Suikoden discussion - #deadseries

[Hitoshura]

I can tell you right now, Suikoden II storywise is probably the best direct sequel to a game I have ever seen, in terms of vast improvements to the combat, strategic combat, artstyle and everything else as well, just blew me away. Though I will be the first to admit, that S2 took a huge hit in the music department compared to the first Suikoden, which is timeless, even in this modern day would stand as a god tier soundtrack. Do yourselves a huge favor a play both games back to back with your save data, would be doing yourself dirty otherwise. and

DO TRY:

- to get all 108 Stars of Destiny (read: characters) before the final battle, and do NOT let anyone die before this happens, to get the best ending possible.
- I know Pahn kind of sucks, but try sticking to using him for now, you will thank me later.
- Equipping sprint shoes on the main character enables you to sprint on the world map, I can't remember if he can sprint himself, I believe so.
- Using a fast elf character named Stallion in your party, the main character will be able to sprint everywhere, including the world map without needing the sprint shoes.

I will think of more game helping, non spoiler advice. Does anyone have anything else to add? Not even sure if anyone in this thread is a newbie to the game.

[Rizil]

My only piece of advice: early on in the north sparrow pass, look for cutrabbits. They drop Double-Beat runes, and they are godlike. This is the earliest you can farm them and you won't be able to re-enter after certain events. It may take you a while, but try to farm up a few.

[Xno Kappa]

The Rockland minigame in the beginning of the game has the same three or four(?) initial outcomes every single time. Spam it for max monies.

[Teknique]

So suikoden one and two are both nine ninety nine starting tomorrow? What is their size.! My vita is running low on space

[Hitoshura]

Each game only takes 1 disc, so less than 700MB per game.

http://static.zerochan.net/Suikoden.II.full.561798.jpg

This image.. right in the feels.

http://static.zerochan.net/Suikoden....ll.1617925.jpg

Everyone needs to play both.

[Adajer]

s1 is 4.99

[Teknique]

Oh fuck yes gonna load my credit card after work

[Kincard]

If Suikoden 2 sells well, there is a real hope for more re-releases and even 6. If it doesnt, rip.

I don't know how many of you here played Hyakunen, but I think it's good they stopped making games after that one, or at least decided to take a break.

I love the series, even Tierkreis which a lot of people I know didn't like, but Hyakunen was just plain bad.

Nevertheless I'll definitely be buying Suiko 2 and showing my support. Hopefully if they do raise the series from the dead they'll improve from where they were in Suiko V gameplay-wise and maybe try to move past Suiko 3 story-wise.

[Hitoshura]

The Trinity sight system (POV separate storylines of 3 different main characters) was pretty cool except Thomas.. godawful lol. I hear Tierkreis is actually pretty decent, I never did try it, I want to. Suikoden V was honestly the series gameplay at it's peak, it took the best parts of the series it had to offer and combined everything. The formations and the seemingly endless awesome, unite attacks, the revamped strategic battles now playing like RTS added an intensity not seen in the battles before, George fuckin' Prime, and of course the fucking 1v1 duels themselves were the most improved and just all around awesome. It has a painfully slow start to it, but once you get your base and get things started, it definitely feels starts feeling like that classic game flow again.

[Adajer]

Never even heard of Hyakunen >.>

Tierkreis wasnt that bad.

The main issue seems to be them making BS spinoffs instead of main installments. Might be limited to spinoffs because of budgets, idk.

Hyakunen seems to have been a JP only release, there are plenty of suikoden fans in NA and EU.

[Hitoshura]

Was that the PSP game? I tried looking at it and man.. all bad. Do not want.

[Adajer]

Took me a while to get to S5., but man. That was a REALLY good suikoden game. They left off on a great note with the main series.

I didnt beat 4 when I first got it, went back later and beat it. The ended felt kinda empty, but not that bad.

Never played 3 cause my Dad stole it for drug money. Seemed kinda too much with the whole 3 character thing. Tried on emulation, dont have time for it.

Just get me 6 on ps4, 1080p Jeane.

[Elcura]

5 is good because it basically just takes notes from 2 with better graphics. Hard to hate except for that long ass intro.

[Ayn]

I think Tactics deserves an honorable mention. If you look at 4 and tactics as one game (they cover the same area, basically) then 4's not 100% terrible.

Agreed with Hitoshura that 2 remains one of the best direct sequels.

The only thing I can think of that comes close is the Persona 4 from 3 transition, but that's not so much a 'direct' sequel.

And yes, I know that P4's not popular with some people, but the thing that both have in common is that they took the things that made the first ones great and improved them, while taking many (in the case of S2, "all") of the things that made the predecessor..not so great and eliminated them.

Tierkris wasn't bad once you got past the fact that it wasn't a mainline Suiko game.
And the motormouth hero.

[Hitoshura]

Just get me 6 on ps4, 1080p Jeane.

lmao. No shit, I would kill for a game finally progressing after Suikoden III. So much shit that was left open, and questions unanswered despite it being the end.

Everyone new to the series, keep in mind IV/Tactics and V are PREQUELS. The series story has not progressed since III, which I will say left off pretty damn crazy as well. I don't know if I will ever play it again, but I hear the manga is a damn good read.

[Odesseiron]

Honestly, I wouldn't even want Suikoden 6 unless they put the Suikoden team back together (or at least as much as possible) including the director Yoshitaka Murayama.

Near the end of 3 he dropped out, and it's clearly evident. I respect the guy for following through with his personal plans, but I can't help but be annoyed for abandoning the series. Suikoden IV was just... well...trash. It was like a DMC2 level of let down. Suiko V seemed fine from what I played, but still lacked some of that feeling the first 3 had. Like Hitoshura said, no real progression of the story. I don't know if Murayama held all the ideas in his head alone and didn't share, but it sure seemed like it.

The DS game, well let's not even talk about that shit.

I just wouldn't want the series to come back under some shit team that was thrown together to capitalize on the new found popularity of the series. I want to see it done. Right.

[Hitoshura]

Damn.. I didn't even know the director had dropped out of the team completely after III. That's pretty weak, because the way it ended fucking BEGGED for a sequel or follow up. So much potential where it left off, and he just left? That really sucks. You hit it right on the nail with the DMC2 comparison, that's exactly what Suikoden IV was. I would be happy if they just got the original director, and the team that did Suikoden V back together and finally released the game we have all been waiting for. The way they were starting to gather multiple true rune users gave me the impression the series was going to greater heights, would have loved to have seen them use more characters from I and II, including the main characters. Best damn idea of all time.

[Odesseiron]

From what I had read, he actually left DURING the development of part 3. You can kind of tell near the end where the quality drops a little. He doesn't even have a credit on the game if you look in the official credits because they don't acknowledge a former employee or whatever. Still a fantastic game, but such a disappointment.

From what I've read on Suikosource and various other websites, he said something like he'd work for Konami for exactly 10 years. Suikoden took up the majority of the time, and I guess during the dev. of part 3 his 10 years hit, and he actually followed through. He has done nothing notable since departing the company either. And this was what, 10 years ago? Putting a new one together is probably never going to happen, sadly. Unless there's some crazy behind the scenes secret shit going on right now, which I highly doubt. I think the main team actually made or were involved in 4 or 5, but all the ideas were in his head.

He cryptically said something years ago about a "Rubicon River" reaching out to him and he was contemplating it, but that was about 6 years ago and nothing's been heard since.

Which is a damn shame. As you said, had they followed through with the series, it could have been some of the best story telling of all time in JPRG's. In 3 I would get so excited seeing references to the other 2 games, even if it was set years later.

/le sad

[Kincard]

I don't really share the sentiment that IV is trash. I don't think it's nearly as good as what came before, but I thought it was a solid JRPG on its own, and in terms of story it kept most of what made the Suikoden series unique- the main reason I still liked Tierkreis as well. It might've been in a different universe, but it was still Suikoden. Hyakunen didn't even have that.

Speaking of Murayama, there's a pretty cool interview with him here, as recent as early 2014. The most telling part of the interview to me is this:

Modern RPGs take a tremendous amount of resources to make. In the PS1 days, Japan was still a very robust game market, allowing for the creation of many ambitious titles, including Suikoden. But nowadays, more and more companies are shying away from making AAA blockbuster RPG’s – it’s usually reserved for the very famous IP brands that nearly guarantee a return on development costs.

I imagine if we ever got a Suiko VI, it would be a handheld game. IIRC Suiko V didn't sell too well, which is a real shame- I thought it was the best RPG released that year, personally. As far as I know neither Tierkreis nor Hyakunen sold particularly well, which is why the latter wasn't localized at all.

[Gokulo]

I'd take a handheld Suikoden, either 2D or looking similarly to S5 any day