The game's story is presented through the "Trinity Sight System"; rather than having only one "hero", the plot is explored through three different viewpoints, allowing events to be seen from multiple sides.

Unlike other Suikoden games, which generally feature a silent protagonist, the Flame Champion and the other main characters all have personalities and dialog.

The player controls the current protagonist and travels with them around the world map, advancing the plot by completing tasks and talking with other characters.

In towns, they can gather information, sharpen their weaponry, learn new skills, and buy equipment; wilderness areas generally feature random encounters with monsters.

As in other RPGS, characters in Suikoden III possess a variety of statistics that determine in-game combat ability.

Since Suikoden III's combat takes place on a free movement field, some of the rune effects were reinterpreted from other games to strike areas.

For example, some Fire rune effects that only struck enemies in earlier Suikoden games now strike a generalized area, meaning they could affect allies who moved in too close.

Certain places on the map offer special advantages for units occupying them, such as a defense bonus for a forest or castle ramparts, or automatic free healing for a base of operations.

Suikoden III also features a number of minigames, such as gambling on dice, card games, and horse racing.

Harmonia maintains outposts along the border, notably the submissive, conquered town of Le Buque, formerly a clan from the Grasslands, and the trading citadel Caleria.

Around 50 years prior to the start of Suikoden III, Harmonia attempted to extend its control over the Grasslands, and eventually invaded.

Resistance was fierce, and eventually a successful leader known as the Flame Champion emerged from among the clans who was said to bear the True Fire Rune.

While she is dedicated to protecting her country and people, Chris finds herself increasingly frustrated with the Zexen Council, disagreeing with their methods.

Chris commands the Zexen forces against the Grassland clans early in the game, fighting them at the botched truce agreement, the Karaya village (where she kills Hugo's friend Lulu), and the Lizard's Great Hollow.

At Iksay Village, where she helps fend off a combined assault by the Lizard and Karaya clans, she finds that her missing and assumed dead father Wyatt may still be alive.

Geddoe is the reserved and enigmatic leader of the Twelfth Harmonian Southern Fringe Defense Force Unit, a band of mercenaries under the employ of Harmonia.

Geddoe is in truth the bearer of the True Lightning Rune and was a personal companion of the Flame Champion from 50 years ago.

The new Flame Champion must rally the feuding Grassland and Zexen forces together in a fighting retreat against the larger and better trained Harmonian army.

After retreating from the Chisha and Duck clan villages, the unified army makes its stand at the fortified Brass Castle and stops the Harmonian advance.

Afterward, both Luc's Destroyers and the new Fire Bringer advance to the Sindar Ruins where the True Water Rune is sealed.

With the aid of Sarah and a series of traps, Luc successfully claims the True Lightning, Fire, and Water runes from the protagonists.

He also steals his supposed ally Sasarai's True Earth Rune, guaranteeing Harmonian support against the Destroyers.

Though increasingly exhausted, Sarah is still able to summon large quantities of magical monsters to serve as a surrogate army.

In June 2002, just a month before its release, some of Suikoden III's team left Konami, including series creator Yoshitaka Murayama.

The arrangement was done by a group calling themselves "bosque aroma" that consisted of Shusei Murai, Jiro Okada, and Mantell Nonoda.By the end of 2002, 377,729 copies of Suikoden III were sold in Japan.

A European version was announced but cancelled a few months before release, allegedly due to problems with the conversion tools.

[11] GameSpot said that it "had the makings of a classic" and that "the plot is more mature than that of the average 'bad guy threatens to destroy the world' RPG"; its only criticism was that "apart from the striking theme accompanying the opening movie, the music is largely unremarkable.

[26] An 11-volume manga series based on Suikoden III by Aki Shimizu was published by Tokyopop in 2004 in North America.

The guide was co-authored by IGN's Jeremy Dunham and Brady's own Laura Parkinson, but due to undisclosed reasons, it was never published.