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[Avalon]

He was hardly even a character. For the most part he felt like an inanimate vehicle just used to carry us through the story around him. By far the worst silent hero of recent memory; a stark contrast to Suikoden II or V.

Not even close. Played Digital Devil Saga? Dragon Quest VIII? In those games you are not even allowed to give him a vague sense of personality (there are quiet a few dialogue prompts in Suikoden IV that do give him personality).

 

[KyanMehwulfe]

What exactly makes a silent hero good? All of the ones I've seen in RPGs seem equally bland and uninteresting, and likewise an inanimate vehicle for the story, except visually.

A strong blend of narrative that inspires you to delve into his lack dialouge as one would a short story perceiving intent or meaning, and the use of other forms of interaction, such as facial expressions or animated emotions, to still convey the personal narative of that character in order to better guide that delving of unspoken dialouge.

Too often silent heroes, in an attempt to make you feel like you're the character, are lifeless shells. Instead of encouraging the gamer to fill in the blanks, it actually further distances them. Especially with console RPGs where many expect very direct and blatant handholding narrative. Furthermore, they act is if dialouge is the only form of interaction.

A good silent hero not only conveys emotion through visual elements, but inspires you to consider what must be on his mind instead of forcing you to figure out what may or may not be on his mind. It's less about the discovery of what's on his mind, and more about the simple of act of even considering it at all.

 

[Shouta]

I <3 the 4 Cast. Haterz! I didn't like the 3 Cast much myself.

 

[Mac the KNife]

What exactly makes a silent hero good? All of the ones I've seen in RPGs seem equally bland and uninteresting, and likewise an inanimate vehicle for the story, except visually.

Pretty much true from what I've seen. Crono is the only one who was animated enough to really break this trend. Maybe Ness too.

 

[Android18a]

I got up to what is apparently the final boss on Suiko 4 last night. Really enjoyed the game, bar the sailing and overly sparse world map, but I can't help feeling it's been way too short. The islands are few and far between with rather little scope for exploration, and it's kind of a bit sad.

Its a lot prettier than Suikoden V, and I like the general look of it a lot more, but it just has a few major flaws which knock it down a few pegs.

 

[zoku88]

Its a lot prettier than Suikoden V, and I like the general look of it a lot more, but it just has a few major flaws which knock it down a few pegs.

You really think so? When I think of Suikoden IV, I think of bland colors. Suikoden V seemed much more colorful, imo

 

[firex]

4 pisses me off, because it's really clear that Konami gave it a big budget and it turned out to be a big turd. It has some decent ideas, but the execution is so horrible there's nothing really redeemable about it for me. I mean, it's good that it's short, but that's only an issue to me because the game sucks so much otherwise. I just played it because I wanted to play through the whole series... then I got to the last boss and dealt with some huge bullshit where it healed itself for like 8 turns in a row, negating nearly all the damage I did. It's also by far the least Suikoden-like of the games that I played (which is all the numbered ones).

 

[KyanMehwulfe]

4 pisses me off, because it's really clear that Konami gave it a big budget and it turned out to be a big turd. It has some decent ideas, but the execution is so horrible there's nothing really redeemable about it for me. I mean, it's good that it's short, but that's only an issue to me because the game sucks so much otherwise. I just played it because I wanted to play through the whole series... then I got to the last boss and dealt with some huge bullshit where it healed itself for like 8 turns in a row, negating nearly all the damage I did. It's also by far the least Suikoden-like of the games that I played (which is all the numbered ones).

A lot of it likely has to do with the different team. From wikipedia:

Suikoden IV was in development prior to Suikoden III and was produced mostly by a different team that had previously worked on the Suikogaiden side-stories.[1] The project was led by Junko Kawano, the character designer of the original Suikoden. She did the main writing for the game, and stated that some of the design decisions were made as an attempted homage to the first Suikoden. "IV is the most ancient among the series... [we wanted] to show a Suikoden–ness and that makes it seem like we are returning back to the original."

So most of the II team went to work on III, while the gaiden team with the annoyingly cat-obsessed artist from I at the helm worked on IV. Then, I think, they sort of merged but with the II-III still at the lead for V.

 

[Error]

that's weird because suiko4 is nothing like suiko1, except that both are short games

 

[Manmademan]

Pretty much true from what I've seen. Crono is the only one who was animated enough to really break this trend. Maybe Ness too.

you need to play more games.

 

[KyanMehwulfe]

that's weird because suiko4 is nothing like suiko1, except that both are short games

I can see it in the combat gameplay, or at least the speed of its pacing. Specifically, in the context that those comments came out after Suikoden III released, so she may of felt like she was paying homage when her colleagues had just went more radical with the previous installment.