I like how all the petitions, e-mails, tears, forum battles account for lack of interest in Konami eyes. What would indicate interest? Riots? (><)
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Suikoden Community Thread | Please tell me the answer, is fate unchangeable?
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I like how all the petitions, e-mails, tears, forum battles account for lack of interest in Konami eyes. What would indicate interest? Riots? (><)
Tiu Neo
Member
If I remember correctly, they based this on Tierkreis sales.
Maybe Konami Japan has other motives behind this, but it's kinda clear now that it's their fault that we didn't even get II on PSN.
on Tierkreis? As well they could have based it on Love Plus, not much of difference. It's cute to pretend that people want spinoffs if they want main games in series, but it never worked for anybody as far as I can remember.
Dwight Schrute
Member
FINALLY was able to get Suikoden 1 and 2 on ps1 ! (at a good price too)
Excite !
What should I name my character in Suikoden 1 ?
Tir McDohl ?
Tir ? (if the game gives his last name in some dialogs ?)
McDohl ?
Excite !
What should I name my character in Suikoden 1 ?
Tir McDohl ?
Tir ? (if the game gives his last name in some dialogs ?)
McDohl ?
Tiu Neo
Member
Mir, so you can get something near the canon name, and the II save import bug won't affect you!
Btw, Konami is streaming right now.
Hours Left
Member
Tir is the common ascribed canon name. The last name will be filled in automatically.
Though if you do the save data transfer into II, he'll be called TcDohl. (There's a bug that only the capitalized letters of the name transfer over.)
I named my character "tir" (with lowercase t) and managed to get him as McDohl in my Suikoden 2 file.
Major Gripex
Member
So it's happening again...
http://www.esrb.org/ratings/synopsis.jsp?Certificate=33325&Title=Suikoden II&searchkeyword=
http://www.esrb.org/ratings/synopsis.jsp?Certificate=33325&Title=Suikoden II&searchkeyword=
about time!
Hopefully this one won't be pulled down like before. Either way, I can't wait for this to be real.
Hours Left
Member
I can't take another fake out. T_T
Joei
Member
Wow, I hope they release it, more people need to experience that game.
I have a question about PS1 releases on the PS store, do they look better than if you had the actual disc? I've played PS1 games on my tv with the disc and they never looked too great, but I'm curious how they look when downloaded off the store.
I have a question about PS1 releases on the PS store, do they look better than if you had the actual disc? I've played PS1 games on my tv with the disc and they never looked too great, but I'm curious how they look when downloaded off the store.
Hours Left
Member
If/when Suikoden II is confirmed for a PSN release in NA, I have an idea for a fun little Suikoden I GAF group playthrough. :3
This will also happen if a miracle occurs and a new canon Suikoden is announced. Basically, any positive Suikoden game news will trigger this little event.
This will also happen if a miracle occurs and a new canon Suikoden is announced. Basically, any positive Suikoden game news will trigger this little event.
You can do that starting next week if you want
Tiu Neo
Member
Well, time to do it?
To be fair, I think there is a finger from the Konami US guys here.
After today (Suikoden II PSN and Yakuza 5 coming west), I believe anything is possible.
Hours Left
Member
I'm SO EXCITED that we are finally getting Suikoden II. I truly hope this will help Konami realize that there are fans out there who want more Suikoden, specifically more real Suikoden.
My current feelings:
What I was gonna do it organize a GAF play along of the first Suikoden (to get people ready for Suikoden II), but with randomized parties. (Kinda like they do with FFV every year.) I had a bunch of theme teams made up too, so people can rather go completely random or try with one of the special groups I'd put together. I think a lot of people kinda get stuck using the same party over and over, so I thought it would spice it up a bit. Plus, the first Suikoden is easy enough that almost any party would be viable. (I did make sure to take weapon ranges into account.)
If someone else wants to give it a go though, I can send you my list of theme teams.
My current feelings:
You can do that starting next week if you want
Heh. I'm actually a little bummed though, because I don't think I'll be able to do it now. I was not expecting it to happen so soon, and my holiday work schedule is beyond insane. Starting next week I'll be all over the place.Well, time to do it?
What I was gonna do it organize a GAF play along of the first Suikoden (to get people ready for Suikoden II), but with randomized parties. (Kinda like they do with FFV every year.) I had a bunch of theme teams made up too, so people can rather go completely random or try with one of the special groups I'd put together. I think a lot of people kinda get stuck using the same party over and over, so I thought it would spice it up a bit. Plus, the first Suikoden is easy enough that almost any party would be viable. (I did make sure to take weapon ranges into account.)
If someone else wants to give it a go though, I can send you my list of theme teams.
Tiu Neo
Member
I'm SO EXCITED that we are finally getting Suikoden II. I truly hope this will help Konami realize that there are fans out there who want more Suikoden, specifically more real Suikoden.
My current feelings:
Heh. I'm actually a little bummed though, because I don't think I'll be able to do it now. I was not expecting it to happen so soon, and my holiday work schedule is beyond insane. Starting next week I'll be all over the place.
What I was gonna do it organize a GAF play along of the first Suikoden (to get people ready for Suikoden II), but with randomized parties. (Kinda like they do with FFV every year.) I had a bunch of theme teams made up too, so people can rather go completely random or try with one of the special groups I'd put together. I think a lot of people kinda get stuck using the same party over and over, so I thought it would spice it up a bit. Plus, the first Suikoden is easy enough that almost any party would be viable. (I did make sure to take weapon ranges into account.)
If someone else wants to give it a go though, I can send you my list of theme teams.
That sounds like a great idea! One of my favorite things on Suikoden games is beating the game with different parties.
Maybe it's too close now to do this as a preparation, but that would still be a neat idea. If my work schedule for the next two weeks wasn't so busy, I would probably do it
Major Gripex
Member
I'm so happy guys. While I would prefer the games to come with achievements and new features, I'm still super stoked for what we're getting. This will bring so many more people into the community. Kids who never heard of the series will grow up loving it, just as a lot of us did. I'm just so dang happy.
Found a video VGFacts did on Suikoden. Check it out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY00VczrpZU&feature=youtu.be
Found a video VGFacts did on Suikoden. Check it out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY00VczrpZU&feature=youtu.be
Konami just announced that Suikoden I and II will be released for PSN in January.
http://uk-blog.konami-europe.com/2014/12/08/suikoden-i-ii-heads-to-psn-european-release-next-month/
A little late compared to the US, but at least they're still getting both games!
http://uk-blog.konami-europe.com/2014/12/08/suikoden-i-ii-heads-to-psn-european-release-next-month/
A little late compared to the US, but at least they're still getting both games!
DoktorEvil
Banned
Can someone sell me on Suikoden?
I know little about the series, but I keep hearing amazing things about the games and I'm curious to find out more.
I know little about the series, but I keep hearing amazing things about the games and I'm curious to find out more.
Tiu Neo
Member
...unless they made one achievement for each beast, one for getting all the krakens, one for Clive's quest...
Things that would make people replay the game.
Even better if there was an achievement for finishing the game with Riou and the Squirrel Squad.
Do you like RPGs? If yes, you should play it. This series has, imo, the best world building of all the games I've played. The story is more political than "save the world", and the story is more "My Side vs Your Side" than "Good vs Evil". There are villains on the game, but most of they have good motives, or at least explanations on why they act that way, and there are a lot of gray areas on the story. Most of the main characters have good depth in them.
It also has a very, very big number of recruits, so you can change and experiment a lot with your party, if you like things like that. Most optional characters may seem simple at a first look, but a lot of them have complex stories, if you are willing to know more about them.
The battle system is turn-based, with 6 party members, but the turns/attacks are normally very quick and dynamic. You can also use Auto-Battle on weaker enemies, if you wish.
Oh, the sprites and the soundtrack are awesome, too.
The main stories often deal with politics, but they are very interesting and show a lot of character growth, especially with the main characters.
There are three types of battle in this game: a turn-based random encounter+boss battle, a wide-scale war where you control your units like in a tactics game, and a 1-on-1 fight with some boss characters.
There are multiple endings depending on how many characters you recruited and some choices you make throughout the story.
The side quests in the game comes when you try to recruit over 108 characters (some of them are mandatory to the story). A lot of these characters are playable, so there are a lot of room for costumization in your party.
Game mechanics spoiler (specifically for Suikoden II)
You eventually have your own castle and the castle grows depending on how many characters you recruit. Some of these characters also contribute to the castle functions, such as a cooking mini-game, rune (magic) shop, armory, antique shop, blacksmith, indoor bath, farming, rock climbing mini-game, fishing, etc.
Overall, great soundtracks, excellent stories, lots of character development (esp. for main characters), and lots of interesting side -quests.
SatelliteOfLove
Member
World-building. The world-building is not being showered with praise enough.
Past that, it's believable character development. Murayama is a genius for revering that.
Past that, it's believable character development. Murayama is a genius for revering that.
Augemitbutter
Member
also best soundtrack and best anything. it's a must play title.
at least we are getting it this time, better late than never
So, starting this year I decided to go through the Suikoden and Wild Arms games I've never played before... which was a whole bunch. I beat Suikoden 1 when it was released, and 2 back in 2008. But I started 3 back when it was released and never got that far. Just got bored and around that time I grew a bit disinterested in games... think I made it to where you get to play as Thomas.
Well, at Christmas break last year, I started Suikoden 3 up again, and finally finished that. While I didn't like it nearly as much as 1 or (especially) 2, I still enjoyed it. Loved how the story was told in 3 different perspectives (and the whole plot twist where
was awesome), although that meant quite a bit of backtracking... it doesn't help that you only get Viki and access to quick-travel very late into the game. Also, the field areas were rather small, and the dungeons were linear hallways, for the most part. Those were my biggest issues with the game, but I liked how the strategy battles were set up, and having 3 different parties meant you actually were forced to use a variety of characters.
And over Thanksgiving break, I finally started the infamous 4th game, finishing it yesterday. And what a bad game it was. Tons of squandered potential... first off, the story seemed to lack the tension the first 3 games had, characters had barely any personality or motivation, plot points seemed to be casually dropped and then resumed much later in the game. (btw, who was the girl seen in the ending with the blonde hair in like a braid? And also
). Just when the game seemed to get started, with the acquiring of the ship and Eleanor the tactician, stuff happened in such rapid succession that nothing lacked any kind of punch. Uniting the 3 or 4 little islands against the evil trading company? Big whoop...
Character recruitment isn't nearly as interesting in this game, either. Most of the 108 just throw themselves at you, with barely any type of challenge or interesting conditions to meet before they will join. Except for getting Rita to join, the one character I wanted (since she shares the name of my favorite RPG character ever), took forever due to that stupid mahjongg minigame I had to play. Not to mention, you have barely any incentive to try out the majority of characters. Aside from the part at the end where you need to take 2 parties into the final dungeon (one I was woefully unprepared for, I had to re-do the final ship battle and exit the final dungeon so I can strengthen the B-Team), I mostly got through with the same set of characters. And you only have a 4 person active team, instead of the earlier games' 6.
Back to battles, they are so easy its painful. Auto-battle, and the occasional attack spell got me through most of it. Had to grind a bit for cash to sharpen my weapons, but the only battle that was any sort of challenge was the final one. Speaking of which, that final battle was my favorite part of the game, a tough fight and
The world map is as bad as everyone said... random encounters literally every 2 seconds. Luckily, they were easy to run from and you get access to quick-travel rather early on. But still, whoever thought the sailing was a good idea? Especially since there is hardly any incentive to explore, and there are so few islands to visit. Damn, I thought Wind Waker's sailing was dull...
The actual islands are very small, with very few 'field' areas and hardly any 'dungeons'. The most exciting dungeon was the optional one underneath the deserted Middleport house, because it had a few areas with a few different forked paths to take, instead of the typical Suikoden IV zone - being a line so straight it makes FFXIII's dungeons look like Phantasy Star 2's. The whole world of Suikoden 4 are several extremely tiny areas a few screens large, punctuated by large swaths of blue nothingness.
And finally, I'll rip on the graphics. I can't get over how bland they are. Now, I wasn't crazy about Suikoden's move into polygonal graphics, but at least 3's looked decent for 2002... in a Dreamcast-y way (crisp, colorful textures, rather simple geometry, and limited lighting). But in 2005 I expected something a bit better in terms of graphics. Especially from the same company who brought us such stunning PS2 graphics like in MGS and ZOE2. The 60FPS framerate is nice (although rather superfluous for a turn-based RPG). But the actual environments are bland as hell! Everything is so grey! How could you make a tropical environment look lacking in color? Textures are simple, stone walls being most of what you see in towns. Areas lack variety in terms of appearance and palette. The enemies don't look too bad but there's something kinda offputting about their appearance, if the characters eyes were a bit smaller, I could have easily confused this for a generic early 2000's PC eurojank RPG or something similar.
Running animation is horrible, it makes Bethesda running animations look good!
If I have any positives, its that the music was pretty decent. And the character art wasn't bad either.
Gonna start Suikoden Tactics over Christmas break. Also ordered Suikogaiden part 1 off Ebay (need to find part 2), those games will be in my walkthrough too. And hopefully by the time I finish Tactics, 5, Tierkerkis, and the Suikogaiden games, the PSP game will have a fan translation out. If not, I'll wait. Waited long enough for Ys 5's
Well, at Christmas break last year, I started Suikoden 3 up again, and finally finished that. While I didn't like it nearly as much as 1 or (especially) 2, I still enjoyed it. Loved how the story was told in 3 different perspectives (and the whole plot twist where
the flame champion everyone was searching for was dead
And over Thanksgiving break, I finally started the infamous 4th game, finishing it yesterday. And what a bad game it was. Tons of squandered potential... first off, the story seemed to lack the tension the first 3 games had, characters had barely any personality or motivation, plot points seemed to be casually dropped and then resumed much later in the game. (btw, who was the girl seen in the ending with the blonde hair in like a braid? And also
is the lead character the missing son of Lino El Kudis? Game kinda hints at that
Character recruitment isn't nearly as interesting in this game, either. Most of the 108 just throw themselves at you, with barely any type of challenge or interesting conditions to meet before they will join. Except for getting Rita to join, the one character I wanted (since she shares the name of my favorite RPG character ever
), took forever due to that stupid mahjongg minigame I had to play. Not to mention, you have barely any incentive to try out the majority of characters. Aside from the part at the end where you need to take 2 parties into the final dungeon (one I was woefully unprepared for, I had to re-do the final ship battle and exit the final dungeon so I can strengthen the B-Team), I mostly got through with the same set of characters. And you only have a 4 person active team, instead of the earlier games' 6.Back to battles, they are so easy its painful. Auto-battle, and the occasional attack spell got me through most of it. Had to grind a bit for cash to sharpen my weapons, but the only battle that was any sort of challenge was the final one. Speaking of which, that final battle was my favorite part of the game, a tough fight and
a unique villain design - a tree-monster?
The world map is as bad as everyone said... random encounters literally every 2 seconds. Luckily, they were easy to run from and you get access to quick-travel rather early on. But still, whoever thought the sailing was a good idea? Especially since there is hardly any incentive to explore, and there are so few islands to visit. Damn, I thought Wind Waker's sailing was dull...
The actual islands are very small, with very few 'field' areas and hardly any 'dungeons'. The most exciting dungeon was the optional one underneath the deserted Middleport house, because it had a few areas with a few different forked paths to take, instead of the typical Suikoden IV zone - being a line so straight it makes FFXIII's dungeons look like Phantasy Star 2's. The whole world of Suikoden 4 are several extremely tiny areas a few screens large, punctuated by large swaths of blue nothingness.
And finally, I'll rip on the graphics. I can't get over how bland they are. Now, I wasn't crazy about Suikoden's move into polygonal graphics, but at least 3's looked decent for 2002... in a Dreamcast-y way (crisp, colorful textures, rather simple geometry, and limited lighting). But in 2005 I expected something a bit better in terms of graphics. Especially from the same company who brought us such stunning PS2 graphics like in MGS and ZOE2. The 60FPS framerate is nice (although rather superfluous for a turn-based RPG). But the actual environments are bland as hell! Everything is so grey! How could you make a tropical environment look lacking in color? Textures are simple, stone walls being most of what you see in towns. Areas lack variety in terms of appearance and palette. The enemies don't look too bad but there's something kinda offputting about their appearance, if the characters eyes were a bit smaller, I could have easily confused this for a generic early 2000's PC eurojank RPG or something similar.
Running animation is horrible, it makes Bethesda running animations look good!
If I have any positives, its that the music was pretty decent. And the character art wasn't bad either.
Gonna start Suikoden Tactics over Christmas break. Also ordered Suikogaiden part 1 off Ebay (need to find part 2), those games will be in my walkthrough too. And hopefully by the time I finish Tactics, 5, Tierkerkis, and the Suikogaiden games, the PSP game will have a fan translation out. If not, I'll wait. Waited long enough for Ys 5's
Tiu Neo
Member
The biggest problem I had with IV was the 4 people main party. I always try to use different parties, on Suikoden games. That was a lot harder on IV.
I like IV, because deep down it's still a Suikoden game, but it has a lot of flaws. V fixed most of them, at the cost of gigantic loading times
I still don't see how anybody can even consider Suikoden IV being a bad game, makes no sense to me, I like it a lot, maybe not so much as other Suikoden games, but... anyway, I've been this down this road one time too many. So I just will point out that other opinions are present too.
Tiu Neo
Member
Most of people who say it's a bad game are comparing it to I and II. IV is very, very different game from those, and has a lot of jank and flaws. It fixed some of the problems with III, but added a lot of problems of its own.
If people judged it by what it is, a different game, I'm sure they would love it more.
artorias the abysswalker
Member
I managed to grab the game before the price "righted" itself last night, pretty happy about that! The joys of not having to be at work until 3 yesterday!
There are some games which I think would be remembered a bit more fondly if they weren't associated to a well-known series and didn't come with all that baggage... FFXII, Dragon Quarter, even Phantasy Star 3. But even divorcing itself from the Suikoden series, IV is a bad RPG. It fails in a lot of basic tenets that make up a good RPG - interesting worlds with lots of exploration, unique characters with their own development paths, challenging battles that make you strategize, and a story that builds and builds up to a dramatic conclusion.
IV definitely has its problems, but it's not nearly as bad as some people make it out to be. And some of the major problems that people complain about are way overblown.
The game was definitely made at a tumultuous time for Suikoden as well. Murayama had just left, and they probably didn't want to mess with the present timeline too much, especially after the events of III. At the same time, they wanted to try to do higher production values, which led to "better" graphics (vs Suikoden III's blocky graphics) and voice acting, but they ended up with awkwardly animated characters and bad voice acting.
And definitely though, you could see that they were trying to go back to the "Suikoden" style vs what Suikoden III was, because I imagine that a lot of Suikoden II fans were disappointed that III wasn't 2.5, or at the very least was more like the first two games.
This is evident the moment you start the game, and the Suikoden theme plays as you're on the starting screen (which iirc was missing from III'S starting screen). The way the menus look, the sound effects, the character name screen, they all remind you of Suikoden, vs Suikoden III.
AND Despite being a 4 player battle system, it was also much quicker than III's and more resembled II and I in its speediness. They brought back the artist from Suikoden I, and even a character from the first game back.
It basically tried to be a poor man's I, but you know what, I still liked the game, and enjoyed it. Some of the characters were fun, I like Kawano's art look as it's very unique, and the music was good. Coupled with Suikoden Tactics, and the story and some characters are fleshed out decently.
In some ways, I like it as much as V, because I see V as continuing what IV doing... Imitating the first two games, only V took it even further. I've said it before and I'll say it again, V is a poor man's II, and I just don't understand why some rate it nearly as high as II...
*shrug*
The game was definitely made at a tumultuous time for Suikoden as well. Murayama had just left, and they probably didn't want to mess with the present timeline too much, especially after the events of III. At the same time, they wanted to try to do higher production values, which led to "better" graphics (vs Suikoden III's blocky graphics) and voice acting, but they ended up with awkwardly animated characters and bad voice acting.
And definitely though, you could see that they were trying to go back to the "Suikoden" style vs what Suikoden III was, because I imagine that a lot of Suikoden II fans were disappointed that III wasn't 2.5, or at the very least was more like the first two games.
This is evident the moment you start the game, and the Suikoden theme plays as you're on the starting screen (which iirc was missing from III'S starting screen). The way the menus look, the sound effects, the character name screen, they all remind you of Suikoden, vs Suikoden III.
AND Despite being a 4 player battle system, it was also much quicker than III's and more resembled II and I in its speediness. They brought back the artist from Suikoden I, and even a character from the first game back.
It basically tried to be a poor man's I, but you know what, I still liked the game, and enjoyed it. Some of the characters were fun, I like Kawano's art look as it's very unique, and the music was good. Coupled with Suikoden Tactics, and the story and some characters are fleshed out decently.
In some ways, I like it as much as V, because I see V as continuing what IV doing... Imitating the first two games, only V took it even further. I've said it before and I'll say it again, V is a poor man's II, and I just don't understand why some rate it nearly as high as II...
*shrug*
Hours Left
Member
Cool podcast about Suikoden I & II on Tiny Cartridge. (A bit of misinformation, but a pretty interesting listen overall.)
Major Gripex
Member
I've been saying for years that Konami screwed the pooch with the name. Stars of Destiny would have been a much better title for the series for western audiences. Overall, that was a good listen, good find mate.
Hours Left
Member
Eh, Konami did a HORRIBLE job marketing the games, but I wouldn't blame the name. Yeah it's weird to the unfamiliar, but I think it helps it stand out personally. Stars of Destiny as a title sounds really generic IMO.
Does anyone remember that absolutely awful magazine ad Suikoden II had in the US? Add that to the horrible cover art of the first game and you have proof that Konami had/has no idea what it was marketing. Bleh.
Major Gripex
Member
Yeah, Konami had no idea how to market the game... though if it's the Suikoden II magazine ad I'm thinking of, I rather liked it... Given, I was looking at it with a biased perspective as I was already a fan. But yes, the entire team in charge of localizing the game sucked. I mean look at the original Suikoden box cover for the US/CAN.
I mean, how the Futch did they think this weird 50's reject movie poster would galvanize interest in people buying the game. *Sigh*
Back to the topic of the name of the series, I'm reminded of this cute video. Admittedly, before I saw this, I always pronounced it "Sue-ko-den".
Hours Left
Member
So uh, famed NeoGAF leaker Verendus just stated in a Silent Hills topic that Konami is working on a new Suikoden game. (He leaked the FFVX name change and "Project Beast"/Bloodbourne FYI.)
I don't know how to feel. @_@
I don't know how to feel. @_@
Hours Left
Member
That, and wait to see if this is actually real first.
Though if this is true, this is a very recent development, so perhaps it is in response to fans wanting a true sequel. But then again, Konami gonna Konami.
CONFLICTED.
R_thanatos
Member
Well , you give me the same team as the one on psp BUt you make it on home consoles and i'll take it .
The only real problem of that game is that it was on PSP and they couldn't do more with the hardware.
ULTROS!
People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
Suikoden III had one of the best openings in video game history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5JnlNtx_mM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5JnlNtx_mM
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