and plots with Luca to murder the King of Highland. However, Jowy reveals to some trusted lieutenants within the Highland army that his support for Luca is a ruse, that he believes Luca's insanity and cruelty are a threat to both Highland and Jowston, and he intends to betray Luca after building his own base of support. After becoming King of Highland, Luca launches an attack against the New State Army. Jowy uses the pending attack to betray Luca by warning the New State Army and giving Riou information on Luca's whereabouts. Riou and the New State Army ambush Luca and he is killed. Jowy then becomes king of Highland through his marriage to Jillia. However, after the fall of Luca Blight, Jowy is still not willing to make peace with Jowston, as he is convinced that a new nation controlling both Highland and Jowston is needed to prevent the horror of war. He urges Riou to surrender, but Riou also can't betray the trust of his followers, and the two are destined to continue fighting. After successfully freeing the occupied City-States from Highland control, the New State Army defeats the Highland army and invades the capital city, causing Jowy to flee. After entering the Highland royal castle, Riou learns that Jowy had been using his Black Sword Rune to suppress the power of the Beast Rune, another of the 27 True Runes kept in the castle that governs animalistic rage, passion, and blood sacrifice. Luca's bloodthirsty ruthlessness was thought to be aided by the Rune, and Luca had been sacrificing the lives of citizens of Jowston to awaken the Rune's power. After defeating the activated Beast Rune, Riou returns to the cliff from the beginning of the game, where Jowy is waiting for him. The two duel one final time, with Jowy, Nanami, and Riou's ultimate fate depending on the player's choices and whether the player had recruited all 108 Stars of Destiny. Development and release In the winter of 1993/1994, Konami newcomers Yoshitaka Murayama and Junko Kawano were tasked with creating an RPG for an internally developed video games console. This game was scrapped in the early stages of development and despite the popular belief was not the basis for the script of Suikoden. Murayama, Kawano and ten other employees were instead assigned with developing Konami's first games for Sony's upcoming console, the PlayStation. With the pick of