Playing Suikoden on my Vita, a couple of hours in, and I really don't understand why it is considered such a classic by jrpg fans yet. It feels like a pretty standard mid-90s squeenix game, but with crazy easy encounters so far.
Any Suikoden fans want to win me over?
The first game is easiest by far and it is an old game, you wouldn't expect something elaborate from it, I hope. What could win you over are not fans but you investing in a game in a way that no other game requires, read everything about characters, world, politics, wars, not just skip through text, read it, if by the end of a game you won't love it, there is still Suikoden 2 to win you over, but you have to invest into first a lot for that to happen, be patient, it's worth every minute of your life, especially as first one is so short.
More important thing to know about Suikoden, that it's not like other games, if you want combat challenge or endless dungeons, you can forget Suikoden, because it being what it is, with so many playable characters, leveling and combat usually is an easy part of series, the hard part is finding all stars of destiny (even if you tempted to use guides, please don't) and getting perfect ending, the fun is in employing so many gameplay mechanics and greatness of Suikoden lies in the world, lore and characters and non conventionalness of series.
sorry for OT, but I couldn't leave it unanswered.
edited: when I said no other games requires such treatment, I wasn't fair, just Suikoden requires it more. You even recruit characters by talking, so it is of utmost importance.