') but you should always save manually and separately every time you finish quest or start something (you never know what might happen, and some choices really matter).
Introductions
Each main character has an Introduction that presents the same events through your MC's eyes (i.e. in a different light each time, and you get the full picture when you play all the Introductions).
The World
After you finish your MC's Introduction, you are thrown without explanation in an open world (a world map with locations you can visit). You are now free to do whatever you want! or nearly. As a general rule, you must talk to people in towns to open new locations and trigger new quests.
Most towns can be discovered through several ways; some must be accessed by paying for a trip by ship (from the capital Pidona).
Money
At the start, money is difficult to come by (it comes in lumps at specific points in the game) and is best used to open locations by ship (from Pidona) and to buy a few defensive pieces of equipment for your characters.
Characters: Recruit
Most characters can be freely recruited by talking to them, and freely kicked out of the party by talking to the bartender in towns.
You will have to complete some quests before being able to access or recruit some characters. Some characters will forcibly join, some won't leave you until you do something specific (go to a place, trigger a quest, complete a quest).
SPOILERS: How to make certain characters leave:
SPOILERS: And before you form your party, you should probably know two things:
What's this Crown on my character's stat page?
It gives you a 1 SP or MP discount for weapon- or magic-oriented characters (depends on their amount of SP and MP) and tech sparking ease. Can be definitively lost, so be careful if you care!
Items
Good items available from the start: Vambraces, Closed Helm, which can be bought in Wilmington.
Some of the best items you will get from the Workshop in Pidona.
Items will really help you survive and make a huge difference in battle.
There are various attack and defense categories and some items have various resistances, weaknesses, immunities or special features.
Dungeons
Among the locations you can open, there are friendly zones (towns), and hostile zones (dungeons) where you have to battle enemies.
Battle Preparation - Formations - Magic
Equip your characters with weapons, armor, techs.
Some items are battle-usable and must be equipped (weapon slot) to be used in battle.
Always leave at least one tech slot empty, otherwise you cannot learn new techs.
Formations are important. You get new formations by recruiting new characters.
Each formation gives your characters various bonuses or penalties depending on their position.
If you place your MC at the back of the formation (in the reserve spot where characters don't appear in battle), which you can do at any party size, you will enter a special battle mode: Commander Mode, in which you give general orders to your team mates (who will use pre-determined attack patterns), can use combo attacks and spells, and can spark specific combo attacks.
Magic: Some characters come with some spells.
New spells must be bought, by talking to specific characters (magic sellers) present in several towns. There are 2 categories of magic and you can wield only one in each category: Terrestrial (Byakko, Soryu, Shucho, Genbu) and Celestial (Solar, Lunar). At the magic seller's you can also erase spells (definitive but you can buy them again) to free slots in your spell inventory.
Battles - Sparking Techs
RS3 battles are classic turn-based.
If a character gets hit, they lose HP. If HP reaches 0 they go down and lose 1 LP. If LP reaches 0 the character won't be available anymore for you to recruit (until you defeat one Abyss Lord/Sinistral).
SP/MP/LP can be recovered for cheap by staying at a town Inn.
HP recovery can be achieved through usable items, magic spells and one tech (Martial Focus). There is no Heal-All tech or spell (with one exception: if you break certain rare weapons).
Not-so-classic are:
- The Weapon tech sparking system: your characters will sometimes devise (learn/spark/glimmer) new techs which they will have to 'master' so that the other characters are able to use them also. They also have a chance to spark Evade / Ward techs against specific enemy attacks.
To have a chance to spark a new tech, most of the time you must use a basic attack. Some items have built-in techs too. Roughly said, it is easier to spark techs against strong enemies, and top techs can only be sparked against endgame enemies.
To master a tech, just use it repeatedly.
- The random HP/SP/MP/Weapon or Magic Skills level-up system at the end of the battle. What you have used during the battle has a chance to level up.
At the end of a battle, if you are lucky, items can drop. Item drops are rare in RS3.
If you happen to face a boss you can't seem to beat, just come back later.
You can do most quests in any order, but there are various levels of difficulty.
If you come back later and still get pounded, try changing your items and your formation.
Grinding. Unlike other RPGs, it is not necessary to grind, but there is no penalty if you do (except that you will breeze through the game, which will become very boring - or not, if you are a bully, haha).
FYI, average endgame characters' levels are 500-700 HP and skill levels 25-30.
If you are stuck:
Check your Adventure Log (Remaster only), read it to see if you haven't overlooked anything.
Go see Anna in Lance to remind yourself of the main quest.
Talk to everyone (some characters' dialogues change during the course of the game!) to unlock new quests.
If you are on the verge of rage-quitting, spare yourself and just have a look at the numerous sections of this site. Here is the Index page.
Have fun!
