In-game
Nash Latkje Clovis, I choose you!
I'm glad this is the final battle. I don't think I could stand much more."
Now, as the returning lead in a Suikoden game, you'd expect Nash to have Tir McDohl-like stats. Or some awesome rune. Or at least those nifty cursed swords he was carrying around all of Suikogaiden. Alas! No such luck for us Nash fans. That's not to say Nash's S3 battleform is bad. But you've got to think a bit to set it off to its best advantage.
Lies, damned lies, and statistics!
Suikoden III has somewhat random stat growth- each character gains a certain amount in each stat. As Suikosource shows, these are Nash's statistics.
| Nash | PWR | SKL | MAG | REP | MDF | SPD | LUK | HP |
| Growth Rate | 05 | 07 | 04 | 06 | 05 | 05 | 01 | 04 |
| Starting | 13 | 14 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 11 | 20 |
| Level 01-02 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 1-3 |
| Level 03-21 | 2-3 | 3-4 | 2-3 | 3-4 | 2-3 | 2-3 | 1-2 | 7-9 |
| Level 22-61 | 1-2 | 2-3 | 1-2 | 2-3 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 0-1 | 6-7 |
| Level 62-99 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 2-4 |
| Ending | 91-189 | 151-249 | 90-188 | 150-248 | 91-189 | 91-189 | 30-128 | 470-626 |
Average stats are somewhere in the o4-o5 area. A character with good stats will usually average o5, most characters will hang around o4. So we see, Nash has generally good stats marred by horrendous, horredous luck. Luckily (you see what I did there), luck doesn't do very much. Luck and skill combined determine how often a character will critical, and Nash has excellent skill, plus decent Heavy Damage, so it balances out.
Nash also has six free skill slots, which make him fairly customizable. He's not particularly great at anything, excepting maybe Holy Dash, but he's a fast learner. His unique skills are Heavy Damage and Continual Attack, which are quite nice for a fighter to have. He's got good evaision and can equip all but the heaviest armors, so he's no slouch for durability either. Combined with Nash's good speed and light weight weapon, two free rune slots, and general sexiness, and we have a pretty good fighter.
Magic wise, Nash starts with a Water Rune, which he inexplicably has a natural C in. He's best with wind magic, and otherwise has B's all around. He's not a stellar mage by any means, but he doesn't suck completely. (Unlike the rest of the Chris Chapter 3 party. Fred, I'm looking at you.) Wind of Sleep is quite handy, especially as Luc and Sarah are quite eager for bed-time. Otherwise, he has continual attack!
How I killed the final boss in one hit!
It's true, I killed the final boss in one hit! (Well, it was more like a string, but still.) Using Nash! My lategame Nash was pimped out for a total of four swings, via a title and some speed boosting equipment. He also had a Chief's Hat equpped, boosting his heavy damage to an A. Now, I used the Double Strike and Violence runes, and had Nei chanting the Song of Madness to further boost physical damage. I just had to wait until Nash got beat up enough for the Violence rune to kick in (one turn, heh) and then this is what happened.
5750 + 9999 (x3 Critical) + 2670 + 2500
Such was my damage output. (For those of you unfamiliar with Suikoden, an extremely powerful spell does about 2000 damage. A normal physical might do 300.) It was enough to destroy the Wind Rune Incarnation. Now, I've heard something about the effective damage in a string not actually exer exceeding 9000 in Suikoden III, but this doesn't hold true, in my experience. At least not versus the final boss.
What about that Suikogaiden?
Suikogaiden is actually a text-adventury sort of game, so there's no real battle strategy that I can talk about. Nash is a tricky fighter, and he uses many weapons hidden about his personage. He has several powerful scrolls, sleeping powder, and gunpowdery tricks from his time in the Howling Voice Guild.
Of course, the thing most people know about is Grosser Flux, his cursed snake sword. It can function like two swords, or like one sword and a metallic chain whip-thing, or like two metallic chain whip-things! There's also a button that releases a deadly toxin. While using Grosser Flux, a Latkje family heirloom, Nash's natural abilities increase to superhuman proportions. (He took on Culgan and Seed at once, and could destroy a largeish dragon.) However, there's also a curse on the sword, which causes the wielder to go insane and other nasty things.
But, they just look so cool! We wanted to see it in Suiko III, Nash! You didn't need to bury the swods with your rival! You can see some Grosser Flux action in the Suikogaiden intro, viewable here.
