Suikoden (entire series) Appreciation/Discussion Thread

[Snapple]

I don't know how I was totally oblivious to Suikoden games less than two years ago. I was talking with some friends about PS1 RPGs, and some peeps brought up Suikoden. I said I'd never played it, and they convinced me to give it a try. Long story short, I now own all five of the games in the main series. I just totally love it. I've beaten the first game three times, the second game three times, the third game twice, and I just finished Suikoden IV for the first time.

Since I only recently got my hands on Suikodens IV and V, I've been taking the past month and a half up until Christmas to have a Suikoden marathon in my spare time. Went through the first three games again, then started on IV. Now that I'm done with IV, I need to start on V. I am getting other games for Christmas, though, so I might hold off. Eventually I'm going to get Rhapsodia and Suikoden Tierkreis as well.

Really it's become one of my all-time favorite RPG series. I love having so many recruitable characters, so I can play the game many times over and never use the same guys twice. Plus, there's great story, a great feeling of conquest, and I love the continuity between the games, putting together the entire history and the joy you get from seeing characters you know from previous games pop up unexpectedly.

My all-time favorite character is Viki. I think she's hilarious, and I've used her in my final party in S2, S3, and S4. And she'll probably be in my final party in S5, too.

Also, one of my favorite Suikoden scenes, right here (Suikoden II spoilers):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLVDD5W8ltE

[Rickstilwell1]

I agree that this series is excellent. I've only beaten 1, 2 & 3 so far, but after giving those three a recorded playthrough on DVD, I will move onto 4 and not stop. Then play Tactics and 5. I beat Suikoden 1 seven times and Suikoden II 4 times.

Suikoden II really has replay value for getting alternate characters, unless you like to use Gameshark to get every playable character possible at once. It even works on getting both Kasumi and Valeria, just the one you didn't pick won't show up as a star. You can even get both forms of Jowy in your group by doing this, and even bring back dead/missing characters.

[Daria]

Wow. I had to look up Rhapsodia to see if there was a new game I'd missed... and it turns out that I already own it. :/

Anyways, Suikoden is awesome. I'd skipped over the series originally because I didn't like the look of the game based on the screenshots on the back of Vandal Hearts. What can I say? We all make stupid assumptions sometimes. The game looked very samurai-eastern themed based on the characters clothing and the name.

But I rediscovered the series much later when I was playing through some of my games. The first one had me hooked, but I didn't want to get too involved without the second game. So I shelved it, for god 3 years? Finally my husband bought me II for Christmas like 2 years ago. So I played both games back to back.

My favorite characters were Viktor, Flik, and Valeria. Suikoden 2 is easily one of my favorite games now. (:

[RPG_Fanatic]

I've only played 1 & 2. I haven't played any of the PS2 games, which ones are the best out of 3, 4 or 5?

[Snapple]

I've only played 1 & 2. I haven't played any of the PS2 games, which ones are the best out of 3, 4 or 5?

Well, I haven't played 5 yet, but 3 is better than 4.

I really like Suikoden III a lot. There are three main characters instead of one (none of whom are silent), even the minor characters are really memorable, the story is awesome, and they add some twists to the combat.

Like every character in the game has "skills" which measure their aptitude at certain things in combat, like accuracy, weapon damage, fire magic, shield magic, sharp-shooting, etc, that you build up with skill points, and the costs and maximum potential are different for each character, making them more unique from each other.

You'll appreciate the main villain of Suikoden III if you've played the first two games, too. It's someone you won't expect.

Suikoden IV is kind of the "black sheep" of the series. There are a lot of flaws with it, the random encounter rate is waaaay too high, the characters are flat, they added voice acting, some of which isn't too good (Snowe), but I did finish it so it can't be too bad lol.

I can't wait to play V. I know a lot of people consider it one of the best of the series.

[mobiusclimber]

I've only played I-III so far even tho I own the others (except for the DS game). I tried to get my wife into playing III, but it proved to be a bit too difficult for her (she's a new gamer). She liked it, but couldn't figure out where to go half the time. Heck, I'd forgotten where to go in the game (we started off with Hugo).

I want to play the rest of the series, I just don't know when I can devote myself to IV, which I keep hearing isn't a great entry. XD

[Thrashdance]

I only own 2 and 3, and just got around to beating 2 this year. Brilliant game, it may even overtake my previous favorate for ps1 which is valkyrie profile but I'm not sure...haha. Usually I dont dig role playing games that keep the translation rooted in eastern culture too much, but I found Suikodens atomosphere pretty enjoyable.

Fav characters were Gengen, Flik, and Pesmerga.

[Chainsaw_Charlie]

I played and beaten all in the series except 3, I have had two different copies of it and both have freezed in the 4th chapter

[kupomogli]

I love the Suikoden series.

The first two titles are essentially the same though I actually enjoy the first title more. The storyline is so much better on the original game and the war battles(even though easy,) are pretty awesome. The second games storyline starts to drag near about three fourths through the game though it makes up with it with a harder difficulty, longer, and you get three runes instead of one, and able to equip runes on weapons also instead of just rune pieces. So really, even though I enjoy the first one better, the second one is very close.

With Suikoden 3, the game is somewhat the same, somewhat different than the first two. With the changes it keeps the feel of the Suikoden gameplay but makes the game both highly customizable and also puts a bit more strategy in the gameplay.

The customizability to Suikoden 3 is in both the skills and the gameplay. With the skills, the small diversity that you had between characters in the first two titles become extremely large gaps. Characters can be raised to be physical type characters some magical abilities, build them around entirely being magic, etc. There are a lot of skills to choose from, however not every character can use every skill as well as every other one can, meaning you'll have to work around that and build characters differently based on the type of skills they're good with.

In battle, it's all how your characters are set up as well. Each group is a combination of two characters, meaning that when one character uses a rune, the second character will always attack, or when a healing spell is used both characters will be effected. The system works though, and you'll need to choose your party depending on the strengths and weaknesses of each, though I usually choose long range characters and magic users only if I plan on using someone with a Fire Rune that isn't S rank.

Last is the graphics. I love the graphics. The style is similar to the graphics on the Phantasy Star Online but detail is put into literally every inch of the game. The game just looks so beatiful even with the fairly blocky graphics. The attacks in battle, spell effects, etc. The graphics are just the icing on the cake to an already amazing game.

Anwyays. Suikoden 3 is a game you'll either love, or you'll think it's one of the worst RPG titles out there. The game is already a bit difficult more so with the characters now in groups and some attacks now being able to damage party members.

Suikoden 4 is basically Konami going. Okay, so Suikoden 3 didn't receive a good reception, let's try and follow what every other RPG company has been doing lately. They changed the system a bit, now only four characters, no back or front row, lackluster extremely bland graphics with no detail, the run option is just a speed increase of the already stupid looking walk, terrible war system, terrible story, characters you don't care about in the least except Ted, a very very very crappy castle. The amount of flaws this game had is just amazing. It's like they were trying to make a shitty game.

Suikoden 5 is one that finally went back to its roots. Now first off, I want to say that the battle system is just back to the tried and true Suikoden system. It's a good battle system. Second, the war battles are amazing and by far the best of any game in the series.

Now the main problem with Suikoden 5 is the terrible storyline. You have to read through one of the most boring scripts imaginable for the first 10 hours atleast. The storyline just sucks, period. Once you get a little bit past that 10 hour mark and you actually get out able to explore, the game starts to pick up, slightly. Overall it was barely passable and thankfully the game picked up a bit after the initial terrible beginning but not anywhere close to it being one of the better games in the series, no.

The graphics of this game are also good, but just like Suikoden 4, there is literally no detail in the graphics. In Suikoden and Suikoden 2 you'll see a lot of detail in each area and then in Suikoden 3 extremely detailed, but Suikoden 4 and 5 just look like bland baren areas which they solely chose the setting and just wanted to keep in minor on the detail and just left it.

I own Suikoden Tactics but haven't played it, haven't played Suikoden Tierkreis.

[exit]

I picked up Suikoden at a Pawn Shop* a few years ago and ended up playing it for a few hours, to my surprise I actually liked it. Since the next few months are going to be slow for games, it's on my list of games I really want to go back and finish off.

*That same pawn shop also had Suikoden 2 unreasonably priced, with it's original reasonable price marked off and the "E-Bay" price (as how one of the guys described it) written above it.

Edit: Now looking at the current E-bay price, I feel kind of stupid for not picking it up, although I highly doubt their copy was anywhere near good condition.

[GarrettCRW]

It's a little known fact that our own Eternal Tune is in fact Nanami from Suikoden II.

[Gentlegamer]

About three years ago, when I was getting back into video games, I went to GameStop and encountered someone trying to trade in a PlayStation game. GS no longer accepted PS games, so he gave it to me: Suikoden. It's in a box somewhere. Are you saying I should play it?

[Haoie]

Only 3 never got a PAL release.

What the fudge?!

[Snapple]

About three years ago, when I was getting back into video games, I went to GameStop and encountered someone trying to trade in a PlayStation game. GS no longer accepted PS games, so he gave it to me: Suikoden. It's in a box somewhere. Are you saying I should play it?

That's about the long and short of it, broseph. If you like RPGs.

[Ryaan1234]

I own Suikoden I and III. I haven't played III yet because I want to play II so perhaps I'll get it for a good price eventually.

Suikoden I is awesome. I always wondered what the hype was with PS1 RPGs. I own a few of them but I've never understood why they're so expensive. I decided to try some of them out (I really don't like putting a lot of time into games >_>) and I've loved all of the ones I've played so far. Suikoden has this whole "epic" feel to it that I love, as well as the whole idea that you have so many characters to choose from. It's like Shining Force on steroids, minus the whole turn-based strategy aspect.

(As for all of the PS1 RPGs I have but never played, Grandia is sitting on my shelf with a big "PLAY ME" sign on it, as well as Breath of Fire, Chrono Cross, Wild Arms.)

[mobiusclimber]

Lots of great RPGs for the PS1, not all of them are that expensive either. Wild Arms is one of my favorites and it's dirt cheap. Same with Chrono Cross, Parasite Eve, Rhapsody, Jade Cocoon, even Star Ocean 2 has come done in price recently. Granted, quite a few of the good ones ARE expensive, but still.

Suikoden II being one of em. XD

[Snapple]

Yes, the price on Suikoden II is pretty ridiculous, but I don't think it's coming down any time soon. It's still very high-demand for RPG fans, and I think it holds up well with age, maybe due to it having 2D graphics.

The original Suikoden got a release on PSN. I'd be nice if they did the same for Suikoden II, especially since they didn't release Suikoden I+II for PSP outside of Japan.

[fairyland]

I love the Suikoden series mostly for the cast of over 100 characters that you can collect and use. Yet what disappoints me is that the majority of them don't really play a real major part in the overall story after you gather them. It's like you collect them and the story forgets about them, leaving them with little to contribute after that point. They only really focus on about 20 or so characters.

I often daydream how this game would be like if all the characters had a strong part to play and you can pick who to progress with and how the story could branch out to 100s of likely endings depending on who you mature with. If I remember right, V's ending would change depending on which character you clocked in the most time with, but that was out of about 12 characters. I think the best part that I had liked about V was the bath scenes as I remember doing that part for a very long time. Something else that I would love is full spoken dialog for all characters during the entire game, but I know that is a dream that would never come true.

My first Suikoden was number II and I loved that greatly, although I really cannot remember much about it now as it has been over 10 years since I've played it. I even have the hint guide for it, which is probably worth a small fortune to collectors. I bought the first game after finishing that, but never got that far into it, as it did not seem as good as II. I think I was really into the Castlevania and FFVII game that year and never returned back.

Somehow I missed III and IV. I did not get a PS2 until very late, so perhaps that is why. Suikoden V came out between the two Shadow Hearts games, so I bought it to hold me over until I could enjoy the next Shadow Hearts installment. Turned out I loved V greatly, as much as Shadow Hearts. I did eventually buy III and IV, but I never got around to playing those mostly because I've heard bad reports on those and I moved onto the handheld RPGs like the Summon Knight series.

So I'm a fan based on II and V. If they ever make a VI I'd get it and would rip right into it as I expect really great improvements. I'm starting to think they won't make another installment though. It seems a lot of my favs just died right out, like Breath of Fire, Wild Arms, Shadow Hearts, Suikoden, etc.

[Snapple]

I slowed down my Suikoden marathon to play some other games (Assassin's Creed II and God of War Collection, mostly), but now I'm almost done with Suikoden V. Ah, I love this game too. Much better than Suikoden IV definitely.

I may pick up Suikoden Tierkreis soon, but I've been hearing bad things about it. Of course, I heard many bad things about Suikoden IV as well, and I still got that. Granted, most of the complaints about S4 were totally legitimate, but I did finish the game at least.

[Rickstilwell1]

My first Suikoden was number II and I loved that greatly, although I really cannot remember much about it now as it has been over 10 years since I've played it. I even have the hint guide for it, which is probably worth a small fortune to collectors. I bought the first game after finishing that, but never got that far into it, as it did not seem as good as II.

That often happens. If you get the sequel first, your chances of enjoying the first in a series can be ruined. That's why I never start in the middle if I can help it.

[speedgtr]

in 2005 ive found suikoden 1 brand new for 15$ at zellers. It was one of the first rpg ive play and i really like it, very deep and cute. Then i bought the 3 when it came out,i also think it was one of the top ten rpg on ps2.

Now i have found the 5 at ebgames for 15$ so maybe i will try it, the thing is i have quite a few to play.
Maybe you can help me! Tell me in witch order would you play these:
Suikoden V, Dual heart, Xenosaga 2, Breath of fire dragon quarter, Arc the Lad: End of Darkness ,Radiata stories, Shinning force exa, Wild arms 4.

[Haoie]

You should all read the book. Nothing in common.

[LaughingMAN.S9]

i own 2, but i've never played it because my backlog is ridiculous, do i need to know anything about suikeden 1 or is it pretty standalone like the final fantasy series?

[kupomogli]

If I remember right, V's ending would change depending on which character you clocked in the most time with

On Suikoden 2 there is a statue of the character you use the most on the top floor once you get the highest upgraded castle. On my games it's most likely always Shiro. Kinnison and Shiro are two of my favorite characters to use.


I bought the first game after finishing that, but never got that far into it, as it did not seem as good as II.

Every Suikoden game starts off slow at the beginning and then once you get your headquarters picks up a lot more. I personally think the original starts off much better, far better storyline, etc and it doesn't ever drag.

I'd suggest restarting the original. I think it's better than the second. The only thing the second has on the first is that there are more runes and it's an overall longer game.


Tell me in witch order would you play these:
Suikoden V, Dual heart, Xenosaga 2, Breath of fire dragon quarter, Arc the Lad: End of Darkness ,Radiata stories, Shinning force exa, Wild arms 4.

Wild ARMs 4, Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter, Radiata Stories, then Suikoden 5.

Haven't played Dual Hearts at all, Shining Force EXA the very first area so can't tell you about those. Arc the Lad End of Darkness sucks altogether and Xenosaga 2 has a good storyline but terrible gameplay. I'd say skip AtL End of Darkness and watch the Xenosaga 2 movies on youtube or something.

[Snapple]

i own 2, but i've never played it because my backlog is ridiculous, do i need to know anything about suikeden 1 or is it pretty standalone like the final fantasy series?

It's the total opposite of Final Fantasy in that regard. One of the reasons people love Suikoden is because there's so much continuity. Every game has its own conflict and main character, but a lot of the characters appear in multiple entries of the series. It all takes place in the same world on the same timeline with many overlapping plot elements.

You *can* play Suikoden II before Suikoden I, and Suikoden II is better than Suikoden I, but I would highly recommend playing them in order, starting with the first game.

If you can't get your hands on a disc copy of Suikoden I, it's also in the PSN store if you own a PS3.