Earlier installments: · Suikoden · Suikoden II · Suikoden III · Suikoden IV · Suikoden Tactics · Suikoden V · Suikoden Tierkreis Last seen in: 2009 Publisher: Konami

Suikoden As written by certified Suikofreak Becky Cunningham: There's nothing quite like the Suikoden series in the world of RPGs. Set in a well-realized world full of different cultures and lots of conflict, the main Suikoden series has been full of political intrigue and great characters. Lots and lots of characters. Loosely based on a classical Chinese novel, every main series Suikoden game has featured 108 recruitable characters, known as the Stars of Destiny. In the best Suikoden games, the Stars of Destiny are bursting with personality, and thorough players have the opportunity to get to know their individual stories as they recruit their stars and play through the game. Other series mainstays include characters wielding magical runes of great power, themes of civil war and revolution, societies of animal-people, three separate battle systems (standard battles, duels, and strategy battles), and antagonists afflicted by madness. Although many of the main protagonists have been young, the series has a more mature bent than many RPGs, and its fans have a deep attachment to the Suikoden world because of the many stories found within it, and the potential for many more. The Suikoden series has had a bit of a rough history since the development of Suikoden III. Near the end of Suikoden III's development, the original series creator, Yoshitaka Murayama, left Konami. Since that point, the series has struggled to work with Murayama's world and its history. Suikoden IV was widely panned, not only for its slow and tedious gameplay, but for failing to live up to the storytelling and character design found in the earlier games. Suikoden V returned somewhat to series form, though it was lacking some of the spark found in earlier games. More recently, Konami's Suikoden team has expressed a desire to move the series to different worlds and explore different themes while keeping a number of series traditions alive. Suikoden Tierkries was their first attempt to do so, and while it was an admirable attempt to translate the Suikoden formula to a portable system, it suffered from an obnoxious and poorly-voiced protagonist and a plot that placed multidimensional mumbo-jumbo ahead of war and political intrigue. Many fans of the Suikoden series hope that Tierkries was only a side story, and that the next true Suikoden game will return to the world they love. Hope is particularly high that a new game will explore the mysterious Harmonian Empire, a powerful land that has had an influence throughout the series, but has never actually been seen in the games. With no word on a future Suikoden game, there are many questions about the series' future. Can Konami recapture the magic that the series had under Murayama? Will the series return to its original world, or at least create a world in their new "multiverse" with a tighter thematic focus? Thus far, Konami is being very tight-lipped about the future of Suikoden. Can a new game happen? Series Highlights Absolutely, but can it recapture the Suikoden magic? Suikoden II, III, and V « Back | Next »