Suikoden - Review

108 Stars

By: CLOUDBOND007

Review Breakdown
Battle System	8
Interface	8
Music/Sound	8
Originality	7
Plot	6
Localization	9
Replay Value	9
Visuals	6
Difficulty	Easy
Time to Complete	16-25 hours
Overall
Criteria

   Suikoden was released several years ago on the PlayStation by Konami. Many consider it to be one of the first enjoyable RPG's released on the system. Despite the fact that the game is an older one, and doesn't have state of the art graphics, it's still a fun one to play.

   As with most other RPG's, there are plenty of random battles. These move at a fairly quick pace, and usually aren't too difficult. Some characters can "Unite" with other characters to do more powerful attacks, and all can cast magic if they possess "runes". Since this game has so many playable characters, you have to experiment to find the party that works best for you. I found them to be about equal in terms of usefulness during battle, but some do have advantages over others. During the game, you will also have "Major Battles". These are battles that occur during important points in the game's story. You control your army, and must battle against the enemy's army. Depending on how many characters you have recruited, you will have a better chance of victory. Your basic objective is to cause more damage than the enemy and to take fewer casualties. You have a lot of options for these fights, but there aren't that many Major Battles, and most are extremely easy. The last thing to cover for this part of the review are the One-on-One battles. These are duels between two characters. During these, you have three choices open to you. "Attack", "Defend", and "Desperation Attack". Depending on what your enemy does, your decision will be successful or a failure. The only thing that makes these battles somewhat strategic is that you are given hints about what choice to make by comments that your enemy makes. There are only a few of these battles during the game though, so you really won't have to pay them too much mind. Overall, the battles in Suikoden are fast-paced and a lot of fun.

Uh, is she on our side?

   There is a world open for you to explore. There are towns, dungeons, and other interesting areas. During your journey, you can have a party of up to 6 people at one time. The towns are somewhat small, compared to other games, but this doesn't have much of an impact on the game. It would have been nice to have larger cities to explore, though. With the exception of adding or removing characters from your party, the game's loading times are minimal. And even then, it's only matter of several seconds. Most of the time, things move at the speed of an average SNES RPG.

   The game does have some really good music. It's not incredible, but most of it is certainly better than the average RPG. There aren't really any songs in the game that I would consider bad, or less then decent. Sound effects aren't bad at all, either.

   Well, in some areas, this game is a lot like almost every other RPG out there. But in some other ways, it's also very different. It has more playable characters than any other game I'm aware of, except the sequel. Having characters unite to use more powerful attacks and use runes to cast magic also made things more interesting.

   The fact that Suikoden isn't very long has some impact on the story, in that it feels a little unfinished. As if there should have been a lot more to do, but the game simply ended too early. You play the role of the son of a great Imperial General. However, as the game progresses, you learn of the Empire's wrongdoings, and eventually become the leader of the liberation army. It's a story that's been tried before, but it's implemented well. There are also a lot of fantasy elements that you usually see in classic RPG's. A villiage of dwarves, for example. Anyway, the game's story isn't a masterpeice, but it's pretty enjoyable. And as long as you aren't expecting anything remarkable, you should be pretty happy with what the game has to offer in this department.

   The translation seemed really good. I don't recall seeing any blatant errors. I don't want to say that the story was translated perfectly, as I might be mistaken. It does seem like a lot of effort went into it, though.

Wow, I can fly!

   Replay value is one area where Suikoden scores very high. Because the game isn't that long, in comparison to other RPG's, it isn't as difficult to find the time to play it. Also, the fact that there are so many characters to recruit gives players motivation to start again. Finally, the game is simply a lot of fun to play. It never really slows down, and things happen at a fast pace. Much more fun to replay than the average game in this genre.

   The first thing you will probably think when seeing the graphics is that they look a lot like a SNES game. Graphics in towns, caves, and other areas are pretty good, depending on how you look at it. They aren't realistic like Final Fanasy 8, but there is still a pretty good amount of detail, and everything is clear and easy to see. Compared to the graphics of most SNES RPG's, I would consider Suikoden to be above-average. Battle graphics are pretty good, too. There is a decent amount of camera movement, and it's actually pretty effective. The spell effects, for the most part, aren't that impressive, though. I wouldn't go as far as to say that they are bad, but I'm sure that there are several games on older systems that have better graphics than Suikoden in this area. Aside from that though, your party members, and the enemies themselves look pretty interesting and detailed during the fights. The overworld looks more dated than any other aspect of the game. The only party member you see when walking around this overworld is the hero. Of course, he is so small on the screen that it's difficult even tell who he is. Other than that, there's not much worth mentioning about it. It's just average, I guess. To sum it up, if you like the style of older RPG's like those found on the SNES, you will probably like the graphics in this game, as well.

   Suikoden has only one major disadvantage in terms of GamePlay. And it's a big one. The game seems to be extremely short. On my first time through, without any help from a strategy guide, I finished in about 16 hours. I didn't find all 108 characters, or unlock every secret. Doing those things would likely add some more hours. Even so, don't expect this game to be long. If you do, you'll just be dissapointed. This is something that will bother some people more than others.

"I see in your future...."

   Well, there isn't all that much challenge. Some boss battles are harder than others, though most gamers should be able to get through most of them without a problem. The greater challenge is probably to recruit all 108 characters.

   Suikoden has a lot of good points, and some bad points. The most signifigant "Bad Point" would be the game's length, as I already said. I thought that it was an enjoyable game, and one that I will play again, soon. In fact, most people will want to play it at least twice simply so that they can find every character and do everything there is to do. Also, since the game isn't long, it's also not as difficult to find time to replay it. That's one possible advantage to the game's shortness. So, if you like classic RPG's, and you can deal with the game's shortcomings, you might want to check this one out.