Battles in "Suikoden III" take place on a continuous field of battle, unlike the static front and back rows of earlier "Suikodens". Characters are still aligned in rows at the onset of battle, but the front and back character in each row are controlled as a pair. For example, selecting to cast a rune spell with the character in the back row of the pair will cause the character in the front row to defend them while they are casting. On the other hand, choosing to attack will cause a character in the front row to move towards the enemy and strike.