Suikoden: No One's Trying to Take Over the World!

Shocking isn't it? It's the biggest cliché of the genre: The main antagonist trying to take over the world ("Of Course!"). The story of this game is more reminiscent of the Final Fantasy Tactics story. It's more politically driven with a bigger emphasis on larger scale battles. That's not to say this game is boring by any means. It is a unique specimen that I thoroughly enjoyed. That being said here are my thoughts on Suikoden.

Just as a little disclaimer, I'm going to change the style of reviews to a combination of my last 2 and my 1st. More about my thoughts on the game as I played it, like Grandia, but still telling you the details that matter.

So as I started playing one thing stood out to me, as it will for most people, namely the graphics are not much better than Super Nintendo graphics. Granted, they are better than Lunar, but not by much. The nice thing about this though is that  it makes everything look really crisp. Every part of what you see on the screen is a pixel and nothing is pre-rendered. I particularly enjoyed this sprite-esc design to the game and it fit well overall.

The one thing I hate about certain RPGs plagued this particular game. That being that the main character never talks outside of when you have to make a choice in certain dialog scenarios. In some games it might not matter, but in Suikoden your character is the Commander of a rebel army (spoiler!) so him talking seems like it would be important. Instead, you have a characters that act like your right hand men/ supervisors and the you just select agree or disagree with them. The story moves along fine without your character talking, but it would have been nice if he talked.

As I traveled through different towns, forests, and dungeons I really fell in love with the music and ambient sounds. It sets a nice tone for the various locations. The music is really solid up and down. It's nice because they don't often re-use tracks so everything seems unique. Also, sometimes there isn't even music it's just sounds. For example, theres a forest you walk through and instead of music its sounds of birds chirping. Makes it feel like a nice and relaxing setting.

One main feature of the game I thought was really cool was your fortress. At one point in the game your crew is getting big so you need a home base of sorts. You find this abandoned castle at sea and claim it as your own. It's cool because as you accumulate members to your army the fortress gets upgraded. You find people in the world that want to join the resistance and feel like they have something to share. For example, a former blacksmith, inn owner, even bath house maker. So you don't have to waste to traveling everywhere after you add these people. You can rest, upgrade items, learn new skills, and relax in the hot bath all in one place! It makes the experience smoother and you don't have to waste time running to various town.

The battles in the game are different and varied as well. There are three types: Normal turn based battles but with up to 6 members, larger scale army battles, and also 1 on 1 duel battles. All require some thought and strategy. I actually had to re-do certain battles multiple times because they were quite challenging.

The 6 man battles do require a bit of strategy, mainly in how you arrange your party. The front 3 members will essentially act as tanks while the back three will act as the damage dealers and cant be attacked except with long range or AOE (Area of Effect). Each character also has a limit to their attack range. So sometimes a character that wouldn't be good as a tank has short range and is forced to be put in the front.

The army battles aren't quite as epic as it might sound. Essentially each army has a troop count and can perform one type of attack per round:Arrows, Magic, and Charge. Each attack has a weakness so you either have to be a lucky guess or have a few spies that tell you the enemies next attack.

In the duel battles each character gets a health bar and its pretty much a guessing game. You either attack, defend, or do a desperate attack. It's simple but again takes a bit of thinking.

I will say the one thing that bugged about battles is that you are often forced to include certain characters in your party. I had this dream group that I wanted to make, but never had the opportunity because I had to keep using characters involved in the story. Granted, they were strong but I still would have liked the option. Just don't get your hopes too high because you're dream party may never become a reality.

Final Thoughts: PLAY IT

The game might seem daunting with its various battle types and the fact that it boasts having 108 recruitable characters. However, the story and gameplay is paced really well so you never get overwhelmed or confused. It's very clear where you're supposed to go and what you're supposed to do next. All things considered this was also a pretty short game. I finished it in around 18 hours.

It was surprising to me considering that I took my time level grinding, getting extra characters, and making sure my party was optimally equipped each time I had to change members. So if you want to play something a little different and not spend too much time doing it then Suikoden is right up your alley. It's also only $5.99 on the PlayStation network so it's well worth your money.

Until I get back in the states I'm probably going to hold off on reviews since I don't have any more games at my disposal. I'll keep writing articles though and more will come as we update the new site. Take care. Later gamers!